The Presidency of the Joes: more like INFRASTRUCTURE WEAK

What’s with these stupid thread titles lately?

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Why was Joe trying to run up the stairs to the plane? What a goober

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It’s not something where he is likely to do much to change the status quo.

As I understand it, this was related to the background checks for security clearances and Biden is not the sort to micro-manage that process. He’s probably not going to change the existing rules or make exceptions for people. That’s probably partly because it’s not important to him to change those rules and partly because he probably thinks that makes him like Trump overruling the non-partisan security experts in charge of determining such clearances. You might think it’s not the same thing, but this is someone who ran on returning to norms. He is naturally inclined to defer to career government officials.

Is that true? Hardly ever floods on the West Coast. Nothing compared to near the Mississippi/Missouri rivers.

It will probably look worse and more trash with the tents gone. And putting a dumpster and a few porta-potties and servicing them would probably cost less than these sweeps considering the police involvement.

I didn’t read the article but that was my first thought as well.

I’m not required to have flood insurance where I am because I am a massive 13 feet above sea level or so a few blocks off the Mississippi River, but it’s insanely cheap and +EV to have it. Massively subsidized.

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Like Microbet, I was thinking of the West Coast.

Among insureds with flood insurance from NFIP, coastal insureds are subsidized by others. But @Nozetradamus ‘s point is correct. Wish I could easily find some losses paid versus premiums paid for NFIP.

A background check is done after being hired.

Allowing something to occur and deferring to the established process, letting the professionals do their job, is the opposite of micromanaging. Letting his staff handle it is the opposite of micromanaging. Getting involved in the details of every hire would be micromanaging.

it’s true but it’s not just a freeroll beach house lottery for the rich, it’s also covering lots of people actually living in terrible locations that get three feet of water in the basements every third year and cannot afford to move.

We don’t have basements on the West Coast and it doesn’t flood at the beach. Point being, it’s not “coastal” America being subsidized, just the stupid East Coast.

We’re the ones with fires.

And Gulf coast

One, it’s not less work for Biden personally. We are probably talking about hires where the chief of staff is doing the work.

Two, it sounds like weed isn’t automatically disqualifying, but neither does it count for nothing, so it can contribute to denial of a security clearance in conjunction with other issues. It also sounds like frequency of use is a factor rather than mere use. I’m fine with the baby step of allowing people who only a few times a year for special occasions while discrimating against daily smokers. Certainly, I’d want to keep out anyone who thinks they need it to cope with the stress of the job.

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I’m forced to carry flood insurance for property that backs up to a small lake that afaik hasn’t flooded in 300+ years of recorded history.

And yeah, I’m guessing the Gulf and places like Flash Flood Alley suck up a much more disproportionate share than say Delaware.

(I don’t remember where I saw it. Last Week Tonight maybe?)

There are a few places in Florida that get flooded so frequently that it would be cheaper to buy the buildings and condemn them. Some already have made insurance claims in excess of their value with no end in sight.

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https://sciencepolicy.colorado.edu/flooddamagedata/use_interpretation.html

california is 3rd on this list in damage from 83-99. I’m guessing there’s a lot more in Central California ag damage that you aren’t aware of.

Maybe I can clear up some of the security clearance questions here.

So, there’s one federal form you fill out when you’re applying for a clearance. Well, one for each level. The form for “Secret” is much less expansive than the one for Top Secret/Specialized Compartmented Information (TS/SCI). It’s exceedingly rare to only be cleared for “Top Secret” only. That’s a movie thing.

SCI is probably what white house staffers have, for the most part. It’s called this because you’re read into each program/project individually. So if you work in the Foreign Policy shop you aren’t getting read into defense projects that have no relevance to you, and vice versa.

Here’s the kicker. There isn’t one overall agency that grants these clearances. Each relevant federal agency has a set number of SCI clearances they can grant and they are handed out according to size of the agency, number of contractors, etc. Agencies that work together “borrow” each others’ clearances a lot, especially to avoid investigation backlogs. These include: all the cabinet departments, CIA, NRO, NSA, DIA, Congress, Judicial branch, and the executive branch

I’ll give you an example: I was in the Air Force. the DoD didn’t grant my TS/SCI clearance, though. Because my program worked closely with other agencies, my clearance was granted by one of those other agencies.

I am sure the form still asks about weed/other drugs. However, the White House could easily overlook that line for “their” clearance quota. Apparently, Biden chose not to, which is stupid.

ETA: TS/SCI investigations are thorough. If you put a contact on your form, that person WILL get a call.

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