Gonna have to disagree here. Lots of vaccines and some of them are very affordable. The death/disability rate is very small. These companies need big coffers to develop new vaccines/drugs.
Two things:
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I have no problem with people legally avoiding as much taxes as possible.
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I’m sure that the IRS and other authorities will pursue this just as aggressively as they have pursued our last president for tax issues.
Let’s see if anyone can get through this with resorting to whataboutism.
https://www.c-span.org/video/?511762-1/president-biden-delivers-remarks-covid-19-response
Let’s fucking hope so.
End of speech Joe gives us government permission to hug in public without masks, with guidelines they won’t enforce.
My feelings:
I can’t access it, so here’s the take from Powerline:
POSTED ON MAY 15, 2021 BY STEVEN HAYWARD IN BIDEN ADMINISTRATION, JOE BIDEN
NY TIMES: SLOW JOE GETTING SLOWER
The New York Times has a remarkable story out this weekend that offers its typical “behind the scenes” construction of how the White House operates—in this case, under President Biden. While the story tries to soften the blows with lots of fluff and filler, it paints a devastating picture of Biden for the careful reader. It explains he has a quick temper, takes a long time to make decisions, and needs to be heavily propped up by staff to function. It reminds us that Biden is indeed a creature of the Senate, where he mostly attended hearings, made speeches, fiddled with legislation, and seldom made any decisions that suggested executive skill (Quick—can anyone name a major piece of Biden legislation? The crime bill of 1994? Likely written mostly by the Clinton Justice Department. The bankruptcy reform bill of 2007? Likely written largely by Delaware-based banks. You get the picture.)
Here’s one early paragraph:
On policy issues, Mr. Biden, 78, takes days or weeks to make up his mind as he examines and second-guesses himself and others. It is a method of governing that can feel at odds with the urgency of a country still reeling from a pandemic and an economy struggling to recover.
One passage details weeks and weeks of meetings, briefings, and deliberations about how to confront Putin, culminating with this astonishing paragraph:
In the end, Mr. Biden called Mr. Putin directly and then delivered a public statement on Russia sanctions that lasted only five minutes and 49 seconds. For as much as Mr. Biden projects an aura of ease — with his frequent backslapping, references to Irish poetry and liberal use of the phrase “c’mon, man” — his aides say it takes a lot of behind-the-scenes work to prepare him to project an assured demeanor .
The subtext of the first sentence here is that Biden is simply not up to the give-and-take of a conversation with a foreign leader. No wonder Vice President Harris seems to be the person who is making personal contact with foreign leaders.
The timing of the Times story is interesting, as Biden’s “honeymoon” period looks to be over, his ambitious legislative and spending agenda is in trouble on Capitol Hill, and multiple self-induced crises are piling up in ways that bring back memories of the ineptitude of Jimmy Carter.
Temperamental Biden? How did we not see this coming?
aides say he demands hours of debate from scores of policy experts.
Hours of debate? Listens to scores of policy experts? Why, the last president didn’t
listen to debates or policy experts at all- straight from Fox News to his tweets.
I know, I know- it’s not fair, Mr. Trump didn’t even mention Obama in his four years.
You are so full of shit. It’s comical. You honestly believe that Trump made unilateral decisions about everything…oh wait…this isn’t the Trump humps Mike’s brain 24/7…it’s the Biden thread. nvm
Bad timing for this, when a report is out Trump tried to withdraw troops from a multitude of locations without any kind of military consultation. Following his loss, of course.
The one-page memo was delivered by courier to Christopher Miller’s office two days later, on the afternoon of Nov. 11. The order arrived seemingly out of nowhere, and its instructions, signed by Trump, were stunning: All U.S. military forces were to be withdrawn from Somalia by Dec. 31, 2020. All U.S. forces were to be withdrawn from Afghanistan by Jan. 15, 2021.
What the fuck is this? Miller wondered.
A former Green Beret, Miller had directed the National Counterterrorism Center and was accustomed to following process. Trump had tapped him to run the Pentagon after his unceremonious firing-by-tweet of Mark Esper. It was Miller’s third day on the job.
News of the memo spread quickly throughout the Pentagon. Top military brass, including Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Mark Milley, were appalled. This was not the way to conduct policy — with no consultation, no input, no process for gaming out consequences or offering alternatives.
I jumped to the end bc I figured an intern wrote that, and looks like Trump had company.
Editor’s note: This story has been updated to identify NBC as the first news organization to report Trump’s Situation Room meeting with national security aides on July 19, 2017, not the New York Times.
So also figure, to save my valuable time that the article was either mistitled or the author ignorant and maybe also full of shit. This was certainly Trump betting large on a practice hand of blackjack. What you have here is political criticism…ffs. The election was over, and this:
As head of the powerful Presidential Personnel Office, McEntee had Trump’s ear. Even so, Macgregor was astonished. He told McEntee he doubted they could do all of these things before Jan. 20.
“Then do as much as you can,” McEntee replied.
In Macgregor’s opinion, Miller probably couldn’t act on his own authority to execute a total withdrawal of U.S. military forces from Afghanistan because he was serving in an acting capacity. If this was for real, Macgregor told McEntee, then it was going to need an order from the president.
It wasn’t. Duh 
It was.
In Macgregor’s opinion, Miller probably couldn’t act on his own authority to execute a total withdrawal of U.S. military forces from Afghanistan because he was serving in an acting capacity. If this was for real, Macgregor told McEntee, then it was going to need an order from the president.
The very next line, which I guess somehow you missed…
The one-page memo was delivered by courier to Christopher Miller’s office two days later, on the afternoon of Nov. 11. The order arrived seemingly out of nowhere, and its instructions, signed by Trump, were stunning: All U.S. military forces were to be withdrawn from Somalia by Dec. 31, 2020. All U.S. forces were to be withdrawn from Afghanistan by Jan. 15, 2021.
You are saying Trump signed (in Sharpie!) without having any idea what was in the memo?
No. That’s stupid. Which is why you think Trump must have done it that way.
Then the next paragraph says says
The one-page memo was delivered by courier to Christopher Miller’s office two days later, on the afternoon of Nov. 11. The order arrived seemingly out of nowhere, and its instructions, signed by Trump , were stunning: All U.S. military forces were to be withdrawn from Somalia by Dec. 31, 2020. All U.S. forces were to be withdrawn from Afghanistan by Jan. 15, 2021.
So did Trump sign the memorandum or not?
Either
a) Trump signed it without realizing what it said or the implications
b) Trump signed it realizing it meant exactly what it said- ordering troops to immediately withdraw from Somalia by Dec. 31 and all troops out of Afghanistan by Jan. 15.
c)Trump didn’t realize that an official order signed by the president was actually an official order.
d) Trump signed it and knew nothing would happen except the paperwork would be filed.
You’re not new at this, Mike. Odd to see you caught up in a neomarxist like AH HA! moment. lol
You forgot
e) It was one of them sarcastic memos
Like that sarcastic impeachment.
Very interesting.
The inauguration promise to bring healing to a fractured nation didn’t last the short ride back down Pennsylvania Avenue on Jan. 20. But what of the real Biden project that was revealed once the festivities ended: the transformation of America into a land of equity and inclusion, one that Michelle Obama could finally be proud of, that Bernie Sanders could count as Cuba’s equal, and where LeBron James could feel safe and fairly rewarded?
True, it’s no longer Opening Day, but we haven’t reached the All-Star break and already reality has bitten the geniuses in this White House harder than old Major the German shepherd did. Unlike Major, this fickle beast can’t be safely dispatched from the executive mansion and forgotten about. It has a painful way of telling you what happens when you construct an ideological dreamscape made up of impossible promises, implausible assertions and dishonest propositions.
And the new gossip is here!
Extracts of Dovere’s candid reporting have been published elsewhere – including a passage in which the now first lady, Jill Biden, is quoted as saying now Vice-President Kamala Harris should “go fuck herself” after a memorable debate-stage attack on Joe Biden early in the primary.
kudos to @Dr_Milker who seems to have already got there first before me.
And this:
Joe lets EU repeat its history; hopefully the good old US of will stay out of it until they’ve beaten each other senseless again before we jump in and start mopping up.
Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas) said via a statement from his office. “I want to be clear: this pipeline is not a simple commercial project that could frustrate our relationship with Berlin. It is a Russian malign influence project that threatens to deepen Europe’s energy dependence on Moscow, render Ukraine more vulnerable to Russian aggression and provide billions of dollars to Putin’s coffers.“
Let the EU bloobloods and their political celebrity enabler wannabees war it up. harrumph!
Nice to hear both Biden and Harris can work together without pledges of absolute fealty being involved, thanks for pointing it out several times. 