January 10, 2019

the Nation: It's not a government shutdown; it's a right-wing coup

[link:https://www.thenation.com/article/its-not-a-government-shutdown-its-a-right-wing-coup/?fbclid=IwAR1CZlLtRRmsPmaokSEc0-dmeJm4RkEQDvtq6Pm97X4FrBwYRKylxOK6_IQ|

snip

What we are really facing is a liberal government shutdown—which is to say programs designed to help the vulnerable and poor are gutted, while institutions designed to serve the rich and powerful remain unscathed.

If the last “shutdown” is any guide, the military, Trump’s luxurious vacations, soft power, our bombing of seven Muslim-majority countries, NSA bulk surveillance, agencies that prop up the oil and gas industry, the CIA’s arming and funding of Syrian rebels, and the FBI’s entrapment regime will remain entirely untouched. The parts of government that serve the poor and working class, however, will be first on the chopping block: libraries, tax collection, national parks, labor and safety regulators, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (which oversees the derivatives market), environmental regulators, financial regulators, welfare, and WIC will all be axed. Indeed, the one time the government got remotely close to undermining, even briefly, a pillar of the right-wing state, the powers that be arbitrarily decided to leave the Defense Department virtually untouched.

In principle, the criteria of what is and isn’t “essential” is determined by unelected agency and department heads using guidance issued by the Office of Management and Budget based on a Department of Justice opinion authored in 1980 by then–Attorney General Benjamin Civiletti. That determination, according to McClatchy, defines “essential” activities as those that “protect life and property”—a fundamentally reactionary (and curiously unexamined) criterion that elevates property over justice, feeding people, and protecting the vulnerable.

More at link

January 10, 2019

Any MIRT here?

Cleanup needed in my new OP on guns. In GD.

January 10, 2019

Here is the true national emergency: Nearly 40,000 gun deaths last year.

THIS is how Dems could neutralize his hyped fearmongering.

[link:https://www.cnn.com/2018/12/13/health/gun-deaths-highest-40-years-cdc/index.html|

Plenty of data exists that PROVES the deadly assault on American citizens by guns.

Every time he blabbers about the danger he envisions, show photos of victims.

January 10, 2019

Members of the commentariat need to stop giving DJT implicit permission for national emergency.

....by saying it appears to be his only route left.

Peter Baker NYT I'm looking at YOU.

John Heilemann I'm looking at YOU.

Among uncounted others today.

January 9, 2019

Did you see Rude Pundit's Tweet about Stephen Miller? (edited thread title)

[link:https://twitter.com/search?q=%22Stephen%20Miller%22&src=tren|

You don't have to be a twitter member to read.

27.4 thousand tweets last night on Miller.

Look below for Rude Pundit's tweet.

January 8, 2019

Brian Williams referenced a contentious Stephen Miller-Blitzer episode.

Did anyone see that?

January 6, 2019

George Takei's warning for us on the "national emergency"

[link:https://screenshots.firefox.com/vBDYkb13WH9KJW2s/twitter.com|



George Takei
?Verified account @GeorgeTakei

Prepare, all good citizens. If Trump declares a “National Emergency” in order to fund his wall, the House and the Senate are empowered under the 1976 National Emergencies Act to repudiate it. We will face a constitutional crisis if the Senate simply rolls over. We must mobilize.
7:47 PM - 5 Jan 2019