Linky Thursday #3: Christmas Edition! [UPDATED!]

Will Truman

Will Truman is the Editor-in-Chief of Ordinary Times. He is also on Twitter.

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31 Responses

  1. Mad Rocket Scientist says:

    Not surprised about the whole Spanish/Google flap. People saw this coming with their eyes closed. I’m just curious if they’ll square that circle with an exception in the law, or by trying to force Google to play ball.Report

  2. Michael Cain says:

    Re single payer, “The California Universal Healthcare Act” was passed in both 2006 and 2008, but was vetoed by Gov. Schwarzenegger both times. In 2011, then-Governor Schweitzer of Montana proposed a single-payer plan but pointed out — correctly, IMO, when I have my budget hat on — that the state needed the feds to contribute not only their Medicaid share, but the Medicare money they collect in Montana in order to make it financially feasible. Vermont’s plan’s financial problems would probably be addressed by the same fix — that is, the state single-payer system gets the Medicare tax collections.Report

    • Now [U5]: Very much worth saying that the PPACA has made it more difficult for individual states to try implementing single-payer on their own — there are a lot more federal laws and regulations that would have to be waived now.Report

  3. Chris says:

    Yeah, Vermont is too small to drive prices down.Report

  4. Will Truman says:

    Hey everybody, sorry about the screwup. Apparently a rough draft got posted. Almost all of the previous links are included), plus a whole lot more and a fair amount of organization.Report

  5. greginak says:

    It’s always seemed really odd how Kim Jong Un was sent to a boarding school in Switzerland. I can see the value of a western education for the Kim’s and i’m also sure it was a super richy rich school so he was treated like a true special snowflake. But how did he get along with other kids? I’d assume he had plenty of staff to guide/control/protect him. What did the other kiddies think of him? Even in a ritzy private school where everybodies parents are rich and powerful the child of cartoonishly evil dictator must have stood out a little. Now that would be a setting for a movie or tv show. Lil Kim’s school daze in the Alps.Report

    • Kolohe in reply to greginak says:

      The story as I understand it is that he was groomed for power rather late (perhaps as late as 2010-2011) and only after his two older brothers completely flaked out, so he might have more or less a “normal” upbringingReport

  6. greginak says:

    C4- I’m not sure boring cities get all the basics right. That seems to be an unearned statement and would vary by boring city. However i agree about the issue with “soulless” cities. I don’t’ think people have souls so i don’t think cities do. Cities can have all sorts of great aspects but they are in the eye of the beholder. All sorts of, to my eye, drab places are loved by some residents. Good for them. Go Quad Cities!!!

    What i think people mean is more generic cities which they find boring. I would agree that generic is boring but few places are 100% with unique stores, shops and places. Lord knows you can drive across the US, as i have, finding nearly identical strips malls all across this generic land. Boring yes, very rarely actually convenient but that is the world. It doesn’t mean those same places don’t have cool, fun, unique places.Report

  7. Kolohe says:

    The Hawaii independence movement is the fringe of the fringe (both Puerto Rican nationalists and Confederate Lost Causers have a more substantial political presence) and in any case, the events of 1896 have been mooted by Japanese economic power and the political power of Japanese, Chinese, and Filipino immigrants in the 20th century.Report

  8. Saul Degraw says:

    C4: I roughly agree that the calling something boring/soulless can usually function as a short hand for “stuff I don’t like”. I also agree that with 300 million plus people in the U.S., there is no reason why their can’t be something for everyone. I will stick with the Northeast or Northwest. There is probably something psychological about this and it probably fuels a need to have us v. them tribalism.

    C5: I think calling San Francisco and Houston “upstart” cities is odd. These are two of the oldest and most important cities in their respective states/regions. San Francisco has a longer history of dominating California economically than Los Angeles or San Diego.Report

  9. ScarletNumbers says:

    The U2 link through the word “camera” is actually a link to U1.Report

  10. Gabriel Controy says:

    U6 [native born (in the US) latinos support “amnesty” in smaller numbers than foreign born]: I’ve long thought it was a mistake to assume that IMMIGRATION REFORM is automatically the way to get support from THE HISPANICS. For one thing, IMMIGRATION REFORM can mean too many things to too many people, and it can go into a more liberal or a more restrictive direction, and perhaps both directions at the same time, with a sprinkling of some repressive features. For another, as the linked to article argues, it’s a mistake to assume that all Latinos are the same.Report

  11. ScarletNumbers says:

    TWITTER FEED

    I have been getting a kick out of the twitter feed of Male Feminist.

    While the feed is tongue in cheek, I can think of at least one OT poster who might post such things sincerely.Report

  12. greginak says:

    Topical video regarding North Korea. This is a time lapse of Pyong Yang i was on the Nat Geo site. Well done and interesting. So much looks normal and peaceful, which made me feel sad at the end. Plenty of large scale communist monumental architecture and stuff like that.

    Its the third video:

    http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/12/141226-top-five-videos-2014-year-review/Report

  13. Kimmi says:

    People bitch about the idiots who like suburbs because those spendthrifts are living in a tax-shelter. And who the fuck doesn’t hate thieves?
    If you want to live in a low density part of the city, it’s probably possible. Well, except for San Fran and NYC (though there is that treehouse in Manhattan. )Report

  14. Kimmi says:

    c3,
    This link is crap. And not JUST because it’s missing any mention of PNC and Pittsburgh, but because it fails to understand that wall street is perfectly happy to ride the rise of a city just as much as it’s decline.
    Today’s example is Detroit.Report

    • Kolohe in reply to Kimmi says:

      I agree. This country was founded on shady land development deals; there’s nothing terribly unique about the most recent land speculation bust. And if anything, the large impersonal corporate banks are more disinterested in municipal level politics than their community bank brethren (whose ownership groups definitely do give to the local political machines)Report