Catching Up With the Chaos and Catastrophe

I've been trying to stay current on the news, despite the arguably ill effect that has on my psyche, but it's been so much so fast that I'd fallen behind. I'm nearly up to date now, though there's probably something horrendous that happened late today that has escaped my notice thus far. (UPDATE: There is.)

Here are the trying-not-to-panic-about-it-yet topics from recent days that we should all be shouting to our Congresspeople about:

• The Senate confirmed yet another disastrous cabinet officer, one that in a sane world would have gotten zero votes. No, let me clarify: The Republican senators confirmed yet another disastrous cabinet officer that should have gotten zero votes. The final tally for Kash Patel to be director of the FBI was 51 Republicans in favor, 47 Democrats and two Republicans against (those two being Lisa Murkowski, who occasionally starts looking like she'd be better off switching parties before she says or does something horrible, and Susan Collins, who almost never acts on her supposed "deep concerns" but did on this occasion). Patel is a MAGA zealot who perjured himself multiple times in his conformation hearings and has made it crystal clear that he intends to use his new position as a mob boss might, not to investigate crimes and espionage but to weaponize the FBI to punish opponents of POTUS47’s agenda. The FBI director has a ten-year term, so, you know, cool-cool-cool.

  "My Senate Republican colleagues are willfully ignoring myriad red flags about Mr. Patel," said Democratic Senator Dick Durbin, "especially his recurring instinct to threaten retribution against his perceived enemies." Senator Sheldon Whitehouse was more overtly outraged, telling his Republican colleagues that they "will own the consequences of Kash Patel's misbehavior. ... Unlike any FBI director before, this guy is a vitriolic partisan.... He is a completely sycophantic suck-up when it comes to Donald Trump. He wrote children's books in which 'King Donald' rules and his loyal little functionary 'Kash' brings 'justice' to him, pursuing the slugs of the FBI. Do you think that when the FBI is asked to investigate corruption in Trumpworld, do you think Kash Patel will rise to the occasion or do you think he'll participate in a coverup? This is not Democrats saying this, what we're doing is relating what he has said and what he has done." Even a few old-style Republicans joined in the warnings. "If Kash Patel becomes director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, as President Trump has suggested he should, he will be the poster child of vindictiveness." That was Paul Rozenweig, a Homeland Security official under George W. Bush.

  Patel joins recent additions to the Bizarro Cabinet Tulsi Gabbard and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., making a triumvirate of Worst People that will vie for most dangerous cabinet officer in an ever-alternating pennant race of calamity.

  Mr. Patel’s confirmation is even more appalling given disturbing reports about his foreign ties, conflicts of interest, and alleged involvement in recent FBI firings. The Senate’s failure to collectively demand a real investigation prior to his confirmation represents a gross abdication of their constitutional advice and consent responsibility. As the Senate continues to consider the president’s nominees, we demand that senators take this responsibility seriously and do better for their constituents and our country. As it stands, today’s disgraceful confirmation jeopardizes the integrity and independence of our nation’s top law enforcement agency. Our communities, our rights, and our democracy deserve better.

  —Maya Wiley, president and CEO of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights

  
  
  

• POTUS47 wants to destroy the Post Office. His plan, apparently, is to somehow reorganize the Postal Service as an arm of the Commerce Department under yet another dangerous chaos agent cabinet secretary, Howard Lutnik. Naturally, like all POTUS47 priorities, this would be manifestly illegal. I didn't know this before, but the Post Office has only been an independent agency since 1970; before that Postmasters General were appointed as cabinet officers. Now the U.S. Postal Service, the 1970 law removed the Post Office from the cabinet and reorganized it as an independent agency specifically in order to shield it from political fuckery. The law was prompted by a postal workers' strike over poor treatment that Nixon called out the National Guard to break; pre-reorg, postal workers were barred from unionizing and the new structure guaranteed them collective-bargaining rights. The introductory section of the law on the books reads:

  The United States Postal Service shall be operated as a basic and fundamental service provided to the people by the Government of the United States, authorized by the Constitution, created by Act of Congress, and supported by the people. The Postal Service shall have as its basic function the obligation to provide postal services to bind the Nation together through the personal, educational, literary, and business correspondence of the people. It shall provide prompt, reliable, and efficient services to patrons in all areas and shall render postal services to all communities. The costs of establishing and maintaining the Postal Service shall not be apportioned to impair the overall value of such service to the people.

  The law further specifies the new agency's independence and non-partisanship, mandating that the Postal board of governors be Senate-confirmed and that no more than five of the eleven members may affiliate with any one political party, that the Postmaster General be selected by and answerable to the board, and specifically reserves to Congress the power to amend or change the law in any way.

  I don't think it far-fetched in the slightest to assume that this is a priority for the administration for two reasons: 1) As a means of voter suppression—in their ongoing march to destroy democracy, a Republican tenet has always been to make voting as difficult as possible, and mail-in voting, as we have statewide here in Washington and as is an optional feature in most other states, makes it just too convenient for citizens to exercise their franchise and oppose the wannabe dictator currently occupying the White House (or, as I heard it referred to on a podcast recently, "Casa de Idiota"); 2) As a means of shifting more public money into the hands of oligarchs—mail delivery would be contracted out to private operators, contracts for which would be overseen not only by POTUS47, but people like Phony Stark and the Cabinet of Billionaires.
  
  

• POTUS47 is whining about his airplane. The specially modified Boeing 747s that function as Air Force One have been in service for a few decades now, and our whiny spoiled brat diaper-baby president thinks he deserves the newest and best planes, not 30-year-old vehicles with the cootie-stank of Clinton and Obama and Biden in them. Boeing has been building new ones—as a matter of course when these things age they get replaced—but not fast enough for 47’s liking. So he has, according to the New York Times, "empowered Elon Musk to explore drastic options to prod Boeing to move faster, including relaxing security clearance standards for some who work on the presidential planes." Which, sure, that sounds super smart—especially since Phony Stark's vehicles tend to catch fire and blow up—but the Times piece goes on to say this, which gets at the heart of 47’s grievance: “[The] administration has even discussed whether a luxury jet could be acquired and refitted during the wait, according to five people with knowledge of the discussions who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe closely held deliberations.” Our president wants a luxury jet, instead of Air Force One, and even took a look at a plane owned until recently by the Qatari royal family as a replacement. The Times didn't specify whether the Qatari plane had enough gold-plated toilets in it to meet 47’s standard.

  I saw this piece and, with the recent troubles Boeing has had with its planes losing doors and missing bolts and such in mind, had some less-than-generous whimsical thoughts about it that I intended to post. But once again our pal Craig Calcaterra was thinking along the same lines and used better words:

  Even I have to acknowledge when President Trump is right about something. And folks, he's right about this. Boeing must deliver these jets with great haste! I thus offer my full-throated endorsement of the relaxation of whatever safety and security concerns typically apply to the delivery of aircraft and heartily agree with the idea of putting the man behind the safety and performance record of Tesla vehicles and SpaceX rockets in charge of President Trump's planes. God bless America.

  It's a comforting image, isn't it?