Gongol.com Archives: July 2018
July 26, 2018
Members of the Senate see fit to reassert their authority over bad diplomatic behavior by the President, with Senators McCain, Kaine, Gardner, and Reed joining in a bipartisan bill to "explicitly prohibit the President of the United States from withdrawing from NATO without Senate approval". Article II, Section 2 is unambiguous ("by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, to make Treaties, provided two thirds of the Senators present concur"), but even that clarity may deserve a backstop in these peculiar times.
Mapping the vote: Intriguing but usually misleading
We really should get used to using cartograms (specifically with hex tiles) when depicting anything that has to do with population or voting. If people can understand subway maps, they can understand cartographic depictions of population, too.
"Enterprises to subvert it..."
Federalist 59 has some words applicable to America today
In the airport, always go for the pretzel
It is metaphysically impossible to screw up a pretzel order, and that means the dunce in front of you, no matter how stupid, will still be out of your way in no more than 90 seconds.
Facebook's $120 billion bad day
Imagine vaporizing the market valuation of about half the farmland in Iowa
The Attorney General should be ashamed
The nation's chief law-enforcement officer shouldn't be taking part in "Lock her up" chants. It's not just untoward, it's perverse.
"Booing the press in general is an unhealthy trend"
Sen. Ben Sasse with a worthy endorsement of the VFW's statement disclaiming the boos directed at the press when the President made ill use of an opportunity to address the organization's national convention. It is a cowardly act to direct mob anger at the press.
The candy-heart and candy-wafer company had been troubled for a while, but it sounds like the shutdown was a sudden shock
They've caused dozens of casualties
Was there anything really new in the US-EU trade agreement?
It may not really have been worth a hill of beans, to shamelessly abuse a pun.
