Politico reminds us that President Trump promised a cybersecurity plan within 90 days of taking office, and that deadline just blew by with no action, or even a plan for action. He also promised that "the generals" (the same ones he's "smarter than," you may recall) would give him a plan to defeat ISIS within 30 days, and, well, that was a while ago. So add these two items to the long list of President Trump's failures (skips Presidential intelligence briefings, guts the State Department, retreats to Florida to play golf every weekend, generally acts like an arrogant prick) when the inevitable terrorist attack comes.
Given Arkansas's recent attempt at an "execution blitz," Adam Rogers at Wired describes "The Shocking Lack of Science Behind Lethal Injections." Lethal injections seem more humane than firing squads, but very little scientific research exists to prove they're more humane. You might expect that to some degree -- most scientists want nothing to do with such research, and we treat prisoners as research subjects a lot better than we used to. Still, it sure looks like someone made a thing and then thought about justifying it later, if at all.
Charles Ornstein at ProPublica reveals that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services have proposed to compel private hospital accreditors to make the findings of their inspections public. Which is a step forward, I suppose, but you have to wonder why CMS shouldn't just do the job itself, and dig all the problems we already have with getting private accreditation agencies to do the work -- they constantly refer to the hospitals they're inspecting as partners! And they complain on their "partners"' behalf about the rate of change, when this is actually a very small change, and no one should be afraid of sunlight. Our best and brightest, ladies and gentlemen!
Hoo boy, is this not the change we need: former Kansas state House minority leader/failed 2014 gubernatorial candidate Paul Davis is eyeing a U.S. House seat. Mr. Davis couldn't beat one of the worst and least popular Governors in America and he thinks he can win Kansas's 2nd? And remember why he couldn't beat him: his prescription for Kansas's tax-cuts-for-the-rich-caused troubles was to phase in more tax-cuts-for-the-rich a little more slowly. Democrats should have learned by now that serving up cold oatmeal against unpopular Republicans never works.
Finally, President Trump's lawyers have argued that protestors at his rallies don't have First Amendment rights. Because their protests infringe on his First Amendment rights. Our President, ladies and gentlemen: a man who thinks he's the hottest shit that ever was, but who also whines that criticism oppresses him, and that his rights need to be bigger than everyone else's. I hope a judge laughs this argument out of court, but Republicans have to get tired of this incessant self-pity act sooner or later. Don't they?
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