Rock on.
Saturday, August 31, 2013
Above My Pay Grade
But I see people on the twitters and elsewhere who I don't normally think of as being nuts or reckless who are absolutely convinced that There Must Be Bombing.
It seems to be:
1) bomb
2) ??
3) ??
At least in the underpants gnomes scenario it was believed step 3 involved profit.
It seems to be:
1) bomb
2) ??
3) ??
At least in the underpants gnomes scenario it was believed step 3 involved profit.
The Cost Of Higher Education
It's a mystery.
The University of Pennsylvania sharply increased the compensation package for its president, Amy Gutmann, from $1.46 million in 2010-11 to more than $2 million in 2011-12 - a pay boost of 43 percent, according to the university's latest tax filing.
Headlines
US Without UN or European Support For Syrian Attacks
Bipartisan Opposition From Voters Endangers Plans For a Syrian Intervention
News Analysis: Who Is Behind the Push to Use Force?
Campaign Promise to Avoid "Stupid Wars" Complicates Syrian Situation
Oh wait.
Friday, August 30, 2013
Hire A Damn Driver
I just do not understand rich people who get busted for DUI. Hire a damn driver. You can afford it.
There's Always Money In The Bomb Stand
If only there were other ways of alleviating human suffering.
Ratchet
If the case is strong enough to do something, then whatever it is we do is not enough. The only thing we know how to do is bomb people, so "do more" means "kill more." Because seriousness.
What's It All About Then
Leaving aside the specific question of Syria, just what does motivate the "only way to help people is by bombing them" crowd. They aren't all on the payroll of military-industrial complex. So many of them are the types who would object to the government giving a hungry person a piece of bread, but who nonetheless are happy to spend hundreds of billions to "help" people all across the world.
After all these years I still don't get it.
After all these years I still don't get it.
Franz Ferdinand
Not suggesting the result would be anything similar, but the "logic" of bombing Syria seems to be a bit like the "logic" that led to WWI. It's gotta happen because it's gotta happen.
Laundry
It's really hard to tell a story that massive, secret surveillance of everybody is motivated by the need to defend the US from terrorist attacks. The threat's too small--the signal/noise ratio too low and, besides, the groups are small enough to operate outside the surveillance net. It's a classic HUMINT operation.
Gaius Publius suggests the program is part of the Deep State apparatus.
Gaius Publius suggests the program is part of the Deep State apparatus.
Thursday, August 29, 2013
Renters and Carsharers
Nothing against mandatory electronic tolling, except for the fact that they're going to have to figure out how to work with rental car companies...
Happy Palin Day
Has it been 5 years? The thing to remember is that after the election... you know, the one she lost.. many of our most important, or at least self-important, political scribes spent two years treating her as if she was the most important political force America had ever seen.
Economy
I'm not one who totally buys the claim that all that matters in presidential elections is how people perceive the economy, but I do think that barring the unforseen, in 2016 it's going to come down to the economy. If it's better, the Dem will win, if it isn't, they might not.
Just how awful was Mittens that he lost to a Kenyan Muslim Socialist presiding over a pretty shitty economy?
Just how awful was Mittens that he lost to a Kenyan Muslim Socialist presiding over a pretty shitty economy?
Before The Bombs Drop
I don't claim to always know how to save the world, I just know we're willing to spend orders of magnitude more money to blow people up in order to save them than we are willing to spend on any other kind of "humanitarian" aid. When that changes, I'll be a bit more open to the bombs dropping.
Powerpop
I'm looking forward to talking to Mary Donnelly about Boy's Don't Lie.
You can join in. 646 200 3440 is the number. 9pm Eastern.
Wednesday, August 28, 2013
Reader Challenge
Fallows's readers say stay out of Syria.
Actually, pretty much everybody not on Dancin' Dave's speed dial is saying stay out of Syria.
And yet....
Fallows is asking readers who support attacking the country to make a case. I haven't seen one that makes any sense, yet.
Actually, pretty much everybody not on Dancin' Dave's speed dial is saying stay out of Syria.
And yet....
Fallows is asking readers who support attacking the country to make a case. I haven't seen one that makes any sense, yet.
Gambling Our Way To Prosperity
Atlantic City should be a nice place. Not just a nice place to visit, but a nice place to live. It has a decent enough beach and boardwalk, and the potential to be a nice year-round city. But they hitched their fortune to casinos, which whatever their merits otherwise, they do everything they can to keep people inside the buildings. Also, too, lots of parking lots. Those things kinda work against it being a nice little city.
The thing about gambling is that its allure is there in part because it's a bit of a forbidden fruit. You can't gamble just anywhere! Except now you increasingly can. Suddenly it isn't so sexy anymore, just an expensive way to waste a day. Hope Christie feels good about those Revel tax credits. There's a business that involves essentially taking money from people, and they needed a $261 million subsidy.
But, hey, a blah person once bought a t-bone with some food stamps.
The thing about gambling is that its allure is there in part because it's a bit of a forbidden fruit. You can't gamble just anywhere! Except now you increasingly can. Suddenly it isn't so sexy anymore, just an expensive way to waste a day. Hope Christie feels good about those Revel tax credits. There's a business that involves essentially taking money from people, and they needed a $261 million subsidy.
But, hey, a blah person once bought a t-bone with some food stamps.
Bikes In The City
This is a pretty good if surprisingly long discussion of issues relating to the tension between cars, bikes, and pedestrians. Better bike lanes where appropriate are a good thing. Cyclists should behave better, but the real question is whether they should have to follow precisely the same laws as cars. Specifically, is it a good idea to allow cyclists to treat stop signs as yield signs? As the writer points out, people get pissed off when they see cyclists blow through stops, but they get even more pissed when the cyclists slow them down. I just don't have a good sense of what that would do to safety. I see some cyclists doing it in what appears to be a safe manner, and some who are pretty reckless.
Cyclists should be able to expect to not be doored and be reasonably sure that drivers are aware of them when they're behaving as expected, but drivers don't have 100% 360 degree awareness at all times, and once cyclists start salmoning or going on and off the sidewalks, it's unreasonable to expect that drivers can always be appropriately aware.
Cyclists should be able to expect to not be doored and be reasonably sure that drivers are aware of them when they're behaving as expected, but drivers don't have 100% 360 degree awareness at all times, and once cyclists start salmoning or going on and off the sidewalks, it's unreasonable to expect that drivers can always be appropriately aware.
Why We Do What We Do
Okay then.
One U.S. official who has been briefed on the options on Syria said he believed the White House would seek a level of intensity "just muscular enough not to get mocked" but not so devastating that it would prompt a response from Syrian allies Iran and Russia.
"They are looking at what is just enough to mean something, just enough to be more than symbolic," he said.
Share The Wealth
Life is far too hard and uncertain for too many people here in the richest, greatest, awesome country in the history of the universe. It shouldn't be that way.
Criminal Enterprises
Nobody could have predicted.
But manipulation of costs and other data by oil companies is keeping billions of dollars in royalties out of the hands of private and government landholders, an investigation by ProPublica has found.
An analysis of lease agreements, government documents and thousands of pages of court records shows that such underpayments are widespread. Thousands of landowners like Feusner are receiving far less than they expected based on the sales value of gas or oil produced on their property. In some cases, they are being paid virtually nothing at all.
In many cases, lawyers and auditors who specialize in production accounting tell ProPublica energy companies are using complex accounting and business arrangements to skim profits off the sale of resources and increase the expenses charged to landowners.
Campaigns
I watch this every few months, just as a reminder.
O8 was arguably the best presidential campaign in the last 50 years or so. Kennedy '60, Reagan '84 are other contenders. I'd say Nixon '72, but it's fair to say he overreached.
Tuesday, August 27, 2013
Getting Old
Please send me hate mail when I start telling the kids to get off my lawn or if I start slut-shaming the ladies for their non-Atrios related sluttitude.
Immigration
The order of my residences is: Australia, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, Minnesota, Switzerland, Pennsylvania, Utah, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, London, Belgium, California, Pennsylvania, London, Pennsylvania.
I don't think that gives me any insight into the plight of DREAMers, even though I don't think I quite had all the papers in order when I was in Belgium.
I don't think that gives me any insight into the plight of DREAMers, even though I don't think I quite had all the papers in order when I was in Belgium.
Now I'm Convinced
All of the truly great and caring humanitarians are on board, so it must be a good idea.
It isn't just that they are wrong, it's that most of them are completely evil assholes. I don't know what motivates them, but "helping people" isn't it.
It isn't just that they are wrong, it's that most of them are completely evil assholes. I don't know what motivates them, but "helping people" isn't it.
Humanitarian Interventionists
The fundamental question is always just why there are certain people who are willing to spend limitless money on blowing people up to help them, while being unwilling to do just about anything else to help people, either here or abroad.
There are possible answers. None of them are pretty.
There are possible answers. None of them are pretty.
Gambling Our Way To Prosperity
All those good jobs.
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) - New Jersey's newest casino ended contributions to its employees' 401(k) accounts Friday as part of ongoing cost-cutting moves.
It was not immediately clear how many employees would be affected by the Revel Casino Hotel's decision.
Morning Thread
Here's Juan Cole:
So what's the point?
Either way, the people of Homs and other contested cities will likely go on suffering the regime’s indiscriminate assaults, and it is unlikely that a few Tomahawk strikes will affect the course of the war.
So what's the point?
Monday, August 26, 2013
If Only I Had A Prominent Platform From Which To Take Up A Cause
Who amongst us could consider using that power for good? It's such a mystery.
Monday Crass Commercialism
I happily eat meat, but enjoy non-meat consumption too. I've only had a few happy hour snacks at their restaurant, but they were quite tasty.
Buy their cookbook!
Buy their cookbook!
Kill Parking Minimums
I know most of you don't care about these types of subjects at all, but parking minimums make it illegal to build urban hellholes even in urban hellholes. You don't need to have giant skyscrapers to have population density sufficient to have nice walkable neighborhoods, but you do need to reduce things like required setbacks and parking minimums. My urban hellhole isn't too bad on this issue, but still larger new developments (5+ units) generally require more parking than whatever it is they're replacing. It shouldn't be illegal to build the city in the city, but it is.
The Plight Of The Not Quite Rich Enough
The New York Times does this feature regularly, so its novelization makes sense.
“One of the things I’m interested in is how even during times of upswing and prosperity, the income gap can be insurmountable. That gap divides New York City (and plenty of other urban areas) not merely into the haves and have-nots, but into the haves and the almost-haves—divides the super-rich from the middle and upper-middle class. “Many of these almost haves, like Nate and Emily, never thought they’d end up on the wrong side of that financial line. I see it now in my city friends who’ve reached their late-30s and early 40s—they’re successful in their fields, but no matter how well they do, they’ll never be able to catch up to the college pals who are buying multi-million-dollar lofts and sprawling beach houses. It’s too late to break out of the middle.”
Sunday, August 25, 2013
Cats
These days they both like to come sleep on the arm that operates the mouse that controls the computer that gives you blogging wonderfulness. One of them will generally take the hint to skedaddle if I actually need to use the arm. I have to practically throw the other one across the room to get him to move.
Not the worst problem to have, I admit.
Not the worst problem to have, I admit.
We. Are. Superhero.
I'm sure this isn't a never-been-made-before point, but we seem to have this sense that unless the US of A puts on the tights and cape the world will fall apart. The buildings (with people inside) that we knock down in the process can be conveniently ignored.
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