Mammon category 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.
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.)
This New Gilded Age 0
Farron follows the money.
Twits Own Twitter X Offenders
0
SFgate’s Drew Magary explains why he deleted his account at Twitter X.
The Crypto Con in This New Gilded Age 0
Here’s the lede, via Truthout. Follow the link for the details
Not that those pushing crypto might have any ulterior motives . . . .
Broligarchy, Reprise 0
At AL.com, Kyle Whitmire sees a precedent–and it ain’t a pretty one.
It’s All about the Algorithm 0
The Privatization Scam 0
At the Idaho State Journal, Randyu Sttapilus argues that it’s all about the Benjamins.
Facebook Frolics 0
Zeynep Tufekci offers a theory as to why Mark Zuckerberg seems to have thrown his lot in with Donald Trump (while simultaneously getting rid of fact-checking). Here’s the gist:
Follow the link for context.
The Media Is the Message 0
Thom argues that, if you can control the media, you can control the message, and traces the history of Republican efforts to do just that.