Thursday, November 30, 2017
I Know It's Page Six
But I am so sorry, so sorry, I am a bad man, now give me $30 million is... well, fuck you Matt.
Maybe give it all to Ann Curry? hahahahaa
EXCLUSIVE
Matt Lauer’s lawyers trying to get him $30M payout after firing
Maybe give it all to Ann Curry? hahahahaa
It's So Easy
I am sure it will pass in some form but it's amazing that the GOP can't even manage to construct a massive tax cut for rich people and corporations without drama. I mean, Paul Ryan's "postcard" was always bullshit, but it was at least closer to the right idea. Cut some rates, cut a few deductions, the end.
The End Of Ph.D Programs
Gonna be a lot of people dropping out (and they should!) if this tax bill passes...
The City That Never Sleeps
I'd short NYC real estate if I could.
Imagine New York without its 24/7 subway system?
The experts at the Regional Plan Association did, and they believe it's key to building a reliable transit system for a growing metropolitan area.
It Can't Always Go Up To 11
I'd say I was a bit guilty of screaming too loudly at every little thing the Bush administration did back in the day, but I did so because *nobody else was screaming*. Punditry generally was so on the side of defending George Bush that screaming a bit too loudly on this sucky blog was a abit of a counterweight. I don't mean I lied about my reactions. I mean, sure, maybe I overreacted sometimes, because quite often no one else was reacting. There was good journalism then - otherwise how would I know what to be mad about - but if you, for example, flipped on Hardball in 2005, it was Bush country and everybody loved him. We all remember the joke about how Bush critics were "shrill."
There isn't a shortage of Trump criticism now. In fact, as bad as Trump is, I'd say there's too much criticism. Not in the sense that I disagree with anyone arguing that he is America's Worst Human. He is. But not every single little thing that comes out of the Trump administration is worth turning the dial up to 11 for, even if a lot of it is.
I don't think Trump does anything for the right reasons. I don't think he even understands the reasons for anything he does, other than how it makes him feel deep inside his hollow soul. But occasionally he does something right for the wrong reasons, and blocking a giant merger - frankly, any giant merger - is in no way an assault on the free press even if Trump thinks it is. Pretty sure we'll still have Don Lemon to kick around if this doesn't go through.
There isn't a shortage of Trump criticism now. In fact, as bad as Trump is, I'd say there's too much criticism. Not in the sense that I disagree with anyone arguing that he is America's Worst Human. He is. But not every single little thing that comes out of the Trump administration is worth turning the dial up to 11 for, even if a lot of it is.
The president of the United States boosting this diseased racist propaganda quite understandably taints everything else he says and does. However, even this galling behavior doesn't mean that President Trump's views are 100 percent bad all the time. Similarly, the enemy of your enemy is not necessarily your friend — and it's important not to side with bad actors just because they happen to fall afoul of the president's meandering, addle-brained resentments.
Case in point: the proposed merger between AT&T and Time Warner, which Trump's Department of Justice has filed a lawsuit to block.
I don't think Trump does anything for the right reasons. I don't think he even understands the reasons for anything he does, other than how it makes him feel deep inside his hollow soul. But occasionally he does something right for the wrong reasons, and blocking a giant merger - frankly, any giant merger - is in no way an assault on the free press even if Trump thinks it is. Pretty sure we'll still have Don Lemon to kick around if this doesn't go through.
Borders
I have a minor fascination with the Northern Ireland border situation because...I don't see a solution. I've seen ones that people have proposed and they don't (to me) make any sense, though maybe I'm missing something. Like many things in politics the discourse has moved from a couple of "crazy" people pointing out that, "hey, uh, guys, this is a problem..." and being met with denials, to "haha suck it idiots who cares."
For this observation, the leader of Britain's closest ally was decried as an “Brexit buffoon” and told to “shut his gob” by The Sun. Then came a tidal wave of assenting voices from the right-wing commentariat, none of which saw fit to challenge Varadkar’s point. While insisting there will be no hard border, the UK has flatly refused to compromise on any of the measures, such as customs or immigration, that would make anything but a hard border possible. In response to this, Labour’s Kate Hoey – who fancies herself left-wing since she’s passionate about border controls AND saving elephants – says that if there is a hard border, “Dublin will pay for it”.
Such Trumpian nonsense would be laughable were the stakes not so high. The only reachable pub where I grew up was across the border; our nearest shop was too. Having to present documents to armed men just so we can commute to work, visit next-door neighbours, or access the amenities we have used our entire lives, would not only be wildly impractical, but a cruel thing to demand of law-abiding citizens. Moreover, as I’ve specified here before, a militarised checkpoint would massively erode the self-determination of all those who identify as Irish, contravening the Good Friday Agreement and imperiling the peace process.
Wednesday, November 29, 2017
Power And Visibility
There are probably a lot of men - CEO types of mostly anonymous companies - who have done this and worse. They might never be exposed because they aren't celebrities. It's a bit (just a bit) of a mystery how you can think you can be America's Very Good Boy on teevee 5 days per week and not think this stuff would come out eventually. I mean, I get it, it took this long... there are reasons. But still.
As the co-host of NBC’s “Today,” Matt Lauer once gave a colleague a sex toy as a present. It included an explicit note about how he wanted to use it on her, which left her mortified.
On another day, he summoned a different female employee to his office, and then dropped his pants, showing her his penis. After the employee declined to do anything, visibly shaken, he reprimanded her for not engaging in a sexual act.
Mistakes Were Made.
Oops.
American Airlines Group Inc. is rushing to resolve a scheduling fault that gave time off to too many pilots in December -- a flaw that has left more than 15,000 flights without sufficient crew during the holiday rush, according to a union for the carrier’s pilots.
We Iz Smart Economists
The scuttlebutt is that our genius senators are moving from triggering tax increases on the off chance their magic tax plan doesn't reduce the deficit (or something like that) to triggering spending cuts. Or some combination. The former would be better depending on who it falls on, but either way this basically means that if there's a recession we're going to have contractionary fiscal policy, which is something that even in the most conservative Econ 101 textbook you will probably learn is Bad. Especially since 9 years later the Fed is still basically at the zero lower bound, so there's not much they can do (well, there is... helicopter money! but they won't.)
The Pence Rule
I'm not saying anything that hasn't already been said by a million other people, but hey I gotta fill this blueboard with something. It's so horrible and stupid whenever these accusations come out and people (usually conservatives but not just) argue that essentially men and women should just never be alone together, especially in the workplace. The slightly more enlightened liberal version is that no two people (there are gay men and women after all!) should be alone in a workplace setting. But these are dumb suggestions, implying both that people (men, really, but ok, people) just can't be expected to control themselves and that THE REAL CONCERN involves false accusations. Simultaneously, somehow.
People who work together will need to be be alone together sometimes, and denying that possibility to women - either in the workplace or work-related social situations - is going to negatively impact their career possibilities.
It's difficult to talk about the full range of behaviors, ranking them, because it sounds like some are being excused. But ultimately, the issue in the workplace is abuse of power. People need jobs (we all gotta eat) and they want successful careers. You can't report the boss to the boss, and you can't report the boss's favorite protege to the boss either. The HR department doesn't care about you, they care about their legal liability. Power can be more complicated than that, but that's the simple version.
When it came to the Glenn Thrush allegations (even this sucky blogger feels the need to put things in lawyer-proof terms sometimes), the issue wasn't so much that he was an aggressive drunk, though that can be bad enough of course, it was that he allegedly slut-shamed the women he hit on, making it seem like they were the aggressors in order to damage their reputations. I mean, who cares if they were the aggressors - what 25-year-old could resist sexy Glenn? - but people are still horrible about this stuff and so they do care.
While the full Lauer stories aren't out yet, that seems to be the issue with him as well. Men Behaving Badly is bad, but men abusing their power is what the worst of this stuff is about. That power can both physical and economic. The "boss" sleeping with underlings is certainly open for criticism, but those can be legitimately consensual relationships. Often those consensual relationships are bad ideas, but still. The existence of power differentials is inevitable in almost all of our relationships. That power isn't always being abused, but often it is.
People who work together will need to be be alone together sometimes, and denying that possibility to women - either in the workplace or work-related social situations - is going to negatively impact their career possibilities.
It's difficult to talk about the full range of behaviors, ranking them, because it sounds like some are being excused. But ultimately, the issue in the workplace is abuse of power. People need jobs (we all gotta eat) and they want successful careers. You can't report the boss to the boss, and you can't report the boss's favorite protege to the boss either. The HR department doesn't care about you, they care about their legal liability. Power can be more complicated than that, but that's the simple version.
When it came to the Glenn Thrush allegations (even this sucky blogger feels the need to put things in lawyer-proof terms sometimes), the issue wasn't so much that he was an aggressive drunk, though that can be bad enough of course, it was that he allegedly slut-shamed the women he hit on, making it seem like they were the aggressors in order to damage their reputations. I mean, who cares if they were the aggressors - what 25-year-old could resist sexy Glenn? - but people are still horrible about this stuff and so they do care.
While the full Lauer stories aren't out yet, that seems to be the issue with him as well. Men Behaving Badly is bad, but men abusing their power is what the worst of this stuff is about. That power can both physical and economic. The "boss" sleeping with underlings is certainly open for criticism, but those can be legitimately consensual relationships. Often those consensual relationships are bad ideas, but still. The existence of power differentials is inevitable in almost all of our relationships. That power isn't always being abused, but often it is.
Large Adult Son
Don Jr. is so dumb this will be hilarious, though sadly "behind closed doors" means we won't know just how hilarious.
Donald Trump Jr. has agreed to meet with the House Intelligence Committee as soon as next week, giving lawmakers their first opportunity to question President Donald Trump's eldest son over his contacts with Russians during the campaign season, according to multiple sources with knowledge of the matter.
Also Won't Necessarily Be Safe
As I've said repeatedly, I don't think safety is really the prime concern of autonomous vehicles, at least in the sense that they can be programmed not to hit things. But driving in non-standard ways, ways in which aren't intuitive to the human drivers around them, can create problems around the cars even if the cars themselves aren't running over pedestrians regularly.
The technology is neat. It obviously "works" in some sense. It just isn't going to work well enough for them to be all that useful.
For humans driving regular cars, these auto-matons must be a nuisance. They are slow—we stayed at about 15 to 20 miles per hour for most of our trip. They stop at the hint of danger, sometimes slamming on the brakes and throwing passengers forward in their seats. (I would not choose to ride in this self-driving car if I were, say, already suffering from a migraine.) And occasionally, they get confused and just kinda freeze. At one point, Chinchilla approached a public bus pulled over to the side of a one-way street. There was plenty of room to navigate around it. Chinchilla braked and considered its impending circumnavigation. And considered. And considered. About two minutes later, the safety driver finally flipped off the self-driving mode and piloted the car around the bus. No vehicles were waiting behind us, but, oh, if there had been—the honking! (Kyle Vogt, Cruise’s CEO, later told me the lidar sensors that usually determine how much clearance the vehicles have on their sides have been suffering from technical issues for the past few weeks, so the cars are even more cautious about going around obstacles then they normally are.)
The technology is neat. It obviously "works" in some sense. It just isn't going to work well enough for them to be all that useful.
Comeback Tour
I remain curious if any of these people - Lauer, Rose, etc... - will find a way to have a comeback tour or will they just fade away. Rose is pretty old, but Lauer isn't.
So Easy
As much as Trump wants to be loved, he obviously has a broken personality that makes him be able to resist just deliberately pissing everybody off. It is so easy for a Republican president to be reasonably popular. It's almost impossible to really piss off Republian voters (you just have to own the libs every now and then and they're happy), and Dem voters tend to want to believe they're above it all and transpartisan and all that. That doesn't get you to 70% approval, but it gets you 50% or so. Add in the media wanting to declare that Trump is a wise philosopher king every time he manages to read a teleprompter and you get a few more points.
Unless the economy goes to hell or similar, it's easy.
Unless the economy goes to hell or similar, it's easy.
And Matt Lauer
The real story (which I don't know!) is how much people covered for him. I don't mean victims and underlings, I mean people who had enough power to do something about it. I don't want to hear hiding behind the lack of official complaints. It's the kind of thing "everybody knows."
Tuesday, November 28, 2017
Leaking To The Press Is Not Enough
We have a problem.
Mr. Trump’s friends did not bother denying that the president was creating an alternative version of events. One Republican lawmaker, who asked not to be identified, said that Mr. Trump’s false statements had become familiar to people over time. The president continues to boast of winning districts that he did not in fact win, the lawmaker said, and of receiving 52 percent of the women’s vote, even though exit polls show that 42 percent of women supported him.
People Are Going To Notice
There are ways to be sneaky about tax increases so that people tend to not notice. Obviously you can't increase taxes that much and get away with people not noticing, but you can a bit. When people fire up the Turbo Tax and suddenly there is no "unreimbursed employment expenses" section they're going to notice. That's just one example, of course, but for the people it impacts...they'll know. It won't be hidden.
KISS
Back when I would travel to DC a bit to scheme, occasionally talking to members of Congress and legislative staff, there was this weird way in which any idea would just get complicated. Like...we'd really like to do X. But we can't get the votes for X (this is mostly in that period when "we" controlled Congress) or the support of the Obama administration. So..how about we do Y, which is like a much more complicated version of X...maybe we can get the votes that way! There was a bit of desperation in this. It wasn't necessarily that they believed it. They were just trying to find some way.. any way. But still the idea that making it more complicated than necessary could get support infused all discussions. It's just weird.
Does He Still Rule Their World
It's been years since I have visited Matt Drudge's site. I used to because he drove the agenda. If Drudge had it up at 2, it would be on CNN at 3. I don't think he does anymore, but I am not sure?
This Never Happens
The Post did the right thing, of course, but cynical me says they only did the right thing because the woman is a "nobody."
Ambinder is correct, but when does this happen? I mean, it never happens. It really *never happens*. It's one of my pet peeves so I pay attention. Years ago back when I was a young and beautiful blogger a journalist made the claim to me that sources don't lie because if they did journalists would burn them. I don't claim to have a a perfect memory, but how often have journalists burned sources over lies? Hilariously the only one I remember is Howie Kurtz burning Ann Coulter.
If you are powerful and use a privileged access agreement (background, deep background, off the record) to mislead or to lie, the journalist should not be under any obligation to keep their side of their agreement, absent extraordinary circumstances.
— Marc Ambinder (@marcambinder) November 28, 2017
Ambinder is correct, but when does this happen? I mean, it never happens. It really *never happens*. It's one of my pet peeves so I pay attention. Years ago back when I was a young and beautiful blogger a journalist made the claim to me that sources don't lie because if they did journalists would burn them. I don't claim to have a a perfect memory, but how often have journalists burned sources over lies? Hilariously the only one I remember is Howie Kurtz burning Ann Coulter.
Monday, November 27, 2017
Eyetalians
I moved around a lot as a little kid but spent my post-12 years in the Philly suburbs. In that place and time, Italians were a race. The kids who were Italian had dark skin. They had black hair and were tan! There weren't many African-American kids in my school district (a few), but there were Italian-Americans. Hello my first kiss, where are you now. They were actually the cool kids so being "racialized" didn't hurt them (this is complicated but true enough), but they were racialized. I thought Italians all had dark skin.
I'm not sure what my point is other than "race is a social construction, and it's complicated." That's good enough for a blog post.
I'm not sure what my point is other than "race is a social construction, and it's complicated." That's good enough for a blog post.
Golf
I predict that in 50 years this hobby will not exist. It is weird. It is a 1980s symbol of suburban fake rich affluence. There is nothing wrong with enjoying golf, but it was a thing that has passed. It is the perfect thing for the man who thinks time stopped in 1987.
Let's Make A Deal
Fun!
The lawyer for President Donald Trump’s former national security adviser Michael Flynn met Monday morning with members of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s team, the latest indication that both sides are discussing a possible plea deal, ABC News has learned.
The Explainers
That political reporters have never understood - or pretended to never understand - that Republicans don't care about the deficit is an indictment of all of them. Are they stupid or corrupt is valid question.
The First Tweet Of The Day
I am sure this is an excellent song.
XPN’s #GottaHearSong of the Week: “Eschaton” by @darlingside | https://t.co/AoNrlQskdA pic.twitter.com/XeajKYKYAM
— wxpnfm (@wxpnfm) November 27, 2017
Sunday, November 26, 2017
The Kids Today
They can't afford anything but they still have more fun than the olds ever did. This is fascinating!!!
Why Not Him
I think Franken is a dumbass who thought taking a fake groping picture (I didn't see actual groping) and pinching butts without permission was OK. I think this is bad. I also don't think it's resignation level, in part because I think elected officials are elected and calls for their resignations subvert that concept (which is not to say there is never a resignation-level offense). I am happy for counterarguments.
The Atrios Manifesto
All Americans must agree to agree with me on the things we agree about and put aside the things we don't agree about.
There Was A Joke And I Can't Remember It
I am mad that I can't remember it. It was funny! It was something like "The Nazis aren't like Elvis. Nobody is into them because of their early stuff." But it was funnier than that because it was a better and more obvious example than Elvis. But this is the point. In 1930s Germany (and elsewhere) you might have been into the Nazis for their cool films and uniforms and not entirely offensive nationalism (which is valid, to a point), etc. I'm not minimizing the early Nazi supporters. They were bad! But they weren't necessarily "put all the Jews to death" bad. If you're into Nazis today - not fascism, not racism, but Nazis - you're into exterminating 6 million people in dedicated industrial death camps.
Saturday, November 25, 2017
We
A museum quality entry in the bothsides genre.
Why do I fear that in 25 years, we will look back at this "who's in charge" of the CFPB controversy as just the first in a long list of unintended consequences of partisan lawmaking and polarization? More precedents being set that we'll collectively wish some day we hadn't
— Chuck Todd (@chucktodd) November 25, 2017
Curious
Not all gun nuts are the same. I think most people who carry regularly have vigilante fantasies about killing black people, but that isn't true of everyone who carries regularly. For the ones who don't have vigilante fantasies, what are they scared of? I mean, I live in a scary urban hellhole and Mrs. A is allowed outside at night by herself. That's a jokey way of saying... I don't feel unsafe in the kind of place which is supposed to be unsafe. The people who carry on their visit to the local Wal-Mart, or wherever, what is that about?
PSA
We have 8 billion municipalities in the US so regulations to the letter vary slightly, but:
1) A yellow light means "stop, unless it is unsafe to do so." Not "go through it as long as you can before it turns red."
2) The "passing lane" is not the "lane where you can legally drive 15 MPH above the speed limit constantly."
1) A yellow light means "stop, unless it is unsafe to do so." Not "go through it as long as you can before it turns red."
2) The "passing lane" is not the "lane where you can legally drive 15 MPH above the speed limit constantly."
The Eschaton Decade
I'm pretty good at picking them, though that's not difficult. The wankers leave a long paper trail. They wank a lot. Some of these are so obvious I don't need to bother saying anything more. Whatever happened to Mark Halperin?
Mandate
I have all of the microeconomic models of insurance burned into my head from when I was a graduate student because...they were pretty hard! I had to study a lot! The math of economics was always...well, let's say, a few inches from my fingertips. I managed, but barely. Funny how these things sink in over time. I'd be lost on the mechanics of advanced math at this point, but I get it intuitively much more than I did then. On those occasions I do look at something really mathy I actually get the point now, even if I couldn't replicate the steps myself to save my life.
Anyway, back to the insurance mandate. It isn't necessary. Health insurance is not auto insurance (and, let's be clear, auto insurance mandates are actual mandates, not Sunsteiny nudges). The mandate concept is based on the idea that without it young healthy people won't buy insurance. Okay, sure, there are some of those, because young people have broken brains and forget to tie their shoes sometimes. They also forget to file their taxes and sign up for health care and... anyway, you get the point. It's irresponsibility and complexity that leads to young people not buying health insurance, not a supposedly rational examination of their economic choices. To put it another way, make our health care system simpler stupid. That's the barrier, not young healthy people who don't think spending money on health insurance is worth it. Adverse selection, blah blah blah. This is your life. Make it easy and sort of affordable and sort of worthwhile and people will buy the damn insurance.
That the mandate is bad politics is dumb, but that the mandate is thought to be necessary is also dumb. And if the mandate is "necessary" the mandate is the stupidest way to, well, mandate that people buy insurance. It isn't a mandate. It's a fine. That's really stupid.
Anyway, back to the insurance mandate. It isn't necessary. Health insurance is not auto insurance (and, let's be clear, auto insurance mandates are actual mandates, not Sunsteiny nudges). The mandate concept is based on the idea that without it young healthy people won't buy insurance. Okay, sure, there are some of those, because young people have broken brains and forget to tie their shoes sometimes. They also forget to file their taxes and sign up for health care and... anyway, you get the point. It's irresponsibility and complexity that leads to young people not buying health insurance, not a supposedly rational examination of their economic choices. To put it another way, make our health care system simpler stupid. That's the barrier, not young healthy people who don't think spending money on health insurance is worth it. Adverse selection, blah blah blah. This is your life. Make it easy and sort of affordable and sort of worthwhile and people will buy the damn insurance.
That the mandate is bad politics is dumb, but that the mandate is thought to be necessary is also dumb. And if the mandate is "necessary" the mandate is the stupidest way to, well, mandate that people buy insurance. It isn't a mandate. It's a fine. That's really stupid.
Friday, November 24, 2017
The Weekend Of Wankers
For some reason the top 10 wankers of the DECADE OF ESCHATON keep popping up these days. Because I am lazy, though not just, we will spend this weekend revisiting them. I might even add some updates, a sort of second edition thing! Exciting!!!
Ugh I hate them all.
Ugh I hate them all.
Sundown
Most of us have to deal with aging parents or grandparents eventually. Their problems aren't all the same, of course, but at some point many of them stop being able to care for themselves. It's hard for everyone when people don't live near family. Hard to be aware there is a problem, and then hard to deal with it.
I was pretty young when my grandmother's dementia became clear (I was a teen). My knowledge of how things evolved is incomplete and my memory is imperfect. But the story I remember is that my mom got a call from people my grandmother knew who told her this: There was an awards dinner for the local Red Cross (I think), something my grandmother had been involved with. You know, the usual annual banquet plus hand out an honor to someone. Whoever was hosting gave a little speech and then announced the honoree, and my grandmother (not the actual recipient of the award) marched up on stage and gave her acceptance speech which was probably a bit batty.
I was pretty young when my grandmother's dementia became clear (I was a teen). My knowledge of how things evolved is incomplete and my memory is imperfect. But the story I remember is that my mom got a call from people my grandmother knew who told her this: There was an awards dinner for the local Red Cross (I think), something my grandmother had been involved with. You know, the usual annual banquet plus hand out an honor to someone. Whoever was hosting gave a little speech and then announced the honoree, and my grandmother (not the actual recipient of the award) marched up on stage and gave her acceptance speech which was probably a bit batty.
Time Magazine called to say that I was PROBABLY going to be named “Man (Person) of the Year,” like last year, but I would have to agree to an interview and a major photo shoot. I said probably is no good and took a pass. Thanks anyway!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 24, 2017
"As A Father of Daughters..."
This is of course a stupid thing nobody should say, except maybe as a preface to "...I have learned to hate Taylor Swift with the intensity of 10,000 suns," but as a nonparent I often find myself wondering...what the hell is wrong with parents? I always joke that "we do love our children" because this is a special conceit that we have. Families, children, America. If only the Russians loved their children, too, eh Sting (the UK has a sort of similar conceit)? Though of course we do almost nothing to make parenting actually easy. If I had ever decided I wanted children I would have done anything I could to move to Scandinavia or basically anywhere in Europe (except, maybe, the UK, which is also sort of crap though in different ways).
I would expect more of those "fathers of daughters" to be horrified that Roy Moore was cruising the mall for those daughters, even if fatherhood shouldn't be a requirement for such a sentiment. All those conservative dudes love these t-shirts, after all.
I would expect more of those "fathers of daughters" to be horrified that Roy Moore was cruising the mall for those daughters, even if fatherhood shouldn't be a requirement for such a sentiment. All those conservative dudes love these t-shirts, after all.
Make A Liar Tell The Truth
I saw the Wonder Woman movie. Pretty good! Not better than a hokey superhero movie, but a good hokey superhero movie. There was one thing missing which I imagine will be in the sequel.
That he was talking about this to the Coast Guard is only the 10th dumbest thing here...
“We're ordering tremendous amounts of new equipment -we’re at $700bn for the military,” he said. “The Navy, I can tell you, we’re ordering ships, with the Air Force, I can tell you we’re ordering a lot of planes, in particular the F-35 fighter jet, which is like almost like an invisible fighter."
Mr Trump said he asked “the Air Force guys” about the abilities of the plane.
“They said, well, sir, you can't see it. I said but in a fight. You know, in a fight, like I watch on the movies. The fight, they’re fighting. How good is this,” he added.
“They say, well, it wins every time because the enemy cannot see it. Even if it’s right next to them, it can't see it. I said that helps. That’s a good thing."
That he was talking about this to the Coast Guard is only the 10th dumbest thing here...
BLACK FRIDAY!!!
I'm not so immune to marketing pitches that I always resist the temptation to click through some of the ones I get in the email. (The best thing I ever did was to just nuke my old email address about..6 years ago.. my inbox was blissfully pure for about 3 years). I don't know if it's just the online version of bait and switch, but nothing I was interested in buying was actually available. Hey, I could use a new pair of jeans, Levis, if you actually carried any in my perfectly standard size.
Hey We Found Another Conservative To Profile
I'm not gonna link (cough virgin cough) but one of the not commented enough on things about the New York Times is that it publishes loving profiles of basically every conservative it can find. I don't think "liberal New York journalists and editors" are as liberal as people (and they themselves) think but it's still a weird phenomenon. I forget who said it but someone made the point that the "liberal media" thinks its audience understands liberalism so it publishes the counterargument without ever bothering to publish the liberal argument in the first place. This is the most charitable view of their editorial choices, and I actually think maybe the correct one (not entirely), but it both undercuts liberalism and reinforces the critiques of the liberal media. Liberal arguments are not presented, and "liberal journalists" present conservatives as if they are exotic animals instead of, you know, the people who run the country right now. Also they elevate fringe weirdos who are truly disgusting people.
Black Friday
The true meaning of Black Friday has been lost in the orgy of commercialism. It is the day that Satanists and Atheists and maybe some Jews and Muslims unite to begin their war on Christmas.
It is time for our movement to assemble. This is the year we will finally win.
It is time for our movement to assemble. This is the year we will finally win.
Thursday, November 23, 2017
Turkee!!
Once upon a time I had to downgrade an image quality to make sure this blog wouldn't get shut down because of too much bandwidth use. The internet was old and creepy in those days. The sad thing is I don't have a decent image anymore. Maybe on an old hard drive.
It's a joke that can't even be explained anymore. The original thing it was working from was actually quite sad. A little girl (I think?
Might have been a boy) said her mom was a lesbian in school and her teacher made her promise not to say it anymore. The ACLU filed suit. "Cep my mouf shut" is from the original.
...commenter rhymes with mofo provides the original. The student was (apparently) a boy, Marcus.
It's a joke that can't even be explained anymore. The original thing it was working from was actually quite sad. A little girl (I think?
Might have been a boy) said her mom was a lesbian in school and her teacher made her promise not to say it anymore. The ACLU filed suit. "Cep my mouf shut" is from the original.
...commenter rhymes with mofo provides the original. The student was (apparently) a boy, Marcus.
Lockdown
I was half paying attention to this story of how the Baltimore cops essentially turned a Baltimore neighborhood into a wartime military state after a cop was killed. It sounded odd and excessive even by the standards of these things. It had a certain theatricality to it, in that police actions didn't quite make sense, even if "intimidating the locals for shits and giggles" was the entire sense.
And then the twist.
The grand jury was about a corrupt cop investigation. So there's a reasonable chance this blue life didn't matter much to the other blue lives, and they were gonna pin it on the black lives who of course don't matter.
As police cars lined the perimeter of Harlem Park for days, residents were unable to enter their neighborhoods without showing IDs. Some complained about helicopters flying above their homes, flashing lights from police cars, and being subject to harassment and pat-down searches. Non-residents were barred from entering. On social media, many called to #FreeWestBaltimore.
And then the twist.
A spokesperson for the current U.S. Attorney for Maryland told The Intercept on Monday that they could not comment on whether or not Suiter was planning on testifying in their case. But on Wednesday evening, Commissioner Davis confirmed that Suiter was in fact set to testify before a grand jury that Friday, two days after his murder. He also said that Suiter appeared to have been killed by his own weapon after a struggle.
The grand jury was about a corrupt cop investigation. So there's a reasonable chance this blue life didn't matter much to the other blue lives, and they were gonna pin it on the black lives who of course don't matter.
He Even Walks The Walk Sometimes
Not on everything, but on some important things (like immigration issues).
Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney unleashed an insult-laden tirade against President Donald Trump on Wednesday, denouncing the Trump administration's decision to end protections for Haitians and other immigrants living in the United States.
"There is no compassion whatsoever in the White House. I'm just beside myself with sadness because our president is a bully, our president is a punk, and he just doesn't get it."
"I don't know where he was raised, but his family didn't do a good job raising that guy," Kenney said. (You can watch a portion of Kenney's comments on Trump above or the full set below.)
Wednesday, November 22, 2017
Wednesday Night
I'm not hosting so I barely have any cooking obligations, but having several butchers a couple of blocks away makes this holiday a lot easier.
...byebye, Smokey Joe.
Even in this context revenge porn is wrong, but, uh, no, you don't get to make these threats.
...byebye, Smokey Joe.
“I want your word that this ends,” he said, according to the recording, adding: “I will be completely straight with you. I am ready if I have to, I don’t want to, but I should take all this crap to the Capitol Hill Police and have them launch an investigation. And if I do that, that hurts me potentially big time.”
“Why would you even say that to me?” the woman responded. “ . . . The Capitol Hill police? And what would you tell them, sir?”
Said Barton: “I would tell them that I had a three-year undercover relationship with you over the Internet that was heavily sexual and that I had met you twice while married and had sex with you on two different occasions and that I exchanged inappropriate photographs and videos with you that I wouldn’t like to be seen made public, that you still apparently had all of those and were in position to use them in a way that would negatively affect my career. That’s the truth.”
Even in this context revenge porn is wrong, but, uh, no, you don't get to make these threats.
Smokey Joe Barton
Do not look for it, I beg of you, but apparently a member of Congress sent a picture of his junk to someone and now it's on the internet. If it was part of a consensual relationship, and a desired activity within that relationship, aside from the "all you fake traditional values scolds are moral hypocrites and liars" which we always knew, welcome to 2017. If he was just sending his junk unsolicited, then, well, pack your bags back to Texas, dude..
The Problem With The Note
No normal people actually read it. Its audience was the people who should have known better, but for some reason didn't.
The Note purported to reveal Washington’s secrets. In fact, its purpose was the exact opposite: to make the city, and US politics, appear impossible to understand. It replaced normal words with jargon. It coined the phrase "Gang of 500," the clubby network of lobbyists, aides, pols, and hangers-on who supposedly, like the Vatican's cardinals, secretly ran DC. That wasn't true — power is so diffuse. But Halperin claimed he knew so much more than we did, and we began to believe it.
Once you believe that, it’s not hard to be convinced that politics is only comprehensible, like nuclear science, to a select few. There were those chosen ones — the people who'd flattered Halperin to get a friendly mention in his newsletter, the ones he declared to be in the know — and the rest of us. Halperin wrote about Washington like it was an intriguing game, the kind that masked aristocrats played to entertain themselves at 19th-century parties: Everyone was both pawn and player, engaged in a set of arcane maneuvers to win an empty jackpot that ultimately meant nothing of true importance.
The Mark Halperin Decade
Halperin was horrible as I wrote here (and many other times, he was like the Muse of this humble Blog), but the real question is why it took his downfall to for this narrative to be accepted. Halperin (and Mike Allen after him) was the personification of the basic lefty critique of "the liberal media" which was that they weren't liberal and that they were fucking horrible in the ways we described, aside from whatever the basic ideological leanings. Everyone hated Mark, apparently, but no one ever pointed it out except assholes like me. I don't say this to pat myself on the back, I say this to point out that liberalish critiques of the "liberal media" are completely ignored. Occam's razor suggests a reason.
Tuesday, November 21, 2017
I Am Very Surprised
I thought that given his own history, Trump would be completely disgusted with the actions of Roy Moore and would fight very hard to keep him out of the Senate.
hahahahahaha
hahahahahaha
By Any Other Name
Charlie Rose has always been a mystery to me. I get that he has fans, but I never understood why. I suppose he had a more "high brow" show than most, in some sense, but Charlie Rose was always about, well, Charlie Rose. Some interviewers enable their guests to speak, and some impose their views on their guests and most guests find it hard to battle back. "Exactly right, Charlie."
But forget the PBS show, which is what I'm describing. The CBS morning show? So weird.
But forget the PBS show, which is what I'm describing. The CBS morning show? So weird.
What Do You Think Happens In A War
This could be applied to basically every hawkish US foreign policy endeavor, but assuming that some of their proponents are well-meaning and not just on the boards of arms dealers, what exactly do people think happens when you start arming people to blow other people up or start blowing them up yourself? Either you're encouraging one side to turn the other side into rubble, or you're just aiming for some scaled up version of "an armed society is a polite society." Give everyone weapons and hope this means they don't use them.
Nobody could have predicted...
Nobody could have predicted...
No Solution
The thing about the Irish border is issue is that...I haven't actually seen a solution. I don't think anyone has one. Other than just not having a border, of course, which...
In an exclusive interview, Ireland’s foreign minister said his country still has a veto - and is prepared to use it.
Simon Coveney told the Standard that trade talks will not be allowed to begin until the UK also agrees to maintain the open border between the Republic and Northern Ireland.
He said: “Anybody who thinks that just because the financial settlement issue gets resolved […] that somehow Ireland will have a hand put on the shoulder and be told, ‘Look, it’s time to move on.’ Well, we’re not going to move on.”
Sweet Little Lies
Related, if not the same, is that there's a tendency to pain certain actions by the Trump administration as somehow being unprecedented or "not what America is about" or whatever. The degree matters in all such things, of course, and not everything that is similar is precisely the same, but pointing out that no, actually, all (or most of) this was happening before, is not a defense of Trump. Or to put it another way, when the Trump era is over, I hope all the shit that was "bad" under Trump is still thought to be bad.
Sometimes Lost
I don't expect Republicans to be good. I think it's reasonable to expect (and be disappointed that they don't) that the supposedly objective media gives things the appropriate weight and actual evenhanded coverage instead of the bothsidesism that is the lazy (and worse) version. We should still expect (demand) our own side to be good.
Monday, November 20, 2017
And I'm Back
Never quite recover an OS system crash, but I think I've sort of managed. Thanks to random internet person who suggested "change this BIOS setting for your hard drive."
I Can't Drive 55
I think most people have what is to me an acceptable unacceptable attitude about speeding, but for most people that means maybe they'll drive 80.
Fox News host Jeanine Pirro hit with speeding charges after cops clock her driving 119 mph upstate
Afternoon Thread
Still in computer hell. Managed to coax a dos prompt to appear and hook up an external drive so at least there will be backups. Then to see if formatting and reinstallation works or if it's just time for a new machine (or at least new drive).
Somebody Wants To Be Fired
5 sources!
National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster mocked President Trump’s intelligence at a private dinner with a powerful tech CEO, according to five sources with knowledge of the conversation.
Over a July dinner with Oracle CEO Safra Catz — who has been mentioned as a candidate for several potential administration jobs — McMaster bluntly trashed his boss, said the sources, four of whom told BuzzFeed News they heard about the exchange directly from Catz. The top national security official dismissed the president variously as an “idiot” and a “dope” with the intelligence of a “kindergartner,” the sources said.
Actually She Wanted Me
We can debate somewhat where the line between "being a bit too aggressive when drunk" and "serial sexual harasser" is (I'm not defending the former, just that not all bad behavior is precisely the same level of bad), but this really bad.
In the course of reporting this story, I was told by a male reporter who’d worked at Politico at the time that my instinct was right. He said that the day after that night at the bar, Thrush told him about the incident, except with the roles reversed. I had come onto him, the reporter said Thrush told him, and he had gently shut it down.
In a statement, Thrush denied that he disparaged me to colleagues at Politico. He said that “the encounter described [in this story] was consensual, brief, and ended by me.”
The source said that Thrush frequently told versions of this story with different young women as the subject. He would talk up a night out drinking with a young attractive woman, usually a journalist. Then he’d claim that she came onto him. In his version of these stories, Thrush was the responsible grown-up who made sure nothing happened.
If I Turn It Off And Then On Again 500 Times
Between trying to blog on a netbook and trying to recover my other computer...extra sucky blogging day!
Peak Car
Aside from my general "not going to work" perspective, I don't get the people who think that self-driving cars will somehow make car commutes better. There's still the peak driving problem, and even optimistic scenarios about the entire fleet being self-driving cars being able to increase highway capacity and improve the flow of cars, a 30% increase of capacity on the 405 ain't gonna help much. In addition, I'm not sure how "no one will need to own their own car"is compatible with "most people commute at the same time." Cars are big. We have this thing called rush hour. Self-driving cars aren't going to change that even if they work, which they won't.
Sunday, November 19, 2017
Probably Why They All Stopped Blabbing To The Press
It wasn't John Kelly. They're all just scared shitless.
One Republican operative in frequent contact with the White House described Mueller’s team “working through the staff like Pac-Man.”
The Atrios Household Will Pay A Lot More In Taxes
And maybe that is Right and Good but we are not even close to being million dollar earners.
(by not even close I mean HAHAAHHAHAHAA no)
Mnuchin says only 'million dollar' earners will pay higher taxes—Tax Policy Center and others show otherwise
(by not even close I mean HAHAAHHAHAHAA no)
The President Is A Horrible Person
I know this is not a shocking revelation, but it's quite amazing. He's really good at being one of the worst humans ever to be born on this Earth. Everybody's got one thing, I guess, and that's his.
Everybody Gets a Veto
Such fun.'
Ireland has issued a stark warning that it will block progress of the Brexit negotiations in December unless the UK gives a formal written guarantee that there will be no hard border with Northern Ireland.
Saturday, November 18, 2017
The Kids Today
I went to a shitty state college as an undergrad. Shitty state colleges provide as much education as you want, just like elite private colleges. They don't provide the networking. Anyway, the point of this post is not about that.
The point of this post is that all of my fellow shitty state school graduates - even the ones who had less than stellar academic records - thought they could graduate, get a crappy job which would pay the bills, get married by 24, buy a house by 25, have kids by 26, etc. We even graduated into a recession (1993) and we all still thought that!
The reality of those expectations (given what I know, they were pretty realistic, though I suppose the Facebook success story has a self-selection bias) isn't the issue. The point is that people thought that. That was "normal." That's what you did. You went to college, met a spouse, graduated, got a job, got married, bought a ticky tacky house, etc.
The Kids Today don't have those expectations.
The point of this post is that all of my fellow shitty state school graduates - even the ones who had less than stellar academic records - thought they could graduate, get a crappy job which would pay the bills, get married by 24, buy a house by 25, have kids by 26, etc. We even graduated into a recession (1993) and we all still thought that!
The reality of those expectations (given what I know, they were pretty realistic, though I suppose the Facebook success story has a self-selection bias) isn't the issue. The point is that people thought that. That was "normal." That's what you did. You went to college, met a spouse, graduated, got a job, got married, bought a ticky tacky house, etc.
The Kids Today don't have those expectations.
Tiny Eschaton
Got the blue screen of death today. Exciting! My computer won't boot. I have no idea where a recovery disk is (or if it would work). It's amazing how much human suffering is caused to prevent software piracy (I think if I learn the right spell - microsoftfuckyouassholesius- I might be able to download one). Only a few not backedup files I sorta want but my life will go on without them and even if I can't rescue the machine I can probably figure out how to pull them off the drive.
Fortunately my 10+ year old netbook still works. Well, the battery is shot but otherwise. Yay Acer! It's just really really tiny...
Fortunately my 10+ year old netbook still works. Well, the battery is shot but otherwise. Yay Acer! It's just really really tiny...
LOL We'll Just Say It's Free The IRS Will Never Figure It Out
Area reporter doesn't know how benefits taxation works.
I am sure there would be some creative accounting to try to minimize the tax burden for students with tuition waivers, but once the IRS decides that a benefit is taxable... it is. You can't just say "this incredibly valuable thing we provide is actually free because we don't charge!!!" They'll find a way to put a number on it, and it will be taxable.
The IRS is very good at closing "loopholes" for the 99%.
Who should I ask to write a piece on why PhD programs even “charge” tuition they waive for virtually all students? I’m confused about why this particular part of the tax can’t be fixed by creative accounting. (“Tuition for doctoral students is now $0.”)
— Mike Madden (@MikeMadden) November 17, 2017
I am sure there would be some creative accounting to try to minimize the tax burden for students with tuition waivers, but once the IRS decides that a benefit is taxable... it is. You can't just say "this incredibly valuable thing we provide is actually free because we don't charge!!!" They'll find a way to put a number on it, and it will be taxable.
The IRS is very good at closing "loopholes" for the 99%.
The Grift Is Strong In This One
This why I just have a sucky blog.
But they also reported that Papadopolous reveled in the benefits of his newfound fame — at least in Greece — as an adviser to a major party nominee for the U.S. presidency. “He had acquired a new status in Athens,” wrote the newspaper, Kathimerini, which noted that Papadopoulos had been “bestowed with awards, wined and dined by prominent Athenians and even appointed to the judging committee of a beauty pageant on a Greek island.”
Good Enough To Poop On
The punchline is that it will be closed to traffic.
MORRIS PLAINS, N.J. (WPVI) -- New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie is getting a road in his home county named after him.
Christie and his wife are expected to be on hand Monday when a new access road to Central Park of Morris County is christened Governor Chris Christie Way. The Republican governor lives in Mendham Township in the county and served in local government in the mid-1990s
Nobody Knows In America
Anecdotally (all I got) people from Puerto Rico are also coming to Philly in large numbers (there's a pretty big Puerto Rican community here already). I get disaster capitalism, but I don't really understand the endgame of it there right now.
More than 168,000 people have flown or sailed out of Puerto Rico to Florida since the hurricane, landing at airports in Orlando, Miami and Tampa, and the port in Fort Lauderdale. Nearly half are arriving in Orlando, where they are tapping their networks of family and friends. An additional 100,000 are booked on flights to Orlando through Dec. 31, county officials said. Large numbers are also settling in the Tampa, Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach areas.
My Career Plans
My favorite criticisms of what I write on this sucky blog are the ones which suggest it's part of some 11 dimensional chess career move. Sure, bro.
Friday, November 17, 2017
Obama Was Bad
Second term Obama was better. Once upon a time I was on various left wing conspiracy email lists (I am not on any of them now. None. In part because I unsubscribed and in part because this sucky blog doesn't matter anymore.) There isn't anything damning about such things. They weren't any more devious than press talking points. The sad thing about the vast left wing conspiracy is that the left wing is shit at it. But the point is I have no idea what the insider CW is now.
Of course Obama was better than Trump. Of course Clinton would have been. These are dumb talking points. Obama didn't use the power when he had it. I met Obama. A few times. I think Benevolent Dictator Obama is a good guy. Certainly President Obama was better than President McCain and President Romney. But less better than should have been.
When Teh History is written (30 years from now, that's how Teh History works), Obama will be written off as a shit president who blew an historic opportunity. I am sad about that.
Of course Obama was better than Trump. Of course Clinton would have been. These are dumb talking points. Obama didn't use the power when he had it. I met Obama. A few times. I think Benevolent Dictator Obama is a good guy. Certainly President Obama was better than President McCain and President Romney. But less better than should have been.
When Teh History is written (30 years from now, that's how Teh History works), Obama will be written off as a shit president who blew an historic opportunity. I am sad about that.
For 50 Bucks
I sorta get that superhero movies are now CACHING CACHING and even if they are shit the studios make money... but if that's true give them a zero budget?
I Am So Tired
It is Friday afternoon so I am allowed to be.
Team D is better than Team R. I have never suggested otherwise.
But the other point of this sucky blog is that elites are stupid and horrible. Do not cheer them. They are bad.
Team D is better than Team R. I have never suggested otherwise.
But the other point of this sucky blog is that elites are stupid and horrible. Do not cheer them. They are bad.
What Is This Blog For
It sucks, of course, but ultimately it's about the community. My posts just keep the conversation going. It isn't just that but it is that, also, too.
What Day Is Today?????????????
Asshole cat discovered that waking me up at 4am might provide him with food. I hate everything.
What About My Gardner
You have to be a bit, well, stupid, to not get that tourism makes it easy for most people to get into this country and that overstaying your tourist visa is trivial. You just, you know, stay. OK if you want to reduce work visa of all kinds. I don't think that's smart, but at least it's a policy choice. We can make those choices. I guess we could ban tourist visas (and the visa-free reciprocity Americans assume they have until they don't - good luck going to Brazil!), but otherwise people come into this country and some people stay and some people make lives and some people have children and 20 years later a nuclear missile hits Fox and Friends. OK I made that last part up.
Dissolved
Still at the mercy of Republican assholes who largely control the budget, but at least there is local accountability now (including the local portion of the budget).
The era of distress was when the SRC controlled it. You can judge which way causation goes.
Education is perhaps the biggest local issue and it was one nobody could vote on.
The Philadelphia School Reform Commission is on its way to extinction.
The state-devised panel, the ruler of the School District for 16 years, voted to dissolve itself Thursday night, declaring that the era of distress for the city’s schools was over.
The era of distress was when the SRC controlled it. You can judge which way causation goes.
Education is perhaps the biggest local issue and it was one nobody could vote on.
Thursday, November 16, 2017
Urban Renewal
We can laugh because it is a joke now but it is pretty much what happened to US cities for 30 years or more.
The Other Issue With Brexit
It's almost a quaint issue, at this point, but the UK always got its way, at least on anything important, with the EU. To some extent the big 3 - Germany, France, UK - all did. Nothing is 100%, of course, but when the Brits moaned about something a way was found.
The reason this matters now is because to some extent the EU put up with the UK's bullshit for years and Brexit was their thanks, and now they just don't give a shit anymore.
A continuing refrain of the Brexiteers is that Britain has always lost out to the rest of Europe in negotiations. This derives partly from the way successive governments have portrayed the EU as a battleground in which there is room only for victory or defeat. It is also explained by the tendency of politicians to blame “Europe” for everything – often to divert attention from their own shortcomings.
In fact, the UK has led Europe in a remarkable way, and has rarely failed to gain its major objectives. However the process is one of debate and argument, proof and counter-argument, rather than demanding that the rest of EU should immediately see the sense in our position and give way without question. It is this assumption of always being right that has bedevilled our relationships with our neighbours.
The reason this matters now is because to some extent the EU put up with the UK's bullshit for years and Brexit was their thanks, and now they just don't give a shit anymore.
We'll Still Have Bob To Kick Around
Judge hasn't declared it yet, but it's gonna be over.
Newark, New Jersey (CNN)The jury in the trial of New Jersey Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez said Thursday it is deadlocked on all charges.
Defense attorney Abbe Lowell has requested the judge formally declare a mistrial.
Republican Party Suicide Pact
Aside from the injustice, a lot of people - a lot of people - are going to see a massive sticker shock if this tax bill passes. Not like, oh, yah, I seem to pay a bit more in taxes this year... but A LOT of taxes for people in the median household range.
Wednesday, November 15, 2017
You Young People Just Don't Get It
Back in the day, if you were creeping on a high school girl you had to call the school to track her down. There just wasn't any other way to do it. You couldn't find her facebook or instagram or snapchat, you just had to call the principal's office and try to get her on the phone. That was the only way.
A few days later, she says, she was in trigonometry class at Gadsden High when she was summoned to the principal’s office over the intercom in her classroom. She had a phone call.
“I said ‘Hello?’” Richardson recalls. “And the male on the other line said, ‘Gena, this is Roy Moore.’ I was like, ‘What?!’ He said, ‘What are you doing?’ I said, ‘I’m in trig class.’ ”
Johnstown
The real point of this story isn't so much that rust belt Johnstown gets improperly caricatured as Trumptown despite going (barely) for Clinton, the real point is that Beltway media types don't want to acknowledge that while Trump voters aren't One Thing (and I think slicing any demographic and if they're a bit for Clinton putting them in the Clinton camp and if a bit for Trump putting them in the Trump is dumb), many of them are high income and relatively well-educated people who live in expensive suburbs/exurbs. They aren't unemployed coal miners or hicks from former steel towns or whatever.
Those are your Trumptowns, more than rural places where not many people live (because they're, you know, rural) and more than smallish cities like Johnstown.
In addition, I'm sure most upper income Republicans around DC who pal around with Beltway journalists but who don't actually work for Trump (and even some who do) tell their more liberal friends how horrible Trump is. He's so horrible that they voted for him.
Take Adams Township in southern Butler County. The township is about a 30-minute drive from Downtown Pittsburgh, along the well-traveled interstate I-279. While Adams, like Cambria County, is overwhelmingly white, it’s just a few-minutes drive on newly paved roads to country clubs and big-box stores in the even-more affluent Cranberry (which backed Trump). The casual-chic Hines Ward’s Tavern 86 restaurant is less than half a mile from Adams' border. Adams' median household income is $65,000, well above the Pennsylvania average, and Adams is one of the fastest-growing towns in the Pittsburgh region.
But Adams also voted for Trump, and by a bigger margin than Cambria County. The town backed Trump by a 39 point margin over Clinton (68 percent voted for Trump, 29 percent for Clinton). So why don't national publicans travel to wealthy suburbs like Adams to write stories about Trump supporters? Electorally, they provide similar support.
Those are your Trumptowns, more than rural places where not many people live (because they're, you know, rural) and more than smallish cities like Johnstown.
In addition, I'm sure most upper income Republicans around DC who pal around with Beltway journalists but who don't actually work for Trump (and even some who do) tell their more liberal friends how horrible Trump is. He's so horrible that they voted for him.
My Deep Understanding Of Alabama Voters
I don't really have any, but here's my guess: they're majority tribal Republicans, including a number who are tribal Republicans motivated largely by racism (some would basically admit to that, some not). Unlike, say, Ohio voters, I'm not sure how many of them can be appealed to with "hey, actually, we'll give you health care and nice things." Do they believe or care about the allegations against Roy Moore? I have no idea.
Wednesday Afternoon Holiday Shopping!
You aren't buying enough presents! You must hate your friends and family! I'm reading a good book, so you can buy that one. Celeste Ng's Little Fires Everywhere.
Laws Are Different For Important People
Of course after Brexit ends free movement, the rights sorts of people won't have their free movement curtailed. The appropriate Visas will be handed out like candy to the rich and well-connected.
Bankers, MPs, their families, their friends, anyone who can get their MP on their cell phone, rich people, their friends, ...
Global banks should be able to continue to transfer workers between the UK and EU member states after Brexit, David Davis has told an audience of City workers.
In an emollient private speech at the London headquarters of Swiss bank UBS on Tuesday, the Brexit secretary sought to reassure financial institutions that the government hopes to negotiate a deal with Brussels that would allow City firms to move senior staff in and out of the UK.
Bankers, MPs, their families, their friends, anyone who can get their MP on their cell phone, rich people, their friends, ...
The Wall Of Weird
But "we" continue to take these people seriously.
Digby didn't include the best one: Louie Gohmert's.
Digby didn't include the best one: Louie Gohmert's.
Why Dwell In The Past
Why talk about Bush when TRUMP IS THE REAL CONCERN NOW? Well because Bush was really really bad. Trump does dumb tweets and says stupid stuff and Maggie's palace intrigue reporting at the NYT shows what a bunch of dumbasses they are. True. That is, to some degree, worse. They really are dumbasses.
There was no Twitter then, but George Bush also said an immense amount of dumbass things, sometimes with Trump-esque bluster. OK not *quite* as dumbass. That old money patrician upbringing gave him a little bit of a clue, though old money manners are never quite as refined as we are supposed to believe. But the Bush administration was filled with dumbasses in addition to the evil pricks who ran things. They hired a bunch of dumb kids and sent some (not all!) of them to Iraq to destroy the place.
The Republican policy agenda right now isn't any different than the Republican policy agenda then. A bit more id, maybe, but it hasn't even passed yet! The corruption? Katrina, Iraq, the attorney scandal, ... I could go on. Also, you know, Iraq. Torture.
Why bring these things up? Because at some point in the future we will have no President Trump and everyone will sigh a sigh of relief, and say (as they did with George Bush to some extent!) that Trump wasn't a real conservative, that he wasn't a real Republican, that finally we can go back to the glorious world of two responsible parties, the Daddy (yay!) and Mommy (boo!) parties, filled with serious men doing serious things, who care about nothing more than to do good for our country, they just differ about the details. The Republicans will be Good again because the tumor is gone.
And that's bullshit. So stop it everybody.
There was no Twitter then, but George Bush also said an immense amount of dumbass things, sometimes with Trump-esque bluster. OK not *quite* as dumbass. That old money patrician upbringing gave him a little bit of a clue, though old money manners are never quite as refined as we are supposed to believe. But the Bush administration was filled with dumbasses in addition to the evil pricks who ran things. They hired a bunch of dumb kids and sent some (not all!) of them to Iraq to destroy the place.
The Republican policy agenda right now isn't any different than the Republican policy agenda then. A bit more id, maybe, but it hasn't even passed yet! The corruption? Katrina, Iraq, the attorney scandal, ... I could go on. Also, you know, Iraq. Torture.
Why bring these things up? Because at some point in the future we will have no President Trump and everyone will sigh a sigh of relief, and say (as they did with George Bush to some extent!) that Trump wasn't a real conservative, that he wasn't a real Republican, that finally we can go back to the glorious world of two responsible parties, the Daddy (yay!) and Mommy (boo!) parties, filled with serious men doing serious things, who care about nothing more than to do good for our country, they just differ about the details. The Republicans will be Good again because the tumor is gone.
And that's bullshit. So stop it everybody.
Tuesday, November 14, 2017
Who Gets To Be Forgiven
The strain of conservative Christianity which says that as long as you're the right sort of person, tribally, you can do no sin, is certainly appealing to some.
Especially when the tribal affiliation mostly requires "hating the people you're supposed to hate."
At least Catholics have to confess.
Bruce Register, 87, a retiree from Dothan, Ala, said that spiritually, the whole controversy was moot.
“I really don’t think someone of his character would have done that. And if he had done it, it doesn’t matter in God’s eyes because he’d have been forgiven,” Register said.
Especially when the tribal affiliation mostly requires "hating the people you're supposed to hate."
At least Catholics have to confess.
Rehab
How many of the men taken down in our new - and likely brief - window of little tolerance for workplace harassment and worse will fail upwards, or at least sidewise, in the not too distant future? One can debate what the appropriate length of moral ostracism is for people, but many of them likely didn't deserve, relatively speaking, their level of success in the first place. I mean, I guess Brett Ratner made bank directing those Rush Hour movies, but mostly he's been successful as a producer which is usually just code for "invested in a movie." Steve Mnuchin's done well as a producer, too. It isn't different than picking stocks. It might make you rich, but doesn't mean you're a creative genius. Mostly it means you had money to invest, or knew people whose money you could invest.
Self-Driving PR
It's all about taking public property.
You justify (right or wrong) HOV lanes because they encourage people to not travel alone. You justify self-driving car lanes because otherwise they won't work. The people building the things know that.
Wisconsin highway planners are studying the possibility of placing driverless vehicle lanes on I-94 to serve Foxconn's mega factory in Racine County. The Taiwanese company -- supplier to tech firms including Apple, Microsoft, and Nintendo -- reportedly made the suggestion at a meeting with regional officials, according to USA Today's Journal Sentinel.
You justify (right or wrong) HOV lanes because they encourage people to not travel alone. You justify self-driving car lanes because otherwise they won't work. The people building the things know that.
The Problem With Suburban Transit
NIMBYs don't want it in their neighborhood, so the planners move the route so it avoids residential neighborhoods Then they say they don't want to pay for urban horrors like sidewalks so they can't actually get there without driving. Then they demand parking so they can drive to it. Then they complain all the parking will increase traffic congestion. Then they say they don't want it because it won't benefit them, something they made sure of.
They are correct that the project is sorta dumb and would mostly only benefit urban workers doing the reverse commute to the mall (in part, but not entirely, because the transit authority has tried to assuage their objections), but given that most transportation money (including highways) is spent to help suburban workers commute into the city, it's a funny complaint.
I don't like the project either, really, I'd rather take the money and spend it in the city. But that isn't an option, either.
My point is not that the NIMBYS are bad. They have a right to have some say about what happens in their neighborhoods. But this process gets repeated every time there's a major suburban transit proposal. It's best to just give up. They don't want it.
They are correct that the project is sorta dumb and would mostly only benefit urban workers doing the reverse commute to the mall (in part, but not entirely, because the transit authority has tried to assuage their objections), but given that most transportation money (including highways) is spent to help suburban workers commute into the city, it's a funny complaint.
I don't like the project either, really, I'd rather take the money and spend it in the city. But that isn't an option, either.
My point is not that the NIMBYS are bad. They have a right to have some say about what happens in their neighborhoods. But this process gets repeated every time there's a major suburban transit proposal. It's best to just give up. They don't want it.
Teh Deficit
If the Democrats were proposing increasing the debt by $1.5 trillion with even a mixed package of tax cuts and spending increases, the conversation would be completely dominated by the usual suspects, defrosted from their cryogenic capsules at the various astroturf groups and suddenly respectable think Tanks, arguing that the Debt was going to kill us all.
I'm glad the Democrats are mostly (not entirely) not making this argument about Teh Deficit, but when they are in charge, the Republicans don't even have to, because the New York Times, NPR, and presidential debate moderators will do it for them. It is baked into objective journalism that Deficits Are Bad When Democrats Can Be Blamed For Them.
Nobody really cares about the deficit, which is why I am glad the Democrats are (mostly) not obsessing about it, but when totebaggers and NYT readers get this stuff broadcast into their brains daily it has an effect, especially because it doesn't come from nasty partisans but from objective journalists and Bipartisan Commissions On How The Debt Is Worse Than Nuclear War.
Remember The Can Kicks Back? That was funny. I wonder where those kids are now. Probably Treasury Undersecretaries or Goldman Sachs Vice Presidents by now.
I'm glad the Democrats are mostly (not entirely) not making this argument about Teh Deficit, but when they are in charge, the Republicans don't even have to, because the New York Times, NPR, and presidential debate moderators will do it for them. It is baked into objective journalism that Deficits Are Bad When Democrats Can Be Blamed For Them.
Nobody really cares about the deficit, which is why I am glad the Democrats are (mostly) not obsessing about it, but when totebaggers and NYT readers get this stuff broadcast into their brains daily it has an effect, especially because it doesn't come from nasty partisans but from objective journalists and Bipartisan Commissions On How The Debt Is Worse Than Nuclear War.
Remember The Can Kicks Back? That was funny. I wonder where those kids are now. Probably Treasury Undersecretaries or Goldman Sachs Vice Presidents by now.
Monday, November 13, 2017
Lock Her Up
I said they'd try to.
Gotta keep the boss happy so he can make the DOJ as racist as possible. It's his life's work.
Attorney General Jeff Sessions is entertaining the idea of appointing a second special counsel to investigate a host of Republican concerns — including alleged wrongdoing by the Clinton Foundation and the controversial sale of a uranium company to Russia — and has directed senior federal prosecutors to explore at least some of the matters and report back to him and his top deputy, according to a letter obtained by The Washington Post.
Gotta keep the boss happy so he can make the DOJ as racist as possible. It's his life's work.
Hatch, McConnell, and Collins Walk Into A Bar
Ok not really, but all 3 said that Moore should go. But he's on the ballot and supposedly can't be removed (I realize Calvinball is always possible, but that's the way it is now). One can expect Collins to do the right thing once every 40 times, but not the other two. Given the way that Moore's opponent is polling, he could win outright even in a 2 person race and while people do occasionally win write-in campaigns (Hi Senator Murkowski), that's a pretty big gamble. The stuff they think (or know) is about to come out about Moore must be bad...
Ribgate
Above my pay grade, but everyone I talked to who had broken ribs said they were pretty much down for 3 weeks, and no one had 6 broken ribs.
I'm doubting the veracity of any particular detail of this story, but the whole thing is weird.
I'm doubting the veracity of any particular detail of this story, but the whole thing is weird.
Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) will return to Washington on Monday, according to his senior political adviser — 10 days after a sudden and bizarre assault at his Bowling Green home left him with half a dozen broken ribs and lung problems.
Give Us What We Want Or We Shoot The Country In The Face (Instead of Just The Legs)
This is in part negotiating (vote for it or we kill the hostage), but few people in the UK have any idea what "no deal" means. I think a lot of the masses think "no deal" means "the status quo" as in "we'll get a better deal than what we have now or things will continue." Most of the rest have no idea what sort of nightmare hellscape you begin to visit if you go down the rabbit hole of "what happens if there is no deal."
The list is basically neverending, but essentially all deals between the UK (trade, customs, rights of residents, mobility, visitation, marriage recognition, health care reciprocity, transportation, and on and on and on and on) and the EU are deals that exist within the framework of the EU, so "no deal" means...no agreements. Literally all gone. Ripped up at 11PM London time on March 19, 2019. Some things default to WTO agreements, but they don't cover everything.
In addition, a lot of UK deals with the rest of the world also operate through the EU framework, so all of those agreements get ripped up. They can't sign new ones until Big Ben strikes 11 (and Big Ben currently isn't even bonging). Sure in theory those deals can be inked and signed at 11:01, but in practice things don't quite work that way, and they're going to be a bit more important for the UK than other countries. Influential interests, right or wrong, in every other country will want those deals to favor them more than they do now, and expecting any government to be a model of speed and efficiency for this stuff is lunacy.
Just as a small example: UK airline carriers wouldn't have the right to land in the EU. They wouldn't even have the right to land in the US!
Brexit-supporting MPs, including Suella Fernandes, chair of the Tory’s European Research Group, asked for assurance the bill would not be used to reverse Brexit. Davis said it would be a meaningful vote but that it would not undo the process.
When Owen Paterson asked if the UK would still leave the EU in March 2019, Davis simply replied: “Yes”.
The list is basically neverending, but essentially all deals between the UK (trade, customs, rights of residents, mobility, visitation, marriage recognition, health care reciprocity, transportation, and on and on and on and on) and the EU are deals that exist within the framework of the EU, so "no deal" means...no agreements. Literally all gone. Ripped up at 11PM London time on March 19, 2019. Some things default to WTO agreements, but they don't cover everything.
In addition, a lot of UK deals with the rest of the world also operate through the EU framework, so all of those agreements get ripped up. They can't sign new ones until Big Ben strikes 11 (and Big Ben currently isn't even bonging). Sure in theory those deals can be inked and signed at 11:01, but in practice things don't quite work that way, and they're going to be a bit more important for the UK than other countries. Influential interests, right or wrong, in every other country will want those deals to favor them more than they do now, and expecting any government to be a model of speed and efficiency for this stuff is lunacy.
Just as a small example: UK airline carriers wouldn't have the right to land in the EU. They wouldn't even have the right to land in the US!
If Only They Could Find A Way To Attract New Workers
Simple Econ 101 models drive almost all discussion of economic issues except, for some reason, the one which tells us that if there is excess demand for workers then wages should rise until the market clears. For some reason we always just have "worker shortages."
It's a crap job that used to pay pretty well. Now it's a crap job that doesn't pay so well. Raise the pay and there will be more takers. Maybe you'll even have to raise the pay a lot! Capitalism sucks!
"Trucking is a brutal job. Drivers endure long, tedious stretches where they are inactive but have to stay focused, and they spend weeks at a time away from home. For those and other reasons, the industry’s biggest problem has been the scarcity and turnover of drivers, making it hard to keep up with shipping demand."
It's a crap job that used to pay pretty well. Now it's a crap job that doesn't pay so well. Raise the pay and there will be more takers. Maybe you'll even have to raise the pay a lot! Capitalism sucks!
Nobody Could Have Predicted
Heading out to a foreign country for an expensive 4 year plan really requires some faith that the immigration bureaucracy is somewhat forgiving. Like bureaucracies it's... well, a bureaucracy, and paperwork can slip through the cracks or be rejected for random reasons. Which is ok, if it's forgiving, but not if you suddenly find yourself illegally overstaying a Visa and can't return to the country. Whatever the reality, if that perception changes, people just aren't going to come.
I'm sure it will be worse next year. Plans were already in the works when Trump got started.
The number of newly arriving international students declined an average 7 percent in fall 2017, with 45 percent of campuses reporting drops in new international enrollment, according to a survey of nearly 500 campuses across the country by the Institute of International Education.
I'm sure it will be worse next year. Plans were already in the works when Trump got started.
Sunday, November 12, 2017
A Big Game
Conservatives who are running defense for Roy Moore literally don't care if the accusations are true. They know that somewhere a Democrat did worse and "got away with it" so it's only "fair" that their guy gets away with it too.
Saturday, November 11, 2017
Bill Clinton Was A Horrible President
He really was. 20 years later I am tired of people defending him. Impeachment was bullshit but he was a bad man and a bad Democrat and a bad president.
Obama was pretty shitty, too.
Obama was pretty shitty, too.
Guys I Have A Thought
This might disturb you bit but I think I have to say it anyway. Our president is a dumbass.
Flying Cars
That was always a dumb fantasy for many reasons, but if I traveled back in time to 1990 I'd tell people about these smartphone things. The internet changed everything, but the phones changed us.
Friday, November 10, 2017
Reading Glasses
I was one of those smug pricks who had great eyesight and never needed glasses. Until like a year ago. I can't read or see my computer (mostly) or my phone (somewhat) without them. Everything is horrible.
Friday, Friday
Lazy day for me. Should I watch the Netflix Punching Guy show or the Netflix Punching Guy show?
I got nothin'.
I got nothin'.
Nothing Is More Important Than My Cats
They are 16 years old. They are littermates. They sorta divide up the house in that the grey one claims the upstairs but they also sleep in a pile most days. They are assholes, as all cats are.
Gross Conversations
Given that being placed on a sex offender list can follow you for the rest of your life (it's a life sentence, just not in prison), I actually think we should have a bit of a public conversation of what statutory rape laws should be. I don't have strong opinions on this, but they vary by state and Romeo-and-Juliet (a gross term) exceptions don't exist everywhere. I'm not sure a high school senior having sex with a high school sophomore should get him on a sex offender list for life, and I'm also not sure that whatever the appropriateness of such a relationship that sophomore should find herself a witness for the prosecution about her boyfriend because her parents got angry. Parents get angry about their daughters (especially) having sex. Also, too, they get really angry about interracial relationships.
But whatever the legal framework is, 30something guys trying to get it on with 14 year olds is...well, fucking gross.
But whatever the legal framework is, 30something guys trying to get it on with 14 year olds is...well, fucking gross.
Thursday, November 09, 2017
Wave
We're at a moment of zero tolerance for bad behavior (there are a range of things from being an asshole in the workplace to rape and I don't really know how to lump them all together but obviously "bad behavior" is not an adequate description for most of it). Will this moment continue as the new norm? Will any of these people finding their careers momentarily over manage to have a comeback tour? It's... interesting.
Keep Fucking That Chicken
Normally people who get 25% of the vote are dismissed as cranks, not featured in a piece about a "divided city." But our local newspaper which thinks rich suburbanites who run the city assigned this piece to somebody. Yes, yes, the suburban "Great Northeast," the home to white flighters before we even had the term "white flight" voted differently than the rest of the city. They always do. In this particular case they voted for a candidate who got TWENTY FIVE PERCENT OF THE VOTE so they deserve the emphasis.
Quiet
As a resident of the urban hellhole I am often fascinated how suburban NIMBYs describe their neighborhoods as "quiet." This is mostly code, of course, but they believe it. To them "the city" is the noisy fun park they visit and they don't get that most people in Philly don't live in center city condos (which are also mostly quiet even if the street below isn't). They live in residential rowhouse neighborhoods. My street is completely quiet. My bedroom even faces the street (I have other bedrooms that don't) and it's 99% quiet. Occasionally a car goes by. If I switched to a back bedroom I would never hear a thing.
Black Mesa
I didn't always live in Killadelphia. I was moved around a lot when I was a kid. New Mexico was my "home" to the extent that I had one for a long time. My maternal grandmother lived there (my grandfather died when I was too young to know him). My mother grew up there. Black Mesa was a fixture in my life, on the road from Los Alamos to Santa Fe (I think? I guess I don't even know. I just saw it a lot!).
If you do the math you realize my grandparents were in Los Alamos when it was LOS ALAMOS. The secret city. They were building Fat Man and Little Boy. My mother was a little girl at the time, her father was (as I understand it) a jack of all trades handyman.
I haven't been back since the fire. I suppose it's different now. It was a pretty nice small town.
...pretty sure this was her house (google maps). Little Pink Houses.
If you do the math you realize my grandparents were in Los Alamos when it was LOS ALAMOS. The secret city. They were building Fat Man and Little Boy. My mother was a little girl at the time, her father was (as I understand it) a jack of all trades handyman.
I haven't been back since the fire. I suppose it's different now. It was a pretty nice small town.
...pretty sure this was her house (google maps). Little Pink Houses.
Talking About My Generation
People really do get more conservative as they age. They think it's becoming more sensible, but they're wrong.
Chi-Coms
Trumpkins must be so confused.
In the coming months and years ahead I look forward to building an even STRONGER relationship between the United States and China. 🇺🇸🇨🇳 pic.twitter.com/mK3SB7t3EV
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 9, 2017
Self-Driving Nuisances
The "safety" obsession with self-driving cars is dumb because programming them not to hit things is the easiest thing in the world. Whatever their other failures I can imagine them never actually being responsible for an accident in a technical/legal sense. But they will still likely be the cause of accidents in a broader sense. They won't run into things, but they will cause chaos around them. Also, they're never going to work in the ways people promise.
6:15
Not sure my shift from "waking up in the middle of the night for 2 hours" to "sleeping through the night but waking up before sunrise" is better.
Wednesday, November 08, 2017
What Would Tom Friedman Do?
It's horrifying to think that some of our elites probably ask this question.
Shoulda
The music biz is messed up now. Nobody except superstars makes money. I used to try to do my part - yes, I know you all hate my taste in music - but I don't think I can even flap my butterfly wings now. I heard this song (one I like!) in a department store in Spain so I guess there is some hope.
Nazis
Categorizing things as "acceptable" and "unacceptable" racism is a bit gross, because it acknowledges the reality that a lot of racism is acceptable in our woke society, but I long thought that antisemitism was the line that could not be crossed. Somehow everyone has forgotten that Nazis were dedicated to exterminating (yes, exterminating) Jews. Go ahead publish yet another dapper Nazi profile you fucking assholes.
(None of this is ok, but at least when there are lines you think there are limits. Apparently not.)
(None of this is ok, but at least when there are lines you think there are limits. Apparently not.)
Ed Gillespie - Unperson
I try to resist commenting on all the tweetenings but:
Someone should tell Trump that once they get their tax cuts (if they do), it's over. Republicans aren't that stupid. They know how Trump treats people. If the tax cuts for the idle rich pass (that's all they care about), they will have no reason to play nice anymore.
I don't expect them to all became crusading Democrats for justice or anything, but they just won't give a shit.
Ed Gillespie worked hard but did not embrace me or what I stand for. Don’t forget, Republicans won 4 out of 4 House seats, and with the economy doing record numbers, we will continue to win, even bigger than before!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 8, 2017
Someone should tell Trump that once they get their tax cuts (if they do), it's over. Republicans aren't that stupid. They know how Trump treats people. If the tax cuts for the idle rich pass (that's all they care about), they will have no reason to play nice anymore.
I don't expect them to all became crusading Democrats for justice or anything, but they just won't give a shit.
End of the Rizzocrats
I'm not an expert on the deep history of Philadelphia politics, but I know a bit. It's a one party town - everybody (ok, like 85%) is a Democrat - but if you've ever lived in a one party place (Rhode Island is another example) you know that it isn't what most people think it is. That everyone is a Democrat doesn't mean everyone is a liberal, it just means that the range of political views that normally sorts out across two parties exists within one party. When anyone is "too liberal" someone prominent switches parties and runs against them as a Republican and even occasionally wins, though that path is looking less and less possible these days. Of course the local newspapers, run by suburbanites who don't think the city is capable of governing itself, are often eager to support a GOP candidate, because they are Very Serious.
Larry Krasner will be our new DA. A lot of the old guard tried to push the Republican (was a Democrat) who ran against him. She was Very Serious and had the support of our local newspapers because she was very into Civil Forfeiture (that isn't what they said, but that was her claim to fame). Stealing things from poor people who have not been convicted of crimes is Very Serious. A lot of the old guard "Democrats" including the racist lawnorder Rizzocrats got behind her. She is bad. She lost.
Our last DA is in prison. A lot of people (including me!) had high hopes for him. He didn't promise the moon, to his credit, but he did promise to be better than the last DA, who was racist and horrible. At least he was African-American in a 44% African-American city where that population (as everywhere) doesn't exactly get the friendly treatment from our criminal justice system. He did nothing good and managed to be corrupt enough to go to prison! That's hard to do!
Krasner should be a real reformer. He basically ran on the crazy idea that justice isn't just about locking people up for as long as you can. He'll face a rebellion from people currently in the DA's office (hopefully they all quit) and from the cops. It will be interesting.
Larry Krasner will be our new DA. A lot of the old guard tried to push the Republican (was a Democrat) who ran against him. She was Very Serious and had the support of our local newspapers because she was very into Civil Forfeiture (that isn't what they said, but that was her claim to fame). Stealing things from poor people who have not been convicted of crimes is Very Serious. A lot of the old guard "Democrats" including the racist lawnorder Rizzocrats got behind her. She is bad. She lost.
Our last DA is in prison. A lot of people (including me!) had high hopes for him. He didn't promise the moon, to his credit, but he did promise to be better than the last DA, who was racist and horrible. At least he was African-American in a 44% African-American city where that population (as everywhere) doesn't exactly get the friendly treatment from our criminal justice system. He did nothing good and managed to be corrupt enough to go to prison! That's hard to do!
Krasner should be a real reformer. He basically ran on the crazy idea that justice isn't just about locking people up for as long as you can. He'll face a rebellion from people currently in the DA's office (hopefully they all quit) and from the cops. It will be interesting.
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