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Thursday, April 30, 2015
Libertopia
Not all conservatives identify fully as libertarians, but except for the theocons they all sort of do. Freedum, liberty, small state, keep your law enforcement away from the public land I'm illegally squatting on, etc. The 2nd amendment is all about the right not just to combat acts of "tyranny" but of revolution itself.
But, somehow, as long as that tyranny is directed at the "right" people... Haven't yet seen any freedum lovers suggest that what the people in Baltimore need to do is buy more guns.
But, somehow, as long as that tyranny is directed at the "right" people... Haven't yet seen any freedum lovers suggest that what the people in Baltimore need to do is buy more guns.
What The Everloving Fuck
Emergency lights and sirens are obviously necessary, but they're also a major hazard and should be used for, you know, emergencies, not when America's Worst Governor (and really, there's a lot of competition) needs to go for a burger run.
ALBANY — Forget the state police escort, Gov. Cuomo can now drive himself to emergencies in his classic Corvette.
The Cuomo administration has quietly changed state regulations to reclassify any “motor vehicle owned or operated by” the governor and a handful of other top officials as emergency vehicles, allowing them to have flashing red and white emergency lights.
Nice Folks
For some reason there's something about the enablers - lawyers, doctors, psychologists - that angers me more than the architects.
WASHINGTON — The American Psychological Association secretly collaborated with the administration of President George W. Bush to bolster a legal and ethical justification for the torture of prisoners swept up in the post-Sept. 11 war on terror, according to a new report by a group of dissident health professionals and human rights activists.
The report is the first to examine the association’s role in the interrogation program. It contends, using newly disclosed emails, that the group’s actions to keep psychologists involved in the interrogation program coincided closely with efforts by senior Bush administration officials to salvage the program after the public disclosure in 2004 of graphic photos of prisoner abuse by American military personnel at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq.
Maybe Somebody Should Fix It
Locally this winter wasn't especially nice to our local roads and highways. But winter's over. There's a major highway which at times has 4-5 lanes each way which basically doesn't have any lane striping at the moment. One would think this is a bit unsafe. I'd say certain stretches need to be redone entirely, but at least get the damn paint truck out.
Wednesday, April 29, 2015
Wednesday Night
It appears the governor of Maryland is determined to destroy Baltimore. An interesting choice. Not very smart.
In The Hellholes
There's a lot of talk about urban gentrification. I think the primary focus is on involuntary displacement - with rents and increasing property taxes driving out long term residents. The latter is somewhat less of an issue, as higher property taxes mostly accompany higher property prices. It sucks if people are forced to move, but at least there's a payout.
Still, to me, the real issue, especially in my urban hellhole where it has been a slow process and evidence of involuntary displacement is limited (it could be more real than I know, but even anecdotal evidence seems to be missing), is what came before. It shouldn't take wealthy white people moving in for equitable public services - including schools and proper policing of the protect and serve variety - to show up in neighborhoods. But that's what happens. The focus shouldn't so much be on the gentrified neighborhoods, but the non-gentrified ones.
Still, to me, the real issue, especially in my urban hellhole where it has been a slow process and evidence of involuntary displacement is limited (it could be more real than I know, but even anecdotal evidence seems to be missing), is what came before. It shouldn't take wealthy white people moving in for equitable public services - including schools and proper policing of the protect and serve variety - to show up in neighborhoods. But that's what happens. The focus shouldn't so much be on the gentrified neighborhoods, but the non-gentrified ones.
Everybody Sucks and the System is Hopelessly Corrupt
I believe I am the first one to express this deep insight.
Green Shoots
Predictions are hard, especially about the future, but there's definitely the possibility that we'll have another recession...after never having a full recovery.
Hope it isn't the case!
The U.S. economy ground nearly to a halt in the first three months of the year, according to government data released Wednesday morning, as exports plunged and severe winter weather helped keep consumers indoors.
Hope it isn't the case!
Completely Full Of It
My take on Rand Paul is that he's basically completely full of shit and not all that bright. The Paul family brand is some weird flavor of libertarianism. His father seemed to be sincere in his ideology, even if you had to squint pretty hard at a lot of it to call it libertarian (though this is true for most of the well-funded libertarian industrial complex members). But even if we grant that some of it was libertarian, and some of that libertarianism was the kind that even liberals like, I don't think Rand Paul gives a crap about any of it. It's just a pose.
Or
Maybe it was cops killing an unarmed man after decades of police abuses?
The people who claim to be all about the freedum and liberty have no problem with state violence as long as it's aimed at certain people.
The people who claim to be all about the freedum and liberty have no problem with state violence as long as it's aimed at certain people.
Tuesday, April 28, 2015
Curfews
Of all the weird things that seem to be accepted as "normal," the concept of curfews in any context is just bizarre. Really, in Freedum States Of America, you're telling an entire city they can't leave their homes? That journalists can't be outside reporting on what's going on? That 2nd and 3rd shifters can't get to and from work?
News reports tell me Baltimore police have wide discretion on how they enforce the curfew, which just means they have one more tool to fuck with whoever they feel like fucking with.
News reports tell me Baltimore police have wide discretion on how they enforce the curfew, which just means they have one more tool to fuck with whoever they feel like fucking with.
It's My Job, Not My Neighborhood
I have mixed feelings about residency requirements for civil service jobs. On one hand I think it's good if people working for the city - especially police - have a personal stake in it. On the other hand, life is complicated and personal relationships can make it difficult for people to stay in one place. If your spouse, for example, has a job elsewhere, it might be difficult to maintain that residency.
But it is pretty nuts that 70% of Baltimore cops don't live there.
But it is pretty nuts that 70% of Baltimore cops don't live there.
Everybody Loves Joey
I imagine Joe keeps his job because it's the kind of show the head honchos wish MSNBC would broadcast all day.
Maybe Do Something For The People Who Live There
I'm no expert on Baltimore, and don't claim that my watching of The Wire in any way contributes to my knowledge, but it is a pretty good example of one of my pet peeves: an urban hellhole where so much public policy is aimed at attracting visitors. And by public policy I mean "spending lots of public money." If only a few more wealthy white people from the suburbs visit, all of our problems will be solved!
A Reminder
From Pierce:
Alas, in reality, this leaves us with a paradox best summed up by paraphrasing Jack Nicholson's line from Prizzi's Honor: if Dr. King was so fkin' unifying, how come he's so fking dead?
Stop Killing Unarmed People
We obviously can't expect the criminal justice system to be a sufficient deterrent for bad police practices. One can hope that renewed attention to these situations at least helps a little bit.
Cyberwar!
Cyberwar!
It's way harder to defend American computer networks from foreign hacker attack if one of the conditions is the networks have to be open to NSA surveillance.
As a nation, we need to prioritize defense over offense. Right now, the NSA and U.S. Cyber Command have a strong interest in keeping the Internet insecure so they can better eavesdrop on and attack our enemies. But this prioritization cuts both ways: We can't leave others' networks vulnerable without also leaving our own vulnerable. And as one of the most networked countries on the planet, we are highly vulnerable to attack. It would be better to focus the NSA's mission on defense and harden our infrastructure against attack.
Monday, April 27, 2015
The Age Of Celebrity
From the 90s through the Bush years there was a degree of celebritization of the DC press. The White House Correspondent's Dinner became the annual representation of that. Too often "the news" wasn't about the news, it was about the people providing the news. Even as journalists clung to their "objectivity," they (#notalljournalists) eagerly embraced their role as power brokers, an obviously contradictory position.
For various reasons I think that era is fading. Not gone, quite, but fading. Mark Halperin is still with us, but I'm not sure anybody really cares.
For various reasons I think that era is fading. Not gone, quite, but fading. Mark Halperin is still with us, but I'm not sure anybody really cares.
Liberal Fascism
The most scholarly work on liberal fascism, entitled Liberal Fascism, was written by The Editors. Sadly it is out of print, though I can guarantee that reading it would be torture.
Our Long National Nightmare Is Ahead Of Us
I woke up this morning and for some reason my fuzzy-brained first thought was something like, "The election is soon...why haven't there been more debates?"
It isn't soon.
It isn't soon.
Sunday, April 26, 2015
Is It So Hard?
I'm an anti-death penalty "extremist" but I admit to being confused by the difficulties in finding the right combination of drugs to kill people. Doesn't just opening a morphine tap do the trick? Don't misunderstand, I don't want to find new and better ways to kill people, I just don't get why this is actually a problem.
Stop It
Any time cops shoot and kill an unarmed man something has gone very wrong. Are there ever situations where this is an understandable and forgivable action? Probably. But, still, something has gone very wrong. Do not shoot unarmed people.
Saturday, April 25, 2015
Horrors
Earthquakes are assholes.
The number of dead always gets the headline, but the number of seriously injured and displaced is going to be way more. ugh.
The number of dead always gets the headline, but the number of seriously injured and displaced is going to be way more. ugh.
It's Happy Hour
The deli people at the Amish farmer's market make the most delicious chicken pot pies ever. No way I could make one as good. I could probably do it more cheaply, but $5.95 isn't prohibitively expensive.
Cheers.
Cheers.
Friday, April 24, 2015
Droney
Maybe he needs a few weeks off.
Pretty sure all the "militants" really don't have a good plan to come to the US and blow us up.
Pretty sure all the "militants" really don't have a good plan to come to the US and blow us up.
100% Diet Of Rendered Bacon Fat
One of the worst traits of political reporters is to think their contempt for flyover country means they understand it, instead of just meaning that they hate the great unwashed they perpetually pretend they're giving voice to.
It's like when Candy Crowley flipped her shit because John Kerry, prostate cancer sufferer, dared to try to order Green Tea. If you live in Real America you know that every supermarket sells a variety of types of tea, and that either restaurants have or don't have a basket of random tea options. Either they do or they don't. People in kabumfuck Iowa might have actually experienced something other than deep fried Twinkies with a side of Coke in their lives, and it's journalists who are being elitist assholes for assuming otherwise, not the politicians who don't.
edited for clarity
It's like when Candy Crowley flipped her shit because John Kerry, prostate cancer sufferer, dared to try to order Green Tea. If you live in Real America you know that every supermarket sells a variety of types of tea, and that either restaurants have or don't have a basket of random tea options. Either they do or they don't. People in kabumfuck Iowa might have actually experienced something other than deep fried Twinkies with a side of Coke in their lives, and it's journalists who are being elitist assholes for assuming otherwise, not the politicians who don't.
edited for clarity
Mean Testing Doesn't Get You Anywhere
Opening the door to means testing social security, a program which is already, in its own way, means tested, is really dumb in part because it doesn't actually "save" any money unless you apply it to people who really don't have much other post-retirement income. The point is that most people don't have much post-retirement income, so if you go after enough of them to actually claw some money back you're going to be going after a lot of people who aren't by any measure "rich."
Want to go after wealthy social security recipients? Increase the tax on unearned income.
Want to go after wealthy social security recipients? Increase the tax on unearned income.
Thursday, April 23, 2015
Let's Throw A Reception For That Guy
Because he's obviously awesome?
Probably already nominated for HRC's human of the year award, or whatever.
During the gathering, according to two attendees, Mr. Cruz said he would have no problem if one of his daughters was gay. He did not mention his opposition to same-sex marriage, saying only that marriage is an issue that should be left to the states.
The dinner and “fireside chat” for about a dozen people with Mr. Cruz and his wife, Heidi, was at the Central Park South penthouse of Mati Weiderpass and Ian Reisner, longtime business partners who were once a couple and who have been pioneers in the gay hospitality industry.
“Ted Cruz said, ‘If one of my daughters was gay, I would love them just as much,’” recalled Mr. Reisner, a same-sex marriage proponent who described himself as simply an attendee at Mr. Weiderpass’s event.
Probably already nominated for HRC's human of the year award, or whatever.
Spring Fundraising Funstravaganza Day The Last!
Thanks again to all of the generous people, and to everyone who comes back here regularly regardless. Hopefully we have a bit of fun and occasionally change the world just a little tiny bit.
One last chance!!
Also, too, never forget.
One last chance!!
Also, too, never forget.
The Human Centipede
I think like many people I am quite happy for journalists to go digging for actual scandals surrounding Hillary and Bill Clinton and the Clinton Foundation if they actually exist. But not with the "Clinton rules" where there's wet kindling there's fire rules.
Happy Bikeshare Day
Going live today, apparently. We'll see if they get it right (price points, locations, etc.). As I've written before, I'm a coward so I'm not likely to ride it north into Center City (I live in South Philly), but curious if it'll be useful for at least some east-west or southern trips. Will probably need a few more stations around for it to be useful for me for that purpose, but of course it isn't all about me!
Equal Treatment Under The Law
I keed.
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — David H. Petraeus, the highest-profile general from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, will most likely be sentenced to probation here on Thursday in a leak investigation that embarrassed him and created bitter disputes inside the Justice Department about whether he was receiving too much leniency from Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr.
Wednesday, April 22, 2015
Spring Fundraising Funstravaganza Day 6!!!!!!!!!!!
Serious thanks to all who have contributed. I'm bad about expressing gratitude, not because I don't feel it, but because I generally don't think I deserve whatever kudos (compliments, donations, etc.) I've received. Behind this asshole on the internet is just an insecure weirdo. But, really, thanks!
Final day is tomorrow. I think we might need one more Gwar video!!!
Final day is tomorrow. I think we might need one more Gwar video!!!
Happy Charles Krauthammer Day
I forget, does the commemoration involve lighting a puppy or a kitten on fire?
The Carson Raiders
I'm sure this will all go well with no cost to taxpayers.
Carson officials acknowledge that much of the deal with the developers will be negotiated in the coming months. Tuesday's vote is but one step.
The 26-page initiative petition pledged that no tax dollars would be used, but contained few specifics about the stadium. Goldman Sachs will lead the investment project, with personal seat licenses projected to account for about half of the cost.
A city-funded report released over the weekend repeatedly referenced the lack of detail: "As of the date of completion of this Report, no official project design documents have been provided by the Stadium Developer." That report also raised concerns about construction noise and finding another 16,000 off-site parking spots.
Smoking Bans
Smoking's been banned in almost all bars for several years now here in the urban hellhole. I'd guess most bar owners and smokers were against it before it happened, and that most (even the smokers!) appreciate the policy now. It's nice to be able to go out without worrying about your dry cleaning bill. And I think letting a few smoking bars remain was smart policy. There are still places where people who really want to drink and smoke can go.
Tuesday, April 21, 2015
Elections Matter
Asset tests basically tell the poors "fuck you, you're a poor for life."
Pennsylvania will eliminate the asset test for food stamps as of Monday, a spokeswoman for the Department of Human Services announced Thursday evening.
The move reverses a controversial initiative of former Gov. Tom Corbett, who saw the test as a way to cut down on fraud and waste.
Tuesday Evening
Lack of hot takes is in part due to the neverending joys of homeownership.
Talk amongst yourselves!
Talk amongst yourselves!
Spring Fundraising Funstravaganza Day The Fifth
Excuse the sucky blogging today. I am working really really hard at coming up with hot takes, but coming up empty.
I'm sure if you give me all your moneyz it'll power me up, Mario style.
I'm sure if you give me all your moneyz it'll power me up, Mario style.
Are They Just Trolling Us?
IIRC, the original "keep the government out of my Medicare" story from the early 90s was always thought to be apocryphal. At least, a tale told with no supporting evidence. But then it became a thing. And, I just don't...
That Won't Help
People keep saying water will be there for residential, it's just the farmers who will have to stop using it, but...
In a ruling with major implications for California's water conservation campaign, a state appeals court on Monday ruled that a tiered water rate structure used by the city of San Juan Capistrano to encourage conservation was unconstitutional.
The Orange County city used a rate structure that charged customers who used small amounts of water a lower rate than customers who used larger amounts.
Monday, April 20, 2015
Explanatory thread
“Thus did a handful of rapacious citizens come to control all that was worth controlling in America. Thus was the savage and stupid and entirely inappropriate and unnecessary and humorless American class system created. Honest, industrious, peaceful citizens were classed as bloodsuckers, if they asked to be paid a living wage. And they saw that praise was reserved henceforth for those who devised means of getting paid enormously for committing crimes against which no laws had been passed. Thus the American dream turned belly up, turned green, bobbed to the scummy surface of cupidity unlimited, filled with gas, went bang in the noonday sun.”
― Kurt Vonnegut, God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater, 1965
― Kurt Vonnegut, God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater, 1965
Spring Fundraising Funstravaganza Day 4
Whether you're here for the community or because occasionally my flapping butterfly wings have an impact, consider a wee contribution.
Who Loves Cars?
Sure, some people do, but the whole "America's love affair with cars" stuff is so stupid. In most places we've removed all other travel options, and even in the hellholes where driving isn't necessary it is a constant battle to stop the auto-centric transportation policies and development.
Cars are useful things! But just because they're necessary for most people doesn't mean they're loved.
Cars are useful things! But just because they're necessary for most people doesn't mean they're loved.
Can't Or Won't
I haven't known a lot of people in this situation, but do know one person for whom getting court ordered child support from someone who had the means to pay was like pulling teeth. But there's a difference between someone who is being a jerk, and someone who is just poor.
The warrant, the threat of another stay behind bars and the potential loss of yet another job caused him to run, a brother, Rodney Scott, said.
“Every job he has had, he has gotten fired from because he went to jail because he was locked up for child support,” said Mr. Scott, whose brother was working as a forklift operator when he died. “He got to the point where he felt like it defeated the purpose.”
Sunday, April 19, 2015
SPRING FUNDRAISING FUNSTRAVANGANZA DAY THREE
Was a bit busy so I kinda forget about day two yesterday. People have been more than a little generous, to say the least, so thankyouverymuch.
As I always say, this isn't charity. This isn't a substitute for any dogooder giving you might be considering. If I "needed" money I'd say so. If I had to, say, host a bake sale, which is how Real Americans pay for lifesaving medical treatment [/mordant humor], I'd say that. But if you spend some time here and want to skip a latte or two and contribute, it would be greatly appreciated. If not, that's fine too! If you're strapped for cash, please don't and don't feel bad about it! (Don't feel bad if you aren't strapped for cash either! It's just that over the years I've received some "guilty" emails from people saying they couldn't afford to and that always bums me out because really you shouldn't feel bad.)
As I always say, this isn't charity. This isn't a substitute for any dogooder giving you might be considering. If I "needed" money I'd say so. If I had to, say, host a bake sale, which is how Real Americans pay for lifesaving medical treatment [/mordant humor], I'd say that. But if you spend some time here and want to skip a latte or two and contribute, it would be greatly appreciated. If not, that's fine too! If you're strapped for cash, please don't and don't feel bad about it! (Don't feel bad if you aren't strapped for cash either! It's just that over the years I've received some "guilty" emails from people saying they couldn't afford to and that always bums me out because really you shouldn't feel bad.)
The Best Idea I've Heard In Years
Perhaps the only way to make people understand it is to turn it into a farce. Digby:
Between each scene, "Tom Friedman" can sing, in countertenor, "ANOTHER SIX MONTHS!"
I always thought Imperial Life in the Emerald City should actually be turned into a musical comedy in order to get the true feel for the outrageousness of the whole thing
Between each scene, "Tom Friedman" can sing, in countertenor, "ANOTHER SIX MONTHS!"
Everybody Gets Rich
I think the NRA runs our foreign policy, too. Just arm everybody and everything will be ok!
Pity the defense contractors.
(source)
WASHINGTON — To wage war in Yemen, Saudi Arabia is using F-15 fighter jets bought from Boeing. Pilots from the United Arab Emirates are flying Lockheed Martin’s F-16 to bomb both Yemen and Syria. Soon, the Emirates are expected to complete a deal with General Atomics for a fleet of Predator drones to run spying missions in their neighborhood.
As the Middle East descends into proxy wars, sectarian conflicts and battles against terrorist networks, countries in the region that have stockpiled American military hardware are now actually using it and wanting more. The result is a boom for American defense contractors looking for foreign business in an era of shrinking Pentagon budgets — but also the prospect of a dangerous new arms race in a region where the map of alliances has been sharply redrawn.
Pity the defense contractors.
(source)
Morning Thread
A Geyser of Money Worthy of Old Faithful, Digby. Amazing how much money these guys will spend to try and elect someone who will help them avoid a pittance in taxes. Tens of millions of dollars from just a handful of sources. No wonder my voice doesn't get heard, $25.00 is about the largest contribution I ever make.
Saturday, April 18, 2015
CSI: Just Making It Up
Shit is fucked up and bullshit.
The Justice Department and FBI have formally acknowledged that nearly every examiner in an elite FBI forensic unit gave flawed testimony in almost all trials in which they offered evidence against criminal defendants over more than a two-decade period before 2000.
Of Course!
This is the kind of thing that separated use zoning was meant so solve. Keep the stinky BBQ away from my humble abode. But separated use zoning came at a big price - automobile dependency - and who among us does not love the smell of BBQ?
What's It All About Then
The "actually speaking the truth" version of a gaffe.
And I thought it was all about the children? Nope. Real estate prices.
Yet collecting educational data is important for the future of education and can help define the the character of a town, said Nicole Brisbane, state director at Democrats for Education Reform.
"Schools are one of the biggest differentiators of value in the suburbs," she said. "How valuable will a house be in Scarsdale when it isn't clear that Scarsdale schools are doing any better than the rest of Westchester or even the state? Opting out of tests only robs parents of that crucial data.
And I thought it was all about the children? Nope. Real estate prices.
Saturday, Saturday
Weird late night out meant sleeping in for the first time in a long time (relatively speaking, not exactly an early riser by normal standards). Has a Republican said anything horrible today? What is Florida Man getting himself into?
Time for Brunch
From Echidne
Ratf--ker.
The point of this bill, Brownback tells us, is to get people to go to work! I haven't checked if Kansas funds daycare for single mothers on welfare so that they can go to work in one of the minimum wage jobs many of them would end up with. But whatever. At least they can't get tattoos and massages while taking cruises.
Ratf--ker.
Friday, April 17, 2015
No More Mandatory 21-Year-Old Drinking Age
This "no federal coercion" arguments are going to just get loopier and loopier.
(I think a feds-imposed 21-year-old drinking age is stupid, but don't think there are any good legal arguments based on coercion.)
...adding, after checking, the Court in Sebelius did actually try to separate the decision from the drinking age case explicitly, but gibberishly.
(I think a feds-imposed 21-year-old drinking age is stupid, but don't think there are any good legal arguments based on coercion.)
...adding, after checking, the Court in Sebelius did actually try to separate the decision from the drinking age case explicitly, but gibberishly.
Let Them Dumpster Dive
I know its standard blogger lingo to refer to Simpson-Bowles as the 'catfood commission' and to portray efforts to cut Social Security as a desire to put granny on a Meow Mix diet, but the truth is that catfood is expensive! It's really a plot to turn granny into a dumpster diver, to make her fight with the squirrels for discarded fried chicken from Popeye's (yes, the local squirrels do, in fact, sit on my back porch and eat fried chicken).
Few people have pensions or significant retirement accounts. Plenty of people, especially those with jobs that actually require physical labor, can't possibly be expected to be able to work until 69, or hold onto those jobs even if they are able.
I think that as a basic minimum, the majority of people in the very wealthy Greatest Country In The History Of The World should not have to worry about living lives of destitution and misery once they are unable to work. We are moving away from that goal.
Few people have pensions or significant retirement accounts. Plenty of people, especially those with jobs that actually require physical labor, can't possibly be expected to be able to work until 69, or hold onto those jobs even if they are able.
I think that as a basic minimum, the majority of people in the very wealthy Greatest Country In The History Of The World should not have to worry about living lives of destitution and misery once they are unable to work. We are moving away from that goal.
Trying Not To Annoy You
I admit I don't like to think too much about the "business" side of this blog, but I have deliberately resisted throwing up the increasingly annoying ads that all the big sites have now. I doubt a single product has ever been sold due to an auto-on video/audio ad or a pop-up type thing that covers up the whole page and forces you to play a "where's Waldo" find the tiny X game to get rid of it, but those are the innovations in internet advertising that are all the rage. I have no idea if I'd bring in more ad money by incorporating such things, but I'm not even going to try (I think some bad things have gotten through google ads before, but they aren't supposed to.)
So consider a wee contribution, or just remember to click on the amazon ads before you shop at amazon. Happy to take Jeff Bezos's money!
So consider a wee contribution, or just remember to click on the amazon ads before you shop at amazon. Happy to take Jeff Bezos's money!
Kudos To Christie
Not that I support raising the Social Security retirement age, of course, but at least he's finally put a number on it: 69. For years pundits and politicians have said that we needed to raise the retirement age, but most of them "accidentally" left out the fact that it is already being raised to 67. Few had the guts to actually say just what that raised age should be. Christie has, and in the future discussions will be more likely to be more specific about just what the current retirement age is. For people my age and younger (probably a bit older too, but I'm too lazy to look it up right now), it's 67.
SUPERTRAINS
That's pretty damn super.
And if I ran the zoo, right after I made everybody move to studio apartments in urban hellholes, I'd build lots of supertrains. But the super part isn't that necessary. Get average speeds back up to what they were before most of our passenger rail system was dismantled and train travel becomes a pretty good option for distances under 400 miles or so.
Central Japan Railway Co. said its magnetic levitation bullet train hit 590 kilometers per hour (366 miles per hour) on Thursday and broke the previous speed record set 12 years ago by the company.
And if I ran the zoo, right after I made everybody move to studio apartments in urban hellholes, I'd build lots of supertrains. But the super part isn't that necessary. Get average speeds back up to what they were before most of our passenger rail system was dismantled and train travel becomes a pretty good option for distances under 400 miles or so.
Make Our Lives Better
One reason I write about "urban" issues is that they're at the scale where it's easier to see how policy - good and bad - interact with daily lives. At that scale people also disagree about stuff and money corrupts, but it's easier to get a grasp on how you can't just wish government away. Zoning and land use decisions, transportation policies, and even things like noise/nuisance regulations all impact our daily lives in a big way. It isn't that the heavy hand of government is always good, it's more that civilization as we know it can't exist without it. When they build the libertarian paradise, they won't call their governing authority a "government" but they'll have one nonetheless.
Horrible People
It's a bit different now, with some of the "tea partiers" more willing to wear their snarls on their sleeves, but for years the media treated basically all Republicans as aw shucks jes folks even as they were advocating the most horrible punitive policies aimed at the most vulnerable people in the country. Democrats of course were complicit in a lot of the stuff - don't think I'm unaware - but the true crusaders for most things were the Republicans.
Kicking The Poors
So much contempt.
We earlier reported on the bill, which was passed by the Legislature in early April, and on the long discreditable history of poor-bashing. The measure bars spending relief funds on movies, at swimming pools, or on "cruise ships," as well as at any "jewelry store, tattoo parlor, massage parlor, body piercing parlor ... psychic or fortune telling business, bail bond company, video arcade ... or any retail establishment which provides adult-oriented entertainment in which performers disrobe or perform in an unclothed state."
It also places a $25 daily limit on ATM withdrawals using the debit cards issued to recipients under the state/federal Temporary Assistance to Needy Families program, which is what's left of America's welfare program. That renders the cards useless for major spending, such as paying the rent, but it does mean that users will pile up ATM fees at $1 per withdrawal, plus bank fees.
In other words, the Kansas Legislature and Gov. Brownback think it's scandalous that the state's poor would use TANF funds at a swimming pool, but it's OK with them if their funds are shamelessly drained by banks. There's also no ban on the poor buying guns.
Is This Thing Still On?
Apparently it's been on for 13 years! An appropriate time to kick off the exciting spring fundraiser!
Consider a wee donation.
Consider a wee donation.
Morning Thread
Good thing this computer thingy tells me the day and date in the upper right hand corner. Otherwise, I'd be very confused.
Thursday, April 16, 2015
Bro Much
When news reports about this first came out, I knew it was suburban bros and bro-esses. Not because I think all people from the burbs and are horrible, or because I think homophobia or anti-gay violence can't be perpetrated by city residents, but because I know the whole "go get liquored up and get into a fight in the urban theme park" is a suburban bro and bro-ess thing. I grew up in the Philly burbs (mostly). I know these people. The city is a playground where punching a few people for kicks and giggles is just one of the rides.
The two men and one woman accused of beating a gay couple on a Philadelphia street will go on trial.
Commonwealth Judge Frank Palumbo refused Thursday to downgrade charges against Philip Williams, 24; Kathryn Knott, 24; and Kevin Harrigan, 26.
The trio were held for trial in December on all counts, including aggravated assault, conspiracy and reckless endangerment stemming from the September incident.
Freedum
It always drives me crazy that it's actually godless heathen liberals that are fighting for actual religious freedom. Ok, the Bible is your official state book. Which one? They aren't all the same, you know. Can't even agree on what the 10 commandments are.
Why Didn't I Get Rich
I do think more journalists/columnists of a certain age (meaning ones not much older than me and younger) are coming around to the realization that the economy is screwing them, too. There was a moment when a lot of them (we're talking ones at elite outlets, not your random small town paper) thought they'd done everything right, would become celebrities, and get Tom Friedman's speaking fees. The economy sure was working for them, and screw everybody else.
But then, well, that didn't quite happen.
But then, well, that didn't quite happen.
Haterzzzz
I know I have weird hobbies, but I am constantly amazed that commenters at my local news site can find reasons to hate everything. Sure if you're a neighbor of a new big music venue you can have reasonable objections, but everyone else is just "hipsters lol the hood lol."
Damn Cyclists
Always riding on the sidewalks.
FINANCIAL DISTRICT — A car mounted the sidewalk and sent parents and children headed to school running for their lives — before hitting a woman and speeding away on Monday morning, police and witnesses said.
...
Witnesses said that Monday's crash was the latest instance of drivers going up onto the sidewalk to try to beat the morning rush-hour traffic on Beekman.
Wednesday, April 15, 2015
Shit Is Fucked Up And Bullshit
I know there are plenty of horrible people in the world, but I really don't get how they manage to find each other and conspire to do these things. Like, how does that whole "are you a horrible evil asshole who is willing to make people suffer immensely for a few bucks" conversation get started?
Where The Cars Are
The specifics are probably only of interest to locals, but there has definitely been cultural shift. When I moved to the urban hellhole, basically everybody I knew (including me!) had a car, and now almost nobody I know (meaning people I regularly socialize with) does.
The Final Play
There were some signs that at the last moment Labour would campaign on something pleasing. They chose Austerity Forever.
Morning Thread
Iowa Caucuses will be held on January 18, 2016, per wiki. New Hampshire votes January 28th. Only eight months to go.
Tuesday, April 14, 2015
Almost Forgot
I'm sure some of yinz in other states have had similar experiences, but it is quite incredible that once a judge legalized same sex marriage in Pennsylvania... everybody just stopped talking about it. I assume little Ricky Santorum will start the outrage machine at some point when he begins his quadrennial grifter tour, but basically no politicians bring it up. It's a settled issue.
Not Too Late
I'm sure I'll publish my tl;dr magnum opus about My Thoughts About Hillary Clinton Because My Thoughts Are Important at some point, but as for, "If we wanted somewhere better than Hillary to run, we should have organized to move the party to the left," well, it isn't really too late is it. Not that we're going have the Socialist Worker be required reading at the DNC anytime soon, but it isn't actually too late for an alternative candidate to make an appearance. It's only April, and I don't think it's really a problem for people to criticize Clinton in order to undermine her inevitability, because that shouldn't actually be inevitable.
Not that Erik is saying this, but it's a bit too early to be in ZOMG IF YOU CRITICIZE CLINTON RAND PAUL WILL BE PRESIDENT mode.
Not that Erik is saying this, but it's a bit too early to be in ZOMG IF YOU CRITICIZE CLINTON RAND PAUL WILL BE PRESIDENT mode.
$100
That's an expensive parking spot!
Cars take up a lot of space. It's weird how people fail to see that sometimes.
Cars take up a lot of space. It's weird how people fail to see that sometimes.
Security Theater
I'm much less likely to go to a game because of this bullshit.
And our local sports franchise is having a wee attendance problem.
And our local sports franchise is having a wee attendance problem.
$197
I'm ok with enforcing jaywalking laws. I don't think it should be a very important priority, but there are intersections where bad pedestrian behavior is genuinely a problem. But LA's $197 ticket is nuts. Make it 30 bucks or so.
Mercs
It was such a lovely little war.
I wonder why it was so dangerous. How did that happen?
A federal judge Monday sentenced a former Blackwater Worldwide security guard to life in prison and three others to 30-year terms for killing 14 unarmed civilians in a Baghdad traffic circle in 2007, an incident that fomented deep resentments about the accountability of American security forces during one of the bloodiest periods of the Iraq war.
...
All the defendants vowed to appeal what one called a “perversion of justice,” saying they fired in self-defense in a war zone and a city that was then one of the world’s most dangerous places.
I wonder why it was so dangerous. How did that happen?
Tuesday Morning
The only good thing about dreaming that you have a computer virus is waking up and realizing that it was all just a dream.
Monday, April 13, 2015
Isolation
Not going to speak for everybody, but to the extent that I was miserable when I was teen it was because I was isolated and lonely. Until I was old enough to get a driver's license I had no mobility, and back then parents (mostly not my parents, but many parents) thought that "talking on the phone" was some sort of subversive activity that needed to be rationed.
I'll Be Asleep
Kinda mixed on later closing times for bars. Philly is highly residential almost everywhere, and I'm not sure it's a good thing to allow some bars to stay open but not others.
The Issue Of Our Time
Rolling back police abuses and mass incarceration really is the imperative issue.
Hot Take On Rubio
He just seems like an empty nothing person. Not smart. Good looking but not charismatic. I don't like the theater criticism part of politics but until we have the Big Ideas that's all we have.
Morning Thread
Uh oh, looking at the date, I guess I better get to work on the taxes. There's always something.
Here's Hecate, How I'm Going to Deal With Hillary Clinton's Campaign. Sounds good to me.
Here's Hecate, How I'm Going to Deal With Hillary Clinton's Campaign. Sounds good to me.
Sunday, April 12, 2015
Don't Do This
Clintonland can't control all of its wannabe surrogates, but really... just don't.
@BilldeBlasio's self aggrandizing on #MeetthePress at @hillaryclintons expense won't go un noticed. #Ridiculous
— Hilary Rosen (@hilaryr) April 12, 2015Shit Sandwiches
I can never tell if Arne Duncan understands that he's serving up a shit sandwich or if he really believes it's something truly nutritious and tasty.
Saturday, April 11, 2015
CUBA MADE ME SO MAD BECAUSE
I think we're at the "if we can't actually remember why we're mad maybe it's time to get over it" phase.
The Other BRT Problem
The biggest problem with Bus Rapid Transit projects is BRT creep, in which all the "rapid" bits keep getting shaved off in order to save money. The other problem is that if a line is actually successful, the route probably needs rail to handle the ridership.
Friday, April 10, 2015
Now Now Now Now Now Now Now Now
The thing about the retirement crisis is that it's, you know, here. People don't have enough money to retire and maintain anything close to their existing standard of living. The 401(k) experiment failed, and even if 401(k) II Electric Boogaloo comes along and is totally awesome, that doesn't do anything for current and near retirees.
We want to structure our economy so that people who are beyond the age when they are able to work/able to find work will be able to have a dignified existence. We're currently failing at that.
We want to structure our economy so that people who are beyond the age when they are able to work/able to find work will be able to have a dignified existence. We're currently failing at that.
How I Saved The World
I'm not one to take credit for anything, in part because most of the time I can't remember what I came up with and what I stole from others. It's a consequence of having the internet jacked into your head all day. Words and phrases and ideas just flow through constantly.
I think David was a bit too "generous" in how he cast me in this narrative, but there is, I think, some truth to it. Basically I farted in church. It was taboo to suggest expanding Social Security, and I helped to break that taboo.
I went to a retirement funding conference and was on a panel which had a topic something like "Beyond Social Security." Essentially, the topic was what else can we do to improve the retirement situation. My role there was to fart in church again. None of the (many very fine) people working on retirement security issues were "allowed" to say that the answer was to expand Social Security. It was such a political non-starter that only "other" things could be considered. So various Rube Goldberg proposals (some ok, some not, but all mostly ineffectual) were put forward. I got to say that beyond Social Security should be MOOOOOOAAAAAR Social Security. It isn't that this was something most people disagreed with, it was just something that was too crazy to actually propose. Bring on the crazy blogger to propose it.
It isn't crazy anymore. Progress.
I think David was a bit too "generous" in how he cast me in this narrative, but there is, I think, some truth to it. Basically I farted in church. It was taboo to suggest expanding Social Security, and I helped to break that taboo.
I went to a retirement funding conference and was on a panel which had a topic something like "Beyond Social Security." Essentially, the topic was what else can we do to improve the retirement situation. My role there was to fart in church again. None of the (many very fine) people working on retirement security issues were "allowed" to say that the answer was to expand Social Security. It was such a political non-starter that only "other" things could be considered. So various Rube Goldberg proposals (some ok, some not, but all mostly ineffectual) were put forward. I got to say that beyond Social Security should be MOOOOOOAAAAAR Social Security. It isn't that this was something most people disagreed with, it was just something that was too crazy to actually propose. Bring on the crazy blogger to propose it.
It isn't crazy anymore. Progress.
Off To The Races
Apparently Clinton's going to be running for realsie soon.
And the silly season officially begins.
And the silly season officially begins.
Not Gonna Last Long
Gonna be a post-apocalyptic nightmare soon.
ATLANTIC CITY - Revel, the $2.4 billion former casino hotel sold this week for $82 million, went dark - literally - Thursday afternoon.
Power was cut off around 2:20 after its supplier, ACR Energy, made good on multiple threats to new owner Glenn Straub and shut off the lights to the 6.2 million-square-foot, 47-story Boardwalk property.
Morning Thread
We've entered the silly season, to be sure.
Ted Cruz is tired of the media making him look bad with accurately quoted remarks.
Ted Cruz is tired of the media making him look bad with accurately quoted remarks.
Thursday, April 09, 2015
Dragnet
I'm not sure it helps to know how the people appointed by our elected officials keep track of free citizens. But Marcy is trying. You can help if you know of any she's missed.
ONE THOUSAND AND ONE
Conservative bigots are so weird.
In some respects, the series development appears similar to the current ABC comedy "Fresh Off the Boat." That show, about a Taiwanese family trying to adjust to life in the United States, was inspired by food personality Eddie Huang's memoir about his childhood.
Savage's very involvement angers the conservative groups. In a letter sent to Ben Sherwood, president of the Disney/ABC Television Group, MRC president L. Brent Bozell and Family Research Council President Tony Perkins cited Savage's "radical hate speech" and "venomous anti-Christian bigotry."
"They're choosing him for his signature, which is religious bigotry and personal offensiveness, not because he's gay," Bozell said. "There are a thousand and one gay people they could have chosen."
Summer In The Hellhole
It's good that the powers that be have come to understand that "hanging out and eating and drinking outside" are things people like to do. It wasn't all that long ago that restaurant sidewalk seating was completely banned in the city.
It's much better than "event" attractions, to which people just drive in for and then drive out. Beer gardens and similar benefit residents and visitors and aren't just a single destination thing.
It's much better than "event" attractions, to which people just drive in for and then drive out. Beer gardens and similar benefit residents and visitors and aren't just a single destination thing.
Unpossible
This is not how America is supposed to work.
SAN FRANCISCO -- The California Public Utilities Commission has voted to penalize Pacific Gas & Electric Co. $1.6 billion for a deadly 2010 natural gas pipeline explosion.
Probably A Lizard Person
The one "conspiracy theory" I truly believe is that most of our elites are actually alien lizard people.
Up Is Down
Excuse my hopefully rare moment of complaining. I'm pretty thick skinned but one thing which always grates is when people totally misunderstand something I've written, or more broadly, my general perspective about things. I frequently come across people attributing views and opinions to me that I have, to my knowledge, never expressed. It's always weird.
Nice Work
Heckuva job.
The Lenape tribe got a better deal on the sale of Manhattan island than New York City’s pension funds have been getting from Wall Street, according to a new analysis by the city comptroller’s office.
The analysis concluded that, over the past 10 years, the five pension funds have paid more than $2 billion in fees to money managers and have received virtually nothing in return, Comptroller Scott M. Stringer said in an interview on Wednesday.
Wednesday, April 08, 2015
What's The Norm
Actually curious. What are you supposed to do when the cops pull you over? When I was a wee lad, back in the Simelszoic Era, we were taught (driver's ed in high school!) that as Officer Friendly was walking up to your car you were supposed to be pulling out your insurance information from the glove box and your license from your pocket. Now it seems that "reaching for something" is an excuse to acquaint your body with some pieces of lead.
Popcorn Time
We'll see...
It has been falsely predicted many times in the last year, but now it seems to be true: The federal investigation into the lane closings at the George Washington Bridge appears to be coming to a head, with an announcement of indictments as early as next week.
Shrug
I have no illusions about the glory days when some men in blue didn't do horrible things, but as I've written before, I do think that there was a time when a cop shot someone it meant something had gone wrong. Encounters were supposed to be non-lethal. Cops were supposed to de-escalate violent situations. Pulling the trigger was a last resort.
Again, I'm not saying I think there was some glorious past when police malpractice was appropriately dealt with on a consistent basis, just that there was a public sense that shootings meant something went awry. Now it's enough that a cop "shoots a bad guy" and everybody (#noteverybody) just shrugs.
Again, I'm not saying I think there was some glorious past when police malpractice was appropriately dealt with on a consistent basis, just that there was a public sense that shootings meant something went awry. Now it's enough that a cop "shoots a bad guy" and everybody (#noteverybody) just shrugs.
Truly Glorious
For connoisseurs of the genre this is a glorious Inqy comment thread about the urban hellhole.
I don't spend my days going to suburban newspaper sites writing "enjoy your traffic deaths and Olive Garden losers." I don't know why so many suburbanites do the equivalent.
I don't spend my days going to suburban newspaper sites writing "enjoy your traffic deaths and Olive Garden losers." I don't know why so many suburbanites do the equivalent.
The Greatest Human Who Ever Lived
Our elites don't have insecurity issues, apparently.
Making rich people richer might have been the only legal way to help the economy, but I'm not sure how courageous it was.
The memoir by Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke will be called "The Courage to Act" and is coming out in October.
Making rich people richer might have been the only legal way to help the economy, but I'm not sure how courageous it was.
Voting's Good
We should do it more.
Two black candidates are among three people elected to the Ferguson City Council, substantially increasing African American representation in the St. Louis suburb at the center of a national debate about how police interact with minority residents.
Tuesday, April 07, 2015
Good Luck, Chicago!
Rahm will probably continue his project of clearing out the poors.
Happy to be wrong.
Happy to be wrong.
Dear Ted Nugent cc: Glenn Beck, Victoria Jackson
Aside from everything else, I'm still angry that the media gaslighted the country into believing these were Very Serious People.
Doing It All Wrong
"Plenty of parking for our visitors" is the problem. If you build a bunch of "attractions" on the waterfront and surround them with acres and acres of parking lots, you ensure that any visitors just drive in and drive out. The point is?
Also, too, an ugly waterfront. The Delaware waterfront is never going to be paradise on either side, but it could be a lot better.
Also, too, an ugly waterfront. The Delaware waterfront is never going to be paradise on either side, but it could be a lot better.
Go Terry Mac
Can't make it impossible for people with criminal records to live out the rest of their lives.
RICHMOND — Gov. Terry McAuliffe on Friday ordered state agencies to remove from their employment applications questions that would disqualify job seekers on the basis of a criminal record.
McAuliffe (D) signed an executive order to “ban the box” — a reference to an item on preliminary screening forms — at a news conference at Goodwill Industries outside Richmond.
The New Default Position
Supporting Social Security expansion is both smart politics and necessary policy. All the contenders need to get on board.
Monday, April 06, 2015
Vote Chuy
Rahm will make good on fucking everything up entirely if he wins.
America's worst humans do manage to succeed so well, with high profile mentors. It is depressing.
America's worst humans do manage to succeed so well, with high profile mentors. It is depressing.
Authoritah
I don't doubt that this is 99% homophobia, but I also think there's an Authoritah element to this. Teenage "rebellion" pisses of the authoritahs more than anything, because Those Kids Today have their iphone and their hippity hop and their sexy time and I am old and everything is horrible.
It's Our City And We Hate It
One dynamic here in the urban hellhole is that one of divides between long term residents and people who are relatively new arrivals is that some long term residents just hate the place and get a bit mad that other people might like it. I am of course not talking about all long term residents, or most, just some. There was a time when "getting out" of Philadelphia was the thing. Your successful peers did it, and you did not. They moved to the glorious western suburbs or South Jersey and left you behind. It was a thing from a particular time, when people came of age during the worst days of the city's decline. It feeds the entrenched belief in various corners of our city government that all "new arrivals" (realize some of these arrivals aren't so new anymore) will inevitably leave. Because that's what one does.
Get Off My Lawn
I get that not all change is good, that people can lament the fact that every other storefront in Manhattan is now a bank or a pharmacy (exaggeration! calm down). But once you start getting enraged that The Kids Today just aren't keeping it real like The Kids Yesterday, you're just getting old. Yeah it sucks that styles change and you went from having your finger on the pulse to not, but, hey, things change. Pretty sure some Real New Yorkers, transplants or not, are doing some pretty cool music and art and theater and hopefully managing to survive despite the absurd rents that The Kids Yesterday did not have to pay. And, yeah, pretty sure The Kids Yesterday, especially the arty bohemian crowd, had a wee bit of narcissism because arty bohemian kids tend to be a bit narcissistic.
...to be clear, the writer in the linked post isn't being enraged at The Kids Today, he's discussing somebody else who is.
...to be clear, the writer in the linked post isn't being enraged at The Kids Today, he's discussing somebody else who is.
I Suppose That's A Problem
This is one of those things I just don't have any good sense of. A lot of people say, essentially, that you just have to curtail agricultural water use and all will be well. Probably mostly true! But all they're doing is attempting to modestly curtail residential water use, so...
In some places, water tables have dropped 50 feet or more in just a few years. With less underground water to buoy it, the land surface is sinking as much as a foot a year in spots, causing roads to buckle and bridges to crack. Shallow wells have run dry, depriving several poor communities of water.
Scientists say some of the underground water-storing formations so critical to California’s future — typically, saturated layers of sand or clay — are being permanently damaged by the excess pumping, and will never again store as much water as farmers are pulling out.
ONE MILLION JOBS
Saint Reagan truly was a wizard.
Some of this recycled hooey gets in the brains of conservatives and they don't realize it's hooey. Will's been around awhile. He knows.
Some of this recycled hooey gets in the brains of conservatives and they don't realize it's hooey. Will's been around awhile. He knows.
Sunday, April 05, 2015
Sunday Later Night
Was well enough to leave the house today, so that was a bonus.
Which grifter is going to decide to "run for president" this week?
Which grifter is going to decide to "run for president" this week?
Sacrifice Is For The Poors
As it should be.
There are few signs of California’s epic drought along a stretch of Maple Drive in Beverly Hills.
Deep green front lawns stretch out, dotted with healthy trees and sculpted foliage. The only brown lawn in sight was at a home under construction.
Nobody Could Have Predicted
"Missile defense" was always the least likely to work dumb idea.
Why we can't have nice things.
Also, too:
I'm sure we'll find the money for that, too. No worries.
Why we can't have nice things.
Also, too:
The project not only wasted taxpayer money but left a hole in the nation’s defenses. The money spent on it could have gone toward land-based radars with a greater capability to track long-range missiles, according to experts who have studied the issue.
I'm sure we'll find the money for that, too. No worries.
Saturday, April 04, 2015
Great Mysteries of the World
People who complain about basketball refs. Basketball refereeing is totally made up all the time.
The War On Poors
Not that I'm justifying it in any way, but at least there's a certain cruel logic about growing and gentrifying cities doing their best to push out their poors (again, not justifying!). But that relatively stagnant and declining cities are...
T-Bones And Cadillacs
Neither steak nor seafood are necessarily "luxury" items and food stamps aren't generous enough to buy much of anything.
Assholes.
Also, too, gonna make the checkout line that much more fun for everybody.
Assholes.
That story fit a longtime conservative suspicion that poor people use food stamps to purchase luxury items. Now, a Republican state lawmaker in Missouri is pushing for legislation that would stop people like Greenslate and severely limit what food stamp recipients can buy. The bill being proposed would ban the purchase with food stamps of "cookies, chips, energy drinks, soft drinks, seafood or steak."
Also, too, gonna make the checkout line that much more fun for everybody.
Friday, April 03, 2015
Public service thread
Without salt, your synapses don't fire so good. So it turns out the reason old people on low salt diets seem sleepy and disengaged and maybe like they have Alzheimer's is probably because they are on a low salt diet.
Also, the most fattening part of an ordinary pizza is the bread. Although, of course, adding any fruit will spike it up, too.
Butter doesn't make you fat. Meat doesn't make you fat. SUGAR makes you fat.
Coffee is good for you or bad for you depending on the week, as near as I can tell. I cannot believe the rapidity with which newspaper articles come out reversing last week's wisdom on the benefits or dangers of coffee. I'm going with "good for you" on the grounds that, y'know, I like it, although I admit this doesn't work for everything.
Who Cares?
Not an original or especially deep thought, but I just do not get why people (aside from the grifters ka-ching ka-ching) devote their lives to trying to make life miserable for gay people. I get anti-choice people. I don't agree with them at all, but if you really think that an embryo is a person then it's not crazy that it's an important cause in your life. I think the pro-life movement and its leaders are totally messed up for a variety of reasons, but I don't think all anti-choicers are horrible even if I think they're horribly wrong. But to devote your life to making life miserable for people based on who they love and who they want to get busy with? I don't get it.
Two Systems
The education grifters have been preying on urban schools for years, because they could because everybody "knows" those schools are horrible and nobody gives a shit about the poors. Then they started to overreach and extended the grifting into more affluent areas where people are actually quite happy about their schools thank you very much, and the grifters are now getting pushback. The solution? Go back to the "poors only" policies. They worked pretty well.
Logic
The cities are stealing all their money in an entirely new way.
As opposition grows to a Senate Republican plan to redistribute sales tax revenues to rural counties from urban ones, two competing bills have been filed – both with the goal of boosting rural revenue without leaving a hole in urban counties’ budgets.
...
Senate Republicans say the current system is unfair because rural residents are effectively supporting urban counties’ schools and services when they shop there.
Thursday, April 02, 2015
Dancing With Molly
Let's stir some shit up! Senator Cotton (202) 224-2353 !!!! Happy Hippies call & express why freedom is important to us & our country!
— Miley Ray Cyrus (@MileyCyrus) April 2, 2015Probably A Good Idea Then
I will never forgive Peter Sarsgaard for making Charles Lane seem cool in Shattered Glass. But Lane does provide a pretty useful guide to the world. If he's against it, it's almost certainly a good idea.
SEVEN HOURS
While I do my best to resist complaining about the stresses of my "job," I am aware that (as with most jobs) there are certain anxiety-inducing factors which are probably not well understood by people who don't do the all day every day blogging thing. Trying to come up with something marginally interesting to say on a constant basis while gently managing a reader/commenter community is not without its stresses.
But SEVEN WHOLE HOURS? The humanity.
But SEVEN WHOLE HOURS? The humanity.
America's Worst Governor
It's always 1985 for Christie.
TRENTON — A portion of the money Gov. Chris Christie's administration is using to eke one more year out of a fading Transportation Trust Fund will be paid by calling in a loan from NJ Transit.
Wednesday, April 01, 2015
Back In My Day
The WSJ (paywall so no linky) is reporting that McDonald's is going to boost wages to $1 above minimum wage, at minimum. They aren't doing this because they're saints, of course, they're doing it to get a bit of good PR out of doing it at a time when the finally tightening labor market means they probably have to do it anyway.
But, Back In My Day, nobody got paid minimum working for fast food restaurants, at least in my location (Philly burbs). Nobody I knew in high school, at age 16, had any problem finding a job which paid $6-7/hour, including working at fast food restaurants and call survey centers. That's about $12-14, adjusting for inflation.
Shit is fucked up and bullshit.
But, Back In My Day, nobody got paid minimum working for fast food restaurants, at least in my location (Philly burbs). Nobody I knew in high school, at age 16, had any problem finding a job which paid $6-7/hour, including working at fast food restaurants and call survey centers. That's about $12-14, adjusting for inflation.
Shit is fucked up and bullshit.
Unexamined
I remember years ago when even relatively liberal people would say things like, "I support civil unions for gay people, but not marriage." I'd have to choke down my response of, "What are you, fucking stupid?" Legally, marriage is a "civil union," whatever we call it, even if it's tied up culturally with related religious rituals called "marriage." It means one thing legally, that's the civil union part, and another thing culturally, and that's the marriage part, and while there's no need to conflate them, we do. I don't care if your particular church blesses same sex marriage, so enjoy your religious freedom, but why the hell does anyone care whether the state does?
Opposing state recognition of same sex marriages isn't a religious objection, it's a policy objection. A shitty bigoted policy objection, to be sure, but still just that.
Opposing state recognition of same sex marriages isn't a religious objection, it's a policy objection. A shitty bigoted policy objection, to be sure, but still just that.
Nobody Could Have Predicted
Except everybody.
All a big grift.
WASHINGTON (AP) - When Chris Christie privatized New Jersey's lottery two years ago, he said its new overseers would "modernize and maximize" the games.
Instead, a lottery once ranked among the nation's top performers is now lagging for the second straight year, trailing its state income targets by $64 million seven months into the current fiscal year. Meanwhile, the company running it has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to hire lobbyists and a public relations firm with close ties to the governor.
All a big grift.
All Sprawled Out
I get that not everybody wants to live an urban hellhole. I object to certain policies that have become so cemented that they're difficult to dislodge, policies which encourage suburbanization even in the urban hellhole, but if people want to live in the burbs good for them.
But 'late suburbia' is often truly horrible. Development isn't just auto-centric, it's hostile to any other means of getting around. Walking or bicycling isn't just inconvenient, it's literally impossible. And driving often isn't too great either. Single access road development removes neighborhoods from anything resembling a public street grid, and dumps all through traffic onto an ever increasingly congested thoroughfare. There's no way to widen that road enough.
But 'late suburbia' is often truly horrible. Development isn't just auto-centric, it's hostile to any other means of getting around. Walking or bicycling isn't just inconvenient, it's literally impossible. And driving often isn't too great either. Single access road development removes neighborhoods from anything resembling a public street grid, and dumps all through traffic onto an ever increasingly congested thoroughfare. There's no way to widen that road enough.
Screw It up Every Single Time
Friend of the Eschaton Blog & Top Rock Personality Mac McCaughan has a record coming out, and here is how I think you do the online you buy it thing.
Molly I&I are going to the Brooklyn show. Be fun to see youse there!
Molly I&I are going to the Brooklyn show. Be fun to see youse there!
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