Sheriff Barr is gettin’ a mite bit envious of them Banana Republics down South o’ th’ Border. They asked Congress to authorize indefinite pre-trial detention. You can see Mother Jones’ coverage at Trump’s Justice Department Proposes Indefinite Detention in Emergencies—Like…
Executive Branch Jobs: One Is More Than Enough
One person really shouldn’t be able to have more than one Executive branch job. For one thing, how could you manage? There’s no way Mulvaney (or Grinell or any of the others) is actually doing a good job in all…
Pollution: You’re Soaking In It
Humans have a nasty habit of really messing up wherever they live. Especially businesses, and especially unregulated businesses. Economics has this concept they call externalities. These are the effects of a process that don’t have to be paid for by…
DOJ Ball: This Has Already Gone Too Far
The Department of Justice has gone more than a bit freaky lately; see Wonkette’s PULL THE F*CKING FIRE ALARM and Bill Barr Breaks The Justice Department for some frankly revolting details. Regulatory Capture. That’s the concept in government that describes…
Impeachment: A Stupid Thing Happened On The Way To The Senate
Well, lots of really stupid things. And even more stupid things have happened after it got there. There is one stupid thing that matters more than all the rest. Trump seems to genuinely think that he’s a king. To be…
National Territories: Taxation Without Representation
Territories, federal districts, protectorates; whatever you call them, their very existence violates one of the foundational principles of this country. No taxation without representation. In the United States, this is repeated at us endlessly, from elementary level history to Schoolhouse…
SPQA: Senatus Populusque Americanus
This is a followup to Let’s Do This: For Once Something Is Actually About States’ Rights. Either abolish the Senate or change the Constitution to make us a real federation. Let’s get really non-controversial: the only reason the Senate exists…
Let’s Do This: For Once Something Is Actually About States’ Rights
We have a history here in the United States of claiming that some … things … were about the rights of the states against the federal government when really they were about … something else. Yeah; that. This is not…
Setec Astronomy: Government By The [Redacted]
Can we (should we) trust anyone in the government with the ability to keep secrets from the citizens? No. Just, no. Restricting ourselves just to the current administration, for a moment, we know that they have classified records of embarassing…
I’m Not OK With This: Depending On Norms Is Dangerous
Norms can be nice; a lot of people like it when they can depend on other folks to just behave the same way they would. But they really don’t work in governments. Firstly, of course, a government that runs on…