Thursday, December 31, 2015
2016 Already?
Cosby
Wednesday, December 30, 2015
Meanwhile, in the Races
Which Republican candidate will drop out next? Could Trump become the next president of the United States?
Afternoon Thread
Tuesday, December 29, 2015
License To Kill
I've written a few times that once upon a time the great myth of the 80s/90s cop drama was the all powerful Internal Affairs. Sometimes IA were the good guys, nailing corrupt cops. Sometimes they were the bad guys, stopping cops who did what needed to be done to stop the bad guys. But whatever the storyline, Internal Affairs was SUPER POWERFUL. They would destroy your life and career as a cop if they got into your shit.
hahahahahahaahahahahaha
The Displacement Problem
A problem with gentrification-led involuntary displacement is that it makes being poor even more unaffordable by pricing people out of areas where there's at least semi-decent public transit available.
In my urban hellhole there's a lot of talk of gentrification and displacement. I think it's somewhat overblown, which is not to say it doesn't happen at all, just that to a great degree if your apartment becomes unaffordable then if you move 5 blocks in some direction it's affordable. But if trends continue for several more years, poorer people might be forced out of transit rich neighborhoods. Cars are expensive.
Time To Get A Passport
Monday, December 28, 2015
Open Carry Of AK-47s For White People, Execution By Cop For Black Kids Carrying Toy Guns
We Will Increase The Number of Substitutes By Paying Them Less
I think it's cute that anybody pretends that the plan was supposed to succeed.
Maybe Another 28 Friedmans
In private, top Afghan and American officials have begun to voice increasingly grim assessments of the resurgent Taliban threat, most notably in a previously undisclosed transcript of a late-October meeting of the Afghan National Security Council.
“We have not met the people’s expectations. We haven’t delivered,” Abdullah Abdullah, the country’s chief executive, told the high-level gathering. “Our forces lack discipline. They lack rotation opportunities. We haven’t taken care of our own policemen and soldiers. They continue to absorb enormous casualties.”
Arming and training. Arming and training. Arming and training. Arming and training.
Sunday, December 27, 2015
Shit Is Fucked Up And Bullshit
I know, don't read the comments, but I guess I will never stop being surprised by the number of people in this country who truly believe that anything bad that happens is the victim's fault.
Just Add Gasoline
WASHINGTON — Foreign arms sales by the United States jumped by almost $10 billion in 2014, about 35 percent, even as the global weapons market remained flat and competition among suppliers increased, a new congressional study has found.
Feeling The Webbmentum
Webb Attacks Clinton With Eye on Independent Run
If he declared an outsider presidential bid, the former Democratic candidate could have an outsize effect on the race.
Or, you know, not.
Happy hols
Watched Peter & Wendy and was tearing up almost from the beginning.
And, of course, I ate too much.
It was after midnight before I finally got around to putting up what used to be the Christmas post, but was reduced to just a quick list of the traditional links and a bunch of political stuff with a bit of other froth, but of course, there is music, too. Anyway, it'll give you something to read while waiting to either hide from drunks or be one of them on New Year's Eve.
Saturday, December 26, 2015
I Can See An Empty Bank Account From My Window
With oil prices down along with oil production, the state is facing an Alaska-size shortfall: Two-thirds of the revenue needed to cover this year’s $5.2 billion state budget cannot be collected.
Many Alaskans are not old enough to recall times this bad. This is the nation’s least-taxed state, where oil royalties and energy taxes once paid for 90 percent of state functions. Oil money was so plentiful that residents received annual dividend checks from a state savings fund that could total more than $8,000 for a family of four — arriving each autumn, as predictable as the first snowfall.
The Day After
Friday, December 25, 2015
Heckuva Job
Does everyone see that the Democrats and President Obama are now, because of me, starting to deport people who are here illegally. Politics!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 25, 2015
Do They Even Live In This World
And as for Christmas itself...Well, open presents, early meal, and then... it's movie time! Gotta do something before you start fighting with the in-laws.
I've spent a couple Xmases in England, where it's (hard to believe) a bigger deal than in the US. They shut down the tube/bus network in London so mostly people don't go out. But they do open the champagne at around 10 AM as it's perhaps the biggest piss-up of the year. Holidays are supposed to be fun!
As Roy says, why don't you know what your friends do for the holidays? Strange people.
Thursday, December 24, 2015
Life
I think I worked illegally somewhere once. I never quite figured it out. Bureaucracy is messy. I'm a person from a relatively privileged background and existence, but if suddenly they had said "uh, sorry, we can't pay you anymore and byebye" it wouldn't have been a small thing. And if I had a spouse? Kids?
Most people in the US can't imagine themselves in that situation. For various reasons, I can. Deporting people who have been here awhile is a horrible, mean, punitive, pointless thing to do.
Fuck yeah.
Sacred
But First Ward Councilman Tommy Cotter and Councilman-at-large Juan Perez last week opposed the abatement for 230-250 Ave. E, saying they don't want to help the project move forward because they don't think it provides enough parking.
"I know there's a light rail station (near the project) but there's nothing more sacred to day-to-day life in Bayonne than parking spaces," Perez said.
Cotter shared that sentiment, saying that while the project meets the minimum requirement of a 0.5 parking-to-unit ratio, that ratio is too small for Bayonne, which already suffers from insufficient parking spaces. The ratio should be at least 1.25, he said.
Really just not enough parking.
Wednesday, December 23, 2015
Life Day Eve Eve
Yah I know this blog sucks. You're used to it by now.
It's A Grift
I've never understood the "ZOMG RUBIO IS THE GUY TO BEAT" sentiment, but in addition to that, a campaign requires a... campaign. People are going to get rich off of Rubio, but he isn't going to win anything if that's "his" strategy.
It Moved!
Workers at the Seattle waterfront switched on the power to the world’s largest boring machine and revved it forward early Tuesday, bringing hope to the Highway 99 tunnel project after a two-year delay.
The drill known as Bertha advanced 1½ feet, the Washington State Department of Transportation announced in an update.
Shit is Fucked Up And Bullshit
A British Muslim family heading for Disneyland was barred from boarding a flight to Los Angeles by US authorities at London’s Gatwick airport amid concerns of an American overreaction to the perceived terrorist threat.
US Department of Homeland Security officials provided no explanation for why the country refused to allow the family of 11 to board the planeeven though they had been granted travel authorization online ahead of their planned 15 December flight.
Tuesday, December 22, 2015
So Savvy
Why Do Old People Live At The Beach?
Leaving aside the specifics of that issue, the general point is that The Kids Today have it pretty hard. College (even state schools) is absurdly expensive. Real estate is absurdly expensive in most places. Nobody has a defined pension plan anymore, and 401(K)s have worked so badly that nobody even bothers to try anymore. Old Economy Steve had a pretty good run. His kids, not so much.
Did It?
After being stalled for two years, Bertha is set to resume boring Monday morning underneath the Seattle waterfront.
I'm not picking on Seattle with my minor Bertha obsession. It just seems to be an obviously bad project which was set up in an obviously bad way to benefit waterfront landowners in a city with immense traffic problems. Nothing all that special about any of that, except the might fail catastrophically part.
Monday, December 21, 2015
They Heart Vlad
Hillary Clinton, You're Our Only Hope
That movie would've tanked without the Clinton nod on a pre-Christmas Saturday night debate that nobody watched.
No spoilers in the comments assholes.
#jarjarforever
Something
Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo of New York said on Sunday that he would seek out and pardon thousands of people who were convicted of nonviolent crimes as teenagers but have since led law-abiding lives.
Shouldn't have to do this. No minor who gets involved in the criminal justice system for nonviolent crimes should have that record follow them around for the rest of their lives, though this step won't entirely solve this problem for these people.
Digby is having her
Sunday, December 20, 2015
Acqua Alta
Don't Blame the Voters
I'm sure a few of those people exist, and not just online, but for the most part people who spend precious time actually thinking about politics, including ones writing anguished Daily Kos Diaries or pissed off wonky housing policy critiques on sucky baby blue blogs, actually vote. It isn't THE LEFT who doesn't vote in midterms, it's Democrats.
But it was a useful bit of blame shifting. It wasn't the people who spent hundreds of millions of contributor dollars (raised with increasingly disgusting fundraising tactics by the DCCC especially) and who recruited a bunch of crappy candidates who were at fault. No, it was the fault of the politically immature dirty fucking hippie part of the coalition. Especially the ones on the internet, the patchouli powered internet.
We're already seeing the general election version of this, which is "ZOMG BERNIE SANDERS SUPPORTERS WILL LOSE THE ELECTION FOR HILLARY CLINTON BY REFUSING TO VOTE." Good story bro, 10.5 months away from the election. Maybe there will even be some truth it! But it's the candidate's (and the campaign's and the party's) job to win elections. It's their job to get people to the polls and push the correct button. That's what they collected all that money and hired all of those people for. You have to win elections with the electorate you have, not the electorate you want.
I'd probably push the team 'D' lever in a presidential election (almost) no matter who the candidate was, and I'd probably argue with anyone who suggested that it's better for that candidate to lose than to win (which is the argument if you're arguing that people shouldn't vote). But when candidates lose, it isn't the fault of voters, it's the the fault of the candidates. Still, hey, go ahead and start blaming Bernie-bros 10.5 months away from the election. That's the clear path to victory! Or, at least, the clear path to excusing your own failure.
That's Their Power
Of course that's a bit undercut by the fact that it's a superpower that is never used, but giving people license to lie with impunity, and having lies granted additional weight through the authority granting "anonymous source" process and then pasted onto the front pages of our nation's most respected newspapers, without any possible negative consequences, doesn't seem like an especially good idea.
And if you have high level sources in government who are attempting to leak lies for partisan purposes, that's actually the important story. "Top NSA (or whatever) staffer attempts to use press to manipulate election results." Kind of a big deal, really. Bring that story to your editor!
The Silliest Genre
People on the internet are assholes. Pretty sure everyone should have figured that out by now.
Saturday, December 19, 2015
Shit is Fucked Up And Bullshit
Flint switched its water supply in April 2014, drawing its drinking water from the Flint River while a new regional water system it plans to join next year is under construction. The local water treatment plant, with the approval of the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality, failed to add chemicals to the river water that would have prevented lead in aging service lines from leaching into the water. All of these decisions were made with the approval of a series of emergency managers, appointed by Snyder to guide the city back to financial stability.
Within months, the amount of lead in Flint's drinking water soared. Lead poisoning is irreversible, and can cause behavioral and developmental problems in children.
Guilty
Whatever I thought about the case (GUILTY!), I wasn't there and wasn't on the jury, but from what I read there was enough ambiguity that maybe she could have won that gamble. She didn't.
Okay Here's Your Data, Bernie
What a shit sandwich.
Morning Thread
Friday, December 18, 2015
Stories Behind Stories
Shortly after the press conference, D.N.C. chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz appeared on CNN to dismiss Weaver's claims. "Unfortunately, the Sanders campaign doesn't have anything other than bluster at the moment that they can put out there," she said.
Sir, What Will Your Pleasure Be?
The Internet Left Is So Mean!!!
The Conservative MP Lucy Allan must have felt left out of this story, so she added a death threat to herself at the bottom of a constituent’s letter, writing “unless you die” so she could complain about it being violent. This must be terrifying for her, sending death threats to herself like this. She must have Post-it notes she’s written to herself on the fridge that say: “Remember to buy Cheesy Wotsits for the kid’s party. Or I’ll bury you alive, you bloodsucking whore.”
Then Corbyn finally went too far and attended a Stop the War Christmas dinner. Surely if he had any decency he’d behave like a proper MP and go to a dinner with arms traders or offshore bankers instead. Can’t he see he’s undermining the good work of parliamentarians who go to great lengths to support British Aerospace, trying to stop wars that are essential to the financial stability of the cluster bomb industry?
One complaint about the Stop the War coalition is that it has expressed support for President Assad. This is an impressive accusation if you’re a supporter of Tony Blair, because when Blair was Prime Minister he invited Assad on a state visit at which the President spoke of his “warm personal relations” with Blair. Then Blair established similarly warm relations with Gaddafi and Mubarak. He was probably trying to tick off all Arab dictators, the way some people like to visit all 92 football league grounds.
Thursday, December 17, 2015
Jayyuuuubb Creeeeaaashion
I do not understand why Very Serious Economists do not address this issue.
Signed,
Atrios, Ph. D
The Real Issue
Deficit obsession only exists when it serves the Republican agenda. Otherwise, everyone ignores it. Propose spending some money to fix some bridges or to give some food to starving poor people then ZOMG THE DEFICIT. Propose bombing random people or cutting taxes for billionaires.... silence.
Guest Post From Martin Shkreli
I know I have lots of competition, but I have to admit that I really am, at least for today, America's Worst Human.
-M "huggywuggies" Shkreli
Don't Think It's The First Time
This won’t happen quickly. Ads have been getting increasingly annoying for years; they’re not going to suddenly become demure and well-behaved overnight. But, for the first time since the web was invented, 2016 will be a year when adtech is forced into retreat.
Maybe it's the first cycle for mobile ads, but not the interwebs in general.
Advertisers pay more for annoying ads and presumably get much less. Find me one human who has purchased anything after being seduced by the joys that can only be provided by an auto-on audio/video ad?
Fed'd
I don't think a tiny rate increase will destroy the economy, but it does signal that the Fed will never again allow wages to increase. That's a bit depressing. Who would have thought we'd miss the good old days of Alan Greenspan?
Oh No, Bro
A boyish drug company entrepreneur, who rocketed to infamy by jacking up the price of a life-saving pill from $13.50 to $750, was arrested on securities fraud related to a firm he founded.
Martin Shkreli, 32, ignited a firestorm over drug prices in September and became a symbol of defiant greed. The federal case against him has nothing to do with pharmaceutical costs, however. Prosecutors charged him with illegally taking stock from Retrophin Inc., a biotechnology firm he started in 2011, and using it pay off debts from unrelated business dealings. He was later ousted from the company, where he’d been chief executive officer, and sued by its board.
In the case that closely tracks that suit, federal prosecutors accused Shkreli of engaging in a complicated shell game after his defunct hedge fund, MSMB Capital Management, lost millions. He is alleged to have made secret payoffs and set up sham consulting arrangements.
Wednesday, December 16, 2015
Crazy Ideas
Contractionary policy is contractionary
hmmm.....
No of course I'm not suggesting that I originated the concept or even the phrase, but if only people had listened a bit earlier...
Duh
A Truly Great Partner
Saudi Arabia has announced the formation of an “Islamic military alliance” to combat global terrorism, an effort to respond to Western assertions that it could do more in the fight against the Islamic State and to solidify its claim to leadership of the Sunni world against Shiite Iran.
The 34-member group, to be headquartered in Riyadh, will coordinate mutual anti-terrorism assistance for members “all over the Islamic world,” Deputy Crown Prince and Defense Minister Mohammed bin Salman said in a rare news conference Tuesday.
This will go well. Though I guess the script has changed. We're no longer helping the poor people of Syria, we're just killing "bad guys." I'm sure this new Islamic military alliance will find all the bad guys and then some.
I Can't Believe There's Still a Kiddie Table
The Republicans must be heard. All of them. Again and again and again and again.
Tuesday, December 15, 2015
America's Worst Humans
If I said something equivalent, the FBI would be at my house. At least a few lawsuits might bloom.
Looters
McGovern and her handpicked team of former AT&T colleagues have presided over a string of previously unreported management blunders that have eroded the charity’s ability to fulfill its core mission of aiding Americans in times of need.
Under McGovern, the Red Cross has slashed its payroll by more than a third, eliminating thousands of jobs and closing hundreds of local chapters. Many veteran volunteers, who do the vital work of responding to local fires and floods have also left, alienated by what many perceive as an increasingly rigid, centralized management structure.
Far from opening offices in every city and town, the Red Cross is stumbling in response to even smaller scale disasters.
Right or wrong (probably wrong) they can raise giant amounts money any time there's a disaster. But, you know, gotta run it like a business!
Not really blunders. Just the plan.
Nobody Could Have Predicted
Official schedules say the machine should be ready to dig by Dec. 23, though Dixon has said workers might take a holiday break first, after weeks of overtime.
Monday, December 14, 2015
This Will Probably Doom Trump's Campaign
Donald Trump has crossed the 40 percent threshold in a new national poll, giving the Republican presidential candidate the largest lead he’s held in any survey so far.
A Monmouth University poll released Monday found Trump taking 41 percent support and opening up a 27-point lead over the next closest contender ahead of Tuesday night’s Republican presidential debate in Las Vegas.
I don't think I did/would have predicted Trump's level of current success, but once he started getting high poll numbers all of the "TRUMP IS DOOMED THIS TIME" stories from the people who are paid lots of money to explain this stuff to us were hilarious. The only good information about a primary like this is poll numbers. They certainly can change, and they do, but pundits think their guts know truths that polls cannot reflect. The rich people who gchat with them know special things.
2012 was similarly hilarious with all of the savvy pundits hating Nate Silver. Silver was no wizard. He basically averaged polls and managed to make that actually interesting by forming an extended narrative about them. THE POLLS ARE ALL WRONG! NATE SILVER IS A FALSE PROPHET they all cried. It's true that all of the polls could have been wrong. That's possible! But without the polls, you have little more than the voices in your head.
Helpful
PARIS — The French authorities said on Monday that a teacher who claimed to have been stabbed with scissors and a box cutter at a preschool near Paris had fabricated the story.
A police official in Aubervilliers confirmed that the teacher, who has not been identified, admitted to having invented the assault at the Jean Perrin preschool in Aubervilliers, a northern suburb of Paris.
The Partisan Trap
Right.
Sunday, December 13, 2015
Flavor of the Week
Is That It?
These efforts to stop Isis earning money from oil is starting to have an effect. Production fell by 30 per cent in December at al-Omar and al-Tanak.
It sounds like the bombing is making it be dangerous to be an oil worker (because you might be bombed!), and is not actually focused on blowing up valuable infrastructure which would be easier and kill fewer people.
Fuck yeah.
Saturday, December 12, 2015
The Weird Time Of Year
What Day Is It Again?
Friday, December 11, 2015
But What About The Laser Beams That Shoot Out Of Their Eyes?
The Parking People
Somebody Called the Wahmbulance
I'm sure there are a lot of "good cops." The people I knew from high school who became local cops were bullies and assholes in high school. Maybe they became good cops, too. None of us were exactly perfect in high school. That they were assholes then doesn't mean they stayed assholes. Still, the high school asshole to cop career trajectory was telling.
Thursday, December 10, 2015
Thursday Crass Commercialism
Some Employees
WOLFSBURG, Germany — Volkswagen said on Thursday that its emissions cheating scandal began in 2005 with a decision to heavily promote diesel engines in the United States and a realization that those engines could not meet clean air standards.
What followed was a textbook example of what happens when ambition combines with weak internal controls and ethical standards, the company acknowledged as it presented a preliminary report of its investigation into the origins of the scandal.
Some employees, the company found, chose to cheat on emissions tests rather than to curtail Volkswagen’s American campaign.
“There was a tolerance for breaking the rules,” Hans-Dieter Pötsch, the chairman of Volkswagen’s supervisory board, said here on Thursday, at his first lengthy news conference since the emissions cheating came to light in September. “That is the hardest thing to accept,” he added.
It's just so hard to accept. It's just a mystery! How did this happen? We must get to the bottom of this! It's also confusing and no one really gets it.
Whatever.
Good Guys With Guns
When I was growing up, I "knew" the city was a scary place where crime happened. I never thought about it anywhere else. Not saying my characterization of the city was necessarily correct at the time, just that the entire point of living in the burbs was that it was safe. That characterization might not have been correct, either, but I don't remember people worrying about "protecting themselves" all the time. Where did this come from?
Wednesday, December 09, 2015
Get Out There And Rock And Roll The Bones
But the point of this post is actually the opposite. This blog exists for many other reasons now. Admittedly one is that it's my primary income source! In addition, it's sustained by, and sustained for, the active community. I do it all for you bastards, more or less. Still there are limits to how much ranting on the internets can change the world. So we (and I mean we, including me!), should occasionally think about doing more. Changing the world is hard work.
It's A Million Miles Away
Pet Peeve
Tuesday, December 08, 2015
The Immigrant Hordes
I've traveled a bit all around this great big world, and it's pretty clear to me that places that don't have much immigration are... ossified. A bit frozen in time, and not in a good way.
Gun Groper Jargon
Anyway, I obviously wasn't trying to argue with the army about its terminology for various vehicles, my point was simply that, "oh, this thing is something that most people would call a tank." Because it looks like a tank and probably is pretty similar to vehicles which, in the past, have just been called tanks. I have no interest in arguing about this. A big heavy armored vehicle with guns is, to me, a "tank." That the army calls it something else, that there is some important distinction to them about what is or isn't a tank is fine with me. No argument.
Gun gropers love to play these games with terminology. "Assault weapons" don't exist. Most automatic weapons are really semi-automatic weapons, until you call something a semi-automatic weapon and then suddenly it isn't really a semi-automatic weapon, it's, I don't know, a crossbow or something. They brag about their giant detachable death penises that can fire 30 rounds per minute but then argue with you because they can really only fire 26 rounds per minute and YOU KNOW NOTHING ABOUT GUNS SO SHUTUPSHUTUPSHUTUPSHUTUP. Gun show loopholes aren't loopholes they're just methods by which people legally buy guns at gun shows, and any attempts to close gun show loopholes are serious violations of FREEDUM.
Jargon exists for good reasons, but that "outsiders" fail to understand its fine nuances doesn't mean that they can't comment on the problem of millions of idiot gun gropers owning death machines. It just means they don't have subscriptions to several gun groper fetish magazines.
Prime Targets
An East Texas police chief is urging residents to arm themselves against terrorists after listening to President Barack Obama's Sunday night address to the nation.
Gun gropers will take any excuse to spend their retirement funds on more guns, but given stories that people have told me over the years, I'm pretty sure people in places like Hughes Springs, population 1760, really do believe the terraists are coming for them.
Wolverines!
Monday, December 07, 2015
Stateless
In a statement from his campaign, Trump called for a "total and complete shutdown" of Muslims entering the United States until elected leaders can "figure out what is going on."
When asked by The Hill whether that would include Muslim-American citizens currently abroad, Trump spokeswoman Hope Hicks replied over email: "Mr. Trump says, 'everyone.'"
Even US citizens. Well then.
The Miracles Of Modern Education
Many Americans agree and are stocking up on weapons after the country’s worst mass shooting in three years. Gun retailers are reporting surging sales, with customers saying they want to keep handguns and rifles at hand for self-defense in the event of another attack.
“Everyone is reporting up, every store, every salesman, every distributor,” said Ray Peters, manager of Range, Guns & Safes, a company that sells firearms and safes in Atlanta with an indoor firing range. “People are more aware of the need to protect themselves.”
Oh, wait, you're saying a bunch of idiots who have never had any gun instruction probably just went out and bought a bunch of guns they don't know how to use? I'm feeling safer already.
Peters usually carries a pistol with him. But since last week’s shooting, he says he’s added a Ruger semiautomatic rifle.
At least Peters probably know what he's doing. Glad his second detachable death penis has made him feel safer.
More seriously, I live in an urban hellhole, one of those places which does actually have regular gun violence. I don't walk around feeling unsafe. Sure I could get mugged by someone with a gun. It happens. I just doubt that pulling out my own gun (or two!) would increase my likelihood of not getting shot. Kinda think it would be the opposite. If someone just wanted to kill me I probably wouldn't see the person before it happened.
I don't understand these people.
Everything Will Be Fine Until It Isn't
What's It All About Then
But they're all bad so it's ok.
Sunday, December 06, 2015
Another 20,000 Should Do The Trick
Washington (CNN)The U.S. Air Force has fired off more than 20,000 missiles and bombs since the U.S. bombing campaign against ISIS began 15 months ago, according to the Air Force, leading to depleted munitions stockpiles and calls to ramp up funding and weapons production.
A Family of Gun Gropers
I don't think most gun gropers really believe they need guns to "protect their family." They have vigilante fantasies. They *want* to have to protect their family. They want to shoot a scary person.
Saturday, December 05, 2015
Kinda Hard to Use More Than One at a Time
ROCHESTER HILLS, Mich. (wxyz) - A Rochester Hills man who owned 145 guns was arrested for allegedly shooting at his wife earlier this week.
I don't think gun obsessions are necessarily (though they can be!) all that different from any other obsession. As a species we seem to be pretty good at obsessing about stuff. Could be sports, or knitting, or video games, or whatever. Though there is one key difference. Guns are for killing people. I suppose those knitting needles can be dangerous too, but...
Area Fed Chief Does Not Understand Monetary Policy
Accordingly, I would like to see rates raised sooner rather than later. With an early start, we can better ensure that monetary accommodation is removed gradually and that inflation returns to the Fed’s 2 percent target smoothly. My fear is that the Federal Reserve risks losing its credibility and only adds uncertainty to the economic landscape the longer the Committee waits to begin normalizing policy.Raising rates is how we increase inflation now?
Friday, December 04, 2015
They Think It's Ok
Feeling The Rubiomentum
Donald Trump is once again alone at the top of the Republican field, according to the latest CNN/ORC Poll, with 36% of registered Republicans and Republican-leaning independents behind him, while his nearest competitor trails by 20 points.
Three candidates cluster behind Trump in the mid-teens, including Texas Sen. Ted Cruz at 16%, former neurosurgeon Ben Carson at 14% and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio at 12%. All other candidates have the support of less than 5% of GOP voters in the race for the Republican Party's nomination for president.
The War Was Great, Everybody Got Rich
The Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) is asking why a small Department of Defense task force charged with developing the Afghan economy spent nearly $150 million on private villas, security guards and luxury meals while operating in the country between 2010 and 2014.
But we can't have any nice things at home.
Thursday, December 03, 2015
Teatime Thread
The Los Angeles Times:
Farook and Malik used two assault rifles and two semi-automatic handguns in the attack on the party, all of which were purchased legally, according to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. A federal law enforcement source told the Los Angeles Times that the guns were bought at Annie's Get Your Gun, a firearms retailer in nearby Corona that advertises itself as a "family-friendly gun store."
They Don't Pray
Wednesday, December 02, 2015
The Guns We Will Always Have With Us
9/11 Is The High Holy Day For Conservatives
But fueled by voter fears about ISIS after the attacks in Paris — and a subsequent boost from the largest paper in one of the key early primary states — New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie is focusing on terrorism.
At a standing-room only town hall inside the firehouse in tiny Loudon, N.H., the crowd took the Pledge of Allegiance facing a poster of firefighters raising the American flag at the World Trade Center site on Sept. 11, 2001. And it was fear of another such attack that hung heavy over Christie's 36th town hall meeting here.
They do remember the good old days, when 3000 people died and libturds were on the run.
Because It Isn't Pointed Out Enough
Bombs Away
Has Rahm Deleted His Account Yet?
The World's Worst Humans
He's got the whole Murdoch empire to do that for him, but he just couldn't help himself.
Early Morning.
Tuesday, December 01, 2015
Evening Reading
Or buy Robert's book!
Krgthulu's come a long way (as I have, in my own somewhat different way.)
This Time It's Different
That whole Libya intervention thing didn't work out so well. Benghazi (real and BENGHAZI) is a distraction from that.
We'll know better next time.
Hippies to the Left of Me, Hippies to the Right
There's Always A Holiday Somewhere
The sale of $1 billion in government bonds — a key financing element to ensure there is sufficient funding to complete the American Dream Meadowlands shopping and entertainment complex — may not be issued until early next year, officials said.
Tony Armlin, vice president of development and construction for Triple Five, the Canada-based conglomerate that is building American Dream, had said in an interview in September that the bonds would be issued "in the next several weeks." But Debbie Patire, a Triple Five spokeswoman, confirmed Tuesday a revised timeline for issuing the bonds that executives at the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority first described last week.
That state agency is expected to issue about $350 million in bonds that will be repaid to institutional investors via the transfer of Triple Five’s annual tax savings through a state grant.
Actual Good News
EUTAW, Ala. — After decades of relentless rise, the number of new cases of diabetes in the United States has finally started to decline.
The rate of new cases fell by about a fifth from 2008 to 2014, according to researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the first sustained decline since the disease started to explode in this country about 25 years ago.
Lots Of Things Are Mysteries To Old Economy Steve
The contemporary world is so puzzling. The answers are so elusive.
Overnight/Early Morning
Monday, November 30, 2015
Not Interested In Your Club
I don't think atheism needs to be rescued, I just don't know why people need to be assholes about this stuff. And, no, saying something "seems to be pretty silly" isn't actually being an asshole unless your feefees are way too tender. Happy for people to say atheism "seems to be pretty silly." Just don't ask me to say Christian grace before lunch, like my 5th grade public school teacher did.
By Design
But to devote so much time to algebra, ninth graders are no longer taking art, music and health. Now Ms. Brady and the other teachers are trying to pare the curriculum to give the students more time for other subjects.
And some people wonder if it is all worth it.
Sunday, November 29, 2015
If It's Sunday
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Guest lineups for the Sunday TV news shows:
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ABC's "This Week" - Republican presidential candidates Ben Carson and John Kasich.
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NBC's "Meet the Press" - Carson; Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump.
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CBS' "Face the Nation" - Carson; Republican presidential candidates Jeb Bush and Lindsey Graham; Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz.
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CNN's "State of the Union" - Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee; Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas.
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"Fox News Sunday" - Republican presidential candidate Carly Fiorina; Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C.
The Good War
The leadership of the Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL, is now clenching its grip on Surt so tightly that Western intelligence agencies say they fear the core group may be preparing to fall back to Libya as an alternative base if necessary, a haven where its jihadists could continue to fight from even if it was ousted from its original territories.
Of course nobody could have predicted precisely. Some of us just said that maybe we should just stop bombing people all the time because no matter how noble and pure our intentions are, no matter how shiny this shining city in the hill is, it probably won't end well.
I guess we can give it one more go. See you in a few Friedmans.
Saturday, November 28, 2015
What's It All About Then
As NBC reporting, source tells me PP shooting politically motivated. After being arrested suspect said to officers: "no more baby parts"
— Wesley Lowery (@WesleyLowery) November 28, 2015
Pro-Life Murderers
Shit Is Fucked Up And Bullshit
The shooting came at a time when Planned Parenthood has been criticized because of surreptitious videos made by anti-abortion groups of officials discussing using fetal organs for research.
"Surreptitious." Yes that's a full and appropriate way to describe videos. Oh, yes, "deceptively-edited"might be a start.
Assholes.
Friday, November 27, 2015
I Guess The Hippies Were Right Again
Less than a year ago, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo of New York proclaimed that the key to transforming the state’s education system was tougher evaluations for teachers, and he pushed through changes that increased the weight of student test scores in teachers’ ratings.
Now, facing a parents’ revolt against testing, the state is poised to change course and reduce the role of test scores in evaluations. And according to two people involved in making state education policy, Mr. Cuomo has been quietly pushing for a reduction, even to zero. That would represent an about-face from January, when the governor called for test scores to determine 50 percent of a teacher’s evaluation.
Basically they couldn't get with foisting on suburban districts the stuff they've been destroying urban schools with for the past dozen or so years.
Nice, Polite Brits
Vaporware
There’s also the consideration of specific lanes for autonomous vehicles. How many should be built, and when?
“Do we need 12-foot lanes? Can we get by with 9½- or 10-foot lanes?” said Biter, the Florida transportation official. “We can turn that four-lane express highway into a six-lane express highway with literally the same right-of-way footprint.”
Sure restriping lanes isn't the biggest deal, but I suspect for these things to actually work to whatever extent they will, a lot of public infrastructure will have to be added...
Thursday, November 26, 2015
Debates
Wednesday, November 25, 2015
Post-Apocalyptic Hellscape
I am glad that Penn and Temple are no longer slum-looking schools, and that Drexel is coming up fast, but I could appreciate them more if I did not have to park several blocks away to avoid parking meters.
Burn it all down.
New Jersey Dreaming
Tuesday, November 24, 2015
Going To Trial
Knott faces trial on a count of conspiracy, two counts of aggravated assault, and related offenses in the Sept. 11, 2014, attack on a gay couple in Center City. Jury selection is expected to take place Dec. 9. Opening statements would likely begin the next day.
Michael Barry, chief of the District Attorney's Central Division, told Judge Roxanne Covington during a pretrial motions hearing Tuesday that Knott had posted "a number of tweets which clearly indicate a general dislike to a disgust of gays and lesbians and people of other backgrounds."
He said he was seeking to admit her tweets as evidence in her trial because "they are overwhelmingly relevant" and show a motive for her behavior on Sept. 11, 2014.
What's Going To Happen
This Shouldn't be Surprising
A charge of murder is expected to be filed against a white Chicago police officer accused of shooting a black teenager 16 times, just one day before a deadline by which a judge has ordered the city to release a squad-car video of the incident.
Everybody Gets A Medal
There's no polling to justify this, but, hey, this journalist is just gonna feel it at you. I guess Barbaro's wheel-o-beat-sweetener landed on Christie, so he'll keep humping that leg until Christie drops out. Polls are for gay wizards like Gandalf and Nate Silver.
Monday, November 23, 2015
Crazy Days, Man
Only Evil Bert is real!
Are The Kids Still On My Lawn?
I'm old enough now to see younger people expressing such sentiments too, and I respond like an old to some extent, thinking "no that actually sucked you idiot!" Maybe it did, maybe it didn't, but the kids are always on the lawn, with their hippity hop and their fleek and whatever the hell it is they're up to now.
Maybe In Another Friedman
Tunnel-boring machine Bertha, whose front end remains in pieces along the downtown waterfront, is to resume digging Nov. 23, according to a new timetable from the construction team.
That's from July. The new date for the completion of the training and arming of the moderate Bertha is December 23, because massive public works projects always start 2 days before Christmas.
There's Always Money For Killing Machines
Prime Minister David Cameron will announce plans Monday to boost Britain’s military equipment budget by 12 billion pounds ($18 billion), the latest in a range of government commitments to fight terrorism and other security threats as Europe remains on a state of high alert.
I'm sure the "military equipment budget" will do a heckuva job in its mission "to fight terrorism."
Sunday, November 22, 2015
Radical Proposals
No I'm not the first or only one, but I think it was an underappreciated proposal even from the good people who get more respect than I do. They "printed" a lot of money, they just gave it to the banks instead of us. The "monetary policy" mechanism shouldn't be banks 5 seconds after the banks basically destroyed the economy. The banking function is supposed to be efficient capital allocation. That's the justification. They aren't actually any good at that. They're good at slapping down money on the craps table, then blackmailing the House into making them whole when they lose it all.
Burbsplaining
The point isn't that one has to be a resident to comment or try to influence what happens here. You don't have to be a resident to be a genuine stakeholder, and plenty of nonresidents pay taxes to the city. The problem is that it's so many powerful and influential people. It's like the urban hellhole version of the "deep state." As a group they're powerful, and to a great degree they don't live here. But they have big microphones and big pocketbooks.
Of Course They Make Themselves Look Better
Such changes are at the heart of an expanding internal Pentagon investigation of Centcom, as Central Command is known, where analysts say that supervisors revised conclusions to mask some of the American military’s failures in training Iraqi troops and beating back the Islamic State. The analysts say supervisors were particularly eager to paint a more optimistic picture of America’s role in the conflict than was warranted.
In recent weeks, the Pentagon inspector general seized a large trove of emails and documents from military servers as it examines the claims, and has added more investigators to the inquiry.
Nobody ever actually explains what this "training" involves. It sounds nice. I suspect it involves finding a new bunch of recruits, giving them weapons, pointing them at the supposed bad guys du jour, and hoping for the best. Rinse and repeat.