Opinions – Rova Dova

Part 130- Biden Cabinet Members

Today’s post is on the members of Mr. Biden’s Cabinet. Below is a table of all the Cabinet members and my opinion on them. ( I know this is not yet completed, but this is what I have so far. I had to finish since it’s getting late and because I’m really exhausted. Like, my brain isn’t even helping me process my thoughts properly and I’m spacing out. I’ll update this tomorrow, and have the full, completed list ready. Bye! )

Cabinet member

Info/opinion

Secretary of State: Antony Blinken

Bio: Mr. Blinken has held senior foreign policy positions in two administrations over the two decades. He has a recurring mantra: the U.S. should work with its allies and within international treaties and organizations. He also views U.S. leadership in multilateral institutions as essential. He has spent a 6-year term in the Senate with Mr. Biden and has strong ties to other, close Biden advisors.

Opinion:

https://www.politico.eu/article/nine-things-to-think-about-antony-blinken/

Secretary of Treasury: Janet Yellen

Bio: https://www.federalreservehistory.org/people/janet-l-yellen

Secretary of Defense: Lloyd Austin

Bio: Mr. Austin is a retired American four-star Army general who served as the 12th commander of United States Central Command. He was greatly involved in the internal U.S. discussions and the negotiations with the Iraqi Government leading up to the signing of the Strategic Partnership Agreement. The would-be the first Black defense secretary.

Opinion:

Attorney General: Merrick Garland

Bio: Mr. Garland is an American lawyer and jurist who serves as a United States circuit judge of the United States Court Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. The New York Times reported, “Mr. Biden’s choice reflects his respect for Mr. Garland’s reputation as a centrist and his belief that he can restore the Justice Department’s independence and inspire a deeply demoralized workforce.”

Opinion:

Secretary of Interior: Deb Haaland

Bio: Ms. Haaland is a member of the U.S. House, representing New Mexico’s 1st Congressional District. In a press release, Biden’s office said, “Haaland is a barrier-breaking public servant who has spent her career fighting for families, including in Tribal Nations, rural communities, and communities of color…”If confirmed, she will be the first Native American Cabinet secretary.

Opinion: I’m not sure if Ms. Haaland is the right nominee for Secretary of Interior. Yes, she has spent her career fighting for families of rural communities and of color, but I’m not sure if that is enough experience for this.

Secretary of Agriculture: Tim Vilsack

Bio: Mr. Vilsack has held 0m

.this position before in the Obama administration from 2009-2017. As head of the USDA, Mr. Vilsack was responsible for implementing programs that provided “leadership on food, agriculture, natural resources, rural development, nutrition, and related issues based on public policy, the best available science, and effective management.”

Opinion: Mr. Vilsack has indeed put as much as he can into supporting programs that provide food, agriculture, natural resources, etc., and has really dedicated a lot to it. I think he is the right nominee for this.

Secretary of Commerce: Gina Raimondo

Bio: Ms. Raimondo served as the general partner of Point Judith Capital, a venture capital firm headquartered in Rhode Island. The New York Times reported that Ms. Raimondo “is seen as a relatively traditional choice for commerce secretary, a post that oversees relations with the business community but also technology regulation, weather monitoring and the gathering of economic data, among other duties.”

Opinion: To be honest, currently I am not sure what to expect from Ms. Raimondo. I don’t have enough information/ evidence to actually make an opinion so, for now, only time will tell.

Secretary of Labor: Martin Walsh

Bio: Mr. Walsh was previously a member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives, serving in that office from 1997 until 2014 and representing the Thirteenth Suffolk district. He was the Chairman of the Committee on Ethics and served as a Co-Chair of the Massachusetts Democratic Party Labor Caucus.

Opinion:

Secretary of Health and Human Services: Xavier Becerre

Bio:Mr. Becerre is an American politician and lawyer serving as the 33rd and current Attorney General of California since 2017. He previously was a member of the United States House of Representatives, representing Downtown Los Angeles in Congress from 1993 to 2017.

Secretary of Housing and Urban Development: Marcia Fudge

Bio: Ms. Fudge is a member of the U.S. House, representing Ohio’s 11th Congressional District. Ms. Fudge has also served as chief of staff to U.S. Representative Stephanie Tubbs Jones during Jones’s first term in Congress.

Opinion:

Secretary of Transportation: Pete Buttigieg

Bio: Mr. Buttigieg is an American politician and former U.S. Navy intelligence officer. Mr. Biden said in a statement, “Jobs, infrastructure, equity, and climate all come together at the DOT, the site of some of our most ambitious plans to build back better. I trust Mayor Pete to lead this work with focus, decency, and a bold vision — he will bring people together to get big things done.”

Opinion:

Secretary of Energy: Jennifer Granholm

Bio: Ms. Ganholm is a Canadian-born American politician, lawyer, educator, author, and political commentator. She clerked for U.S. Judge Damon Keith on the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. In 1990 she became an Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan. In 1994, she was appointed Wayne County Corporation Counsel.

Opinion:

Secretary of Education: Miguel Cardona

Bio: Mr. Cardona is an American educator who has served as the Connecticut Commissioner of education since 2019. He began his career in education as an elementary school teacher. Mr. Cardona then became the youngest principal in Connecticut at the age of 28.

Opinion: I think that Mr. Biden made a good decision in nominating Mr. Cardona to be Secretary of education. Even though he may or may not have a lot of knowledge and experience in politics, he was an education” figure”. To know how to do something is different from experiencing it. This is similar to Mr. Cardona. Even though he may or may not be as experienced as the other members in politics, he knows schools and what it is like being a teacher, and how things will affect kids.

Secretary of Veterans Affairs: Denis McDonough

Bio: Mr. McDonough is a former White House chief of staff, serving in the Obama administration.

Secretary of Homeland Security: Alejandro Mayorkas

https://ballotpedia.org/Joe_Biden_presidential_transition

Part 122- Pardons

So, I’ve been reading, and I’ve realized that a lot of these presidential pardons are outrageous. A pardon is a government decision to allow a person to be relieved of some, or all, of the legal consequences resulting from a criminal conviction. Basically, it allows a person charged with a criminal conviction to be relieved of some, if not all, of the legal consequences. I think that pardons aren’t right, and here’s why.

A lot of presidents are generous when giving pardons while others are more rigid. I personally would be rigid if I were allowed to give pardons. To me, it just doesn’t feel right to pardon someone for breaking the laws of our country or doing something that violates them, which were meant to protect us and our general safety, as well as ensures our rights as citizens. Here’s a presidential pardon I disagree with. President Andrew Johnson, the 17th president after President Abraham Lincoln, pardoned about 7,000 people. Including 3 people who were conspiring to murder President Lincoln. Those 3 people- Samuel Arnold, Samuel Mudd, and Edmund Spangler- served about 4 years in prison. 4 years! I wouldn’t have pardoned them at all. They had conspired to murder a president. A president! Here’s another example. Oscar Collazo attempted to assassinate President Harry Truman and was pardoned by President Truman himself. I wouldn’t really pardon someone who tried to kill me, knowing that they are/were a threat to me. My last two examples were of presidential assassinations. For my last example, I’m going to use a more recent example by our current president. President Trump.

President Trump has been pardoning people in his office and those who committed crimes for the benefit of him and is even thinking about pardoning his family and himself. I find that selfish. The power of being able to pardon someone is supposed to be for the good of the country and for the citizens of the United States. Not for the people who helped and supported you when you were the president. Although President Trump has gone out of his way to claim that this was false, he pardoned his former national security advisor, Michael Flynn, who pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI. Twice. It’s like President Trump is taking advantage of his power. Plus, who’s to say this won’t happen again with some other president in the future? There may not be a high possibility, but we can’t say that this may not happen again, or something similar to this. Also, if a president pardons someone who has been already pardoned once, that person will just take advantage of it. They will do anything knowing that they will be pardoned later. This would also happen to someone who hasn’t done anything yet. Knowing they are already pardoned, they might just commit a crime not even worrying about serving in prison.

Despite all this, a president’s power to pardon something isn’t all bad. Sometimes the people who are charged with a criminal conviction were just in the wrong place at the wrong time. It would be okay to pardon someone who was innocent the whole time and was falsely charged with a crime.

In my opinion, I think pardons should be restricted/ limited and only used for certain purposes. ( Note: These changes are just my opinions and not any criticism) A president should be able to pardon anyone who was falsely accused/ charged with crime but not just pardon anybody without some vote or consent from others. I also think that a president shouldn’t be deciding who to pardon on his/her own. Maybe the president doesn’t make it alone, but I haven’t found anything on that. This also relates to the consent from others. The president shouldn’t pardon anyone who was conspiring against the president or any leader- governor, senator, congressman, etc- unless he/she absolutely must. Also, they shouldn’t pardon anyone who has been charged with a crime at least twice. It doesn’t make sense. That person will clearly take advantage of this and just do anything knowing that they will be pardoned. Lastly, I believe that a president shouldn’t use his power of pardoning for themselves and for their own purposes. They must use it for the good of the country.

Once again, these were my opinions on what the president should be limited to when pardoning. I am not criticizing any pardons, but just sharing what I feel about them. I hope you have an excellent week! Bye!