Saturday, March 31, 2018
Local Sports Franchises
Villanova U. is incredibly accessible by public transportation. Two train lines!
Are Black People Stupid?
This is a serious subject worthy of debate by people with no expertise in the relevant issues.
Trauma
When I was... I dunno, 11 or so, a guy walked into the local (about 1.5 miles away) church and shot and killed his wife. It was a big deal. I did not know the man or the victim but it was... local. It was traumatic.
Don't Punch Down
Lefty Americans have an odd misplaced fondness for the British press for 2 reasons: 1) they like the international coverage of BBC World and 2) they appreciate that it eschews the View From Nowhere in a good way.
The BBC has actually been horrible for many years in its coverage of domestic UK politics. Much like the US suddenly had a new political party, The Tea Party, the UK had UKIP. The BBC handed the microphone over to a racist fascist UKIP party with almost no actual political representation. Suddenly the UK had Labour, the Tories, and UKIP. UKIP got more coverage than an actual political party in the UK - the SNP. And during the Brexit "debate" it was like Labour, pro-Brexit Tory, anti-Brexit Tory, UKIP. After Corbyn got control of the Labour party it was usually Tory, Tory, Labour guy who doesn't like Corbyn.
But aside from the BBC the UK has a tabloid culture. And they are horrible. The lie shamelessly. They don't just lie about important people. They make up random shit about non-public figures. They punch down at "normal people." Here is where you, smart, chime in, "but the UK has tougher libel laws than the US." This is true but the costs/risks of filing suits relative to the potential benefits make libel suits a tool of the rich. The tabloids are scared of publishing true things about rich people but have no problem trashing your neighbor.
Whatever else is wrong with our press culture, there is a tendency to recognize that "punching down" is bad. This is not true always. Black victims of police violence are usually treated badly. He's no angel, you know. But it is more true.
The BBC has actually been horrible for many years in its coverage of domestic UK politics. Much like the US suddenly had a new political party, The Tea Party, the UK had UKIP. The BBC handed the microphone over to a racist fascist UKIP party with almost no actual political representation. Suddenly the UK had Labour, the Tories, and UKIP. UKIP got more coverage than an actual political party in the UK - the SNP. And during the Brexit "debate" it was like Labour, pro-Brexit Tory, anti-Brexit Tory, UKIP. After Corbyn got control of the Labour party it was usually Tory, Tory, Labour guy who doesn't like Corbyn.
But aside from the BBC the UK has a tabloid culture. And they are horrible. The lie shamelessly. They don't just lie about important people. They make up random shit about non-public figures. They punch down at "normal people." Here is where you, smart, chime in, "but the UK has tougher libel laws than the US." This is true but the costs/risks of filing suits relative to the potential benefits make libel suits a tool of the rich. The tabloids are scared of publishing true things about rich people but have no problem trashing your neighbor.
Whatever else is wrong with our press culture, there is a tendency to recognize that "punching down" is bad. This is not true always. Black victims of police violence are usually treated badly. He's no angel, you know. But it is more true.
On TV
For some reason I can't find it - so libel lawyers can consider this fiction - but I have a memory of David Gregory complaining when there was a campaign against Don Imus. My memory is he said something like "his show is a place where we can say things we can't say elsewhere." His point was that media types (who all went on Don's show) just needed a safe space where they could say what they really thought.
The obvious point is you make 6 or 7 figures to be on TV so why can't you say what you really think all the time. The slightly less obvious point is... why can't you just shoot the shit with your pals without it being broadcasted? His point was he can't have conversation unless it's being broadcast. So weird.
The obvious point is you make 6 or 7 figures to be on TV so why can't you say what you really think all the time. The slightly less obvious point is... why can't you just shoot the shit with your pals without it being broadcasted? His point was he can't have conversation unless it's being broadcast. So weird.
Friday, March 30, 2018
Like Sands Through The Hourglass
We're having another eruption from the usual suspects about how ACTUALLY, BLACK PEOPLE ARE STUPID. Perhaps they are but they can read. I always chuckle (and then cry) about how these things are always written as if black people can't see you. They, uh, can.
Back when I taught a million years ago I'd find any excuse to shoehorn a brief lecture about why the Bell Curve stuff was wrong and also, too, racist. But it was a million years ago. While in most cases I don't go for the "even the conservative..." construction as a way to grant something more argumentative power because usually conservatives are just horrible, I make an exception for this. Even Jim Heckman - no liberal as any economist knows - was not kind to The Bell Curve.
Back when I taught a million years ago I'd find any excuse to shoehorn a brief lecture about why the Bell Curve stuff was wrong and also, too, racist. But it was a million years ago. While in most cases I don't go for the "even the conservative..." construction as a way to grant something more argumentative power because usually conservatives are just horrible, I make an exception for this. Even Jim Heckman - no liberal as any economist knows - was not kind to The Bell Curve.
The Book fails for five main reasons.
1. The central premise of this book is the empirically incorrect claim that a single factor - g or IQ - that explains linear correlations among test scores is primarily responsible for differences in individual performance in society at large. Below I demonstrate that a single factor can always be constructed that "explains" all correlations in responses to a test or correlations in scores across a battery of tests, but in general this g is not constructed by conventional linear methods. There is much evidence that more than one factor -- as conventionally measured -- is required to explain conventional correlation matrices among test scores. Hernstein and Murray's measure of IQ is not the same as the g that can be extracted from test scores available in their data set. They do not emphasize how little of the variation in social outcomes is explained by AFQT or g. There is considerable room for factors other than their measure of ability to explain wages and other social outcomes.
2. In their empirical work, the authors assume that AFQT is a measure of immutable native intelligence. In fact, AFQT is an achievement test that can be manipulated by educational interventions. Achievement tests embody environmental influences: AFQT scores rise with age and parental socioeconomic status. A person's AFQT score is not an immutable characteristic beyond environmental manipulation.
3. The authors do not perform the cost-benefit analyses needed to evaluate alternative social policies for raising labor market and social skills. Their implicit assumption of an immutable g that is all-powerful in determining social outcomes leads them to disregard a lot of evidence that a variety of relevant labor market and social skills can be improved, even though efforts to boost IQ substantially are notoriously unsuccessful.
4. The authors present no new evidence on the heritability of IQ or other socially productive characteristics. Instead, they demonstrate that IQ is more predictive of differences in social performance than a crude measure of parental environmental influences. This comparison is misleading. It fails to recognize the crudity of their environmental measures and the environmental component that is built into their measure of IQ, which biases the evidence in favor of their position. Moreover, the comparison as they present it is intrinsically meaningless.
5. Finally, the authors' forecast of social trends is pure speculation that does not flow from the analysis presented in their book. Most of the social policy recommendations have an ad hoc flavor to them and do not depend on the analysis that precedes them. The appeal to Murray's version of communitarianism as a solution to the emerging problem of inequality among persons is a deus ex machina flight of fancy that is not credibly justified.
I'm A Prophet
Not really, but it was a inevitable that someone would die in as self-driving car accident where the fault was at least ambiguous. This doesn't even mean they are bad! I'm just just amazed that all the pundits and even the manufacturers were not prepared for it. Of course it was going to happen.
They won't but if they do there will be an accident almost every day! Sometimes fatal ones! They'd better figure this thing out.
As my colleague Neal Boudette noted, Waymo’s announcement showed that the company has “an audacious vision that goes far beyond even the most optimistic plans of its rivals.” Waymo says that by 2020 — that is, two years from now — its fleet of self-driving Jaguars will be doing as many as a million trips per day.
They won't but if they do there will be an accident almost every day! Sometimes fatal ones! They'd better figure this thing out.
Thursday, March 29, 2018
Fundraising Day The Last!
Wow this blog was suckier than usual today but gotta beg anyway. Final day for free invisible tote bags!
What's Going In DC
Once upon a time I was on several insider email lists. Not that insider. Low level insider. Nancy Pelosi did not give me her uncurated thoughts. I unsubscribed from all of them at some point. Now I have no idea!
Rich People Are Weird
To me, the big benefit of being rich (give me all your money, asshole freeloaders, so I can go for a test spin) is that I *wouldn't have to worry about money*. As in, whatever. I love you Comcast and I don't care if your bill is absurd, and a 20% tip is ridiculously low. Make it 50%. I've spent a tiny bit of time around rich people, and in that anecdotal experience holy hell are they cheap. I know the sorta joke is rich people are rich because they are cheap but that's bullshit. Most of them are rich because they are failsons and faildaughters. I promise that if you contribute enough money to Eschaton World Industries I will tip more generously. I am not rich (I am fine) and I am already a pretty good tipper. It takes mental effort to score sweetheart deals and mental effort is precisely what I hope being rich (give me all your money!) lets me avoid.
For much of his first year in Washington, President Trump’s EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt occupied prime real estate in a townhouse near the U.S. Capitol that is co-owned by the wife of a top energy lobbyist, property records from 2017 show.
Neither the EPA nor the lobbyist, J. Steven Hart, would say how much Pruitt paid to live at the prime Capitol Hill address, though Hart said he believed it to be the market rate. The price tag on Pruitt’s rental arrangement is one key question when determining if it constitutes an improper gift, ethics experts told ABC News.
It Is Just The First
Accidents involving self-driving cars are inevitable and that is true even if they are awesome.
The family of the woman killed by an Uber self-driving vehicle in Arizona has reached a settlement with the ride services company, ending a potential legal battle over the first fatality caused by an autonomous vehicle.
Wednesday, March 28, 2018
Wednesday Night
All the cool kids hate prog rock, but all you can write about 3 chord songs is that they have 3 chords and bad poetry.
They Can Be Programmed Not To Hit Things
As I have long said, that's literally the easiest thing you can program them to do. That doesn't mean they'll be 100% safe at 65 MPH, but "tending not to run into people and things" requires decent sensors (which seem to exist) and being programmed to not hit stuff. All the complicated "trolley problem" thought pieces are just wankery. If you don't want them to hit things, they won't very often. Unless...
The good news is that this can be reclassified as "human error." har dee har har.
Uber Technologies Inc. disabled the standard collision-avoidance technology in the Volvo SUV that struck and killed a woman in Arizona last week, according to the auto-parts maker that supplied the vehicle’s radar and camera.
The good news is that this can be reclassified as "human error." har dee har har.
Fundraising Day 6
Today and tomorrow are your last chances to get your invisible tote bags! Act now!!!!
Thanks so much at all!
Thanks so much at all!
Speaking Of Casinos
New Jersey will never learn.
A casino and a megamall and a football stadium. It's like the trifecta of doom!
Oh, there's a racetrack too.
A new casino and Meadowlands regional master plan are at the top of the wish list for Vincent Prieto, the new president of the New Jersey Sports & Exposition Authority.
Prieto, who was named to the position by Gov. Phil Murphy in February after serving as a Democratic assemblyman since 2004, told the Meadowlands Regional Chamber on Tuesday that a casino “would make this region the economic engine that this state desperately needs.”
A casino and a megamall and a football stadium. It's like the trifecta of doom!
Oh, there's a racetrack too.
Vapid
Mike Konczal is good here:
I’m not bringing this up to litigate it (again). The point, instead, is that there was a critical conversation among left-liberals about what happening under united Democratic government. This wasn’t from some adolescent need to complain, or navel-gazing purity politics, as it is sometimes portrayed. Instead, it was the left trying to articulate the tradeoffs being made, the choices, decisions and potential consequences of how Obama and the Democrats were governing. It forced people to articulate what they were thinking and how they justified their answers in a public manner. It also gave those on the left a sense of how power worked, and how it didn’t, lessons they are incorporating now as Democrats look to 2020.
So…How’s Your Unified Conservative Governance?
We are now 14 months into united conservative governance. Conservatives came into power with a clear plan to rip out Obama’s achievements and overhaul the whole modern state. Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell planned on running everything through reconciliation. They also had a President who would sign anything. So how is it going?
I’d like to know, because I can’t find any actual debate of what has gone right and wrong in their plans. I’m still thinking through this point, and since this could be misread I want to state it clearly. There’s a lot about how bad Trump is. There’s also a ton bitching and moaning about Republicans messing things up. But I see very little among the network of conservative publications and institutions in terms of strategic discussions of how their conservative agenda is unfolding as it meets political power. This is notable as liberals usually think of the conservative infrastructure as disciplined and powerful. I think this lack of discussion has consequences, because the implosion of conservative policy is just as important of a story to our moment as anything Trump does.
What Problem Are We Trying To Solve
This will quite possibly be the worst job ever devised.
Gradient Ventures, an early-stage venture fund within Google, is leading a $6 million investment in a new company that’s building software to let humans control cars remotely. Scotty Labs, a nine-person startup, works on “teleoperations,” an emerging slice of the autonomous vehicle business that may grow more critical as the field faces closer scrutiny.
California recently moved to let companies test driverless cars on public roads with remote human operators, starting in April. Scotty’s technology is designed for new regulatory environments like this. When a self-driving car finds itself in a tricky situation – stuck in snow, or behind a truck for instance – it alerts a trained operator in a call center who takes over.
A Cunning Plan
I don't actually think they are this cunning, but this could work anyway!
It won't work because The People want a balanced budget amendment, it will work if (and I say if) Dem congressional candidates, at the prompting of the media, fall all over themselves to say that of course they support a balanced budget amendment, also, too.
In PLAYBOOK... Republicans will take up BALANCED-BUDGET AMENDMENT when they return from redress, despite $1.3T spending bill and practically no emphasis on entitlement reform this congress. pic.twitter.com/KjjahKHjjT
— Jake Sherman (@JakeSherman) March 28, 2018
It won't work because The People want a balanced budget amendment, it will work if (and I say if) Dem congressional candidates, at the prompting of the media, fall all over themselves to say that of course they support a balanced budget amendment, also, too.
Nothing But Straight Talk
John McCain has spent an entire career (well, after that unfortunate Keating 5 business) getting journalists to write sentences with his name and "straight talk" in them giving us nothing but straight talk so I don't get how there's anything left for a memoir?
McCain penning 'no-holds-barred' memoir
Tuesday, March 27, 2018
Get - And Stay At Least Somewhat - In Shape When You're Young
This is a boring personal exercise post so skip if you think that's as horrible as it sounds.
I've been an on-again-off-again runner (fast jogger, whatever) since my mid-20s. More off than on, but with periods of being on and getting in pretty good shape. Back when I was young and beautiful I could do a 5K in an almost respectable time, and I've done a couple of half marathons/10 milers at a somewhat better than waddling pace.
I'm defining "in shape" in terms of having some decent cardiovascular endurance, not being skinny and ripped. Anyway, after being mostly off for a few years I've been back on (imperfectly, as these things go, but still) for a year or so. And getting "back" in shape... is...uh, hard. Younger me mocks my 5k time, but more than that... improvements are very very slow, and I actually have been putting in a lot of miles.
Just getting around to the point that this shit was easier when I was younger. It's harder now. Best not to lose it because it's harder to get it back.
tl;dr getting old sucks
I've been an on-again-off-again runner (fast jogger, whatever) since my mid-20s. More off than on, but with periods of being on and getting in pretty good shape. Back when I was young and beautiful I could do a 5K in an almost respectable time, and I've done a couple of half marathons/10 milers at a somewhat better than waddling pace.
I'm defining "in shape" in terms of having some decent cardiovascular endurance, not being skinny and ripped. Anyway, after being mostly off for a few years I've been back on (imperfectly, as these things go, but still) for a year or so. And getting "back" in shape... is...uh, hard. Younger me mocks my 5k time, but more than that... improvements are very very slow, and I actually have been putting in a lot of miles.
Just getting around to the point that this shit was easier when I was younger. It's harder now. Best not to lose it because it's harder to get it back.
tl;dr getting old sucks
How Do Casinos Lose Money
They frequently do. Just ask Donald. Not only do they lose money, but quite often they receive subsidies to open and then, of course, the state bailouts when they fail.
ALBANY - The del Lago casino in the Finger Lakes is seeking a better tax deal from the state to address its struggling revenue — slightly over a year since it opened.
Tom Wilmot, the principal owner of the casino, told USA TODAY Network’s Albany Bureau on Tuesday outside the Capitol that he hoped state leaders would assist the casino.
Mittens!
Who knows what he really thinks or how Dictator Mittens would govern (admittedly who cares, to some extent, but I gotta blog about something). I'd imagine President Mittens, if faced with a Dem-controlled House and Senate, would govern a bit like a Sorkin Republican in public, making Third Way-types swoon. Sorkin Republicans are both mythical and bad so this is not a compliment. Sorkin Dems were also very bad. If he had a Tea Party House and Senate he'd pretend to be more reasonable than they were but still be the most conservative president in my lifetime. But, again, who knows. The point is that he's given plenty of reason to show think he is likely not some secret friend of liberals, but is actually very bad.
Strange Move
Costello, the congressman from PA-06 who announced he was retiring, actually pulled his name off of the primary ballot. If he'd stayed on and won (without doing anything to campaign) the local Republicans could have put whoever they wanted on the ballot, but since he quit before the primary they're stuck with the random guy who got his name on the ballot, who I gather probably wouldn't have been their first choice.
Spring Fundraising Day Fünf!
Thanks for all the generosity!
Here is a picture of your invisible tote bags:
Here is a picture of your invisible tote bags:
One Quick Trick
I'm actually on record saying I don't think Trump remains in office for 4 years (this is a prediction - as in, more likely to happen than not - not something I believe with certainty) but I don't get what people think pushing him out will accomplish. This isn't an argument against him being pushed out, just one aimed at the idea that he takes his final flight on Marine One and everything is good again.
The vulgar incompetence offends, but the vulgar incompetence is mostly what keeps us from Full Trumpism, something which will remain after the Mad King is gone. I even doubt President Pence would be much more competent (again, likely a good thing), and his reign would be even more vulgar, just quieter.
As for the entire administration going down and the Marshal of the Supreme Court installing a Unity President or whatever the hell fantasies are floating around out there... cool drugs, bro.
The vulgar incompetence offends, but the vulgar incompetence is mostly what keeps us from Full Trumpism, something which will remain after the Mad King is gone. I even doubt President Pence would be much more competent (again, likely a good thing), and his reign would be even more vulgar, just quieter.
As for the entire administration going down and the Marshal of the Supreme Court installing a Unity President or whatever the hell fantasies are floating around out there... cool drugs, bro.
Safety
The fantasy is that network-linked automated cars will be able to drive safely at 120 MPH with 5 feet of distance between them. And, sure, about the time I'm uploading my brain into my new robot body, but the reality is that for a long time, if they're going to be safe they're going to be the most annoying drivers, both for their passengers and for everyone around them.
And they still won't work in a useful sense.
I experienced this firsthand this year at the Consumer Electronics Show as I rode in a Level 3 vehicle on the streets of Las Vegas. I equated the experience to having my grandmother driving me around as the vehicle waited to turn right at a crosswalk, causing the human driver behind us to lay into his horn.
The vehicle also slowed down every time it perceived an adjacent car was drifting toward our lane.
And they still won't work in a useful sense.
Oopsie
Arizona rolled out the regulation-free welcome mat after California basically kicked Uber out because Uber didn't think minimal "regulations" or "safety measures" applied to them.
Wasn't that long ago:
Oh well.
Good calls, bro. All of them.
...I wrote this last night, but the local fishwrap is on it, also, too.
After a fairly seamless, high-profile launch in Pittsburgh, the rollout in San Francisco was bumpy right from the beginning. First, the DMV issued a warning to Uber that it had not obtained the proper testing permits for its pilot program. Then, a few hours after the trial began, The Verge reported that one of Uber’s cars ran a red light, nearly hitting a (human-driven) Lyft car.
Uber reviewed the case and determined it was actually the fault of the human driver sitting in the car—remember, Uber still has human drivers who can “take over” from the self-driving system as needed.
Then there was the bike lane problem. Uber’s vehicles had a nasty habit of driving into San Francisco’s bike lanes without warning. This was not the fault of humans but a software error, claimed Uber, noting that the problem had not come up in Pittsburgh, which also has a robust cycling network. Uber pledged to fix it.
Wasn't that long ago:
Arizona has since built upon the governor’s action to become a favored partner for the tech industry, turning itself into a live laboratory for self-driving vehicles. Over the past two years, Arizona deliberately cultivated a rules-free environment for driverless cars, unlike dozens of other states that have enacted autonomous vehicle regulations over safety, taxes and insurance.
...
Mr. Ducey, a native of Ohio who came to Arizona for college and then stayed, was elected governor in 2014 on a pro-business and innovation platform. He quickly lifted restrictions on medical testing for companies like Theranos, a Silicon Valley company that later faced scrutiny for its business practices. He also touted Apple’s decision to build a $2 billion data center in the state.
“We can beat California in every metric; lower taxes, less regulations, cost of living, quality of life,” he said several months after he became governor.
Oh well.
PHOENIX, Ariz., March 26 (Reuters) - The governor of Arizona on Monday suspended Uber’s ability to test self-driving cars on public roads in the state following a fatal crash last week that killed a 49-year-old woman pedestrian.
In a letter sent to Uber Chief Executive Dara Khosrowshahi and shared with the media, Governor Doug Ducey said he found a video released by police of the crash “disturbing and alarming, and it raises many questions about the ability of Uber to continue testing in Arizona.”
Good calls, bro. All of them.
...I wrote this last night, but the local fishwrap is on it, also, too.
Monday, March 26, 2018
Everybody Has Their Price
There are respected lawyers in DC who would happily represent genocidal dictators, and I don't just mean in a "well, even the worst criminal defendants deserve legal representation" sense. I mean advocate for their right to continue to commit genocide.
If Trump can't get a good lawyer it's because he won't pay them a big sum of money up front.
If Trump can't get a good lawyer it's because he won't pay them a big sum of money up front.
Wanker of the Day
Damon Linker.
I switched to "... worst humans" because things didn't seem that funny anymore. But some of these idiots are still kinda funny and we should salute them!
I switched to "... worst humans" because things didn't seem that funny anymore. But some of these idiots are still kinda funny and we should salute them!
Other People Are Bad
Opposition to immigration (and despite what people say people who don't like immigrants don't care if they are undocumented or not) is higher in places that don't have many immigrants. More to the point, opposition to immigration tends to be higher in places that practically have no visibly apparent immigrants at all.
I actually don't really understand. The standard explanation is something along the lines of "if you have neighbors that are different (however) you learn tolerance" and well, sure, in some cases, but the question is not why people in homogeneous places fail to love difference, it's why they're animated by the issue at all?
I actually don't really understand. The standard explanation is something along the lines of "if you have neighbors that are different (however) you learn tolerance" and well, sure, in some cases, but the question is not why people in homogeneous places fail to love difference, it's why they're animated by the issue at all?
The "Liar" Wall Is Breached
I'm sure it'll be back tomorrow, but there is a big difference between "the president said something which was not true" and "the president...often does not tell the truth." A bit subtle, perhaps, but the latter conveys intent to deceive, which is often a journalistic no-no (except when it isn't because the rules of journalism are so complicated).
The second phase, which is now focused on the question of a presidential interview with Mr. Mueller, had been led by Mr. Dowd. One reason Mr. Dowd quit was that, against his advice, Mr. Trump was insistent that he wanted to answer questions under oath from Mr. Mueller, believing that it would help clear him.
Mr. Dowd had concluded that there was no upside and that the president, who often does not tell the truth, could increase his legal exposure if his answers were not accurate.
Another One Down
Dems will (presumably) finally pick this one up.
Rep. Ryan Costello won’t seek reelection, he announced Sunday night, opening a major opportunity for Democrats in the fight for control of the U.S. House.
It's A Total Mystery Why There's A Lack of Class And Racial Diversity In Journalism
Idk about y’all, but when I was in college I couldn’t afford to spent three to five months working for no money. These things are so obviously exclusionary and elitist it is bananas to be that they are still done. But maybe that’s the point. pic.twitter.com/e6jggDboZG
— Jessica Huseman (@JessicaHuseman) March 24, 2018
All you need is one little sifting device - like unpaid internships requiring that people are funded by the Bank of Parental Units - and the entire pool of potential applicants is skewed.
Of course there are lots of these little life sifters. This is just an obvious one that publications actually have control over.
Sunday, March 25, 2018
Respect My HOBBY!!!!
Whether its guns, video games, sports fandom, knitting, mountain climbing, origami, gardening (militant gardeners are the worst), cooking, parkour, tattoos, .... I mean, whatever, I do not have to respect your stupid hobby. All hobbies except my hobbies are stupid wastes of time. That gun owners and hunters (and I've seen this even from gun-control supporting liberals) think that somehow we must RESPECT THEIR HOBBY instead of pointing and laughing at it, if we are so inclined, is ridiculous. Oooh look at the good boy with his big gun! Isn't he a good boy! Doesn't he have a good gun! It's so ridiculous. Buy your damn guns. No one is stopping you. I can laugh at your external death penis obsession all I want to.
I mean, how ridiculous is it so somehow assert that your personal identity exists within your expensive guns and ammo collection. It isn't any different than me asserting that my personal identity is heavily tied up in My Little Pony fan fiction. Both could be true, but who the fuck cares? You can laugh at my Pony fan fiction collection, though you'll have to pry it from cold dead hands, and I'll laugh at your stupid guns. Snowflakes.
I mean, how ridiculous is it so somehow assert that your personal identity exists within your expensive guns and ammo collection. It isn't any different than me asserting that my personal identity is heavily tied up in My Little Pony fan fiction. Both could be true, but who the fuck cares? You can laugh at my Pony fan fiction collection, though you'll have to pry it from cold dead hands, and I'll laugh at your stupid guns. Snowflakes.
Spring Fundraising Funstravaganza Day III
Thanks to all! Consider paying me what you owe me for all of the fun I provide a generous contribution to Eschaton World Industries.
Transportation Policy And Technology
What most people want: a taxi, but it's basically free, and there's no congestion anywhere.
Cars are 17'x6.5' roughly and cost, say, $25,000. Just do the math.
Cars are 17'x6.5' roughly and cost, say, $25,000. Just do the math.
I Was So Looking Forward To The Vicki And Joe Show
Actually, I wasn't. Was getting PTSD. But they won't be Trump's lawyers after all, according to my deep sources on twitter.
Everybody's A Big Fame Whore Like Me
Two things this weekend reminded me that some people can't imagine that anybody is motivated by anything else. First, who else?
The conservative movement is filled with grifters who would kill their parents for 5 minutes on Fox&Friends so I shouldn't be surprised, but...
Many lawyers and top law firms want to represent me in the Russia case...don’t believe the Fake News narrative that it is hard to find a lawyer who wants to take this on. Fame & fortune will NEVER be turned down by a lawyer, though some are conflicted. Problem is that a new......
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 25, 2018
NRA host taunts Parkland teens: "No one would know your names" if classmates were still alive https://t.co/2AqeZHSzeh
— Washington Post (@washingtonpost) March 24, 2018
The conservative movement is filled with grifters who would kill their parents for 5 minutes on Fox&Friends so I shouldn't be surprised, but...
Saturday, March 24, 2018
My Book Proposal
Actually, everything is good, and for those that it isn't good... it's their own damn fault.
Give me all the advance money.
Give me all the advance money.
Attacking The Troops To Own The Libs
It'll never get framed this way in the Emm Ess Emm but Trump is attacking The Troops (transgender troops) in order to Own The Libs.
If The Libs ever went after The Troops like this it would be an assault on the flag and country and... but since it's conservatives going after transgender troops, it's all good.
If The Libs ever went after The Troops like this it would be an assault on the flag and country and... but since it's conservatives going after transgender troops, it's all good.
SPRING FUNDRAISING FUNSTRAVAGANZA DAY 2
Thanks to all who have contributed so far! Again, no need to contribute if you're skint. Almost every time I fundraise someone writes in apologetically and causing people to feel guilty about not contributing to this sucky blog is not something I want to do. But if you have extra and you get some value from this floating cocktail party consider helping keep it afloat.
Please give me all your money so I can afford to buy a self-driving car.
Please give me all your money so I can afford to buy a self-driving car.
Regulations Are Good
A death resulting from an incident with a self-driving car was inevitable. The other big companies will probably focus on how Uber is shitty, and their cars are Good, and maybe they'll be right, but the "responsible" (assuming they are) companies had an interest in making sure shit self-driving cars were kept off the road because every self-driving car accident, even ones which have nothing to do with them, are going to set back their industry.
Of course I still don't think these things are going to work in a useful fashion, but people are betting lots of money that they will.
Of course I still don't think these things are going to work in a useful fashion, but people are betting lots of money that they will.
Not Ready
Uber's cars are shit.
Waymo, formerly the self-driving car project of Google, said that in tests on roads in California last year, its cars went an average of nearly 5,600 miles before the driver had to take control from the computer to steer out of trouble. As of March, Uber was struggling to meet its target of 13 miles per “intervention” in Arizona, according to 100 pages of company documents obtained by The New York Times and two people familiar with the company’s operations in the Phoenix area but not permitted to speak publicly about it.
Friday, March 23, 2018
Friday Happy Hour
Pour your favorite beverage and consider subscribing or donating to your favorite sucky blue blog!
Get The Lead Out
Drum is right to keep beating this drum. Lead broke brains and damaged society. Some of those broken brained people still run the world and are popular radio and TV hosts (and their fans) and that sort of thing. The kids, though, are alright. More alright, anyway.
Vicki and Joe
But they were good on TV?
At this point I think Trump's only "fun" is playing the "LOOK I'M KEEPING THEM GUESSING!!!" game which is completely stupid but hey it's Trump.
Washington (CNN)Veteran Washington attorney Joseph diGenova's role as part of President Donald Trump's legal team is still in question, according to two sources familiar with the matter.
DiGenova's hiring was announced on Monday by Jay Sekulow, counsel to the President. DiGenova, along with his wife and law partner, Victoria Toensing, had a Thursday meeting with the President, the sources said. Even so, diGenova's role, as well as that of Toensing who is also in discussions about joining the team, are in flux. One source said no one has been officially hired.
At this point I think Trump's only "fun" is playing the "LOOK I'M KEEPING THEM GUESSING!!!" game which is completely stupid but hey it's Trump.
The Moustache Of Death
Bolton's a "kill'em all" racist. Trump will do whatever Fox and Friends tells him to do. Bolton will be good at getting his message on there, and kill'em all racists are basically their target demographic. Time to become a prepper.
They Don't Navigate With The DashCam
It's fair to ask the (unknowable) question of whether a typical driver would have hit the pedestrian as the robot car did (and also fair to be skeptical of anything Uber puts out about this), but the robot cars are supposed to use fancy sensors that shouldn't be defeated by weird phenomenon like shadows. If the car didn't react at all to the pedestrian before killing her, which is how it looks, that's a big problem.
Spring Fundraising Funstravaganza!
Spring already? Doesn't look that way outside.
Everybody knows this advertising model is not working so well on the internet. I could sell all your data to Russians instead! Ha ha. Not going to pivot to video either, or more importantly not going to load up the site with increasingly intrusive and annoying auto-on popups and popovers. Also not going to install malware that will mine blockchain Eschatonbucks. This sucky blog is what it is.
Subscriptions are always welcome! Each subscription level gets you access to this sucky blog and and comes with a very fine invisible tote bag. Can cancel at any time (and can always get in touch with me if you are having trouble canceling).
Don't like commitment? Try a one time contribution! You will also get an invisible tote bag!!!
As always, this isn't your medicine money or your kids' college money or your charity money. This is your NYT subscription money or your NPR money.
Help keep my blogs mighty!
Everybody knows this advertising model is not working so well on the internet. I could sell all your data to Russians instead! Ha ha. Not going to pivot to video either, or more importantly not going to load up the site with increasingly intrusive and annoying auto-on popups and popovers. Also not going to install malware that will mine blockchain Eschatonbucks. This sucky blog is what it is.
Subscriptions are always welcome! Each subscription level gets you access to this sucky blog and and comes with a very fine invisible tote bag. Can cancel at any time (and can always get in touch with me if you are having trouble canceling).
Don't like commitment? Try a one time contribution! You will also get an invisible tote bag!!!
As always, this isn't your medicine money or your kids' college money or your charity money. This is your NYT subscription money or your NPR money.
Help keep my blogs mighty!
Can Also Recognize Mangled Flesh
Cool cool.
Depending on a person's gestures — a welcoming thumbs-up, shouting or frantic arm waving — the drone can adjust its behavior, according to the patent. As described in the patent, the machine could release the package it's carrying, change its flight path to avoid crashing, ask humans a question or abort the delivery.
Among several illustrations in the design, a person is shown outside a home, flapping his arms in what Amazon describes as an "unwelcoming manner," to showcase an example of someone shooing away a drone flying overhead. A voice bubble comes out of the man's mouth, depicting possible voice commands to the incoming machine.
Bad News/Good News
Bad news: Bolton named National Security Advisor.
Good News: He doesn't take office until April 9th. With this administration, the odds of things going as planned are pretty slim.
It's all I got to get me through the day.
Good News: He doesn't take office until April 9th. With this administration, the odds of things going as planned are pretty slim.
It's all I got to get me through the day.
Thursday, March 22, 2018
Succinctly Put
Been trying to express this and failing.
In a sense they can programmed to never be "at fault" and even if they work perfectly they aren't necessarily going to be safer than human drivers, both in terms of accidents they could be involved in and accidents they might cause to happen around them. If there's little pressure, legal or otherwise, for them to be more safe they certainly won't be. The point is "they'll be safer" is just an article of faith. Possibly? Yes! Certainly? Not necessarily even if they work "perfectly"!
Indeed, it's entirely possible to imagine a self-driving car system that always follows the letter of the law—and hence never does anything that would lead to legal finding of fault—but is nevertheless way more dangerous than the average human driver. Indeed, such a system might behave a lot like Uber's cars do today.
In a sense they can programmed to never be "at fault" and even if they work perfectly they aren't necessarily going to be safer than human drivers, both in terms of accidents they could be involved in and accidents they might cause to happen around them. If there's little pressure, legal or otherwise, for them to be more safe they certainly won't be. The point is "they'll be safer" is just an article of faith. Possibly? Yes! Certainly? Not necessarily even if they work "perfectly"!
Matthew Dowd Is A Fraud
This man is paid a lot by ABC News to pretend to know nothing about politics.
These are basically the views (good or bad!) of almost everybody who calls themself a Democrat, either voters or elected. You can not have as many abortions as you want and still think it should be legal for others should do so. You can be "for the 2nd amendment" (whatever that even means) and think that some degree of gun regulation is good. I don't think there's anybody on the planet who says, "I am against capital punishment because I hate justice" so I'm not even sure what this particular construction is supposed to mean. This is like 8th grade level political discussion from 1991.
Dowd holds iconoclastic positions that much of the country does, that an entire political party (and certainly every important member of that party that ABC News's Political Analyst ever talks to) does, and he likes to post tweets congratulating himself on his special flower uniqueness. The poor man has been abandoned by our political system which keeps giving him highly paid jobs!
I don't think this means Dowd has to say he's a Democrat. Maybe Democrats don't like war enough or don't hate black people enough or don't agree with some other positions Dowd holds (I have no idea) enough to please him, but to pretend that these are controversial views to anybody except Republicans is just fraud. He's a liar who is trying to maintain his No Labels Third Way If Only There Was A Party Of Common Sense Centrism Just For Me brand that networks are comfortable with and which has a totebagging fanbase.
The people who try to force everything into a false binary choice is one reason why our democracy is in peril and we can’t get to the common good. A person can be both for life and for choice, for the 2nd amendment and for gun reform, for justice and against capital punishment.
— Matthew Dowd (@matthewjdowd) March 22, 2018
These are basically the views (good or bad!) of almost everybody who calls themself a Democrat, either voters or elected. You can not have as many abortions as you want and still think it should be legal for others should do so. You can be "for the 2nd amendment" (whatever that even means) and think that some degree of gun regulation is good. I don't think there's anybody on the planet who says, "I am against capital punishment because I hate justice" so I'm not even sure what this particular construction is supposed to mean. This is like 8th grade level political discussion from 1991.
Dowd holds iconoclastic positions that much of the country does, that an entire political party (and certainly every important member of that party that ABC News's Political Analyst ever talks to) does, and he likes to post tweets congratulating himself on his special flower uniqueness. The poor man has been abandoned by our political system which keeps giving him highly paid jobs!
I don't think this means Dowd has to say he's a Democrat. Maybe Democrats don't like war enough or don't hate black people enough or don't agree with some other positions Dowd holds (I have no idea) enough to please him, but to pretend that these are controversial views to anybody except Republicans is just fraud. He's a liar who is trying to maintain his No Labels Third Way If Only There Was A Party Of Common Sense Centrism Just For Me brand that networks are comfortable with and which has a totebagging fanbase.
Trade Wars
Current "free trade" agreements are mostly anything but and it isn't the case that reducing tariffs is always good, but one good thing (if not quite as unambiguously good as proponents would say, either) about trade agreements is that they do reduce trade wars, which tend to lead to concentrated pain for targeted industries and workers.
One great myth of America is that our great capitalist nation, unlike other countries, does not subsidies specific industries. They engage in national industrial policy, while we do not. I don't care about the merits of China's complaint because I think all of this is basically bullshit. We subsidize lots of things, they subsidize lots of things, and lots of polite fictions keep us pretending otherwise. But if the trade war is on, it's on.
U.S. subsidies for its soybean farmers have given them an unfair competitive advantage in selling to China and strong restrictive measures need to be taken to prevent dumping, Chinese tabloid Global Times said in an editorial on Wednesday.
One great myth of America is that our great capitalist nation, unlike other countries, does not subsidies specific industries. They engage in national industrial policy, while we do not. I don't care about the merits of China's complaint because I think all of this is basically bullshit. We subsidize lots of things, they subsidize lots of things, and lots of polite fictions keep us pretending otherwise. But if the trade war is on, it's on.
The Best Clients
A daily dialogue between Dowd and his client, the President of the United States.
Guess Dowd has more time to go golfing at non-Trump properties now.
Dowd: Please, sir, don't tweet that you did, in fact, do it.
Trump sits on the shitter, tweets: I did it!
Guess Dowd has more time to go golfing at non-Trump properties now.
Mr. Dowd, who took over the president’s legal team last summer, had considered leaving several times in recent months and ultimately concluded that Mr. Trump was increasingly ignoring his advice, one of the people said. Mr. Trump has insisted he should sit for an interview with the special counsel’s office, even though Mr. Dowd believed it was a bad idea.
Time For A Blogger Ethics Panel
This fine blog has never taken corporate payoyla. Ethics are for suckers, sadly.
Conservative media has long been the home for impassioned arguments against the welfare state, gun control, and taxes.
But if you look closely at key conservative sites including the Daily Caller, Breitbart, the Washington Examiner, and the Daily Wire, you’ll see another track of articles, no less passionate for just how obscure its targets are. Say, contact lens regulations.
Angels in America
Braved the storm to go see all 7:45 of this (two parts) yesterday. I'm a bad critic, but it's a good play, and one which will stick around forever, revival after revival. Nathan Lane is a bit of an odd choice for Roy Cohn, though he's very good, and Andrew Garfield is quite good as Prior.
I first saw it back in 1996 or so, in Providence, directed by one of the men (Oskar Eustis) who had originally commissioned it. That production conveyed a sense of urgency, particularly in the first part, a sense of powerful unsettlement, more than this one, though this was better (and more expensively produced, obviously) in other ways. One of those theater productions I still think remember 20 years later.
Worth seeing if you're near it.
I first saw it back in 1996 or so, in Providence, directed by one of the men (Oskar Eustis) who had originally commissioned it. That production conveyed a sense of urgency, particularly in the first part, a sense of powerful unsettlement, more than this one, though this was better (and more expensively produced, obviously) in other ways. One of those theater productions I still think remember 20 years later.
Worth seeing if you're near it.
Can't LIDAR See In The Dark?
Blame the writer, of course, but too many people miss the point of my safety issues with these cars. I'm not saying they're not safeish - if they work they'll be safe enough. I'm disputing the repeated noncritical assertions that one of the benefits of self-driving cars that they will self-evidently safer than normal cars because robots are better than humans and that this is a justification for putting up with a few cracked skulls on the way to progress and also, too, spending immense amounts of public money for self-driving car friendly infrastructure because of this automobile safety issue we weren't willing to spend any money to deal with (yes, there are lots of cheap things you can do to make streets safer) until self-driving cars came along.
I'm not going to embed this because it's a dash cam of someone being hit, but if you click through you can see it. It is true that a human driver probably would have hit this person! It's also true that this is a just a shitty video and self-driving cars are supposed to have more sensors than mere human eyes. The car doesn't slow at all.
I'm not going to embed this because it's a dash cam of someone being hit, but if you click through you can see it. It is true that a human driver probably would have hit this person! It's also true that this is a just a shitty video and self-driving cars are supposed to have more sensors than mere human eyes. The car doesn't slow at all.
Still Growing
Barely, but after decades of shrinking.
South Jersey is really going to be in trouble I bet. I'm not one to scream about taxes, but those property taxes as immenese.
Philadelphia’s population increased by 6,098 residents between 2016 and 2017, the 11th straight year of growth that the city enjoyed after decades of population decline.
Still, not all the news from U.S. Census Bureau population estimates, released Thursday, was positive. For example, more people moved out of the city than moved in. The population increase came from birthrates exceeding death rates.
South Jersey is really going to be in trouble I bet. I'm not one to scream about taxes, but those property taxes as immenese.
The city is growing faster than the suburbs — and nowhere suffers more than South Jersey
Wednesday, March 21, 2018
Anybody Could Scrape It All
And it didn't matter much what you thought your privacy settings were.
Mark Zuckerberg should feel like people will shun him every time he goes out in public again. At least until he makes a modest contribution to Eschaton World Industries.
“My concerns were that all of the data that left Facebook servers to developers could not be monitored by Facebook, so we had no idea what developers were doing with the data,” he said.
Parakilas said Facebook had terms of service and settings that “people didn’t read or understand” and the company did not use its enforcement mechanisms, including audits of external developers, to ensure data was not being misused.
Mark Zuckerberg should feel like people will shun him every time he goes out in public again. At least until he makes a modest contribution to Eschaton World Industries.
Not About Free Trade
Most "free traders" like Tom "no idea what's in the Free Trade agreement" Friedman just hear "free trade" and assume it's good (Friedman actually said this). And NPR etc... dutifully report everything as "free trade" as if it's of course the good and sensible thing and who doesn't like freedom, commie? But US tariffs on most things are tiny and so for a long time these agreements have had little to do with textbook free trade. They are what their critics have always said they are - ways for multinationals to get a veto over democracy.
Not deliberately of course, but the NYT had this great piece on how the junk food industry is trying to limit required warnings on junk food as part a renegotiated NAFTA. The issue is that our trading partners are looking to take measures to discourage people from eating foods that are high in sugar, fat, and salt. Several cities and states are considering similar measures. The junk food industry is looking to block such measures by getting a ban included in the new NAFTA.
If you're wondering what this has to do with free trade, the answer is nothing. However, it is a beautiful example of an industry working to use a trade agreement to subvert the democratic process to advance its interests in a trade deal. If the junk food industry gets its way, the resulting pact will then be blessed as a "free trade" deal. The Washington Post and all the other beacons of the establishment will the proclaim their support for the new NAFTA and denounce opponents as Neanderthal protectionists.
Blogger, Atrios, Says Russia May Have Something On Trump
Brennan's speculation is about as good as mine.
Either he has special knowledge due to his former position or he doesn't. The point of this post isn't to defend Trump, of course, but I just hate it when authority is granted to people to spout the same shit you can find any random place on the internet. Talking out your ass is talking out your ass, and it's irresponsible when people (and media outlets) use their supposed authority to do so.
Separately, on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” John O. Brennan, a former C.I.A. director, speculated that the Russians “may have something on him personally,” referring to Mr. Trump.
Either he has special knowledge due to his former position or he doesn't. The point of this post isn't to defend Trump, of course, but I just hate it when authority is granted to people to spout the same shit you can find any random place on the internet. Talking out your ass is talking out your ass, and it's irresponsible when people (and media outlets) use their supposed authority to do so.
There Can Be Only One Sanders
It is much more difficult to understand the news because of the regular references to "Sanders" when it is not immediately clear which one.
The Faith Is Strong
I admit I continue to be amazed by the number of people who express to me their unwavering faith, based on assertions like "all the people working in the industry know," that self-driving cars will (when? this is a big question? when???) increase automobile safety. It isn't so much that I even doubt this especially strongly, it's that it is an empirical question which can be answered, but not one which can be answered yet because *the fucking cars don't work yet*. Until they work, the argument is "they will be safe one day so if a few kids get killed along the way no big whoop." Maybe true! But that's the argument.
Yes, yes, we all know how many test miles these things have supposedly been running on the dangerous streets of Arizona, but it's infinitesimal compared to the number of miles driven overall in this country. It's going to take a long time to make the stats for robot cars look better than the stats for human cars after one death.
There are 12.5 deaths per billion vehicle miles driven. This is the statistic that self-driving cars have to beat in order to be "safer."
Based on this, Uber has had about 3 million test miles (under mostly safer than average road conditions, but I'll leave that aside). They're now at 333 deaths per billion miles driven. Gonna have to go a few more days without a death before they're "safer." (This is not all robot cars, of course, but not all robot cars are meaningfully the same right now).
Yes, yes, we all know how many test miles these things have supposedly been running on the dangerous streets of Arizona, but it's infinitesimal compared to the number of miles driven overall in this country. It's going to take a long time to make the stats for robot cars look better than the stats for human cars after one death.
There are 12.5 deaths per billion vehicle miles driven. This is the statistic that self-driving cars have to beat in order to be "safer."
Based on this, Uber has had about 3 million test miles (under mostly safer than average road conditions, but I'll leave that aside). They're now at 333 deaths per billion miles driven. Gonna have to go a few more days without a death before they're "safer." (This is not all robot cars, of course, but not all robot cars are meaningfully the same right now).
Snow
I know the rest of the country gets a bit tired about hearing about NE corridor winter, but it's snowing. That sucks.
Tuesday, March 20, 2018
Endlessly Repeating
I admit I didn't think that in 2018 we'd still be talking about... Joe DiGenova.
Pariahs
Zuckerberg and the gang should be social pariahs. That's the worst you can do to full of shit boy billionaires. It isn't so much about political campaigns, it's that Facebook basically let everyone scrape their database in ways that even data/privacy paranoids weren't quite aware of.
I'd say spit at him if you see him, but that'd probably get you arrested, so just boo.
I'd say spit at him if you see him, but that'd probably get you arrested, so just boo.
Since The Weather Sucks,
and is going to continue to suck for the next twenty-four hours, I declare an early happy hour.
Accidents Happen
With human drivers, the concept of "an accident" has been so extended that absent alcohol or (usually at the same time) hit and run, few drivers get prosecuted for killing people.
So, let's take the extreme case... what happens if a self-driving car goes "psycho" and runs up on a sidewalk and mows down 20 people. Who gets prosecuted? You, smart person, but this will never happen. Okay, fine. What if it does?
So, let's take the extreme case... what happens if a self-driving car goes "psycho" and runs up on a sidewalk and mows down 20 people. Who gets prosecuted? You, smart person, but this will never happen. Okay, fine. What if it does?
You Gotta Have Faith
The unwavering belief (and, really, you can't even suggest it might not be true to some people) of self-driving car boosters is that they'll be safer than human drivers. I'm not one who even worries about safety in that, as I keep saying, if they work they'll be safe, tautologically, but there isn't any particular reason to think this is actually true. It might be! Some day! I'm sure in 2300 we'll all be uploading our brains into robot bodies, too, but that's a few months away. Human drivers get distracted and drunk blah blah blah, but self-driving car sensors aren't very good, the AI required to recognize that a stop sign is indeed a stop sign is actually pretty hard (and a stop sign's the easy one!), "intuition" and interaction with other entities on the road is going to be limited, and weather conditions are not those of Mountain View all over the country.
Every time there's an accident/death involving a self-driving car, people will assert that "well, self-driving cars are safer than human drivers so we're going to overall reduce the number of accidents." Thank you, serious scientist person and stupidest economist on twitter, for this assertion without any evidence whatsover. And even if it will be true one day, the things don't even work yet! How is it true now? I guess you don't make driving safer without cracking a few skulls first.
Fundamentally, the question is can a self-driving car *ever* be at fault for hitting a pedestrian and, if they are, who gets the manslaughter charge? The answer, of course, is "never" and "nobody." They'll be safer one day! OK, cool, hope it isn't your kid.
Every time there's an accident/death involving a self-driving car, people will assert that "well, self-driving cars are safer than human drivers so we're going to overall reduce the number of accidents." Thank you, serious scientist person and stupidest economist on twitter, for this assertion without any evidence whatsover. And even if it will be true one day, the things don't even work yet! How is it true now? I guess you don't make driving safer without cracking a few skulls first.
Fundamentally, the question is can a self-driving car *ever* be at fault for hitting a pedestrian and, if they are, who gets the manslaughter charge? The answer, of course, is "never" and "nobody." They'll be safer one day! OK, cool, hope it isn't your kid.
Heckuva Job
There were the evil bastards, and then there were the Model UN debate team crowd, young boy blunders putting on their first big boy suits writing for big boy magazines and being on big boy teevee shows, being patted on the head for punching hippies. War was very serious, they intoned, and only the Very Serious People could be trusted with it. It must have been so exciting!
No one knows for certain how many Iraqis have died as a result of the invasion 15 years ago. Some credible estimates put the number at more than one million. You can read that sentence again. The invasion of Iraq is often spoken of in the United States as a “blunder,” or even a “colossal mistake.” It was a crime. Those who perpetrated it are still at large. Some of them have even been rehabilitated thanks to the horrors of Trumpism and a mostly amnesiac citizenry. (A year ago, I watched Mr. Bush on “The Ellen DeGeneres Show,” dancing and talking about his paintings.) The pundits and “experts” who sold us the war still go on doing what they do. I never thought that Iraq could ever be worse than it was during Saddam’s reign, but that is what America’s war achieved and bequeathed to Iraqis.
Monday, March 19, 2018
Map
Supremos didn't shoot down the new PA map, so that'll be good for a couple of House seats in November (that's not a justification for the lawsuit and map, though the map of one old Congressional district gives you a sense of how bad it was).
I'd Vote For Dick Nixon Over Cuomo
I don't know enough about Cynthia Nixon's actual views to know if she's Good, but Cuomo is very very bad. As bad as they get. Most bad Democrats have to hide the fact that they'd prefer to have Republicans in power, but Cuomo's basically open about it!
I love New York, and today I'm announcing my candidacy for governor. Join us: https://t.co/9DwsxWW8xX pic.twitter.com/kYTvx6GZiD
— Cynthia Nixon (@CynthiaNixon) March 19, 2018
Operation Blame The Pedestrian Begins
Inevitable
I'm not fully familiar with Arizona/Tempe pedestrian crossing laws, but contrary to popular belief, it is not always "jaywalking" simply to cross/be in the street outside of a crosswalk, and even if it is, that doesn't mean drivers can just mow you over any more than I can take a baseball bat to a car that runs a stop in front of me.
TEMPE, Ariz. - Tempe police are investigating a deadly crash involving a self-driving Uber vehicle overnight.
The Uber vehicle was reportedly driving early Monday when a woman walking outside of the crosswalk was struck.
I'm not fully familiar with Arizona/Tempe pedestrian crossing laws, but contrary to popular belief, it is not always "jaywalking" simply to cross/be in the street outside of a crosswalk, and even if it is, that doesn't mean drivers can just mow you over any more than I can take a baseball bat to a car that runs a stop in front of me.
Gotta Deliver
Sure the joke about all of us armchair pundits is that we believe that what wins elections is that politicians support our personal policy preferences. I don't think that's true of all of my policy preferences, though admittedly some, but I think to some extent the issue is less about winning elections - which seems to happen when people are pissed off at the party in power - than it is about winning re-elections, or specifically maintaining power once you have it.
I know the narrative of Obama folks is that they inherited a financial meltdown and that they did what they had to do to avert catastrophe - some of which was unpopular - and then passed Obamacare, which they were brave to do even though it was unpopular (?), and they did all of this during a time when the media turned over the cameras to Sarah Palin and the Tea Party.
But they purposefully let a lot of people lose their homes as they bailed out the banks (this is on Obama). "They" purposefully put off any benefits of Obamacare until later in order to get that sweet sweet magic CBO score (this is not all on Obama), which left people thinking "Obamacare" was their shitty insurance before Obamacare had even kicked in.
My point isn't to lay blame (ok not all my point), my point is that by any measure, in 2010 the Dems had not delivered. People were losing their homes, the banks were bailed out, and their health care didn't get any better.
We have diehard Republicans and diehard Democrats, a few totebagging "independent minded swing voters," and then a bunch of people for whom voting and politics generally is optional. They, too, sort pretty neatly into one party or the other. If they don't think there's much to vote for or against they won't bother.
I know the narrative of Obama folks is that they inherited a financial meltdown and that they did what they had to do to avert catastrophe - some of which was unpopular - and then passed Obamacare, which they were brave to do even though it was unpopular (?), and they did all of this during a time when the media turned over the cameras to Sarah Palin and the Tea Party.
But they purposefully let a lot of people lose their homes as they bailed out the banks (this is on Obama). "They" purposefully put off any benefits of Obamacare until later in order to get that sweet sweet magic CBO score (this is not all on Obama), which left people thinking "Obamacare" was their shitty insurance before Obamacare had even kicked in.
My point isn't to lay blame (ok not all my point), my point is that by any measure, in 2010 the Dems had not delivered. People were losing their homes, the banks were bailed out, and their health care didn't get any better.
We have diehard Republicans and diehard Democrats, a few totebagging "independent minded swing voters," and then a bunch of people for whom voting and politics generally is optional. They, too, sort pretty neatly into one party or the other. If they don't think there's much to vote for or against they won't bother.
Texting and Driving
There are "good" reasons to look at your phone when you are driving. By "good" I don't mean you should do it. You shouldn't for the same reason that you shouldn't be texting, but there is no reason at all to be trying to type a text on a phone at 65 miles per hour. I've been in cars with people who did it and I almost lost my shit. These activities are just not compatible. People say things like, "people eat while driving! it's the same!" No it isn't the same. I can't scarf down a Big Mac without looking at the damn thing. I can't type 140 characters (and no one can) without staring at the phone.
Pedestrians shouldn't be staring at their phones while walking in the middle of the street (even if they are in a crosswalk) but they're unlikely to kill anybody else if they do so.
Safety regulators still have no idea just how deadly the combination of mobile phones and cars can be, but mounting evidence paints a grim picture.
The latest disconcerting data come from a massive study by Zendrive, a San Francisco-based startup that tracks phone use for automobile insurers and ride-hailing fleets. Of the 2.3 million drivers it monitored over 5.6 billion miles, some 12 percent were characterized as mobile-phone addicts—calling, texting or scrolling through apps three times more than the average driver.
Pedestrians shouldn't be staring at their phones while walking in the middle of the street (even if they are in a crosswalk) but they're unlikely to kill anybody else if they do so.
Happy Iraq War Day
Many of those Republicans (not to mention pundits who are Democrats) who are Good now because they hate Trump still think it was a jolly idea.
We're All Leaders Of None
One sad thing about online politics is that too many people (add me to this list if you wish) confuse arguing about shit on the internet with political activism. So often I see people write things like, "what we need to do..." when what they mean is "what other people should be doing...". And of course it's fair to level these kinds of criticisms against big institutional organizations which soak up fundraising money. Still, if you think we need to, say, take it to the streets, make your sign and get out there.
Sunday, March 18, 2018
I Can't Find It Funny
We had some fun here in this sucky blog even in the darkest days of the Bush administration. Laughing our way through the apocalypse and all that. I have a hard time maintaining a sense of humor now. It isn't that I think Trump is worse - he isn't, yet (give him time!) - it's that I am less confident in the ability of our great system to nudge the ship back on course.
There's No Way Jeffy Jeff Is A Liar
What would we tell the white children?
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ testimony that he opposed a proposal for President Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign team to meet with Russians has been contradicted by three people who told Reuters they have spoken about the matter to investigators with Special Counsel Robert Mueller or congressional committees.
Look Forward To Your Pedestrian License Test
Gonna have to learn a new language to earn one.
Uber thinks it may have arrived at a solution. In a recent patent application, the ride-hailing giant proposes wrapping its self-driving cars in flashing signs to effectively communicate messages to pedestrians and others around it. The illustration accompanying the application is pretty wild: flashing arrows would appear on the side-view mirrors, a projector would display a virtual crosswalk in front of the car, and a “virtual driver” would pop up in the windshield to point pedestrians in the right direction. In essence, the car would need to be lit up like the Las Vegas Strip in order to make up for the absence of a human behind the wheel.
“In the real world, when there’s a human driver, they’re usually not shouting out the window, ‘Hey I’m slowing down now,’” says Sean Chin, a product designer at Uber’s Advanced Technology Group, which oversees its autonomous vehicle program. “There are subtle things you can do, like a head nod or flashing lights. And while we don’t have final implementation, what we’re considering is what is a new language we can create to give people that information.”
Sunday Morning With Jesus
I guess someone told him that maybe firing McCabe was kinda stupid.
The man who obsesses about "loyalty" really doesn't understand it, which I suppose is true of most people who obsess about loyalty.
The man who obsesses about "loyalty" really doesn't understand it, which I suppose is true of most people who obsess about loyalty.
Saturday, March 17, 2018
"Public Service"
One of my infinite pet peeves is when people who are in very elite positions for which they have given up basically nothing are referred to as engaging in "public service." Being a rich person who decides to become a senator or take a position in the Cabinet does not mean you are doing "public service" in any broad sense, and it certainly doesn't mean you're meaningfully "serving the public."
The Best People
Not everyone who hates Trump is good.
Certainly not everyone who Trump hired just because at some point he fired them.
Certainly not everyone who Trump hired just because at some point he fired them.
But What If Programs Help Rich People Too?
This justification for lack of universal coverage of [insert appropriate government function here] is just a mirror image of the "what if your tax moneys go to blah people????" that conservatives use to fight the same things. People making the argument are stupid or lying (always the question). Benefits can be universal and taxes can be progressive. The top 1% doesn't care about receiving these benefits, anyway, they just don't want to pay the taxes.
Shutdown Facebook
It isn't just about the election. They have no safeguards on the use of user data other than "against our policy."
Friday, March 16, 2018
Not If Every New Appointee Demands A New Dining Table
I don't care about the dumb table, but this is the problem with the "redecoration first" attitude. It isn't "let's build onto the foundation of this great office" it's "let's burn everything down just for me and presumably the next person will do the same." That's why this is idiotic.
Kelly also defended HUD Sec. Ben Carson, who is under pressure for spending $31,000 on a furniture set. Kelly said $31,000 sounds like a lot of money, but to put it in context he asked a reporter how much they think the chair they’re sitting on costs. Kelly said it’s probably worth hundreds of dollars but it will last a long time. He rationalized Carson’s $31,000 outlay by saying the table could last for 80 or 100 years.
RIP Louise Slaughter
News reports say she died this morning. Longtime readers will remember Rep. Slaughter attended the first ESCHACON. She was, I think, a bit confused about why her people brought her there, but was nonetheless a good sport.
She was 88.
She was 88.
THEY'RE FIRED
I guess it's debatable whether incompetent evil is more dangerous than competent evil, but I suppose I lean towards cheering on chucking anyone with minimal competence out of the White House just for lolz.
Portal Bridge
It doesn't get as much ink as the tunnels, and it won't be as expensive to replace, but they need to replace it...
TRENTON, N.J. (AP) - Amtrak and New Jersey Transit service to and from New York's Penn Station is being affected because a 111-year-old bridge is stuck open and the tracks are not aligned.
Thursday, March 15, 2018
Like Flies To Shit
Grifters to grifter central.
It's feudalism, Jafry. It's called feudalism.
Jafry was contracted to work for Trump’s housing and urban development department (Hud). His government email signature said his title was senior adviser. Jafry said he used his role to advocate for “microcities”, where managers privately set their own laws and taxes away from central government control.
But those plans are now stalled. Jafry, 38, said he had resigned from his position with Hud after the Guardian asked him to explain multiple allegations of fraud as well as exaggerations in his biography.
Jafry, who has also been known by Jafari and Jafri, apologised for inflating his military record but denied making other false claims. He said he resigned because the Guardian’s questions tarnished his reputation inside Hud.
It's feudalism, Jafry. It's called feudalism.
Follow The Money
Whatever went on, I've long been sure the only thing Trump has worried about personally - and maybe the only thing he really had to worry about, though it's not a small thing - is the financially cesspool that is his business.
It's hard for our legal system to take down a president. It's probably not so hard to take down his business (which the constitution should have already done, but, hey...)
From this, it looks like Mueller plans to burn it all down. It looks as though he’s decided that everything with which this president* is involved is so irredeemably corrupt and lousy with dirty money that trying to split the difference between which corruption was involved with the campaign, and what dirty money financed it, is an impossible rat’s nest to untangle. So the easiest thing is to light a match and see what burns in what color flame.
It's hard for our legal system to take down a president. It's probably not so hard to take down his business (which the constitution should have already done, but, hey...)
Probably Should Give Them More Contracts
Doing well.
Two of the biggest firms that built the Florida International University pedestrian bridge that collapsed today have recently been accused of unsafe practices. In one of those cases, another bridge project toppled onto workers.
New
That's a problem.
- What happened: A pedestrian bridge has collapsed at Florida International University in Miami.
- Death toll: At least one person is dead and six others were taken to the hospital, according to Miami-Dade County's mayor.
- It was new: The bridge was installed just this past Saturday.
We've Got Trouble My Friends
"Remote operation" of driverless cars won't kick in very fast, whatever the fantasy, so if they're needed it means you've got a 2 ton brick sitting in the middle of the road waiting for someone to take over.
This won't work at all in sudden high speed situations. It's more like "uh, there's a big object [stalled truck?]" in the way and I don't know what to do so I'll just sit here until the mothership takes over."
These things will not be popular with other drivers. Probably better do away with them!
A car in need of help would automatically contact a Phantom Auto center, where a remote operator could use the car’s cameras and sensors to see what was happening, then maneuver the vehicle out of trouble. The technology prefigures a time when most passengers wouldn’t be able to take control for the simple reason that they won’t know how to drive a car — or because the steering wheel and pedals have been removed.
This won't work at all in sudden high speed situations. It's more like "uh, there's a big object [stalled truck?]" in the way and I don't know what to do so I'll just sit here until the mothership takes over."
These things will not be popular with other drivers. Probably better do away with them!
Phew
I suppose not being a torturer means I have a somewhat different psychological makeup, but if I was involved in this stuff and avoided prosecution due to the belief by elites that we must Look Forward, Not Backward, I'd look for most convenient moment to slip out the back door and start collecting my pension. I'd count my blessings and not think, "hey, maybe I should stick around and pursue the highest job in order to ensure that I would have renewed media scrutiny for all that torture." Probably has that magic security clearance ticket to numerous "private sector" jobs that require security clearance (that's a racket which doesn't get discussed enough). Collect my checks, sip some wine, watch some reruns of '24' just for the LOLz.
The problem isn't simply that these people weren't prosecuted (though they should have been). It's that they weren't even shamed enough to think that maybe the public spotlight wasn't the best thing for them.
The problem isn't simply that these people weren't prosecuted (though they should have been). It's that they weren't even shamed enough to think that maybe the public spotlight wasn't the best thing for them.
Crazy Ideas
We'll see how this progresses.
The most significant and groundbreaking reform is how he has instructed assistant district attorneys to wield their most powerful tool: plea offers. Over 90 percent of criminal cases nationwide are decided in plea bargains, a system which has been broken beyond repair by mandatory minimum sentences and standardized prosecutorial excess. In an about-face from how these transactions typically work, Krasner’s 300 lawyers are to start many plea offers at the low end of sentencing guidelines. For most nonviolent and nonsexual crimes, or economic crimes below a $50,000 threshold, Krasner’s lawyers are now to offer defendants sentences below the bottom end of the state’s guidelines. So, for example, if a person with no prior convictions is accused of breaking into a store at night and emptying the cash register, he would normally face up to 14 months in jail. Under Krasner’s paradigm, he’ll be offered probation. If prosecutors want to use their discretion to deviate from these guidelines, say if a person has a particularly troubling rap sheet, Krasner must personally sign off.
“It’s the mirror of a lot of offices saying, ‘If you don’t ask for the max you’ve got to get my permission,’ ” says David Rudovsky, a prominent Philadelphia civil rights attorney. For longtime career prosecutors, this will take some getting used to. “You want to be sure your assistants are actually doing it,” Rudovsky says.
Wednesday, March 14, 2018
Day One
Like I said, as scandals go, the furniture seems kinda dumb, but always be wary of people whose first thought when being given an important job is redecorating.
Congressional sources and White House advisers tell CBS News' chief White House correspondent Major Garrett that Carson's job is in serious jeopardy.
The emails also reveal that Carson's dissatisfaction with the options readily and cheaply available to him in HUD's basement took up months of time from the agency tasked with finding housing solutions for the last fortunate, frustrating some employees who viewed the legal $5,000 spending cap as the end of the line.
"He only gets 5k for new stuff," then-HUD chief administrative officer Helen Foster wrote to fellow employee Kevin Cooke on March 3, 2017, at 2:38 p.m. "He chose to use it on window treatments." Foster eventually claimed she was demoted over her unwillingness to exceed the $5,000 limit.
Acquiring new furniture for Carson's office was a priority from day one — and before. On his first official day as secretary, Carson expressed displeasure with the chairs in his office.
K-Tel Best Of 2003
Ah, Liz, thanks for the reminder of what all political discussions were like when your Dad was Vice President.
Gina Haspel has spent her career defending the American people and homeland. @RandPaul is defending and sympathizing with terrorists. https://t.co/NNddDvSsRm
— Liz Cheney (@Liz_Cheney) March 14, 2018
Swerving And Hesitating
Programming these cars to not hit things, at least while they're traveling fairly slowly, isn't hard. The narrow focus on this kind of "safety" is there precisely because it isn't really the hard part.
But they're cool.
In recent months, Cruise has been ramping up testing efforts in a roughly 20-square-mile area in and around downtown San Francisco. Sources familiar with that testing effort told The Information's Amir Efrati that Cruise vehicles still had significant limitations.
"Cruise cars frequently swerve and hesitate," Efrati reports. "They sometimes slow down or stop if they see a bush on the side of a street or a lane-dividing pole, mistaking it for an object in their path." In one case, Efrati says, Cruise employees trimmed a bush ahead of a demonstration for journalists to make sure the car wouldn't swerve while driving past it.
Cruise employees have the option of riding in Cruise vehicles as they travel around San Francisco, but there's a big downside to doing so: self-driving car rides are often slower than a ride in a human vehicle—sometimes as much as 10 to 20 minutes slower. A big reason for that: "some San Francisco intersections and streets are 'blacklisted,' in some cases temporarily, and the cars must take circuitous routes around them."
An intersection might be blacklisted because its traffic light is too faint, because it has a complex roundabout, or because it requires a difficult lane merge.
But they're cool.
Wednesday Crass Commercialism
Somebody bought this (don't worry I don't know who buys what so no privacy issues) so I noticed it. 8TB for $149.99! We are living in the damn future!
Never Defraud The Investor Class
Everybody else, though, no big whoop.
Whether or not medical tests are as accurate as claimed is important for other reasons than "who lost money investing in them" but America! Fuck yeah!
Elizabeth Holmes, founder and chief executive of the blood-testing company Theranos, has been charged with an "elaborate, years-long fraud" by the Securities and Exchange Commission in which she and former company president Ramesh "Sunny" Balwani "allegedly deceived investors into believing that its key product -- a portable blood analyzer -- could conduct comprehensive blood tests from finger drops of blood," the SEC said Wednesday.
Whether or not medical tests are as accurate as claimed is important for other reasons than "who lost money investing in them" but America! Fuck yeah!
Lamb Is A Victory For Wypipo Labor Democrats Moderates Clintonites Berniebros Anti-Racism The DCCC Republicans
Joke, obviously, though both the Republicans and the DCCC are painting this as a victory for Democrats-who-aren't-like-other-Democrats.
Paul Ryan says he won because he's basically a Republican! Both sides agree: Lamb is not really a Democrat!
I'm not interested in arguing about where he - or his campaign - actually falls on the political spectrum, but this kind of thing is a reminder that for as long as I have paid attention, "professional Democrats" have been running against brand Democrat. Yes people like me carp about the Democrats, but nobody carps about Democrats more than the people who earn lots of money to get them elected. I don't know what's standard now, but back in the old days- the aughts - candidates were advised to keep their partisan affiliation (that they were a shhhh Democrat) off of their web sites. One of my criteria for raising money for candidates, when I did that, was that they did the bare minimum of identifying as a Democrat (psss... it's on the ballot no matter what you do, idiots).
"Another kind of a Democrat." "A new kind of Democrat." "A Democrat, but not like those other nasty Democrats." This is not a branding operation that works long term. There's just an immense amount of self-loathing in the party that assholes like me can't even begin to match. The right thing to do when someone like Lamb wins - whatever his politics - is to stamp a big D on the win and claim him, not distance him from the party. It's one thing to expand the tent, it's another thing to say that everyone who wins does so by standing outside the tent pissing into it.
I used to always say that one Democrat can win by running against the party, but when they all do they just bring down the brand. What do Democrats stand for? Well, you see, Jimmy, mostly they stand for not being Democrats. Um, ok.
One DCCC takeaway from PA-18: Lamb "fit the district," per memo to reporters.
— Rebecca Berg (@rebeccagberg) March 14, 2018
"There are dozens of Democratic candidates like Conor Lamb – with deep records of service that take them outside the partisan frame."
Paul Ryan says he won because he's basically a Republican! Both sides agree: Lamb is not really a Democrat!
I'm not interested in arguing about where he - or his campaign - actually falls on the political spectrum, but this kind of thing is a reminder that for as long as I have paid attention, "professional Democrats" have been running against brand Democrat. Yes people like me carp about the Democrats, but nobody carps about Democrats more than the people who earn lots of money to get them elected. I don't know what's standard now, but back in the old days- the aughts - candidates were advised to keep their partisan affiliation (that they were a shhhh Democrat) off of their web sites. One of my criteria for raising money for candidates, when I did that, was that they did the bare minimum of identifying as a Democrat (psss... it's on the ballot no matter what you do, idiots).
"Another kind of a Democrat." "A new kind of Democrat." "A Democrat, but not like those other nasty Democrats." This is not a branding operation that works long term. There's just an immense amount of self-loathing in the party that assholes like me can't even begin to match. The right thing to do when someone like Lamb wins - whatever his politics - is to stamp a big D on the win and claim him, not distance him from the party. It's one thing to expand the tent, it's another thing to say that everyone who wins does so by standing outside the tent pissing into it.
I used to always say that one Democrat can win by running against the party, but when they all do they just bring down the brand. What do Democrats stand for? Well, you see, Jimmy, mostly they stand for not being Democrats. Um, ok.
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