Monday, April 03, 2023
My Side/Your Side
When a prominent Democrat appears to be guilty of something, most Democrats fall all over themselves to condemn them. Can't remember a single person going to bat for Rod Blagojevich. Well, except Trump, of course.
Waste, Fraud, and Abuse
Long been puzzled about why Elon's conning of Cuomo/New York State didn't get more attention.
There are a lot of well-meaning people who are marks for "green" technology because they want to believe. And, well, ...
The dream behind the $950 million that New York taxpayers pumped into the Tesla factory in South Buffalo was to make the region a leader in the up-and-coming solar energy industry.It was a complete con from the beginning (a product con, a business con, and a state con). Though a minor subplot compared to Tesla, "Elon's solar roof company is bullshit, also, too" would get a lot of pushback! Even from people who knew self-driving was bullshit!
It started with a high-risk bet on a solar panel startup that was working on developing panels that turned more of the sun’s energy into electricity. It morphed into a high-volume bet on rooftop solar through SolarCity, and then, when that company was on the verge of imploding, it shifted to Tesla, where CEO Elon Musk went all-in on a radical concept: A solar roof that looked like a regular roof.
Now, six years after Musk first touted the solar roof on a Hollywood set with great fanfare, the solar roof is barely generating a spark within the solar energy industry.
There are a lot of well-meaning people who are marks for "green" technology because they want to believe. And, well, ...
Water Wars
People who grow up/live in certain areas are trained from a young age that they should be careful with water use. This isn't actually a universal thing. Some areas have plenty of water, at least within some range of normal weather, and there isn't any reason to be careful with personal water use absent an untypical drought. Philadelphia's water company has said as much: use less to reduce your bill (though a big part of the bill isn't dependent on usage), but otherwise use as much as you want. There's plenty!
Still in most areas where water constraints are real, personal water use isn't the issue and people are suckers for thinking it is.
Still in most areas where water constraints are real, personal water use isn't the issue and people are suckers for thinking it is.
Of course, this one farm and the Saudi cows it feeds are not the sole reason Western water supplies are under pressure; most hay and alfalfa stays in the U.S. Yet they have helped highlight what’s driving water scarcity around the Colorado River—and it’s not the lawns that cities like Las Vegas are ordering people to dig up and remove or the almond milk in millennials’ coffee. In the 17 Western states, 7 percent of water is used in people’s homes according to a recent study in Nature; commercial and industrial use account for another 5 percent. But a whopping 86 percent of water is consumed by crop irrigation, including the 32 percent of water used to grow crops that humans don’t even eat directly, such as alfalfa, hay, and corn silage for livestock.
Corruption
Someone smarter than me would have to fully make this case, but my general perception is that basic, crass, political corruption of the barely disguised "using your office for financial gain" form has become a lot more widespread and culturally accepted at the federal level. Not imagining some corruption-free golden age, but things like "Congressional insider trading" are largely accepted - Nancy Pelosi was running interference on efforts to crack down on it!
The revolving door is nothing new, but it seems to have gone from mildly distasteful to do it to mildly distasteful, or worse, to point out that people are doing it.
The wise man bowed his head and said, that's just the way things work, son.
Systems are corrupt when so many powerful people are corrupt that there isn't any way to swing the anti-corruption sword without taking off the heads of basically everybody. Any time you see an issue bubble up (like Congressional insider trading) and then be quickly pushed aside, it's because too many of your faves are guilty of it. Or too many of their faves are.
Not all corruption is actual crimeing, but when even the mild social sanctions against corruption (CANCEL CULTURE) fade, the floodgates are open.
The revolving door is nothing new, but it seems to have gone from mildly distasteful to do it to mildly distasteful, or worse, to point out that people are doing it.
The wise man bowed his head and said, that's just the way things work, son.
Systems are corrupt when so many powerful people are corrupt that there isn't any way to swing the anti-corruption sword without taking off the heads of basically everybody. Any time you see an issue bubble up (like Congressional insider trading) and then be quickly pushed aside, it's because too many of your faves are guilty of it. Or too many of their faves are.
Not all corruption is actual crimeing, but when even the mild social sanctions against corruption (CANCEL CULTURE) fade, the floodgates are open.
Crimes
The Washington Post has another piece by Sensible Conservative Ramesh "The Party of Death" Ponnuru about how prosecuting Trump for real crimes is bad, as prosecuting Hillary Clinton for fake crimes would also have been bad!
They dress up this argument with varying details, but we get a version every day now from our elite journals of thoughtful and intelligent commentary.
Everybody writing it knows they are engaging in sophistry. Their editors know they are engaging in sophistry.
High school "debate club" is a silly competition that is good training for people who want to be paid liars for a living, but I don't know why our newspapers think their opinion pages have to follow that model.
They dress up this argument with varying details, but we get a version every day now from our elite journals of thoughtful and intelligent commentary.
Everybody writing it knows they are engaging in sophistry. Their editors know they are engaging in sophistry.
High school "debate club" is a silly competition that is good training for people who want to be paid liars for a living, but I don't know why our newspapers think their opinion pages have to follow that model.
Sunday, April 02, 2023
Save Venice
I've been fortunate enough to have spent a nontrivial amount of time there over the years, and I fucking love Venice and hope efforts to preserve it are successful.
Too many people visit for a day or two in peak tourist season, are overwhelmed by the tourists in the most touristy areas, and leave without the best best impression of the place. But underneath (or next to) the tourists another city exists and it's great. Af
Too many people visit for a day or two in peak tourist season, are overwhelmed by the tourists in the most touristy areas, and leave without the best best impression of the place. But underneath (or next to) the tourists another city exists and it's great. Af
ter all of the effort to get the barriers up, the future challenge will be finding ways to keep them down. Venice is already using MOSE more than expected, and faces the prospect of needing it much more than it had ever imagined against rising seas, so often that it would threaten to seal the city from the waters that are its lifeblood.No cars! (mostly)
What If We Prosecuted Crimes???
Take away all the dirt the author is trying to throw into your eyes, and that fucking NYT has a piece which is, basically, if Trump is prosecuted for actual crimes, then Democratic presidents might be prosecuted for fake crimes! Suck on that, libs!
Toddler reasoning is the best way to to describe it, if one assumes good faith, which one shouldn't, in our greatest newspaper.
Toddler reasoning is the best way to to describe it, if one assumes good faith, which one shouldn't, in our greatest newspaper.
Saturday, April 01, 2023
"Political Immaturity"
Oregon Nick Kristof has grudgingly come around to the idea that prosecuting Trump is desirable, though this is almost entirely independent of the charges themselves, but instead his opinions about whether prosecuting former governments heads is an appropriate step for sensible countries.
Puts all the regular comments about "Banana Republics" into context. The problem wasn't corrupt dictators doing the bidding of United Fruit, or whatever, it was that sometimes the people held them accountable for it.
The democracy that is most expert at arresting former leaders is South Korea, which has gone after five former presidents and which I have covered on and off since I was the Times bureau chief in Hong Kong in the 1980s.This is about aesthetics, about Nick's beliefs about what proper men in proper democracies do. Great White Father Nick used to look down on the "political immaturity" of lesser countries, a concept applied primarily to countries coded as non-white. It's nebulous content-free sneering at the ridiculous and juvenile provinces. The specific complaint, the foundation of their "immaturity," is that they were prosecuting the politicians for doing crimes not that the politicians were doing crimes.
...
There were times when I thought this parade of prosecutions was a sign of political immaturity.
Puts all the regular comments about "Banana Republics" into context. The problem wasn't corrupt dictators doing the bidding of United Fruit, or whatever, it was that sometimes the people held them accountable for it.
Pretending To Believe People Who Pretend To Believe Things
There is nobody* who thinks that Trump hasn't been committing crimes is whole life. There is nobody who thinks that this is a case of PROSECUTING YOUR POLITICAL OPPONENTS, as Trump himself has promised to do numerous times.
Lots of problem with journalism, broadly defined, but one is certainly continuing to treat obvious bad faith actors, and the things that they say, with deference and respect.
The other side of this (The WaPo has published at least 2 in this genre) are arguments that the only valid way to prosecute Trump (for reasons, just lawyer/pundit bullshit) is in federal court, because somehow state law violations in 2016 don't count.
Garland can't prosecute because that's political, state/local laws can't prosecute because that's, I dunno, not BIG enough, or something.
One of those WaPo pieces has a version of - oh so you hate the carceral state do you, libs, so why do you want to prosecute Trump ?!?!?!!? HYPOCRITES!!!
Just endless bad faith bullshit. Clients have a right to (most) bullshit arguments in court, but editors don't have to publish that shit.
*"Nobody" of the people who are paid to explain politics to you.
Lots of problem with journalism, broadly defined, but one is certainly continuing to treat obvious bad faith actors, and the things that they say, with deference and respect.
The other side of this (The WaPo has published at least 2 in this genre) are arguments that the only valid way to prosecute Trump (for reasons, just lawyer/pundit bullshit) is in federal court, because somehow state law violations in 2016 don't count.
Garland can't prosecute because that's political, state/local laws can't prosecute because that's, I dunno, not BIG enough, or something.
One of those WaPo pieces has a version of - oh so you hate the carceral state do you, libs, so why do you want to prosecute Trump ?!?!?!!? HYPOCRITES!!!
Just endless bad faith bullshit. Clients have a right to (most) bullshit arguments in court, but editors don't have to publish that shit.
*"Nobody" of the people who are paid to explain politics to you.
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