Wednesday, September 30, 2015
Blah People Want Free Stuff
Like equitable education funding. Moochers. How do they find time to go to school AND eat their free T-Bones? Must have those turbo-charged Cadillacs...
Going Rogue
Apparently it's just what you do if you're in a law enforcement agency.
BREAKING: Investigation: Secret Service sought to discredit US congressman probing agency shenanigans.
— The Associated Press (@AP) September 30, 2015
Ear Worms From Wonderland
I've semi-solved a mystery. For a long time I've had this occasional ear worm, complete with partial lyrics, that I couldn't place. I finally semi-sorta remembered where it came from. In 5th grade I was in a "musical". I can't really remember it, but think it was one of those designed-for-elementary-school things. Probably had 3-4 songs, lasted 45 minutes, parents clapped and went home early, that kind of thing. My 5th grade teacher - or one of them, it was one of those team taught classrooms - was very much into music and theater. He did local community theater. And he brought all that to his classroom with some enthusiasm, which I respect. He was also a bit of a god botherer. He requested in front of the room that I say grace before lunch during a class trip. I guess he thought that as long as it wasn't on school grounds it was ok. I declined and said I was an atheist. I was an atheist. I also had no idea how to say grace, because I was, you know, an atheist. Asking me to say grace was like asking me to chant like a Tibetan monk. Equally meaningless to me at that point in my life.
Anyway, back to the mystery. I was in this "musical". I'm not without musical sense/ability, but I don't sing well. Never have, never will. No voice control. But I managed to be enlisted in this small Grease-style boys chorus bit, doing some background for some 50sish song. We put on our little leather jackets and had our hair slicked back with vaseline, because none of the adults involved understood that vaseline took about 30 washings to wash out. I have no memory of what our little play was about, but I finally know where my ear worm came from. Here's what I remember from the lyrics:
Age appropriate, it was.
Anyway, back to the mystery. I was in this "musical". I'm not without musical sense/ability, but I don't sing well. Never have, never will. No voice control. But I managed to be enlisted in this small Grease-style boys chorus bit, doing some background for some 50sish song. We put on our little leather jackets and had our hair slicked back with vaseline, because none of the adults involved understood that vaseline took about 30 washings to wash out. I have no memory of what our little play was about, but I finally know where my ear worm came from. Here's what I remember from the lyrics:
You gotta practice deception!
It's the campaigner's tool.
You gotta practice deception!
It's the politician's golden rule.
Age appropriate, it was.
The World Is Not My Home
I get that having a fuckton or two of money can relieve of you some of the general duties of having to navigate this planet that most of the rest of us have to figure out, but I admit that I don't always understand precisely how. I mean, how can you not know that you need to get a prescription for prescription drugs, whether or not you've actually had to pick any of them up in the past few decades?
Don't Even Know What To Do Anymore
Back in the early days of this blog, the dark ages of the internet, I actually tried to pay attention to design suggestions and make minor changes to the template of this blog to make it more accessible for those with sight impairment. It's been awhile since I've thought about that, but as this blog is stuck in 2002 it's probably as good as it ever was in that regard. Still, what about the rest of the internet? Can text-to-speech readers and similar even have a chance trying to decipher what goes on behind the 3 billion popover and auto-on ads? I suppose once upon a time RSS feeds and readers provided a way around such things, but they're no longer standard like they used to be.
Squander
Kerry's people squandered it after 2004, and Obama's people squandered it after 2008. What's "it"? A movement, sitting there, ready to be mobilized to do something. Anything, really. I agree Labour shouldn't make the same mistake, but we'll see.
Not Sure How VW Can Unshit The Bed
If it was so trivial to a) not rig the emissions tests b) have cars pass the emissions tests and c) have gas mileage similar to what was advertised then what was the rigging all about then anyway?
Hard to see how this isn't in "give everyone a new car or go home" territory.
Hard to see how this isn't in "give everyone a new car or go home" territory.
Tuesday, September 29, 2015
The Boom, It Busts
Any industry can go bust, but extraction industries are very location specific unlike many others. When the price falls...
Civic leaders and developers say many new units were already in the pipeline, and they anticipate another influx of workers when oil prices rise again. But for now, hundreds of dwellings approved during the heady days are rising, skeletons of wood and cement surrounded by rolling grasslands, with too few residents who can afford them.
“We are overbuilt,” said Dan Kalil, a commissioner in Williams County in the heart of the Bakken, a 360-million-year-old shale bed, during a break from cutting flax on his farm. “I am concerned about having hundreds of $200-a-month apartments in the future.”
Lies And The Lying Liars
Carly Fiorina.
But as the last couple of decades have taught us, Republicans can lie with impunity, while if a Democrat accidentally confuses off-white with cream then he/she is UNFIT TO SERVE LIAR PANTS ON FIRE.
But as the last couple of decades have taught us, Republicans can lie with impunity, while if a Democrat accidentally confuses off-white with cream then he/she is UNFIT TO SERVE LIAR PANTS ON FIRE.
Never Change, Philly Magazine
Actually, please do. But you don't.
It's important to note that while this is a "good"* school in a wealthy area, 47% of students are black. Another source says 32%, but either way.
*"Good" schools are as much a matter of perception as reality. Not saying there are no differences in school quality - there are! - but quite often perception plays a big part in that classification. Also, too, not suggesting there's a contradiction between having a large black student body and having either a good or a "good" school. Arguably this school isn't representative of Philly schools, but more importantly the picture isn't representative of that particular school. It's one thing to front the "good" public schools, another thing to suggest (deliberately or not) that the "good" schools are the ones with only white children, which is what the picture does.
I've been informed that two of the kids are "not white" by American standards (these are all social constructs, of course), but for the casual viewer...
It's important to note that while this is a "good"* school in a wealthy area, 47% of students are black. Another source says 32%, but either way.
*"Good" schools are as much a matter of perception as reality. Not saying there are no differences in school quality - there are! - but quite often perception plays a big part in that classification. Also, too, not suggesting there's a contradiction between having a large black student body and having either a good or a "good" school. Arguably this school isn't representative of Philly schools, but more importantly the picture isn't representative of that particular school. It's one thing to front the "good" public schools, another thing to suggest (deliberately or not) that the "good" schools are the ones with only white children, which is what the picture does.
I've been informed that two of the kids are "not white" by American standards (these are all social constructs, of course), but for the casual viewer...
Vaporware
I'm already seeing a lot of "no need to build mass transit as driverless cars will solve all of our problems." 10 years from now you can prove me wrong, but they aren't ever really going to work, if they work safely people won't like them, and single occupancy vehicles are still... single occupancy vehicles. They won't solve traffic jams.
The Things My Liberal Friends Say At Dinner Parties!
"Fantasy conversations with my liberal friends" meets "fantasy conversations with the evil person at Planned Parenthood." A new genre is born!
Monday, September 28, 2015
12 Trillion Pilgrims
Early on they admitted they deliberately scared people away because the Parkway could only handle 250-300K people. The key thing is that many people spent 3 hours in security lines and didn't make it through to the mass, including people with the tickets which weren't supposed to exist until they did and oh it's all been so confusing. So they expected many more people than came, and established a security system that couldn't handle anything close to the numbers they expected.
But our Mayor says shutupShutupShutUpSHUTUPSHUTUPSHUTUPSHUTUPSHUTUP IT WAS AWESOME HATERS.
But our Mayor says shutupShutupShutUpSHUTUPSHUTUPSHUTUPSHUTUPSHUTUP IT WAS AWESOME HATERS.
Monday Crass Commercialism
In the continuing series of Atrios actually manages to read a few books (I used to read all the time. The internet cured me of that. Trying to get back to it a bit.) I really enjoyed Elizabeth is Missing. Memento for the senior set, as is Atom Egoyan's new movie, which was also great.
Central Bank Independence
It's a nice idea, perhaps we should try it sometime.
The idea that central banks are independent is a joke. The question is who they work for? In econ-speak, what is their objective function? What are they trying to maximize? I'd rather have them printing money to spend on pet projects for people than boosting the fortunes of bankers whose only competence is getting the central bank to boost their fortunes. Quite a competence, to be honest, but not really how it's "supposed" to work.
The idea that central banks are independent is a joke. The question is who they work for? In econ-speak, what is their objective function? What are they trying to maximize? I'd rather have them printing money to spend on pet projects for people than boosting the fortunes of bankers whose only competence is getting the central bank to boost their fortunes. Quite a competence, to be honest, but not really how it's "supposed" to work.
Recovery
"The blue bars are the bottom 90% of the population by income; the red bars are the top 10%.
"The bottom line is that in the Bush 'recovery,' nearly all the gains were creamed off by the top 10%; and in the Obama 'recovery,' the bottom 90% actually lost ground."
(Source)
I wonder what it takes to make some people realize what this means....
Sunday, September 27, 2015
Your Laws Are To Blame For My Lawbreaking
I've noticed this more and more among the glibertarianish set, essentially claiming that lawbreaking is the fault of laws. It's telling where they tend to see problems with state power, and where they don't. When Eric Garner was killed by cops for selling Loosies, the problem wasn't overzealous police, the problem was laws against selling loosies. If only they weren't illegal, they couldn't have choked him! Of course, they could've choked him anyway, as we're all always resisting arrest if the cops decide we are, but for glibertarians the problem is always too many laws and regulations. If only murder was legal I wouldn't have committed a crime!
More generally, if one applies enough pretzel logic one can always blame The State for bad things (except cops, who are somehow not part of The State, unless they mildly inconvenience white people). In glibertarian utopia, there is no state. Why none of them actually forms Galtlandia somewhere, or moves to a welcoming place where state powers are somewhat curtailed by armed feudal powers, I'll never know...
More generally, if one applies enough pretzel logic one can always blame The State for bad things (except cops, who are somehow not part of The State, unless they mildly inconvenience white people). In glibertarian utopia, there is no state. Why none of them actually forms Galtlandia somewhere, or moves to a welcoming place where state powers are somewhat curtailed by armed feudal powers, I'll never know...
What's It All About Then
A lot can be said about the clusterfuck of the Philly Popeocalypse. And I imagine some visitors are enjoying themselves! But, basically, it reflects two major ways that even people who live in cities and run things get it wrong.
1) Get them in, get them out events do nothing for the local economy or the local quality of life. This applies doubly to football stadiums, aquariums, and numerous other "attract visitors" initiatives that attract visitors only to a specific spot. There are no spillovers if your planning goals are about getting people to an event and then getting them out again.
2) Cities see their own residents as the enemy. Pretty sure a big event like this would have done quite well if locals had not been told to run screaming from the city if possible so that visitors could enjoy the enhanced security measures with fewer troubles. 1.5 million people live in this city. A few more of them probably would have been interested in the whole thing if they weren't treated like prisoners in their own city, complete with national guard members stationed at every corner, and effectively told they were idiots for sticking around for the weekend.
If that's the approach that is necessary for security reasons or whatever, there are nice big parking lots at the stadium complex which can accommodate such things.
1) Get them in, get them out events do nothing for the local economy or the local quality of life. This applies doubly to football stadiums, aquariums, and numerous other "attract visitors" initiatives that attract visitors only to a specific spot. There are no spillovers if your planning goals are about getting people to an event and then getting them out again.
2) Cities see their own residents as the enemy. Pretty sure a big event like this would have done quite well if locals had not been told to run screaming from the city if possible so that visitors could enjoy the enhanced security measures with fewer troubles. 1.5 million people live in this city. A few more of them probably would have been interested in the whole thing if they weren't treated like prisoners in their own city, complete with national guard members stationed at every corner, and effectively told they were idiots for sticking around for the weekend.
If that's the approach that is necessary for security reasons or whatever, there are nice big parking lots at the stadium complex which can accommodate such things.
Morning Thread
Our classical radio station, out of Temple University in Philadelphia, seemed to be playing nothing but religious music yesterday. Turned if off around noon. I like some of it, but not all day. Hope they go a little lighter today.
Saturday, September 26, 2015
All Designed For Unlimited Data
Not picking on Apple, but all kinds of exciting (or not) mobile phone "features" assume you have unlimited data plans, which few actually have. Automatic cloud backups, automatic app updates, a zillion push notifications, etc. Yes you can turn these things off, but they're usually on by default...
For awhile the internet was designed for people who had dual 42 inch monitors. Now it's all designed for tablets. I'd like to think the people who do these things know what they're doing, but I just think they have access to the best toys/tech.
Eschatonblog.com is best viewed on your Commodore 64.
For awhile the internet was designed for people who had dual 42 inch monitors. Now it's all designed for tablets. I'd like to think the people who do these things know what they're doing, but I just think they have access to the best toys/tech.
Eschatonblog.com is best viewed on your Commodore 64.
Who Will Take The Fall
All signs point to:
Even though:
Nah, must be the engineers and technicians, acting all on their own.
The new VW boss did not reveal how many staff had been suspended or who they were, but the company said the scandal was the result of “unlawful behaviour of engineers and technicians involved in engine development”.
Even though:
In addition, Bloomberg reported that key parts of the faked emissions tests had been overseen by VW executives based in the company’s headquarters in Wolfsburg.
Nah, must be the engineers and technicians, acting all on their own.
Nobody Could Have Predicted
Let's send a few more tankers full of gasoline to add to this fire. That'll put it out!
1) Take one conflict
2) Add moooar weapons
3) stir!
WASHINGTON
In another embarrassing setback for one of President Barack Obama’s centerpiece strategies for defeating the Islamic State, the Pentagon said Friday that the commander of U.S.-trained Syrians appears to have turned over his pickup trucks and weapons to al Qaeda militants in exchange for protection within days of re-entering his homeland.
1) Take one conflict
2) Add moooar weapons
3) stir!
Oh Dear, the NYT Visits the Outer Provinces Again
They don't even pretend to care to bother.
Maggiano's Little Italy is a chain Italian restaurant, not really what one thinks of as "upscale." Philadelphia has no neighborhood called "Little Italy" and while there is an Italian-American neighborhood, it's nowhere near Maggiano's Little Italy. That is simply in the name of the chain restaurant, which has approximately 50 locations across the country, apparently creating "Little Italy" neighborhoods throughout the country.
(ht RB)
Maggiano, an upscale Italian restaurant in Philadelphia’s Little Italy, hosted a Paint the Pope party last Saturday, where patrons paid $65 for wine, a dinner and an art class where they tried to paint Pope Francis.
Maggiano's Little Italy is a chain Italian restaurant, not really what one thinks of as "upscale." Philadelphia has no neighborhood called "Little Italy" and while there is an Italian-American neighborhood, it's nowhere near Maggiano's Little Italy. That is simply in the name of the chain restaurant, which has approximately 50 locations across the country, apparently creating "Little Italy" neighborhoods throughout the country.
(ht RB)
Friday, September 25, 2015
Timelines of Denial
The denial cycle of this type of program went something like:
1) No they aren't doing that!
2) They're only doing that for bad people!
3) They're only doing that for foreigners!
4) OK, they're doing that, but they aren't really looking at it.
5) Of course they're doing that, you idiot! But now you let the "enemy" know it!
etc
1) No they aren't doing that!
2) They're only doing that for bad people!
3) They're only doing that for foreigners!
4) OK, they're doing that, but they aren't really looking at it.
5) Of course they're doing that, you idiot! But now you let the "enemy" know it!
etc
Cadillacs and T-Bones
Never changes.
We do give so much free stuff to all the blah people. GOP has set up permanent camp on Bullshit Mountain.
Jeb Bush told a crowd in South Carolina on Thursday that Republicans could attract more African-Americans with a message of “hope and aspiration,” and not with promises of “free stuff” — a phrase that echoed comments made by Mitt Romney during and after his 2012 bid for president.
We do give so much free stuff to all the blah people. GOP has set up permanent camp on Bullshit Mountain.
Nice Work
As I wrote, individual and firm incentives are not very well aligned. Cheat your way to riches, and leave the shareholders with the bill when you get caught.
If only there was some way to punish the individuals responsible within our legal system. Any ideas?
Martin Winterkorn, faced with the company's widening crisis over its rigging of emissions tests, announced his resignation as CEO of Volkswagen Group Wednesday. He is likely to leave with a pension valued around $32 million, and possibly with many millions more, depending on what the board decides regarding his severance payment.
If only there was some way to punish the individuals responsible within our legal system. Any ideas?
Freedom Bombing Our Way To Freedom
Once we figure out who the moderate rebels are, everything will be fine.
Some people get confused by events in Syria, but they’re not that complicated. Quite simply, we need to bomb somewhere or other out there, like we should have done two years ago. Back then we should have dropped bombs to support the Isis rebels fighting against the evil Assad. But as we didn’t bother, we now need to put that right by bombing the Isis rebels, and protecting Assad.
Thursday, September 24, 2015
Pod People
Trying to take the mass out of mass transit for decades.
The problems with even the fantasy version of these things are so obvious, and of course any implementation would be far from the fantasy version.
The problems with even the fantasy version of these things are so obvious, and of course any implementation would be far from the fantasy version.
Freedom Bombing Our Way to Freedom
Keep the good news coming.
Over this past year, analysts felt pressure to keep their assessments positive. In order to report bad news, current and former officials said, the analysts were required to cite multiple sources. Reporting positive news required fewer hurdles. Senior officials sent emails cautioning against using pessimistic phrases that they said were more likely to get attention, according to one former official. In some instances, officials said, conclusions were completely changed.The tool is a hammer, and that hammer had better be working well.
Stopping The Canadian Menace
Fair enough.
Failed Republican presidential candidate Scott Walker may feel some vindication in this number: 41 percent of Americans say that if a wall is built along the Mexican border, one should also be erected on the Canadian one. And yes, the same percentage favors a wall erected along the nation's southern border.
The Pope, Brought To You By Aramark
The city is doing everything wrong.
Local businesses of all kinds are just going to be revenue free this weekend.
Khan, a halal food cart owner who works 52 weekends a year, estimates that he’s going to be out at least $2,000 in a few days.
He is one of the dozens of perennial, license-holding street vendors in Center City to recently receive this notice from the city, which bans vendors from operating at their usual locations Friday through Monday for the Pope’s visit.
The prevailing message since August has been that vendors with valid licenses could operate inside the traffic box, according to the Department of Commerce. They just couldn’t drive their vehicles in and out. But things have changed. Now only the Aramark-approved vendors will be allowed to operate within the security zone.
Local businesses of all kinds are just going to be revenue free this weekend.
ZOMG THE STATIONS WILL BE CROWDED
Yes if you close almost every regional rail station, the remaining ones will be more crowded.
What a disaster.
What a disaster.
Wednesday, September 23, 2015
Afternoon Thread
Watched Philomena last night on Netflix and I'm not feeling too charitable toward the Catholic Church right now.
Perhaps You Should Listen To Yourself
I get it. There are "good" schools and "bad" schools and no one wants to feel like they're sending their kid to a "bad" school (whether or not it really is "bad"), but...
Well that explains everything. "They just don't want to be in a ghetto."
Gary Orfield, the co-director of the Civil Rights Project at the University of California, Los Angeles, which published a study about school segregation in New York State last year, said it was rare for a school district to take advantage of gentrification to create more integrated schools. “This is exactly the opposite of what New York has been doing for decades,” Dr. Orfield said.
He said the residents who opposed the rezoning “aren’t racists.”
“They aren’t people who don’t want to be with other races and other cultures,” he said. “They just don’t want to be in a ghetto. They don’t want to be in a school where everybody’s poor and their kid is the only white kid or the only Asian kid.”
Well that explains everything. "They just don't want to be in a ghetto."
HA HA Your Time Is Up
Nobody could have predicted.
With Gov. Christie still lurking among the bottom feeders in most polls, his running for president instead of giving New Jersey's fiscal problems his undivided attention becomes even more galling. That is particularly so when you consider how much of the mess is due to Christie's actions. He took one of the nation's best-run state lotteries and turned it into a privately-run loser that punched a $136 million hole into last year's budget.
For every $1 spent, the lottery was returning about 34 cents to taxpayers when the state ran it. Under lottery operator Northstar New Jersey, that's now down to 30 cents on the dollar, according to an analysis by the Record of Hackensack. And this is happening even as ticket sales hit a record high of $3 billion.
People Gotta Walk Eventually
I know that not everybody is on board with my plan to take all of your cars away and force you all to live in my pedestrian and public transit nirvana, but even given that I'm always struck by how little (no) thought is usually given to the last 50 (or 100 or 500 or 1000) feet. Not everyone gets dropped off at their seat by Limo or Helicopter or Jetpack or whatever. The issue usually isn't quite as bad as this, but it's still pretty much universally bad, from your supermarket parking lot to your urban hellhole parking garage. Once that car door opens, we gotta walk (or use a wheelchair etc.).
Tuesday, September 22, 2015
I won't bend down. I will stand my ground.
What a shitshow.
It isn't offensive advice, just...duh?
The agency says that in heavily crowded areas, people should "try to walk around crowds rather than through them" and that attendees ought to "stay on your feet – do not sit down or bend down to pick something up."
In other words, make sure your shoelaces are tied before coming to see Pope Francis.
If you do fall or bend down, though, PEMA adds that you should "get back up on your feet as quickly as possible."
It isn't offensive advice, just...duh?
And I'd gladly stand up next to you
What's it all about then.
The incidents of sexual assault on children described by American service members who served in Afghanistan are sickening. Boys screaming in the night as Afghan police officers attacked them. Three or four Afghan men found lying on the floor of a room at a military base with children between them, presumably for sex play.
No less offensive is that American soldiers and Marines who wanted to intervene could not. According to an account in The Times by Joseph Goldstein, they were ordered by their superiors to ignore abusive behavior by their Afghan allies and “to look the other way because it’s their culture.”
Cost Of Doing Business
Probably a gamble they lost, but as long as the expected value of a corrupt act exceeds the expected value of the punishment, this stuff will continue. It's actually worse than that, as individuals reap, to some extent, the rewards of the corruption, but are unlikely to actually receive any of the punishment. Firm/individual incentives are not exactly aligned. Frankly, I don't even think you need to prosecute all that many people to make this kind of behavior a bit less attractive, but we don't even do that.
Volkswagen set aside 6.5 billion euros ($7.3 billion) to pay costs related to its evolving emissions-cheating scandal in the U.S.
Some 11 million vehicles worldwide are affected by the irregular software, VW said in a statement today.
One Big Grift
The family business.
Everybody's friends will get rich(er).
AUSTIN - Less than a year after being elected to lead the oldest state agency in Texas, Land Commissioner George P. Bush has dramatically remade the General Land Office by ousting a majority of its longtime leaders and replacing many of them with people with ties to his campaign and family.
Eleven of the top 18 officials on the agency's organizational chart a year ago have been fired, forced out or quit, and more could leave soon under an ongoing overhaul that Bush has described as a "reboot."
In their place, Bush has given top jobs to two of his law school classmates, two relatives of members of two Bush presidential administrations and at least three others with ties to the family or other political leaders.
Everybody's friends will get rich(er).
Monday, September 21, 2015
If A Train Travels West From Philadelphia At 50 Miles Per Hour
I have 17 degrees in rocket surgery, and I can't decipher this one.
Sunday, September 20, 2015
Fire Is Bad
Stating the obvious here, but having your home destroyed by fire really sucks. With a bit of luck the insurance gods will compensate you, but all the bits of nostalgia and various important bits of paper and records that modern society compels us to keep around aren't easily replaced. I know in the quaint old days we were supposed to keep important documents in safe deposit boxes, but with all of the turnover in bank ownership and bank branch openings/closings, I'm not sure there even is such a thing anymore. Not a "safe" thing anyway.
Saturday, September 19, 2015
Great Moments In Corporate Ethics
I'm sure all of the individuals involved will be appropriately punished.
Peak Trolling
Not just trolling, of course, but trolling too.
WASHINGTON — President Obama is nominating Eric K. Fanning, a close civilian adviser to Defense Secretary Ashton B. Carter, to be the secretary of the Army, an appointment that would make him the first openly gay secretary of a military branch.
Exciting New Taxes And Fees
I don't think user fees for public services are always wrong, but some things should just be paid out of general revenues. So Rahm's new garbage collection fee will be added to your water bill. What happens when people don't pay? Water shutoff is pretty easy (if kind of evil), but having the garbage truck workers keep track of who hasn't paid their bill is less evil. And if people don't have their garbage collected, they can just dump it elsewhere, which is one of those urban problems that city governments should be solving, not causing.
But, hey, raising taxes is unpossible, so let's just add punitive fees for the poors which are impractical. Yay.
But, hey, raising taxes is unpossible, so let's just add punitive fees for the poors which are impractical. Yay.
Morning Thread
I read the news today, oh boy...
I'm beginning to wonder if I'll survive this election cycle.
Friday, September 18, 2015
Thursday, September 17, 2015
Not The Candidates
The media went with the "he kept us safe" line for years. It isn't new. George W. Bush was their Daddy figure, and they did love him. There was major media backlash in 2004 whenever someone would suggest that Preznit Bunnypants was less than perfect in 9/11-related events. If a 9/11-type event happened under Obama's watch, the media would pull a freaker. They pulled a freaker over Benghazi.
Fear Is The Mind Killer
Yes it's my fault for reading the comments at newspaper sites, but I am struck by the number of people who express the idea that arresting Ahmed was a perfectly acceptable thing to do. It was a fucking circuit board. They're in every goddamn piece of electronics we all own, at various sizes. It was not a bomb. He did not say it was a bomb. If you ripped open your laptop you would find something similar. A bomb requires something that goes boom, not some chips on a circuit board. It's 2015. We have all seen circuit boards. Circuit boards are not bombs. This is ridiculous.
Values
Most social conservatives don't give a shit about "values," they just like the culture war. It's choosing sides and rooting for your team to destroy the other team. They think Trump will be a great general. That's the point.
List of values social conservatives are supposed to care about: no sex until marriage for ladies, no abortion, and no gay stuff. Values! Very deeply held values.
List of values social conservatives are supposed to care about: no sex until marriage for ladies, no abortion, and no gay stuff. Values! Very deeply held values.
At Least He Kept Us Safe
I think that for years people have said this without being laughed out of the room is one of the best bits of lingering evidence of just how nutty that era was. Even without getting into a debate on the somewhat unknowable issue of whether better presidenting could've stopped 9/11, it just, you know, isn't true. George W. Bush was president on 9/11. It was a very bad day. Lots of people died. He did not, in fact, "keep us safe," in the sense that they mean. The best you can say is after 9/11, there wasn't another 9/11. Well okay then. Heckuva job. Does anybody remember anthrax?
Wednesday, September 16, 2015
My Sharona
I'm not against hacks. Politics needs them. But sometimes it's puzzling why people embrace that role.
Texas's Worst Humans
Beth Van Duyne.
Not a word of sympathy from the town mayor to the kid who was arrested for building a clock or his family pic.twitter.com/wR2AjHxxOg
— Adam Serwer (@AdamSerwer) September 16, 2015
Not Bad
Cool clock, Ahmed. Want to bring it to the White House? We should inspire more kids like you to like science. It's what makes America great.
— President Obama (@POTUS) September 16, 2015
The Kids Today
It wasn't dangerous. Literally nobody involved thought it was dangerous. But he was brown and scary, so...
Tuesday, September 15, 2015
Mass Transit By And For People Who Hate Mass Transit
Shocking no one.
ONCE HOPING TO offer a fancy alternative for well-off commuters, the San Francisco luxury bus startup Leap filed for bankruptcy today. And, according to this auction site, it will soon be selling its remaining buses to the highest bidder.
Elections Have Consequences
The spend more money to give people shittier coverage in order to enrich our friends plan is over.
As of this month, Pennsylvania has completely phased out former Gov. Tom Corbett's alternative Medicaid system. The shift has made enrollment quicker and easier, according to state leaders.
Corbett's Medicaid alternative, "Healthy PA," took effect last winter. It included different categories of coverage, depending on an enrollee's income and health status.
Erin Ninehouser, policy director with the Pennsylvania Health Access Network, has helped people sign up and has been keeping tabs on about 1,500 applicants. The enrollment process was confusing, slow and required added paperwork, she said.
Very Serious People
I randomly had dinner with Anthony Lane the other day. Nice guy, more humble and mild mannered than his work for the New Yorker would generally suggest (true of me and my blog also too), but this is just silly.
We've "printed" a lot of money and given it to the financial industries that destroyed everything. Printing money to finance government deficits, or even printing money for helicopter drops, is not silly. It's smart. It's what we should have done. There are limits to such actions, of course, but given the inflation rates in the US and the UK, we haven't reached those limits. And when we do, putting on the brakes is the one thing the Fed/BOE/ECB know how to do.
Austerity hasn't met with "unqualified success elsewhere" either, but it's still the rage. The UK has it's own version of totebaggers, those who imbibe some combination of the BBC and the Very Serious parts of the Guardian. You know...liberal, but not icky liberal.
The national deficit would be erased not through austerity, as practiced by the heinous Conservatives, but through taxes on the rich and by what Corbyn calls “quantitative easing for people.” This means, we are told, that the Bank of England will print more money: an endearing and almost childlike solution, though not one that has met with unqualified success elsewhere.
We've "printed" a lot of money and given it to the financial industries that destroyed everything. Printing money to finance government deficits, or even printing money for helicopter drops, is not silly. It's smart. It's what we should have done. There are limits to such actions, of course, but given the inflation rates in the US and the UK, we haven't reached those limits. And when we do, putting on the brakes is the one thing the Fed/BOE/ECB know how to do.
Austerity hasn't met with "unqualified success elsewhere" either, but it's still the rage. The UK has it's own version of totebaggers, those who imbibe some combination of the BBC and the Very Serious parts of the Guardian. You know...liberal, but not icky liberal.
America's Worst Humans
Mike Huckabee.
Sometimes this "award" is a bit tongue in cheek, but Mike Huckabee really is a truly awful human being.
Former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee, whose presidential campaign has become a crusade for "religious liberty" and the rights of the unborn, told social conservatives this weekend that they should be skeptical of allowing more Syrian refugees into the United States.
"Are they really escaping tyranny, are they escaping poverty, or are they really just coming because we've got cable TV?" Huckabee asked, in an audience question-and-answer session at the conservative Eagle Forum conference in St. Louis. "I don't meant to be trite. I'm just saying: We don't know."
Sometimes this "award" is a bit tongue in cheek, but Mike Huckabee really is a truly awful human being.
Whack-A-Mole
I'm no expert and certainly can't make this claim with any certainty, but I've long had a sense that the goo-goo reformers from the 70s onward have actually been "bad" from the perspective of working against enacting and implementing liberal policies. Generally sensible-sounding process reform has support, but nobody really cares. It doesn't build a movement. And often goo-goo types haven't been very liberal, really. In any case, my big question is, if your fantasy "get money out of politics" agenda is implemented, what awesome policies will get passed that wouldn't be passed otherwise?
Ultimately politics is going to be about working the margins as best we can. Maybe doing our best to reduce the influence of money is a good way to do that. But it'd be much more convincing if there was an actual policy agenda behind it. You know, "80% of the American people support X but Congress won't pass it because..." There are a couple of things that might fit "X" but not too many. The corruption is less about federal legislation and more about all of the other avenues for rent seeking.
Goo-goos are generally "sensible centrists." Take away all of the ickyness of politics, and then wise people will be able to do very sensible things. What are those things? Why they're sensible and bipartisany and suddenly this is all sounding a bit NoLabels and ThirdWayish and...you get the point.
Ultimately politics is going to be about working the margins as best we can. Maybe doing our best to reduce the influence of money is a good way to do that. But it'd be much more convincing if there was an actual policy agenda behind it. You know, "80% of the American people support X but Congress won't pass it because..." There are a couple of things that might fit "X" but not too many. The corruption is less about federal legislation and more about all of the other avenues for rent seeking.
Goo-goos are generally "sensible centrists." Take away all of the ickyness of politics, and then wise people will be able to do very sensible things. What are those things? Why they're sensible and bipartisany and suddenly this is all sounding a bit NoLabels and ThirdWayish and...you get the point.
Hi Fred
The WaPo has a new boogeyman.
If he becomes PM the Very Serious People will be discussing the need for regime change in the UK.
If he becomes PM the Very Serious People will be discussing the need for regime change in the UK.
One True Catholic
I have no idea if Jeb Bush goes to church every Sunday, and of course I don't really care except to the extent that it's a provable claim.
And, no, I don't think "every" needs to literally mean every, but most of the time.
She adds later: "We go to church every Sunday. We have celebrations with the family and we keep our traditions. But at the end it’s just that, faith, friends and family."
And, no, I don't think "every" needs to literally mean every, but most of the time.
Class
I have no idea if there is a "smarter" brother, but Jeb's reputation for being that was due to the fact that his demeanor is appropriate for the son of an elite patrician WASP, and George's isn't. Class and social status markers, not brains.
Monday, September 14, 2015
We Fucked Everything Up, But We Know How To Win Elections!!!
That was (New) Labour's narrative for the past 5 years. Weird that it didn't work?
They didn't fuck everything up. They can be blamed (somewhat) for the financial crisis, but spending all the tax money had nothing to do with the financial crisis. Tony Blair is basically a sociopathic monster, but aside from the obvious bad things his government did a lot of good. That crowd wants credit for winning, no credit for the actual good stuff, and no blame for the genuine bad stuff. It's truly weird. The Tories are totally right about what we did wrong, but we know how to win elections as long as we listen to the Tories!!!
Wacky.
They didn't fuck everything up. They can be blamed (somewhat) for the financial crisis, but spending all the tax money had nothing to do with the financial crisis. Tony Blair is basically a sociopathic monster, but aside from the obvious bad things his government did a lot of good. That crowd wants credit for winning, no credit for the actual good stuff, and no blame for the genuine bad stuff. It's truly weird. The Tories are totally right about what we did wrong, but we know how to win elections as long as we listen to the Tories!!!
Wacky.
Heckuva Job
Nobody could have predicted that letting a private company skim off some of the money would have left less money for the state? Math is so hard.
At least some of Christie's pals got richer.
Ticket sales have topped $3 billion for the first time, but New Jersey’s lottery expects to send only $930 million back to the state to help fund social service programs — the lowest rate of return in nearly four decades.
At least some of Christie's pals got richer.
Fire
Horrible situation in California.
Hundreds of buildings have been lost to a fast-moving Northern California wildfire that had forced thousands to flee Sunday and hospitalized four firefighters with second-degree burns.
Sleep Wizzers
I won't name names to protect the guilty (cough, Stinky, cough, also, too Tom), but I knew some sleepwalking pissers in college. Yes alcohol was always involved so one can't entirely absolve them from blame, but I doubt it was deliberate.
Jeff D. Rubin, 27, slept through most of the three-hour flight originating from Anchorage, Alaska, according to a Port of Portland police report.
About 30 minutes before landing "he stood up and began urinating through the crack of the seat onto the passengers seated in front of him," read the report.
Sunday, September 13, 2015
Message: I Care
I don't agree with everything in this Milbank column, and the Al Gore/Earth tones thing is just something the DC press completely made up because why not (also, too, it was 15 years ago, Dana), but I do agree with this:
This (to me) isn't about Clinton, it's about any campaign staffers who talk to reporters in this way. I get that political candidates are basically a brand (hopefully more than that, but that too) and that there are people whose job it is to make it an awesome brand. But you don't make it an awesome brand by telling reporters about your branding strategy. You're shit at your job if that's what you're doing!
People who dish too much to campaign reporters are more interested in gossip than in doing their jobs. It's like saying we're going to put a new package on the product tomorrow, and that will change everything! Hey, maybe it will, but don't actually tell anybody what your plan is. Dont't give reporters a daily tour of the sausage factory!
Here’s a better idea: Find and fire people who talk about her that way.
This (to me) isn't about Clinton, it's about any campaign staffers who talk to reporters in this way. I get that political candidates are basically a brand (hopefully more than that, but that too) and that there are people whose job it is to make it an awesome brand. But you don't make it an awesome brand by telling reporters about your branding strategy. You're shit at your job if that's what you're doing!
People who dish too much to campaign reporters are more interested in gossip than in doing their jobs. It's like saying we're going to put a new package on the product tomorrow, and that will change everything! Hey, maybe it will, but don't actually tell anybody what your plan is. Dont't give reporters a daily tour of the sausage factory!
With A Straight Face
Hilarious.
Fucking supply and demand, how do they work?
Source4Teachers, which has about 300 workers qualified to teach in Philadelphia and about 500 more in some stage of credentialing, is paying up to $110 for Philadelphia substitutes; under district management, the pay was $160, or up to $242.83 for retired teachers.
Officials with the company have said they do not believe its pay scale is part of the problem.
Fucking supply and demand, how do they work?
Crazy Left Wingers
One can only imagine what sorts of horrible governments and government leaders Corbyn would associate with.
Britain is continuing to defy the UN by selling arms to countries where child soldiers are routinely used or where youngsters are targeted in war zones. Before the world’s largest arms and security fair, which starts in London on Tuesday, the government is ignoring UN requests that it “expressly prohibit” such sales.
Freedom Bombs
Glad our noble humanitarian goals in the world are being pursued so aggressively.
Fortunately the Saudis are the good guys, and we're on their side, and oh jeebus is it too early to drink?
Of the many perils Yemen’s civilians have faced during the last six months of war, with starvation looming and their cities crumbling under heavy weapons, none have been as deadly as the coalition airstrikes. What began as a Saudi-led aerial campaign against the Houthis, the rebel militia movement that forced Yemen’s government from power, has become so broad and vicious that critics accuse the coalition of collectively punishing people living in areas under Houthi control.
Errant coalition strikes have ripped through markets, apartment buildings and refugee camps. Other bombs have fallen so far from any military target — like the one that destroyed Mr. Razoom’s factory — that human rights groups say such airstrikes amount to war crimes. More than a thousand civilians are believed to have died in the strikes, the toll rising steadily with little international notice or outrage.
Rather than turning more Yemenis against the Houthis, though, the strikes are crystallizing anger in parts of the country against Saudi Arabia and its partners, including the United States. The Obama administration has provided military intelligence and logistical assistance to the coalition, and American weapons have been widely used in the air campaign. Human Rights Watch has found American-manufactured cluster munitions in the fields of Yemeni farmers. Near the site of airstrikes that killed 11 people in a mosque, researchers with Amnesty International saw an unexploded, 1,000-pound American bomb. The United States is finalizing a deal to provide more weapons to Saudi Arabia, including missiles for its F-15 fighter jets.
Fortunately the Saudis are the good guys, and we're on their side, and oh jeebus is it too early to drink?
They've Been In Charge
In many places, "school reformers" have been setting the agenda for decades now. They won. Is our children learning?
Crazy Talk
This guy's nuts!
It is clear, too, that the prime minister will soon again be asking us to bomb Syria. That won’t help refugees, it will create more.
Isis is utterly abhorrent and President Assad’s regime has committed appalling crimes. But we must also oppose Saudi bombs falling on Yemen and the Bahraini dictatorship murdering its democracy movement, armed by us.
...
For the Conservatives, the deficit is just an excuse to railroad through the same old Tory agenda: driving down wages, cutting taxes for the wealthiest, allowing house prices to spiral out of reach, selling off our national assets and attacking trade unions. You can’t cut your way to prosperity, you have to build it: investing in modern infrastructure, investing in people and their skills, harnessing innovative ideas and new ways of working to tackle climate change to protect our environment and our future.
Saturday, September 12, 2015
So Hard
I'm wondering if the NYT would ever describe a UK or American conservative in a position of power as "hard right."
Cadillacs and T-Bones
"Everybody" has a cell phone now, and "smartphones," especially ones that aren't the latest models, are essentially free. Also, too, service plans are cheaper basically everywhere else in the world. More importantly, people fleeing war aren't necessarily poor. They aren't fleeing poverty. They're fleeing getting their asses shot off.
Probably Guilty of Something
Related to this, I knew lots of Very Serious People when the Wen Ho Lee case was a thing. All of these VSPs agreed he must be guilty of something, because Chinese-America and ESPIONAGE and reasons and fuck if I know. The whole concept is actually pretty ridiculous these days, as your iPhone probably automatically uploads your SECRETS to the cloud these days.
Racism+quotas+tough on something=ruining lives for fun!
Racism+quotas+tough on something=ruining lives for fun!
Friday, September 11, 2015
What's That In Your Pocket?
Is it a nuclear wessel or are you just damn glad to see me?
The presumed guilty stance against Asian-Americans is getting a bit, uh, old. Also, too, you're stoopid FBI. And racist. Pay Dr. Xi a lot of money you assholes.
WASHINGTON — When the Justice Department arrested the chairman of Temple University’s physics department this spring and accused him of sharing sensitive American-made technology with China, prosecutors had what seemed like a damning piece of evidence: schematics of sophisticated laboratory equipment sent by the professor, Xi Xiaoxing, to scientists in China.
The schematics, prosecutors said, revealed the design of a device known as a pocket heater. The equipment is used in semiconductor research, and Dr. Xi had signed an agreement promising to keep its design a secret.
But months later, long after federal agents had led Dr. Xi away in handcuffs, independent experts discovered something wrong with the evidence at the heart of the Justice Department’s case: The blueprints were not for a pocket heater.
Faced with sworn statements from leading scientists, including an inventor of the pocket heater, the Justice Department on Friday afternoon dropped all charges against Dr. Xi, an American citizen.
The presumed guilty stance against Asian-Americans is getting a bit, uh, old. Also, too, you're stoopid FBI. And racist. Pay Dr. Xi a lot of money you assholes.
The Final Straw
According to the map, for the Pope's visit, Independence Hall is going to be moved two blocks to the east and then across the street.
Making Criminals Out Of Lots Of People
Pennsylvania, for example, is a two party consent state for audio recordings of conversations...
Nobody Has Any Idea What They're Doing
And if/when the whole thing is a complete disaster, they'll know who to blame. The bloggers!
It's been so easy for people to plan their trips.
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – Philadelphia has already ended plans for ‘Francis Fields‘ when the Pope comes to town in a couple of weeks.
It was supposed to be a campground in Fairmount Park to host visitors during the Papal visit.
It's been so easy for people to plan their trips.
Collegiality
From bean to cup...
Andy Burnham’s team said they would refer the Sun newspaper to the regulator Ipso after an undercover reporter from the tabloid posing as a potential donor recorded him saying Jeremy Corbyn would be a disaster for the Labour party.
It has been expected that Burnham will take a senior job in the shadow cabinet if Corbyn is elected Labour party leader this weekend but was caught on tape saying of Corbyn: “Privately, it is a disaster for the Labour party. I mean, publicly, he is a nice man, a nice individual. He believes in the things he campaigns on so he’s not a fraud in any way. But I think the public will think Labour has given up on ever being a government again.”
Thursday, September 10, 2015
Mysteries
Shit pay, no job security, regularly being lambasted by senior government officials, wasting money outsourcing core functions? It's a total mystery why finding teachers is hard to do.
I assume (I don't know!) that they actually have to pay the people if they fill the jobs, so probably best they don't because profit.
Everything is stupid and horrible.
The private firm that scored a $34 million contract with the Philadelphia School District to staff substitute-teaching jobs - and promised that 75 percent of those positions would be filled on Day One - has fallen far short of its goals so far.
On Tuesday, the first day of school, it had filled only 11 percent of the jobs.
That left 477 city classrooms without teachers.
I assume (I don't know!) that they actually have to pay the people if they fill the jobs, so probably best they don't because profit.
Everything is stupid and horrible.
Is That You, Fred Malek?
Glad we're still counting Jews.
This is a bit too complicated for a blog post at the moment, but while acknowledging racial/ethnic/religious breakdowns can be appropriate at times, this is just stretching. "The debate divided Jewish constituents." Um, ok? Like everything else? "Though more Jewish members of Congress support the deal than oppose it"... another way to put it is that the Jews in Congress are more likely to support the deal than Christians in Congress are?
Narratives. We push them. HARD. One day THE JEWS will all vote Republican and elect BiBi president, just like Jesus intended.
Senate Democrats on Thursday blocked a Republican resolution against President Obama’s nuclear agreement with Iran, clearing the way for the accord. Ultimately four Democratic senators voted against the president, joining 19 Democrats in the House who have said they are opposed to the deal. The debate divided Jewish constituents between those who saw the deal as a threat to Israel and those who backed it as a way to avert conflict between Iran and the United States. Though more Jewish members of Congress support the deal than oppose it, of the 23 Democrats against the deal, 15 are Jewish.
This is a bit too complicated for a blog post at the moment, but while acknowledging racial/ethnic/religious breakdowns can be appropriate at times, this is just stretching. "The debate divided Jewish constituents." Um, ok? Like everything else? "Though more Jewish members of Congress support the deal than oppose it"... another way to put it is that the Jews in Congress are more likely to support the deal than Christians in Congress are?
Narratives. We push them. HARD. One day THE JEWS will all vote Republican and elect BiBi president, just like Jesus intended.
A Start
Probably going to be hard for them all to prove they aren't terra ists.
WASHINGTON — President Obama, under increasing pressure to demonstrate that the United States is joining European nations in the effort to resettle Syrian refugees, has told his administration to take in at least 10,000 displaced Syrians over the next year.
At a briefing at the White House on Thursday, the press secretary, Josh Earnest, said the United States would “accept at least 10,000 refugees in the next fiscal year,” which begins Oct. 1.
Progress
In word, at least.
WASHINGTON — Stung by years of criticism that it has coddled Wall Street criminals, the Justice Department issued new policies on Wednesday that prioritize the prosecution of individual employees — not just their companies — and put pressure on corporations to turn over evidence against their executives.
The Spaces Inbetween
I think that for most people in the US, the choice between urban and suburban living is a stark contrast. It's either living in two bedroom condos in giant skyscrapers or the suburban dream of a nice big house and a nice big yard. What we've really done badly over the past several decades is the spaces inbetween, the urban living that isn't all about giant skyscrapers. Previous inbetween places were mostly tipped towards the suburbs, with roads widened and walkable retail corridors replaced with strip malls, and their urban counterparts often destroyed with "urban renewal" projects.
Anyway, the point is that walkable urban living doesn't require the density of midtown Manhattan, nor its form. Limit parking requirements, minimum lot sizes, and setbacks, and the population density allowed by 3-4 story buildings is sufficient to allow for nice walkable neighborhoods. See, for example, many European cities.
Anyway, the point is that walkable urban living doesn't require the density of midtown Manhattan, nor its form. Limit parking requirements, minimum lot sizes, and setbacks, and the population density allowed by 3-4 story buildings is sufficient to allow for nice walkable neighborhoods. See, for example, many European cities.
Thursday Crass Commercialism
Though it fortunately managed to last just about the right amount of time, Friday Night Lights was a show that never quite found its audience. Probably the people who would most like it would be the ones least interested by its supposed subject matter - small town high school football. But it's more just about the complications of small town life, including a lot of race/class/gender issues, and it's ultimately a great feminist show. Ok, ignore season 2 a bit, but otherwise...
Today In Dystopian Future Nightmares
Really nothing to worry about.
Let's get one thing out of the way really quickly: The ancient, giant virus recently discovered in melting Arctic ice is not going to kill you.
But here's the bad news: It's not the first ancient virus that scientists have found frozen — it's the fourth found since 2003. And you can be sure it won't be the last. And with climate change causing massive melts, it's not totally alarmist to suggest that something deadly might one day emerge from a long, icy sleep.
Comfort Is Yours In America
Or not.
East Porterville is in Tulare County, a region in the middle of California's agriculture-heavy Central Valley that's been especially hard hit by the state's historic drought. More than 7,000 people in the the county lack running water; three quarters of them live in East Porterville. The community doesn't have a public water system; instead, residents rely on private wells. But after years of drought, the nearby Tule River has diminished to a trickle and the underground water table has sunk as more and more farmers rely on groundwater. Last week, I spent a few days interviewing residents in the town, also known as "ground zero" of the drought.
Demographic Time Bombs
I've never quite understood the obsession with the idea that changes in the age composition of a population will have drastic consequences. I've read a million articles explaining why and they never make any sense to me. But to the extent that people do worry about such things, the answer is quite simple: open the borders!
Yes demographic change, like just about any other changes, will have effects that won't all be positive, but it's hardly a country destroying phenomenon.
This fast-graying nation of 81 million is facing a demographic time bomb. With a morbidly low birthrate and a flat-lining population, hundreds of schools have already shuttered. Some neighborhoods, particularly in the increasingly vacant east, have become ghost towns. For Germans, it has raised a serious question: Who will build the Mercedes and Volkswagens of tomorrow?
Yes demographic change, like just about any other changes, will have effects that won't all be positive, but it's hardly a country destroying phenomenon.
Wednesday, September 09, 2015
No Need
Blake gets it right here. Even assuming away the racial profiling part, there was no need to tackle and cuff him.
Not denying the likely racial(racist) part of it, but cops shouldn't be using unnecessary force on anyone ever.
Asked if he considered it a case of racial profiling, Blake said, "I don't know if it's as simple as that. To me it's as simple as unnecessary police force, no matter what my race is. In my mind there's probably a race factor involved, but no matter what there's no reason for anybody to do that to anybody.
Not denying the likely racial(racist) part of it, but cops shouldn't be using unnecessary force on anyone ever.
Quite Likely A Career As A University President Awaits
Still quite entertaning.
The chief executive and two senior officials of United Airlines resigned on Tuesday amid a federal investigation into whether the airline had traded favors with the chairman of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.
The United States attorney for New Jersey has been investigating whether United, the nation’s third-largest airline, agreed to reinstate money-losing flights to the airport nearest the weekend home of the authority’s chairman, David Samson, in return for improvements the airline wanted at Newark Liberty International Airport, where it is the biggest carrier.
Moderate Rebels
Conceding that some brown people from the scary scary part of the world might not be terrorists makes Rubio a moderate!
But some might be! And they might have lasers that shoot out of their eyes!
“We’ve always been a country that’s been willing to accept people who have been displaced,” Mr. Rubio, the son of Cuban immigrants, told Boston Herald radio. “I think overwhelmingly, the vast and overwhelming majority of people that are seeking refuge are not terrorists.”
But some might be! And they might have lasers that shoot out of their eyes!
Time to Veg
I have a Wii from a million years ago. I still play it sometimes (I tend to like the idea of videogames more than I like playing them. I get bored.) I think the novelty of the physical motion aspect of the system wore off largely because videogames are something that, when I'm playing them, I want to do in my downtime. I want to put my ass on my couch and relax and space out for awhile, not go to the gym. It isn't precisely the same as the Kinect, but it's the same idea. If I want physical activity, I'll do that. If I want to relax in front of a fantasy world, I'll do that instead.
I Hate It When They're Right
Oh Lindsey, why have you broken your decades-long uninterrupted stream of wrongness? Up is now down and I wander the city confused and alone.
In a speech expressing his opposition to the proposed Iran deal, Graham urged the United States to take “its fair share of Syrian refugees”.
The South Carolina Republican said “we should take the Statue of Liberty and tear it down” if the United States continues its current, limited policies on admitting refugees from the ongoing conflict in the Middle East. Graham also called on European nations to “up their game” in addressing the refugee crisis. In a pointed reference to the second world war, he said to Europeans: “It wasn’t that long ago you needed someone’s help.”
Grifters At The Top
Having had some experience - mostly indirect, some direct - with top university administrators, there's one thing that puzzles me. They frequently aren't just horrible in a way that faculty might think they're horrible. They're actually just horrible, as in poor social and life skills. How do they float to the top?
Morning Thread
Echidne has a terrific post up about the refugees fleeing Syria and elsewhere. Answers many questions you may have, including using the word "refugee" as opposed to "migrant."
Tuesday, September 08, 2015
Don't Politicize 9/11 (HAHA JUST KIDDING THAT'S WHAT IT'S FOR LIBTURDS)
Remember how Iraq Sweepitallup Afghanistan Iraq Iraq Iran caused all of those Saudis to fly airplanes into buildings?
MAXIMUM POLITICAL PRESSURE on the DAY THAT MUST NOT BE POLITICIZED*
*Republicans not constrained by these conventions.
But it's not clear if those 41 Democrats will stick together on a filibuster of the disapproval legislation later this week. And Republicans in both chambers are discussing the possibility of voting on Friday, Sept. 11, to put maximum political pressure on Democrats, according to senior GOP sources.
MAXIMUM POLITICAL PRESSURE on the DAY THAT MUST NOT BE POLITICIZED*
*Republicans not constrained by these conventions.
Heckuva Freeance, Bushie
Thanks for the freedom bombs.
Mr. Abdella, 42, a police officer, had never left Iraq — never even seen the sea. But last week, he was on a plane to Istanbul, and from there traveled to the coastal resort city of Izmir, Turkey. A day later, he was on a smuggler’s boat to Greece, crying and praying over the phone with his family left behind in Baghdad. By the weekend, he told them, he was well on his way to Germany.
Emboldened by the recent wave of media coverage showing their countrymen and fellow Arabs fleeing the war in Syria and reaching Europe, many Iraqis see a new opportunity to get out.
What's The Capacity, Kenneth?
Unlike most "crazy new" transit ideas I don't, at first blush, think this is crazy. But capacity is the question, and I don't see the answer. Speed really isn't the primary issue on Central London tube line areas, it's capacity. If a "travelator" can handle the capacity, great idea! Don't think it can.
The Long Drive
One thing I find annoying is that when people are discussing SUPERTRAINS - even rail advocates - there's a tendency to feel the need to "compete" with air travel. You know, saying that yes, it takes longer, but not when you account for the need to get to/from airports, airport security, and that trains are generally city center to city center. All good points! But it overlooks the fact that lots (and lots) of people regularly make 10-12 hour drives. Apparently driving long distances is highly competitive with air travel!
This isn't an argument justifying public expenditure on rail infrastructure. I'm just pointing out that plenty of people do not choose air travel when doing 400+ mile journeys. They drive. Yes we know it doesn't take long to fly from LA to San Francisco. It takes quite a long time to drive. And lots of people drive.
This isn't an argument justifying public expenditure on rail infrastructure. I'm just pointing out that plenty of people do not choose air travel when doing 400+ mile journeys. They drive. Yes we know it doesn't take long to fly from LA to San Francisco. It takes quite a long time to drive. And lots of people drive.
Benefit Scroungers
Sorry your country has been destroyed and you risk death at every turn, but we can't make things TOO nice for you here...
BERLIN — Pressure is mounting on Germany and other nations to scale back their generous policies welcoming refugees, with opponents, including some of the region’s most influential leaders, arguing that the promise of aid is enticing more and more asylum seekers to make a break for Western Europe.
Once We Freedom Bomb The Underlying Causes There Will Be No More Refugee Crisis
Especially if we freedom bomb the refugees.
Wonder what tools the military has for that?
When pressed with hard questions about hardship and hunger in Britain, Mr Cameron is often keen to shift the debate away from such so-called “symptoms” and towards nebulous “underlying causes”. The billing of Monday’s statement as being about “Refugees and Counter Terrorism” betrayed a parallel effort to make a similar shift from discussing hard numbers of refugees, and towards the shapeless horrors of the Syrian war that caused their displacement. The PM revealed that UK forces had carried out a targeted assassination of a young British man, Reyaad Khan, who had been fighting with Isis in Syria. Not least because the Commons had expressly rejected military involvement in the Syrian theatre in 2013, this was dramatic and disturbing news. It was bound to divert attention from the row about refugee numbers. True, this was Mr Cameron’s first meeting with the House since the recess, but if he had wanted to keep the two issues separate he could have asked his home secretary to set out the asylum plans. He chose, however, not merely to take the two issues together but to suggest that he had thoughts on the military front that might somehow enable more Syrians to stay home.
Wonder what tools the military has for that?
Monday, September 07, 2015
3) Profit
Obviously the whole Lessig thing is silly and pointless, but I'd like an answer to the question: exactly which policies do you think would (or even should!) be enacted if not for all of that meddling money and gerrymandering. The problem with goo-goo process liberalism (and now centrism) is that it basically says that once we fix the system then ??. There's no agenda.
Money in politics is a problem, but for a long time I've been very unsure that the very narrow issue of money-in-federal-election-campaigns is really a big part of the "money in politics" problem. Quite possibly regulating that while ignoring the rest of it has contributed to the problem for various reasons.
But for those who think money-in-federal-election-campaigns (somewhat broadly defined, though there really are legitimate speech issues once you move away from the very narrowly defined campaign committee) is a major impediment to the liberal agenda, what are the policies that the nation is clamoring for but The Big Money won't allow that will be able to become law when the Lessig plan becomes law?
Again, of course the influence of money and entrenched wealthy interests is an issue. I just don't think this very narrow slice of it is that big of an issue. Yes he also includes the revolving door problem, but even there I don't think the real problem is the government/lobbyist revolving door. It's the regulatory agency/industry revolving door that's the problem.
Money in politics is a problem, but for a long time I've been very unsure that the very narrow issue of money-in-federal-election-campaigns is really a big part of the "money in politics" problem. Quite possibly regulating that while ignoring the rest of it has contributed to the problem for various reasons.
But for those who think money-in-federal-election-campaigns (somewhat broadly defined, though there really are legitimate speech issues once you move away from the very narrowly defined campaign committee) is a major impediment to the liberal agenda, what are the policies that the nation is clamoring for but The Big Money won't allow that will be able to become law when the Lessig plan becomes law?
Again, of course the influence of money and entrenched wealthy interests is an issue. I just don't think this very narrow slice of it is that big of an issue. Yes he also includes the revolving door problem, but even there I don't think the real problem is the government/lobbyist revolving door. It's the regulatory agency/industry revolving door that's the problem.
We Do Love Our Children
One of life's great mysteries to me is that people want to entrust their children to people with the shittiest pay and job conditions possible, whether we're talking about teachers, bus drivers, babysitters, nannies, etc. OK, I get that to a great degree it's about entrusting other people's children to people with shitty pay and job conditions, but it isn't just that. Rich assholes (not all rich assholes!) are notoriously cheap about paying their nannies and similar.
America's Worst Humans
Ryan T. Anderson.
What the typically (for a Heritage flunky) dishonest op-ed leaves out is that Davis didn't just say, "I can't issue these." She wouldn't allow anyone else in her office to do so, either. How should that be accommodated? Anderson don't care, Anderson don't say.
What the typically (for a Heritage flunky) dishonest op-ed leaves out is that Davis didn't just say, "I can't issue these." She wouldn't allow anyone else in her office to do so, either. How should that be accommodated? Anderson don't care, Anderson don't say.
Much More Like This
We aren't doing enough collectively, but kudos to the things that are being done.
The first Syrian refugee family arrived this week in Lancaster, to an apartment furnished with freshly made beds, a kitchen stocked with eggplant, olives and Arabic tea, and a table set with a hot meal accompanied by hummus and tabouleh.
Think About All The Freedom Bombs That Could Be Built With That Money
Such a waste, really.
The German government will spend an extra €6bn to cope with this year’s record influx of refugees, the ruling coalition said on Monday.
State and local governments will receive €3bn to help them house the 800,000 refugees heading for Germany while the central government is planning to free up another €3bn to fund its own expenses, such as paying benefits for asylum seekers.
Sunday, September 06, 2015
To Protect And Serve Millionaires
This is the key point of this article. Someone's apparent full time cop job is booting people who are quite often legally there. Who is paying that salary again?
How about if sheriff's deputies research the law and enforce it properly, rather than act as free armed guards for millionaires?
But They're All Terrorists
I gave George W. Bush a lot of credit for one thing. After 9/11, he really did make an effort - and did a pretty good job of - diminishing anti-Muslim sentiment. The narrative of Afghanistan was that it was a country of good people ruled by bad people, and we needed to take out the bad people both for our sake and for theirs. This is all cartoonish stuff, but such are narratives. And then Iraq. Peeance, freeance... and then those ungrateful Iraqis started to fight back. Why? I don't know. Ask them (people rarely did). The narrative for staying in Iraq, and staying in Iraq, and staying in Iraq, required it to be filled with bad people. So "they" (Muslim-ish people from the Middle Eastern-ish part of the world) all became bad again.
While the refugee response discourse has mostly been focused on Europe, because they're where they are coming to at the moment, America "can't" and certainly won't take them in. They're all terrorists, after all.
While the refugee response discourse has mostly been focused on Europe, because they're where they are coming to at the moment, America "can't" and certainly won't take them in. They're all terrorists, after all.
I Wonder How Much It Costs To Train 60 Moderate Rebels
We're a massive country. We can take in some refugees, too. I know it isn't all about us, but we didn't exactly help things in the region, even though we supposedly did it all for the peeance and the freeance.
The great humanitarian shining city on a hill could so something, no? For the freedom-loving people of Syria and elsewhere we kept talking about?
German and European Union leaders have called for European countries to share the burden of absorbing the hundreds of thousands of migrants who have poured into the continent this summer
The great humanitarian shining city on a hill could so something, no? For the freedom-loving people of Syria and elsewhere we kept talking about?
Rescue thread
I watched Attack the Block tonight and absolutely loved it. The trailer and the whole movie are apparently over at YouTube, so you can check it out. I recommend watching with the subtitles on, though, since that South London patois can be a bit hard to catch up with. I loved it that it all takes place in Wyndham Tower since the allusion is so stark and the population so blatantly non-Wyndham.
If that's not enough to keep you busy, I posted a whole bunch of links here.
Saturday, September 05, 2015
Because They Think He Pisses Off Liberals
Conservatives basically support anything/anyone they think pisses off liberals. They aren't very good at understanding what pisses off liberals, so usually it's more hilarious than enraging. No liberals would not be happy with President Trump, though that's less about President Trump being worse than the rest of the people in the clown car and more about being flabbergasted that those idiots voted for Trump just to piss us off.
If any conservatives want to offer up a policy-based case for Trump then I'm open to it, but I haven't yet seen one (that some liberals have pointed out that he isn't always so bad on the issues, recent events aside, doesn't count as a conservative case). Otherwise it's all attitude.
If any conservatives want to offer up a policy-based case for Trump then I'm open to it, but I haven't yet seen one (that some liberals have pointed out that he isn't always so bad on the issues, recent events aside, doesn't count as a conservative case). Otherwise it's all attitude.
Foreign Policy Is Hard
I don't know what to say about this, so I'll offer it without comment.
U.S. officials have not come to a firm conclusion about Russia's military intentions in Syria. But they fear Moscow will help Assad's forces attack the government's opponents, some of whom the U.S. backs. The increased Russian involvement could extend Assad's hold on power and further prolong a civil war that has pitted shifting alliances of dozens of armed factions, including the Islamic State militant group, against the government in Damascus.
"It's obviously a big concern," one official said. "If they're moving people in to help the Syrian government fight their own fight, that's one thing. But if they're moving in ground forces and dropping bombs on populated areas, that's an entirely different matter."
We Helped To Build That
The US isn't the only or direct cause of the refugee crisis, but we haven't exactly been helping things very much lately. Yes we armed a bunch of moderate rebels and then they disappeared with their weapons and then we armed a bunch more and then they disappeared with their weapons. One day we'll get that right I suppose.
We could take in some refugees maybe? I suppose that's unpossible, because even though we were told the people in the Middle East were all just earning for peeance and freeance if only we just took out their bad leaders, we're also told that they're all very scary brown mooslims, like the president, so that makes them all potential supervillains.
Foreign policy is complicated apparently. We'd better get Tom Friedman down to the White House so we can figure it out.
We could take in some refugees maybe? I suppose that's unpossible, because even though we were told the people in the Middle East were all just earning for peeance and freeance if only we just took out their bad leaders, we're also told that they're all very scary brown mooslims, like the president, so that makes them all potential supervillains.
Foreign policy is complicated apparently. We'd better get Tom Friedman down to the White House so we can figure it out.
Friday, September 04, 2015
American's Worst Humans
William "Too Fucking Many Names But Not Actually Bill O'Reilly" O'Reilly.
Shorter O'Reilly: A man who is married to an African-American woman must acknowledge how horrible they are.
Glad we're in that post-racial world.
Shorter O'Reilly: A man who is married to an African-American woman must acknowledge how horrible they are.
Glad we're in that post-racial world.
More Seriously
One of those days, which I've had several of lately, when blogging has been unpossible. Talk amongst yourselves!
Thursday, September 03, 2015
On A Dime
An "amazing" thing about the British tabloids/press in general is their ability to switch perspectives essentially overnight while still keeping their readership. The "migrants" were bad, until they were good. Or something.
I don't claim to know how to solve the world's problems, but I suspect that we could spend a bit less on "humanitarian bombs" and a bit more on "taking in refugees" and probably at least help a few more people than we do. I understand the urge (sometimes somewhat noble, sometimes not) to go after the bastards in charge, but ultimately the point is, supposedly, to help the people. The US is a giant country. We can take in way more refugees than we do, and the moral case for doing so doesn't even depend on the fact that we've helped to nudge them out of their homes.
I don't claim to know how to solve the world's problems, but I suspect that we could spend a bit less on "humanitarian bombs" and a bit more on "taking in refugees" and probably at least help a few more people than we do. I understand the urge (sometimes somewhat noble, sometimes not) to go after the bastards in charge, but ultimately the point is, supposedly, to help the people. The US is a giant country. We can take in way more refugees than we do, and the moral case for doing so doesn't even depend on the fact that we've helped to nudge them out of their homes.
The Way We Live
It is the Onion, but it isn't, really.
PHILADELPHIA—Saying it would give local youths a wider range of academic options, Philadelphia public school officials expressed high hopes Thursday for the recently opened Edison Magnet School, a new pilot initiative that caters to students who are interested in an adequate education.
Though still in its earliest experimental stages, the specialized high school has reportedly attracted students from across the city who share a desire to receive the kind of competent instruction in math, reading, and science unavailable in more traditional American classrooms.
It Feeds the Rich While it Buries the Poor
Ayn Rand's weirdo fantasies were, you know, fantasies, but at least John Galt was (in fantasy) a supergenius who invented a perpetual motion machine or something similar (hey, it's been awhile since I read it, maybe it was something to do with extracting energy from the precious bodily fluids of the great unwashed). Not sure what the other few million will do when they opt out. I'll take a chance that we can do without their mad skills.
Better Luck Next Year
No worries, the ponies will eventually arrive.
Better raise interest rates, just in case.
The unemployment rate is low by any historical standard at 5.3 percent. Businesses are complaining of worker shortages in industries including health care, construction and trucking. Household-name companies like Walmart and McDonald’s have announced increases to their pay for low-wage workers.
Add those together, and it would seem to point to 2015 as being the year American workers start seeing substantially larger paychecks. The only problem: There is no real evidence in the economic data that this is happening.
Better raise interest rates, just in case.
What are we doing here, that is the question. And we are blessed in this, that we happen to know the answer. Yes, in this immense confusion one thing alone is clear. We are waiting for Godot to come—
A Martyr Is Born
Wingnut welfare won't last very long, but it'll be nice while it does.
ASHLAND, Ky. — A federal judge here on Thursday ordered a Kentucky clerk jailed for contempt of court because of her refusal to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples.
It's Torture
I know I shouldn't be surprised, but I am surprised that this barbaric practice has persisted for so long. We've known for a long time that it destroys minds.
If mass incarceration is one of modern America’s deepest pathologies, solitary confinement is the concentrated version of it: far too many people locked up for far too long for no good reason, at no clear benefit to anyone.
The practice “literally drives men mad,” Justice Anthony Kennedy of the Supreme Court said in an appearance before Congress last March, highlighting the case of a California man isolated for 25 years. In July, President Obama became the first president to denounce the use of solitary. Locking people up alone for years or decades, he said, “is not going to make us safer. That’s not going to make us stronger. And if those individuals are ultimately released, how are they ever going to adapt?”
Generation Screwed
It's a bit more acute in London than most places in the US, but the basic story is the same. Education costs and student loans are crushing. There's no realistic way for people in their 20s to save money a deposit for unaffordable homes, let alone plan to start families. Their parents had it better. But The Kids Today and their unwillingness to grow up...
Wednesday, September 02, 2015
Trump'd
They only thing I can conclude is that "they" don't like him because he's the biggest threat to wingnut welfare, or at least its current recipients.
Jeb "Anchor Babies" Bush
An actual paragraph appearing in the liberal New York Times.
Ask Michael Schiavo about that inclusive, big-hearted governor.
Then there's that big-hearted party and the health care of 50% of the population.
Mr. Bush is at his most animated discussing policy. And the only thing he may be more passionate about than issues is his conviction that the Republicans must become an inclusive, big-hearted party that appeals to people’s hopes rather than their resentments.
Ask Michael Schiavo about that inclusive, big-hearted governor.
Then there's that big-hearted party and the health care of 50% of the population.
I, for one, don’t think Planned Parenthood ought to get a penny, though. And that’s the difference, because they’re not actually doing women’s health issues. They are involved in something way different than that.
Rich Guys Can't Make Other Rich Guys Look Bad
It's the 1st Law Of Rich Guys or something.
Do Not Be Mean To Football.
In the end even Sony, which unlike most other major studios in Hollywood has no significant business ties to the N.F.L., found itself softening some points it might have made against the multibillion-dollar sports enterprise that controls the nation’s most-watched game.
In dozens of studio emails unearthed by hackers, Sony executives; the director, Peter Landesman; and representatives of Mr. Smith discussed how to avoid antagonizing the N.F.L. by altering the script and marketing the film more as a whistle-blower story, rather than a condemnation of football or the league.
Do Not Be Mean To Football.
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