Thursday, March 28, 2024

Busy With Some Stuff

Bad blogging day

Eastman Disbarred

 I guess it does happen!

Joe Lieberman Is Dead

I make exceptions for the young, usually, but if you make it to 80+ you got the full trip and had plenty of chances to express regrets, or not, so I feel no problem with assessing the life of people who were quite proud of themselves. 

He was a bad and dishonest person who delighted in making other people suffer for petty or grotesque reasons, all while basking the glow of praise from a political press who treated him as The Last Good Man In Washington.

Embrace being bad, don't wrap it in sanctimonious smug and demand people you deserve it.

The reaction of Official Washington to someone daring to offer a primary challenge to him was extremely telling.  They loved their Joe.

Morning

Go

Wednesday, March 27, 2024

Wednesday Night

Rock on.

Happy Hour

get happy

Depends On The Pressure

But he's likely correct!

Popularism!

Remember when that was important?





Independent voters can be anywhere on the political spectrum, though to pundits they're usually coded as the sainted centrist swing voters.

Lunch

Shop while you eat! (Ad, I get a commission).

We're All Experts In Bridge Engineering Now

"We" joke that everyone in social media becomes an insta-expert on the latest breaking news subject, but I don't think it's appreciated enough that this is largely what (certain types of) journalists do! Something happens, they acquaint themselves with the issue, phone around to a few "experts," learn enough to write it up for tomorrow's paper (back when news publishing fit that schedule, anway).

You can do that well or poorly, of course, and trusted journalists at trusted news outlets should do that well! Hopefully better than Anynamebunchanumbers on Twitter, at least.
 
But one problem with everything being subsumed into politics news coverage is that "call the local civil engineer" quickly gets supplanted with "on one hand this seems like an accident, on the other hand some critics suggest that DEI hiring practices led to this tragedy."

Who is to say what's right? Not so different than what Anynamebunchanumbers is peddling.  If unresolvable competing opinions from nonexperts (or, even worse, an expert versus a right winger as if they are equivalent) dominate the coverage of almost everything, it isn't clear what journalists offer other than  "rolodex" with the same 30 assholes.

I haven't yet seen this in "respectable" outlets, but it's early!!!

;)

Need a bit more to not believe this is all kayfabe.
U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin urged Israel to abandon military plans for a ground offensive in Rafah, the southern Gaza city where the majority of Palestinians have crowded to evade the conflict. “The number of civilian casualties is far too high and the amount of humanitarian aid is far too low,” Austin told Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant in Washington, stressing that the protection of civilian lives was a “moral necessity and a strategic imperative.”
That would also require the US stop pretending that Israel's purpose is anything other than slaughter.

Run On It

One of my core views is that many basic "Democrat positions" are popular, have long been popular, and blurring the differences have hurt them and not been the genius MODERATE CENTRISM ELECTORAL GOLD that they pay dipshit consultants millions of dollar for.

Sure you can always point to a particularly conservative district here and there where running loud and proud on reproductive rights, for example, might not be helpful, but to a great degree the voters who are reachable are kind of dumbasses who don't actually know which party is which in the way that political junkies do. And elevating all those "I'm a Democrat, but I'm not like all those other Democrats who love killing babies" candidates election cycle after election cycle to national audiences has been a great exercise in brand tarnishing.

Obviously Dobbs has served to clarify the stakes, and hopefully results like help clarify the strategy.
Marilyn Lands, a Democrat who made reproductive rights a central part of her campaign, will win a special election Tuesday for an Alabama state House seat, CNN projects.

...

 Lands, a licensed professional counselor who lost her 2022 bid for the Huntsville-area seat by nearly 7 points, opposes the state’s near-total ban on abortion and openly discussed the abortion she had more than 20 years ago after her fetus tested positive for a rare genetic condition.

 Winning 62-38. 

Morning

An exciting new day.

Tuesday, March 26, 2024

Tuesday Night

Rock on.

Happy Hour

Get happy

BUT

I'm sure even if this is "good" news there will be some stink bomb ready to explode in a few months.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday seemed skeptical of efforts to limit access to mifepristone, a key medication used in more than 60 percent of U.S. abortions and first approved more than two decades ago.

2026

I first saw the Sagrada Familia in 2004 or so (a couple of times since). Back then it was much more of a construction site without a clear end in sight. I forget what the projected completion date was back then, though back then the eventual completion was much less certain, but, in any case, 2026 would have seemed like the distant future!

And here we (almost) are.

Lunch

eat

We Are Talking About You

As I've said many times, it's useful to see who gets to speak for themselves and who gets talked about/talked over.

This is the kind of observation/criticism that is unassailable based on journalists' own stated beliefs about their obligations, but the shitheads at the NYT will dismiss this as "activism" or whatever.

What Are We Doing Here