Before taking office, Mr. Trump told top aides to think of each presidential day as an episode in a television show in which he vanquishes rivals. People close to him estimate that Mr. Trump spends at least four hours a day, and sometimes as much as twice that, in front of a television, sometimes with the volume muted, marinating in the no-holds-barred wars of cable news and eager to fire back.
Saturday, December 09, 2017
The President Show
On teevee.
The Best People
Rahm knows how to pick them.
CHICAGO (AP) — The head of Chicago’s public schools system on Friday stepped down from his job amid allegations by the system’s inspector general that he engaged in a “full-blown cover-up” to block an ethics investigation.
Friday, December 08, 2017
Baster Optional
I think we all assumed this was this case.
Female aides said Franks suggested intercourse to impregnate them
Estate Fight
One reason California real estate prices are so bizarre is because of Prop. 13 which basically locks in property taxes at sale and even lets kids inherit their parents homes with that same locked in tax value. 40 years later this makes things really weird.
My question is... sure the kids can inherit the property, but illiquid assets are a bit of a problem when there is an estate with multiple kids. Gotta sell. The original prop. 13 population is heading towards the, uh, afterlife phase. Anyway, just not something I've ever seen addressed. I suppose I could google that for me.
My question is... sure the kids can inherit the property, but illiquid assets are a bit of a problem when there is an estate with multiple kids. Gotta sell. The original prop. 13 population is heading towards the, uh, afterlife phase. Anyway, just not something I've ever seen addressed. I suppose I could google that for me.
77
My first memory of The Beatles was hearing that John Lennon was killed. Maybe I'd heard of them before that but that's what I remember, now. I was 8. He was killed when he was 40. He'd be 77 today. It's weird to imagine a timeline in which he wasn't killed. Maybe not so different! Maybe very different.
Nazis
Perhaps not the important point, but imagine the rich intellectual culture of Steve King.
Diversity is not our strength. Hungarian Prime Minister Victor Orban, “Mixing cultures will not lead to a higher quality of life but a lower one.” https://t.co/ZlMXzcc87w
— Steve King (@SteveKingIA) December 8, 2017
Catalunya Lliure
This is too complicated even for the margins of the blogpost, but the situation in Spain is pretty messed up. There's a weird bias against regional independence movements premised on the idea that they're somehow fake. Nobody really speaks Scots or Welsh or... but they do. Also people speak Catalan. Sure everybody in Catalonia speaks Castilian, too, but outsiders don't get that a second language is still a second language, even if you are fluent in it. You can be fluent in a language without being adept at it, and there are things (like university admissions) which require people to be adept.
Language isn't the only issue, of course. Catalonia has been a distinct region for hundreds of years. But the important issue is not "is independence good or bad?" Not my judgment call. Probably not yours, either. But the crackdown from Madrid on free speech and assembly related to the independence movement is obscene. It's bad.
Language isn't the only issue, of course. Catalonia has been a distinct region for hundreds of years. But the important issue is not "is independence good or bad?" Not my judgment call. Probably not yours, either. But the crackdown from Madrid on free speech and assembly related to the independence movement is obscene. It's bad.
I Got Mad Online A Lot
We all have our issues. It's wrong to think of a hierarchy of issues. It's a dumb criticism designed to derail any interest in anything But The Most Important Issue. How dare you care about [spins wheel] animal rights when there are homeless people in America? How dare you care about homeless people in America when there are [spins wheel] starving people somewhere else? We focus on the things we know about and think we might be able to influence, whether that involves getting mad online or volunteering. We all have our thing.
I got mad online a lot about the housing crisis. I didn't just get mad online. I tried to do something about it. I have no exaggerated sense of my potential power, but I did try. I went to DC and talked to people. Congresspeople! Senators! I plotted and schemed. I even talked to Obummer once!
The Obama administration response to the financial crisis was very bad. And unlike many things which happened during the Obama administration, the excuses are limited. They couldn't blame Republicans or even Joe Lieberman. They had a big no strings slush fund that they could spend and they didn't even spend it! And people suffered.
I got mad online a lot about the housing crisis. I didn't just get mad online. I tried to do something about it. I have no exaggerated sense of my potential power, but I did try. I went to DC and talked to people. Congresspeople! Senators! I plotted and schemed. I even talked to Obummer once!
The Obama administration response to the financial crisis was very bad. And unlike many things which happened during the Obama administration, the excuses are limited. They couldn't blame Republicans or even Joe Lieberman. They had a big no strings slush fund that they could spend and they didn't even spend it! And people suffered.
How Much Does Affordable Housing Cost
This conversation comes up a lot in the urban hellhole for reasons I don't quite understand. We have a lot of cheap housing here, and the "gentrified" areas are still a pretty small part of the city. We also have a lot of poor people and that is bad because they are so poor that nothing is affordable for them.
But "everybody" agrees affordable housing is a noble and good goal. I'm not even arguing with this, I just have no idea what people think is "affordable." Saying the word doesn't make it so.
But "everybody" agrees affordable housing is a noble and good goal. I'm not even arguing with this, I just have no idea what people think is "affordable." Saying the word doesn't make it so.
Thursday, December 07, 2017
The Ivories
I've realized one thing I like about Beethoven's piano sonatas is that I can actually comprehend being able to play them. Of course I can't play them. I learned about 2/3 of a page of one and was pretty proud of that though of course I play it really badly. But I can comprehend the possibility of playing them even though they are hard. Some piano pieces..nah. Humans can't do that.
Bye Trent
We (I mean me) don't talk enough about just how horrible most Republicans are. Franks is one of the worst. I don't know what this is about but good riddance.
...the claim is he talked to staffers about being surrogates. uh, ew?
Republican Arizona Rep. Trent Franks is expected to resign, multiple sources tell CNN on Thursday.
...the claim is he talked to staffers about being surrogates. uh, ew?
The Trump Promises
Anyone who really believed Trump's better campaign promises was a sucker, but I am annoyed that people pretend he didn't make them. Yes he won on bigotry, but he also won on defending Medicare and Social Security and other similar things. That Trump is only keeping his Pepe promises doesn't mean that he didn't make other ones and pundits should stop saying that this is what people voted for. Remember Trump the "populist"? It was bullshit, but it was the campaign.
Also, too, populism in a democracy should not be an epithet. It's, you know, democracy.
Also, too, populism in a democracy should not be an epithet. It's, you know, democracy.
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