Sunday, January 05, 2014
Parking Wars
South Philly "rules" dictate that if you shovel out a parking spot you get to claim it for... oh, who knows how long, by sticking a cone or a chair in the spot. I'm tempted to clean out a spot and stick a cone there even though I don't have a car.
Governor Steven Seagal
Well he's "a member of Arpaio's posse" so he's certainly qualified. Go for it Arizona!
Saturday, January 04, 2014
We Can All Agree That David Brooks Is The Real Victim
I have mixed feelings about the full legalization of drugs, even marijuana, though it's obviously 100000000X better than a system which sends Some People to jail and destroys their lives for personal drug use. But, yes, if write in support of the continued criminalization of drugs you should consider what that means in practice. Mostly it means black people go to jail, and rich white assholes don't.
The Failed de Blasio Mayoralty
Letting homeless kids stay in shelters during severe winter weather events? SOCIAMALISM
Bar
While I agree with Michael Moore that "Obamacare is awful," when you read the stories about people not being able to get the coverage or treatment they need remember what it was like before. Thus Moore also says "Obamacare is a godsend." The PPACA didn't introduce skinflint skimmers and rapacious providers, nor incomprehensible rules and billing practices.
Of course, it did retain them. Because markets.
Of course, it did retain them. Because markets.
Friday, January 03, 2014
Savvy
NBC Reporter Mike O'Brien:
He says this was a comment on the likelihood of getting through Congress. But, well, look, the likelihood of anything getting through this Congress other than post office namings is pretty small. Lots of "fanciful" policy ideas are given respectable press treatment even if they have no chance of passing. Some aren't. This selection process is all very nonideological and determined by nonpartisan journalists.
He says this was a comment on the likelihood of getting through Congress. But, well, look, the likelihood of anything getting through this Congress other than post office namings is pretty small. Lots of "fanciful" policy ideas are given respectable press treatment even if they have no chance of passing. Some aren't. This selection process is all very nonideological and determined by nonpartisan journalists.
The Streaming Wars
When Netflix briefly toyed with splitting their streaming and dvd-by-mail services entirely, I thought they were completely insane. Yes the ability to stream on demand with a subscription service is nice. Yes it's somewhat superior to having to wait 24 whole hours for your DVD to show up. And if Netflix could win streaming, yay for them! But absent compulsory licensing, no one will ever win the streaming model. At the moment Netflix can buy DVDs and mail them to you. They can also engage in endless rights negotiations/fights in order to stream the same movies to you. For the former they're basically competing with no one. For the latter they're competing with everybody, and the people who make the movies have all of the bargaining power.
I'd love a world where some company offers a reasonably priced subscription streaming model that will stream you everything. I don't think that world will ever happen. What we can have is the world's greatest DVD-by-mail library, and netflix has the infrastructure to do that. Their business model might lose ground over time, but they'll never make it up by winning streaming. No one except the content producers will.
I'd love a world where some company offers a reasonably priced subscription streaming model that will stream you everything. I don't think that world will ever happen. What we can have is the world's greatest DVD-by-mail library, and netflix has the infrastructure to do that. Their business model might lose ground over time, but they'll never make it up by winning streaming. No one except the content producers will.
Laws Are For Other People
I suppose it must be nice spending your life rightly believing you can do just about whatever with impunity, while simultaneously thinking about how the Majesty Of The Law can keep the great unwashed in line.
Lawn Dwellers
Brooks and Marcus have both written your basic "yes I smoked pot but it should be illegal for other people to do so" columns. Marcus explicitly says in like paragraph 27 that people shouldn't be thrown in jail for it, but just what does making it illegal mean then? In practice it means that people like David Brooks and Ruth Marcus don't go to jail for drug possession, but lots of other people do. Because that's how things work.
They both want Official Disapproval of activities they happily participated in once upon a time because kids today, but Offical Disapproval means people go to jail. Not Brooks and Marcus of course, or their kids, but other people.
They both want Official Disapproval of activities they happily participated in once upon a time because kids today, but Offical Disapproval means people go to jail. Not Brooks and Marcus of course, or their kids, but other people.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)