How Biden staged his infrastructure bill signing ceremony
You want to get the signing for your signature legislation picture perfect
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How Biden staged his infrastructure bill signing ceremony
Ron DeSantis got a new logo and ditched his Trump-style merch
The president of France changed the shade of blue on his French flag
These artists designed limited-edition plates for charity
How Biden staged his infrastructure bill signing ceremony
First-term presidents want to get the signing ceremony for their signature legislation picture perfect, and President Joe Biden held the signing for his bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act outside on the White House South Lawn Monday as the sun was going down. It was 48 degrees and windy, but they got that golden hour lighting.
The South Lawn was set with U.S. state and territory flags, fitting for an audience that included members of Congress, governors, and mayors from across the country. Biden compared the legislation to the transcontinental railroad and Interstate Highway System and predicted in 50 years it would be seen as “the moment America began to win the competition of the 21st century.” Biden signed the five-year, $1.2 trillion bill at a little desk surrounded by top Democrats, including Vice President Kamala Harris.
As for Biden’s predecessors, former President Donald Trump signed his signature piece of legislation, the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, in the Oval Office alone without any members of Congress posing behind him. Trump said it was because he wanted to move the signing up by two weeks to come before Christmas. “It’s not fancy, but it’s the Oval Office,” he said, and he offered pens to the camera guys since there was no one else to give them to. Former President Barack Obama signed the Affordable Care Act in 2010 in the East Room as “Obamacare kid” Marci Owens looked on.
Biden hopes to have one more big legislation signing ceremony with the Build Back Better bill, which he said Monday he’s confident Congress will pass.
Ron DeSantis got a new logo and ditched his Trump-style merch
Florida’s Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis debuted a new logo on social media last week ahead of his 2022 reelection campaign.
DeSantis’ name is set in Gin, a flared serif inspired by labeling on vintage whiskey and gin bottles by type designer Mattox Shuler (Shuler designed two typefaces used by 2020 Democratic presidential candidates: Industry, used by Pete Buttigieg and Abolition used by Beto O’Rourke). DeSantis, a former U.S. Navy JAG officer, also added a pair of Top Gun-style wings around his first name, a biographical reference his 2012 House and 2018 gubernatorial logos did not have.
DeSantis’ campaign shop is now selling merch with the new logo and items like a $50 yellow “Don’t Tread on Florida” gator flag, but it got rid of some Trump-style merch. The store used to offer items with the slogan “Keep Florida Free” and box-with-stars DeSantis logos inspired by Trump’s presidential logo, but they are no longer available.
Fun fact: DeSantis has been using Trump’s manufacturer. Florida Division of Elections records show DeSantis spending $398,000 with Ace Specialties LLC, according News Service Florida, a Louisiana company that produces MAGA hats and other items for Trump.
DeSantis is still keeping his “Keep Florida Free” slogan for the rebrand. He’s called his response to the pandemic among the best in the nation, but his record includes reopening Florida early, ahead of even Trump White House recommendations, sidelining scientists, and instituting a ban that prevented local governments from making their own decisions about mask mandates as cases spiked. More than 60,000 Floridians have died from COVID-19, representing about 7.9% of all deaths in the U.S.
The president of France changed the shade of blue on his French flag
French President Emmanuel Macron has made a change to the flags at the Elysée Palace, and people are talking.
Macron got rid of the light blue version of the French Tricolour at the presidential residence in Paris last July, swapping it for the original navy blue version introduced during the French Revolution.
The light blue version of the flag was introduced in 1976 by former French President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing to better match the lighter blue in in the European Union flag. Both versions of the French flag are used today.
Macron’s office didn’t publicize the change at the time, nor did it ask for any other official flags to be changed, and the swap wasn’t noticed until recently.
Could it be that Macron’s decision to go with the darker, more distinctive blue signals France standing apart from the rest of Europe? Presidential officials told Europe 1 radio the navy blue flag was “more elegant” and a way to “reconnect with a symbol of the French Revolution,” but denied “opposition to the blue used by the European flag,” according to the Guardian. Hmmm.
These artists designed limited-edition plates for charity
To raise money for food, housing, and aid for people experiencing homelessness, the Coalition for the Homeless worked with 45 artists, including KAWS, Virgil Abloh, and Amy Sherald, for the 2021 Artist Plate Project, which opened today.
Each design is limited to an edition of 250 fine bone china plates that sell for $195 each, and each plate feeds up to 100 homeless and hungry people, the group said. Here’s a look at Sherald’s plate, which already sold out this morning:
Last year’s Artist Plate Project raised $1.5 million.
This is cool
I’m obsessed with the Supreme Court of Canada.
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