POLITICS

thelivyjr
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Re: POLITICS

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THE CAPE CHARLES MIRROR APRIL 14, 2021 AT 5:37 PM

Paul Plante says:

And with the thought in mind of personalities and slander playing a large part in the 1828 presidential election in this country, that thought takes us back to January 17, 2021 and the original post in this thread where we had as follows to consider, to wit:

So, the anarchy at the capitol is over, mass arrests are taking place, the House of Representatives under Nancy Pelosi is demanding the the vice president remove the president and install himself in his place, and the nation is split even further than it was back in 1968 when Eugene McCarthy, a little-known Democratic senator from Minnesota, announced on November 20, 1967, that he would seek the party’s nomination for president, being very straightforward about his political goals —rehabilitating the American political system and getting the antiwar protests off the streets:

“There is growing evidence of a deepening moral crisis in America — discontent and frustration and a disposition to take extralegal if not illegal actions to manifest protest.”

“I am hopeful that this challenge…may alleviate at least in some degree this sense of political hopelessness and restore to many people a belief in the process of American politics and of American government…[and] that it may counter the growing sense of alienation from politics, which I think is currently reflected in a tendency to withdraw from political action, to talk of nonparticipation, to become cynical and to make threats of support for third parties or fourth parties or other irregular political movements.”

That deepening moral crisis McCarthy spoke about in 1968 — the discontent and frustration and a disposition to take extralegal if not illegal actions to manifest protest, were as a direct result of the policies of Democrat Lyndon Baines Johnson who had been elected in 1964 with the greatest majority since Franklin Roosevelt’s reelection triumph in 1936, and four years later, on the eve of the 1968 election, had become the most hated man in America.

“I feel like a hitchhiker caught in a hailstorm on a Texas highway,” he told his press secretary.

“I can’t run.”

“I can’t hide.”

“And I can’t make it stop.”

So, yes, people in the United States of America, one single man, in that case, Lyndon Baines Johnson, can split the nation asunder and bring us to the brink of a civil war, which thought takes us to a Yahoo News article entitled “Joe Biden, now president-elect, declares it is ‘time to heal in America’” by David Knowles, Brittany Shepherd and Hunter Walker on November 7, 2020, where we had as follows:

In his first speech as president-elect on Saturday, Joe Biden said he hoped to unify the nation after an especially bitter campaign with President Trump, who has so far refused to concede defeat in the race.

end quotes

Now, when I read that part about Joe Biden of all people saying he hoped to “unify” the nation, my first thought was, yeah, right, Joe, and how exactly do you propose to do that after working so hard to divide it?

Yes, people, like Democrat Lyndon Baines Johnson before him, Joe Biden has done more to divide this nation than has Donald Trump, which proposition is before us in this essay.

As to really healing this nation after he and Hillary Clinton and Barack Hussein Obama and Nancy Pelosi and Charley “Chuck” Schumer have done so much to divide it, does Joe Biden plan to apologize to all those people in America he previously called the “dregs of society” as in The Daily Wire story “Joe Biden Calls Trump Supporters ‘Virulent People,’ The ‘Dregs Of Society’” by Joseph Curl on September 17, 2018, as follows:

Joe Biden just had his “deplorables” moment.

Biden, who says he’ll decided in January whether to run for president in 2020 but who is making all the moves of a presidential candidate, used a pro-LGBT Human Rights Campaign annual dinner on Saturday to rip President Trump.

And in so doing, Biden had a moment reminiscent of Hillary Clinton, when she called Trump supporters “deplorables.”

Biden did his old act, starting off soft and avuncular before booming through his power points, punching the air and flailing about.

“Despite losing in the courts, and in the court of opinion, these forces of intolerance remain determined to undermine and roll back the progress you all have made,” he said.

“This time they — not you — have an ally in the White House.”

“This time they have an ally.”

“They’re a small percentage of the American people — virulent people, some of them the dregs of society.”

“God forgive me,” he added, making the sign of the cross as the audience applauded.

“Our work is not yet done by any stretch of the imagination.”

“The stakes are much too high.”

And then he went even further. “This is deadly earnest, we are in a fight for America’s soul,” Biden said.

end quotes

So what now does Joe Biden plan to do with those “forces of intolerance,” those virulent people, some of them the dregs of society?

If he is going to unify the nation, where does he envision those forces of intolerance, those virulent people, some of them the dregs of society, fitting into his scheme?

Or is he going to pull a Lenin or Stalin act and simply eliminate them from society to clear the path for the better world Joe Biden and the Democrats are promising to those who are his followers?

Getting back to the Yahoo News article while we wait for that answer from Team Biden, it continues as follows:

The former vice president repeatedly sought to reinforce his message during the campaign that he would seek to be a president for all Americans, regardless of whether they had voted for him.

end quotes

He would “seek” to be a president for all Americans?

What the **** is that?

Doesn’t the Constitution make it incandescently clear that the president is supposed to be the president for all Americans by taking care that OUR laws be faithfully executed?

So what is up with this talk of “seeking,” which is defined as an attempt or desire to obtain or achieve something?

If Joe Biden has to “seek” to be a president for all Americans, then in my estimation as an American citizen, he is not fit to be the president of a free people.

Getting back to the story:

“I pledge to be a president who seeks not to divide, but unify.”

end quotes

All well and good, Joe Biden, but dude, by calling American citizens dregs of society, you were seeking to divide us for partisan political gain for yourself and the Democrat party, which represents only a third of the American people at best, so how can you now possibly unite us, those of us in the 70% who never were Democrats and don’t want to be?

Getting back to it one more time, we have:

“We need to stop treating our opponents as our enemies,” Biden told the crowd.

“They’re not our enemies.”

“They’re Americans.”

end quotes

Yes, Joe Biden, they are Americans, aren’t they.

And they were Americans when you called them “dregs of society,” and you encouraged your followers to treat them as enemies.

So when you tell us, “This is the time to heal in America,” what now is your plan for doing so?

The candid world that watches and waits would like to know!

http://www.capecharlesmirror.com/news/o ... ent-343580
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Re: POLITICS

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THE HILL

"Georgia law makes it a crime to give food, water to people waiting to vote"


BY CAMERON JENKINS

03/26/21

One of the most notable parts of the new Georgia voting law signed by Gov. Brian Kemp (R) on Thursday is that it would make it illegal for people to provide food or water to voters as they wait in lines to cast their ballots.

The new law includes giving food and water in a section on electioneering that places new restrictions on the practice.

It compares food and drink to gifts that might be given to a voter.


The provision has repeatedly been highlighted by critics of the sweeping legislation, which some have said might have left Georgia in former President Trump's column if it had been the state's law in November.

President Biden in a statement issued by the White House on Friday called the law "Jim Crow in the 21st century."

"If you want any indication that it has nothing to do with fairness, nothing to do with decency, they passed a law saying you can't provide water to people standing in line while they're waiting to vote?” Biden told reporters later, singling out that provision.

“You don't need anything else to know that this is nothing but punitive, designed to keep people from voting."

"You can't provide water for people about to vote."

"Give me a break,” he said.


The law, SB 202, states that "[n]o person shall solicit votes in any manner or by any means or method, nor shall any person distribute or display any campaign material, nor shall any person give, offer to give, or participate in the giving of any money or gifts, including, but not limited to, food and drink, to an elector ... on any day in which ballots are being cast."

GOP lawmakers who have supported the measure say the provision on food and water was included in an effort to prevent the solicitation of votes and electioneering, or influencing voters.

The law states that poll workers under the law could still bring water from a fountain, or bottles of water, to people in line.

The law has been criticized by voting rights groups as potentially suppressing the vote of Black voters.

These groups have noted that Black voters in the state often can be waiting in long lines for a chance to vote, and they see the water and food provision as targeting such voters.


The law would also limit the use of ballot drop boxes in the state and require Georgia voters to produce photo ID for absentee voting, among other things.

https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watc ... -vote?rl=1
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Re: POLITICS

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CNBC

"Dr. Fauci: ‘We very well may need to get booster shots’ for Covid — here’s when"


Cory Stieg @CORYSTIEG

Published Thu, Apr 15 2021

White House chief advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci said people may need to get booster shots for the Covid vaccines in a year, during an interview with MSNBC’s Medhi Hasan Monday.

Recent data suggests that Pfizer and Moderna’s Covid vaccines provide protection for at least six months, Fauci said.


Pfizer released data on April 1 showing that its mRNA vaccine is highly effective six months after the second dose.

Moderna said Tuesday that its Covid vaccine, which uses similar technology, was more than 90% effective at protecting against Covid and more than 95% effective against severe disease up to six months after the second dose.

“We know for sure it’s effective for six months and highly likely that it will be effective for considerably longer period of time,” Fauci said.

The Pfizer study only measured to the six-month mark, and more research needs to be done to determine when or how vaccine protection wanes.

“The way to get the answer is to just follow people closely enough to determine when that level of efficacy or protection diminishes, both with regard to the level of the antibodies as well as clinical data with regard to breakthrough infections,” Fauci said.

(Breakthrough cases refer to when people who are vaccinated get infected.)

Ultimately, “if it turns out [to last] a year or a year and a half, we very well may need to get booster shots to keep up the level of protection,” Fauci said.

Protection could end up lasting two to three years, but the point is that boosters are still on the table as a possibility, he told Politico on April 5.

Moderna plans to have booster shots ready by the fall, CEO Stephane Bancel told CNBC’s “Squawk Box” Wednesday.

Pfizer said in February that it was testing a third booster dose of its vaccine.

More infectious Covid mutations could also necessitate regular boosters.

“We may have cycles where we have to keep boosting people — either boosting them with the original vaccine, which gives you enough antibodies to spill over to the variants, or develop a vaccine that’s specific for one or more of the variants,” Fauci told MSNBC in March.


At least 23% of the United States population is fully vaccinated for Covid, meaning they have received both doses of the two-dose vaccines from Pfizer or Moderna or one dose of Johnson & Johnson’s, according to the Centers for Disease Control.

The CDC told CNN on Thursday that there have been 5,800 breakthrough Covid cases, which represents only 0.007% of people who have been vaccinated.

https://www.cnbc.com/2021/04/15/dr-fauc ... eline.html
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Re: POLITICS

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CNBC

"‘We need at least one more check.’ The case for a fourth stimulus payment"


Lorie Konish @LORIEKONISH

PUBLISHED THU, APR 15 2021

KEY POINTS

* Three rounds of stimulus checks have provided $850 billion in direct relief to Americans.

* Yet during a gap between checks last year, up to 8 million Americans fell into poverty.

* As the American economy recovers, one group argues at least one more check will help make sure no one slips through the cracks.


Stimulus checks have injected about $850 billion in financial support to Americans over the past year.

Now, the Economic Security Project, a proponent of guaranteed income, is calling for more direct payments to help fuel the recovery.

That’s even as signs point to the new $1,400 stimulus checks boosting the economy.

To date, the government has sent about 159 million payments in this round, totaling more than $376 billion.

Those checks helped retail sales climb 9.8% in March, beating expectations for a 6.1% bump.

Other data suggest Americans are using the money to improve their balance sheets.

A new Bankrate.com survey found people mostly plan to use the $1,400 checks on monthly expenses, day-to-day essentials, paying down debt and savings.

Many respondents to that survey said the money would last less than three months, if that long.

“We need at least one more check,” said Adam Ruben, campaign director at the Economic Security Project.

In the past year, three rounds of stimulus checks — payments of up to $1,200, $600 and $1,400 per person — helped to raise income by 20% for the lowest-income households, according to the Economic Security Project’s new report.


Moreover, the $1,400 checks will help keep 11 million people out of poverty this year, according to the research.

In comparison, the new expanded unemployment benefits will help keep less than 4 million from poverty.

“Evidence from the last year shows stimulus checks to be the fastest and most impactful investments helping Americans get through this crisis, lifting more people out of poverty than any other single policy,” the report states.

Additional direct payments would also help minority individuals and households, who have been hit harder financially by the pandemic, according to the research.

Though the overall unemployment rate is now 6%, the rate is highest for Blacks at 9.6%.

In addition, the research finds that two-third of Black and Latinx households have had difficulty meeting household expenses for the week of March 17 to 29, versus less than half of white households.

To that end, the Economic Security Project is advocating for additional direct payments targeted at those who need the help the most.

The group is also calling for improvements to the system to make it so that those payments reach eligible people automatically.

The idea of additional direct checks was recently supported by 21 senators who sent a letter to President Joe Biden.

The gap between the approval of the first $1,200 and second $600 checks shows what can happen if people’s financial needs are not addressed, according to Ruben.

During that time, up to 8 million people slipped into poverty.

“Let’s not do that again."

"Let’s make these checks automatic,” Ruben said.

“Let’s tie them to economic conditions so people aren’t at the mercy of Washington gridlock.”

So far, experts have said the prospect for a fourth stimulus check are tentative at best.

“D.C. has largely started to pivot towards the recovery and an infrastructure bill,” Raymond James Washington policy analyst Ed Mills recently said.

However, additional cash payments are slated to go to parents starting in July with implementation of the enhanced child tax credit

The Economic Security Project is also calling for the expansion of that credit, as well as the earned income tax credit, to be made permanent.

https://www.cnbc.com/2021/04/15/why-som ... yment.html
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Re: POLITICS

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CNBC

"Pfizer CEO says third Covid vaccine dose likely needed within 12 months"


Berkeley Lovelace Jr. @BERKELEYJR

PUBLISHED THU, APR 15 2021

KEY POINTS

* Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla said people will “likely” need a third dose of a Covid-19 vaccine within 12 months of getting fully vaccinated.

* He also said it’s possible people will need to get vaccinated against the coronavirus annually.


Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla said people will “likely” need a third dose of a Covid-19 vaccine within 12 months of getting fully vaccinated.

His comments were made public Thursday but were taped April 1.

Bourla said it’s possible people will need to get vaccinated against the coronavirus annually.


“We need to see what would be the sequence, and for how often we need to do that, that remains to be seen,” he told CNBC’s Bertha Coombs during an event with CVS Health.

“A likely scenario is that there will be likely a need for a third dose, somewhere between six and 12 months and then from there, there will be an annual revaccination, but all of that needs to be confirmed."

"And again, the variants will play a key role.”


“It is extremely important to suppress the pool of people that can be susceptible to the virus,” Bourla said.

The comment comes after Johnson & Johnson CEO Alex Gorsky told CNBC in February that people may need to get vaccinated against Covid-19 annually, just like seasonal flu shots.

Researchers still don’t know how long protection against the virus lasts once someone has been fully vaccinated.

Pfizer said earlier this month that its Covid-19 vaccine was more than 91% effective at protecting against the coronavirus and more than 95% effective against severe disease up to six months after the second dose.

Moderna’s vaccine, which uses technology similar to Pfizer’s, was also shown to be highly effective at six months.

Pfizer’s data was based on more than 12,000 vaccinated participants.

However, researchers say more data is still needed to determine whether protection lasts after six months.

Earlier Thursday, the Biden administration’s Covid response chief science officer, David Kessler, said Americans should expect to receive booster shots to protect against coronavirus variants.

Kessler told U.S. lawmakers that currently authorized vaccines are highly protective but noted new variants could “challenge” the effectiveness of the shots.

“We don’t know everything at this moment,” he told the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis.

“We are studying the durability of the antibody response,” he said.

“It seems strong but there is some waning of that and no doubt the variants challenge ... they make these vaccines work harder."

"So I think for planning purposes, planning purposes only, I think we should expect that we may have to boost.”

In February, Pfizer and BioNTech said they were testing a third dose of their Covid-19 vaccine to better understand the immune response against new variants of the virus.

Late last month, the National Institutes of Health started testing a new Covid vaccine from Moderna in addition to the one it already has, designed to protect against a problematic variant first found in South Africa.

Moderna CEO Stephane Bancel told CNBC on Wednesday that the company hopes to have a booster shot for its two-dose vaccine available in the fall.

https://www.cnbc.com/2021/04/15/pfizer- ... onths.html
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Re: POLITICS

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REUTERS

"Fed's Mester says U.S. economy could grow by 6% or more in 2021"


By Reuters Staff

APRIL 15, 2021

NEW YORK, April 15 (Reuters) - The second half of the year could see strong economic growth and the labor market should continue to improve as long as there is not a surge in coronavirus variants that are resistant to vaccines, Cleveland Federal Reserve Bank President Loretta Mester said on Thursday.

Mester said she expects the U.S. economy to grow by 6% or more this year and for the unemployment rate to drop to 4.5% or lower by year end.

Vaccinations, school reopenings and child-care will be important to getting people back to work, Mester said during a call with reporters.

(Reporting by Jonnelle Marte; Editing by Chris Reese)

https://www.reuters.com/article/usa-fed ... SN9N2GC02O
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Re: POLITICS

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REUTERS

"Foreign selling in Treasuries in February hits highest since December 2018: data"


By Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss

APRIL 15, 2021

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Foreign outflows in Treasuries hit their highest in more than two years in February, according to data from the U.S. Treasury released on Thursday, as investors sold government debt on expectations that yields would go higher as the economy emerged from the pandemic.

On a transaction basis, foreign investors sold $65.46 billion in Treasuries in the month, the largest outflow since December 2018, compared with outflows of $49.13 billion the previous month.

Investors have sold Treasuries in nine of the last 12 months.

Foreign holdings of Treasuries overall declined to $7.098 trillion in February, from $7.119 trillion the previous month.

In January, foreign ownership of Treasuries gained the most in six months.


“A lot of investors may have been nervous about the move in rates and decided to sell on expectations that rates are moving higher,” said Gennadiy Goldberg, senior rates strategist, at TD Securities in New York.

At the end of February, U.S. benchmark 10-year Treasury yields were at 1.456%, up from 1.077% at the beginning of the month.

An improving U.S. economy due in part to increased vaccinations pushed yields higher in February and prompted market expectations that the Federal Reserve might raise interest rates earlier than what officials had suggested, which was not until at least 2024.

The Fed stuck to its guns and said no rate hike is forthcoming over the next few years.

Japan led the slide in foreign holdings in February, with $1.258 trillion, from $1.276 trillion in January, which, analysts said, may have been related to the country’s March fiscal year-end.

Japanese investors tend to sell U.S. assets and repatriate those proceeds back to their home country for balance sheet purposes, with the approaching fiscal-year end.

Japan remains the largest non-U.S. holder of U.S. government debt.

China, on the other hand, raised its holdings of U.S. government debt, with $1.1 trillion, from $1.09 trillion in January.


“There’s a lot of cross-currents."

"The sell-off has a lot of strong sellers, but also attracted buyers, buying the dip,” said TD’s Goldberg.

Data also showed foreign investors bought $13.99 billion in U.S. equities in February, from $11.868 billion in January.

Foreigners have purchased U.S. stocks for 10 straight months.

U.S. corporate bonds had a net inflow of $14.49 billion, from $18.87 billion in January.

Overall, net foreign acquisitions of U.S. long-term and short-term securities, as well as banking flows, amounted to a net inflow of $72.6 billion in February, from a revised $105.8 billion in January.

Reporting by Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss; editing by Jonathan Oatis and Dan Grebler

https://www.reuters.com/article/usa-tre ... SL1N2M82Z6
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Re: POLITICS

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REUTERS

"Fed's Daly: need to see 'repeated months' of good data"


By Reuters Staff

APRIL 15, 2021

April 15 (Reuters) - San Francisco Federal Reserve Bank President Mary Daly on Thursday said she’s going to need to see months of good data before she’ll be convinced that the economy is ready for any reduction of policy support.

“We are just in the beginning stages of seeing these good data,” she told reporters, referring to a surge in March retail sales reported earlier in the day, along with a decline in claims for unemployment insurance.

“We are going to need repeated months of this before we can distinguish optimism about the future from the realization of the future.”

Daly said she’ll be particularly careful not to give up too soon on pushing down on the unemployment rate, given the time it could take for the many of the millions of workers who are still out of a job to return to their old jobs or find new ones.

“I am very optimistic, I feel hopeful, I’m bullish and I want to see it in the data before making policy because ultimately there’s a lot of uncertainty” around projections for economic data and the virus.

“It’s going to take a while, even with good growth,” she said, to make sure everyone who wants a job can get one, one of three preconditions the Fed has laid down before it will raise rates.

“This is where we have to be extremely diligent, essentially and not simply write people off because we think well maybe that’s scarring.”

The other conditions for raising rates are for inflation to rise to 2% and to be on track to exceed that level for some time.

Daly said she will be watching measures of underlying inflation to gauge if there is what she expects to be “gradual” progress toward 2% inflation hidden underneath what she and others expects will be a temporary surge in headline inflation in coming months.

(Reporting by Ann Saphir; Editing by Diane Craft)

https://www.reuters.com/article/usa-fed ... SS0N2JQ02K
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Re: POLITICS

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REUTERS

"Fed's Daly says not time for taper, still far from goals"


By Ann Saphir

APRIL 15, 2021

(Reuters) - San Francisco Federal Reserve Bank President Mary Daly on Thursday said the U.S. economy is still far from making “substantial progress” toward the central bank’s goals of 2% inflation and full employment, and from any need to reduce the Fed’s support for the economy.

“We are not there yet,” Daly told the Money Marketeers of New York University, noting there are millions of Americans still out of work, and that though prices are expected to rise temporarily in coming months, inflation is still “far” from sustainably reaching the Fed’s goal.

Daly said she expects a big rebound in economic activity in the second half of the year, followed by slower growth next year, and cautioned against overreacting to strong economic data.

“I’m optimistic... but there’s also some downside risks here,” she said.

“Let’s not get too excited when we see a sequence of good numbers -- let’s stay on the path of everybody who lost a job needs an opportunity to really get back to the labor market.”

The Fed has promised to keep buying bonds at a pace of $120 billion a month until it sees “substantial further progress” toward its goals.

It has also said it will keep rates at their current near-zero level until the economy reaches full employment, and inflation is at 2% and headed higher.

Asked whether the Fed will first taper its bond purchases, end them entirely, and then begin raising rates -- the order by which it reduced policy accommodation following the last crisis -- Daly said that it was too early to even talk about that.

“We will obviously discuss what the right approach to normalization is when we get to a point where normaliziation is appropriate to discuss - we are not there yet,” Daly said.

But, she added, “particular sequences are not as important as clear and transparent communication.”

Reporting by Ann Saphir; Editing by Chris Reese and Chizu Nomiyama

https://www.reuters.com/article/usa-fed ... SL1N2M82KJ
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Re: POLITICS

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BBC

"US imposes sanctions on Russia over cyber-attacks"


Published 15 APRIL 2021

The US has announced sanctions against Russia in response to what it says are cyber-attacks and other hostile acts.

The measures, which target dozens of Russian entities and officials, aim to deter "Russia's harmful foreign activities", the White House said.

The statement says Russian intelligence was behind last year's massive "SolarWinds" hack, and accuses Moscow of interference in the 2020 election.

Russia denies all the allegations and says it will respond in kind.

The sanctions announced on Thursday are detailed in an executive order signed by President Joe Biden.

They come at a tense time for relations between the two countries.

Last month the US targeted seven Russian officials and more than a dozen government entities over the poisoning of Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny. Russia says it was not involved.

In a call with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday, Mr Biden vowed to defend US national interests "firmly", while proposing a meeting with Mr Putin to find areas where the two countries could work together.

What did the Biden administration say?

On Thursday, Mr Biden described his decision to impose sanctions on Russia as "proportionate".

"I was clear with President Putin that we could have gone further, but I chose not to do so," Mr Biden told reporters.

"The United States is not looking to kick off a cycle of escalation and conflict with Russia."

He added that the way forwards is through "thoughtful dialogue and diplomatic process".

A statement from the White House said the new sanctions show the US "will impose costs in a strategic and economically impactful manner on Russia" if it continues its "destabilising international action".

It reaffirms the administration's view that the Russian government is behind cyber-attacks and has been trying to "undermine the conduct of free and fair democratic elections" in the US and allied nations.

It specifically blames Russia's foreign intelligence service, the SVR, for the SolarWinds attack, which gave cyber-criminals access to 18,000 government and private computer networks.

Last December, then US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said he believed Russia was behind it.

The latest sanctions target 32 entities and officials accused of trying to influence the 2020 US presidential election "and other acts of disinformation".

Ten diplomats are being expelled.

The executive order also bars US financial institutions from purchasing rouble-denominated bonds from June.

Biden treads a careful line

The Biden administration is trying to tread a careful line.

US officials want to impose costs for a range of unacceptable behaviour from Moscow and deter further acts.

They also want to signal they are going to take a tougher line than the Trump administration.

But they also say they do not want to see a downward spiral in relations.

The message they have is that their response is "resolute but proportionate".

The SolarWinds cyber-espionage campaign was a primary concern.

To maximise the impact they have combined response to this with sanctions over election interference and other issues.

Diplomatic expulsions and sanctions against individuals will largely be shrugged off by Moscow as expected.

The financial sanctions regarding Russian sovereign debt are a step-up though.

The US has also published a huge amount of detail about Russian intelligence activities ranging from front companies involved in spreading disinformation to Russian tech companies allegedly supporting its intelligence services.

The hope will be that this also makes it harder for the Russians to operate.

But past experience suggests all of this is unlikely to deter the Kremlin.

The new US weapon against Russia?

The White House meanwhile acknowledged there was little evidence to support claims that Russia had offered bounties to Taliban militants for killing American soldiers.

The intelligence assessment was first reported last June by the New York Times, and was cited by Mr Biden on the campaign trial last year to accuse then-President Donald Trump of not standing up to Russia.


Mr Trump at the time called it "fake news".

On Thursday, White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters the intelligence community had determined it had only "low to moderate confidence" in the claims, which are said to have come from interrogations of Afghan detainees.

What is the reaction from Moscow?

Shortly after the sanctions were announced, Russia's foreign ministry called them "hostile steps which dangerously raise the temperature of confrontation".

"Such aggressive conduct will of course get a decisive response," the statement added.

The US ambassador has been called to the foreign ministry.

What Biden's foreign policy 'reset' really means

The EU, Nato and the UK have all issued statements in support of the US measures.

What's the background?

In his first foreign policy speech in February, Mr Biden vowed to stand up to Russia.

"The days of the United States rolling over in the face of Russia's aggressive actions… are over," he said.

The Obama-Biden administration was accused of standing by while Russia annexed Crimea in 2014.

But in recent days Mr Biden has warned the Kremlin against aggressive actions in Ukraine.

Russia is beefing up its military presence in the border area.

Mr Biden's predecessor rarely criticised Mr Putin.

In a report last month US intelligence agencies concluded the Russian president had probably directed online efforts to help Mr Trump win a second term as US president.

And yet, according to the Carnegie Moscow Center, Mr Trump imposed a record total of more than 40 rounds of sanctions on Moscow.

In 2018 he expelled 60 Russian diplomats from the US.

https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-56755484
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