THREAD ➡️ President Biden has just issued an unprecedented number of foolish and economically destructive executive orders. So much for unity. You might be wondering how he is allowed to do this. After all, America isn't a dictatorship and the president doesn't make laws.

Put simply: Congress. Every president issues guidance to the executive branch. That's normal. But when Congress passes bad, vague, or imprecise laws, it opens up space that executive orders fill. In other words, Congress enables presidential discretion.

This is THE biggest problem with Congress today. You may have heard that America has three coequal branches. This is wrong. Congress is the dominant branch of government. We are the first branch, and we have the most power over the other two.

Our constitution is designed to have Congress at the center. We are supposed to be making laws and directing the government. The president and the federal courts are empowered to check Congress, but they are not supposed to replace our legislative authority.

So what happens when Congress decides not to play its part? First, the other branches step in to fill the space. Courts legislate from the bench. The president and bureaucracy tackle problems and policy however they like.

Life Comes At You Fast Thread: Just two weeks into his presidency Biden's resolve is being tested by Russia, India, Pakistan, Iran, Isreal, China, and even Burma.

it is okay to criticize joe biden. we're going to need to do a lot of it in the next four years, so might as well get into practice.

he has always said a lot of stupid shit, and I suspect he will continue to do that. he's always been bad on lots of issues, and I suspect that will continue as well.

he is susceptible to pressure though. which is a reason to pressure him.

he's sort of going to end up as one of the greatest presidents ever or as a disaster at this point, given the nightmare hole he's got to crawl out of. so...hopefully people will point out when he's fucking up or we're all fucked.

Clyburne and Schumer have already said his 10k student debt plan is weak tea and he should do better. and they're right! hopefully he will listen and not be a dope.

0. Impact of Biden as the President of the US on India and how the game is being played to weaken Modi ji. The crux of my long discussion with a Doctoral student of American studies: The thread

1.Trump was ousted by the CIA through the rigged elections because he was bringing in too much of world peace. He waged ZERO wars, improved the relationship between Islamic countries and Israel. He offered a truce to North Korea. But American system didn't like it

2a. As the American system runs on the basis of War Industry which Eisenhower categorically mentioned the existence of a “military-industrial complex” that dominates the decision making in Washington, irrespective of whoever becomes the President, in his farewell speech

2b. : Ref:

3. Hence Trump was ousted. Since even after leaving the office as a former President he is too powerful a person because of the knowledge and information he has now, they will ensure that he is harassed to the point that he either goes mad or dies under mysterious circumstances

BREAKING: We’re calling on President Biden to pause all federal government use of face recognition technology.

This tech is flawed, biased against people of color, women, trans people, and more.

Even if it worked exactly as advertised, it would be a nightmare. Let’s explain.

Study after study has confirmed this bias.

One study showed that face recognition tech failed in identifying Black women nearly 1/3 of the time, but was more accurate on white men.

Subsequent studies, including by @ACLU_NorCal and the government, have confirmed these findings.

These biases have real consequences that disproportionately harm Black people.

Robert Williams, Michael Oliver, and Nijeer Parks are all Black men who were wrongly arrested and detained because of this technology.

Even if face recognition tech worked perfectly, it would be a civil liberties nightmare — giving the government the ability to track us to houses of worship, protests, healthcare appointments, intimate partners’ homes — harming our rights to privacy, speech, and association.

And face recognition technology would surely be used to exacerbate over-policing of communities of color, immigrant communities, poor communities, and others already bearing the brunt of the criminal enforcement system.

Along w/ Biden climate news, some thoughts on solar geoengineering (SG) research under Biden Admin. SG closer to Biden/Democratic politics than Trump/Conservative: science-based, multilateral “green” capitalism. Recent moves indicate SG steadily moving into climate policy: THREAD

US is the world leader in SG research, with most funding from private sources – largely billionaires, wealthy individuals, and their boutique foundations – with ties to Silicon Valley tech firms, venture capital, and Wall Street hedge funds (also major donor bases for Dem Party)

Some philanthropists funding SG research include Bill Gates, Rachel Pritzker (billionaire heir of Pritzker family; Chair of Board at Breakthrough Institute), Chris Sacca/Lower Carbon Capital (billionaire VC, deep ties to Silicon Valley). All representatives of “green” capitalism

Leading centrist think tanks and environmental orgs like EDF and Resources for the Future (RFF), both of which take corporate funding (with RFF taking money from fossil fuel industry, e.g. Aramco, Chevron, Shell) support SG research and promote its inclusion in US climate policy

RFF recently published an SG policy paper by Harvard economists Joseph Aldy (fmr. Special Advisor to Obama for Energy and Environment) and Richard Zeckhauser that advocates SG as merely one prong of “prudent” climate policy:

We made a thread of Biden's first executive actions.

Categories include:
• Coronavirus
• Financial Relief
• Environment
• Human rights
• Immigration
• Regulation
• Ethics

😷Coronavirus:
- Start of his "100 Days Masking Challenge" with Dr. Fauci
- Restructuring the federal government coordination to the COVID-19 pandemic
- Rejoining the WHO

💰Financial Relief:
- Extend eviction and foreclosure moratoriums
- Continue "pause" on student loan payments until September 30

🌳Environment:
- Rejoin the Paris Climate Agreement
- End Keystone XL pipeline and revoke oil and gas development at national wildlife monuments

☮ Human rights:
- Undoing Trump's efforts for a "Patriotic Education"
- Count non-citizens in U.S. Census again
- Strengthen workplace discrimination protections based on sexual orientation and gender identity

bankers against Biden's fiscal plan could really do with some proper fact-checking before sending their op-ed to the FT.

We all understand 'it's ideology, stupid!', but no excuse for lazy arguments.

apparently, the Gospel according to Morgan Stanley is that we havent had enough neoliberalism for the past 4 decades

if you click on BIS link, it tells you monetary policy, not higher deficits, are associated with wealth inequality.

Incidentally, unconventional monetary policy through which central banks basically rescued banks after they nearly destroyed the global financial system in 2008

speaking of government spending, who else but Morgan Stanley got $10 billion in equity investments from US Treasury in 2008?

I cant think of a more productivity-enhancing outlay for 10bn of public funds.

the OECD 'evidence' that 'four straight decades of growing government intervention in the economy have led to slowing productivity growth' is also, excuse my language, a lot of bullshit.

I have been listening to Biden's recording with Civil Rights leaders and his tone and bs was a trip I wasn't ready for.

The disrespect was absolutely unacceptable. No self-respecting African-American should be allowing old White dudes to talk to them this way. (THREAD)

The other thing that irritated me was his demand that we work with White Hispanics. We GOTTA do it.

Nobody is else is told they have to work with other racial groups except African-Americans. No other racial groups are ridin for us!

I'll show you. 2/

The NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) advocates for all people of colors. It was founded by Blacks, but looked out for all the Brown immigrants that came here AFTER us.

Black folks fought for and protected the rights of all non-White people.
3/

Other groups don't. I looked.

The National Council for Asians and Pacific Islanders don’t advocate for Black people. I haven't heard on call for them to help and support Black people.

The Jewish Federations don’t advocate for Black people either. Nobody is telling them they need to include Black people in their agendas or work with them.

.@MiekeEoyang will be the new deputy assistant secretary of defense for cyber policy, according to documents obtained by @KatieBoWill. https://t.co/c2F8GNQUIf

Check another position off the list of mid-level federal cyber jobs that we're waiting to see filled.

Biden cyber appointees so far:

▪️ Deputy National Security Adviser for Cyber and Emerging Tech: Anne Neuberger

▪️ NSC Senior Director for Cyber: Michael Sulmeyer

▪️ Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Cyber Policy: Mieke Eoyang

Biden has also named a bunch of cyber-related or cyber-adjacent appointees below the cabinet level. See next few tweets.

▪️ NatSec Adviser: Jake Sullivan
▪️ Principal Deputy NatSec Adviser: Jon Finer
▪️ Homeland Sec Adviser: Elizabeth Sherwood-Randall
▪️ Deputy HSA: Russ Travers

▪️ NSC Senior Director for Russia and Central Asia: Andrea Kendall-Taylor
▪️ NSC Senior Director for China: Laura Rosenberger
▪️ NSC Senior Director for Resilience and Response: Caitlin Durkovich
▪️ NSC Senior Director for Technology and National Security: Tarun Chhabra

And last but not least:

▪️ Office of Science and Technology Policy Director: Eric Lander

🧵In coming days & weeks, a bunch of awesome younger folks will be taking on roles in the Biden Administration, some for their first experience in government. Herewith some free advice, worth what you paid for it. I encourage others to add their best advice below this thread! 1/

1) You may be appointed by the president—but you are taking an oath to the constitution, and you work for the people of these United States. You owe them integrity, honesty, & transparency, as well as your best work. 2/

Take your ethics undertakings seriously. Learn the rules and follow them. Don’t ever think they don’t apply to you. And don’t do or write anything you would be ashamed to see in the newspaper the next day. 3/

2) Government is a team sport. Your job is to help your team succeed. That means help your boss, help your peers, and help your employees. If they rise, you rise. If they fail, you have failed. So start by figuring out who they are, what they need, and what you can offer. 4/

3) Every workplace has unwritten rules, too: what I call “invisible furniture.” You will be bumping into a lot of it in your first months on the job. Make a point of learning it, & remember that it’s never dumb to admit what you don’t know—it’s the quickest way to learn. 5/

My prediction: the Biden era will be the inverse of Obama era. Obama was seen as a progressive in the last phase of the Reagan-Clinton era. Biden is a moderate in the beginning of a post-neoliberal era.

He will represent a transition between neoliberal hegemony and new ideas.

1/13
I have watched every presidential inauguration that I can remember, since I was a little boy, and long before I ever imagined I would live in America. But I had never watched one the way I watched the inauguration of Joe Biden. #velshi

2/13
I’d never considered the details leading up to an inauguration. I watched this one like a nervous parent, making sure everything went as planned. #velshi

3/13
Thanks to the last four years, everything is different, now. Our demons are on full display, our Union is certifiably imperfect. Our nation is divided. #velshi

4/13
After a year that takes first place in our history for death, destruction, fear and injustice, normalcy is struggling to regain its place. One thing with which we will struggle in this new day for America is the death of shame. #velshi

5/13
In addition to the other norms the former president destroyed, he turned lying - deliberate, casual and often with the force of law - into an art form and, with that, contributed to the death of shame. #velshi

This is a very uninformed article that presumes the dumb way Trump initiated executive orders taints all executive action a president has the authority and mandate to

I can't believe this has to be spelled out:
Congress passes laws, presidents implement them. There are latent authorities in already passed laws that can be employed to give material benefits to people. That's literally the job description of the president in Article II.

Most of Trump's exec orders were BS but some did draw on already passed laws, like the farm funding through the Commodity Credit Corporation. That was billions of dollars that cannot be "rolled back."

It was untargeted and drawn upon disproportionately by rich farmers. But there are more equitable measures, with the authority granted by CONGRESS, which the president can implement.

So far Biden has not really taken this opportunity. There's been a blizzard of paper, most of it rolling back Trump EOs, and some emergency programs. A few of those emergency programs are going to give real benefits (eligibility changes on nutrition assistance for ex.)

Did the Biden inauguration really have to start with "This Land Is Your Land," an ode to land theft, settler colonialism and Indigenous genocide? (No matter how well-intentioned Woody Guthrie may have been.) YOU ARE ON NATIVE LAND!

Every presidential inauguration has in effect been a celebration of Indigenous land theft & genocide, whether directly stated or not. Settlers exerting the power of their settler government and "ownership" over Indigenous lands.

At John F. Kennedy's 1961 inauguration, poet Robert Frost began: “The land was ours before we were the land’s…Such as we were we gave ourselves outright (The deed of gift was many deeds of war)." That settler white "We," justifying and erasing genocide, slavery, history.

At Teddy Roosevelt's 1905 inauguration, he had 6 famous
chiefs on horseback to give the people "a good show." The chiefs came hoping to appeal for justice, but instead were displayed to represent what TR & others viewed as the complete subjugation of Indigenous peoples & lands.

The chiefs included Quanah Parker of the Comanche, Buckskin Charlie from the Ute, Hollow Horn Bear and American Horse of the Sioux, Little Plume from the Blackfeet and the imprisoned Apache warrior Geronimo, who pleaded in vain with Teddy Roosevelt for the release of his people.