(At this point you may want to know about this guy, the person running against Nunes for his seat in the House.)
The memo is from the staff of the House Intelligence Committee to the majority (Republican) members of that committee, with the subject line “Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act Abuses at the Department of Justice and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.” Continue reading The Nunes Memo is out, here it is
This Tuesday, February 6, Minnesotans will attend their precinct caucuses. There will be an essentially meaningless straw poll for Governor, and delegates will be selected to go on to the next level of conventioneering. I intend to vote for Auditor Rebecca Otto in the straw poll, and to join with others to represent my precinct in support of her candidacy for Governor.
There are a lot of reasons for this, but I’ll outline a few. Continue reading Why I will caucus for Rebecca Otto on Tuesday
Sorry to all my Evangelical Christian friends, but it is true.
Since this form of Protestantism has a built in way out based on its structural granularity, so most evangelical Christians can say, “Oh, that’s not me, that’s not my church, that’s the other guy,” most of you (talking to the Evangelicals here) will believe for a time that you are not tarnished by your religious leaders sidling up to a man who appears by all accounts to be a sex abuser, thief, and general asshat. But you don’t really get to do that. Continue reading Evangelical Christianity in America is Dead
It was a Republican shut down but Trump took a lead, so we shall call it the Trump Shutdown.
There is a non-zero possibility that a bill to keep things going will pass in the Senate and House, that Trump will veto it, and that Congress will override Trump’s veto. Not too likely, but it could work out that way.
First, a little clarification on the “Light Brigade.” This term originally referred to a British military unit of light (as in not heavy) cavalry that engaged with the Russians (the enemy in this story) during the Crimean War, in October, 1854. The brigade, made up of Light Dragoons, Lancers, and Hussars, was tasked to take over some territory from which Turkish (not the enemy) troops had been vanquished, in order to prevent the Russians from recovering artillery pieces left there. But somehow, there was a miscommunication, and the Light Brigade was sent to attack a well fortified and entrenched enemy unit that they had no business dealing with. This assault gained no ground and 110 of about 670 troops were killed, 161 wounded. Continue reading The Charge of the Light Brigade: A Cautionary Tale
In just a few days, Minnesota will have its precinct caucuses. All the different political parties will caucus at exactly the same time, at different locations, by law, to make it difficult for some joker to go to more than one (which would be illegal, but nearly impossible to enforce).
At the caucus, we will do the following: Continue reading Minnesotans Go To Caucus
Over the last five months, and with increasing frequency, I find myself listening to candidates for office talk about their environmental policies. I’ve looked at the policies of candidates for Minnesota Governor, for US Congress in three different districts, and for Minnesota Senate and House in numerous districts. There is a lot of variation across the candidates. Only one candidate so far has demonstrated a) rich knowledge of the subject, b) well formulated and detailed policy, and c) policy that I find very good and agree with. This is not a post about that candidate, but rather, all the other candidates.
The other candidates have positions that run from “seems kinda OK” to “is maybe mostly OK” but none are good enough. The most common position on a given environmental issue is for the candidate to indicate that they think it is very important. Sadly, when it comes to climate change specifically, the most common position is for the candidate to acknowledge that climate change is real.
Sorry, but you don’t get points for knowing how to write your name on the top of the exam. Continue reading Dear Candidate For Office: About your environmental policy…
And, more to the point, the Democrats will not be electing a president until they elect a celebrity. Continue reading Why the Next Democratic President will be a Celebrity
During the last 347 days of the Trump presidency, Donald Trump has lied 1,950 times, according to the Washington Post, which is keeping track.
The same newspaper tracks the number of times the police in the US shoot and kill a person. During the 365 days of 2017, that happened 987 times.
So, Donald Trump lies about 6.62 times a day.
So, american cops kill about 2.7 people a day.
This means that by the time Donald Trump delivers his inaugural address later this month, he will have lied approximately 100 more times. This does not mean that he will give us 100 more distinct lies. Many of his lies are repeats. Then, in the inaugural itself, we’ll probably get another big batch.
Between now and the inaugural address, about 40 of us will be gunned down in the streets or in our homes by the cops. (For perspective, the total rate of death of Americans in this country’s longest war, in Afghanistan, averages out to about one killed every three days, while the number of Americans killed in Viet Nam, which is actually hard to estimate, is two to three times the rate at which the cops kill us. So, the cops kill us at a rate that is about the same order of magnitude as a recent, modern, war.)
Happy January!
By the way, I’m enjoying Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House
A suggested resolution for Minnesotans attending their precinct caucuses this year.
WHEREAS:
Elected members to the United State Congress sometimes forget that they were sent to Washington DC to represent the people of their district,
BE IT RESOLVED THAT:
a bill be introduced to disallow disbursement or reimbursement to any member of the US House of Representatives or Senate from the Members’ Representational Allowance fund, or any other disbursement other than salary, for any member who does not hold open public town halls in their home district at least two times per calendar year.An open public town hall shall be defined as a public meeting to which all constituents are invite at an appropriately sized and located venue with several days public notice, for at least two hours time provide for questions and comments by constituents.
“I know some want (me) to do a public event, an open town hall … (Laughs) … I’m not going to do that” (just after 8 minutes, 12-20-17 Paul and Jordana 5 PM Wednesday, Dedember 20th, 2017)
I remember learning a long time ago that in places like Germany, places that had recently been ravaged, nearly totally destroyed, with much death and misery, by Nazis and other fascists, it was illegal to do things like display a swastika. This is the kind of thing that makes many Americans throw a conniption. Continue reading Netzwerkdurchsetzungsgesetz punches the Nazi
A meme for you:
Apparently Donald Trump is going full on conniption over this new book.
Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House
The book is based on hundreds of interviews and considerable time spent in the White House by the author. I’m not sure if this guy is exactly my favorite author, but anybody who can get Trump to explode is worth checking out.
Senator Orrin Hatch, the oldest and most senior sitting Republican in the Senate, is not running for re-election. He’ll leave at the end of his term.
Batter up: Mitt Romney. Continue reading Orrin Hatch Will Retire
This is a topic I’ve been hoping to someday write extensively on, and the truth is I’m not quite ready to do so. But I have an observation that is so startling and so much in line with my thinking on this issue that I thought I’d share it as a way of introducing the topic, as I continue to think about it and collect data. Continue reading How America Ruined Its Own Election System, and How to Fix It