In the Atlantic, James Fallows reports on the Ancient Rome and Modern American analogies. Now, chapter four: crossing the Rubicon. Schnurer argues that this is more than just a familiar phrase. And he says that a U.S. Rubicon moment is in view—which would be triggered by a possible indictment of Donald Trump. At the end … [Read more…]
Over on the Atlantic, Adam Serwer writes about the Fraternal Order of Police and their reaction to the January 5th insurrection. The Capitol Rioters Attacked Police. Why Isn’t the FOP Outraged? Police unions aren’t usually bashful about defending officers, but they’ve been conspicuously subdued in discussing the January 6 attacks. … What you won’t find … [Read more…]
A comment from ARS TECHNICA which I really like: they’ll even claim a draft-dodging, formally-liberal, Aderrall-addicted, twice-divorced, serial-bankruptor, daughter-curious, porn-star-buying, real-estate huckster, C-list scripted ‘reality’ show host, scam university running failed vitamin salesman is the best President they’ve ever had the chance to vote for – and they’ll try to murder members of Congress to … [Read more…]
In an obituary today in the NY Times describes the life of William H. Regnery II, “Buzzfeed called him ‘the most influential racist you’ve never heard of.’ ” It is interesting to me as I’m wondering of late who the people are who are bankrolling the alt-right, other than the Murdoch and Koch families. Here … [Read more…]
From the Washington Post – Feb. 26, 2021 Government agencies increasingly are accessing private information they are not authorized to compile on their own By Drew Harwell Feb. 26, 2021 at 1:55 p.m. PST U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers have tapped a private database containing hundreds of millions of phone, water, electricity and other … [Read more…]
COVID-19: US federal accountability for entry, spread, and inequities—lessons for the future European Journal of Epidemiology William P. Hanage,corresponding author, Christian Testa, Jarvis T. Chen, Letitia Davis, Elise Pechter, Peg Seminario, Mauricio Santillana, and Nancy Krieger Abstract: The United States (US) has been among those nations most severely affected by the first—and subsequent—phases of the … [Read more…]
The 5 Trump Amendments to the Constitution The 45th president profoundly altered our system of government. Jonathan Rauch Contributing writer at The Atlantic Amendment 1. No president shall be removed from office for treason, bribery, or any other crime or misdemeanor, no matter how high, should a partisan minority of the Senate choose to protect … [Read more…]
Dreaming? Last night, I thought of Timothy McVeigh, I saw images of the April 19, 1995 Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building after the bombing, and I thought of Trump’s brag that “he’d not leave the political field.” Putting this together at 2 a.m. in a fog of sleep left me thinking of the WPE (Worst … [Read more…]
So we never forget, as the reign of the WPE (worst-president-ever) slowly slips into the sunset, we need to remember a few things. David Frum in the Atlantic has written an excellent essay covering some of those things: The Trump Crew’s Incompetence Lasted to the End. The former president’s lawyers were bad—but that was all … [Read more…]
From the Feb. 7, 2021 New York Times: Kelly J. Baker is a writer and scholar of the Ku Klux Klan in the 1920s. She sees frightening similarities between that culture and the violence at the Capitol on Jan. 6. A most interesting essay showing how things have not changed in ~100 years, the rhetoric … [Read more…]