Quite right.
Doing the right thing to the best of one’s abilities and letting the consequences follow is a skill trading at a deflated value in upper U.S. government, in my observation.
Quite right.
Doing the right thing to the best of one’s abilities and letting the consequences follow is a skill trading at a deflated value in upper U.S. government, in my observation.
But when you get a circus, you get a freak show. Could be fun! ![]()
This latest fiasco - the list of political appointments by the Orange Scrotum - is informative in several respects.
First, it’s a direct pointer to a disturbing fact. Namely, that neither Trump nor the other major wonks in the Rethuglicunt Party want these jobs to be undertaken by anyone possessing enen an atom of competence. In the case of Cheetolini, he simply doesn’t want anyone in place who might pose even a tiny obstacle to his mission of unlimited grift.
The other major wonks in the party are, of course, ideologically committed to the Randroid fantasy view of the world, a view in which altruism and striving to improve the lot of humanity are the subject of scorn and derision. Instead, despite many of them having benefited from being given a leg up on multiple occasions by others, they cling to the myth of infinite self-sufficiency that was likewise a myth in the case of Rand herself.
But, clinging to this warped Wild West vision of man as nothing but isolated meat fortresses trying to outdo each other, as the other wonks do, means that the Trump wrecking ball suits their goals admirably. It also, of course, suits their interests, which lie in turning the American people into an anachronistic version of Dark Age serfs.
Second, it’s a pointer to what happens when you let fat corporations corrupt and pervert the business of government. You end up with a mixture of the stupid and the venal at the helm. Of course, this can happen without the interference of fat corporations, as the fall of several civilisations in the era of Classical Antiquity teaches us. But there’s a certain aura that hovers around corporations, that makes stupidity and venality not merely inevitable, but in some cases desirable.
This is because making a profit in a decent, humane civil society takes effort, and capitalists tend to be lazy. They want shortcuts, they want instant gratification, and if destroying the ecosystems of decent, humane civil societies is deemed to be necessary for this, then they’ll wreck anything perceived as an obstacle to naked greed.
America is what you end up with, when you let a major nation succumb, as Eisenhower predicted, to being bought by capitalists.
@Calilasseia OMG your word smithing prowess has reached new heights. I had to wipe away tears of laughter before I was able to continue reading. I would love to see Rethuglicunt become the go to word for that party.
For some weird reason, I honestly thought @Cognostic started this thread ![]()
Latest Trump picks:
Mehmet Oz to run Medicare/Medicaid. Oz was one of the first to promote hydroxychloroquine as a cure for Covid-19.
Linda McMahon, the wife of wrestling promotor Vince McMahon as Secretary of Education.
And has been called before a congressional committee for supporting dubious medical claims. And once stated during the worst of Covid that it might be worth all the extra deaths it would cause to reopen schools.
This is an astonishingly bad appointment choice.
She has been in federal public service before but my guess here is that anyone with current credibility and rationality is turning Trump down. He therefore has only such people left as appointment nominations.
Speaking of which, the horrendous cabinet nomination fallout has begun.
Oh dear, you have to wonder just what they have on him for him to give up. He’s too scummy even for the GOP, so it must be something truly awful and provable. What was already made public is about as bad as it gets, and they didn’t blink an eye, so it’s hard to imagine what’s worse.
HR9495 just passed the House. This bill gives the Secretary of the Treasury the power to designate any nonprofit it likes as a “terrorist organization” and strip them of their tax exempt status. Some time after January 20 you can bet that organizations like The Southern Poverty Law Center, Planned Parenthood, and the ACLU will be targeted.
I don’t think it will be as bad as that, but I am not optimistic.
They can start with the Catholic church, the Mormons, the JWs, etc…
They can, but chances are they won’t ![]()