Tuesday, July 31, 2018
Sure I'll Just Keep Going To The Gym Every Day
I'll pretend I work for you, you pretend I work for you, everybody's happy.
White House chief of staff John Kelly has agreed to remain in his post through the 2020 presidential election, according to a White House official, quelling rumors of an imminent departure due to tensions with President Trump.
Convoy
People - including me! - think that self-driving trucks of some sort are a more likely medium term successful application of self-driving technology than robotaxis. To me it's because you can set up fixed routes and do it from transhipment point to transhipment point with appropriate infrastructure installed somewhere out in the empty big middle.
But this ignores a couple of real if solvable issues. One is that people have been overlooking the fact that these robots just don't see very well very far ahead of them and have a hard time distinguishing moving from stationary objects at high speed. The second is, well, trucks weigh 35 tons and are traveling at very high speed and...
But this ignores a couple of real if solvable issues. One is that people have been overlooking the fact that these robots just don't see very well very far ahead of them and have a hard time distinguishing moving from stationary objects at high speed. The second is, well, trucks weigh 35 tons and are traveling at very high speed and...
SAN FRANCISCO — What a long, strange trip it's been for Uber's self-driving truck division.
The ride-hailing company announced Monday that it was, for now, parking its effort to develop commercially viable self-driving trucks in order to focus on bringing autonomous cars to its service.
Somebody Is Wrong In The New Yorker
The crack research team at Eschaton World Industries gives this one eleventy Pinocchios.
Trump didn't start using "fake news" until 2017. It wasn't part of the campaign.
Trump, as he often does, claimed that he invented the phrase “fake news.” (Indeed, he has said elsewhere that “fake news” is “one of the greatest of all terms I’ve come up with.”) In fact, “fake news” first entered the language in the late nineteenth century; it came to the fore most recently as a way of describing fabricated stories, not a few of them engineered for profit in Russia and other foreign countries. Trump adopted the phrase for his own purposes during the 2016 campaign and has deployed it as a weapon in his broader attempt to delegitimize the news outlets—the Times, the Washington Post, CNN, and many more—that he views as political adversaries, and to create a kind of parallel universe of “alternative facts” and realities.
Trump didn't start using "fake news" until 2017. It wasn't part of the campaign.
Morning Thread
If my theory is right, Tuesday is the new news dump day, something should be dumped, any minute now.
Monday, July 30, 2018
Remoaners
The politics and discourse around Brexit currently are very similar to those in the US surrounding the Iraq war. Suggestions that anti-Brexit Remainers are actually treasonous, and that the blame for a failed Brexit (not failure to happen, just that the consequences are bad) will land on the shoulders of those Remoaners for failing to clap loudly enough, based on the Tinker Bell theory of reality, are standard. Interesting times!
It Doesn't Make Any Sense That You'd Have to Spend $32 Trillion Instead of $34 Trillion Just To Save $2 Trillion
Ah the people who run our business press.
You need to spend $32 trillion to save $2 trillion doesn't sound like a selling point to me, but what do I know. https://t.co/lmwlniHksl
— Steve Goldstein (@MKTWgoldstein) July 30, 2018
Oh Noes
I love it how people in the UK pretend the EU cares. They just don't.
Of course they care a little bit, but the EU is big and the UK is small, relatively. The UK has more to lose. On everything.
UK negotiators have told their counterparts in Brussels that about 7,000 European-based investment funds that rely on British clients for their cash and profits will be hit by regulators unless the EU changes its position on the City of London after Brexit.
Of course they care a little bit, but the EU is big and the UK is small, relatively. The UK has more to lose. On everything.
Informing Viewers
There's no way that even the best host of a TV news show can keep up with a guest who is willing to lie without reservations. At most you can clean up after the fact, something they don't do enough of. But what they can do is stop inviting these people on. "You lie to our viewers, you don't get to come back."
and a pony.
As with Kellyanne Conway, I don't think you can justify — on informing-the-public grounds — repeat invitations for Giuliani to do his thing. Because his "method" is confuse anyone listening, including himself. These interviews must have a different logic. pic.twitter.com/fePcvrXf3f
— Jay Rosen (@jayrosen_nyu) July 30, 2018
and a pony.
Too Obvious To Say
I am fascinated that Rudy goes on TV all the time basically admitting that Trump is guilty (of something). The sane response is just something like "Mueller can investigate as much as he wants but he won't find anything." And "Michael Cohen has no information that will put my client in jeopardy so this entire conversation is a waste of time." Instead it's all about how Cohen betrayed the mob boss and trying to undercut Mueller's credibility.
Morning Thread
Interesting article up over at the Halifax Examiner. Two guys run a tech scam that defrauds $86 million from investors. Company implodes in 2001. They aren't sentenced until 2018, and they can still appeal the sentences so there's a chance any real punishment is still years away. They were smart not to be born brown and arrested with a marijuana cigarette.
How Knowledge House Execs Played Halifax's Mucky Mucks
How Knowledge House Execs Played Halifax's Mucky Mucks
Sunday, July 29, 2018
Logistics
Probably not that many people really see the system from above. That is, we are all little cogs in the great machine, only vaguely aware of the other bits that are necessary to make things work. But one purpose of a professional civil service is that they do have some people that understand these things. Or that should be the purpose. You can't just suddenly start ordering massive amounts of food from somewhere else. It just doesn't work.
I have no clue, either, but it's easy to see how a few disruptions here and there could be catastrophic.
Raab’s solution is just to find other countries to make up the shortfall. “The idea that we only get food imports into this country from one continent is not appropriate,” he said. But if that means , he is deluding himself.
Last week the Centre for Food Policy at City, University of London released a briefing paper written by, among others, Professor Tim Lang, looking at British food security post-Brexit. It pointed out that the US is currently only the tenth largest exporter of food to Britain. “For the US to replace the combined food imports from the other nine of the top 10,” the report said, “would require a vast food flotilla and logistics operation exceeding that of the 1940-45 Atlantic convoys.”
I have no clue, either, but it's easy to see how a few disruptions here and there could be catastrophic.
"He also often tells the truth"
The president reached out to our publisher to talk. The president’s aides requested it to be off the record, which our publisher abided. The president broke his own agreement this morning. So here’s what happened, according to A.G. Sulzberger: https://t.co/wAglYTG9Zo
— Katie Rogers (@katierogers) July 29, 2018
The Ministry of Food
This won't be a temporary emergency situation.
It isn't like a bad weather event or something. It will be... forever.
They stopped using the phrase, but it was definitely the case that for a nontrivial amount of the population, what they heard when they heard "no deal is better than a bad deal" is that if they can't get a good Brexit deal, then the status quo would continue. Either we make things better or they stay the same.
No deal is... not that.
Ministers have drawn up plans to send in the army to deliver food, medicines and fuel in the event of shortages if Britain crashes out of the EU without a deal.
Blueprints for the armed forces to assist the civilian authorities, usually used only in civil emergencies, have been dusted down as part of the “no deal” planning.
Helicopters and army trucks would be used to ferry supplies to vulnerable people outside the southeast who were struggling to obtain the medicines they needed.
It isn't like a bad weather event or something. It will be... forever.
They stopped using the phrase, but it was definitely the case that for a nontrivial amount of the population, what they heard when they heard "no deal is better than a bad deal" is that if they can't get a good Brexit deal, then the status quo would continue. Either we make things better or they stay the same.
No deal is... not that.
I've Never Even Met That John Barron Guy - He Doesn't Exist!
Healthy.
Had a very good and interesting meeting at the White House with A.G. Sulzberger, Publisher of the New York Times. Spent much time talking about the vast amounts of Fake News being put out by the media & how that Fake News has morphed into phrase, “Enemy of the People.” Sad!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 29, 2018
Saturday, July 28, 2018
Gone Golfing
Just like My President.
(joke: golf looks horrible to me but if you enjoy it that is wonderful)
(joke: golf looks horrible to me but if you enjoy it that is wonderful)
Drag Him
The twitters dragged this reporter over this description, as they should have.
Wow it's just so hard to have employees punch in and out if they want to get paid instead of, you know, telling them to punch out and then do more work. This worked when I was 15 years old and literally had a punchcard machine to punch in and out of. It certainly worked when I was 16 and got to punch in and out using a fancy touch screen machine.. in 1988. I'm pretty sure they can figure out how to add a "clock employee out in 5 minutes after he locks up" button or put it on the damn smartphones. so they can clock out as they walk out the door.
It's petty of me and I don't cheer on the decline of journalism, and certainly #notalljournalists, but journalism to a great degree, under the guise of "objective centritude" has been very hostile to organized labor (except those Newspaper Guilds!) and similar over the years. Wow, gonna cost billions to pay employees when they work! If only there was some alternative system in which employees did not have to be paid for work...
The Calif. Supreme Court decided a case that could add billions in labor costs to employers' bottom line by requiring them to pay employees for work time that previously went uncompensated [UPDATED STORY] https://t.co/7s0M4Ugjnv
— Jon Steingart (@jonsteingart) July 26, 2018
Wow it's just so hard to have employees punch in and out if they want to get paid instead of, you know, telling them to punch out and then do more work. This worked when I was 15 years old and literally had a punchcard machine to punch in and out of. It certainly worked when I was 16 and got to punch in and out using a fancy touch screen machine.. in 1988. I'm pretty sure they can figure out how to add a "clock employee out in 5 minutes after he locks up" button or put it on the damn smartphones. so they can clock out as they walk out the door.
Restructuring job duties is what Starbucks did. Douglas Troester, a supervisor at a Starbucks in Burbank, filed a lawsuit because the checklist for closing the store required him to clock out so he could upload data about employees’ hours, sales, and other information before leaving work, which he said required a few minutes of off-the-clock work. Starbucks changed its system so that punching out initiated the information upload.
It's petty of me and I don't cheer on the decline of journalism, and certainly #notalljournalists, but journalism to a great degree, under the guise of "objective centritude" has been very hostile to organized labor (except those Newspaper Guilds!) and similar over the years. Wow, gonna cost billions to pay employees when they work! If only there was some alternative system in which employees did not have to be paid for work...
Friday, July 27, 2018
Progress
Mr. Mayor talks the talk more than he walks the walk, like most politicians, but he walks too.
Mayor Kenney has terminated a controversial city contract that allows federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to access a key law-enforcement database, known as PARS, and use that information against undocumented, but otherwise law-abiding, immigrants in Philadelphia.
“I cannot in good conscience allow the agreement to continue,” the mayor said.
The decision comes after months of consultation with community groups, lawyers and immigrant advocates, and follows weeks of tumultuous protests by anti-ICE demonstrators, who on Wednesday took over and held a City Hall stairway.
Remember When Bill Clinton Ended Welfare As We Know It And Took That Off The Table Forever
The truth is there's barely anything resembling "welfare" (aside from rich people welfare) but that doesn't stop them.
Conservative white people believe there's a secret welfare system for black people. You cannot convince them otherwise, no matter what you do.
(CNN)Republican Rep. Jason Lewis has repeatedly demeaned recipients of welfare and government assistance, calling them "parasites" and "scoundrels," and said the black community had "traded one plantation for another."
Conservative white people believe there's a secret welfare system for black people. You cannot convince them otherwise, no matter what you do.
"Nobody Who Works Full Time Should Live In Poverty"
This, or a version of this, has become some sort of crazy left idea (the real crazy left idea is "nobody should live in poverty") to the right. But how can this be some sort of crazy idea? We can argue about how to ensure it happens, or why it too often doesn't happen, but we're the richest damn country in the world (close enough) and if you work full time and still can't manage to eke out a basic stable existence then something is wrong with our grand economic model.
No Deal
"No Deal Is Better Than A Bad Deal" has been a Brexiteer slogan forever. No Deal is the apocalypse, however. Read the whole thing, but this paragraph is the real point.
Food is just one issue. Not a trivial issue, of course, but it is like this for *every* issue.
It is not. No-deal is probably the most demented policy put forward by mainstream British politicians in the modern era. To see how it would work in practice, this piece looks at what would happen on day one. Doing this for the whole economy would take countless pages of Stephen-King-style horror, so it's stripped down to one topic: food. This is the story of how our system for importing and exporting food implodes almost instantly.
Food is just one issue. Not a trivial issue, of course, but it is like this for *every* issue.
Thursday, July 26, 2018
Well Then
So much explaining to do.
(CNN)Michael Cohen, President Donald Trump's former personal attorney, claims that then-candidate Trump knew in advance about the June 2016 meeting in Trump Tower in which Russians were expected to offer his campaign dirt on Hillary Clinton, sources with knowledge tell CNN. Cohen is willing to make that assertion to special counsel Robert Mueller, the sources said.
Cohen's claim would contradict repeated denials by Trump, Donald Trump Jr., their lawyers and other administration officials who have said that the President knew nothing about the Trump Tower meeting until he was approached about it by The New York Times in July 2017.
The Least Surprising Thing Ever
I am not shocked.
His explanation is bullshit (click the link) because of course some things always make him very mad, like the Oberlin Student Council.
In his writing, at least, Chait seems generally aware of the stakes of a Trump presidency. He’s previously made reference to Trump’s “crazy, racist beliefs.” He’s pointed out that “the human toll of the cruelty [of Trump’s policies] has horrified immigration-rights activists.”
But in the New York meeting, he was glibber. “He compared the situation to Jerry Seinfeld’s bit about how, from the back seat of a cab, the whole world outside becomes entertainment,” the New York magazine staffer explained. “He said he’s deadened his emotions to a point where he doesn’t get emotionally involved with the Trump situation.”
According to the staffer, Chait said with a laugh: “Maybe that makes me a sociopath.” Some of the employees in attendance said the group was stunned by Chait’s response; others were less surprised to hear this sentiment come from a self-described disenfranchised white man.
His explanation is bullshit (click the link) because of course some things always make him very mad, like the Oberlin Student Council.
The Other Guy Will Be As Bad As Jim Jordan
I mean, probably. Whoever runs the Republicans in the House next year (hopefully not actually as Speaker!) will be equally horrible in their politics as Jim Jordan, and I don't know enough about any of them to know who will be more adept at their horrible politics, which is something I would care about (the worse the better!). But I still hope that the Republicans - for the sake of decency, not for the country, and not for liberalism - do not elect the guy simply because I am a snowflake empathetic virtue signalling social justice warrior libturd who thinks that maybe it's bad if someone in a position of responsibility who let this stuff happen is rewarded? It isn't as if letting old dudes masturbate to your wrestling team in the sauna is some sort of partisan issue. Well, I didn't think so? I thought it was roughly on the list of the few things that ChuckandMitch could agree was bad while having a beer after a hard day's work in the world's greatest deliberative body? Or something.
Deviant
Your next Speaker of the House.
New allegations in the Ohio State University sexual abuse scandal are threatening to intensify the political firestorm facing its onetime assistant wrestling coach, powerful GOP Rep. Jim Jordan.
A half-dozen ex-wrestlers told POLITICO they were regularly harassed in their training facility by sexually aggressive men who attended the university or worked there. The voyeurs would masturbate while watching the wrestlers shower or sit in the sauna, or engage in sexual acts in the areas where the athletes trained, the former wrestlers said.
Why To And From?
Actually a bit confused by this. If this is an extension of Walmart's "order and pickup" program, why does the Waymo car have to drive the passenger to the store and then drive them home again? Why not just deliver the stuff?
Walmart and Waymo — formerly Google's self-driving car project — announced on Wednesday the launch of a pilot program that will allow consumers to make their grocery pickups with the help of an autonomous vehicle.
The plan is simple. Participants in Waymo's "early riders" program will be able to take a driverless shuttle service to and from Walmart whenever they purchase groceries from Walmart.com using the retailer's online grocery pickup service.
Great Cars
A lot of consumer products are crap. Low tech, high tech, whatever. We're all used to that. Maybe we shouldn't be, but we're not especially surprised by it. Still some BRANDS sell themselves as being better than that, and usually charge a hefty premium for it. A Tesla Model X starts at $80K, and I'm sure no one actually buys the minimum model.
And cars, of course, aren't toasters. They're 2 ton death machines.
The problems are because Musk is focusing on cars he promised to deliver and hasn't instead of building spare parts for the broken cars he did deliver.
At the entrance to the company’s Dublin, Calif., center recently, an agitated Model X owner was trying to drop his SUV off for repair. A Tesla service agent said he couldn’t leave the car there because the facility was too busy. He could make an appointment to bring it in another time, maybe in a couple of weeks.
“But I don’t want to drive it!” said Kaushal Bhaskar, a software engineer from nearby San Ramon who complained he sometimes couldn’t get the passenger door to open, while other times the door would open up all by itself – including once on the Interstate at highway speeds. “This is a safety concern for me!”
And cars, of course, aren't toasters. They're 2 ton death machines.
The problems are because Musk is focusing on cars he promised to deliver and hasn't instead of building spare parts for the broken cars he did deliver.
Wednesday, July 25, 2018
The Other Problem
Is the idea (widespread, but wrong) that these are "unskilled" jobs because they are often low paid and therefore you can just throw anyone into them. Almost all the job categories listed are stereotypically work for women, which is one reason they are so low paid, but aside from that I don't know why people think you can just throw anybody into "early childhood education" or "after-school care" or "childcare" generally.
BoomerCorps
I must have missed this when it first came out but it is stunning.
As for the first paragraph, no we don't. The only "switch" is when you choose to start taking Social Security but this does not preclude people continuing to work in various ways, as our nation of Wal-Mart greeters can tell you (if you retire "early" and continue to work you can get some benefit reductions).
But basically this: we know you don't have enough money to retire on because your shit job you had your whole life didn't give enough in Social Security contributions (and certainly not savings) to provide for a livable retirement income. The solution is that we will set up a jobs program that will "allow" (they can already do this) you to continue to to work for (gets out calculator) about TWELVE DOLLARS PER HOUR to make sure there is an endless supply of cheap labor.
We have an on/off switch with work—you’re either employed or retired. Roughly 10,000 Baby Boomers are taking the retirement route every day, despite worries that they haven’t saved enough—and despite a desire to keep being productive.
A half-century ago, John F. Kennedy launched the Peace Corps and called on the Baby Boomers to serve America abroad. The Boomer Corps would re-enlist one million Boomers to serve, this time in their communities and working with young people.
Instead of fully clocking out of the workforce, Boomers will have the opportunity to transition to a fulfilling, part-time job in national service. They would be directed toward helping families raise healthy, well-educated kids through childcare, early childhood education, after-school care, teaching, tutoring, skills training, mentoring, and coaching.
Corps members would earn a respectable wage—entirely tax-free. Seniors in the Boomer Corps program would work 20 hours per week and receive a stipend of $12,000 a year. These would not be optional volunteer activities, but rather jobs with schedules and a weekly time commitment. You have to apply, be vetted, and—depending on the role—be trained or certified. States would operate the programs, but they would benefit from a 3:1 federal match to pay corps members’ salaries. At an annual cost of $9 billion to the federal government, Boomer Corps would be a high-return investment.
As for the first paragraph, no we don't. The only "switch" is when you choose to start taking Social Security but this does not preclude people continuing to work in various ways, as our nation of Wal-Mart greeters can tell you (if you retire "early" and continue to work you can get some benefit reductions).
But basically this: we know you don't have enough money to retire on because your shit job you had your whole life didn't give enough in Social Security contributions (and certainly not savings) to provide for a livable retirement income. The solution is that we will set up a jobs program that will "allow" (they can already do this) you to continue to to work for (gets out calculator) about TWELVE DOLLARS PER HOUR to make sure there is an endless supply of cheap labor.
Why Sean
I'm all for the somewhat public consensus that Sean Spicer was a horrible liar (both a horrible liar and a liar who was horrible), but have you seen Sanders? Why does she not get quite the same contempt (of course she gets it from libturds and comedians etc, but not from journalists who seem genuinely mad about Sean but not Sanders).
On Teevee
if there's one thing I want to stress with all the Cohen-Avenatti-Davis-Giuliani stuff churning in the background, it's that when *you* hire legal counsel you should really seek out someone who doesn't have the burning urge to be on teevee every damn day
— Jason Linkins (@dceiver) July 25, 2018
There are clearly people - our president being the leader of this group, but certainly not the only one - who do think reality is actually just a wrestling match that plays out on TV. If it isn't being broadcast, it somehow isn't real. I dunno, maybe it's a bit similar to the much derided Kids Today who put their lives on social media, but it doesn't seem to be quite the same to me. Why the urge to be a big head in a box on cable news? Why think that's the reality that matters? I don't get it.
Wednesday Morning
In case anyone needed a reminder.
Tuesdays seem to be the new doc dump day. I guess that makes the story old news by the time the Sunday talk shows roll around.
Tuesdays seem to be the new doc dump day. I guess that makes the story old news by the time the Sunday talk shows roll around.
Tuesday, July 24, 2018
Choose A Path
It isn't perfectly simple, of course, but I've always leaned towards social media platforms - and that includes publishing sites like BLOGGER - being as content neutral possible. For social media you do have to give users good tools to control who they let themselves interact with, and some lines for dealing with users who engage in actual harassment (and twitter specifically has a bot problem), but they make a big mistake getting to deep into the content filtering game. Of course Facebook has always had strong content "standards" of a certain type.
Let me post stupid shit on my wall. If other people want to share it, who cares. The problem is that facebook specifically has had ever evolving ways of not just letting you do this, but actively encouraging "sharing" and the placement (purchase) of ads which push bullshit content, along with their own content curation. And that's because they want to make money off of the bullshit. I mean, I only see bullshit on facebook, aside from the what trusted friends actually post. That's where the money is.
And there's no such as a neutral "algorithm." Again, they don't need the damn algorithms. But that's where the money is...
Let me post stupid shit on my wall. If other people want to share it, who cares. The problem is that facebook specifically has had ever evolving ways of not just letting you do this, but actively encouraging "sharing" and the placement (purchase) of ads which push bullshit content, along with their own content curation. And that's because they want to make money off of the bullshit. I mean, I only see bullshit on facebook, aside from the what trusted friends actually post. That's where the money is.
And there's no such as a neutral "algorithm." Again, they don't need the damn algorithms. But that's where the money is...
Well Then
What can one say, really.
"Trump lies frequently, or tells falsehoods frequently, or stretches the truth frequently, but he also often tells the truth," Haberman said.
Headlines
I, also, too, sometimes drive a self-driving car in manual mode.
Uber self-driving cars back on public roads, but in manual mode
Welfare For The Right Sorts Of People
Trade is a much more complicated issue than The Discourse ever allows for and quite possibly "tariffs plus subsidies" is actually good policy sometimes! It depends on your policy goal! (This is another economics-influenced issue, that some abstract yet weirdly selectively applied Econ 101 notion of efficiency is the only legitimate policy goal). But, well...it is what it is.
Above my pay grade, but I'm sure most of this isn't going to kindly Farmer Joe and his 50 acres. Big ag.
White House readies plan to extend about $12 billion in emergency aid to farmers caught in Trump’s escalating trade war
Above my pay grade, but I'm sure most of this isn't going to kindly Farmer Joe and his 50 acres. Big ag.
TRONC'd
I think Athenae slightly exaggerates with her "nothing to do with the internet" take on the newspaper business's problems, but it was certainly was used an excuse before the internet really existed. "The internet will hurt us one day unless we change" was flipped to "the internet has killed us, dead, in 2003" and was stupid. I do think small local papers probably would've had problems even if perfectly managed and alt-weeklies, which once thought they were immune to the evil internet or even thrived on it, seem to have been killed by it. Of course we can always argue a bit about whether "newspaper" means print copy or just a news organization resembling what we think of as a newspaper.
But it's hard to believe papers in larger cities - LA, Chicago, Philly - could not have found ways to survive, and fairly easily, if not for various waves of mismanagement (yes all those cities still have papers, but they've all had their problems) and looting.
But it's hard to believe papers in larger cities - LA, Chicago, Philly - could not have found ways to survive, and fairly easily, if not for various waves of mismanagement (yes all those cities still have papers, but they've all had their problems) and looting.
Shockingly, these things didn’t magically make the papers more money. In fact, they started bleeding readers, and the advertisers followed. You’ll notice I haven’t talked about THE DASTARDLY INTERNET yet. That’s because while all this was going on the Internet barely existed.
When it finally came to be, and mobile devices brought news to people wherever they were, news organizations were enfeebled, directionless creatures wounded by so many years of mistreatment that they couldn’t take advantage of a new medium even if they wanted to. And let’s be honest, a lot of the people involved didn’t want to take advantage of the Internet. They wanted to take a damn nap, and could you blame them really.
Monday, July 23, 2018
Sing
Such fun.
As the newfound silence between Trump and Cohen turns into a potential cold war, Cohen has told friends that one of his biggest regrets is the embarrassment heaped upon First Lady Melania Trump. This weekend, the First Lady’s spokeswoman said that she was “focused on her role as a mother and as First Lady” and would have no further comment regarding the tapes. Cohen has said he hopes to apologize to her someday. Meanwhile, his feelings toward her husband, and towards those he believes are part of the strategy to discredit him, are chillier. “If they think for a second that the efforts to discredit me aren’t known to me, they are sadly mistaken,” he has told friends. “Did they think I was just going to roll over and die?”
NYC Can't Exist Without The Subway
If all the rail in Philly disappeared over night, it would be bad but the city wouldn't collapse. NYC would just collapse. You can't have that kind of population density (both resident and daytime) without a high capacity mass transit system. There is no room for all the cars.
Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, after declaring the subway to be in a state of emergency, promised that a rescue plan by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority would deliver results. The authority’s chairman, Joseph J. Lhota, said subway riders would see improvements “relatively quickly.”
But one year later, subway service remains in many ways the same — dismal.
There Will Always Be National News Coverage
It's the local news that's the problem. Bad management and vultures have hastened its demise, but I don't quite know what the business model is.
The New York Daily News is shedding about half of its editorial team, marking a grim development for the venerable but beleaguered tabloid.
An email sent to staffers on Monday morning said that the paper's parent company Tronc is "fundamentally restructuring the Daily News," an effort that will gut the newsroom and dramatically shift editorial priorities. The unsigned email was sent from Tronc's "talent and engagement" team.
So What
I guess if you're a politician trying to save your job then blaming everyone else is a useful strategy, but it won't change the reality that the EU doesn't particularly care and "no deal" is going to destroy the country.
Britain’s foreign secretary, Jeremy Hunt, has warned there is a risk of the UK leaving the EU in March 2019 without a deal because of stalling by the bloc’s negotiators, and that British views of Europe would sour as a result.
The Attention Span of A Gnat
Another Monday, another day of President Deals making crazy war threats (Iran) on the twitter machine.
By day 2 of war he would have forgotten all about it.
By day 2 of war he would have forgotten all about it.
Sunday, July 22, 2018
America's Worst Humans
Democrats, please, please don’t lose your minds and rush to the socialist left. This president and his Republican Party are counting on you to do exactly that. America’s great middle wants sensible, balanced, ethical leadership.
— James Comey (@Comey) July 22, 2018
American Journalism In One Tweet
Republicans claim the classified documents reveal FBI bias in favor of Hillary Clinton; Democrats say the documents are evidence of deep connections between Russia and the Trump campaign. https://t.co/94btCjbQEi
— NPR (@NPR) July 22, 2018
Saturday, July 21, 2018
Saturday Evening
Scott killed himself. I don't know why. We all have demons. I saw frabbit a few months before he died.
Outcomes
Some of us are very into the daily bullshit of politics. It is our hobby. Some of us get mad when we don't think we are eating as well as we should be eating.
Do Be Do Be Do Be Do
Some people are in positions of power. Most of us are not. I suppose I am a little bit inbetween. Most of us can't do much of anything and I get mad when people who have actual power do not use it.
Friday, July 20, 2018
Gotta Get Down On Friday
It's late and I am tired and (as always) lazy so I cannot write the full essay on this, but once upon a time I thought that sharing things on the internet might provide an alternative marketing strategy. There was a moment when this was true. I do not think it is true now. I tried. You have all always hated my videos. I thought that was funny. But some of those bands are/were good. I will try to resurrect a few over the next few weeks. I saw Pretty Girls Make Graves once in a tiny venue that no longer exists. All 30 of us had a great time. A great band, a great name, a great song, a great video.
Politicians
I don't think I have been to DC in...um.. 6 years? I used to go regularly for various reasons. I am not important and I never was. Occasionally my butterfly wings flap in the right direction and this is the best thing I can ever do.
But politicians are... good. By good I mean bad. They are good at telling you what you want to hear. I am a just a hick, but I am constantly amazed by how often journalists pretend they are not being played. I was played a few times. I get it. It's why I don't do that anymore. It's also why I have contempt for the journalists who are played. I was dumb. I know they are not. They like lying to you.
But politicians are... good. By good I mean bad. They are good at telling you what you want to hear. I am a just a hick, but I am constantly amazed by how often journalists pretend they are not being played. I was played a few times. I get it. It's why I don't do that anymore. It's also why I have contempt for the journalists who are played. I was dumb. I know they are not. They like lying to you.
Armchair Revolutionaries
"We need to..." is one of my infinite pet peeves. Organize. Do. A "general strike" is a favorite by people who will not shut down the system or threaten their incomes by being involved in a general strike. The people who can shut things down with a general strike are the ones who are most vulnerable to its consequences.
Your rich car dealer friends are the problem, not the janitors. Stop it.
Your rich car dealer friends are the problem, not the janitors. Stop it.
I Am So Tired
My sweet kitty died. Life has been otherwise complicated. Blogging is going to suck for a bit. Or not! It is always so exciting and unpredictable.
Thursday, July 19, 2018
They Have More Money
I admit I don't get why the absurdly rich - not just superrich, but billionaire rich (not fake billionaire rich) - continue to run or pretend to run companies. Enough is enough at some point, and you don't actually get to take it with you. Seems like running a company makes leisure, or doing good or evil full time, depending on your interests, tough.
As for taking it with you, I had an interesting conversation with an estate planing attorney once. My basic question was why people, to a great degree, wait until they die before giving it all to their already old children. The usual answer is something like "they need something to be able to control their children with." That wasn't his answer. His answer was that, actually, a lot of estate planning is about giving money to the grandkids. They don't really want to give money to their actual children. True or not... interesting!
As for taking it with you, I had an interesting conversation with an estate planing attorney once. My basic question was why people, to a great degree, wait until they die before giving it all to their already old children. The usual answer is something like "they need something to be able to control their children with." That wasn't his answer. His answer was that, actually, a lot of estate planning is about giving money to the grandkids. They don't really want to give money to their actual children. True or not... interesting!
She Works For Trump
The press loves their beat sweetened friendly sources and I guess people are holding out hope that there are a couple of "grownups" in there who will stop WWIII, but anyone who willingly takes a top job with Trump shares at least some of his passions and it's fair to say they've had the opportunity to be their best and true selves.
When asked about Trump's comment that there were "fine people on both sides" in Charlottesville, Sec. Nielsen seemingly doubled down. "it's not that one side was right and one side was wrong" #AspenSecurity
— Tess Owen (@misstessowen) July 19, 2018
Everything Breaks
.@theresa_may says 70 "technical notices" for businesses and households will be published in Aug and Sept setting out how we can all prepare for a no-deal Brexit (should that be what happens). Yikes
— Robert Peston (@Peston) July 18, 2018
"No deal" doesn't just mean oh, well, things get a bit messier. It means that the UK's relationship with the outside world basically...ceases to operate. It affects everything. I could spend all day providing examples. How about "UK airlines can't land their planes in the EU." That one not good enough? OK, how about "UK airlines can't land their planes in the US...or basically anywhere." Divorcing the EU doesn't just impact the UK's agreements with the remaining EU countries, it impacts their agreements with the rest of the world, as most of those are done...through their membership with the EU.
Some of these things could be resolved before the deadline, of course, even if there's "no deal," but the rest of the world has better things to do than worry about the UK's interests. I am sure US airline lobbyists, for example, will be quite happy to keep British Air out. The point is that's just one example... It's everything.
It Isn't The Lies - It's The Lying
I don't mean that in an ethical sense. People lie. Whatever. But the focus on "fact checking" Trump - when it happens - misses the point that it isn't about any particular lie (usually) it's that he lies constantly. Nothing he says has anything but the occasional accidental relationship with the truth. And it isn't just the boss. They all lie without shame. Every single one of them all the time. Maybe it's impossible to introduce skepticism into every story, but some reporters - cough aggieMay abermanHay - have a tendency to report things as FACT based on what people tell her, rather than simply reporting that people said something. The latter can also be a problem. Simply reporting what was said also makes it as if the quoted assertion was true, but at least it doesn't add the journalist's additional blessing to it. An example:
I honestly don't even know what this paragraph even means. "Vulnerable to Putin" but not because of any damaging information. Wuhhh?
But aside from that, Maggie is telling us what they say they have concluded, not what they have actually concluded. They might be lying! And they lie all the time, even though every reporter has sources who are the good ones in the Trump administration. Here is the list of good ones:
Aides said the episode reflected how the persistent questions about Mr. Trump’s ties to Russia have all but paralyzed the president. Baffled by his solicitous tone toward Mr. Putin, some people close to Mr. Trump have concluded that he feels vulnerable to Mr. Putin, even if it is in his own mind, rather than because of any damaging information possessed by the Russians.
I honestly don't even know what this paragraph even means. "Vulnerable to Putin" but not because of any damaging information. Wuhhh?
But aside from that, Maggie is telling us what they say they have concluded, not what they have actually concluded. They might be lying! And they lie all the time, even though every reporter has sources who are the good ones in the Trump administration. Here is the list of good ones:
Wednesday, July 18, 2018
License To Kill
Predictably, we're going to go from "SELF-DRIVING CARS ARE GOING TO BE SO SAFE" to "well, really, it's unreasonable to have any expectations or legal requirements of safety..."
These things are going to be so annoying that road rage will destroy them all, at least.
The Center Of The Universe
I suppose this is a big test of whether I have my finger on the pulse of contemporary America.
For years, it hulked stagnant over the Meadowlands like a massive, forgotten Tinkertoy. But if you drive past it today on Route 3 or the New Jersey Turnpike, the mall once named Xanadu and now rechristened American Dream is rising anew.
But don’t call it a mall—not these days. Don Ghermezian, president of Edmonton, Canada-based Triple Five Worldwide, which took over development of the project in 2011, made that clear when he spoke to Bloomberg in late 2016. He refers to American Dream as “the center of the universe.”
What A Weird Man
I know talk of Trump's mental decline has faded a bit as we've all gotten used to a what a weird man he is, but decline of talk of his decline is premature. As I have long said, he was always a narcissistic blowhard but he wasn't the child that he is now. The filters that make even the extreme narcissist able to pretend a bit occasionally keep fading. Those jenga blocks are being pulled out one by one.
Tuesday, July 17, 2018
The Republicans Will Save Us
I admit I don't quite understand why some things make our press mad and some things don't, but more than that I certainly don't understand the faith the Republicans will save us.
Also, if Democrats take charge, the same people will get mad at them for "overreaching" with their "partisan oversight." The idea that Republicans have to save us isn't just because they're in charge, it's because they're the only ones who can legitimately wield power in Washington, no matter what they do with it.
You need two, maybe even one, Republican senators to caucus with the Democrats until November and give them oversight power. This is not unprecedented. Those brave Republicans could cut themselves nice deals about power, also, too. But, nah, they'll just tweet sadly.
Also, if Democrats take charge, the same people will get mad at them for "overreaching" with their "partisan oversight." The idea that Republicans have to save us isn't just because they're in charge, it's because they're the only ones who can legitimately wield power in Washington, no matter what they do with it.
You need two, maybe even one, Republican senators to caucus with the Democrats until November and give them oversight power. This is not unprecedented. Those brave Republicans could cut themselves nice deals about power, also, too. But, nah, they'll just tweet sadly.
Monday, July 16, 2018
Oh My
Such fun.
WASHINGTON — A Russian woman who tried to broker a pair of secret meetings between candidate Donald J. Trump and the Russian president, Vladimir V. Putin, during the 2016 presidential campaign, was charged Monday and accused of working with Americans to carry out a secret Russian effort to influence American politics.
...
Though the American operative is not identified, The Times has previously reported that Ms. Butina developed a close relationship with Paul Erickson, an N.R.A. member and longtime conservative activist who was part of the effort to arrange a meeting between Mr. Putin and Mr. Trump. Ms. Butina has publicly described hosting Mr. Erickson at an event in Moscow. Mr. Erickson did not respond to a message seeking comment.
People Are Mean, To Me, On Twitter
And this says something very important about The Discourse and Manners and Civility.
Of course social media provides opportunities for everything from just being mean to harassment and stalking, but it's always hilarious when important people decide their personal experiences (and you're famous, people are punching up, suck it up) reflect a general problem of society that they only discovered when people were mean to them personally.
Also there are babies in cages, so...
To a large degree, Twitter has become a toxic cesspool of anger, hatred and intolerance. It brings out the absolute worst in people, and is rapidly leading to the decline of civility. https://t.co/dGYvfq27RD
— John Roberts (@johnrobertsFox) July 16, 2018
Of course social media provides opportunities for everything from just being mean to harassment and stalking, but it's always hilarious when important people decide their personal experiences (and you're famous, people are punching up, suck it up) reflect a general problem of society that they only discovered when people were mean to them personally.
Also there are babies in cages, so...
Bourdain
He hated all the right people.
Yeah… I’m so glad we got to that point, cause that’s what I’m trying to do, I’m trying to make there be love in the world for people between each other, cause I think that’s what missing in our journalism [dissolves laughing], I really do. It sounds crazy, but that’s what I think.
Yeah. It’s particularly um, it’s painful to… look, I read the op-ed page of the New York Times and I wanna fuckin’ kill myself.
Wait’ll you see! We hired a fact checker, to fact check them.
Ah, good. Who is it who’s corrected there the most?
It’s like Night of the Living Dead over there.
Oh my god, Bari Weiss. What the hell has happened.
It’s the fuckin’ worst.
That guy Bennet. He needs to be shot out of the nearest cannon.
Who’s the one with the obsession for Asian sex trade? Kristof. A little fuckin’ creepy.
We Tried
Your regular reminder that the Iraq war was colossal and tragic crime that all Very Serious People supported and then "oopsy."
Sunday, July 15, 2018
A Rudimentary Knowledge of Mortars
The Kinder Guardians program is a fake program Borat invented to weed out politicians who will say anything for money #whoisamerica look at what these idiots read voluntarily off of a TelePrompTer when asked by who they thought was an Israeli tv host pic.twitter.com/369qwCfXWJ
— VeritasChicana (@VeritasChicana) July 15, 2018
Daddy
I am sure all of our intimate correspondences would be embarrassing, but what is with "Daddy"?
(this is worse than that, of course, but...mens are weird)
(this is worse than that, of course, but...mens are weird)
Saturday, July 14, 2018
Friday, July 13, 2018
Brett Kavanaugh Did Not Steal My Bicycle
We've had the predictable hot takes about how Kavanaugh is such a nice, normal guy and good Dad and all that crap. The obvious point is: so what? But the second point is... why should this be surprising? Oh, wow, he's a good Dad and hasn't, as far as we know, killed anybody, and also he drinks beer and likes baseball. Isn't that basically...most dudes? Aside from the irrelevance, why is this type of stuff presented as "wow what a good guy" instead of "well he meets the lower bar for being an ok human being, at least in his personal life."
Indictments
According to my deep sources on twitter, new Mueller indictments:
12 Russian intelligence officers for DNC hacking.
12 Russian intelligence officers for DNC hacking.
Trump Jokes
Maybe I am just old and humorless but I tend to cringe at most of the humor directed at Trump. I don't mean all of it - a clever joke is a clever joke - but just the general not especially witty juvenile humor. I was fine with similar when directed at Bush.
Wow Who Could Have Predicted
Decades of blaming everything on public school teachers while tons of money gets poured elsewhere in the education system and...
Or you could just pay them more. But, nah, grants for programs for training for..
Pennsylvania used to license more than 14,000 new teachers annually. Now, it issues certificates to fewer than 5,000. The state is aiming to do something about that.
Gov. Wolf announced grants Thursday to eight universities around the commonwealth — including Drexel, Cabrini, Lehigh, and the University of Pennsylvania — to develop and implement residency programs for educators.
Or you could just pay them more. But, nah, grants for programs for training for..
Thursday, July 12, 2018
All Hail The Mighty Whistlepig
America's greatest species.
House Speaker Paul Ryan explained Thursday that a family of woodchucks moved into his Chevy Suburban recently, eating the wiring, and rendering the car useless.
"My car was eaten by animals," Ryan said, to laughs from an audience at an event hosted by the Economic Club of Washington D.C. "It's just dead."
The finest specimen you will find
Of Rodentia: Sciuridae
Our own uncanny whistle-pig
The ground-est hog that ever lived
The Classiest Guy In The World
He's on an official state visit to her country and had dinner with her this evening.
lol
— Tom Newton Dunn (@tnewtondunn) July 12, 2018
lol
Sounds Exciting
Maybe I've been wrong about all of this.
Very cool!
Oh so more of a bus. Well, ok.
And not for another year or more...
Daimler's Mercedes-Benz, Bosch to launch self-driving car service in Silicon Valley
Very cool!
Daimler and Bosch will begin their service as a pilot project offering rides for free on "selected routes" to a limited number of customers, said Uwe Keller, head of autonomous driving for Daimler.
Oh so more of a bus. Well, ok.
Daimler and auto components maker Bosch will start a self-driving vehicle shuttle service in one of the cities south of San Francisco that comprises the heart of the nation's tech industry beginning in the second half of 2019.
And not for another year or more...
Validation
The Right is good at making any issue into the issue of the day. There isn't one single reason for that, though the why/how isn't the point of this post. The point is that they make an issue a thing, and then there's a tendency by too many Democrats (electeds and pundits) to agree that the issue is actually an issue. Then they've already lost. For example, when Trump says we need to build a wall, and Chuck Schumer comes out bragging that some bipartisan bill is a much better way to achieve needed better border security because of all the wonky rea[zzzzzz...] all voters hear is "we need better border security" and what they conclude is "wow I guess we need that wall."
This is a bit of a caricature, of course, but the point is that once Democrats start telling voters that they're better at delivering what the Republicans say they want, they've lost. The Republicans have already made it their issue, the Democrats have agreed the Republicans are correct but we're just arguing about the details, and voters who think that issue is important know who to vote for.
And voters who disagree don't have any champions. It isn't true that if you give the voters a choice between a Republican and a Republican they'll vote for the Republican every time. Plenty just won't vote at all.
This is a bit of a caricature, of course, but the point is that once Democrats start telling voters that they're better at delivering what the Republicans say they want, they've lost. The Republicans have already made it their issue, the Democrats have agreed the Republicans are correct but we're just arguing about the details, and voters who think that issue is important know who to vote for.
And voters who disagree don't have any champions. It isn't true that if you give the voters a choice between a Republican and a Republican they'll vote for the Republican every time. Plenty just won't vote at all.
Taking It Off The Table
One of the fantasies of too many center left types is that there's some way to get together, find an acceptable compromise, and take an issue off the table FOREVER. The ultimate example of this was abortion. For years well-meaning (some, anyway) liberals and Democrats believed in some sort of GRAND COMPROMISE about abortion that would just let that nasty issue go away for all eternity. Fortunately I think those people mostly figured it out finally, though you still get lots of trolling from "center right" (they don't really exist, but let's pretend) types who keep pretending that such a deal is on offer. Usually this trolling is something like, "abortion is only legal in the first trimester in FRANCE why don't you want to be like FRANCE libturds?" which of course ignores every other aspect of the French health care and legal system surrounding abortion which are not part of this nonexistent deal.
But they wouldn't and won't stop at the first trimester, anyway. No compromise is forever. It'd just be another battle won, in preparation for the next battle. Some of them truly believe abortion is murder. Most just want to deny (other) women any sexual and reproductive agency. They think birth control should be illegal. They aren't kidding about this stuff, and it's their life's work.
But they wouldn't and won't stop at the first trimester, anyway. No compromise is forever. It'd just be another battle won, in preparation for the next battle. Some of them truly believe abortion is murder. Most just want to deny (other) women any sexual and reproductive agency. They think birth control should be illegal. They aren't kidding about this stuff, and it's their life's work.
Abuser
A consistent pattern - most evident in the trade stuff but not just - is that President Deals creates a shitshow about an issue but never actually makes any specific demands. I am sure in his mind and to his fans this is just genius negotiation, but he doesn't specift demands, or even have any in mind, because he has no idea why the hell he is doing anything he is doing.
We'll never "win" the trade war because he has no idea what winning it would mean (to be fair, nobody really does, but at least he could have some sort of goal in mind).
We'll never "win" the trade war because he has no idea what winning it would mean (to be fair, nobody really does, but at least he could have some sort of goal in mind).
Wednesday, July 11, 2018
NORMS
The obsession with norms-over-substance is truly baffling. It isn't that the norms don't matter at all, but they are a means, a process, not a result. It's just Washington as dinner party, not as a place where important decisions are made that affect everybody.
What Do They Care About
As far as I can tell they're mostly the "use the right fork with the appetizer and make sure the right guests been invited" crowd. Actual policies don't really seem to matter, it's just about having the "right" sorts of people run things in the appropriate style.
Some months ago, Wittes famously called for the anti-Trump left, center, and right to set aside their differences and come together in a big kumbaya hug. Questions of tax policy, entitlements, or foreign policy should be taken off the agenda so that "Americans of good faith [can] collectively band together to face a national emergency."
Wittes wants this coalition to fight Trump by loudly asserting and behaving according to traditional norms. Therefore someone like Kavanaugh, who is within the bounds of normal politics (read: he is personal friends with Benjamin Wittes), is not a big deal — and may even be a positive sign.
Tuesday, July 10, 2018
The Village
When this showed up on the TL I legit thought it had to be a @pixelatedboat tweet pic.twitter.com/mII3cMKevk
— Jason Bailey (@jasondashbailey) July 10, 2018
Child Support Is Forever
I know enforcement is imperfect, but child support does follow you around forever. If you owe $2500 and the Feds are aware you can't even get a passport.
A lot of pro-life men think they should have a say about whether the women they impregnate can have an abortion. And, you know, in a healthy relationship they should... a bit. Not in a prescriptive way, but in that this is the kind of thing people in healthy relationships talk about. It's her body, but you can talk about it.
They're going to love this new world in which they have absolutely no say.
A lot of pro-life men think they should have a say about whether the women they impregnate can have an abortion. And, you know, in a healthy relationship they should... a bit. Not in a prescriptive way, but in that this is the kind of thing people in healthy relationships talk about. It's her body, but you can talk about it.
They're going to love this new world in which they have absolutely no say.
No More Country Doctors
I am not going to minimize the horror of life women faced, in many ways and not just because of the illegality of abortion, pre-Roe, but a post-Roe world will be even worse now. If you have been to the doctor recently you have noticed they spend half their time entering your information into their computers, and you personally spend a lot of time arguing with your insurance company. Women who try to obtain any medical treatment are asked about their menstrual cycles and sex life, on the off chance that they are pregnant, and not believed if they say it can't be so. Medical procedures or prescriptions - all of them, basically - which can possibly lead to a miscarriage are now a malpractice suit concern. Soon they will be a manslaughter concern.
Women won't be able to go to the doctor.
Women won't be able to go to the doctor.
The Designated Fluffer
A good glimpse into how the chummy elite work together is when the "liberal" designated fluffer appears to tell stupid liberals that the guy who is going to kill women is actually a Really Good Guy. Last time it was one time Supreme Court hopeful Neal Katyal (suck it, Neal). This time it's Akhil Amar who is very impressed indeed that he went to Yale.
But His Emails
Reporters know all the illegal and unethical things Kavanaugh did during the Starr investigation, and they won't tell us.
Monday, July 09, 2018
Omnishambles
I lived in the UK for awhile recently (where in the world is Atrios? I don't always tell you) and Boris was mayor then. He was a mostly useless figurehead, as the Mayor of London doesn't have much power and he delegated most of what he did have because he was lazy, but he was a reasonable cheerleader for a place which didn't need one, and a mostly harmless upper class twit who cycled around on his bicycle with his absurd hair and rumpled suits. Then he became a Brexiteer (after being an anti-Brexiteer) to further his political career for reasons I don't understand. Again, because he's lazy. The man has no desire to do any work and being Foreign Secretary or Prime Minister requires a minimal amount of effort. This is a type of ambition I do not understand.
Boris Johnson has resigned as foreign secretary, becoming the third minister in 24 hours to walk out of the government rather than back Theresa May’s plans for a soft Brexit.
It's Their City
Back in 1995 when Newt Gingrich became Speaker of the House, he started running daily morning press conferences. They were covered. I don't remember how long they lasted, but they were a thing.
After 9/11, George Bush gave almost daily appearances. They were something like "George Bush stands in front of flags, at a flag factory, and talks about flags." It was always covered.
After Obama was elected, the press decided there were 3 political parties in the country: Democrats, Republicans, and The Tea Party. This necessitated giving The Tea Party a State of the Union response because that's a totally normal thing the press does, providing an extra platform to some random caucus in Congress. The Congressional Black Caucus doesn't get an extra response. The Congressional Progressive Caucus doesn't get an extra response. The Tea Party? Sure.
The press covers Donald Trump's every tweet as if it is important news, and every word salad rally as an important prime time address. They did not do this with Obama. They respond to criticism of this by disingenuously arguing that "critics don't think what the president says is newsworthy!!!"
It is. It just isn't normally covered this way and you know it and thanks for destroying the country.
After 9/11, George Bush gave almost daily appearances. They were something like "George Bush stands in front of flags, at a flag factory, and talks about flags." It was always covered.
After Obama was elected, the press decided there were 3 political parties in the country: Democrats, Republicans, and The Tea Party. This necessitated giving The Tea Party a State of the Union response because that's a totally normal thing the press does, providing an extra platform to some random caucus in Congress. The Congressional Black Caucus doesn't get an extra response. The Congressional Progressive Caucus doesn't get an extra response. The Tea Party? Sure.
The press covers Donald Trump's every tweet as if it is important news, and every word salad rally as an important prime time address. They did not do this with Obama. They respond to criticism of this by disingenuously arguing that "critics don't think what the president says is newsworthy!!!"
It is. It just isn't normally covered this way and you know it and thanks for destroying the country.
Monday, Monday
Who is snubbing Alan Dersowitz today? Hitting the paywall at the Alan Dershwoitz daily because I read too much of their Alan Dershowitz content.
Sunday, July 08, 2018
We Must Cut Social Security So We Don't Have To Cut Social Security
I was a bit more of a centrist slatebro then, and didn't know the whole Official Discourse about Social Security was bullshit, but even as far back as graduate school I remember scratching my head at the job talk of someone who went on to have a very lucrative career in the field of cutting to avoid cuts. We must cut it so they don't cut it. It makes as much sense as "we must end welfare so they don't end welfare" and "we must deport more people so they don't deport more people" and many other greatest hits of the last few decades.
Why Don't Liberals Give Him Credit For (Insert Made Up Thing)
The big concern with North Korea was that President Deals would think he had a deal, and then Kim Jong-Un would behave rather predictably about the whole, thing and then President Deals would get mad and blow up the world.
Moving on to step 3...
Moving on to step 3...
Saturday, July 07, 2018
All Those Boxes Left Unchecked
Once the "tea party" (you know, the Republican party) got mad, Democrats got scared. The Tea Party was kind of scary, so I get having personal safety concerns, though of course a grass roots revolt of Real Americans can never be criticized, but they were scared of the politics. They were scared of losing in the polls. They were scared that all of those people calling their offices (and they did, all day every day) might not vote for them.
Too many of them did not understand that those people will never ever vote for them.
Too many of them did not understand that those people will never ever vote for them.
College Dittoheads
It's a bit hard to imagine, but there was a time when Rush Limbaugh was "cool." I knew lots of guys in college who became dittoheads and aspired to be like Limbaugh. I guess being a rich bloviating asshole who chomps cigars and golfs was sort of the ideal life path for a certain kind of guy at that time. And I get it in the sense that at that moment... it wasn't quite clear what other life paths were available. It was either be the rich bloviating asshole who chomps cigars and golfs or... be the poor asshole who can't afford such things. The options seemed narrow, at the time. Rush Limbaugh did good.
And of course there was the racism and the anti-feminism and the homophobia and, again, the general license to be an asshole without consequences (or, in fact, to get rich off of being an asshole). The details have changed quite a bit since then, but the general attractiveness of that worldview to a certain set of impressionable 20-year-old males hasn't changed all that much. Swap out golf and swap in video games. Swap out Rush Limbaugh and swap in actual Nazis.
And of course there was the racism and the anti-feminism and the homophobia and, again, the general license to be an asshole without consequences (or, in fact, to get rich off of being an asshole). The details have changed quite a bit since then, but the general attractiveness of that worldview to a certain set of impressionable 20-year-old males hasn't changed all that much. Swap out golf and swap in video games. Swap out Rush Limbaugh and swap in actual Nazis.
Pollution
Sure rich people can avoid certain kinds of pollution to some extent, and of course global warming is a myth, but they can't actually avoid all of it. They aren't going to live next a superfund site, but they do eat and breathe and drink water. So do their kids.
Saturday Morning
Heat wave has finally broken. Windows open. Time to finish:
It was written by one of own commenters and is not only a fun read, but also has added to my knowledge base vis a vis how newspapers are run and some local history. Go to the Amazon link on the left side of this page and get a copy. Read. Enjoy.
P.S. Leave a review at the Amazon page. The more reviews it gets, the more Amazon will treat it seriously.
It was written by one of own commenters and is not only a fun read, but also has added to my knowledge base vis a vis how newspapers are run and some local history. Go to the Amazon link on the left side of this page and get a copy. Read. Enjoy.
P.S. Leave a review at the Amazon page. The more reviews it gets, the more Amazon will treat it seriously.
Friday, July 06, 2018
All The Best People
Truly.
The wife of Bill Shine — former Fox News co-president who just joined the Trump administration as White House communications chief — has a lengthy history of defending racists, promoting unfounded anti-vaccination conspiracies, writing about “Islamic Insanity,” and making racially-charged remarks on her social media pages.
YOU, SIR, HAVE GONE TOO FAR
Sure it's classless (it's Trump) for a Republican president to say mean things about John McCain and George Bush when they're dying, but compared to most of what Trump says, it's which-is-the-appetizer-fork territory. It's bad manners.
Consider the Possibilities
What would you do if you were a foreign kitchen worker at Mar-a-lago (no need to actually answer)?
I am sure most of these people - like most people - would not consider nefarious ways of making a point. But some would.
Who is dumb enough to eat at any of Trump's properties?
UPDATE: @realdonaldtrump's Mar-a-Lago club is now asking to hire *61* foreign workers for the coming season. They just posted an application to hire 21 foreign cooks, who'll be paid slightly less than last year. https://t.co/p7rzkftFxp
— David Fahrenthold (@Fahrenthold) July 6, 2018
I am sure most of these people - like most people - would not consider nefarious ways of making a point. But some would.
Who is dumb enough to eat at any of Trump's properties?
That's Just What Trump Promised!!!
I keep going back to this, because it's the kind of thing people all over the political spectrum regularly say, but all they focus on are the purely conservative (and assholeish) things Trump promised. You can have contempt for voters for not understanding that Trump was full of shit about everything that was possibly nice, but he promised basically everything and some of those "nicer" promises were amplified by the media quite a bit. As I keep saying "racism+nice things (for the right people)" is a pretty good way to win elections in the US, and that was basically Trump's campaign. Maybe racism only gets you 40+%, but racism+cut Social Security would not get you the rest of the way.
He did promise some nice things. He was full of shit about those promises, but they were part of his campaign. Remember infrastructure week?
He did promise some nice things. He was full of shit about those promises, but they were part of his campaign. Remember infrastructure week?
Thursday, July 05, 2018
Bye Scott Pruitt
Back to trying to steal candy bars from vending machines, or whatever the hell he did before.
Why Won't You Stop Ramming My Car Into Your Body
Such a simple solution, really.
I like the shift, from "pogo stick user in a pedestrian crosswalk" to "pogo stick in the middle of the highway" where it would be illegal to do so.
If we outlaw pedestrians, we will outlaw the pedestrian problem.
Drive.AI founder Andrew Ng, a former Baidu executive and one of the industry’s most prominent boosters, argues the problem is less about building a perfect driving system than training bystanders to anticipate self-driving behavior. In other words, we can make roads safe for the cars instead of the other way around. As an example of an unpredictable case, I asked him whether he thought modern systems could handle a pedestrian on a pogo stick, even if they had never seen one before. “I think many AV teams could handle a pogo stick user in pedestrian crosswalk,” Ng told me. “Having said that, bouncing on a pogo stick in the middle of a highway would be really dangerous.”
“Rather than building AI to solve the pogo stick problem, we should partner with the government to ask people to be lawful and considerate,” he said. “Safety isn’t just about the quality of the AI technology.”
I like the shift, from "pogo stick user in a pedestrian crosswalk" to "pogo stick in the middle of the highway" where it would be illegal to do so.
If we outlaw pedestrians, we will outlaw the pedestrian problem.
The great promise of self-driving cars has been that they will eliminate traffic deaths. Now Professor Confused is saying that they will eliminate traffic deaths as long as all humans are trained to change their behavior? What just happened?
If changing everyone’s behavior is on the table then let’s change everyone’s behavior today, right now, and eliminate the annual 35,000 fatalities on US roads, and the 1 million annual fatalities world-wide. Let’s do it today, and save all those lives.
Professor Confused suggests having the government ask people to be lawful. Excellent idea! The government should make it illegal for people to drive drunk, and then ask everyone to obey that law. That will eliminate half the deaths in the US immediately. Let’s just do that today!
A Play In One Act
Lefties: Abolish ICE!
Republicans: Democrats want open borders!
Concern trolls: Oh no! Why are you handing the Republicans an ISSUE in November??? It is your fault they will win!
Democrats: I believe we need to reconsider some of the policies and practices which have led to the unfortunate imprisonment of babies in cages.
Republicans: Democrats want open borders!
Concern trolls: Oh no! Why are you handing the Republicans an ISSUE in November??? It is your fault they will win!!!
Conservative Democrat: While I have some concern about the treatment of the babies, it is vital we lock up even more babies in order to secure our borders!
Republicans: Democrats want open borders!
Concern trolls: Oh no! Why are you handing the Republicans an ISSUE in November??? It is your fault they will win!!!
Democrats: Fine, build the fucking wall and shoot anyone who might be an immigrant on sight. Shoot the babies first.
Republicans: Democrats want open borders!
Lefties, whispering: Actually, we do want open borders.
The end.
Republicans: Democrats want open borders!
Concern trolls: Oh no! Why are you handing the Republicans an ISSUE in November??? It is your fault they will win!
Democrats: I believe we need to reconsider some of the policies and practices which have led to the unfortunate imprisonment of babies in cages.
Republicans: Democrats want open borders!
Concern trolls: Oh no! Why are you handing the Republicans an ISSUE in November??? It is your fault they will win!!!
Conservative Democrat: While I have some concern about the treatment of the babies, it is vital we lock up even more babies in order to secure our borders!
Republicans: Democrats want open borders!
Concern trolls: Oh no! Why are you handing the Republicans an ISSUE in November??? It is your fault they will win!!!
Democrats: Fine, build the fucking wall and shoot anyone who might be an immigrant on sight. Shoot the babies first.
Republicans: Democrats want open borders!
Lefties, whispering: Actually, we do want open borders.
The end.
Deal
What's interesting about all of the Brexit talk in the UK press is it focuses first on whether Theresa May can get "a deal" within her own party/coalition and only then moves to discuss whether the details of any such deal would be acceptable to the EU (spoiler: no).
Which means a deal isn't really a deal and I don't think anyone in the UK is ready for what "no deal" actually means.
...adding all this is because May triggered article 50, triggered an election, promptly lost a bunch of seats, and thus there was no workable Tory consensus. Basically it was "I'm going to point a gun at my country and shoot it in 2 years (<18 months in practical terms) if you don't give me exactly what I want but I have no idea what that is."
With the Brexit process approaching its most treacherous point yet, May has summoned her senior ministers to Chequers, the prime minister’s official country residence, for an all-day summit. After months of bickering between senior ministers, May will attempt to broker a unified government position on the UK’s future economic relationship with the EU, including customs arrangements.
...
Meanwhile EU leaders are bewildered that the UK is still debating matters that they rejected months ago. The overwhelming feeling in Europe’s capitals, sources in major EU governments said, is that May hasn’t yet grasped the implications of her negotiating “red lines” on leaving the single market and customs union and ending the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice. At the same time, they contend, the EU has been firm and clear on its positions since the referendum two years ago.
Which means a deal isn't really a deal and I don't think anyone in the UK is ready for what "no deal" actually means.
...adding all this is because May triggered article 50, triggered an election, promptly lost a bunch of seats, and thus there was no workable Tory consensus. Basically it was "I'm going to point a gun at my country and shoot it in 2 years (<18 months in practical terms) if you don't give me exactly what I want but I have no idea what that is."
Do No Upset Voters Who Never Vote For Democrats
This has been in crouch in fear position of Democrats my whole life. Any time there's some minor lefty challenge to any status quo, especially ones which are either perceived by the Beltway types as important to Real Americans (whatever polls say), or are perceived by Beltway types as important to Beltway types (they poll their own dinner parties), the concern troll brigade comes out, telling Democrats they had better be careful or this will doooooom them. Paraphrasing Ed Koch, how are we doing?
The one time I remember the pundits treating the Republicans similarly was after 2012 and it was about immigration.
I guess they got that one wrong, too.
The one time I remember the pundits treating the Republicans similarly was after 2012 and it was about immigration.
I guess they got that one wrong, too.
Everything Is Good
Really nothing to worry about.
But one seeming member of RAM was harder to nail down. In video shot in Charlottesville, a bearded, husky man is seen in a red Make America Great Again hat with his hands wrapped in tape that came in handy for the brawling that occurred that day. During one encounter, the unidentified man in the red hat pushed an African-American protester to the ground and began pounding on him, video of the episode shows; moments later, a known RAM member choked and bloodied a pair of female counter-protesters. The possible RAM member also had turned up in video shot during hours of combat at a Trump rally in Berkeley, as well. Wearing protective goggles to ward off pepper spray, the man fought alongside RAM members, wrestling one protester to the ground and punching others.
Ultimately, ProPublica and FRONTLINE determined the man in the violent footage was Miselis, a 29-year-old pursuing a Ph.D. in UCLA’s aerospace engineering program. Miselis was identified using video footage and social media posts, and reporters confirmed his identity in an encounter with him outside his home. In interviews, a number of California law enforcement officials said Miselis was a member of RAM.
Wednesday, July 04, 2018
What A Weird Newspaper
The social problems of Alan Dershowitz on Martha's Vineyard is a front page new story in the paper of record.
When I visited a friend there in 1997, the bus driver (yes, I rode the bus around) pointed to a nude beach and said, "That's where Alan Dershowitz hangs out."
When I visited a friend there in 1997, the bus driver (yes, I rode the bus around) pointed to a nude beach and said, "That's where Alan Dershowitz hangs out."
Tuesday, July 03, 2018
Sure Sure
That people think self-driving taxis are the obvious first best use of self-driving cars is so strange to me. It's the hardest thing! I'm skeptical of the whole project, of course, but the focus on making them do the most complicated thing is... weird.
General Motors Co. has created its own ride-hailing platform and quietly built one of the largest charging stations in the United States to get its Cruise self-driving car unit ready to enter the robo-taxi business next year.
Bad Grifting
You spend a year being in the Cabinet and *then* you start downloading money into your bank account. That's how it's supposed to work. Pruitt isn't just corrupt; he's stupid.
Pruitt’s approach during the transition foreshadowed the kind of behavior that has attracted scrutiny in recent months. According to a current and former EPA official, Pruitt routinely asked his assistants — including then-executive scheduler Sydney Hupp — to put hotel reservations on their personal credit cards rather than his own.
In one instance, according to former deputy chief of staff Kevin Chmielewski, Hupp was stuck with a bill of roughly $600 for a booking she had made for the administrator’s family during the transition. Chmielewski said in an interview last month that he was in Jackson’s office when Hupp approached Pruitt’s chief of staff to explain that the period for transition reimbursements had expired and that Pruitt had not covered the bill.
That's A Story
I admit I am a bit dumb and don't quite understand all the contours, but Marcy has a story..
There Are No Shovel Ready Projects
Philadelphia is currently under water because of a water main break.
Morning Thread
In case you missed it yesterday, one of our very own commenters has had her first book published. I started reading yesterday and am about half way through already, despite having had a pretty busy day. It really moves right along. Talent + Craftsmanship=Good Read.
Head over to Amazon through the link on the left side of this page and get your copy. You won't be sorry.
Head over to Amazon through the link on the left side of this page and get your copy. You won't be sorry.
Monday, July 02, 2018
Huzzah!
Our fellow commenter's book has arrived.
Not quite as exciting as a new baby, but close.
I've only read the first few chapters and can say, without equivocation, I'm hooked. Phew, it's a terrific read.
Go get your's by clicking on Atrios' Amazon link on the left side of the page. Then go sit someplace cool and enjoy the afternoon.
Not quite as exciting as a new baby, but close.
I've only read the first few chapters and can say, without equivocation, I'm hooked. Phew, it's a terrific read.
Go get your's by clicking on Atrios' Amazon link on the left side of the page. Then go sit someplace cool and enjoy the afternoon.
The Resistance
Meta is boring, but I do this stupid blog for various reasons. One is, of course, it is now my job and I need to earn cool hard cash. But really that is not my primary motive or I would have made very different choices over the years (also I am dumb).
Two is that we have a fun community here and I host it and hopefully that is good for the people who are a part of it. That has long been a bigger part of what I do, both in time and and motivation, than most people understand. Running a community is a thing on the internet that nobody who has not done it has any understanding of.
Three is...hopefully I change the world! In tiny ways, maybe, at best. I have no delusions of grandeur. If I can change things just a bit I will have done good.
The last one is the thing I find harder now.
Two is that we have a fun community here and I host it and hopefully that is good for the people who are a part of it. That has long been a bigger part of what I do, both in time and and motivation, than most people understand. Running a community is a thing on the internet that nobody who has not done it has any understanding of.
Three is...hopefully I change the world! In tiny ways, maybe, at best. I have no delusions of grandeur. If I can change things just a bit I will have done good.
The last one is the thing I find harder now.
They're Dumb.
Finally discovered why @nytopinion has so many bad takes. pic.twitter.com/IFIW8M1pkY
— The Break with Michelle Wolf (@thebreaknetflix) June 11, 2018
Traditional Family Values
As soon as the thrice married sexual harrassing/assaulting, barging in on naked teens, adulterous, daughter lusting president is out of the office, "family values conservatives" will go back to lecturing liberals about morality and the New York Times will print that bullshit, too.
But now it's like "oh, silly coastal elites, real Americans fuck chickens and have daily orgies, don't you know that?"
But now it's like "oh, silly coastal elites, real Americans fuck chickens and have daily orgies, don't you know that?"
Sunday, July 01, 2018
I Am So Tired Of Your Stupid Bullshit
After too much time spent on the internet, I can't be bothered to argue anymore. You are a big dumb dumb shutup forever.*
*not necessarily you
*not necessarily you
Remembering When
Everything is crazy and horrible now, but post-9/11 everything was also really crazy and horrible. Different, of course, and I am not ranking them, but I do think people forget. It was the crazy hippie liberal blogger position that Actually, torture is bad. We were the crazy ones.
What a decade!
What a decade!