Biden’s First 100 Day’s; Thursday’s Open Thread

Pardon Our Mess. Photo by Marty Mankins.

It’s Thursday aka Friday Eve…

Friday Eve marks President Biden’s 57th day in office.

For Day 57 President Biden will receive his daily brief. He and his Vice President Kamala Harris will also receive their weekly economic briefing. This afternoon President Biden will deliver remarks on the state of the coronavirus vaccinations.

Speaking of the economic news

According to a report issued by the Department of Labor those filing initial unemployment claims for the week ending March 13th, 2021, was 770,000 people, with the previous weeks total being revised up by 13,000 increasing the 712,000 reported figure up to 725,000.

CNBC News reported on Thursday that the rise in first-time jobless benefits had been expected to come in around 700,000 according to Economists surveyed by Dow Jones.

On Wednesday President Biden had tweeted 1 time wishing everyone a happy St. Patrick’s Day. He added another 6 tweets giving him a Wednesday total of 7 tweets and 0 retweets.

2:45 p.m. D.C., time he thanks three students for reading The Lake Isle of Innisfree by William Yeats. 

The video shared by Taoiseach (Prime Minister of Ireland) features U.S. Student Brayden Harrington who like President Biden suffers from a stutter, Choctaw Ireland Scholar Jessica Militante, and Poetry Aloud winner from Dublin Michael Tient.

The video is 2 minutes and 1 second long.

Sticking with celebrating St. Patrick’s Day at 3:15 p.m. D.C., time he shares a 36 second video of him wishing everyone a happy St. Patrick’s Day.

President Biden: I’m speaking to all of you today, not only as an American President, but as a descendant of the Blewitts from Mayo County and the Finnegans from County Louth. I’m speaking to you from a White House designed by an Irish hand, and a nation where Irish blood was spilled in a revolution of independence and for unity and freedom through the years. The story of the Irish Americans is a story of people who have weathered hard times, but always come through, spirit intact. Happy St. Patrick’s Day.

4:16 p.m. D.C., time President Biden shares a picture of himself and Taoiseach Martin.

The White House posted a transcript of their opening statements from the Oval Office.

At 8:20 p.m. D.C., time he says that he and First Lady Dr. Jill Biden are keeping everyone impacted by the shooting in Atlanta in their prayers.

Before welcoming the Prime Minister of Ireland virtually to the White House President Biden offered these remarks.

President Biden: I’m going to make a brief opening statement about a current thing going on in the United States here, and that is the shooting down in Atlanta where eight people were killed and — seven women, six of Asian American background. And I was just, on the telephone, briefed by the Attorney General of the United States and the Director of the FBI.  And the investigation is ongoing and the question of motivation is still to be determined. But whatever the motivation here, I know that Asian Americans are in very — very concerned because, as you know, I’ve been speaking about the brutality against Asian Americans for the last couple months, and I think it’s a — it is very, very troublesome. And — but I’m making no connection at this moment for the motivation of what the — of the killer.  I’m waiting for an answer from — as the investigation proceeds, from the FBI and from the Justice Department.  So — and that’s — so I’ll have more to say when the investigation is completed.

AP News reported on Wednesday that on Tuesday evening shootings at two massage parlors in Atlanta and one in the suburbs left eight people dead, six of them women of Asian descent.

The shootings began at Youngs Asian Massage Parlor around 5 p.m. Tuesday evening. Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Capt. Jay Baker said that two people died at the scene and there were transported to a hospital were two victims passed away.

The attacks began around 5 p.m., when five people were shot at Youngs Asian Massage Parlor in a strip mall near a rural area in Acworth, about 30 miles (50 kilometers) north of Atlanta, Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Capt. Jay Baker said. Two people died at the scene and three were transported to a hospital where two of them also died, Baker said.

AP News. 03/17/2021.

The second shootings occurred at Gold Spa, where police responding to a call of a robbery in progress found three woman dead from apparent gun shot wounds while at the scene they received a call of shots fired at another spa located across the street where the police found another woman who appeared to have been shot dead inside Aromatherapy Spa.

Around 5:50 p.m., police in the Buckhead neighborhood of Atlanta, responding to a call of a robbery in progress, found three women dead from apparent gunshot wounds at Gold Spa. While they were at that scene, they learned of a call reporting shots fired at another spa across the street, Aromatherapy Spa, and found a woman who appeared to have been shot dead inside the business.

AP News. 03/17/2021.

Hours after the shootings, police arrested 21 year-old Robert Aaron Long. Long has been charged with 8 counts of murder according to the New York Times an arraignment scheduled for Thursday has been waived by Long’s lawyer. Long has told police that “the attacks were an attempt to remove the temptation of his self-described sex addiction, and not motivated by racism.”

CNN reported on Thursday morning that the victims of the Cherokee County shootings were identified as; Delaina Yaun, 33, of Acworth; Paul Andre Michels, 54, of Atlanta; Xiaojie Tan, 49, of Kennesaw; and Daoyou Feng, 44. The names of the Atlanta victims have not been publicly released at this time.

At 8:45 p.m. D.C., time he thanks the House for voting to strengthen and renew the Violence Against Women Act.

His full statement:

I applaud the House of Representatives for passing the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act (VAWA) with bipartisan support — and I urge the Senate to follow their lead to renew and strengthen this landmark law.

Writing and passing VAWA is one of the legislative accomplishments of which I’m most proud. VAWA has transformed the way our country responds to violence against women. And, with each re-authorization, the Congress has expanded VAWA’s provisions on a bipartisan basis to improve protections, including for Native American women and survivors from underserved communities, and improve efforts to prevent intimate partner violence.

While we have made significant progress, there is still much work to do. As many as 1 in 3 women are subjected to domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking at some point in their lives, and the rate is even higher for women of color, Native American women, and members of the LGBTQ community. Growing evidence shows that COVID-19 has only exacerbated the threat of intimate partner violence, creating a pandemic within a pandemic for countless women at risk for abuse. In short, this is an urgent crisis.

This should not be a Democratic or Republican issue — it’s about standing up against the abuse of power and preventing violence. I am grateful to the House of Representatives for their leadership and dedication to ending gender-based violence. Now, I urge the Senate to follow past precedent and bring a strong bipartisan coalition together to ensure the passage of VAWA so that I can sign this legislation as soon as possible.

White House.gov. 03/17/2021.

NPR reported that the House reauthorized the Violence Against Women Act, in a 244-172 vote. The Act was first passed in 1994 and was last reauthorized in 2013, it lapsed in 2018 when it failed to gain support. NPR notes the lack of authorization had little effect because Congress continues to fund related programs.

He ended Wednesday tweeting at 9:40 p.m. D.C., time, by sharing a picture of himself wearing what appears to be a four leaf clover tie.

On Wednesday following the bilateral meeting with Taoiseach the White House released a joint statement.

The statement says the two countries have “reaffirmed the deep, historic partnership and extraordinary people-to-people ties between the United States and Ireland, and they committed to working together to address areas of shared interest.” It goes on to say that both leaders top priority is ending the COVID-19 pandemic, addressing global challenges, increasing “our” shared prosperity and supporting the Good Friday agreement. Both leaders would like to strengthen the people to people ties between the U.S. and Ireland through “collaborative research projects, cultural programs, educational exchanges, and tourism.”

President Biden has not tweeted so far for Thursday…

The daily press briefing is scheduled for 12:30 p.m. D.C., time, or right about now…today the Press Secretary is expected to welcome HUD Secretary Marcia Fudge.

Live Feed: The White House.

President Biden’s remarks regarding the progress of vaccinating the country against the coronavirus are scheduled for 3:15 p.m. D.C., time.

Live feed: The White House.

This is an Open Thread.

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About Tiff 2520 Articles
Member of the Free Press who is politically homeless and a political junkie.