Open Mic for the week of 4/29/2024
There’s a phenomenon where someone writes an essay about this or that but someone else wants to discuss something that has not yet made it to the front page.
This is unfair to everybody involved. It’s unfair to the guy who wrote the original essay because, presumably, he wants to talk about his original essay. It’s unfair to the guy who wants to talk about his link because it looks like he’s trying to change the subject. It’s unfair to the people who go to the comments to read up on the thoughts of the commentariat for the original essay and now we’re talking about some other guy’s links.
So!
The intention is to have a new one of these every week. If you want to talk about a link, post it here! Or, heck, use it as an open thread.
And, if it rolls off, we’ll make a new one. With a preamble just like this one.
Happy Birthday, Duke Ellington!
Linda Mamoun reports “There was a protestor in the liberated zone at @UCLA with a potentially fatal banana allergy. Counterprotestors invaded the encampment and saw all the no bananas warnings. The next day they came back waving bananas like settlers waving machine guns & smeared bananas everywhere.”
She doesn’t have video evidence of the counterprotestors smearing bananas, sadly. Just video evidence of them waving bananas around like settlers waving machine guns. Also: eating them.
Which reminds me of the “no bananas under socialism” conversation that happened a few months back. Malcom Harris tweeted out that it doesn’t make any other-than-capitalist sense to create a world-spanning daily banana infrastructure for people in Columbus, Ohio. That turned into an argument over whether he was crazy and then *THAT* got hijacked by one of the people arguing on Harris’s side that she wasn’t an ascetic who thinks that pleasure makes you a bad person and that’s why she opposed bananas in Columbus. She pointed out that she likes to have fun. Cocaine, for example.
And *THAT* turned into a discussion about the ethical supply chain problems that cocaine is rumored to have and everything went even crazier from there.
Anyway, that’s what I thought of when I saw the counterprotestor brandishing a banana like a settler brandishing a machine gun. “Under socialism, she’d have to brandish something else”, I thought.Report
Liberated zone? Are Pro-Palestinian protestors capable of not being complete putzes? Like the Palestinians themselves, they just can’t really understand why people disagree with them or believe that Jews have a right to self-determination and national liberation. Instead they engage in these overly dramatic fantasies and demand nothing more or less than complete surrender and that all their goals are achieved. It never occurs to them to negotiate or bend or crack or yield on even them ost minor symbolic issue but just to raise their fist in bloody thirsty defiance forever and demand everything in exchange or nothing. When people explain in great and patient detail to the Palestinian or their activist supporters why they disagree with them, they just look on in a state of blank incomprehension. Meanwhile, the Palestinians or their supporters can go on in long length and epic detail on why Jewish self-determination and national liberation are evil while never understanding why Jews don’t want to be second class citizens of a Muslim polity.Report
The I/P conflict as it plays out in the West is based on pure intellectualism that benefits nobody in the real world.Report
“Under socialism, she’d have to brandish something else”, I thought.
one of these, perhapsReport
You can laugh at the banana allergy thing, but a) counter-protestors were specifically told not to bring bananas, so b) they did, in an obvious attempt to endanger’s someone life is…telling.
It is important? Not really? Is it a little silly? Sure.
Does it speak to how the counter-protestors behave? Yeah, it does. Granted, the other instances of violence towards the protestors sorta speaks for themselves.
A reminder that the Columbia crackdown happened because a _counter-protestor_ shouted ‘Kill the Jews’ at the pro-Palestine protest, and the university decided that this meant the _protest_ was unsafe and decide to make a statement about antisemitism and implying it was coming from the protest. (I remind people, pretending like the media bothered to inform anyone of this.)
Or this: https://www.msn.com/en-xl/news/other/counter-protesters-attack-ucla-pro-palestinian-camp/ar-AA1nZue1
We’ve had actual repeated violence and threats at these protests, and it’s almost entirely _against the protestors_.Report
I’m not sure that anyone’s life was threatened by the counter-protestor eating a banana.
If I had to venture a guess, I’d say that no one’s life was threatened by the banana incident.
It was pretty insensitive, though. I will give you that.Report
“the Columbia crackdown happened because a _counter-protestor_ shouted ‘Kill the Jews’ at the pro-Palestine protest, and the university decided that this meant the _protest_ was unsafe…”
A counter-protestor in Charlottesville ran a bunch of people over with a car and killed one, so maybe the university has a point.Report
What do you do if you are faced with a popular program that has opened up internet to rural, military and elderly voters via a small government subsidy? Kill it apparently:
https://www.cnn.com/2024/04/29/tech/broadband-affordability-acp-rural-older-americans/index.htmlReport
$30 per month?Report
yes. And your point is?Report
For starters, that CNN (NASDAQ: WBD) and Comcast (NASDAQ: CMCSA) are doing a remarkably thorough job reporting on a $30 per month program.Report
They do a remarkably thorough of reporting on a host of issues – you just happen to disagree with the underlying policies of that reporting so you dismiss a lot of their stories.
That aside – that $30 a month makes a world of difference for a great many people. Its a government program that is working as intended and that is positively impacting a number of communities across the US. And it’s going to die so Biden doesn’t get a win. Never mind the loss it hands folks who need this funding.Report
A Columbia facilities worker claims to have been held hostage by protestors when they occupied Hamilton Hall at Columbia last night.
But the story is only being covered by Fox. And, besides, he’s free now, isn’t he? I don’t know what he’s complaining about. If it even happened, of course.
And pictures show that he’s getting violent with the protestors! Is he even here legally?Report
FBI data shows America is seeing a ‘considerable’ drop in crime. Trump says the opposite.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2024/04/30/trump-crime-fbi-data-murder-statistics/73443631007/
Fear, grievance, and resentment are the tools of those who want to strip people of liberty.Report
This is false. Homicide didn’t spike when COVID hit. It spiked at the beginning of the BLM insurrection.
This is true, which is why they’re used extensively by both parties. Democrats are particularly fond of stoking class and racial resentment.Report
More precisely, Democrats stoke economic class resentment, and Republicans stoke social class resentment.Report
Well played Democrats:
https://www.cnn.com/2024/04/30/politics/house-democrats-speaker-johnson/index.htmlReport
I’m honestly not sure, but didn’t you used to be against this?Report
It’s not the job of the Democratic Party to save Republicans from self-inflicted gun shot wounds. That Democrats have for most of the last three decades is maddening – but apparently they have finally grown the spine they are accused of lacking.Report
I still stand by that assertion. I also stand by the assertion that IF Democrats are going to save Republicans from themselves, Democrats need to get something major for it. They got Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan aid. Not a bargain I would have made, but it means at least they are playing the game, no matter how I feel about it.Report
The rest of the FY2024 budget passed under suspension with a bunch of Democratic votes in the House.Report
So two policy wins for the price of a speakership. Seems like an equitable trade, even if I would have let him flounder a bit more.Report
I want to leap on the opportunity to agree with Philip. With our Kevin the former Speaker never offered a policy deal to the Dems when his Speakership was imperilled and had a long history of double crossing them and speaking out both sides of his mouth.
Johnson may be more conservative than McCarthy was but he scheduled some hard votes and made some tough deals. Rewarding him with the limited support necessary to survive a run at his Speakership is an entirely different bird than doing the same with McCarthy.
This was well played by the Dems and it’s the right choice.Report
Also didn’t require concessions on immigration that the GOP and/or Johnson could have gotten 1-2 months ago. Not that I personally was against all of those concessions from a pure policy perspective, but it’s a pretty good win with only 6 months until the election.Report
Seriously, I also wasn’t adamantly against the border concessions personally but watching the GOP tank that bill then lose all those concessions and end up passing aid without them was jaw dropping. Like that Simpsons scene where Bob steps on a series of rakes for ten minutes.Report
Bombast is easy – governing requires paying attention.Report
Pretty much.Report
I think we’re in “agents of Putin” territory for 6 or so members of the House.Report
I think your number is very low.Report
At least he’s getting some small comeuppance for being a general a$$:
https://www.npr.org/2024/04/30/1244294199/trump-gag-order-hush-money-trialReport
NYPD union sues Adams administration over new ‘zero tolerance’ policy on steroid use among cops
The problem, of course, is that this choice was made unilaterally rather than through the union’s bargaining process.Report
They’re ten days late with this announcement, but anyhoo:
Biden administration plans to reclassify marijuana, easing restrictions nationwide
Cannabis is currently classified along with drugs like heroin and LSD. The administration is expected to reschedule it into a category that includes Tylenol and steroids.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/joe-biden/biden-administration-plans-reclassify-marijuana-easing-restrictions-na-rcna149424Report
And yet I am fairly sure Jay will find a reason not to vote for Biden . . . .Report
Eh, I keep hearing this.
It keeps not happening.’
Remember the news article about the legislation to make the time change finally be ending and you asking me if that was enough?
And then it didn’t go through, did it?
But let him run on it. Like, not have the news talk about it. Have him talk about it.
Maybe the press secretary. Depending on the phrasing she uses.Report
You don’t get here:
Unless the WH has already bought off on it. That’s just how the federal interagency works. So the recommendation is definitely coming. Then there will be statutorily mandated notice and public comment – where you Jaybird will be able to submit written comments to the DEA on this. I suspect you will need to shorten your novella however. There are usually word limits.Report
“This is expected to happen”.
I can be expected to be delighted.Report
I’m a pessimist this morning, and believe that things will get worse in short order, when the FDA moves to impose purity, strength, and production quality control.Report
“Yay! Now it’s schedule III!”
“Yes. That means that all of the dispensaries need to close.”
“Wait. What?”
“Yes. Schedule III substances can only be distributed by a pharmacist.”
“AND SCHEDULE I SUBSTANCES CAN BE DISTRIBUTED BY AMATEURS?!?”
“Always have been.”Report
I understand the cynicism but I think we should all learn to to take the wins as they come. The war on weed didn’t start overnight and it takes time to de-escalate. The change in the last 5 or 10 years has been quite significant, to say nothing of the difference from when I was in high school and we had regular random sweeps by police with drug dogs.Report
I am still in the land of “it hasn’t happened yet, maybe we shouldn’t spike the football” cynicism.
I look forward to moving to “but we didn’t solve the worst of the old problems and now we have new ones too!” cynicism.Report
I hear you. Nevertheless we already live in a world where when my kids one day hear the story of a little adventure I had back when I was younger it will sound as quaint as getting caught gin in hand at a speakeasy would to us.
‘You mean they used to arrest people just for having the stuff they sell in that funny store with all the weird lights at the shopping center?’
So I applaud lowering the schedule, and I’ll applaud again the day it falls off altogether.Report
Very likely what’ll happen is we’ll see about two weeks of happy articles about how you’ll be able to buy small-batch independently-grown grass in a gas station, and then people will learn that with official approval comes official supervision and the only entity with the knowledge and experience needed to comply with FDA regulations for selling intoxicant agricultural products to the public is RJ Reynolds.Report
old and busted: it’s illegal to sell weed
new hotness: it’s illegal to sell weed unless you’re Philip MorrisReport
I will say that if it gets descheduled by November, I’ll vote Biden instead of 3rd Party.
But if it gets descheduled and immediately gets more difficult to purchase, that will be really, really funny.Report
If they do move it to the part of the schedule that hosts Tylenol and all it’s generics I think Starbuds will be fine.Report
Oh, is that what Schedule III is?
Are you thinking of Tylenol 3? Was the author of the article deliberately obfuscating by comparing to Tylenol instead of Tylenol 3?Report
More likely the author was under an enormous deadline and had little time for fact checking on what is under each schedule assuming the overworked editors would do it as well.
I still maintain the state level franchises have nothing to worry about.Report
Well, for what it’s worth, it’s true that they’re moving it to the part of the schedule that hosts Tylenol.
It’s just Tylenol 3.
I understand that you can get it over-the-counter in Canada.Report
Even if he doesn’t do anything about Daylight Savings Time?Report
That was always a Hail Mary.
Maybe the promise to change it will be the new perpetual “We will move the embassy to Jerusalem!”Report
That would be inconsistent with what has so far been a retreat by the federal government. It’s legal on a recreational basis in half the country now, with no real federal law enforcement or administrative action to rein it in. What we have left at the national level is more like post mortem muscle reflexes.Report
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Dope, and Firearms.Report
Read the story. Saw this:
Attorney General Merrick Garland will submit the rescheduling proposal to the White House Office of Management and Budget as early as Tuesday afternoon, a source familiar with the timeline told NBC News.
Looking forward to Tuesday afternoon!Report
Remembering this old thread where we argued about the proper avenues whereby one might get the stuff rescheduled.
I’m gratified to see that there is, in fact, a non-Congressional avenue.Report
Having had the opportunity to televise the revolution, we have decided that it is in the revolution’s best interest that the revolution not be televised.
Report
Columbia is threatening to expel students who stormed and took over hamilton hall.
https://www.cbsnews.com/newyork/news/columbia-university-pro-palestinian-protests-occupy-hamilton-hall/Report
Where in the hell does it say in the student handbook that you can’t do that?Report
There’s nothing in the rules that says a dog can’t play basketball!Report
The protestors seem legitimately shocked that their actions have consequences. Just like how Palestinian leadership is shocked that when they keep making maximum demands despite losing every battle and not making any counter-proposals, the world doesn’t come and take all the Jews away.Report
For the most part, their actions don’t have consequences.
Check this out:
TIL that Columbia’s authority exceeds that of the NYPD.Report
Do you like schadenfreude? Well, you shouldn’t. It means “shameful joy”.
I am somewhat interested in how “it’s finals, can I go home?” will evolve.
“No harm, no foul”?Report
It’s private property,Report
Private property can do whatever it wants.Report
There are only very limited circumstances under which police can enter private property without permission of the owner or a warrant.
I don’t know much about the requirements for getting a warrant, but I assume that it’s hard to get one when the victim of the crime you’re investigating is the owner of the property and doesn’t want to let you in. If they were investigating a murder or burglary of a dorm or something, the police could probably get a warrant.Report
Precisely!Report
Not mine but I really wish it was:
” The Revolution will be televised. It will also be catered—with a variety of frozen yogurt toppings.”Report
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yuTMWgOduFMReport
Can we all just tell both of those pissant entities to keep their BS close to home?Report
I believe that the protestors offered to let bygones be bygones but, for some reason, the administration has no sense of humor about what happened.
It’s a lot like Israel/Palestine, when you think about it.Report
LOL. I kind of yearn for the day when that plague of a region has no constituency in this country. It’s distorted our politics.Report
Your meal plan is for the cafeteria. It does not deliver. You’re free to leave to go to the cafeteria and use your meal plan to get food. You will not be allowed back in this building.Report
But people have died of starvation in the past. It was one of the main drivers of the many deaths in Ukraine under Stalin in what anti-Russians call the Holodomor and what anti-Turks call the Armenian Genocide.Report
Greg Lukianoff commented on this video:
“People have been laughing about this, but do they realize how often student building takeovers have literally been catered? It had become fairly common place over the past several years.“Report
Jeez. This is more like Israel/Palestine than I thought.Report
This has definitely been a rich vein to mine for nuggets of humor.Report
Like, the reason they did this takeover is that in the past (and, honestly, “the past” in this case is “literally ten days ago”) there were serving university professors taking part in the protest, and the administration was all but issuing press releases cheering them on…Report
I think kids these days are always to some degree going to be kids these days.
The more important criticism is of adults these days. Specifically adults these days with administrative and teaching roles in ivies and SLACs. Their failures are the root cause.Report
Exactly – everything was fun and games when the protests were purely symbolic because everybody on campus already agreed (or otherwise had long ago learned to keep their mouths shut). But oops, who could’ve predicted that that might not always be the case going forward.Report
As an oldster who lived the tail end of the campus unrest in the late 1960s and early 1970s, I look forward to the current students’ grandparents getting on TV to say “Back in the day we had no catering and to keep warm we had to burn down the ROTC building.”Report
I bet Twitter already has an abundance of tweets along those lines. Going on TV is old school.Report
Police clear pro-Palestinian protesters from Columbia University’s Hamilton Hall.
Report
At UCLA, Pro-Palestinian and Pro-Israel protestors have gotten into a fight.Report
The security guards fled and the cops refused to come on campus.
“Oh. Is that what police are for?”Report
Cops can’t go on campus unless they’re invited by the administration.
We won’t come unless you invite us and say in writing you understand we’re going to bust heads.Report
Proving once again that the GOP is happy to oppose restrictions only on some rights, the Texas and Kansas AGs are suing the Biden Administration for trying to close the gun show loophole:
Mind you, the GOP is quite happy to impose significant and unnecessary restrictions on voting rights and a Woman’s right to control her own body.
https://www.keranews.org/news/2024-05-01/texas-attorney-general-ken-paxton-seeks-to-block-gun-show-loophole-closure-days-before-allen-mass-shooting-anniversaryReport
Yay Constitution!Report
AH yes – restricting sale is unconstitutional. Except of course it’s not what with all the FFL holders doing business all across the country.Report
I dunno. I’m probably as much of a firearm enthusiast as anyone on OT and I’ve never understood the defense of the private sale thing. People with felonies or who have been institutionalized shouldn’t be able to get a gun from anyone.Report
On paper, I’d agree, but I don’t see a way it can mean anything practical without gun registration.Report
I don’t see why that would be the case. You’d just have to do transfers through an FFL. I’ve done many of these and there’s always a small fee but I have never felt infringed upon by some dude calling NICS and giving me a number for the state check.Report
Does the current FFL system require a gun registry? No? How is this any different?
And frankly – there was a gun registry in the US early on after this was ratified. It was set up to keep tabs on the Royalists with muskets because of a belief they would rebel. It didn’t result in mass arrests or infringement of newly described rights – which makes me wonder why you think closing the gun show loophole would.Report
I am not in favor of a registry regardless.
However I also don’t see any legitimate reason to have exceptions on background checks. Maybe there was a time where that could be allowed in certain circumstances but not anymore.Report
Hillel educational director and his co-chair at NE quits the school’s anti-Semitism committee because they weren’t acting in good faith. Even before the Israel-Hamas War, Jews have pointed out that the the Intersectional Left is really bad at dealing with anti-Semitism and doesn’t get it in the same way they get other hatreds. This observation has only grown more prominent after the Israel-Hamas War. An Israeli commentator, and somebody who is very critical of Israeli policy towards the Palestinians and Israeli Arabs, points out that a lot of the current rhetoric sounds like wanting to do a CTRL+Z on Israel and Jews just can’t ignore it and let it be.
https://twitter.com/GSDeutch/status/1785773312087396831?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1785773312087396831%7Ctwgr%5Ecac696669e02248655301f0fd50c41b46cbe8c21%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fdisqus.com%2Fembed%2Fcomments%2F%3Fbase%3Ddefaultf%3Dlawyersgunsmoneyblog-comt_i%3D14123620https3A2F2Fwww.lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com2F3Fp3D141236t_u%3Dhttps3A2F2Fwww.lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com2F20242F052Fcontagiont_e%3DContagiont_d%3DContagion20-20Lawyers2C20Guns202620Moneyt_t%3DContagions_o%3Ddescversion%3D006bbc905574fc5153c7814eb2dc65a8Report
YouTuber Phil Edwards had a very interesting video on what really happened when Mr. Rodgers testified at the Senate. It turns out that the “mean” Senator he confronted was really a big Liberal Democratic supporter of PBS named John Pastore who adopted the hostile stance to make Mr. Rodgers look really good. It was a dance rather than a conflict:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ODlErshr_Ic&t=894sReport
Homicide Rap For Tesla Driver On Autopilot
https://www.thesmokinggun.com/documents/crime/tesla-homicide-charge-729630
About time.
Autopilot has been clearly demonstrated as not ready for prime time. Using it and not paying attention, which pretty much removes it’s utility, is hazardous to the driver and every car/bike/person around him.Report
If the IDF doesn’t know where its precision guided munitions are landing, that’s one problem. If they do – and killing children is not a problem for them, that’s another problem.
https://www.cnn.com/2024/05/02/middleeast/israeli-precision-guided-munition-maghazi-deaths-intl/index.htmlReport
Republicans in Texas: “We refuse to comply with Title IX!! We defy the corrupt and unjust authority of the government!”
Also Republicans in Texas: “How dare Austin refuse to respect mah authoriteh!”Report
Turkey Confirms All Trade Halt With Israel Over War in Gaza
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-05-02/turkey-halts-all-trade-with-israel-officials
Move expands earlier restriction on exports to Israel
Trade between the two countries was worth $6.8 billion in 2023Report
This was a *VERY* interesting speech. Now, where I’m coming from is somewhere around “I don’t agree with the whole antizionism project (but I see where they’re coming from)”. Like, in the whole “Israel vs. Palestine” thing, I am pro-Israel but I don’t see the pro-Palestine folks (or most of them, anyway) having *WRONG* values. They’re mostly putting emphasis on different ones.
So I watched this clip:
And the first thing I thought of? Nietzsche’s Genealogy of Morals:
But the guy couldn’t see where others were coming from.
“We instilled so much morality in these children! Why are they turning against us?”
The fact that it seems it never even occurred to him to ask “maybe we’re the problem?” is weird. Like, I’m not saying that he should have agreed with them!
But he hasn’t even wrestled with the question.
And that’s going to destroy his corner of what he loves so much. It’s going to cause it to crumble to the ground.Report