Breaking the Sound Barrier
Weekly Column   Thursday, January 21, 2021

The Biden/Harris Inauguration: When the Wall Becomes a Door

By Amy Goodman and Denis Moynihan

President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris leapt into action after taking the oath of office on Wednesday. Biden signed 17 executive orders, dismantling many of Donald Trump’s signature policies. Biden rejoined the Paris Climate Agreement and the World Health Organization, ended the Muslim travel ban, halted most deportations and construction of the border wall, fortified DACA, rescinded the permit for the Keystone XL pipeline, implemented a nationwide mask mandate on federal property, and more.

Kamala Harris is the first woman, first African American, first Asian American, first Indian American and the first Caribbean American to hold the office of Vice President. As President of the Senate, she swore in Alex Padilla, California’s first Latinx U.S. Senator, appointed to fill the Senate seat she vacated, as well as Georgia’s two new Democratic Senators, Jon Ossoff, the first Jewish Senator from Georgia, and Reverend Raphael Warnock, the first African American Democrat elected to the Senate from the South. The Democrats thus gained control of the Senate, albeit by a razor-thin, 50-50 margin, with Vice President Harris able to cast tie-breaking votes.

All this was made possible by the mass movements that brought these politicians to power...Read More→

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The Way Forward: Can the Left Push Biden to Be a Transformative President Like LBJ, FDR & Lincoln?
We look at the path forward for the Biden-Harris administration and the role of social movements...Read More →

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