Have a video.
Saturday, October 22, 2016
Missing Narrative
I think in a way it's good - both in terms of how it impacts how the campaign is covered as well as a bit of a sign that in some ways (just some, and not completely) we've actually progressed - but it's also a bit of a shame that there isn't a greater recognition that holy shit we're about to have our first woman president.
Because holy shit we're about to have our first woman president.
Because holy shit we're about to have our first woman president.
Friday, October 21, 2016
Petty Dictators
The big man is a small man.
Also, too, corrupt.
BREAKING #BRIDGEGATE: Frmr Christie aide Kelly says she got OK from gov for traffic study before she sent"Time for traffic problems" email 1
— Andrea Bernstein (@AndreaWNYC) October 21, 2016
2/ BREAKING BRIDGEGATE Kelly said Christie's response to info the @PANYNJ was doing a study" What's our relationship with Mayor Sokolich?"
— Andrea Bernstein (@AndreaWNYC) October 21, 2016
BREAKING BRIDGEGATE 3/ Kelly says she discussed Mayor Sokolich's public safety complaints with Christie on 9/11/13, while closures were on
— Andrea Bernstein (@AndreaWNYC) October 21, 2016
BREAKING BRIDGEGATE 4 Kelly, in tears sez Christie threw a water bottle at her and said "What do you think I am a fucking game show host?"
— Andrea Bernstein (@AndreaWNYC) October 21, 2016
Bridgegate Defendant says Christie knew about the lane closures and gave his consent before she sent "Time for some traffic problems" email pic.twitter.com/M2rV20gf7j
— Andrea Bernstein (@AndreaWNYC) October 21, 2016
Also, too, corrupt.
The Third Rail
One of the great mysteries of the last 15 years or so is how stupid Democrats became about the popularity of certain issues. I don't think The Atrios Agenda always has majority support. I actually pay pretty close attention to opinion polls and have a good sense of when, on a surface level at least (polls don't always fully capture nuances), the plans I will implement as your benevolent dictator will be popular. But once upon a time we all knew that cutting Social Security was "the third rail" and that generally "free stuff for the elderly" (I know it isn't really free, just check your tax return), was really popular. Hell even George Bush rammed through a flawed but still popular with the elderly drug benefit add on to Medicare. Because, you know, there are a lot of them and they vote.
I never quite understand why on an issue as obviously popular as Social Security, "making Fred Hiatt happy" was more important than "getting lots of people to vote for you," but that was where we were. Even Republicans understood that what they wanted to do would be hideously unpopular and it was weirdly Democrats who were pushing it more, at least for a time. Yes, yes, if Republicans were your malevolent dictators they'd gut Social Security, but since they still have to win elections even they aren't completely stupid.
Hopefully that era is over. For a little while at least. Could even win some elections that way!
I never quite understand why on an issue as obviously popular as Social Security, "making Fred Hiatt happy" was more important than "getting lots of people to vote for you," but that was where we were. Even Republicans understood that what they wanted to do would be hideously unpopular and it was weirdly Democrats who were pushing it more, at least for a time. Yes, yes, if Republicans were your malevolent dictators they'd gut Social Security, but since they still have to win elections even they aren't completely stupid.
Hopefully that era is over. For a little while at least. Could even win some elections that way!
Not Gonna Work
This column is highly critical of Tesla, but also highly apologetic about it. Criticize technology that doesn't exist - precisely because it doesn't exist - and people get mad and think you're against progress or technology or whatever.
I'm just saying these cars won't ever (in our lifetimes - sure, eventually the singularity might arrive) really work as hyped and certainly don't deserve all of the press they're getting. I also don't think that even if they did work they'd be a big improvement for all (some) of the reasons people think they will be, but those are more debatable issues which I rarely bother to debate because the fact is the things aren't going to work. Okay, I'll define "work." Basically, you have to be able to tune out 100% over 90% of the time. I'll even allow for a "last mile" kind of "time for you to drive" thing as long as the rest of the time you can kick back and read your book or whatever. Because if you have to pay attention but usually not doing anything, what's the point? It's just better cruise control. A neat feature for some, but nothing more than that.
I'm just saying these cars won't ever (in our lifetimes - sure, eventually the singularity might arrive) really work as hyped and certainly don't deserve all of the press they're getting. I also don't think that even if they did work they'd be a big improvement for all (some) of the reasons people think they will be, but those are more debatable issues which I rarely bother to debate because the fact is the things aren't going to work. Okay, I'll define "work." Basically, you have to be able to tune out 100% over 90% of the time. I'll even allow for a "last mile" kind of "time for you to drive" thing as long as the rest of the time you can kick back and read your book or whatever. Because if you have to pay attention but usually not doing anything, what's the point? It's just better cruise control. A neat feature for some, but nothing more than that.
Thursday, October 20, 2016
Fire
Woke up in the middle of the night to the smell of burning. Looked out and could see shooting flames about a block and a half away. Fire trucks showed up and put it out, but I weirdly can't find anything in the news about it.
No You're The Idiot
I get the tribalism of politics, that a big chunk of Republicans will never vote for Democrats (the reverse is true, though not nearly to the same extent). I get that 25 years of digesting right wing horseshit will make you not inclined to vote for Hillary Clinton, the devil, even if you only believe about 1/10 of it. I also, as I've said, definitely understand the popularity of a bombastic Trump-like politician.
But Trump? What the fuck is wrong with you people, even the deplorables among you? .
But Trump? What the fuck is wrong with you people, even the deplorables among you? .
Bad People
Kellyanne's "yes I know I'm full of shit and I'm letting you know I'm full of shit but it's my job so whatcanido?" schtick could only be endearing to certain members of the Village because they're used to this stuff. It's like lobbyists who work for horrible causes and are paid liars but after a few drinks tell what they really think off the record. It isn't enough to realize (or as is more often the case, pretend to realize) that your chosen path in life is a fucking nightmare because you've, you know, chosen it.
We all gotta eat, but we don't all gotta eat quite so well...
We all gotta eat, but we don't all gotta eat quite so well...
So Much For The Trump Pardon Plan
All those beat sweetening mancrushes on Christie for nothing.
A New Jersey firefighter succeeded where federal prosecutors failed: He brought criminal charges against Gov. Chris Christie in the Bridgegate scandal.
A Bergen County courtroom echoed with cheers after Judge Roy McGeady signed off Thursday on the criminal summons presented by retired smoke-eater William Brennan.
Wednesday, October 19, 2016
Pre-Game
I blame the White House Correspondent's Dinner, which gave birth to Trump's political career, for all of the stunt guests.
Tonight, Tonight
I made plans tonight (strangely I didn't put all of the debates on the calendar) so I'll probably miss the beginning of the debate. There is no way I will be able to make an informed choice at the polls, so no voting for me.
Gimme Some Money
I know nothing of the specifics of Shearer's case, but big studios (music, movie) have a long history of completely screwing people even when contracts are clear (there are situations when rights are not always quite iron clad, but this doesn't seem to be one of them).
I still listen the Spinal Tap soundtrack "seriously." It's good.
I still listen the Spinal Tap soundtrack "seriously." It's good.
The Leaks Are Out There
I did this event last night (fun, nice people) and I was asked about how the press should deal with the DNC leaks.
Anyway, my basic position is that this type of hack(or however the emails were obtained)/leak generally doesn't rise to the level of newsworthy and in the public interest which would in any way justify the means that they were obtained. Sure there are some interesting things, but I haven't seen much that rises above the level of gossip. Anyone taking an absolutist position against obtaining information through nefarious means is taking a position against journalism, really, but that doesn't mean all information just wants to be free and any nefarious means is always justified.
However, they are, as Cokie says, out there. You can't put that toothpaste back in the tube. They're going to be disseminated and seen and spun by crappy news outlets and stupid bloggers and partisan entities which are trying to make a shiny enough soccer ball so that if they kick it the rest of the press will follow. And context really matters for a big data dump of emails. For example, the internal discussions of political campaigns and the relationships between campaign people and reporters is not something people understand very well if they've never done it. Things can easily be painted as somehow "corrupt" and the press can be portrayed as being "complicit" in something when it's actually just perfectly standard behavior. You know, things like journalists contacting a campaign to comment on something can be seen as the journalists coordinating with a campaign or warning them about a story that's coming, when in fact it's just good journalistic practice.
So even if the stuff in the leaks isn't really newsworthy, journalists who do understand this stuff should take a look at it and provide the proper explanation and context. There's a big history of portraying perfectly normal political actions by the Clintons as somehow being deviant and corrupt, when they're just standard operating procedures. They're just what everybody does. Things like "campaign tries to forge good relations with members of the press" or "campaign plots strategy months in advance" are normal. Maybe some of it's gross, maybe normal is gross, but it doesn't say anything specific about the Clinton campaign other than they're playing the game as it is played.
tl;dr: can't ignore the leaks, this is an area political journalists should have knowledge of and expertise in, so they should use that to explain them.
Anyway, my basic position is that this type of hack(or however the emails were obtained)/leak generally doesn't rise to the level of newsworthy and in the public interest which would in any way justify the means that they were obtained. Sure there are some interesting things, but I haven't seen much that rises above the level of gossip. Anyone taking an absolutist position against obtaining information through nefarious means is taking a position against journalism, really, but that doesn't mean all information just wants to be free and any nefarious means is always justified.
However, they are, as Cokie says, out there. You can't put that toothpaste back in the tube. They're going to be disseminated and seen and spun by crappy news outlets and stupid bloggers and partisan entities which are trying to make a shiny enough soccer ball so that if they kick it the rest of the press will follow. And context really matters for a big data dump of emails. For example, the internal discussions of political campaigns and the relationships between campaign people and reporters is not something people understand very well if they've never done it. Things can easily be painted as somehow "corrupt" and the press can be portrayed as being "complicit" in something when it's actually just perfectly standard behavior. You know, things like journalists contacting a campaign to comment on something can be seen as the journalists coordinating with a campaign or warning them about a story that's coming, when in fact it's just good journalistic practice.
So even if the stuff in the leaks isn't really newsworthy, journalists who do understand this stuff should take a look at it and provide the proper explanation and context. There's a big history of portraying perfectly normal political actions by the Clintons as somehow being deviant and corrupt, when they're just standard operating procedures. They're just what everybody does. Things like "campaign tries to forge good relations with members of the press" or "campaign plots strategy months in advance" are normal. Maybe some of it's gross, maybe normal is gross, but it doesn't say anything specific about the Clinton campaign other than they're playing the game as it is played.
tl;dr: can't ignore the leaks, this is an area political journalists should have knowledge of and expertise in, so they should use that to explain them.
Strike
I went to one of these schools. I don't claim any knowledge of current conditions, but the teaching (not all the work professors do) loads when I was there were absolutely insane. These were not cushy jobs.
..and, adding, as I've written before I'm almost 100% that my tutition+room+board (probably not extras like textbooks) came in at just under $5000 my freshman year. That'd be $9700 in today's money. Current price: $20,700, more than double. Just call me Old Economy Atrios.
..and, adding, as I've written before I'm almost 100% that my tutition+room+board (probably not extras like textbooks) came in at just under $5000 my freshman year. That'd be $9700 in today's money. Current price: $20,700, more than double. Just call me Old Economy Atrios.
Tuesday, October 18, 2016
Carnival Is Almost Over
Final debate, and then the ballot stuffing with illegal votes, and then George Soros's voting machines count the votes, and then it's the start of the failed Clinton presidency and the beginning of Campaign 2020.
Huzzah!
Huzzah!
The Day After
If he wants it, I wonder if every news organization will treat Trump the way they treated Palin, with his every utterance being EXCLUSIVE POLITICO MUST CREDIT POLITICO ON THIS SCOOP ABOUT PALIN'S FACEBOOK STATUS.
Those were weird times, too.
Those were weird times, too.
But They Aren't Going to Vote 150% For Her!
The great orange Satan steals my beat (joke).
The other complaint about The Kids Today is that they don't vote. Fair enough. The youngs vote less than other age groups consistently. But I looked up the numbers the other day, and a higher percentage of The Kids voted in 2008 and 2012 than in every presidential year from 1984 onward, except for 1992 edging out 2012 very slightly. So turnout from The Kids Today is better than turnout from The Kids Yesterday. No they don't vote in midterms, but nobody else does either.
The other complaint about The Kids Today is that they don't vote. Fair enough. The youngs vote less than other age groups consistently. But I looked up the numbers the other day, and a higher percentage of The Kids voted in 2008 and 2012 than in every presidential year from 1984 onward, except for 1992 edging out 2012 very slightly. So turnout from The Kids Today is better than turnout from The Kids Yesterday. No they don't vote in midterms, but nobody else does either.
Run, Curt, Run
Fleecing Rhode Island got boring, I guess.
Curt Schilling, who pitched for parts of 20 seasons in the major leagues and won 216 career games, has announced his intention to run for U.S. Senate against Democrat Elizabeth Warren in Massachusetts. Here's what Schilling said on Tuesday:
Always Read The Comments
I do, anyway. They're the most fun! Though often the most enraging, too. This is a fun comments section, with people discussing whether or not it's rude to park in front of someone else's house on a public street. At least here in the urban hellhole, people are usually reasonably happy as long as they can get a spot on their own block (except for the whole "snow savesies" thing...).
That's How It's Supposed To Work
Given that they can't even update their OS without screwing up either the WiFi or the cell service...
It's good news for Apple. John McCain, too, probably.
After about two years of steady speculation, it now looks as if the mysterious Apple Car will never actually make it to the road.
According to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman and Alex Webb, Apple "has drastically scaled back its automotive ambitions, leading to hundreds of job cuts and a new direction that, for now, no longer includes building its own car, according to people familiar with the project."
It's good news for Apple. John McCain, too, probably.
How to Destroy A Country
Brexit's a bad idea in part because the people empowered to make it happen are bad and incompetent people. Increasingly they're shutting out anyone who actually might have any clue about how to make the best of a bad situation.
This is, of course, depressing – especially when the Brexit camp fought under the banner of democracy and sovereignty. Now they hurl insults at opponents who dare question their wisdom and howl down those who dare offer different perspectives on the way ahead. The ballot offered a binary choice without specifics. But ministers refuse to discuss Britain stance on departure deals, while politicians proposing that parliament should have a say are accused of subverting the will of the people.
Monday, October 17, 2016
They Spent The Last 8 Years Covering Them
Of course the "liberal media" is always profiling conservatives. They can't get enough of them. But you can pretty easily draw a straight line from the birth of the "Tea Party" which I believe got a few column-inches or million to Trump. That the "liberal media" always fails to understand conservatives is true, but it isn't because they don't cover them...
Philly Style
For various reasons Philly has become ground zero of the recent conservative narrative about how those Democrats are stealing the election. Most of it has to do with the shocking of evidence of black people voting, and for Democrats! But it'll be "funny" as long as too many yahoos with guns from the 'T' don't show up to do "poll watching." I doubt they will. They're frightened of the city. Because, you know, black people.
Fall Fundraising Funstravaganza Day The FINAL
Thanks so much to all. It's been fun, as always. We laughed, we cried. It's been bigly.
Strike
A strike by my local transit authority (whatever the merits) will have the benefit of temporarily making people realize that the city doesn't function without it, and Uber is not actually a substitute even for people who can afford it.
Negatives: a lot of people can't get to work and other obligations.
Negatives: a lot of people can't get to work and other obligations.
How to Destroy a Country
I saw this last night and thought it was just some sort of random internet idiot thing. Not quite.
Profiles in courage.
Opposing Brexit should be made an act of "treason" and be punishable by life in prison, a Conservative councillor has suggested in a petition to Parliament.
Guildford councillor Christian Holliday's petition, on the House of Commons website, calls for an amendment to the Treason Felony Act to make supporting UK membership of the European Union a crime.
Profiles in courage.
Asked about the petition, Prime Minister Theresa May's official spokeswoman said: "Different people will choose their words differently.
"The Prime Minister has been very clear that the British people have made their decision and we should respect the will of the British people. That's how she would put it."
Morning Thread
Build it and they will come. A family friendly beer garden at the Riverfront in Wilmington. Turns out to be hugely popular, despite fears of loud noise and disruption from the neighbors. Minimal investment. Just some picnic tables, lights. Sell beer and hot dogs, provide for some children's games and people love it. And why not? Next year, they're even going to provide some shade.
Sunday, October 16, 2016
One Of My Positions That People Have Mocked
Is that Netflix would have a big problem with the streaming market and they'd be better off focusing on, or at least continuing to focus on, their DVD library. Since then they've split the two systems annoyingly, have let their DVD library/service degrade considerably, and are increasingly one of many players in the competitive streaming market. They'd made some good shows - yay Netflix - but they're paying through the nose for streaming rights.
Streaming is great, but licenses are expensive, as is original program development. The first sale doctrine means they can buy one DVD and rent it out over and over again (until it's damaged or lost, anyway). The DVD business was the monopoly that gave them an edge in the streaming business. They gave up that edge, and are just going to be one of many players bidding for rights.
Streaming is great, but the streaming library increasingly sucks. It's just another cable channel. I'd gladly pay for 24 hour turnaround access to the world's greatest DVD library. Streaming will never be able to duplicate that library.
Netflix needs the money that increased scale would provide, in part, to pay top dollar for shows such as Arrested Development and Lost. In January, it told investors it owed $10.9bn in TV show licenses alone, with $4.7bn of that due this year. After that, almost the entire balance is due before the end of 2018.
Netflix will have to keep buying reruns at what will almost certainly be increasing rates if it wants to retain its users, and the companies selling those shows are now in a tight spot too – largely thanks to the ad-free Netflix model.
Streaming is great, but licenses are expensive, as is original program development. The first sale doctrine means they can buy one DVD and rent it out over and over again (until it's damaged or lost, anyway). The DVD business was the monopoly that gave them an edge in the streaming business. They gave up that edge, and are just going to be one of many players bidding for rights.
Streaming is great, but the streaming library increasingly sucks. It's just another cable channel. I'd gladly pay for 24 hour turnaround access to the world's greatest DVD library. Streaming will never be able to duplicate that library.
Why Him
I certainly get how a Trump-like figure manages to temporarily (or, eek, permanently) dominate American politics, though I admit I don't precisely get how Trump himself does. Point being, I get how a racist asshole with a little charisma and charm could manage to achieve it, but Trump seems to lack the charisma and charm part. I mean, he has the charm of a typical sports radio caller who calls in on Monday to complain about Sunday's loss.
Fall Fundraising Funstravaganza Day... um, 6?
I guess I forgot yesterday. Was busy trying to enjoy my Saturday, Saturday. Thanks to all who have helped! I think it's about 210 contributions so far.
Election day is almost here.
Election day is almost here.
Real Genius
This kind of thinking helps you earn the big bucks in America.
Why do we lose half our stock out the back door? I dunno, let me Taser one of the on call employees we have in the dungeon and find out...
From store managers nationwide, they heard that years of cost-cutting meant Walmart had become viewed as a last-ditch option for employment — not the place that ambitious people might want to work. They were under such pressure to keep labor costs low that the employees they hired showed little loyalty or career-building devotion to their jobs.
“We realized quickly that wages are only one part of it, that what also matters are the schedules we give people, the hours that they work, the training we give them, the opportunities you provide them,” said Judith McKenna, who became chief operating officer in late 2014, in a recent interview. “What you’ve got to do is not just fix one part, but get all of these things moving together.”
Why do we lose half our stock out the back door? I dunno, let me Taser one of the on call employees we have in the dungeon and find out...
Morning Thread
Bold prediction here: I think the story going forward is going to be the Shrinking Crowds at Sniffles' rallies. The stink of loser doesn't attract thousands. Hundreds at best.
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