It’s Monday.
It’s Day 5 of the first 100 days of the Biden Administration.
President Biden is expected Monday afternoon to offer remarks prior to signing an Executive Order to strengthen American manufacturing.
According to the press statement posted by the White House the Made in America Executive Order does the following:
- Directs agencies to close current loopholes in how domestic content is measured and increase domestic content requirements. Existing Buy American rules establish a domestic content threshold – the amount of a product that must be made in the U.S. for a purchase to qualify under Buy American law. This Executive Order directs an increase in both the threshold and the price preferences for domestic goods – the difference in price over which government can by a product from a non-US supplier. It also updates how government decides if a product was sufficiently made in America, building a stronger foundation for the enforcement of Buy American laws.
- Appoints a new senior leader in the Executive Office of the President in charge of the government’s Made-in-America policy approach. A bold approach to Made-in-America requires leadership and accountability. The new Director of Made-in-America at the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) will oversee the implementation of this Executive Order, make sure the President’s new rules are followed, work with key stakeholders, and carry through the President’s vision in conjunction with their executive agency partners.
- Increases oversight of potential waivers to domestic preference laws. This order creates a central review of agency waivers of Buy American requirements, fulfilling the President’s commitment to crack down on unnecessary waivers. It also directs the General Services Administration to publish relevant waivers on a publicly available website.
- Connects new businesses to contracting opportunities by requiring active use of supplier scouting by agencies. This Executive Order directs agencies to utilize the Manufacturing Extension Partnership — a national network in all 50 states and Puerto Rico, that supports small and medium-size manufacturers — to help agencies connect with new domestic suppliers who can make the products they need while employing America’s workers.
- Reiterates the President’s strong support for the Jones Act. The President will continue to be a strong advocate for the Jones Act and its mandate that only U.S.-flag vessels carry cargo between U.S. ports, which supports American production and America’s workers. With the signing of the 2021 National Defense Authorization Act, the Jones Act has also been affirmed as an opportunity to invest in America’s workers as we build offshore renewable energy, in line with the President’s goals to build our clean energy future here in America.
- Directs a cross-agency review of all domestic preferences. The order requires agencies to report on their implementation of current Made in America laws and make recommendations for achieving the President’s Made in America goals, and to continue to do so on a bi-annual basis. This review includes a requirement that agencies submit recommendations for ways to ensure items offered to the general public on federal property are Made in America — to the fullest extent possible—and to consider service industries in addition to manufacturing.
President Biden’s remarks are excepted at 3:45 p.m. D.C., time.
Day 3 and 4 fell on Saturday and Sunday.
On Sunday day 4, Reuters reported that President Biden intends to impose a ban “on most non-U.S. citizens entering the country who have recently been in South Africa starting Saturday in a bid to contain the spread of a new variant of COVID-19, a senior U.S. public health official told Reuters.”
Biden on Monday is also reimposing an entry ban on nearly all non-U.S. travelers who have been in Brazil, the United Kingdom, Ireland and 26 countries in Europe that allow travel across open borders.
“We are adding South Africa to the restricted list because of the concerning variant present that has already spread beyond South Africa,” said Dr. Anne Schuchat, the CDC’s principal deputy director, in an interview Sunday.
She added the agency was “putting in place this suite of measures to protect Americans and also to reduce the risk of these variants spreading and worsening the current pandemic.”
Reuters. 01/24/2021.
Saturday was a very slow Biden administration news day. The big story to drop on Saturday was from the Wall Street Journal in which it was reported that former President Twice-Impeached Asshole pressed the Department of Justice to ask “the Supreme Court to invalidate President Biden’s victory, people familiar with the matter said.”
The news of his push to use a government agency to attempt to overturn the 2020 Presidential election came just two days after the New York Times reported that someone within the Justice Department had with the help of Impeached Twice Should be Removed post Presidency in a Senate Trial, devised a plan to replace Acting Attorney General Jeff Rosen, in the hopes the new Acting AG would use the DOJ power to force Georgia state lawmakers to overturn the states Presidential Election results.
The Justice Department’s top leaders listened in stunned silence this month: One of their peers, they were told, had devised a plan with President Donald J. Trump to oust Jeffrey A. Rosen as acting attorney general and wield the department’s power to force Georgia state lawmakers to overturn its presidential election results.
The unassuming lawyer who worked on the plan, Jeffrey Clark, had been devising ways to cast doubt on the election results and to bolster Mr. Trump’s continuing legal battles and the pressure on Georgia politicians. Because Mr. Rosen had refused the president’s entreaties to carry out those plans, Mr. Trump was about to decide whether to fire Mr. Rosen and replace him with Mr. Clark.
The department officials, convened on a conference call, then asked each other: What will you do if Mr. Rosen is dismissed?
New York Times. 01/22/2021.
The answer was unanimous. They would resign.
As of Monday afternoon regarding the possible attempts made by current or former officials within the Justice Department using their power to overturn our 2020 Presidential Election.
Speaking of elections…
On Monday it was reported that Senator from Ohio Republican Rob Portman will not seek reelection.
Portman’s partial statement:
I feel fortunate to have been entrusted by the people of Ohio to represent them in the US Senate. Today, I am announcing that I have made a decision not to run again in 2022.
This doesn’t mean I’m leaving now – I still have two more years in my term and I intend to use that time to get a lot done. I will be the top Republican on the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, and I have a number of oversight projects and legislative initiatives I’m eager to get across the finish line. Over the next two years, I look forward to being able to focus all my energy on legislation and the challenges our country faces rather than on fundraising and campaigning.
This was not an easy decision because representing the people of Ohio has been an honor. But I’ve been doing this a long time, longer than I ever intended.
portman.senate.gov. 01/25/2021.
He concludes his statement by saying; in these next two years, I will continue to be actively engaged, doing my best to provide hope as we try to get through the devastating coronavirus pandemic and doing my best to help bring our great country together, to help us heal, so we address the many challenges we face together.”
As one Republican ends–in two-years his political career another Republican partisan hack has announced her intent to run for Governor of the State of Arkansas.
As a reminder…
Notably, the Mueller report revealed that Sanders had admitted to investigators that she had lied to reporters in a way that protected Trump from obstruction claims. https://t.co/XPqT7EMxg9
— Matthew Gertz (@MattGertz) January 25, 2021
She told investigators her lie about how the rank and file of the FBI had lost confidence in then-FBI Director Comey was a “slip of the tongue”.
Continuing with the election theme…
Dominion has official filed a defamation suit against former President Twice Impeached personal liar Rudy Giuliani.
Cohen has done a deep dive into the lawsuit, while he says that they can attempt to prove malice it’s really really hard to prove it.
They make a good attempt here:
Yep, that'll do it 😀😀 pic.twitter.com/WG0D4rO89t
— Akiva Cohen (@AkivaMCohen) January 25, 2021
But here, they almost prove otherwise.
This, on the other hand, won't get them there. Yeah, it's decent evidence that Rudy was in favor of just making shit up. But also, it supports a defense that Rudy really believed Trump must have won and it was "stolen" somehow. I'd probably have left this out of the pleading. pic.twitter.com/C4UaxV9i6g
— Akiva Cohen (@AkivaMCohen) January 25, 2021
Some highlights the thread is very long, and IMO, if you want a law Twitter take on the filing, worth reading.
Woof, that kicker. I did not know about this Hannity hit before. And that "notified by Smartmatic in Frankfurt" claim is a very specific factual claim Rudy will need to back up pic.twitter.com/FSvQso1R4X
— Akiva Cohen (@AkivaMCohen) January 25, 2021
This will also help on actual malice – the Georgia hand count proved Dominion couldn't have been flipping votes there, and Rudy still doubled down. Plus they excommunicated Sidney – but kept making the same claims pic.twitter.com/zwfqU4D7nA
— Akiva Cohen (@AkivaMCohen) January 25, 2021
And one more…that shows it might be possible for Dominion to prove actual malice, which is just a fancy term for saying Rudy lied and knew it causing harm to the company.
Here's the next section – again, won't go paragraph by paragraph but this is terrific legal work: showing actual malice by showing Rudy knew to stay away from making these claims in court pic.twitter.com/MayjdePfTo
— Akiva Cohen (@AkivaMCohen) January 25, 2021
The clip he uses in the tweet can be found here on page 18 of the complaint.
The lying liar that lies Giuliani has reportedly responded to the law suit.
In more litigation election cycle that won’t die news…
This time from Texas the “Gondor” case. Slight background on the case, they’ve said now that most of our elections have been wrong, and the current 2020 election was all fraud, violated our constitutional rights, and that nobody in power in D.C., right now, is legitimate.
I've never, ever seen a legal filing remotely like this. The many defendants haven't filed a single thing; instead, this appears to be a response by the plaintiffs to mockery on https://t.co/pJuLM8DQGe. Also, counsel is tired and had a sewage backup. https://t.co/rb9pvhX1q1 pic.twitter.com/63hsfx0NpH
— Brad Heath (@bradheath) January 25, 2021
This time, our deep dive into whatever this frivolous lawsuit is, comes from Law Twitter lawyer Mike Dunford.
He had started a thread, originally, and then as noted, was reminded of real life work…
It’s called the Gondor case because they wrongly quoted Lord of the Rings, this bugs them.
Also, if they didn't want their case to be known as "in re Gondor" they really shouldn't have gone with the (non-literary) "Gondor has no king" quote. pic.twitter.com/C6uIyEeyGv
— Mike Dunford (@questauthority) January 25, 2021
Our daily press briefing this afternoon is scheduled for 1 p.m. D.C., time.
She is likely to announce more details about the Buy American Executive Order and on the announcement that President Biden has lifted the ban on transgender serving in the military.
Live Feeds to the 1 p.m. Daily Briefing.
The White House.
The Hill.
USA TODAY.
This is an open thread
