Too Venal for Words category archive
Suffer the Children 0
That’s not scripture. That’s Republican policy. (Warning: Mild language.)
Read the news report that Farron is discussing.
A Matter of Principle 0
Tom Hilton tries to figure out why Trump thinks he can just take (parts of) other countries (think Canada and Greenland) because he wants to. Methinks he may be onto something. Here’s a tiny bit from his piece:
This absence is at the core of Trump’s worldview. When he talks about American “ownership” of Greenland*, he thinks of it as like buying a property to develop, and Denmark saying no is just a business negotiation. And maybe we have to play hardball, like you do in business, but really this would all be easier if we could just agree on a price.
And when Putin invaded Ukraine it can’t have been a violation of any principle of international relations because there isn’t any such principle.
Russian Impulses, Reprise 0
The Rude One is not sanguine. Here’s a tiny bit from his article; follow the link for the rest (warning: rudeness):
The effect of this meeting was to take the United States out of its place as a leader in the world. We are now on our way to becoming like Russia . . . .
The Fifth Columnist, Reprise 0
Mary Trump, niece of Donald Trump and holder of a doctorate in clinical psychology, minces no words in discussing how Donald Trump and his Trumpettes treated President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine.
My government has done many things that I have not agreed with during my lifetime–and many things that I have agreed with–but never before have I felt so ashamed of my country and the direction it has taken, thanks to Donald Trump and to those who thought him competent to lead.
Fly the Fiendly Skies . . . 0
. . . and get a complimentary bag of fiendliness.
Vaccine Nation 0
In an article at the Washington Monthly, Bill Scher admits that he is less than sanguine about the Republican Party’s decision to abandon medical science. Here’s a tiny bit of his article (emphasis added):
Fears that the Kennedy appointment will lead to dire public health consequences ratcheted up this week with the abrupt cancellation of an annual Food and Drug Administration meeting necessary to select strains for the next flu season vaccine.
Sabotaging the flu vaccine will kill people.
(Broken link fixed.)
The Disinformation Superhighway 0
At Psychology Today Blogs, Azadeh Aalai looks at how the internet, and particularly “social” media, has empowered scams and scammers. She focuses on the career of Belle Gibson, the subject of two recent documentaries.
Aalai points out that
Follow the link for the rest, and, remember, just because you read it on a screen, it ain’t necessarily so.
DOGE Bull 0
Evidence mounts that Elon Musk’s DOGE has no idea how government works, it also doesn’t know what it’s doing.
Extra-Special Bonus QOTD 0
California State Sen. Scott Wiener, reacting to Donald Trump’s attempt to defund the Presidio Trust, which oversees the Presidio Park in San Francisco:
Trump . . . can’t tolerate success if it doesn’t benefit him personally.
This New Gilded Age (Updated) 0
It Can Happen Here 0
Erwin Chemerinsky, dean of the UC Berkeley Law School, argues that it is, indeed, already happening here.
He notes that
He goes on to list several specific indicators that we are seeing this process right here right now right before our eyes.
Follow the link for his reasoning.
“History Does Not Repeat Itself, but It Often Rhymes”* 0
Trudy Rubin hears a rhyme.
It must be free verse, as somehow “Donald Trump” manages to rhyme with “Neville Chamberlain.”
_________________
*Mark Twain.
Echoes of Immorality 0
For some fool reason, this article seems to remind me of someone in the news.
I wonder just who it could be?