What happened before
Declining to take the bait
The legacy news media is spending a lot of minutes and column inches on President Biden’s pardon of his son Hunter. I’m disappointed in Biden for doing it, and would have preferred he commute the sentences of those federal prisoners on death row. (Perhaps he will surprise us.)
But in the range of presidential pardons in my lifetime this hardly compares to the damage done to the advance of good governance by Ford’s pardon of Nixon, George H.W. Bush’s pardons of officials in the Iran-Contra affair (with assistance from Bill Barr), Clinton’s pardon of Marc Rich, and TFP’s pardons of Roger Stone, Paul Manafort, Charles Kushner, Michael Flynn, Steve Bannon, George Papadapoulous, Joe Arpaio, Scooter Libby, Dinesh D’Souza, and three court-martialed military officers convicted of war crimes in Iraq and Afghanistan. (There were dozens more. It’s depressing to review the list.)
Criminals convicted of lying to the FBI (Flynn) and Congress (Stone) before being pardoned by TFP.
Part of what’s so broken about “the news” is the relentless bias towards what happened today (or what was newly learned today). It is important not to forget things that happened before.
What we’re still learning about Hegseth
This weekend the New Yorker published a lengthy report by investigative journalist Jane Mayer detailing Secretary of Defense nominee Pete Hegseth’s financial mismanagement, frequent drunkenness, and sexual improprieties while leading two different nonprofit advocacy groups (Veterans for Freedom and Concerned Veterans for America).
[U]nder his leadership, V.F.F. soon ran up enormous debt, and financial records indicate that, by the end of 2008, it was unable to pay its creditors. The group’s primary donors became concerned that their money was being wasted on inappropriate expenses, including rumors of parties that “could politely be called trysts,” as the former associate of the group put it. The early sympathizer said, “I was not the first to hear that there was money sloshing around and sexually inappropriate behavior in the workplace.”
Hegseth’s behavior led to him being forced to step down from both leadership positions. This is the man TFP is expecting to manage an $840 billion budget.
One @#$%ing thing
Tonight I spent time on a household safety upgrade—scrubbing and sanding down sections of our bathroom tile that had grown slippery, presumably due to an accumulation of microscopic soap particles.
What’s happening in the house doesn’t go away while we’re spending time paying attention to what’s going on outside.
All the @#$%ing things
Night 26: Picked up trash with the Trash Falcons
Night 25: Learned more about Pete Hegseth than I wanted to
Night 24: Canceled recurring subscriptions I no longer need
Night 23: Dwelt in gratitude
Night 22: Picked up pie from a favorite local business
Night 21: Downsized my clothes closet
Night 20: Increased my monthly contribution to the ACLU
Night 19: Deleted a blog from two decades ago
Night 18: Researched nonprofit board opportunities
Night 17: Contributed to Trans Lifeline
Night 16: Spent time together with loved ones
Night 15: Bought from a not-for-profit online store
Night 14: Refined an icon and wordmark
Night 13: Contributed to the LGBTQ+ Victory Fund
Night 12: Contributed to The Guardian
Night 11: Read, reflected, and rested
Night 10: Sent money to support vaccinations in Nigeria
Night 9: Sent money to a friend in need
Night 8: Gave gifts and spoke words of appreciation aloud
Night 7: Contributed to a California-focused nonprofit newsroom
Night 6: Made homemade donuts for my team
Night 5: Opted into a paid Buttondown tier
Night 4: Reviewed my local election results
Night 3: Deactivated my X account
Night 2: Contributed to my local nonprofit newsroom
Night 1: Started by starting
Words, sorts, thinks, and actions by Chris Ereneta, from Oakland, California. Thanks for reading! Thoughtful feedback and questions are welcomed at that.often@gmail.com