The Alleged News®

by Isaac Arnsdorf, for ProPublica Sept. 27, 2021—Former President Donald Trump empowered associates from his private club to pursue a plan for the Department of Veterans Affairs to monetize patient data, according to documents newly released by congressional investigators. As ProPublica first reported in 2018, a trio based at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort weighed in on policy and personnel decisions for the federal government’s second-largest agency, despite lacking any experience in the U.S. government or military. While previous reporting showed the trio had a hand in budgeting and contracting, their interest in turning patient data into a revenue stream was not previously known. The VA provides …

Read more

The week got off to an instructive start. Few Americans probably imagined that men on horseback in this country still use leather lashes to control defenseless Black people. Live and learn. Most Americans must have been deeply disturbed by the sight of Haitian refugees being subjected to this brutal treatment. At least, so one would hope. Extrapolating from polls showing continued support for a certain non-incumbent, though, about one in four may have said to themselves, “Yeah, give them a few licks for me.” Though the lesson may have been unwelcome, the sight was nevertheless instructive. It was even inspiring, in the saddest way imaginable. …

Read more

It’s easy to feel overwhelmed when you are facing more catastrophes than you can count. Where do you even begin? This disagreeable sensation, once confined to an unlucky few, is now widespread among those who read the news. Our policy for staving off catatonia: expect the worst, hope for the best, and deal with one thing at a time. At the moment, because it’s dear to our ink-stained heart, let’s consider the U.S. Postal Service [U.S.P.S.]. Because it certainly qualifies as a catastrophe. Incredibly, there’s good news on this front. The District Court in Washington, D.C. ruled August 17th that the U.S.P.S. must turn over …

Read more

This fortnight began with terrible news about the climate. It went downhill from there. The Guardian reported on July 27th—too late for us to deal with properly in our paper of July 30th, too important to leave out now—“many of the key indicators of the global climate crisis are getting worse and either approaching, or exceeding, key tipping points as the earth heats up.” “Overall, the study* found some 16 out of 31 tracked planetary vital signs, including greenhouse gas concentrations, ocean heat content and ice mass, set worrying new records. “‘There is growing evidence we are getting close to or have already gone beyond …

Read more

On July 12th, Judi Hershman posted an extraordinary 2,600-word document on Medium. In it, the self-described “former professional partisan” laments what she accurately calls, “our country’s biggest existential crisis since the Civil War.” It has come about, she writes, because “too many people like me stuck our heads in the sand, swallowed our doubts, [and] let the unacceptable slide, [having] convinced ourselves it was in the interest of the greater good….” Hershman attained this perspective, she says, through a long and close association with one of the most influential unelected figures in the Republican power structure. That emminent personage was Kenneth Starr: Grand Inquisitor during …

Read more