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https://www.memorialmuseums.org/memorialmuseum/Memorial-to-the-Murdered-Members-of-the-Reichstag
Are we really here? One would think that standing to be a Senator would be a commitment to doing the right thing without letting fear affect you. No?
Hmmm it really is 1933 Germany, and legislators are afraid of violence:
«…the tale of Thom Tillis, who did a reversal in 12 hours after saying he would not vote to confirm Pete Hegseth as defense secretary, on account of Hegseth being a credibly accused rapist, spousal abuser, drunkard, etc. We know that Trump, JD Vance and Susie Wiles leaned on Tillis hard, what we did not know until now is that Tillis was warned by the FBI about “credible death threats” too.
And Tillis is not the only one. Liz Cheney told Jake Tapper that GOP senators voted against impeaching Trump because they feared for their own lives:
“If you look at the vote to impeach, for example, there were members who told me that they were afraid for their own security — afraid, in some instances, for their lives. And that tells you something about where we are as a country, that members of Congress aren’t able to cast votes, or feel that they can’t, because of their own security.”
After January 6, freshman Rep. Peter Meijer (R-Mich.) reports a colleague weeping about it: “Remember, this wasn’t a hypothetical. You were casting that vote after seeing with your own two eyes what some of these people are capable of […] If they’re willing to come after you inside the U.S. Capitol, what will they do when you’re at home with your kids?”»
https://www.wonkette.com/p/why-are-republican-senators-rolling
But maybe there’s also the softer approach of our more modern times:
«Musk is also, according to himself, rooting around in everybody’s financial information to “flush out conflicts of interest.” »
Or maybe it’s not fear:
«If all of the Republican Senators stood up to Trump and refused to be intimidated, they might stand a chance. But that would be SOCIALIST, and their beliefs are closer to a pot of crabs trying to drag each other down.
…
Morals, courage, having a life of purpose, look, that stuff is a lot of work. Why not just eat that tasty carrot, and avoid the ouchy stick?
Viktor Orbán approves this message!»
«Like so many self-described “dirt bag” climbers in Yosemite, he spent a couple of years doing odd jobs to make ends meet before he got hired by the park service. It meant scraping toilets, picking up used diapers and “squeegee-ing urine” from bathroom floors, he said. But it was still pretty much the holy grail of jobs for a passionate climber.
“It was, quite literally, a dream come true,” Chmura said.
So, when the Trump administration arrived with its slash-and-burn crusade against the federal workforce, he was stunned and heartbroken to be swept up in it.
“I just really don’t understand why they’re attacking working-class Americans who never took these jobs to get rich,” he said. “It’s just extremely confusing. Why us?”
Conservative friends from Ohio, who have seen him on Instagram and TV, have reached out and said, “This is not what I voted for, this is … insane,” Chmura said.»
So, the public-facing stuff gets the exceptions, when people scream loud enough, but the behind-the-scenes stuff gets axed.
Goodbye, IRS tax enforcement. Goodbye, OSHA. Goodbye, USDA Economic Research Service. Goodbye, SEC. Goodbye, FTC truth-in-advertising enforcement. Goodbye, food inspection. (Goodbye, government tracking of food poisoning. Hello, lawsuits against private websites set up to do the same.)
https://www.wonkette.com/p/mean-appeals-court-wont-let-donald
I love all the Pelosis.
Today’s random thought: replace all those DEIA programs with American Ideals programs that emphasize meritocracy and fair play (you know… the American ideal) and a conscious avoidance of groupthink. Hiring and promotion would be blinded so only the qualifications are visible. There could be American flags and eagles and Superman images or something.
I wonder if we could make that work?
(I heard about a company that had a zoom/mass email/whatever that basically said, “we have a lot government contracts. We’re ending our DEI programs, but we want you to know everybody is welcome here.” And I’m like… Really? Why don’t you prove it by having an explicit program that doesn’t trigger the white-wing snowflakes with recognizable keywords?)
A few days ago, my WP posts stopped coming through to Mastodon, which I guess is when WP deployed a change to how the Mastodon plugin worked? I haven’t really been paying attention and don’t really think I should have to (stupid technology).
So now, on the blog’s Jetpack | Social settings page, you can syndicate to other social media sites, so now my blog posts looks like my regular Mastodon posts (I wonder how long posts will come through? I guess we’ll see.).
Just a wee test blog post.
ACLU petition to the Supreme Court asking for a ruling in U.S. v. Skrmetti to protect the rights of trans people (which really means all of us) needs only 4114 signatures to reach 250,000 (at the time of this writing):
https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/5154260-liz-cheney-trump-russia-reagan/
Well… not *everything*, Liz. Reagan was a racist homophobe, too.
«Trump instead placed the blame on former President Biden in an interview Tuesday, decrying what he characterized as reckless spending during the previous administration.
“Inflation is back. No, think of it: Inflation’s back,” the president told Fox News’s Sean Hannity during an interview alongside tech billionaire Elon Musk that aired Tuesday night. “And they said, ‘Oh, Trump,’ and I had nothing to do with that.”»
I wonder how long that excuse will work.
Here, Read This 