Wednesday, May 31, 2023
Don't See How Donnie Two Scoops Wriggles Out Of This One
We'll see!
Federal prosecutors have obtained an audio recording of a summer 2021 meeting in which former President Donald Trump acknowledges he held onto a classified Pentagon document about a potential attack on Iran, multiple sources told CNN, undercutting his argument that he declassified everything.
The recording indicates Trump understood he retained classified material after leaving the White House, according to multiple sources familiar with the investigation. On the recording, Trump’s comments suggest he would like to share the information but he’s aware of limitations on his ability post-presidency to declassify records, two of the sources said.
Sam Alito's World
We only hear about a tiny fraction of these horror stories.
The Tennessee woman would end up needing a lifesaving emergency hysterectomy, ending her opportunity to give birth to more children, after she says she was denied medically necessary abortion care at a hospital in her home state for life-threatening complications earlier in her pregnancy.
Homeowners Insurance
This is good.
And sure, you don’t have to be great at math to see that an annual insurance bill that compounds at something like 50% a year is, in short order, going to make it economically stupid/ impossible to keep living in your hurricane/ fire-prone home. But banks won’t write mortgages on uninsurable property. This sure is a pickle! What to do? The states themselves, desperate to look like they are solving the problem, have their own (expensive) insurance, which they sell to homeowners who can’t get anything better. But these state insurance firms are, if we’re being honest, a comforting fiction. State governments do not possess enough money to make homeowners whole in the event of a really bad disaster, like a major hurricane plowing through South Florida. Just as a point of perspective, last September Hurricane Ian—which could have been worse!—caused $100 billion in total losses, $60 billion of which was insured. One hundred billion dollars is equal to the total budget of the State of Florida. Unless you think Ron DeSantis is going to be holding some very creative yard sales after the next hurricane, it is clear that the system is marching further towards absurdity with every passing year, as private insurers decide the risk is just not worth it.The cool kid's philosopher had the answer: people can just sell their homes and move.
Journamalism
Just pondering how Elizabeth Holmes had a massive PR push in a last attempt to postpone or stay out of prison, and how much that made clear how "PR" is just getting "objective" journalists to launder your client's marketing campaign.
Not really making a point about Holmes here, but it just highlights another way in which journalism is rigged to tell the story of rich people, by rich people, even as editors are currently whining about how The Wokes in the newsroom are telling them they should interview a black person occasionally inbetween all those Ohio diner visits.
Not really making a point about Holmes here, but it just highlights another way in which journalism is rigged to tell the story of rich people, by rich people, even as editors are currently whining about how The Wokes in the newsroom are telling them they should interview a black person occasionally inbetween all those Ohio diner visits.
Hype Machine
Quite impressed the SV guys are going with, "AI will change the world and be worth trillions, also it might destroy the world, also you must give us more money and protect us from competition so we can make sure it doesn't destroy the world."
It's just a fancy chatbot. We're no closer to "AI" than we were 20 years ago.
(I am sure someone will disagree with that, but really we're not)
It's just a fancy chatbot. We're no closer to "AI" than we were 20 years ago.
(I am sure someone will disagree with that, but really we're not)
The Sensibles
Regularly there are issues that the sensible centrist commentariat decides they are Serious about and anyone to the left is childish, ridiculous, and, especially, hurting their own cause. I don't think The Left or any of its meager institutions are perfect, of course, but The Sensibles are always claiming that there are compromises to be had that no one has actually put on the table, and that magically align with just what The Sensibles want.
Somehow it's always The Left - the most powerless political group unless you define power as "ability to annoy me on twitter" - who fail to embrace these compromises and not, you know, The Chamber of Commerce.
Basically it's always like the mythical "abortion compromise" that only exists in their heads. If only those PRO-ABORTION EXTREMISTS had been willing to compromise (party with whom they are supposed to compromise unspecified) then abortion would still be legal. That kind of thing.
This Dave Roberts thread is about energy transmission, with the basic punchline:
Not understanding - or pretending not to understand - who actually has power is one of their issues.
Somehow it's always The Left - the most powerless political group unless you define power as "ability to annoy me on twitter" - who fail to embrace these compromises and not, you know, The Chamber of Commerce.
Basically it's always like the mythical "abortion compromise" that only exists in their heads. If only those PRO-ABORTION EXTREMISTS had been willing to compromise (party with whom they are supposed to compromise unspecified) then abortion would still be legal. That kind of thing.
This Dave Roberts thread is about energy transmission, with the basic punchline:
Details matter, and the "compromise" only exists in the heads of the people who are used to getting everything they want. When they don't, they imagine that it's the meddling kids who are to blame instead of THE FUCKING FOSSIL FUEL LOBBY.Turns out, if you lie down with a bunch of people who want more fossil fuels & less clean energy, you wake up with ... more fossil fuels & less clean energy. But at least you got a few sweet, sweet months of lecturing activists about not being Serious.
— David Roberts (@drvolts) May 29, 2023
Not understanding - or pretending not to understand - who actually has power is one of their issues.
Tuesday, May 30, 2023
Occasionally Throw One Into The Volcano To Appease The Gods
So rare for "white collar" criminals to actually go to prison.
BRYAN, Texas (AP) — Disgraced Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes is in custody at the Texas prison where she will spend the next 11 years serving her sentence for overseeing an infamous blood-testing hoax, according to the Federal Bureau of Prisons.
Quite The Day For The Guardian Media Group
Gotta get more bigoted!
In mid-April, a group of senior writers and editors at The Guardian met as part of the company’s ‘Diversity and Inclusion Week’ to discuss pushing gender-critical narratives ‘fearlessly,’ with the paper’s anti-trans slant clearly not enough for them.
The Chris Christie Decade
I see the column from Michelle Cottle was just the initial push for their old favorite GOP Daddy, Chris Christie. Maggie's going all in.
"We love GOP politicians who yell at people, so virile and manly" seems to be the common theme of their political crushes. Michelle Cottle said as much.
Bullies yelling at each other! Now this is the politics we crave! Everything else is BOORRRRIIIING.
"We love GOP politicians who yell at people, so virile and manly" seems to be the common theme of their political crushes. Michelle Cottle said as much.
Getting a NYT columnist to promote you just before a NYT journalist goes big with your SUPER PAC and likely presidential campaign, that's just smart politicking, baby.
The Worst News Media On The Planet
That fucking newspaper has been doing good reporting on the UK media, which contrary to the views of many Americans who imagine it's all like BBC World Service, is, genuinely, the worst in the world.
Spiked because they're all jolly chums, basically.
Inside The Financial Times newsroom this winter, one of its star investigative reporters, Madison Marriage, had a potentially explosive scoop involving another newspaper.Cohen's about as left wing as peak "Chris Hitchens screaming about Clinton, Islamofascism, and the Iraq war" which is to say not at all, but he was coded as such. You'll struggle to find anything left wing in anything he has ever written. This is a good example from the era.
A prominent left-wing columnist, Nick Cohen, had resigned from Guardian News & Media, and Ms. Marriage had evidence that his departure followed years of unwanted sexual advances and groping of female journalists.
Spiked because they're all jolly chums, basically.
But her investigation on Mr. Cohen, which she hoped would begin a broader look at sexual misconduct in the British news media, was never published. The Financial Times’ editor, Roula Khalaf, killed it, according to interviews with a dozen Financial Times journalists.It was the Russians and transgenders wot did it!
...
The British news media is smaller and cozier than its American counterpart, with journalists often coming from the same elite schools. Stringent libel laws present another hurdle. And in a traditional newsroom culture of drinking and gender imbalances, many stories of misconduct go untold, or face a fight.
In a phone interview, Mr. Cohen said he did not have the “faintest idea” about Ms. Siegle’s accusation and questioned why she had waited so long to report it. He said the conversation with the copy editor was “joking” among friends. He blamed their accusations on a campaign by his critics, including advocates for Russia and for transgender rights.
Monday, May 29, 2023
Oh They're Just Stupid
Don't worry I'm not going spend a dozen posts reminiscing about the glorious Iraq war years, but it is, I think, important to remember just how stupid that era was. It revealed just how stupid even the supposedly smart pundits were. Tom Friedman is no Jonah Goldberg but, actually, he is!
If Tom Friedman Is That Transparently Stupid And Awful
Then what must we think of the people who think/thought he's smart?
Happy Suck On This Day! 20th Anniversary!
It was 20 years ago today...
I think it [the invasion of Iraq] was unquestionably worth doing, Charlie.
...
We needed to go over there, basically, um, and um, uh, take out a very big stick right in the heart of that world and burst that bubble, and there was only one way to do it.
...
What they needed to see was American boys and girls going house to house, from Basra to Baghdad, um and basically saying, "Which part of this sentence don't you understand?"
You don't think, you know, we care about our open society, you think this bubble fantasy, we're just gonna let it grow?
Well Suck. On. This.
Okay.
That Charlie was what this war was about. We could've hit Saudi Arabia, it was part of that bubble. We coulda hit Pakistan. We hit Iraq because we could. That's the real truth.
Poolshare
I have no deep thoughts on this but was amused.
The sounds of summer fun ripple up from ads for Swimply, an app that allows homeowners to rent out private pools to strangers looking to enjoy cool water under the hot sun. But that seasonal chorus has sharply divided suburban residents of Montgomery County as the local government considers formally regulating the short-term amenity rentals — potentially becoming the first in the nation to do so.Precisely the type of activity that single use zoning is designed to prevent.
Sunday, May 28, 2023
The Pundit Candidate
There's a column in the NYT pushing Chris Christie that doesn't note his stellar popularity in his home state.
Deal Or No Deal
Can't bring myself to follow the daily drama of THE DEBT CEILING. I did my part screaming "MINT THE COIN" for the past decade, which is really just code for, "this all stupid you all know it's stupid stop pretending it's real."
There won't be a default, there will be a "deal" with some very shitty aspects, and I will be asked to clap for it.
There won't be a default, there will be a "deal" with some very shitty aspects, and I will be asked to clap for it.
Saturday, May 27, 2023
Just Mint The Damn Coin
No reason why not.
About a dozen years ago, a pseudonymous commenter on a financial website, writing under the name Beowulf, presented an unusual solution for a debt-ceiling standoff: If the federal government was at risk of default, and Congress couldn’t agree to either cut spending or raise the borrowing limit cleanly, couldn’t it simply mint a trillion-dollar coin?
Beowulf had come across a 1997 law that, in response to requests from coin collectors, gave the Treasury the power to mint platinum coins of any denomination. (Collectors had complained that even coins available at the time with the smallest face values were still too expensive to afford.) The law started as a way to make collectible coins cheaper, but unlike every other law regulating new coins, this one did not establish a specific face value or limit the number of coins produced.
Friday, May 26, 2023
Never Change, Jonah
One horror of the Trump era was all the Bush-era ghouls refashioning themselves as Serious Conservatives.
So I Guess It Happened Then
Remember this was the case where the Washington Post's FACT CHECKER said: FACT CHECK! NUH UH DON'T BELIEVE IT.UPDATE: The board did not revoke Bernard's medical license but did fine her $3k and formally reprimanded her for discussing the case with a local reporter. Bernard said she did so (rather than using a hypothetical) to help people the true impact abortion bans were having. https://t.co/y6PcYQMh11
— Alice Miranda Ollstein (@AliceOllstein) May 26, 2023
Don't See How Elmo Wriggles Out Of This One
Actually Musk has a better wriggling record than Donnie, so I imagine he will.
A Tesla whistleblower has leaked 100GB of data to the German outlet Handelsblatt containing thousands of customer complaints that raise serious concerns about the safety of Tesla’s Full Self-Driving (FSD) features.
The complaints, which were reported across the US, Europe, and Asia, span from 2015 to March 2022. During this period, Handelsblatt says Tesla customers reported over 2,400 self-acceleration issues and 1,500 braking problems, including 139 reports of “unintentional emergency braking” and 383 reports of “phantom stops” from false collision warnings.
Dismissing Anything From The Left
Crazy lefties suggested the inflation was transitory due to "turning the economy back on again" bottlenecks and then that firms were using their market power to maintain higher prices ("greedflation"). Maybe not the full story, but certainly part of it, and if so then Fed interventions were likely to make things worse (reduce potential output) by having greater and quicker supply-side (lower investment) impacts than demand-side and therefore fail to lower inflation.
It might have been wrong, but no, that wasn't enough. Conspiracy theory! Loony lefties!
Fast forward and greedflation is not only real, but Good, Akshually! The point of this linked piece is, basically, sure interest rate hikes are hurting wages, but corporate profits are going up so we've avoided a recession! Or, more to the point:: the interest rate hikes transferred money from workers to profits. Insane lefty stuff, except for the "it's good" part.
This is all basic Econ 101, as is all economic policy discussion. It isn't what you find in your advanced Marxism class at UMass Amherst, or whatever they imagine.
Centrist dipshists really don't sound any different than Larry Kudlow, most days.
Okay it's week 5 of Econ 101, not week 2, so it's a bit more advanced than most economic policy discussion, but still.
If so, the best policy responses would actually be things like price caps (complicated in practice, but not crazy in theory!).
Widely mocked by the various serious people.
It might have been wrong, but no, that wasn't enough. Conspiracy theory! Loony lefties!
This is all basic Econ 101, as is all economic policy discussion. It isn't what you find in your advanced Marxism class at UMass Amherst, or whatever they imagine.
Centrist dipshists really don't sound any different than Larry Kudlow, most days.
Okay it's week 5 of Econ 101, not week 2, so it's a bit more advanced than most economic policy discussion, but still.
What's Happening In Minnesota
Fair for that fucking paper to cover this (booz Walz), but there's no mention anywhere of all the things that *did* pass.
Hippies fail is a priority headline, hippies succeed is not.
Hippies fail is a priority headline, hippies succeed is not.
Thursday, May 25, 2023
Don't See How Donnie Two Scoops Wriggles Out Of This One
We'll see!
Two of Donald Trump’s employees moved boxes of papers the day before FBI agents and a prosecutor visited the former president’s Florida home to retrieve classified documents in response to a subpoena — timing that investigators have come to view as suspicious and an indication of possible obstruction, according to people familiar with the matter.Not quite "Bill Clinton having a chat on the tarmac with Loretta Lynch" but a bit suspicious nonetheless!
Trump and his aides also allegedly carried out a “dress rehearsal” for moving sensitive papers even before his office received the May 2022 subpoena, according to the people familiar with the matter, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe a sensitive ongoing investigation.
Nobody Who Went To Yale Law School Could Be Bad
Exception that proves the rule, amirite???
Stewart Rhodes, the leader of the far-right Oath Keepers, was sentenced Thursday to 18 years in prison for his involvement in the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol — the longest sentence handed down to date and the first for a charge of seditious conspiracy.
Nobody Could've Predicted
Trailed off a bit, but CPAC got "E! covering the Oscars" type treatment from our political press for years.
Matt Schlapp, the prominent Trump ally who leads the influential Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), was accused this week of mismanaging money and staff in a scathing resignation letter from the parent organization’s treasurer.
Bob Beauprez, the treasurer of the American Conservative Union and a board member for eight years, said he had “lost confidence” in the organization’s financial statements and could not solicit donations “in good faith.” He blamed Schlapp for excessive staff departures and suggested that violations of the organization’s bylaws could expose the storied institution to lawsuits or even criminal prosecution.
You Can't Just Put Rich Guys In Prison
Jokes aside, I have absolutely no idea what Donnie can or can't wriggle out of. What I am pretty sure of is that if you took a poll of what sex pest Mark Halperin used to call "the Gang of 500" - an imaginary conglomeration of various Washington elites including politicians, lobbyists, journalists, and assorted others - about whether or not Trump should be indicted, I doubt there would be too many "yes" votes.
That has nothing to do with their belief about his guilt or innocence of any specific possible charge, instead simply because elites should be accountability. Sure they'll tell various stories - maybe even believe them - about why indicting an ex-president (especially one with an "R" after his name) would be very very bad indeed "for the country" or some bullshit like that. But it's just "laws are for other people" stuff.
That has nothing to do with their belief about his guilt or innocence of any specific possible charge, instead simply because elites should be accountability. Sure they'll tell various stories - maybe even believe them - about why indicting an ex-president (especially one with an "R" after his name) would be very very bad indeed "for the country" or some bullshit like that. But it's just "laws are for other people" stuff.
Don't See How Donnie Two Scoops Wriggles Out Of This One
We'll see!
SOME OF DONALD Trump’s lawyers and top advisers have given the former president an unwelcome, if not unexpected message in recent weeks: You should expect to get indicted this year.
The Real Winner? Florida Governor Ron DeSantis
Journalists are all about transparency, except for themselves, of course, and I would like just one of them to explain why Meatball Ron has been one of the top 5 main politics characters since 2020.
50 governors in America. Most of them don't get much attention. Sure, Florida's a big state, but there are other big states.
Tim Walz barely gets any attention!
I'm not saying there are no answers - good ones, bad ones, 'just how the meatballs get made' ones - and Ron is just one of many this question could be asked about. But the specifics are interesting!
50 governors in America. Most of them don't get much attention. Sure, Florida's a big state, but there are other big states.
Tim Walz barely gets any attention!
I'm not saying there are no answers - good ones, bad ones, 'just how the meatballs get made' ones - and Ron is just one of many this question could be asked about. But the specifics are interesting!
All The News
Not that it's flattering coverage (headlines, anyway), but should there be this much coverage?
Wednesday, May 24, 2023
This Is Good Akshually, All What We Wanted
A few days ago one of the usual mouthpieces started floating the idea that anything that comes out of the debt ceiling debacle would have happened in budget negotiations anyway. You know, Republicans won the House becuase you didn't vote hard enough, and therefore they're just entitled to get their piece.
And, really, they have a point, we are spending too much, many of these cuts are good, and while we had to give SOME things away, we got most of what WE wanted (you know, the other cuts, the good cuts, not gonna say which ones, but those ones).
Heckuva job, everybody.
And, really, they have a point, we are spending too much, many of these cuts are good, and while we had to give SOME things away, we got most of what WE wanted (you know, the other cuts, the good cuts, not gonna say which ones, but those ones).
Heckuva job, everybody.
The Obama Era
I'm a bit busy right now I don't have time to reycle some hits, but a lot of the songs you're going to hear coming from the White House are going to be really familiar!
Popularism!
The White House spent months mocking the GOP for the spending cuts they would have to pass and now they're going to try to force their own to vote for even worse ones.
White House aides privately estimate they may need to deliver as many as 100 Democratic votes to ensure an eventual debt limit deal can pass the narrowly divided House, two people familiar with the matter told POLITICO.Glad the adults are in charge, and not the hippies.
Unlike
I usually don't bother trying to parse Trump (or Trump through his attorneys), but this was pretty funny.
So Joe and Hunter are being treated fairly?
So Joe and Hunter are being treated fairly?
Engineered Helplessness
There are a bunch of people telling Biden to stop shooting himself in the dick - and how precisely to stop doing it - and a bunch of talking points going out to the usual suspects about how only absurdly ridculous lefty dumdums think he can stop shooting himself in the dick.
It was like this - frequently - during the Obama administration. Same people, quite often!
It was like this - frequently - during the Obama administration. Same people, quite often!
Tuesday, May 23, 2023
Plenty of Places For Them
Long enduring mystery is why cable news execs repeatedly think, or pretend to, that there's a market for conservative news that is not already provided. People who want to rage watch news all day to Own the Libs thinks Fox is too left wing for them!
Shit Sandwich On The Way
The talking points have been disseminated through the usual conduits and quite likely not only will a horrible deal pass, it will be passed with a lot of Dem votes, and people will devote their energies to lecturing The Left about how they should grow up and understand big boy politics.
Fox News Uncles
All of them.
Gorsuch elaborates on the point: “Executive officials across the country issued emergency decrees on a breathtaking scale” and “Governors and local leaders imposed lockdown orders forcing people to remain in their homes.” They shuttered businesses and schools, he continues, and “threatened violators not just with civil penalties but with criminal sanctions too.”
Now, there obviously was — and still is — a debate to have about the extent of the state, local and federal response to Covid-19, which killed more than 1.1 million people in the United States between March of 2020 and May of 2023 and remains among the leading causes of death. But do those measures have a chance of representing the “greatest intrusions on civil liberties in the peacetime history of this country?”
Who Is Running This Show
Some of this is due to the DC press being wired for Republicans (why that is too much for the margin of this blog post), but Democrats do need to think about why even when the have the presidency and the Senate (and even when they had the presidency and the Senate AND the House), politics is always presented The Republican Show.
Sure some of this is the fault of the press, as I said, but you go to politics with the press you have and not the press you want. It isn't that I think it's a problem that can be fully solved, but it's certainly something they can improve on.
Always better to be on offense than defense, and while you can't possibly distract the press from the shiny toy of a presidential primary, you can use the opportunity to point how how all those Republicans really suck.
Sure some of this is the fault of the press, as I said, but you go to politics with the press you have and not the press you want. It isn't that I think it's a problem that can be fully solved, but it's certainly something they can improve on.
Always better to be on offense than defense, and while you can't possibly distract the press from the shiny toy of a presidential primary, you can use the opportunity to point how how all those Republicans really suck.
TERF America
Used to make fun of the Brits because while the US had its own anti-trans movement, it was mostly marginalized and when the North Carolina "bathroom bill" hit, it seemed like the important people and press coverage mostly responded appropriately and then the good guys one. Then it all went wrong.
When people claim to, for example, "care about the chidren," ask yourself if they have ever once cared about "the children" in any other context?
My easy lesson in this was a few years back when teachers in Chicago went on strike and suddenly urban kids missing a few days of school was the greatest tragedy ever to befall the country. Yah imagine the motley assortment of glibertarian ghouls and centrist dipshists giving a shit about those kids.
How do restrooms work, in these people's minds? Somehow, the setup is that restrooms are so carefully supervised at the door that a predator would need to obtain and present a government-issued gender certificate to enter—but once inside, anything goes? Lydia Polgreen, writing in the New York Times, described the experience, as "a cisgender lesbian who is occasionally mistaken for a man," of once having a security guard bang on the door of her toilet stall after someone accused her of being a male interloper. The most important detail here, the essence of restroom panic, is that the door was closed. She was in the stall, by herself, when someone decided something had to be done.The "just concerned about appropriate medical treatment for chidlren" stuff provided a permission structure for centrist dipshists who hate trans people but didn't want to admit it (Chait, Yglesias, the usual suspects).
When people claim to, for example, "care about the chidren," ask yourself if they have ever once cared about "the children" in any other context?
My easy lesson in this was a few years back when teachers in Chicago went on strike and suddenly urban kids missing a few days of school was the greatest tragedy ever to befall the country. Yah imagine the motley assortment of glibertarian ghouls and centrist dipshists giving a shit about those kids.
Sounds Bad
The New York Times leaves out the Nazi flag part for some reason.
May 22 (Reuters) - The U.S. Secret Service said it had detained the driver of a rented box truck that crashed into security barriers near the White House on Monday night, perhaps intentionally, but that there were no injuries or ongoing danger."What are the politics of the guy with the Nazi flag who tried to drive into the White House? It's complicated." - Jeremy Peters, probably.
A Reuters witness said investigators found a Nazi swastika flag that apparently came from inside the truck, which crashed into barriers at Lafayette Square, adjacent to the White House grounds.
Car Culture
Hard to beat this one.
In a blow to restaurants closest to San Diego’s coastline, the City Council consented Monday to new California Coastal Commission regulations that will require owners to replace any lost parking spaces taken up by outdoor dining areas they operate on the street.The CCC wants to maintain "beach access" (yay) which they apprently define as "requiring massive amounts of parking near the beach to the exclusion of all else." (um what).
Monday, May 22, 2023
Fox Is Bad Now
The Tucker wing of weirdo conervatives are attacking Fox now. It's "funny" worrying that Fox might be the most reasonable conservative outlet and that reducing its influence could actually make things worse.
But What Can They DOOOOO
There are many options, but I think obscured (deliberately) is that not paying the bills, or even prioritizing paying the bills, is probably the less obviously legal thing.
If there is a lawful action that simultaneously avoids both a breach of the debt ceiling and a default that violates Section 4 of the Fourteenth Amendment, the Treasury has a duty to pursue such action to the fullest extent. There are in fact multiple Constitutional constraints and considerations that the Treasury must take seriously right now, including the potential relevance of the Presentment Clause and separation of powers principles. All of these considerations make default and 'payment prioritization' highly disfavored outcomes even on legal grounds, leaving aside the catastrophic economic implications. And the fact that Treasury appears to be operationally unready to undertake such lawful action—even though the debt limit was functionally reached over four months ago—is an act of constitutional malpractice of the highest order. We sincerely hope the Treasury is taking operational readiness more seriously than meets the external eye.
Don't See How Donnie Two Scoops Wriggles Out Of This One
We'll see!
Federal prosecutors have evidence Donald Trump was put on notice that he could not retain any classified documents after he was subpoenaed for their return last year, as they examine whether the subsequent failure to fully comply with the subpoena was a deliberate act of obstruction by the former president.
The Adults In A Peanuts Cartoon
I don't claim my reactions are representative of the broader population, but this debtanddeficit stuff sounds like incoherent gibberish beamed in from 1992. Does anybody really care? I mean, I know the people who claim to care - Republicans - don't care but does it resonate with anyone anymore?
Beyond Reproach
Good piece from Lithwick.
Years ago, I heard a marshal tell a journalist that the first two rows of the press area were reserved for “court employees”—meaning the folks in the so-called permanent press corps. It occurred to me that our job in the press is to constantly remind the nine Justices that we do not in fact work for them. I wonder whether all the fury being directed by some of the Justices at journalists right now comes from the kid glove treatment they not only came to enjoy, but to expect? In covering the court as though the Justices were uninteresting and untouchable, did we reinforce a norm in which they believe now that any scrutiny is an attack?As Lithwick recognizes, even the better journalists covering the Court (including her!) have covered them in a bizarre deferential fashion. I hope more of them (the ones who aren't just craven hacks anyway) think about why!
Sunday, May 21, 2023
Remember In 2011 When...
Regularly reminded how much I'd roll my eyes at the "old hands" who would invoke 1994 or whatever for every political situation. Okay old man!
What The Hell Is Wrong With French People
OK the title is a joke. This is really about French films. I saw one the other day which did nothing but reaffirm what had been my semi-jokey (but maybe totally serious) view of French cinema for decades.
That view is, basically: these people are always so fucking miserable when they should be happy, yet the films offer no illumination for why that is/might be. Mais bien sûr!
That view is, basically: these people are always so fucking miserable when they should be happy, yet the films offer no illumination for why that is/might be. Mais bien sûr!
Confrontation
People always want to believe there's a masterplan, but what I saw repeatedly from Democrats (in Congress, the Obama administration) was a failure to game anything out. Someone has to be sitting in a corner of the room plotting out scenarios, even if the Panglossians believe that everything will just work out, because it always has for them, hasn't it?
If we do X, they will do Y, then we need to do Z. That kind of thing.
Also fire the Panglossians.
If we do X, they will do Y, then we need to do Z. That kind of thing.
Also fire the Panglossians.
Saturday, May 20, 2023
Nobody Could Have Predicted
We can argue about why they do it, but Democrats getting in front of the cameras and loudly announcing their reasonable compromise position has never been a great strategy! It isn't a great strategy for the more cynical readings of it!
Repeal All Laws
Not really, but I used to be more (if not completely) dumb about how selective enforcement was always just an excuse to abuse minorities and other "undesirables."
All Part Of The Plan
Even if you are slighty more cynical than me and think Biden (or people within the administration, at least) actually want some draconian cuts*, how they've handled it has still been ridiculous.
With good reason, Democrats like to mock Kevin McCarthy as the dumbest GOP leader any of them has ever had to work with. Nancy Pelosi, who had to work closely with George W. Bush over many years, famously called McCarthy a “moron.” “Does Kevin McCarthy know where he is right now?” her office mocked. Well, jokes on us, because now Democrats will have to explain how that moron maneuvered them into a trap that we've all known about for more than 10 years!*I actually do think there are people within the administration who want exactly that, I'm just not quite cynical enough to believe they're driving the decisions. Not quite.
Friday, May 19, 2023
Friday Night
Rock on.
Birthday boy Townsend was 20 here. It is quite amazing how young many of the "rock gods" were when they first made it, and how young they still were when they were mocked for doing geezer rock.
Old man was 40 for Live Aid.
Saw the 1989 reunion tour when he was... 44.
Splitting the Baby
A bit of Solomonic wisdom should be applied to judge all the centrist dipshits.
Now, he was haunted by the sound of Milo gasping for air and the sight of his body struggling to ward off a death that had been inevitable for three long months. “To me it’s just pure torture,” Rogell said. “The law has created torture.”
Not Like Fine Wine
One pleasure of ageing is watching a bunch of assholes (especially the ones a bit older than I am) dealing with middle age very badly.
The comeuppance few of them expected, especially as apparently none of them have ever read a fucking book as this inevitability feature prominently in many of them.
"Both Sides"
Can I strangle him to death?
What if a good guy with a gun decides he is a bad guy with a gun? Which wouldn't be too unreasonable tbh.Tonight on @wbaltv11: A man with an AR-15 has been showing up for weeks to a school bus drop off for local elementary school students.
— Tolly Taylor (@TollyTaylor) May 18, 2023
Parents say their kids are afraid, the man says he’s protesting @GovWesMoore’s new gun control law. You’ll hear from both sides at 5+6pm. pic.twitter.com/rpdJXAkVh4
How Are They So Bad At This
You don't go out there and say, "um, uh, maybe we will INVOKE the 14th amendment." You say, "The constitution requires we pay our debts."
I don't think using the right magic words can make things happen, but the Dems do regularly latch on to some dumb rhetorical framing which does not help them.
I don't think using the right magic words can make things happen, but the Dems do regularly latch on to some dumb rhetorical framing which does not help them.
Thursday, May 18, 2023
Progressive Utopia
Lots of supposedly progressive cities aren't in many ways, and one major was is that many of those crunchy hippies will fight to the death to preserve one on street parking spot.
The Fed Can Do Anything!
I'm not saying it will, of course, but "making sure the economy doesn't implode" has been used to justify some pretty extraordinary things, and if they *wouldn't* step in to stop defaults, it would be because they've decided to join Team Kev.
That's quite possibly what they'd do, but it's important to recognize that they'd be saying "destroying the economy is worth it to make sure a certain set of budget cuts happened."
That's what "Fed Independence" gets you!
That's quite possibly what they'd do, but it's important to recognize that they'd be saying "destroying the economy is worth it to make sure a certain set of budget cuts happened."
That's what "Fed Independence" gets you!
America's Worst News Outlet
Punchbowl.
Every few years a new DC-centric outlet springs up to run PR for Republicans (politico, then axios, the Punchbowl, a few others have tried and failed...) and the companies and lobbying groups that "advertise" with them.
I'm not even sure most electeds understand what they are.
I'm not even sure most electeds understand what they are.
It's Only Going To Get Worse
My basic belief since the actual institution of Obamacare was that as new regulations for the insurance industry kicked (a part of "Obamacare" but not just the subsidzed health plan part), the industry would behave somewhat for awhile, and then keep testing the waters to see how much bullshit they could get away with. And, then, since regulation is often little more than a polite plea in practice, they'd realize they could get way with just about anything.
An insurer’s letter was sent directly to a newborn child denying coverage for his fourth day in a neonatal intensive-care unit. “You are drinking from a bottle,” the denial notification said, and “you are breathing on your own.” If only the baby could read.
All The News That's Fit To Print
While not as much of a blockbuster as the first, there's now a second Giuliani lawsuit this week that the Times hasn't bothered to mention.
The wise man bowed his head and said, source cultivation is an important part of journalism, son, you wouldn't understand.
The wise man bowed his head and said, source cultivation is an important part of journalism, son, you wouldn't understand.
Wednesday, May 17, 2023
Getting Creative
I am not happy to have to repeat this nonsense again, but for people wondering what could they possibly have done, this kind of thing! It's so easy!
In 1979, noting the potential problems of hitting a default, Dick Gephardt imposed the "Gephardt Rule," a parliamentary rule that deemed the debt ceiling was raised when a budget was passed. This resolved the contradiction in voting for appropriations but not voting to fund them. The rule stood until it was repealed by the Republican-controlled Congress in 1995.
George Bush Was, Uh, Bad
This mighty blog was never really going to change the world, but that George Bush has been rehabilitated and his atrocities largely forgotten do make me feel like a bit of a failure.
I'm Coming Down Fast
For some reason (rather obvious, but I'll let you choose your own), our commentariat is overly concerned with what is in people's hearts, seeing their private thoughts as somehow more important than the ones they broadcast to millions of people.
"Does Tucker Carlson believe what he says?" is somehow put forward as an interesting question, rather than one irrelevant to everyone except perhaps his closest intimates.
Does Tucker wannabe Will Cain believe this? I have no idea. What matters is it's there to rile up a bunch of pissed off old white guys with large gun collections, and tell them who it is necessary to kill for "self defense."
"Does Tucker Carlson believe what he says?" is somehow put forward as an interesting question, rather than one irrelevant to everyone except perhaps his closest intimates.
Does Tucker wannabe Will Cain believe this? I have no idea. What matters is it's there to rile up a bunch of pissed off old white guys with large gun collections, and tell them who it is necessary to kill for "self defense."
Debt Ceiling
Whatever one thinks of Biden's options now, Dems had a chance to deal with this when they controlled Congress and they didn't for reasons which range from [you choose] "they like the hostage situation so they can pretend they are being forced to do things they want to do" to "they were very scared of ads that said they voted for a big number, and were unwilling to display a tiny bit of creativity to get around that ridiculous fear."
They are never as helpless as they claim to be, even when they pin it on the rotating villain.
They are never as helpless as they claim to be, even when they pin it on the rotating villain.
A Tremendous Failure of Access Advocacy Journalism
They tried their best!
Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes must begin serving her prison sentence while she appeals against her conviction on charges of defrauding investors in her failed blood-testing startup and must jointly pay $452m in restitution to the victims of her crimes, a court in San Francisco has ruled.Ouchie!
Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes must begin serving her prison sentence while she appeals against her conviction on charges of defrauding investors in her failed blood-testing startup and must jointly pay $452m in restitution to the victims of her crimes, a court in San Francisco has ruled.
Gotta Admit This Is Kinda Weird
Certainly news outlets might be making appropriate judgments for reasons I am not aware of, but...
As Will points out, it confirms their own scoop from 2021!!!
As Will points out, it confirms their own scoop from 2021!!!
A onetime top adviser to the Trump campaign was paid $50,000 to help seek a pardon for John Kiriakou, a former C.I.A. officer convicted of illegally disclosing classified information, and agreed to a $50,000 bonus if the president granted it, according to a copy of an agreement.Guess we know where the FBI filed this one.
And Mr. Kiriakou was separately told that Mr. Trump’s personal lawyer Rudolph W. Giuliani could help him secure a pardon for $2 million. Mr. Kiriakou rejected the offer, but an associate, fearing that Mr. Giuliani was illegally selling pardons, alerted the F.B.I. Mr. Giuliani challenged this characterization.
Tuesday, May 16, 2023
No Defense Of This
One thing I don't have any patience with is people treating "me" as if I'm stupid. That doesn't mean me, personally, usually, and of course people are free to think I am stupid. But people rejecting the obviously correct point that Feinstein should not be in her job any longer because it's AGEISM or because imaginary people didn't tell Strom Thurmond to resign 20 years has been pretty annoying!
Serial Killer Wannabes
Sometimes it's hard for me to take the newer conservatives weirdo seriously, but they're pretty influential now!
Loser State, Loser Universities
Half the "free speech brigade" (defined, roughly, as the Harper's Letter Signatories) fully approve of everything DeSantis does, the other half don't care because Florida schools and universities are just loser places for loser people who shouldn't get an education anyway.
The reason we've had years of nonstop coverage of minor student happenings at elite universities is because other universities do not - certainly should not - exist to the kinds of people who write for our prestige publications.
The University of Michigan barely exists to them, do you think the University of South Florida matters at all?
The reason we've had years of nonstop coverage of minor student happenings at elite universities is because other universities do not - certainly should not - exist to the kinds of people who write for our prestige publications.
The University of Michigan barely exists to them, do you think the University of South Florida matters at all?
This was Yglesias awhile back:
Chasing The Same Imaginary People
The positioning of the nonFox news networks has been repeated cycles of chasing viewers who think CNN is the Communist New Network, but who also don't love Fox. CNN itself regularly follows this strategy!
I am not a highly paid television news executive, but I can see some problems with this strategy.
I even forget which weirdo was in charge at the time, but during the glorious Bush era, the ghoul who ran MSNBC said explicitly that their target audience was Republicans who don't love George Bush all that much. This wasn't post-2006 when Bush's popularity hit the inconceivable sub-27% level, but still in the post-9/11 era. Not, perhaps, peak popularity, but still peak popularity with Republicans. They loved the guy! Those viewers didn't exist.
MSNBC (other than primetime) has found a similar target viewer - liberals who love to hear that Republicans agree with them. Probably involves hiring the same cast of characters, but it still isn't really "moderate Republicans" who only exist in the imaginations of certain DC dwellers.
About That Detail
This was quite an amazing piece in the Times (the paper is, actually, getting worse, Dash is the failson of a failson of a failson and it shows).
1) The wording makes a plea deal sound like some sort of extreme benevolence when, you know, it's just a plea deal.
2) Entirely left out of the story is - and I can't even believe this one - the fact that while he did "stay out of prison" that was after he'd already been in jail for 15 months.
Gotta work hard to write around a point like that. It's deliberate.
A more facts about Neely's violence and supposed intractability came out, that was what happened. Centrist liberals, alert against any error on the left, began questioning the whole idea that our system had neglected Neely—that if he was known to the city's outreach workers, and he'd passed in and out of treatment, he couldn't properly be called abandoned. The Times described his plea bargain in the assault case as "a carefully planned strategy between the city and his lawyers to allow him to get treatment and stay out of prison." Even if he did end up sick, filthy, and dead on the floor of a subway train, it wasn't quite right to say he'd been overlooked, was it?This element of that Times piece is amazing for two reasons:
1) The wording makes a plea deal sound like some sort of extreme benevolence when, you know, it's just a plea deal.
2) Entirely left out of the story is - and I can't even believe this one - the fact that while he did "stay out of prison" that was after he'd already been in jail for 15 months.
Gotta work hard to write around a point like that. It's deliberate.
Today Is The Day Rudy Giuliani Became America's Mayor
Amazing (and horrible) stuff.
A woman who said she worked for Rudy Giuliani during the last two years of the Trump administration alleged in a wide-ranging lawsuit that Giuliani, the former president’s personal attorney, discussed selling presidential pardons and detailed plans to overturn the 2020 election results.Pretty sure this lawsuit hit by by midafternoon (hit in the sense that journalists were aware of it), and still nothing in the New York Times about their local hero (not in print, no on the website).
In a 70-page complaint filed in state court in New York on Monday, Noelle Dunphy said that after Giuliani hired her in January 2019 he sexually assaulted and harassed her, refused to pay her wages and often made "sexist, racist, and antisemitic remarks," adding that she had recordings of numerous interactions with him.
Monday, May 15, 2023
Oh, Elon
What have you been doing.
The subpoena sought all communications between the entrepreneur and JPMorgan regarding Epstein as well as communications between Musk and Epstein.
The subpoena also sought all documents regarding fees that Musk paid to Epstein or to JPMorgan.
It also asked Musk for all documents reflecting or regarding Epstein’s involvement in human trafficking and his procurement of girls or women for commercial sex.
They Can Murder You For That Now
Sometimes I think I'm a bit too ready to think the worst of people. Am I the asshole? Is David French really the monster I think he is?
And then, "fortunately," he writes a column to prove me fucking right!
Even in the fantasy versions of what happened in that subway car, there was no "need" to choke the guy to death.
I did learn during the post-9/11 era that some nontrivial portion of the population really really really likes it when other people die and that they feel they have some even indirect part in making that happen.
Lotsa wannabe serial killers.
And then, "fortunately," he writes a column to prove me fucking right!
Even in the fantasy versions of what happened in that subway car, there was no "need" to choke the guy to death.
I did learn during the post-9/11 era that some nontrivial portion of the population really really really likes it when other people die and that they feel they have some even indirect part in making that happen.
Lotsa wannabe serial killers.
Lines
Among other things, the column asserts that subway crime is WAY UP which it is from, you know, the pandemic years.
Sunday, May 14, 2023
Oh, Elon
I did warn you.
Twitter is blocking some posts in Turkey ahead of the country’s high-stakes election Sunday, the American-based social media company announced Friday night.This was funny, tho.
Hobbies
I won't tell you which ones to have - Christ it's annoying when people are like EVERYONE SHOULD GROW VEGETABLES - but I do recommend having some!
(nothing wrong with growing vegetables)
(nothing wrong with growing vegetables)
Saturday, May 13, 2023
Let It Go
Jamie Dimon has been Chairman and CEO of JP Morgan since 2005.
He is really just the first example I thought of. How many big companies/institutions/etc. can you think of that AREN'T run by the same people that were running them 15 years ago?
He is really just the first example I thought of. How many big companies/institutions/etc. can you think of that AREN'T run by the same people that were running them 15 years ago?
What If
Probably they don't really want what they think they wish for, but "destroying society as we know it to own the libs" seems to be a pretty common sentiment at the moment.
Complain Complain Complain
Once upon a time I thought there were some pressure points such that occasionally - if very occasionally - my complaining (insightful criticism) on this blog could have a positive effect. I feel less that way now, so writing one more "this sucks, this fucking sucks, you fucking suck" post just sounds pointlessly petulant.
I'm sure many of you agree!
I'm sure many of you agree!
Friday, May 12, 2023
Turn It Off
I think it's a mistake to assume that all decisions are narrow business decisions, that newspapers and cable news networks do things solely for clicks and viewership/ad revenue. But I do think they like to use those as justifications for doing shitty things - if you keep a Nazi on the air with low ratings you can't hide the fact the Nazi is on the air just because the boss loves Nazis.
Anyway, cable news isn't necessary to watch to keep you informed. What it keeps you informed of, really, is "what's on cable news." That's something that matters, of course, as it isn't without influence, but there are people who are paid to suffer for that knowledge.
Anyway, cable news isn't necessary to watch to keep you informed. What it keeps you informed of, really, is "what's on cable news." That's something that matters, of course, as it isn't without influence, but there are people who are paid to suffer for that knowledge.
Choose Your Fighters
Obama's political messages since being elected president has been, "just vote" and "vote harder," and "shame on you for not voting hard enough." He regularly does a rare intervention to make sure nobody does anything else with the timely power they have.
A call to Barack Obama from a small group of players including NBAPA president Chris Paul and Los Angeles Lakers superstar LeBron James helped convince NBA players to end their strike in the wake of the police shooting of Jacob Blake and return to the court to finish the playoffs.How'd that one work out?
This isn't about Obama, really, it is about people in power not using the power they asked for (for the reasons they supposedly wanted) and also making sure nobody else has any power either.
Collaborators
I don't know if the "liberal" Justices are personally corrupt, but if they are running interference for their corrupt colleagues then what difference does it make?
There aren't many people entrusted with the kinds of power that people at the top have. It is right to expect more from them.
(This is from last week, I'm just still fuming)
There aren't many people entrusted with the kinds of power that people at the top have. It is right to expect more from them.
(This is from last week, I'm just still fuming)
Maybe That Trump Guy Has Some New And Intriguing Ideas
One very strange belief (or pretend belief) is that liberals are never exposed to conservative ideas and Anderson Cooper even extends that to the thoughts of the guy who was president for four years, during which his every tweet was breathlessly covered
He has dominated news and politics coverage, and the thoughts of his supporters and the various C-list conservative grifters are constant news! It is more accurate to say that lefty ideas are rarely reflected in "the liberal media" or are held up as controversial when they are. I'd be that, for example, the NYT ran many more pieces focused on conservative "discomfort" with (these ideas are always made to sound nicer, too), or the supposed electoral "poison" of, same-sex marriage than they did pieces focused on the perspectives of gay people, pre-Obergefell.
The idea, there, too, would've been that the New York Times needs to pierce the bubble of its cloistered liberal readership, exposing them to NEW IDEAS. As if "gay marriage should be illegal" was a new idea in a country where gay marriage was illegal!
He has dominated news and politics coverage, and the thoughts of his supporters and the various C-list conservative grifters are constant news! It is more accurate to say that lefty ideas are rarely reflected in "the liberal media" or are held up as controversial when they are. I'd be that, for example, the NYT ran many more pieces focused on conservative "discomfort" with (these ideas are always made to sound nicer, too), or the supposed electoral "poison" of, same-sex marriage than they did pieces focused on the perspectives of gay people, pre-Obergefell.
The idea, there, too, would've been that the New York Times needs to pierce the bubble of its cloistered liberal readership, exposing them to NEW IDEAS. As if "gay marriage should be illegal" was a new idea in a country where gay marriage was illegal!
Thursday, May 11, 2023
We Create Our Own Reality
The ability of Republicans - with their willing accomplices in the press - to just create facts out of nonsense is always impressive.
Unperson
There are never any precise apples to apples comparisons, but you can think about the media treatment of John Edwards for having a consensual affair and Donald Trump for, well, everything.
"They" can and do declare people irrelevant when they want to.
And, no, this wasn't about some sort of chivalrous concern for the victim in that situation - Elizabeth Edwards. The press fucking hated her and if anything they were gleefully rubbing salt into the wound.
(This is not a defense of Edwards the man, think of him what you want)
"They" can and do declare people irrelevant when they want to.
And, no, this wasn't about some sort of chivalrous concern for the victim in that situation - Elizabeth Edwards. The press fucking hated her and if anything they were gleefully rubbing salt into the wound.
(This is not a defense of Edwards the man, think of him what you want)
Me Too (No, ME)
I regularly think about how well-connected rich women appropriated the Me Too movement and nonprofit (the donor money), and then set up a side for profit business essentially running a protection racket for rich guys facing accusations.
A lot of things are like that, even if not always quite so obviously egregious.
Murder On Main
And Peter Baker famously preens about not voting and not ever having an opinions about anything, unlike those Other People (you know which ones), while being the most transparently "biased" dickhead political reporter out there. He just expresses acceptable opinions.
Lowery's new book deserves a plug for that!
The appearance of The Journalist Defense Force is too easy of a prediction.Wednesday, May 10, 2023
Nobody Told Me It Would Be Like This
Brarely being able to read print/computer screen without reading glasses is very annoying!
Paved Paradise
I've been fortunate enough to spend a bit of time in Venice, which I highly recommend. You know, that place with canals, no cars, people get around by boat. And, yes, they do "get around by boat" but mostly people walk.
The boats aren't, I think, as some people imagine, personal boats, or even (mostly) personal boat taxis. Certainly not gondolas, which are just tourist rides except at a couple of canal crossings. Just big buses that happen to be boats.
"Oh but people who live there have boats, right?" some people ask. But they understand the answer and their misconception instantly. "No, there would be nowhere to park them all." It's a bit easier to see this with boats in canals than with cars, but as much parking as we've built - absurd amounts of parking - the basic problem is the same.
The boats aren't, I think, as some people imagine, personal boats, or even (mostly) personal boat taxis. Certainly not gondolas, which are just tourist rides except at a couple of canal crossings. Just big buses that happen to be boats.
"Oh but people who live there have boats, right?" some people ask. But they understand the answer and their misconception instantly. "No, there would be nowhere to park them all." It's a bit easier to see this with boats in canals than with cars, but as much parking as we've built - absurd amounts of parking - the basic problem is the same.
“A parking space is nothing less than the link between driving and life itself.” Grabar, who writes for Slate, does this now and again: elegantly stating a simple truth that undergirds the complex knot of social questions at the center of his book. The dream of the open road assumes a place to put our cars when we arrive at our destination. This is perhaps why so many Americans expect parking to be “convenient, available and free” — in other words, “perfect.” Grabar empathizes with these desires, which is partly what makes “Paved Paradise” so persuasive. Only somebody who understands the emotional power of these fantasies can gently show us how bizarre such entitlement actually is. Decades of fixation on parking have transformed our streets and our cities, none of it for the better.Driving doesn't "work" unless there's a good place to park, and the necessary amount of parking is barely compatible with a suburban mall let alone pleasant walkable areas. Cars take up a lot of space! Haven't read the book, but if you're interested!
Grabar’s argument is straightforward: The United States is underhoused and overparked. The economist (and “the country’s foremost parking scholar”) Donald Shoup refers to so-called parking minimums as “dark energy.” Rules that require new housing developments to build a minimum number of parking spaces have pushed up construction prices and generated sprawl. American cities tried to imitate American suburbs and then regretted it. There are now as many as six parking spaces for every car.
Internet Brain
It shouldn't be too hard to understand that we are all susceptible to the influence of the absolutely massive amounts of instant feedback that everyone - and certainly people with anything resembling a prominent platform - can get online.
I don't write everything to please you, dear readers, but if enough of you call me a stupid shithead in the comments I'll be a bit more likely to, at a minimum, shy away the topic.
The other side of that is when the more racist/evil you become, the more people cheer you on, it's pretty hard to resist! Sometimes purely cynically, for a grift, but often just responding to positive feedback the way any of us do.
People with big egos think they're uniquely immune to such things, but what could influence people with big egos more than adoring fans?
I don't write everything to please you, dear readers, but if enough of you call me a stupid shithead in the comments I'll be a bit more likely to, at a minimum, shy away the topic.
The other side of that is when the more racist/evil you become, the more people cheer you on, it's pretty hard to resist! Sometimes purely cynically, for a grift, but often just responding to positive feedback the way any of us do.
People with big egos think they're uniquely immune to such things, but what could influence people with big egos more than adoring fans?
Do People Who Love Trump Still Love Trump?
Pretty sure that story will be out soon. A strange thing throughout the Trump era has been the frequent implication that unless his most diehard fans care, it doesn't matter. His most diehard fans are his most diehard fans!
Also, even Walter Mondale - the poster child for modern presidential election landslide loser - got 40.6% of the vote. I expect the floor for either party is even higher now.
Also, even Walter Mondale - the poster child for modern presidential election landslide loser - got 40.6% of the vote. I expect the floor for either party is even higher now.
ARE YOU READY TO RUMBLE
I am quite sure CNN's Town Hall will be expertly handled by veteran journalist Kaitlan Collins.
[checks wikipedia]
Daily Caller Entertainment Reporter - Daily Caller White House Correspondent - CNN Host
Whatever happens, the Journalist Defense Force will say she did a great job, and it's interesting who is in the club and who isn't!
[checks wikipedia]
Daily Caller Entertainment Reporter - Daily Caller White House Correspondent - CNN Host
Whatever happens, the Journalist Defense Force will say she did a great job, and it's interesting who is in the club and who isn't!
Lock Him Up!
CENTRAL ISLIP, N.Y. (AP) — US Rep. George Santos of New York faces charges of wire fraud, money laundering and lying to Congress.
— Seung Min Kim (@seungminkim) May 10, 2023
Savvy and Irreverent
This is in a profile in that fucking newspaper of Nancy Mace.
Pretty sure if, in 2005, I was regularly saying the Bush Family ran prostitution rings, I wouldn't be profiled as a "savvy and irreverent blogger." Certainly not as a moderating force in The Discourse!
More likely there'd be demands to denounce me and support for legislation introduced to ban blogger! (exaggeration, but...).
Tuesday, May 09, 2023
Lock Him Up!
No idea what this is about (could be many things!)
Federal prosecutors have filed criminal charges against New York Rep. George Santos, the Republican lawmaker whose astonishing pattern of lies and fabrications stunned even hardened politicos, according to three sources familiar with the matter.
Santos is expected to appear as soon as Wednesday at federal court in New York’s eastern district, where the charges have been filed under seal.
America's Worst Newspaper
They had been resisting the UK TERF virus, but Dash probably started goading Jeff in the group chat.
Don't See How Donnie Two Scoops Wriggles Out Of This One
Also defamation, bringing the damage to $5 million.
How I Got It All Wrong About Elon Musk
No not ME but a lot of people should be writing those pieces. 
LOL:
"a madcap hybrid of Thomas Edison, P.T. Barnum, Andrew Carnegie and Watchmen’s Doctor Manhattan"
Actually no one cares why "you" got it wrong, we just want you to recognize that your big brains are actually more susceptible to mediocre con artists than most people.
How Was It So Dumb
And why does nobody ever suffer any reputational hit from this stuff.
Companies' rush to get into the game led Wall Street investors, consultants, and analysts to try to one up each other's projections for the Metaverse's growth. The consulting firm Gartner claimed that 25% of people would spend at least one hour a day in the Metaverse by 2026. The Wall Street Journal said the Metaverse would change the way we work forever. The global consulting firm McKinsey predicted that the Metaverse could generate up to "$5 trillion in value," adding that around 95% of business leaders expected the Metaverse to "positively impact their industry" within five to 10 years. Not to be outdone, Citi put out a massive report that declared the Metaverse would be a $13 trillion opportunity.I always thought it was going to be a big dumb failure, but I didn't imagine it to be as bad as it was.
Vote Harder
No amount of voting harder can overcome key members of Congress who refuse to use the powers they have.
What If We Invent The Bus
With the Musk takeover of twitter, there's a clique of Tech Overlords who I once was barely aware of but who are now impossible to avoid, and it is quite clear that things like "reinvent the bus for the 18th time in a decade" wasn't just a series of attempted cons to suck up investor money.
These guys really are that dumb. Just constantly throwing out "ideas" that prove they've never read a single book or seemingly existed in this civilization.
Not naming names because they're rich and litigious, as free speech warriors tend to be.
These guys really are that dumb. Just constantly throwing out "ideas" that prove they've never read a single book or seemingly existed in this civilization.
Not naming names because they're rich and litigious, as free speech warriors tend to be.
Monday, May 08, 2023
Journalism Rocks
NYT really bringing home the “who gets the benefit of the doubt and who doesn’t” question every cub reporter is taught to ask
— Sarah Rose (@thesarahrose) May 7, 2023
NYT Answer: White criminals
— New York Times Pitchbot (@DougJBalloon) May 8, 2023Flashback from the blogosphere past:
There is much made by people who long for the days of their fourth form debating society about the fallacy of "argumentum ad hominem". There is, as I have mentioned in the past, no fancy Latin term for the fallacy of "giving known liars the benefit of the doubt", but it is in my view a much greater source of avoidable error in the world.
Where To Begin With This
I didn't even know how to write about this because it's so obviously wrong from start to finish.
New York Times: stupid and evil!
Really I've always had my problems with that fucking newspaper, but I never, before this past week, thought, "the guy who runs it must be a fucking monster." So congrats, Dash Sulzberger, you broke me in a way that your Daddy and Grand Daddy and Great Grand Daddy couldn't.
...Meritocracy!
Really I've always had my problems with that fucking newspaper, but I never, before this past week, thought, "the guy who runs it must be a fucking monster." So congrats, Dash Sulzberger, you broke me in a way that your Daddy and Grand Daddy and Great Grand Daddy couldn't.
...Meritocracy!
Final Solutions
The murder of a homeless man on the New York subway and the endless series of mass gun violence, often by white supremacists, is going to result in, somehow, the mass incarceration of homeless people in facilities under the guise of addressing the "mental health crisis."
After mall shooting, Abbott says 'mental health crisis' must be solved; Biden calls for weapons banRepublicans and centrist dipshits only understand incarceration, punishment, and slaughter. They have no interest in helping anyone.
The idea that the fundamental barrier to people obtaining help is a lack of coercion is ridiculous, of course. But, no worries, Matty thinks we shouldn't "just imprison" them, just apply a lot of very kind tough love to, you know, coerce them into situations they don't want to be in.
The Only Good People Of America, Always Being Led Astray
David French, who is of the Christian Right and despite his reputation makeover through the cleansing fires of Anti-Trumpism (I think only Roy paid much attention to this freak before Version 2.0), is still a complete asshole (beloved by centrist dipshists, of course):
I could pick out many pieces of weirdness from the piece, but how about this one:
The Christian Right was Good, Actually, until Pastors Carlson and Trump came along, is quite the take! One we can look forward to French repeating approximately weekly until that fucking newspaper falls into the rising oceans.
They've been a dark in malign force my entire life, little different, filled with racists, misogynists, and grifters. The Kids won't remember how bad it was in the 90s and aughts, when Ralph Reed (just an example, there are numerous), would go on TV and lecture us, having a monthly NPR piece about the new gentler face of Christian Conservatism, as he was just pocketing money and laughing at the rubes.
Tucker's the most honest face of the Christian Right we've had in my lifetime, and that's really what bothers French.
He (and Trump) aren't leading them astray, he's just letting them out to play.
But the temptations — including the will to power and the quest for vengeance — that plagued the Christians of the past still plague the Christians of today. These temptations can plague people of any faith. If you infuse an issue or set of issues with religious intensity but drain a movement of religious virtue, then profound religious conflict — including violent conflict — is the inevitable result.About the best case against the primacy of organized religion in public life I've ever read!
The Christian Right was Good, Actually, until Pastors Carlson and Trump came along, is quite the take! One we can look forward to French repeating approximately weekly until that fucking newspaper falls into the rising oceans.
It's Okay To Murder People Who Annoy You
The Onion (rarely misses!) makes the point here.
I would have thought some minor self-preservation instinct combined with a general understandable concern for personal security would make prominent public figures (especially politicians) shy away from lowering the general taboo on vigilante violence.
Apparently, their conception of "the other" as a distinct species is so strong that they can't imagine any connection to them.
The New York Times going all in, with some PR work for Daniel Penny.
The New York Times going all in, with some PR work for Daniel Penny.
"He’s a people person. He’s a very easygoing person. Not a lot stresses him out.”Too many generations of failsons have been in charge there.
Sunday, May 07, 2023
The World's Easiest Marks
As I keep saying.
"authentic"
As I pointed out below, Chozick covered politics for years and well things aren't so fucking mysterious are they.
I was admittedly swept up in Liz as an authentic and sympathetic person. She’s gentle and charismatic, in a quiet way. My editor laughed at me when I shared these impressions, telling me (and I quote), “Amy Chozick, you got rolled!” I vigorously disagreed! You don’t know her like I do! But then, something very strange happened. I worked my way through a list of Ms. Holmes’s friends, family and longtime supporters, whom she and Mr. Evans suggested I speak to. One of these friends said Ms. Holmes had genuine intentions at Theranos and didn’t deserve a lengthy prison sentence. Then, this person requested anonymity to caution me not to believe everything Ms. Holmes says."Liz"
"authentic"
As I pointed out below, Chozick covered politics for years and well things aren't so fucking mysterious are they.
I honestly cannot imagine a non-white writer or reporter getting this kind of admission published with any seriousness or maintenance of credibility in any major publication but white writers and journalists get reveal their bias to their sources all the time https://t.co/vpLRUnSyHl
— Karen K. Ho (@karenkho) May 7, 2023
It's The Guns
Obvious point I can repeat almost daily now, but in a country of 330 million people someone is going to be prone to violence and the tools are easily available.
Saturday, May 06, 2023
Elon Can You Put A Delete Button On This
Funny flashback.
‘The smartest person in any room anywhere’: in defence of Elon Musk, by Douglas Coupland He’s the Silicon Valley Übermensch, the maverick boss of Tesla and SpaceX who wants us to colonise Mars and who can wipe out billions of dollars with a single tweet. So what’s not to love?From August, 2021.
by Douglas Coupland
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