Friday, March 31, 2017
Your Moment Of Zen
"So he didn't sign them."
Trump walked out of an executive order signing ceremony without having signed the executive orders pic.twitter.com/v0SjanotTe
— POLITICO (@politico) March 31, 2017
And She Did It
Still a dumb project, but Seattle didn't sink into its own sinkhole, so..
Bertha has made it to the finish line.
The celebrity boring machine’s arrival near Seattle Center, some 29 months late, guarantees a Highway 99 tunnel bypassing downtown. And the Alaskan Way Viaduct that roars over Seattle’s bay front, while affording an Olympic Mountains view to the common people on wheels, will truly be demolished.
Very Bad Timing
For various reasons which I will have more to say about when I am less busy, the new Braves stadium was a hilariously bad idea from a traffic management perspective, and a burning highway isn't going to help.
The potential for major-league traffic tie-ups in the Atlanta Braves’ new neighborhood has long weighed on the minds of wary commuters and officials tasked with addressing it.
The county and the state of Georgia have spent tens of millions of dollars to improve roads and intersections around the new stadium. The Braves have delayed game times, dispersed parking lots, and deployed traffic apps to ease congestion.
Then on the eve of the Braves’ debut at SunTrust Park, a pivotal chunk of asphalt literally disappears. The I-85 bridge collapse is bound to snarl traffic for weeks if not months to come - and today will almost certainly be dreadful.
So what should baseball fans expect tonight?
Uber Death Watch
Woopsy.
Disruption!
A judge said he’s inclined to slap an order on Uber Technologies Inc. that may impede its self-driving car program after being told its director won’t testify because he faces possible criminal action for allegedly stealing Alphabet Inc.’s trade secrets.
A lawyer for Anthony Levandowski, who left Alphabet’s Waymo unit last year and is now head of Uber’s driverless car project, told a San Francisco federal judge Wednesday the engineer would be asserting his rights under the Constitution’s Fifth Amendment, protecting a person from incriminating himself, according to a transcript of the closed-door court hearing.
Disruption!
Shit Is Fucked Up And Bullshit
Just add, "Go into public service, millennials!!!" to the list.
More than 550,000 people have signed up for a federal program that promises to repay their remaining student loans after they work 10 years in a public service job.
But now, some of those workers are left to wonder if the government will hold up its end of the bargain — or leave them stuck with thousands of dollars in debt that they thought would be eliminated.
In a legal filing submitted last week, the Education Department suggested that borrowers could not rely on the program’s administrator to say accurately whether they qualify for debt forgiveness. The thousands of approval letters that have been sent by the administrator, FedLoan Servicing, are not binding and can be rescinded at any time, the agency said.
Morning Thread
One of those mornings where I just can't get caught up with the overnight news. Oh, my.
Thursday, March 30, 2017
A Day Away
I'd like to say there would be some not so sucky blogging tomorrow but I have some things to do tomorrow so...who knows?
Cool Idea, Bro
I think the difficulties of getting off and on the thing might be worth considering...
Does This Product Exist?
Always feel bad being skeptical of boy genius profiles, but...
Not that it's the kind of thing you could find on Amazon necessarily, but I'd think this one would have been rushed to market if it had really achieved thatproduction cost savings size...my poor pre-coffee reading comprehension skills, but the question remains...
In 2014, Russell led Luminar in a digital health care competition sponsored by Qualcomm Inc. In a video about their entry, the young, mop-haired CEO described his lidar system and another technology called a "real-time hyperspectral camera system" that measures the molecular structure of objects well beyond what a human eye can see. Such cameras cost tens of thousands of dollars and were the size of a small fridge at the time. Russell said Luminar had built one as small as "a few pennies."
Not that it's the kind of thing you could find on Amazon necessarily, but I'd think this one would have been rushed to market if it had really achieved that
I Don't Think You Know Your Supporters Are
The Freedom Caucus will hurt the entire Republican agenda if they don't get on the team, & fast. We must fight them, & Dems, in 2018!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 30, 2017
It would be quite a trick to manage to obtain a popular and electoral majority based solely on the "moderates" (who as you know are not moderates) in the Republican party, given the current state of US politics and the gerrymandering map. More than that, who the hell do you think the loyal Trumpkins are? Maybe not the Freedom Caucus, but it's the 27% who loooove the Freedom Caucus...
Wednesday, March 29, 2017
If You're Gonna Take A Bullet For The Boss
You chose that guy?
A federal judge levied the first of two punishments over the "Bridgegate" tale of political retaliation in New Jersey Wednesday, sentencing former Port Authority Deputy Executive Director Bill Baroni to two years in prison.
What's It All About Then
Sure, I get that we must focus on storming the beaches of Wisconsin to end the reign of Cheeto Hitler, and when we do the Democrats in power will ________ ?
Don't get me wrong, I think Democrats are a lot better at being in opposition than they used to be, and I, as a Very Well Informed Citizen, certainly know that Democrats would be infinitely preferable, but there's always this "not quite as much bad stuff" or "less evil than the other guys" subtext.
My idiot cousin is just made up, but what should I tell my idiot cousin about why he should vote for Democrats in 2018, other than "because Trump is bad."
Don't get me wrong, I think Democrats are a lot better at being in opposition than they used to be, and I, as a Very Well Informed Citizen, certainly know that Democrats would be infinitely preferable, but there's always this "not quite as much bad stuff" or "less evil than the other guys" subtext.
My idiot cousin is just made up, but what should I tell my idiot cousin about why he should vote for Democrats in 2018, other than "because Trump is bad."
Celebrities
I admit I have soft spot for celebrities who are more than a little outspoken (or even just a little) about our fucked up and bullshit era. It isn't that I think they're necessarily influential, and certainly isn't because I think their celebrity status makes them wiser than the rest of us, but because they don't have to and in most cases it isn't helping their Brands. It just means they're human Like Us and are capable of giving a shit.
Build That Wall
Brexit is about like that for the UK, only they're going through with it 100%. I don't draw the parallel because of the obvious raise the borders connection but because it's a stupid idea that entranced a certain set of the population. Here we'll probably let "The Wall" go (I mean, in many ways we already have "The Wall" but that's a bit complicated), because conservatives have the attention spans of gnats and even they probably realize it's sorta stupid. Mostly an applause line to channel rage and piss of liberals. We'll show them! Build the wall! But in the UK they couldn't stop driving over the cliff. Encouraged by the right wing media, Brexit became synonymous with patriotism. Truly with us or against us stuff.
Over the cliff they go...
Over the cliff they go...
Brexit
Whatever the merits (or lack) of Brexit, it was put out there as a cynical re-election promise by the Tories in hopes to head off spoilers from UKIP. They didn't expect it to pass and most of them didn't want it to pass. It was mostly sold as something it wasn't, including ridiculous claims that Brexit would allow more money for the NHS, because the EU was apparently taking all the NHS money (not). Then it passed and for months everyone talked about a "soft Brexit" (whatever that meant) then a "good deal for Britain" (whatever that meant) and now it basically has become a fuck you, we're out, and we have no idea how we're going to deal with the thousands of complex issues including what to do about all of the current EU residents of the UK and all of the current UK residents elsewhere in the EU.
Cynicism, folly, and incompetence.
Have fun!
Cynicism, folly, and incompetence.
Have fun!
Tuesday, March 28, 2017
Is He Bored Yet?
Trump obviously thought presidenting just meant speechifying to enthralled crowds, riding high on 80% popularity, having the media write mash notes to you all day, etc.
It's hard work even for the worst president.
It's hard work even for the worst president.
Gimme Some Money
I didn't quite believe this story when it was in the British press, but the basics of it are confirmed in the NYT (which does not make it true, either, but...):
When Donald Trump met Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany earlier this month, he put on one of his most truculent and ignorant performances. He wanted money — piles of it — for Germany’s defense, raged about the financial killing China was making from last year’s Paris climate accord and kept “frequently and brutally changing the subject when not interested, which was the case with the European Union.”
This was the summation provided to me by a senior European diplomat briefed on the meeting. Trump’s preparedness was roughly that of a fourth grader. He began the conversation by telling Merkel that Germany owes the United States hundreds of billions of dollars for defending it through NATO, and concluded by saying, “You are terrific” but still owe all that dough. Little else concerned him.
Shit People
Open season on brown people.
Of course I have no idea whether the guy had a gun or not, but we have two contradictory bedrock beliefs in this country - that people have the right to defend themselves, and that law enforcement shouldn't be unencumbered by things like "warrants" and "knocking" or even "going after the right man" and can just burst in and start pointing guns (and shooting) at people. That's kind of the (mostly stupid) point of having a gun for self defense, to protect yourself from armed intruders.
In any case, ICE isn't tasked with going after people who are even theoretically determined to be currently dangerous. Just going to shoot people because they can.
And take off those fucking "police" identifiers. They aren't police. They aren't protecting and serving or keeping the peace, even in theory. They're just destroying lives.
A Chicago man was shot after immigration agents stormed into a house on the city's northwest side Monday morning — and officials have acknowledged that the wounded man was not the person they were looking for, according to reports.
...
But Torres' daughter, Carmen Torres, told the local news site that she was perplexed why agents would target their home, as no one there is undocumented. She also said her father doesn't own a gun.
"It's a lie when they say he was holding a gun," Torres said, speaking outside her home. "They shot my dad. They shot him, and I don't know why."
Of course I have no idea whether the guy had a gun or not, but we have two contradictory bedrock beliefs in this country - that people have the right to defend themselves, and that law enforcement shouldn't be unencumbered by things like "warrants" and "knocking" or even "going after the right man" and can just burst in and start pointing guns (and shooting) at people. That's kind of the (mostly stupid) point of having a gun for self defense, to protect yourself from armed intruders.
In any case, ICE isn't tasked with going after people who are even theoretically determined to be currently dangerous. Just going to shoot people because they can.
And take off those fucking "police" identifiers. They aren't police. They aren't protecting and serving or keeping the peace, even in theory. They're just destroying lives.
It Feeds The Rich While It Buries The Poor
Fortunately they'll probably be incompetent at it, but it is likely that the ramp up the rural-urban war. Rich white people who hate you and blah people live there.
Lefty Brexit
I think there has always been a left wing case for saying that Actually, The EU Is Bad. For the UK specifically, however, I think this is at the moment quite wrong. First, the UK isn't under the thumb of the ECB which is, actually, bad, so they avoid that particular problem. Second, there is lefty stuff in the EU framework which is actually good. Third, Brexit isn't happening under a left wing government in the UK, it's happening under sociopathic Tories, and what they will put in place will enshrine everything (except the ECB) bad about the EU while getting rid everything good (free movement).
Brexit is bad for the UK at this moment, but there is a case that the EU is, as configured, bad.
Brexit is bad for the UK at this moment, but there is a case that the EU is, as configured, bad.
Monday, March 27, 2017
OH MY GOD HE'S GONNA TWEET!
I remember when for awhile everybody paused in panic when that con artist fabricator (heckuva job, by the way, Arne Duncan Tom Vilsack) James O'Keefe would announce that he was RELEASING HIS NEXT VIDEO and news outlets jumped to see what was in it before bothering to figure out how he'd patched it together this time. For a little while (about 2 weeks) it was like WHAT IF PRESIDENT TRUMP SAYS SOMETHING MEAN ABOUT YOUR COMPANY or whatever. Now we all just point and laugh.
Anthroplogy
This is what I'm talking about when I say media members (#notallmediamembers) don't understand transit or often don't live in the city (as this reporter doesn't). Once I said something like that and a reporter wanted to know which scandals in my local transit authority I thought they should be covering more. It wasn't the point. The point is that even the best journalists can't write very well or get the importance of things they have no experience with. I don't mean that therefore they can't ever cover such things, I just mean that it's a problem when the majority of "big city" newspaper reporters don't have much experience with typically city things. And, yes, metro area papers cover more than just the city, but decades of writers and their perceived audiences not being from the city really has affected how things are covered. Man rides choochoo:
I’ve never ridden the El before. That was painfully obvious when I tried to buy a token from the man at the token booth. My plan was to ride out to 69th Street then all the way back to toward Center City, past Eighth and Market again, and up to Frankford.
But It Wouldn't Be Hard To Be Popular
Continue being assholes to blah people but give white people some good stuff. Wouldn't make Trump popular everywhere. I'm not sure he'll ever get any self-identified Democrats back (which usually isn't true for Republican presidents) but could easily make him Obama-level popular. Not super popular, but popular enough, especially as press narratives always add 5-10 bonus point to Republican popularity levels (they talked about Obama was if he was unpopular in the 42-46%+ range, they talked about Bush being popular even when he was under 40. And don't get me started on Reagan's supposed popularity...).
Eating Into The Base
Trump's approval dips to 36% in Gallup daily tracking -- a point Obama never reached over two terms. Last week didn't do Trump any favors. pic.twitter.com/5DRgm4ZEVg
— Steve Benen (@stevebenen) March 27, 2017
Not yet close to the magic 27% mark, but not too far. Already losing hardcore Republicans, if not the full crazies.
One thing about things having been fucked up and bullshit so long is that the circuses don't resonate so much anymore, not that Trump has been very good at them as president. People need some fucking bread.
Shit Is Fucked Up And Bullshit
I have some few degrees separation connections to people who have undocumented parents or similar (enough that I hear stories, not that there are bunch of people in my life directly), and people really are going underground. Scared to go to the usual gathering places, scared to drive in areas known (either truth or rumor) to have ICE checkpoints, etc.
If you've been in this country for decades and have children, this is your life. There is no life to return to. Getting kicked out means abandoning (not by choice) your children.
If you've been in this country for decades and have children, this is your life. There is no life to return to. Getting kicked out means abandoning (not by choice) your children.
On February 15th, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ice) officers conducted a raid in Las Cruces, arresting people at a trailer park on the outskirts of town. The raid came a few weeks after President Trump signed two executive orders, signalling his plans to fulfill a campaign promise of cracking down on undocumented immigrants. Rumors spread that there were further raids planned, though none took place. On February 16th, a Thursday, Las Cruces’s public schools saw a sixty-per-cent spike in absences compared to the previous week—twenty-one hundred of the district’s twenty-five thousand students missed school. Two thousand students stayed away again the next day. Attendance returned to normal the following week, which made the two-day rash of absences all the more pronounced. “It was alarming,” Greg Ewing, the district’s superintendent, told me. News of the raid caused such fear in the community that Ewing wrote a letter to parents on the 16th, in English and Spanish, reassuring them that “we do not anticipate any ice activity occurring on school campuses.”
His reassurances only went so far. Students might not have been at risk, but their parents seemed to fear that they themselves would be stopped coming or going from the schools. “Parents often don’t have legal papers,” he said. “They just have to survive day by day so their kids can get educated.” At the city’s high schools, absences went up by twenty-five per cent in the two days after the raids, but the numbers were even higher at the schools for younger students, where many still rely on their parents to drop them off and pick them up every day. In the two days after the raids, absences at elementary schools rose by almost a hundred and fifty per cent.
What Kept The City Alive
Without its fairly extensive if not good enough legacy public transit system, Philly would have likely imploded completely, instead of finding itself on a steady if slow rebirth. Elites and most policymakers don't understand this enough. Poor people can't afford cars, and even lots of relatively rich people choose the city precisely because they don't want the car dependent existence available to them everywhere else in the country. It's only a set of historical accidents and miracle timely cash confusions that keep the system as intact as it is. The people who run the place (elected, media, various foundations and nonprofits that think thy should run the place, etc.) too often think it's basically a welfare system for the poors, instead of something that the city couldn't exist without.
That's All They Have
Like many tech companies, uber is a bit like the underpants gnomes, though theirs is something like:
1) Start cab company, I mean write an app
2) Invent incredible new technology which magically drives all costs to zero
3) profit!
Number 2 isn't going so well.
I think safety is much more a PR problem than in actual problem, but lack of safety just reflects that fact that they don't really work. If they work they'll be safe enough. That's almost tautological. The working part is the problem...
1) Start cab company, I mean write an app
2) Invent incredible new technology which magically drives all costs to zero
3) profit!
Number 2 isn't going so well.
Uber Technologies Inc. is suspending its self-driving car program after one of its autonomous vehicles was involved in a high-impact crash in Tempe, Arizona, the latest incident for a company reeling from multiple crises.
I think safety is much more a PR problem than in actual problem, but lack of safety just reflects that fact that they don't really work. If they work they'll be safe enough. That's almost tautological. The working part is the problem...
Shit Is Fucked Up And Bullshit
I'm confident that absent crisis the worst possible timeline of the Trump administration won't happen, but there will be a lot of damage nonetheless.
Still, in New York and across the country, a climate of fear—sparked by Trump’s executive order on immigration enforcement, a series of highly public raids, and a draft executive order that would push families off of means-tested benefit programs—has spooked some untold number of families away from the safety net. Of the 20 organizations working with documented and undocumented immigrants that I spoke with in recent weeks, 17 said they had seen legally eligible families declining to enroll or even unenrolling from programs, including SNAP, Medicaid, the Children’s Health Insurance Program, free school lunches, and the Women, Infants, and Children program.
Sunday, March 26, 2017
Stupid People
I bet a lot of Republicans in Congress are confused about why there isn't some super awesome Obamacare replacement. There must be one! I mean, a conservative one, because conservatism is Good. Paul Ryan could have given them that bill! Why didn't he???
The DC press treats Paul Ryan like some sort of wonk savant because for a Republican he is, but that's an extremely low bar. None of them know anything about anything.
The DC press treats Paul Ryan like some sort of wonk savant because for a Republican he is, but that's an extremely low bar. None of them know anything about anything.
Got A Monkey On My Back
The Art of the Pout.
On Friday, Trump blamed Democrats for the bill's failure. Last night, he promoted an attack on Ryan and Reince. Today, Freedom Caucus.
— Blake Hounshell (@blakehounshell) March 26, 2017
The Mall is Flat
No news is no news.
"People at the site" have the best job.
People at the site last week referred all questions to developer Triple Five, which has not responded to multiple requests for comment on work at the site and on a long-delayed $1.15 billion bond issue that is needed to fund construction at the site.
A financing deal calls for the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority to sell $1.15 billion in bonds to the Wisconsin Public Finance Authority, which will then give the proceeds to Triple Five to work at the mall. NJSEA recently referred all questions on the project to Triple Five.
PCL Construction, a national construction contractor whose signs are posted all around the development, did not respond to a media request.
"People at the site" have the best job.
Saturday, March 25, 2017
Late Night
Sometimes I troll you with my music choices (but you can't tell!) but this is my favorite symphony.
Saturday Night
When the Republicans go for "tax reform" (cuts) it'll be funny to see how quiet the usual deficit scolds and their media amplifiers are.
Nobody cares about the deficit, especially not the people loudly claim they do.
Nobody cares about the deficit, especially not the people loudly claim they do.
I've Been Warning About This
My views of the importance of this are probably colored by the fact that there are a lot of academics in my social circle, but this is a bigly problem for higher ed.
Application and acceptance season is underway at America's colleges and universities. But this year, some institutions of higher learning may see a noticeable dip in attendance from one group purposely choosing to stay home: foreign students.
Applications from international students from countries such as China, India and in particular, the Middle East, are down this year at nearly 40 percent of schools that answered a recent survey by the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers.
Boom
A bunch of people emailed this so for your consideration...
TEMPE, AZ - A self-driving Uber vehicle was involved in an accident in Tempe Friday night.
Police responded to the area of McClintock Drive and Apache Boulevard around 6:30 p.m. after receiving reports about an accident.
A car failed to yield to the autonomous SUV and hit it, authorities said. The self-driving SUV rolled onto its side as a result crash.
What's It All About Then
Like most of things from the Obama era, it was about the fact that the Kenyan Muslim Socialist was in the White House. Push a conservative really hard about what was wrong with Obamacare and after screeching about socialism for awhile they'd eventually get to the mandate. And, you know, fair enough. Making people buy shitty insurance they can't afford when some of their neighbors were getting that nice free Medicaid wasn't very good policy, though the mandate hasn't actually even been enforced yet.
But mostly opposition to Obamacare was like Benghazi. Peel away the layers of wingutese and there just wasn't anything there. And as we've learned, elected Republicans aren't any different from internet wingnuts these days. Sure some of them literally want people to die, but most of them just know wingnut word salad and don't understand what the point of anything was.
I could've come up with plan that conservatives probably would've liked the sound of better (and most of them are to thick to know anything deeper than that), and which would've allowed their precious tax cuts and punted the "die faster" aspects down the road long enough. If they give me ONE MILLION DOLLARS I'll even tell them what it is. OK, it would still be worse, so I'll need TEN MILLION DOLLARS, but they should be willing to pay that.*
But the best the superwonks in the Republican party could come up with was "just like Obamacare, only bigly shittier."
And oh holy fucking hell Peggy Noonan wrote a decent column today.
*...adding, the other reason they couldn't cobble together a decent law is that even though they always whine, too, the stakeholders (insurance, hospitals) are pretty thrilled about Obamacare and didn't send an army of lobbyists with legislation in hand to write Wingnutuncare.
But mostly opposition to Obamacare was like Benghazi. Peel away the layers of wingutese and there just wasn't anything there. And as we've learned, elected Republicans aren't any different from internet wingnuts these days. Sure some of them literally want people to die, but most of them just know wingnut word salad and don't understand what the point of anything was.
I could've come up with plan that conservatives probably would've liked the sound of better (and most of them are to thick to know anything deeper than that), and which would've allowed their precious tax cuts and punted the "die faster" aspects down the road long enough. If they give me ONE MILLION DOLLARS I'll even tell them what it is. OK, it would still be worse, so I'll need TEN MILLION DOLLARS, but they should be willing to pay that.*
But the best the superwonks in the Republican party could come up with was "just like Obamacare, only bigly shittier."
And oh holy fucking hell Peggy Noonan wrote a decent column today.
*...adding, the other reason they couldn't cobble together a decent law is that even though they always whine, too, the stakeholders (insurance, hospitals) are pretty thrilled about Obamacare and didn't send an army of lobbyists with legislation in hand to write Wingnutuncare.
Something I've Been Trying To Express For Years
Roy:
Thus we remain, nearly alone among nations rich enough to have it, without universal health care. It's not so much an indictment of Trump, Congress, or even our politics as it is of our national character at the moment. America's like all those normal-seeming guys you read about in newspaper crime stories who take their savings and hire a hit man to kill their wife or boss or father-in-law. They think if they can just get this one insane, immoral thing done, everything will work out great. But they can't do it themselves so they need to hire this insane, immoral guy. And things always go wrong because the hit man winds up blackmailing them or trying to kill them or kidnapping a member of their family. These guys always seem to assume, against all evidence and experience, that for some reason the hit man won't turn on them. That's us now. We're a nation of Jerry Lundegaards.
Friday, March 24, 2017
Early Happy Hour
According to my deep sources on Twitter, no vote!
...a twist!
...a twist!
Costa on MSNBC: Trump says bill won’t be coming back in near future & he’ll see if the Dems want to work with him on healthcare.
— David Corn (@DavidCornDC) March 24, 2017
Into The Woodchipper
The only reason for them to vote on this is to give Bannon a "naughty or nice" list.
You're Fired
It's more obvious now why The Apprentice was such a perfect fit for Trump. Make a mistake (in his eyes), and you basically become an unperson. Gone.
Paul Ryan is about to experience that.
Paul Ryan is about to experience that.
Somebody Sees The Grift!
Gotta keep the day drinking funds rolling in.
The American Dream mall is not a dream; it is fantasy that it is not happening. While the mall in the Meadowlands is sitting empty and construction hasn't started, we've heard for years they are going to start sometime soon.
Before they kept spinning and giving out misinformation that the construction will start soon, but now they won't even respond. We believe the reason they aren't responding is because they don't want to walk away without getting all their permits for a mall in Florida. They are doing this because they don't want to undermine the financing approvals for their Florida project.
Vote Henry Sias
I've been friends with Henry for.. I dunno, 10 years I guess.. and he's running for judge here in Philadelphia. So if you're a local, vote for Henry!
History could be made in Philadelphia this spring.
Henry Sias is seeking a judgeship on the Court of Common Pleas. If he’s successful in the May 16 primary election, and later the general election, Sias would be the first transgender man to be elected judge in the nation.
Thursday, March 23, 2017
Your Moment of Zen
While meeting truckers and CEOs, President Trump sits in truck and honks horn @WhiteHouse. Full video here: https://t.co/embwPkBpui pic.twitter.com/mQVcvxfX53
— CSPAN (@cspan) March 23, 2017
Time To Bring Out The Cattle Prods
Or maybe checks for the floor. Ryan's scheduled and then postponed presser has been postponed again!
...and now my deep sources on Twitter say the vote is off for today. Bigly!
...and now my deep sources on Twitter say the vote is off for today. Bigly!
Majority Rules
A big problem in American politics is that no one is ever clearly to blame. In parliamentary systems, the party or coalition in charge rightly is responsible. In the US, we have the separation of powers between the executive and legislative branches, also, too, the judicial branch. We have both the Senate and the House. They have stupid rules about when a majority is or isn't a majority (filibuster, reconciliation+"Byrd rule", etc.). This is combined with a campaign finance regime which, while now eroded, long separated "issues" from "elections," and an "objective" press which worships "bipartsanship" and "across the aisle" nonsense. And of course we have a federal system, meaning states and local governments have significant powers.
It's always scary to remove barriers to simple majority rule. Can get a horrible Supreme Court Justice for life (we will anyway) and horrible seemingly irrevocable policy changes. I'm not a "we must burn it down to save it" kind of guy. I don't think short term pain inevitably leads to long run gain. But generally I think it's good to kill these anti-majoritarian things whenever possible. When 50%+1 rules, no politician or party can hide behind an arcane system. Rs are to blame or Ds are to blame. The end.
It's always scary to remove barriers to simple majority rule. Can get a horrible Supreme Court Justice for life (we will anyway) and horrible seemingly irrevocable policy changes. I'm not a "we must burn it down to save it" kind of guy. I don't think short term pain inevitably leads to long run gain. But generally I think it's good to kill these anti-majoritarian things whenever possible. When 50%+1 rules, no politician or party can hide behind an arcane system. Rs are to blame or Ds are to blame. The end.
Still Growing!
Philly is barely growing in population, but I think people tend to underestimate the major shift from being a shrinking city to a not-shrinking city. There has definitely been a "would the last ones to move out please turn out the lights" perception about Philadelphia for a long time, with policies focused on attracting jobs and visitors instead of existing or potential residents for a long time. The city isn't booming, but the shrinking is over (for now).
New population estimates released today from the U.S. Census Bureau show that Philadelphia has continued its demographic winning streak. The city continues to grow, reversing a decades-long trend of population decline, and the Philadelphia metro area, with over 6 million residents, has maintained its ranking as the nation's seventh largest.
Obama Wasn't That Great
I don't say that to bash him, but I get frustrated by people who are blind to what went wrong the past 8 years, not all of which was the fault of Republicans (especially when you include the fact that Obama shares some blame in their being elected in the first place). It isn't about dwelling in the past, it's about recognizing that after 8 years of Obama things are still fucked up and bullshit. I don't really like the framing of elections as "stay the course" or "status quo" but for whatever reasons (and there are reasons), a lot of Americans don't think America is already great. Life is tough. People often blame the wrong things when that is the case, but that doesn't mean it isn't true.
Terrorists Are SCARY
I'm not downplaying the horrible events in London, but I'm always grimly "amused" by the reactions which expect that events like that put a city on lockdown, with everybody too scared to leave their kitchens or something. London's a big place. 9 million or so people live there. People gotta go to work. People still go to the pub after work. In a dense city, a mile away is like a million miles away. I lived in London years ago during a period when there were 3 nontrivial terrorist attacks, and while they were horrible most people didn't adjust their life in any way. If I heard about (for example) a bomb going off in the heart of Philadelphia (a mile away or so), I wouldn't fear for my safety at all.
9/11 was obviously a bigger deal in NYC, because it was a BIG DEAL with lingering aftereffects, but even the 7/7 bombings in London, as horrible as they were, didn't shut down the city (The London 7/7 bombings got surprisingly little attention here in the US compared to what any terrorist attack anywhere gets now, despite their scale, but that's a subject for another blog post).
9/11 was obviously a bigger deal in NYC, because it was a BIG DEAL with lingering aftereffects, but even the 7/7 bombings in London, as horrible as they were, didn't shut down the city (The London 7/7 bombings got surprisingly little attention here in the US compared to what any terrorist attack anywhere gets now, despite their scale, but that's a subject for another blog post).
Gotta Get Up On Thursday
Woke up early and am watching local news. Apparently there is traffic congestion on the roads into the city?
Morning Thread
Way too much going on. One thing is clear, Nunes pretty much has to recuse himself from the congressional investigation into the transition team since he, himself, was on the the team. Otherwise, the whole thing is a farce.
Wednesday, March 22, 2017
How About If One Pair Of Children From Each Of The Districts Is Chosen To Battle To The Death
Trumpcare is a piece of shit, of course, and an incompetently crafted piece of shit. The Freedom Caucus, who have been the best allies of liberals since 2010, are not happy with it and will likely nuke it in the House. It isn't cruel enough, you see. Just adding my suggestion for a sweetener to get them on board.
KetchupSteak
Mostly it isn't that he likes well done steak with ketchup. Eat steak cooked any way you want! Also I think there's generally a US bias against putting any kind of sauce on a steak, which is stupid. A nice perfectly cooked steak without much on it is great, but there's nothing wrong with adding something to that, even ketchup if you like.
It's that if you're going to eat a hockey puck with Heinz, you don't need to pay $50 to do it. If you're paying $50 for a hockey puck with Heinz, you just think that if something costs more it must be better. That $8.99 steak and eggs at the local diner is probably going to be better. And, ok, fine, the Donald is super rich so who cares, but he actually isn't super rich, he's a grifter who lives an ostentatious life by floating from one line of credit to the next.
A $500 bottle of wine might be awesome, but if you can't tell the difference between that and two buck chuck, drink the two buck chuck. There's no shame in that.
I wrote "mostly," and there is one other issue, which is that for all of his supposed "riches," the Donald is a man who seems to have not gone beyond fancy steak houses and golf courses (and gold plated homes) in his appreciation for "the finer things." You can be an obscenely rich guy and love hockey pucks with Heinz, but if the breadth if your experience hasn't gotten beyond that more generally... that's sad!
The well done steak is a symbol.
It's that if you're going to eat a hockey puck with Heinz, you don't need to pay $50 to do it. If you're paying $50 for a hockey puck with Heinz, you just think that if something costs more it must be better. That $8.99 steak and eggs at the local diner is probably going to be better. And, ok, fine, the Donald is super rich so who cares, but he actually isn't super rich, he's a grifter who lives an ostentatious life by floating from one line of credit to the next.
A $500 bottle of wine might be awesome, but if you can't tell the difference between that and two buck chuck, drink the two buck chuck. There's no shame in that.
I wrote "mostly," and there is one other issue, which is that for all of his supposed "riches," the Donald is a man who seems to have not gone beyond fancy steak houses and golf courses (and gold plated homes) in his appreciation for "the finer things." You can be an obscenely rich guy and love hockey pucks with Heinz, but if the breadth if your experience hasn't gotten beyond that more generally... that's sad!
The well done steak is a symbol.
Heckuva Job
Nobody could have predicted that a sociopathic Ayn Rand-worshipping CEO who thought pitting departments against each other within stores was an excellent idea would destroy a company.
Times change and not all firms survive, but often this banal fact gives cover to the fact that many iconic institutions are looted and destroyed by the people paid lots of money to run them (many local newspapers, which perhaps would not have survived anyway, were looted and prematurely destroyed).
After years of huge losses and store closings, the future is officially in doubt for Sears and Kmart.
Sears Holdings (SHLD), the holding company for the two iconic retail brands, warned investors late Tuesday that it can't promise it will stay in business.
Times change and not all firms survive, but often this banal fact gives cover to the fact that many iconic institutions are looted and destroyed by the people paid lots of money to run them (many local newspapers, which perhaps would not have survived anyway, were looted and prematurely destroyed).
We're 100 Miles Away
I think the NYT deliberately gets things wrong when they report on the outer provinces just to demonstrate that they don't give a fuck.
Correction: March 22, 2017
An earlier version of this article misstated the given name of Philadelphia’s mayor. He is Jim Kenney, not David Kenney.
Shit People
They lie.
Read the article more and ICE is grasping at any straws to stir up the idea that sanctuary cities are letting those "Mexican rapists" free.
Stay the fuck out of Philadelphia.
At first glance, a report released by Immigration and Customs Enforcement on Monday suggested that three undocumented immigrants in the Philadelphia region with serious criminal histories had been released after local officials declined to detain them at the request of immigration agents.
But officials in Philadelphia and Chester County said Tuesday that in two of those three cases, their records did not match the data in the federal report.
Read the article more and ICE is grasping at any straws to stir up the idea that sanctuary cities are letting those "Mexican rapists" free.
Stay the fuck out of Philadelphia.
A Dangerous Mind
Interesting and weird guy.
Chuck Barris, the “Gong Show” creator, songwriter and novelist who sought to add to his already eclectic résumé with a made-up — or was it? — story about being an assassin for the C.I.A., died Tuesday in Palisades, N.Y. He was 87.
Tuesday, March 21, 2017
Asshole
I really don't get public officials who are brought down by dumb shit like free trips.
Especially as this is the stupid shit that brings public figures down and a DA should know that.
Seth used to come to various progressive meetups back when he first running, saying all the right things. I voted for him. He was a big disappointment even before this, basically because he's just a stupid asshole.
In an indictment unsealed Tuesday, prosecutors paint a portrait of a craven politician willing to do favors for friends willing to help him in return.
In one February 2012 text message exchange quoted in the filing, Williams allegedly agreed to help a friend of Mohammed N. Ali, a Philadelphia business owner, by offering to see about shortening the prison sentence the man faced as part of a plea deal with the District Attorney’s Office.
Within days, Ali offered to send Williams on a $3,000 trip to the Domican Republic resort of Punta Cana, prosecutors said.
Especially as this is the stupid shit that brings public figures down and a DA should know that.
Seth used to come to various progressive meetups back when he first running, saying all the right things. I voted for him. He was a big disappointment even before this, basically because he's just a stupid asshole.
The Kids Today Don't Learn To Drive
I have wondered about this myself for a few years and the only real answer I came up with that makes sense is that it is more socially acceptable in more places to not be able to drive. Sure there's been a bit more re-urbanization by people who would have otherwise been car dependent, and public transportation has actually improved in many places, if not nearly enough. Of course "don't got no money" and the related "schools don't teach driver ed anymore" are contributors, but when I was 16 people basically did anything they could to get themselves a license and, of course, a car. It was the top life priority. I can't remember ever knowing anyone in college or graduate school (except maybe some foreign students who used their stay in the US to get one) who didn't have a license.
So, yes, there are some financial and other incentives at the margins, but I really do think it's largely cultural. You can do it and not be a "total loser." Those things are related, of course - as the financial and related incentives tip more people away from driving, it becomes more socially acceptable - but I would guess that the real driver is social acceptability.
So, yes, there are some financial and other incentives at the margins, but I really do think it's largely cultural. You can do it and not be a "total loser." Those things are related, of course - as the financial and related incentives tip more people away from driving, it becomes more socially acceptable - but I would guess that the real driver is social acceptability.
Because The Whole Problem Is Hard
Reading a bunch of stuff from self-driving car boosters (we all have boring hobbies), I gather people sorta get the problem but usually don't come right out and say it:
To the extent that self-driving cars work (you know my position about them essentially not working, but..), they probably won't work everywhere, anytime, under any conditions, meaning that they won't be very useful as the "family car." Thus, the focus on self-driving taxis, which on one hand can be reasonably required only to function in relatively limited areas, but on the other hand having to function as a taxi creates a whole set of new complicated problems which are also really hard to solve.
To the extent that self-driving cars work (you know my position about them essentially not working, but..), they probably won't work everywhere, anytime, under any conditions, meaning that they won't be very useful as the "family car." Thus, the focus on self-driving taxis, which on one hand can be reasonably required only to function in relatively limited areas, but on the other hand having to function as a taxi creates a whole set of new complicated problems which are also really hard to solve.
Going Rogue
Whatever the problems (often many!) of police departments nationwide, the police as a concept do fill a necessary public safety role. ICE are just shit people, serving no useful purpose except to destroy lives.
A U.S. magistrate judge has claimed that a recent Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency raid in Austin, Texas wasn’t simply business as usual—it was retaliation for the city’s efforts to protect undocumented immigrants from federal authorities, the Austin American-Statesman reported on Tuesday.
The shocking allegation came from Judge Andrew Austin, who testified in court this week that ICE officials notified him in January that they planned to conduct a sweep for undocumented immigrants as a result of Travis County Sheriff Sally Hernandez’s policy to reduce cooperation between her office and that of federal immigration authorities. Shortly thereafter, ICE arrested 51 people during a two-day operation, which the agency claimed targeted “public safety threats.”
Crass Trump
If he didn't have the manners and style of a white trash lottery winner (invoking a stereotype here), I'm not sure what elite centrist pundits would find objectionable about Trump, except maybe the foreign policy stuff, as the State Department, "Intelligence Community," and Military-Industrial complex hold great powers over our pundits. I suppose it's good that we're starting to discover that taking away health insurance from people isn't very nice, but so is not providing it in the first place. It looks like they're making Trumpcare even worse than the first proposal, but the first round wasn't actually worse than the pre-Obamacare framework unless I missed something. I guess the lesson (which people need to learn over and over and over again) is that nice government goodies (which the best parts of Obamacare are) function like a ratchet. Lock in the status quo, and it's hard to go back.
Monday, March 20, 2017
Our Sister Network
Most people (other journalists) who pontificate about Fox News never watch it. I'd guess they get their impressions from the people who they work with, the people at Fox who are actual journalists (close enough), rather than the TV product that people see 24/7. It is a shitshow.
Imagine If...
Trump proves that norms are there to be violated by the first one to smack them away, and there isn't really any kind of check on that. Imagining press outrage if Obama or a President Clinton does this misses the point to some degree. Norms constrain the presidency because the people who are elected let themselves be constrained by them.
So Easy
Absent colossal fuckup or major scandal, it really isn't that hard to be a fairly popular president for your entire term in office. Sure some random winds can hit - like a recession - but otherwise the US population is fairly forgiving, and at least until the Trump era that was doubly true of "just give him a chance" Democrats. Obama was a consistently popular enough president for his entire term. Republicans mostly hated him, Democrats mostly liked him, and frankly that's how it should be, notwithstanding all the rhetoric about "unifying the nation" blahblahblah. People disagree about stuff, elections are a competition between visions of governance, and the idea of a super popular president is, to me, more horrifying than desirable. George W. Bush was super popular for awhile. You might remember why. Generally, one side wins, one side loses, and the losing side is unhappy. To get below 40% you have to start losing your fanbase. To get much about 55%, aside from the new in office honeymoon, there's probably just been some horrific tragedy.
With a little luck and a lot of competence (not even personal competence, just in the people you hire), you can be "as popular" as Obama, who wasn't actually super popular.
All of this is just my way of saying - if you're sub-40% for an extended period of time absent major recession or clear scandal, you really have to suck.
With a little luck and a lot of competence (not even personal competence, just in the people you hire), you can be "as popular" as Obama, who wasn't actually super popular.
All of this is just my way of saying - if you're sub-40% for an extended period of time absent major recession or clear scandal, you really have to suck.
Invisible Disabilities
Lots of people have them. You don't need to be in a wheelchair to need a handicapped parking placard, for example. An extra hundred feet of walking can be a major hurdle for some even if that isn't obviously apparent. I don't know if you really need that "emotional support" animal on your plane flight or not, and I'm not going to ever assume I do.
But I do know that some people abuse these things (because I know people who have), and the price of that is it makes it that much harder for people who actually need them to make use of them. Don't claim a medical condition because you just want to bring your damn pets with you.
But I do know that some people abuse these things (because I know people who have), and the price of that is it makes it that much harder for people who actually need them to make use of them. Don't claim a medical condition because you just want to bring your damn pets with you.
The Stupidest Timeline
Everybody knows Trump just tweeted out some bullshit about wiretapping because he heard it through the right wing nutjob puke funnel. The degree to which people pretend otherwise is astonishing.
Rabbit Holes
My minor plea: Louise Mensch is a horrible person, dumb as a stump, and knows nothing about anything. Please do not do this lefties...
And having pissed in the wind about this topic, I will shut up now.
Thank you for good journalism. https://t.co/0qtqD4u1Nu
— Donna Brazile (@donnabrazile) March 18, 2017
And having pissed in the wind about this topic, I will shut up now.
Everybody's In Prison
Trump's budget director: "The only way to get truly universal care is to throw people in jail if they don't have it" https://t.co/ElhhI1Tufd pic.twitter.com/XxvZAWP7FO
— The Hill (@thehill) March 19, 2017
And it isn't just Trump. These people live in some alternate universe in which Fox News is actually the sane and trustworthy news source.
Every nation we usually consider ourselves to be in the club of (I never know what to call them anymore as "advanced" or "Western" or "1st world" or whatever really don't seem appropriate if they ever were) has universal health care. They aren't all perfect, they aren't all "single payer," but no one worries that they can't afford medical care. They all have much lower incarceration rates than the US, too, as if that's a point that needed to be made...
The New Reality
I don't think anyone could have convinced me that the first thing I'd have to do every morning in 2017 was see what stupid shit President Trump had tweeted that morning.
Sunday, March 19, 2017
Only Fools And Frenchmen
Apparently it was 14 years ago today that we began our glorious war for the liberation of the people of Iraq, or whatever the hell reason we gave that day.
Linkrot is the devil and I don't have time to track down the original column right now, but this is how the Washington Post's liberal columnist helped to "sell" the war.
So glad the grownups were in charge then. Praise jeebus for the elite consensus.
Linkrot is the devil and I don't have time to track down the original column right now, but this is how the Washington Post's liberal columnist helped to "sell" the war.
It is time once again to quote my favorite philosopher -- Tevye, the lead character from "Fiddler on the Roof." It was his habit to weigh his options by saying, "On the one hand, " and then, "On the other hand," until he confronted a situation where there was no other hand. This is where Colin Powell brought us all yesterday.
The evidence he presented to the United Nations -- some of it circumstantial, some of it absolutely bone-chilling in its detail -- had to prove to anyone that Iraq not only hasn't accounted for its weapons of mass destruction but without a doubt still retains them. Only a fool -- or possibly a Frenchman -- could conclude otherwise.
So glad the grownups were in charge then. Praise jeebus for the elite consensus.
Coalitions
NEW: The GOP confronts the reality of a new coalition: many of their voters need AND expect gov't help w healthcarehttps://t.co/Mp5iKNczJg
— Jonathan Martin (@jmartNYT) March 19, 2017
Pretty sure the GOP coalition has long included seniors and Medicare, but this article does not mention Medicare.
Nobody Cares
While I've long laughed at conservatives for not understanding liberals, despite the fact that pissing off liberals is pretty much their #1 motivation, lately I've started to roll my eyes at liberals not understanding conservatives.
Conservatives never cared about "Wall Street" working in the White House. They cared about "Wall Street" working for Obama. Conservatives never cared about presidents playing golf, they cared about Obama playing golf. Hell, conservatives wouldn't even care if Donald Trump was born in Kenya. They just don't think black people are actually American.
There's some point to raising these kinds of double standard issues with the media. As in, why did you focus on Obama's golf playing and not Trump's (if that is indeed a valid criticism). But thinking you're going to needle Trump fans with this stuff is silly. They don't care.
Conservatives never cared about "Wall Street" working in the White House. They cared about "Wall Street" working for Obama. Conservatives never cared about presidents playing golf, they cared about Obama playing golf. Hell, conservatives wouldn't even care if Donald Trump was born in Kenya. They just don't think black people are actually American.
There's some point to raising these kinds of double standard issues with the media. As in, why did you focus on Obama's golf playing and not Trump's (if that is indeed a valid criticism). But thinking you're going to needle Trump fans with this stuff is silly. They don't care.
He Was Horrible
I always tried to be careful to give George Bush credit for things he deserved, and there were a couple important things he deserved credit for. But it was an awful era. He killed a lot of people. We tortured people, and it's an open bothsides debate about whether torture is good. His 9/11 get out of jail free card made some truly scandalous things not "scandals." That we fear Trump will completely collapse the government and Bush didn't do that is a bit too low a bar to set.
I imagine he's gone through manopause, mellowed out, has had a bit of time to reflect, and is now a better man. And he was always more of a stupid asshole than evil, though that distinction is not necessarily all that important, especially when you are the most powerful person on the planet. Remembering the Bush era fondly because of Trump is like missing the days of eating shit because now you have to eat shit while freezing to death, too. Understandable, but we ate a lot of shit.
I imagine he's gone through manopause, mellowed out, has had a bit of time to reflect, and is now a better man. And he was always more of a stupid asshole than evil, though that distinction is not necessarily all that important, especially when you are the most powerful person on the planet. Remembering the Bush era fondly because of Trump is like missing the days of eating shit because now you have to eat shit while freezing to death, too. Understandable, but we ate a lot of shit.
Two Quotes (From White People) That Explain Most Of American Politics
This one I long thought apocryphal (first appearing in the early 90s) but then it seemed to go from possible myth to reality during the Obamacare freakout.
and
Keep your government hands off my Medicare.
and
I’ve been on food stamps and welfare. Anybody help me out? No. No.
Saturday, March 18, 2017
Shit Is Fucked Up And Bullshit
Florida edition.
As punishment, four corrections officers — John Fan Fan, Cornelius Thompson, Ronald Clarke and Edwina Williams — kept Rainey in that shower for two full hours. Rainey was heard screaming "Please take me out! I can’t take it anymore!” and kicking the shower door. Inmates said prison guards laughed at Rainey and shouted "Is it hot enough?"
Rainey died inside that shower. He was found crumpled on the floor. When his body was pulled out, nurses said there were burns on 90 percent of his body. A nurse said his body temperature was too high to register with a thermometer. And his skin fell off at the touch.
But in an unconscionable decision, Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle's office announced Friday that the four guards who oversaw what amounted to a medieval-era boiling will not be charged with a crime.
Saturday Crass Commercialism
I read another book I liked (I'm a bad reviewer so I don't really review things, like or don't like is all you get from me, but go read other reviews!). Celese Ng - Everything I Never Told You.
Debate
Over my lifetime the Jefferson/Hemings thing (in popular telling) went from hushed denial to a tale of star-crossed romantic love. I am not sure which is worse.
Also, the confines of actually being enslaved.
After her owner, Jefferson, raped his young teen slave, presumably repeatedly.
Ah, those master-slave debates, in which the masters invariably won. How did that happen? Some things will forever remain a mystery.
Raise your hands if, before reading this piece, you didn't consider a person, Sally Hemings, to be "a person who did think and feel." Anyone? You over there, just scratching your ear? Ok, no one then.
I guess someone has a novel to sell in which these fascinating new ideas, such "is black slave a person who did think and feel?", something which has never before been explored with such detail and care, will be addressed.
Personally, I can't wait to read the "debate" scene!
Having spent the past five years immersed in research on the Jefferson and Hemings families for two historical novels I wrote, I was thrilled to learn that Sally Hemings’s room at Monticello will be reopened. I’d grown tired of hearing her described within the confines of two roles: “Jefferson’s concubine,” as her son called her, and “slave.”
Also, the confines of actually being enslaved.
When Hemings was 14, she was assigned to accompany Thomas Jefferson’s youngest daughter, Maria, to France, where Jefferson was serving as American envoy. According to Hemings’s son Madison Hemings, at 16, Sally was pregnant with Jefferson’s child, a son who didn’t live long.
After her owner, Jefferson, raped his young teen slave, presumably repeatedly.
Perhaps 16-year-old Sally Hemings was simply outmatched in a debate with a persuasive, powerful, 46-year-old man. Or perhaps she saw a chance to improve life for her family. Perhaps she just missed her family. We’ll never know what she thought or felt.
But opening up the room where she lived at Monticello will force us to acknowledge her as a person who did think and feel, who lived her own extraordinary life and left her mark on our history beyond the role she’s thus far been assigned, as merely a footnote to a scandal.
Ah, those master-slave debates, in which the masters invariably won. How did that happen? Some things will forever remain a mystery.
Raise your hands if, before reading this piece, you didn't consider a person, Sally Hemings, to be "a person who did think and feel." Anyone? You over there, just scratching your ear? Ok, no one then.
I guess someone has a novel to sell in which these fascinating new ideas, such "is black slave a person who did think and feel?", something which has never before been explored with such detail and care, will be addressed.
Personally, I can't wait to read the "debate" scene!
Morning Thread
With all the talk of cutting Meals on Wheels, let's not forget that we are paying $500,000/day so that The Schmuck's wife can live away from him. While I sympathize with her not wanting to be under the same roof as El Schmucko, the WH is big. They could probably both live there and never have to see each other at all.
Friday, March 17, 2017
Unpossible
That Uber is betting its future on making this work is hilarious (and investors: SUCKERS).
I'm sure all of this can be made better. A lot better. It isn't so much that technologically it won't work (though it is that), it's that conceptually it won't work. The self-driving cab is the most ridiculous idea for an application for self-driving cars. It's going for the most complicated thing first.
Uber has lots of work to do to catch up with its rivals' self-driving car technologies. According to the internal test reports Recode obtained, the company's 43 self-driving cars autonomously drove a total of 20,354 miles during the week ending on March 8th. That's impressive, considering it's four times the number of miles Uber's first 20 autonomous cars drove in January. However, the robotic vehicles also had more help from their human drivers that Uber would have liked.
Based on the data in the documents, the drivers had to take over from the self-driving system every mile for one reason or another. They include navigation issues related to unclear lane markings, the system missing a turn or bad weather preventing it from working properly. Drivers also had to take over due to auto-detected hard decelerations or abrupt car jerks more frequently last week than in January.
Uber didn't count events that might have led to serious accidents, such as those that would have damaged property or hit a person -- those were counted as "critical interventions." Thankfully, the vehicles drove an average of 200 miles between these critical interventions last week. The average used to be 114 miles between each one, so there's definitely some improvement. But Uber testers didn't see a steady rate of progress either, since the average seems to dip and rise back up.
I'm sure all of this can be made better. A lot better. It isn't so much that technologically it won't work (though it is that), it's that conceptually it won't work. The self-driving cab is the most ridiculous idea for an application for self-driving cars. It's going for the most complicated thing first.
Pretty Standard Stuff
If you were a Young Conservative back in the day (or today), of course you talked about cutting federal Medicaid support and sending it all to the states over beers. It's what the Republican party, the National Review, and 50% of the PBS Newshour told you was important.
This has been the Republican agenda forever. Of course Republican frat boys, thinking they were smart, would get drunk and talk about it.
This has been the Republican agenda forever. Of course Republican frat boys, thinking they were smart, would get drunk and talk about it.
Winners and, of Course, LOSERS
One of the conceits of bothsides journalism is that Both Sides really have What's Good For America in mind, that all we're debating about is the means to that glorious Good end. There isn't actually much room for conversation about what that Good would be, which would reveal the fact that some people think it's Good that old people die because they can't afford medical care, and some people don't.
Slightly more subtly, literally any policy change will have winners and losers, whether that is its intended goal or not. While I am not always Obamacare's biggest fan, one thing you can say about it is that there were very few losers except some rich people who had to pay a bit more in taxes. That is actually a pretty impressive accomplishment. Personally I think our ideal health care would involve a few more losers (insurance industry, hospital and pharmaceutical profits, some doctor pay, etc.) so that most of the rest of us could win more - we pay an absurd share of our GDP in health care costs, to bring that down somebody's gotta lose - but credit where credit is due.
The reward for not making more losers is, of course, is that the Republicans want more of us to give our precious bodily fluids to buy a few more yachts for rich people. Sometimes you should just make more losers.
Slightly more subtly, literally any policy change will have winners and losers, whether that is its intended goal or not. While I am not always Obamacare's biggest fan, one thing you can say about it is that there were very few losers except some rich people who had to pay a bit more in taxes. That is actually a pretty impressive accomplishment. Personally I think our ideal health care would involve a few more losers (insurance industry, hospital and pharmaceutical profits, some doctor pay, etc.) so that most of the rest of us could win more - we pay an absurd share of our GDP in health care costs, to bring that down somebody's gotta lose - but credit where credit is due.
The reward for not making more losers is, of course, is that the Republicans want more of us to give our precious bodily fluids to buy a few more yachts for rich people. Sometimes you should just make more losers.
Lunch Thread
Love when a certain not evil company decides that the way you used to login to your account for necessary business purposes is no longer valid to manage the desired feature and you spend 2 hours having to figure out a necessary workaround.
Royalty
.@SpeakerRyan "we went from a President who played a lot of golf to one who owns a lot of golf courses & that makes you royalty in Ireland". pic.twitter.com/SZqyxB0hwZ
— Caitriona Perry (@CaitrionaPerry) March 16, 2017
National stereotyping is an international pastime but, it's one thing for, say, the French to make generalizations about the Spanish and vice versa as they share a border after all and occasionally bump into each other. But when untraveled American do it their basis is so far removed from reality that it isn't even a stereotype 3 times removed, it's just gibberish.
Maybe If It Had Kicked In Faster
One of the (valid!) complaints about Obamacare was that parts of it didn't kick in very quickly.
Obviously the key event here wasn't some piece of Obamacare kicking in, but the job loss, but it takes a bit of time for people to understand what the options are and why.
It was hard to take credit for good stuff that hadn't happened yet. I know most Obamacare criticisms get met with "best they could do, Joe Lieberman, blah blah blah" and fine. I've never really argued with "best they could do" type responses. Might not be completely true but I'll accept that it's true enough. Still at the time a lot of criticisms of Obamacare - many of which were prescient - weren't just met with "best we could do" responses, but responses along the lines of the pro-Iraq war guy in the Onion piece.
Worth passing anyway? Sure. Being blind (or pretending to be blind) to its flaws? Not so good.
NASHVILLE — Soon after Charla McComic’s son lost his job, his health-insurance premium dropped from $567 per month to just $88, a “blessing from God” that she believes was made possible by President Trump.
“I think it was just because of the tax credit,” said McComic, 52, a former first-grade teacher who traveled to Trump’s Wednesday night rally in Nashville from Lexington, Tenn., with her daughter, mother, aunt and cousin.
The price change was actually thanks to a subsidy made possible by former president Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act, which is still in place, not by the tax credits proposed by Republicans as part of the health-care bill still being considered by Congress.
Obviously the key event here wasn't some piece of Obamacare kicking in, but the job loss, but it takes a bit of time for people to understand what the options are and why.
It was hard to take credit for good stuff that hadn't happened yet. I know most Obamacare criticisms get met with "best they could do, Joe Lieberman, blah blah blah" and fine. I've never really argued with "best they could do" type responses. Might not be completely true but I'll accept that it's true enough. Still at the time a lot of criticisms of Obamacare - many of which were prescient - weren't just met with "best we could do" responses, but responses along the lines of the pro-Iraq war guy in the Onion piece.
Worth passing anyway? Sure. Being blind (or pretending to be blind) to its flaws? Not so good.
SPICEY
I just think all of this is funny.
The US has made a formal apology to Britain after the White House accused GCHQ of helping Barack Obama spy on Donald Trump in the White House.
Sean Spicer, Mr Trump's press secretary, repeated a claim on Thursday evening – initially made by an analyst on Fox News - that GCHQ was used by Mr Obama to spy on Trump Tower in the lead-up to last November's election.
Thursday, March 16, 2017
Popular Communist Elizabeth Warren
The always amusing thing about the "moderates" versus "The Left" is that the moderates are never actually asked to describe their policy differences with people like Senator Warren. I'm pretty sure none of them could, or at least they wouldn't be willing to in public. Sanders and Warren are currently the most popular elected Democratic politicians in the country.
*Whether or not they are technically registered lobbyists they are all DC influencers-for-hire.
“Whether you’re conservative or liberal you’ve got to move forward,’’ Landrieu said in a interview. “You’ve got to solve problems and make decisions that are balanced. The word compromise is not a dirty word. It’s an essential component of this democracy.’’Clearly the electoral woes of the Democratic party can be cured by following the lead of former senators Begich, Hagan, Lincoln, and Landrieu, all of whom couldn't win re-election. Of course, DC lobbyists Begich, Hagan, Lincoln, and Landrieu might not be all that concerned with the electoral fortunes of the Democratic party.*
Landrieu recently formed her own political action committee, “Hold the Center,’’ to raise money to support moderate candidates. But she and former senator Mark Begich, D-Alaska, have also met with former Democratic Sens. Kay Hagan of North Carolina and Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas to talk about combining resources for an organization with the same mission.
...
Landrieu, Begich and Hagan were among the moderate Democratic senators to lose re-election bids in 2014, leading to Republicans taking control in the Senate.
Democrats who voted for Obamacare cut by half in new Senate
“It’s getting harder and harder for the center to come together,’’ said Landrieu, a senior adviser at the Washington lobbying firm Van Ness Feldman. “You got the right wing of the Republican party led by Donald Trump going a little crazy. And they got on our side the Sanders/Warren wing, who I respect a great deal, but I’m not sure that they have - just like the right wing of the Republican Party – the ability to really excite and mobilize the center.’’
*Whether or not they are technically registered lobbyists they are all DC influencers-for-hire.
Snow Job
Snow reveals much in the urban hellhole, especially when it lingers for a few days. One thing it reveals is just how many people don't actually need their cars. That people "need" their cars drives demands for cheap parking permits, which fills up available parking spots with cars that people don't actually need, which makes car owners apoplectic and opposed to any development which doesn't have off street parking in a city where most lots can barely fit a house, which drives down local population density, hinders revitalization of walkable neighborhood commercial corridors, leads to more people "needing" or wanting cars, worsening the parking problem, etc...
Rich people who like cheap long term storage for their weekend cars get very concerned about the needs of poor people whenever people suggest increasing parking permit fees (The first one is $35 per year. They're basically free). Snow reveals just how many of those cars are not used for daily commutes.
Cities spent decades hollowing themselves out by trying to be "more like the suburbs." Sadly, too many "new" city arrivals who have decided they like city living can't look around the urban landscape, see how big cars are, and do the simple math to figure out just how much space they take up.
Rich people who like cheap long term storage for their weekend cars get very concerned about the needs of poor people whenever people suggest increasing parking permit fees (The first one is $35 per year. They're basically free). Snow reveals just how many of those cars are not used for daily commutes.
Cities spent decades hollowing themselves out by trying to be "more like the suburbs." Sadly, too many "new" city arrivals who have decided they like city living can't look around the urban landscape, see how big cars are, and do the simple math to figure out just how much space they take up.
Remember When Chris Christie Was Going to be President
That was funny.
I guess they've improved a bit!
New Jersey voters disapprove 76 - 19 percent of the job Gov. Christopher Christie is doing, compared to a 78 - 17 percent disapproval in a January 31 Quinnipiac University poll.
I guess they've improved a bit!
Incentives
With $24.5 million per year, I could pay decent salary and benefits for 250 people for doing nothing.
Just has to "keep" jobs. Basically, you just apply for the money and if you're well-connected enough they give it to you and don't bother to see what you did with it later.
Norcross applied for a $245 million, 10-year tax incentive through the controversial Grow N.J. program, which is run by the state Economic Development Authority and rewards companies that keep or create jobs in the state.
Just has to "keep" jobs. Basically, you just apply for the money and if you're well-connected enough they give it to you and don't bother to see what you did with it later.
CBP Unleashed
The travel ban (if courts allow it) is bad, but what's worse is CBP continuing to clearly racially and ethnically profile people, even ones with supposedly valid visas, who cross the border. Bad policy clearly implemented is one thing, complete and utter Calvinball with people's lives is another. I'm not sure what to do about it.
Wednesday, March 15, 2017
Why Should The States Decide?
Pretty sure parents should decide. Or maybe the CEOs of the firms they have been indentured to.
HHS Secretary Tom Price says it should be up to states to regulate whether immunizations are required https://t.co/3QWUK3oy0W
— CNN (@CNN) March 16, 2017
No Prosperity For You
Politicians promise their policies will creeeaaatte jayuuuuuuubs. Journalists judge policies by imagined (usually based on supply side fairy reasoning) jayyyuub creation of those policies. The Fed raises rates as soon as too many jayuuubbs are created, ensuring that not enough jayyyuuubs are created to ever give anybody a raise.
Nobody ever seems to recognize the contradiction here.
...adding, this the issue:
The issue isn't that one small rate hike will destroy the economy, it's that rate hikes like this are the Fed's way of signalling that they will never let wages go up again.
Nobody ever seems to recognize the contradiction here.
...adding, this the issue:
The Federal Reserve’s announcement today that it would raise short-term interest rates is not surprising, but is disappointing. As always, the issue is less about the direct impact of today’s 0.25 percentage point hike, and more about what this hike means, especially given that it has come relatively hard on the heels of a hike in December. Today’s hike seems to signal that Fed policymakers think that we’re currently at or very near full employment, and that failing to slow the pace of economic growth in coming months would soon lead to accelerating wage and price inflation. They could be right, of course, but it is important to note that there is little in actual economic data to indicate this.
The issue isn't that one small rate hike will destroy the economy, it's that rate hikes like this are the Fed's way of signalling that they will never let wages go up again.
Everything's A Distraction
I hate the whole genre of "don't fall for it, they're just trying to distract you from [fill in the blank]." Trump's your nutty uncle who tweets stupid shit when he's mad at the teevee, Conway is such an incompetent liar that even our normally respectful press sometimes rolls their eyes at her, and the fact that Bannon has read the top 5 racist greatest hits books does not mean he knows anything of importance. Spicey's just an asshole who is probably a little bit smarter than Trump but no less of a horrible human. He doesn't need this job; he chose it. The rest of them are people who weren't even smart enough to be tolerated as Red State commentators and spend every day trying to knife each other with nerf bats while fapping to viewings of 300.
They're evil, but not evil geniuses (that is not to say that they are incapable of inflicting great damage, just that they'll do it more by knocking over the chessboard than by planning the checkmate 57 moves ahead). And as Pierce says, this kind of thing is even dumber when it comes from the people whose job it is to decide what is important and who are quite capable of not running after the soccer ball every time it has been kicked.
They're evil, but not evil geniuses (that is not to say that they are incapable of inflicting great damage, just that they'll do it more by knocking over the chessboard than by planning the checkmate 57 moves ahead). And as Pierce says, this kind of thing is even dumber when it comes from the people whose job it is to decide what is important and who are quite capable of not running after the soccer ball every time it has been kicked.
However, if the distraction argument is true, then it is a massive dereliction of duty on the part of the members of the media who make it true. In essence, coming from anyone in this business, the distraction argument denies that the media has any agency in what it covers. If you are an editor—or a reporter—and you decide that a story is a shiny object, then don't cover it. Or, at the very least, don't emphasize it. The decision by the elite political media to make Hillary Rodham Clinton's email server a central issue in the campaign was a deliberate choice. It wasn't forced on them by anyone or anything. If you can choose to emphasize something, you can choose not to do that. If you can choose to concentrate on HRC's email practices, you can choose not to concentrate on what you judge to be obvious diversions from the White House.
I Think This Stuff Was All Rather Obvious At The Time
I thought the final ACA would be an improvement - and in some ways it has been a better improvement than I expected, in large part because I didn't correctly understand (nor did its proponents) the scope of even the Supreme Court/Republican asshole-limited Medicaid expansion - but this is just a summary of what critics at the time were saying. One, in particular, was something I said a million times - if Dems do this, they "own" our entire health system, so people had better think it has made things better.
Bipartisanship
In DC, bipartisanship actually means, "Let Lindsey Graham and John McCain run everything." But they are both Republicans, you respond? Yes, yes they are. What is your point?
Knowing that, it sure seems weird that the people who spent the past eight years going blue in the face, insisting that Obama had to “lead” by constantly reaching for bipartisan compromise, even when he didn’t need to, have gone curiously silent now.
Maybe all “bipartisanship” ever meant was that Democrats had to do all the compromising, and not the reverse. I suppose it’s not surprising.
People *Hate* Price Uncertainty
A lot of economists fantasies involve "peak pricing" and "surge pricing" and making sure prices adjust instantaneously in response to changing demand in things like electricity markets, rush hour traffic, and now taxis. Not that these are *always* bad ideas, but analysis often overlooks the fact that people *really really really* hate price uncertainty. It's actually a big reason why people hate highway congestion so much. It isn't the slowness or the bumper to bumper traffic - though it is that, too! - it's the not having any idea how long it's going to take you to get home on any particular day. If people knew that their commute would be 50 minutes and cost 5 bucks in tolls every single day they probably wouldn't be thrilled but they'd accept it. Trying to smooth out traffic flows by adding varying tolls just shifts the annoyance from varying driving times to varying prices. The focus is always on "how much would people be willing to pay to reduce their travel time?" But the real question is "do people really prefer price uncertainty to time uncertainty" and I don't think there's a clear answer about that. These cunning plans just shift from one to the other.
And the same with Uber. Everybody puts on their very smart Econ 101 hat and says, while stroking their chin, that this is efficient because it matches supply to demand, but that's based on a particular model of preferences which doesn't factor in aversion to price uncertainty. If I take my Uber to work every morning, I really don't want to wake up every day wondering if it's going to cost me 6 bucks or 40. One problem - I don't know how long I am going to wait for my Uber - is solved, but replaced with another - don't know how much it's going to cost. The models focus on the waiting time/stuck in traffic time as the issue, but the bigger issue is price/time uncertainty. It's why people pay a lot to lock in long term contracts.
And the same with Uber. Everybody puts on their very smart Econ 101 hat and says, while stroking their chin, that this is efficient because it matches supply to demand, but that's based on a particular model of preferences which doesn't factor in aversion to price uncertainty. If I take my Uber to work every morning, I really don't want to wake up every day wondering if it's going to cost me 6 bucks or 40. One problem - I don't know how long I am going to wait for my Uber - is solved, but replaced with another - don't know how much it's going to cost. The models focus on the waiting time/stuck in traffic time as the issue, but the bigger issue is price/time uncertainty. It's why people pay a lot to lock in long term contracts.
There Was Never Going To Be A Deal
OK I don't know everything about everything, but I've long been puzzled by this fantasy that the UK could get some sort of pre-Bexit deal about post-Brexit. I never understood how that was going to happen.
The UK is being a giant pain in the ass and the rest of the EU doesn't have all that much reason to care. The UK has been playing "hardball" in their rhetoric but the EU response has rightly been "who are these little shits?" All the politics in the UK is about xenophobia and sticking it to those bastards on the way out the door, and the Tories have shown no sign of following any other path. And even the focus on a "trade deal" is wrong. Not that there won't be real economic impacts that will harm people, but the real harm is going to come to EU citizens in the UK who have no legal status (there is literally no process in place for them to obtain legal status), and UK citizens in the EU - of which there are many! - who are going to be fucked.
The government has not carried out a full assessment of the potential economic impact of Britain leaving the EU without a trade deal, the Brexit secretary has told a committee of MPs.
The UK is being a giant pain in the ass and the rest of the EU doesn't have all that much reason to care. The UK has been playing "hardball" in their rhetoric but the EU response has rightly been "who are these little shits?" All the politics in the UK is about xenophobia and sticking it to those bastards on the way out the door, and the Tories have shown no sign of following any other path. And even the focus on a "trade deal" is wrong. Not that there won't be real economic impacts that will harm people, but the real harm is going to come to EU citizens in the UK who have no legal status (there is literally no process in place for them to obtain legal status), and UK citizens in the EU - of which there are many! - who are going to be fucked.
Patronage
I don't know if the boss hiring someone she knows is the worst thing in the world, but even reporters have a hard time getting their head around the fact that The City Has Nothing To Do With The Parking Authority. The mayor "supporting" or "not supporting" someone comes down to saying nice things about them. It's all the state, but of course any corruption (real or imagined) is always chalked up to people as "Philadelphia" even when it is, actually, Harrisburg.
Mayor Kenney has said he supported Tolson for the PPA job. The day she took over he called her “a good administrator and an honest person” and “the type of fresh approach the Parking Authority needs.”
He could not be reached for comment Tuesday.
Kenney’s spokeswoman, Lauren Hitt, said the city has no control over the state-run authority. “We didn’t know that and we don’t have any powers to do anything about it,” she said.
Tuesday, March 14, 2017
Hey Girl
Funny.
Ryan seems hell bound on destroying the GOP and working against the American people…It's time for Speaker Ryan to resign. #MAGA #Dobbs pic.twitter.com/oO64CUfaV3
— Lou Dobbs (@LouDobbs) March 14, 2017
Fat Leonard
Well okay then.
During a port visit by the Blue Ridge to Manila in May 2008, for example, five of the Navy officers attended a “raging multi-day party, with a rotating carousel of prostitutes,” at the Shangri-La Hotel, according to the indictment. The group allegedly drank the hotel’s entire supply of Dom Perignon champagne and rang up expenses exceeding $50,000, which Francis covered in full.
On another port visit by the Blue Ridge to Manila in February 2007, Francis allegedly hosted another sex party for officers in the MacArthur Suite of the Manila hotel. During the party, “historical memorabilia related to General Douglas MacArthur were used by the participants in sexual acts,” according to the indictment.
Doing Nothing Costs A Lot Of Money
And day drinking is nice work for those who can get it.
Ok, I know you’re going to ask: “What about American Dream Meadowlands? Will it really ever open?”
Well, once again today there was not a single construction worker visible (to me, at least) on the site. But the white-collar professionals remain at the site in their work trailers every weekday, so don't write this one off just yet. Heck, we've waited 14 years, the last 6+ of those with Triple Five running the show - I suppose we can wait a little longer.
Policies Have Consequences
It should be obvious, but if you send people to war, some of them will die. If you cut off the ability of people to afford medical care, people will die. Hiding behind abstract "ideology" (moar freedom!) should not serve to obscure these facts. Trumpcare quite clearly trades the health care for (mostly) poor people for tax cuts for rich people. This is only ideology if "rich people should get more money because" is ideology (which I suppose it is).
People will die for tax cuts, many more will be impoverished and have their lives basically ruined.
Very rude, I know.
People will die for tax cuts, many more will be impoverished and have their lives basically ruined.
Very rude, I know.
Our Official Written Policy Is That We Break The Law
You know enforcement of this stuff must be so horrible (and likely getting worse) if businesses just put this stuff in their employee handbooks.
The U.S. Department of Labor has filed a Fair Labor Standards Act complaint against Mixto and Tierra Colombiana, alleging that the Latin American restaurants failed to pay their employees overtime.
According to the filing, the popular Philadelphia eateries gave their workers a handbook that explicitly laid out their no-overtime policy: “Mixto/Tierra Colombiana does not pay overtime. Every extra hour will be paid as a regular salary.” The federal government also accused Mixto and Tierra Colombiana of not keeping records of their workers’ wages and hours.
Monday, March 13, 2017
That's Almost Hard To Pull Off
CBO says Trumpcare will reduce the number of insured by 14 million people... by 2018.
That's some high quality evil!
That's some high quality evil!
Little England
My impression of the rhetoric around the last anti-independence campaign (which won, but not by so much) was that it was all really condescending, the kind of unaware language that a colonial power uses to talk to its subjects in a subjugated territory (not saying that's the reality of the Scottish position in the UK, just that it was how it sounded). You know, a parent telling a child what's good for her.
Heckuva job, David Cameron.
Nicola Sturgeon has confirmed she will ask for permission to hold a second referendum on Scottish independence.
Ms Sturgeon said she wanted a vote to be held between the autumn of 2018 and the spring of the following year.
That would coincide with the expected conclusion of the UK's Brexit negotiations.
Heckuva job, David Cameron.
That New Deal Feeling
Charlie Peters spent much of his career supporting view and people who were rolling back the New Deal, and he seems to think the New Deal was all about bright young idealistic Harvard grads going into government.
I'm not quoting for the Obama digs, but the whole thing is just about how the problem with elites is they don't join the peace corps and engage in performative noble public service and inspire the masses by being good elites.
It's not about Camelot, it's about policy. He helped create all this crap. This is from 2007.
There is no money to be saved by not giving the Social Security that they paid for to rich people. There aren't that many rich people (they are really fucking rich, but there aren't the many of them), and the maximum Social Security benefit they get is small. Take it away from them and it's rounding error to redstribute to poor people. This is not how you take money from rich people to give to poor people, this is how you demonize what the Washington Monthly staffers called "greedy geezers" to erode support for a program that is keeping most of those geezers out of poverty (either directly or insuring them against the possibility). If you want to take money from rich people you increase their taxes and give the money to less rich people, not focus on "entitlement programs" that rich people also want to destroy.
A Lefty Legend Pleads for a Return to a New Deal Ethos
...
Eventually he founded and ran a feisty, liberal-leaning policy magazine perhaps best known for launching the careers of dozens of prominent journalists, including James Fallows, Jon Meacham, David Ignatius and Katherine Boo. Now he has written a book that some of those old charges think amounts to a last testament.
...
Mr. Peters may not be above stretching his case, but his argument is well timed. In the final pages, he appeals to former President Barack Obama to eschew “making a lot of money and hanging out with Anna Wintour” and focus instead on “teaching how government works” to inspire a new generation of leaders.
“We cannot continue to have our role models continue to cash in,” Mr. Peters warns in a book to be released a week after it was reported that the former president and first lady, fresh from their Caribbean vacation with the British tycoon Richard Branson, will make about $65 million (some of which will go to charity) for writing separate memoirs.
I'm not quoting for the Obama digs, but the whole thing is just about how the problem with elites is they don't join the peace corps and engage in performative noble public service and inspire the masses by being good elites.
It's not about Camelot, it's about policy. He helped create all this crap. This is from 2007.
That’s a perfect example of what we as neoliberals tried to do. The point about criticizing the teacher’s union is not just to bitch about them, but to get decent education for kids who are being deprived of it by incompetent teachers who are protected by the unions.
...
CP: I think in many, many areas, the neoliberals, in effect, won. But in some cases we won too much. For instance, the rebirth of capitalism produced such extremes that we then had to turn around and say no, that is wrong. But where we clearly haven’t won is with the government bureaucracy, the teacher’s unions. We have hardly made a dent, and they still have terribly strong power. You have to be able to fire incompetent teachers and incompetent civil servants.
Those are two great analogous problems in education and public service that no one seems to want to face. And the Democrats never issued the kind of call that Jack Kennedy did, that public service is a proud and noble calling. Jesus, when I was working in the Kennedy administration, I got calls from all my smart friends all over the United States. They would suddenly want to talk to their good friend Charlie Peters about whether “there is something there for me in Washington.” It was wonderful.
All the right people were supposed to think Washington was cool, our elites were supposed to be role models, and get to work on the really important job of firing all the loser teachers and civil servants.
CP: Oh, in essence, yes. I am a redistributionist. I hate wasting public money on the rich, I hate the agricultural subsidies that go to the rich. It drives me crazy. And I hate wasting Social Security money on the rich, so that it is not something that benefits the middle class. I’ve said many times that, if anything, we want to give more to the poor and take away money from the rich.
There is no money to be saved by not giving the Social Security that they paid for to rich people. There aren't that many rich people (they are really fucking rich, but there aren't the many of them), and the maximum Social Security benefit they get is small. Take it away from them and it's rounding error to redstribute to poor people. This is not how you take money from rich people to give to poor people, this is how you demonize what the Washington Monthly staffers called "greedy geezers" to erode support for a program that is keeping most of those geezers out of poverty (either directly or insuring them against the possibility). If you want to take money from rich people you increase their taxes and give the money to less rich people, not focus on "entitlement programs" that rich people also want to destroy.
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