Saturday, December 19, 2015
Shit is Fucked Up And Bullshit
But we do love our children.
Flint switched its water supply in April 2014, drawing its drinking water from the Flint River while a new regional water system it plans to join next year is under construction. The local water treatment plant, with the approval of the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality, failed to add chemicals to the river water that would have prevented lead in aging service lines from leaching into the water. All of these decisions were made with the approval of a series of emergency managers, appointed by Snyder to guide the city back to financial stability.
Within months, the amount of lead in Flint's drinking water soared. Lead poisoning is irreversible, and can cause behavioral and developmental problems in children.
Guilty
Kathryn Knott gambled and lost. Wasn't convicted on all counts, but I assume she'll get a harsher sentence than the arguably "more guilty" (in a moral, not legal sense) compatriots who decided to take a plea.
Whatever I thought about the case (GUILTY!), I wasn't there and wasn't on the jury, but from what I read there was enough ambiguity that maybe she could have won that gamble. She didn't.
Whatever I thought about the case (GUILTY!), I wasn't there and wasn't on the jury, but from what I read there was enough ambiguity that maybe she could have won that gamble. She didn't.
Okay Here's Your Data, Bernie
The benevolent DNC has decided to honor its contract terms after all.
What a shit sandwich.
What a shit sandwich.
Morning Thread
Spocko on bringing real guns into movie theaters, but no fake guns allowed. Incredible.
Friday, December 18, 2015
Stories Behind Stories
Josh Uretsky is an old friend so perhaps I shouldn't say too much about DNCHACKINGGATE or whatever we're calling it (I will say that he is a genuinely good guy), but whatever the reality of that story, the bigger story, from the perspective that those with the real power are what really matter, is that the DNC and Debbie Wasserman Schultz are not exactly neutral in this primary and they don't even feel the need to pretend.
Shortly after the press conference, D.N.C. chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz appeared on CNN to dismiss Weaver's claims. "Unfortunately, the Sanders campaign doesn't have anything other than bluster at the moment that they can put out there," she said.
Sir, What Will Your Pleasure Be?
Hopefully take out Lilliput next, and then get rid of that menace Oz once and for all.
The Internet Left Is So Mean!!!
British politics/media coverage of politics reminds me of 2003 in the US. Sorry, Britain.
The Conservative MP Lucy Allan must have felt left out of this story, so she added a death threat to herself at the bottom of a constituent’s letter, writing “unless you die” so she could complain about it being violent. This must be terrifying for her, sending death threats to herself like this. She must have Post-it notes she’s written to herself on the fridge that say: “Remember to buy Cheesy Wotsits for the kid’s party. Or I’ll bury you alive, you bloodsucking whore.”
Then Corbyn finally went too far and attended a Stop the War Christmas dinner. Surely if he had any decency he’d behave like a proper MP and go to a dinner with arms traders or offshore bankers instead. Can’t he see he’s undermining the good work of parliamentarians who go to great lengths to support British Aerospace, trying to stop wars that are essential to the financial stability of the cluster bomb industry?
One complaint about the Stop the War coalition is that it has expressed support for President Assad. This is an impressive accusation if you’re a supporter of Tony Blair, because when Blair was Prime Minister he invited Assad on a state visit at which the President spoke of his “warm personal relations” with Blair. Then Blair established similarly warm relations with Gaddafi and Mubarak. He was probably trying to tick off all Arab dictators, the way some people like to visit all 92 football league grounds.
Thursday, December 17, 2015
Jayyuuuubb Creeeeaaashion
What's the justification for any supposed "job creating" policy if the Fed is just going to take away the punchbowl? We all know FREE TRADE and LOWER TAXES and LESS REGULATION will CREATE JOBS. Accepting that's true for the sake of argument, job creation policies aren't much use if the Fed is going to ensure that wage growth never happens. In other words, job growth policies, even if they're correct, just inspire the Fed to kill the job creation part. You can't create more jobs than the Fed wants you to.
I do not understand why Very Serious Economists do not address this issue.
Signed,
Atrios, Ph. D
I do not understand why Very Serious Economists do not address this issue.
Signed,
Atrios, Ph. D
The Real Issue
Of course Republicans don't care about the deficit, but the bigger issue is that the scolds in the media only care about the deficit when they can blame Democrats for it.
Deficit obsession only exists when it serves the Republican agenda. Otherwise, everyone ignores it. Propose spending some money to fix some bridges or to give some food to starving poor people then ZOMG THE DEFICIT. Propose bombing random people or cutting taxes for billionaires.... silence.
Deficit obsession only exists when it serves the Republican agenda. Otherwise, everyone ignores it. Propose spending some money to fix some bridges or to give some food to starving poor people then ZOMG THE DEFICIT. Propose bombing random people or cutting taxes for billionaires.... silence.
Guest Post From Martin Shkreli
I know I have lots of competition, but I have to admit that I really am, at least for today, America's Worst Human.
-M "huggywuggies" Shkreli
Don't Think It's The First Time
This is from memory which by this point is full of holes, but my MEMORY is that the annoying interweb ads thing has gone through a few cycles. They get increasingly annoying and then there's a backlash combined with some technology which starts to suppress them and then advertisers pull back...until they come up with new extra annoying ads which slowly pollute the web... rinse, repeat.
Maybe it's the first cycle for mobile ads, but not the interwebs in general.
Advertisers pay more for annoying ads and presumably get much less. Find me one human who has purchased anything after being seduced by the joys that can only be provided by an auto-on audio/video ad?
This won’t happen quickly. Ads have been getting increasingly annoying for years; they’re not going to suddenly become demure and well-behaved overnight. But, for the first time since the web was invented, 2016 will be a year when adtech is forced into retreat.
Maybe it's the first cycle for mobile ads, but not the interwebs in general.
Advertisers pay more for annoying ads and presumably get much less. Find me one human who has purchased anything after being seduced by the joys that can only be provided by an auto-on audio/video ad?
Fed'd
For reasons nobody sane understands, the Fed raised rates yesterday. I guess the best reason is something like "we need to raise rates so once we cause the next recession we'll be able to lower them again" but that doesn't actually make a lot of sense.
I don't think a tiny rate increase will destroy the economy, but it does signal that the Fed will never again allow wages to increase. That's a bit depressing. Who would have thought we'd miss the good old days of Alan Greenspan?
I don't think a tiny rate increase will destroy the economy, but it does signal that the Fed will never again allow wages to increase. That's a bit depressing. Who would have thought we'd miss the good old days of Alan Greenspan?
Oh No, Bro
Tragic.
A boyish drug company entrepreneur, who rocketed to infamy by jacking up the price of a life-saving pill from $13.50 to $750, was arrested on securities fraud related to a firm he founded.
Martin Shkreli, 32, ignited a firestorm over drug prices in September and became a symbol of defiant greed. The federal case against him has nothing to do with pharmaceutical costs, however. Prosecutors charged him with illegally taking stock from Retrophin Inc., a biotechnology firm he started in 2011, and using it pay off debts from unrelated business dealings. He was later ousted from the company, where he’d been chief executive officer, and sued by its board.
In the case that closely tracks that suit, federal prosecutors accused Shkreli of engaging in a complicated shell game after his defunct hedge fund, MSMB Capital Management, lost millions. He is alleged to have made secret payoffs and set up sham consulting arrangements.
Wednesday, December 16, 2015
Crazy Ideas
I wonder where Crazy Eyes Larry got this idea?
hmmm.....
No of course I'm not suggesting that I originated the concept or even the phrase, but if only people had listened a bit earlier...
Contractionary policy is contractionary
hmmm.....
No of course I'm not suggesting that I originated the concept or even the phrase, but if only people had listened a bit earlier...
Duh
Predictions are hard, especially about the future, and I think it's silly to analyze the impact of debates without any real polling numbers (without them you're just feeling it at us, perhaps with some thoughts about what OTHER beltway people thought about it), but as for the basic point... I never understood why so many political professionals - and I mean ones on The Left - appeared to see Rubio as the Great Republican Threat. He comes across as a not very bright, not very charming, and not very skilled little boy. He doesn't know how to chew the scenery and (supposedly, but not really) piss off liberals quite as much as the other folks, and to the extent that policy substance matters (it should! but who knows?) he's a gibberish fountain. Appeal to Republicans: limited. Appeal to mostly mythical swing voters: very limited. Appeal to actual Democrats: none.
A Truly Great Partner
For our next bold humanitarian mission.
This will go well. Though I guess the script has changed. We're no longer helping the poor people of Syria, we're just killing "bad guys." I'm sure this new Islamic military alliance will find all the bad guys and then some.
Saudi Arabia has announced the formation of an “Islamic military alliance” to combat global terrorism, an effort to respond to Western assertions that it could do more in the fight against the Islamic State and to solidify its claim to leadership of the Sunni world against Shiite Iran.
The 34-member group, to be headquartered in Riyadh, will coordinate mutual anti-terrorism assistance for members “all over the Islamic world,” Deputy Crown Prince and Defense Minister Mohammed bin Salman said in a rare news conference Tuesday.
This will go well. Though I guess the script has changed. We're no longer helping the poor people of Syria, we're just killing "bad guys." I'm sure this new Islamic military alliance will find all the bad guys and then some.
I Can't Believe There's Still a Kiddie Table
I know there are a multitude of inputs into the decision making process for these things - including, of course, ratings - but it's hard to imagine a world in which there were so many "serious" Democratic candidates that any news network planning to broadcast a debate would just shrug its shoulders and say, "oh well, I guess we gotta have two." They'd choose the "top" 5 (however they would decide to choose them) and tell the rest to piss off. Related, most of the candidates would be completed ignored by the Sunday shows instead of each one getting multiple turns.
The Republicans must be heard. All of them. Again and again and again and again.
The Republicans must be heard. All of them. Again and again and again and again.
Tuesday, December 15, 2015
America's Worst Humans
J. Bruce Harreld.
If I said something equivalent, the FBI would be at my house. At least a few lawsuits might bloom.
If I said something equivalent, the FBI would be at my house. At least a few lawsuits might bloom.
Looters
Shocked.
Right or wrong (probably wrong) they can raise giant amounts money any time there's a disaster. But, you know, gotta run it like a business!
Not really blunders. Just the plan.
McGovern and her handpicked team of former AT&T colleagues have presided over a string of previously unreported management blunders that have eroded the charity’s ability to fulfill its core mission of aiding Americans in times of need.
Under McGovern, the Red Cross has slashed its payroll by more than a third, eliminating thousands of jobs and closing hundreds of local chapters. Many veteran volunteers, who do the vital work of responding to local fires and floods have also left, alienated by what many perceive as an increasingly rigid, centralized management structure.
Far from opening offices in every city and town, the Red Cross is stumbling in response to even smaller scale disasters.
Right or wrong (probably wrong) they can raise giant amounts money any time there's a disaster. But, you know, gotta run it like a business!
Not really blunders. Just the plan.
Nobody Could Have Predicted
Maybe the machine will be ready by Dec. 23, but the date was obviously chosen to add in a couple weeks of holiday wiggle room.
Official schedules say the machine should be ready to dig by Dec. 23, though Dixon has said workers might take a holiday break first, after weeks of overtime.
Monday, December 14, 2015
This Will Probably Doom Trump's Campaign
Something seems to do so every week or so.
I don't think I did/would have predicted Trump's level of current success, but once he started getting high poll numbers all of the "TRUMP IS DOOMED THIS TIME" stories from the people who are paid lots of money to explain this stuff to us were hilarious. The only good information about a primary like this is poll numbers. They certainly can change, and they do, but pundits think their guts know truths that polls cannot reflect. The rich people who gchat with them know special things.
2012 was similarly hilarious with all of the savvy pundits hating Nate Silver. Silver was no wizard. He basically averaged polls and managed to make that actually interesting by forming an extended narrative about them. THE POLLS ARE ALL WRONG! NATE SILVER IS A FALSE PROPHET they all cried. It's true that all of the polls could have been wrong. That's possible! But without the polls, you have little more than the voices in your head.
Donald Trump has crossed the 40 percent threshold in a new national poll, giving the Republican presidential candidate the largest lead he’s held in any survey so far.
A Monmouth University poll released Monday found Trump taking 41 percent support and opening up a 27-point lead over the next closest contender ahead of Tuesday night’s Republican presidential debate in Las Vegas.
I don't think I did/would have predicted Trump's level of current success, but once he started getting high poll numbers all of the "TRUMP IS DOOMED THIS TIME" stories from the people who are paid lots of money to explain this stuff to us were hilarious. The only good information about a primary like this is poll numbers. They certainly can change, and they do, but pundits think their guts know truths that polls cannot reflect. The rich people who gchat with them know special things.
2012 was similarly hilarious with all of the savvy pundits hating Nate Silver. Silver was no wizard. He basically averaged polls and managed to make that actually interesting by forming an extended narrative about them. THE POLLS ARE ALL WRONG! NATE SILVER IS A FALSE PROPHET they all cried. It's true that all of the polls could have been wrong. That's possible! But without the polls, you have little more than the voices in your head.
Helpful
People are horrible.
PARIS — The French authorities said on Monday that a teacher who claimed to have been stabbed with scissors and a box cutter at a preschool near Paris had fabricated the story.
A police official in Aubervilliers confirmed that the teacher, who has not been identified, admitted to having invented the assault at the Jean Perrin preschool in Aubervilliers, a northern suburb of Paris.
The Partisan Trap
One game our pundits have loved to play for years is blaming democrats for politicizing anything that's a priority of... democrats. If they just wouldn't bring it up, then it wouldn't be such an icky liberal thing, and then maybe Republicans would support it! It's true, in a way, that once a cause becomes associated with libturds then Republicans will run away from it, but somehow this is the fault of Democrats! Basically, sit in the corner, shut up, let the Republicans govern, and every now and then maybe something good will come out of it.
Right.
Right.
Sunday, December 13, 2015
Flavor of the Week
Apparently the memo came down from central programming. The new hot thing is Cruz! He's gonna win because reasons!!!
Is That It?
I know nothing about these things, but if attempts to take out oil infrastructure are this ineffective, it's probably because the powers that be don't want to blow up the valuable stuff.
It sounds like the bombing is making it be dangerous to be an oil worker (because you might be bombed!), and is not actually focused on blowing up valuable infrastructure which would be easier and kill fewer people.
Fuck yeah.
These efforts to stop Isis earning money from oil is starting to have an effect. Production fell by 30 per cent in December at al-Omar and al-Tanak.
It sounds like the bombing is making it be dangerous to be an oil worker (because you might be bombed!), and is not actually focused on blowing up valuable infrastructure which would be easier and kill fewer people.
Fuck yeah.
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