Thursday Evening

enjoy.

Libertopia

Not all conservatives identify fully as libertarians, but except for the theocons they all sort of do. Freedum, liberty, small state, keep your law enforcement away from the public land I'm illegally squatting on, etc. The 2nd amendment is all about the right not just to combat acts of "tyranny" but of revolution itself.

But, somehow, as long as that tyranny is directed at the "right" people... Haven't yet seen any freedum lovers suggest that what the people in Baltimore need to do is buy more guns.

Afternoon Thread

Have not really been sleeping the last few nights so I took a nap.

What The Everloving Fuck

Emergency lights and sirens are obviously necessary, but they're also a major hazard and should be used for, you know, emergencies, not when America's Worst Governor (and really, there's a lot of competition) needs to go for a burger run.

ALBANY — Forget the state police escort, Gov. Cuomo can now drive himself to emergencies in his classic Corvette.

The Cuomo administration has quietly changed state regulations to reclassify any “motor vehicle owned or operated by” the governor and a handful of other top officials as emergency vehicles, allowing them to have flashing red and white emergency lights.

Nice Folks

For some reason there's something about the enablers - lawyers, doctors, psychologists - that angers me more than the architects.

WASHINGTON — The American Psychological Association secretly collaborated with the administration of President George W. Bush to bolster a legal and ethical justification for the torture of prisoners swept up in the post-Sept. 11 war on terror, according to a new report by a group of dissident health professionals and human rights activists.

The report is the first to examine the association’s role in the interrogation program. It contends, using newly disclosed emails, that the group’s actions to keep psychologists involved in the interrogation program coincided closely with efforts by senior Bush administration officials to salvage the program after the public disclosure in 2004 of graphic photos of prisoner abuse by American military personnel at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq.

Maybe Somebody Should Fix It

Locally this winter wasn't especially nice to our local roads and highways. But winter's over. There's a major highway which at times has 4-5 lanes each way which basically doesn't have any lane striping at the moment. One would think this is a bit unsafe. I'd say certain stretches need to be redone entirely, but at least get the damn paint truck out.

Morning Thread

There's Something About This List

Can't quite put my finger on what it is...

Wednesday Night

It appears the governor of Maryland is determined to destroy Baltimore. An interesting choice. Not very smart.

Wednesday Evening

enjoy

Never Stop, Clickhole

Love the oral histories.

In The Hellholes

There's a lot of talk about urban gentrification. I think the primary focus is on involuntary displacement - with rents and increasing property taxes driving out long term residents. The latter is somewhat less of an issue, as higher property taxes mostly accompany higher property prices. It sucks if people are forced to move, but at least there's a payout.

Still, to me, the real issue, especially in my urban hellhole where it has been a slow process and evidence of involuntary displacement is limited (it could be more real than I know, but even anecdotal evidence seems to be missing), is what came before. It shouldn't take wealthy white people moving in for equitable public services - including schools and proper policing of the protect and serve variety - to show up in neighborhoods. But that's what happens. The focus shouldn't so much be on the gentrified neighborhoods, but the non-gentrified ones.

Everybody Sucks and the System is Hopelessly Corrupt

I believe I am the first one to express this deep insight.

Green Shoots

Predictions are hard, especially about the future, but there's definitely the possibility that we'll have another recession...after never having a full recovery.

The U.S. economy ground nearly to a halt in the first three months of the year, according to government data released Wednesday morning, as exports plunged and severe winter weather helped keep consumers indoors.

Hope it isn't the case!

Completely Full Of It

My take on Rand Paul is that he's basically completely full of shit and not all that bright. The Paul family brand is some weird flavor of libertarianism. His father seemed to be sincere in his ideology, even if you had to squint pretty hard at a lot of it to call it libertarian (though this is true for most of the well-funded libertarian industrial complex members). But even if we grant that some of it was libertarian, and some of that libertarianism was the kind that even liberals like, I don't think Rand Paul gives a crap about any of it. It's just a pose.

Or

Maybe it was cops killing an unarmed man after decades of police abuses?

The people who claim to be all about the freedum and liberty have no problem with state violence as long as it's aimed at certain people.

Morning Thread

Can we leave the house yet?

Curfews

Of all the weird things that seem to be accepted as "normal," the concept of curfews in any context is just bizarre. Really, in Freedum States Of America, you're telling an entire city they can't leave their homes? That journalists can't be outside reporting on what's going on? That 2nd and 3rd shifters can't get to and from work?


News reports tell me Baltimore police have wide discretion on how they enforce the curfew, which just means they have one more tool to fuck with whoever they feel like fucking with.

Evening Thread

I got nothin'

Happy Hour Thread

enjoy