Post by Merge on Jun 5, 2017 21:09:26 GMT
Things that the United States currently does not have:
- Any US attorneys in any district
- An FBI Director
- A director of FEMA (hurricane season started last Thursday)
- An ambassador to the United Kingdom (who would have appropriately expressed our wishes and alliance in the light of two terrorist attacks)
- A chair of the Council of Economic Advisors (when the White House has already generated an economically and mathematically unsound budget)
- A chair of the Office of National Drug Control Policy (during an opioid crisis)
- Deputy secretaries in 14 of the 15 cabinet level departments
- The assistant secretary of the treasury who would run the office of tax policy (while the president wants to extensively overhaul tax policy)
- The vice chair of the Federal Reserve who is in charge of supervising regulatory policy and oversight responsibilities of financial institutions
- An administrator for the office of information and regulatory affairs (when the president has promised to eliminate two regulations for every new one created, that office is in charge of such things)
- A director of the office of personnel management (when the president has promised a hiring freeze and possible major reductions in the federal workforce)
- A director of the US Census Bureau (we are currently meant to be in full gear up mode for the 2020 census, which will be the most important census of any of our lifetimes)
It is the habit of authoritarians to minimize how many people work in key jobs because they want to accrue and hoard power to themselves. But it also speaks in the specific case of the Disaster to a particular arrogance. Nobody knows more than he does, nobody can do a job better than he can, he doesn't need anybody else because he is smarter and more capable than anyone who would think about working in these positions to begin with. Remember that he swore that he knew more about ISIS as a private citizen than "the generals" and he would have a plan on day one to deal with them? 140 days later is there a plan? Nope. Is there some willy-nilly killing including a whole bunch of civilians, including kids, and a Navy SEAL endangered by lack of proper preparedness? Yep. Does he care? Nope. There wasn't even an appropriate public comment about the SEAL.
This is incredibly dangerous, and this is why should there be (or I really should say when there is) a significant terrorist event in this country during this man's presidency, not only will the response be incorrect and extremely dangerous, it will almost certainly include an extreme attack on our basic civil rights and freedoms, and perhaps even an attempt to suspend the constitution outright. We're already hearing noises about him believing that he should be president for life.
And even more terrifying than that is that millions of people will go along with it. Some will because they believe in the things that this terrifying human being is doing, others will because they just aren't informed enough to know better, and the worst group will because they intend to capitalize on the conditions of chaos and horror that he creates.
It's not just what he does, it's what he refuses to do. It all matters.
-Amadi Lovelace, via Facebook
- Any US attorneys in any district
- An FBI Director
- A director of FEMA (hurricane season started last Thursday)
- An ambassador to the United Kingdom (who would have appropriately expressed our wishes and alliance in the light of two terrorist attacks)
- A chair of the Council of Economic Advisors (when the White House has already generated an economically and mathematically unsound budget)
- A chair of the Office of National Drug Control Policy (during an opioid crisis)
- Deputy secretaries in 14 of the 15 cabinet level departments
- The assistant secretary of the treasury who would run the office of tax policy (while the president wants to extensively overhaul tax policy)
- The vice chair of the Federal Reserve who is in charge of supervising regulatory policy and oversight responsibilities of financial institutions
- An administrator for the office of information and regulatory affairs (when the president has promised to eliminate two regulations for every new one created, that office is in charge of such things)
- A director of the office of personnel management (when the president has promised a hiring freeze and possible major reductions in the federal workforce)
- A director of the US Census Bureau (we are currently meant to be in full gear up mode for the 2020 census, which will be the most important census of any of our lifetimes)
It is the habit of authoritarians to minimize how many people work in key jobs because they want to accrue and hoard power to themselves. But it also speaks in the specific case of the Disaster to a particular arrogance. Nobody knows more than he does, nobody can do a job better than he can, he doesn't need anybody else because he is smarter and more capable than anyone who would think about working in these positions to begin with. Remember that he swore that he knew more about ISIS as a private citizen than "the generals" and he would have a plan on day one to deal with them? 140 days later is there a plan? Nope. Is there some willy-nilly killing including a whole bunch of civilians, including kids, and a Navy SEAL endangered by lack of proper preparedness? Yep. Does he care? Nope. There wasn't even an appropriate public comment about the SEAL.
This is incredibly dangerous, and this is why should there be (or I really should say when there is) a significant terrorist event in this country during this man's presidency, not only will the response be incorrect and extremely dangerous, it will almost certainly include an extreme attack on our basic civil rights and freedoms, and perhaps even an attempt to suspend the constitution outright. We're already hearing noises about him believing that he should be president for life.
And even more terrifying than that is that millions of people will go along with it. Some will because they believe in the things that this terrifying human being is doing, others will because they just aren't informed enough to know better, and the worst group will because they intend to capitalize on the conditions of chaos and horror that he creates.
It's not just what he does, it's what he refuses to do. It all matters.
-Amadi Lovelace, via Facebook
