Happy Hour Thread

Let's pretend it's Friday.

Less Hassle

I don't imagine that I'd embrace Asceticism if I were filthy rich, but what I would want to do is minimize hassle in my life. Every yacht you buy, every mansion you own, every business you haven't sold off yet, every team of presidential run advisers... they all come with layers of staffs and layers of management, layers upon layers of little nuisances to bug your brain, things that no matter how many assistants, and assistants to assistants, you have, require your regular attention.

I'm sure I would do slightly more than sipping wine in Italy, but why I would want to embrace all of that nonsense is... incomprehensible. Billionaires is weird.

Billionaire Boy Genius

Oh, Elon.

The demand for - the demand for Model 3 is insanely high. The inhibitor is affordability. It's just like people literally don't have the money to buy the car. It's got nothing to do with desire. They just don't have enough money in their bank account. If the car can be made more affordable, the demand is extraordinary.

Gonna Do This Again

Hopefully federal workers will get back pay and another paycheck or two, but pretty sure we're gonna close it all down again.

Oh, Los Angeles

I know UCLA's campus isn't tiny, but...

UCLA students call about 11,000 Uber and Lyft rides that never leave campus every week, raising concerns about the environmental impact of unnecessary trips.

How Does This Not Get Tesla Sued Out Of Existence Etc.

And SEC fines and shareholder lawsuits given that its an earnings call. This has nothing to do with my general skepticism. These are not self-driving cars. Not even close.

On an earnings call with investors on Wednesday, Tesla CEO Elon Musk made an extraordinary statement: all of Tesla’s vehicles today are capable of what he has called “full self-driving” on highways and most other controlled-access roads.

“Full self-driving capability is there,” Musk said matter-of-factly. He was referring to Tesla’s recently rolled out “Navigate on Autopilot” feature, which guides the car from “on-ramp to off-ramp” by suggesting and making lane changes, navigating highway interchanges, and proactively taking exits.

Well, maybe a couple of minor problems.

During the earnings call, Musk explained the difficulty in getting Autopilot to “99.999 percent” rate of success, citing traffic signals as particularly problematic. He added that the company would be ready to roll out “full self-driving” by the end of the year, depending on local regulatory approval

Pesky traffic signals. Once we figure out those! And ten thousand other things... .

Weather Report

Cold. Pipes not frozen.

Overnight Thread

Have at it.

Good But Scary

Apple is doing what they obviously should be doing but it also highlights the fact that... Apple has a lot of power.

On Tuesday, TechCrunch reported that Facebook was quietly operating a research program that paid teens and adults to let the Silicon Valley tech giant spy on their phones and data, in an apparent violation of Apple's policies. In response, Apple revoked the developer certificate that Facebook was using to power the research apps — and in doing so, crippled Facebook's workforce.

This is because the same certificate that authenticated the research apps was also used in the key internal Facebook apps its tens of thousands of employees use every day.

The move dramatically escalates tensions between Facebook and Apple, and has left Facebook employees unable to communicate with colleagues, access internal information, and even catch company transportation.

Is Our Children Learning

Seems like it!

In less than a decade, mainstream Democrats in Congress have gone from entertaining Social Security cuts to almost universally endorsing the program’s expansion.

With Democrats in charge of the House for the first time since this tidal shift upended party orthodoxy, senior members of Congress are setting the stage for the legislative chamber to increase Social Security benefits, bringing a onetime liberal pipe dream a step closer to law.

Even if it won't pass... even if "they" don't want it to pass... that telling voters "we're gonna give you more retirement benefits" has not been Brand Democrat shows how much "pleasing David Brooks" has been more important than "appealing to voters."

The legislation finances a more generous benefit and cost-of-living adjustment formula, a reduction in income taxes on benefits and the closure of Social Security’s long-term funding gap by lifting the cap on income subject to payroll taxes and raising those tax rates.

Sounds all good.

Nobody Cares About The Poors

A weird thing in Dem politics has been the decades-long contradiction between "we must end welfare as we know it" and "any social program must be means-tested so that it doesn't quite reach middle class people." If welfare was unpopular because it only reached those shiftless poors, then other programs targeted at the poors aren't going to be much more popular. People who get it love the Medicaid expansion. People who earn a buck too much and have to suck on a "bronze plan" are really pissed off about it.

Popularity isn't the only measure of value, of course, but doing popular things does help you to be popular. All that free money to the poors, and only the poors, wasn't very popular in the 90s. Why do think tanks and consultants think a new version of it is going to be popular now? But almost every "nice thing" they propose is...just that.

What A Lovely Little War

Only took 17 years until we surrendered!

This current process bears an unfortunate resemblance to the Paris peace talks during the Vietnam War. Then, as now, it was clear that by going to the table we were surrendering; we were just negotiating the terms of our surrender. The Taliban will offer any number of commitments, knowing that when we are gone and the Taliban is back, we will have no means of enforcing any of them.

...

President Barack Obama proved in Iraq that the United States cannot end a war by withdrawing its forces — the battle space is simply left to our adversaries. In Afghanistan, President Trump has a choice. He can follow Obama’s example and leave the country to the Taliban, or he can make clear that the United States has interests, values and allies, and will stand behind them.

"[T]he United States has interests."

Morning Thread

Too early here in Oregon.

Deal And No Deal

The details are boring, but basically Parliament has said they don't want "no deal" and they have said in a binding vote they don't want "the deal" and May has said she will come back with another deal and the EU (apparently they're a part of this? like the Tories I forgot sometimes) said "this is the only deal" and... tick tick tick.

Junior Pundit Voice

Every now and then I think of some bit of "wisdom" about How Politics Works and then realize that it's probably some banal shit Luke Russert would've said as if it was handed down on the tablets to Moses even though it's the response to a development that practically every professional pundit would have (right or wrong).

And How Are Your Lives Again

I suppose survivor bias is the issue, not in terms of actual surviving, but in terms of which still have their jobs, but there's a weird contradiction between general journalistic disdain for things like "better health care" or "free college" or "universal pre-K" or "not sending people to the soylent green factory" and the fact that at least some of these people have or are likely to experience their own personal economic downturn.

Who knows what they think of all of these things individually, but in journalism you are allowed to, in fact supposed to, squawk "BUT HOW WILL YOU PAY FOR IT" any time someone offers up a nickel to a needy child in the form of government assistance, even if that plan is accompanied by an invisible-to-the-reporter plan to pay for it by raising Howard Schultz's taxes by 5 cents, but otherwise ignore such considerations. There are plenty of acceptable opinions in supposedly objective political journalism, and perhaps the most prominent one is that cutting the deficit is always good and extremely important, and that the only way to do this is by cutting socialsecurityandmedicareandwelfare.

Spending Money At Starbucks Is Unamerican

Feel free to use their bathrooms and just hang out without buying anything, though.

Beauty Sleep

Slept in. Haven't done that in awhile.

Priorities

You don't actually have to be in a position of having to make these choices...

Supplies of medicine should be deemed more important than shipments of food if there is a no-deal Brexit, the health secretary has told MPs.

Matt Hancock made clear his view when answering questions at the health and social care select committee. “The thing is that medicines will be prioritised in the event of a no-deal Brexit,” the health and social care secretary said when asked by the former Labour health minister Ben Bradshaw which would be given precedence.

Bradshaw responded: “Over food? Over vital food?”

Just pretend it's all been a horrible dream, or a glorious adventure of the imagination inside a snowglobe.

Afternoon Thread

enjoy