Saturday, March 09, 2019
Still Dreaming
The latest on one of my more boring obsessions.
The American Dream will not be opening next month.
The opening date, originally projected for April, has been pushed back to at least late spring, Gov. Phil Murphy said at a press conference on Friday.
"First of all, it’s happening. American Dream is happening," Murphy said. "To the best of my knowledge, the last time I asked, it had slipped, I had thought, closer to June."
Emoluments
We have a horribly corrupt government but in a way which lets us pretend that NO OTHER COUNTRIES ARE CORRUPT because at the federal level the "leave an envelope of money on the table" version hasn't really been a thing. Until now.
Yang, who goes by Cindy, and her husband, Zubin Gong, started GY US Investments LLC in 2017. The company describes itself on its website, which is mostly in Chinese, as an “international business consulting firm that provides public relations services to assist businesses in America to establish and expand their brand image in the modern Chinese marketplace.” But the firm notes that its services also address clients looking to make high-level connections in the United States. On a page displaying a photo of Mar-a-Lago, Yang’s company says its “activities for clients” have included providing them “the opportunity to interact with the president, the [American] Minister of Commerce and other political figures.” The company boasts it has “arranged taking photos with the President” and suggests it can set up a “White House and Capitol Hill Dinner.” (The same day the Herald story about Yang broke, the website stopped functioning.)
Friday, March 08, 2019
Who Cares What I Think
No one ever really did. And that's good!
Let's hope the next president doesn't care what Mr. David Brooks thinks, either.
Let's hope the next president doesn't care what Mr. David Brooks thinks, either.
Howsabout A Pre-Happy Hour Thread
Oh, what the heck, it's Friday! Not too early to have a wee sip of wine.
Friday Random Deep Thought Blogging Continued
Even the best sci-fi/fantasy/superhero tv/movie projects are filled with nonsensical babble. It takes great actors to make that actually work.
And Then It Was Revealed That "Donald Trump" Is Actually... Hillary Clinton In A Wig!
The writers of this show are so ridiculous.
Luxury Canned Goods
Totally random Friday thought, but it's my blog so I can do what I want. I'm sure there are good explanations - I can think of some! - but a weird thing about the US is that we don't really have those. Yes, sure, you can go to a specialty shop and buy anything, including $50 imported marmalade or whatever, but mostly the idea that there's a better caliber of canned goods is not a part of our food culture. In other countries, $20 cans of cockles, or similar, are a normal thing, as is opening up the tin and serving it to your impressed guests.
Exception: all escargot (almost) is canned in the US, even at fancy restaurants.
Exception: all escargot (almost) is canned in the US, even at fancy restaurants.
Like Spock
Holmes didn't just fudge the numbers or cook the books or have a wee accounting scandal. She made the whole thing up and conned a bunch of old gross thirsty rich and prestigious white men into investing in her nonsense and promoting her.
Like Tim Draper.
Bloomberg’s @mcbridesg asked @TimDraper if he’d back Elizabeth Holmes again:
— Sam Dean 🦅 (@SamAugustDean) March 8, 2019
“I’d back her as chief science officer, not CEO. Good question.” pic.twitter.com/DJqguX9wGA
Like Tim Draper.
Thursday, March 07, 2019
American's Worst Humans
Bill de Blasio.
I'm not even so pissed about the "not being a regular subway rider" thing, but the "driven to the subway for the subway photo op" thing.
There are indignities to urban living that even a 24/7 chauffeur can't fix, but they're offset by other things. If you don't even enjoy walking two blocks, I can show you the other 90% of the country where you would be much happier.
I'm not even so pissed about the "not being a regular subway rider" thing, but the "driven to the subway for the subway photo op" thing.
There are indignities to urban living that even a 24/7 chauffeur can't fix, but they're offset by other things. If you don't even enjoy walking two blocks, I can show you the other 90% of the country where you would be much happier.
There Are Some Excellent Journalists At Fox
"Real" reporters always take to the twitter machine to defend Fox for reasons I don't fully understand. My best spin is they're friendly with the Fox reporters who they see at the White House or wherever, and they seem like sane people, so Fox must not be all bad. None of them ever actually watch Fox News, of course, or point to those incredible scoops that would have led to democracy falling if those fine reporters had never delivered them.
The best spin is too kind, as the more plausible explanation is that teevee "reporters" get paid quite well, there aren't that many of those jobs, and if you can score one then your retirement is set.
But even if there are decent reporters at Fox (this is basically bullshit, but ok), they're just there to give the rest of the operation the sheen of respectability that amazingly convinces all of those other hard-hitting reporters so concerned with the reputation of their sister network.
The best spin is too kind, as the more plausible explanation is that teevee "reporters" get paid quite well, there aren't that many of those jobs, and if you can score one then your retirement is set.
But even if there are decent reporters at Fox (this is basically bullshit, but ok), they're just there to give the rest of the operation the sheen of respectability that amazingly convinces all of those other hard-hitting reporters so concerned with the reputation of their sister network.
Sherrod Brown Out
Not running for president. I always liked the guy but his presidential noises were putting him on team "nicer things aren't possible" which was both bad and off brand.
People On The Internet Are Wrong
Everybody has stupid uninformed opinions. Some of us even decide to share them to the world on a thing called a "weblog." But it's when you're exposed to the thinking of the masses on a topic that you actually do know a little bit about that you despair for the state of the world. Not so different than reading The Economist, really, with pseudonyms replacing anonymous bylines.
Because I have bad hobbies, and something has to keep me enraged all day (my secret is I'm always angry), I read various internet forums on certain subjects. My latest is Musk-related program activities. And, sure, the Teslas have their idiotic fanboys who are dumb but at least Tesla is a real product that does much of what Elon claims it does. The self-driving car nonsense is going to help destroy that company, however. But, wow, the people who are into his tunnel projects. They are so dumb.
And what gets me is these are people who, from what I can tell, would never ride one of Musk's vanity-subway-that-isn't-a-subway projects even if it worked as their underground Jetsons fantasies tell them, for the same reason they've never ridden an actual subway. It's still a steel box on wheels in a tunnel that you have to share with other people. Just a worse one.
Because I have bad hobbies, and something has to keep me enraged all day (my secret is I'm always angry), I read various internet forums on certain subjects. My latest is Musk-related program activities. And, sure, the Teslas have their idiotic fanboys who are dumb but at least Tesla is a real product that does much of what Elon claims it does. The self-driving car nonsense is going to help destroy that company, however. But, wow, the people who are into his tunnel projects. They are so dumb.
And what gets me is these are people who, from what I can tell, would never ride one of Musk's vanity-subway-that-isn't-a-subway projects even if it worked as their underground Jetsons fantasies tell them, for the same reason they've never ridden an actual subway. It's still a steel box on wheels in a tunnel that you have to share with other people. Just a worse one.
20 Virgins And A Mule
Democrats in the House, especially, too much see their jobs as a drama which plays out on the cable television shows that air constantly in their offices. One that they don't write.
25 years later, and the second time they've taken it back, the psychological wounds of losing the House in 1995 are still there.
25 years later, and the second time they've taken it back, the psychological wounds of losing the House in 1995 are still there.
Wednesday, March 06, 2019
But How Will Democrats Reach The People Least Likely To Vote For Them
Shouldn't have been a consideration.
The Democratic National Committee has decided to exclude Fox News Channel from televising any of its candidate debates during the 2019-2020 cycle as a result of published revelations detailing the cable network’s close ties to the Trump administration.
Sounds Good. Does It Have Lasers?
People who make transportation decisions are so stupid.
Who cares, waste your money, but imagine thinking that people getting into cars, which don't even have the advanced speedy boarding technology your local amusement park ride does, is some efficient way to move lots of people quickly. We're talking 45 seconds minimum to board 4 people.
Las Vegas’ tourism agency announced Wednesday it is recommending that an enterprise backed by the divisive billionaire receive a contract to build and operate an underground tunnel system through which autonomous electric vehicles would whisk people around a mega convention center, and in the future, possibly the city’s famous casino-filled corridor.
If approved, the system just over a mile long would open by January 2021 at the facility, which hosts more than 1 million people every year. The Musk-owned Boring Company would build the project costing from $35 million to $55 million.
...
Details of the project are not final. But Hill said the system will probably have three or four stations, at entrances to the convention center’s halls. People would be carried in electric vehicles moving through parallel tunnels, each running in one direction.
The fleet could include Tesla’s Model X and Model 3 and a vehicle with capacity for about 16 people, Hill said. All vehicles would be autonomous, meaning they won’t have backup human drivers.
Who cares, waste your money, but imagine thinking that people getting into cars, which don't even have the advanced speedy boarding technology your local amusement park ride does, is some efficient way to move lots of people quickly. We're talking 45 seconds minimum to board 4 people.
Bending The Cost Curve
One of the Obamacare-wonk-era obsessions was "bending the cost curve" in part by making sure we all had "skin in the game." Discussing ACA is hard because anything that you suggest is "bad" people blame on Lieberman, Baucus, and Republicans, and exonerate Obama and everyone else involved. "Best we could do." I don't know what "the best we could do" was, but I do know that much of Obamacare wasn't simply some sort of pragmatic attempt to court the 60th vote. It was baked into the design philosophy.
We do spend way too much on health care in this country. We spend what other countries do in *public* money and then that much again in private money for the privilege of imminent financial insolvency every time those of us with even good insurance go to the doctor. But me, voter, does not give a shit about "bending the cost curve." I give a shit about "bending my cost curve."
You can see the problem with "bending the cost curve" by making sure people have more "skin in the game" from a political and, yes, moral perspective.
I already pay too fucking much to buy health insurance executives yachts. I don't need to pay any more.
Pragmatic centrists often like to think of themselves not just being smart on policy, but on the politics. Please David Brooks, please the world. But high deductible high copayment plans are not smart politics, unless you're trying to hasten the revolution.
We do spend way too much on health care in this country. We spend what other countries do in *public* money and then that much again in private money for the privilege of imminent financial insolvency every time those of us with even good insurance go to the doctor. But me, voter, does not give a shit about "bending the cost curve." I give a shit about "bending my cost curve."
You can see the problem with "bending the cost curve" by making sure people have more "skin in the game" from a political and, yes, moral perspective.
I already pay too fucking much to buy health insurance executives yachts. I don't need to pay any more.
Pragmatic centrists often like to think of themselves not just being smart on policy, but on the politics. Please David Brooks, please the world. But high deductible high copayment plans are not smart politics, unless you're trying to hasten the revolution.
Endgame
I still don't really know what the desired semi-reasonable outcome is for Theresa May or really any of the Brexiteers.
It's clear what May wants is to kick out all of the foreigners (as many as possible) and the rest doesn't much matter to her, but I still don't get what she/they want within the framework of sort of realistic possibilities.
The EU isn't going to "back down" because they just don't give a shit and why should they?
It's clear what May wants is to kick out all of the foreigners (as many as possible) and the rest doesn't much matter to her, but I still don't get what she/they want within the framework of sort of realistic possibilities.
The EU isn't going to "back down" because they just don't give a shit and why should they?
Morning Thread
Last time this cycle I'll link to The Halifax Examiner, I promise. Here's Bousquet on writing about the big stories that he does so well:
Many thanks to Suzanne Rent, Philip Moscovitch, and Erica Butler for filling in for last week's Morning Files.I've been proud of the work the Examiner has published of late, not just my own work but also the other writers' work. It feels like we've hit a nice stride, and I hope we can maintain it and maybe even improve up on it.Of course, that requires consistent and growing income. Your subscriptions make this work possible. Your subscriptions pay for the ever-increasing legal bills that allow us to push the reporting into difficult areas. Your subscriptions pay for the guest writers for Morning File, which in turns free up some of my time so I can dive into longer investigative pieces. And your subscriptions pay the salaries and expenses of freelance writers who are doing excellent work. For those who have brought us this far, you have my sincere appreciation.And for those who have been putting it off, this would be an excellent time to subscribe. Thanks much!</blockquote>
Tuesday, March 05, 2019
So Many Crying Consultants Weeping At Their Yacht Catalogues
Bloomberg's out, making those who signed on with Schultz seem extra smart!
Hucksters
Pretty confident this isn't going to happen, but I guess there's still a month to go!
If Elon wants to sell cars to suckers and take money from dumb investors, fine. Not my problem. But when he starts dangling this Jetson stuff as an alternative to an sensible transportation planning, I get a bit annoyed.
The best timeline he mentioned was based on a coast-to-coast demo drive from California to New York without the driver touching the wheel.During his TED talk yesterday, Musk reiterated that this demo drive is still planned for 2017:“November or December of this year, we should be able to go from a parking lot in California to a parking lot in New York, no controls touched at any point during the entire journey.”But Musk also said that while the driver wouldn’t have to touch the controls, he doesn’t think that it would be at a level where someone could just fall asleep at the wheel. When asked when he thinks that will be, he said about 2 years away.It would mean that between the end of the year and around 2019, Tesla could have a level 4 autonomous system enabled in second generation cars – meaning the vehicles can drive themselves without a driver as backup, but not in all conditions or environment.
If Elon wants to sell cars to suckers and take money from dumb investors, fine. Not my problem. But when he starts dangling this Jetson stuff as an alternative to an sensible transportation planning, I get a bit annoyed.
Outgrowing Ideology
Reagan was lines of cocaine, but this Clinton-era stuff was injecting speedballs into your eyeballs. From 1999.
Ideology is other people.
Greenspan has a theory about what holds them together: In analytical people self-esteem relies on the analysis and not on the conclusions. That must be it. The three men have a mania for analysis that has bred a rigorous, unique intellectual honesty. In the Reagan Administration economic policymaking was guided not by analysis but by conclusions--specifically a belief in so-called supply-side economics. No matter what the data showed, the results among Reagan-era economists like Arthur Laffer were always the same: tax cuts and less regulation were the solution. Rubin, Greenspan and Summers have outgrown ideology. Their faith is in the markets and in their own ability to analyze them. It's unusual, Greenspan says. In Washington usually you come to the table, and everyone meets, and no one changes their mind. But with us, you have something else.This pragmatism is a faith that recalls nothing so much as the objectivist philosophy of the novelist and social critic Ayn Rand (The Fountainhead, Atlas Shrugged), which Greenspan has studied intently. During long nights at Rand's apartment and through her articles and letters, Greenspan found in objectivism a sense that markets are an expression of the deepest truths about human nature and that, as a result, they will ultimately be correct. Greenspan jokes that Rubin, with his background in arbitrage, may be slightly more skeptical because of his experiences with market imperfections. But they all agree that trying to defy global market forces is in the end futile. That imposes a limit on how much they will permit ideology to intrude on their actions.
Ideology is other people.
Capitalism
Really the only respectable way to obtain worry free health insurance in our meritocracy is to marry your rich older boss.
Monday, March 04, 2019
The Game
I neither totally agree with, nor think it should excuse outlets even if true, the idea that Dems/left issues get shitty news coverage because they're just bad at the game. Still, skillfully playing the game helps.
I Know It's Hard. It Isn't My Job To Do The Work.
I don't think you can wave a wand and make our health care system better. "We" need to shrink the % of our GDP that goes to our absurdly expensive health care system. "We" need to figure out who is going to take the haircut and how. And we need a system such that when we get sick we go to the damn doctor instead of having to set up gofundme accounts. As "we" transition from where we are now to there, it might be complicated and expensive, especially if "we're" going to ensure that everybody (basically) is as happy or more during the transition.
But isn't my damn job. Every other comparable country in the world manages to deliver superior health care at a far lower cost. That part is off the shelf. The transition is the hard part, but it doesn't have to be hard for "me." It doesn't have to be expensive for "me." Other people can take care of that shit. That's what the wonks should work on, not how to make me have more skin in a game which already involves my literal skin.
But isn't my damn job. Every other comparable country in the world manages to deliver superior health care at a far lower cost. That part is off the shelf. The transition is the hard part, but it doesn't have to be hard for "me." It doesn't have to be expensive for "me." Other people can take care of that shit. That's what the wonks should work on, not how to make me have more skin in a game which already involves my literal skin.
Why Do We Have To Suffer
The better Beutler:
The wrong idea out there is that any transition to a new thing might be A) complicated and costly and therefore B) unpopular. A) is probably true. B) is only true because in our neoliberal world few can imagine that the complications and costs don't actually have to fall on individual voters who are already busy spending two hours on the phone with Comcast.
Why should voters bear the costs? The government can eat the costs and take care of the complexity and I can show up to the doctor with my medicare card and have it be paid for.
The "wonks" want every damn person in their country to play their Fantasy Health Care System video game because that's fun to them. The rest of us just want to go to the doctor without going bankrupt and then not even being able to discharge our medical debts in bankruptcy (thanks, Kindly Old Uncle Joe Biden and many of the rest of the Democrats). The way to avoid a costly unpopular transition is to not have it be costly and complicated... for us. It doesn't have to be. Why should it?
wonk voice: what people *really* want to do is shop for health insurance every year within a narrow time window on a nonfunctioning website powered by hamsters and Windows ME.
That question routinely vexes most Democratic single-payer supporters, which is why her staff quickly softened her statement to note that she and other Democrats who support Medicare for all also support back-up plans, like a Medicare buy-in or a public option. People don’t like to be told that their health plans will go away. The basic unpopularity of that proposition—people don’t get to keep what they have—is perhaps the biggest political hurdle Medicare for all supporters face, and should their objectives prove untenable it makes sense for them to have contingency plans.
But it also makes sense for Democrats to fight for their ideals in the most compelling possible way, and as close as Harris came, I think she could have gone further. Before falling back to second-best options, single-payer supporters should try to persuade people who worry about losing their current health plans that they’ll be immediately and permanently better off if they make the jump—if we all do so, together, all at once, and then never again.
The wrong idea out there is that any transition to a new thing might be A) complicated and costly and therefore B) unpopular. A) is probably true. B) is only true because in our neoliberal world few can imagine that the complications and costs don't actually have to fall on individual voters who are already busy spending two hours on the phone with Comcast.
Why should voters bear the costs? The government can eat the costs and take care of the complexity and I can show up to the doctor with my medicare card and have it be paid for.
The "wonks" want every damn person in their country to play their Fantasy Health Care System video game because that's fun to them. The rest of us just want to go to the doctor without going bankrupt and then not even being able to discharge our medical debts in bankruptcy (thanks, Kindly Old Uncle Joe Biden and many of the rest of the Democrats). The way to avoid a costly unpopular transition is to not have it be costly and complicated... for us. It doesn't have to be. Why should it?
wonk voice: what people *really* want to do is shop for health insurance every year within a narrow time window on a nonfunctioning website powered by hamsters and Windows ME.
Our Sister Network
Surprising no one except Jake Tapper and too many Democrats.
As for this article subtitle:
"Everybody" knows Fox is a joke now, but it isn't really any different than it was during the Bush years (the Obama years were when people whould should have known better finally started to realize). Glorification of Dear Leader was its thing then, too, it was just not as obvious because all the other networks weren't doing anything much different post 9/11.
In addition, a former Trump campaign aide says that a Fox contact gave him advance notice of a different debate question, which asked the candidates whether they would support the Republican nominee, regardless of who won. The former aide says that the heads-up was passed on to Trump, who was the only candidate who said that he wouldn’t automatically support the Party’s nominee—a position that burnished his image as an outsider.
As for this article subtitle:
Fox News has always been partisan. But has it become propaganda?
"Everybody" knows Fox is a joke now, but it isn't really any different than it was during the Bush years (the Obama years were when people whould should have known better finally started to realize). Glorification of Dear Leader was its thing then, too, it was just not as obvious because all the other networks weren't doing anything much different post 9/11.
Sunday, March 03, 2019
Donald Trump Promised A Better Health Plan
You knew that was bullshit, I knew that was bullshit, everyone should have known that was bullshit. But he did.
I don't want politicians to promise bullshit, but patiently explaining to stupid voters that better things are not possible in the richest country in the world doesn't get any fans except the Washington Post editorial board.
I don't want politicians to promise bullshit, but patiently explaining to stupid voters that better things are not possible in the richest country in the world doesn't get any fans except the Washington Post editorial board.
Afternoon Thread
I am going to once again link to The Halifax Examiner, published by Tim Bousquet. Back in 2016, Tim wrote a multi-part investigative story, Dead Wrong, looking into the murder of Brenda Way and dozens of other young women in Halifax. During the course of his investigation, Tim became convinced that the wrong man had been tried and convicted of Way's murder. It took years of work by Project Innocence and Tim turning the spotlight on the miscarriage of justice, but last week the wrong man was cleared of all charges and released from prison.
This is independent journalism at its finest. Unfortunately, stories like Dead Wrong and the more recent John Risley's South African Adventure cost a lot of money to produce, hence the subscription button.
This is independent journalism at its finest. Unfortunately, stories like Dead Wrong and the more recent John Risley's South African Adventure cost a lot of money to produce, hence the subscription button.
A Beat So Sweet
Somebody plays fluffer for Amazon Cuomo in The Atlantic today (no link, find it yourself). The journalist does love Amazon Cuomo, and you hippies are stupid for not loving him.
Journalists justify beat sweetners on the grounds that source cultivation leads to genuine scoops later. But really they don't. They lead to "scoops" in the sense of "give it to Maggie before giving it to Peter" but not scoops in the sense of investigative journalism that would not have seen the light of day otherwise. They're good for careers and book deals. They're very good for PR purposes for the subjects. They are not good for informing readers of true things that they would not have otherwise learned.
Journalists justify beat sweetners on the grounds that source cultivation leads to genuine scoops later. But really they don't. They lead to "scoops" in the sense of "give it to Maggie before giving it to Peter" but not scoops in the sense of investigative journalism that would not have seen the light of day otherwise. They're good for careers and book deals. They're very good for PR purposes for the subjects. They are not good for informing readers of true things that they would not have otherwise learned.
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