Time to wrap up against the cold.
Saturday, February 28, 2015
Afternoon Thread
You can find out who won the CPAC STRAW POLL elsewhere, if you care about that sort of thing which for some reason people do.
Nothing To See Here
I used to be bit more of optimist with respect to global climate change, seeing at as more disruptive and expensive than necessarily catastrophic. Welp..
By catastrophic I mean extreme weather events or disruptive change that happens so fast that adaption in the short run is essentially impossible at any price.
In just two years, 2009 and 2010, sea levels along the Atlantic coast north of New York City jumped up by more than 5 inches, according to a paper published this week in the journal Nature Communications. That might not seem like much on its own, but consider that, according to the latest report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, global sea levels are rising at a rate of less than a half an inch each year, and that’s causing all sorts of havoc.
By catastrophic I mean extreme weather events or disruptive change that happens so fast that adaption in the short run is essentially impossible at any price.
Bomb Trains
We get a lot of these rolling through Philly every day. If something bad were to happen, it would be, well, bad.
Friday, February 27, 2015
Rise Of The Nerds
Various people have been making this point in various ways, but once upon a time nerd stuff - like Star Trek - was for nerds. Admitting you liked that stuff was begging for a wedgie. Even video games were, for a long time, nerd stuff. Now basically everything is nerd stuff, and we even understand that sports fandom is actually just a different kind of nerd stuff. Those football jerseys are just cosplay of another kind.
I'd guess the X-Files started making it cool, or at least not totally uncool, to like nerd stuff.
I'd guess the X-Files started making it cool, or at least not totally uncool, to like nerd stuff.
Eated
Haven't had a major bank failure (that I noticed) in awhile.
The FDIC estimates that the cost to the Deposit Insurance Fund (DIF) will be $748.9 million. Compared to other alternatives, Banco Popular's acquisition was the least costly resolution for the FDIC's DIF.
Larger Than Life
I haven't seen Birdman, but agree that all the 'oh no all the superhero movies what about Real Cinema' stuff is a bit weird. Literature, broadly defined, hasn't exactly shied away from fantastic tales throughout the ages.
I don't know about the mechanics of acting in one of these movies. Maybe all the stunt doubles and effects and green screen acting makes it a bit less fun. But who wouldn't want to play a wizard or a guy who can fly?
And the great thing about the contemporary age is that actors are much less likely to get stuck in those roles. Star Trek actors had a hard time finding more work. Christopher Reeve didn't have a great post-Superman career. Harrison Ford managed to break out of it, but that was kind of surprising at the time. Now you can play Gandalf and Magneto and still go on to do other things.
I don't know about the mechanics of acting in one of these movies. Maybe all the stunt doubles and effects and green screen acting makes it a bit less fun. But who wouldn't want to play a wizard or a guy who can fly?
And the great thing about the contemporary age is that actors are much less likely to get stuck in those roles. Star Trek actors had a hard time finding more work. Christopher Reeve didn't have a great post-Superman career. Harrison Ford managed to break out of it, but that was kind of surprising at the time. Now you can play Gandalf and Magneto and still go on to do other things.
The Weekly Frontrunner
I'm reminded of the last GOP primary season, when it seemed like every single candidate had their brief moment in the sun, suddenly surging in the polls to become the frontrunner, only to do or say something stupid and then open the door for the next person.
I think it's time for Trump.
I think it's time for Trump.
Morning Thread
Everybody always talks about the weather, but nobody is willing to do anything about it.
For instance, Senator Inhofe threw a a snowball on the Senate floor to prove that there is no global warming. He chairs the Environment and Public Works Committee.
It really is too early to start drinking.
For instance, Senator Inhofe threw a a snowball on the Senate floor to prove that there is no global warming. He chairs the Environment and Public Works Committee.
It really is too early to start drinking.
Thursday, February 26, 2015
What's The Frequency
Net neutrality is one of those issues abobut which I really can't tell if people are stupid or lying. I mean, I know some are lying. I did a net neutrality panel once and the lobbyist who was also on the panel was, you know, lying. And paid to lie. But random conservatives who aren't in on the grift seem to be opposed to net neutrality because arglebargle.
Shit Is Still Fucked Up And Bullshit
The people who are supposed to be in charge really need to tell the cops... it's over.
INFLATION WILL KILL US ALL
Or not.
Consumer prices in January fell on an annual basis for the first time since 2009 as cheap gasoline continued to suppress inflation.
The consumer price index declined 0.7% month-to-month after dropping 0.3% in December. Economists expected a 0.6% fall. Over the past 12 months, prices are down 0.1%, the first annual drop since October 2009.
Wednesday, February 25, 2015
Yelling At People Is Fun
Congrats to the press for playing along all this time.
Chris Christie isn't dumb enough to think Chris Christie could win the nomination/presidency.
A high-ranking Republican source has told PolitickerNJ that he expects New Jersey Governor Chris Christie will end his yet-to-be officially declared run for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination shortly after the New Hampshire presidential primary to take a TV commentator job.
The source, who requested anonymity, referred to what he called the “Huckabee Model” when assessing what Christie, if he ultimately joins the presidential race, could do after the January 2016 Granite State primary.
Chris Christie isn't dumb enough to think Chris Christie could win the nomination/presidency.
Bad Ideas
I really hope to be proven wrong, but that my local transit authority's new payment system will require the card to contact the mothership every time it's "swiped" seems to be a really big design problem.
If you can't get the transaction time down to 1.5 seconds or so it's going to be a major problem.
If you can't get the transaction time down to 1.5 seconds or so it's going to be a major problem.
Shutting Schools
The obvious case against Rahm is that he shut down bunch of schools the neighborhoods of the poors so that the grifters could get their charterbucks.
But aside from the specifics of that, one thing that's long confused me in this whole "school reform" conversation is that forcing a kid to go to a new school is really traumatic. I thought we knew this. The "new kid in school" trauma trope is a pretty standard thing. I moved around some as a kid, and showing up at a new school was really really hard. You don't know anybody and every institution has their microcustoms and behavioral expectations that aren't easy for a 9-year-old to grasp.
But aside from the specifics of that, one thing that's long confused me in this whole "school reform" conversation is that forcing a kid to go to a new school is really traumatic. I thought we knew this. The "new kid in school" trauma trope is a pretty standard thing. I moved around some as a kid, and showing up at a new school was really really hard. You don't know anybody and every institution has their microcustoms and behavioral expectations that aren't easy for a 9-year-old to grasp.
Stop Frisking
Randomly frisking people is only either going to find drugs or guns or, in most cases, nothing. The war on drugs needs to end, and it's only in certain cities where certain kinds of people live that there are any meaningful gun laws that for some reason the NRA doesn't completely lose their shit about.
Just stop it.
Just stop it.
Tuesday, February 24, 2015
I Think We Won This One
Close enough, at least. Yay net neutrality.
It's an issue I follow though I don't claim expertise, but while it's a win by the "little guys" I think it was also an own goal by the big guys. They won too much in their major court case, with the ruling basically saying that the FCC can classify as Title II or do nothing. It didn't give the FCC many options.
It's an issue I follow though I don't claim expertise, but while it's a win by the "little guys" I think it was also an own goal by the big guys. They won too much in their major court case, with the ruling basically saying that the FCC can classify as Title II or do nothing. It didn't give the FCC many options.
If It Pisses Off Hippies
Yes there are people who will profit off of Keystone XL. Yes there are lobbyists who are paid to support it, and that money flows directly and indirectly to various players. Yes the fossil fuels industry generally has reason to see it as a symbolic loss/victory in the same way that that those nutty environmentalists do (I'm not saying it's just a symbolic victory for environmentalists, just that it is in part).
But why does, say, your average Limbaugh listener care?
But why does, say, your average Limbaugh listener care?
Billo
I bet to some degree he believes his stories. He was in some crazy foreign country filled with foreign people and they were in the streets doing in the streets stuff! It's war!!! He probably has PTSD from it.
Why Do People Do This
I was the first man to walk on the moon.
Robert A. McDonald, the secretary of the Veterans Affairs Department, apologized on Monday for falsely claiming last month that he had served in the Special Forces.
Where At Least We Know We're Free
Awesome.
The Chicago police department operates an off-the-books interrogation compound, rendering Americans unable to be found by family or attorneys while locked inside what lawyers say is the domestic equivalent of a CIA black site.
It Wasn't North Korea
People from the US couldn't easily travel to Cuba, the rest of the world could and did.
More evident to whom?
As Cuba opens the door wider to private enterprise, the gap between the haves and have-nots — and between whites and blacks — that the revolution sought to diminish is growing more evident.
More evident to whom?
Morning Thread
Travel day for me. I still have not looked at the weather forecast for Philadelphia. Don't want to know what I'm going to have to deal with before I need to.
Monday, February 23, 2015
Anatomy
Well then.
BOISE, Idaho — An Idaho lawmaker received a brief lesson on female anatomy after asking if a woman can swallow a small camera for doctors to conduct a remote gynecological exam.
The question Monday from Republican Rep. Vito Barbieri came as the House State Affairs Committee heard nearly three hours of testimony on a bill that would ban doctors from prescribing abortion-inducing medication through telemedicine.
Dr. Julie Madsen was testifying in opposition to the bill when Barbieri asked the question. Madsen replied that would be impossible because swallowed pills do not end up in the vagina.
Crappy Girlfriend Characters
I enjoy the superhero shows as at the end of a long day in the coal mines of reading stupid shit on the internet I just want to nerd out a bit, but, yes, the girlfriend characters are generally awful.
Agent Carter is pretty badass, but one imagines her girlfriend, if she had one, would be pretty horrible too.
Agent Carter is pretty badass, but one imagines her girlfriend, if she had one, would be pretty horrible too.
The Bikes, We Share Them
I'm too much of a coward to do the urban biking thing, and the destinations I might use it for if I wasn't a coward would require heading through the worst parts of the city for it. Still I'm all for others doing it, and the plans for bike sharing in the city seem to be very well thought out. Hopefully they get the price points right.
Disruption
Aside from privacy issues, these fake cell phone towers mess with your cell phone service. That, too, is an issue.
Sunday, February 22, 2015
Sunday Evening
Going from too fast (but then not fast enough) melting today to everything freezing tomorrow. Everything's going to be ice.
Well Everybody Does It
Busted.
I think tax avoidance by the rich is mostly sport. Sure there's real money involved, but I also think it's bragging rights. Gotta pay the accountants and tax lawyers a bunch of money anyway.
I think tax avoidance by the rich is mostly sport. Sure there's real money involved, but I also think it's bragging rights. Gotta pay the accountants and tax lawyers a bunch of money anyway.
A Mild Defense Of The Movie All Smart People Hate
Crash was not a great movie. Crash was not a good movie. I do not think Crash was a "Best Picture" though I also wouldn't call it the Worst Best Picture Ever.
Crash was "middlebrow pseudointellectualism." I don't think that's a bad thing! I get that it's annoying when such things are elevated to High Art when they aren't, so the Best Picture label gives people reason to criticize it on that basis. And if you're genuinely surrounded by people talking about how brilliant Crash is, then I get that it's annoying.
But, hey, Crash made a slightly more nuanced and multifaceted movie about race than we usually get, and people liked it. I'd probably nod along with basically every criticism of how it approached race (I haven't seen the movie in a long time, and probably won't again, so I don't remember the particulars well enough to really know), though I think anybody who tried to make such a movie would step on numerous landmines. Still it wasn't made for people like me who have spent more than a few seconds thinking about the nuances and complexities of racial issues in this country.
Yah it basically absolves white people, but at least it isn't quite a white savior movie like most Important Movies About Race are.
Crash was "middlebrow pseudointellectualism." I don't think that's a bad thing! I get that it's annoying when such things are elevated to High Art when they aren't, so the Best Picture label gives people reason to criticize it on that basis. And if you're genuinely surrounded by people talking about how brilliant Crash is, then I get that it's annoying.
But, hey, Crash made a slightly more nuanced and multifaceted movie about race than we usually get, and people liked it. I'd probably nod along with basically every criticism of how it approached race (I haven't seen the movie in a long time, and probably won't again, so I don't remember the particulars well enough to really know), though I think anybody who tried to make such a movie would step on numerous landmines. Still it wasn't made for people like me who have spent more than a few seconds thinking about the nuances and complexities of racial issues in this country.
Yah it basically absolves white people, but at least it isn't quite a white savior movie like most Important Movies About Race are.
Catapult The Propaganda
It's where the money is.
Though often described on conservative news programs as a “Harvard astrophysicist,” Dr. Soon is not an astrophysicist and has never been employed by Harvard. He is a part-time employee of the Smithsonian Institution with a doctoral degree in aerospace engineering. He has received little federal research money over the past decade and is thus responsible for bringing in his own funds, including his salary.
Saturday, February 21, 2015
More Thread
Lazy blogging day. Should probably actually leave the house, given the current heat wave.
Nobody Knows The Urban Hellhole
Philly gets very little national press attention for a city its size, as it's sandwiched between NYC and DC and, yes, the Acela crowd tend to just ride right through.
Not a complaint, really, but "people on the internet are wrong about Philly" will be a source of amusement leading up to the DNC.
Not a complaint, really, but "people on the internet are wrong about Philly" will be a source of amusement leading up to the DNC.
Morning Thread
Echidne on banning books. I remember people wanting to ban CATCHER IN THE RYE when I was in high school, close to forty years ago. It seems we have to keep on fighting the same battles, over and over and over again.
Friday, February 20, 2015
One Crazy Dream
Took a brief nap as I only managed 5 hours of sleep last night for some reason. Had a full on crazy dream. It was like David Lynch crazy. There was a stranger in my kitchen making a giant lasagna. There was a woman I was trying to talk to who kept running backwards in a circle while we were conversing. There was a swarm of miniature pterodactyls flying around. My cat threw up approximately a dozen tall kitchen garbage bags. I mean the full bags. I'm sure there was more crazy, I just don't remember it all.
Maybe They're Very Skilled And Work More Than Two Days Per Week?
If Nick Kristof makes less than $200,000 per year to knock out 1500 words per week I would be completely shocked. What amazed me about the column is that it never occurs to him that top stagehands might actually be "worth" $400,000 per year, given the skills required and likely tremendous amounts of overtime.
Blue collar brutes might get paid more than me (I even doubt that, but do not know), this is a travesty and obvious evidence of the disproportionate power of unions!!!
Blue collar brutes might get paid more than me (I even doubt that, but do not know), this is a travesty and obvious evidence of the disproportionate power of unions!!!
Good Luck, Boston!
It really is a mess.
Really hope that there isn't a sudden heat wave, because while I'm sure everyone wants the thaw to come, a fast thaw could be stream crossing bad. It looks like that isn't in the cards, but if that rain happens on Sunday it's going to become one giant sheet of ice.
Really hope that there isn't a sudden heat wave, because while I'm sure everyone wants the thaw to come, a fast thaw could be stream crossing bad. It looks like that isn't in the cards, but if that rain happens on Sunday it's going to become one giant sheet of ice.
Shit Is Fucked Up Bullshit
It's really hard to win wage theft cases, and even if you do you probably won't be able to collect, because capitalism or something.
Anyone Remember Libya?
From Afghanistan to Iraq to Libya to Syria to wherever else, I've been struck by the extreme narcissism of war supporters.
The Weather Outside Is Frightening
I generally prefer the snow to extreme cold, as I (yes this is a selfish preference) don't have to commute, but not Boston level snow...
Thursday, February 19, 2015
Road Raging
I actually had to drive somewhere today and...is there something about the cold that turns everyone into the worst driver ever? I'm completely tolerant of people making obvious minor mistakes. It happens. But people who drive like they're the only ones on the road? The guy who pulled out from in front of a delivery truck (couldn't see him) to make a U-turn mid-block on a busy four lane road? What the hell?
Time to ban driving.
Time to ban driving.
Kick The Poors
I've long thought that the low pay and shitty scheduling practices of places like Walmart didn't really make any economic sense, but instead just sprang from a contempt for workers by a layer of middle managers who didn't have much control over anything but worker hours and pay. They don't control the global supply chain, they don't control the marketing, and they probably don't even have much control over local inventory. So reducing labor costs is the only way to prove their worth.
You can always blame poor sales on factors beyond your control, even if one reason for poor sales is shitty labor management, while gleefully pointing to your cost cutting genius. So they kick the poors.
Ultimately you get what you pay for. I don't mean that as a knock on minimum wage workers, I just mean a little loyalty goes a long way in these industries. Getting treated like crap for minimum doesn't buy much of that loyalty.
Anyway, at least the pay is going up...
You can always blame poor sales on factors beyond your control, even if one reason for poor sales is shitty labor management, while gleefully pointing to your cost cutting genius. So they kick the poors.
Ultimately you get what you pay for. I don't mean that as a knock on minimum wage workers, I just mean a little loyalty goes a long way in these industries. Getting treated like crap for minimum doesn't buy much of that loyalty.
Anyway, at least the pay is going up...
The Quiet American
Some guy has figured out his demands to arm Syrian rebels was totes wrong, but don't worry if we just find some people to invade and and occupy it'll all be good.
One finds wisdom at the very end.
One finds wisdom at the very end.
And if those steps can’t be achieved, said the man known for advocating greater U.S. involvement, “then we have to just walk away and say there’s nothing we can do about Syria.”
Wednesday, February 18, 2015
We Hide Them
One weird thing about the urban hellhole is that visitors and tourists are steered away from using public transit. One of our trolley lines even goes to the casino and the zoo, but I doubt any visitors know that.
Car Lite
Cars are useful things, and plenty of households that are in places where they don't strictly need a car are likely going to have them anyway. They're useful! But living in a place where you don't strictly need one car per driving age household member can be a tremendous money saver.
The Utopia Of My Childhood
I just don't get this belief that the everything was safe in the good old days but now everything is dangerous. Not actually true.
Tuesday, February 17, 2015
Everybody's A Pedestrian
I'm endlessly fascinated by the hostility to pedestrians in New York media. Yes I get that journalists are largely in the car driving class, as are politicians, which is why their sympathies in this area tend to lean towards drivers, but in New York City, except for those who live in the Cuomo bits, even if you drive you're still going to be a pedestrian. I suppose the exception is people who are ferried door to door in town cars and limos, but...
Beaters
Back in the good old days you could get a piece of shit car and with a bit of gum and twine keep it running a bit longer.
Not anymore.
Not anymore.
Monday, February 16, 2015
Then Everybody Can
If our smart guys can do this, then everybody can. And everybody can learn how to do it!
As long as we're the good guys with the ability to infect computers...
As long as we're the good guys with the ability to infect computers...
Yes It's A Crime And It Should Be
I have great sympathies for bus drivers. They have a really hard job. I got enraged when our local bus drivers went on strike and lots of people were like "$50,000 per year for driving a bus that's so much money wtf." My local transit authority usually has bus driver job openings, so if anyone really wants that 50 grand (after a few years of service) they're welcome to apply.
But they still shouldn't be able to run over pedestrians in the crosswalk, crossing with the light, without consequence.
But they still shouldn't be able to run over pedestrians in the crosswalk, crossing with the light, without consequence.
Unpossible
This can't be true.
The publicly owned East Coast main line was one of only two train operations, along with SouthWest trains, that contributed to Treasury coffers rather than relying on subsidy to turn a profit.
Private operators paid out a total of £183m in dividends to shareholders, with Northern Rail – the recipient of £669m in subsidy – paying £27m.
Across Britain, the state paid £3.8bn to Network Rail and train operators, with the Department for Transport’s contribution falling. Scottish and Welsh governments’ contribution, however, rose.
Sunday, February 15, 2015
The Secret Welfare System
Yes there's the racist (wrong) belief that only black people get government benefits, but there's also the additional belief that there's some secret welfare system that only black people have access to.
Remember how welfare reform was supposed to solve all of this? There basically isn't welfare. There's a tiny bit of income support for some single parents, there's a tiny bit of food stamps, there's an even tinier supplement to food stamps in the form of WIC, and then there's Medicaid which has genuine value but doesn't arrive in the form of cash. Ok, a bit of housing subsidy support with long waiting lists. No one is going to live on this largesse completely voluntarily.
Remember how welfare reform was supposed to solve all of this? There basically isn't welfare. There's a tiny bit of income support for some single parents, there's a tiny bit of food stamps, there's an even tinier supplement to food stamps in the form of WIC, and then there's Medicaid which has genuine value but doesn't arrive in the form of cash. Ok, a bit of housing subsidy support with long waiting lists. No one is going to live on this largesse completely voluntarily.
Dumb Ideas
There was no dumber idea than having the superb owl in East Rutherford, though the weather behaved. Having it in Philly would certainly be much less dumb, but the current weather is a reminder that having such an event in this part of the country in an outdoor stadium is... dumb.
Local Food
Philly's blessed with good food at mostly not insane (if not cheap) prices. The BYOB scene is great in and of itself, but also provides a bit of price competition for places with liquor licenses.
Later Sunday Morning Thread
While we're waiting for Atrios to wake up, here's Echidne on how the thugs are accusing Dems of using food stamps as a bribe. You can't make this shit up.
Saturday, February 14, 2015
Maybe Not The Right Way To Think About It
Whether ISIS is enough of an Evil Club of Evil (relative to other Evil Clubs of Evil that are our pals) that We Must Do Something is perhaps too complicated to decide in the margin of this blog post, but I was struck by a caption I saw on CNN screen I saw through a restaurant window as I was walking by. It was something like "ISIS DANGEROUSLY CLOSE TO US SOLDIERS."
Those soldiers aren't in New Jersey.
Those soldiers aren't in New Jersey.
Maybe We Should Go Back To Painting Schools
All we have to do is keep training...
Another 10 years should do the trick.
But at the same time, Iraqi commanders, soldiers and police officers who could play a central role in any offensive are raising doubts about the readiness of Iraq’s ground forces. The army has struggled to recapture even smaller towns that pose less of a challenge than Mosul — Iraq’s second-largest city, which is still full of civilians and heavily defended by the militants, they say.
Another 10 years should do the trick.
Watch Out Where The Huskies Go
And don't you eat the...blue snow?
MOSCOW — In some places, say New York, the panic over snow often begins as soon as there is a forecast for it. In Russia, where it is a bit more familiar, there is typically no fear, unless the snow on the ground happens to be blue, as it was in Chelyabinsk this week, or orange, as it was earlier this month in Saratov on the Volga River.
In Chelyabinsk, a city on the eastern side of Ural Mountains and known as the gateway to Siberia, the authorities were trying to reassure residents that there was no cause for alarm from the blue snow. However, some people who walked through it complained of sore throats and said they had also detected a sweet taste in their mouths.
Friday, February 13, 2015
Accidental Governor
Must be a bit weird to suddenly go from Secretary of State to governor, as Oregon's Kate Brown is about to do. Know little about her career and nothing about her aspirations, but suddenly becoming the head honcho is a BFD.
I am completely unsuited to be an executive (mayor, governor) and am also completely unsuited for actually running for office, but it'd be fun to, say, serve out a relatively short remainder of a Senate term by special appointment. Not that it would happen, of course.
I am completely unsuited to be an executive (mayor, governor) and am also completely unsuited for actually running for office, but it'd be fun to, say, serve out a relatively short remainder of a Senate term by special appointment. Not that it would happen, of course.
New Guy Being Good
Excellent news.
Harrisburg, PA – Today, Governor Tom Wolf announced a moratorium on the death penalty in Pennsylvania that will remain in effect until the governor has received and reviewed the forthcoming report of the Pennsylvania Task Force and Advisory Commission on Capital Punishment, established under Senate Resolution 6 of 2011, and there is an opportunity to address all concerns satisfactorily.
Hopefully There Is A Nap In My Future
Second night of bad sleep. Woke up screaming because I was dreaming that someone was trying to kill me. Such fun.
How Does This Keep Happening
Maybe the only way to win is not to play?
Let's just keep adding weapons, arming whichever "side" John McCain thinks are the good guys who want guns. It always works!
Nick Rasmussen, who directs the National Counterterrorism Center, told the Senate intelligence committee that Yemen's American-funded army failed to oppose advancing Houthi rebels in the same way the U.S.-supported Iraqi military refused to fight Islamic State militants last year.
What happened in Iraq with the onslaught of the Islamic State group "happened in Yemen" on "a somewhat smaller scale," he said. "As the Houthi advances toward Sanaa took place ... they weren't opposed in many places. ...The situation deteriorated far more rapidly than we expected."
Let's just keep adding weapons, arming whichever "side" John McCain thinks are the good guys who want guns. It always works!
Thursday, February 12, 2015
Oh, It Was Just About Parking?
It's good to know the truth here, and whether or not it was an racial/ethnic motivated crime or not, it's hard to not think that the general dehumanization of Muslims in this country made the act, well, a bit easier to do, as horrifying as that is. But if the guy killed 3 people I would hope that the "it was about parking" defense really doesn't make things much better for him.
By the time the police arrived, three people were dead — a newlywed couple and the woman’s sister. They were young university students, Muslims of Arab descent, and high achievers who regularly volunteered in the area. A neighbor, a middle-aged white man, was missing — then under arrest and charged with three counts of murder.
The victims’ families described it as a hate crime. The police said that the shooting appeared to have been motivated by “an ongoing neighbor dispute over parking,” but that they were investigating whether religious hatred had contributed to the killings.
“To have him come in here and shoot three different innocent people in their head — I don’t know what kind of person that is,” said Namee Barakat, the father of the male victim, Deah Shaddy Barakat.
Stay Classy, Rusty
I don't care if someone has graduated from college or not, but Rusty brings his extra charm to the subject.
Progress
We really shouldn't want sick people to come to work, especially if they're working in service industries.
It isn't much, but it's something.
City Councilman Bill Greenlee won his seven-year fight Thursday to pass legislation requiring Philadelphia businesses to provide paid sick leave to their employees.
The legislation mandates that companies with at least 10 employees offer the benefit. Employees would earn one hour of paid sick leave for every 40 hours worked, for a maximum total of five days annually.
It isn't much, but it's something.
Cons
I've been to two conventions. I doubt I'll go to another one, including this one. The events surrounding the conventions are more interesting than the conventions themselves. The security is nuts, and you just can watch the main bits on the teevee. For reasons nobody understands, news agencies send 4 billion journalists to cover it and the arenas are overcrowded. Those arenas just aren't the big.
Wednesday, February 11, 2015
Ruh Roh
Incoming.
As Secretary of State Kate Brown cut short a trip to Washington, D.C. to return to Oregon Wednesday, reports swept Salem that Gov. John Kitzhaber was preparing to resign.
The governor's office did not respond to requests for comment but made no attempt to tamp down a series of reports that Kitzhaber was getting ready to leave office amid controversy over fiancee Cylvia Hayes' consulting contracts and how he and his aides handled them.
Walking While Blah
I'm just trying to figure out the mindset of the busybody who looks out the window, sees a pedestrian, and calls the cops. And the cops who decide that doing anything more than a slow driveby is appropriate.
Because Rich People
Not really a mystery.
But some poors have an extra bedroom, so we gotta kick them.
Ministers were under increasing pressure to explain why they did not take earlier action against massive tax evasion involving HSBC’s banking in Switzerland.
A document unearthed by the Evening Standard shows that ministers were aware in 2010 that large numbers of wealthy customers were hiding money from the UK tax authorities in accounts at the HSBC branch in Geneva.
But some poors have an extra bedroom, so we gotta kick them.
Tuesday, February 10, 2015
Gangs
Post-Katrina, New Orleans was treated like a war zone, not a disaster zone filled with people in need of aid, because black people. I'm sure this didn't help.
Lower It
It's absurd that the legal drinking age is 21. It prevents adults from socializing as adults, and puts colleges in the position of pretending not to notice. Make it legal and it would be easier to monitor and manage something which has been driven underground.
Mmmm.... Tasty Poison...
Pretty sure I know which side of the stupid or evil question this falls on...
The Little Things
It's always the small scale corruption the trips people up, because it's so petty.
(ht nickbaumann)
The subpoena issued last month appears to be part of a probe into a flight route initiated by United while Samson was chairman of the transportation agency that operates the region’s airports. The route provided non-stop service between Newark and Columbia Metropolitan Airport in South Carolina — about 50 miles from a home where Samson often spent weekends with his wife. United halted the non-stop route on April 1 of last year, just three days after Samson resigned under a cloud.
Samson referred to the twice-a-week route — with a flight leaving Newark on Thursday evenings and another returning on Monday mornings — as “the chairman’s flight,” one source said. Federal aviation records show that during the 19 months United offered the non-stop service, the 50-seat planes that flew the route were, on average, only about half full.
(ht nickbaumann)
Remember All Those News Reports About Horrific Crimes On Buses
No, actually you don't, because it'd be a really stupid place to try to commit a crime.
People just are afeared of the poors.
People just are afeared of the poors.
Buses Can Be Great
Bus stigma is a really strange thing. Sure trains can and do have some advantages over buses, depending on how they're built, but there's really nothing wrong with riding a bus.
Monday, February 09, 2015
We Spend Money On This
I object to the surveillance state on basic civil liberties grounds, too, but increasingly I think it's just a tremendous money pit. Obviously these are not mutually exclusive objections.
HAMP'd
Rightly or wrongly, a lot of the bad stuff of the Obama era can plausibly be blamed on political constraints. The failures of HAMP are on his administration entirely.
Once upon a time I had an opportunity to ask Obama a question. Some very serious journalist somewhere mocked it, but I still think it was the right one. I asked something like, "Are you happy with the federal response to the foreclosure crisis?" I made it open ended, deliberately, because...well, how could you be happy?
Once upon a time I had an opportunity to ask Obama a question. Some very serious journalist somewhere mocked it, but I still think it was the right one. I asked something like, "Are you happy with the federal response to the foreclosure crisis?" I made it open ended, deliberately, because...well, how could you be happy?
Elections Matter
Our outgoing horrible governor tried to ram through a bullshit version of Medicaid expansion before he left office. The new guy is making it real.
Accounting
Amtrak's problem is that makes an operating profit on the NE corridor and loses money everywhere else. The recent obsession with the fact that it loses money on food services on its long distance routes is silly. It's a bundled good. Charge people for a seat or a sleeper on a long distance train and they want to have access to reasonably priced food, too. We aren't always perfectly rational in these decisions, but it probably makes sense for Amtrak to keep ticket prices a bit higher while "subsidizing" the food on these trains. People can have a more honest fight about whether to keep these routes, but the food issue is silly.
Last year, the NEC profit was nearly $400 million, Amtrak said, while the operating deficit of the long-distance routes was about $600 million.
The bill proposes to eliminate Amtrak's losses in its food and beverage services within five years, as Amtrak has promised to do.
In recent years, Amtrak has been losing about $80 million a year on food and beverage services, 99 percent of that on its long-distance routes. Cafe cars on the NEC break even or make a small profit, Amtrak says.
CoT: Crusade
Translation.
And exegesis.
Also, whenever you hear National Prayer Breakfast, remind people that Jeff Sharlett documented this C Street project.
'
And exegesis.
Also, whenever you hear National Prayer Breakfast, remind people that Jeff Sharlett documented this C Street project.
'
Sunday, February 08, 2015
Don't Arse It Up
Help people. Give them free money. Make it simple. Don't make them spend hours and days on the phone and doing paperwork. Be like Apple in the supposed good old days when "it just worked" (it certainly doesn't now). Give people economic security. Don't make them devote their lives to "shopping" for the best deal. You really don't need 200 policy advisers. Just one. Me.
Don't vilify the wealthy, just make them pay some taxes for the state apparatus which devotes itself to preserving their wealth.
With advice from more than 200 policy experts, Hillary Rodham Clinton is trying to answer what has emerged as a central question of her early presidential campaign strategy: how to address the anger about income inequality without overly vilifying the wealthy.
Don't vilify the wealthy, just make them pay some taxes for the state apparatus which devotes itself to preserving their wealth.
Kidding On The Square
Franken is adept at being a dick, and hopefully after spending his first term with his head down as is the custom in the world's greatest deliberative body, he starts using his superpower a bit more often.
But We Are Awesome
Great White Father Kristof is shocked to discover that countries with a lot of people sometimes do things better than we do!
Saturday, February 07, 2015
Um, What?
I do not think Philadelphia is what you think it is.
Not that it's the only measure of diversity, but Philly is 44% black/37% white. Brooklyn is 55% white, 34% black.
Not that it's the only measure of diversity, but Philly is 44% black/37% white. Brooklyn is 55% white, 34% black.
The Big Money
One thing that's maddening is that if individuals, without shell companies, try to move large amounts of money around they're going to get noticed. Quickly.
Corporations aren't just people, they're very special people.
They have been able to make these multimillion-dollar purchases with few questions asked because of United States laws that foster the movement of largely untraceable money through shell companies.
Corporations aren't just people, they're very special people.
Remarkable Character
As I've written before, many people have tried to explain to me the realpolitik of our relationship with Saudi Arabia, and I just don't get it.
And, whenever I write something like that, people condescendingly write in to tell me "it's obvious" or similar. If it was so obvious everyone wouldn't be telling me different things.
I think I understand the quasi-official State Department reasoning, but it's still fucking absurd.
And, whenever I write something like that, people condescendingly write in to tell me "it's obvious" or similar. If it was so obvious everyone wouldn't be telling me different things.
I think I understand the quasi-official State Department reasoning, but it's still fucking absurd.
Maybe That Wasn't Such A Good Idea After All
We're not quite responsible for everything that happens Iraq the way we arguably were a few years ago, but the consequences of W's grand Middle Eastern adventure continue.
BAGHDAD — Explosions killed at least 36 people in Baghdad on Saturday, hours before the government planned to lift a nighttime curfew because of what officials had said was improved security.
Instead, Baghdad faced one of its bloodiest days in months. By about 2 p.m., blasts from planted devices and explosives set off by a suicide bomber had torn through markets and commercial strips in three neighborhoods, according to the Interior Ministry. At least 70 people were wounded, officials said.
Friday, February 06, 2015
Mini Movie Review
Jupiter Ascending: Ok, not great, but fun visuals and certainly better than those crap Transformers movies that make billions of dollars.
Remember When He Was The Smart Wonky One
Probably smart enough to know when to get out of town, at least.
Louisiana’s budget shortfall is projected to reach $1.6 billion next year and to remain in that ballpark for a while. The downturn in oil prices has undoubtedly worsened the problem, forcing midyear cuts to the current budget. But economists, policy experts and lawmakers of both parties, pointing out that next year’s projected shortfall was well over a billion dollars even when oil prices were riding high, turn to a primary culprit: the fiscal policy pushed by the Jindal administration and backed by the State Legislature.
“Is he responsible for the full $1.6 billion?” Mr. Scott asked. “I’d say no. But I’d say he’s responsible for the order of magnitude.”
Thursday, February 05, 2015
What's One More War
I don't claim to know how to solve all the world's problems, but arming everyone and letting God sort it out hasn't worked very well lately.
Defensive weapons.
The Obama administration’s hope is that its widely reported deliberations over whether to send defensive weapons to Ukraine and about additional economic sanctions will induce Russia to agree to a halt in the fighting and, ultimately, to a political agreement within the framework of the Minsk accord.
Defensive weapons.
All Those Roads
Whether or not you agree with my transportation priorities, it is nuts that we spend that much money on new road construction, given the need for repairs.
Rare
It's rare for cops to face even the possibility of justice for abuses, so it's worth noting when it does happen.
Disrupting The Purity Of Our Body
This isn't surprising, as one of the big narratives underlying anti-immigration views is the idea that "illegals" somehow carry dirt and disease and disrupt the purity of our country. It isn't always this literal, but there is a basic belief that the purity of our essence is being tainted.
Wednesday, February 04, 2015
Shocking
I, for one, am utterly shocked that Brian Williams, of all people, has apparently acted like an absolute wanker. He always seemed so butch.
Shit Is Fucked Up And Bullshit
Glad Natasha (who I know a bit) got the care she needed, but women shouldn't have to worry about which religion is governing their hospital when they go in to get the treatment they need.
Introversion
Blogging is a weird job for someone who is basically an introvert. There are moments when I just have nothing to say.
Net Neutrality Victory
Details going forward will of course matter, but this seems like as big of a victory as could have been hoped for.
Tuesday, February 03, 2015
Just Add Boom
Nobody could have predicted...
Chaos in Yemen has left the US military unable to monitor the vast arsenal it has spent years providing to its Yemeni counterpart.
Supplements
It's one thing to allow various supplements with unproven health benefits to be sold. It's quite another to allow companies to commit fraud by lying about what they're actually selling to you.
Think extract of turtle shell is good for you? Fine. But there had better be some damn turtle shell in there.
The authorities said they had conducted tests on top-selling store brands of herbal supplements at four national retailers — GNC, Target, Walgreens and Walmart — and found that four out of five of the products did not contain any of the herbs on their labels. The tests showed that pills labeled medicinal herbs often contained little more than cheap fillers like powdered rice, asparagus and houseplants, and in some cases substances that could be dangerous to those with allergies.
Think extract of turtle shell is good for you? Fine. But there had better be some damn turtle shell in there.
Not A Booster
I don't really care if the DNC is in Philly, but my inner "this is how it should be" nerd thinks it should be. I've been to a couple of these things now and know how the security/logistics works, and Philly really is the sensible location. I'm not talking about the best place for the "optics" or the Liberty Bell is here kinda stuff, just the practical things. The arena is close to Center City, accessible by subway, but positioned so that a security perimeter wouldn't make lives miserable for a lot of people/businesses. And we have enough mass transit accessible hotels to handle the whole mess.
The Good Life
But he's really cute when he yells at people.
King Abdullah of Jordan picked up the tab for a Christie family weekend at the end of the trip. The governor and two staff members who accompanied him came back to New Jersey bubbling that they had celebrated with Bono, the lead singer of U2, at three parties, two at the king’s residence, the other a Champagne reception in the desert. But a small knot of aides fretted: The rooms in luxurious Kempinski hotels had cost about $30,000; what would happen if that became public?
Monday, February 02, 2015
Weird Winter
The temperatures have been all over the place this year. 40s one day, down into the teens the next, etc. Someone take away the Ice Princess from Al Gore.
ARC'd
Plenty of transit nerds I know thought that ARC was a pretty bad project, relative to the platonic ideal. I never quite understood the complaints (nothing is perfect, the flaws didn't seem so bad), but I accept that there are people who have greater transit nerd-fu than I do. Still, whatever the merits of the criticisms, there was a plan. It was in place. There was money for a giant mass transit project, something which is almost impossible to achieve these days. And then Christie killed it.
The transit nerds argued that a better project will be just around the corner. And, you know, maybe it will! But it's 2015! Not there yet! And maybe the Hudson tunnels will collapse, in which case the region is totally fucked.
The transit nerds argued that a better project will be just around the corner. And, you know, maybe it will! But it's 2015! Not there yet! And maybe the Hudson tunnels will collapse, in which case the region is totally fucked.
We Did Something That Worked
Aside from the grossness of the cavalier willingness to put children, including their own, at risk of illness and death, there's a tremendous risk of rolling back one of our great successes. We eradicated and nearly eradicated diseases! I have a smallpox vaccination scar. The kids today do not. We beat that bastard.
All About The Children
What a country.
Wolfson, an Arizona cardiologist, refuses to vaccinate his two young sons. He said the family that didn't vaccinate and endangered the Jacks children did nothing wrong.
"It's not my responsibility to inject my child with chemicals in order for [a child like Maggie] to be supposedly healthy," he said. "As far as I'm concerned, it's very likely that her leukemia is from vaccinations in the first place."
"I'm not going to sacrifice the well-being of my child. My child is pure," he added. "It's not my responsibility to be protecting their child."
...
"I could live with myself easily," he said. "It's an unfortunate thing that people die, but people die. I'm not going to put my child at risk to save another child."
I've Wanted To Close Those Bridges For A Long Time
Oy.
Amid an outbreak of measles that has spread across 14 states, Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey on Monday said that parents “need to have some measure of choice” about vaccinating their children against the virus, breaking with President Obama and much of the medical profession.
In remarks here, Mr. Christie stopped short of recommending that parents immunize their children against measles, or any other illness, calling for “balance” and “choice.”
Sunday, February 01, 2015
Happy Hour
I guess I better check the listings, I heard a rumor that there is an important game to be played tonight. Wonder what it could be? Curling championships?
Elites Don't Use Transit
Plenty of well off people do, actually, but most of the people who control our discourse and policies don't.
I don't even know how it's possible to be a long time resident of a major city with a significant mass transit system and to have never used it, but it is.
(h/t milesgrant)
I don't even know how it's possible to be a long time resident of a major city with a significant mass transit system and to have never used it, but it is.
(h/t milesgrant)
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