Panelists: the Johnson government wavering on a NI protocol they negotiated is largely signaling to Tory voters with the next election in mind. In one sense reassuring - they won’t abandon the protocol - but for how long can post-Brexit UK politicians run against EU?
.@RepBrendanBoyle: expects there will be a special US envoy to protect the Northern peace process. Notes that the blocking of foreign service appointments in the Senate is slowing things down.
A bit more on the reasons why foreign service appointments are not being filled, which is largely due to GOP pique, and has real consequences for US influence abroad including issues like the N. Ireland peace process
Very sharp point by @BrianPJRowan: any talk of a new Ireland should start with a blank page, and engage in deep discussions of governance, rights, culture and identity. Should learn the lesson of Brexit, which is that spin-driven rapid change isn’t a sustainable solution.
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It’s never really been about free speech, but about imposing their own speech.
UK conservatives took a page from the US, claiming there were “woke hate mobs” on campus to justify policing speech.
Now they are excluding experts whose speech they dislike from briefing the govt.
UK civil servants have been warned to screen potential speakers at Whitehall events for any comments critical of government policies and exclude them on that basis. thenational.scot/news/19747206.…
When I was in the UK in 2018-2019, I was invited to give talks to Whitehall officials a couple of times about my research. Under this new guidance the inviter would be obliged to check my social media and would exclude me on that basis for my comments critical of Brexit.
Government as a means of personal enrichment, not public service. Kushner began his government career selling real estate by promising big Chinese investors US visas. His current gig is shaking down Middle Eastern sovereign wealth funds. nytimes.com/2021/11/26/us/…
No sane person would give Kushner money based on his actual business record, which is terrible.
So what is Kushner selling? The promise of political influence. Governments who did not back Kushner’s failed businesses before believe they were punished, and are worried about a second Trump administration. Their worries are not unfounded.
We only hear about government administration when things go wrong.
So here's something positive you haven't heard about: the Biden admin is working to reduce the administrative burdens that government imposes on the public.
You can't find a single speech where Biden talks about administrative burdens. But its embedded in a series of policy documents: his equity executive order, internal OMB guidance to agencies, a public OMB report to the President, and the new President's Management Agenda.
There are lots of wonks in specific policy domains doing this work. So what's the value of articulating an overall administrative philosophy to reduce burdens?
It helps to increase salience, legibility and knowledge dissemination of the topic. donmoynihan.substack.com/p/the-biden-ad…
This piece lays out the roadmap for how Republicans in Wisconsin continue to move further toward competitive authoritarianism. Increasingly likely that even if Democrats win the most votes, the gerrymandered legislature will overturn the outcome. 1/ nytimes.com/2021/11/19/us/…
I say "move further toward competitive authoritarianism" because Wisconsin Republicans have already moved away from a reasonably fair democracy. Most of it occurred very quickly, in the last decade. No punishment for this slide, no reason to think it will stop. 2/
Starting in 2010, you have perhaps the most efficient gerrymander in the country, one that essentially guarantees that Republicans cannot lose the legislature, regardless of their action. SCOTUS could have intervened, but Kennedy punted. Green light for more of this. 3/
Two observations: 1) I worked at UW-Madison in social sciences for 13 years and never heard reference to CRT once 2) You could teach an entire course about CRT just using the career of Robin Vos. Let me explain. 1/
We know that lead in water hurts kids brain development. In WI, the kids most at risk from lead are Black kids living in in Milwaukee. Robin Vos has been the biggest opponent of helping those kids. 2/ jsonline.com/story/news/pol…
Vos and colleagues have turned efforts to honor Black leaders during Black history month into an annual troll fest.
New President's Management Agenda released from Biden via @OMBPress. Emphasis on rebuilding federal workforce, excellent & equitable federal customer service, and capacity improvements to enable the BBB agenda. performance.gov/pma/
The Presidential management agenda lays out what the President says are their top nuts-and-bolts plan for fixing the types of problems that don't get much attention. Not surprising there is an emphasis on reinvesting in the federal workforce, but there are longstanding problems.
The second priority area is the one most interesting to me, since it relates to administrative burden. It marries the idea of customer service and reducing burdens, and includes language about access: assets.performance.gov/PMA/Biden-Harr…