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Thread: Political or Cultural Writers you find thorough and thoughtful

  1. #41
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    Default Re: Political or Cultural Writers you find thorough and thoughtful

    Republicans raising hell about student loan forgiviness, yet....
    "With these headlines from the Republican Party, and coming on the heels of a spectacular few months for the Democrats, the Biden administration came out today swinging against MAGA Republicans.

    First, after a day of Republican congress members railing against yesterday’s educational loan forgiveness of up to $20,000 for Pell Grant recipients and $10,000 for others, the White House tweeted a thread of those members alongside the amount of Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) money those individuals were forgiven.

    Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) said: “For our government just to say ok your debt is completely forgiven.. it’s completely unfair.” Greene had $183,504 in PPP loans forgiven.

    Representative Vern Buchanan (R-FL) said: “Biden’s reckless, unilateral student loan giveaway is unfair to the 87 percent of Americans without student loan debt and those who played by the rules.” Buchanan had more than $2.3 million in PPP loans forgiven.

    Representative Markwayne Mullin (R-OK) said: “We do not need farmers and ranchers, small business owners, and teachers in Oklahoma paying the debts of Ivy League lawyers and doctors across the U.S.” Mullin had more than $1.4 million in PPP loans forgiven.

    Representative Kevin Hern (R-OK) said: “To recap, in the last two weeks, the ‘Party of the People’ has supercharged the IRS to go after working-class Americans, raised their taxes, and forced them to pay for other people's college degrees.” Hern had more than $1 million in PPP loans forgiven.

    Representative Mike Kelly (R-PA) said: “Asking plumbers and carpenters to pay off the loans of Wall Street advisors and lawyers isn’t just unfair. It’s also bad policy.” Kelly had $987,237 in PPP loans forgiven.

    Representative Matt Gaetz (R-FL) said: Everyone knows that in a $60 Billion+ European land war, it's always the last $3 Billion that kicks in the door….” Gaetz had $482,321 in PPP loans forgiven.

    https://heathercoxrichardson.substac...m_source=email

  2. #42
    Senior Member Chip's Avatar
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    Default Re: Political or Cultural Writers you find thorough and thoughtful

    My spouse, who taught law for many years and has briefed Supreme Court cases, thinks highly of Neal Katyal.

    Bill Barr Made the Decision to Clear Trump, and That Should Still Frighten Us

    By Neal K. Katyal
    Aug. 30, 2022

    Mr. Katyal is a professor at Georgetown University Law Center, was an acting solicitor general in the Obama administration and is a co-author of “Impeach: The Case Against Donald Trump.”

    The memo released last week by the Justice Department closing the book on the report of Special Counsel Robert Mueller and his inquiry into Russian interference in the 2016 election is a frightening document. Critics have rightly focused on its substance, slipshod legal analysis and omission of damning facts.

    But the process by which that memo, sent in March 2019, came to be is just as worrisome. Delivered to the attorney general at the time, Bill Barr, the memo was written by two political appointees in the Justice Department.

    Mr. Barr used the memo to go around the special counsel regulations and to clear President Donald Trump of obstruction of justice. If left to fester, this decision will have pernicious consequences for investigations of future high-level wrongdoing.

    It raises particular concerns because, as a young Justice Department staff member, I drafted the special counsel regulations in 1999 to prevent the exact problem of having partisan political appointees undermine an investigation. The regulations were put in place to ensure that the counsel would make any determination to charge or not and to force the attorney general to overrule those determinations specifically and before Congress.

    The 2019 memo tendentiously argued that Mr. Trump committed no crimes — leaving the final decision on the matter to Republican-aligned appointees instead of to the independent special counsel.

    The challenge in devising the regulations was to develop a framework for the prosecution of high-level executive branch officials — which is harder than it sounds, because the Constitution requires the executive branch to control prosecutions. So we are left with one of the oldest philosophical problems: Who will guard the guardians?

    The solution we landed on was to have a special counsel take over the investigative and prosecutorial functions. That counsel was vested with day-to-day independence in an investigation, but the attorney general would still be able to overrule the special counsel — but, crucially, if the attorney general overruled, to report to Congress, to ensure accountability.

    The regulations were written with an untrustworthy president in mind, more so than the problem that Mr. Barr presented, which is an untrustworthy attorney general. Unlike presidents, attorneys general were confirmed by the Senate, with a 60-vote threshold (though it is now a simple majority) — so we assumed they would be reasonably nonpartisan. And we also knew there was no way around the attorney general being the ultimate decider, because the Constitution requires the executive branch to control prosecutions.

    We created the role of special counsel to fill a void — to concentrate in one person responsibility and ultimate blame so that investigations would not be covered up from the get-go and to give that person independence from political pressure.

    It is outrageous that Mr. Barr acted so brazenly in the face of this framework. The point of requiring a special counsel was to provide for an independent determination of any potential criminal wrongdoing by Mr. Trump. But the political appointees in his Justice Department took what was the most important part of that inquiry — the decision of whether he committed crimes — and grabbed it for themselves. This was a fundamental betrayal of the special counsel guidelines not for some principle but because it protected their boss, Mr. Trump. It is the precise problem that the regulations were designed to avoid and why the regulations give the counsel “the full power and independent authority to exercise all investigative and prosecutorial functions of any United States attorney.”


    https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/30/o...epartment.html

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    Default Re: Political or Cultural Writers you find thorough and thoughtful

    I have been enjoying this columnist (Ruth Marcus) for WaPo. Her column today on the problems and importance of the Presidential powers case in front of the Supreme Court (the loan forgiveness case) is particularly good.

    https://www.washingtonpost.com/opini...530100007F02A8

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    Default Re: Political or Cultural Writers you find thorough and thoughtful

    Quote Originally Posted by TSherbs View Post
    I have been enjoying this columnist (Ruth Marcus) for WaPo. Her column today on the problems and importance of the Presidential powers case in front of the Supreme Court (the loan forgiveness case) is particularly good.

    https://www.washingtonpost.com/opini...530100007F02A8
    Several thoughts, while I was able to pay cash for my children's college, I realize many cannot afford college.

    It bothers me that colleges can pay a football coach millions of dollars and cannot provide education that is affordable and convenient. Also, debt is the devil workplace.

    America needs skilled and educated people. A foreign student should not have an advantage at a tax payer supported university.

    And, not just those that score high on standardized tests should be able to go to college free. People learn differently.

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    Default Re: Political or Cultural Writers you find thorough and thoughtful

    Quote Originally Posted by Chuck Naill View Post
    Republicans raising hell about student loan forgiviness, yet....
    Do you recall that PPP was an act of Congress, with loan forgiveness built in?
    Student loan "forgiveness" (which actually shifts repayment to taxpayers) is the Executive Branch usurping the legislative function.
    We've had this same discussion regarding any number of Biden era actions.[/SIZE][/FONT]

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    Default Re: Political or Cultural Writers you find thorough and thoughtful

    I’m okay with paying for Americans to get an education. I assume I’ll benefit.

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    Default Re: Political or Cultural Writers you find thorough and thoughtful

    Quote Originally Posted by Chuck Naill View Post
    I’m okay with paying for Americans to get an education. I assume I’ll benefit.
    But will you assume all of the tuition debt?

  8. The Following User Says Thank You to kazoolaw For This Useful Post:

    dneal (December 9th, 2022)

  9. #48
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    Default Re: Political or Cultural Writers you find thorough and thoughtful

    Quote Originally Posted by kazoolaw View Post
    Quote Originally Posted by Chuck Naill View Post
    I’m okay with paying for Americans to get an education. I assume I’ll benefit.
    But will you assume all of the tuition debt?
    I’ll assume a tax payer proportionate debt

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    Default Re: Political or Cultural Writers you find thorough and thoughtful

    This is a religious writer I admire, but she also discusses cultural Christian religious bias (regions of the world, and some denominational issues): Cynthia Bourgeault, a retired Episcopal priest. I am currently rereading her book "The Wisdom Jesus." I reject some of the reaches of her faith, but her approach to Jesus as a wisdom teacher in a long Jewish and Middle Eastern tradition (Buddhist and Sufi also) is refreshing and inspiring. Her interpretations of the NT are very persuasive (for me). She is a full Christian believer in the divinity of Jesus and the truth of miracles (I am not). But her book is not an argument over the divinity, it is about what his message was.

  11. #50
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    Default Re: Political or Cultural Writers you find thorough and thoughtful

    Let’s have a great big communal sigh and shed a tear for John Pilger's passing
    Truly one of the all time greats , a tireless advocate for truth and justice.
    His writing and work will live on as a beacon in the dark times before humanity wakes up.

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    Default Re: Political or Cultural Writers you find thorough and thoughtful

    Quote Originally Posted by Robalone View Post
    Let’s have a great big communal sigh and shed a tear for John Pilger's passing
    Truly one of the all time greats , a tireless advocate for truth and justice.
    His writing and work will live on as a beacon in the dark times before humanity wakes up.
    Indeed, a bold and colorful journalistic and documentarian career.

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