«Wiping out the federal personnel agency could be Exhibit A as Trump’s reelection campaign assembles a list of victories to take to voters, from deregulation and tax cuts to trade tariffs.
….
The mandate to manage a merit-based civil service goes back to the 1883 Pendleton Act, a law designed to end the “spoils system” of rewarding political supporters with government jobs. Federal appointments had to be based on skills and qualifications.
Congress created OPM out of the Civil Service Commission in 1978, the last time lawmakers voted to establish hiring, employment and management practices for the federal workforce.
Today the agency is widely viewed as slow and ineffective, though, with a long-lingering backlog of background investigations and risk-averse leadership that has failed to respond to calls for faster hiring and recruiting for a changing workforce.
….
Breaking up OPM is not a Republican idea, though. The Obama administration discussed internally whether to do it, and so did Hillary Clinton’s team in 2016, civil service experts said. And the agency drew bipartisan fury in 2015 when U.S. officials alleged Chinese hackers stole millions of personnel records by hacking through the agency’s weak security system.»
Not sure why @peterbeinart is quoting The Washington Examiner, but, yeah, I think this is true:
«When describing Warren, journalists often imply that she must choose between being wonky and being charismatic. As the Times put it early this year, “Warren is making a personal and political wager that audiences care more about policy savvy than captivating oration.” But when describing Buttigieg, journalists suggest no such trade-off. The Washington Examiner recently praised his “authentic charisma, intellect, and policy chops.” Vanity Fair in March commended his “smarts and charisma.”»
I still like Warren, and find her plenty inspirational.
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/04/08/upshot/democratic-electorate-twitter-real-life.html
Social media out of step with the real world? That’s unpossible!
«Today’s Democratic Party is increasingly perceived as dominated by its “woke” left wing. But the views of Democrats on social media often bear little resemblance to those of the wider Democratic electorate.
….
But it would also be a mistake to assume that outrage on social media means outrage throughout the broader electorate. And it would be a mistake to assume that more moderate Democrats are out of step with the party’s electorate.»
https://twitter.com/1followernodad/status/1114948870415376384?s=17
(Prolly time to get off Twitter now, since I’m just repeating whatever random bits of obvious truth float down my stream.)
Sophia Benoit (@1followernodad) Tweeted:
When people talk about climate change killing people it’s likely to look a whole ton more like this than whatever image you might have of getting too hot or sea levels rising into your house or whatever. https://t.co/S47LaW9vhz
http://stephaniehurlburt.com/blog/2019/1/4/a-story-of-a-deal-gone-wrong
Moar web randomness:
«Over and over, I’m reminded that toxic people make you feel like there’s nothing better out there. But, oh, there is.
I guess I thought it’d all pay off financially. But as I talked to experienced business people, I was reminded that people you can’t count on to treat you well personally probably shouldn’t be counted on to treat you well financially.»
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-louisiana-fires-idUSKCN1RI0HM
«The number of hate crimes in the United States increased 17 percent in 2017, the third consecutive year such attacks rose, according to FBI data released last fall.»
https://twitter.com/sternbergh/status/1113979302914211840
Great. Now all my cube-mates think I’m crazy. Again.
Democrats: careful with the early celebrations. https://youtu.be/dRN99zNjRHY
«So what happened?
“The base woke up,” one GOP official texted me.»
http://www.erynnbrook.com/the-girl-on-the-train/
Sitting here in my cubicle, wiping my eyes.
«“Are you having a seizure now?” I asked. “No, but I’m about to.” She looked down at the monitor on her finger. “Can you sit with me until your stop?”»
Here, Read This 