Presidential town hall Tuesday night

By artappraiser on Tue, 02/16/2021 - 8:26pm |

Tonight, I’ll be answering questions at my first town hall since taking office. Make sure to tune in to CNN at 9 PM ET / 8 PM CT to watch. pic.twitter.com/tMjDVuNwXM
— President Biden (@POTUS) February 17, 2021

URL:

https://www.cnn.com/2021/02/16/politics/watch-cnn-biden-town-hall/index.html

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I think he did an especially great job (Bill Clinton style) talking to the small business brewer about help coming vs. the way it was during Trump and also, similarly on the minimum wage issue.

by artappraiser on Tue, 02/16/2021 - 10:19pm

Biden vows to end jail time for drug offences but says he will not defund police

President supported putting more money into policing but also changing sentencing laws

by Graeme Massie in Los Angeles for TheIndependent.co.uk,

Joe Biden vowed to end jail time for drug offences but told a TV town hall he will not defund police.

The president spoke out on the state of policing and prison sentencing in the US when asked about how to not “over legislate” police officers in high crime neighbourhoods, while training them to “police with compassion.”

“By number one, not defunding the police,” said Mr Biden at the CNN event in Wisconsin.

“We have to put more money into police work so that we have legitimate community policing and we are in a situation where we change the legislation. No-one should go to jail for a drugs offence, no-one should go to jail for the use of a drug, they should go to drug rehabilitation. "“We should be in the position where we change the sentencing system to one that relates to a notion of making sure you focus on making sure there is rehabilitation.”

Mt Biden went on to defend police officers by saying they had a right to get home from work safely, while also defending the rights of young Black men to not be harassed [....]

(I think both promises will be a big hit in Wisconsin, I don't know where else, but in that I am sure! Plenty of drug charges on all colors of people there. And in southeastern Wisconsin, i.e. Kenosha, Milwaukee, Wauwatosa, it was pitch perfect, they wanted to hear it!)

HERE'S SOME VIDEO CLIPS that Rupar posted on topic (he's got lots more related to most of the questions)

"No one should go to jail for a drug offense. No one should go to jail for the use of a drug" -- Biden pic.twitter.com/ExxAQLlagD
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) February 17, 2021

"Every cop when they get up in the morning and put on that shield has a right to expect to go home to their family that night. Conversely, every kid walking across the street wearing a hoodie is not a member of of a gang" -- Biden pic.twitter.com/pQ2qVvXLuu
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) February 17, 2021

"I'm going to say something that's going to get me in trouble...think about it, if you want to know where the American public is, look at the money being spent on advertising. Did you ever 5 years ago think every second or third ad out of 5 or 6 would be biracial couples?"- Biden pic.twitter.com/nXtyliAWPg
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) February 17, 2021

by artappraiser on Tue, 02/16/2021 - 10:49pm

Biden says as President for the first time that we should not defund the police.
— Tara Palmeri (@tarapalmeri) February 17, 2021

Of course we should not. You are young. You understand that “defund the police” means move some of their resources elsewhere. Most of the country thinks it means literally defund the police and that scares the crap out of them. If you mean it literally you will lose.
— Dr. Regina Michele, JD, RPLU (@ReginaMichele5) February 17, 2021

by artappraiser on Tue, 02/16/2021 - 11:12pm

Biden: "The nation is not divided"

From CNN's Maureen Chowdhury, 1 hr. 35 min. ago

President Biden said he takes issue with "everybody" stating that the US is a divided country.
"The nation is not divided. You go out there and take a look and talk to people, you have fringes on both ends. But it's not nearly as divided as we make it out to be and we have to bring it together," Biden said in response to a question about his immediate and tangible plans to address division in the country.
Biden explained that he believes most people in the country agree on issues like coronavirus aid.

"You cannot function in our system without consensus other than abusing power at the executive level. So, I really think there's so many things that we agree on that we don't focus enough on... We have to be more decent and treat people with respect and just decency," Biden said.

Biden went on to revisit and mention some of the reasons he decided to run for President, including restoring the "soul of the country" and rebuilding the "backbone of the country."

by artappraiser on Tue, 02/16/2021 - 11:33pm

for example

Very little conservative grassroots backlash to a $1.9 trillion spending bill and their own 2012 presidential candidate coming out for minimum wage hike. RIP libertarians.
— Zaid Jilani (@ZaidJilani) February 17, 2021

Wait until 2025 when President DeSantis signs into law the Hawley-Warren bill to break up Facebook.
— Zaid Jilani (@ZaidJilani) February 17, 2021

Rand Paul is like no you can't just pass a tax plan that eliminates child poverty. Treasury Secretary Sheila Bair is like haha money printer go brr.
— Zaid Jilani (@ZaidJilani) February 17, 2021

(Rand Paul being one of those fringes on the edge, of course)

by artappraiser on Wed, 02/17/2021 - 12:04am

The entire concept of universal human rights is completely incompatible with cultural relativism.

Looks like Biden picked the latter. https://t.co/IXJuQbyJP5
— Melissa Chen (@MsMelChen) February 17, 2021

So we can't have human rights without homogenizing everything, deleting & disaviwing cultural differences. Makes it sound easy. Yugoslavia tried that - - just throw everyone in the army and they come out unified. Except the Albanians. And the gypsies. And everyone else when the next civil war brews up.

Human rights that can't respect and work with differences aren't human. Yes, we want things the same and different all at once. It's an unachievable quandary, especially as different people have different desires for their octane mix. So improving on that contradiction is where our work's cut out, not cultural genocide in the name of upholding rights. Female genital mutilation and widows tossed on funeral pyres and imprisoning Uyghurs in forced labor factories are still distinct from African & Chinese & Indian lifestyles and differing opinions/viewpoints and most of their traditions. They are not us, and pretending they are doesn't promote humanity - it breaks it down. Black Americans aren't just Black Africans in a different place - they're culturally different. That doesn't mean they don't have many of the basic needs or share some interests. But it's a whole differ my feel. So Joe saying, "we're not here to destroy you - we're here to respect you and lift you up" is reassuring. Genghis Khan razed over cultural differences - hardly a humanitarian.

by PeraclesPlease on Wed, 02/17/2021 - 3:32am

Jilani makes the detailed argument for Biden's expressed preference about student loan forgiveness:

Blanket student debt forgiveness doesn't stimulate the economy very much, does nothing to close wealth gaps, and disproportionately helps the financially stable and well-off. Targeted forgiveness or better yet, focusing $ on child poverty, is a better path https://t.co/F3I58iuFtq
— Zaid Jilani (@ZaidJilani) February 19, 2021

by artappraiser on Fri, 02/19/2021 - 4:38pm

Presidential town hall Tuesday night

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