Illiberalism
Gilead
Speaker of the House of Representatives, 2023
Fig. 1. Photograph credited to Office of Congressman Kevin McCarthy, date inconsistent with title but given as November 9, 2022, via Wikimedia Commons, public domain.
Democrats wouldn’t come to Kevin McCarthy’s rescue. And now the Republicans are in a deeper hole than the one they were in.[1] There is more than one thing to be said about pyrrhic victories here.
Lauren Fedor, Colby Smith, and James Politi, “US lawmakers pass short-term deal to avoid government shutdown,” Financial Times, September 30, 2023, https://www.ft.com/content/1723e6e8-495d-4e0c-bf18-6c91e106e71a
Sarah Ferris, Olivia Beavers, and Jordain Carney, “‘It is a surrender’: Why McCarthy reversed with his survival uncertain,” Politico, September 30, 2023, https://www.politico.com/news/2023/09/30/kevin-mccarthy-government-shutdown-deal-00119290
Erin B. Logan, “Kevin McCarthy may avoid a shutdown. But the fiasco shows he’s weaker than ever,” Los Angeles Times, September 30, 2023, https://www.latimes.com/politics/story/2023-09-30/government-shutdown-shows-kevin-mccarthy-weaker-than-ever
Ryan Lizza, Rachael Bade, and Eugene Daniels to Playbook list, “Inside the chess match between McCarthy, Jeffries and Gaetz,” Politico, October 1, 2023, https://www.politico.com/newsletters/playbook/2023/10/01/inside-the-chess-match-between-mccarthy-jeffries-and-gaetz-00119335
Kristina Peterson and Lindsay Wise, “Matt Gaetz Plans Vote to Oust Kevin McCarthy After Speaker Avoids Shutdown,” Wall Street Journal, October 1, 2023, https://www.wsj.com/politics/kevin-mccarthy-matt-gaetz-government-shutdown-1e838cda
Marianna Sotomayor and Mariana Alfaro, “Matt Gaetz files motion to oust Kevin McCarthy as House speaker,” Washington Post, October 2, 2023, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/10/02/kevin-mccarthy-matt-gaetz/
Erin B. Logan and Cameron Joseph, “Kevin McCarthy ousted as speaker, throwing Washington into chaos,” Los Angeles Times, October 3, 2023, https://www.latimes.com/politics/story/2023-10-03/kevin-mccarthy-speaker-matt-gaetz-house-republicans
Donald Trump
Coup attempt
Fig. 1. Donald Trump booking photograph by Fulton County (Georgia) Sheriff’s Office, August 24, 2023, via New York, August 25, 2023,[2] public domain.
Shayna Jacobs and Mark Berman, “Judge issues gag order in fraud case after Trump assails staffer on social media,” Washington Post, October 3, 2023, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/10/03/trump-civil-fraud-trial-ny/
Housekeeping
Google Drive has graduated to causing me serious problems, which, in keeping with my present attitude towards technology, I will not deal with. It had already refused to reinstall on my desktop system; now it requires far too much local storage on my notebook for its cache.
This, in addition to Google’s failure on abortion rights. [3]
My intention had been to keep Google Drive on line for longer. That’s no longer looking reasonable. There may well be further developments here soon, including to contact information.
- [1]Erin B. Logan and Cameron Joseph, “Kevin McCarthy ousted as speaker, throwing Washington into chaos,” Los Angeles Times, October 3, 2023, https://www.latimes.com/politics/story/2023-10-03/kevin-mccarthy-speaker-matt-gaetz-house-republicans↩
- [2]Margaret Hartmann and Nia Prater, “All the Mug Shots of Donald Trump and His Alleged Co-Conspirators,” New York, August 25, 2023, https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/trump-mug-shot-gallery.html↩
- [3]Darryl Coote, “N.Y. AG to Google: Stop directing people seeking abortions to anti-abortion centers,” United Press International, June 30, 2022, https://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2022/06/30/New-York-Google-Maps/9871656579373/; Cory Doctorow, “Google makes millions on paid abortion disinformation,” Medium, June 15, 2023, https://doctorow.medium.com/google-makes-millions-on-paid-abortion-disinformation-7cd4e4b72e28; Poppy Noor, “Google targets low-income US women with ads for anti-abortion pregnancy centers, study shows,” Guardian, February 7, 2023, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/feb/07/google-targets-low-income-women-anti-abortion-pregnancy-center-study↩