150 thoughts on “A New Day Dawns”

  1. NYTimes:

    ā€œTo heal, we must remember,ā€ Mr. Biden said, standing in front of the Reflecting Pool, which was surrounded by 400 lights to commemorate the 400,000 victims of the virus. ā€œIt’s hard sometimes to remember. But that’s how we heal. It’s important to do that as a nation. That’s why we’re here today. Between sundown and dusk, let us shine the lights in the darkness along the sacred pool of reflection and remember all whom we lost.ā€

    As he spoke, the bells at Washington National Cathedral began to chime, and the Empire State Building in New York and the Space Needle in Seattle were lit. Cities from Miami to San Diego also planned to light buildings for the occasion while Mr. Biden’s inaugural committee encouraged Americans to light candles in their windows in a show of national solidarity.

  2. wapo editorial board:

    Celebrate, despite everything

    Javier Limoncellos sets up flags along the National Mall on Monday as part of preparations for Wednesday's inauguration.

    Javier Limoncellos sets up flags along the National Mall on Monday as part of preparations for Wednesday’s inauguration. (Matt McClain/The Washington Post)

    WELL, WE made it. Some 1,461Ā days after Donald Trump took office as president, he must leave it, having been defeated for reelection last Nov. 3 by Joseph R. Biden Jr., who will be sworn in as the 46th president at noon Wednesday. Many Americans, surveying the damage Mr. Trump did — most spectacularly by incitingĀ mob violence at the CapitolĀ on Jan. 6 — are understandably not inclined to feel anything much more positive than relief. They should not, however, sell this momentous occasion short.
    Measured against what could have gone wrong — a Trump reelection, probably via a bare electoral college majority, or his outright refusal to surrender office once he lost — Mr. Biden’s impending inauguration is cause for celebration.

  3. Today is dawning a little earlier, a little brighter and a lot more relaxed than any day in the last 4 years. Thank god that’s over.Ā 

  4. CBS is reporting that President Biden will immediately do seventeen actions this afternoon to halt or reverse a lot of the damage caused by the previous person who was in the White House.Ā  One of those directly impacts me and is why I am counting down the minutes until noon.

  5. Damn. Bad news. Dex, if you’re looking in, I’m so sorry to hear your partner has left you.Ā 
    To pick up on BB’s post about Joe’s executive actions today, from NYT:

    WASHINGTON — President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. will unleash a full-scale assault on his predecessor’s legacy on Wednesday, acting hours after taking the oath of office to sweep aside President Trump’s pandemic response, reverse his environmental agenda, tear down his anti-immigration policies, bolster the sluggish economic recovery and restore federal efforts aimed at promoting diversity.

    Moving with an urgency not seen from any other modern president, Mr. Biden will sign 17 executive orders, memorandums and proclamations from the Oval Office on Wednesday afternoon, according to his top policy advisers.

    Individually, the actions are targeted at what the incoming president views as specific, egregious abuses by Mr. Trump during four tumultuous years. Collectively, his advisers said Mr. Biden’s assertive use of executive authority was intended to be a hefty and visible down payment on one of his primary goals as president: to, as they said Tuesday, ā€œreverse the gravest damagesā€ done to the country by Mr. Trump.

    ā€œWe don’t have a second to waste when it comes to tackling the crises we face as a nation,ā€ Mr. BidenĀ said Tuesday night on TwitterĀ after arriving in Washington on the eve of his inauguration. ā€œThat’s why after being sworn in tomorrow, I’ll get right to work.ā€…

    Good on you Joe.Ā 

  6. Dexters wife, so very sad. I’m sorry, tragic.
    I’m waiting online since 6 am trying to get an appointment for my oldest client Rose, 88 for a Covid vaccine. Publix started giving them. Only online and so very tough for old people.Ā 

  7. BB, in addition to his expected removal of the transgender military ban on day one there’s also this

    wapo:

    President-elect Joe Biden announced Tuesday that he will nominate Rachel Levine, Pennsylvania’s top health official, as his assistant secretary of health. Levine, a pediatrician, would become the first openly transgender federal official to be confirmed by the U.S. Senate.

  8. sturge, is dexter in danger due to exposure?Ā  i keep thinking about X-R when he told us about sweetie being diagnosed with it and what followed.

  9. Four and a half hours! Ā  Has 45* the losing-est prez left the building?Ā 
    Expunge his evil deeds, Joe. Ā Imagine a POTUS who doesn’t think it’s all about the frills and who doesn’t treat the office like just another scam.
    Also, my presidential pins just mailed.

  10. BB, politico also reported this about the def sec nominee:

    Transgender troops:Ā Austin also announced that he supports Biden’s plan to roll back Trump’s restrictive transgender troop policy and return to the Obama-era doctrine that allows transgender people to serve openly in the military. Biden has pledged to overturn the ban on day one of his presidency.

    “I support the president’s plan to overturn the ban,” Austin told Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.).

    “I truly believe … that if you’re fit and you’re qualified to serve and you can maintain the standards you should be allowed to serve,” he said. “And you can expect that I will support that throughout.”

  11. patd – this tweet includes a link to a NY Times article from 2018.Ā  Reading the article will provide some background into why Biden’s pick for HHS assistant secretary, Dr. Rachel Levine, is so important.Ā  Something I tried to do in 2007 was to change how reporters referred to me.Ā  They would write “transgender Pamela, running for office”.Ā  I would ask them toĀ  write “politician Pamela, who is transgender, is running for.” The distinction is I am a politician running for office who happens to be transgender, not Pamela the transgender and the rest is not read.

  12. Can’t recall Flatus’ diagnosis, but PatD and I looked it up and although not good, it seemed manageable. Ā Sad for Dexter’s loss.Ā 

  13. tRUMPsky pardoned Steve BananaNazi because he believed he can help him rebuild his political career. Ā 
    Do you hear that Republicans in Congress? Ā Take that shut seriously and ban the bastard from running for prez! Ā Ā 
    He’d never take a smaller office. Ā Even if he ran for gov of NY or FL, nobody would have him. Ā Hope to god the entire family is shunned everywhere for eternity.Ā 

  14. Another Florida “shit show” After waiting in the Publix queue for a Covid Vaccine for Rose since 6 am, when they started taking appointments, server error. It crashed. OMG, what a mess for older than 65.

  15. business insider via msn:

    Fox News has reportedly laid off political editor Chris Stirewalt and more than a dozen other staffers in what insiders described as a “blood bath.
    The media giant has sacked at least 16 digital editorial staffers, including senior editors and people who had been at the company for more than a decade,Ā The Daily BeastĀ reported, citing 12 current and former Fox News employees.
    A Fox spokesperson told Insider that the dismissals were part of an ongoing restructure.
    Stirewalt, who was laid off Tuesday night, had become a controversial figure among fans of the network after he defended Fox’s early projection that President-elect Joe Biden would win Arizona in the election.
    […]
    …Ā insiders told The Daily Beast that the decision is likely to be politically motivated as the network, which is owned by media tycoon Rupert Murdoch, moves towards more right-wing opinion segments rather than news coverage.
    “There is a concerted effort to get rid of real journalists,” one former staffer told the publication. “They laid capable people off who were actual journalists and not blind followers.”

  16. Well, I have some wrapping up to do on 2 separate jobs and am thereby likely to miss the television festivities and festooneries……..not a problem.Ā  Ā I know the score, and money must still be made.Ā  Ā I will see it all later today.Ā 
     

  17. The fat man is going to say the fat lady hasn’t sung yet. Ā He’ll be back…unless Republicans in Congress have the balls to stop him.

    I can’t listen. Gonna take a long shower.

  18. Dumbass gave a mercifully short farewell speech, repeating teh same bullshit we’ve heard a thousand times.Ā  The audience was basically just his family and Mark Meadows, and the Marines manning the cannons for the 21 gun salute.Ā  I turned the sound down so that I didn’t have to have it sneak into my head – just read bits and pieces of the transcript when I’d look up at the Wapo feed.Ā  That was more than enough.Ā  He finally listened and got the fuck out of our house.Ā  Good riddance.

  19. Muting it every time they replay a blurb. Ā Hate the sound of his droning voice. Ā  Good riddance to bad rubbish.Ā 

  20. Dex… Ā  so sorry for your loss.
     
    I’m super happy! Ā I put peach jam on my toast this morning in honor of 2 new Senators being sworn in today.

  21. Did anyone notice that Mr. T’s hair was less orange this morning, more dark and gray?Ā  Also, I think his makeup artist has blobbed that crap on his face as a joke!!Ā Ā 
     

  22. This is the first inauguration I have not been at in years.Ā  The last one was quite painful as I suffered a severe deep hip bruise.Ā  While thinking back to that fateful slip on to one of the Mall’s infamous granite curbs I started to wonder about crowd size.Ā  There is the distinct possibility President Biden might have a much larger crowd due to the twenty-five thousand invitees.

  23. He left as he arrived – a short-fingered vulgarian who cared only about himself and his own view of his importance – only 4 years older and uglier and his racism and disdain for this country in full display.Ā  He will be missed – in a very good way.

  24. MJ… I put the tv on a little bit past 8am… saw the helicopter on the WH lawn… said to myself ā€œthat’s enoughā€… then turned the tv off.
     
    I was done with that fucker….

  25. No!!!! No split screen. Ā The bastard left. Ā Don’t show his treasonous Ā ass anymore! Ā This is Biden’s day!Ā 

  26. From times passed, January 20, 1993
    An excerpt from
    On Pulse of the Morning by Maya Angelou

    Give birth again
    To the dream.
    Ā 
    Women, children, men,
    Take it into the palms of your hands.
    Ā 
    Mold it into the shape of your most
    Private need. Sculpt it into
    The image of your most public self.
    Lift up your hearts
    Each new hour holds new chances
    For new beginnings.
    Ā 
    Do not be wedded forever
    To fear, yoked eternally
    To brutishness.
    Ā 
    The horizon leans forward,
    Offering you space to place new steps of change.
    Here, on the pulse of this fine day
    You may have the courage
    To look up and out upon me, the
    Rock, the River, the Tree, your country.

  27. Listening to Roy Blunt, What I’m seeing isĀ  a big “don’t let the door hit you in the ass” to Trump.
    I think everybody is “think God it is over”
    Jack

  28. Biden’s hairdresser apparently doesn’t have the strong hairspray that T’s had!! Ā Loving the normalcy of the looks of the people there.

  29. Poobah, I’m getting serial notices about WordPress errors when I post something, hit back arrow and refresh and there is what I just posted.Ā  Any ideas about that?
     
    Good on Joe – calling out Dumbass’ base.

  30. Waited 4 years for this.Ā  Appropriate once again, “this long national nightmare is now over”.
    Great cermony – I am truly happy.

  31. Of the photos Wapo has posted as images from the inauguration, none is as satisfying as seeing the ass end of Marine 1 as it flies away from the WH and toward the Washington Monument and Andrews as it is taking out the White House trash for the last time.

  32. President Biden has now lifted four years of every day not knowing if I would be fired.Ā  I was the face of the USDA transgender employees.Ā  Every single day I expected to receive a call to be told to return my credentials and pick up a box from my cube.Ā  My guess for why that did not happen is the guy had no interest in farming, therefore no interest in the department.Ā  But, I also expected someone somewhere to attempt to get me canned.Ā  That stress is gone now.Ā  A great relaxation has come to me, and I am very happy.Ā  I look forward to putting President Biden and Vice President Harris pictures on my cube wall.Ā  It is a very good day.

  33. Craig… me too. Ā I couldn’t help but think of how proud Patsi would’ve been to see Garth up there.
     
    I also cried when Kamala was sworn in.

  34. Lol- my friend just said to a coworker, ā€œhooray, we have a new Presidentā€, and the guy shook his head dejectedly and replied, ā€œI dunno, I’m worried about gas pricesā€šŸ™„šŸ˜†Ā 

  35. šŸŽ¼ fly him to the moon, let him sit behind the bars, let him see what life is like exiled from afaršŸŽ¶
     
    šŸŽ¼in other words: please go away…šŸŽ¶

  36. Bink

    Garth never has liked mixing in politics.Ā  He settled for declining invitation to perform for at Trump’s inaugural even though he had sung at every one since Carter.

  37. ā€œĀ he had sung at every one since Carter.ā€
     
    Carter?! Ā He ain’t that old!
     
    Will have ā€œLow Placesā€ stuck in my head for a couple days, now, and i’m cool with thatšŸ¤·ā€ā™‚ļøšŸ‡ŗšŸ‡ø

  38. President Biden. Ā Sigh. Ā I think a nap is in order. Ā 
    as for power sharing with weathervane Mitch only if the split would s 90 percent to us and 10 for Trump Mitch and that is partially a salute to Garland

  39. i was calling for Biden to drop out of the primaries! Ā  What an asshole (i am)!
    Ā 
    …warming up to him. Ā Might not be the President i want, but might be the President we need. Ā 
    Ā 
    Ok, Congrats, all- we did itšŸ‘šŸ’ŖšŸ‡ŗšŸ‡ø

    (clarification: was fully warmed-up to him after the segment from the DNCC about him working with kids with speech-impediments)

  40. Just watched President Biden (it feels good to be able to type those words again) sign the documents.Ā  Most importantly he did not have a need to hold up the documents to show off that he can sign his name.
     
    Talked to my girlfriend and she too admits to crying when Vice-President Harris (it feels good to be able to type those words again) was sworn in.Ā  She is not prone to such actions, and said she has no idea why she did.Ā  She knows, but will take a bit to realize the reasons.

  41. Craig – A round of virtual drinks on the way via PayPal. Ā Thanks for hosting Biden’s inauguration. Ā It wouldn’t be the same without y’all.Ā 

  42. Jamie, Poobah, that’s the message I get (See Jamie’s 1:14 comment) – then when I hit the back error and refresh all is well until the next post.

  43. Bink, from Yahoo! News:

    “This is a great day in our household,”Ā Brooks said at a press conference Monday. “This is not a political statement. This is a statement of unity.” He did not disclose what he will perform, saying only it will be a solo performance of “more of the broken down, bare-bones stuff,” and won’t include “We Shall Be Free,” the song he played at Barack Obama’s 2009 inaugural. Brooks noted that he has performed for every president since Jimmy Carter, with the exception of Ronald Reagan, and said hedid not play at President Trump’s 2017 inaugural, despite being “lucky enough to be asked,” because “we already had dates in Cincinnati.”

    I didn’t think of Garth as being that old either.

  44. Dumbass’ letter to Joe:

    Dear Joe,

    I have been told by many people and made to state, on camera, that I acknowledge you are the president now! Congratulations, I guess.

    I have some advice for you if you’d like to be as good at being president as I’ve been.

    First, as president, you can really lean on people to stay at any golf courses or hotels you own, and you should definitely do that. It’s a good source of income!

    As president, every day you can access the best information in the world about what is going on, but you don’t have to. You can also just watch Fox in the residence!

    They give you some pieces of paper every day that are very annoying, full of information and written in a small type, but if you don’t look at them and look bored, they eventually will stop giving them to you. Or, at a minimum, they will make sure the ones that they give you have pictures.

    One thing I did not know about the presidency is that you can do anything, because you have an Article II! And people will really let you do whatever you like, short of literally encouraging people to storm the Capitol to overturn the election results. I wish I’d known that sooner. But hindsight is 20/20.

    I guess you also ā€œcan’tā€ actually fire people just because they are James Comey, even if those people are James Comey. I put ā€œcan’tā€ in quotes because, actually, you can. Just, people get very mad.

    If you don’t have any ideas for what to do, I would recommend just randomly undoing everything your predecessor has done, regardless of whether it was good. That’s what I did, and I think it worked out. Also, every week, say you’re going to do something about infrastructure, then don’t! This keeps people on their toes.

    Anyway, a lot of people act like being president is some difficult, challenging job, but actually you can just sit around all day watching yourself on cable and the country will sort of take care of itself, except for theĀ 400,000 peopleĀ who will preventably die.

    Be best,

    Donald

    P.S. This is still definitely a functioning democracy and any weird holes or dents you notice were there when I got here and not put here by me.

    P.P.S. There is nothing in the vaccine stockpile. Good luck!

    You really have to love Alexandra.

     

  45. My wife was elated that Joe won and she made it to Inauguration Day, passing just after midnight today. Ā The horrid awful Covid19 is the worst, a killer of over 400,000 Americans, and it is a sad hard way to die. She had 2 strong recovery days and then crashed hard. That’s the way it works. Ā I was denied a visit but all daughters were in the room. Ā My age and medical problems banned me. Ā Thanks everyone…her name was Carol (Carla Lee) was her nickname. She was 70.

  46. President Biden is pretty spry for 78. Ā  I would not want to be Dr. Biden’s feet. Ā Stairs and pavement in heels.Ā 

  47. One of the most satisfying treats of this day is watching the steady stream of people resigning immediately from their government positions.Ā  So far people that most would not recognize, but if you are watchers of the former administration you would know them an cheer their departure.

  48. Dexter
    You are in my thoughts, I’m glad the girls were able to be with her, And so sad that you weren’t able to. It is a bitch of a disease.
    Jack

  49. I’m so sorry Dexter for your loss and yet angry At the cause. šŸ™šŸ½šŸ™šŸ½šŸ™šŸ½
    Thinking of our sister Patsi and how overjoyed she would have been to finally see this day , and Garth is a fun addition.Ā 
    Old man – please let Cobb know I think of him fondly, especially during corn season! You know his father had a saying about the shiny side and rubber too…
    Well, that damn helicopter hovered around too long for me – didn’t think it would leave! Ā Since then it’s been a grand day- slainte!!

  50. The parade of cold, bundled-up Bernie memes are a hoot and a half. Ā Waiting for Corey to post one.Ā 

  51. Dexter, so very sorry!Ā 
    I also was thinking of Patsi because of Garth. :0)
    I’m so glad for President Biden.Ā 
    Katheleen, nice to see you.Ā 

  52. Jack, just a quick WV Covid vaccination update – don’t believe what you read.Ā  9 of the 13 WV vaccinations sites offering vaccinations tomorrow were “FULL” and utilizing wait lists when the clinics were announced yesterday as were 4 of the 6 listed for Friday.Ā  I guess one could say they are so efficient at getting the vaccines out that they are running out before they can provide vaccine to all who want it, or we can just accept the fact that there ain’t shit for vaccine distributed available to get shots into arms. If excellent delivery of vaccines is reflected by repeated voicemails telling you to call back (Harrison County WV) or busy signals (Randolph County), only to be told you’re out of luck but will be put on a waiting list (Harrison) or they don’t have any idea when they will be scheduling appointments (Randolph) then we’re doing great.Ā  I guess it’s great, Dumbass style.
     
    I have to say I’m as proud today as I was 12 years ago when Barack Obama was sworn in as the first black President of the United States (although I had supported Hilary until Obama secured the nomination).
     
    I recall not too may years ago Republicans crowed about the Repugs having an iron grip on the WH and a permanent majority in Congress.Ā  2004 as I recall. At that time R’s held the WH for 5 of the last 7 presidential elections.Ā  Well now, that’s changed, hasn’t it?Ā  Dems have won 5 of the last 8 presidential elections. Doesn’t pay to gloat long – next two election cycles saw both houses of Congress and the WH flip to Dem control.Ā  Have a familiar ring?Ā  Well, let’s not rest on our laurels, shall we?

  53. Pogo – some repubs still think they own the senate.Ā  An article in one of the papers had a few lines by one of the repubs who stated he was going to shutdown President Biden by introducing a bill to limit something or other.Ā  He apparently forgot that the Dems run the place and decide on which bill goes to where. And, which bill goes no where.

  54. Ā What i really needed to see today was that picture of all the little dumps standing around crying.

    That was sweet.

  55. a new day and a new way at the WH

  56. Watching the Celebrating America event on CNN. I love it. So much better than watching politicians and lobbyists dance badly in formal wear.Ā 

  57. Whatever the glitch is causing the error seems fine if you just page back.Ā  It will look as if it hasn’t posted but if you just reload the whole page it appears as if you had hit post comment.

  58. Jamie, it’s a time limited fix. It’s what I have to do for every comment. By the time it got around to fucking up that option was no longer available.Ā 

  59. Corey – It was just a PayPal donation, so virtual drinks means maintenance. Ā I got a receipt so I assume it went through. Always get a receipt in case of a shift change, right?

    Now, where’s your meme of Bernie sleeping?Ā 

  60. Pogo
    You have sites that are vaccinating the general public?
    Like wow!
    Around here if you aren’t the mayors wife or live in a nursing home you a sol.
    They created a website that requires you have email or text messaging, for those that don’t they put out a phone number but didn’t have anybody to man it so they shut it down. and so on and so on.
    Jack
     

  61. Dexter,
    She’s represented in Biden’s vote total, one of 81,281,502 (as it stands)- we couldn’t have done it without her.
     
    i’m really sorry, it sucks, and shouldn’t have happened.

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