Wednesday, April 05, 2023
Careers
Manufacturing Reality
I don't precisely know any more than Welker does, but suspect there are very few people whose mood in response to the events of yesterday could be described as "somber." Some angry, some cheering, plenty indifferent or mildly amused is my guess!Kristen Welker analyzing a photo of Trump and explaining that she can sense that he feels “the weight of this moment.” Now discussing the “somber mood” of the country. https://t.co/x9A97NtRrn
— Isaac Chotiner (@IChotiner) April 4, 2023
Pretending To Respect People Who Pretend To Believe People Who Pretend To Believe Things
Arguably it's news when someone as important as the president says something, so I admit that dealing with someone like Trump who lied constantly posed a bit of a challenge (which few bothered to try to meet). But every feral Republican House member, or White House staff member, is not that important. Journalists can withhold their institutional stamp of approval, which is what they give when they quote them and privilege them, to serial hypocrites and liars.
The problem with "the beat sweetener" is that the political beat never ends. It isn't one fawning profile - the archetypal beat sweetener - it's ongoing elevation. I make you look good, or at least important, in print, and in exchange you give me the occasional story.
Journalists at different outlets used to see themselves, somewhat, as competitors, but now they're all just interchangeable club members. A check on ridiculous beat sweetening activities was, at least a bit, your competitors making you look like an idiot in various ways.
Now it's more like they mark their territory - each journalist has their client politicians - and everyone respects it.
Narratives
The piece is quite amazing.you may be wondering why an article ostensibly about a Vallas-Johnson contest has only 11 mentions of Johnson and 24 of DeSantis/Trump, this is because Weisman has exactly one (1) note: explaining to dems why they must run to the right lest they “expose” themselves to GOP attacks
— Adam H. Johnson (@adamjohnsonNYC) March 1, 2023
But Mr. Johnson’s ardent progressivism, including his outspoken skepticism of policing as the answer to rising crime, could make him toxic to Democrats with national ambitions, including Illinois’ billionaire governor, J.B. Pritzker."Toxic."
There are 11 paragraphs explicitly about Trump and DeSantis in a 36 paragraph story about the Chicago mayoral primary.
Some Good News From The Provinces
Vallas (the other Chicago mayoral candidate) stunk up Philadelphia for years and I could not believe he was continuing to fail upwards. I was so enraged I couldn't even post about it! Glad he lost.
Tuesday, April 04, 2023
Happy Hour
tl;dr seems to be: the man did a lot of crimeing, and I (Bragg) can get him on these easy felony charges so that's what I'm going to do.
Autonomous
Full-size, self-driving bus services will begin in Scotland next month in what is believed to be a world first.[several paragraphs later] Ahhh.
They will have two members of staff on board.
A safety driver will sit in the driver's seat to monitor the technology, and a so-called bus captain will help passengers with boarding, buying tickets and queries.
I Was Reliably Told The Democratic Party Had To Do A Weekly Sister Souljah To Combat The Wokeness
Americans are most likely to describe “anti-woke” politicians as:
— Skyleigh Heinen (@Sky_Lee_1) April 4, 2023
➡️ Focused on the wrong things (68%)
➡️ Trying to divide us to gain power (67%)
➡️ Extreme (64%)
➡️ Censoring freedom of speech (62%)
Americans are noticing the republicans extreme views aren’t working for us. pic.twitter.com/JaS6KvTH6N
Care To Comment, Governor [former] Hogan
The U.S. Marshals Service and the FBI teamed up to offer a $20,000 reward for information in the search for Roy McGrath, an ex-top aide to former Gov. Larry Hogan. McGrath, who didn't show for his federal criminal trial, died of a gunshot wound at a Tennessee hospital Monday night after a confrontation with FBI agents just west of Knoxville, according to federal authorities and the attorney for McGrath’s wife.
There Must Be An Audience For This
I occasionally discover a TV show that's been on the air for like 12 seasons that I've never heard of. Often by seeing a billboard. Usually procedurals. CHICAGO PET RESCUE or something like that, but sitcoms too. Occasional family drama. "Nobody" ever talks about them, and by "nobody" I mean no social media chatter, no episode recaps alongside the latest prestige TV streamer, etc. They're just on and they run and run and run and lots of people apparently watch them!
The dialogues between Gail Collins and Bret Stephens must be similar. "Nobody" reads them, comments on them, cares what's in them, or even ever gets mad at them. But they run and run and run and run presumably because lots of people actually do!
The Circle Of Life
Though the Department of Veterans Affairs revises its disability ratings from time to time, Congress should consider a broader modernization of the disability ratings system. And lawmakers should consider means-testing disability benefits for veterans who are high earners. The Congressional Budget Office estimates limiting payments for veterans who earn more than $170,000 a year would save $253 billion over the next decade. Congress could alternatively tax the benefits, or some portion of them, particularly for new recipients with high incomes.
Ah, ok, so I go to the piece they link to in order to justify this.
Veterans' social media feeds erupted this week over a months-old report from the Congressional Budget Office that listed options for reducing the federal deficit, including the idea that the government could save $253 billion over the next 10 years by eliminating disability compensation for veterans who make more than $170,000.
Somehow "limiting" becomes "eliminating." Of course it isn't full benefits at $169,999, and $0 at $170,000, so there's a phaseout! Over to CBO.
Under this option, VA would means-test all current and prospective recipients of VA disability compensation beginning in January 2024; after that date, veterans would receive full payments only if their gross household income in the prior calendar year was less than an inflation-indexed threshold for that year. Disability benefits would be phased out at a constant rate for veterans with income above the threshold: For every additional two dollars of gross household income, disability compensation would decrease by one dollar. Under that phaseout, veterans whose gross household income was $170,000 or higher in calendar year 2023 and who would have received the average annual payment would no longer receive any disability compensation from VA in calendar year 2024.
...
The income threshold below which veterans would receive full benefits in 2024 would be set at $125,000.
...
For this component, gross household income is defined as the income (before deductions) received by the veteran, his or her spouse, and any dependents in the prior calendar year. Income includes wages and salaries as well as unearned income, such as Social Security benefits, investment income, or withdrawals from a retirement account, but excludes VA disability payments. Household income would be used to determine eligibility rather than individual income because household income is a more comprehensive assessment of all the financial resources available to a veteran.
It's household income, not individual, and it starts phasing out ("limiting") long before $170,000.
5 minutes of google to know they're full of shit! Even if they were stupid and not lying, "limiting payments for veterans who earn more than $170,000 a year would save $253 billion over the next decade" is obviously bullshit! Stupid doesn't mean "woopsie-doodle stupid" it means "really fucking stupid!"