Eliana Willis

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    Fight to vote: Biden moves to fix US census less than 24 hours after taking office

    Happy Thursday,After an inauguration in which Amanda Gorman left America breathless with her poetry, Lady Gaga and Jennifer Lopez sparkled, and Bernie Sanders, well, was Bernie Sanders, today is the first full day of Joe Biden’s presidency.Moving forward from an election in which there was record turnout and Republicans made a deliberate and concerted effort to overturn the results, voting rights are set to be a major agenda item for Democrats as they take control of the federal government. There are already efforts percolating in some states to make it harder to vote. And less than 24 hours after he took office, Biden took action on one major item.Fixing the censusOn Wednesday, the president signed an executive order blocking the Census Bureau from excluding undocumented immigrants from the apportionment data used to determine how many seats in Congress each state gets. The move essentially ends a years-long effort by the Trump administration to get the Census Bureau to collect citizenship data that states could in turn use to diminish the political power of immigrants. The United States has long followed the constitutional mandate to apportion seats based on “the whole numbers of persons in each state”, and civil rights groups aggressively challenged the measure in court.“I thunderously applaud the Biden administration’s action on day one to rescind the Trump’s administration’s directive to compile data on non-citizens for partisan purposes. While legal challenges and logistical challenges never allowed the directive to have its effect, it marred the 2020 census,” said Arturo Vargas, CEO of the Naleo educational fund.As NPR noted, Biden’s order does not address separate instructions from Wilbur Ross, the former commerce secretary, ordering the Census Bureau to produce block level citizenship data states could use for redistricting if they want. Drawing districts based only on the voting eligible population, not all voters, “would be advantageous to Republicans and Non-Hispanic Whites,” a top GOP redistricting strategist wrote in 2015.Meanwhile, on Capitol HillChuck Schumer, the Senate Democratic leader, announced on Tuesday that they would push ahead with legislation with a slew of significant voting reforms that would amount to the most dramatic overhaul of America’s election laws in decades.From a violent insurrection to countless attempts to suppress votes:Attacks on democracy have come in many forms.The first bill the @SenateDems majority will introduce will be the #ForThePeople Act to renew democracy, end big money in politics, and tackle corruption. #S1— Chuck Schumer (@SenSchumer) January 19, 2021
    Among other provisions, the legislation, which passed the US House in 2019, would:Require early voting and same-day registration for federal elections.
    Require states to automatically register voters who interact with certain state agencies and place limits on how aggressively states can remove voters from the rolls
    Require states to set up independent commissions to draw congressional districts, reducing the potential for excessive partisan gerrymandering.
    Democrats are also expected to pursue separate legislation to restore a key provision of the Voting Rights Act that required places with a history with voting discrimination to pre-clear voting changes before they go into effect.But as things stand right now, Democrats won’t be able to pass either bill unless they can get 10 Republicans to sign on and overcome a Senate filibuster, a procedural move that can be used to hold up legislation.Also worth watching …More than a dozen civil rights groups in Georgia called for the resignation of a Republican election official in Gwinnett county, a battleground outside Atlanta that has shifted Democratic in recent years. Alice O’Lenick is currently serving as the chair of the elections board in Gwinnett county and recently called for Republicans to change voting laws in the state so “we at least have a shot at winning”, according to the Gwinnett Daily Post.
    After the 2020 election, Ohio removed nearly 98,000 voters from its rolls as part of its regular process to keep voter information up to date, according to Cleveland.com. But what struck me about the story is that there were initially more than 115,000 people set to be removed, but more than 10,000 people prevented themselves from being purged by voting in November. That means there were at least 10,000 eligible voters who the state nearly purged erroneously. While the Ohio secretary of state, Frank LaRose, a Republican, has earned praise for publishing the list of people set to be purged before they are removed, such a high error rate suggests that Ohio’s process for flagging ineligible voters is prone to mistakes and could disenfranchise voters. More

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    Coronavirus: Joe Biden to sign executive actions aimed at ending pandemic

    Sign up for the Guardian’s First Thing newsletterJoe Biden is planning to sign another set of executive actions on Thursday, his first full day in the White House, aimed at making good on his plans to utilize the might of the federal government to end the coronavirus pandemic.His administration plans a coordinated federal coronavirus response aimed at restoring trust in the government and focused on boosting vaccines, increasing testing, reopening schools and addressing inequalities thrown up by the disease.“We can and will beat Covid-19. America deserves a response to the Covid-19 pandemic that is driven by science, data and public health – not politics,” the White House said in a statement outlining the administration’s national strategy on Covid-19 response and pandemic preparedness.The administration’s new strategy is based around seven major goals: restoring public trust in government efforts, getting more vaccine doses into more arms, mitigating the spread – including mask mandates – emergency economic relief, a strategy to get schools and workers functioning again, establishing an equity taskforce to address disparities in suffering involving issues of race, ethnicity and geography, and preparing for future threats.Biden has pledged to vaccinate 100 million people in 100 days and reverse the impact of a year of mismanaged response under Donald Trump that saw more than 400,000 people die and more than 24 million infected – by far the worst rates in the world.More than 4,200 people died of coronavirus in the US on Wednesday, the second highest daily total of an outbreak that had its first confirmed case exactly a year ago.But his raft of executive orders is set to go far beyond just boosting vaccination efforts.The US president plans to re-engage with the World Health Organization, a reversal from the Trump administration’s move to cut ties during the pandemic and the new president is also starting a White House Covid-19 response team.Anthony Fauci, the key public health official dealing with the pandemic for the Trump administration and now for Biden’s, made a speech to the World Health Organization pre-dawn on Thursday after being chosen to head the US delegation to the global health group in one of the first acts of the Biden presidency.Fauci said letters had been delivered to the group to formally retract the process of US withdrawal from the WHO that Trump had announced last May after declaring it was too “China-centric” and disproportionately funded by the US to no benefit.“I am honored to announce the US will remain a member of the WHO. The US also intends to fulfill its financial obligations to the organization,” Fauci said.In a TV interview on Thursday morning, Fauci said “it was really a very good day” as the US recommitted to the WHO, disengagement from which, he said other countries and health officials in the US alike had found “very disconcerting”.He said he was “fairly confident” that the US could reach its 100-day vaccinations goal.The Biden administration plans to partner with states and local governments to set up community vaccination centers at stadiums, gymnasiums and conference centers.The administration will staff these sites with personnel from federal agencies as well as first responders and medical personnel serving in the military. The government also plans to partner with federally qualified health centers to help reach undeserved communities to distribute vaccines and mobile clinics will also be set up.In order to further distribute vaccine doses, the Biden administration plans to discontinue the Trump administration’s policy of “holding back significant levels of doses”. More states will also be urged by the Biden administration to encourage vaccinations.Biden plans to issue an executive order setting up a Covid-19 pandemic testing board. The idea is for the board to offer a “clear, unified approach to testing”, according to Biden administration officials.Biden will sign another executive order to make testing for the virus free for Americans who don’t have health coverage and offer ways some of the most vulnerable Americans can get help.On traveling, Biden will sign an executive order requiring people to wear a mask on trains, airplanes and maritime vessels. Another executive order Biden plans to sign will require the departments of education and health and human services to give guidance on safely reopening schools.Biden also will release a presidential memorandum utilizing the Fema disaster relief fund for providing reimbursement for personal protective equipment (PPE), cleaning and costs needed to safely reopen schools.The Biden administration is also looking to fix supply shortfalls. Another executive order Biden plans to sign will direct federal agencies to fulfil supply shortfalls using the Defense Production Act.The Trump administration refrained from fully coordinating with the Biden transition team over the last few months so the new Biden administration is taking steps to uncover unexpected shortfalls or low stores of supplies for combating the pandemic. Another memorandum the president will issue will order Fema to reimburse states for the costs of emergency supplies and national guard personnel involved in fighting Covid-19.The batch of executive orders will also include a few meant to help people of color in particular. One will set up the Covid-19 health equity taskforce. Yet another executive order meant to “enhance the collection sharing and analysis of data to support an equitable Covid-19 response recovery”. The administration plans to release data it acquires on progress on vaccinations and other pertinent information on fighting the vaccine. More

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    Portland: leftwing protesters damage Oregon Democrats’ headquarters

    A group of mostly leftwing and anarchist protesters carrying signs against Joe Biden and police marched in Portland on inauguration day and damaged the headquarters of the Democratic party of Oregon, police said.Portland has been the site of frequent protests, many involving violent clashes between officers and demonstrators, ever since the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis in May. Over the summer, there were demonstrations for more than 100 straight days.Some in the group of about 150 people in the protest smashed windows and spray-painted anarchist symbols at the political party building.Police said eight arrests were made in the area. Some demonstrators carried a sign reading “We don’t want Biden, we want revenge!” in response to “police murders” and “imperialist wars”. Others carried a banner declaring “We Are Ungovernable”.Police said on Twitter that officers on bicycles had entered the crowd to contact someone with a weapon and to remove poles affixed to a banner that they thought could be used as a weapon.Police said the crowd swarmed the officers and threw objects at authorities, who used a smoke canister to get away.The group was one of several that gathered in the city on inauguration day, police said. A car caravan in the city celebrated the transition of presidential power and urged policy change, the Oregonian/OregonLive reported. Another group gathered around 5pm in north-east Portland with speakers talking about police brutality.Ted Wheeler, the mayor, has decried what he described as a segment of violent agitators who detract from the message of police accountability and should be subject to more severe punishment.A group of about 100 people also marched in Seattle on Wednesday, where police said windows were broken at a federal courthouse and officers arrested three people. The crowd called for the abolition of Immigration and Customs Enforcement and, outside the federal immigration court, several people set fire to an American flag, the Seattle Times reported. More

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    Joe Biden starts presidency by signing executive orders – video

    Joe Biden wasted no time as the newly elected president of the United States by signing a flurry of executive orders on issues including Covid-19, immigration and the environment.
    Some of the executive actions undo policies from Donald Trump’s administration, including halting the travel ban from Muslim-majority countries, and ending the national emergency declaration used to justify funding construction of a wall on the US-Mexico border
    Joe Biden marks start of presidency with flurry of executive orders More

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    Huge fireworks display concludes Joe Biden's inauguration day – video

    The inauguration of Joe Biden as the 46th president of the United States concluded with a spectacular fireworks display over Washington DC, with Biden and the first lady watching from the White House.
    The newly-elected president took the opportunity to underline the importance of ‘unity’ in a democracy while the vice-president, Kamala Harris, said Biden was calling on people to have the ‘courage to see beyond crisis’ More

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    Obama, Clinton and Bush congratulate Biden on presidency – video

    Former US presidents Barack Obama, George W Bush and Bill Clinton spoke together at the inauguration of Joe Biden and underlined the importance of a peaceful transfer of power. 
    The former leaders highlighted the importance of listening to people with different opinions and recognising our common humanity More

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    The star-packed inauguration special: a dull yet competent plea for unity

    It goes without saying that Wednesday’s smooth, benignly star-studded inauguration for Joe Biden was a startling change of pace for Washington – the stark, horrifying images of teargas and Maga rioters storming the nation’s Capitol two weeks ago replaced with masked celebrities, odes to American diversity, and earnest, if likely unreciprocated, calls for healing. Capping this secure (thanks to nearly 25,000 national guardsmen), surprisingly smooth event was the 90-minute celebrity extravaganza known as Celebrating America, a collection of musical performances, tributes to America’s essential workers, and nods to better days ahead that played like a technically competent, mostly seamless Zoom telethon for unity.The special benefitted from perhaps the perfect choice as host: Tom Hanks, the beloved everyman actor and one of the few cultural figures on whom most Americans can agree (and also the celebrity whose coronavirus diagnosis on 11 March 2020 was, for many, the moment the direness of the pandemic really sank in). In front of the Lincoln Memorial, the actor most associated with bone-deep decency and ordinary heroism held together a staccato and still-surreal pandemic mix of socially distanced live footage and desktop webcam aesthetics.[embedded content]The evening was ostensibly, in title and structure, intended to honor such Hanksian heroism on the national stage; the zippy 90 minutes was delineated by category of American hero – those who, as title cards spelled out, “feed us” (food pantry workers, farmers), care for us (nurses and medical professionals), teach us (teachers), supply us (delivery workers), among others – represented by single private citizens from around the country.Ordinary heroism quickly bowed to celebrity culture, however, as each hero introduced musical performances, some live and some pre-taped, that cut across generation and genre: Bruce Springsteen, a cringeworthy rendition of Here Comes the Sun by Bon Jovi in Miami, the Foo Fighters coming for your throat with hope for the future, Justin Timberlake doing his Memphis thing with Better alongside Ant Clemons, Katy Perry closing the evening with Firework to some admittedly impressive fireworks over DC. The more successful performances leaned into the heady emotions of the day: anticipation (John Legend’s beautiful take on Feelin’ Good), grief (Yolanda Adams’s performance of Hallelujah, soundtracking a recap of nationwide memorials to the 400,000 Americans now lost to the coronavirus), joyful silliness (Broadway singers hamming it up in a virtual collaboration with the energy of your cousin jumping into the Zoom call two mimosas deep).[embedded content]Still, the cumulative effect of several bland to outright cringingly hollow performances (specifically, Tim McGraw and Florida Georgia Line’s Tyler Hubbard’s duet on the colorblind country dud Undivided) gave the evening the feel of a come-down from a previous high. Celebrity tributes to American resilience from Eva Longoria and Lin-Manuel Miranda, brief addresses from Biden and the vice-president, Kamala Harris, that hit all the requisite notes, and an almost endearingly awkward riff on peaceful transfers of power from Bill Clinton, George W Bush, and Barack Obama (standing 6ft apart) peppered the evening with gestures of lost stability and hope. But Celebrating America felt less like a party than a denouement from the day’s earlier celebrations, especially the youth poet laureate Amanda Gorman’s unassailable performance – a parade of good intentions back to the ordinariness of performing American optimism, albeit with social distancing protocols and celebrity webcams.But if I come across as a grouch about this show, it’s only because I’m thrilled to have a bar for national celebrations and observance of presidential power that is not below the ground. After four years of a presidency that ignored basic science, elevated white supremacy and plunged the turbo-charged news cycle to ridiculous depths of stupidity, to suffer blandness feels like a blessing. To begrudge a little corniness, celebrity, or a slightly awkward performance? A luxury. The stakes in Celebrating America felt soothingly low, at worst annoying, sometimes silly, never sinister – not perfect, but beyond welcome. More