Author's archive
The Privatization Scam 0
And it is a scam. You can voucher on it.
“History Does Not Repeat Itself, but It Often Rhymes”* 0
The Washington Monthly’s Bill Scher hears a rhyme in the firings this time. A snippet; follow the link for a parsing of the parallels.
Less than a week after Trump was sworn in, he fired 17 inspectors general.
Inspectors general are federal government investigators embedded in government agencies to ferret out waste, fraud, and abuse. Lofgren’s prediction came in a review of the book Watchdogs by Glenn Fine, a former inspector general fired by Trump after 20 years of exemplary service.
Last week’s pink slips violated a law enacted three years ago in response to Trump’s first-term firings, which mandated 30 days’ notice to Congress before the president could terminate an Inspector General.
Trump’s illegal assertion of executive power echoes the attempt 158 years ago by President Andrew Johnson to fire Secretary of War Edward Stanton.
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*Mark Twain.
Karen, Meet Karma 0
When someone’s actions say one thing, but their words say another, believe the actions.
(Warning: Short promo about at about the two-and-a-half minute mark.)
Executive Disorders 0
At Above the Law, Joe Patrice points out that Donald Trump’s attempt to halt disbursement of legally appropriate funds by decree executive order is–er–of dubious legality. Here’s a tiny bit of his article:
Afterthought:
Whatever you might say about the price of eggs and gas (here, they have both risen since the election), it seems clear that Trump intends to keep one campaign promise, however flippantly he made it: To be a dictator . . . ..
“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0
Yet another oxymoronic “responsible gun owner” exposes a child to politeness.
The man told police he heard the gunshot after leaving the boy alone in the room to bring a plate into the kitchen, authorities said.
Republican Family Values 0
The Portland Press-Herald’s Victoria Hugo-Vidal debunks de bunk.
Those “Values Voters” 0
David Masciotra, in the midst of a longer post, makes a trenchant observation:
Follow the link for context.
A BLT on Wry 0
At NJ.com, Roy Lehman makes a strong case that the successor to DEI will be BLT. He picks as an one example our (shiver) new Secretary of Defense. Here’s a bit:
“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0
Celebrate your team’s playoff victory with politeness.
Guns and stupid, guns and stupid.
They go together like love and Cupid.
Let me tell you brother,
You can’t have one without the other.
Soldier On 0
Mrs. Betty Bowers offers some advice for living in these Trumpled times.
“History Does Not Repeat Itself, but It Often Rhymes”* 0
On this, the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi concentration camp, Auschwitz-Birkenau, Andy Tix hears a number of disturbing rhymes.
Follow the link for rendition thereof.
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*Mark Twain.
A Notion of Immigrants 0
At the Washington Monthly, Garrett Epps dissects the duplicity implicit in Donald Trump’s attempt to despotically single-handedly amend the 14th Amendment of the Constitution. Here’s a tiny bit of his article:
Follow the link for more about a judge’s perspective.
The Party of Flaw and Disorder 0
At the Des Moines Register, Rekha Basu looks at Donald Trump’s first actions in office and decodes de code (emphasis added):
At the other end was Trump’s order to dispatch thousands of military troops to the southern border to keep out migrants.
The message: Breach boundaries for me and you’re fine. Do it because you’re fleeing violence or persecution, and we’ll set the troops on you.
Follow the link for the rest of her remarks.
This New Gilded Age 0
Sam and the crew follow the money to understand why the right-wing wants to get rid of what it–the right–refers to as “the administrative state,” that is, federal regulatory and research agencies established to protect the well-being of the country and its inhabitants. (Disregard the caption in the video below; it misses the gist of the clip.)