Joe Biden comes home after a trip overseas where he ran a solid 4 days straight with a packed schedule of very high stakes meetings, which included one where he told Mr Putin basically, "Fuck around and find out", and then he goes immediately into celebration mode signing the bill that creates Juneteenth as a national holiday.
Fuckin' Iron Man is all that is.
WaPo: (pay wall)
Juneteenth holiday marking the end of slavery becomes law after decades of inaction
President Biden on Thursday signed into law a measure that establishes Juneteenth as a federal holiday, taking advantage of sudden and broad bipartisan agreement to commemorate the end of slavery in the United States after years of debate and inaction.
In signing the measure — which resulted in an unexpected day off Friday for federal workers — Biden also used the occasion to advocate for more aggressive action on voting access and other racial equity measures that have been at the heart of his administration’s agenda.
“Great nations don’t ignore their most painful moments. They embrace them,” Biden said in a ceremony in the East Room of the White House. “Great nations don’t walk away. We come to terms with mistakes we made. And remembering those moments, we begin to heal and grow stronger.”
Biden and Vice President Harris, the first woman of color to serve in that position, stressed during the ceremony that a national commemoration of Juneteenth — a day marking the emancipation of enslaved people after the Civil War — should also compel the nation to work to achieve equality in education, in economics and in other areas.
“Folks, the promise of equality is not going to be fulfilled until we become real, it becomes real in our schools and in our main streets and in our neighborhoods,” Biden said. “It’s not going to be fulfilled as long as our sacred right to vote remains under attack . . . we can’t rest until the promise of equality is fulfilled for every one of us.”
Biden was flanked Thursday by several members of the Congressional Black Caucus and other lawmakers who had championed the Juneteenth legislation. Also by Biden’s side was Opal Lee, a 94-year-old activist from Fort Worth who had lobbied for decades to establish the day as a national holiday.
Underscoring the historical significance, Biden said establishing Juneteenth as a federal holiday “will go down for me as one of the greatest honors I will have as president.”
In her own remarks, Harris noted that it took more than two years after the issuing of the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863, which declared an end to slavery in the United States, for enslaved Black people to actually become free. She, too, used the historic moment to implore for action.
“We have come far, and we have far to go. But today is a day of celebration,” Harris said. “It is not only a day of pride, it is also a day for us to reaffirm and rededicate ourselves to action.”
Because June 19 falls on a Saturday this year, the Juneteenth federal holiday will be observed Friday, according to the Office of Personnel Management, which oversees the roughly 2.1 million federal civilian workforce. It is the first new federal holiday that has been established by Congress since 1983, when Martin Luther King Jr. Day was created for the third Monday of every January.
The near-unanimity around creating Juneteenth papers over much deeper disagreements in Washington — not only over legislation that is critical to the Biden administration’s equity agenda but a growing political debate across the country over teaching students about systemic racism with an approach that Republicans oppose and are seeking to use as a political weapon.
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“Great nations don’t ignore their most painful moments. They embrace them,” Biden said in a ceremony in the East Room of the White House. “Great nations don’t walk away. We come to terms with mistakes we made. And remembering those moments, we begin to heal and grow stronger.”
Biden and Vice President Harris, the first woman of color to serve in that position, stressed during the ceremony that a national commemoration of Juneteenth — a day marking the emancipation of enslaved people after the Civil War — should also compel the nation to work to achieve equality in education, in economics and in other areas.
“Folks, the promise of equality is not going to be fulfilled until we become real, it becomes real in our schools and in our main streets and in our neighborhoods,” Biden said. “It’s not going to be fulfilled as long as our sacred right to vote remains under attack . . . we can’t rest until the promise of equality is fulfilled for every one of us.”
Biden was flanked Thursday by several members of the Congressional Black Caucus and other lawmakers who had championed the Juneteenth legislation. Also by Biden’s side was Opal Lee, a 94-year-old activist from Fort Worth who had lobbied for decades to establish the day as a national holiday.
Underscoring the historical significance, Biden said establishing Juneteenth as a federal holiday “will go down for me as one of the greatest honors I will have as president.”
In her own remarks, Harris noted that it took more than two years after the issuing of the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863, which declared an end to slavery in the United States, for enslaved Black people to actually become free. She, too, used the historic moment to implore for action.
“We have come far, and we have far to go. But today is a day of celebration,” Harris said. “It is not only a day of pride, it is also a day for us to reaffirm and rededicate ourselves to action.”
Because June 19 falls on a Saturday this year, the Juneteenth federal holiday will be observed Friday, according to the Office of Personnel Management, which oversees the roughly 2.1 million federal civilian workforce. It is the first new federal holiday that has been established by Congress since 1983, when Martin Luther King Jr. Day was created for the third Monday of every January.
The near-unanimity around creating Juneteenth papers over much deeper disagreements in Washington — not only over legislation that is critical to the Biden administration’s equity agenda but a growing political debate across the country over teaching students about systemic racism with an approach that Republicans oppose and are seeking to use as a political weapon.
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Keep in mind that there were 14 Nay votes in the House on this thing.
So yeah -
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