For all the media folderol about Donald Trump’s triumphant return to the White House, new polling shows that most Americans are actually feeling pretty meh about the prospects for any of his grandiose plans. The AP Norc poll shows that Trump’s 41% approval rating is only a few points higher than it was when he was ignominiously rejected four years ago and most people don’t have any confidence that he’ll be able to accomplish most of what he’s promised. For a man who erroneously insists that he won a landslide and claims that he’s been given a mandate for massive change, it doesn’t appear that most Americans actually support his agenda (other than eliminating taxes on tips) either: Members of both parties say they want compromise but considering recent history it’s pretty clear that the Republican party simply is no longer organized to do that. They are in the grip of an extremist faction, led by Trump himself, that is immune to any kind of concession. From all the reports coming out of the new Congress nothing has changed on that count.
In an age of constitutional hardball In my post below, Michael Steele hammers Democrats for trying to play nice with his former political party. An exasperated Steele says Republicans are “gonna shove those [bipartisan] plowshares up your behind!” The MAGA GOP is playing “constitutional hardball,” clinically defined by Mark Tushnet of Harvard Law School in 2004 as: … political claims and practices – legislative and executive initiatives – that are without much question within the bounds of existing constitutional doctrine and practice but that are nonetheless in some tension with existing pre-constitutional understandings. It is hardball because its practitioners see themselves as playing for keeps in a special kind of way; they believe the stakes of the political controversy their actions provoke are quite high, and that their defeat and their opponents’ victory would be a serious, perhaps permanent setback to the political positions they hold.
The point of the discussion, of course, has to do with where Koopmans thinks we should look for “autonomous behaviour relations”. He appeals to experience but in a somewhat oblique manner. He refers to the Harvard barometer “to show that relationships between economic variables … not traced to underlying behaviour equations are unreliable as instruments […]
Michael Salib and Mesha Ghazaleh The Bank’s monetary policy objectives are some of the most significant objectives bestowed by Parliament on any UK public authority. They are to maintain price stability and, subject to that, support the Government’s economic policy, including its objectives for growth and employment. In our paper we offer a historical and … Continue reading The Bank of England’s statutory monetary policy objectives: a historical and legal account
“When I started working for Rolling Stone, I really thought I was doing journalism. And then I quickly realized I wasn’t, because I had a point of view.”
Dems won’t win the 21st century with 20th-century politics Tons of respect for Democrats in Congress who have served honorably and bring years of deep experience in legislative arcana to their jobs, and a passion for improving American’s lives. I still want the Democrats’ gerontocracy to go home. You’re living in the past. Make room for younger leaders with 21st-century political and media skills. Former RNC chair Michael Steele says it better than I could. * Michael Steele: They think we’re playing the 1980s, Ronald Reagan and Tip O’Neill kinda kumbaya moment. ‘Yeah, we skirmish here and there, but in the end we’re gonna have a little toast with some bourbon or some good whiskey and call it even.’ No, that’s not what this is…. I very much respect Hakeem Jeffries, very much excited about his leadership, but you do not hand over the gavel and say we’re putting down our swords and picking up our bipartisan plowshares? They’re gonna shove those plowshares up your behind! The GOP has spent a generation plotting for this moment, Steele continues, trying to upend the structures put in place to try to govern.
The right to protest remains “curtailed and punished” despite a change in Government, the leading human rights group warned
'Without accountability, impunity will prevail, and the cycle of violence will continue'
Finally, and not a moment too soon, our government will look, smell, and act like the real America. Not an Ivy League college campus, not a melting pot of immigrants striving to achieve the American dream, but instead an endlessly replenishing stream of shout-talking men outraged that people with disabilities or families with children who are offered extra assistance actually take it, along with a steady diet of morning beers, explosive rage, and ketchup.
It’s far past time for those who “govern” to demonstrate the same lack of awareness as everyone pretending not to know what boarding group they’re in. And why did we win January 6 if not for the right to berate underpaid service workers who aren’t allowed to unionize and also so we can have both pizza and tequila shots for breakfast? Why was 9/11 an inside job if not for our hard-won ability to wear pajama bottoms and inflatable neck pillows in public and constantly have to relearn through the application of loud buzzing sounds and shame that jewelry is made of metal? And what was the whole point of all those genocides if not to have unlimited access to themed socks and overpriced regional T-shirts?
General Electric, once one of the most important companies in America started firing the bottom 10% of performers every yearwhen Jack Welch took over. Seems smart, right? Strangely, however, GE was driven into the ground by Welch. It made a lot of money, for a while, but it was burning down the house and now it’s a has been company. The routine firing wasn’t the only reason, but it was part of it.
Lately I’m seeing companies like Meta and Microsoft saying they’re doing large lay-offs of the lowest performers. Seems smart, eh?
- by Psyche Film
- by Eric Schwitzgebel
Ahead of Trump’s second term, Democratic and Republican lawmakers are advancing sweeping measures to make life harder for immigrants.
The post Building the Deportation Machine for Trump 2.0 appeared first on The Intercept.
Decades of real estate lobbying pushed Californians further into fire zones. Will the fires force the state to rethink how to house its population?
The secretaries of defense and state will play key roles in U.S. policy on Israel, but they faced little scrutiny on Palestinian suffering.
The post Pete Hegseth and Marco Rubio Get a Pass on Suffering in Gaza appeared first on The Intercept.
Do I really need to keep saying that this is where the personal is the political? writes Penny Pepper
"For me, the act of civil disobedience was a stand against the increasing erosion of a fundamental pillar of democracy - our right to protest"
We’ve lost a true auteur. This tribute by Kyle Mclaughlin is one of the best I’ve ever read: Forty-two years ago, for reasons beyond my comprehension, David Lynch plucked me out of obscurity to star in his first and last big budget movie. He clearly saw something in me that even I didn’t recognize. I owe my entire career, and life really, to his vision.What I saw in him was an enigmatic and intuitive man with a creative ocean bursting forth inside of him. He was in touch with something the rest of us wish we could get to. Our friendship blossomed on Blue Velvet and then Twin Peaks and I always found him to be the most authentically alive person I’d ever met. David was in tune with the universe and his own imagination on a level that seemed to be the best version of human. He was not interested in answers because he understood that questions are the drive that make us who we are. They are our breath. While the world has lost a remarkable artist, l’ve lost a dear friend who imagined a future for me and allowed me to travel in worlds I could never have conceived on my own.
Team, tonight we play the biggest game of our lives. I know you have heard our opposing coach’s comments—“We’re doing everything we can to honor our creator.” I also know you saw last week when their star quarterback took a knee and grabbed the sideline reporter’s microphone so the world could hear his prayer:
Our father, who art in heaven
I throw this ball for you
Please grant me touchdowns
And deliver me from interceptions
All glory to you, God
And to State, the greatest team in your creation
Amen.
Now, you’re probably thinking, “This ain’t good, Coach. They’re convinced they have the Almighty on their side. If that’s true, what chance do we have? How are we going to beat both State and the God of Western Christianity?”
Well, men, I recently completed my audit of PHIL 332: Nietzsche & The Death of Practical Meaning, and I’m tired of mincing words.
Their God is dead.
Time of death: tonight.
Place of death: Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Georgia.
OutsideThe circus gatheringMoved silently along the rain-swept boulevard.The procession moved on the shouting is overThe fabulous freaks are leaving town. They are driven by a strange desireUnseen by the human eye.The carnival is over -from “The Carnival is Over” by Dead Can Dance I did a piece in 2015 about my 10 favorite midnight movies. One of my picks was David Lynch’s Eraserhead, of which I wrote: If there’s one thing I’ve learned in my fifty-odd years on the planet, it’s that when it comes to the films of David Lynch, there is no middle ground. You either love ‘em, or you hate ‘em. You buy a ticket to a Lynch film, my friend, you’d best be willing to take the ride-and he will take you for a ride. And do you want to know the really weird thing about his films? They get funnier with each viewing. Yes, “funny”, as in “ha-ha” . I think the secret to his enigmatic approach to telling a story is that Lynch is in reality having the time of his life being impenetrably enigmatic-he’s sitting back and chuckling at all the futile attempts to dissect and make “sense” of his narratives.
Israel has finally agreed to a ceasefire after 15 months of genocide in Gaza, following its killing of 46,700 people.
The post Gaza ceasefire at last, but Israel’s still not done killing first appeared on Solidarity Online.
