Tag: politics
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Let Elon Musk Run TSA
This is rich. One of the Thousands Standing Around who do security theater in airports says that they need a raise. People tend to take our jobs for granted. You’re more likely to hear about long wait times or annoyance about taking off your shoes than you are about the important work we do. What…
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Early Impressions of the New Administration
Watching speeches by the new president reminds me so much of Star Trek (the Original Series). Specifically this episode: Note: I am not not NOT saying that anyone in the administration, much less the president, espouses the tenets of nationalism-socialism. (“Say what you will about them, but at least it’s an ethos.”) If you’d seen…
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Trump’s Exit
I don’t think what Trump said was a high crime or misdemeanor. But I do wish he would leave office. In fact, I wish he would leave office, and then Mike Pence would also leave office. I’d like Nancy Pelosi to take over the presidency, per the constitution, and run out the clock on the…
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Kennedy-Johnson 1960
John F. Kennedy was elected after a campaign critical of the Eisenhower-Nixon administration’s “Missile Gap,” aided by a friendly press and voting irregularities in Chicago. As it turned out, the gap was illusory, but his campaign required Kennedy to govern as a cold war hawk. The Bay of Pigs invasion was followed by the Cuban…
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The Senate and SCOTUS — A Modest Proposal
Since the nomination of Merrick Garland has been held up all year, and is at this point likely dead, President Trump may nominate as many as three (even 4?) Justices to the Supreme Court. The Senate, of course, must approve those nominations. Historically, this would have been subject to a 60-vote requirement to overcome any…
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Help! I’m bein’ REPRESSED!
Most of the faculty and staff at Princeton University who donated to a presidential candidate donated to Bronco Bama. By “most” I mean “all but two.” I know, ho-hum, so what? It is, after all, the school that employs Peter Singer as an ethicist. But the interesting thing is who those GOP big shots were.…
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Now what?
Okay. Lady parts are safe now. And, now that he’s lost, Mitt Romney’s a statesman and not Jack the Ripper any longer. Who knows, maybe he’ll get a cabinet post, like Huntsman before him. Failing that, maybe an ambassador. (“Anywhere but Benghazi, Mr. President.”) And with that out of the way, then what? I sure…
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Recovery?
From the “It Sucks to Be Us” Dept.: The recent census report shows that despite (extremely slow) increases in national GDP and employment, inflation-adjusted household income—an indicator with far more impact on the lives of most Americans—has been dropping since 2009. As the New York Times notes, median household income is now 8.1 percent below…
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Do It to Julia
The Obama campaign introduced a new message showing how Obama policies—interestingly, they’re calling the Affordable Care Act “Obamacare” now—have benefitted an everywoman they call “Julia.” Good luck finding it on the website. Julia seems to have been disappeared, probably because it has drawn fire from both sides of the aisle. An example from the left…