GOVERNMENT IS A NAME FOR THE THINGS WE CHOOSE TO DO TOGETHER: Food Truck Kicked Out of Town for Serving Hurricane Victims Without a Permit.
Archive for 2017
September 28, 2017
ESPIONAGE, HOMEWORK, AT THIS POINT, WHAT DIFFERENCE DOES IT MAKE? #ImranAwan: Kids Homework Was Reason For Massive Data Transfer From House Server!
IN FACT RAPONE IS UPSETTING A LOT OF PEOPLE: Politics in Uniform.
EH. HE’S NOT AMERICA STRONG, EITHER: Spenser Rapone is NOT Army Strong.
September 27, 2017
SO THE PSYCHOLOGICAL WARFARE IS WORKING: “North Korea apparently is so confused by President Donald Trump that it’s asking US experts for help understanding him.”
NARRATIVE CONTROL: Why didn’t TV networks show angry, booing NFL fans Sunday or Monday?
UPDATE: Link was incorrect before, should be working now.
JONATHAN ADLER: Why political protests during the national anthem are so offensive to so many. “However well-intentioned or justified a given protest may be, when political protests occur during the national anthem, many Americans see a defacement of something sacred — and this message completely overshadows the intended content of the protests. As experienced and understood by many, the protesters were not merely seeking to advance their own cause; they were advancing their cause at the expense of something of transcendent importance to many others.”
AT AMAZON, fall deals in Car Care.
YOU CAN’T FIGHT IN HERE: This is the Empathy Tent!
SEEN ON FACEBOOK: “The NFL’s ratings are dropping faster than Bill Clinton’s pants in a trailer park.”
FEMA, working in coordination with federal partners, provided more than 4.4 million meals, 6.5 million liters of water, nearly 300 infant and toddler kits to support 3000 infants for a full week, 70,000 tarps, and 15,000 rolls of roof sheeting to the U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico since Hurricane Maria’s landfall.
FEMA is delivering food and water to territorial points of distribution (POD) locations in 7 municipalities in Puerto Rico. Please reach out to municipality officials for specific locations. More PODs will continue to open as areas become accessible.
Officials in the U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico opened points of distribution (POD) in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands for survivors to get meals, water, and other commodities. The Governor of the U.S. Virgin Islands announced that PODs in the islands will be closed Wednesday, but 16 locations in St. Thomas, St. Croix, and St. John are scheduled to be open tomorrow.
In Puerto Rico, fuel was delivered to 19 hospitals for power generators. 200 gas stations received fuel yesterday for distribution to residents of Puerto Rico.
Much more at the link.
JOSH BLACKMAN & SETH BARRETT TILLMAN: The Emoluments Clauses litigation, part 2 — the practices of the early presidents, the first Congress and Alexander Hamilton.
The Foreign Emoluments Clause provides that “no Person holding any Office of Profit or Trust under [the United States], shall, without the Consent of the Congress, accept of any present, Emolument, Office, or Title, of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince, or foreign State.” In our first post, we showed that the drafting convention “Office … under the United States” covers appointed, and not elected, positions within the federal government. As a result, the President is not subject to the Foreign Emoluments Clause.
This post, based on amicus briefs we submitted to the District Courts for the Southern District of New York and the District of Columbia, will explain how the practices of presidents during the early republic, the first Congress, and Alexander Hamilton, while serving as America’s first secretary of the treasury, confirm that they understood that the president was not subject to the Foreign Emoluments Clause and its “Office … under the United States” language.
They were shamefully mobbed by poorly informed legal historians. But they did not back down, and received an apology.
USING SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBERS FOR ID IS A TERRIBLE IDEA: Equifax Hack Reveals How At-Risk Americans Are With Social Security Numbers. The cards used to say “Not For Identification” right on them, which proves that we used to be smarter than we are now.
SO HE’S CAUGHT UP WITH LINDA GREENHOUSE? Prof. Bainbridge: The Washington Post’s SCOTUS reporter’s not even pretending to be objective anymore.
DID ANYONE NOTICE HOW NONE OF LAWRENCE O’DONNELL’S COLLEAGUES CAME TO HIS DEFENSE? “What to make of the silence? What to make of the complete lack of support or defense of a man who’s worked at the peacock cable outlet on a regular basis since 2009 and has been a prime time staple for over seven years? It’s eerily reminiscent of the events following Keith Olbermann’s departure from the same time slot on the same network.”
But will O’Donnell’s possible future exploration of free agency involve video podcasts out of GQ’s lunch room like Olbermann, or is he more of an Esquire kind of guy?
GORDIAN KNOT, MEET KNIFE: Trump preparing executive order to let Americans purchase health insurance across state lines. A lot of oxen will be gored by this decision, but it’s long overdue.
WITH DNC IN MIND, CITY BANS CARRYING URINE, FECES: “New York Giants owner John Mara has voiced his displeasure with star receiver Odell Beckham Jr. after he was penalised for mimicking a dog urinating during a touchdown celebration.”
You stay classy, tattooed millionaires.
(Classical reference in headline.)
WELL, THIS ISN’T GOOD: A new study suggests that common antidepressants may pose a serious risk to health; they drastically raise the risk of mortality. “The use of antidepressants has soared in recent years. It is currently estimated that 1 in 10 people in the United States rely on antidepressants. Additionally, 1 in 4 women in their 40s and 50s are reported to take the drugs. . . . As the authors of the new study write, antidepressants ‘disrupt multiple adaptive processes regulated by evolutionarily ancient biochemicals, potentially increasing mortality.’ Such a biochemical is serotonin.”