Saturday, March 14, 2015
"Everybody" Gets Rich
Including Al Qaeda.
The C.I.A.’s contribution to Qaeda’s bottom line, though, was no well-laid trap. It was just another in a long list of examples of how the United States, largely because of poor oversight and loose financial controls, has sometimes inadvertently financed the very militants it is fighting.
Why Don't We Just Keep Killing People
We only have one hammer, and when we use it "everybody" gets rich.
Friday, March 13, 2015
Hire Jeff Deeney
Never actually met him, but he's a local social worker with immense amounts of empathy for his clients, something less than reputable people don't receive enough of (while "reputable" moral monsters like David Brooks get paid lots of money to not give any fucks).
Give that man a job.
Here's some more stuff he's written.
...to be clear he was fired from his Social Worker job, not from any publication.
This Marshall Project article you liked so much? https://t.co/blxyblYqgX I was just terminated for writing it.
— jeff deeney (@jeff_deeney) March 13, 2015
Give that man a job.
Here's some more stuff he's written.
...to be clear he was fired from his Social Worker job, not from any publication.
Wudder
The Water Wars seem to be a constant issue, yet the emergency never seems to arrive, except in a few isolated spots (not diminishing problem for those affected, just that not many are affected.)
Don't Flush Wet Wipes
My PSA of the day.
With its sewer system under siege, tallying millions of dollars in equipment damage across its underground maze, New York City is confronting a menace that has gummed the gears of plumbing networks around the world: the common wet wipe.
Morning Thread
Our friend UNE has a post up at Sadly No! about the ... a system set up to make lives more difficult and privilege obvious.... Life really shouldn't be that complicated.
Thursday, March 12, 2015
And Speaking Of Grifting
I am not omniscient, but I am guessing the only real question is who has figured out how to profit from this.
Grfiters Gonna Grift
And media organizations like Politico make it so damn easy because it's their grift too.
The group’s website provides few details about when the coalition was launched or who’s working for the group. But the team behind the Progressive Coalition for American Jobs includes some of the most senior members of Obama’s campaign team. Lefty site Daily Kos reported Mitch Stewart, the former aide the president tapped to run Organizing For America, and Lynda Tran, the former OFA press secretary are involved. A press release earlier in the week announcing the group came from 270 Strategies, the campaign firm started by Stewart and Obama’s former field director, Jeremy Bird.
Tran told BuzzFeed News the purpose of the group was to boost liberal voices who support the Obama trade agenda.
Private Toll Roads Keep Going Bankrupt
But, hey, "public-private partnerships" are always good because I have absolutely no idea.
Who Keeps Putting Money Into These Things
The people who go to casinos aren't the people the casinos want to go to casinos. Why they don't realize this I have no idea. James Bond in a tuxedo is not to be found.
Really It's About Us
There's something about the Clintons that make the DC press reveal that ultimately they think that they are central actors in The Politics Show, not the politicians. Usually this little bit of narcissism is more carefully hidden, but when the Clintons are involved, it's "fuck it, we're doing it live."
"Everybody" Gets Rich
Couch change in the great war grift, but still.
I'm sure the grift was worse than that, but some things are easier to identify than others.
The largest nonprofit contractor working for the U.S. Agency for International Development during the height of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan billed the government $1.1 million for staff parties and pricey retreats — three of them held at one of the poshest destinations on the East Coast, Nemacolin Woodlands Resort in Pennsylvania.
International Relief and Development Inc. of Arlington, Va., collected hundreds of millions of dollars to work in the war zones and help impoverished nations around the world. At the same time, its executives were using IRD’s government overhead account to fund the parties and retreats between 2007 and 2010, according to financial records provided by IRD to The Washington Post.
I'm sure the grift was worse than that, but some things are easier to identify than others.
I Want Charles In Charge Of Me
Don't we all?
How did I never know Chachi's last name was Arcola? That was the name of my middle school...
How did I never know Chachi's last name was Arcola? That was the name of my middle school...
Wednesday, March 11, 2015
Other People Spend Money On Things I Disapprove Of
This is my least favorite genre of lefty commentary. Except for those who are really rich, as in "fuck you money" rich, most of us face serious budget constraints. Budget constraints don't necessarily mean poverty, but we all have to prioritize our consumptions choices. And, well, so what if someone buys a slightly more expensive car instead of whatever it is people are supposed to be spending money on. We all have interests and hobbies and desires. I admit I find the interests of other people puzzling sometimes, but, really, go for it. Whatever floats your boat. Few of us have dedicated ourselves to a life of poverty and charity.
What's Evan Bayh Up To Now
Ezra got a bit suckered once upon a time, but got his revenge as well as he could.
Now it's more war all the time. It's the greatest grift of all, really. War breaks out, and "everyone" gets rich.
Now it's more war all the time. It's the greatest grift of all, really. War breaks out, and "everyone" gets rich.
And More
Baby steps...
FERGUSON, Mo. — The embattled police chief of Ferguson, the focus of bitter complaints of racial discrimination within his department that turned into national protests after one of his white officers fatally shot an unarmed black teenager last August, will resign his post, according to a city official who spoke Wednesday on a condition on anonymity.
F-Words
It's not the most offensive thing in the Morning Joe segment, but my long big pet peeve with Villagers is their regular (if declining) pretense that swear words make them hit the fainting couch and represent the downfall of civilization. I don't spend much time there anymore, but I used to go to DC fairly regularly for various things. People swear. Reporters swear. Politicians swear. Senators I met five seconds ago said the "f-word." I'm sure the f-word gets dropped in the Morning Joe Morning Zoo show green room regularly. It is not alien to the culture, and that some blackity black man dares to use the "f-word" (that would be "fuck" you fucking fucks) in a song does not suggest anything about black culture, rap, hip-hop, or anything related, other than that in this modern age sometimes black people get to talk just like powerful white people do. By saying fuck, you fucking fucks.
A Head Rotating Forever
I've never really understood "mainstream" Christian (recognizing that especially in the US there really isn't such a thing) thinking on demons/possession/hell/the devil/angels/ghosts/etc. That is, the whole Christian-linked supernatural world which is fun for fiction but doesn't actually seem to be all that "Christian." Except when it is.
Passyunk
I live pretty close to this stretch. It was just starting to come back to life when I moved here, but nothing like it is now. In a city with decades of declining population (now slowly reversing), people got used to fairly moribund neighborhood retail corridors. They're coming back.
Something
Gonna take a lot more to fix that place, but...
Officials in Ferguson, Mo., announced Tuesday night that John Shaw, the city manager, was leaving his position.
The move, which the city called “a mutual separation agreement,” comes in the wake of a scathing Justice Department report that criticized Shaw and other Ferguson officials for the city’s discriminatory and predatory behavior toward citizens.
Tuesday, March 10, 2015
Sads
I usually try to resist dumping on young adults who are still in their stupid years, but, uh, I don't think so..
Mark Zachary, 54, pulled his truck into the lot and went inside. Mr. Zachary was a member of the fraternity when he was a student at Oklahoma State University in the late 1970s, and he said he had asked the members if they needed help in moving. They declined his offer, he said.
“These guys messed up real bad, and I think they know they have,” Mr. Zachary said, adding that the house was barren and the students were quiet. “Everybody’s sick to their stomach. The guys that actually did the chanting, trust me, they feel worse than anybody in the country right now.”
Sinners Are Other People
I get why certain religious communities focused on hating gay people as opposed to a few other supposed "sins" that a certain book talks about. If you aren't gay, you aren't going to sin. Makes life easy, really.
I'm sure cakes are baked for plenty of "sinners," just not that kind...
I'm sure cakes are baked for plenty of "sinners," just not that kind...
Bus Bike Racks Are Fine
Cyclists know how to use them and it only takes a few seconds to load and remove them. Really shouldn't be controversial.
The Poors Are Horrible People
And the only way to help them is to get paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to remind them of this fact on the pages of the New York Times as often as possible.
Monday, March 09, 2015
Don't Let The Door
Well maybe let it.
The Missouri Supreme Court announced Monday that it will take the "extraordinary action" of reassigning all Ferguson municipal court cases to the circuit court, starting next week.
In a press release, the court announced the move was intended "to help restore public trust and confidence in the Ferguson municipal court division."
Ferguson municipal judge Ronald J. Brockmeyer resigned his position this afternoon, a spokesman at his law office said. He will continue his other municipal court positions, including as prosecutor in Dellwood and judge in Breckenridge Hills.
The End of Racism
College students are still in their stupid years, but how hard is it to not be on video being clearly racist?
Assholes.
Assholes.
Are Other Countries Real?
I do wonder how many of our great leaders in Congress have actually traveled. And I don't mean elite programmed travel in the bubble of handlers or at resorts, I mean actually spending some time out in the world on their own two feet. I often get the sense that whether the rest of the world actually exists is an open question.
Bomb Bomb Bomb Bomb Bomb Iran
If we put a stop to Iran's nuclear program, then we won't have good reasons to go to war. We can't have that.
Sunday, March 08, 2015
Let's Find The Most Vulnerable People We Can And Kick The Crap Out Of Them
What a horrible person.
In a move that would cut the population of New Jersey's three publicly run psychiatric hospitals by 30 percent, the Christie administration has given community mental health providers an ultimatum: Find new places to live for 430 patients by March 16, or the state won't pay you.
Shiny New
One thing that annoys me about all the MOOCS WILL REPLACE UNIVERSITIES discussions is that it's 2015. Literally the only thing that can be done relatively easily now that couldn't be done as easily 10-15 years ago is streaming video. That's it. And streaming video has been pretty easy to do for about the last 8-10 years. Otherwise, all of the technology needed to make an accessible course in a box has existed for quite some time. There isn't any new magic here.
Well He Took One Course And Got A Shiny Badge
Do not understand how people who actually attended college think "online learning" is really a substitute.
I know they don't, really, but everyone needs a grift.
I know they don't, really, but everyone needs a grift.
Useful
It's amazing how turning everything to shit can be "useful" if your last name is Bush. I wonder how that happens.
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