Keith Burgess-Jackson, J.D., Ph.D.

34.23 miles in one hour!

Presence (1976, 2015). This song, which appears on the 2015 remaster, is described as a "reference mix of work in progress."

In your April 11 editorial “Senate must be vigilant in vetting Trump’s Homeland Security picks,” you conclude that “the Senate needs to be certain it only confirms nominees” to head departments and agencies “who care about the rule of law.” With respect, I don’t think you see what is happening in plain sight. With so many agencies and Cabinet positions being held by “acting directors,” Donald Trump is avoiding the need for Senate confirmation. He is setting up his own government, whose only allegiance is to him, and whose overseers need know nothing about the agency or department in which they work.

Does the Constitution say anything about how long an acting director can remain before a fully vetted and Senate-confirmed replacement must be found? What is occurring in plain sight is that our so-called government is a burgeoning organization reflecting the will of Trump alone. This is how a demagogue steals our democracy in full view.

Where is the alarm? Who can stop this insidious power grab before it is too late?

Gillian Rogell

Brookline

A scene from Sunday's Paris-Roubaix classic. See the breakaway group in the foreground? Click to enlarge.

A must read, Andy McCarthy’s column today, “Dirty dealings of dirt devils who concocted Trump-Russia probe.” The greatest Scam in political history. If the Mainstream Media were honest, which they are not, this story would be bigger and more important than Watergate. Someday!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 16, 2019

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Here.

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Here is Kurt Schlichter’s latest column.

A scene from today's bike ride. Click to enlarge. The bridge connects an island to the mainland. There will be million-dollar houses on the island. Katherine and I will live on the mainland!

The Post-Gazette’s April 4 editorial “What’s the Plan?” is truly mind boggling, in that it was somehow able to compliment Donald Trump at least three times. It praises him for a tweet on health care, on which he immediately reversed himself—when his party basically reminded him it has nothing to offer on health care.

It praised Mr. Trump’s instincts to step up and address the issue—even though his “secret plan on health care” won’t be revealed until and unless he gets re-elected. (Much like Nixon’s infamous “secret plan to end the war.”)

The editorial asks what’s good about Obamacare, then correctly details practically the whole law. It rightly criticizes the Republicans for favoring judicial activism to strike down Obamacare. But it ends with another big juicy compliment for Mr. Trump: “The president has done his party and the American public a favor by getting back into the fight over national health care . . .” This ignores the fact that Mr. Trump instantly adopted the Republicans’ “wait until after the 2020 election” stance.

The editorial is highly critical of the Republican Party’s obstructionism, which the president has now accepted. A true leader would change his party’s stance, not the other way around. Yet the Post-Gazette continues to praise Mr. Trump for a single late-night or early-morning tweet. It requires some truly convoluted logic to continue to support this president.

Richard Restivo

North Fayette