“One answer to why Reinventing Government failed is that its authors misunderstood the problem, or preferred not to understand it. In this view, the problem is not that good civil servants are trapped in bad systems. It is that civil servants constitute a ‘deep state’ that undermines elected officials and does the bidding of an unaccountable elite. Whatever the merits of this position, the second Trump administration has advanced a breathtakingly extreme version of it.” (11/19/25)
“Remind me again why any reasonable person expects the federal government to obey the law. The Trump administration this week gravely imperiled the nation’s water supply by curtailing federal regulations over dry land. Or at least that’s the story the media is hustling. A Washington Post headline epitomized the fretting: ‘Trump proposal would limit protections for U.S. waterways’ by narrowing the definition of wetlands. The Post did not mention that mere puddles or land that is dry 350 days a year have been categorized as ‘waters of the United States’ under the Clean Water Act.” (11/19/25)
“The FAA’s centralized monopoly makes American airspace hostage to congressional dysfunction. When budget negotiations collapse, so does air travel: controllers go unpaid, certifications halt, and the entire system seizes up. Regulatory capture turns these risks into body counts. During the 737 MAX disaster, the FAA delegated oversight to Boeing’s own engineers — 346 people died in two crashes over five months without independent review. Meanwhile, startups like Connect Airlines collapsed after months waiting for approvals that never came. The FAA is designed for stagnation, favoring industry giants with bailouts and expedited certifications while strangling startups with delays — protecting incumbents and gatekeeping competition. Canada once faced similar challenges. Then, in 1996, it privatized air traffic control. Nav Canada now operates on user fees, not tax revenue, and it delivers demonstrably superior performance.” (11/19/25)
“‘Military’ and ‘foreign policy’ are not magic words that automatically get the government out of court. However, similarly to what the Bush administration claimed during the War on Terror, the Trump administration is advancing that argument in various contexts, from deportations to sending the National Guard into cities that have not requested them. And some judges want to submit to this ‘magic.’ The Supreme Court should shut this hocus-pocus down before it unleashes unrestrained power in the name of ‘judicial restraint.'” (11/19/25)
“One thing I’ve been tracking this year is the areas where Wall Street and Silicon Valley are going to war. Tech firms clearly want to become banking apps and receive special charters, private equity and crypto are jostling for position in worker 401(k) plans, and the tech right in general wants to supplant big banks as the go-to director of conservative business policy. That’s all still going on. But in one area, Silicon Valley and Wall Street are in sync: conjuring up sketchy credit deals that are pointing us toward another financial crash.” (11/19/25)
“Authors of a new Council on Foreign Relations report are framing government subsidies and bailouts for key tech industries as a national security imperative. Not surprisingly, many of the report’s authors stand to benefit financially from such an arrangement.” (11/19/25)
“Congress will decide in the coming weeks whether to approve a $1 trillion military budget for 2026. … Money is policy. Should Congress approve such a historic sum, it would not only enable many of Trump’s dangerous and unjust policies — including military occupations of US cities, the resumption of nuclear weapons testing, and rushing toward wars in Mexico, Nigeria, and Venezuela — it would also trigger a historic redistribution of wealth from the public to private arms companies and their shareholders.” (11/19/25)
“Earlier this month, during a parliamentary session, Japan’s new Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi was pressed by an opposition lawmaker on scenarios that could trigger the clause in Japan’s constitution concerning ‘survival-threatening situations,’ thus allowing collective self-defense. Takaichi explicitly stated that Chinese military action against Taiwan — such as a naval blockade, invasion, or interference with U.S. forces — could qualify. … scandalous as Takaichi’s answers were to the Communist Party in China, it was the response of Xue Jian, consul general of the People’s Republic of China, in Osaka, Japan, that raised more than eyebrows: ‘I have no choice but to cut off that filthy head that barged in without hesitation — are you ready?'” (11/19/25)
