Christie on refugees: "I AM concerned about widows and orphans -- the widows and orphans of my state, of September 11."
— daveweigel (@daveweigel) November 21, 2015
Saturday, November 21, 2015
America's Worst Humans
Chris Christie.
Minority Religion
I admit I continue to be confused by religious people who don't understand that freedom of religion is a wee bit important. I guess I blame all this on feel good Christian ecumenical stuff. Bring back the good old days when Catholics and Protestants hated each other!
I didn't have any religion growing up, and while I never self-identified as Jewish, it's probably the closest thing to a familial religious/cultural affiliation I had. A wee bit of cultural Judaism, and then Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny. I'm admittedly looking back on things with a bit more understanding than I had as a child, but I lived in places where Protestants (of various denominations) were dominant and places where Catholics were. And that dominance seemed to matter, enough so that the minority (in cultural power, if not numbers) religion members didn't feel so confident about their position. The community religion has a way of seeping into schools and other institutions in minor but nontrivial ways even if the School Board isn't actively trying to bring back prayer in the schools. Cultural traditions, even mostly secular ones, aren't as universal as people think.
I didn't have any religion growing up, and while I never self-identified as Jewish, it's probably the closest thing to a familial religious/cultural affiliation I had. A wee bit of cultural Judaism, and then Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny. I'm admittedly looking back on things with a bit more understanding than I had as a child, but I lived in places where Protestants (of various denominations) were dominant and places where Catholics were. And that dominance seemed to matter, enough so that the minority (in cultural power, if not numbers) religion members didn't feel so confident about their position. The community religion has a way of seeping into schools and other institutions in minor but nontrivial ways even if the School Board isn't actively trying to bring back prayer in the schools. Cultural traditions, even mostly secular ones, aren't as universal as people think.
Visa Waivers
Hopefully Yurp "retaliates," as is the norm with visa requirements. Going to be a lot of unhappy airline executives.
One of my favorite complaints comes from Americans anguished because they need a visa to travel somewhere. Don't you know we're Americans!!!
One of my favorite complaints comes from Americans anguished because they need a visa to travel somewhere. Don't you know we're Americans!!!
Friday, November 20, 2015
Cutting Their Way To Prosperity
Austerity keeps making the deficit worse. This is a mystery that no one understands.
It's "funny" that it doesn't matter how much the debt and deficit keep increasing. All responsible people know that austerity is the answer!
Even sensible people I know still obsess about the fact that in the late days of his administration Gordon Brown spent money on crazy things. He did! He was trying to dig holes and fill them up again. That was smarter.
It's "funny" that it doesn't matter how much the debt and deficit keep increasing. All responsible people know that austerity is the answer!
Even sensible people I know still obsess about the fact that in the late days of his administration Gordon Brown spent money on crazy things. He did! He was trying to dig holes and fill them up again. That was smarter.
The Zombie Apocalypse
Not quite but...
Bacteria becoming completely resistant to treatment - also known as the antibiotic apocalypse - could plunge medicine back into the dark ages.
Soak The Rich
Denying government benefits to rich people just makes it that much harder for less than rich people to qualify. You know, eligibility, forms, a bureaucracy to determine that eligibility, etc. The way to not give Donald Trump's kids free college involves increasing his taxes. Then give the kids "free college." Democrats really need to get rid of their obsession with means testing everything. There's a simple way to means test everything: increase taxes on rich people. It isn't welfare. It's what the government provides, to everyone, and the price of that is taxes.
We're gonna get President Trump if the Clinton campaign doesn't stop talking to itself. I'm sure they all thought this was a true zinger. It isn't. Echoes of 2008 are still there. Get better.
We're gonna get President Trump if the Clinton campaign doesn't stop talking to itself. I'm sure they all thought this was a true zinger. It isn't. Echoes of 2008 are still there. Get better.
Thursday, November 19, 2015
Lindsey Gets One Right
Excuse me while I go spend some time relighting the fires in hell.
“I don’t think we should be promoting Judeo-Christian values in the Arab world,” Graham told Real Clear Politics in an interview. “I think that was the Crusades.”
Why Did They Delete Their Account
One weird and sad thing about having a lot of "internet friends" is that sometimes they just disappear. Okay mostly they are acquaintances, not friends, but they're still people you might feel a connection to, people you might have actually met in real life, and then they just drop off the grid.
Internal Affairs
One trope of 80s-90s cop movies was the all powerful Internal Affairs department. They could be a force for good, getting rid of bad cops, or a force for evil, getting in the way of that lovable rogue cop who uses the smacky face when the smacky face has to be used in order to get rid of the bad guys. Whether good or evil, they were powerful. They would destroy your career.
So silly.
So silly.
Nice Grift
Because people always forget, while the City of Philadelphia is not exactly a model of perfect governance, it has no control over the school district. That is run by the state, and has been for about 15 years now. William Hite should delete his account, but he won't.
He won't even delete their account, presumably because there's enough grift to go around. Everybody wins! Except the kids today, of course. We do love our children.
(minor unnecessary disclosure: I know Amy Roat)
Yesterday, according to Source4Teachers, the fill-rate for substitute teachers was 26 percent. That’s not far above the 11 percent of substitute positions filled when school started in September, and is about the same as late October, when Source4Teachers began increasing pay rates to lure more subs. Source4Teachers had promised to have a 75 percent fill rate by September and 90 percent by January. The fill rate last year, when the district worked with the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers to find subs as it had for many years, was about 60 percent.
In September, district superintendent William R. Hite said the partnership with Source4Teachers was in jeopardy. But the district has yet to take action. Fernando Gallard, a spokesperson for the district, did not respond to multiple interview requests.
“The only thing I can think of is they are pleased with this level of failure,” said Amy Roat, a Feltonville School of Arts and Sciences teacher and member of the Caucus of Working Educators of the PFT. “I think everybody knew all summer that if you paid someone a fraction of a rate to do a difficult job you wouldn’t attract someone to do it.”
He won't even delete their account, presumably because there's enough grift to go around. Everybody wins! Except the kids today, of course. We do love our children.
(minor unnecessary disclosure: I know Amy Roat)
Wednesday, November 18, 2015
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