First Looks category archive

Michael in Norfolk finds a straw at which to grasp.

At the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, seasoned diplomat and professor of international affairs at the Pennsylvania State University Dennis Jett looks at Republican plans to gut the Civil Service and return to the “spoils system” of the Nineteenth Century. He determines it to be a disastrous idea. Here’s a bit:

(One of the proposals) literally states that any employee of the executive branch “may be subject to any adverse personnel action (up to and including removal) for good cause, bad cause or no cause at all; and may not challenge or otherwise appeal such action.” The only exceptions are for whistleblowers and cases of discrimination where the appeals process established will ensure any complaints fall on deaf ears.

Afterthought:

I can’t but suspect the motive for this is quite simple: to exempt the (next Republican) President from the rule of law.

Aside:

I do not think it a stretch to suggest that today’s Republican Party, at the portion of it in the House of Representatives, is not interested in (small-d) democratic governance.

It is interested in dictating getting its way.

The Lord Peter Wimsey BBC theme song.

If you have not read Dorothy Sayers’s Lord Peter mysteries, do so now. They are most excellent.

My favorite is Murder Must Advertise.

Off to drink liberally.

Have your coffee with a side of politeness.

Sam and the crew discuss the eclipse nut jobs.

Eclipses are natural phenomena. They happen. They are predictable.

They are not signs from God. They are not omens.

They are things that happen, like tides and seasons and snow storms.

Aside:

Honest to Betsy, Rudy Giuliani now looks for all the world like Gollum come to life.

It’s been building for a while.

Former Texas House Speaker Joe Straus said on Thursday that Midland oil magnate Tim Dunn, one of the state’s most powerful and influential GOP megadonors, once told him that only Christians should hold leadership positions in the lower chamber.

Straus, a Republican who is Jewish, relayed the encounter in an interview with former Texas Tribune CEO Evan Smith at the LBJ School of Public Affairs.

(snip)

The alleged remarks came at a November 2010 meeting . . . .

No posts went ghost today.

Still trying to figure out yesterday.

I seem to be experiencing some issues behind the scenes.

Several posts show in my dashboard as having been posted, but don’t appear on the front page. The odd thing is that the posts show up when I visit the site in a text browser, such as w3m, and there is nothing the posts’ syntax that is out of the ordinary.

I’ll deal with it tomorrow.

Not that, in the great scheme of things, they would be any great loss to humanity . . . .

At SFgate, Olivia Harden reports on a technique for making the less fiendly:

How to avoid Boeing planes

Along the same lines, Atrios links to a report on how they got so fiendly.

I don’t know where that is, but, as Gene Collier reports, it ain’t here. A snippet:

If you were too depressed to read the World Happiness Report, America came in 23rd, our first ever non-Top 20 showing, and there’s no recourse until 2025. Unlike with college hockey and presidential politics, there’s no new poll every time you turn around.

So that’s it; unhappily enough, we’re 23rd, 10 slots beneath Kuwait and nowhere near the perfectly chilled utopia that is Finland, which finished No. 1 for the seventh consecutive year. Generally, it again appears from the Top 10 that if you want to be happy, your chances spike dramatically in a smallish country that’s very cold.

Seth discusses why big money donors seem reluctant to donate to a man known for not paying his debts.

Cliff Schecter highlights Jamie Raskin’s comments on the House Repulbicans’ farcical impeachment hearings about Joe Biden.

Via C&L.

______________

*On second thought, that’s probably an insult to kangaroos.

We have all seen the speed with which lies, hatred, and nastiness go “viral” on the disinformation superhighway. Nigel Barber, writing at Psychology Today Blogs, looks at the dynamics of mob psychology in this age of “social” media. He starts by citing Gustave LeBon’s exploration of mob psychology, published in 1895. Here’s a tiny bit of his article.

Le Bon characterized the mental state of members of a mob as unanimous, emotional, and intellectually weak. He might have been describing the herd mentality of people on online platforms who are deeply emotional and lacking in skepticism or discipline as they amplify the opinions of others by “liking” or retweeting. The anonymity of the crowd can be enhanced by wearing masks, carrying emblems or flags, or donning an informal uniform such as the leather jackets worn by motorcycle gangs. Under a mask of anonymity, mob members experience a diminished sense of responsibility and accountability.

(snip)

These features are also apparent in social media groups. Yet online mobs have some organizational features that differentiate them from old-fashioned street mobs. To begin with, online mobs can be much larger because they stretch across national boundaries bringing the same themes to geographically dispersed actions. So, the same far-right anti-immigrant memes of territorial invasion and replacement of native-born residents are cropping up in street protests around the world.

I commend the entire article to your attention.

Walking through History,

Tony Robinson hikes through historical locations in Britain, narrating their history with the assistance of historians and archivists.

I’m watching it at Tubi.

Off to drink liberally.

If you are in the area, feel free to join us.

Does this remind you of the trump, trump, trump of anyone in the news?