Humpty-Dumpties 0
Shorter PoliticalProf: To right-wingers, the Constitution means what they want it to mean.
Signings of the Times, Rule of Lawless Dept. 0
I don’t think it’s much of a stretch to say that, if Donald Trump thinks he can single-handedly amend the Constitution by executive order, the rule of law may be on shaky ground under his sewership.
Along those lines, AL.com’s Roy S. Johnson looks at Donald Trump’s Inauguration Day executive order signature spasm and finds himself less than impressed. A snippet:
I’m not sure any single signature made us better — let alone great.
He renamed a body of water and a mountain (snore); contradicted his own “efficiency” quest by ordering all federal workers into the office; poured white-out over all references to diversity, equity and inclusion in the federal government, resuscitated the government-sanctioned murder (the death penalty); did a Simone Biles-backflip with TikTok; yanked us from vital international organizations; tried to pour more white-out on the birthright constitutional amendment; and pen-swiped a lot of jargon-salad decrees declaring “protection,” “America first,” and various “emergencies” allowing him potentially to weaponize the U.S. military against, well, any of us.
Artificial? Yes. Intelligent? Not So Much. 0
Infallible? I got a bridge for sale in Brooklyn, sucker.
Security maven Bruce Schneier offers some thoughts how to deal with AI mistakes.
“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0
When persons come seeking help after an automobile accident, greet them with politeness.
We are a broken society.
Still Rising Again after All These Years 0
Donald Trump, a second-generation American citizen who benefited from Americans’ constitutional right to birthright citizenship, wants to strip away the right to birthright citizenship.
At Above the Law, Elie Mystal reprises an article laying bare the underlying intent. A snippet:
Today’s Republican Party has truly become the party of the New Secesh, as America’s original sin of chattel slavery and the doctrine of racism created to rationalize it continue to wield their curse.
Broligarchy, Reprise 0
At AL.com, Kyle Whitmire sees a precedent–and it ain’t a pretty one.
Why Did Trump Win? 0
At Psychology Today Blogs, Nilanjana Dasgupta tries offers some thoughts. I don’t know that I agree with everything she says, but I do think her piece is a worth-while read. Keep in mind that she is discussing voters’ perceptions of reality, not reality itself.
Here’s a bit of her piece:
The social class gap in opportunity isn’t recent. It has been widening since neoliberalism became the dominant ideology in the 1980s, shaping political and economic policies. A good society, according to neoliberalism, is one that privatizes public resources and property, privileges free market and trade, reduces government spending on social safety nets, and minimizes regulation of businesses (Harvey, 2005). Decades of neoliberal policies have been associated with yawning inequalities in income, health, and education, crushing middle- and working-class people whose pent-up despair and rage was recognized and used by Trump.
Missing from the analysis and, indeed, from Trump voters’ perspectives, is another crucial fact. Donald Trump’s track record of keeping his wor–oh, never mind.
Aside:
The irony is that the neoliberalism she refers to leans to the right and, indeed, has served as cover for Republicans’ gutting many of the programs instituted by Democrats from FDR to LBJ.
“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0
Yet another child . . . .
I will concede that a toddler may indeed have shot him- or herself “accidentally,” because a toddler would likely not understand the consequence of picking up a portable phallus, but someone’s negligence allowed him or her to do so.
We must needs hold oxymoronic “responsible gun owners” responsible.
But we won’t, for we are a society of stupid enraptured by our portable phalluses.
