Saturday, September 29, 2018
Saturday, Saturday
I did much driving today and that always puts me in a great mood! Did you know you can't even internet while you are driving?
Because This Joke Is As Inevitable As The Sun Rising In The East
Never tweet.
The Securities and Exchange Commission has settled charges with Tesla CEO Elon Musk over his aborted bid to take the company private, with the billionaire expected to remain as the helm of the company but relinquishing his chairman title and getting slapped with a hefty fine.
As part of the settlement, which is still subject to court approval, Musk will also pay a civil penalty of $20 million and give up his role as chairman of the board for at least three years. Additionally, Tesla will also pay a $20 million fine, and appoint two new independent directors to the board.
Norms
I know it's a quaint notion, but a functioning society does require that most people obey "the rules" even without threat of law enforcement or other sanction. Letting the top judge get away with lying to Congress just makes us all go LOL NOTHING MATTERS.
I'm not one who ever believed in the golden age of the Grand Old Party, but this was the type of thing they used to pretend to care about.
I'm not one who ever believed in the golden age of the Grand Old Party, but this was the type of thing they used to pretend to care about.
As I Keep Saying
If informing readers isn't the point of a newspaper, what is?
cancel it.
Federal Judge Brett Kavanaugh misled Congress (er, “lied”) and the New York Times describes it as a fucking skill. pic.twitter.com/SI37xfsOSe
— Jamison Foser (@jamisonfoser) September 29, 2018
cancel it.
Friday, September 28, 2018
I Tried To Tell You
I spent many years composing blog posts that basically said "George Bush is bad" and the desire to suggest that he was actually good has enraged me.
George W. Bush has called several moderate Republican senators and Manchin to whip votes for Kavanaugh, per people briefed. Trump, who doesn’t like Bush, has far less sway with the key voters. https://t.co/txBatZRHo2
— Josh Dawsey (@jdawsey1) September 28, 2018
If The Law Is On Your Side
Pound the law.
If the facts are on your side, pound the facts.
If neither the law nor the facts are on your side, pound the table.
Yesterday's hearing was a perfect demonstration of that old maxim. And it seems to have worked.
If the facts are on your side, pound the facts.
If neither the law nor the facts are on your side, pound the table.
Yesterday's hearing was a perfect demonstration of that old maxim. And it seems to have worked.
Thursday, September 27, 2018
Train
I was in a fraternity. It was a good social experience for me. I am not going to claim that that we were all perfect, but I will say that the social pressures to not be rapists were greater than the social pressures to rape. I don't think any of my dudes were rapists, but if I knew they were I would tell you.
Wednesday, September 26, 2018
Off the Table
A very strange belief by many people in the world of dem-leaning politics is that there are pesky complicated issues which get in the way of us winning elections and if only you can take them off the table somehow then we can just stop fighting and enjoy ruling.
The obvious issue is abortion because it somehow involves "conscience" and "morality" unlike all those other issues. For years (some) Democrats tried to forge some Grand Compromise on the issue. Something like we'll just make it legal for 8 weeks and you guys stop talking about it, deal? That deal was never going to be made, but more importantly that deal can never be kept. There are not two static "sides" and the people who actually count, the voters, don't necessarily support your shitty deals. The Washington Post editorial board might, but who cares?
The other one was the Social Security Grand Bargain. Even when I was in grad school in the 90s, the "we must cut benefits before they cut benefits" mantra by supposedly left leaning people was out there. The idea being that - I think! I never quite understood - if we cut the benefits then they will no longer try to cut the benefits, because we will own "benefit cutting" and be national heroes.
Republicans are smarter about this stuff - con Democrats into doing their dirty work and then turn around the next day and start the battle again.
We'll know better next time.
The obvious issue is abortion because it somehow involves "conscience" and "morality" unlike all those other issues. For years (some) Democrats tried to forge some Grand Compromise on the issue. Something like we'll just make it legal for 8 weeks and you guys stop talking about it, deal? That deal was never going to be made, but more importantly that deal can never be kept. There are not two static "sides" and the people who actually count, the voters, don't necessarily support your shitty deals. The Washington Post editorial board might, but who cares?
The other one was the Social Security Grand Bargain. Even when I was in grad school in the 90s, the "we must cut benefits before they cut benefits" mantra by supposedly left leaning people was out there. The idea being that - I think! I never quite understood - if we cut the benefits then they will no longer try to cut the benefits, because we will own "benefit cutting" and be national heroes.
Republicans are smarter about this stuff - con Democrats into doing their dirty work and then turn around the next day and start the battle again.
We'll know better next time.
No Deal
"No Deal" is basically inevitable (I could be wrong!) at this point, so the only question is whether they hit the eject button at the last minute and agree to extend the status quo.
The National Farmers Union has warned of “catastrophic” consequences for the industry if there is no Brexit deal, after being warned by the EU that the UK faces a six-month wait to be certified as an approved third-country supplier.
This will be a major setback to the food and drink sector, where exports to the EU are worth £13.2bn a year.
The NFU says it has been told informally that although Britain is in complete regulatory alignment with the EU, if there is no deal, the same health checks countries such as China and the US undergo will apply to UK suppliers.
Accessory Journalism
Hey a neologism! By me! It's a good one I think!!! But Bunch's column that inspired it is good too.
The power to control the perception of reality — to deny the fundamental truth even when you are staring it in the face — has been the calling card of despots for more than a century. "Just remember, what you are seeing and what you are hearing is not what's happening," Trump told a VFW convention back in July. Some were amused; many were terrified. But the terrifying truth is that if you flipped on your TV on Monday, Trump's words were prophetic. What you were seeing and hearing was not what was happening, but the "fake news" was coming from inside the (White) House — the foul, fishy-smelling chum that Trump tossed to journalists way too eager to take the bait.
Please Contribute To My Hedge I Mean Campaign Fund
I have never seen this before in a campaign finance report. @realScottWagner lost over $600K of his contributors' money in the past three months through failed investments.
— Adam Bonin (@adambonin) September 26, 2018
How can Pennsylvanians trust him with their own money? cc: @timelywriter @CPotterPgh @AndrewSeidman (1/) pic.twitter.com/G7slqTLAcu
Click through the thread and the obvious suggestion (not saying Adam is suggesting it, but I am!) is that this is a giant loophole in reporting requirements that makes it pretty easy to siphon off campaign funds.
Wagner is the Republican candidate for governor here in PA.
He Likes That Joke
Hopefully (and pretty sure it's true!) I stopped telling tales of exciting college drunkenness not all that long after college. I mean, a good story can be a good story even if booze is involved, but there is a genre of "this one time...I got really fucked up... and..." that really doesn't go anywhere else. Those stories usually end with "fortunately, what happens in X stays in X..." at least they did, in 1997, when that joke was slightly fresh.
Dudes...we all got fucked up on a bus... and fortunately, what happens on the bus, stays on the bus.
Cool story, [checks notes] 49-year-old bro.
Years before his Supreme Court nomination, Kavanaugh acknowledged heavy drinking in a 2014 speech to the Yale Federalist Society. He recalled organizing a boozy trip for 30 of his Yale Law classmates to Boston for a baseball game and a night of barhopping, complete with “group chugs from a keg” and a return to campus by “falling out of the bus onto the steps of Yale Law School at about 4:45 a.m.”
According to his scripted remarks, he said: “Fortunately for all of us, we had a motto. What happens on the bus stays on the bus.”
Dudes...we all got fucked up on a bus... and fortunately, what happens on the bus, stays on the bus.
Cool story, [checks notes] 49-year-old bro.
When The Loop Comes To Town
Sure, Jan.
People are so stupid.
Now, a handful of state legislators want Pennsylvania to hop on board nascent Hyperloop planning, calling for a study of a Keystone State connection between proposed Hyperloop routes along the Northeast corridor and in the Midwest.
“This is a huge opportunity for us in the Commonwealth and we don't want to miss the boat — or more importantly, we don't want to miss the Hyperloop on this one,” said state Rep. Aaron Kaufer (R-Luzerne), the resolution’s lead sponsor
People are so stupid.
Wednesday Morning Thread
I keep track of the days so the boss doesn't have to.
Your You're welcome.
/s
edited
/s
edited
Tuesday, September 25, 2018
Workout Buddies
I know we're supposed to love nothing more than the idea of Chuck Schumer and John Cornyn being gym buddies and running side by side on treadmills (Chuck really was gym buddies with Jeff Sessions). Every Thanksgiving liberals (for some reason only liberals?) get lectured on how we're supposed to be nice to our conservative family members. But Chuck Schumer, for all his flaws, isn't actively trying to ensure that women die, and those annoying Thanksgiving liberals aren't actually questioning the basic humanity of much of the US population. My point is these are basically bad people in a way that can't be covered up in the age of Trump and Kavanaugh.
And, really, they are bad people. If conservatives want to think all liberals are bad people because we are baby killers... fine. If they believe that (most are full of shit about abortion, but not all!), they shouldn't want to hang out at the gym or slice turkey with us either. My point is that this idea that we should be buddies with people who have views we find abhorrent is ridiculous. These mostly aren't debates about top marginal tax rates or whether cash grants or food stamps are the better for poverty reduction. This isn't just abstract debate stuff club. Sure I have plenty of friends who disagree with me about things, but I have no interest in being friends with, you know, racists, or homophobes, or misogynists. Why the hell would I be? Why the hell would anyone claims to care about that stuff? Oh, gee, that Andrew Sullivan, so charming as he walks around with his caliper set at parties.
And, really, they are bad people. If conservatives want to think all liberals are bad people because we are baby killers... fine. If they believe that (most are full of shit about abortion, but not all!), they shouldn't want to hang out at the gym or slice turkey with us either. My point is that this idea that we should be buddies with people who have views we find abhorrent is ridiculous. These mostly aren't debates about top marginal tax rates or whether cash grants or food stamps are the better for poverty reduction. This isn't just abstract debate stuff club. Sure I have plenty of friends who disagree with me about things, but I have no interest in being friends with, you know, racists, or homophobes, or misogynists. Why the hell would I be? Why the hell would anyone claims to care about that stuff? Oh, gee, that Andrew Sullivan, so charming as he walks around with his caliper set at parties.
Pulling Away
People will tolerate a lot of shit as long as there is relatively broad-based prosperity, and "broad-based prosperity" basically means that "you" and your kids, if you do everything reasonably well and don't fuck up too much, can buy a car and a house and can afford kids (and grandkids) and maybe go on vacation occasionally. If you're a lucky ducky maybe even some nicer things sometimes!
Elite nepotism, which is certainly nothing new, gets a bit more angering and disgusting when the scraps that are left for the rest are fewer and fewer.
Elite nepotism, which is certainly nothing new, gets a bit more angering and disgusting when the scraps that are left for the rest are fewer and fewer.
MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
The pundits who probably annoy me the most, aside from the purely evil ones, are the ones who put themselves front and center of every narrative. The issue at hand is less important than their personal thoughts about the issue. Their intellectual journey is an extraordinarily exciting story to tell. "My thinking on this has evolved [7000 words]...". Especially the ones who treat the entire exercise like it's a public conversation among them and their 5 other Important Pundit Friends. You know, "after reading this article by X, I had to reconsider my argument that...". Blahblahblah.
I'm not saying there's never a place for someone being forthright about why their opinion changed on something, but that's more an issue of honesty. It isn't an action thriller!
Shut up. Yes I am trying to deplatform you because you are boring.
I'm not saying there's never a place for someone being forthright about why their opinion changed on something, but that's more an issue of honesty. It isn't an action thriller!
Shut up. Yes I am trying to deplatform you because you are boring.
It's An Aaron Sorkin Fantasy
This was a joke, but it does strike me how much this stage is set for an Aaron Sorkin dream moment. You know, the one courageous GOP senator who breaks with his party and gives an impassioned speech about doing the right thing, proving once and for all that Actually, Republicans (well, one at least) Are Good, and saving the day yet again. I'm not going to put this on the women - though Collins especially is likely going to prove her whole career has been a big sham - but if one of the male twitter fretters like Flake or Sasse or (hahahahahaha) Rubio shamed his party in a dramatic moment, Kavanaugh would be gone.
That's why they call it "fantasy."
That's why they call it "fantasy."
Monday, September 24, 2018
Twitter Fight!
This is such disgraceful bullshit. @gabrielsherman should be ashamed of himself and should stop doing stenography for Steve Bannon. Rosenstein offered his resignation to Kelly. We wrote “verbally resigned.” Justice Dept isn’t denying he offered his resignation. https://t.co/RHsNKuS0bH
— Jonathan Swan (@jonathanvswan) September 24, 2018
But Axios And The NYT Told Me He Was Resigning
Statement on Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein: pic.twitter.com/yBgAydv9oR
— Sarah Sanders (@PressSec) September 24, 2018
I'm sure journalists will let us know just how they were misled about this important story.
hahahaha I keed.
Elites
When I was a child...and probably longer... I didn't think adults were perfect, but I figured they were basically honest and responsible, except for the "bad people." This is what you're taught, after all! How to behave! By adults! You don't quite know how to behave correctly, yet, because you are a child, so people are teaching you right and wrong etc.
People just lie, and elites lie with impunity.
People just lie, and elites lie with impunity.
“Everything that is being said about the advice I give to students applying to Brett Kavanaugh ― or any judge ― is outrageous, 100% false, and the exact opposite of everything I have stood for and said for the last fifteen years,” Chua said.
She insisted in the statement that she always encouraged students to dress professionally, not casually, for interviews with any federal judge.
Yet a woman who recently graduated from Yale Law School and received advice from Chua on interviewing for a coveted clerkship position with Kavanaugh, who sits on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, disputed the professor’s statement.
“She’s lying,” the woman told HuffPost.
Coal Rollers With Homicidal Road Rage
That's the Republican party base, and many of their elected officials, right now.
Good Grief
For me, the big story is still the fact that they all knew Kavanaugh had a sketchy background. They just didn't care. They are probably still hoping to plow this nomination through. They are, also, probably placing the entire blame on the women coming forward, instead of on K or themselves. Nasty women, one and all.
Sunday, September 23, 2018
Send Them
What a country!
Chua said in the statement that, contrary to allegations that she told students that it was “no accident” that Kavanaugh hired attractive clerks, she “always” told her students to prep “insanely hard” and that substance was “the most important thing”.
But another former law student who was advised by Chua and approached the Guardian after its original story was published on Thursday said his experience was consistent with the allegations presented in the article.
The male student, who asked not to be identified, said that when he approached Chua about his interest in clerking for Kavanaugh, the professor said it was “great”, but then added that Kavanaugh “tends to hire women who are generally attractive and then likes to send them to [supreme court Chief Justice John] Roberts”.
It was a reference to Kavanaugh’s role as a so-called “feeder” judge, whose clerks often go on to win highly coveted clerkships at the US supreme court.
Setback for the Team
Maybe try the Philly Philly, coach?
It's absurd that anyone would remember a small high school house party from 35 years ago, if nothing notable happened to you personally at that party, but more than that, what kind of monster sees this as a clash between "teams." What the hell is the "Ford team"?
People who work at the New York Times are truly weird.
Setback for Ford team: Leland Keyser, believed to have been identified as one of 5 people at the party, told the cmte she “does not know Kavanaugh and she has no recollection of ever being at a party or gathering where he was present, w/ or w/o Dr. Ford” https://t.co/QSaVkYixEs
— Nicholas Fandos (@npfandos) September 23, 2018
It's absurd that anyone would remember a small high school house party from 35 years ago, if nothing notable happened to you personally at that party, but more than that, what kind of monster sees this as a clash between "teams." What the hell is the "Ford team"?
People who work at the New York Times are truly weird.
Dads With Guns
We've all seen the posed pictures and related t-shirts of concerned daddies threatening (maybe jokingly! haha) their daughters' suitors with guns.
They just assume all men (and boys) are like them, and that their daughters are actually their "property" to protect from "intruders."
And then they become Supreme Court justices.
They just assume all men (and boys) are like them, and that their daughters are actually their "property" to protect from "intruders."
And then they become Supreme Court justices.
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