War and Mongers of War 0
Farron fears another War for a Lie in Somewhere.
The Wall-Eyed Piker Makes a Call 0
The cartoon above highlights the obvious self-serving nature and irrationality of Donald Trump’s wall call (as when he declares a “national emergency” while saying he doesn’t need to do so, leading persons to wonder, “Where’s the emergency?”).
But this is not a game. Will Bunch warns against ignoring the implications of Trump’s action, however shallow-minded and short-sighted Trump himself may be. A snippet:
Image via Job’s Anger.
“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0
Party politely.
The man holding the gun accidentally discharged it, with a bullet going completely through the infant’s leg before striking the pelvis of the woman, according to police.
We Are the Trojans, and We Have Invited a Herd of Horses into Our Homes 0
Bloomberg reports on how Big Data is trying to steal all privacy. Here’s a bit:
In other words, after you connect a light fixture to Alexa, Amazon wants to know every time the light is turned on or off, regardless of whether you asked Alexa to toggle the switch. Televisions must report the channel they’re set to. Smart locks must keep the company apprised whether or not the front door bolt is engaged.
This is not good.
Bad Days in Blackface 0
My friend’s cousin called from the West Coast with some family news earlier this week. She was taken about when he started asking her about Governor Northam’s yearbook picture; she hadn’t realize the reach of that news story.
My local rag today carried an excellent backgrounder on the place where Ralph Northam (and I, twenty years earlier and twenty miles farther south) grew up. I commend it to your attention.
Former Farmers 0
Farron discusses the damage that Donald Trump’s trade wars have done to American farmers.
The Wall-Eyed Piker 0
Greg Sargent asks whether facts matter. No, seriously. Here’s a bit:
But for legal purposes, do the facts on the ground matter at all?
According to Goitein of the Brennan Center, since passage of the National Emergencies Act, the courts have not once considered the question of whether a national emergency can be declared invalid on the grounds that there isn’t any national emergency. Another legal expert told Charlie Savage the same.
In related news, Yastreblyansky thinks Donald Trump may unknowingly be headed for a snag in the Rio Grande.
Dis Coarse Discourse 0
What is it about Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez that’s causing such a right-wing freakout so?
The Rule of Lawless 0
Elie Mystal is not sanguine.
State of Failure or Failed State? 0
Josh Marshall discusses the implications of Donald Trump’s threatened (as I write this, it’s still a threat) state of emergency. A nugget:
Many times over the last two years I’ve recalled this tag line from Slate’s Will Saletan: “The GOP is a failed state and Trump is its warlord.” Now this half applies to the country at large. It was a remarkably prescient line. It explains and illuminates so much.
Read it.
And weep.