CBS News has hired Mick Mulvaney as a paid on-air contributor. In his first official appearance on Tuesday morning to talk about President Joe Biden’s budget proposal, anchor Anne-Marie Green introduced Mulvaney as “a former Office of Management and Budget director,” and said, “So happy to have you here…. You’re the guy to ask about this.”
Mulvaney was a far-right U.S. representative from South Carolina from 2011 to 2017, when he went to work for then-president Trump as the director of the Office of Management and Budget. While in that position, he also took over as acting director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the government organization organized by Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) after the financial crisis of 2008. In its first five years, the CFPB recovered about $11.7 billion for about 27 million consumers, but in Congress, Mulvaney introduced legislation to abolish it. At its head, Mulvaney zeroed out the bureau’s budget and did his best to dismantle it.
While retaining his role at the head of the Office of Management and Budget, Mulvaney took on the job of acting White House chief of staff on January 2, 2019. This unprecedented dual role put him in a key place to do an end run around official U.S. diplomats in Ukraine and to set up a back channel to put pressure on newly elected Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelensky to announce he was launching an investigation into the actions of Joe Biden’s son, Hunter.
As director of OMB, Mulvaney okayed the withholding of almost $400 million Congress had appropriated for Ukraine’s protection against Russia. In May 2019, he set up “the three amigos,” Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland, special envoy Kurt Volker, and Energy Secretary Rick Perry, to pressure Zelensky. When the story came out, Mulvaney told the press that Trump had indeed withheld the money to pressure Zelensky to help him cheat in the 2020 election. “I have news for everybody,” he said. “Get over it. There’s going to be political influence in foreign policy.” He immediately walked the story back, but there it was.
. . .
"While Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell wanted to face the midterms without a platform, Senator Rick Scott (R-FL), who chairs the committee responsible for electing Republican senators, has produced an “11-point plan to rescue America.” It dramatically raises taxes on people who earn less than $100,000, and ends Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and the Affordable Care Act."
There are obviously many people who resent government by the people and, with the connivance of the partisans and the press, aim to promote deprivation, rather than providing services. Since all men are born of women, where this antagonism comes from is a puzzlement. But then, we do not know why dog fights, cock fights and bull fights are popular, either.
Bull fights are a different matter, but cock fights and dog fights were essentially opportunities for betting. These days people bet on sports contests between humans.
The problem is that people have identified their vehicles with freedom. Ditto for speech. So, any impediment (unaffordable gas prices or a mask) is perceived as a threat. Also, many people's reaction to incrasing prices is counter-intuitive. The expectation that prices will increase more causes them to buy now, while falling prices cause them to wait. Expectaion is a more potent motivator than experience. On the other hand, consumption of energy was significantly reduced both before and during the pandemic, so corporations are trying to recoup. Electricity usage, for example, has not increased appreciably since 2011.
Also few people have any perspective. Sure enough, gas prices have increased since last time they were lower, but at $5 a gallon the real price per mile is no higher than it was in 1968, when the nominal price was 27.7 cents per gallon. They can cry me a river. I don't think we will ever change to an electric vehicle; we have a [paid for] hybrid sedan that gets about 33mpg around town and should last for another 200,000 miles, maybe more. We drive about 3,000 miles per year and are in our latter 70's; you do the math. Our daughter has a Honda Fit--around 40mpg, probably good for at least another 150,000 miles, and long since paid for. She might get an electric car some day, but I figure this is a poor time to do it unless one must. Demand is high and supply is low, which of course causes high prices; and quality is rapidly improving.
Further reflecting on perspective and freedom, I am old enough to remember polio, as well as my parents' stories of the Spanish flu, diphtheria, scarlet and rheumatic fevers. People want the freedom to have their kids come down with whooping cough, measles, etc? How is that not child abuse?
My sister got Scarlet Fever. (Very scary.) I had Measles concurrent with Chicken Pox, and nearly died. Eldest had a reaction to the Pertussis vaccine and the doctor told us he should skip it in the other two doses. Guess which child got Whooping Cough as an adult?
One of my most vivid early childhood memories is chicken pox. Had German measles, but that was no big deal. My father had diphtheria twice--usually recovery confers lasting immunity.
When You No Longer Recognize Your Home Country [Click] “People who left homelands that have since undergone severe political changes are grieving the demise of a place as they knew it.” I grieve a bit for my home town, which has changed a lot; and I am probably the last in my family to remember and be influenced by the stories of my great grandparents about the land they left to escape the Prussians about 150 years ago.
We have lived in this house for 40years, and all around us has been built up and built up until it no longer feels the same. At least our back yard is still basically a wildlife sanctuary.
I have lived in this house for just over 50 years, and the immediate neighborhood hasn't changed at all. But nearby dining options have changed tremendously. When we moved here Oak Park was "dry" and anything beyond a hot dog stand was essentially absent. Now there are more than two dozen good restaurants within walking distance.
Putin authorizes draft of nearly 135,000 into Russian military [Click] I figure that it would require at least five or six months to actually induct, equip, minimally train and move those conscripts to their assignments. Presumably the new recruits would replace better trained troops who would in turn be moved to the Ukrainian front. Equipping and supplying Russia’s existing troops seems to be an overwhelming problem already, and they lack a competent non-commissioned officer corps, which raw recruits would do nothing to change. BTW, I saw yesterday that some Russian troops on the Ukraine front are now being equipped with Mosin-Nagant bolt-action rifles—presumably WWII surplus, although Tsarist-era ones were still in use in the 1940’s.
This strikes me as a version of "what we're doing isn't working, so let's do more of it more intensely". I would think that many young men being thrown into a meat grinder might have an objection or two.
The Ukrainians are sending text messages to Russian soldiers with offers to surrender, sometimes with bonuses. One young fellow realized all the other members of his tank crew had disappeared, and decided to take the Ukrainians up on their offer of room and board for the duration plus US $10,000 for the tank and permission to apply for Ukrainian citizenship at the end of the war. Bring in a fighter jet and the bonus is a million dollars US. As some of those who have surrendered have remarked, better a deserter than fertilizer.
Naomi's auto insurance was coming up before long, so we researched adding her to our Costco insurance. It turns out that the mult-car discount is almost as much as the coverage for her; or to put it another way, the insurance for three drivers and two cars is just a little more than for one car and two drivers. I wasn't expecting that.
CBS News has hired Mick Mulvaney as a paid on-air contributor. In his first official appearance on Tuesday morning to talk about President Joe Biden’s budget proposal, anchor Anne-Marie Green introduced Mulvaney as “a former Office of Management and Budget director,” and said, “So happy to have you here…. You’re the guy to ask about this.”
ReplyDeleteMulvaney was a far-right U.S. representative from South Carolina from 2011 to 2017, when he went to work for then-president Trump as the director of the Office of Management and Budget. While in that position, he also took over as acting director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the government organization organized by Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) after the financial crisis of 2008. In its first five years, the CFPB recovered about $11.7 billion for about 27 million consumers, but in Congress, Mulvaney introduced legislation to abolish it. At its head, Mulvaney zeroed out the bureau’s budget and did his best to dismantle it.
While retaining his role at the head of the Office of Management and Budget, Mulvaney took on the job of acting White House chief of staff on January 2, 2019. This unprecedented dual role put him in a key place to do an end run around official U.S. diplomats in Ukraine and to set up a back channel to put pressure on newly elected Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelensky to announce he was launching an investigation into the actions of Joe Biden’s son, Hunter.
As director of OMB, Mulvaney okayed the withholding of almost $400 million Congress had appropriated for Ukraine’s protection against Russia. In May 2019, he set up “the three amigos,” Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland, special envoy Kurt Volker, and Energy Secretary Rick Perry, to pressure Zelensky. When the story came out, Mulvaney told the press that Trump had indeed withheld the money to pressure Zelensky to help him cheat in the 2020 election. “I have news for everybody,” he said. “Get over it. There’s going to be political influence in foreign policy.” He immediately walked the story back, but there it was.
. . .
"While Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell wanted to face the midterms without a platform, Senator Rick Scott (R-FL), who chairs the committee responsible for electing Republican senators, has produced an “11-point plan to rescue America.” It dramatically raises taxes on people who earn less than $100,000, and ends Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and the Affordable Care Act."
More Herę:
https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/march-30-2022?r=a0zry&s=r&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email&fbclid=IwAR3VDg4tGOdNEisUqdrAdbkdF6mGY2j6zmw9hMmwWYsawCNLLT-2dy572QE
There are obviously many people who resent government by the people and, with the connivance of the partisans and the press, aim to promote deprivation, rather than providing services.
ReplyDeleteSince all men are born of women, where this antagonism comes from is a puzzlement. But then, we do not know why dog fights, cock fights and bull fights are popular, either.
Bull fights are a different matter, but cock fights and dog fights were essentially opportunities for betting. These days people bet on sports contests between humans.
Deletehttps://www.yahoo.com/news/russian-troops-suffer-acute-radiation-083839177.html
ReplyDeleteWow--they didn't just have exposure, but became sick? That takes a LOT. Alpha radiation, I suppose--on a par with Hiroshima.
DeleteU.S. imposes sanctions on Russian technology companies and evasion networks [Click]
ReplyDeleteHow the West Got Russia’s Military So, So Wrong [Click] “Good equipment and clever doctrine reveal little about how an army will perform in a war.”
ReplyDeleteBiden announces historic oil reserve release, along with other steps, to reduce gas prices
ReplyDeleteThe problem is that people have identified their vehicles with freedom. Ditto for speech. So, any impediment (unaffordable gas prices or a mask) is perceived as a threat.
ReplyDeleteAlso, many people's reaction to incrasing prices is counter-intuitive. The expectation that prices will increase more causes them to buy now, while falling prices cause them to wait. Expectaion is a more potent motivator than experience.
On the other hand, consumption of energy was significantly reduced both before and during the pandemic, so corporations are trying to recoup. Electricity usage, for example, has not increased appreciably since 2011.
Also few people have any perspective. Sure enough, gas prices have increased since last time they were lower, but at $5 a gallon the real price per mile is no higher than it was in 1968, when the nominal price was 27.7 cents per gallon. They can cry me a river. I don't think we will ever change to an electric vehicle; we have a [paid for] hybrid sedan that gets about 33mpg around town and should last for another 200,000 miles, maybe more. We drive about 3,000 miles per year and are in our latter 70's; you do the math. Our daughter has a Honda Fit--around 40mpg, probably good for at least another 150,000 miles, and long since paid for. She might get an electric car some day, but I figure this is a poor time to do it unless one must. Demand is high and supply is low, which of course causes high prices; and quality is rapidly improving.
DeleteFurther reflecting on perspective and freedom, I am old enough to remember polio, as well as my parents' stories of the Spanish flu, diphtheria, scarlet and rheumatic fevers. People want the freedom to have their kids come down with whooping cough, measles, etc? How is that not child abuse?
DeleteMy sister got Scarlet Fever. (Very scary.) I had Measles concurrent with Chicken Pox, and nearly died. Eldest had a reaction to the Pertussis vaccine and the doctor told us he should skip it in the other two doses. Guess which child got Whooping Cough as an adult?
DeleteI nearly died from measles. And that was just measles.
DeleteOne of my most vivid early childhood memories is chicken pox. Had German measles, but that was no big deal. My father had diphtheria twice--usually recovery confers lasting immunity.
DeleteWhen You No Longer Recognize Your Home Country [Click] “People who left homelands that have since undergone severe political changes are grieving the demise of a place as they knew it.” I grieve a bit for my home town, which has changed a lot; and I am probably the last in my family to remember and be influenced by the stories of my great grandparents about the land they left to escape the Prussians about 150 years ago.
ReplyDeleteWe have lived in this house for 40years, and all around us has been built up and built up until it no longer feels the same. At least our back yard is still basically a wildlife sanctuary.
DeleteI have lived in this house for just over 50 years, and the immediate neighborhood hasn't changed at all. But nearby dining options have changed tremendously. When we moved here Oak Park was "dry" and anything beyond a hot dog stand was essentially absent. Now there are more than two dozen good restaurants within walking distance.
DeletePutin authorizes draft of nearly 135,000 into Russian military [Click] I figure that it would require at least five or six months to actually induct, equip, minimally train and move those conscripts to their assignments. Presumably the new recruits would replace better trained troops who would in turn be moved to the Ukrainian front. Equipping and supplying Russia’s existing troops seems to be an overwhelming problem already, and they lack a competent non-commissioned officer corps, which raw recruits would do nothing to change. BTW, I saw yesterday that some Russian troops on the Ukraine front are now being equipped with Mosin-Nagant bolt-action rifles—presumably WWII surplus, although Tsarist-era ones were still in use in the 1940’s.
ReplyDeleteThis strikes me as a version of "what we're doing isn't working, so let's do more of it more intensely". I would think that many young men being thrown into a meat grinder might have an objection or two.
DeleteThe Ukrainians are sending text messages to Russian soldiers with offers to surrender, sometimes with bonuses. One young fellow realized all the other members of his tank crew had disappeared, and decided to take the Ukrainians up on their offer of room and board for the duration plus US $10,000 for the tank and permission to apply for Ukrainian citizenship at the end of the war. Bring in a fighter jet and the bonus is a million dollars US. As some of those who have surrendered have remarked, better a deserter than fertilizer.
DeleteThat's brilliant to offer bonuses to soldiers who surrender, especially with a tank or fighter jet. $1m for a fighter jet is a real bargain.
DeleteUkraine reports death of another Russian Lieutenant General [Click]
ReplyDeleteNaomi's auto insurance was coming up before long, so we researched adding her to our Costco insurance. It turns out that the mult-car discount is almost as much as the coverage for her; or to put it another way, the insurance for three drivers and two cars is just a little more than for one car and two drivers. I wasn't expecting that.
ReplyDeleteCanada's Supreme Court upholds C$9m fine on maple syrup thief [Click]
ReplyDeleteBBC live updates on Ukraine [Click]
ReplyDeletehttps://www.thedailybeast.com/gchq-chief-sir-jeremy-fleming-says-russian-military-is-bloody-mess-shot-down-own-plane
ReplyDeleteWe really MUST encourage legal immigration if we are to remain a strong country. [Click]
ReplyDeleteWhy People Are Acting So Weird [Click] “Crime, ‘unruly passenger’ incidents, and other types of strange behavior have all soared recently. Why?”
ReplyDelete