Cleaning Off The Desk Before Good Friday

This is something in the way of an experiment. I don't want to hold all these posts until next week, but I really don't want to post anything else on Maundy Thursday. And I plan to be quiet (and busy) from Good Friday through Easter Sunday. So I'm cramming all the posts accumulating today into one post, which I may update as the day goes on. Bold type indicates the original post titles, and serves as a marker between posts. Or something. I dunno. Maybe this means you won't have to come back as many times.  I just know I gotta get this done and do a bunch of other stuff today!

Old People and College Students = Welfare Queens!

The Republican party does not have a future for America. Their future is the PAST.
SAD! https://t.co/I1KBY8LOyM

— ®️ (@EbongJc) April 1, 2021

If you give this money to old people and college kids and people who need affordable housing and to prevent violence, those groups will just:

1) buy Cadillacs!

2) have more kids!

3) buy more drugs!

Everybody knows this is what a 2 year college degree, or healthcare, or affordable housing, or violence prevention, leads to!!!!*

(*I dunno, I'm just trying to apply the GOP oldie-goldies from the Reagan era to this situation.  Isn't that what's called for?)

"Lookah Me!  Ah'm Doin' Somethin'!"

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene just introduced a bill that would “reduce Dr. Fauci’s salary to $0 until a new NIAID administrator is confirmed by the Senate.”

The NIAID director’s appointment is not subject to Senate confirmation.

— Andrew Desiderio (@AndrewDesiderio) April 1, 2021

Correction: it is a separate bill that bars businesses from refusing service to the unvaccinated

— Andrew Solender (@AndrewSolender) April 1, 2021

Because, you know, dangerous stupidity in the midst of a public health crisis is a civil right that overrides the interests of everybody else around the stupid people. That's in the konstitooshun!

(Do either of these bills stand a snow-ball's chance in hell of reaching the House floor?  Or even getting out of committee?  Does it matter?)

And Now That We Do Know What We Were Dealing With....

Main takeaway from this smart piece is the degree to which most of the health experts had never encountered someone like Trump and didn’t understand what they were dealing with https://t.co/VhMT49w3UG

— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) April 1, 2021

....let's all find somebody else to blame so we can feel smarter.

Saletan has a good analysis, and Haberman makes a good point.  Most of the criticism of Birx is because she wasn’t on TeeVee, but that’s because Trump wouldn’t let her go on TeeVee.  Turns out she actually spent a great deal of time not in front of TeeVee cameras trying to work with groups and companies to do something about the pandemic from her position as a government official.

Would she have been on TeeVee if she had quit?  Would she have been able to offer any help from the government if she had quit?

Tobacco Pipes?

Noem: I was shocked by how much doesn’t go into infrastructure... It goes into housing and pipes... pic.twitter.com/eQFej2gzkE

— Acyn (@Acyn) April 1, 2021

Just trying to make sense of this...

And The Apotheosis Of Journalism Is Objectivity

And in our next episode, we'll talk to Willie Sutton about why there's no need for banks to invest in expensive security systems. https://t.co/PZsOY9hHux

— Steve Vladeck (@steve_vladeck) March 31, 2021

General v. Specific

Military veteran charged with stabbing cop in the face after carrying Blue Lives Matter flag to Jan. 6 riot https://t.co/Up4FaIK9d5

— Raw Story (@RawStory) April 1, 2021

A textbook example of a category error. 

If A Tree Falls In The Forest....

‘Not random act’: Suspect knew victims in California mass shooting that killed 4 including 9 year old child: police https://t.co/lE4WVrkgGJ

— Raw Story (@RawStory) April 1, 2021

This is the third mass shooting in just over two weeks that has made headlines, but as CNN reports today there have been at least 20 mass shootings since the Atlanta spa massacre that left eight people dead.

And there's no TV news crew there to report it....

Everything New Is Old Again

That's the White House during the Truman Administration.

VP moving into Naval Observatory residence next week after 2+ months of renovations https://t.co/IFvfr3WIyC

— Jeremy Diamond (@JDiamond1) April 1, 2021

So, coulda been worse.

The whole process took less than four years to complete, and President Truman and his family were able to move back in before the end of his presidency. 

Still, what fun is a 2 month delay in housing, amirite?

Best April Fool's Joke (You Thought I Forgot, Didn't You?)

delete ur account https://t.co/Gms5DxTv4t

— New Jersey (@NJGov) April 1, 2021