Croydon Council Labour Party Biden's Democratic Party

[Anthea]

Biden's blunders:

From claiming 200 million Americans have been wiped out by Covid to forgetting the Declaration of Independence

August 8, 2019: He tells the Asian & Latino Coalition in Des Moines, Iowa, that 'poor kids are just as bright and just as talented as white kids.'

He attempted to clear up his statement, adding: 'Wealthy kids, black kids, Asian kids — no, I really mean it. But think how we think about it ... m We think how we're going to dumb it down. They can do anything anybody else can do given a shot.'

Later that day he tells a crowd: 'We choose unity over division. We choose science over fiction. We choose truth over facts.'

August 9: Biden was accosted by a right-wing Turning Point USA staffer at a rally in Iowa. 'How many genders are there?' He asked.

Biden replied: 'There are at least three.'

The reporter said, 'What are they?'

And Biden responded: 'Don't play games with me, kid.' Biden then shook someone in the crowd's hand before turning back and saying, 'By the way, the first one to come out for marriage was me.'

August 10: Biden says he was VP when the Parkland school shooting took place, even though it occurred in 2018.

'Those kids in Parkland came up to see me when I was vice president,' he told a reporter.

A campaign official clarified that Biden meant the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut, in December 2012.

August 24: Biden mistakes New Hampshire for Vermont.

Speaking in Keene, NH, he said: 'I love this place. Look, what's not to like about Vermont in terms of the beauty of it?'

September 2: Biden appears confused about the definition of a magazine for a rifle, telling supporters in Iowa: 'The idea that we don't have elimination of assault type weapons, magazines that can hold multiple bullets in them, it's absolutely mindless.'

By definition a magazine holds multiple rounds.

September 25: Biden forgot the name of the last Supreme Court nominee under President Barack Obama on Jimmy Kimmel's show.

'Back when, when they were holding up before Trump got elected, they were holding up, uh, um, the nomination of the president put forward for the Supreme Court,' Biden rambled.

'Merrick Garland,' Kimmel said.

'Merrick Garland, a really fine man,' Biden added.

November 2: Says he's in Ohio when he's in Iowa.

November 20: Biden claimed that he had the backing of the Senate's only black female Senator during a Democratic debate.

'I have more people supporting me in the black community that have vouched for me because they know who I am… The only African-American woman who's ever been elected to the United States Senate.'

Senator Kamala Harris corrected him, saying: 'That's not true. The other one is here!'

December 5: He called a voter a 'damn liar' and 'fat' after he asked if his son Hunter earned a job on the board of a Ukrainian gas company as a result of his father's high office.

'You're a damn liar, and that's not true,' Biden snapped at him. 'I'm not sedentary. You want to check my shape, let's do push ups together, let's run, let's do whatever you want to do, let's take an IQ test.'

He continued, 'But look, fat, here's the deal.'

February 9, 2020: Biden called a 21-year-old woman a 'lying, dog-faced pony soldier' during a Q&A in New Hampshire.

Asked by the economics student Madison Moore about his poor performances in the Iowa caucuses, he asked if she'd ever attended a caucus. Moore said she had and Biden hit back: 'No you haven’t! You’re a lying, dog-faced pony soldier.'

February 24: In South Carolina he said: 'My name's Joe Biden. I'm a Democratic candidate for the United States Senate.'

During the same speech he claimed to to have worked with Chinese leader 'Deng Xiaoping' on the Paris Climate Accord - Deng died in 1997.

February 25: During the final Democratic debate he claimed that '150 million people have been killed since 2007' by guns. If that were the case, half the American population would be dead.

March 1: He calls Fox News host Chris Wallace 'Chuck,' and then claims it was because he'd had a recent interview with NBC's Chuck Todd.

March 3: He confused Super Tuesday with 'Super Thursday.'

And during the same speech he botched the Declaration of Independence, saying: 'We hold these truths to be self-evident. All men and women are created, by the, you know, you know the thing.'

March 4: He confused his wife with his sister on stage at a rally in California.

'By the way, this is my little sister Valerie!' Biden said while grabbing his wife's right hand. 'And I'm Jill's husband,' he went on while reaching for his sister's.

March 9: 'Together, I think we can win back the House,' Biden said before correcting himself. 'We're gonna keep the House, increase it and flip the Senate.'

March 10: Biden pledged to ban the 'AR-14,' (instead of AR-15) when challenged by a worker who accused him of 'trying to diminish our second amendment right and take away our guns.'

April: He appeared to forget Barack Obama's name while discussing Russia's annexation of Crimea.

'Because they invaded another country and annexed a significant portion of it called Crimea. He's saying that it was president - my boss - it was his fault.'

May 22: Biden tells radio host Charlmagne the God that 'if you have a problem figuring out whether you're for me or Trump, then you ain't black.'

August 31: Speaking at a steel factory in Pittsburgh, he stumbled badly over his words, saying: 'COVID has taken this year, just since the outbreak, has taken more than 100 years. Look, here's, the lives, it's just, it's uh, I mean think about it. More lives this year than any other year for the past 100 years.'

September 15: Biden says that wealthy people were able to stay home during lockdown because 'some black woman was able to stack the grocery shelf.'

Speaking to a group of veterans in Tampa, Florida, he said: 'The American public, the blinders have been taken off. They've all of a sudden seen a hell of a lot clearer.

'They're saying: "Jeez, the reason I was able to stay sequestered in my home is because some black woman was able to stack the grocery shelf."'

September 20: Biden said that 200 million had died of coronavirus, confusing a million for a thousand.

'It's estimated that 200 million people have died probably by the time I finish this talk,' he said.

September 21: He botches the pledge of allegiance, saying: 'I pledge allegiance to the United States of America, one nation, indivisible, under God, for real.'

The correct text is: 'I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one Nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.'

October 12: He appeared to forget that he ran against Mitt Romney in 2012.

'You may remember,' Biden said when telling reporters he was opposed to Democrats criticizing Amy Coney Barrett's faith, 'I got in trouble when we were running against that senator who was a Mormon, the governor.'

October 24: He tells a virtual meeting: 'We have put together, I think, the most extensive and inclusive voter fraud organization in the history of American politics.'

October 25: He got confused about who is president, calling him, 'George.'

Speaking at the 'I Will Vote Concert' Biden said: 'Four more years of George, er, George, er, he - we're going to find ourselves in a position where, if Trump gets elected, we're going to be in a different world.'

He was aided by his wife Jill who appeared to mutter 'Trump,' under her breath while Biden struggled for the words.

[Anthea]

Dead people have voted in US elections?

American media reports multiple cases

The US Elections 2020 have turned out to be replete with twists and turns. The close yet definitive fight between President Donald Trump and Democrat challenger Joe Biden has not been without its fair share of criticism.

As US media has reported, the elections board has, in fact, even received ballots from dead voters.

Ballots mailed by one Frances Reckhow, a registered Democrat reached the Board of Elections.

Reckhow requested an absentee ballot from BOE on September 24 and supposedly mailed it back on October 6.

Subsequently BOE declared it valid on October 8.

However, Reckhow, born in 1915 who would have been 105 years now, died in 2012, as mentioned in a report in New York Post.

Reckhow's daughter Carol Huben, a registered Republican, resides in the same address as her late mother.

A similar case was reported from Brooklyn:

One Gertrude Nizzere -- also a registered Democrat -- requested an absentee ballot in September.

Born in 1919, Nizzere would have been 101 now.

Nizzere mailed back the ballot that was received by BOE on October 13 and declared valid on October 25.

However, upon further review Nizzere's ballot was declared invalid after BOE found out that the voter was deceased.

The Staten Island Republican Party is closely scrutinising absentee ballots and has flagged the two cases to the New York Post. They are referring the matter to the police and Staten Island District Attorney Michael McMahon's office. The Staten Island GOP has requested the attorney's office and NYPD to look into the matter.

Another voter was accused of forging his dead mother's name on an absentee ballot in Long Island.

Filing a dead person's name in an absentee ballot is fraud and hence liable to prosecution. Not only that in a close fight as the current one, every vote counts. The Long Island voter was prosecuted recently.

According to the news site, the BOE is looking into the matter. Absentee ballots will not be counted till after six days from Election Day in New York.

Meanwhile, Biden is just a few electoral college votes away from the White House. He won the key states of Wisconsin and Michigan, dealing a major blow of Trump's hopes. As per current trends, Biden is leading with 263 electoral seats while Trump is trailing with 214.

Additionally, Biden has won more overall votes than any presidential candidate in US history.

https://www.businesstoday.in/current/wo ... 21151.html

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Five reasons Biden (finally) won

After nearly 50 years in public office, and a lifetime of presidential ambitions, Joe Biden has captured the White House

These are the five reasons he finally won the presidency.

1. Covid, Covid, Covid

Perhaps the biggest reason Biden won the presidency was something entirely out of his control.

The pandemic and the subsequent economic decline knocked Trump off his preferred campaign message of growth and prosperity. It also highlighted concerns that many Americans had about his presidency, over its occasional lack of focus, penchant for questioning science, haphazard handling of policies large and small, and prioritisation of the partisan.

Trump is not a doctor nor medical expert so relied on others for advice

2. Low-key campaign

Over the course of his political career, Biden established a well-earned reputation for talking himself into trouble.

In his third try for the Oval Office, Biden still had his share of verbal stumbles, but they were sufficiently infrequent that they never became more than a short-term issue.

Verbal stumbles - the man has many senior moments

3. Anyone but Trump

Biden bet his political fortunes on the contention that Trump was too polarising and too inflammatory, and what the American people wanted was calmer, steadier leadership.

Democrats succeeded in making this election a referendum on Trump, not a binary choice between the two candidates.

4. Stay in the centre

During the campaign to be the Democratic candidate, Biden's competition came from his left.

Despite this pressure from his liberal flank, Biden stuck with a centrist strategy, refusing to back universal government-run healthcare, free college education, or a wealth tax. This allowed him maximise his appeal to moderates and disaffected Republicans during the general election campaign.

5. More money, fewer problems

From April onwards, the Biden campaign transformed itself into a fundraising juggernaut, and - in part because of profligacy on the part of the Trump campaign - ended up in a much stronger financial position than his opponent.

At the beginning of October, the Biden campaign had $144m more cash on hand than the Trump operation, allowing it to bury the Republicans in a torrent of television advertising in almost every key battleground state.

Black Lives Matter received mullions of dollars and gave money to help Biden

[Anthea]

Georgia announces a full recount by hand of its votes in the US presidential election

US President-elect Joe Biden leads Donald Trump in the traditionally Republican state by about 14,000

As soon as they discovered there were abnormalities in some areas a full recount should have taken place

A few weeks prior to the election Biden's camp had run out of money THEN all of a sudden they had millions to spare and inundated the US with posters and media coverage

Was that money, like other monies, also from Black Lives Matter

Did the people who donated money to BLM realise that rather than help black organisations, much of their money was being used to fund Biden and his fellow Democrats

The population has had 5 YEARS it which to observe the actions and achievements of both the Republicans and the Democrats

Are Americans really that simple minded that they will vote for the person who has the most coverage in the final few weeks leading up to the election

The Democrats are totally useless in local government and have been in control of some of the poorest, most rundown areas in America

Areas that continue their decline under Democratic control - what sort of moron votes for people who keep them down !?!

We have such areas in the UK that continue to decline under the labour party

Sadly Croydon, a long time Conservative area where I lived and worked for many years, has been taken over by the Labour party

Croydon, for many years a thriving area, has gone done considerably under the Labour party

The main shopping centre, once the South's equivalent to London's West End, has collapsed and become desolate with many shops closed

It is no longer safe to shop in Croydon because the area is now full of drugs, gang fights, violence and shoplifting

In the northern part of Croydon people are afraid to go out at night and the local hospital Accident and Emergency section is full of youths with stab wounds and / or drug related problems

Croydon is now on the verge of bankruptcy thanks to the local Labour government

What are the Labour Party doing !?!

They are paying themselves inordinately large amounts of money

The leader of Croydon council is paid almost £200,000

Let me put that into context:

Boris Johnson earns £150,000

[Anthea]

Croydon Council bans spending
under Section 114 notice

Cash-strapped Labour-run Croydon Council has imposed emergency spending restrictions with "immediate effect", the BBC has learned

The Section 114 notice bans all new expenditure at Croydon Council, with the exception of statutory services for protecting vulnerable people.

A document seen by the BBC said "Croydon's financial pressures are not all related to the pandemic".

It is under a government review amid claims of "irresponsible spending".

Section 114 notices are issued when a council cannot achieve a balanced budget.

In June, the BBC found many large councils in England feared going effectively bankrupt because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

To cope with coronavirus, councils revealed they were planning a mix of responses including using up cash reserves, reducing services and cancelling or postponing spending on big projects.

The Section 114 letter, which was sent by Croydon's director of finance Lisa Taylor, said she was not confident the council "can make the level of savings required to deliver a balanced budget".

"Despite the council having put in place spending controls over the summer 2020, non-essential cost have continued to be incurred," she said.

"I am still not seeing an organisation that is taking the necessary radical decisions to stop all but essential expenditure."

Last month Government minister Robert Jenrick announced a rapid non-statutory review into Croydon Council

The document also says £17.7m of the £27.9m of the "new savings" presented to Croydon's cabinet on 21 September and the full council meeting on 28 September were "incorrectly identified as new savings".

As a result it forecasted that overspend "had not reduced by as much as previously reported".

Last month, Croydon's cabinet member for finance Simon Hall resigned from his role, while former council leader Tony Newman announced his departure a few days later

Rats leaving a sinking ship

Both resignations came two weeks after the pair survived a vote of no confidence proposed by the Conservative opposition.

'Difficult decisions'

Councillor Hamida Ali, who took over as leader, accepted that the council "had made mistakes" in addition to the impact of coronavirus.

"While we continue to work hard to find savings, we must focus our spending on essential services and protecting our vulnerable residents," she said.

"We're not going to fix these problems overnight and there will be difficult decisions ahead but I want to reassure local people that the council will still be here to support you."

Croydon's chief executive Jo Negrini also announced in August that she would be stepping down.

The council's Conservative opposition leader Cllr Jason Cummings said the report was "scathing" and he had fears local residents "would suffer most".

He added: "Labour were warned repeatedly over the last few years but ploughed on anyway, they must take full responsibility for the damage they have caused."

Croydon Westfield shopping project has been repeatedly delayed since it was approved in 2017

The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government said Croydon's decision was "necessary" for it to manage its own finances.

A spokesman said: "We're aware of serious concerns around the council's governance and risk management and the recent Public Interest Report was damning about the governance within Croydon Council, which has been entirely irresponsible with their spending and investments.

"The council has decided to issue a section 114 notice and we will consider the findings of the review which concludes later this month."

It's not often a council needs to issue a Section 114 - but the pressures of coping with coronavirus have combined with at least questionable previous investment strategies to push Croydon over the edge.

It was heading for an overspend of £60m at the end of the year from dealing with the pandemic and government support didn't look like covering it.

Croydon went into the coronavirus health crisis in a vulnerable state - with depleted reserves and £1.5bn debts.

It's a financial position partially reached through buying up property including a hotel and a shopping centre.

In good times, it's easy to see how that might have paid dividends but with weeks of lockdown, it left the council seriously exposed.

The latest development means new spending must be stopped immediately except for on statutory services like social care.

Now the council's administration has 21 days to come up with a strategy which looks likely to mean more job losses to add to at least 400 already being cut.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-54897296

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Croydon Council is bankrupt

What Croydon Council declaring itself bankrupt means for people who live there

The news that Croydon Council has declared itself bankrupt has been on the cards for the past few months but what does it mean for those that live in the borough?

You should still be able to get your bins emptied as this is considered an essential service.

And many will worry about what this means for children and vulnerable people, but social care and education are both on the list of statutory services.

Councils are required by law to have a balanced budget and with a £66 million budget gap projected for this year, director of finance, Lisa Taylor, had to issue a Section 114 notice – effectively declaring bankruptcy.

It means for the next 21 days at Croydon Council, all new spending is prohibited unless approved by Ms Taylor.

This includes:

The appointment of new permanent or temporary staff.
Spending on ICT, supplies, services and equipment
Expenses and overtime payments
Councillors’ community ward budgets.

The use of purchase cards, or corporate credit cards is also not allowed, except in emergency circumstances.

These measures will be in place until there is a full council meeting, which also has to take place within 21 days of November 11.

At this meeting it will be up to councillors have to decide how to cut costs immediately to deliver a ‘lawful financial outurn’ this financial year.

They will also have to agree to stop all non-essential spending and only fund essential services.

The following seven areas are what the Local Government Association (LGA) deems essential services:

Education
Children’s and adults’ social care
Waste collection
Public health services
Planning and housing services
Road maintenance
Libraries

In the Section 114 notice sent out to councillors on November 11 Lisa Taylor said: “At this stage I am unable to offer remedies and elected members must take responsibility to make choices and decisions to reduce costs immediately to ensure the council is able to deliver a lawful financial out turn in 2020/21 (a balanced out turn) and to have measures in place to enable it to set a balanced budget in 2021/22 and future years.”

There will be a clearer picture of how everyday services in Croydon will be affected following the meeting of full council in the next 20 days.

https://www.mylondon.news/news/south-lo ... n-19267199