Monday, December 31, 2018
Mirror, Mirror
Any time the House Dems have an investigation of something, the Republicans in the Senate will run their own version of the investigation into the same issue, guaranteeing their version will get the most coverage because those are the rules.
The Kids Today
I do actually think that The Kids Today are different than The Kids Today of earlier times. Technological and other societal changes in recent years (really it's the phones) have made a somewhat discontinuous break from the past. What hasn't changed is dumb old people like me thinking that yelling at the kids on my lawn is a cool old guy thing to do rather than pathetic saddo old guy thing to do.
Nobody Listens to Atrios
This is a maddening kind of article of a style normally reserved for the political press.
Whose expectations? People who write this stuff for a living and apparently didn't do a very good job.
Which public? I don't think polls about this stuff have much meaning, but on a subject like this "The public" mostly means "people who write articles for niche publications about self-driving cars." The hype was coming from inside the house and self-driving cars are just the bumper cars we met along the way.
And "more realistic expectations" are basically that we are "never" going to get our self-driving taxis, and that aside from some niche applications of limited commercial value there probably will be very few consumer applications in the foreseeable future. There might be more freight applications but I suspect even those are not going to be taking over the industry any time soon.
As 2018 dawned, expectations for self-driving vehicles were sky-high:
Whose expectations? People who write this stuff for a living and apparently didn't do a very good job.
Driverless cars seemed to reach peak hype some time in late 2017. Then in 2018, the industry plunged into the trough of disillusionment, with some people wondering if driverless technology might be decades away. But today's extreme pessimism seems as unwarranted as the extreme optimism we saw a year ago. Maybe in 2019, the public will start to develop more realistic expectations for self-driving technology.
Which public? I don't think polls about this stuff have much meaning, but on a subject like this "The public" mostly means "people who write articles for niche publications about self-driving cars." The hype was coming from inside the house and self-driving cars are just the bumper cars we met along the way.
And "more realistic expectations" are basically that we are "never" going to get our self-driving taxis, and that aside from some niche applications of limited commercial value there probably will be very few consumer applications in the foreseeable future. There might be more freight applications but I suspect even those are not going to be taking over the industry any time soon.
What Liberals Need To Do Is Shut Up
It is not the case that half the country works for the team D and half the country works for team R. We can debate a bit about how much getting team D elected is important relative to other kinds of political activism, but you can't control people. If you're a politician, such as an about to be retired one whose name rhymes with Laire McBaskill, you cannot expect to control "The Left." It's your job to get 50%+1 people in your relevant geographic area to vote for you, and you can't get mad because some dumb liberal said something on TV, or because pro-choice activists had other things to worry about than getting you elected, etc. You don't have to love this stuff, but you have no power to change it. It's your job to figure out how to get elected in the world you live in, not the world you want to live in.
Dumb liberals are dumb, fine, and they don't understand the struggles of a rich politician in Missouri, fine, but, dumb liberals don't work for you and if it's so important that they shut up then "making dumb liberals like you" should be a concern. You can't shut them up by yelling at them.
Generally, "centrist" Dems in red states can lecture about winning elections in red states all they want (though such rules do not apply in, you know, blue states) as long as they actually win elections. When they lose them they get to shut up about how it's everybody else's fault, particular when it's the fault of random voters. It isn't as if Dem leadership was forcing tough votes on these people all of the time, because Paul and Mitch have been in charge of such things.
I'm no highly paid political consultant, but I suspect that what swing and non-voters want in red states is not a 1995-era centrist Democrat, even if they don't want full communism like I do. "What voters in the heartland want is best articulated by Richard Cohen and Fred Hiatt" has always been a rather strange approach to politics.
Dumb liberals are dumb, fine, and they don't understand the struggles of a rich politician in Missouri, fine, but, dumb liberals don't work for you and if it's so important that they shut up then "making dumb liberals like you" should be a concern. You can't shut them up by yelling at them.
Generally, "centrist" Dems in red states can lecture about winning elections in red states all they want (though such rules do not apply in, you know, blue states) as long as they actually win elections. When they lose them they get to shut up about how it's everybody else's fault, particular when it's the fault of random voters. It isn't as if Dem leadership was forcing tough votes on these people all of the time, because Paul and Mitch have been in charge of such things.
I'm no highly paid political consultant, but I suspect that what swing and non-voters want in red states is not a 1995-era centrist Democrat, even if they don't want full communism like I do. "What voters in the heartland want is best articulated by Richard Cohen and Fred Hiatt" has always been a rather strange approach to politics.
Sunday, December 30, 2018
The Mommy Party
It's the dumb pundit frame that's been in operation for years. Republicans are the Very Serious Daddy party and they bring order and stability, a good income, a level of Seriousness, fiscal responsibility, and are entitled by law to head all of the really important positions, like Defense, Intelligence, FBI, etc. Democrats are the Mommy Party and they do things like take care of the birthday parties and fix your knee when you have a booboo and hug you when you cry.
But the reality is, the stereotypical "mommy" work is actually really important. The kids gotta eat and get to school, after all. More than that, Mommy takes care of most of the "serious" work while Dad just takes credit for it.
The deficit will soon be the most important crisis this country faces, again, and while that is stupid and wrong, the pundits will demand that the Mommy Party save all of its dimes and quarters for a "rainy day" instead of buying new shoes for the kid, which she will do, and then Daddy will take credit for the savings and go on a binge party in Las Vegas with his rich buddies.
As he does every single time.
But the reality is, the stereotypical "mommy" work is actually really important. The kids gotta eat and get to school, after all. More than that, Mommy takes care of most of the "serious" work while Dad just takes credit for it.
The deficit will soon be the most important crisis this country faces, again, and while that is stupid and wrong, the pundits will demand that the Mommy Party save all of its dimes and quarters for a "rainy day" instead of buying new shoes for the kid, which she will do, and then Daddy will take credit for the savings and go on a binge party in Las Vegas with his rich buddies.
As he does every single time.
Still Gonna Jam
One self-driving car fantasy is basically, "a taxi, but cheaper," the other one is "self-driving cars will solve traffic jams." If everyone's in a self-driving car that works great then safe distances between moving cars can be shorter and congestion caused by a cascade of drivers braking unnecessarily can be reduced. Like all self-driving car things I'm skeptical that any of this works as well as people imagine, but even if it does work you're going to increase capacity by... what.. 20%? I mean, great, cool, but that doesn't solve traffic jams. Can still only fit so many cars.
I admit I giggle when people in residential neighborhoods try to find ways to block outside traffic when Waze starts redirecting people through them. Not because I don't sympathize, but if I tried that in my urban residential neighborhood, the response would be "what do you expect, you live in a city?"
I admit I giggle when people in residential neighborhoods try to find ways to block outside traffic when Waze starts redirecting people through them. Not because I don't sympathize, but if I tried that in my urban residential neighborhood, the response would be "what do you expect, you live in a city?"
Nobody Could Have Predicted
I guess John Kelly reads this stupid blog for inspiration...
Citing the thorny question of withdrawing troops from Afghanistan and Trump’s urge to pull out of Nato, the Times said Kelly “defended his rocky tenure, arguing that it is best measured by what the president did not do when Kelly was at his side”.
Going Out With Class
Claire McCaskill would have gotten away with it if not for those meddling kids.
I'd say the default position of "elder statespeople" should be to applaud The Kids Today for their achievements. Watching McCaskill over the years, I think she's always been upset that she didn't receive more plaudits from the dem base, even as punching the dem base was part of her schtick. And, ok, I get it, a bit. Good lefties are supposed to understand that it's hard to win in places like Missouri and we're supposed to applaud them for simply doing that. Not enough love for McCaskill over the years. But to the extent this is all a grand game, there isn't much point in hippie punching if you don't make them a bit mad. She plays her part, and we play ours, in the theater of politics. Also, too, there's no point in hippie punching when you're a few days from retirement.
Centrist sniping at Ocasio-Cortez is so weird. She's a freshman member of the House (about to be) from that liberal enclave, New York City. If we can't have lefties there, we can't have them anywhere...
Rep.-elect Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Saturday responded to outgoing Sen. Claire McCaskill on Twitter after the Missouri Democrat referred to the incoming congresswoman as "a bright shiny new object" earlier this week.
I'd say the default position of "elder statespeople" should be to applaud The Kids Today for their achievements. Watching McCaskill over the years, I think she's always been upset that she didn't receive more plaudits from the dem base, even as punching the dem base was part of her schtick. And, ok, I get it, a bit. Good lefties are supposed to understand that it's hard to win in places like Missouri and we're supposed to applaud them for simply doing that. Not enough love for McCaskill over the years. But to the extent this is all a grand game, there isn't much point in hippie punching if you don't make them a bit mad. She plays her part, and we play ours, in the theater of politics. Also, too, there's no point in hippie punching when you're a few days from retirement.
Centrist sniping at Ocasio-Cortez is so weird. She's a freshman member of the House (about to be) from that liberal enclave, New York City. If we can't have lefties there, we can't have them anywhere...
Saturday, December 29, 2018
This Could Be Hell
Trump is not very good at coming up with new material. I picture him desperately coming up with some new sick burn for Crooked Hillary or finding something to rhyme with "wall."
Can only listen to Hotel California so many times.
Can only listen to Hotel California so many times.
Friday, December 28, 2018
The Last Person Between The Country And Oblivion
At some point we're going to get dozens of ex-Trumpkin job memoirs about how almost every decision they had to implement was oh so troubling but they stuck around to do what they could to slow or stop the worst of it and keep the country from descending into hell. This would be almost believable in some cases except in every one there will be a period between the resignation date, and the book contract/advance/publication dates during which they will be mysteriously silent as they await their book payoffs and subsequent MSNBC shows.
Everybody's gotta eat, but most of these people are going to eat well anyway, and while they can justify their silence while on the job, they can't justify it once they left.
Everybody's gotta eat, but most of these people are going to eat well anyway, and while they can justify their silence while on the job, they can't justify it once they left.
America's Top Thinkfluencers
From Pareene.
The Only Answer To Our Political Problems Is For Me To Do Nothing
By Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Neb.)
Is America irreparably divided? The question is unavoidable. I hear some form of it daily, from hog butchers, schoolteachers or Jake Tapper. And it is an understandable concern. Democrats and Republicans alike have turned politics in a totalizing culture war.
What The President MUST DO
What HAS to happen...
What the Democrats MUST do...
Years of reading these types of formulations for op-ed pieces and blog posts has driven me nuts. Especially as they people who write them usually forget about this moral imperative, this existential marker, that they declared after about 24 hours.
Yah, well, internet guy, what're you gonna do about it?
What the Democrats MUST do...
Years of reading these types of formulations for op-ed pieces and blog posts has driven me nuts. Especially as they people who write them usually forget about this moral imperative, this existential marker, that they declared after about 24 hours.
Yah, well, internet guy, what're you gonna do about it?
Do You Remember Where You Were When The Pee Tape Was Released
Gonna be our era's "...when JFK was shot."
A mobile phone traced to President Donald Trump’s former lawyer and “fixer” Michael Cohen briefly sent signals ricocheting off cell towers in the Prague area in late summer 2016, at the height of the presidential campaign, leaving an electronic record to support claims that Cohen met secretly there with Russian officials, four people with knowledge of the matter say.
Doesn't Care
Unless the shutdown affects somebody that knows somebody on Fox&Friends, Trump's the honey badger. He don't care.
Thursday, December 27, 2018
What's A Banana Cost?
One thing I actually don't understand is how our discourse often shifts seamlessly between "wow it's so hard to live on $400,000 per year" and "ungrateful moochers on disability, living the good life on $800 bucks a month" or "$15/hour is an ABSURDLY high hourly wage!" I'd think the semi-richie riches (I don't mean the billionaires, just the upper upper upper middle class types) should have some logic circuit in their brain which spits out a readout saying, "If I can't live on $400,000 per year, it must be hard to live on $30,000!" but they never seem to get to that point.
15 Years Later
In 2058, President Sebastian Gorka, Jr. is gonna be visiting The Troops in Iraq and I will, from my life support system, be able to ask the question for the final time:
Why are we in Iraq?
Why are we in Iraq?
WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
It goes up, too!
Big brain: Such wild market swings demonstrate that the markets are in no way "efficient."
Galaxy brain: Such wild market swings demonstrate that market insiders are privvy to things CNBC headline writers are not (it's rigged, Jake).
Big brain: Such wild market swings demonstrate that the markets are in no way "efficient."
Galaxy brain: Such wild market swings demonstrate that market insiders are privvy to things CNBC headline writers are not (it's rigged, Jake).
Wednesday, December 26, 2018
If Not Him Then There Is No Check
They can choose the particulars, but given what we basically know about Trump's financial crime empire and blatant violations of the emoluments clause, if Trump isn't impeachable then...would any president be? And if not prosecutable and not impeachable then lol nothing matters. The next one will know that, too.
Of course the Senate is not going to convict, but that's on them.
Of course the Senate is not going to convict, but that's on them.
Javanka
Where'd they go? Been rather quiet lately, according to two sources close to them.
I wonder how many emails there are out there that are basically:
From: Jared
To: Guy I Want To Do Crimes With
Subject: Crimes
Hello! I got your message about doing some crimes and I have to say I love doing crimes and you have some excellent crime ideas. We should do these crimes together!
Yours in crime,
Jared
P.S. I eagerly look forward to hearing about more ideas for crimes. I like crimes.
I wonder how many emails there are out there that are basically:
From: Jared
To: Guy I Want To Do Crimes With
Subject: Crimes
Hello! I got your message about doing some crimes and I have to say I love doing crimes and you have some excellent crime ideas. We should do these crimes together!
Yours in crime,
Jared
P.S. I eagerly look forward to hearing about more ideas for crimes. I like crimes.
Toblerone Fatwa
The nutty right is upset because Toblerone certified its chocolate "halal" in Europe. It's mostly like labeling beef "gluten free." Fair enough, but there wasn't really much doubt.
For awhile a certain online nutcase whose name rhymes with Gam Peller was obsessed with the cruelty of halal slaughter, which whatever one thinks about it is identical to kosher slaughter in terms of what the animal experiences. Particular involvement of religious authorities differ, of course.
I bring up the latter because this type of stupidity is not new. More people aware of it now.
For awhile a certain online nutcase whose name rhymes with Gam Peller was obsessed with the cruelty of halal slaughter, which whatever one thinks about it is identical to kosher slaughter in terms of what the animal experiences. Particular involvement of religious authorities differ, of course.
I bring up the latter because this type of stupidity is not new. More people aware of it now.
Don't Know Nothing
One can't always distinguish between the lies, the shifting incentives, and the ignorance. And Trump is right sometimes even when he's wrong!
He's right about the Fed chair. The Fed's basic stance wavers between hawks who want to raise interest rates because inflation is always lurking around the corner to make rich people a bit less richer, and doves, who want to raise interest rates so that they will have room to cut interest rates to cure the next recession that the increased rates cause. Trump is right that rate increases are dumb. Also he, like every other posing conservative/Republican, once demanded that the Fed raise interest rates yesterday, and in an especially manly way, not in a girly Janet Yellen way.
I don't know what to make of his strong dollar gibberish. Like many people Trump thinks a "strong dollar" is good because it's our dollar and strong is better than weak. It isn't that simple. Also like many (of the often same) people Trump has been very mad ta China's "currency manipulation" which involves China manipulating the dollar to make it stronger. I've never quite known what people who talk like this actually think, or how to resolve this basic contradiction.
He's right about the Fed chair. The Fed's basic stance wavers between hawks who want to raise interest rates because inflation is always lurking around the corner to make rich people a bit less richer, and doves, who want to raise interest rates so that they will have room to cut interest rates to cure the next recession that the increased rates cause. Trump is right that rate increases are dumb. Also he, like every other posing conservative/Republican, once demanded that the Fed raise interest rates yesterday, and in an especially manly way, not in a girly Janet Yellen way.
I don't know what to make of his strong dollar gibberish. Like many people Trump thinks a "strong dollar" is good because it's our dollar and strong is better than weak. It isn't that simple. Also like many (of the often same) people Trump has been very mad ta China's "currency manipulation" which involves China manipulating the dollar to make it stronger. I've never quite known what people who talk like this actually think, or how to resolve this basic contradiction.
Tuesday, December 25, 2018
The War On Christmas
We managed to get comrade Trump behind enemy lines.
Victory is ours!
In a Christmas Eve call with a young child Monday night, Trump asked a 7-year-old named Coleman whether he or she still believes in Santa Claus, saying that was a "marginal" age for knowing the truth.
Victory is ours!
Monday, December 24, 2018
A Well-Trained Militia
The cops, who theoretically (if not in practice) have a reasonable amount of training do not handle this stuff well.
Tell people there need to be more "good guys with guns" in schools and you're telling them it's appropriate to whip out their external death penises any time little Johnny gets a bit hyperactive.
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) - A custodian was arrested after Albuquerque Public Schools Police were called to Barcelona Elementary School in the South Valley on Thursday.
According to an APS PD complaint, officers detained Ray Lopez and six juveniles. Lopez told the officers he thought the kids were breaking into one of the portables, but he's the one who ended up in trouble.
The kids told police they were trying to take a picture on campus when the Lopez spotted them and started chasing them.
That's when they claim the custodian pointed a gun at one of them yelling, "I'm gonna shoot you! Do you wanna die tonight?"
Tell people there need to be more "good guys with guns" in schools and you're telling them it's appropriate to whip out their external death penises any time little Johnny gets a bit hyperactive.
But He Builds Rockets
And overpromises there, too.
That was 2017. Only 7 days left, Elon! Actually they killed the project because of a shiny new vehicle and this will now happen in... 2023.
We are excited to announce that SpaceX has been approached to fly two private citizens on a trip around the Moon late next year. They have already paid a significant deposit to do a Moon mission.
That was 2017. Only 7 days left, Elon! Actually they killed the project because of a shiny new vehicle and this will now happen in... 2023.
Why I Care
Because we barely spend any money on mass transit on this country, when we do it's often on pretty stupid projects decided by people who have never actually seen a bus let alone been on one, and quite often shiny new stupid technologies that are the opposite of mass transit are used as an excuse to block any actually useful projects.
Putting cars in tunnels. What will they think of next?
After a bumpy, but exhilarating California test ride, a delegation of city officials returned home Wednesday more convinced than ever that Elon Musk’s plan to build a “Tesla-in-a-tunnel” high-speed transit system between downtown and O’Hare Airport would be “transformational for Chicago,” as one said.
Deputy Mayor Bob Rivkin, who led the Chicago delegation, said he wasn’t scared when the TeslaX he was riding in descended into the tunnel, and he didn’t suffer from motion sickness after the choppy, 45-mile-an-hour ride.
That’s less than half the speed that the visionary billionaire of Tesla and SpaceX fame has promised for the $25, 12-minute ride from downtown’s Block 37 to O’Hare Airport aboard an electric vehicle seating sixteen passengers.
“The tunnel is well-lit. You can see the turns in front of you,” Rivkin said. ” … You just get a sense of the simplicity of the whole thing. It’s a tunnel with a Tesla in it.”
Putting cars in tunnels. What will they think of next?
Up Is Down
I suppose it happens to us all a bit, sometimes, but it's often amusing how often the most powerful people in the world - and the people basically aligned with them in various ways if not personally so powerful - get the power relationships in this country completely backwards. Black people, trans people, The Left generally, etc... are not actually the most powerful people in this country and if occasionally members of those groups stumble upon a microphone on Twitter and say mean things about you, this does not mean they have seized all the means of communication in this country,
tl;dr that people were mean to me on Twitter is worse than Hitler.
tl;dr that people were mean to me on Twitter is worse than Hitler.
Who Is He Reassuring
Obviously the intended target of the tweet was Trump, but also what are they actually worried about?
That they can lend doesn't mean they will, though if the perpetual bailouts are being offered they might as well! Maybe not too late for Eschaton World Industries to borrow a billion or two.
What we have learned is that "we" never really know where all the leverage is in the economy until it is almost too late. I have some guesses but...don't know!
US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin has made calls to the heads of the country's six largest banks, a move to reassure investors after huge falls in US stocks.
Last week, US stocks suffered one of the worst weekly falls in a decade as an interest rate rise and US-China trade tensions rattled markets.
Mr Mnuchin said banks confirmed they had "ample liquidity" for operations.
That they can lend doesn't mean they will, though if the perpetual bailouts are being offered they might as well! Maybe not too late for Eschaton World Industries to borrow a billion or two.
What we have learned is that "we" never really know where all the leverage is in the economy until it is almost too late. I have some guesses but...don't know!
Sunday, December 23, 2018
The Personal Essay
Generally, when any part of education rewards students for being confessional, you are going to attract/reward students who are comfortable with the genre of personal confession. It's a weird thing to ask of students, and a weird thing to prioritize so highly. People convinced that The Kids Today (which means kids in elite universities because that's all anybody every really talks about in our elite media) are narcissistic twerps might start with this particular entry hurdle as a reason why.
QAnon
I've mostly not followed the QAnon stuff and I recommend you don't worry your beautiful mind with such things, but I've dipped in a little bit and... these people are mostly not well. Some are just stupid MAGAs, some are probably just having a bit of "fun," but some are clearly in DSM territory without medication. When you spend your days constructing a wall of weird in your mind and then talking about it with your internet friends, you probably need some medication.
Related:
Also this article has appeared weekly (essentially) for 2 years.
And these types of observations, also regularly presented, always deny agency by the people who actually determine the "national conversation" which for people at the New York Times means "things that are on the front page of the New York Times or discussed during their cable news gigs":
When daily front page news at the New York Times is dumb palace gossip about Trump, the national conversation dominates, he does.
Related:
For two years, Mr. Trump has waged war against his own government, convinced that people around him are fools. Angry that they resist his wishes, uninterested in the details of their briefings, he becomes especially agitated when they tell him he does not have the power to do what he wants, which makes him suspicious that they are secretly undermining him.
Also this article has appeared weekly (essentially) for 2 years.
And these types of observations, also regularly presented, always deny agency by the people who actually determine the "national conversation" which for people at the New York Times means "things that are on the front page of the New York Times or discussed during their cable news gigs":
Yet even with a 38 percent approval rating in Gallup polling, Mr. Trump has dominated the national conversation as no other modern president has, and his base thrills at his fights with the establishment, seeing him as a warrior against self-satisfied elites who look down on many Americans. Determined to maintain that base, he has insisted — despite the seemingly long odds — on his pledge of a border wall, aware that abandoning his signature campaign promise would make him less authentic, the quality that his voters often cite as his appeal.
When daily front page news at the New York Times is dumb palace gossip about Trump, the national conversation dominates, he does.
Always A Bottleneck Somewhere
There were a few old Larry Niven short stories in which he tried to take teleportation technology seriously. I don't remember in detail, but one of the issues was that if teleportation is like getting in a phone booth in one place, and stepping out into a phone booth in another place, what happens when there's some event or sudden reason for a bunch of people to try to converge on one general location all at the same time? You can get a sudden mob, a flash mob as the kids would say, but more than that, assuming there are a limited number of these "phone booths" near to the desired destination, you have a traffic jam. Not everybody can teleport from all over the world into a small number of boxes simultaneously.
If you could replace your teleportation "phone booth" with something more like a "teleportation gymnasium" with lots of entrances so that a few hundred people could board quickly and then every few minutes or so they'd be teleported en masse to their destination and then exit at the other end, you'd reduce this problem.
You'd still have the potential mob problem, though, and this wouldn't work nearly as well if everybody tried to teleport 2 tons of steel with them. All those steel boxes gotta go somewhere.
If you could replace your teleportation "phone booth" with something more like a "teleportation gymnasium" with lots of entrances so that a few hundred people could board quickly and then every few minutes or so they'd be teleported en masse to their destination and then exit at the other end, you'd reduce this problem.
You'd still have the potential mob problem, though, and this wouldn't work nearly as well if everybody tried to teleport 2 tons of steel with them. All those steel boxes gotta go somewhere.
Cheating Is The Game
Awhile ago I asked why people cheat at golf when they're essentially playing against themselves and, more than that, the people you're playing with aren't idiots and know you're cheating most of the time. People explained not everyone cheats, except the little mostly harmless things people tolerate because it's friendly and who cares, but when alpha males get together, getting away with cheating is how the herd hierarchy is determined. In other words, "the boss" gets away with cheating because he can. It's a kind of bullying. Establishing dominance. The pecking order.
Of course it's the only leisure activity, other than paying women for sex, Trump engages in.
Of course it's the only leisure activity, other than paying women for sex, Trump engages in.
Morning Thread
So glad the First Family will be able to spend Christmas together. I'm sure the wife and kiddy are just tickled pink.
Saturday, December 22, 2018
Slattery
Which steel slat fence building company just reserved half a million worth of Trump hotel rooms?
Snapchat, But For ChatSnapping
I am often wrong about such things, but I'd say the lesson of the hunt for app tech unicorns over the last few years is that they are trendy, become super popular overnight, then have a hard time finding an actual revenue model, fail to somehow eat the entire world a la amazon and facebook in their own ways, and finally see the user bases fade as something else trendy comes along.
Money gets burned away, businesses expand to crazy levels, and then what would probably have been be neato profitable niche products get destroyed (or, in some cases, bought by one of the big players and then destroyed, though that's a slightly different story).
Money gets burned away, businesses expand to crazy levels, and then what would probably have been be neato profitable niche products get destroyed (or, in some cases, bought by one of the big players and then destroyed, though that's a slightly different story).
"I've been on welfare and food stamps...did anyone help me?"
Always mockable, but a lot of America thinks like this for somewhat understandable reasons. Means testing and punitive measures and impossible paperwork might make Bob and Eileen happy, but they neither help people nor ultimately make any sort of safety net more broadly popular.
Shutdown
Last place to come to for Bush nostalgia, but I do think he had a glimmer of awareness of the consequences of his actions. Sometimes. Not much. A little.
Not Trump.
Not Trump.
Friday, December 21, 2018
Skate
Been reading the Musk fanboy forums because I have no life and wish to continue boring you, and what's angered them about the dumb tunnel is that the cars don't move on some sort of skate, meaning cars have to run on their on power, meaning they're mad that their battery is going to be draining as they travel instead of getting a "free" ride.
Also it's the stupidest fucking thing on the face of the planet since Doug Feith, nerds.
Also it's the stupidest fucking thing on the face of the planet since Doug Feith, nerds.
D Team
Even the "best" Trump administration officials have been horrible human beings, no matter how much our great reporters stand erect for any military man who was a reliable source over the years. But still I'll allow that Mad Dog Theranos was at least slightly more competent than most of the rest of them, given that most of the rest of them can't even tie their shoes.
We're increasingly finding out whether chaotic stupid evil is preferable to lawful evil.
We're increasingly finding out whether chaotic stupid evil is preferable to lawful evil.
Thursday, December 20, 2018
Random Observation
Whatever the brain worms are telling him, I'm pretty sure that I'd generally prefer Donald Trump be running Not War instead of War, almost no matter what.
Can't Stop Won't Stop
The point of this is that Musk has a tendency to... um.. exaggerate the capabilities of his misleading named safety enhancement feature to the level of dangerous fraud.
Even I would have thought that custom programming (if necessary) the dumb car to travel down a tunnel all by itself would have been easier than rigging it some tacked on extra alignment wheels. I get that driving in the real world is complicated, but how can you not be able to program the system with complete accuracy and maybe just some extra sensors?
So bizarre.
Even I would have thought that custom programming (if necessary) the dumb car to travel down a tunnel all by itself would have been easier than rigging it some tacked on extra alignment wheels. I get that driving in the real world is complicated, but how can you not be able to program the system with complete accuracy and maybe just some extra sensors?
So bizarre.
The Rule Of Stupid
It's my rule of for what gives scandals legs, but it also applies to Musk-related phenomenon. The pseudo-scandals that people talk about for days or weeks have longevity in part because there's an element of stupid about them and much of the conversation is "AGGGHGHHHHGHGHGH I CAN'T BELIEVE WE HAVE TO TALK ABOUT THIS IT IS SO STUPID WHY DO PEOPLE KEEP TALKING ABOUT IT." So it is with a stupid car tunnel which maybe we wouldn't have to talk about but something similar is what Rahm Emanuel thinks is a GREAT PLAN for a O'Hare-Chicago express transport system (it already has a pretty good mass transit option, so this is a dubious idea no matter what the plan). And even if no public money is actually spent on it (haha not how these things ever work), there's the cost of other plans to do other things ignored because of the shiny stupid one.
Distinctions Without Differences
When the Trump era is over, and a Democrat is once again in the White House having impeachment threatened against her and jail for every White House employee because she wore a dress that was deemed to be one inch too short by Lindsey Graham, and similarly trivial "offenses," I know exactly how they'll manage it. I've long observed how the Republican spinners are masters at focusing on irrelevant details to somehow distinguish Democrat Crimes from Republican Heroism. You see, Chuck Todd, in this case it was a green dress, while in that case it was a red dress, as Chuck Todd nods along sagely, the light of understanding flickering in his eyes, as he suddenly understands that Both Sides don't actually do it, because one side wears green and that makes it a crime, while the other side wears red and that makes it patriotic. Short green dress bad, short red dress good!
I never know whether the press pretends to be stupid when they play along with this kind of thing, but they inevitably do.
I never know whether the press pretends to be stupid when they play along with this kind of thing, but they inevitably do.
Our Way
Aviation is just one example. There are 700 things sorta like the aviation problem. But it's one that is easy to understand so it's good to talk about.
We'll stop your island from plunging into the sea, but only just.
Aviation gets a rescue package. International flights have no WTO-style back-up system, so without something in place we'd simply not be able to fly to or from Europe. The EU are offering a point-to-point system allowing us to continue doing so. But there are conditions. It only lasts for one year. We can no longer fly within Europe. We can only fly there and back.
We'll stop your island from plunging into the sea, but only just.
Droney
Gonna have to figure out what to do about these things.
Gatwick airport remains closed after another sighting of drones over the runway, causing disruption to thousands of passengers that is likely to last at least another 24 hours.
Passengers arriving at the airport were informed that flights would remain suspended until 11am at the earliest. Police were still attempting to bring the drones down on Thursday morning, 13 hours after they first appeared.
Project Fear
Not that long ago people pointing out that maybe Brexit, especially of the "no deal" variety, could be complicated and even bad and that maybe governments should start preparing to deal with it were blasted as trying to scare the population. They were, you say, making this political thing political, instead of just embracing the will of the people. Now those some people are trying to frighten the shit out of everyone in order to get them to vote for May's "deal" which somehow is the real will of the people. Or something.
But He's Made Tunneling Cheaper!
This is a stock response to mocking Musk's tunnel. And it's something "everyone" keeps asserting and it might be true (above my pay grade). But a lot of the "wow that was a cheap and fast tunnel" is due to the fact that the tunnel is really small, and some of it is due to the fact that when you're counting the costs of tunneling it depends on which costs you include. Cheaper is easy if you aren't too worried about the access points and minor things like ventilation shafts.
Infrastructure costs in the US are ridiculously high for various reasons but those reasons largely aren't technological and don't magically disappear just because Elon pretends they can.
But, yes, sure, if he's managed to build a better tunnel digger then good for him. I hope he finds a useful application for it.
Infrastructure costs in the US are ridiculously high for various reasons but those reasons largely aren't technological and don't magically disappear just because Elon pretends they can.
But, yes, sure, if he's managed to build a better tunnel digger then good for him. I hope he finds a useful application for it.
Wednesday, December 19, 2018
They Already Claim To Have Standards
Any time there's a sufficiently bad bigot eruption in conservative media, and advertise boycott movements being, assholes like Shack Jafer (find it yourself but really you've read it before) write their 500th column about how such movements will destroy free speech and lead to the erasure all "controversial" political views being expressed by people with 8 figure salaries. Networks already make decisions about which views get on the air (and we have many more White Power Hours than Black Panthers Explain The World hours) and advertisers already make decisions about what to associate their BRAND with. Complaining about advertiser boycotts and similar are just asserting that no one should ever criticize the decisions of big companies. BRANDS have policies (implicit or explicit) of not associating with racists in obvious ways, and pointing out that they are, in fact, associating their BRANDS with racists is just holding them to their own proclaimed standards. Also, too, Capitalism is Great and glibertarians against capitalism is always hilarious. Tucker Carlson is a product Fox is selling, not an important part of our democracy or our sainted press (when reporters suggest teevee bloviators are Important Journalists I wonder what it is they think is so important about journalism other than the paycheck), and boycotting his advertisers is no different than boycotting a department store that started selling golliwogs.
If you're more upset about the criticism of highly paid racists than, you know, the racism, ...
I vaguely remember an exchange I had a billion years ago with Shafer in the comments of some sucky blog or another. He was fixated on this idea that a news outlet had THE RIGHT to do whatever it wanted to (I forget what this was about). Yes, of course, and I have the RIGHT to criticize them and to call for boycotting their advertisers and to personally not buy the products of their advertisers. And advertisers have the right, and in fact make decisions constantly, about where to spend their advertising dollars. Sometimes they choose Fox News over this sucky blog, imperiling my free speech!!! "We" have the same stupid conversation every year.
If you're more upset about the criticism of highly paid racists than, you know, the racism, ...
I vaguely remember an exchange I had a billion years ago with Shafer in the comments of some sucky blog or another. He was fixated on this idea that a news outlet had THE RIGHT to do whatever it wanted to (I forget what this was about). Yes, of course, and I have the RIGHT to criticize them and to call for boycotting their advertisers and to personally not buy the products of their advertisers. And advertisers have the right, and in fact make decisions constantly, about where to spend their advertising dollars. Sometimes they choose Fox News over this sucky blog, imperiling my free speech!!! "We" have the same stupid conversation every year.
Autopilot
Musk couldn't even train a car to navigate his own tunnel without enhancements.
Also, too, this is a dumb idea even if it works perfectly. It's one of those "I don't even know where to start" things but the capacity will be ridiculously low, speeds never what have been suggested, and like every tunnel/bridge/highway off ramp/etc... bottlenecks at both ends.
Tuesday afternoon, the Boring Co. gave reporters demonstration rides through the tunnel in modified Tesla Model X SUVs, going between 40 and 50 miles per hour. Engineers have attached deployable alignment wheels to the two front wheels of the Model X. Those alignment wheels stick out to the side of the main wheels and act as a bumper along the track walls inside the tunnel, keeping the Model X on course and preventing the vehicle from running into the side walls of the tunnel.
Also, too, this is a dumb idea even if it works perfectly. It's one of those "I don't even know where to start" things but the capacity will be ridiculously low, speeds never what have been suggested, and like every tunnel/bridge/highway off ramp/etc... bottlenecks at both ends.
What Are They Good For
On one hand 3500 people in a nation of 65 million are basically useless no matter what their purpose is, on the other hand...just what is their purpose? We have this weird notion here, too, that in an emergency, "the troops," can do, well, stuff, but they mostly aren't trained to do "stuff." Not that stuff, anyway. They aren't even trained to do law enforcement (mostly). It isn't their job!
Ah. "Disruption." Not to, say, the food supply. But, you know, disruption, like people being disruptive because of a lack of food supply.
Lots of people want to watch the world burn, and elites globally often have a sense that what the world needs is a good culling. I generally think authorities aren't afraid of "disruption." They're hoping for it.
Emergency no-deal Brexit contingency plans must now be implemented across government, cabinet ministers have agreed, including reserving ferry space for supplies and putting 3,500 armed forces personnel on standby to deal with any disruption.
Ah. "Disruption." Not to, say, the food supply. But, you know, disruption, like people being disruptive because of a lack of food supply.
Lots of people want to watch the world burn, and elites globally often have a sense that what the world needs is a good culling. I generally think authorities aren't afraid of "disruption." They're hoping for it.
The Wall
I'm sure it's happened but news reporters generally don't explain why, given that Republicans have controlled Congress the entire time of Trump's presidency,- and still do, it is necessary for the Democrats to give Trump his stupid wall.
America's Mayor
Once our grand gatekeepers in journalism give you sainthood it's never quite revoked, but watching Rudy beclown himself so much that even his biggest sycophantic media fans have had to dial it down a bit has been fun.
(CNN)A newly obtained document shows President Donald Trump signed a letter of intent to move forward with negotiations to build a Trump Tower in Russia, despite his attorney Rudy Giuliani claiming on Sunday the document was never signed.
Adiós, Torrevieja
It was fun while it lasted.
The European Commission will at noon today publish its preparation plans for no-deal Brexit. Here are some highlights based on early info: (thread)
— Dave Keating (@DaveKeating) December 19, 2018
1) UK nationals residing in other EU countries will from 29 March no longer have the right to live/work there.
America's Worst Company
Facebook.
They're all bad and they all abuse your data but Facebook lies, lies again when they get caught, and will continue lying about their lying.
Having said that, very excited to go work on the Zuckerberg 2020 campaign for the traditional salary of $50 million per year. He's got all the best campaign data!
They're all bad and they all abuse your data but Facebook lies, lies again when they get caught, and will continue lying about their lying.
Having said that, very excited to go work on the Zuckerberg 2020 campaign for the traditional salary of $50 million per year. He's got all the best campaign data!
Tuesday, December 18, 2018
Google Glass
The problem is that almost everything short of the fantasy version actually working doesn't have anything except *maybe* some niche applications. "This technology is really neato! It must do...something useful. If only we can figure out what.
Segways are really neat. They are! And yet... not very useful.
Minor shortcomings combined with people just underestimating the usefulness of an actual human being for doing things like operating a bus or a delivery service mean all these concepts are just not going to economically useful. The problems with the latter are so obvious that I find the whole concept puzzling. America is a wonderful country with a great economy where you can hire a delivery person for peanuts and tips. How important is it to not pay these people? Come on.
If it all looked a bit ridiculous, that’s because self-driving is still a technology in search of a purpose. With driverless passenger services from the likes of Waymo, Uber and General Motors slow to become realities, the autonomous industry is casting about for practical uses — and hitting upon experiments like food deliveries from cars that make a golf cart seem spacious.
Segways are really neat. They are! And yet... not very useful.
Minor shortcomings combined with people just underestimating the usefulness of an actual human being for doing things like operating a bus or a delivery service mean all these concepts are just not going to economically useful. The problems with the latter are so obvious that I find the whole concept puzzling. America is a wonderful country with a great economy where you can hire a delivery person for peanuts and tips. How important is it to not pay these people? Come on.
Yes That's His Real Name
So the EU are going to charge Brits €7 to travel to Member States after Brexit. Just a thought.......did any of them want to charge my Great-uncle Thomas in 1917 or my wife’s Dad or uncle in 1944?
— Lord Digby Jones (@Digbylj) December 17, 2018
Complaining about every little imagined "injustice" from Europe is going to give these people things to complain about for the rest of their lives.
Ending free mobility means ending free mobility. Who knew?
Not Our Job To Clean The Puke Out Of Your Carpet
Some things will be mutually beneficial and likely happen quickly, but the EU won't be interested helping the UK out just because they're nice.
The joke is that UK politicians don't seem to realize that their counterparts in the EU are able to read The Telegraph, where they heap scorn on those nasty Europeans (that UK politicians always refer to Europe, not just the entity of the EU, as if it's another place doesn't help.)
The European Union will rule out doing mini deals with the U.K. to ease the chaos of Britain crashing out without a divorce agreement, and instead take unilateral steps to protect its interests, a person familiar with the bloc’s plans said.
If the British Parliament fails to ratify the withdrawal treaty before the country’s scheduled leaving date of March 29, the EU won’t seek a “managed no-deal,” the EU official said. It would instead put in place a bare minimum of unilateral emergency measures, and only if the U.K. reciprocates with its own actions, according to plans due to be published later this week.
The joke is that UK politicians don't seem to realize that their counterparts in the EU are able to read The Telegraph, where they heap scorn on those nasty Europeans (that UK politicians always refer to Europe, not just the entity of the EU, as if it's another place doesn't help.)
Not Just Him
I'm surprised by this because I figure Moonves knows a lot about lots of bad men who worked around him.
Les Moonves, the once-powerful head of CBS, will not receive any severance payment in the wake of sexual misconduct allegations, CBS’s board of directors announced Monday.
Monday, December 17, 2018
Getting Stoned Will Make Waiting For The Subway More Enjoyable
Cuomo's says he wants to legalize marijuana. Not sure how much he's going to follow through on that and the rest of his long list of a liberal policy agenda.
I'm at the "legalize everything that currently gives cops excuses to harass and ruin the lives of young black men" stage of thinking about this stuff. Not that it will stop them.
I'm at the "legalize everything that currently gives cops excuses to harass and ruin the lives of young black men" stage of thinking about this stuff. Not that it will stop them.
Preppers
How do you prepare for your planes not being able to land anywhere?
Those of us with memories longer than a week remember how serious discussion of the actual consequences of "no deal" was labeled "Project Fear" and characterized as a subversive and dishonest plot by Remoaners to undermine the will of the people.
Now they're going to start talking it up to scare people in voting for May's deal.
Planning for a no-deal Brexit is expected to be ramped up this week with up to £2bn to be allocated to government departments after the cabinet signs off on the contingency plans at its weekly meeting on Tuesday.
Theresa May wants the increasingly serious no-deal preparations to dominate the Brexit discussion at cabinet, even though ministers worried about the stalled negotiations with Brussels are openly canvassing alternatives.
Those of us with memories longer than a week remember how serious discussion of the actual consequences of "no deal" was labeled "Project Fear" and characterized as a subversive and dishonest plot by Remoaners to undermine the will of the people.
Now they're going to start talking it up to scare people in voting for May's deal.
America's Worst Publication
The Weekly Standard.
From the Weekly Standard’s April 28, 2003 issue — that is, a month after the U.S. invasion of Iraq — this may simultaneously be the worst, funniest, and most terrifying writing ever published in the English language. For instance, its opening paragraph includes the phrase, “Now that the war in Iraq is over.” You must read it for yourself; it cannot be explained, only experienced.
What you may find is that it makes you feel as though a sweaty, middle-aged man is pointing a gun at you and fervently explaining that people like you who wear red shirts are human scum and you, all of you, are about to get what’s coming to you, at last. Then you look down and notice you are not wearing a red shirt, but the man with the gun is.
When you’re finished reading the piece, remember that this was published just five months before the New York Times hired David Brooks as an op-ed writer. In other words, the Times saw this gibbering, so disconnected from reality it is functionally insane, and thought: This is exactly who we want explaining the world to our readers.
They'll Be On CNN Labeled "Patriot Party Members" Or Some Shit
I am lazy but I'm reasonably sure I'd take the job of being a member of Congress, even on my way out, a bit seriously. And I say that being aware that it's kind of a crappy job most of the time.
Great framing, as always, New York Times. These Congressman are just tired of Washington which as we all know is just a complete hellhole compared to Bugnuts, Alabama, where they will return for the winter break before beginning their new jobs as [check notes] Raytheon lobbyists.
They're lazy and scoping out their next gig you assholes.
WASHINGTON — Just days before a deadline to avert a partial government shutdown, President Trump, Democratic leaders and the Republican-controlled Congress are at a stalemate over the president’s treasured border wall. But House Republican leaders are also confronting a more mundane and awkward problem: Their vanquished and retiring members are sick and tired of Washington and don’t want to show up anymore to vote.
Great framing, as always, New York Times. These Congressman are just tired of Washington which as we all know is just a complete hellhole compared to Bugnuts, Alabama, where they will return for the winter break before beginning their new jobs as [check notes] Raytheon lobbyists.
They're lazy and scoping out their next gig you assholes.
Sunday, December 16, 2018
I Am Very Dumb
I am also not an oracle and say many dumb and wrong things, but the weird thing is that very often people criticize me for things I don't have any memory of thinking or expressing. This is annoying! I am quite happy to admit that I was wrong but quite often people say things like "wow Atrios remember when you said Venus was inhabitable" and well no I don't remember saying that but I guess I might have?
Stans
There are people I don't like and the hero worship of them grates me especially, but in general I just don't get the whole phenomenon. Except me. You can worship me. Give me all your money. All hail Atrios. Tithe to go to heaven. Praise AtriosJeebus.
I think uncritical sage support is more of a right wing thing, but it isn't just. I don't want to fight about anybody in particular so I won't mention names, but over the long history of doing this sucky blog I've never stopped being surprised by people saying things like, "Person X has never been wrong about anything." Everybody is wrong about stuff!
I think uncritical sage support is more of a right wing thing, but it isn't just. I don't want to fight about anybody in particular so I won't mention names, but over the long history of doing this sucky blog I've never stopped being surprised by people saying things like, "Person X has never been wrong about anything." Everybody is wrong about stuff!
Road Rage
I don't know why so many people in cars get so mad that "road rage" is something we all understand to be real, but they do. I'm not entirely sure if lacking a human to direct the rage at will make people more or less angry, and more or less actually violent, but we will find out...
And no I don't want people to destroy the robot cars. The robot cars don't make me mad! Just the credulous hype and actual and potential theft of public money to perpetuate the fraud.
People have thrown rocks at Waymos. The tire on one was slashed while it was stopped in traffic. The vehicles have been yelled at, chased and one Jeep was responsible for forcing the vans off roads six times.
And no I don't want people to destroy the robot cars. The robot cars don't make me mad! Just the credulous hype and actual and potential theft of public money to perpetuate the fraud.
Now THAT'S GOING TOO FAR, SIR
The basic belief that the global elite (no not ((globalists))) have a special legal and taxation system all for them (none) which should apply (look forward, people), as long as they don't color *too far* outside the lines faced by your typical EITC recipient, has consequences.
Some of the big name "white collar" criminals from an earlier era (not that there was ever a golden era of this stuff, but maybe a bit better) must just stare that their teevees with dropped jaws sometimes. Their crimes wouldn't make them criminals now. An unwillingness to do them would make them unemployable in the white collar crime sector, I mean finance.
This is how we got Trump.
Some of the big name "white collar" criminals from an earlier era (not that there was ever a golden era of this stuff, but maybe a bit better) must just stare that their teevees with dropped jaws sometimes. Their crimes wouldn't make them criminals now. An unwillingness to do them would make them unemployable in the white collar crime sector, I mean finance.
This is how we got Trump.
Saturday, December 15, 2018
Take Japper
I saw a certain CNN personality refer to the "smart, hard-working conservative journalists" at the folding Weekly Standard and many sad tributes from eventheliberal journalists. Mainstream journalists treat conservative journalists like part of the family, and eventheliberal journalists see them as honorable sparring partners. When The Nation folds they will dance on its grave, and when In These Times folds they'll say, "what's In These Times?"
Could You At Least Tell Us What You Want
Run out the clock and hope for desperation to pass the thing is the plan, I guess.
Theresa May has come home from Brussels empty-handed and without hope of further negotiations over the Irish backstop, with the failure to achieve any kind of breakthrough leaving her brutally exposed.
Plans to work over Christmas on a legal guarantee over the temporary nature of the backstop had run into a brick wall, EU officials said, despite May’s claim that she would be holding further talks “in the coming days”.
Brussels sources claimed May was just keeping up a pretence that the legal guarantee she had promised rebellious Tory MPs during this week’s leadership challenge was still on the cards.
Friday, December 14, 2018
Bye Bye Weekly Standard
It isn't even that old, but I am sure it will be eulogized as some sort of remnant of an era or Good Conservatism, a view aided by its recent Never Trumpism, instead of for all the death and destruction (or, really, because of it) it caused around the world.
Morning Thread
Jarad for Chief of Staff?
Of course, why not?
Actually, I could come up with about a hundred reasons why not. Rules against nepotism, for one. But heck, those only apply to the little people.
Of course, why not?
Actually, I could come up with about a hundred reasons why not. Rules against nepotism, for one. But heck, those only apply to the little people.
Thursday, December 13, 2018
All In The Family
No one else left.
NEW: Trump considering Jared Kushner for chief of staff, @svdate reports https://t.co/4QxSVw4zm1
— Igor Bobic (@igorbobic) December 13, 2018
First, We Do All The Crimes
You gotta admire the way they think. Sort of.
Manhattan-based federal prosecutors are investigating whether some of the $107 million in donations to then-President elect Donald Trump's inaugural committee were misspent, The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday.
The Journal, citing people familiar with the matter, said the investigation arose in part from the slew of materials seized in April raids on Trump's former personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, by federal prosecutors.
Rediscovering The Deficit
Indeed.
The budget crisis begins in three weeks when Democrats take control of the House. The countdown has begun. Expect every major media outlet to join the drumbeat for immediate deficit reduction. https://t.co/ytx91I3ahy
— Bruce Bartlett (@BruceBartlett) December 13, 2018
Team D
Donald Trump might be the greatest president in the history of the universe, and all the Mueller stuff might be JUST SO UNFAIR, but who the hell would be dumb enough walk into that legal buzzsaw and work for this administration now?
It isn't as if I think Donald's gonna be hauled off in chains tomorrow... but everybody around him is going to continue to pay for lawyers, if nothing else.
It isn't as if I think Donald's gonna be hauled off in chains tomorrow... but everybody around him is going to continue to pay for lawyers, if nothing else.
WITCH HUNT
Guilty.
Bet it's a nonstop party at NRA headquarters these days.
Washington (CNN)Alleged Russian spy Maria Butina pleaded guilty in federal court Thursday for conspiracy to act as an illegal foreign agent in the United States.
Butina, 30, was accused of working to infiltrate Republican political circles through groups such as the National Rifle Association to bolster Russian interests.
Bet it's a nonstop party at NRA headquarters these days.
Youtube is a Sewer
I basically don't use Youtube for anything except watching music of various kinds. At some point - I dunno, a couple of years ago - those "recommended videos" (gotta keep fighting to turn the damn autoplay next video off!) started getting really weird. Often nothing to do with whatever crappy music I happened to be listening to. Basically a click or two (or autoplay) away from crazy racist conspiracy stuff.
The humans who run YouTube (and run its algorithms) aren’t exactly proud of the fact that their product showcases misogynist rants or pseudoscientific nonsense or apocalyptic conspiracy theories. But their position is that what happens inside their black box is extremely hard to correct or regulate, and on the scale at which YouTube operates, it’s impossible to apply human judgment to every case. They wish there was a way to serve up video recommendations without poisoning people’s minds till someone believes it’s necessary to invade a pizza parlor with an assault rifle, but that’s a real tough computational challenge.
What this line of defense leaves out is a very basic, obvious fact: YouTube already has access to an algorithm that can sort through videos without promoting unhinged fringe material. It’s called Google. YouTube is part of Google. When and if Google’s search algorithms start giving Google users fringe results, Google treats that as a failure and tries to fix the algorithms.
...
And so YouTube doesn’t have to pick out Pizzagaters or MRAs or neo-phrenologists. It has the power to send viewers in the opposite direction. The people who run YouTube made the choice to teach its algorithms to value trash—even if they thought they were teaching the system to value something more neutral, like viewing time. There was a time, in living memory, when the YouTube recommendation system was less aggressive and it acted like Google: stacking up more and more songs by the same band you were listening to, say, or the same subject you were watching a clip about, until you’d had all you wanted and were done.
Wednesday, December 12, 2018
Disgraced Former Speaker Gingrich To Be Chief Of Staff?
That'll at least be good for laughs for the 20 days or so it lasts.
Witch Hunted
NBC reporting Trump has not yet come to work today.
— Adam Parkhomenko (@AdamParkhomenko) December 12, 2018
To be fair, it is a long commute.
3 Years Sounds Like Forever
3 years in prison is a long time. 3 years in prison is a long time (to me) for any crime short of rape or murder or something with a similar level of violence and harm to others. When educated white guys go to prison for that long there's always a brief collective "whoa, whoa, isn't that a pretty harsh punishment?" even as similar or greater sentences get dished out for drug and property crimes which basically harm no one.
Still I'd like to settle on the new normal that 3 years in an American prison is actually a pretty harsh punishment, for almost every crime.
Still I'd like to settle on the new normal that 3 years in an American prison is actually a pretty harsh punishment, for almost every crime.
Like A Taxi, But It Always Shows Up in 30 Seconds, And Cheaper
This is the self-driving robotaxi fantasy. More profitable for businesses and cheaper for consumers. I don't know if Lyft and Uber are viable continuing business models at their current prices but I really doubt that robotaxis, even if they worked, would really be able to go much below those prices. I mean, their current business model is making labor provide its own capital and barely paying them enough. I'm not sure how removing labor but adding more expensive capital (with a lot of backend labor, also, too) really changes this much.
My general point is that Lyft and Uber have pretty good coverage and pretty good prices even in many suburban areas. You can already replace a lot of non-commuting trips with them at reasonable prices. One barrier to this is the marginal costs of driving are hidden so when you own a car a trip seems almost "free," but many households with one or more adults who don't need cars for commuting could probably subtract one and fill the gap with Lyft trips and save money.
If these services aren't replacing private cars, I'm not sure why robotaxis would. Just how cheap can a 4 mile trip to the grocery store be, and if it's $8 instead of $12 (numbers entirely made up) is that really going to make the difference to people? And I do think in urban hellholes like mine Lyft/Uber have made getting around without using a private vehicle more appealing, but I don't see how robotaxis improve that...
My general point is that Lyft and Uber have pretty good coverage and pretty good prices even in many suburban areas. You can already replace a lot of non-commuting trips with them at reasonable prices. One barrier to this is the marginal costs of driving are hidden so when you own a car a trip seems almost "free," but many households with one or more adults who don't need cars for commuting could probably subtract one and fill the gap with Lyft trips and save money.
If these services aren't replacing private cars, I'm not sure why robotaxis would. Just how cheap can a 4 mile trip to the grocery store be, and if it's $8 instead of $12 (numbers entirely made up) is that really going to make the difference to people? And I do think in urban hellholes like mine Lyft/Uber have made getting around without using a private vehicle more appealing, but I don't see how robotaxis improve that...
The Money Primary
We think of the "money primary" as the race to prove that candidates can actually raise money.
I think it's more the race to see who can get a paycheck.
I think it's more the race to see who can get a paycheck.
Maybe
Effort by Tories to bring down Theresa May. Vote this afternoon (Americuh time). If she doesn't win, Tories pick a new PM. Well, a new leader. The full parliament doesn't have to vote to approve, but in theory the queen can refuse based on the notion that the full parliament wouldn't vote to approve. All very confusing.
Tuesday, December 11, 2018
WWE
I despair somewhat because the "politics-show-as-wrestling" presentation of everything really does keep getting slowly worse. Like everything else we see as a part of politics, of course that's a part of politics, but the more it's emphasized the more people think it's the important part of politics instead of the dumb part.
A Hero For Every Generation
Ok fine, I’ll do it.@TheAcademy pic.twitter.com/kzDQCpuFMv
— Gritty (@GrittyNHL) December 11, 2018
I Think They Do
Senior Tories are frustrated by how much power Ireland has had in the Brexit negotiations, especially over the backstop, says our political editor Nick Watt.
— BBC Newsnight (@BBCNewsnight) December 11, 2018
"The Irish really should know their place," one said https://t.co/zLB8mXi1BT#newsnight | @nicholaswatt
I Should Be Donald Trump's Chief Of Staff
Not really, but the man should listen to me! I could tell him how to be reasonably popular. More popular than Obummer! As popular as any president is likely to be these days absent a rally around the flag event.
The economy is "good" by the standards of these things (No overall trends in our horrible system are in many ways not good, but that's more complicated. The headlines are good). Many Democrats are forgiving totebagger types, and desperately "want" to like the president. Dial back the worst of the shit - you know, stop putting babies in cages and generally stop going after the most marginalized groups in terms of actual policy. Keep the crazy tweets and the MAGA rallies going! MAGAs love that shit and don't know or care about policy, really. Keep screaming that the immigrants are going to steal babies out of incubators, or whatever, but just stop putting the babies in cages. Theater for the MAGAs, reality for the non-MAGAs. Trump would be quite popular! As I said, more popular than Obummer at least!
The economy is "good" by the standards of these things (No overall trends in our horrible system are in many ways not good, but that's more complicated. The headlines are good). Many Democrats are forgiving totebagger types, and desperately "want" to like the president. Dial back the worst of the shit - you know, stop putting babies in cages and generally stop going after the most marginalized groups in terms of actual policy. Keep the crazy tweets and the MAGA rallies going! MAGAs love that shit and don't know or care about policy, really. Keep screaming that the immigrants are going to steal babies out of incubators, or whatever, but just stop putting the babies in cages. Theater for the MAGAs, reality for the non-MAGAs. Trump would be quite popular! As I said, more popular than Obummer at least!
Autopilot
It shouldn't be called that, this is dangerously irresponsible.
Musk has explicitly said the cars have the necessary hardware to be genuinely self-driving (they don't even in some fantasy), that they just need a software update (always around the corner), and that unspecified regulators and regulations are really the barrier. When an accident happens they'll say the driver is at fault for not obeying the fine print.
I get hyping your product, but this goes beyond that. Something is not right with this guy.
Autopilot feature, which lets it change lanes by itself. Stahl’s wowed reaction—“Oh my goodness”—matches that of many people when they first see the Tesla take control of its steering and speed. But her questioning, trying to gauge Musk’s involvement in the driving process, highlights a significant issue Tesla faces as it rolls out ever more advanced Autopilot features.
A growing body of evidence makes clear that many drivers are confused about what the car can and can’t do. Tesla has repeatedly insisted—with spokesperson statements, driver manuals, and on-screen warnings in the car—that Autopilot is not an autonomous system. It doesn’t even see stopped firetrucks. The human is always responsible, and should keep their hands on the wheel. Yet, on one of the country’s most popular news programs, Musk risked compounding the confusion by clearly not even touching the steering wheel, and agreeing that he wasn’t driving. As he put it: “I’m not doing anything.”
Musk has explicitly said the cars have the necessary hardware to be genuinely self-driving (they don't even in some fantasy), that they just need a software update (always around the corner), and that unspecified regulators and regulations are really the barrier. When an accident happens they'll say the driver is at fault for not obeying the fine print.
I get hyping your product, but this goes beyond that. Something is not right with this guy.
My Car
Aside from the general "not gonna work" thing, I get so puzzled about the faith people have in the idea that when self-driving cars exist all we will need are robo-taxis and then things like parking requirements can just disappear.
First, peak commute time doesn't go away. Sure most cars sit there doing nothing most of the time, but a lot of people need them between 6-9 and 4-7 (or so) every weekday. Got match that demand somehow.
Second, the idea that people can just summon a car so we don't need massive amounts of parking in front of every location ignores a lot of things. All those empty cars being summoned to pick up drivers are going to add a lot of congestion to roads, which to some degree will become mobile parking lots (perhaps literally, with enough congestion). People used to walking out the door and into their own car really really hate waiting. 5 minute wait to pick you up at Target while your kid is screaming? Sure. Also, too, in general "pick up lines" are going to be a big source of congestion, as anyone who has ever made a school run knows.
Third, kids again. People use their cars to store all kinds of things, including of course car seats for the kids. Also bottles of water. And blankets and binkies and random things to entertain them and... Also, not just kids, people in general use their cars to store lots of things that might be useful to them.
None of this says, "oh sorry self-driving cars won't work" (they won't, but that's a different issue). They just won't provide the fantasy urban transformation and comfort/convenience enhancement that people imagine. The things still gotta park somewhere, peak demand at commute time isn't going to go away, and for good reasons people who regularly use cars will want their own car. Maybe it'll be self-driving, but it won't be a robotaxi.
First, peak commute time doesn't go away. Sure most cars sit there doing nothing most of the time, but a lot of people need them between 6-9 and 4-7 (or so) every weekday. Got match that demand somehow.
Second, the idea that people can just summon a car so we don't need massive amounts of parking in front of every location ignores a lot of things. All those empty cars being summoned to pick up drivers are going to add a lot of congestion to roads, which to some degree will become mobile parking lots (perhaps literally, with enough congestion). People used to walking out the door and into their own car really really hate waiting. 5 minute wait to pick you up at Target while your kid is screaming? Sure. Also, too, in general "pick up lines" are going to be a big source of congestion, as anyone who has ever made a school run knows.
Third, kids again. People use their cars to store all kinds of things, including of course car seats for the kids. Also bottles of water. And blankets and binkies and random things to entertain them and... Also, not just kids, people in general use their cars to store lots of things that might be useful to them.
None of this says, "oh sorry self-driving cars won't work" (they won't, but that's a different issue). They just won't provide the fantasy urban transformation and comfort/convenience enhancement that people imagine. The things still gotta park somewhere, peak demand at commute time isn't going to go away, and for good reasons people who regularly use cars will want their own car. Maybe it'll be self-driving, but it won't be a robotaxi.
Stable Geniuses
So much of the reporting has conditioned us (well, me, maybe not you) to see the Trump administration as a big soap opera. Who's being hired? Who is being fired? Who is Trump mad at today!
Almost none of that matters, especially when the emphasis rarely gets to what does matter. Sure there are probably babies in cages because of Stephen Miller. That matters! Most of it...the only thing that changed when Hope Hicks left is Maggie had to find new sources for these stories.
Almost none of that matters, especially when the emphasis rarely gets to what does matter. Sure there are probably babies in cages because of Stephen Miller. That matters! Most of it...the only thing that changed when Hope Hicks left is Maggie had to find new sources for these stories.
Monday, December 10, 2018
Wow Tell Us More About This Process By Which The President Plants Disinformation
Sounds like a big story!!!
"Mr. Trump, who enjoys embarrassing reporters and planting his own information about staff machinations,has mentioned several other names. They included Matthew G. Whitaker...who nearly every West Wing staff member has said could not be a realistic option" https://t.co/sA9zlE62xx
— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) December 11, 2018
Quaint
We basically don't enforce anti-trust laws anymore so it seems anachronistic when maybe we do. Back when I was young and innocent I learned about all the anti-competitive behaviors which were "illegal per se" versus activities for which the legality depended on other factors. Price fixing between supposed competitors was illegal per se, no matter what, but lol nothing matters.
Tweets Mere Minutes Apart
Most of the UK press for whatever reason fails to communicate just what an omnishambles all of it is.
OK the reason is that most of the press is obviously right wing with even the sainted BBC becoming a Tory Shop (UKIP, despite maxing out at 2 MPs, regularly got a "3rd seat" in political shows). What's left of the left wing press is mostly divided between New Labour/Blairites who hate Corbyn because he isn't that, and those who hate Corbyn because he hasn't turned Labour vs. Tory into a singular Team Remain vs. Team Brexit contest.
No one really has a particular clue what is happening, even though it’s my literal job. But then no one in Number 10 Downing Street does either. Michael Gove spent Monday morning stating clearly, again and again, that the Tuesday ‘Meaningful Vote’ was absolutely, definitely going ahead. Just before lunchtime, a No 10 press officer told the assembled political journalists in the lobby that the vote was going ahead, no matter what. At the same time, another No 10 staff member told other political journalists that Theresa May was pulling the vote. Schrodinger’s vote existed for around half an hour, both alive and dead, until May killed it, confirming there would be no vote, as she was bound to lose it. The prime minister would make a statement at 3.30pm.
OK the reason is that most of the press is obviously right wing with even the sainted BBC becoming a Tory Shop (UKIP, despite maxing out at 2 MPs, regularly got a "3rd seat" in political shows). What's left of the left wing press is mostly divided between New Labour/Blairites who hate Corbyn because he isn't that, and those who hate Corbyn because he hasn't turned Labour vs. Tory into a singular Team Remain vs. Team Brexit contest.
The Market
I have a bit of fun with the dog track fluctuations here, but I do dislike when liberals implicitly embrace the stock market=the economy frame which dominates coverage of such things. It matters, of course, but not nearly as much as the emphasis it gets and day to day fluctuations matter little except to the people who try to make money off of day to day fluctuations.
Norway or Bust
Norway(ish) is the only Brexit thing which ever made any sense at all. Also mostly pointless and stupid! But not a big deal.
I'm sure the EU would be fine with "Norway" just not "Norway with a bunch of Rube Goldberg bullshit so the Tories can tell their idiots that Brexit means Brexit."
With the U.K. Parliament balking at Prime Minister Theresa May’s Brexit deal, Norway’s arrangement with the European Union is getting another look. It’s a model that might just find broader support -- at least as a temporary move -- until a better answer can be found. Supporters say it’s a lifeboat option that honors the result of the 2016 referendum in which Britons voted to exit the bloc, while minimizing damage to the U.K. economy by ensuring closer ties than May’s plan would. But the route is fraught with obstacles of its own, not least of which is that the EU might not agree.
I'm sure the EU would be fine with "Norway" just not "Norway with a bunch of Rube Goldberg bullshit so the Tories can tell their idiots that Brexit means Brexit."
And Then What
A part of me wants to believe that the Tories (May) have gamed out where they realistically want this Brexit thing to go but I have never seen any evidence that they've gamed it out past tomorrow. Or 2 days ago, really.
Theresa May has postponed the final vote on her Brexit deal after a last-minute conference call with cabinet ministers, a clear admission by the prime minister that she does not believe she can get the unpopular EU withdrawal agreement through the Commons.
Brexit Interrupted
October 2018 was supposed to be the drop dead date for this.
Two cabinet sources have told the BBC's Laura Kuenssberg Tuesday's planned Brexit vote will be delayed.
A Beat So Sweet
lol at all the nick Ayers beat sweeteners lolololol
— Asawin Suebsaeng (@swin24) December 10, 2018
Beat sweeteners have become ridiculous. Once upon a time they were more about elevating the stock of some slightly minor Washington figure, with the idea that they might actually become a useful source. Good journalism? I don't know, but there was at least a justification. Now they all rush to do celebrity profiles of the most powerful people so that they can get on the list of people who do fawning profiles of powerful celebrity people. Just print the damn press releases and run the enclosed photos and go home early.
Sunday, December 09, 2018
Sure, Elon
I don't know how many times he gets to make these promises before getting sued out of existence.
Because I have weird hobbies, I nose around the internet Tesla forums sometimes and there are people who really believe Elon's gonna flip the switch and turn their Tesla into a moneymaking robotaxi for them soon.
Already testing traffic lights, stop signs & roundabouts in development software. Your Tesla will soon be able to go from your garage at home to parking at work with no driver input at all.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 9, 2018
Because I have weird hobbies, I nose around the internet Tesla forums sometimes and there are people who really believe Elon's gonna flip the switch and turn their Tesla into a moneymaking robotaxi for them soon.
OPP
Americans who become overnight experts on the politics of other countries always make me roll my eyes. Imagine an outsider trying to understand American politics. People from other countries actually hear about American politics on a regular basis, but they still (mostly) have no idea. Most Americans hear nothing about the politics of other countries and then hear about one issue or policy in isolation and think they can pass judgment on the popular response to it or the people or political party responsible for it. There's an almost impenetrable historical and cultural context to all of this stuff, and thinking you can pull out one thread and understand it in relation to US politics is ridiculous.
I don't know a damn thing about the politics of most other countries. I know a bit about Spanish politics. I know enough about UK politics to comment intelligently about it. The rest... not so much. I have knowledge about other countries, but politics is a messy complicated thing that requires more than just a bit of knowledge.
And most of the time, frankly, it's none of "our" business. Sure it's a big interconnected world and some obvious human rights related stuff transcends borders, but a lot of politics is just internal stuff that really is opaque to outsiders and can't be understood from a couple of NYT headlines.
Our own politics can't even be understood from a couple of usually misleading NYT headlines.
I don't know a damn thing about the politics of most other countries. I know a bit about Spanish politics. I know enough about UK politics to comment intelligently about it. The rest... not so much. I have knowledge about other countries, but politics is a messy complicated thing that requires more than just a bit of knowledge.
And most of the time, frankly, it's none of "our" business. Sure it's a big interconnected world and some obvious human rights related stuff transcends borders, but a lot of politics is just internal stuff that really is opaque to outsiders and can't be understood from a couple of NYT headlines.
Our own politics can't even be understood from a couple of usually misleading NYT headlines.
Not How It Works
It occurs to me that much in American politics is about white people who think of themselves as "middle class" (don't want to debate what that actually means) imagining they are mediating a dispute between the very rich and the very poor.
When really they're defending their own class interests as the rich spend a lot of money trying to convince them that it's the poor who are trying to take all their money away.
When really they're defending their own class interests as the rich spend a lot of money trying to convince them that it's the poor who are trying to take all their money away.
Circular Firing Squad
Primary season is arriving, and some candidates are going to have dumb ideas and some are going to have smart ideas and some are going to have some annoying things in their past records on these things and some are going to prioritize different things than I do which makes them bad.
So this blog is pivoting to dog videos.
...multitasking is hard.
So this blog is pivoting to dog videos.
...multitasking is hard.
Saturday, December 08, 2018
Sure
I know it's my boring obsession, but these people have no idea how anything works.
An Amtrak stop at Seacaucus might make sense, but not because a single human being is going to book a trip from DC to the American Dream, and even if they wanted to "a few stops a day" isn't going to make that an attractive option.
Will Amtrak ever start making regular stops at the NJ Transit Secaucus rail station, near MetLife stadium and the American Dream mega-mall and entertainment complex?
...
“We raised the issue with Amtrak and we continue raise it with a loud voice,” said Jim Kirkos, Meadowlands Chamber of Commerce chief executive officer. “Even if it’s just a few stops a day, it makes it more convenient for people coming from the North or South, whether it’s for a sporting event or American Dream.”
When Kirkos says from the North or South, he doesn’t mean Jersey. He’s talking about people traveling from from Washington D.C. or Boston. Now, they have to take Amtrak to Manhattan or Newark and double back to Secaucus, he said. NJ Transit trains run between Secaucus andMetLife stadium.
An Amtrak stop at Seacaucus might make sense, but not because a single human being is going to book a trip from DC to the American Dream, and even if they wanted to "a few stops a day" isn't going to make that an attractive option.
Morning Thread
At least one person is having trouble figuring out just to whom "Individual-1" refers.
Totally clears the President. Thank you!— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 7, 2018
Friday, December 07, 2018
Recession
I try not to make predictions, especially about the future, and am not at all doing it here, but if I were a smart politician I'd be thinking about what to say (and, if possible, do) when it happens.
Politicians - They're Just Like Us!!!
I don't get this whole genre of journalism. I'm not surprised that even the most loathsome people in the world pet their dogs, say please and thank you, watch shitty tv occasionally, or even act benevolently towards "The Help" sometimes. I think politicians are often bad and sometimes evil, but they're still people even when they're bad people. People do people stuff. Why do political journalists think it's newsworthy that they don't float around on clouds or poop rainbows or whatever?
I won't say I was immune to being "starstruck" the first few times I met Very Important People, or that I would necessarily be now, but I was never surprised that they're basically just folks.
I won't say I was immune to being "starstruck" the first few times I met Very Important People, or that I would necessarily be now, but I was never surprised that they're basically just folks.
But Whatabout Hitlery And The Cocaine At Mena
Trump's general "why are people just looking into all the crimes I committed and not all the imaginary crimes other people committed" is pretty funny.
If anything could be funny, now, anyway.
If anything could be funny, now, anyway.
What Could Go Wrong
This seems like a bad idea pic.twitter.com/ujwAjBByZo
— Eric Gomez (@EricGomezAsia) December 6, 2018
Not quite the same as this issue, but it's like the bully who is too stupid to realize that if he tries to take Jean-Claude Van Damme's lunch money, then his whole family is gonna get their asses kicked.
Also, wrong.
Morning Thread
Shaping up to be a helluva day. Seatbelts fastened? Popcorn at the ready? Still too soon for champagne, but we're getting there.
Thursday, December 06, 2018
The New NAFTA
Or whatever we're going to call it. No thoughts on the substance, but it sets up a funny political situation. Republicans are actually pretty good at telling their voters they're trade-skeptics even as they tell the WSJ editorial page and Tom Friedman the opposite. Or to put it another way, lots of Republican voters probably believe their team is the anti-trade agreement team (it's mostly one of the genuinely bipartisan things in DC in actuality).
And most Dems want their team to be more free trade-skeptical than they are. Anyway, the intersection of these things plus Republican fealty to Trump (and pressure for Dems to oppose anything he supports) will make things interesting!
And most Dems want their team to be more free trade-skeptical than they are. Anyway, the intersection of these things plus Republican fealty to Trump (and pressure for Dems to oppose anything he supports) will make things interesting!
Life Comes At You Fast
What's the word I'm looking for? There's probably an obvious one but it is escaping me. It isn't sympathy or empathy or anything which requires actually giving a shit about anybody else, just the ability to see what befalls others and think, "oh, shit, that could be me."
I Was A Very Good Boy
I tire of the stories about how Trump is a sociopathic toddler, and yet he showed a moment of NOT being quite that bad, largely because the reporters who write them never follow through on the implications. It isn't just about The President Show, whether he has good etiquette, whether he is PRESIDENTIAL. It's that this is who he is, and it applies every single thing he does.
Mr. Trump has been snappish with aides most of the week, according to administration officials, miffed in part by so many ceremonial events not related to him. He was impatient for the memorials to end but expressed pride in himself for remaining publicly civil. People close to the president called it a course correction after his peevish reaction to Mr. McCain’s death.
Wow I Really Miss The Good Old Days Of The Peak Of The HIV Epidemic And An Indifferent/Hostile Government Response
It was truly a simpler, more civil, political era.
Centered
Someone on the twitter box put the political press's view of Republicans well: they're always the protagonists of the story. They can be up, down, good, bad, evil, but they're still always the main characters of the story. It is their fortunes that the reader/reviewer is made to care about, love them or hate them. It is their fortunes which are tied up, by implication, with the fortune of the country itself.
When Democrats win, the focus remains on Republicans. Obama did manage to break through this, some, but not nearly as much as he should have, especially when Democrats ran everything for two years and the heroes of the story were...the Tea Party.
When Democrats win, the focus remains on Republicans. Obama did manage to break through this, some, but not nearly as much as he should have, especially when Democrats ran everything for two years and the heroes of the story were...the Tea Party.
Wednesday, December 05, 2018
Bye Butthead
Judge Nap is never wrong, after all.
If I were writing this show, Beavis would be the one who rats everyone out.
Fox News’ senior judicial analyst Judge Napolitano joined ABC News chief legal analyst Dan Abrams on his SiriusXM radio show Wednesday to discuss the Michael Flynn sentencing memo that outlined the short-lived national security adviser’s cooperation with the Robert Mueller investigation. During the interview, Napolitano said he believes someone in the president’s inner circle will soon be indicted. “I don’t know who,” Napolitano added. “But I do know that Donald Jr. has told friends he expects to be indicted.” When asked whether he expects Donald Jr. to be indicted, Napolitano replied: “Yes.” He also suggested there could be a connection between the Mueller investigation and the recent Deutsche Bank raid, before saying “the president himself should be extremely uncomfortable about this.”
If I were writing this show, Beavis would be the one who rats everyone out.
Both Sides
That there are some racists (yes, everywhere, in all parties) is not surprising. I'm sure even on Team D women and minorities find certain "inexplicable" barriers to obtaining positions in leadership. What you won't find are multiple people in concert who think it's a perfectly acceptable reason to state publicly (and, I think, in most cases, even to themselves, though that kind of denial isn't exactly admirable either).
“The only reason she had was because he was a Muslim,” Easton told The Washington Post. “That was the only reason she gave.”
Since then, that precinct chairwoman, Dorrie O’Brien, and a small group of her supporters have put forth a formal motion to remove Shafi as vice chairman because of his religion, a motion that is slated for a vote Jan. 10. To Easton, who opposes the measure, the move is an embarrassment to the Republican Party. And to Shafi, it amounts to exactly what he believed did not exist in the United States when he arrived here 28 years ago: a religious test.
Organized Crime
I'm not surprised that people, uh, look the other way about this stuff a bit, but this goes far beyond that.
Doesn't take a very stable genius to understand that it wasn't/isn't just Moonves...
The outside lawyers were told by multiple people that CBS had an employee “who was ‘on call’ to perform oral sex” on Mr. Moonves.
According to the draft report: “A number of employees were aware of this and believed that the woman was protected from discipline or termination as a result of it.”
The report didn’t identify the employee — and the lawyers didn’t interview her — but Mr. Moonves, in one of his multiple interviews with the lawyers, “admitted to receiving oral sex from the woman, his subordinate,” although he described it as consensual.
Doesn't take a very stable genius to understand that it wasn't/isn't just Moonves...
Tuesday, December 04, 2018
Uber'd
My take on Uber has always been that its business model was finding a path to obtaining local monopolies, but that such a path did not exist. Not because I think it's impossible to make a profitable taxi-with-a-good-app business, but because Uber blew all kinds of money in an attempt to get those monopolies.
You need a patent that no one can rip off, or government fiat, or some sort of strong network effect to create a monopoly, along with an unwillingness of local governments to regulate the hell out of you if you happen to achieve it. Uber never had any of those things. It did manage to get absurd amounts of investor money, which it has been happily burning through.
When the dust settles hopefully people remember that however imperfect regulation was in practice in some cities, there were good reasons for limiting the supply of taxis/regulating their prices and activities, and the logic of doing that did not go away.
Uber is a taxi company with an app attached. It bears almost no resemblance to internet superstars it claims to emulate. The app is not technically daunting and and does not create a competitive barrier, as witnessed by the fact that many other players have copied it.
You need a patent that no one can rip off, or government fiat, or some sort of strong network effect to create a monopoly, along with an unwillingness of local governments to regulate the hell out of you if you happen to achieve it. Uber never had any of those things. It did manage to get absurd amounts of investor money, which it has been happily burning through.
When the dust settles hopefully people remember that however imperfect regulation was in practice in some cities, there were good reasons for limiting the supply of taxis/regulating their prices and activities, and the logic of doing that did not go away.
Can't Fault The Logic Of President Deals
Not at all.
WASHINGTON — President Trump plans to hold a second summit meeting early next year with Kim Jong-un, even though North Korea has failed to follow through with promises to start dismantling its nuclear weapons program, John R. Bolton, the national security adviser, said on Tuesday.
“They have not lived up to the commitments so far,” Mr. Bolton said. “That’s why I think the president thinks another summit is likely to be productive.”
The Free Market
Tough when your competitors are being subsidized.
“The richest man in America, who’s a direct competitor, has just been handed $3 billion in subsidies. I’m not asking for money or a tax rebate,” Ms. Wyden said. “Just leave me alone.”
Sure
Ongoing research and development, blahblahblah, but at some point you gotta step back and say, "you know, this doesn't really make any sense..."
But computers can’t always come up with every strange real-world scenario or react to real-time construction detours. This is where Waymo’s fleet response team come into play. If the vehicle encounters a complex driving scenario that it struggles to interpret, it automatically calls in the problem to the response team to weigh in with a solution, which is then shared with the rest of the fleet so Waymo’s vehicles can avoid the area if necessary. Those remote operators are based both in Phoenix and Austin, Texas, but they have no direct control over the vehicle’s operations, Perez said; they just serve as an extra set of eyes for difficult-to-navigate scenarios. “The car might see cones up ahead and could ask for context,” she said. “Should I move to another lane? Should I turn ahead? Should I reroute myself?”
Tuesday Crass Commercialism
Buy some wonderful items and let Jeff Bezos pay my Xmas bonus. Some child in your life is going to be very sad if you don't buy him or her an Xbox.
The Little People Don't Matter
I suppose I am just becoming cynical in my old age, but I do think we underestimate the degree to which people of a lower class are just not seen as people at all by many elites. One doesn't have to think the rich are particularly bad to think that if the rich are just as likely to be bad (if not as likely to be prosecuted) as the rest of the population then there are a reasonable number of very bad rich people who have lots of money and power behind them. Also, too, powerful friends who side with them in their interests. Every time the Roman Polanski Defense Force makes an appearance, or we get several days of "wah people are mean to Alan Dershowitz" articles, we get a taste of this.
Siginificant numbers of elites think it's okay for a rich guy to rape girls, in part because they're probably doing it too.
There have been more calls for people you have never heard of to denounce Louis Farrakhan approximately monthly because they stood in the same room as him a couple of times than there have been for elites to explain their associations with Epstein.
Siginificant numbers of elites think it's okay for a rich guy to rape girls, in part because they're probably doing it too.
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — A last-minute settlement has been reached in Florida in a long-running lawsuit involving a politically-connected financier accused of sexually abusing dozens of teenage girls.
The deal came Tuesday just before jury selection was to begin. It means none of the women will be able to testify against Jeffrey Epstein for now.
There have been more calls for people you have never heard of to denounce Louis Farrakhan approximately monthly because they stood in the same room as him a couple of times than there have been for elites to explain their associations with Epstein.
This Is Dumb No Matter Who Says It
It's the kind of thing Trump says, but more than that there is no "most qualified" and saying it makes voters roll their eyes (as they should).
"I think I’m the most qualified person in the country to be president. The issues that we face as a country today are the issues that I’ve worked on my whole life — the plight of the middle class and foreign policy," Biden told an audience in Montana, according to the Missoula Current. "But my family and I need to decide as a unit whether we’re ready — we do everything as a family."
Stupid Boarding Systems
Philadelphia, at least, recently stopped checking tickets in the boarding lines. People still line up mostly pointlessly, but the removal of the ticket check at least speeds things up.
Yet curiously, even though the big advantage of this boarding method is how quickly it allows large numbers of people to get on and off, it is not how Amtrak boards trains at its busiest stations — New York Penn Station and Washington Union Station.
In DC, passengers are subjected to an airline-style queuing system where everyone needs to get their tickets checked as they pass through a single gate. This routinely produces overcrowding and confusion inside the station and slows the entire process down.
And most strikingly of all, nobody at Amtrak can explain why they do it this way.
Monday, December 03, 2018
Their Records
It's unseemly to "dance on the grave" of anyone who has just died, though I think all former presidents have made enough decisions that have had catastrophic for some people that it is quite understandable if some of those people do. More than that, wanting an honest assessment of their records - the good and the bad - in obituaries and reminisces is perfectly appropriate. Also, too, nobody cares if journalists have fond personal memories of their time spent with these people. It isn't supposed to be one big happy family, and it doesn't matter to the rest of us if his staff remembered to send you a birthday card every year.
Geroge H.W. Bush was a bad president for a lot of reasons. People can make that judgment by themselves, but only if it isn't taboo to actually provide them with the relevant information.
If your economic and social status is such that you think it's important if the president was personally nice to you and your friends, then you really have no business putting on a "journalist" hat and discussing that.
Geroge H.W. Bush was a bad president for a lot of reasons. People can make that judgment by themselves, but only if it isn't taboo to actually provide them with the relevant information.
Bush’s administration still dragged its feet on drug treatment and refused to address prevention to the most affected community, gay and bisexual men, which it could have done by simply promoting and funding critical safer sex programs and condom distribution. When ACT UP, the AIDS activist group, targeted Bush in actions at the White House and at his Kennebunkport, Maine, summer retreat, Bush said “behavioral change” was the best way to fight the disease.
Infamously, Bush had said in a television interview that if he had a grandchild who was gay he would “love” the child but would tell the child he wasn’t normal. And like Reagan, he stocked his Cabinet with anti-gay zealots. Health Secretary Louis Sullivan, also protested by ACT UP for his terrible response to HIV, joined forces with evangelical leaders to cover up a government-funded study on teen suicide that found LGBTQ teens were at much higher risk.
If your economic and social status is such that you think it's important if the president was personally nice to you and your friends, then you really have no business putting on a "journalist" hat and discussing that.
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