Government

One of my hope with the Biden administration is… smaller government, smaller deficits βš” 🚨 ⬇️

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One of my hope with the Biden administration is… smaller government, lower deficits βš” 🚨 ⬇️

I have observed over the years that Democratic presidents tend to be much better at cutting the deficit and reducing government spending then Republican presidents.

While the GOP is quite happy to flood the military, defense contractors and the police with unneeded new funding when they are in charge of the White House they don’t like funding social or community programs and will make the deficit spending a major issue in the Biden presidency.

A strong post pandemic economy might even mean the federal government is running in the black and could lead to significant investments in infrastructure and climate resilience which is going to be all the more important in coming years.

And I think that’s a good thing because it will lead to a more affordable and better government.

Planet Money : NPR

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Are There Too Many Political Appointees? : Planet Money : NPR

The transition to the Biden administration may be going, let us say, a bit slower than transitions have in the past. But the rumbles of the age-old, post-election shift in Washington can still be heard. Thousands of victorious campaign staffers, donors, glory seekers, and hangers-ons will soon be swarming the capital in search of jobs in the new administration. And, in a few weeks, there will be a convenient guidebook published for them.

The book is officially called United States Government Policy and Supporting Positions, but it's better known as the Plum Book because of its purple cover — and also probably because it's filled with plum jobs, many of which are appointed by the winning presidential candidate. The book is published every four years after presidential elections. It's a long list of positions around the federal government, typically providing information on who last held them and what their salary was.

How the NYPD gets people’s personal data with no oversight

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How the NYPD gets people’s personal data with no oversight

The NYPD has used tens of thousands of questionable subpoenas over the last decade to intimidate private companies into handing over the personal information of cops and civilians alike — all with no oversight from the city or the courts, The Post has found.

While the vast majority of subpoenas in New York State — and across the country — require the signature of a judge or the blessing of a grand jury, the New York City Council empowered the department nearly a century ago to issue such commands to force unwilling cops to produce internal records or appear at disciplinary hearings

Cuomo signs law making it harder to file lawsuits to stifle free speech

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Cuomo signs law making it harder to file lawsuits to stifle free speech

Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed a new law Tuesday making it harder for the rich and powerful to file nuisance lawsuits to stifle free speech and intimidate critics.

The new law targets “strategic lawsuits against public participation,” known as SLAPPs, usually brought forth by wealthy plaintiffs to hamper free speech.

Typically expensive and time consuming, these filings have been wielded by individuals seeking to oppress free speech, like Harvey Weinstein — who threatened to sue the New York Times for defamation after the newspaper published an expose on the disgraced movie tycoon’s history of sexual harassment.

How the Nazi Concentration Camps Worked | The New Yorker

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How the Nazi Concentration Camps Worked | The New Yorker

Hitler’s Germany as a highly regimented dictatorship, in practice Nazi rule was chaotic and improvisatory. Rival power bases in the Party and the German state competed to carry out what they believed to be Hitler’s wishes. This system of “working towards the Fuhrer,” as it was called by Hitler’s biographer Ian Kershaw, was clearly in evidence when it came to the concentration camps. The K.L. system, during its twelve years of existence, included twenty-seven main camps and more than a thousand subcamps. At its peak, in early 1945, it housed more than seven hundred thousand inmates. In addition to being a major penal and economic institution, it was a central symbol of Hitler’s rule. Yet Hitler plays almost no role in Wachsmann’s book, and Wachsmann writes that Hitler was never seen to visit a camp. It was Heinrich Himmler, the head of the S.S., who was in charge of the camp system, and its growth was due in part to his ambition to make the S.S. the most powerful force in Germany.