Rock on.
Thursday, October 20, 2016
Fire
Woke up in the middle of the night to the smell of burning. Looked out and could see shooting flames about a block and a half away. Fire trucks showed up and put it out, but I weirdly can't find anything in the news about it.
No You're The Idiot
I get the tribalism of politics, that a big chunk of Republicans will never vote for Democrats (the reverse is true, though not nearly to the same extent). I get that 25 years of digesting right wing horseshit will make you not inclined to vote for Hillary Clinton, the devil, even if you only believe about 1/10 of it. I also, as I've said, definitely understand the popularity of a bombastic Trump-like politician.
But Trump? What the fuck is wrong with you people, even the deplorables among you? .
But Trump? What the fuck is wrong with you people, even the deplorables among you? .
Bad People
Kellyanne's "yes I know I'm full of shit and I'm letting you know I'm full of shit but it's my job so whatcanido?" schtick could only be endearing to certain members of the Village because they're used to this stuff. It's like lobbyists who work for horrible causes and are paid liars but after a few drinks tell what they really think off the record. It isn't enough to realize (or as is more often the case, pretend to realize) that your chosen path in life is a fucking nightmare because you've, you know, chosen it.
We all gotta eat, but we don't all gotta eat quite so well...
We all gotta eat, but we don't all gotta eat quite so well...
So Much For The Trump Pardon Plan
All those beat sweetening mancrushes on Christie for nothing.
A New Jersey firefighter succeeded where federal prosecutors failed: He brought criminal charges against Gov. Chris Christie in the Bridgegate scandal.
A Bergen County courtroom echoed with cheers after Judge Roy McGeady signed off Thursday on the criminal summons presented by retired smoke-eater William Brennan.
Wednesday, October 19, 2016
Pre-Game
I blame the White House Correspondent's Dinner, which gave birth to Trump's political career, for all of the stunt guests.
Tonight, Tonight
I made plans tonight (strangely I didn't put all of the debates on the calendar) so I'll probably miss the beginning of the debate. There is no way I will be able to make an informed choice at the polls, so no voting for me.
Gimme Some Money
I know nothing of the specifics of Shearer's case, but big studios (music, movie) have a long history of completely screwing people even when contracts are clear (there are situations when rights are not always quite iron clad, but this doesn't seem to be one of them).
I still listen the Spinal Tap soundtrack "seriously." It's good.
I still listen the Spinal Tap soundtrack "seriously." It's good.
The Leaks Are Out There
I did this event last night (fun, nice people) and I was asked about how the press should deal with the DNC leaks.
Anyway, my basic position is that this type of hack(or however the emails were obtained)/leak generally doesn't rise to the level of newsworthy and in the public interest which would in any way justify the means that they were obtained. Sure there are some interesting things, but I haven't seen much that rises above the level of gossip. Anyone taking an absolutist position against obtaining information through nefarious means is taking a position against journalism, really, but that doesn't mean all information just wants to be free and any nefarious means is always justified.
However, they are, as Cokie says, out there. You can't put that toothpaste back in the tube. They're going to be disseminated and seen and spun by crappy news outlets and stupid bloggers and partisan entities which are trying to make a shiny enough soccer ball so that if they kick it the rest of the press will follow. And context really matters for a big data dump of emails. For example, the internal discussions of political campaigns and the relationships between campaign people and reporters is not something people understand very well if they've never done it. Things can easily be painted as somehow "corrupt" and the press can be portrayed as being "complicit" in something when it's actually just perfectly standard behavior. You know, things like journalists contacting a campaign to comment on something can be seen as the journalists coordinating with a campaign or warning them about a story that's coming, when in fact it's just good journalistic practice.
So even if the stuff in the leaks isn't really newsworthy, journalists who do understand this stuff should take a look at it and provide the proper explanation and context. There's a big history of portraying perfectly normal political actions by the Clintons as somehow being deviant and corrupt, when they're just standard operating procedures. They're just what everybody does. Things like "campaign tries to forge good relations with members of the press" or "campaign plots strategy months in advance" are normal. Maybe some of it's gross, maybe normal is gross, but it doesn't say anything specific about the Clinton campaign other than they're playing the game as it is played.
tl;dr: can't ignore the leaks, this is an area political journalists should have knowledge of and expertise in, so they should use that to explain them.
Anyway, my basic position is that this type of hack(or however the emails were obtained)/leak generally doesn't rise to the level of newsworthy and in the public interest which would in any way justify the means that they were obtained. Sure there are some interesting things, but I haven't seen much that rises above the level of gossip. Anyone taking an absolutist position against obtaining information through nefarious means is taking a position against journalism, really, but that doesn't mean all information just wants to be free and any nefarious means is always justified.
However, they are, as Cokie says, out there. You can't put that toothpaste back in the tube. They're going to be disseminated and seen and spun by crappy news outlets and stupid bloggers and partisan entities which are trying to make a shiny enough soccer ball so that if they kick it the rest of the press will follow. And context really matters for a big data dump of emails. For example, the internal discussions of political campaigns and the relationships between campaign people and reporters is not something people understand very well if they've never done it. Things can easily be painted as somehow "corrupt" and the press can be portrayed as being "complicit" in something when it's actually just perfectly standard behavior. You know, things like journalists contacting a campaign to comment on something can be seen as the journalists coordinating with a campaign or warning them about a story that's coming, when in fact it's just good journalistic practice.
So even if the stuff in the leaks isn't really newsworthy, journalists who do understand this stuff should take a look at it and provide the proper explanation and context. There's a big history of portraying perfectly normal political actions by the Clintons as somehow being deviant and corrupt, when they're just standard operating procedures. They're just what everybody does. Things like "campaign tries to forge good relations with members of the press" or "campaign plots strategy months in advance" are normal. Maybe some of it's gross, maybe normal is gross, but it doesn't say anything specific about the Clinton campaign other than they're playing the game as it is played.
tl;dr: can't ignore the leaks, this is an area political journalists should have knowledge of and expertise in, so they should use that to explain them.
Strike
I went to one of these schools. I don't claim any knowledge of current conditions, but the teaching (not all the work professors do) loads when I was there were absolutely insane. These were not cushy jobs.
..and, adding, as I've written before I'm almost 100% that my tutition+room+board (probably not extras like textbooks) came in at just under $5000 my freshman year. That'd be $9700 in today's money. Current price: $20,700, more than double. Just call me Old Economy Atrios.
..and, adding, as I've written before I'm almost 100% that my tutition+room+board (probably not extras like textbooks) came in at just under $5000 my freshman year. That'd be $9700 in today's money. Current price: $20,700, more than double. Just call me Old Economy Atrios.
Tuesday, October 18, 2016
Carnival Is Almost Over
Final debate, and then the ballot stuffing with illegal votes, and then George Soros's voting machines count the votes, and then it's the start of the failed Clinton presidency and the beginning of Campaign 2020.
Huzzah!
Huzzah!
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