It's not Hamas who's afraid of Trump. Hamas had agreed to basically this deal in May, and at least 2 other times. What's more, Hamas was able to get some last minute concessions that hadn't been in the May Biden deal that they had, again, already agreed to. It is Israel who is afraid of Trump. .
The best tweet I saw about this was something like, "If the Democrats had known losing the election would result in a ceasefire, they'd have tried harder to win it."
Or north. with California's farming, Silicon Valley, and shipping, Texas' oil and tech, Colorado's tourism, Kansas' wheat, Utah's Mormons, I mean tourism, and whatever it is that happens in Phoenix to draw so many people there, the economy of Mexico changes dramatically overnight.
My father is an older Boomer ('49). When his mother died, we found his old mop top wig in the attic, from when he was in a Beatles cover band in 1963-64. So it goes without saying that I grew up with the Beatles playing a lot.
I remember watching a late night TV preacher, many, many years ago, when he said he was a huge fan of the Beatles stuff, but only their early work, not their later godless hippie music, and though this was before the era of the "hot take," I still consider that to be the hottest Beatles take I've ever heard. I mean, if someone says they just don't like them, I get it, à chacun son goût, but to just love the teeny bopper stuff? That's going too far.
I know a lot of young people don't know the Beatles at all, and that doesn't bother me; there's a ton of good music out there, more ever year, and there's only so much time in the day. And while the early Beatles might have been a mere pop music historical blip had they not moved on to doing something very different a couple years later, I'd agree with you, but what they did from Revolver on was genuinely interesting, musically and culturally, even if the careers of 3 of the 4 produced a bunch of slop after the band broke up (I think Harrison did some interesting post-Beatles stuff, especially early in his solo career, but not interesting enough for me to still listen to it in 2024). Sometimes the whole really is greater than the sum of its parts.
Marya has been blatantly antisemetic on Twitter since the start of the genocide (possibly earlier, but I don't think I'd ever heard of her before 10/7), and I'm glad she's facing the consequences for it.
I also hate this song, mostly because it's just a bad song (as are almost all of his post-Beatles songs), but that liberals love it so much has always felt like evidence for my theory of American liberalism: liberals love a radical in the distant past and a utopia in the distant future, but prefer the status quo with maybe some minor tinkering here and there, nothing structural mind you, no boat rocking, in the present.
Had to cut the fire budget to fund the cops (who saw over $100 million added to their budget in the same budget cycle), because likely the same folks upset that she cut the fire budget have been screaming for more cops.
You have two choices: live in a police state, or fund important city services. Pretty much everyone seems to be choosing the former these days. Los Angeles certainly did.
Is the argument that no elected official should ever go anywhere because disasters could happen at any moment, or that she hasn't come back quickly enough?
I also owned Grace on CD. Here's my true story for the album/song:
In 2008, I was going through a painful breakup of a 2+-year relationship, and the last night we spent together, angry, hurt, but not wanting to leave, was at her place, with my CD playing in the background as the sort of soundtrack to the conversation, and silence, that ended it. When I left, silently, in the morning, I couldn't bring myself to grab the CD. I haven't listened to the album since, and avoid that version of the song as much as possible, even 16 years later.
There is no one system that will fix everything. We know that for the majority of people experiencing homelessness, some variety of permanent supportive housing, which includes social workers, mental health professionals, treatment for drug and alcohol abuse, help with jobs/careers, etc., works. It's very expensive, though, and the permanent part is important: for most people it doesn't meant anything like forever, but it does mean longer than we and they probably think is necessary.
Some other people require more intense mental health care or substance abuse treatment before they can get to a point at which housing makes sense, and some of these people probably need to be institutionalized, likely against their will. But again, this group is a small percentage of the overall homeless population, and even a small percentage of the overall mentally ill homeless population (heard someone who works with people experiencing homelessness once say, "If a person is not mentally or a substance abuser when they become homeless, they will be within a few weeks."). With our current mental health system, at least, I see no way of avoiding this. But involuntary institutionalization is best used as a scalpel, not a sledgehammer.
There is yet a third option, which rejects the involuntary commitment of people experiencing homelessness but which recognizes that something should be done, both to make transit safer (which isn't simply a matter of getting rid of the homeless) and to help people experiencing homelessness get off the streets, get off drugs, get treated for mental illness, etc. Since this third position, or really set of positions, doesn't score easy political points, it is largely ignored.
A small percentage of violent crime, and a slightly larger but still very small percentage of property crime, is committed by people experiencing homelessness. We're currently in the midst of a moral panic in the U.S. over homelessness, for a variety of reasons, most of which have little to do with the actual experience of people in the world.
This is not to say that there aren't very real issues with homelessness, but if we're choosing indefinite, involuntary commitment, then we've chosen not to address those issues, in favor of merely sweeping them under a rug, with a cruel broom.
*Comment archive for non-registered commenters assembled by email address as provided.
On “The Shakedown”
So basically the libertarian experience in the 90s/Aughts?
On “Reports: Isreal and Hamas Agree To Cease-fire Deal”
It's not Hamas who's afraid of Trump. Hamas had agreed to basically this deal in May, and at least 2 other times. What's more, Hamas was able to get some last minute concessions that hadn't been in the May Biden deal that they had, again, already agreed to. It is Israel who is afraid of Trump. .
The best tweet I saw about this was something like, "If the Democrats had known losing the election would result in a ceasefire, they'd have tried harder to win it."
On “No Fighting In the War Room: Pete Hegseth Confirmation Hearing Livestream Edition”
If we're in a two front war against Russia and China, I suspect we'll have much bigger problems.
On “Open Mic for the week of 1/13/2025”
Or north. with California's farming, Silicon Valley, and shipping, Texas' oil and tech, Colorado's tourism, Kansas' wheat, Utah's Mormons, I mean tourism, and whatever it is that happens in Phoenix to draw so many people there, the economy of Mexico changes dramatically overnight.
"
Make Texas Mexico Again!*
*Also everything taken in the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo.
On “Trump Sentenced to Unconditional Discharge in NY Criminal Case”
Parli italiano? No lo sapevo.
On “Open Mic for the week of 1/6/2025”
My father is an older Boomer ('49). When his mother died, we found his old mop top wig in the attic, from when he was in a Beatles cover band in 1963-64. So it goes without saying that I grew up with the Beatles playing a lot.
"
I like Paul too (I meant Paul as the 1 of 4), but yeah, I like George until he starts singing about money.
"
I remember watching a late night TV preacher, many, many years ago, when he said he was a huge fan of the Beatles stuff, but only their early work, not their later godless hippie music, and though this was before the era of the "hot take," I still consider that to be the hottest Beatles take I've ever heard. I mean, if someone says they just don't like them, I get it, à chacun son goût, but to just love the teeny bopper stuff? That's going too far.
"
I know a lot of young people don't know the Beatles at all, and that doesn't bother me; there's a ton of good music out there, more ever year, and there's only so much time in the day. And while the early Beatles might have been a mere pop music historical blip had they not moved on to doing something very different a couple years later, I'd agree with you, but what they did from Revolver on was genuinely interesting, musically and culturally, even if the careers of 3 of the 4 produced a bunch of slop after the band broke up (I think Harrison did some interesting post-Beatles stuff, especially early in his solo career, but not interesting enough for me to still listen to it in 2024). Sometimes the whole really is greater than the sum of its parts.
"
Marya has been blatantly antisemetic on Twitter since the start of the genocide (possibly earlier, but I don't think I'd ever heard of her before 10/7), and I'm glad she's facing the consequences for it.
"
Remember when some sites used to scramble really offensive comments? I wonder if anyone at OT still has that comment scrambler.
And man, I hope Schilling doesn't see this!
"
I'm sure this went down exactly the way the cops said, as all police shootings do.
"
I also hate this song, mostly because it's just a bad song (as are almost all of his post-Beatles songs), but that liberals love it so much has always felt like evidence for my theory of American liberalism: liberals love a radical in the distant past and a utopia in the distant future, but prefer the status quo with maybe some minor tinkering here and there, nothing structural mind you, no boat rocking, in the present.
On “A Society of Shame Attached to Everything”
I like the term "lactivists." They were similarly brutal to my partner.
On “Multiple Wildfires Rip Through Los Angeles Amid Historic Winds”
They didn't just cut the fire budget. The police require sacrifices from everyone.
"
Had to cut the fire budget to fund the cops (who saw over $100 million added to their budget in the same budget cycle), because likely the same folks upset that she cut the fire budget have been screaming for more cops.
You have two choices: live in a police state, or fund important city services. Pretty much everyone seems to be choosing the former these days. Los Angeles certainly did.
"
Is the argument that no elected official should ever go anywhere because disasters could happen at any moment, or that she hasn't come back quickly enough?
On “Weekend Plans Post: Leonard Cohen”
I also owned Grace on CD. Here's my true story for the album/song:
In 2008, I was going through a painful breakup of a 2+-year relationship, and the last night we spent together, angry, hurt, but not wanting to leave, was at her place, with my CD playing in the background as the sort of soundtrack to the conversation, and silence, that ended it. When I left, silently, in the morning, I couldn't bring myself to grab the CD. I haven't listened to the album since, and avoid that version of the song as much as possible, even 16 years later.
"
Though Grace peaked in the early Aughts, and Buckley's version of the song reached its height more than a decade after his death, too.
I do remember hearing the Buckley version a lot in like 2002/2003, though I don't remember where.
"
Interestingly, it was not Wainwright's cover in the film, but John Cale's. Wainwright's was on the official soundtrack.
On “Re-Open the Asylums: A New Take”
Surely there will be no disagreeents about what the biggest problems are and how to resolve them.
"
There is no one system that will fix everything. We know that for the majority of people experiencing homelessness, some variety of permanent supportive housing, which includes social workers, mental health professionals, treatment for drug and alcohol abuse, help with jobs/careers, etc., works. It's very expensive, though, and the permanent part is important: for most people it doesn't meant anything like forever, but it does mean longer than we and they probably think is necessary.
Some other people require more intense mental health care or substance abuse treatment before they can get to a point at which housing makes sense, and some of these people probably need to be institutionalized, likely against their will. But again, this group is a small percentage of the overall homeless population, and even a small percentage of the overall mentally ill homeless population (heard someone who works with people experiencing homelessness once say, "If a person is not mentally or a substance abuser when they become homeless, they will be within a few weeks."). With our current mental health system, at least, I see no way of avoiding this. But involuntary institutionalization is best used as a scalpel, not a sledgehammer.
"
There is yet a third option, which rejects the involuntary commitment of people experiencing homelessness but which recognizes that something should be done, both to make transit safer (which isn't simply a matter of getting rid of the homeless) and to help people experiencing homelessness get off the streets, get off drugs, get treated for mental illness, etc. Since this third position, or really set of positions, doesn't score easy political points, it is largely ignored.
"
A small percentage of violent crime, and a slightly larger but still very small percentage of property crime, is committed by people experiencing homelessness. We're currently in the midst of a moral panic in the U.S. over homelessness, for a variety of reasons, most of which have little to do with the actual experience of people in the world.
This is not to say that there aren't very real issues with homelessness, but if we're choosing indefinite, involuntary commitment, then we've chosen not to address those issues, in favor of merely sweeping them under a rug, with a cruel broom.
*Comment archive for non-registered commenters assembled by email address as provided.