biden

24Jul

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

POLITICS

Biden Holds An Emergency Declaration In Reserve But Announces New Climate Change Actions

On July 20, 2022, President Joe Biden traveled to a former coal-burning power plant in Massachusetts that is being converted into a manufacturing site for offshore wind power equipment. Biden announced millions of dollars in funding for climate change measures, including upgrading infrastructure, weatherizing buildings and installing cooling in homes. He also touted job growth from clean energy production and pledged to use all of his executive power to reduce U.S. greenhouse gas emissions. But Biden did not declare a national climate emergency – a step that some Democratic officials and activists have urged after Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin seemingly blocked legislative action and the Supreme Court limited the Environmental Protection Agency’s power to regulate greenhouse gas emissions. ...

LGBTQ Advocates Are Split On Whether Biden Is Doing Enough To Protect The Community As Pride Month Closes

27Jun

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

LGBTQ, POLITICS, TOP FOUR

LGBTQ Advocates Are Split On Whether Biden Is Doing Enough To Protect The Community As Pride Month Closes

For more than a year, as more than 300 anti-LGBTQ+ bills have been introduced into state legislatures and eight states have signed anti-LGBTQ bills into law, LGBTQ+ advocates have been waiting on President Joe Biden. “In the LGBTQ community, it is clear that our house is on fire,” said Mayra Hidalgo Salazar, deputy executive director of the National LGBTQ Task Force. Advocates have been asking Biden — often hailed as a champion of LGBTQ+ equality— to put that fire out. But the response to the president’s Pride month executive order has been mixed: Many groups praised it. Others said nothing. A few publicly criticized it, saying it lacked teeth. During a reception with advocates on June 15, Biden signed the order aimed at curbing LGBTQ+ discrimination. The 13-point plan tasks the Departm...

The Biden Administration Is Finally Making Moves To Free WNBA Star Brittney Griner From Russian Detention – After Initial Silence

22May

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

IN OTHER NEWS, POLITICS, SPORTS

The Biden Administration Is Finally Making Moves To Free WNBA Star Brittney Griner From Russian Detention – After Initial Silence

A week before Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022, Russian authorities arrested American basketball star Brittney Griner at the Moscow airport. She was charged with drug smuggling after Russian officials allegedly found vape cartridges containing oil derived from cannabis in her luggage. Since her arrest on Feb. 17, Griner has been locked up in a Russian prison. It’s a stark contrast to her life as a millionaire athlete playing in professional basketball leagues in both the United States and, for the last seven years, Russia, where she earns nearly four times as much as her nearly US$282,000 annual WNBA salary. Speculation on the reason for Griner’s arrest centers on Russian President Vladimir Putin’s alleged desire to use the American star as a geopolitical pawn at a time when U.S.-...

Joe Biden And The Politics Of Black Womanhood

14Mar

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

POLITICS

Joe Biden And The Politics Of Black Womanhood

On Feb. 25, the last Friday in Black History Month, President Biden made good on his public promise when he did what none of his 45 predecessors had done by nominating Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, a Black woman, to fill the soon-to-be-vacant seat on the Supreme Court. Nominating Jackson was hardly a surprise, inasmuch as she is already a Biden appointee in her current position on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, and she had been considered a front-runner since discussions began around who Biden might select. However, for as historic a moment as Biden’s pick is, it is not without its own complexities. There is an elephant in the room around America’s tenuous relationship with Black women’s physical and intellectual labor, and this current milestone is a new c...

In The Uphill Battle Against Russian Hackers The Biden Administration Is Making Gains

3Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

CYBERCRIME, VIDEO REELS

In The Uphill Battle Against Russian Hackers The Biden Administration Is Making Gains

On Jan. 14, 2022, the FSB, Russia’s domestic intelligence service, announced that it had broken up the notorious Russia-based REvil ransomware criminal organization. The FSB said the actions were taken in response to a request from U.S. authorities. The move marks a dramatic shift in Russia’s response to criminal cyberattacks launched against U.S. targets from within Russia, and comes at a time of heightened tensions between the two countries. U.S. policy and actions in response to cyberattacks connected to Russia have changed distinctly since the Biden administration took office. President Joe Biden has openly confronted Russian President Vladimir Putin on his responsibility regarding international cyberattacks, and the Biden administration has taken unprecedented steps to impose costs o...

Biden Tried Taxing US Billionaires’ Wealth – Why It Will Never Work

2Nov

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BUSINESS

Biden Tried Taxing US Billionaires’ Wealth – Why It Will Never Work

Beverly Moran, Vanderbilt University The speed with which a tax on billionaires came and went as a means to pay for President Joe Biden’s economic agenda shows why it’s so hard to tax wealth in the U.S. Democrats unveiled their proposal on Oct. 27, 2021, and it was nixed that same day, replaced with a surcharge on millionaire incomes. The idea of taxing the richest Americans’ fortunes has been batted around for some time, and perhaps with good reason from a tax perspective. The total wealth of U.S. billionaires soared by US$1.8 trillion during the COVID-19 pandemic as of mid-August. And recent reporting has found that despite their massive riches, billionaires tend to pay very little in taxes. As an expert on tax policy, I have observed that there’s a big obstacle standing in the way o...

Sen. Joe Manchin’s Support For Natural Gas Could Derail Biden’s US Climate Plan

3Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

BUSINESS, VIDEO REELS

Sen. Joe Manchin’s Support For Natural Gas Could Derail Biden’s US Climate Plan

Michael Oppenheimer, Princeton University President Joe Biden has a goal for all U.S. electricity to come from zero-carbon sources by 2035. To get there, he’s counting on Congress to approve an ambitious package of incentives and penalties designed to encourage utilities to clean up their power sources. That plan, part of the Democrats’ proposed budget package, may be in trouble. Sen. Joe Manchin, a West Virginia Democrat who has close ties to the coal, oil and gas industries and concerns about the speed of Biden’s planned emissions cuts, will oversee that part of the budget as chair of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. Manchin has emphasized using “all energy sources” as “cleanly as possible” and described the idea of eliminating fossil fuels as “very, very disturbing.”...

Lead Pipes That Threaten Public Health Across The US – Targets Of Biden’s Infrastructure Plan

3Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

ENVIRONMENT, VIDEO REELS

Lead Pipes That Threaten Public Health Across The US – Targets Of Biden’s Infrastructure Plan

President Joe Biden’s infrastructure plan includes a proposal to upgrade the U.S. drinking water distribution system by removing and replacing dangerous lead pipes. As a geochemist and environmental health researcher who has studied the heartbreaking impacts of lead poisoning in children for decades, I am happy to see due attention paid to this silent killer, which disproportionately affects poor communities of color. Biden’s proposal includes US$45 billion to eliminate all lead pipes and service lines nationwide. The funding would go to programs administered by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. This effort would affect an estimated 6 million to 10 million homes, along with 400,000 schools and child care facilities. I see it as one of the nation’s best chances to finally get the ...

Benefiting Workers, Their Families And Their Employers Too – Biden’s Paid Leave Proposal

2Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

POLITICS

Benefiting Workers, Their Families And Their Employers Too – Biden’s Paid Leave Proposal

The Biden administration is proposing a massive expansion of federal benefits through a 10-year US$1.8 trillion package that includes new spending on child care, the continuation of the expanded child tax credit and more robust nutrition programs. Notably, it would introduce a new federal paid family leave benefit costing an estimated $225 billion over the next decade. If it is fully phased in as proposed, workers could get up to $4,000 a month for a total of 12 weeks in paid leave to care for a newborn, another loved one or themselves. The Conversation U.S. asked Joya Misra, a sociologist who studies how public policies influence inequality, four questions about paid leave in the U.S. 1. How much of a change would this be? Federal law currently guarantees many employed Americans the righ...

Cut Emissions 50% This Decade, But Can Biden Make A New US Climate Pledge Happen?

23Apr

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ENVIRONMENT

Cut Emissions 50% This Decade, But Can Biden Make A New US Climate Pledge Happen?

President Joe Biden announced an ambitious new national climate target at the world leaders’ climate summit on April 22. He pledged to cut U.S. carbon emissions in half by the end of this decade – a drop of 50-52% by 2030 compared to 2005 levels – and aim for net zero emissions by 2050. The new goal is a big deal because it formally brings together the many different ideas on infrastructure, the budget, federal regulatory policy and disparate actions in the states and industry for transforming the U.S. economy into a highly competitive, yet very green giant. It also signals to the rest of the world that “America is back” and prepared to work on climate change. Stopping global warming at 1.5 degrees Celsius – the aim of the Paris climate agreement – will require an immediate global effort...