Congressman Don Beyer and Jen Rubin on Institute of Peace raid and #Republican loyalty to #tRump

#DonBeyer #TheContrarian #InstituteofPeace #uspol #doge #musk #crime
https://contrarian.substack.com/p/congressman-don-beyer-and-jen-rubin

A cheap, non-obvious, D.C.-adjacency-required way to get a quality American flag

The American flag we’d bought in the summer of 2021 had faded and then developed a tear at one corner, so it was time to buy a replacement. That’s been a task that’s come due every three to four years over our two decades and counting of home ownership–the Stars and Stripes are not forever when subjected to mid-Atlantic weather–but this time I wanted to research my options instead of throwing still more money at Amazon.

At some point, probably in the middle of work-related clicking around, that shopping research led me to my congressman’s Web site. Rep. Don Beyer (D.-Va.), like other members of Congress, has a flag-request form that I’d thought of only as a way to buy a flag flown over the Capitol. But on actually eyeballing that form, I realized that I could buy an unflown, 3-by-5-foot cotton flag for just $15… at a mandatory shipping cost of $10.75.

Paying that much for shipping bothered me when I can get to and from the Capitol for $6 and change via Metro, less if I use Capital Bikeshare on the way there. Fortunately, the legislative branch of the U.S. has two houses, so I checked the site of Sen. Tim Kaine (D.-Va.) and saw that I could buy the same flag at the same $15 price and pick it up for free. Sold!

(Sen. Mark Warner, D.-Va., also offers free flag pickup; I’m not aware of complaints about Rep. Beyer’s constituent service, so maybe this is a site-template issue on the House side?)

Three business days later, I got an e-mail from a staff assistant for Sen. Kaine saying the flag was ready for pickup at his office in the Russell Senate Office Building. I stopped by Tuesday evening on the way to an event in Navy Yard, appreciating the Russell Building’s handsome Beaux-Arts architecture, then attached our reasonably-priced purchase to the flagpole on our front porch Wednesday morning.

Sometime that afternoon or evening, a gust of wind put enough strain to crack a plastic bracket on one of the flagpole rings that had helped secure the flag, leaving it clumsily draped over the shrubbery below the pole. I am fixing that problem by ordering two new rings–which means I’m throwing still more money at Amazon.

Congressman Moonlighting As A Master’s Degree Student In AI

https://www.techdirt.com/2023/01/05/congressman-moonlighting-as-a-masters-degree-student-in-ai/

#lifelonglearning #mastersdegree #education #congress #donbeyer #ai #1