The 1900s - Medium Way.
Tuesday, February 07, 2017
The 3AM Call
I don't care who my boss is, one non-emergency 3AM call and I'm outta there (obviously assuming I am someone who can afford to quit a job).
WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump was confused about the dollar: Was it a strong one that’s good for the economy? Or a weak one?
So he made a call ― except not to any of the business leaders Trump brought into his administration or even to an old friend from his days in real estate. Instead, he called his national security adviser, retired Lt. Gen. Mike Flynn, according to two sources familiar with Flynn’s accounts of the incident.
Flynn has a long record in counterintelligence but not in macroeconomics. And he told Trump he didn’t know, that it wasn’t his area of expertise, that, perhaps, Trump should ask an economist instead.
Trump was not thrilled with that response ― but that may have been a function of the time of day. Trump had placed the call at 3 a.m., according to one of Flynn’s retellings ― although neither the White House nor Flynn’s office responded to requests for confirmation about that detail.
How I Learned to Stop Worrying And Love the Democrats
Something about the Obama years, man. Everybody got chill.
Waste, Fraud, And Abuse
It exists, just not usually due to people buying Cadillacs with their food stamps.
A former Delaware County podiatrist was sentenced Tuesday to eight years in federal prison after pleading guilty to nearly $5 million in health-care fraud, an amount he must now pay back.
The U.S. Attorney's Office in Philadelphia said Stephen A. Monaco, of A Foot Above Podiatry in Havertown, submitted fraudulent bills to Medicare and Medicaid for that amount for podiatric procedures that were not performed or ones that were not medically necessary between January 2008 and Oct. 31, 2014.
Immigration Policy
I'm practically an "open borders" guy, but I recognize that immigration policy is a reasonable thing to be set by the state in response to our usual imperfect democratic process. If Trump and the Republicans want to severely cut legal immigration and continue or worsen Bamz's deportation policies then I would disagree, but it wouldn't inspire the kind of outrage and protests that we have seen (there are protests about deportation, as there should be, but even those are mostly directed at the clear injustices of sending home non-legal resident people who came here as kids and breaking up families which include citizen kids). There's a big difference between "let fewer people in" and "oh, by the way, that green card you've been on for the last 8 years while building your life and career and family? never mind." If Trump had just said "no more new visas issued for these 7 countries," then that would have been pretty stupid and I would have disagreed with it (in part because of course some people from those countries would still have been able to get visas), but it still would have been a policy choice that was not outside the normal bounds. But playing calvinball with people's lives, and abusing them in the process, is a clear injustice.
Calm Down, Activists
Make me do it, but quietly, preferably by communicating your desires through the medium of sternly worded opinion pieces in elite publications written by conservative-curious graduates of elite schools. When David Brooks and Jon Chait are displeased, that's when it will be time to listen. That really was the message sent during the Obama era. But activism, when it happened, worked. Occupy Wall Street, Black Lives Matter, Fight for 15, ... I don't mean these worked in the sense of achieving victory and going home. It never works like that. But they brought attention to issues, made people nervous, and changed the course of politics. Wall Street wasn't reined in and police killings of unarmed black people have not stopped, but there is more attention to these issues. Democrats will find it difficult to win while being too close to Wall Street, being "tough on crime," and without supporting (or at least pretending to support) a much higher minimum wage.
The time to protest is when Democrats are in power. Sure they'll tell you that the liberal utopia was ruined by all those nasty hippies in the 60s, and we'd better not repeat that, but that's not really what happened. Protesting now can, at best, stop horrible things from happening. Protesting when Dems are in power can potentially cause good things to happen.
It's just one part, of course. Some sternly worded opinion pieces probably help, too. Gotta make noise to be heard, and despite denials, politicians keep proving that it works.
The time to protest is when Democrats are in power. Sure they'll tell you that the liberal utopia was ruined by all those nasty hippies in the 60s, and we'd better not repeat that, but that's not really what happened. Protesting now can, at best, stop horrible things from happening. Protesting when Dems are in power can potentially cause good things to happen.
It's just one part, of course. Some sternly worded opinion pieces probably help, too. Gotta make noise to be heard, and despite denials, politicians keep proving that it works.
Nice Things
Rarely mentioned is the fact that if state and local governments provide nice things to its residents - like, for example, an affordable higher education system - then more people might want to live there. Free cash for jaayyuuub creaturrrz is perfectly acceptable, but nice things for humans? Not so much.
Monday, February 06, 2017
Meryl Streep, Your Country Needs You
Sorry, Alec Baldwin, you have to step aside.
More than being lampooned as a press secretary who makes up facts, it was Spicer’s portrayal by a woman [emphasis added] that was most problematic in the president’s eyes, according to sources close to him. And the unflattering send-up by a female comedian was not considered helpful for Spicer’s longevity in the grueling, high-profile job, where he has struggled to strike the right balance between representing an administration that considers the media the "opposition party," and developing a functional relationship with the press.
"Trump doesn't like his people to look weak," added a top Trump donor.
Trump’s uncharacteristic Twitter silence over the weekend about the “Saturday Night Live” sketch was seen internally as a sign of how uncomfortable it made the White House feel. Sources said the caricature of Spicer by McCarthy struck a nerve and was upsetting to the press secretary and to his allies, who immediately saw how damaging it could be in Trumpworld.
Choose Your Own Adventure
Count me among those who don't really think that Trump will remain president for 4 years. I don't have a strong belief about exactly how/why he will leave office, it's just that I can weirdly see multiple plausible exit paths. Not that President Pence will be much better. I also think he would be much, much worse than even people who think he would be horrible think he would be.
Screw The Ads
Wonkette is trying to go ad free, which means readers should give them all your money. Joke, but like everything else in media, the ad model is the worst except for all of the others. Google eated up most of the online ad industry, taking most of the money with it, and what's left over is increasingly intrusive and annoying (popovers, auto-on, whack-a-moles, etc.). I get pitches from ad companies about every other day, and who knows one of them might make me rich, but I don't have it in me to trial a new company every other month only to discover 1) the ads are horribly annoying 2) they don't pay much 3) they don't get around to paying me. The pitches are usually lacking in detail.
I like amazon because the ads aren't too annoying if you'd all just remember to click on one or just insert "&tag=eschaton-20" somewhere as it is in that link (or just bookmark one of my amazon links and click on it before you buy anything) then I could get even more of Jeff Bezos's money.
Obviously some online media companies make it as purely commercial ventures, but the dirty little secret of some of them is that they're a success because they have "investors" who aren't really investing, if you know what I mean.
Not fundraising right now. And I'm not going to claim you should SUPPORT THIS SITE TO STOP TRUMP because that's silly. But I try to run this place as little like a business as I can, both for my sanity and for your lessened annoyance. When the time comes, remember that while I have ads I keep the annoying ones away (to the best of my ability) and I don't harvest emails or otherwise try to use your information. Putting up posts is only part of what I do. Some of it is gently trying to keep the commenters from killing each other. Mostly I succeed (and mostly because I'm lucky enough to not have horrible commenters). Anyway, bloggers gotta eat like everybody else. Doing my best to keep eating without running autoplay ads.
I like amazon because the ads aren't too annoying if you'd all just remember to click on one or just insert "&tag=eschaton-20" somewhere as it is in that link (or just bookmark one of my amazon links and click on it before you buy anything) then I could get even more of Jeff Bezos's money.
Obviously some online media companies make it as purely commercial ventures, but the dirty little secret of some of them is that they're a success because they have "investors" who aren't really investing, if you know what I mean.
Not fundraising right now. And I'm not going to claim you should SUPPORT THIS SITE TO STOP TRUMP because that's silly. But I try to run this place as little like a business as I can, both for my sanity and for your lessened annoyance. When the time comes, remember that while I have ads I keep the annoying ones away (to the best of my ability) and I don't harvest emails or otherwise try to use your information. Putting up posts is only part of what I do. Some of it is gently trying to keep the commenters from killing each other. Mostly I succeed (and mostly because I'm lucky enough to not have horrible commenters). Anyway, bloggers gotta eat like everybody else. Doing my best to keep eating without running autoplay ads.
Crazy Ideas
Someone should lock this guy up before the madness spreads. He can have the cell next to mine.
Self-Checkouts
Those still a thing? I mean, I know they are, but around me the 3 major supermarkets within walking distance got rid of them and of the two nearby CVS, the 24 hour one runs them overnight (as far as I can tell) as a security measure so there's no cash register to rob, but not otherwise. Other local drug stores seem to have mostly if not entirely phased them out.
Anyway, I know they still exist, but I do think our robot future is not quite as inevitable as people think. Worrying about the impact of future automation on jobs seems to be a cool tech away of ignoring the current fucked and bullshit jobs situation. And, yes, automation has been going on for decades, which is actually my point. There's nothing new about it, and I don't know why people think there will be this sudden automation discontinuity. The robots have been here for awhile, and they aren't really going away, but that doesn't mean the sci-fi dystopian workless future is just around the corner. Shit is fucked up and bullshit enough without worrying about things which haven't happened yet, and likely won't.
Anyway, I know they still exist, but I do think our robot future is not quite as inevitable as people think. Worrying about the impact of future automation on jobs seems to be a cool tech away of ignoring the current fucked and bullshit jobs situation. And, yes, automation has been going on for decades, which is actually my point. There's nothing new about it, and I don't know why people think there will be this sudden automation discontinuity. The robots have been here for awhile, and they aren't really going away, but that doesn't mean the sci-fi dystopian workless future is just around the corner. Shit is fucked up and bullshit enough without worrying about things which haven't happened yet, and likely won't.
Vaporware
Still dreaming.
Above my pay grade, but I'd guess that part of the problem is that even if megamalls aren't the stupid investment I imagine them to be, they aren't exactly the "trendy" thing to throw your money at. Uber, but for Snapchat. Build that app! That's how you get your billions.
Developer Don Ghermezian said in early December that the $2.7 billion dollars needed to complete work on the 90-acre mall was all lined up.
“I anticipate that prior to the Christmas holiday the public will know fully about the commitment on the financing,” Ghermezian said.
When the money didn’t materialize, a company spokesman walked the date back to early January. February is here, and there’s still no sign of the cash.
Above my pay grade, but I'd guess that part of the problem is that even if megamalls aren't the stupid investment I imagine them to be, they aren't exactly the "trendy" thing to throw your money at. Uber, but for Snapchat. Build that app! That's how you get your billions.
Not Normal
All politics is part theater, and so I can see how plenty of people thought (with the aid of the media telling them that the presidential pivot had arrived every time he didn't bite off the head of a live chicken) that Campaign Trump was just a character, just a showman putting on an act for the rallies and the teevee and the votes. This was stupid, but understandable.
Trump has both the mind and filter of a child. Arguably we all don't throw off our child brains quite as much as we think we do, but most of us at least develop a filter to keep some of it inside.
Trump has both the mind and filter of a child. Arguably we all don't throw off our child brains quite as much as we think we do, but most of us at least develop a filter to keep some of it inside.
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