Yesterday, I noticed the high for today should be 69°F – and tommorw, we drop back into the deep freeze for four days. March came in like a lamb here (a geouchy lamb, but still a lamb), which means it’s supposed to go out like a lion. Maybe a tame lion? I’ll just have to wait and see. Incidentally, today is the 55th anniversary of the My Lai massacre, and Steve Schmidt has some thoughts. I don’t know whether a hanky alert or a trigger warning is more appropriate, so I’ll just offer both.
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NM Political Report – Bill to protect LGBTQ individuals from discrimination heads to Guv desk AND Gov. signs safe gun storage bill into law
Quote 1 – The bill updates the language in the Human Rights Act, which was written in the 1970s. The updated language replaces the word “handicap” with “disability,” and updates the definition for sexual orientation and gender identity. It also ensures that public bodies, which receive public dollars, cannot discriminate against LGBTQ individuals. An individual who alleges discrimination would take their grievance to the state Human Rights Commission.
Quote 2 – Supporters have dubbed the bill the “Bennie Hargrove Act,” in honor of the 13-year-old Hargrove, who was shot and killed at Washington Middle School in Albuquerque in August 2021 as he tried to intercede in a bullying incident. Authorities say the boy accused of shooting Hargrove brought his father’s gun to school to commit the crime. “This bill would hold people accountable for their firearms,” Molina said during a news conference held at the Capitol on Tuesday.
Click through for one or both. When Susana Boxwine was Governor, we very seldom got stories about actual legislative accomplishments of any kind. Besides the conten of these two, I’m impressed just at how much they are getting done.
Remembering former Rep. Pat Schroeder in Colorado and beyond
Quote – President Joe Biden said Schroeder “stood up for basic fairness, sensible policy, and women’s equal humanity. “I saw firsthand Pat’s moral compass, legal mind, and political savvy when we worked together on the Violence Against Women Act,” Biden said in a statement. “She was the primary sponsor in the House; I led the charge in the Senate. Together, we got it done. With Pat as my partner, I never doubted that we would.” Click through for full obit. There’s a lot in it that I didn’t remember, and one or two things maybe missing that I did remember. She was first elected in ’72, I settled in Colorado in ’76, and Focus on the Family was founded in ’77. Would I have come if I had known about that last one? I don’t know. It’s quite possible, certainly.
Raw News and Politics – Trump Investigations – March 13, 2023 Updates (Glenn skipped a day over the weeekend. So far I’ve kept up, butit’s getting tougher, so I’m throwing this in. She’s not an attorney, or at least I don’t think so, but for that very reason she’s willing to share a little speculation which Glenn wouldn’t touch.)
The Lincoln Project – Only Way
MSNBC – Now Trump is suggesting Pence is responsible for Jan. 6 (Domestic abuser: :She made me hit her!)
Ring of Fire – Republican Groomers Kill Bill To Ban Child Marriages
Yesterday, between spending Monday sleeping late even for me, and having my BFF ome over to help me with some – for me – heavy lifting (and when we get together, it never stops with the object of the meeting. We always have lots to talk about. For one thing, she just completed training and qualified as a notary), I had to start from scratch. That’s rare – I almost always have a little something left over. But I also did some catching up (or getting ahead.) One of today’s short takes is from Substack, and if you aren’t a sybscriber, it will probably present you with a popup with the choices “Subscribe” and “Let me read it first.” Just click on the latter.
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In the Writing Burrow (Margaret Atwood) – What Is This Health Care, Earthlings? #2
Quote – Tommy was keen on publicly funded health care because as a boy he almost lost a leg to osteomyelitis. His parents couldn’t afford to pay for advanced treatment, but an expert orthopedic surgeon treated him without charge and saved the leg. As he said later, “I felt that no boy should have to depend either for his leg or his life upon the ability of his parents to raise enough money to bring a first-class surgeon to his bedside.” We do tend to take things for granted once we have them. But what was it like before public healthcare? Well, my children, I can tell you. I was there. Click through fpr article. Ms. Atwood’s style is lively (as if we didn’t know that from “The Handmaid’s Tale”) but her areticle on Canadian Medicare – and what Canada was like before Canadian Medicare – is revealing. (To read Pat #1, click on the top line – “In the Writing Burrow” You may have to scroll once.
The New Yorker – What We Still Don’t Understand About Postpartum Psychosis
Quote – Postpartum psychosis tends to come on suddenly, often within four to six weeks of childbirth, around the time of weaning, or following a period of extreme sleep deprivation; it is sometimes presaged by anxiety and insomnia. A woman experiencing postpartum psychosis may show signs of mania, depression, or both; she may have aural hallucinations, paranoia, or delusions; she may stay awake day and night. She may, for stretches of time, appear to be perfectly normal. Click through for details. I had heard of postpartum depression, but not of postpartum psychosis. But I also haven’t rread about postpartum depression for a long time. This appears to be yet another way in which the patriarchy short-changes women (and ignores the welfare of children.) Yes, there are women working in medical research today, as there are in virtually any field. But can you name one profession/occupatiuion in which the ethics have altered as a result of the influx of women? I can’t/.
Glenn Kirschner – Michael Cohen testifies in NY Grand jury; Trump refuses to testify in grand jury; indictment nears (Cohen is not a target of the grand jury before which he is testifying. A big difference – which Glenn taught me.)
Farron Balanced – Republican Lawmaker Has Complete Meltdown Over 4th Grader’s Rainbow Drawing
Robert Reich – What Silicon Valley Bank’s Implosion Means for You
Armageddon Update – This MOTHERTUCKER!
Pittie Thrown Away In Trash Does The Happiest Zoomies Around His New Yard
Beau – Let’s talk about an enduring math problem in Ukraine…. (for once, I knew this before he did. I’d call that a scoop!)
A few days ago, the newsletter I get every week from the Project on Government Oversight included a request for me to edit, sign, and send a letter to President Joe asking him to fire the IG of DHS. Most of the time I am not able to add much of anything to the letters that groups draft asking for change. This one was different. I never liked even the idea of a Department of Homeland Security – it seemed too nationalistic to me from the get-go. And the longer it exists, the less I like it. If we must have an agency that combines the functions which come under DHS (as opposed to having those functions split up, as we did before it was formed), then it absolutely needs to be subject to the State Department. Our national security is totally contingent upon our foreign relations, and those are not helped by DHS continually and blatantly breaking international law. I do get it that with the nation so ridiculously divided now may not be the best time to absorb DHS into State. But at the very least, it needs a tough IG of unimpeachable integrity, and Cuffari, the current holder of that post, is exactly the opposite. And I put most of that into the letter before sending it. Here’s the link, and besides the letter, there is some background on Cuffari and his – I’ll be overly generous and call it incompetence (but I absolutely believe there’s also malice there.)
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Crooks and Liars – Epstein’s Brother: Jeffrey Ran From 45 Because Trump Was A Crook
Quote – According to what Jeffrey’s brother, Mark, told Business Insider, his now-deceased brother distanced himself from Trump because the former President was “a crook.” Imagine being too slimy for a pedophile. And there is unaired footage of an interview by Jeffrey Epstein conducted by Steve Bannon after his brother forwarded it to him in the spring of 2019. Click through for story – it’s short. Just for the benefit of anyone whose first reaction is, “Mark is his brother. Of course he would try to put Jeffrey in the best light [or in this case the least awful light],” some people’s families do tell the unvarnished truth about them. Stephen Miller. Paul Gosar. That does not necessrily mean I believe Mark, but I won’t just dismiss what he says either.
Robert Reich – The real story behind the Silicon Valley Bank debacle
Quote – The surface story of the Silicon Valley Bank debacle is straightforward. During the pandemic, startups and technology companies enjoyed heady profits, some of which they deposited in the Silicon Valley Bank. Flush with their cash, the bank did what banks do: It kept a fraction on hand and invested the rest — putting a large share into long-dated Treasury bonds that promised good returns when interest rates were low. But then, starting a little more than a year ago, the Fed raised interest rates from near zero to over 4.5 percent. As a result, two things happened. The value of the Silicon Valley Bank’s holdings of Treasury bonds plummeted because newer bonds paid more interest. And, as interest rates rose, the gusher of venture capital funding to startup and tech companies slowed, because venture funds had to pay more to borrow money. As a result, these startup and tech companies had to withdraw more of their money from the bank to meet their payrolls and other expenses. Click through for details. Responsible parents teach children self – discipline, not only for the sake of society, but to help their children to succeed, because, without self-control, you won’t. Responsible governments regulate – and that’s really for the same reasons. This case may be less egregious than some others we have seen. What will it take to convince people that regulation is NOT a bad thing?
Iterestingly, HEather Cox Richardson also concentrated on the bank failur in he Letter from an American.
Food For Thought
Let’s see them do this with those other constants.
Yesterday, I overslept – slept through my alarm, I think, although I haven’t yet checked to make sure I actually set it to come on; it took me a whle to set it to the time I wanted because the clock zeroed out. It does that sometimes, which is annoying, but it keeps good time otherwise, and it really doesn’t take long to set, especially considering how many functions it has. I did manage to arrive just at the time I had said I would, but a lot of things I normally do were not done. I did greet Virgil for everyone here, as well as for my frosted sister in Florida, who dropped me an email to letmeknow that hew new hurricane windows, ordered in August, which arrived in October, were finally installed, and that her daughter had done some interior painting for her. (My response to her had included my taking offense on her behalf about the water being slandered, and she replied to that with some highly negative evaluation of her governor, along with a greeting for Virgil.) Of course he returns all greetings with appreciation. They have not yet replaced their lone deck of cards, but I found a Scrabble set, and that’s something we can play (we would both prefer UpWords, but they don’t have that.) We had to be told that visitation was over – and that’s a good thing. So it’s going to be Scrabble unless their game inventory changes.
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The Daily Beast – Kids Do Better In Schools With Teachers Unions
Quote – Research shows that teachers unions are positively associated with student achievement. Researchers Eunice Han and Jeffrey Keefe found that this effect is particularly strong for Hispanic and Black students. And economists Eric Brunner, Joshua Hyman, and Andrew Ju have found that districts with strong teachers unions increased spending on public education, which leads to larger increases in student achievement. Click through for story. Just off the top of my head, I can think of many reasons why this would be so, and very few why it might not. (Customers aldo do better when dealing with businesses whose workers have unions. CEOs may not get quite such huge bonuses, though.)
Robert Reich – Psst! An urgent message for Jerome Powell
Quote – You and your colleagues on the Fed’s Open Market Committee are considering pushing interest rates much higher in your quest to get inflation down to your target of 2 percent. You believe higher interest rates will reduce consumer spending and slow the economy. With due respect, sir, this is unnecessary, and it would be unjust. Over the past year, you’ve raised interest rates at the fastest pace since the 1980s, from near zero to more than 4.5 percent. But consumer spending isn’t slowing. It fell slightly in November and December but jumped 1.8 percent in January, even faster than inflation. Click through for full opinion – yes, opinion, but 100% fact based. After the shellacking Elizabeth Warren gave to Powell in committee (it was in a video thread here) perhaps this shouldn’t be necessary. But it probably is.
Experts in autocracies have pointed out that it is, unfortunately, easy to slip into normalizing the tyrant, hence it is important to hang on to outrage. These incidents which seem to call for the efforts of the Greek Furies (Erinyes) to come and deal with them will, I hope, help with that. As a reminder, though no one really knows how many there were supposed to be, the three names we have are Alecto, Megaera, and Tisiphone. These roughly translate as “unceasing,” “grudging,” and “vengeful destruction.”
Today’s article is a bit old also, but in a week when The Conversation is featuring, among others, an article on why there are many other math constants which deserve their own day because why should pi have all the recognition, I believe this is a bit more important. Back in the day, before Democrats owned civil rights, there were more than a few Democrats who were not unwilling to weaponize government, and I don’t doubt some can be found today, because no one is perfect, and that goes exponentially for groups. But it is Republicans, who have invented a Subcommittee in the House on the “Weaponzation of Government,” who are the current masters of it – and have been for some time.
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The weaponization of the federal government has a long history
This story is a forgotten sequel to the Watergate break-in. No one has ever proved that President Nixon ordered burglars to photograph documents and plant listening devices at the headquarters of the Democratic National Committee, known as the DNC.
But Nixon himself created proof that he abused his presidential authority to go after the DNC with the investigative powers of the Internal Revenue Service. He captured this high crime on tape less than two months after the Watergate burglars’ arrests.
‘Can’t we investigate people?’
“Are we looking over the financial contributors of the Democratic National Committee?” Nixon asked his chief of staff on Aug. 3, 1972. “Are we running their income tax returns? Or is the Justice Department checking to see whether or not there’s any antitrust suits? Do we have anything going on any of these things?”
“Not as far as I know,” said H.R. “Bob” Haldeman.
“We have all this power and we aren’t using it. Now, what the Christ is the matter?” Nixon asked.
President Richard Nixon walks with his assistant H.R. Haldeman from the Executive Office Building to the White House for a Cabinet meeting in December 1969. AP photo/file
“We’ve got a guy who’s a pluperfect bastard. He’s a loyalist – he’s a fanatic loyalist – in the IRS,” said John D. Ehrlichman, whose title was assistant to the president for domestic affairs and whose job was henchman.
“He’s with us, you mean?” Nixon asked.
“He’s our guy,” Ehrlichman said. “One Treasury secretary after another, starting with [David M.] Kennedy, [John B.] Connally, now [George P.] Shultz, has said, ‘Oh, Jesus, can’t you get this guy out of there? Can’t you just take him out? He’s making all kinds of trouble for us. He’s too partisan.’”
The president’s mood darkened. “Shultz is not long for this life, in my opinion, because he’s not being political enough,” Nixon said. “I don’t care how nice a guy is. I don’t care how good an economist he is. We can’t have this bullshit.” His frustration was growing. “Can’t we investigate people?” Nixon asked. “Is there anything we can do?”
“Yes,” Ehrlichman said.
“I would think that we could get some people with some guts in the second term, when we don’t care about repercussions,” Haldeman said.
Nixon wanted to do something immediately about the chairman of the Democratic National Committee, Larry O’Brien. O’Brien directed John F. Kennedy’s victorious presidential campaign in 1960 and Lyndon B. Johnson’s in 1964. “If you could dirty up O’Brien now, I think it might be a lot better than to wait until later,” Nixon said.
President Nixon, right, at a meeting with aide John D. Ehrlichman in 1972. AP photo
Abuse of power
Under pressure from the White House, the IRS subjected O’Brien to an audit during the 1972 presidential campaign. The audit found a “relatively small deficiency,” which O’Brien promptly paid. Treasury Secretary Shultz and IRS Commissioner Johnnie Walters told Ehrlichman there was nothing more they could do.
“I wanted them to turn up something and send him to jail before the election,” Ehrlichman later said. There are few purer expressions of authoritarianism than an attempt to jail the titular head of the opposition party during a campaign.
Shortly before Nixon resigned in 1974, the House Judiciary Committee cited his abuse of his power over the IRS in an article of impeachment.
None of that stopped President Donald Trump from requesting IRS audits, according to his own former White House chief of staff, John Kelly.
“I would say, ‘It’s inappropriate, it’s illegal, it’s against their integrity, and the IRS knows what it’s doing, and it’s not a good idea,’” Kelly told The New York Times in November 2022.
White House Chief of Staff John Kelly, right, says that President Donald Trump wanted the IRS to conduct audits on people Trump had publicly attacked. AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais
Trump said the IRS should investigate two former FBI officials, Director James Comey and Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, Kelly said. Trump has publicly, and baselessly, accused Comey and McCabe of treason, a capital crime.
After Kelly left the White House, both Comey and McCabe were subjected to unusually intense IRS audits, the kind tax lawyers refer to as “an autopsy without the benefit of death,” New York Times reporter Michael S. Schmidt wrote. Through a spokeswoman, Trump denied any knowledge of the audits. A Trump spokeswoman also denied Kelly’s account.
If Kelly told the truth, then Donald Trump managed to weaponize the IRS more effectively than Richard Nixon. That’s a sentence that I, as the author of twobooks on Nixon’s worst abuses of power, found difficult to type.
Kelly has made exactly the kind of credible allegation that a “Select Subcommittee on Weaponization of the Federal Government” worthy of the name would investigate. Yet none of the Republicans who spoke before their party-line vote to establish the subcommittee expressed any interest in investigating government weaponization by politicians of their own party.
Congress has the power, even the obligation, to unearth and eliminate government weaponization. But if the subcommittee abuses its power for partisan ends, it will merely be an example of the problem it’s supposed to solve.
============================================================== Alecto, Megaera, and Tisiphone, while Nixon was pretty blatant about his desire and actions to weaponize the Federal Government, he also did not act alone. And he was clever – or whatever that was – enough to keep his involvelent mostly out of the public eye. Today’s Republicans are more obvious, and are enabled to be so by the brainwashing propaganda they are aware that their voters are being stuffed with – and sometimes are the creators of that propaganda. Most of us could probably cite many of the steps by which we got here – but the question is how do we get away from here? (And Echo answers, “How?”)
