For all of the hullaballoo about President Trump's "birthday parade" and the comparisons to authoritarian regimes it evoked, the blatant politicisation of the event back home at Fort Bragg two days prior and apparent erosion of the standard of the military being professional and apolitical when on duty is far more terrifying than the tanks rolling down Constitution Av.
History is replete with examples of why an effective government needs a professional and apolitical civil service to faithfully execute the laws and defend the Constitution. President Jackson's disastrous implementation of the spoils system of patronage is exactly why the Trump administration's desire to implement Schedule F's successor is a dreadfully dangerous idea at best... :(
The Great Writ of habeas corpus is a fundamental right derived from centuries of legal tradition and one that should not be taken lightly or suspended by fiat. The ability to challenge one’s detention by the state and force them to provide evidence as to why your liberties should be curtailed is a right no citizen of a democratic society should be deprived and we shouldn’t let the current administration even progress it past the informal proposal stage!
Sometimes it's nice to be the one whose hands are on the turntables and volume controls as well as the scoreboard prior to the first game's warmup session. There was no way the news of a couple of days ago wasn't going to find it's way into the set... :)
There's about as many variations on the Minnesota hot dish as there are lakes in the state. This more Minnesotan variation on American Chop Suey is certainly one of my favourites even if it doesn't have tater tots or Lutheran Binding! :)
If there was anyone that was truly deserving of a happy ending for what she has given the world, it was Taylor Swift. And now she's finally repatriated the original masters of her first six albums giving her complete control over her music for the first time. It couldn't have happened to a better human being... :)
It looks like I'm going to be spinning tunes on a more consistent basis for the hockey beer league Nick's been serving as a referee. And if you'd asked me if I'd ever be serving up the mad notes when I was in IT, I'd have laughed out loud. Funny world, ain't it? ;)
Well, the spelling of my name in the printed credit report that just arrived is right. Too bad those idiots at Equifax couldn't be bothered to make sure that the spelling of my name on the address was actually correct... :(
It should be the easiest speech a President ever delivers on a solemn occasion where we honour those who made the ultimate sacrifice in service to our country. It is not a partisan political speech nor should it be self-aggrandising. Sadly, this was not the case... :(
There's certainly a temptation to take the easy way of being embarrassed to be an American citizen in these trying times. But that would cheapen the sacrifice of those who have served to preserve and protect our country and our Constitution and that's a line I can never and will never cross!
What should have been a trivial fix to a problem that Equifax should never have created in the first place but did due to their *EPIC* stupidity and poor programming practises ended up showing that Equifax has thoroughly earned the reputation of being the dumbest and worst credit bureau we're forced to deal with!
If I wasn't allowed to offer an EPA employee a $15 lunch after mending their computers for ethics reasons, there's no way in hell President Trump should be allowed to accept a "gift" from the government of Qatar of a Boeing 747-8i Intercontinental "Palace in the Sky" massively upgraded at taxpayer expense that he couldn't possibly be allowed to fly as an Air Force One and would eventually end up as his personal property once his term ends. Some "gifts" like this one from a not-so-friendly regime should be flatly refused...just ask the Trojans what happened when they forgot that rule!
You may not always see a mother's protective instinct come out to play but only a fool would think that they're not going to see it when they're messing with her cubs as one unfortunate nurse at Womack Army Hospital found out!
In times that are challenging to spirit and soul, the one thing that always keeps me going is knowing the joy of true friends cherished whether near or far to share the journey! :)
In an industry known for breathtaking stupidity and complete lack of any idea of security, Equifax is arguably the worst of the three major credit bureaus and frankly has been for decades well before that infamous data breach they facilitated through sheer incompetence in 2017!
Some days you think you're losing your mind...and then there's days like today where you're absolutely convinced of it based on the evidence! :)
One down, several more need to go after National Security Advisor Mike Waltz walks the plank over to a cushy job as ambassador to the UN. How about Whiskeyleaks Hegseth next, eh?
Jóvá teszem! In Magyar, it means "I will make it right!" And that's the reason why I rang up Capital One to try to give them a fair chance that we might both cleanse the way from last night's unpleasantness and have a happier ending to the story...
Just because the workforce in other countries is cheap and easily exploited doesn't mean it's a really good idea to delegate "customer service" to them. Especially when it's our critical financial data that can cause massive harm to us such as our credit report information... :(
Who knew that an unsolicited credit card arriving in the post would lead to an evening of utter misery dealing with a bank's so-called Fraud Department and the three major credit bureaus? Anyone who has been paying attention to just how easily subverted the credit reporting system is aided and abetted by banks that are absolutely hopeless at detecting actual fraud they're not committing themselves!
Pope Francis leaves behind a legacy of caring for the poor and forgotten as well as the climate much like his namesake St Francis of Assisi. But I suspect it will be his humble and plain-spoken ways and deft pastoral touch that will be the defining legacy of his papacy.
Secretary of Defence Loose Lips is at it again posting military operational plans on Signal. But at least he didn't have a journalist seeing those details...this time, it was his wife who I'm pretty sure has less of a security clearance than the Pentagon janitors. It's man overboard and he clearly needs to go but it seems clear his boss has other ideas... :(
The Secretary of Defence tries to defend the indefensible and fails miserably! There's no way a SecDef that no defence minister in the world can ever trust again can stay in the job after a scandal in which not only actionable intelligence of a sensitive nature was compromised, it was done in the most silly and stupid way which just beggars belief. Any junior officer or official would have already been cashiered out of the service...it's time for the "warfighter's SecDef" to actually do the honourable thing for once and resign for the good of the service.
Get ready for another rendition of that dance we all know as "The Potomac Two-Step". Cabinet officials discussed classified military operations details on a commercial and insecure platform called Signal and willfully violated OPSEC (operational security) if not the Espionage Act in the process...and that was before the National Security Advisor added a journalist to the chat. This is *WHY* we need people who know what they're doing minding our national security... :(
The only clothes washer this house has ever known has finally decided that draining the water is for sucks and off to the scrap heap it goes in favour of a new and cheap LG!
