Sunday, April 30, 2017
Okay Folks
Lunch is done. Eaten and forgotten. Let's get the happy on. I'll have a glass of red, thank you very much.
Saturday, April 29, 2017
Stupid Voters
You can blame individual voters for being stupid. I mean, fight with your crazy uncle for voting Trump or yell at your hippie friend for writing in Bernie in the general election, or whatever. Fight with random people on the internet about it if that's your thing (and of course it is). I think people who voted for Trump AND people who voted for Jill Stein are idiots (and not just out of "must Stop Trump!" considerations - Stein seems horrible). But after we're done telling people they're idiots - and they are! - a lot of money is going to be raised and spent to figure out how to get a plurality of votes for candidates in congressional races and then a plurality of votes in enough states for a presidential candidate. Some of that will involve getting a few Trump voters to vote D, some of that will involve getting your stupid Bernie voting hippie friend to vote D, and some of that will involve getting some of the people who didn't vote for whatever reason to vote D.
And that's how the game is played.
And that's how the game is played.
If It's Cable News, It's Conservative
That MSNBC had a liberal prime time block was a weird aberration, and of course one which got them labelled the liberal network because everyone pretended the liberals weren't perfectly offset by the several hours of Morning Joseph each day. You Kids might not remember that during most of the Bush years one could hardly find a liberal (or even a "liberal") on the teevee at all. Back to normal.
Friday, April 28, 2017
Have You Ever Driven In A Car Before?
Like a subway, but for cars, or for something. I don't even know. I'm sure some localities will throw lots of money at it because why not.
I'm sure some people think this is the smartest thing ever. I can't even explain why it is so stupid because I don't even know where to start. Click through for the pictures!
At the TED conference today, Elon Musk gave a first look at the underground tunnels his new company, The Boring Company, is shooting to develop in the future.
Based on what we can gather from the brief video, cars will be lowered from regular roads into what Musk said he hopes will be a 3D network of tunnels by parking on what is essentially an elevator.
The cars will remain on a platform — called a car “skate” — in the tunnel, which will take it through at up to 130 miles per hour. Musk says he’s shooting to have many layers of tunnels.
“There’s no real limit to how many levels of tunnels you can have,” he said. “The deepest mines are much deeper than the tallest buildings are tall.”
I'm sure some people think this is the smartest thing ever. I can't even explain why it is so stupid because I don't even know where to start. Click through for the pictures!
PENNSYLVANIA NORMALIZED THIS
So it's like totally normal!!!
Trump just called Elizabeth Warren “pocahontas” again and gets huge laughs from the #nraam2017
— Kira Lerner (@kira_lerner) April 28, 2017
Most People Don't Know This, But There's Also A South America
While it isn't on display here, one of Trump's many beautifully charming characteristics is that he can't believe anyone knows something important that he doesn't know, and if that is revealed to him he assumes it's some arcane piece of trivia that only someone REALLY REALLY smart knows.
Since he knows nothing, this must be an hourly occurrence for him now. That's how you get statements like, "Most people don’t even know he [Lincoln] was a Republican." I mean that might even be technically true for all I know, but only true in the sense that "most people don't know X" where X is almost anything. While Lincoln's reputation is more controversial than we like to acknowledge, anyone who has a passing familiarity with history (and Civil War era history is something people are more likely to have a passing familiarity with).
The more disturbing (is it? it's all so disturbing) thing is that Trump really believes in rewarding the states that supported him, and destroying the ones that didn't.
As news of the president’s plan reached Ottawa and Mexico City in the middle of the week and rattled the markets and Congress, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue and others huddled in meetings with Trump, urging him not to sign a document triggering a U.S. withdrawal from NAFTA.
Perdue even brought along a prop to the Oval Office: A map of the United States that illustrated the areas that would be hardest hit, particularly from agriculture and manufacturing losses, and highlighting that many of those states and counties were “Trump country” communities that had voted for the president in November.
Since he knows nothing, this must be an hourly occurrence for him now. That's how you get statements like, "Most people don’t even know he [Lincoln] was a Republican." I mean that might even be technically true for all I know, but only true in the sense that "most people don't know X" where X is almost anything. While Lincoln's reputation is more controversial than we like to acknowledge, anyone who has a passing familiarity with history (and Civil War era history is something people are more likely to have a passing familiarity with).
The more disturbing (is it? it's all so disturbing) thing is that Trump really believes in rewarding the states that supported him, and destroying the ones that didn't.
America's Worst Humans
Kevin Crissey.
American Airlines announces pay raises for pilots and flight attendants, and investors balk https://t.co/PqcsOlstYL pic.twitter.com/gehjnS2FKq
— Los Angeles Times (@latimes) April 28, 2017
I Tried To Tell You
If only you had read this sucky blog.
I'm not one who has George Bush nostalgia, but even he seemed to get up and go to work every day, if only to put on the costume and prance around. Okay, I'll give him more credit than that. He seemed to take the job seriously, even if he wasn't capable of understanding what that meant.
He misses driving, feels as if he is in a cocoon, and is surprised how hard his new job is.
President Donald Trump on Thursday reflected on his first 100 days in office with a wistful look at his life before the White House.
"I loved my previous life. I had so many things going," Trump told Reuters in an interview. "This is more work than in my previous life. I thought it would be easier."
I'm not one who has George Bush nostalgia, but even he seemed to get up and go to work every day, if only to put on the costume and prance around. Okay, I'll give him more credit than that. He seemed to take the job seriously, even if he wasn't capable of understanding what that meant.
Thursday, April 27, 2017
Good News and Bad News
No health care vote.
But... we're going bomb North Korea.
So, you know, a mixed bag I guess.
But... we're going bomb North Korea.
So, you know, a mixed bag I guess.
Bumbling Not So Supervillains
As I've said, we won't always appreciate incompetence, and should not underestimate the damage this crew is capable of doing to people (and already has), but I am glad the sense of immediate panic is gone. That he read a bunch of racist books does not make Bannon a supergenius (why, in DC, a place where basically everybody has an Ivy equivalent degree, people are are willing to grant the title of "intellectual" to anyone who claims to have read a few books is a discussion I will leave for you...). Trump obviously isn't. The rest are like commenters who were banned from Red State because they were too stupid.
No longer do we get the hourly lecture that WE SHOULD NOT FOCUS ON TRUMP'S TWEETS THEY'RE JUST A CUNNING DISTRACTION. They are what they are: a cranky old guy yelling things at the television while watching Fox News. Yes, he happens to run the world, but still.
No longer do we get the hourly lecture that WE SHOULD NOT FOCUS ON TRUMP'S TWEETS THEY'RE JUST A CUNNING DISTRACTION. They are what they are: a cranky old guy yelling things at the television while watching Fox News. Yes, he happens to run the world, but still.
Really Only Need 1
That's the most hilarious thing about the stupidity of the people in charge of British Brexit. They don't need 27 to "oppose" them. Basically every country can veto anything.
Idiots.
#BREAKING UK PM Theresa May accuses EU 27 of lining up to oppose Britain over Brexit
— AFP news agency (@AFP) April 27, 2017
Idiots.
Only Dumb Democrats Care About The Deficit
I usually say "nobody does," though that isn't entirely true. I think some Democrats do, in the way that they imagine themselves to be the stewards of the Serious Norms of Washington, even when those Serious Norms are just a con game played by Republicans and NPR and the Washington Post editorial page on Democratic marks (and some are just conservatives and hate nice things like Republicans). Quite a trick, that it's only Democrats who worry about the deficit, and Republicans get all the credit for it!
But voters don't care about "the deficit" except it is something they've been told is "bad" for decades and so whenever anything is actually bad they think it's because of "the deficit" and those irresponsible people in Washington giving all their money to the blahs.
No this is not an argument that therefore the US government can sensibly deploy limitless resources too good measure, just that in my lifetime the consequences of anti-government spending propaganda (because The Deficit Is Bad), have been much greater than the possible consequences of any reasonably possible "overspending."
But voters don't care about "the deficit" except it is something they've been told is "bad" for decades and so whenever anything is actually bad they think it's because of "the deficit" and those irresponsible people in Washington giving all their money to the blahs.
No this is not an argument that therefore the US government can sensibly deploy limitless resources too good measure, just that in my lifetime the consequences of anti-government spending propaganda (because The Deficit Is Bad), have been much greater than the possible consequences of any reasonably possible "overspending."
Nice Work
Marissa Mayer probably has gotten more than her share of media attention in part because she was a relatively young woman (such attention can be good and bad, but still reflects something Bad about the way women are treated), but she is still up there with the best (worst) of them in the incompetent people fail up, destroying everything around them, and get rewarded unimaginably well for it group.
Obviously there's a kind of competence involved, just not the one we're supposed to believe in.
Corporate America prides itself on rewarding success and punishing failure. Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer does not fit comfortably into that narrative. During her five-year tenure at the once-proud tech firm, user levels stagnated, ad revenue dropped, acquisitions cratered, layoffs accelerated, product quality floundered, and hackers stole the personal information of more than one billion users.
But when Yahoo’s sale to Verizon becomes official in June, with the restructured company renamed Oath, Mayer will walk away with $186 million, according to a regulatory filing released this week. That includes shares of Yahoo stock Mayer owned, stock options, and a $23 million “golden parachute” of cash, restricted stock units, and medical benefits. Mayer did relinquish $14 million while taking responsibility for the Yahoo Mail data breach, but she’ll get 13 times that amount just to no longer remain part of the company.
Under current practices, CEOs have a deep financial interest in merging their companies.
Mayer’s award is not merely an indictment of short-term thinking in executive boardrooms, which prioritizes increasing stock prices (the one thing Yahoo achieved) over creating a decent company. It reflects a real problem with executive compensation, which favors the very kind of corporate consolidation that is distorting our economy. Under current practices, CEOs have a deep financial interest in merging their companies. Their spectacular bonuses serve as a kickback for concentrating power in fewer and fewer hands.
Obviously there's a kind of competence involved, just not the one we're supposed to believe in.
Wednesday, April 26, 2017
New York Dystopia
.@NYCMayor says city's immigrant population is at its highest level since 1910 — 38% foreign born residents
— Laura Nahmias (@nahmias) April 26, 2017
It isn't the high crime city, but it is still where a bunch of "furriners" live (and blah people generally) and that drives the Trumpkins insane. They've always hated it, but when they thought it was a dystopian hellhole it didn't make them so mad, it just proved them right. John Rocker flashback:
" In the interview that hit newsstands yesterday, Rocker, 25, says, "The biggest thing I don't like about New York are the foreigners.
" He gripes about walking in Times Square not hearing "anybody speaking English.
" "Asians and Koreans and Vietnamese and Indians and Russians and Spanish people and everything up there. How the hell did they get in this country?
" Rocker is quoted as saying. The straphangers on the No. 7 train to Shea Stadium really seem to bug him, especially "some kid with purple hair," "some queer with AIDS" and even "some 20-year-old mom with four kids.
My Comprehensive Theory Of Why People Like To Put Assholes In Charge
Mostly kidding, but basically it's because they think that finally they'll have a boss who will kick their lazy coworkers into shape, or fire them. They'll be assholes to those OTHER people. The people who deserve it. Of course assholes are usually just assholes, and not necessarily competent or fair assholes. Odds are they're going to kick you too.
In politics it's clear who your lazy coworkers are, who those OTHERS are. It's blah people and other moochers. Promise to give them a good kick and you get 40% of the vote.
In politics it's clear who your lazy coworkers are, who those OTHERS are. It's blah people and other moochers. Promise to give them a good kick and you get 40% of the vote.
The Marketplace Of Ideas
Like most other markets, it's rigged...
(also this is just a dumb concept).
Generally, the whole campus speakers/1st amendment discussion is silly. Yes it's a complicated by the existence of state universities, but like every single other working institution/community, campuses have a variety of issues to balance. Also like every single other working institution/community sometimes they will do it wrong. What exactly do you do when a sanctioned campus group invites someone to campus who promotes junk science asserting that a big part of your student population are members of a genetically inferior race? And if the line is not there, then where is it? There will always be lines and people just disagree about where they should be.
In my years of watching these types of controversies, my sense is that campus administrators tend to be much more likely to "dissuade" appearances of left-wing campus speakers, largely but not just because those speakers are more likely to have expressed views considered to be anti-Semitic due to their hostility to the actions of the state of Israel (whether or not the scheduled talk itself has anything to do with that). Even if we grant that the accusations of anti-Semitism are true (sometimes!), it is not clear why this is more disqualifying than having your life's work be propaganda about how black people are stupid.
It has been a bit less than a quarter-century since the publication of Murray’s The Bell Curve. Murray has spent that all of that time as a well-remunerated participant in the marketplace of ideas. He has never renounced his work, and he would surely reject the notion that it has been “demolished by scholars.” He is currently a fellow at a major conservative think tank, and, as we can see, he is still regularly invited to campuses to discuss his ideas and theories.
Liberals and scholars have politely explained why and how Murray is wrong for decades; he remains a prominent public intellectual because his ideas are useful to a white nationalist political movement underwritten by plutocrats. This movement currently holds power at nearly every level of American government, and Murray’s ideas are as influential now as they’ve ever been.
(also this is just a dumb concept).
Generally, the whole campus speakers/1st amendment discussion is silly. Yes it's a complicated by the existence of state universities, but like every single other working institution/community, campuses have a variety of issues to balance. Also like every single other working institution/community sometimes they will do it wrong. What exactly do you do when a sanctioned campus group invites someone to campus who promotes junk science asserting that a big part of your student population are members of a genetically inferior race? And if the line is not there, then where is it? There will always be lines and people just disagree about where they should be.
In my years of watching these types of controversies, my sense is that campus administrators tend to be much more likely to "dissuade" appearances of left-wing campus speakers, largely but not just because those speakers are more likely to have expressed views considered to be anti-Semitic due to their hostility to the actions of the state of Israel (whether or not the scheduled talk itself has anything to do with that). Even if we grant that the accusations of anti-Semitism are true (sometimes!), it is not clear why this is more disqualifying than having your life's work be propaganda about how black people are stupid.
Normalization
Reporters is weird:
I guess every election gives the new president a clean slate, and the power to wipe away and ignore all previous norms without it even being remarked on? Every Republican president, anyway.
Dear Twitter: The states of Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania 'normalized' @realDonaldTrump
— Glenn Thrush (@GlennThrush) April 26, 2017
I guess every election gives the new president a clean slate, and the power to wipe away and ignore all previous norms without it even being remarked on? Every Republican president, anyway.
It's A Ban Again
He really isn't very bright.
First the Ninth Circuit rules against the ban & now it hits again on sanctuary cities-both ridiculous rulings. See you in the Supreme Court!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 26, 2017
Tuesday, April 25, 2017
Meritocracy
I was just thinking about how while it would be nice if there were more people from underrepresented groups in the media - by class, race, gender, etc. - the fact is that with extremely talented reporters like Chris Cillizza out there it's hard to make the case that they really deserve those jobs.
Really just something to ponder.
Really just something to ponder.
Higher Standards
Sometimes I think (some) liberals get confused about legitimate complaints about "objective" media double standards - you know, Republican buckraking is FINE and Democratic buckraking is BAD - and "our" own standard, which is more along the lines of "Republicans are going to do what they do but that doesn't mean our side has to do it too." I tend not to support principled unilateral disarmament when it comes to campaign money. The designated hitter rule is dumb (shut up baseball nerds) but I don't expect a principled American League coach to make his pitchers bat. But lining your own pockets is, well, lining your own pockets. We can do better.
Nor do I think ex-presidents should be so pure that they live a life of poverty, but I think we've established that there are many ways an ex-president can earn an income (I mean, even more than that hefty lifetime pension) which at least look like work. A book deal with an obscene advance quite possibly will make its money back. 400 grand for a speech is, well,...
Nor do I think ex-presidents should be so pure that they live a life of poverty, but I think we've established that there are many ways an ex-president can earn an income (I mean, even more than that hefty lifetime pension) which at least look like work. A book deal with an obscene advance quite possibly will make its money back. 400 grand for a speech is, well,...
Actually It Was About The Slavery
But even leaving that argument aside, I always find fetishization of the trappings of the Confederacy by northerners and transplants to be really really weird. Because, yes, you can embrace "Southern culture" (real or imagined) without hanging it on the noble act of treason in defense of slavery. I can move to Berlin and embrace German culture without deciding that Actually, Hitler was Good.
But It Wouldn't Be
I know an ugly monument to 15 years of folly is sad, but it was a dumb idea, Fontoura.
This guy is smoking the good stuff:
Fontoura concedes that maintaining positive sentiments about the project – which once again has been virtually dormant since December – is not always easy.
“There is so much promise for the region, but it is getting much more difficult to still believe in it,” said Fontoura, a Democrat who was first elected sheriff in 1990. “I’m incredibly hopeful that it is still going to work, but the frustration – well, I can’t even explain it anymore. It seems too far along, and there is too much of a commitment for it not to happen. It would be one of the worst things ever if we don’t complete the thing – just a catastrophe. I just hope I’m still alive when it opens.”
This guy is smoking the good stuff:
Look, it’s a big operation. We’re talking about a couple of billion dollars going in there. There are going to be 9,000 to 12,000 full-time employees. It will be a great thing for the state, and it will be a destination for the whole country – and maybe the world – to this location. It’s hard, but it’s going to get done, hopefully.”
Yes They Do
A weird current genre article is the "voters who love Trump love Trump" one. They find the people who love Trump the most, and then ask if they love him. Um, you chose the people who love him, so, yes?
When We're Feeling Down
We can remember the fun of Chris Christie being rejected over and over.
And still apparently not understanding that Trump was always yanking him around. He put Jared's Dad in jail.
Gov. Christie gave President Trump a ‘B’ grade 100 days into his term at the White House, declaring Trump’s staff needs to “get their act together” and “serve the president better.”
“You’ve gotta put touchdowns in the end zone,” Christie told CNN’s Jake Tapper in an interview Monday night. “The president knows how to do that. He’s got to make sure that we get everybody focused on the task at hand.”
And still apparently not understanding that Trump was always yanking him around. He put Jared's Dad in jail.
Monday, April 24, 2017
How It Always Works
Democrats appoint (at best) mainstream journalist types for some communications positions, people from think tanks like Brookings for Serious National Security positions, and this is proof that these institutions are actual liberal plots, and Republicans appoint the worst people from the far right and this is proof of BothSides.
‘Fox & Friends’ Anchor @HeatherNauert Named State Department Spokesperson https://t.co/nLgWR8wyaq pic.twitter.com/MQcvOhDXbD
— Variety (@Variety) April 24, 2017
Never Tweet
It just isn't a medium which makes anyone appear to be distinguished. I don't need to appear to be distinguished, obviously, but if you are, say, the President of an important country or perhaps even a not so important one or maybe the CEO of a big company or a the head of a DC think tank...
Don't Tweet.
Don't Tweet.
Maybe They Just Don't Work On Mondays?
They told the press that construction had resumed on the American Dream!
Adding...
Following the post below, it isn't that I think facing workplace harassment from [insert your favorite dreamboat] is okay or even better, just that money and power are something men crave because it gives them power and legal protections for abuse that they wouldn't have otherwise. [Your favorite dreamboat] might get lucky with you at a bar in a mutually agreed to evening, but it's only in the workplace that he has that kind of power over you.
What A World
Maybe this isn't the point, or maybe it is precisely the point about wealthy powerful men, but imagine being sexually harassed by Roger Ailes?
Syndrome Announces His Cunning Plan
Beutler:
The White House has offered to pay out the subsidies only if the bill also funds the border wall. If Trump gets what he wants, everyone will be fine; if Trump doesn’t get what he wants, he will take insurance away from millions—and the government might shut down! Defeat me, he intones darkly, and I will pants myself.
Getting Worse
I don't even follow any Trump parody accounts but every time I make sure it isn't parody.
The Wall is a very important tool in stopping drugs from pouring into our country and poisoning our youth (and many others)! If
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 24, 2017
Sunday, April 23, 2017
He Was Right There
This isn't a 2002 flip phone interview or something.
TRUMP: You have to love people. And if you love people, such a big responsibility. (unintelligible) You can take any single thing, including even taxes. I mean we’re going to be doing major tax reform. Here’s part of your story, it’s going to be a big (unintelligible). Everybody’s saying, “Oh, he’s delaying.” I’m not delaying anything. I’ll tell you the other thing is (unintelligible). I used to get great press. I get the worst press. I get such dishonest reporting with the media. That’s another thing that really has — I’ve never had anything like it before. It happened during the primaries, and I said, you know, when I won, I said, “Well the one thing good is now I’ll get good press.” And it got worse. (unintelligible) So that was one thing that a little bit of a surprise to me. I thought the press would become better, and it actually, in my opinion, got more nasty.
Power
Obviously I don't have much sympathy for Uber and clearly Apple was correct here, but Apple shouldn't have the power to destroy companies. Which they do. And the dynamic is also a problem because most companies Apple decide is Bad don't get a call from Tim Cook, they get yanked from the App Store by some staffer.
Or to put it another way, it's a problem that Apple can destroy Uber, but it's also a problem that they didn't.
For months, Mr. Kalanick had pulled a fast one on Apple by directing his employees to help camouflage the ride-hailing app from Apple’s engineers. The reason? So Apple would not find out that Uber had secretly been tracking iPhones even after its app had been deleted from the devices, violating Apple’s privacy guidelines.
But Apple was on to the deception, and when Mr. Kalanick arrived at the midafternoon meeting sporting his favorite pair of bright red sneakers and hot-pink socks, Mr. Cook was prepared. “So, I’ve heard you’ve been breaking some of our rules,” Mr. Cook said in his calm, Southern tone. Stop the trickery, Mr. Cook then demanded, or Uber’s app would be kicked out of Apple’s App Store.
Or to put it another way, it's a problem that Apple can destroy Uber, but it's also a problem that they didn't.
Monologuing
I think my "favorite" thing about Trump is that he is the dumb evil villain in every superhero story who announces his plans in full detail.
ObamaCare is in serious trouble. The Dems need big money to keep it going - otherwise it dies far sooner than anyone would have thought.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 23, 2017
That This Is Plausible
I think those of us who are very inclined to believe rampant employer discrimination exists in various ways tend to think it's a little bit more subtle generally.
The letter also includes new allegations of racism in Fox News’s accounting department. According to the plaintiffs’ attorneys, Slater demanded that black employees hold “arm wrestling matches’” with white female employees in her office, just down the hall from Ailes’s office on the 2nd floor of Fox headquarters. “Forcing a black woman employee to ‘fight’ for the amusement and pleasure of her white superiors is horrifying. This highly offensive and humiliating act is reminiscent of Jim Crow era battle royals,” the letter says, referring to the practice of paying black men to fight blindfolded at carnivals for white spectators’ entertainment. The lawyers argue that Efinger bragged about wanting to “fight” a black employee.
The new claims, if true, reveal not just the failures of the legal and HR departments to deal with problematic managers but also just how deep the culture of discrimination and harassment may have run during Ailes’s reign.
Saturday, April 22, 2017
Since No One Seems To Notice
Republicans have the White House, the House, and the Senate. Even the bit of procedural nonsense the Democrats can play with in the Senate only is allowed if Mitch McConnell chooses to allow it.
It's all theirs.
It's all theirs.
What's It All About Then
There are plenty of places with much higher homicide rates than New York city, which actually isn't high crime by any measure. Birmingham, AL is one of those cities. I don't want Jeff Sessions to bring the full force his of racist Justice Department there, either, but if he's going to do it he could start at home.
Conservatism requires a crime-ridden New York, even against evidence, so its rural followers can blame "multiculturalism" and feel superior. https://t.co/NSDIUnNsBD
— Roy Edroso (@edroso) April 22, 2017
Friday, April 21, 2017
I'm Sure I Have Something To Say
I joke about the lack of hot takes, but it is actually the frustrating thing about blogging as a fairly introverted person. I don't actually have hot takes on everything! At some point during the day/week I kind of run out. Anyway, I know a lot of what this blog is about is just hosting a conversation. Consider it hosted.
Well Maybe You Should Stop Encouraging Him Then
ICYMI, my column on the scariest nightmare of the next four years:Trump blundering into a new Korean war. https://t.co/rUb7ZtvBgf pic.twitter.com/OE6ZLMHNNA
— Nicholas Kristof (@NickKristof) April 21, 2017
Thursday, April 20, 2017
If You Get Sick, Should You Just Die If You Aren't Rich?
That really is the fundamental question with our health care system (there are other issues, but that's the big one). I get enraged every time I see a gofundme type thing for someone's cancer. I don't get enraged by the patient needing money, I get enraged by the fact that people have to beg to live and this just "normal."
Handmaidens
Remembering dimly back to the "backlash" about The Handmaid's Tale, it was frequently derided as some sort of hysterical (word choice deliberate) feminist dystopia when it really was just a pretty straightforward description of the society that many very mainstream (at the time, at least) commenters envisioned and were advocates for.
Loser Liberalism
This is a tweet from/about the UK, but the American parallel is obvious.
*proposes giving something to poor people* 16k is middle class!
— violent snowflake (@spacecommunism) April 19, 2017
*proposes taking something from rich people* 70k isn't a lot of money!
The Law School Scam
I remember in the aughts how "everyone" thought that law schools were kaching kaching ways to rake in the money. And they probably were, for administrators and law professors who had somehow convinced the world that they needed to be extremely highly paid because their other option was BigLaw (Ron Howard: it wasn't.) Not against law professors or any professors making lots of money, but these shiny toys tended to divert resources away from what should have been the core missions of universities, and created hierarchies in part by perpetuating the myth that these were cash cows. A bit like highly paid college football coaches. As long as they can pretend they make money for the school they can justify it, but...
The Internet Of Shit
I admit these types of stories amuse me because apparently there are advertisers who believe this data is actually valuable.
Bose knows what you're listening to.
At least that's the claim of a proposed class-action lawsuit filed late Tuesday in Illinois that accuses the high-end audio equipment maker of spying on its users and selling information about their listening habits without permission.
Morning Thread
For your viewing pleasure. Paul Rebmann is one of the finest photographers on the planet. What always catches my eye is that he seems to capture personalities in all the creatures he photographs. The owl picture is my fave. If you're looking for a unique gift, you won't go wrong here.
Wednesday, April 19, 2017
What Does Papa Bear Spend His Money On?
Rich people confuse me a bit. I am envious, of course. I would like to be rich! But given that BillO was brought down basically because he likes to harass his women employees into listening to him jerk off on the phone, I wonder what he does spend his money on? I mean, that kind of service probably doesn't cost much money.
I could spend 20 million bucks a year. I have no idea what BillO spends it on.
I could spend 20 million bucks a year. I have no idea what BillO spends it on.
BillO Is Very Bad
The acceptance by mainstream journalists of their "sister network" required ignoring just how bad Fox is. It is very very bad.
I wouldn't defend blogging by standing up for the worst bloggers. I never understood why many journalists stood up for Fox as a way of standing up for journalism.
I wouldn't defend blogging by standing up for the worst bloggers. I never understood why many journalists stood up for Fox as a way of standing up for journalism.
Hibernate
BREAKING: Bill O'Reilly OUT pic.twitter.com/oJ9QPeRo27
— Dylan Byers (@DylanByers) April 19, 2017
2018 Time
"Vote for Democrats, because _____"
Yes Trump sucks, but that is not enough. Fill in the blank!
Yes Trump sucks, but that is not enough. Fill in the blank!
Pretty Useless
I get walk before you can run and all that, but "the self-driving car that kinda sorta works some places" doesn't work.
Sure the "restricted environments" automated bus type things will work, but I don't really know what the utility of them is. Yes we have a general fascination with automating everything, but how many office park robot shuttles do we really need? Not exactly "disruptive."
And there's no such thing as "simple urban road conditions" which ultimately is the point of all of my pessimism.
Another tech company has earmarked 2020 as the year of the automated car.
Baidu, known as China's Google thanks to its search engine's prevalence in the country, today unveiled Project Apollo, which hopes to get fully self-driving cars onto highways and city roads by 2020.
The company says its autonomous driving tech for restricted environments will launch in July, and by the end of the year cars will run autonomously in "simple urban road conditions."
Sure the "restricted environments" automated bus type things will work, but I don't really know what the utility of them is. Yes we have a general fascination with automating everything, but how many office park robot shuttles do we really need? Not exactly "disruptive."
And there's no such thing as "simple urban road conditions" which ultimately is the point of all of my pessimism.
Nice Work
Publishers make bad bets on books all the time, but if they paid me a ONE HUNDRED THOUSAND DOLLAR consulting fee I could've told them this was a very bad bet.
Nobody outside of New York knows who he is unless they remember his father, and no one inside New York gives a shit.
ALBANY – Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo reported his income last year more than doubled from the previous year, thanks to another round of royalty payments on a 2014 HarperCollins memoir that saw lackluster sales.
In all, Cuomo has made $783,000 from HarperCollins for his book. The book sold 3,200 copies since it was published in the fall of 2014, according to tracking company NPD BookScan.
That works out to royalty payments to Cuomo of $245 per book.
Nobody outside of New York knows who he is unless they remember his father, and no one inside New York gives a shit.
The Wednesday Morning Decisions A Blogger Faces
Read a Ross Douthat column about Girls or drink bleach?
It's truly a wonderful life!
It's truly a wonderful life!
Tuesday, April 18, 2017
The End of Papa Bear?
Sounds like it.
O'Reilly has had tremendous run. Very few in the business get to decide when and how things end. Media is most brutal of all industries...
— MATT DRUDGE (@DRUDGE) April 18, 2017
Labouring
Labour is some combination of unable/unwilling to be the anti-Brexit party, so they're probably screwed. I'm not even saying that being the clear anti-Brexit party would be smart politically (it actually might not be), but it's a bit like the Democrats and Iraq in 2004. One side has chosen a path, and the other side kinda sorta maybe disagrees with that path but not really... who do you vote for?
Funny
This is just "somebody said something dumb on the internet" territory, but somebody did!
I admit I'm a bit of an Apple basher, but I don't think I am alone in saying that iTunes is the biggest piece of shit software there is.
Following the same logic, I don't believe Apple's self-driving car, once released, will be safer, faster, consume less energy, or anything like that. The underlying technology will be on par with its competitors, but I'm willing to bet that Apple will excel in the user interface, the iTunes- and App-Store-like infrastructure, and the design. I expect Apple to do things that were never done before. And for that, I expect customers to be willing to pay more.
I admit I'm a bit of an Apple basher, but I don't think I am alone in saying that iTunes is the biggest piece of shit software there is.
Your Liberal Media
It is always important to keep in mind that the powers that be who run the New York Times opinion pages think that Maureen Dowd is a liberal and Paul Krugman is a communist.
What Fresh Hell Did I Wake Up To Today
"Snap" UK election on June 8. The Tory Brexiteers (assuming they win) and their media pals will be 150% insufferable after that. "The people have spoken, so shut up losers" was bad enough after the referendum...
Monday, April 17, 2017
Good Luck, New Mexico!
These days I would advise any newly minted Ph.D to think hard about whether to accept a job at a state university.
Not because they are Bad, but because while regular funding issues are not new, the general commitment to state higher ed conforming to certain academic norms has been cracking...
Education funding in New Mexico is in trouble.
New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez has vetoed higher education funding. All of it — and the legislature cannot override her veto.
Not because they are Bad, but because while regular funding issues are not new, the general commitment to state higher ed conforming to certain academic norms has been cracking...
Uh, Dad?
Your son has some words for you.
Eric Trump:
Eric Trump:
He continues: "No matter what side it is with, you are always going to get backlash. You are going to have a few people who have nothing better to do than to sit behind a computer and send a mean tweet. It's unfortunate, but it's the nature of the game."
FIFTEEN FUCKING YEARS!!!
Final blogiversary fundraising day. Thanks so much to all! What a strange life!
Save My Churches, Please
Just tell Ross that churches are a bit like universities. There are only 7 good ones - The Ivy League minus Penn - and the rest just don't matter. Fill those 7 with all the right people and the rest can just wither and die.
The Donut OF THE FUTURE
The pet suburban office park project of Steve Jobs is like a grand vision of the future from 1964. It does remind us of something important: cars take up a lot of space, and if you build something that basically nobody can walk to, you're going to spend a lot of money to house them.
I have a hard time believing that Apple, at least, couldn't get whatever it wanted out of Cupertino. They probably need that much parking. It's a bit tough to fix these places once you've built them, but it's really stupid that we keep building them.
And then, unfortunately, there’s the car park. For 14,000 workers, Apple is building almost 11,000 parking spaces. Many cars will be tucked under the main building, but most will cram into two enormous garages to the south. Tot up all the parking spaces and the lanes and ramps that will allow cars to reach them, and it is clear that Apple is allocating a vast area to stationary vehicles. In all, the new headquarters will contain 318,000 square metres of offices and laboratories. The car parks will occupy 325,000 square metres.
Apple is building 11,000 parking spaces not because it wants to but because Cupertino, the suburban city where the new headquarters is located, demands it. Cupertino has a requirement for every building. A developer who wants to put up a block of flats, for example, must provide two parking spaces per apartment, one of which must be covered. For a fast-food restaurant, the city demands one space for every three seats; for a bowling alley, seven spaces per lane plus one for every worker. Cupertino’s neighbours have similar rules. With such a surfeit of parking, most of it free, it is little wonder that most people get around Silicon Valley by car, or that the area has such appalling traffic jams.
I have a hard time believing that Apple, at least, couldn't get whatever it wanted out of Cupertino. They probably need that much parking. It's a bit tough to fix these places once you've built them, but it's really stupid that we keep building them.
Bringing Back The Bush Era Language
When Bush was busy killing hundreds of thousands of Iraqis and causing the deaths of thousands of US soldiers, everybody would ooh and ahh about his "resolve."
I don't know why "we're" suddenly obsessed with North Korea. This started last year, even before Trump was inaugurated. Suddenly reporters "discover" a country they hadn't been paying much attention to for no particular reason. But, hey, "resolve." That's always served us well.
Noting that Trump had recently ordered a missile strike against Syria, the vice-president, who is in Seoul at the start of a tour of Asia, said: “North Korea would do well not to test his resolve.”
Pence, standing alongside South Korea’s acting president, Hwang Kyo-ahn, said Washington’s commitment to its ally was “iron-clad and immutable”, and repeated that “all options are on the table” – including military action – to forestall North Korea’s quest to produce a nuclear weapon capable of striking the US mainland.
I don't know why "we're" suddenly obsessed with North Korea. This started last year, even before Trump was inaugurated. Suddenly reporters "discover" a country they hadn't been paying much attention to for no particular reason. But, hey, "resolve." That's always served us well.
Sunday, April 16, 2017
Could Be
You'll all laugh at me when I lose the bet, but faith in these things is hilarious to me.
Self-driving still seems to be a ways off from active public use on regular roads, but once it arrives, it could ramp very quickly, according to a new study by the Boston Consulting Group. The study found that by 2030, up to a quarter of driving miles in the U.S. could be handled by self-driving electric vehicles operating in shared service fleets in cities, due mostly to considerable cost savings for urban drivers.
The Love Of War
Michael Kelly was an asshole, but he was the only warmongering asshole pundit (not including journalists here) who actually really went to Iraq when our glorious war began (some others probably went and hid in the green zone for a bit, but he actually went out and about). He died there.
Back then there were so many pundit and pundit wannabes (remember that political blogging as a subculture really got its start as "warblogging") who wanted the glory of being War Correspondents or even soldiers without leaving their office desks or TV studios. Whenever the boom booms start happening again (and, really, it isn't the bombing - Obama did plenty of that - it's the bombing accompanied by the enthusiastic propaganda about it, which Obama didn't do as much) you can see that old fever returning.
Back then there were so many pundit and pundit wannabes (remember that political blogging as a subculture really got its start as "warblogging") who wanted the glory of being War Correspondents or even soldiers without leaving their office desks or TV studios. Whenever the boom booms start happening again (and, really, it isn't the bombing - Obama did plenty of that - it's the bombing accompanied by the enthusiastic propaganda about it, which Obama didn't do as much) you can see that old fever returning.
Ron Howard Voice: There Isn't One
Pres. Trump's top security adviser to @ThisWeekABC: Trump "will take action" to end any North Korea threat to U.S. https://t.co/7E6aUbVwgD pic.twitter.com/fJNwHWACgI
— ABC News (@ABC) April 16, 2017
Boom Booms
Trump blows some things up and David Ignatius praises him.
There isn't a "deep state," really. There are competing bureaucracies, and they all have their mouthpieces in the press. Whichever one Ignatius works for is happy.
There isn't a "deep state," really. There are competing bureaucracies, and they all have their mouthpieces in the press. Whichever one Ignatius works for is happy.
Saturday, April 15, 2017
Saturday Night
He is about to be risen.
... In one of those "I wonder what the cat does when I'm not around" situations, I looked in the front window (I'd left the light on) before opening the door and saw that one of them was on top of the dining table just rolling around on it like it was the greatest moment of his life. I opened the door and he quickly jumped down looking very sheepish.
... In one of those "I wonder what the cat does when I'm not around" situations, I looked in the front window (I'd left the light on) before opening the door and saw that one of them was on top of the dining table just rolling around on it like it was the greatest moment of his life. I opened the door and he quickly jumped down looking very sheepish.
Spring Fundraising Funstravaganza Day 5!
Countdown to 15 years of sucky blogging! What a way to live!!!
Incompetence Has Its Virtues
Though we will not always appreciate incompetence.
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — Federal immigration authorities have stopped issuing weekly reports on sanctuary cities, after just three weeks, following complaints that the reports were riddled with errors. Local cases that made the reports were all wrong.
The “declined detainer” report was aimed at local governments that did not agree to hold an inmate at the request of Immigration and Customs Enforcement or ICE.
Stop Clapping For Cuomo
A free college plan that is precisely what happens when crappy Democrats take a good idea and arse it up every way they can.
Excludes part-time students (poorer, more likely to be disabled, etc.), piggybacks onto the existing morass of financial aid formulas, also has a post-college state residency requirement that no one can realistically plan for...
But, hey, free college!
This is why nobody thinks the government can do anything nice.
It’s not even clear how “outrageously ambitious” the program is. By one legislative estimate, it will reach only about 32,000 students. The program’s strict income limits leave a lot of people out. It is not for part-time students, a huge portion of the community-college population. Students have to earn 30 credits a year to participate. It’s not for poor families, who are expected to use the state’s Tuition Assistance Program or Pell grants or other aid to cover tuition. And even though the cost of room and board and books is what’s keeping many poor students out of college, the Excelsior Scholarship covers none of that.
Excludes part-time students (poorer, more likely to be disabled, etc.), piggybacks onto the existing morass of financial aid formulas, also has a post-college state residency requirement that no one can realistically plan for...
But, hey, free college!
This is why nobody thinks the government can do anything nice.
Friday, April 14, 2017
Does It Matter Who Is President?
Of course it does, though my question is more does it matter who is president more than it matters who is Prime Minister of the UK? The answer to that, also, is yes, but how much more? Is it just a matter of degrees, or is it orders of magnitude more important?
Hopefully we don't get a full answer to that question anytime soon...
Hopefully we don't get a full answer to that question anytime soon...
Make More Boom Booms
I know it's just stupid hippie shit to say this, but maybe killing is bad?
It doesn't matter where or why or who, just blow some shit up and our cable newsers are very impressed.
And not just the cable newsers.
It doesn't matter where or why or who, just blow some shit up and our cable newsers are very impressed.
And not just the cable newsers.
Spring Fundraising Funstravaganza Day 4!
Not quite 18 MILLION CONTRIBUTIONS yet but I'm sure we'll get there! A man needs his ponies!
Hyper Loop De Loop
How does anything work?
Any time there's a Shiny New Transit Technology, people start talking about how it'll work for Teh Suburbs unlike those smelly buses and old-fashioned trains which are just for gross cities. But something like a hyperloop (even assuming it works) is completely unsuited for such purposes. It's so stupid I can't even be bothered to explain why. An extremely expensive super high speed point to point system is precisely what you don't need in lower density areas.
What I REALLY WANT is a cheap magic tube that comes right to my home and takes me anywhere I want to go for practically nothing. And a pony.
His argument: build it around the cities.
According to the centric city model, the city center is at the middle but commuters and the working class tend to live along the outer layers. (Wikipedia Commons)
Berger was among the panelists speaking at the event, and also one of the judges reviewing the 11 proposals the day before. His role was to help the “technology minds” understand the urban planning issues around mobility in the U.S. “The Hyperloop shouldn’t go into the city,” he says. “It should be trying to capture, in a concentric city model, all the peripheral movement.” Most people, he adds, move from one periphery area to another instead of traveling into the city, anyway. In that sense, the system should work for people living in suburban or ex-urban areas, which he says make up some 70 percent of the American population.
The critical mobility issue for that population is that they’re tied to the car, Berger says; these areas often lack mass transit systems that connect with other low density areas. “In a concentric city, there’s a lot more activity moving around, so there’s no need [for the Hyperloop] to go into the center of the city,” he tells CityLab. “Instead, take care of where there is no transportation solution other than ones with heavy carbon footprints and high impact on watersheds and natural habitat.”
Even if there were a high-speed rail system, Berger argues that it doesn’t solve the first- and last-mile problem—that is, people still need to drive a car to and from the station. He imagines that Hyperloop could one day accommodate autonomous vehicles, shooting them right through the tube to the commuter’s destination. That way, passengers won’t have to leave their vehicles until the very end.
Any time there's a Shiny New Transit Technology, people start talking about how it'll work for Teh Suburbs unlike those smelly buses and old-fashioned trains which are just for gross cities. But something like a hyperloop (even assuming it works) is completely unsuited for such purposes. It's so stupid I can't even be bothered to explain why. An extremely expensive super high speed point to point system is precisely what you don't need in lower density areas.
What I REALLY WANT is a cheap magic tube that comes right to my home and takes me anywhere I want to go for practically nothing. And a pony.
Trump Voters Still Love Trump
Editors seem to assign this article daily. Go find some Trump voters and see if they still like Trump. It's a very strange genre. It seems to be motivated by "zomg we don't pay enough attention to white Republicans think even though all we do is cover white Republicans" but the premise is weirdly "I can't believe these people still like Trump." Not that the articles say that, but that they're written at all carries this implicitly. It isn't newsworthy that Trump supporters like Trump unless this is somehow surprising.
For confused reporters, I'll explain it very simply: Trump voters don't care about most of the issues Trump claimed to care about in the campaign. They were just applause lines. If Fox and Breitbart had spent 3 months going on about the "Zipperhead Protocol" they'd have screamed in delight every time Trump mentioned it, without caring what it meant. A lot in America is fucked up and bullshit, so Trump supporters have legitimate economic grievances like the rest of us, but they don't really see politics as a way to solve that. They see politics as a reality show in which their guy is winning and stomping on the face of the losing team, a team which includes blah people. Keep the racism going, keep pissing off the loser liberals, keep sticking it to the blah people. That's what will keep them happy. It was never about the ex-im bank or Chinese currency manipulation or whatever the hell, it was about kicking the shit out of loser liberals. Go Team Trump!
For confused reporters, I'll explain it very simply: Trump voters don't care about most of the issues Trump claimed to care about in the campaign. They were just applause lines. If Fox and Breitbart had spent 3 months going on about the "Zipperhead Protocol" they'd have screamed in delight every time Trump mentioned it, without caring what it meant. A lot in America is fucked up and bullshit, so Trump supporters have legitimate economic grievances like the rest of us, but they don't really see politics as a way to solve that. They see politics as a reality show in which their guy is winning and stomping on the face of the losing team, a team which includes blah people. Keep the racism going, keep pissing off the loser liberals, keep sticking it to the blah people. That's what will keep them happy. It was never about the ex-im bank or Chinese currency manipulation or whatever the hell, it was about kicking the shit out of loser liberals. Go Team Trump!
Boom Booms
For all the talk of "national security" and terrorism fears since 9/11, it's clear that nobody on the teevee actually worries about their personal safety. Trump makes a big boom boom and they get excited. It's just a movie, something happening over there. He brings us to the brink of war (maybe, who knows) in North Korea, which would likely lead to 10 million+deaths, and they get drunk on the drama.
As fucked up as the cold war era was, I remember that people took this stuff seriously.
As fucked up as the cold war era was, I remember that people took this stuff seriously.
Thursday, April 13, 2017
Vote For Helen
Helen Gym is Good, so take a break from sending all of the money in your bank account to me and please vote for her in this Emily's List poll.
Brian Williams Discusses the MOAB
You know, it's just as Roy Orbison sang, 'Pretty woman, walkin’ down the street, Pretty woman, the kind I like to meet, Pretty woman, I don’t believe you, you’re not the truth, No one could look as good as you.' Most people think he wrote that song about his wife, but I like to think he wrote it after reading about firebombing of Dresden.
Ok, not really.
Will Bill O Go?
Various reports (none of them actually know the answer) suggest that the end of The Factor could be near. It's hard to imagine, but I suppose everything ends eventually. It's always a bit weird when the careers of horrible people are ended by what seems to be just the latest episode(s) of their usually horribleness, but it happens.
Bill O is a horrible person, but everybody at Fox who tolerated his actions towards women employees and of course the numerous other ways that Bill O was horrible off and on the air are horrible, also, too. Just a bunch of bad people.
Bill O is a horrible person, but everybody at Fox who tolerated his actions towards women employees and of course the numerous other ways that Bill O was horrible off and on the air are horrible, also, too. Just a bunch of bad people.
Spring Fundraising Funstravaganza Day 3!
If I get 18 MILLION CONTRIBUTIONS you will get a pony every day for a year!
Oh Those Moderates
One reason (certainly not the only one) some of us never quite come around to the "we must bomb them to save them" view is that bombing generally ends up killing people we weren't intending to kill.
oopsy
An airstrike on Tuesday by the coalition fighting ISIS south of Tabqah, Syria, killed 18 U.S.-supported fighters, U.S. Central Command announced.
The strike killed members of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a local group of combatants that the U.S. and a coalition of 67 other nations and organizations support in the shared goal of defeating ISIS.
oopsy
Fuck That Shit
I do hope David Dao owns United by the end of the week, and that this little incident makes passengers a bit less likely to give up their seats for a voucher they probably can't use anyway. Demand the cash.
Great Innovations In Customer Service
Just stare at it for awhile.
Well okay then.
In the future, law enforcement will not be involved in removing a "booked, paid, seated passenger", Mr Munoz said. "We can't do that."
Well okay then.
Wednesday, April 12, 2017
Any Subject Can Be Funny
Sometimes I get annoyed at things which can become "taboo." Putting it simply, making fun of rape victims is not funny, but that does not mean any joke about rape is off limits. Sometimes the press secretary suggests that Hitler wasn't that bad, and you gotta make some jokes. And the Holocaust can be hilarious! If done right, of course.
Henry McGregor Sias For Court of Common Pleas Judge
I've known Henry for 10+ years. He's running for judge! If you're in Philly, vote for him!
Sias, who has clerked under various local judges and also started his own law practice, hopes his unique back story will help boost voter turnout in his favor come election day.
"To have the city look at me as an out trans guy and elect me would send the message that trans people are a part of our community and have a lot to contribute," pointed out Sias, who's married to a woman and lives in South Philly.
Too Many Choices
There's that famous scene in that sorta dumb Robin Williams movie "Moscow by the Hudson" where the Russian defector freaks out in the supermarket due to being overwhelmed by the volume of coffee choices.
I think we can handle the coffee choices. You pick one or the other, maybe it's not so good, maybe it's the wrong grind, whatever. Life goes on. But combine "too many choices" with "possible expensive consequences" and "possible massive amounts of time dealing with consequences in part due to the complete lack of customer service" and life gets pretty miserable. Airline travel can be like that. Your cell phone contract. Back in the old days, your long distance phone company choice. Your cable company. Your electricity provider choice. Renting a car. All kinds of things where pushing the wrong button or making the wrong irreversible choice or getting stuck in traffic or, of course, just having the company try to screw you because why not.
All of these things are horrible, and while public policy should be enacted to fix some of these interactions with private companies, public policy also should not imitate their worst practices. Keep it simple. Stop the eligibility hurdles. If you want to provide "free college" just provide it.
I think we can handle the coffee choices. You pick one or the other, maybe it's not so good, maybe it's the wrong grind, whatever. Life goes on. But combine "too many choices" with "possible expensive consequences" and "possible massive amounts of time dealing with consequences in part due to the complete lack of customer service" and life gets pretty miserable. Airline travel can be like that. Your cell phone contract. Back in the old days, your long distance phone company choice. Your cable company. Your electricity provider choice. Renting a car. All kinds of things where pushing the wrong button or making the wrong irreversible choice or getting stuck in traffic or, of course, just having the company try to screw you because why not.
All of these things are horrible, and while public policy should be enacted to fix some of these interactions with private companies, public policy also should not imitate their worst practices. Keep it simple. Stop the eligibility hurdles. If you want to provide "free college" just provide it.
The Last Mile
My longstanding belief (could be false?) is that many people have no concept of how far a mile is. It sounds like a long way. It's a 20ish minute walk, give or take, depending on your speed. Whether that's a pleasant and safe walk depends on a variety of factors, and how pleasant and safe a walk it is will affect your perception of it. If you can stop for a beer or some groceries somewhere on the way home that walk won't seem like such of a burden, either. Anyway, the distance isn't really the problem. The transit "last mile" problem isn't really one of distance (yes, yes, anything which increases a commute time for busy people is a problem, I get that), it's of walkability. If the area exists for cars, it's not very walkable even if you can, technically, walk. If it exists more for pedestrian comforts, then that mile doesn't seem so bad.
Spring Fundraising Funstravaganza Day 2!
As always, no one should feel obligated to contribute. If a few bucks is going to mess up your budget for the month then don't. And this isn't your charity donation money, this is your NPR or bottle of wine money. If I had a need for money due to a crisis situation I might ask but would say so if that was the case.
Thanks so much! Can we do this for fifteen more years???
Thanks so much! Can we do this for fifteen more years???
Don't Tell The Rest of the State
Not that most of Pennsylvania loves Pittsburgh, either, but Philly gets singled out in the popular lore as the post-apocalyptic urban hellhole where you get murdered the instant you cross the city lines (I'm really not exaggerating. A lot of people really are frightened of the city). But of course bigger cities get more attention for their crime problems simply because they're bigger. There are 5 times as many murders in Philadelphia, 5 times as many headlines, because there are 5 times the number of people.
New figures from the Pew Charitable Trusts find that Pittsburgh and Philadelphia have about the same per-capita homicide rate.
When looking at which city has more murders per 100,000 residents, Pittsburgh is slightly more dangerous than Philadelphia ― but only by about 1 percentage point.
Last year, 278 people were slain in Philadelphia, a city of about 1.5 million residents. Compare that to 92 homicides in Pittsburgh, which has a population of around 300,000.
Polls
I know this result would probably be different if the Kenyan Muslim Socialist was in power, but...From Morning Consult/Politico:
A plurality supports single payer health care, including many Trump voters: 44% of voters support government-run health insurance for all Americans, while 36% oppose.
Among Trump voters, 37% support single payer and 48% oppose.
Also, Obamacare approval continues to climb: 51% approve, 41% don't. That is a 19 point net swing since the beginning of January.
Tuesday, April 11, 2017
Maybe Just Alarmism
I was a bit annoyed by transit nerds who gave 2 cheers when Christie killed the tunnel. Their criticisms of the project were correct, but like most things transit it isn't "this or my preferred project" it's "this or nothing." We might find out the consequences of "nothing."
The current tunnels under the Hudson River were built in 1908 and are rapidly deteriorating. This problem was exacerbated by Hurricane Sandy, which filled the tunnels with corrosive salt water, and engineers now estimate that without major overhauls the tunnels are likely to fail within the next 10 years. The closing of either tunnel would be devastating because it would essentially shut down the Northeast Corridor, the transit route from Boston to Washington that produces over $3 trillion in economic output — a full 20 percent of the national gross domestic product.
Just Like Mikey, The'll Eat Anything
I know the "he's no angel" angle is pretty much standard whenever an unarmed black men gets killed by police, though whether the press are trained to do that on their own or their "sources" in the NYPD just Fax it over to them I'm not sure, but I assume that dumpster diving through a man's life isn't actually the first impulse when an elderly Asian doctor gets bloodied and injured while being dragged off his seat in a plane because the airline decided it needed to send its employees for a ride instead.
Often the real story isn't the story, but the source of the story. This is perhaps murkier when, say, the FBI goes to war with the CIA, but it should be a no brainer if a major corporation is going after a man they just had assaulted. I don't know if United or their law enforcement goons sent over oppo research to trash their victim, but if they did then that, not whatever the guy did 10 years ago, was clearly the story. In any case, fuck those reporters who decided that digging up dirt on the victim was the right thing to do. Even if he had been a convicted serial killer it wouldn't have had anything to do with the current story. He didn't even "ask" to get thrust into the spotlight by daring to report the malfeasance, other people did it for him.
Often the real story isn't the story, but the source of the story. This is perhaps murkier when, say, the FBI goes to war with the CIA, but it should be a no brainer if a major corporation is going after a man they just had assaulted. I don't know if United or their law enforcement goons sent over oppo research to trash their victim, but if they did then that, not whatever the guy did 10 years ago, was clearly the story. In any case, fuck those reporters who decided that digging up dirt on the victim was the right thing to do. Even if he had been a convicted serial killer it wouldn't have had anything to do with the current story. He didn't even "ask" to get thrust into the spotlight by daring to report the malfeasance, other people did it for him.
America's Worst Humans
Joel Christopher.
Newspaper Editor Defends His Decision To Reveal The United Passenger's "Troubled Past"https://t.co/7syMQd22Gp pic.twitter.com/6Y3WWJ00zr
— BuzzFeed News (@BuzzFeedNews) April 11, 2017
Genocide Megamalls
2017 is going well.
Press Sec. on Hitler/Assad comments: "He was not using the gas on his own people the same way...he brought them into the Holocaust centers." pic.twitter.com/mO9EsWM4QT
— ABC News (@ABC) April 11, 2017
The Grift Is Good
It's been maddening over the years watching various state and local governments getting snookered into throwing resources at (and depriving other things of attention and resources) Shiny! New! Technologies! that never pan out. For years I would read articles extolling the virtues of PRTs or advocating Maglev technology for light rail systems (!!!). Always people who know nothing about mass transit thinking that some New Transit will be somehow better, usually because suburbanites think it "sounds cool" instead of actually being viable technology or solving any problems (cost, capacity, accessibility, reach) even if it was.
The latest very exciting thing is hyperloop. Have fun everybody!
You don't need to get local governments to be involved to build an actual test system in the middle of nowhere (except maybe a ROW in the middle of nowhere).
The latest very exciting thing is hyperloop. Have fun everybody!
You don't need to get local governments to be involved to build an actual test system in the middle of nowhere (except maybe a ROW in the middle of nowhere).
Truly The American Dream
I'm trying to parse all this, but it just sounds like everything Bad about our fucked up and bullshit economy.
Shady failing hospital looking for lifeline by hitching themselves to a taxpayer funded megamall that will likely never open, presumably by "forcing" employees of that megamall to get their sketchy medical care.
huzzah!
She begins, “Meadowlands Hospital Medical Center –the Secaucus hospital where inpatient admissions have dropped to fewer than 30 patients a day – is slated to be sold to a multimillionaire real estate developer who owns a pair of surgery centers in Bergen County.
Like the group of investors who bought Meadowlands in 2010, Yan Moshe has no experience running a hospital – and his surgery center in Hackensack has been cited several times for failing to meet safety regulations. If the state approves the sale, the Long Island developer will put up just $5 million of the $12.2 million price for the hospital and the current owners will lend him the rest, according to documents filed with the state. He is to pay another $26 million for the hospital's land, which had been sold in 2012.”
...
The hospital's current owners have agreed to pay the mall developers $6.6 million over 10 years for the rights to run two first-aid stations and a wellness center at the mall, and to have two ambulance bays there to transport patients to Meadowlands, the application for state approval of the sale said. Employees of mall retailers would also be able to join the hospital's network of physicians for physicals and disease-management.”
Shady failing hospital looking for lifeline by hitching themselves to a taxpayer funded megamall that will likely never open, presumably by "forcing" employees of that megamall to get their sketchy medical care.
huzzah!
Nice Things
I won't just blame this on Republicans, but it never occurs to states that providing "nice things" might actually lure people and economic development to their states. This really was the California model for a long time. It wasn't just nice weather, it was great public amenities (like practically free higher education) that made it such an attractive state for a long time. Instead of prisons, or tax breaks for politically connected widget manufacturers, or environmentally damaging pipelines which "create" 8 jobs, how about "move to New Mexico! a great education for your kids!"
Nah, too commie.
Nah, too commie.
2017 Spring Fundraising FUNSTRAVAGANZA WEEK
Do you realize this blog has its 15th birthday soon? Do you realize it is just a little bit younger than Gizmo and Wiley, who are also 15? Do you realize I am old now? Time flies so much when we are having fun!!! Flies all the way away...
Consider a wee contribution to keep me in pho.
Consider a wee contribution to keep me in pho.
Monday, April 10, 2017
Fucking With The Wrong People
High income people like doctors don't expect to be treated like riff raff. Obviously nobody - even the riff raff! - should actually be treated like riff raff, but more and more of "us" are treated like riff raff in every necessary transaction we face. I mean, almost everyone has to deal with the cable company once in awhile, and most of us deal with the numerous indignities of airline travel. Also, your health insurance company.
It shouldn't take "rich" people being treated like shit before we recognize that things are fucked up and bullshit, but when even rich people (just not .1% rich) are treated like shit it's obvious that things really are fucked up and bullshit.
Also, Riff Raff.
It shouldn't take "rich" people being treated like shit before we recognize that things are fucked up and bullshit, but when even rich people (just not .1% rich) are treated like shit it's obvious that things really are fucked up and bullshit.
Also, Riff Raff.
Libya
It was as brief moment in time, really, but a bit like the Iraq war runup on fast forward. Suddenly the crisis in Libya was the most important thing ever. Smug, condescending "liberals" (and, really, fuck all of you) lectured the hippies about humanitarianism, and about how this time would be different, and about how Obama would do a good war unlike Bush (the Iraq "incompetence dodge" was a dodge, did we forget that?), and don't you care about women and children and why are you so racist that these lives don't matter to you, blahblahblah.
And then, suddenly, it disappeared.
And like Groundhog day...
And then, suddenly, it disappeared.
note:@NickKristof wrote a half-dozen columns in 2011 calling for US strikes in Libya & hasnt written abt Libya since 9/7/11–or 2041 days ago pic.twitter.com/Zgurh6i2Mh
— Adam H. Johnson (@adamjohnsonNYC) April 9, 2017
And like Groundhog day...
Shit Is Fucked Up And Bullshit
Occasionally planes let standby passengers on telling them that if the "real" passengers show up they're off the plane, and that's not entirely unreasonable (the whole practice of overbooking is, but if people are informed at moment of sale they're on standby...). But chucking off passengers once they're seated because you need to ferry flight crew around, and in this fashion...
Increase the offer to $2000 and you would have had a taker. But, nah, dragging a guy off the plane was more fun. Assaulting a paying passenger who had already been seated was seen as a better idea than just hiring a fucking car to take their flight crew to Louisville.
The video, posted by Audra D. Bridges at 7:30 p.m. Sunday, is taken from an aisle seat on a commercial airplane that appears to be preparing to take flight. The 31-second clip shows three men wearing radio equipment and security jackets speaking with a man seated on the plane. After a few seconds, one of the men grabs the passenger, who screams, and drags him by his arms toward the front of the plane. The video ends before anything else is shown.
...
Passengers were told at the gate that the flight was overbooked and United, offering $400 and a hotel stay, was looking for one volunteer to take another flight to Louisville at 3 p.m. Monday. Passengers were allowed to board the flight, Bridges said, and once the flight was filled those on the plane were told that four people needed to give up their seats to stand-by United employees that needed to be in Louisville on Monday for a flight. Passengers were told that the flight would not take off until the United crew had seats, Bridges said, and the offer was increased to $800, but no one volunteered.
Increase the offer to $2000 and you would have had a taker. But, nah, dragging a guy off the plane was more fun. Assaulting a paying passenger who had already been seated was seen as a better idea than just hiring a fucking car to take their flight crew to Louisville.
Not A Competent Partner
Whether by design or incompetence (the evil or stupid question, basically), I predict the UK will never have a decent process in place for dealing with current EU residents.
I'm sure everyone with money or who knows the right people will have no problems, and everyone else will live in bureaucratic limbo forever, while the Mail plasters their front pages with regular stories about how the French, or whoever, are "mistreating" British citizens living in France.
Conservatives there, as here, lack the empathy gene.
BuzzFeed News understands that capitals want to see a very clear plan to guarantee the rights of EU citizens affected by Brexit, not simply a political declaration. Citizens will need to be able to hold proof of their rights in their hands. This will probably require an administrative arrangement that is both convenient and efficient.
At the moment, Britain’s 85-page residency application form fails to meet these requirements: Among those that applied in the second half of 2016, more than a quarter of EU citizens had their applications rejected, including a number of people who had worked and resided in Britain for years.
I'm sure everyone with money or who knows the right people will have no problems, and everyone else will live in bureaucratic limbo forever, while the Mail plasters their front pages with regular stories about how the French, or whoever, are "mistreating" British citizens living in France.
Conservatives there, as here, lack the empathy gene.
Monday, Monday
Imagine a simpler time, when following politics meant picking up a newspaper from your stoop in the morning to skim with your coffee.
Sunday, April 09, 2017
And Then What
After regime change, then...?
Then we get bored and blow up some other country with our beautiful bombs.
Haley on CNN says "regime change is something that we think is going to happen" in Syria pic.twitter.com/gKZqSuyRpc
— Gideon Resnick (@GideonResnick) April 9, 2017
Then we get bored and blow up some other country with our beautiful bombs.
Worked So Well In Kansas
Not faulting the reporter, as it states "[they] say" rather than "the goal is" which is often how these things are written, but I do not think this is actually their goal.
Their goal is cut the taxes of rich people who live anywhere but these places. Even Sam Brownback probably believed it would be good for Kansas, but I don't think anybody in this White House (who knows what Trump thinks including Trump) really believes they're going to help Fritters by making the members of their Cabinet richer.
White House aides say the goal is to cut tax rates sharply enough to improve the economic picture in depressed rural and industrial pockets of the country where many Trump voters live. But the administration so far has swatted down alternative ways for raising revenues, such as a carbon tax, to offset lower rates.
Their goal is cut the taxes of rich people who live anywhere but these places. Even Sam Brownback probably believed it would be good for Kansas, but I don't think anybody in this White House (who knows what Trump thinks including Trump) really believes they're going to help Fritters by making the members of their Cabinet richer.
Shit Is Fucked Up And Bullshit
They should just stand in line to get their citizenship!!!
She was adopted by a military family, moved to South Jersey, played soccer and lacrosse at Rancocas High School, went on to Burlington County College — no longer Thuy Tran but Denise, an American name for an American girl.
The trouble started when she applied to become a Philadelphia police officer in the mid-1990s.
When she sought her birth certificate, officials at the federal immigration office delivered shocking news: She wasn’t a U.S. citizen. She didn’t even have a green card, which provides for legal permanent residency.
Same As It Ever Was
I don't pay that much attention to the Sunday shows because, well, who does anymore, but this caught my eye:
Helene Cooper is a "straight" reporter. The other 3 are conservatives. In addition, if not for Jim Hoft, Rich Lowry would probably be the stupidest man on the internet, and Danielle Pletka is an actual crazy person.
Back during the Bush years people argued that Republicans were in power so of course they had more time on the teevee. In the Obama years, when there was admittedly more balance, but not the "balance" found in the Bush era, the argument was that the Democrats had plenty of ways to get their views out there so they needed to give voice to the opposition (And, for while, two oppositions, the Republicans and the other Republicans).
Joining me for insight and analysis this morning: @helenecooper, @RichLowry, @dpletka & @nytdavidbrooks #MTP
— Chuck Todd (@chucktodd) April 9, 2017
Helene Cooper is a "straight" reporter. The other 3 are conservatives. In addition, if not for Jim Hoft, Rich Lowry would probably be the stupidest man on the internet, and Danielle Pletka is an actual crazy person.
Back during the Bush years people argued that Republicans were in power so of course they had more time on the teevee. In the Obama years, when there was admittedly more balance, but not the "balance" found in the Bush era, the argument was that the Democrats had plenty of ways to get their views out there so they needed to give voice to the opposition (And, for while, two oppositions, the Republicans and the other Republicans).
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)