1000 Testimonies in Defense of Obamacare

POLITICS
LOYALISTS, LAPDOGS, AND CRONIES
In a second Trump term, there would be no adults in the room.
DECEMBER 04, 2023
When Donald Trump first took office, he put a premium on what he called “central casting” hires—people with impressive résumés who matched his image of an ideal administration official. Yes, he brought along his share of Steve Bannons and Michael Flynns. But there was also James Mattis, the decorated four-star general who took over the Defense Department, and Gary Cohn, the Goldman Sachs chief operating officer who was appointed head of the National Economic Council, and Rex Tillerson, who left one of the world’s most profitable international conglomerates to become secretary of state.
Trump seemed positively giddy that all of these important people were suddenly willing to work for him. And although his populist supporters lamented the presence of so many swamp creatures in his administration, establishment Washington expressed pleasant surprise at the picks. A consensus had formed that what the incoming administration needed most was “adults in the room.” To save the country from ruin, the thinking went, reasonable Republicans had a patriotic duty to work for Trump if asked. Many of them did.
From the December 2019 issue: James Mattis on the enemy within
Don’t expect it to happen again. The available supply of serious, qualified people willing to serve in a Trump administration has dwindled since 2017. After all, the so-called adults didn’t fare so well in their respective rooms. Some quit in frustration or disgrace; others were publicly fired by the president. Several have spent their post–White House lives fielding congressional subpoenas and getting indicted. And after seeing one Trump term up close, vanishingly few of them are interested in a sequel: This past summer, NBC News reported that just four of Trump’s 44 Cabinet secretaries had endorsed his current bid.
Even if mainstream Republicans did want to work for him again, Trump is unlikely to want them. He’s made little secret of the fact that he felt burned by many in his first Cabinet. This time around, according to people in Trump’s orbit, he would prioritize obedience over credentials. “I think there’s going to be a very concerted, calculated effort to ensure that the people he puts in his next administration—they don’t have to share his worldview exactly, but they have to implement it,” Hogan Gidley, a former Trump White House spokesperson, told me.
What would this look like in practice? Predicting presidential appointments nearly a year before the election is a fool’s errand, especially with a candidate as mercurial as this one. And, whether for reasons of low public opinion or ongoing legal jeopardy, some of Trump’s likely picks might struggle to get confirmed (expect a series of contentious hearings). But the names currently circulating in MAGA world offer a glimpse at the kind of people Trump could gravitate toward.
FOLLOW THE ATLANTIC
One Trump-world figure with a record of deference to the boss is Stephen Miller. As a speechwriter and policy adviser, Miller managed to endure while so many of his colleagues flamed out in part because he was satisfied with being a staffer instead of a star. He was also fully aligned with the president on his signature issue: immigration. Inside the White House, Miller championed some of the administration’s most draconian measures, including the Muslim travel ban and the family-separation policy. In a second Trump term, some expect Miller to get a job that will give him significant influence over immigration policy—perhaps head of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or even secretary of homeland security. Given Miller’s villainous reputation in Democratic circles, however, he might have a hard time getting confirmed by the Senate. If that happens, some think White House chief of staff might be a good consolation prize.
From the September 2022 issue: The secret history of the U.S. government’s family-separation policy
For secretary of state, one likely candidate is Richard Grenell. Before Trump appointed him ambassador to Germany in 2018, Grenell was best-known as a right-wing foreign-policy pundit and an inexhaustible Twitter troll. He brought his signature bellicosity to Berlin, hectoring journalists and government officials on Twitter, and telling a Breitbart London reporter early in his tenure that he planned to use his position to “empower other conservatives throughout Europe.” (He had to walk back the comment after some in Germany interpreted it as a call for far-right regime change.)
Grenell’s undiplomatic approach to diplomacy exasperated German officials and thrilled Trump, who reportedly described him as an ambassador who “gets it.” Grenell has spent recent years performing his loyalty as a Trump ally and, according to one source, privately building his case for the secretary-of-state role.
One job that Trump will be especially focused on getting right is attorney general. He believes that both of the men who held this position during his term—Jeff Sessions and Bill Barr—were guilty of grievous betrayal. Since then, Trump has been charged with 91 felony counts across four separate criminal cases—evidence, he claims, of a historic “political persecution.” (He has pleaded not guilty in all cases.) Trump has pledged to use the Justice Department to visit revenge on his persecutors if he returns to the White House.
“The notion of the so-called independence of the Department of Justice needs to be consigned to the ash heap of history,” says Paul Dans, who served in the Office of Personnel Management under Trump and now leads an effort by the Heritage Foundation to recruit conservative appointees for the next Republican administration. To that end, Trump allies have floated a range of loyalists for attorney general, including Senators Ted Cruz, Mike Lee, and Josh Hawley; former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi; and Jeffrey Clark, formerly one of Trump’s assistant attorneys general, who was indicted in Georgia on charges of conspiring to overturn the 2020 election (the charges are still pending).
Vivek Ramaswamy—the fast-talking entrepreneur running in the Republican presidential primary as of this writing—is also expected to get a top post in the administration. Ramaswamy has praised Trump on the campaign trail and positioned himself as the natural heir to the former president. Trump has responded to the flattery in kind, publicly praising his opponent as a “very, very, very intelligent person.” Some have even speculated that Ramaswamy could be Trump’s pick for vice president.
One source close to Ramaswamy told me that a Trump adviser had recently asked him what job the candidate might want in a future administration. After thinking about it, the source suggested ambassador to the United Nations, reasoning that he’s a “good talker.” The Trump adviser said he’d keep it in mind, though it’s worth noting that Ramaswamy’s lack of support for Ukraine and his suggestion that Russia be allowed to keep some of the territory it has seized could lead to confirmation trouble.
Beyond the high-profile posts, the Trump team may have more jobs to fill in 2025 than a typical administration does. Dans and his colleagues at Heritage are laying the groundwork for a radical politicization of the federal civilian workforce. If they get their way, the next Republican president will sign an executive order eliminating civil-service protections for up to 50,000 federal workers, effectively making the people in these roles political appointees. Rank-and-file budget wonks, lawyers, and administrators working in dozens of agencies would be reclassified as Schedule F employees, and the president would be able to fire them at will, with or without cause. These fired civil servants’ former posts could be left empty—or filled with Trump loyalists. To that end, Heritage has begun to put together a roster of thousands of pre-vetted potential recruits. “What we’re really talking about is a major renovation to government,” Dans told me.
Trump actually signed an executive order along these lines in the final months of his presidency, but it was reversed by his successor. On the campaign trail, Trump has vowed to reinstate it with the goal of creating a more compliant federal workforce for himself. “Either the deep state destroys America,” he has declared, “or we destroy the deep state.”
This article appears in the January/February 2024 print edition with the headline “Loyalists, Lapdogs, and Cronies.”
McKay Coppins is a staff writer at The Atlantic.
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Loyalists, Lapdogs, and Cronies — The Atlantic In a second Trump term, there would be no adults in the room.

Profits over People shows in Florida’s water quality.

Water quality in Florida to take a hit as lawmakers show their disdain for voters - Miami Herald A dead sea turtle is covered in Lyngbya macroalgae. Sarasota Bay experienced a massive bloom of the blue-green algae following the release of 200 million gallons of contaminated wastewater from the Piney Point industrial site in Manatee County.

“The law also forbids public colleges from offering general education courses — which are part of the required curriculum for all college students — that ‘distort significant historical events,’ teach ‘identity politics’ or are ‘based on theories that systemic racism, sexism, oppression, or privilege are inherent in the institutions of the United States and were created to maintain social, political, or economic inequities.’”��Who decides what “distorts”? How can the state prohibit instruction about, say, the consequences of Jim Crow in a U.S. history survey class? Well, that’s up to the regime DeSantis has installed. We now see the full extent of the governor’s authoritarian impulse to control independent sources of information and to eviscerate professional standards that provide the basis for challenging state action and abuse of power.”

Opinion | Ron DeSantis’s big idea: Make Florida students ignorant The governor is on an authoritarian quest to create passive followers in his state.

"While some employees have already moved to Central Florida, the plan faced considerable pushback from other workers, especially as the political climate in the state became openly hostile toward Disney and DeSantis embraced legislation that many people viewed as anti-LGBTQ. The planned move was the source of significant animosity toward then-Chief Executive Bob Chapek. Disney’s board of directors fired Chapek in November, replacing him with the Burbank entertainment giant’s previous longtime leader, Bob Iger. For more than a year, Disney has been feuding with DeSantis over the company’s opposition to the state’s law that bans classroom instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity. Disney recently sued DeSantis for what it called a “campaign of government retaliation” to strip the company of its special privileges in the district that encompasses Walt Disney World."

Disney cancels plan to move 2,000 workers to Florida amid DeSantis fight Last week, Walt Disney Co. Chief Executive Bob Iger issued a not-very-subtle challenge to the state of Florida and its Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, who has been openly attacking the company as a "woke corporation" as he prepares for an expected presidential run.

"the election was a blow to the narrative pushed by the Florida GOP and DeSantis that they know what it takes to win."

Losses for two candidates backed by DeSantis hurts ability to portray himself as a winner Candidates endorsed by Ron DeSantis lost in Jacksonville and Kentucky, hurting his ability to portray himself as a winner and Trump as a loser.

This is a display of decency by the DC Council!

Lianys Torres Rivera on Twitter “🚨Breaking News! DC Council unanimously passed a resolution calling for the end of the blockade by the US VS and fit the removal of r country from the SSOT list. DC stands with the people of Cuba folks!”

"This is not a public policy dispute among well-meaning civic leaders with different political philosophies. The Republicans do not subscribe to the same social contract or constitution that governs binds the nation. This was made most clear on 6 January 2021 when the majority of the Republicans in Congress voted to overthrow the elected government of the United States. They are engaged in a ferocious battle to beat back the growing power of a multiracial electorate and any public policies designed to meet the needs of that multiracial nation. Believing that there is any reasoning with these folks is folly.
Furthermore, a close reading of public opinion polls shows that the electorate is on the side of the president, and, most importantly, the overwhelming majority of the groups in the population that put Biden in the White House in 2020 (and held the Senate in 2022). The April CBS News/YouGov poll found that, when informed of the consequences of default, 70% of all voters support raising the debt limit. Among African Americans, 85% of those polled support an increase; 72% of Latinos support the raise. Even among white voters – whose support for Democrats is historically capped around 40% – a sizable majority, 67% support a debt limit increase."

White House Timidity on the Debt Ceiling Is Infuriating. What Is It Afraid Of? Administration officials are misreading the political moment – polls show the electorate is on the side of the president

“The anti-IRS movement shows how some politicians have created a tax system that advances the interest of high earners. That is not a winning policy approach, as most Americans are frustrated that corporations and wealthy people do not pay their fair share.�Nor is this movement (obviously) a winning strategy to address our nation’s debts. Speaker Kevin McCarthy (Calif.) and his fellow House Republicans should be asked why their proposal seeks to implement a policy that will make our tax system less equitable and our fiscal situation worse — not better.”

Opinion | Republicans say they want to cut debt, but tax plans say the opposite Here’s one more indicator, if anyone needs one, that House Republicans’ newfound fiscal responsibility isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.

"If this strike is successful, the WGA could provide a powerful model of service sector, app-based gig workers to take on their Silicon Valley foes. Where the WGA demands streaming residuals, Uber drivers could demand a say in setting the pay and conditions of each ride, as the New York Taxi Workers Association and the Deliveristas have done in New York City. The WGA is fighting for minimum staffing levels; DoorDash drivers could fight for greater control over the number of delivery workers on the streets. Where WGA demands streaming transparency and no AI, Lyft drivers could demand greater transparency of algorithmic management and tracking, such as a recent CWA-led effort in Colorado.
Uber drivers and their unions see the tech-based similarities between their struggles and the WGA strike. As Bhairavi Desai, president of the New York Taxi Workers Alliance, which has organized Uber drivers, explained, “We stand in full solidarity with writers . . . the mighty Writers Guild gives us hope to push back and win against the tide of Uberization. It’s not about streaming, just like for us it’s never been about an App. The fight is against tech finance upending generations-old labor protections in the name of technology.”
The WGA strike is not only a massive fight to defend decent-paying writing jobs, but also a battle over how the labor movement as a whole can fight Silicon Valley’s tech-based disruption logic, which seeks to expand the gig economy’s abusive and exploitative model into every industry."

The WGA Strike Is a Fight Against Silicon Valley’s Gigification of the Entire Economy Thousands of Writers Guild of America (WGA) writers in New York City and Los Angeles are on strike fighting the impact of technological innovation on their industry and earnings. These entertainment writers are in many ways the original gig workers. Even for unionized writers, job security never las...

"As if the planet weren’t burning or on the cusp of nuclear war, the White House, the Treasury, Congress, and the press have fired up another round of Washington’s favorite parlor game—Debt Disaster!™ Over at Vox, Dylan Matthews has explained the half-hidden politics. Both sides need a win, he reasons. Neither has the votes. So the search is on for an outcome both can live with. President Biden’s nonnegotiable demand is for a clean increase in the debt ceiling. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s demand is for big cuts in federal spending—to which Biden has no principled objection. These goals are not incompatible, which means that both will be met. The rest is stagecraft, timing, optics, and spin."

The Debt Ceiling Drama Is All Stagecraft As if the planet weren’t burning or on the cusp of nuclear war, the White House, the Treasury, Congress, and the press have fired up another round of Washington’s favorite parlor game—Debt Disaster!™ Over at Vox, Dylan Matthews has explained the half-hidden politics. Both sides need a win, h...

Excellent observation!

EL LEÓN Y EL MOSQUITO

Cierta vez, un mosquito se acercó a un león y le dijo que no le tenía miedo porque, a pesar de su tamaño, era más fuerte que él. El rey de los felinos, sorprendido por su atrevimiento, se echó a reír, pero el insecto le retó diciendo: «Si crees que puedes ganarme, demuéstramelo». Como quería quitárselo de encima, el león le desafió a un combate. Así, el mosquito hizo sonar su zumbido y atacó al animal picándole muchas veces alrededor de la nariz, donde no tenía pelo que le protegiera. Muy agobiado, el león empezó a arañarse con sus propias garras hasta que, cansado de hacerse daño, renunció a la pelea. Feliz, el mosquito voló como un loco por todas partes jactándose de su victoria. Tan orgulloso estaba que, sin darse cuenta, se enredó en una tela de araña y, en cuestión de segundos, su dueña se acercó con la intención de comérselo de un bocado. Instantes antes de ser devorado, el mosquito se lamentó: «Pero qué desdicha más grande. Yo, que he luchado contra los más poderosos y los he vencido, voy a perecer a manos de una insignificante araña». Y antes de hincarle el diente, esta le dijo: «No importa lo grandes que hayan sido tus éxitos, lo que sí importa es evitar que la dicha, el orgullo y la prepotencia por haberlos obtenido lo arruinen todo».

FUENTE: REVISTA PRONTO
[el rincón del pensamiento].
Ilustración: Alberto Vázquez
Edición y arreglos: Marian Gómez

"Just weeks ago, Ron DeSantis made it legal in Florida to conceal-carry a gun without a permit, training, or even a background check.
And on Friday, he signed a bill to prevent credit card companies from tracking the sale of fi****ms and ammunition. The bill stops companies from helping track suspicious weapons purchases—an increasing concern while the United States is flooded with random shootings and mass shootings essentially every few hours."

Ron DeSantis Bans Credit Card Companies From Helping Track Gun Criminals The Florida governor seems determined to sign as many dangerous bills as possible into law.

"The idea that supporting the state of Israel somehow means that a person is unanswerable for their words and deeds as they relate to antisemitism is one that has been pushed for too long and should be understood to be both a distraction and untrue. Eric Trump was going to appear alongside a speaker who said Jewish families “built Hitler” and another who shared a post that viruses “are Man (JEW) made.” When pressed on this, he brought up support for Israel and Jews to whom he is related. But the danger posed by Scott McKay and Charlie Ward's extremist, bigoted views is obvious and real. There is no support for any state that can change that stubborn fact."

Opinion | This Eric Trump tweet yet again pushes a dangerous way of thinking The former president's son repeats an argument that has been pushed for too long and should be understood to be both a distraction and untrue

“Dear TV,” Stewart wrote. “The problem w the Trump Town Hall wasn’t platforming ... or a fragile siloed audience unable to be exposed to newsworthy opinions antithetical to their own ... the problem was an event that was clearly negotiated to Trump’s approval. An ode to access.”

Jon Stewart Rips CNN For Teaching Him 'Nothing' About Trump At Town Hall "We are fair and good and will do this however you would like... just come back," wrote the former "Daily Show" host as he mocked CNN on Saturday.

: Lifting the embargo means most Cuban people will stay there.

Muffet on TikTok The Cubans in Miami are upset that they will be treated like any other illegal alien

As Rittenhouse and Penny are showing through their actions the lives of Blacks and Liberals don’t matter to Conservatives. Echoes of N**i Germany.

Conservatives hail Daniel Penny as ‘hero’ after killing man on subway Penny's legal-defense fund has raised more than $1 million after he was charged with second-degree manslaughter in Jordan Neely's death on the New York subway.

"Amid all the revelations of corruption at the Supreme Court, one glib social media defense of the conservative justices has been about ideology. As the (ridiculous) argument goes, these scandals aren’t actually scandals because the gifts and cash that flowed from right-wing billionaires and conservative activist Leonard Leo’s dark money network don’t actually influence the justices. Why? Because the justices were already conservative and were always going to vote the way they voted on cases of interest to their paymasters.
But that analysis misses how corruption works on a systemic level.
As the Founders noted, judges are given lifetime appointments for the explicit purpose of preserving an “independent spirit” that allows them to change their views without fear of consequences. And in fact, data suggests that in the past, many conservative justices have become more liberal as they age.
In light of that, the money and gifts flowing to conservative justices can be seen not merely as cheap influence-peddling schemes to secure specific rulings in individual cases. It can also be seen as a grand plan to deter the ideological freedom that lifetime appointments afford.
In short, the largesse from billionaires and Leo — who helped assemble the Supreme Court’s 6-3 conservative supermajority as President Donald Trump’s judicial adviser — creates personal financial incentives for justices to remain doctrinaire ideologues and resist any deviation from the conservative line, even if they might once in a while have an inkling to dissent."

Corruption Has Turned the Supreme Court Into a Weapon of the Right Supreme Court justices often change their ideological position over time, usually becoming more liberal in their rulings as they age. The goal of ...

"Just days after being elected Speaker, McCarthy made clear he would take no action against Santos, as bombshell after bombshell about Santos’ serial lying exploded at McCarthy’s feet.
“It’s the voters who made that decision, and he has to answer to the voters,” McCarthy said in mid-January, refusing calls to expel him, and just “hours after Nassau County Republican Party Chairman Joseph Cairo Jr. said Santos ‘disgraced the House of Representatives,'” as Bloomberg reported.
That same day, January 11, McCarthy said Santos not only would not be expelled, he would be given committee assignments, because as Speaker he “tries to stick to the Constitution,” despite the Constitution not mentioning committee assignments.
McCarthy used the “Constitution” claim as if that were preventing him from expelling Santos, even though the majority of his constituents and the head of Santos’ local party were demanding his expulsion. (Unlike the Speaker of the House in Tennessee, who orchestrated the expulsion of two Black Democrats in violation of what some legal experts say actually were their First Amendment rights.)"

'Won’t move to expel': Kevin McCarthy’s long history of protecting George Santos U.S. Rep. George Santos (R-NY) after six months of revelations of lies and possible fraudulent activity, surrendered to federal authorities Wednesday morning and is facing 13 criminal charges, from wire fraud to money laundering to lying to Congress and more.How is it he was allowed to remain a memb...

In Florida, DeSantis is trying to show how Fascism can be applied in a State while part of a Federal Democracy. It helps much to have the opposition concerned about “Encroaching Socialism.”

Florida GOP politics turn top Broward school job into one with a big flashing ‘caution’ sign - Miami Herald With Gov. Ron DeSantis’ heavy-handed power grabs on local school boards and the punitive political climate in Florida, especially in education, anyone with the slightest common sense might think twice about raising a hand for the Broward County School superintendent’s job.

This is a very good article from one of America’s best thinkers but I will dare to tell her that there are no deep psychological reasons for our continuous massacres instead the reasons are very simple: Uncontrollable Greed and White Supremacy.

Opinion | Timothy McVeigh’s Dreams Are Coming True Republican gun fetishism has forced us to normalize mass shootings.

Brave New World! As the article attests - it will be much more cleaner.

In Norway, the Electric Vehicle Future Has Already Arrived About 80 percent of new cars sold in Norway are battery-powered. As a result, the air is cleaner, the streets are quieter and the grid hasn’t collapsed. But problems with unreliable chargers persist.

"Last year, the United States incurred over $2bn in costs due to 20 climate-related extreme weather events, from Hurricane Ian to heatwaves and drought. Lumber, cotton, tomatoes, wheat and energy – and the products they generate, from denim jeans to your Italian takeout dinner – were all affected by these events and are now more expensive than this time last year. Climate-driven extreme weather and disasters are now more frequently responsible for production shortages, supply chain disruptions, and labor issues that lead to higher costs of living."

Yes, the climate crisis is raising your grocery bills | Suzi Kerr Droughts, fires, floods, heatwaves – they’re all contributing to our supply-chain problems and brutal inflation

"Bela Morcas, a 21-year-old who came to the United States from Colombia at the age of 13, is a year away from graduating as a psychology major from FIU. When she learned about the in-state tuition law as a high school senior, she said it was “the biggest blessing.”
While she was lobbying lawmakers, she worried that she would have to stop studying for a while if in-state tuition was repealed.
Morcas is not sure that their effort will be effective long-term, but she said she is proud that she and dozens of other DACA recipients were able to add “nuestro granito de arena” — “our grain of sand” — meaning we made our contribution.
Maria Tinoco, a 24-year-old Dreamer who last week graduated as a mechanical engineer from FIU, said the fight is not over.
“Although we were successful,” she said, “there is still a lot of work to be done.”

Here’s how Florida ‘Dreamers’ got lawmakers to protect in-state tuition law Florida lawmakers concluded the 60-day legislative session on Friday without repealing the in-state tuition law.

"In the transcript for last week's hearing in Wilding, et. al. v. DNC Services, d/b/a DNC and Deborah “Debbie” Wasserman Schultz, released Friday, DNC attorneys assert that the party has every right to favor one candidate or another, despite their party rules that state otherwise because, after all, they are a private corporation and they can change their rules if they want."

DNC to Court: We Are a Private Corporation With No Obligation to Follow Our Rules Rather than reflecting on the consternation everyday voters are having over the conduct of the Democratic presidential primary, the

"Seven people were killed Sunday and six others injured after a motorist allegedly ran them down near a migrant shelter in Brownsville, Texas, local authorities said.
The killings — which appeared to have been intentional — happened at about 8:30 a.m. in front of the Ozanam Center, which houses migrants and homeless people, according to ValleyCentral.com."

8 dead, 9 injured after motorist runs them down outside migrant shelter in Brownsville, Texas: cops The killings – which appear to be intentional – happened at about 8:30 a.m. in front of the Ozanam Center, which houses migrants and homeless people, according to ValleyCentral.com.

"As the Texas Civil Rights Project noted, in just the first 4 years after corrupt Republicans on the Supreme Court gutted the Voting Rights Act (VRA) in 2013, Texas Republicans closed 1,173 polling places in counties — predominantly Black and Hispanic — that had previously been protected from manipulation by the VRA.
But none of that was enough for Texas Republicans to feel comfortable they could continue to win elections. After all, the state’s largest county — Harris County, the home of Houston and 4.7 million residents — is now reliably Democratic. In 2020, Joe Biden won the county by 13 points."

Is Texas Going To Invalidate an Entire Election in Democratic-Leaning Houston? The only way Republicans can hold onto power is with their phony proclamations of “voter fraud” as the excuse to restrict the franchise to white people through restrictions, purges, and intimidation

"Fox News Sunday host Shannon Bream presented the governor with a recent poll that found overwhelming support for expanding gun buyer background checks, raising the age to buy a firearm and flagging people who are a danger to themselves.
Abbott, a third-term Republican, did not endorse any of the measures. Instead, he said Texas lawmakers are looking to further penalize people who illegally possess guns and pump more money into mental health programs."

No gun control after Allen mall mass shooting, Gov. Abbott tells Fox News Gov. Greg Abbott rejected the need for gun control and instead emphasized the importance of mental health funding in an interview on Sunday about the mass...