Saturday, December 31, 2016
Random Thought
The only way to solve the mass transit "last mile problem" is to build places and have service such that there isn't a "last mile problem." Also, convince people that walking half a mile actually isn't a problem (for people who don't have mobility issues, of course). Also, too, if you have to convince people of that then ¯\_(ツ)_/¯.
Friday, December 30, 2016
Brexiteers
The stupidest story of 2016 probably wasn't even our own election (though that will be more consequential), it was the Brexit vote. It will likely also be the stupidest story of 2017, as the incompetents who run the UK keep believing they can have everybody's cake and eat sausage rolls too. The UK has long had an outsized belief in its own importance of the world, and they'll isolate themselves from Europe and the US once Trump realizes that Nigel Farage isn't actually prime minister, or anything at all really.
Heckuva job.
Heckuva job.
Pity The Poor Drug Addicts
And I do! I really do! But I've seen decades of coverage - including ongoing coverage - of drug use in minority communities, and it was a criminal problem, not a public health problem. African-American drug use hasn't just been seen as a criminal problem, it's been big business for private jails! Had to bring them to heel somehow.
I wonder if reporters who cover this stuff (who may individually be blameless) have any awareness.
And mortality rates for African-Americans of that age group are still higher as they have been for a long time.
I wonder if reporters who cover this stuff (who may individually be blameless) have any awareness.
And mortality rates for African-Americans of that age group are still higher as they have been for a long time.
Yeah I'm Not Going To Click That
The end of the year puts people in resolutions mode, which is fine, but what's with the tendency to make resolutions for other people? Fine you want to go the gym more, read books more, stop staring at your phone so much, talk to your kids more, whatever. I really don't want to read your "why everyone needs to put their cell phones down" piece. Put your own down, and tell us how it went in, say, a year from now. That would be slightly more interesting! Show, don't hector.
Also, too, if the resolution type thing requires significant money and or/time, consider that many people don't have those things.
Also, too, if the resolution type thing requires significant money and or/time, consider that many people don't have those things.
Thursday, December 29, 2016
Happy Hour Thread
A bit of travel over the next couple of days for me. So blogging could be sucky, or not. You know the deal by now..
These Things Are Not The Same
Headline.
First paragraph:
Lending your own money and lending that of other people is not quite the same. And, you know, bye bye money.
Every organization is, internally, a "socialist economy." Well, a Soviet-style planned one, really. Just dissolve the firm entirely and atomize it down to its component parts, single individuals.
Struggling Sears is borrowing another $200 million from its CEO to stay afloat
First paragraph:
Sears is borrowing more money from CEO Eddie Lampert's hedge fund to stay afloat.
Lending your own money and lending that of other people is not quite the same. And, you know, bye bye money.
Plagued by the realities threatening many retail stores, Sears also faces a unique problem: Lampert. Many of its troubles can be traced to an organizational model the chairman implemented five years ago, an idea he has said will save the company. Lampert runs Sears like a hedge fund portfolio, with dozens of autonomous businesses competing for his attention and money. An outspoken advocate of free-market economics and fan of the novelist Ayn Rand, he created the model because he expected the invisible hand of the market to drive better results. If the company’s leaders were told to act selfishly, he argued, they would run their divisions in a rational manner, boosting overall performance.
Instead, the divisions turned against each other—and Sears and Kmart, the overarching brands, suffered. Interviews with more than 40 former executives, many of whom sat at the highest levels of the company, paint a picture of a business that’s ravaged by infighting as its divisions battle over fewer resources. (Many declined to go on the record for a variety of reasons, including fear of angering Lampert.) Shaunak Dave, a former executive who left in 2012 and is now at sports marketing agency Revolution, says the model created a “warring tribes” culture. “If you were in a different business unit, we were in two competing companies,” he says. “Cooperation and collaboration aren’t there.”
...
The most cumbersome aspect of the new structure, former employees say, was Lampert’s edict that each unit create its own board of directors. Because there were so many departments, some presidents sat on as many as five or six boards, which met once a month. Top executives were constantly mired in meetings.
Under the new model, Lampert evaluated the different divisions—and calculated executives’ bonuses—using a metric called business operating profit, or BOP. As some employees had feared, individual business units started to focus solely on their own profitability and stopped caring about the welfare of the company as a whole. According to several former executives, the apparel division cut back on labor to save money, knowing that floor salesmen in other departments would inevitably pick up the slack. Turf wars sprang up over store displays. No one was willing to make sacrifices in pricing to boost store traffic.
In an e-mail, Chris Brathwaite, a Sears spokesman, writes that executives work together if it makes sense. He added: “Clashes for resources are a product of competition and advocacy, things that were sorely lacking before and are lacking in socialist economies.”
Every organization is, internally, a "socialist economy." Well, a Soviet-style planned one, really. Just dissolve the firm entirely and atomize it down to its component parts, single individuals.
Fissures
One can draw too many inferences from a life spent online, but I see a lot of antagonism towards The Left, and by The Left I just mean people who, before the whole Clinton/Sanders spat erupted, were pretty solidly in the mainstream of the online Left, a group which was the on the left wing of the democratic party, but not exactly planning on leading the communist revolution. Policy positions that I thought were pretty standard fare are now dismissed because they're associated with Sanders, and therefore associated with Berniebros, and therefore the people who didn't vote for Hillary Clinton and therefore the people who are to blame for all of this. There are a lot of assumptions in there (and of course I'm making gross generalizations I recognize), as on the internet no one knows you're a dog. But basically there's a chain of them which goes from support of policy ideas which were pretty standard stuff before the primary means you didn't vote for Clinton which means it's all your fault.
I don't have much patience for lefties who pay enough attention to politics to argue about it online and who chose not to vote for Clinton, but I also know a lot of people who are lefties, did support Sanders, did support Clinton after the primary was over, did tell other people to vote for her, and did (they say) vote for her, who get a lot of shit because reasons I haven't yet figured out. Basically, shutup you supported Sanders! I mean, hate Bernie if you want, but getting mad at people who voted for him and then going on to dismiss a political agenda because it's associated with him is pretty weird. I see a lot flaming liberals now sounding like Max Baucus for reasons I don't quite understand. I'm not a "Bernie would have won" guy and I tend not to put much stock in any monocausal explanations for a lost close election, but I suspect the doubling down on what Washington perceives as centrism (but which isn't meaningfully "centrism") isn't really the way to go.*
Yes there be assholes on the internet, but the actual primary as waged between the campaigns of Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders was the gentlest most mildly "fought" presidential primary contest I've ever seen. Clinton and Obama were assholes to to each other in 2008, everyone was assholes to everybody in 2004, and Gore and Bradley (remember him?) were assholes to each other in 2000.
*This is too much for this blog post, but here's where people chime in and say "Hillary Clinton had the most progressive platform ever!" That's true enough, but Clinton also has a long history, a long set of associations, a voting record, a record of public statements,and ran a campaign which explicitly and implicitly rested on continuing the Obama agenda. I'm no Obama hater, either, but he also explicitly embraced the identity of the left leaning version of centrism. I'm aware that in 2008 plenty of people hoped (hah) and believed that Obama was secretly a lot more liberal than his campaign suggested, but anyone who paid attention knew that the campaign as staged was basically between two centrists.
Democratic centrism isn't the same as Republican centrism. It's better! For example, it isn't true that Obamacare is just the Heritage Foundation health care plan. It's better! But it's still based on the same blueprint. It's still deep in the ideology of centrism which still only flirts with more solid Lefty positions. Democratic centrism still doesn't see that things are fucked up and bullshit, and going on 40 years of ideological centrism has been the problem, not the solution. It still laughs at those crazy lefties and their "unicorn" ideas. It still sees centrism as both the only achievable thing (perhaps true!) and the only politically popular thing (likely not true!). It's still an ideology which sees that political wisdom is found in talking to Joe Klein, David Brooks, and Tom Friedman. It's politics that sees winning elections as winning over the Charlie Rose Green room while signalling some cultural affiliations with the rubes in Fritters every four years.
I don't have much patience for lefties who pay enough attention to politics to argue about it online and who chose not to vote for Clinton, but I also know a lot of people who are lefties, did support Sanders, did support Clinton after the primary was over, did tell other people to vote for her, and did (they say) vote for her, who get a lot of shit because reasons I haven't yet figured out. Basically, shutup you supported Sanders! I mean, hate Bernie if you want, but getting mad at people who voted for him and then going on to dismiss a political agenda because it's associated with him is pretty weird. I see a lot flaming liberals now sounding like Max Baucus for reasons I don't quite understand. I'm not a "Bernie would have won" guy and I tend not to put much stock in any monocausal explanations for a lost close election, but I suspect the doubling down on what Washington perceives as centrism (but which isn't meaningfully "centrism") isn't really the way to go.*
Yes there be assholes on the internet, but the actual primary as waged between the campaigns of Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders was the gentlest most mildly "fought" presidential primary contest I've ever seen. Clinton and Obama were assholes to to each other in 2008, everyone was assholes to everybody in 2004, and Gore and Bradley (remember him?) were assholes to each other in 2000.
*This is too much for this blog post, but here's where people chime in and say "Hillary Clinton had the most progressive platform ever!" That's true enough, but Clinton also has a long history, a long set of associations, a voting record, a record of public statements,and ran a campaign which explicitly and implicitly rested on continuing the Obama agenda. I'm no Obama hater, either, but he also explicitly embraced the identity of the left leaning version of centrism. I'm aware that in 2008 plenty of people hoped (hah) and believed that Obama was secretly a lot more liberal than his campaign suggested, but anyone who paid attention knew that the campaign as staged was basically between two centrists.
Democratic centrism isn't the same as Republican centrism. It's better! For example, it isn't true that Obamacare is just the Heritage Foundation health care plan. It's better! But it's still based on the same blueprint. It's still deep in the ideology of centrism which still only flirts with more solid Lefty positions. Democratic centrism still doesn't see that things are fucked up and bullshit, and going on 40 years of ideological centrism has been the problem, not the solution. It still laughs at those crazy lefties and their "unicorn" ideas. It still sees centrism as both the only achievable thing (perhaps true!) and the only politically popular thing (likely not true!). It's still an ideology which sees that political wisdom is found in talking to Joe Klein, David Brooks, and Tom Friedman. It's politics that sees winning elections as winning over the Charlie Rose Green room while signalling some cultural affiliations with the rubes in Fritters every four years.
Wednesday, December 28, 2016
Balance Billing
Republicans just want to steal all of your money.
Vote Dem! They only want to steal half off it! (ok, mordant humor).
Vote Dem! They only want to steal half off it! (ok, mordant humor).
THE TECHNOLOGY IS COMING FROM INSIDE THE STATE
And apparently laws are powerless over it.
Can't possibly have a normal regulatory process, or even any regulatory process with enforcement powers at all. And, really, who's responsibility? Can't sue a robot! BWAHAHAAHAHAA.
They could! It's possible!
What a fucking disaster this is going to be. Nobody listens to Atrios...
A big one: What teeth will PennDot’s recommendations have? Because the vehicles won’t fall under the normal regulatory process, PennDot’s enforcement power is unclear.
Can't possibly have a normal regulatory process, or even any regulatory process with enforcement powers at all. And, really, who's responsibility? Can't sue a robot! BWAHAHAAHAHAA.
Officials point to a federal study finding that human error causes about 94 percent of traffic accidents; autonomous vehicles could make roads far safer.
They could! It's possible!
What a fucking disaster this is going to be. Nobody listens to Atrios...
Inspiring The World
Lack of IDs is even a bigger problem in the UK than the US, but, hey, as long as they can stop (the wrong sorts of) people from voting.
There, like here, there is no actual voter fraud, but as long as conservatives can preserve the franchise for old white people only, it's all good.
Voters in towns and cities with large Muslim communities where there are concerns about election fraud will have to show their passports or driving licences before casting their ballot.
The Government has announced that voters will have to produce identification to vote to reduce the risk of "endemic corruption" and protect the democratic process.
The voter ID scheme will be trialled in 18 areas which have been identified by police and the Electoral Commission as being "vulnerable" to voting fraud, including Bradford and Birmingham. The pilot schemes will be implemented during local elections in May 2018 before they are rolled out nationwide.
There, like here, there is no actual voter fraud, but as long as conservatives can preserve the franchise for old white people only, it's all good.
We Do Love Our Children
Except for that thing where he gave a private company lots of money so that kids didn't have substitutes for an entire year because turning substitutes into outsourced temp positions make so much sense, he's great!
Except for that part thinking that letting private companies skim profits in order to pay substitutes a minimum wage equivalent, because we do so love our children, he's great!
Of course "everybody" thinks the Philadelphia schools are horrible because a city full of black people can't govern itself, but the district is run by the state, we havegrifter charter school laws which requires that they get all the money first, and the local newspapers usually cheer on any bullshit that involves handing over whatever little money the district gets to outside companies.
Because the problem is teachers, and we do so love our children, and wasting money on consultants and other grifts is the best way to show our love. For the children. Because we love them.
I'd bet a cheesesteak that no one on the editorial board has any kids in the district.
His one minus, in the eyes of his bosses, was the failure of the district's efforts in 2015 to outsource its substitute-teaching services to a private contractor, Soure4Teachers, which was long on promises but short on delivery.
Hite acknowledged the failure, fired Source4Teachers within a year and turned to a new outside firm, Kelley Services. The result is not perfect, but Hite said the district is filling about 70 percent of the substitute teacher slots each day, about double what it was last year.
Except for that part thinking that letting private companies skim profits in order to pay substitutes a minimum wage equivalent, because we do so love our children, he's great!
Of course "everybody" thinks the Philadelphia schools are horrible because a city full of black people can't govern itself, but the district is run by the state, we have
Because the problem is teachers, and we do so love our children, and wasting money on consultants and other grifts is the best way to show our love. For the children. Because we love them.
I'd bet a cheesesteak that no one on the editorial board has any kids in the district.
Tuesday, December 27, 2016
The Dead People Are Being Buried Under My Lawn
Social Media lets you be exposed to just how miserably weird people are. I'm not one who thinks it's wrong to speak ill of the dead, especially when it comes to politicians and other people who, in life, had massive amounts of power over the lives of other people. It's a fair a moment as any to assess the impacts that they had, and often a necessary backlash against the hagiography that too often provides the first draft of history. So, you know, criticize away! But I'm always surprised by the number of people who express things like "who cares" or "didn't mean anything to me" or "so what" or "why are we hearing about this person." These aren't criticisms or assessments of a life, just cranky grunts about people caring about something you didn't. Yah, sometimes the kids today don't much care about your heroes and you don't much care about theirs. And really no one cares about that. Go pee in your own pool.
Your Moment of Zen
I wonder why.
President Obama has an "elitist" view on the media, in the opinion of former "Meet The Press" host David Gregory.
"The president has a bit of an elitist view. Not a bit, an elitist view that the media is silly," Gregory said Sunday on CNN's "Reliable Sources."
Giant Ball Of Glowing Fire That Moves Aross The Sky
People can have valid specific complaints (whether or not they have implicit or explicit property rights) about new buildings blocking a particular ray of sun coming into a particular window at particular times. And, sure, when I force everybody to live in midtown Manhattan the complaints will be a bit more valid, but generally the ZOMG tall buildings block out the sun!!! complaints are pretty silly.
I'm more sympathetic than some to "neighborhood character" concerns but often they're misplaced or dishonest...
But plans for a taller, denser Bethesda have touched off alarms in the affluent “edge” neighborhoods just east of Wisconsin, including East Bethesda and Chevy Chase. Residents fear looming high-rises will block the sun, casting shadows over their homes.
A community group, the Coalition of Bethesda Area Residents, has examined the county’s data and concluded that the new density allocated under the plan could sustain 28 new buildings of 20 stories or more. That would place Bethesda’s skyline second only to Baltimore in the Washington region, surpassing Silver Spring, Tysons Corner and Rosslyn.
I'm more sympathetic than some to "neighborhood character" concerns but often they're misplaced or dishonest...
Putin Love Isn't Anything New
This is a small point that I keep coming back to, because I really wish Democrats would get off their 'ZOMG TRUMP LURRVVS KGB COMMIE PUTIN!!!' kick. It was stupid during the campaign to think that it mattered, and it's stupid now. I'm not talking about what should matter, but from a pure "get voters to give a shit" perspective, they don't give a shit. Conservatives have loved Putin for some time. Democrats mocked Romney in 2012 for trying to make Russia a serious foreign policy issue. We're 20+ years into Western propaganda (and, yes, it is) about how Russian's transformation to capitalism is The Greatest Thing Ever. It was a victory for Capitalism and America and even when it predictably all went bad all the Very Serious People were so tainted (and enriched - when the "consulting" fees weren't enough they just joined in the looting) by their involvement in the whole project that we all just agreed to not talk about it again, because Capitalism (except for crazy lefties, because they are always wrong even when they're right). Even with recent events in Ukraine and Syria, neither party really tried to make Putin into A Bad Guy Who Threatens The West And America.
It isn't hard in the US to turn someone into the Hitler of the Week (deserved or not). That's how we get into all of these lovely little wars so easily. But it's like the Democrats woke up in July and decided that everyone already agreed that Putin was the Hitler of the Week without even bothering to make the case. They don't. And no matter how much people deny it, it was a clumsy attempt to bring back the red scare/invoke cold war era tropes, complete with hammer and sickle flags and constant references to Putin as the head of an domestic "intelligence" agency that doesn't exist anymore. There were regular references to "Soviets" and "communists." Nobody under the age of 50 has any idea what the fuck they're talking about. Also, too, however bad Putin and the Russian state are, that's, as the kids today call it, "fake news."
Again, I'm not defending Putin or arguing about what should be important, I'm just saying that Democrats keep thinking that saying "Putin yarglebargle!!!!" is going to win them votes. It didn't and it isn't.
It isn't hard in the US to turn someone into the Hitler of the Week (deserved or not). That's how we get into all of these lovely little wars so easily. But it's like the Democrats woke up in July and decided that everyone already agreed that Putin was the Hitler of the Week without even bothering to make the case. They don't. And no matter how much people deny it, it was a clumsy attempt to bring back the red scare/invoke cold war era tropes, complete with hammer and sickle flags and constant references to Putin as the head of an domestic "intelligence" agency that doesn't exist anymore. There were regular references to "Soviets" and "communists." Nobody under the age of 50 has any idea what the fuck they're talking about. Also, too, however bad Putin and the Russian state are, that's, as the kids today call it, "fake news."
Again, I'm not defending Putin or arguing about what should be important, I'm just saying that Democrats keep thinking that saying "Putin yarglebargle!!!!" is going to win them votes. It didn't and it isn't.
Monday, December 26, 2016
Can't Appeal To The Judges
I guess it's settling down a bit, but I still see a lot of people expressing the desire/belief that This One Big Thing will stop Donald Trump from being president. I assume after that This One Big Thing will lead to impeachment, etc. It doesn't matter if there's a Russian orgy video or tapes of Trump being racist. It will not stop him from taking office and will not cause him to leave office.
Certainly not against people pointing out that Trump will likely have committed impeachable offenses the day he takes office and every day after that. But impeachment is a political act requiring the party controlling the House to act to even begin the process. Republicans aren't going to do it because you could prove Donald Trump did Benghazi and they wouldn't care.. The press isn't going to demand it, because only Democrats do naughty things that don't require us to look forward, not backward.
Fight the agenda. The man isn't going anywhere.
Certainly not against people pointing out that Trump will likely have committed impeachable offenses the day he takes office and every day after that. But impeachment is a political act requiring the party controlling the House to act to even begin the process. Republicans aren't going to do it because you could prove Donald Trump did Benghazi and they wouldn't care.. The press isn't going to demand it, because only Democrats do naughty things that don't require us to look forward, not backward.
Fight the agenda. The man isn't going anywhere.
Nothing To See Here
We don't need much climate change for it to be incredibly costly, even if catastrophe isn't imminent.
Major flooding in the UK is now likely to happen every year but ministers still have no coherent long-term plan to deal with it, the government’s leading adviser on the impacts of climate change has warned.
Boxing Day in 2015 saw severe floods sweep Lancashire and Yorkshire, just weeks after Storm Desmond swamped Cumbria and parts of Scotland and Wales. The flooding, which caused billions of pounds of damage, led to the government publishing a review in September which anticipates 20-30% more extreme rainfall than before.
And There's The Punchline
Why I continue my lonely battle against self-driving cars.
They won't work, but they will "work" if we hand over massive amounts of public infrastructure to them, which is free, and spend nothing on alternatives, which are not free, because reasons. Freeways, expensive accessory required. Cars (Even the superfast ones) aren't engineered to travel 200 MPH for extended periods of time, and certainly not on our highways as currently constructed. But, hey, details...
I suspect everybody involved knows these things are vaporware, but if they can get enough public money involved they can make it work financially. It's the American way.
That is why new rail-based transportation systems, such as the one that California has long been debating, are not sensible investments to make. By the time they are complete, our modes of mass transportation will have changed. The California project aims to move 20 to 24 million passengers a year from downtown L.A. to downtown San Francisco, through California’s Central Valley, in 2 hours 40 minutes. It is projected to cost an estimated $64 billion when completed by about 2030. By then, we will be debating whether human beings should be allowed to drive cars, and public rail systems will be facing bankruptcy because of cheaper and better alternatives.
The wise investment to make will be in accelerating adoption of self-driving cars and in reserving lanes for them,
They won't work, but they will "work" if we hand over massive amounts of public infrastructure to them, which is free, and spend nothing on alternatives, which are not free, because reasons. Freeways, expensive accessory required. Cars (Even the superfast ones) aren't engineered to travel 200 MPH for extended periods of time, and certainly not on our highways as currently constructed. But, hey, details...
I suspect everybody involved knows these things are vaporware, but if they can get enough public money involved they can make it work financially. It's the American way.
Power of the Free Market
The NYT runs this piece on the F35 in the Business section. Disastrous failure sure, But the real question is how much Lockheed can make.
Sunday, December 25, 2016
Merry Christmas!!!
I hope you had nothing but the best caganers in your nativity scenes.
And that your Caga Tio pooped out the best presents!
Everybody sing!
shit, log,
shit turrón,
hazelnuts and mató cheese,
if you don't shit well,
I'll hit you with a stick,
shit, log!
And that your Caga Tio pooped out the best presents!
Everybody sing!
shit, log,
shit turrón,
hazelnuts and mató cheese,
if you don't shit well,
I'll hit you with a stick,
shit, log!
Saturday, December 24, 2016
Hey Jude
Someone needs to tell Trump that once he's president he can do a whole lot more for kids with cancer and without health insurance. St Jude's is right! No kid with cancer should get a bill.
#DrainTheSwamp
Marcy has a point.
(U)sing the DrainTheSwamp hashtag to highlight the many ways Trump is reneging on his promises is actually a fairly direct way to communicate directly with Trump voters in terms they’re habituated to. It works especially well if you use words about Trump reneging on his promises.
Conservatives Love Putin
One thing I don't think most people were aware of is that conservatives have loved Putin for a long time. I don't mean the elected Republicans or really any of the establishment conservative bigwigs, but for whatever reason the online conservatives have had a thing for Putin for years. Roughly, they thought Putin looked manly and tough and made that wimpy Obama look bad all the time, and that was enough for them.
It isn't (and wasn't) going to bother any of them one bit if Trump is Putin's buddy.
It isn't (and wasn't) going to bother any of them one bit if Trump is Putin's buddy.
Shit Is Fucked Up And Bullshit
Just doing my part to get you in the holiday spirit.
Water rates in Bayonne have risen nearly 28 percent since Kohlberg Kravis Roberts — one of Wall Street’s most storied private equity firms — teamed up with another company to manage the city’s water system, the Times analysis shows. City officials also promised residents a four-year rate freeze that never materialized.
Should Have Known
Don't just need to build a wall between PA and NJ, gotta encase the city in a bubble.
...ah, never mind, I see they'd updated the story below to blame NJ after I first read it...
PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) --
Authorities have determined the foul odor came from a refinery in Gloucester County, New Jersey.
Residents in the Philadelphia and surrounding areas reported a foul odor in the air.
...ah, never mind, I see they'd updated the story below to blame NJ after I first read it...
They Know Even Less Than What They Say
A big problem both here and the UK is that self-styled experts don't know much more than the punters down out the local pub. I get that broadcast journalists especially have to deal with a large range of subjects that they can't possibly be experts in, but they should at least know they aren't experts. It's one thing to host an interview with an actual expert, quite another to decide you are one.
And, yes, it's the kind of criticism which has long been leveled at mere bloogers. What do they know? Well, what the fuck does Joe Scarborough know? Ross Douthat? David Brooks? Tom Suck On This Friedman? When Big Media Inc pays me mid 6 figures or higher to pontificate and I'm feted as an expert everywhere, I'll take that criticism.
My favorite thing is when "elites" whine about how it's dangerous that the masses don't respect their guidance anymore. Give me a list of people whose guidance I should respect...
And, yes, it's the kind of criticism which has long been leveled at mere bloogers. What do they know? Well, what the fuck does Joe Scarborough know? Ross Douthat? David Brooks? Tom Suck On This Friedman? When Big Media Inc pays me mid 6 figures or higher to pontificate and I'm feted as an expert everywhere, I'll take that criticism.
My favorite thing is when "elites" whine about how it's dangerous that the masses don't respect their guidance anymore. Give me a list of people whose guidance I should respect...
Friday, December 23, 2016
Afternoon Thread
By the end of the year, Trump and all of his little Trumpkins will be safely behind walls in the FEMA camps. God bless.
Nice Things
I know this seems like pure pundity's fallacy. What The Democrats Need To Do Is What My Preferred Policy Positions Have Been All Along. But it actually isn't. I have plenty of preferred policy positions that I don't think are necessarily politically winners, and for some of the other ones I think are winners I admit it's a bit more complicated to sell them.
Still, it's 2016, and while the details vary by country, all through Western Europe and the US there are many of the same issues (again, varies somewhat by country). Life is harder than it was before. Younger people are getting a shit deal. Necessary costs of living (rent) have gone up. Pensions are being eroded. Public services that people rely on are getting worse. The idea of middle class existence as economic security, as opposed to simply high enough wages if you have a good run of luck in the jaayuuub market, is fading unless you have inherited wealth (money here, in Europe it's usually more property). For some reason the use of of the term "neoliberal" as an epithet by Sanders supporters has led to both a defense of it and a denial that the term means anything. News to lots of neoliberal proponents over the years. The financial crisis was used as an excuse to enact "neoliberal reforms" in Spain and Italy and Greece. You know, privatizing and slashing public services, cutting taxes for rich people, making sure people with not enough skin have more "skin in the game" for everything. Here the financial crisis was used an excuse for banks to rob people of their homes, with government subsidies to do it.
We're sort of reaching the breaking point of the decades long battle between the party that promises to kick those other people, and the party that promises not to kick them quite so hard. I think there have been some signs of Dems recognizing it, but they're still largely locked into that way of thinking. ACA, for all its benefits, just couldn't be implemented without making it fucking hard for people. That the subsidies aren't generous enough makes it too expensive for people, and that's a problem, but it's one thing to be forced to buy a car you can't really afford, another to buy a car that you can't afford that you have to take in for repairs every other week. The government can't just provide the nice things it once provided because reasons. Hell, once upon a time they built community pools and golf courses. Now your HOA might have a pool.
We're the richest damn country in the history of the world (close enough, anyway). Life shouldn't be so hard. Not against The Data, but the data doesn't really capture what's going on for "the middle class." It isn't that wages are stagnant or shrinking - though that's an issue too! - It's that doing the right thing and having a tiny bit of luck is no longer enough to achieve economic security anymore. Life's a crap shoot from 18-67 (soon to be longer, if Republicans get their way). We're all one medium sized economic hit (including medical) away from the downward spiral. And thanks to that glorious bankruptcy bill, once you get into a hole you're probably trapped there. Bipartisany goodness to make David Broder swoon. 74-25 in the Senate, 302-126 in the House. But the Dems are the good guys! Yah, well, not enough of them and not consistently enough. Vote for Dems and the share of them voting for horrible things will shrink slightly!
And it isn't complicated. Thinking that it is complicated is the problem. There are better and worse ways to achieve things, and the wonks can fight it out, but the point is to achieve them. And, really, given how small the nice things budget is who cares?
I see everything a bit like I see marijuana legalization. Yeah, sure, there probably are some public health issues that we should be thinking about if everyone can buy a pot candy bar at every corner store, but those public health issues are likely tiny compared to the public health issues of the drug war - mass incarceration, police militarization, racist policing, the breaking up of families (something conservatives pretend to care about but they don't care about anything), lack of interest in drug treatment, the violence that inevitably comes with lucrative black market industries, etc. Almost anything has to be better than the status quo. Yah, sure, increasing the minimum wage to $15 probably will have some negative impacts on jobs, but those negative effects will be minimal compared to sentencing millions to live with poverty wages. For some reason those who worry about the impact of the minimum wage on jobs don't worry too much about the fact that it is expected that as soon as the labor market tightens and wages begin to rise due to the magic of the free market fairy, the Fed will make sure to stop that from happening. This is a policy choice made by the "independent" Fed and it is made over and over and over again. There's nothing "free market" about it. The Fed intervenes in the credit markets to set interest rates in order to prevent the unexpected inflation that rich people don't like, and these choices only don't have distributional effects if you pretend those distributional effects don't exist. The Fed might not be deliberately trying to enshrine poverty wages, but it constantly makes choices that do just that.
Give people nice things, and make it easy. Provide things that it is generally understood that government should provide. Education, health care, roads, sidewalks, supertrains. Generous unemployment benefits, easier bankruptcy, affordable childcare that doesn't have some absurd eligibility formula, consumer protection laws. Everything should be universal benefits paid for by taxing rich people more than we do. Donald Trump's kids shouldn't have free college and neither should yours. But you should both pay taxes and get things in return for them.
Who knows if this stuff wins elections. Voters is weird. But it's the necessary and right thing to do regardless. Shit is fucked up and bullshit, more than it was 10 years ago and more than it was 20 years ago. It isn't enough to slow down that trend anymore, it's time to reverse it. We're about to see the consequences of not reversing it...
Still, it's 2016, and while the details vary by country, all through Western Europe and the US there are many of the same issues (again, varies somewhat by country). Life is harder than it was before. Younger people are getting a shit deal. Necessary costs of living (rent) have gone up. Pensions are being eroded. Public services that people rely on are getting worse. The idea of middle class existence as economic security, as opposed to simply high enough wages if you have a good run of luck in the jaayuuub market, is fading unless you have inherited wealth (money here, in Europe it's usually more property). For some reason the use of of the term "neoliberal" as an epithet by Sanders supporters has led to both a defense of it and a denial that the term means anything. News to lots of neoliberal proponents over the years. The financial crisis was used as an excuse to enact "neoliberal reforms" in Spain and Italy and Greece. You know, privatizing and slashing public services, cutting taxes for rich people, making sure people with not enough skin have more "skin in the game" for everything. Here the financial crisis was used an excuse for banks to rob people of their homes, with government subsidies to do it.
We're sort of reaching the breaking point of the decades long battle between the party that promises to kick those other people, and the party that promises not to kick them quite so hard. I think there have been some signs of Dems recognizing it, but they're still largely locked into that way of thinking. ACA, for all its benefits, just couldn't be implemented without making it fucking hard for people. That the subsidies aren't generous enough makes it too expensive for people, and that's a problem, but it's one thing to be forced to buy a car you can't really afford, another to buy a car that you can't afford that you have to take in for repairs every other week. The government can't just provide the nice things it once provided because reasons. Hell, once upon a time they built community pools and golf courses. Now your HOA might have a pool.
We're the richest damn country in the history of the world (close enough, anyway). Life shouldn't be so hard. Not against The Data, but the data doesn't really capture what's going on for "the middle class." It isn't that wages are stagnant or shrinking - though that's an issue too! - It's that doing the right thing and having a tiny bit of luck is no longer enough to achieve economic security anymore. Life's a crap shoot from 18-67 (soon to be longer, if Republicans get their way). We're all one medium sized economic hit (including medical) away from the downward spiral. And thanks to that glorious bankruptcy bill, once you get into a hole you're probably trapped there. Bipartisany goodness to make David Broder swoon. 74-25 in the Senate, 302-126 in the House. But the Dems are the good guys! Yah, well, not enough of them and not consistently enough. Vote for Dems and the share of them voting for horrible things will shrink slightly!
And it isn't complicated. Thinking that it is complicated is the problem. There are better and worse ways to achieve things, and the wonks can fight it out, but the point is to achieve them. And, really, given how small the nice things budget is who cares?
I see everything a bit like I see marijuana legalization. Yeah, sure, there probably are some public health issues that we should be thinking about if everyone can buy a pot candy bar at every corner store, but those public health issues are likely tiny compared to the public health issues of the drug war - mass incarceration, police militarization, racist policing, the breaking up of families (something conservatives pretend to care about but they don't care about anything), lack of interest in drug treatment, the violence that inevitably comes with lucrative black market industries, etc. Almost anything has to be better than the status quo. Yah, sure, increasing the minimum wage to $15 probably will have some negative impacts on jobs, but those negative effects will be minimal compared to sentencing millions to live with poverty wages. For some reason those who worry about the impact of the minimum wage on jobs don't worry too much about the fact that it is expected that as soon as the labor market tightens and wages begin to rise due to the magic of the free market fairy, the Fed will make sure to stop that from happening. This is a policy choice made by the "independent" Fed and it is made over and over and over again. There's nothing "free market" about it. The Fed intervenes in the credit markets to set interest rates in order to prevent the unexpected inflation that rich people don't like, and these choices only don't have distributional effects if you pretend those distributional effects don't exist. The Fed might not be deliberately trying to enshrine poverty wages, but it constantly makes choices that do just that.
Give people nice things, and make it easy. Provide things that it is generally understood that government should provide. Education, health care, roads, sidewalks, supertrains. Generous unemployment benefits, easier bankruptcy, affordable childcare that doesn't have some absurd eligibility formula, consumer protection laws. Everything should be universal benefits paid for by taxing rich people more than we do. Donald Trump's kids shouldn't have free college and neither should yours. But you should both pay taxes and get things in return for them.
Who knows if this stuff wins elections. Voters is weird. But it's the necessary and right thing to do regardless. Shit is fucked up and bullshit, more than it was 10 years ago and more than it was 20 years ago. It isn't enough to slow down that trend anymore, it's time to reverse it. We're about to see the consequences of not reversing it...
Heading Into Holiday Week
Blogging will suck more than usual - or not! - through the new year, time permitting.
Thursday, December 22, 2016
Zombie Narratives
Republicans in power balloon the deficit with tax cuts to the rich every time they're in power. The great inventor of fiscal responsibility, Ronald Reagan, began this and it will never end. It's impossible to convince the press that the Republicans are full of shit about deficits, and it's only slightly less impossible to convince most Democrats of it.
The Republicans claim to be the austerians, and the Democrats actually are. The rich get nice things, nobody else does, and then we wonder why voters aren't happy. And, no, that voters don't necessarily vote logically about this stuff doesn't refute that fact. What they hear is one side saying that true austerity is the path, and the other side saying that austerity light is. Not enough nice things come with either, so better to go with the true austerity than the fake austerity.
The Republicans claim to be the austerians, and the Democrats actually are. The rich get nice things, nobody else does, and then we wonder why voters aren't happy. And, no, that voters don't necessarily vote logically about this stuff doesn't refute that fact. What they hear is one side saying that true austerity is the path, and the other side saying that austerity light is. Not enough nice things come with either, so better to go with the true austerity than the fake austerity.
The Last 40+ Years In America
Or more, depending on how you think about it. Welcome to our world, UK.
And when there are no more migrants and immigrants left to blame...
This is, I’m afraid, terribly naive. These individuals are transforming political culture in Britain. Consider how much more venomous, poisonous and intolerant politics has become in just the course of the year. Left unchecked, it will get much, much worse.
There is a deliberate attempt to delegitimise all shades of progressive opinion. This is the approach of the rightwing authoritarian populism sweeping the western world: to treat all left-of-centre opinion as illegitimate, extremist and even treasonous. The British press – dominated as it is by rightwing oligarchs – is instrumental in forging this intolerant new culture.
And when there are no more migrants and immigrants left to blame...
Who Would Want To Drive Like That
As I've said, I think the direct focus on safety issues with autonomous vehicles is misplaced. If they work, they'll be safe enough. They aren't really distinct, they're part of the same concept. Sure in our robot car overlord future there will still probably be accidents, but there are accidents now. The public might not react to those accidents in quite the same way, but if the robot cars work they won't really be any less safe than human drivers (I do think a distinction needs to be drawn between cars the accidents themselves get into and the possibility that their driving patterns cause other accidents around them). Still if they work enough to be practical and useful, they'll be safe enough.
But this type of thing isn't "working."
People always say "oh, well, if it works 98% of the time and then every now and then the cars needs the driver to step in then that's good enough." No, that isn't good enough. There isn't time for me to switch from taking a nap or texting my pals to taking over when a bike lane appears suddenly, unless I'm paying 100% attention. And no one is going to pay 100% attention in a "self-driving car" because what's the point.
Also, too, impound the damn things. They'd impound my car if I kept driving it illegally.
...and Uber is going to take their ball and kill cyclists elsewhere.
But this type of thing isn't "working."
Uber told Wiedenmeier that it is requiring drivers to disengage from self-driving mode when approaching a right turn on a street with bike lanes. Meanwhile, the DMV told Uber to stop testing its vehicles on the streets.
People always say "oh, well, if it works 98% of the time and then every now and then the cars needs the driver to step in then that's good enough." No, that isn't good enough. There isn't time for me to switch from taking a nap or texting my pals to taking over when a bike lane appears suddenly, unless I'm paying 100% attention. And no one is going to pay 100% attention in a "self-driving car" because what's the point.
Also, too, impound the damn things. They'd impound my car if I kept driving it illegally.
...and Uber is going to take their ball and kill cyclists elsewhere.
How Many?
In an article about how Italy is "swamped" with migrants, I'd like to have some sense of how many there are.
The BBC tells me. It is actually a lot.
I'm not precisely sure how one goes from Sicily to "Italy's borders" though...
The BBC tells me. It is actually a lot.
I'm not precisely sure how one goes from Sicily to "Italy's borders" though...
Who Runs Things
People in the area always hear about the various reasons that the Philadelphia school district is horrible, including corruption. What most people usually forget (or don't know) is that the state has run the district for over 15 years. That doesn't mean that if it was purely a locally controlled entity that all of the corruption would magically go away, but it is important to remind people that there is no local democratic accountability. It's long been fashionable for even good "liberals" to remark how certain cities just can't "govern themselves" (cities with lots of black people in them, of course, nobody seems to mind when rich white municipalities go bankrupt or similar). This kind of thinking leads to state takeovers, which leads to completely unaccountable disasters of governance.
The state took over the school district over 15 years ago. This was cheered on by basically every elite local institution (most of which have their power centers in the suburbs, of course, where such "experiments" never seem to be necessary), along with the worst charter law which declared the place open for business for grifters of all kinds.
But people always hear about bad things in the "Philadelphia School District." State control, and everyone still gets to blame "those people" in the city.
The state took over the school district over 15 years ago. This was cheered on by basically every elite local institution (most of which have their power centers in the suburbs, of course, where such "experiments" never seem to be necessary), along with the worst charter law which declared the place open for business for grifters of all kinds.
But people always hear about bad things in the "Philadelphia School District." State control, and everyone still gets to blame "those people" in the city.
Wednesday, December 21, 2016
Convert Stories
Whether true or false, stupid or less stupid, I don't know why people are so into conversion tales. Liberals are total suckers for them, also, too, probably even more than conservatives are.
On a related note, Andrew Sullivan, Glenn Beck, and I are going to start a SuperPAC to stop Trump and promote liberalism. Give us all your moneys. And sign the petition:
X________________
On a related note, Andrew Sullivan, Glenn Beck, and I are going to start a SuperPAC to stop Trump and promote liberalism. Give us all your moneys. And sign the petition:
X________________
The War On Even More People Who Use Some Drugs
Go after the hillbilly heroin, and you start going after the hillbillies.
Taste
But what happens when guest #16 arrives?
3 spaces per bedroom! People is weird.
For years, Hunt has been beset by legal and financial problems. He founded RS Information Systems in 2003 and built it into one of the country’s most prominent black-owned government contracting firms. By 2006, he finished building his Mediterranean-style home, which boasts a basketball court, a 15-space underground parking garage and five bedrooms. It was once featured on “MTV Cribs” and was known on social media as #RHPmansion.
3 spaces per bedroom! People is weird.
Morning Thread
Digby is having her annual holiday fundraiser. If possible, do consider a donation. We are going to need her voice more than ever in the coming four years.
Tuesday, December 20, 2016
Design Flaw
Highways through dense urban areas (and LA is one) have a major conceptual design flaw. On-ramps and off-ramps are choke points, and tiny points of congestion can cause the whole system to seize up. Smart designs can improve things around the edges, but even leaving aside an increase in the number of cars due to induced demand, there's really not much you can do to prevent a crowded urban highway from being a parking lot regularly. It sounds nice to spend lots of money on "improvements," but that doesn't mean they actually improve anything.
This is precisely what a very standard transportation economics model would predict. Eerily precise, so score one for economists! Capacity improvements to a congested highway (even holding the total number of cars constant) will shift driving patterns so that there's a higher share of cars at peak time - making congestion worse then but the high congestion period shorter.
I even made a quick ugly graph, because that's how much I love you, dear readers.
The basic model says ideally everyone would like to get to work at 9AM, but that's unpossible because of congestion. Some people shift their travel times to arrive before and after 9 AM in exchange for lower overall travel times because there's less congestion then. The highway improvements do improve things somewhat if there is no induced demand, as more people show up to work closer to the ideal (9AM) time, but these people actually face more congestion and higher travel times. All this is because congestion is an externality. When you get on the road you make things just a bit worse for everybody else, but you don't take into account to the cost to others when you do so.
tl;dr most of the overall benefits of highway improvements at peak time are eaten up by people choosing to travel closer to peak time, and congestion is actually worse right at peak times. You aren't stuck in traffic, you are traffic.
The cost of the Sepulveda Pass project was supposed to be $1 billion. It has now reached $1.6 billion, after transit officials approved $300 million in new expenses last week.
Peak afternoon traffic time has indeed decreased to five hours from seven hours’ duration (yes, you read that right) and overall traffic capacity has increased. But congestion is as bad — even worse — during the busiest rush hours of 4:30 to 6:30 p.m., according to a study by the county Metropolitan Transportation Authority.
This is precisely what a very standard transportation economics model would predict. Eerily precise, so score one for economists! Capacity improvements to a congested highway (even holding the total number of cars constant) will shift driving patterns so that there's a higher share of cars at peak time - making congestion worse then but the high congestion period shorter.
I even made a quick ugly graph, because that's how much I love you, dear readers.
The basic model says ideally everyone would like to get to work at 9AM, but that's unpossible because of congestion. Some people shift their travel times to arrive before and after 9 AM in exchange for lower overall travel times because there's less congestion then. The highway improvements do improve things somewhat if there is no induced demand, as more people show up to work closer to the ideal (9AM) time, but these people actually face more congestion and higher travel times. All this is because congestion is an externality. When you get on the road you make things just a bit worse for everybody else, but you don't take into account to the cost to others when you do so.
tl;dr most of the overall benefits of highway improvements at peak time are eaten up by people choosing to travel closer to peak time, and congestion is actually worse right at peak times. You aren't stuck in traffic, you are traffic.
We All Buy Stuff
The annual holiday exhortations about not adding too much to the piles of stuff which we consume make me want to go roll some coal. It's not as if I'm a big doodad and tchotchke purchaser, but I buy want I need and want (subject to affordability) like most people, and give gifts because that's what one does.
More than that, while there is nothing wrong with personal virtue and conservation, it isn't really going to save the world. I'm one who thinks whole "think globally, act locally" movement from decades ago was a big mistake, suggesting to people that if they just recycle a bit more that everything was going to be ok. And, you know, you should recycle a bit more! But it isn't going to change the world, and neither is buying 10% less stuff for the holidays. What will change the world (using this example) is implementing systems that ensure that everybody recycles more, whether of the carrot or stick variety, passing laws of various kinds to encourage/discourage certain kinds of packaging, outlawing the use of truly toxic substances, etc. I mean, yes, doing our part helps, but not enough.
And as the title says, we all buy stuff, and most of us buy what we need and to a lesser extent want. Sometimes people think my not owning a car is some grand environmental statement. It isn't. I don't need a car and I much prefer to not have one. It isn't a sacrifice or even really a financial decision (a bit that, but not really). If I had a lot more money I still wouldn't want to own a car. But if I need one I rent one, and I also take cabs. I also like to travel so I fly. If I had a job I needed to commute to which didn't have good transit access I'd buy a car.
We all live in the system. The way to fix the world is to fix the system.
More than that, while there is nothing wrong with personal virtue and conservation, it isn't really going to save the world. I'm one who thinks whole "think globally, act locally" movement from decades ago was a big mistake, suggesting to people that if they just recycle a bit more that everything was going to be ok. And, you know, you should recycle a bit more! But it isn't going to change the world, and neither is buying 10% less stuff for the holidays. What will change the world (using this example) is implementing systems that ensure that everybody recycles more, whether of the carrot or stick variety, passing laws of various kinds to encourage/discourage certain kinds of packaging, outlawing the use of truly toxic substances, etc. I mean, yes, doing our part helps, but not enough.
And as the title says, we all buy stuff, and most of us buy what we need and to a lesser extent want. Sometimes people think my not owning a car is some grand environmental statement. It isn't. I don't need a car and I much prefer to not have one. It isn't a sacrifice or even really a financial decision (a bit that, but not really). If I had a lot more money I still wouldn't want to own a car. But if I need one I rent one, and I also take cabs. I also like to travel so I fly. If I had a job I needed to commute to which didn't have good transit access I'd buy a car.
We all live in the system. The way to fix the world is to fix the system.
Or Not
I "like" how we all just accept that rules and laws are now optional for corporations and newspapers resort to pleading with them to consider obeying them.
Doesn't take long to get booted or towed here in Philly for an expired registration sticker. Impound any of these vehicles if they're on the road.
No I don't hate the concept of autonomous cars, even though I don't think they'll really work and will be bad for cities even if they did work perfectly, but the whole "we don't care about your stinking laws" thing is getting out of control.
Uber may not like the DMV’s rules, but it should obey them
Doesn't take long to get booted or towed here in Philly for an expired registration sticker. Impound any of these vehicles if they're on the road.
No I don't hate the concept of autonomous cars, even though I don't think they'll really work and will be bad for cities even if they did work perfectly, but the whole "we don't care about your stinking laws" thing is getting out of control.
Glad That's Over With
The electors were never going to vote against Trump, and then short, medium, and long term consequences of them doing so would have been challenging, to put it mildly.
I get that President Trump will be, also, too, but..
I get that President Trump will be, also, too, but..
Monday, December 19, 2016
Impound
Uber has deeply held religious principles.
Uber began piloting its self-driving vehicles in its home town of San Francisco last week, despite state officials’ declaration that the ride-share company needed special permits to test its technology. On day one, numerous autonomous vehicles – which have a driver in the front seat who can take control – were caught running red lights and committing a range of traffic violations.
Despite threats of legal action from the department of motor vehicles (DMV) and California’s attorney general, Kamala Harris, Uber refused to back down on Friday, claiming its rejection of government authority was “an important issue of principle”.
Everyone's An Asshole On The Internet
Nobody cares about me, I know, I'm the dancing monkey on the stage (that sounds whiny but I actually mean that and get it), but I still get to complain sometimes. For years I found it pretty easy to compartmentalize my online life. Facebook stayed in facebook, instagram stayed in instagram, twitter stayed in twitter, email was for certain things and private messages for others, the blog comments stayed on the blog, my real life was distinct from my online life, etc. Not perfectly, of course, but to some degree everything stayed in its lane. Useful for organizing one's life. Lately all of those barriers are falling down. People want to talk to me on twitter or facebook about something on the blog, people send messages for things that would make much more sense through email, and of course everybody's an asshole on the internet (that, fortunately, has not changed). Not just me, I've heard other people make similar complaints. I don't know if it's just a generational thing and The Kids Today don't make these artificial distinctions between, say, email which is more professional, and private messages which are more personal, or if people just aren't aware of all internet traditions anymore, but it's a bit annoying to have it come from all directions all the time. And, of course, now that everybody has a computer in their pocket you can't make the (sometimes true!) excuse that you just didn't see the email yet, or whatever. It's always coming...
A Beat So Sweet
We can thank Mike Allen, the patron Saint of journalists for sale, for letting us know what they're up to.
The road to riches in journalism is, sadly, to be a horrible journalist. Just ask Mike and Mark Halperin. The Trump era journalism is going to require a sick bag. If they're already pushing out the loving profiles of Sexy Neo-Nazis, imagine what we're going to get.
There was hackish journalism in the age of Obama (almost over!) too, though it came more from self-identified actual liberal journalists than from supposed "mainstream" journalists. Not that I ever consider myself to be a journalist, but to be honest I got kinda of worn down by it all. No one on "our side" was very interested in hearing criticisms of Obama. And, yes, of course much of the bad stuff wasn't actually his fault. Some of it was, however. More during the first term than the second, but still.
As we saw during the Bush years, there will be immense pressure on even the good journalists to toe the line. Dear Leader can do no wrong, and you're abad jew coastal elitists if you suggest otherwise.
Christmas @ Mar-a-Lago: @realDonaldTrump, relaxed and chatty, hosts press for drinks -- off-record but pics OK @axios pic.twitter.com/lysW7FHzIl
— Mike Allen (@mikeallen) December 19, 2016
The road to riches in journalism is, sadly, to be a horrible journalist. Just ask Mike and Mark Halperin. The Trump era journalism is going to require a sick bag. If they're already pushing out the loving profiles of Sexy Neo-Nazis, imagine what we're going to get.
There was hackish journalism in the age of Obama (almost over!) too, though it came more from self-identified actual liberal journalists than from supposed "mainstream" journalists. Not that I ever consider myself to be a journalist, but to be honest I got kinda of worn down by it all. No one on "our side" was very interested in hearing criticisms of Obama. And, yes, of course much of the bad stuff wasn't actually his fault. Some of it was, however. More during the first term than the second, but still.
As we saw during the Bush years, there will be immense pressure on even the good journalists to toe the line. Dear Leader can do no wrong, and you're a
Your Liberal Media
12 years later it isn't the most pressing thing, but I was reminded about how the press treated Theresa Heinz Kerry during the 2004 campaign. Lots of gossipy reports about how she was a total "rich bitch" diva who couldn't stand mixing with the disgusting Real Americans from Fritters and their stupid deep fried state fair food. You know the kind of thing I'm talking about.
"Funny" to think about now.
"Funny" to think about now.
This-a-Way, That-a-Way
I'm amused by more "centrist" types, who normally can be seen tone policing and hitting the fainting couch at a hint of bad language while informing the dirty hippies how writing sternly worded columns from highly paid magazine perches is the only form of appropriate respectful dissent in modern democracies, are now discovering radical protest movements and embracing words like "resistance."
They'll be back to tone policing soon. The coalitions for street protests are messy. You can't control who shows up. Have you seen how rude some of those signs are? Also, too, people get hurt, and it's hard to fully appreciate Michigan football from a hospital bed.
More seriously, if you want to lead "the resistance," get out in the streets yourselves.
I remember back when some of us were trying to stop a war (a futile endeavor, we all knew). Most of the liberal media, including the actual liberal parts, devoted their attention to finding authoritarian commies and anti-Semites in the protest crowds, instead of talking to the nice Quakers who often organized the things. Always with sorrow, about how what could have been a noble and honorable protest movement was led astray. Very sad. harumph. Radical actions attract radical people, some of them with repugnant views. Centrist magazines also attract people with repugnant views. The world is complicated. It'll be funny to watch people who did their best to undermine a protest they disagreed with, taking their rhetorical 2X4s to it whenever possible, see the same tactics directed at them.
It'll last a month. There are sammiches and Lay's potato chips to be eaten at Mar-a-Lago, after all.
They'll be back to tone policing soon. The coalitions for street protests are messy. You can't control who shows up. Have you seen how rude some of those signs are? Also, too, people get hurt, and it's hard to fully appreciate Michigan football from a hospital bed.
More seriously, if you want to lead "the resistance," get out in the streets yourselves.
I remember back when some of us were trying to stop a war (a futile endeavor, we all knew). Most of the liberal media, including the actual liberal parts, devoted their attention to finding authoritarian commies and anti-Semites in the protest crowds, instead of talking to the nice Quakers who often organized the things. Always with sorrow, about how what could have been a noble and honorable protest movement was led astray. Very sad. harumph. Radical actions attract radical people, some of them with repugnant views. Centrist magazines also attract people with repugnant views. The world is complicated. It'll be funny to watch people who did their best to undermine a protest they disagreed with, taking their rhetorical 2X4s to it whenever possible, see the same tactics directed at them.
It'll last a month. There are sammiches and Lay's potato chips to be eaten at Mar-a-Lago, after all.
Morning Thread
I hear some people will be meeting today and tallying the final vote of the 2016 Election.
Sunday, December 18, 2016
Kill Metro, Kill DC
Sure the DC region will long boom due to The Company, but the city itself will be pretty screwed if Metro is allowed to rot. While slightly less true in DC than in other places, generally the powers that be don't use public transit and don't understand its importance. Even when filled with white people in suits, as Metro often is, it's still seen as a lesser option.
If only there was some entity in the Washington, DC area with the ability to print and spend as much money as it wanted...
If only there was some entity in the Washington, DC area with the ability to print and spend as much money as it wanted...
Syria
As far as I can tell (news reports are sometimes contradictory), we had a program of arming moderate rebels which put a bunch of weapons there and then we discovered that our rebel fighting force wasn't too "moderate" (whatever that means) and wasn't that interesting in fighting for "us." Then we had the Saudis arm rebels and that didn't work too well. Then we tried to cut some sort of deal with Russia and Assad and that didn't turn out too well. We're notionally supporting some "rebels" (yay Star Wars!) against Assad and Assad against some rebels. And now there are a bunch of good liberals making holocaust comparisons (I don't want to downplay what's going on there, but there is a lot of propaganda which makes it harder to really know what's going on there). You know, the usual "never again" stuff.
Just what is it "we" are supposed to be doing? I never understand that part. I mean, I figure taking in tons of refugees would be something "we" could do which wouldn't involve adding gasoline to a fire, and wouldn't be as expensive as all that gasoline, but that is unpossible. The right wing Trumpkins went after Chobani for daring to hire some of the tiny number of (non-Syrian) refugees we have taken in. Muslim refugees are basically evil personified with superpowers according to the Right, so that's not going to happen.
If our country isn't willing to help people, then it's reasonable to conclude that we aren't willing to help people. Anything we do/should have done will not be humanitarian, because there is no support for humanitarian aid for Muslims. There's support for blowing people up, but that doesn't seem to help much for some reason.
I figured the "humanitarian intervention left" would have learned a few things from Iraq, but no. There still isn't a Muslim country that they aren't willing to send freedom bombs to in the name of freedom.
We don't even have to go back to Iraq. Anyone remember Libya? There are people I still won't "talk to" because of that. Not because they disagreed with me, but because they were "good liberals" who gave me the condescending smarmy "this time it will be different" and "why don't you want to help the poor people of Libya?" bullshit. We sure did help them. Yes that was mostly a David Cameron joint, but we were along for the ride. Heckuva job. Next time we'll get it right. Our military has a lot of experience with this stuff now.
Just what is it "we" are supposed to be doing? I never understand that part. I mean, I figure taking in tons of refugees would be something "we" could do which wouldn't involve adding gasoline to a fire, and wouldn't be as expensive as all that gasoline, but that is unpossible. The right wing Trumpkins went after Chobani for daring to hire some of the tiny number of (non-Syrian) refugees we have taken in. Muslim refugees are basically evil personified with superpowers according to the Right, so that's not going to happen.
If our country isn't willing to help people, then it's reasonable to conclude that we aren't willing to help people. Anything we do/should have done will not be humanitarian, because there is no support for humanitarian aid for Muslims. There's support for blowing people up, but that doesn't seem to help much for some reason.
I figured the "humanitarian intervention left" would have learned a few things from Iraq, but no. There still isn't a Muslim country that they aren't willing to send freedom bombs to in the name of freedom.
We don't even have to go back to Iraq. Anyone remember Libya? There are people I still won't "talk to" because of that. Not because they disagreed with me, but because they were "good liberals" who gave me the condescending smarmy "this time it will be different" and "why don't you want to help the poor people of Libya?" bullshit. We sure did help them. Yes that was mostly a David Cameron joint, but we were along for the ride. Heckuva job. Next time we'll get it right. Our military has a lot of experience with this stuff now.
Saturday, December 17, 2016
Fakebook
All social media platforms start with what people want and end up destroying them. You want a way to communicate with and hear information about people you choose. That's never enough, so they mess it up. Just let people see the stupid shit the people they choose "to be friends with" or "follow" post in reverse chronological order like the baby jeebus intended, insert the stupid ads occasionally to make the money, and kill the algorithm. Let users control anything fancier, and stop making it a constant battle to maintain the semi-privacy they offer. The only reason "fake news" is a problem is because of the stupid algorithms they impose. Get rid of all of that and you don't have to turn engagement with the site into a perpetual metaphysical battle over the nature of truth. Just let people see the stupid shit their friends post and stop the rest of it. End the algorithm and end the curation and no one can complain about anything except the fact that their friends are idiots who post the same stupid stuff their uncles used to email them from their AOL accounts back in the day.
Who Would Put Up With You?
Even other upper class twits eventually tire of lazy entitled narcissism.
His defenders have a point. If you didn't want a feral peacock for the job, why did you hire one?
Boris doesn't seem to get that when the Foreign Secretary speaks, he speaks for the Government, and they don't want to have to clean up peacock droppings everywhere he goes.
The Foreign Secretary has confided in pals that he is worried about his future prospects under the Prime Minister.
Mr Johnson has publicly clashed with Mrs May on a number of issues since she handed him the plum job after entering Number 10.
His defenders have a point. If you didn't want a feral peacock for the job, why did you hire one?
One senior Tory told PoliticsHome: ‘Boris is worried about it. When I saw him this week, he said: 'Number 10 are after me'.
"The way he’s being treated is ridiculous. If Theresa didn’t wanted a different type of Foreign Secretary then she shouldn’t have appointed him. But she has too much invested in him now to allow him to be undermined in this way."
Boris doesn't seem to get that when the Foreign Secretary speaks, he speaks for the Government, and they don't want to have to clean up peacock droppings everywhere he goes.
Their Swamp
Let's keep writing editorials about Teh College Kids and Their Bubblez of Intolerance.
But, really, both sides. In the US, on one side there are patchouli covered hippies who want free community college, single payer health care, and think racism and racists are kinda bad, and on the other side we have fascist racists and anti-semites who want take grandma's pension and let her die in the streets with no health care. Two sides of the same coin, really.
We have learned a lesson, but too late. The question “Are we out of touch?” leads to “them and us”, which then morphs into “either us or them”. As we found in Turkey, the masses choose “them”. From that point you find yourself, like me, labelled “not real people” in your own country. Europe and the US will soon learn that being “elite” is not about social class or education: it is about obedience to one version of the truth.
...
An analogy came to mind: that this is like trying to play chess with a pigeon. Even if you win within the rules, the pigeon will clutter up the pieces, and finally it will shit on the chessboard, leaving you to deal with the mess. Farage, having told us to “cheer up”, and that this was “not a funeral”, did exactly that. Having dumbfounded the audience, he announced – as if fleeing a boring party – that he was off to meet Donald Trump in Washington.
But, really, both sides. In the US, on one side there are patchouli covered hippies who want free community college, single payer health care, and think racism and racists are kinda bad, and on the other side we have fascist racists and anti-semites who want take grandma's pension and let her die in the streets with no health care. Two sides of the same coin, really.
Friday, December 16, 2016
The Unanswerable
Is it better that they're evil, corrupt, and incompetent, or just evil and corrupt?
Not sure if incompetence is a force multiplier for the evil and corruption or a brake on it.
Not sure if incompetence is a force multiplier for the evil and corruption or a brake on it.
Nice Work
Painting with a very broad and somewhat inaccurate brush (I admit!), conservatives view patronage as a means to funnel all of your tax money to your pals. Liberals view patronage as a means to funnel money to their pals who will then be expected to provide nice things, at a premium, to their constituents. I'm not saying "liberals good, conservatives bad!" but at least liberals believe that government is supposed to do the stuff it needs to do, even if there can be plenty of corruption involved, and, yes, even if those things don't always get done, while conservatives think their job is to steal all the money and make sure government doesn't do any of it. Atlantic City is saved!
You could hire 47 minimum wage workers at that rate, or 23 at double that minimum wage. Pretty sure just paying 23 people in AC double the minimum wage to do absolutely nothing would be a bigger boost to the local fortunes than this. Not familiar with the specific quality of life needs for the residents of that city, other than more money, but paying them to, say, clean up litter at that rate would help even more.
I always see local corruption two ways. The first is overpaying people (or just letting them steal, one way or another) to do nothing. The second is overpaying them to deliver needed public services. The latter gets most of the attention, but at least the public services are provided. All (most of) the money paid on outside lawyers and consultants etc. is just empty grift.
After a month of secrecy, the salary of the New Jersey overseer of Atlantic City, Jeffrey Chiesa, was revealed Thursday. He will bill taxpayers at a rate of $400 per hour, according to a retention agreement with the state Attorney General.
You could hire 47 minimum wage workers at that rate, or 23 at double that minimum wage. Pretty sure just paying 23 people in AC double the minimum wage to do absolutely nothing would be a bigger boost to the local fortunes than this. Not familiar with the specific quality of life needs for the residents of that city, other than more money, but paying them to, say, clean up litter at that rate would help even more.
I always see local corruption two ways. The first is overpaying people (or just letting them steal, one way or another) to do nothing. The second is overpaying them to deliver needed public services. The latter gets most of the attention, but at least the public services are provided. All (most of) the money paid on outside lawyers and consultants etc. is just empty grift.
Part 5!!
Who benefits from the American Dream? Something we should all be asking...
The jury is out on whether the American Dream megamall will ever become a financial success, but one group has already benefited tremendously from the project — Gov. Chris Christie and his political allies.
Political donations to Christie’s campaign coffers, legal work for firms aligned with Christie, and large contributions to the Republican Governors Association have all occurred since Canada-based developer Triple Five took over work on the massive American Dream project located on state-owned land in the Meadowlands in East Rutherford.
Thursday, December 15, 2016
Where The Problem Is
I think Fox News and similar used to be more of a problem (though likely will be again) when other news outlets treated them with respect, as peers. That's still more true than it should be, but not as true as it used to be. Then you had major problems with outlets like Fox being conduits for bullshit, a way information (bullshit) traveled from Fox to other outlets. It's out there, so people have to talk about it because reasons. The pedophile ring pizzeria stories might get people killed (so, you know, scary and bad) but I don't think they really sway elections. It's worth pointing out that Rush Limbaugh is a Big Fat (lying) Idiot so that he isn't a regular guest on Meet the Press, but really it's the shit factory that is Meet the Press and other supposedly respectable platforms that are the problem. If I were your benevolent dictator who was not a big free speech fan I'd shut down Morning Joe before I'd shut down Rush Limbaugh. I am a big free speech fan so I would not shut down either, but if I had the power I would order every Dem congressional office to not run cable news all day every day in their offices...
Lunch Thread Crass Commercialism
I hear there's this new thing called "Star Wars" all the kids like, and there is something called a "Death Star" that I'm sure your young one will absolutely love!
We didn't have Death Stars when I was a kid! What will they think of next...
We didn't have Death Stars when I was a kid! What will they think of next...
Part 4!!!
All for me.
Wouldn't want to be the lastsucker lender in line...
“What makes it complex is the financing that sits behind the analysis,” Lizura said.
That complex financing includes a state sales-tax incentive that could be worth up to $390 million, approved by Lizura’s agency last year. Then there’s a local-redevelopment tax incentive that could be worth up to $800 million. And rather than waiting to redeem those incentives over several decades, Triple Five intends to use them to back more than $1 billion in tax-free municipal bonds that could be sold as early as next month through a public-finance agency in Wisconsin, all to cover construction costs.
The developer is also planning to raise another $1.5 billion for construction through a private loan, which would run the total price tag of the project up to $5 billion, counting the $2 billion value of a vacant building inherited from prior developers. And a $185 million government-funded rail line that opened in 2009 will carry customers to and from the planned mall, which is located on state-owned property in the Meadowlands.
Wouldn't want to be the last
But Occasionally I'm Right
As I think I wrote before, last Spring I said to a group of students that the big concerns with a President Trump (which I said was possible but wouldn't happen) wasn't so much that he'd do things like build The Wall or his policies the way we normally think about such things, it's that our system requires some respect for established norms and he wouldn't be bound by any of that.
The other thing about opening up the presidency to a whole new kind of corruption (yes we have plenty of government corruption, even surrounding the executive branch, but just not with the head of state himself), is that it will make impeachment - the only real remedy for that corruption other than voting - a completely political act. Basically, it will be understood that the new norm is that impeachment is something the opposition party does but the president's own party will never do, no matter what the offense. Of course in the true tradition of Both Sides, only Republicans will have the press's blessings to impeach Democrats, and Democrats must keep their powder dry for the good of the country, or something.
tl;dr norms out the window, presidential corruption the new normal, impeachment completely political and expected behavior from opposition parties in Congress with names beginning with 'R'.
Polite fictions we pretend to believe despite all evidence can be a problem, but they at least provide some sense of what should be.
The other thing about opening up the presidency to a whole new kind of corruption (yes we have plenty of government corruption, even surrounding the executive branch, but just not with the head of state himself), is that it will make impeachment - the only real remedy for that corruption other than voting - a completely political act. Basically, it will be understood that the new norm is that impeachment is something the opposition party does but the president's own party will never do, no matter what the offense. Of course in the true tradition of Both Sides, only Republicans will have the press's blessings to impeach Democrats, and Democrats must keep their powder dry for the good of the country, or something.
tl;dr norms out the window, presidential corruption the new normal, impeachment completely political and expected behavior from opposition parties in Congress with names beginning with 'R'.
Polite fictions we pretend to believe despite all evidence can be a problem, but they at least provide some sense of what should be.
Wednesday, December 14, 2016
Wednesday Night
I think the Russians just dosed the water supply with LSD. Really the only explanation for 2016.
Predictions!
I'm always wrong, but I'd bet "tech" will disrupt itself over the next couple of years and there will be some carcasses in that Silicon Valley place.
Everything has low entry barriers and is easily copied, only thing that gives companies the edge they need is the network effects. The model seems to be
1) idea!
2) volume!
3) revenue! (??)
4) Monopoly! (??)
5) profit!
3) and 4) are the tricky ones
Everything has low entry barriers and is easily copied, only thing that gives companies the edge they need is the network effects. The model seems to be
1) idea!
2) volume!
3) revenue! (??)
4) Monopoly! (??)
5) profit!
3) and 4) are the tricky ones
Part 3!!!
It's like they put all this effort in just for me.
"One major project" surrounded by acres of parking lot isn't an economic development solution. There aren't any spillovers.
Although those two malls have continued to operate successfully for decades, Triple Five itself hasn’t been able to replicate its winning formula by opening a new megamall anywhere else in North America — though not for a lack of trying.
Not long before Christie unveiled the Ghermezians as the new developers for the American Dream project in New Jersey, a property the company had picked for a project it called the Great Mall of Las Vegas was lost to foreclosure.
In the 1980s, Triple Five also unsuccessfully pursued a mall project called Fantasyland in Niagara Falls, NY. And about 20 years ago, the company pitched a mall development in Silver Spring, MD, that was also never built. It, too, was also called American Dream by the Ghermezians.
At the time, there were a lot of vacant buildings in Silver Spring, said Doug Duncan, the former county executive for Montgomery County, MD, which is a suburb of Washington, D.C. Triple Five was offering to fix the economic-development problem with one major project.
"One major project" surrounded by acres of parking lot isn't an economic development solution. There aren't any spillovers.
What's It All About Then
Nobody cares about anything. Nobody ever did.
A secret U.S. military investigation in 2010 determined that Michael T. Flynn, the retired Army general tapped to serve as national security adviser in the Trump White House, “inappropriately shared” classified information with foreign military officers in Afghanistan, newly released documents show.
Although Flynn lacked authorization to share the classified material, he was not disciplined or reprimanded after the investigation concluded that he did not act “knowingly” and that “there was no actual or potential damage to national security as a result,” according to Army records obtained by The Washington Post under the Freedom of Information Act.
Tuesday, December 13, 2016
Public Spaces That Aren't
There are a lot of reasons I obsess about The American Dream (the mall and that other thing, too), and Chris Christie isn't actually one of them (okay, it's good for a few extra giggles). One is that it isn't actually difficult to build something which will attract people, but we're basically allergic to public spaces that let people do anything in them. People like to be around other people, especially when the weather is nice and there's reasonably priced food and drink to be had. It really isn't that much more complicated than that. People like to eat and drink outside around other people, and it's a novelty when it's something you can just do and not a Big Event. Sure you can throw in some shopping and activities for the kids and all that, and selling stuff obviously pays the bills, but mostly people like to get out of the house and have a place to go hang out a bit. Most people don't actually like "shopping" (though many do), it's just an excuse to wander about and soak up the atmosphere.
My urban hellhole finally discovered that people don't love tailgaiting for football games because they love football, they love tailgating for football games because they like to spend the day outside drinking and eating food with other people. Sure they like football, but tailgating is really an activity in and of itself. So now the city has lots of occasional and seasonal spaces where people can do similar all the time. Lots of these "festival" things which might have individual themes but basically are booze, food trucks, a few bands, and some arts and crafts type vendors. They're all so crowded nobody goes to them anymore.
"The mall" was always a shitty public space because it wasn't really public. Also, too, indoors. If there's really nowhere else to go on a Saturday afternoon, people will go, and of course people do need to go shopping at times. But building spaces to attract people isn't really that complicated, and gimmicky things might get people to show up once, but not over and over and over again. Novelties wear off, quickly.
My urban hellhole finally discovered that people don't love tailgaiting for football games because they love football, they love tailgating for football games because they like to spend the day outside drinking and eating food with other people. Sure they like football, but tailgating is really an activity in and of itself. So now the city has lots of occasional and seasonal spaces where people can do similar all the time. Lots of these "festival" things which might have individual themes but basically are booze, food trucks, a few bands, and some arts and crafts type vendors. They're all so crowded nobody goes to them anymore.
"The mall" was always a shitty public space because it wasn't really public. Also, too, indoors. If there's really nowhere else to go on a Saturday afternoon, people will go, and of course people do need to go shopping at times. But building spaces to attract people isn't really that complicated, and gimmicky things might get people to show up once, but not over and over and over again. Novelties wear off, quickly.
Part 2!!!
It's the little things that get me through the day.
I look forward to President Ivanka Trump at the ribbon cutting ceremony.
Private viewing suites!
Last week, Ghermezian said the company would close on its financing deal before Christmas, but yesterday a statement issued by Triple Five said the target for the bond sale is now January.
I look forward to President Ivanka Trump at the ribbon cutting ceremony.
The reason, according to Ghermezian, lies in the plan to create something more “experiential” than a traditional shopping mall — one that would allow a customer to buy ski equipment and then immediately try it out on American Dream’s planned indoor ski slope. The megamall would also feature a huge indoor garden, restaurants staffed by famous chefs, and movie theaters that will have private viewing suites, all to make it more of a destination than a mall.
Private viewing suites!
Yarglebargle Socialism!
As I've said many times, ACA is an improvement. It's also a very imperfect improvement. One thing The Left warned about years ago, aside from this weird fetish for some sort of single payer program (crazy left!), was that the most prominent elements of Obamacare - the exchanges - were likely to make people miserable because they enshrined the worst aspects of our insurance system and forced too many people to buy crappy insurance they couldn't afford. And, you know, probably most of those people should (given the choices) have bought crappy insurance that they couldn't afford. But all the wonksplaining in the world isn't going to change the fact that it's crappy insurance that people can't afford. In other words, the politics was never about convincing elite critics that it was a better deal, it was about convincing the people who had nowhere else to go other than the exchanges that it was a better deal. For them. Personally. Not because it changes the first derivative of the aggregate cost function over time.
None of this is a nonstupid reason to vote for Trump, of course, but you can't make people eat shit and then tell them they should love it, especially when it's the kind of shit people experience when they're least able to cope (when they're sick).
None of this is a nonstupid reason to vote for Trump, of course, but you can't make people eat shit and then tell them they should love it, especially when it's the kind of shit people experience when they're least able to cope (when they're sick).
The Government, How Does It Work?
In the age of google, the ignorance of the political press about what the government is for really has no excuses.
hint: less black gold (that's Interior), more nuclear boombooms and waste.
Guys, Rick Perry was Gov of a state that produces lots of oil - not that crazy to think he could be head of Dept of Energy
— amy walter (@amyewalter) December 13, 2016
hint: less black gold (that's Interior), more nuclear boombooms and waste.
Monday, December 12, 2016
This Has Never Occurred To Anybody Else Before
One thing about blogging is the challenge of being interesting enough that people keep coming back while at the same time recognizing (and writing as if I recognize) that I'm usually not actually having several Truly Unique Ideas every day. I get really annoyed when I read a banal Hot Take that is written by someone who sounds (and maybe it is just the writing) as if they really believe that they are the first person the hot take has ever occurred to. Aside from all of the other problems with Tom Friedman, he writes as if he thinks he literally invented every word that comes out onto the page. "'Dog,' that's a good one, Tom," he thinks to himself as he invents a word for the fluffy companion at his feet. One day I expect he'll write, "Why do we drive on a parkway and park on a driveway?" and then wonder why the Nobel committee fails to give him the Literature prize for it.
Nothing wrong with pointing out the obvious sometimes, just know that you're doing it...
Nothing wrong with pointing out the obvious sometimes, just know that you're doing it...
"International Tourist Destination"
Hey mom, can we pay for a hotel room in Manhattan so we can head out to the mall?
Canadian developers say they're building more than a mall, it’s also an international tourist destination — one that would be partially funded by $1 billion in tax incentives
Quality Trolling
It isn't necessarily the most important skill for the president of this not great country, but you gotta admit that the Trump troll game is strong. The final humiliations for Mittens, Christie, and presumably Fiorina are pretty sweet.
But That's What You're Good At
A semi-reasonable complaint ("semi" because I don't think it's true on all of the particulars, but let's say there's enough truth to it) in the UK is whatever the EU laws say, in practice it's a lot easier for those disgusting immigrants to come to the UK than it is for those disgusting Brits to move to the rest of Europe. A lot of this is simply because "everyone" learns a bit of English, some is that for various reasons British jobs are a bit more open to foreign applicants in practice. Obviously that's a bug if you hate immigrants because reasons, but it's surely been one of the UK's strengths. Shutting the door is not so smart.
But Brexit was about an extra $350 million per week for the NHS... that's what they said...
The Home Office is considering cutting international student numbers at UK universities by nearly half, Education Guardian can reveal. The threat is being greeted with dismay by university heads, who say some good overseas applicants are already being refused visas on spurious grounds.
But Brexit was about an extra $350 million per week for the NHS... that's what they said...
A Cunning Plan
Obviously the problem with this is that grifters gonna grift, so $15 billion wouldn't be enough to make him stop, but the point is still valid. If possible, it'd be best to buy off our rulers with one giant lump sum payment than subject the country to various whims over chump change. The thing about corruption is that it isn't just about the money. Money, too, of course, but we can print as much of that as we want.
The Failed Trump Presidency
It's a bit scary when the best hope is that no one running the country (Republicans in Congress included) has any idea what they're doing.
Sunday, December 11, 2016
Mythologies
It seems that "global warming is an expensive hoax made up by Fat Al Gore" has climbed to the top of the conservative mythology. I don't spend enough time in the swamps to know quite where it comes from, but it really is their latest obsession. Marching orders must come from somewhere...
OMG DID SNL MOCK DONALD LAST NIGHT???
And can I stop getting multiple PR emails about it every Sunday?
It's a comedy show. It makes jokes. Sometimes about the people in charge. Usually not. Nothing new.
It's a comedy show. It makes jokes. Sometimes about the people in charge. Usually not. Nothing new.
Morning Thread
Amazing. This was performed w/out rehearsal and Patinkin had the audience enraptured.
Saturday, December 10, 2016
Ur
My least favorite genre these days is people trying to figure out if the Trump team is trying to distract us from Horrible X with Horrible Y.
It's all gonna be bad.
It's all gonna be bad.
Worst. Novel. Ever.
Whoever told me to read this stupid book, "Dangerous Donald," is an idiot. This book sucks.
Morning Thread
When my dad was in his cups, a not infrequent occurance, his favorite expression was "Fuck em all." That was pretty much my very first thought this morning.
Friday, December 09, 2016
The Daily Horrors
Everything is horrible, but some things are more horrible than others. Difficult to keep track at the speed they're arriving.
Urban Renewal
Trump likes it. It's what's going to fix Hell St.
Who knows what Trump means by it, but back in the day urban renewal meant (among other things), "slum"-clearing and urban highways (often a twofer). I think the problems with slumclearing are rather obvious, but the problems with building urban highways are hard to understand without looking at the proposed projects which weren't built, as the appetite and money for them waned. Most of those projects would seem absolutely crazy to do now, but the point is that most of the projects that are now just parts of the accepted landscape were equally crazy.
Locally my favorite (though it isn't the only one) is the Crosstown (South Street) Expressway. It's easy to see what would have been lost if it had been built, and hard to see what was lost by similar projects in the past.
Who knows what Trump means by it, but back in the day urban renewal meant (among other things), "slum"-clearing and urban highways (often a twofer). I think the problems with slumclearing are rather obvious, but the problems with building urban highways are hard to understand without looking at the proposed projects which weren't built, as the appetite and money for them waned. Most of those projects would seem absolutely crazy to do now, but the point is that most of the projects that are now just parts of the accepted landscape were equally crazy.
Locally my favorite (though it isn't the only one) is the Crosstown (South Street) Expressway. It's easy to see what would have been lost if it had been built, and hard to see what was lost by similar projects in the past.
I Found A Study Which Proves My Point
Consider this to be a subtweet (or subblog) to EVERYBODY.
It's been a long time since I've been in academia, but one thing I know is that good research (or even bad research, really), especially in social sciences and medical research (often the research problems are similar even if medicine sounds more like actual SCIENCE), is a long, grueling process. One reason it takes people a long time to get through grad school is that it takes a long time to process and understand the relevant "literature" for whatever issue they're looking at. It isn't just enough to know The Math or The Statistics, it's necessary to know the evolution of thought and rough consensus to understand where the current thinking is both about a particular problem and the best ways to approach looking at the problem. It takes a hell of a long time to essentially create the "lit review" for your dissertation, however much of it actually makes it into your dissertation. Gotta know what came before to understand where we are now.
In the great and glorious age of the internet it's easy for everybody to do a quick search, punch up an abstract of some study or review of studies that somebody has done, maybe go as far as reading the conclusion, and declare the problem solved and your point proved fucking right. But it really isn't that easy. Good social science research should never sell itself as the definitive word on a topic, and nor should anyone else.
It's been a long time since I've been in academia, but one thing I know is that good research (or even bad research, really), especially in social sciences and medical research (often the research problems are similar even if medicine sounds more like actual SCIENCE), is a long, grueling process. One reason it takes people a long time to get through grad school is that it takes a long time to process and understand the relevant "literature" for whatever issue they're looking at. It isn't just enough to know The Math or The Statistics, it's necessary to know the evolution of thought and rough consensus to understand where the current thinking is both about a particular problem and the best ways to approach looking at the problem. It takes a hell of a long time to essentially create the "lit review" for your dissertation, however much of it actually makes it into your dissertation. Gotta know what came before to understand where we are now.
In the great and glorious age of the internet it's easy for everybody to do a quick search, punch up an abstract of some study or review of studies that somebody has done, maybe go as far as reading the conclusion, and declare the problem solved and your point proved fucking right. But it really isn't that easy. Good social science research should never sell itself as the definitive word on a topic, and nor should anyone else.
No You're The Bias
Roy's right (read all the way to the bottom!), it IS a good way to argue with those assholes. Just say "but you're biased" to everything they say. It's what they do.
Of course, you could spend time hammering nails into your brain instead of arguing with them. We all have hobbies.
Of course, you could spend time hammering nails into your brain instead of arguing with them. We all have hobbies.
Thursday, December 08, 2016
Money
I haven't really tried to do any fundraising (meaning, I ask you, dear readers, to join me in contributing to worthy candidates) in awhile. I'll consider doing so again for the 2018 cycle, though I'll have to sit down and think through what my criteria will be. It's a bit tough coming up with the right combination of competitive seats (so they have a chance of wining!), unapologetic liberal (so we don't think they suck!), underfunded (ignored by the powers that be for whatever reason so we can make a difference), etc. Still if those people/seats exist, it's worth getting back in the game for them. Someone remind me of this post in about 6 months...
The Blame Game
Minimum wage workers lost the election.
Gotta wonder whether the "Fight for $15" could've put more focus on preventing election of someone whose Labor Sec'y is their leading foe.
— Alec MacGillis (@AlecMacGillis) December 8, 2016
The Pundit's Fallacy
The joke is always that the pundit line is "What The Democratic Party Needs To Do Is Support The Policies I've Supported All Along." It's especially funny when it comes from professional centrists, who apparently don't ever pay attention to politics, because the Dems basically support that policy agenda and have for years. Ditto the endless calls for Bloomberg to start a third party "movement" which is almost identical to the Democratic party agenda.
But I always try to be careful about distinguishing between "things I support" and "things I think Democrats should support because they're popular." Sure I'm not interested in encouraging them to support things which might be popular that I hate, so what I really encourage is "support things I like and which happen to be popular." Not going to say I'm immune from the pundit's fallacy, but I'm pretty aware of it.
The other day someone asked me if I liked arguing about politics with people. The answer is no (weird,given what I do all day!). I'm not going to change any minds (except around the tiniest margins). The thing is to push the people in power to support Nice Things which would also, too, earn them votes. Money in politics matters, but so do votes, and the latter is not solely the consequence of the former.
But I always try to be careful about distinguishing between "things I support" and "things I think Democrats should support because they're popular." Sure I'm not interested in encouraging them to support things which might be popular that I hate, so what I really encourage is "support things I like and which happen to be popular." Not going to say I'm immune from the pundit's fallacy, but I'm pretty aware of it.
The other day someone asked me if I liked arguing about politics with people. The answer is no (weird,given what I do all day!). I'm not going to change any minds (except around the tiniest margins). The thing is to push the people in power to support Nice Things which would also, too, earn them votes. Money in politics matters, but so do votes, and the latter is not solely the consequence of the former.
Gotta Update That List
We all exist in this society and can't boycott everything horrible. Targeted boycotts can often be unfair to some extent - they target THIS evil company instead of THAT equally evil company - but their purpose is to make a lot of noise and create bad press and set an example. They're generally meant to be short and sweet, to make the point as loudly and quickly as possible. Ongoing boycotts of all of the evil things are more difficult.
But I've long told myself that I wouldn't travel to states that made abortion essentially illegal. It's been a bit hard to keep track of that, as courts tend throw at the worst of it while states successfully whittle away at access without actually banning it.
Ohio basically banned legal abortion. So, Ohio, you're on the list, and off mine.
But I've long told myself that I wouldn't travel to states that made abortion essentially illegal. It's been a bit hard to keep track of that, as courts tend throw at the worst of it while states successfully whittle away at access without actually banning it.
Ohio basically banned legal abortion. So, Ohio, you're on the list, and off mine.
Morning Thread
Happy to report no winter storm forecast in my little universe. Everyone else, stay safe, warm and comfy.
Wednesday, December 07, 2016
The Big Grift
What's "funny" about all the Trump Family Business stories is that...dude, if you're thinking being preznit means you can jack up your hotel rates, you're really dumber than I think. Think big! Once Republicans in Congress make clear (they pretty much have) that oversight is off the table, just write yourself giant checks from the Treasury!
Besides, it's better for us to pay the corruption tax cleanly. Just take a billion bucks, and stop the nickel and dime stuff.
Besides, it's better for us to pay the corruption tax cleanly. Just take a billion bucks, and stop the nickel and dime stuff.
He Was No Angel
I'm actually for reporters providing more nuanced portrayals of people who do bad things, but in 2016 there should be a bit more self-awareness in newsroom generally that these treatments are given to relatively privileged white guys, and not young black males who (in some cases) grew up and live in desperate circumstances. Growing up in poverty is treated as personal pathology, and not an obstacle or hurdle. If you're black, anyway.
Apocalypse Cult
The amazing thing about climate change denialism is that there doesn't seem to be any good reason for it other than tribalism and pissing off liberals. I'm sure the business interests who are capable of fending off any regulation would be more than capable of making mint getting "compensated" for any regulations that were actually passed. I can't imagine there's any legitimate financial interest in denying it anymore, just the billionaire's version of "Al Gore is fat."
Tuesday, December 06, 2016
Mr. Brady Hands Out An Allowance
I doubt this was even in a Brady Bunch episode, but I had sudden flash vision of Mr. Brady inviting Bobby into his study and informing him that if he rakes the yard and mows the lawn, he'll get another FIFTY CENTS per month in allowance.
Proposed policies shouldn't sound like that. Also, too, they shouldn't be like that, but whether they are or aren't they shouldn't sound like that. Keep it simple, and don't make it stingy.
Proposed policies shouldn't sound like that. Also, too, they shouldn't be like that, but whether they are or aren't they shouldn't sound like that. Keep it simple, and don't make it stingy.
Hilarious
The "best" case scenario for Brexit is one in which wealthy individuals, finance, and other multinationals continue operating as if nothing has changed and everybody else gets screwed. But, hey, just put a flag on it.
Mon Dieu!
For weeks after the EU referendum, the only description Theresa May gave was “Brexit means Brexit”, but now the prime minister has a new slogan - “a red, white and blue Brexit”.
Mon Dieu!
Radical Puppetry
One of my "favorite" things back in the exciting runup to our Great and Glorious Adventure in Iraq is that people who supported the Iraq war were always advising its opponents how they should be opposing it. You know, protesting this way is bad, protesting that way is good. The best was when they all agreed that if The Left really cared about Iraq then they would have spent the last several years protesting Saddam Hussein. Yah, that would've shown him! Saddam, fifty hippies have formed a drum circle in Washington, DC! Oh my, I must usher in a new era of human rights and economic justice for all of the people of Iraq!
There's been similar commentary in the UK, about how The Left should be protesting Assad, or whoever it is we're/they're at notwar with in Syria this week, instead of the actions of their own government. (The Syria case is especially "hilarious" as no one can keep track of whether we're more interested in ousting Assad or fighting "nonmoderate" rebels that week).
The most politically powerless group in most countries these days is always supposed to be using their mighty power in support of whatever it is the people with actual power want them to use it for. Of course The Left in these cases generally has a pretty simple message, right or wrong, which is "how about we stop bombing other countries it doesn't seem to be helping much." No matter how bad Hussein was or Assad is, protesting them was/is likely to encourage the bombs, not discourage them.
The Left really should be listening to centrist pundits who don't share their goals at all. Then they'd be powerful!
There's been similar commentary in the UK, about how The Left should be protesting Assad, or whoever it is we're/they're at notwar with in Syria this week, instead of the actions of their own government. (The Syria case is especially "hilarious" as no one can keep track of whether we're more interested in ousting Assad or fighting "nonmoderate" rebels that week).
The most politically powerless group in most countries these days is always supposed to be using their mighty power in support of whatever it is the people with actual power want them to use it for. Of course The Left in these cases generally has a pretty simple message, right or wrong, which is "how about we stop bombing other countries it doesn't seem to be helping much." No matter how bad Hussein was or Assad is, protesting them was/is likely to encourage the bombs, not discourage them.
The Left really should be listening to centrist pundits who don't share their goals at all. Then they'd be powerful!
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