March 20, 2018

I just wrote Rep Schiff

I asked him to enter a bill to buy the Secret Service a fleet of John Deere Gators or equivalent to use on golf guard duty, which will ease the burden on the public purse as they’ll no longer have to rent carts from the president.

March 13, 2018

Idaho schoolteacher arrested for child pornography

http://www.cdapress.com/local_news/20180310/teacher_held_on_child_porn_charges

According to another source I have, there was a hearing on Friday, March 9. At it, they revealed that much of Jeremy Campbell's alleged porn was of children the same age as the children in his class. The Idaho Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force found 28 videos and 34 still images depicting child pornography on his computer.

March 13, 2018

The optics of Tillerson's replacement are really bad

Let me get this straight: The best person to replace America's chief diplomat is America's chief spymaster?

March 13, 2018

I doubt the Trump-Kim meeting will ever happen

The two are way too far apart.

Trump's position is, "you give me everything I want, and I'll give you a peace treaty."

Kim's position is exactly the opposite: if he gets a peace treaty from the outset, he will do things for Trump. And I suspect one of Kim's demands will be for the removal of US troops from South Korea - which will be a death sentence for South Korea.

Given that both parties think they have the upper hand in this, neither one is going to move.

March 11, 2018

Has Trump explained HOW he will bring back the steel industry?

Many of the closed steel mills he needs to fulfill his dream of "bringing back steel" are not just closed - they have been eradicated. And it's not like Republican-favorite "struggling small businesses" are going to suddenly pop up to start making steel.

Without steel mills to make additional steel there will be no additional steel made...so what's his plan? Does he have one, or is he going to wriggle his nose, say "The American steel industry is back!" three times fast, and suddenly have roll after roll of steel emerge from Pennsylvania's lush hills?

March 8, 2018

The question is not why Ryan Zinke spent $130k on a door

The real question is why are Trump's Cabinet officials are implementing NSA-grade security in their departments.

March 1, 2018

Is Trump's announced bump stock EO a trial balloon for dictatorship?

An Executive Order is a presidential proclamation that can be used for two things: directing the operations of a government agency, or controlling the operation of an existing law.

Mr. Trump attempts neither with his proposed executive order banning bump stocks. He is attempting to create a completely new law. The Constitution is extremely clear on how new laws are to be made - they have to be passed in exactly the same form by both houses of Congress (in cases where a bill passed by one chamber is amended by the other, members of both chambers are required to negotiate a common bill and send it back to be revoted on) and then presented to the President, who can sign them into law, veto them or allow them to become law without his signature by sitting on them for two weeks.

The Constitution does NOT say "a president who can't get what he wants from a useless Congress can create new laws unilaterally." (If it did, President Obama would have been the most productive president of the last 150 years.)

My feeling is that Trump chose this particular trial balloon because it's something Democrats want to happen - not Trump making things up as he goes, but the elimination of bump stocks from our midst. If we complain he'll stay up all night tweetstorming us. If we let him get away with his attempt at divine right, he'll tweetstorm us over our two-faced reaction..."it was okay for me to write a new law when it was something they liked, why not now?"

Trump wants a "terrific" bill to be sent to him. The only "terrific" bill our useless Congress needs to send him is a writ of impeachment.

February 28, 2018

Debunking Carson's $5000 chair lie

HUD secretary Ben Carson has recently claimed you can't even buy a "decent chair" for the $5000 GSA authorizes as redecorating expenses. Let's see if we can.

I went to https://lifehacker.com/5941523/five-best-office-chairs#replies and found:

Herman Miller Aeron
$1295 direct from Herman Miller

Herman Miller Embody
$1295 direct from Herman Miller

Steelcase Leap
Leap WorkLounge: $2664 direct from Steelcase
Leap with 3D Knit Back: $1022 direct from Steelcase

Raynor Ergohuman
With headrest and leather upholstery: $649 from ergohuman.com

The fifth chair is from Ikea. It's a decent chair but the odds of a Famous Neurosurgeon On The US Cabinet wanting to place his exalted tuchus in a $200 chair are very low indeed.

There is also the Unicor CXO High Back Chair. If you can wait 60 days for delivery, these can be had for $599 each. Unicor is only allowed to sell to the federal government; it is the brand name of Federal Prison Industries.

There is also the issue that our royal HUD Secretary could have sent one of his minions to Home Depot for twenty gallons of paint and a case of Democratic Cootie Spray, used the perfectly good furniture that was already there, and redecorated the whole place for a thousand bucks...

February 28, 2018

I'm not eating cake ever again

Today I read a lovely hard-right piece telling the faithful to run to the most liberal baker they know, demand a NRA cake, and sue if they don't get it.

Cake is supposed to be a nice dessert. It's not so nice now that the hard right is using it as a wedge issue. So, no more cake for me.

There are plenty of other pastries to enjoy.

February 22, 2018

Serious question about gerrymandering

Let's say that we make out like bandits in the 2020 election and take majorities in some of the most-gerrymandered states.

Should the Democratic Party re-gerrymander those states to favor our candidates?

My feeling is that we should, largely because it's going to take AT LEAST five Congresses with filibuster-proof Democratic majorities to undo all the damage Trump will do.