A president (or his administation) can do a lot of damage in the time between an election loss and an inauguration: Biden carries anti-Israel book
A new president needs transition time to get his or her administration together prior to the transfer of power. But how much transition time is too much? I’m of the opinion that the current 2+ months is too much. Of course, a lot of damage can be done in less than two months, as well.
So, what are we to make of this?
Biden was spotted by the press leaving Nantucket Bookworks holding a copy of “The Hundred Years’ War on Palestine: A History of Settler Colonialism and Resistance, 1917-2017” by Columbia University professor emeritus Rashid Khalidi, the New York Post reported.
“I do not speak to the Post (or the Times for that matter), so this is not for publication, but my reaction is that this is four years too late,” Khalidi told the Post of Biden holding his book.
You may recall the name “Khalidi.” As I wrote back in 2016, while discussing Obama’s parting shots at Israel when he was in lame-duck-land much as Biden is now:
Did you hear a faint bell ringing in the background when you read the name “Rashid Khalidi”? You should have, because Khalidi was the subject of the famous but never-revealed 2003 video of Obama at a function honoring him, a video that the LA Times had possession of but refused to release.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen a single story about Biden carrying a book or reading a book, and it’s an odd time to start now. But it’s definitely a leaf from Obama’s book.
Donald “Reagan” Trump just let everyone know what will happen if the hostages are not released by Jan 20. He should add “alive”.
With the condition of his dementia afflicted brain, can Mr. Biden even read, still?
Good luck changing Inauguration Day, since it’s hard-coded into Amendment XX:
The terms of the President and the Vice President shall end at noon on the 20th day of January, and the terms of Senators and Representatives at noon on the 3d day of January, of the years in which such terms would have ended if this article had not been ratified; and the terms of their successors shall then begin.
I shudder to think of what Biden-caused catastrophe would be big enough to create a huge majority in favor of amending the Constitution to move up the inauguration date. Probably we’d be too busy raiding other bands of survivors in the ruins of our cities for their stocks of canned goods to bother about revising the Constitution, and our local warlords aren’t following it anyway.
The Constitution does not contain the word “November.”
Besides just yesterday announcing that it will be sending many millions of dollars MORE in aid to Ukraine (https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/biden-administration-announces-additional-725-million-security-assistance-for-ukraine/ar-AA1v9sXW), the lame-duck Biden administration (or whoever is driving it these days) is also busy, very busy, trying to suffocate our coal mining industry.
Too bad, Wyoming and Montana, sucks to be you, I guess.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/biden-blocks-new-mining-region-produces-40-nations-coal-disaster
There seems to be no end to the perfidy of these people, going “scorched earth” policy-wise in these last days….
@Cap’n Rusty:The Constitution does not contain the word “November.”
I hadn’t thought of that. Election Day is set by statute, not by the Constitution.
As for Biden holding the book, neither explanation is good for him. Either he knew what he was doing, or he didn’t.
I recall Obama meeting Hugo Chavez and Chavez giving him a book. It was relatively obvious that the book was going to be some Marxist screed, and it was. But both Obama and Chavez were wearing huge grins as the book was exchanged.
https://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/the-book-chvez-gave-obama
The left gnashing their teeth over evil American colonialism or imperialism. Some things never change.
Either Biden was sentient enough–various areas decay at different times–to know he was doing IN YOUR FACE, or somebody else was. Not an accident.
Biden has been a politician – for over 50 years (?), and I doubt he has ever been big on reading…at least not for the past 40+ years when he had staff doing his reading.
Had saw something else about The Hundred Years’ War on Palestine book in the past day or so…can’t remember now.
IMO, federal agencies should be assembled into 30-odd departments and trusteeships and these assembled per the president’s discretion into about a half-dozen portfolios each reporting to an appointive VP. You have about 40 appointments and the top echelon of the federal government is covered. Assembling a roster of 40 appointments might take about four months, so mid-March might be an optimal time to inaugurate a new administration.
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That presumes, of course, that the outgoing administration is not run by criminals. The last three Democratic administrations have used the interregnum to scam around. (George W. Bush seemed lost his last five months in office).
Good luck changing Inauguration Day, since it’s hard-coded into Amendment XX:
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If I’m not mistaken, the federal election day can be set by statutory law. You could move it back to a particular weekday in the range running from 19 to 25 September.
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NB, Congress could have transferred election day to Saturday. The ‘voter suppression’ fools kvetch about queues, but they do not recommend the one measure which would have done much to eliminate them: moving voting to a day when only 12% of the adult population are working as a matter of routine. Instead, we got a mess of convenience voting measures which wrecked ballot security.
Yes, I recall the name Khalidi and I associated it instantly with Obama.
I can’t help but assume Biden is plotting to sabotage Israel as he leaves the Presidency, just as Obama did in 2016:
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Choosing not to veto, Obama lets anti-settlement resolution pass at UN Security Council
In dramatic departure from eight years of policy, US abstains, enabling 14-0 vote; Israel accuses Obama, Kerry of abandoning it; Palestinians hail ‘day of victory’
https://www.timesofisrael.com/choosing-not-to-veto-obama-lets-anti-settlement-resolution-pass-at-un-security-council/
_________________________________
Which neo discusses in more detail at her link she quotes above:
https://www.thenewneo.com/2016/12/26/obama-and-the-un-vote-on-israel-part-i-backlash/
Biden hasn’t a clue what book he was holding. It’s a passable wager that some 27 year old jagoff in his entourage grabbed the book in question and stuffed it in his hand.
I shudder to think of what Biden-caused catastrophe would be big enough to create a huge majority in favor of amending the Constitution to move up the inauguration date.
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What catastrophe persuaded legislators to enact the 20th Amendment?
Biden hasn’t a clue what book he was holding.
Oh, how would you know? Biden is impaired but not brain-dead. He can read a teleprompter. I assume he can read a book cover.
I noticed how chipper the Old Boy was after Harris lost catastrophically. He isn’t sharp as a tack, but he’s not a vegetable either.
Oh, how would you know?
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He’s holding it upside down.
@Art Deco:What catastrophe persuaded legislators to enact the 20th Amendment?
It was 1932, a very different world politically. Today very nearly half the voters are persuaded that Hitler is coming to power in January and the “real” government is justified in doing whatever it takes to frustrate him from accomplishing anything he was elected to do. In my judgement, the amount of support needed today, in 2024, for an amendment seen to favor Trump, would be some kind of Biden-caused catastrophe.
He’s holding it upside down.
Eye roll. He’s carrying the book, not reading it.
I would expect Biden to be reading Dick and Jane stories, or “pr0n”. 🙂
Since the election date is set by statute, and only has to occur before the first Wednesday in December (see below, because the new Congressional term begins on January 3rd )(Amendment 20), the date of the election can be moved closer to Jan 20 without a Constitutional amendment.
How about the second Saturday after Thanksgiving (because of course Art Deco is right on that), which would give the outgoing admin about 5 weeks less time to scramble things up. And shred incriminating documents.
@ Art Deco > “What catastrophe persuaded legislators to enact the 20th Amendment?”
It took two.
Wikipedia: “The long lame-duck period might have been a practical necessity at the end of the 18th century, when any newly elected official might require several months to put his affairs in order and then undertake an arduous journey from his home to the national capital, but it eventually had the effect of impeding the functioning of government in the modern age. From the early 19th century, it also meant a lame-duck Congress and presidential administration would fail to adequately respond to a significant national crisis in a timely manner. Each institution could do this on the theory that, at best, a lame-duck Congress or administration had neither the time nor the mandate to tackle problems, whereas the incoming administration or Congress would have both the time and a fresh electoral mandate, to examine and address the problems the nation faced. These problems very likely would have been at the center of the debate of the just-completed election cycle.
This dilemma was seen most notably in 1861 and 1933, after the elections of Abraham Lincoln and Franklin D. Roosevelt, respectively, plus the newly elected senators and representatives. Under the Constitution at the time, these presidents had to wait four months [to March 4] before they and the incoming Congresses could deal with the secession of Southern states and the Great Depression respectively.”
And on the current date of choice, also Wikipedia:
“By 1792, federal law permitted each state legislature to choose Presidential electors any time within a 34-day period[3] before the first Wednesday in December.[4] A November election was convenient because the harvest would have been completed but the most severe winter weather, impeding transportation, would not yet have arrived, while the new election results also would roughly conform to a new year. Tuesday was chosen as Election Day so that voters could attend church on Sunday, travel to the polling location, usually in the county seat, on Monday, and vote before Wednesday, which was usually when farmers would sell their produce at the market.[5] Originally, states varied considerably in the method of choosing electors. Gradually, states converged on selection by some form of popular vote.[citation needed]
Development of the Morse electric telegraph, funded by Congress in 1843 and successfully tested in 1844, was a technological change that clearly augured an imminent future of instant communication nationwide.[6] To prevent information from one state from influencing Presidential electoral outcomes in another, Congress responded in 1845 by mandating a uniform national date for choosing Presidential electors.[1] Congress chose the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November to harmonize current electoral practice with the existing 34-day window in federal law, as the span between Election Day and the first Wednesday in December is always 29 days.[7]”
Not interested in what Wikipedia has to say.
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Our incoming executives do not have a shadow cabinet. We either have to give them time to assemble their top echelon or we compel them to rely on holdovers from the previous administration. You know, like Sally Yates.
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In re the 20th Amendment, the salient portion was providing for Congress to convene within sixty days of its election. The former practice was to have Congress in session in alternate years, convening 13 months after its election. NB, the economy went into free fall in November 1930 and Pres. Hoover refused to call Congress into special session to consider meliorative measures. Nothing was done for over a year. Hoover was also unwilling to undertake emergency measures under his own signature during the four month interlude between Roosevelt’s election and inauguration. He supposedly met with Roosevelt and proposed a joint declaration by the two of them and Roosevelt told him he needed to be willing to do it under his own authority and if you cannot manage it I will do it in March. Very capable man, Hoover, but sitting in that chair he could hardly make a good decision to save his life.
He’s carrying the book, not reading it.
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You can carry the book that way, but you usually don’t. Your hand grips the spine. Note, the thesis is he’s posing with it. And it’s upside down.
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The [socialist] credo and the damage done—British edition
(AKA J.R.R. Tolkien in the crosshairs…)
“Mordor In England”—
https://blazingcatfur.ca/2024/12/03/mordor-in-england/
Key graf:
the amount of support needed today, in 2024, for an amendment seen to favor Trump,
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Even in 1932-33, the ratification process took ten months. Not sure how it is supposed to ‘favor Trump’ over any potential occupant, especially since Trump will be entering his last term.
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An amendment that might actually be worth the effort would be one that established a default electoral calendar and required opt-outs enacted at the state level be approved in referenda and be subject to automatic reconsideration by referendum at least once every 30 years. Defaults might be: (a) all non-judicial offices subject to competitive election have four year terms; (b) all such are subject to a rotation-in-office rule: if you’ve held an office for 14 of the last 16 years or will hit that wall in the coming term, you have to stand down; (c) general elections are held on the Friday and Saturday after All Saints’ Day unless a convocation of state legislators (proceeding by weighted voting) appoints a different day; (d) the standard date in the first year of a quadrennial cycle is reserved for federal offices; (e) the standard date in the 3d year is reserved for the election of Governor’s and state legislators; (f) upper chambers of any given legislature are elected by caucuses of those elected to the lower chamber or by caucuses of legislators elected one level down (i.e. the upper chamber of the federal legislature is elected by state legislatures and that of state legislators by county boards); (g) understudies (e.g. Lt. Governors) are appointed and given supervisory responsibilities in an administrative hierarchy; (h) understudies succeed to general executive positions for an interim period (say, 8-9 months) during which legislators from one level down elect a successor and he puts together a roster of appointments; and (i) offices with a specialized book (e.g. school board or district attorney) be elected in the 4th year of a quadrennial cycle.
I’m not sure I see the strategy behind Trump drawing a bright red line on the hostages on day zero, considering that he will have had no authority over the U.S. military prior to that, and his political enemies will have!
Seems like a good way to invite Democrats to help you start with a face plant, not that they needed any such invitation.
Ray: remember the day Reagan took office and that same day the many hostages were suddenly released?
Trump reprises Reagan.Red lines work!
IMO, Democrats are the party of evil, and US voters are suckers, ignorati, or fools—lapping up the taste-good dreck the Dem-run MSM dishes out to them.
I doubt the book was Biden’s choice or was premeditated. He took somebody’s advice to buy it — if somebody didn’t buy it for him.
Obama got in trouble for being photographed carrying the book The Post-American World by Fareed Zakaria. Zakaria isn’t the most insightful analyst, but (the book’s title notwithstanding) it’s probably good for US presidents to realize that we aren’t the global hegemon some leaders thought we were 20 or 30 years ago.
The book Chavez gave to Obama was Eduardo Galeano’s The Open Veins of Latin America. 5 years after that Galeano said that he should have learned more about economics when he wrote the book, which was taken as a recantation. He later had to backtrack his criticism and stand by his book. It was indeed something of a Marxist screed. The original translator, Cedric Belfrage, has since been identified as a Soviet agent.