My local transit authority might go on strike in a bit over 5 hours.
oy.
...adding, mostly no big deal for me. I work at home, probably don't go anywhere more than once per week that walking isn't a reasonable option. But big deal for other people.
The trains to the suburbs will still run. Different unions.
It shows up in the tweets of the reporters tasked with covering Trump. Basically, hostages crying out for someone to rescue them from the hostile madness on the stage and in the crowd. But otherwise, it's all understanding.
In previous elections, cable news could milk 2 weeks out of nutpicking one "weirdo" lefty. Now they've got crowds of scary lunatics, and it's therapy time.
At best it's "DC unity." Nobody in California or Alabama gives a shit whether DC Elder Statesman Republican X gets to have a job in a Clinton administration. "National unity" is a stupid concept, generally, of course, but spreading the political appointments around DC does nothing to foster it. For some reason it's always Democrats who are supposed to share power... weird, that.
Presumably after the election we'll have to update our lists about who our "approved bastards" are and who our "unapproved bastards" are. We support the former in their efforts to kill the latter, because of our deep commitment to humanitarian concerns. I still don't know if Assad is our ally or if mentioning his name without spitting is a treasonous offense. Maybe this election will finally bring us closure on this issue! It must get confusing when the people we're arming are being killed by weapons given to the last people we armed, but the world is deeply complicated in ways that only the Mustache of Understanding can explain, after consulting with his cab driver.
For those of you who like to see subtle or not so subtle anti-Clinton messages in everything I write, this is an evergreen comment about the state of the Foreign Policy Community (otherwise known as the Very Serious People).
There are efforts - some merely obvious, some explicitly described - all over the country to prevent African-Americans from voting, but also, too, some football player takes a knee during the national anthem, ruining sportsball day forever.
I've never really understood the desire to believe in the superiority of your genes. If my ego were quite a bit less restrained than it is I'd imagine I'd like to think my pure distilled awesomeness was because I made it so, not because I won the lucky sperm contest. Why would I want grandpop+grandmom to have any credit for my achievements? It's all me, baby.
I figure 27% is the lower bound on public approval of a Republican president/presidential candidate (+/- a bit). I'd say 38% is the lower bound on voting for one, absent a major 3rd party candidate confusing things. That's just a measure of tribalism in action. Those people don't actually have to like the candidate, they're just going to pull the lever for the R no matter who it is. My measure for election day is how much above 38% Trump gets, otherwise known as the How Fucked Are We measure.
I'm really not anti-technology. OK, maybe I'm a bit more grumpy and skeptical in my older age, but I just see how shiny new ideas that don't actually work yet are used an excuse to not invest in things that do work in an era where not investing in such things is a problem.
And one thing I see with shiny new technologies is that their proponents ignore cost issues which aren't actually much different than the cost (money and time when we're talking about transportation technologies) issues faced by existing workable "conventional" technologies. Maglev proponents (yes, maglev is actually a real technology that works, but we don't have any of it in this country or people who understand it*), for example, tend to ignore the costs of land acquisition for rights of ways, cost of tunneling, and costs of station construction in expensive urban areas, those same costly items which make conventional or HSR also quite expensive to build. That doesn't mean Maglev is bad, it just means if you assume away all the costs it comes out looking a lot better than it should.
And the new freight focus of Hyperloop shows it's a cool idea looking for a problem to solve. Hyperloop sounds really cool! That doesn't mean it's workable or useful enough to justify the costs.
*Just as an aside, for years there was a "plan" to build a Maglev from the Pittsburgh airport to downtown Pittsburgh. This is a distance (about 20 miles IIRC) over which Maglev would be completely pointless. They take 3-5 miles to accelerate fully. You could build a fast rail system for much less money, which would also interoperable with existing rail, which would be in practice just as fast. People who wouldn't want to spend money on a "train" were dying to spend money on the maglev, because maglev is cool. Needless to say it was never built.
It's one thing the LIBERAL BLOGOSOPHERE has been ahead of the curve about for years. Don't hire them. They continue idea that only Republicans can be trusted with important jobs, even though those Republicans are a) likely to screw you b) unlikely to be good at their jobs c) don't actually insulate you from anything 4) you're responsible for their messes anyway.
The only reasonable explanation is that the Deep State will be in open rebellion without a GOP Daddy in charge. If so, well, that's what treason charges are for I guess*.
Both rural legislators and voters understand: Minnesota can’t afford to waste billions to build an already-obsolete 19th-century rail system — not when we’re suddenly but obviously at the beginning of a 21st-century transportation revolution. That involves automated, on-demand vehicles.
This revolution isn’t “coming” — it’s here now.
Uber automated cars are serving paying customers in Pittsburgh (there are backup drivers). Mercedes Benz has been running its automated “Future Bus” on transit routes in Europe. Ford has announced it will begin mass production of on-demand automated vehicles in the year 2021 — no steering wheels, no pedals.
This is our transportation and transit future. We need to launch a legislative commission to study what we can accomplish by spending the proposed metro transit sales tax on 21st century bus-based and automated-driving alternatives to rail transit.
Rail as "19th-century" technology has been a talking point for decades. Always makes me laugh.
I do like the two-drivers-are-better-than-one option Uber offers. And this person hasn't gotten the memo. Uber is betting on flying cars! A true 21st century technology. Won't be any congestion problems then!
I'm holding out for the Uber transporter, personally.
Life shouldn't have to be the giant pain in the ass it increasingly is, and liberal plans shouldn't contribute to it.
I switched my electricity provider the other day. Presumably it'll save me a bit of money, if I read the terms correctly and the new company doesn't try to screw me. But in 6 months I'll probably need to do it again. Maybe they'll send me a reminder letter that my contract is up and maybe I'll notice it, or maybe I'll assume it's junk mail and toss it. Maybe the rates won't be jacked up automatically. I don't know! The point is that at a minimum there's another 20 minutes of my life gone and one more thing on the pile of "minor hassles I have to think about."
The Medicaid expansion in Obamacare is great. It also means people have to worry about floating in and out of eligibility. Make too much money and you get sentenced to the exchange nightmare, which only 3 percent of the population have to deal with so shutupShutupShutUpSHUTUPSHUTUP. Getting kicked off Medicaid because you made a bit too much money is a huge negative income tax, both in actual monetary terms and in hassle (staying on Medicaid is also, too, a hassle).
Conservatives have long fretted (well, blamed the poors) about how Welfare keeps people trapped in a "culture of poverty" or some such bullshit. But they did have a point. Welfare - especially if you're a family with kids and most of the welfare we have in this country is Medicaid - can keep people trapped in poverty, because getting kicked off Medicaid is a nightmare. Add in to that the various drop offs for the meager benefits/tax credits and those high effective marginal tax rates - which are oh so important for rich people - hit a lot of poor people.
Make benefits as universal as possible, and make rich people pay more in taxes. That's how you means test things. The rest is needless complexity designed to suck the life out of people who have it hard already.
The number of garages isn't really a reflection of anything but priorities. The footprint of those 3 car garages in many/most places is small relative to the mandatory minimum lot sizes, which actually will impact who can buy a home.
That footprint probably is larger than my whole lot size, of course, and land isn't cheap everywhere they have 3 car garages.
If you're a "center-left" type just chomping at the bit to write your "How Conservatives Can Save Their Party" thinkpiece, just don't. No one cares. Write your "How President Clinton Can Make Shit Less Fucked Up And Bullshit" piece instead.
Of course Mr. Walsh isn't going to grab his unreliable (stop me) tool (really stop me), but he is hoping that other people will. I really get annoyed at the armchair revolutionaries, from their passive aggressive heh-indeedies to their open wishes of "revolution." Not so different from the We (I Mean You) Must Fight A War Against Somebody Somewhere type.
Grab your joystick (I said stop me) and play another game instead.
Everybody is getting nostalgic. Just so you're ready.
BATON ROUGE, La. (AllPolitics, Jan. 17) -- Hillary Clinton will be indicted on Whitewater charges but not convicted, according to a prediction by the first lady's preeminent press antagonist. New York Times columnist William Safire, who last January called the first lady a "congenital liar," conjectured Thursday in a speech before the Louisiana Association of Business and Industry that Mrs. Clinton would face charges but that the president "will not give her a pardon. Instead, he will let the wheels of justice turn and sit by her in the courtroom, holding her hand when appropriate."
That's dated Jan. 17, 1997, 3 days before Bill's 2nd inauguration.
Adult adoptee Adam Crapser is expected to be deported to South Korea after immigration judge John C. O'Dell ruled this week against relief which would have allowed Crapser to remain in the United States, according to the Adoptee Rights Campaign.
Crapser — who is the father of three young U.S. citizens — was adopted from Korea at age three, but because his adoptive parents never applied for naturalization, is one of an estimated 35,000 intercountry adoptees who do not have U.S. citizenship and who can be deported to their country of birth for various minor crimes, according to advocates.
Seven years after Crapser and his older sister were adopted, their parents abandoned them, according to the Associated Press. The foster care system separated Crapser, 10 at the time, from his sister. The boy was housed at several foster and group homes.
To compensate for this, Trump’s campaign has devised another strategy, which, not surprisingly, is negative. Instead of expanding the electorate, Bannon and his team are trying to shrink it. “We have three major voter suppression operations under way,” says a senior official. They’re aimed at three groups Clinton needs to win overwhelmingly: idealistic white liberals, young women, and African Americans. Trump’s invocation at the debate of Clinton’s WikiLeaks e-mails and support for the Trans-Pacific Partnership was designed to turn off Sanders supporters. The parade of women who say they were sexually assaulted by Bill Clinton and harassed or threatened by Hillary is meant to undermine her appeal to young women. And her 1996 suggestion that some African American males are “super predators” is the basis of a below-the-radar effort to discourage infrequent black voters from showing up at the polls—particularly in Florida.
On Oct. 24, Trump’s team began placing spots on select African American radio stations. In San Antonio, a young staffer showed off a South Park-style animation he’d created of Clinton delivering the “super predator” line (using audio from her original 1996 sound bite), as cartoon text popped up around her: “Hillary Thinks African Americans are Super Predators.” The animation will be delivered to certain African American voters through Facebook “dark posts”—nonpublic posts whose viewership the campaign controls so that, as Parscale puts it, “only the people we want to see it, see it.” The aim is to depress Clinton’s vote total. “We know because we’ve modeled this,” says the official. “It will dramatically affect her ability to turn these people out.”
I don't think I'd call this "voter suppression" but, you know, they did.
Entire elections (and all punditry) can revolve around the tax rates of the 1% who can most afford them, but suggest that it might be important that 3% of the population has to deal with the Obamacare exchanges...
375 sq. ft. obviously isn't a big apartment, but if that's what we're calling "micro" I think we need a new word for it.
Their $2,250-a-month “junior one-bedroom,” overlooking the bustling bar and restaurant scene along 14th Street NW, is “massive” at 500 square feet, says manager Jason Tremblay, grinning. That’s because the smallest of the Harper’s 144 units are practically shoe boxes at 350 square feet.
And 500 sq. ft. isn't really small at all. Again, of course these aren't spacious places, but I guess I've been to Yurp a few too many times to see 500 sq. ft. as small. With a nice layout it's perfectly comfortable for 2 people. Would I want to spend my whole life in a place like that for 2? Probably not, but it's fine.
And I've seen "tiny" apartments in DC. I don't think they're new.
Sure you can get rich people to overpay for status items, but they actually have to be at least good sounding ones. This all sounds like something out of some bad movie parody of the 80s-era Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous.
Assholes who yell at vulnerable people are their favorites. Where will we find another one?
Instead, Trump’s gift to Christie has been shadow: the top Republican’s national meltdown has obscured that of the one-time rising Republican star and sitting New Jersey governor. But make no mistake—Christie’s is a fall of epic proportions, precipitated by an unfathomably petty revenge plot. The contrast of the two, the top-heavy-ness of the fallout compared to the insignificance of the initial transgression, would be comic, were it not so tragic. Remember that in November of 2012, Governor Christie had a 72 percent approval rating. Today, it stands at 21 percent.
Are there ever any "rising Democratic stars?" Serious question. Seems like anyone with an R after their name gets the "rising star" treatment as some point. I think Obama did, some, after the '04 convention. Otherwise?
Doing my part to steal the election here in Philadelphia where nobody would vote for Democrats if not for the FRAUD.
Going to shut down Roosevelt Blvd and 95 N. at afternoon rush hour to prevent people from getting home to the Great Northeast to vote. Can't really trust those people.
Going to shut down the bridges to New Jersey at the same time. Going to make New Jersey blue for the first time.
New Black Panther party representatives will be strategically placed at polling places in South Philly just to make sure the people there know what's good for them.
But as the Bridgegate trial continues and former senior officials give evidence about who knew what and when they knew it, there's a growing volume of sworn testimony that Cuomo did know about the Christie administration's role in shutting down traffic lanes on the George Washington Bridge to punish the mayor of Fort Lee, New Jersey.
Sure I'd love it if Republicans took on liberalish issues which neither party is very good at (horrible and horrible with furrowed brow concerns, basically), but, you know, it isn't going to happen.
Saw someone else pushing the "only 3% of the population is on the exchanges so no big woop" line. 31% of the population is on Medicare or Medicaid, so how about just shoving that other 3% into one of those instead of forcing them into the expensive corn maze that is the exchanges?
The exchanges aren't there because the insurance companies want the business. The exchanges are there for a firewall for the rest of their business - the employer-based system. If maintaining that firewall is so important to them, they can suck it up and take a loss and consider it a cost of doing (keeping) business. That should be the implicit deal.
Fine, best we could do. Fine, best we could get through Congress. Overall Obamacare is an improvement. I know that. I've never said otherwise. But it's time to point out that the devil's side of the deal with devil actually sucks. Make the insurance companies own it, instead of Democrats.
One of the unknowables was whether Clinton's people had any idea what they were doing for this campaign. It's pretty clear now that they did. Forgive me for having been a bit dubious, but the 2008 Clinton campaign was a lesson in what not to do and who not to hire. I think there have been some dubious efforts in the broader Clintonverse, but just about everything coming from Clinton and her campaign has been about right.
Easy to say that if they appear to be winning, of course. It's a bit of a problem in politics, that the winners can claim to be geniuses simply by virtue of winning when it's possible that in a slightly different timeline they'd be losing, but this couch critic has had few complaints.
My mild obsession with the America Dream is related to my much larger obsession with the general issue of why we can't have nice things. Sure there are corrupt local interests that are going to find ways to funnel government money into their pockets, but why can't they funnel government money into their pockets and then build nice things instead of stupid shit? Defense contractors don't have to actually make Freedom Bombs. You could give them them the SUPERTRAIN contract instead, and they could take their 20% and funnel the rest to someone who knew how to build the damn things. Anyway, my list of "nice things" might not be yours, but who thinks casinos and megamalls really are nice things worthy of government subsidies?
The grift isn't going away, but why is it focused on such horrible things? It's one thing to pay the 20% (or whatever) corruption tax and still have the potholes filled and garbage taken away. It's quite another to pay the corruption tax and have nothing but an empty carcass of a mall that will never open. I get that we can't dislodge the grifters, but can't we at least overpay them for nice things instead of shit?
I'm not one who dismisses "economic anxieties" as part of the root of Trumpism. Things usually aren't monocausal. Comfortable people usually have better things to do than fetishize their racism. People whose kids are doing well are a bit less likely to fret about how things aren't quite as wonderful as they were when America Was Great. You don't have to be poor to be living paycheck to paycheck. You don't have to be poor to be justifiably frightened about your retirement prospects. One step away from losing your house is one step away from losing your house even if that house is a McMansion and plan B isn't homelessness. Your kids don't have to be victims of opioid addiction to wonder just what the hell is up with The Kids Today when their economic prospects look bleak, and even with an improving economy are unlikely to ever recover from The Great Recession. Even if you have Medicare, your kids might not be able to afford health insurance. The Medicaid expansion is great, changes in how insurance companies are regulated are great, but the "exchanges" are still shit. I read an argument recently which was something like "yah, well, not that many people are actually on the exchanges so don't judge Obamacare by them." So, uh, ok, why bother inflicting this shit on people? A giant expensive rube goldberg machine for a slightly better CBO score. How things are always done.
That doesn't justify the racism and xenophobia. Immigrants and blah people aren't to blame for these things. But it can bring it unjustifiably to the foreground. Add in the usual phenomenon of people getting older and watching the world they knew disappear around them, and the insane messaging they hear regularly...
For many years, The Left (mostly) has been concerned about election fraud through voting machine tampering. This is a reasonable concern. A reasonable concern about a thing does not mean a thing has happened or that there is necessarily evidence of a thing happening. This is a thing which could happen. We don't have one national election system, but it could certainly happen in certain states and smaller municipalities. Has it happened? No idea. But it's not a crazy idea.
Actual voter fraud, where people go and vote in the place of dead people, or fake multiple voter registrations and vote multiple times, or undocumented individuals register and vote, is pretty much impossible. Sure it's possible that it happens occasionally, but it's basically impossible for it to happen at election-tilting levels, and completely impossible for it to happen at presidential election-tilting levels. Given the way the voting system works in Philadelphia, which is now ground zero for these sorts of accusations because black people vote here sometimes, it literally would be impossible. It would require a conspiracy at a scale that half the city would have to know about it.
Anyone making the charge is just saying there's something inherently suspicious about people of color voting. This is Trump's line, and that of his homonculus Rudy Giuliani. They're full of shit, and they're racist shits. Trump's gonna get attention as he is actually the Republican candidate for president (heckuva job, guys!). There's no reason to give any attention to Rudy, unless giving platforms to racists is just another part of the bothsides game.
I could write another paid essay about how Other People Should Vote and People Who Don't Vote Are Bad People, or I could spend two hours on a corner with a clipboard registering people to vote. Decisions, decisions.
I hate this lazy faux-patriotic pundit trope about National Unity. That isn't actually what the political process is about. In a liberal democracy it's about implementing the will of the majority, with plenty of protections for the minority (or -ties) limiting that power. Quirks of various systems limit the ability of the elected majority to assert power more even more. The only "unity" necessary is that we agree not to kill each other and instead fight it out in the next election. It's a way of resolving disagreements, not removing them. And the day after election day all of those disagreements and hatreds will still be there. It's somewhat important for elites to pay respect to certain ideals like "peaceful transition of power" and "the person&party that win get to govern" but that isn't about "unity."
It gets accompanied by people bleating about how we need to be able to get along, and talk to each other, and love the people we disagree with politically, and write big checks to the people who set up organizations claiming to be dedicated to these ideas. Yah, well, most of us live in this world and have friends and family and coworkers who we have to talk to and get along with etc. and it has nothing to do with "unity" just being a fucking human being who can usually manage to go to a dinner party without fighting with the host about some stupid shit Sean Hannity said yesterday.
And that's even without mentioning what "unity" really means, which is "shut up and eat the shit we feed you, peasant."
I think in a way it's good - both in terms of how it impacts how the campaign is covered as well as a bit of a sign that in some ways (just some, and not completely) we've actually progressed - but it's also a bit of a shame that there isn't a greater recognition that holy shit we're about to have our first woman president.
Because holy shit we're about to have our first woman president.
Bridgegate Defendant says Christie knew about the lane closures and gave his consent before she sent "Time for some traffic problems" email pic.twitter.com/M2rV20gf7j
One of the great mysteries of the last 15 years or so is how stupid Democrats became about the popularity of certain issues. I don't think The Atrios Agenda always has majority support. I actually pay pretty close attention to opinion polls and have a good sense of when, on a surface level at least (polls don't always fully capture nuances), the plans I will implement as your benevolent dictator will be popular. But once upon a time we all knew that cutting Social Security was "the third rail" and that generally "free stuff for the elderly" (I know it isn't really free, just check your tax return), was really popular. Hell even George Bush rammed through a flawed but still popular with the elderly drug benefit add on to Medicare. Because, you know, there are a lot of them and they vote.
I never quite understand why on an issue as obviously popular as Social Security, "making Fred Hiatt happy" was more important than "getting lots of people to vote for you," but that was where we were. Even Republicans understood that what they wanted to do would be hideously unpopular and it was weirdly Democrats who were pushing it more, at least for a time. Yes, yes, if Republicans were your malevolent dictators they'd gut Social Security, but since they still have to win elections even they aren't completely stupid.
Hopefully that era is over. For a little while at least. Could even win some elections that way!
This column is highly critical of Tesla, but also highly apologetic about it. Criticize technology that doesn't exist - precisely because it doesn't exist - and people get mad and think you're against progress or technology or whatever.
I'm just saying these cars won't ever (in our lifetimes - sure, eventually the singularity might arrive) really work as hyped and certainly don't deserve all of the press they're getting. I also don't think that even if they did work they'd be a big improvement for all (some) of the reasons people think they will be, but those are more debatable issues which I rarely bother to debate because the fact is the things aren't going to work. Okay, I'll define "work." Basically, you have to be able to tune out 100% over 90% of the time. I'll even allow for a "last mile" kind of "time for you to drive" thing as long as the rest of the time you can kick back and read your book or whatever. Because if you have to pay attention but usually not doing anything, what's the point? It's just better cruise control. A neat feature for some, but nothing more than that.
Woke up in the middle of the night to the smell of burning. Looked out and could see shooting flames about a block and a half away. Fire trucks showed up and put it out, but I weirdly can't find anything in the news about it.
I get the tribalism of politics, that a big chunk of Republicans will never vote for Democrats (the reverse is true, though not nearly to the same extent). I get that 25 years of digesting right wing horseshit will make you not inclined to vote for Hillary Clinton, the devil, even if you only believe about 1/10 of it. I also, as I've said, definitely understand the popularity of a bombastic Trump-like politician.
But Trump? What the fuck is wrong with you people, even the deplorables among you? .
Kellyanne's "yes I know I'm full of shit and I'm letting you know I'm full of shit but it's my job so whatcanido?" schtick could only be endearing to certain members of the Village because they're used to this stuff. It's like lobbyists who work for horrible causes and are paid liars but after a few drinks tell what they really think off the record. It isn't enough to realize (or as is more often the case, pretend to realize) that your chosen path in life is a fucking nightmare because you've, you know, chosen it.
We all gotta eat, but we don't all gotta eat quite so well...
All those beat sweetening mancrushes on Christie for nothing.
A New Jersey firefighter succeeded where federal prosecutors failed: He brought criminal charges against Gov. Chris Christie in the Bridgegate scandal.
A Bergen County courtroom echoed with cheers after Judge Roy McGeady signed off Thursday on the criminal summons presented by retired smoke-eater William Brennan.
I made plans tonight (strangely I didn't put all of the debates on the calendar) so I'll probably miss the beginning of the debate. There is no way I will be able to make an informed choice at the polls, so no voting for me.
I know nothing of the specifics of Shearer's case, but big studios (music, movie) have a long history of completely screwing people even when contracts are clear (there are situations when rights are not always quite iron clad, but this doesn't seem to be one of them).
I still listen the Spinal Tap soundtrack "seriously." It's good.
I did this event last night (fun, nice people) and I was asked about how the press should deal with the DNC leaks.
Anyway, my basic position is that this type of hack(or however the emails were obtained)/leak generally doesn't rise to the level of newsworthy and in the public interest which would in any way justify the means that they were obtained. Sure there are some interesting things, but I haven't seen much that rises above the level of gossip. Anyone taking an absolutist position against obtaining information through nefarious means is taking a position against journalism, really, but that doesn't mean all information just wants to be free and any nefarious means is always justified.
However, they are, as Cokie says, out there. You can't put that toothpaste back in the tube. They're going to be disseminated and seen and spun by crappy news outlets and stupid bloggers and partisan entities which are trying to make a shiny enough soccer ball so that if they kick it the rest of the press will follow. And context really matters for a big data dump of emails. For example, the internal discussions of political campaigns and the relationships between campaign people and reporters is not something people understand very well if they've never done it. Things can easily be painted as somehow "corrupt" and the press can be portrayed as being "complicit" in something when it's actually just perfectly standard behavior. You know, things like journalists contacting a campaign to comment on something can be seen as the journalists coordinating with a campaign or warning them about a story that's coming, when in fact it's just good journalistic practice.
So even if the stuff in the leaks isn't really newsworthy, journalists who do understand this stuff should take a look at it and provide the proper explanation and context. There's a big history of portraying perfectly normal political actions by the Clintons as somehow being deviant and corrupt, when they're just standard operating procedures. They're just what everybody does. Things like "campaign tries to forge good relations with members of the press" or "campaign plots strategy months in advance" are normal. Maybe some of it's gross, maybe normal is gross, but it doesn't say anything specific about the Clinton campaign other than they're playing the game as it is played.
tl;dr: can't ignore the leaks, this is an area political journalists should have knowledge of and expertise in, so they should use that to explain them.
I went to one of these schools. I don't claim any knowledge of current conditions, but the teaching (not all the work professors do) loads when I was there were absolutely insane. These were not cushy jobs.
..and, adding, as I've written before I'm almost 100% that my tutition+room+board (probably not extras like textbooks) came in at just under $5000 my freshman year. That'd be $9700 in today's money. Current price: $20,700, more than double. Just call me Old Economy Atrios.
Final debate, and then the ballot stuffing with illegal votes, and then George Soros's voting machines count the votes, and then it's the start of the failed Clinton presidency and the beginning of Campaign 2020.
If he wants it, I wonder if every news organization will treat Trump the way they treated Palin, with his every utterance being EXCLUSIVE POLITICO MUST CREDIT POLITICO ON THIS SCOOP ABOUT PALIN'S FACEBOOK STATUS.
The other complaint about The Kids Today is that they don't vote. Fair enough. The youngs vote less than other age groups consistently. But I looked up the numbers the other day, and a higher percentage of The Kids voted in 2008 and 2012 than in every presidential year from 1984 onward, except for 1992 edging out 2012 very slightly. So turnout from The Kids Today is better than turnout from The Kids Yesterday. No they don't vote in midterms, but nobody else does either.
Curt Schilling, who pitched for parts of 20 seasons in the major leagues and won 216 career games, has announced his intention to run for U.S. Senate against Democrat Elizabeth Warren in Massachusetts. Here's what Schilling said on Tuesday:
I do, anyway. They're the most fun! Though often the most enraging, too. This is a fun comments section, with people discussing whether or not it's rude to park in front of someone else's house on a public street. At least here in the urban hellhole, people are usually reasonably happy as long as they can get a spot on their own block (except for the whole "snow savesies" thing...).
Given that they can't even update their OS without screwing up either the WiFi or the cell service...
After about two years of steady speculation, it now looks as if the mysterious Apple Car will never actually make it to the road.
According to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman and Alex Webb, Apple "has drastically scaled back its automotive ambitions, leading to hundreds of job cuts and a new direction that, for now, no longer includes building its own car, according to people familiar with the project."
Brexit's a bad idea in part because the people empowered to make it happen are bad and incompetent people. Increasingly they're shutting out anyone who actually might have any clue about how to make the best of a bad situation.
This is, of course, depressing – especially when the Brexit camp fought under the banner of democracy and sovereignty. Now they hurl insults at opponents who dare question their wisdom and howl down those who dare offer different perspectives on the way ahead. The ballot offered a binary choice without specifics. But ministers refuse to discuss Britain stance on departure deals, while politicians proposing that parliament should have a say are accused of subverting the will of the people.
Of course the "liberal media" is always profiling conservatives. They can't get enough of them. But you can pretty easily draw a straight line from the birth of the "Tea Party" which I believe got a few column-inches or million to Trump. That the "liberal media" always fails to understand conservatives is true, but it isn't because they don't cover them...
For various reasons Philly has become ground zero of the recent conservative narrative about how those Democrats are stealing the election. Most of it has to do with the shocking of evidence of black people voting, and for Democrats! But it'll be "funny" as long as too many yahoos with guns from the 'T' don't show up to do "poll watching." I doubt they will. They're frightened of the city. Because, you know, black people.
A strike by my local transit authority (whatever the merits) will have the benefit of temporarily making people realize that the city doesn't function without it, and Uber is not actually a substitute even for people who can afford it.
Negatives: a lot of people can't get to work and other obligations.
I saw this last night and thought it was just some sort of random internet idiot thing. Not quite.
Opposing Brexit should be made an act of "treason" and be punishable by life in prison, a Conservative councillor has suggested in a petition to Parliament.
Guildford councillor Christian Holliday's petition, on the House of Commons website, calls for an amendment to the Treason Felony Act to make supporting UK membership of the European Union a crime.
Profiles in courage.
Asked about the petition, Prime Minister Theresa May's official spokeswoman said: "Different people will choose their words differently.
"The Prime Minister has been very clear that the British people have made their decision and we should respect the will of the British people. That's how she would put it."
Build it and they will come. A family friendly beer garden at the Riverfront in Wilmington. Turns out to be hugely popular, despite fears of loud noise and disruption from the neighbors. Minimal investment. Just some picnic tables, lights. Sell beer and hot dogs, provide for some children's games and people love it. And why not? Next year, they're even going to provide some shade.
Is that Netflix would have a big problem with the streaming market and they'd be better off focusing on, or at least continuing to focus on, their DVD library. Since then they've split the two systems annoyingly, have let their DVD library/service degrade considerably, and are increasingly one of many players in the competitive streaming market. They'd made some good shows - yay Netflix - but they're paying through the nose for streaming rights.
Netflix needs the money that increased scale would provide, in part, to pay top dollar for shows such as Arrested Development and Lost. In January, it told investors it owed $10.9bn in TV show licenses alone, with $4.7bn of that due this year. After that, almost the entire balance is due before the end of 2018.
Netflix will have to keep buying reruns at what will almost certainly be increasing rates if it wants to retain its users, and the companies selling those shows are now in a tight spot too – largely thanks to the ad-free Netflix model.
Streaming is great, but licenses are expensive, as is original program development. The first sale doctrine means they can buy one DVD and rent it out over and over again (until it's damaged or lost, anyway). The DVD business was the monopoly that gave them an edge in the streaming business. They gave up that edge, and are just going to be one of many players bidding for rights.
Streaming is great, but the streaming library increasingly sucks. It's just another cable channel. I'd gladly pay for 24 hour turnaround access to the world's greatest DVD library. Streaming will never be able to duplicate that library.
I certainly get how a Trump-like figure manages to temporarily (or, eek, permanently) dominate American politics, though I admit I don't precisely get how Trump himself does. Point being, I get how a racist asshole with a little charisma and charm could manage to achieve it, but Trump seems to lack the charisma and charm part. I mean, he has the charm of a typical sports radio caller who calls in on Monday to complain about Sunday's loss.
I guess I forgot yesterday. Was busy trying to enjoy my Saturday, Saturday. Thanks to all who have helped! I think it's about 210 contributions so far.
From store managers nationwide, they heard that years of cost-cutting meant Walmart had become viewed as a last-ditch option for employment — not the place that ambitious people might want to work. They were under such pressure to keep labor costs low that the employees they hired showed little loyalty or career-building devotion to their jobs.
“We realized quickly that wages are only one part of it, that what also matters are the schedules we give people, the hours that they work, the training we give them, the opportunities you provide them,” said Judith McKenna, who became chief operating officer in late 2014, in a recent interview. “What you’ve got to do is not just fix one part, but get all of these things moving together.”
Why do we lose half our stock out the back door? I dunno, let me Taser one of the on call employees we have in the dungeon and find out...
Bold prediction here: I think the story going forward is going to be the Shrinking Crowds at Sniffles' rallies. The stink of loser doesn't attract thousands. Hundreds at best.
It's a bit confused, much like Americans wanting the government to get out of their Medicare, but Brexit support was, in part, due to the decline of public services in much of England and the belief that "those people" were taking all the money. Immigrants, Europe, unnamed other undeserving people, etc. The extra money for NHS was always transparently bullshit, but it was bullshit that some people believed.
Theresa May has told the head of the NHS that it will get no extra money despite rapidly escalating problems that led to warnings this week that hospitals are close to breaking point.
My perhaps incorrect observation (based on Gamergate and a certain segment of people on the internet who get really upset every time a black person gets cast in a movie role) is that some young men who spend a lot of time on the internet are getting sucked into some bad places (alt-right, MRA, etc.).
"Sucked in" doesn't imply lack of agency, and I'm not really talking abut kids, but when all your online buddies are... I know none of them read this sucky blog but really, kids, come back to the light. That ain't no way to live your life.
I guess this is one of the big mysteries of this campaign, that Trump wouldn't understand that doing it would destroy the marketability of his brand.
And that would have happened even if he wasn't so horrible (I'm sure he's unaware of that part). Choose sides so strongly and you lose your broad appeal. Sure plenty of CEOs get away with being identified with a particular cause or party, but the branding of their companies/products isn't tied up with the branding of the CEO. The Trump brand is Trump, as weird as that seems now.
Woke up this morning and caught a bit of my local NPR pledge drive. NPR pledge drives usually piss me off for a variety of reasons common to all of them, but my local NPR pledge drives really piss me off. This is why.
Over the years, WHYY chief executive William J. Marrazzo has taken a lot of heat for his compensation package and for him, it's a very sensitive subject. "You should never live a life where you take out more than you’re given in every day, never. That’s my personal philosophy," he said, talking about his work. So how does Marrazzo's pay stack up?
He receives $553,918, plus another $26,162 in deferred compensation, for a total of $580,080, according to WHYY's most recent IRS tax form 990. His counterpart in New York's public media company, WNYC, commands $790,115 in total, while at Boston's WGBH, where Antiques Roadshow, Frontline and Nova are produced, the chief executive earns a total of $490,826.
"Contentment for me has never come by the size of my paycheck, but by the knowledge that I’ve given no less than what I take out," he said. "It’s dangerous to measure somebody on the basis of their W2, no matter how big or no matter how small. It’s less about what they make; it’s more about how they live, and what they do with it."
If it's dangerous to measure somebody on the basis of their W2, then I'm sure he wouldn't mind earning half the amount? HAHAHAHA I keed. He gives no less than what he takes out, losers. Suck it.
I never thought Trump win, but I still stand by the assertion that he could have. It's October and likely things are completely imploding his campaign, but a month ago I would have bet he would've lost like McCain and Romney lost, not lost like Mondale or Dukakis lost. He still probably won't lose like Mondale or Dukakis.
If he'd run a real campaign, been a bit less lazy, hired people less incompetent and evil than the ones he hired,... well, he could have won. Probably not. But it was possible.
“It was an excellent railroad and running quite well until the last seven years, and it has been in constant decline,” said Martin E. Robins, a former deputy executive director of the agency.
Under the administration of Gov. Chris Christie, a Republican, the state subsidy for the railroad has plunged by more than 90 percent. Gaping holes in the agency’s past two budgets were filled by fare increases and service reductions or other cuts. And plans for a new tunnel under the Hudson River — one of the most ambitious infrastructure projects in the country — were torpedoed by Mr. Christie, who pushed for some of the money to be diverted to road-building projects.
This is almost totally unrelated, but I was quite surprised a few years ago when driving through South Jersey how things were obviously pretty fucked up. Hotels had been converted into weekly and monthly stay places (and not for the discerning business traveler), suburban homes were boarded up, roads were a mess, etc.
Republicans have to do well in the Philly suburbs to have a chance. Na ga ha pen.
A Bloomberg Politics Pennsylvania poll found that 70 percent of likely voters in moderate Bucks, Chester, Delaware, and Montgomery Counties have a negative impression of Trump. The poll coincided with the most devastating stretch of Trump's campaign — it started Oct. 7, the same day a damaging video was unearthed showing him boasting about groping and kissing women without their consent, and ran through Oct. 11.
There are like a dozen articles about The Donald's groping (and worse) behavior coming out right now. Time for another round of Republicans playing Hamlet.
One way to deal with urban parking problems is to build massive underground parking garages. This is very expensive. It's also what a lot of European cities did. If you aren't aware of them, or aren't looking for them, you might not notice them and you certainly won't know how large they are. But some European cities have absolutely massive underground parking caverns, sometimes under your favorite tourist sites and monuments. For example, there are 2100 spots under Villa Borghese in Rome.
I'm sure it cost an immense amount of money. It wouldn't be my favorite use of public money. But it was a smarter way to deal with the rise of the automobile than knocking down every building in sight to build surface lots/overground parking structures to support the few buildings left intact.
I delayed replacing my bulbs in part because of the then costs of LEDs, in part because the damn things wouldn't burn out so I didn't want to waste a "good" blub, and in part because buying LEDs is a bit more complicated.
The first one is no longer an issue. The heat wave this summer made me realize those bulbs were extremely hot and fighting with my air conditioner so it was practically worth getting rid of them for that reason alone. The third part is still true. I never paid much attention to what kind of bulbs I bought before, the light was similar enough that it didn't matter much. Now you do have to think about what kind of light warmth you want, and probably even buy precisely the same brand/model to get uniformity. That's still a bit annoying. But I did finally throw all the old bulbs away and replaced them. A bit of an investment, but even aside from direct electricity savings I'll probably make it back in the next heat wave due to lower heat production.
Thanks to all who have given so far. Always overwhelmed by the generosity, and bad at expressing thanks because I am an introvert weirdo. 70 people have given so far, if I've counted correctly.
If you wish to rid the world of curb cuts, force everyone to move to Manhattan, or at least turn everywhere into Manhattan, and ban all automobiles, consider giving a bit to that cause here.
The fantasy "who should the driverless car save?" question is just that, fantasy. We aren't talking about, in practice, complicated moral dilemmas. Anyone who tells you that they're programming that is lying. We're talking about whether cars are programmed to disregard pedestrians, or not. Mercedes says, fuck'em.
And, yes, I always say they won't work so who cares? Well, if "fuck pedestrians" is an acceptable approach, they will be more likely to "work" if you define that as "working." They still won't work as promised, but if you take away the barriers to implementation, by just running them over, they'll work "better" in a sense.
One "hilarious" thing has been watching all the people in the UK who think that in some fashion they get to set the terms of Brexit, either by fiat or because they have some sort of actual negotiating power with the EU (hint: they're sick of your shit, you don't, and they don't care if you raise car and champagne tariffs).
The country voted to leave the EU and the government is planning to follow through (unnecessarily, as it wasn't legally binding in any fashion, but whatever). Following through means invoking Article 50 at some point. Then every country in the EU (27!) gets a veto on any negotiations. Every single one. After 2 years, if no new agreement is reached, then there is no agreement.
But we want a say!!!! WAHHHHH!!!! Nobody in the UK has a say or any negotiating power. Deal with it.
There will be a lot of talk about what went wrong with this season of The Republicans. There will be discussion in the writers room, some chat with producers, talk about recasting some key characters.
And then they'll be back next season with the same writers, sets, actors, and plot lines.
There's been a lot of talk about just what kinds of "locker room talk" guys engage in. Leave aside this is of course the metaphorical "locker room" even though Billy and Donald were, you know, at work, and not in their mancave or some exclusive dude social preserve.
Dudes can say horrible things about women. The objectifying "I would like to have sex with, she's hot, the things I'd like to do to her" kind of talk of course exists, and exists in contexts where it would be plainly inappropriate such as work, and is common though I think not quite as constant as people might think. I mean, it gets a bit boring once you're older than your early 20s. Some dudes never leave that behind, of course, but at this advanced stage in life I don't play along with it and most people I know don't even if there is that guy who wants to go there.
But however inappropriate, gross and misogynistic that kind of talk can be, anyone who suggested sexual assaulting someone would just be met with "what the fuck are you talking about, dude?" stares at a minimum. It isn't actually common for guys to express a desire to assault or rape women. It's probably less common than guys actually assaulting and raping women. I'm sure I've known guys in my life who have sexually assaulted/attempted to rape/raped women, but they didn't boast about it. "She wanted me" would be a boast. Not "I made her do it."
tl;dr as horrible as dudes can be they usually don't brag about raping women. Guy talk can be gross, but it isn't that horrible.
...adding, none of this is about what women hear from men personally.
The geometry of parking issues (wake up, dear readers, this is important!!!) are particularly easy to understand (or should be) in Philadelphia rowhouse neighborhoods where lot sizes are typically 16' wide and 45-80' deep (60'ish is typical). Do the math, and you realize that on street parking can handle about one car per house. You can stick a ground level front facing garage on a house (fucking curb cuts) but that just replaces a public spot with a private one. Alley access either doesn't exist or is insufficient to handle rear parking access even on lots that would be big enough to handle a spot. So when people say they want more parking, my answer is usually ¯\_(ツ)_/¯. Where does it go? Most blocks depths are barely large enough to handle a surface lot, and you'd have to bulldoze multiple structures (where people might even live!) for one which would hold relatively few cars. Even if you had infinite amounts of money to spend on multi-level parking structures, they'd require a lot of bulldozing. Anyway, I just think the scale should make this obvious to people but it isn't. There just isn't anywhere to put the cars.
That's less obvious in places where there are larger lots and plenty of existing parking structures. What's one more? A few more? But they're usually just evidence of bulldozers past. Things were knocked down to build those lots. How much more are you going to knock down to build more?
Cities just aren't compatible with the one car per person, one car per commuter, one car per job framework. Try to make that possible, and you just hollow out a city. Not everyone wants to live in a city! Not every job needs to be in a city! Lots of parking elsewhere.
I've lived in the UK a couple of times, and the pound was basically (as it pretty much has been for years) between $1.53-1.63.
Keep plunging so I can retire in Scotland.
A lot of the talk about Brexit has weirdly been about the instant economic reaction, I think a bit too much seeing the economy as Teh Markets which can react instantly to expected future events, as opposed to the real economy which reacts a bit more slowly to such things and of course reacts more strongly to actual events. Brexit hasn't even happened yet! And I still think that the consequences will be much more about a transformation (for the worse) of society generally rather than a big economic hit.
Still poor governance of all kinds will impact the economy, and right now the UK is extremely poorly governed.
It's one of those of times of year again, when I put out the begging bowl and ask for your generous gifts so that I can keep this place running without running all of those horrible stupid ads (mostly, I try) that other sites have. I never want you to have to play whack-a-mole with the X's or wake up the office with auto-on ad to read this site.
As always, this isn't charity. If I needed to avoid eviction, or eat, or pay medical bills, or anything like that I'd say so. There's of course nothing wrong with charity! Just mean that this is your NPR money, not help refugee money. Big gifts are always amazing, but anything is appreciated. Really the "if everyone gave just a little bit" principle applies here. And if you can't afford it, don't. I don't need your medical bill money, your rent money, your food money. You do.
As always, the very best way to support the site is to make amazon purchases that you were going to make anyway. Give some of that Bezos money to me. Click any ad that says amazon, or use the search box, before your purchase and anything you buy should count. Add &tag=eschaton-20 somewhere appropriate in the item link like is is here and you can do it manually.
If at this point in a campaign season you claim to be genuinely undecided, you're lazy, lying, or stupid. New information coming in might change your mind, of course, but if you've bothered to put any time in at all to pay attention (and much respect for people who have other hobbies, to be honest), you should be decided.
It isn't the deep dark ages, like 15 years ago, when maybe someone who didn't pay all that much to politics would actually have to spend some effort to figure out information about the candidates. There are candidate websites and the google. You can get enough information to make a decision. Even if some of that information is bullshit, it's information.
And it's also not the glorious era much loved by reporters when tip-n-ronnie had a beer, when southern democrats were democrats, and when genuine cross-party coalitions existed. That historical aberration is gone. You know pretty much what Generic Democrat and Generic Republican will support and suppose. Not all the details, of course, but at least the basic direction.
Always somewhat interested in foods that some people hate to the point of revulsion and some people like/love. Cilantro is the obvious one (Personally, I barely taste the stuff. You have to tell me it's in something. I neither like nor dislike it, it just doesn't exist) that seems to have some sort of genetic link. I wonder about beets. I get puzzled when people express disgust for them (as opposed to just not liking them, we all have personal preferences). They seem sweet and tasty to me, but more to the point I don't see how they're disgusting.
Not the worst of his offenses, but that Trump assumes all black people live one kind of life (his greater sin) and that they all live in the "inner city" really bothers me. Basically he's using "inner city" as a synonym for "urban slum" so just say that. It would still be wrong, but that's what he means. "Inner city" isn't actually a synonym for urban slum. It's a term to describe the geography of a certain kind of poverty, a poverty not just related to race (though that too), but of location, reflecting the result of history and a set of policies, along with a specific problem to be addressed. It doesn't just mean where the poor black people are. It means the "inner cities" where concentrated poverty was a big deal.
I say was, because a lot of those inner cities are doing okay. Donald Trump lives in an inner city. The geography of poverty has changed, and it's been moving out of the inner cities. Urban poverty still exists, but it's being pushed out of the inner cities to the fringes and beyond in many areas. The word "inner" is there for a reason. It meant in the center, in the core. As opposed to the "outer" city.
Also, to, he's a horrible racist who doesn't know anything about the reality of black life in America. He just thinks they all live in slums.
When I was a kid/teen I thought people grew up. I don't mean that I thought adults were all perfect. I had eyes. I just didn't think they behaved the way children do, with narcissistic neediness and unable to usually keep control of those emotions. You know, no tantrums when it's not all about meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.
Rudy 9/11 will probably spit out "Bill Clinton" to every question on the 400 Sunday shows he's doing this morning as Trump's last defender. Bets on whether any host will bring up his own imperfect marital past?
I kinda hate myself for getting sucked into all the shit which should not matter (yes, yes, it matters that Donald Trump is a horrible person who boasts about sexual assault, but the rest of it is mostly entertainment). But it is all pretty hilarious. At least if he doesn't win.
In Trump's case, that's pretty true. The media didn't bother (during the primary), and none of the other 16 in the clown car bothered to do or release any oppo research. These days the media will use the fact that his opponents didn't to justify them not doing it. Cover the controversy is normal, just covering seems to be in itself controversial. None of this is meant to criticize good journalists doing good work, just the weird culture where "examining a candidate's past" or "fact checking" are akin to taking sides. The good journalists seem to actually have to argue their case or be partisan! Of course this view only applies sometimes to some candidates. Sometimes the opponents "raise questions" and sometimes it's enough that the voices in your head do. I'll never quite figure it out.
As for Trump, well, as I've said, I probably didn't think much of his candidacy when he first announced. I honestly don't remember! Maybe I would have laughed at Keith Ellison early on, too, for suggesting we should take candidate Trump seriously. Maybe not! But he went to the top of the polls pretty quickly and stayed there. When we have consistent polling data, it says something. It was all blinking Trump. In 2012 it was fun to mock the whole thing because every candidate seemed to get their medal for the week, but that never happened this time around. It was all Trump except for that brief moment when it was Ben Carson.
Not my world, generally, but there is a problem with handing our nonprofits over to rich people. They, you know, aren't like the rest of us. And the ability to write a big check does not necessarily mean one is bestowed with a good understanding of, say, who should be hired to run an orchestra or how best to keep such institutions afloat.
It was about the musicians wanting to earn more money, of course.
Just as much, though, it’s about what happens when the CEO’s compensation keeps going up as musicians are being asked to accept less.
It’s about what happens when leadership has failed to stoke donor enthusiasm to an adequate level.
...
A disturbing subtext ran through what will forever be known as the opening night that never was. It looked like a classic one-percenters’ tantrum when some of the city’s leading philanthropists shouted, “Shame on you,” at musicians after the concert was scrapped and they walked through the Kimmel lobby out to the picket line.
Anyone who thought the walkout was staged simply for effect, or as an act of petulance, should have really studied the musicians’ faces. They looked miserable, and maybe a little surprised themselves.
It has come to my attention that there's another debate this weekend.
Prediction: we get the full horrible Trump, which we get 99% of the time anyway. The other 1% of the time it's so his campaign can laugh at reporters repeating "soften! pivot! yarglebargle!"
With news that Trump is canceling a bunch of ad buys - likely to maximize the grift potential of the money - we're probably about done here. He's gonna take his ball and go home soon.
“It is utterly baffling that the government is turning down expert, independent advice on Brexit simply because someone is from another country,” said Nick Clegg, the Liberal Democrats’ EU spokesman. “This is yet more evidence of the Conservatives’ alarming embrace of petty chauvinism over rational policymaking.”
Sara Hagemann, an assistant professor at the London School of Economics who specialises in EU policymaking processes, EU treaty matters, the role of national parliaments and the consequences of EU enlargements, said she had been told her services would not be required. Hagemann tweeted on Thursday:
