For many state governments, these are the salad days. And as is always the case when states are swimming in cash, the politicians, interest groups and assorted others come up with new ways to either spend it on more government or cut taxes (and both if the surpluses are big enough). Where has all of this money come from? Booming employment, rising consumer spending. Oh, and hundreds of billions of COVID-19-related bailout dollars from the federal government. You know, the same federal government that’s more than $30 trillion in debt (or $141 trillion if you count a slew of unfunded…
Author: Norman Leahy
Norman Leahy
Norman Leahy has written about national and Virginia politics for more than 30 years with outlets ranging from The Washington Post to BearingDrift.com. A consulting writer, editor, recovering think tank executive and campaign operative, Norman lives in Virginia.
A covert U.S. Postal Service isn’t just about delivering mail and packages to your door. The quasi-government agency also has an active law enforcement arm that took it upon itself the job of collecting and monitoring social media through a program called the “Internet Covert Operations Program” or “iCOP.” What did social media spying have to do with securing the mail? According to a report from the Postal Service’s inspector general, absolutely nothing: We determined that certain proactive searches iCOP conducted using an open-source intelligence tool from February to April 2021 exceeded the Postal Inspection Service’s law enforcement authority. Furthermore,…