Unblogged Bits (Sun. 21-Aug-11 1130)

Links (most recent first) that caught my eye, but did not warrant full-blown blog entries ….

Ferreting Out Fake Reviews Online – NYTimes.com – This is why we can’t have nice things (or positive reviews about them, at least).

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***Dave Does the Mastodon

4 days ago

I Am Old Enough To Remember ... when much of the security failure of 9/11 was blamed on the patchwork of incompetent privately-owned companies doing #AirportSecurity , where profit motive incented hiring the lowest-cost workers, rules were different from airport to airport, and nobody had responsibility or accountability.

Not that the #TSA is not without fault, but the idea that if we just go with cut-rate rent-a-cops we can be safe *and* save money is truly laughable.

https://www.al.com/politics/2025/03/tuberville-bill-would-eliminate-tsa-airport-security-agency-an-inefficient-bureaucratic-mess.html

5 days ago

"Grenell defends Kennedy Center changes under Trump, including DEI cuts"

Strangely enough, I don't recall "sell lots of tickets and turn a tidy profit" as being core mission statements for the Kennedy Center.

https://thehill.com/blogs/in-the-know/5216045-ric-grenell-kennedy-center-trump-dei/

5 days ago

"HHS will lay off 10,000 employees as part of a major restructuring plan"

Yes, clearly this nation's problem is too much health and human service. 🤨

#Trump #rfkjr #hhs

https://apnews.com/live/donald-trump-news-updates-3-27-2025

1 week ago

Even more amusing that the 2019 #portrait of #Trump in the #Colorado Capitol rotunda which he dislikes so and blamed as an intentional insult by the "leftist" 🙄 governor of our state, was in fact commissioned and funds raised for it by Colorado #Republicans, led by #GOP state representatives.

https://www.kktv.com/2025/03/25/it-certainly-caught-me-little-off-guard-former-colorado-republican-senator-reacts-president-trumps-comments-painting-capitol-building-helped-commission-painting-2019/

1 week ago

If one charitably assumes #Trump / #Musk are trying to run #government like a business (a doltish idea, but anyway), then it's clearly the business role of private equity partners, stripping things down, raiding the assets, destroying the good will, sacking the staff, and leaving behind the husk once there's nothing of value left... except maybe the brand, which they can sell to some another firm.

https://thehill.com/opinion/healthcare/5207889-withdrawing-usaid-funds-disease/

1 week ago

Looks like #Texas may be targeting school #D&D clubs again - - though this time in an attempt to stamp out the non-existent scourge of kids "identifying" as non-human creatures. 🙄

#dnd #furries

https://www.rascal.news/texas-furries-act-tabletop-roleplaying-games-in-schools/

1 week ago

"Homeland Security revokes temporary status for 532,000 Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans"

I'm old enough to remember when deporting refugees from #Cuba was a political third rail, especially in Florida.

I wonder if this will move the needle in the Cuban-American community there at all, or, if like so many Evangelical Christians have, they've drunk the Kool-aid of #Trumpism.

https://apnews.com/article/immigration-humanitarian-parole-china-haiti-nicaragua-venezuela-c10f422939934cf8d1cf8a6f4dfc4610

1 week ago

"Trump calls on Polis to remove ‘purposefully distorted’ portrait of himself hanging in the Colorado Capitol"

Granted it is not an attractive or even accurate painting, a normal person would have made such a request (if they made it at all) quietly, assuming good faith.

Instead, #Trump turns it into a political attack, a self-righteous grievance, a chance to disparage his "enemies."

Also, calling Polis an extreme leftist is the funniest thing I have heard today.

https://www.politico.com/news/2025/03/24/trump-portrait-colorado-polis-00244561

1 week ago

"Commerce secretary: No one but ‘fraudsters’ would complain about missed #SocialSecurity check"

I.e., "dissent and complaint proves all our accusations of fraud are valid."

Also, "Let them eat cake."

https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/5208187-commerce-secretary-social-security-fraud/

1 week ago

"Trump floats sending Americans to foreign prisons."

Like any wanna-be autocrat, #Trump lurves the idea of throwing folks into the dungeon.

https://www.politico.com/news/2025/03/21/trump-foreign-prison-threats-civil-rights-groups-027162

1 week ago

"Elon #Musk lashes out at US #judges as they rule against #Doge"

At first blush, it seems like a stupid thing to offend the judges who are overseeing cases against you.

But Musk, like his co-president, #Trump, is part mob boss, part school yard bully. Such bluster shows him to be "strong," tees up appeals against "biased" judges, and then encourages allies in the regime to actually start #impeachment proceedings for the sin of opposition.

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/mar/22/elon-musk-doge-judges-usaid

1 week ago

"USDA halts millions of dollars worth of deliveries to food banks"

Another day, another vital program axed by the #Trump / #Musk regime to save an arbitrary number of dollars to justify massive #taxcuts for the #rich. 🙄

I guess "feed the poor" is too "woke".

https://www.politico.com/news/2025/03/19/usda-halts-deliveries-food-banks-trump-00239453

1 week ago

"Trump topples civil rights offices at DHS"

Who watches the watchmen? From here on out, looks like the answer is "nobody." Self-watching is just too "inefficient" as it gets in the way of doing what you want to do without anyone watching.

#Trump #dhs #CivilRights #ombudsmen

https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/5208342-dhs-eliminates-civil-rights-office/

1 week ago

"DOJ moves to boot federal judge from Perkins Coie case"

Next move for the #Trump regime: if a #judge doesn't rule in your favor, use the power of the Federal Government to seek their removal from cases, which petition then justifies appealing anything that comes from such cases.

I suspect #impeachments of #judges who don't do as they're told by the executive branch, using Trump's captive #GOP #Congress, will be next.

https://www.politico.com/news/2025/03/21/doj-federal-judge-perkins-coie-case-00243928

1 week ago

"Is planting trees 'DEI'? Trump administration cuts nationwide tree-planting effort"

You speak for the trees? You're fired.

https://www.npr.org/2025/03/21/g-s1-55090/trump-dei-trees-removal-climate-change

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The views expressed by me on this weblog are mine alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of my employer, my church, my party, my candidate, my community, my wife, my friends, or, on occasion, myself.

Views expressed by others are, well, theirs. I reserve the right to delete them, but it’s usually better to let the marketplace of ideas hold sway, even if some packages are long past their expiry date.

Stuff I link to? Sometimes it’s because I agree with it. Sometimes because I disagree with it, but want to point (mockingly, in some cases) to my sources regardless; I have a liberal arts background; I believe in citations. And linking to stuff is what the Internet is about.

Unblogged Bits (Sun. 21-Aug-11 1130)

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