I was about half way through this article and thinking to myself “He’s doing a decent job” but then you whirled into the present-day critiques, particularly of Biden, and went off the rails. It was reassuring in a way, especially as you did it primarily to try and present the Administrations actions as somehow equivalent to the capering of the right wing quislings in Congress.
The Russians have been screaming at the top of their lungs and threatening since before they even began their invasion. When dealing with a seemingly deranged actor waving nuclear weapons around- especially when you also have to herd a giant flock of fractious allied cats, I mean nation states, along with you a certain degree of caution is necessary. The Biden admin has performed an incredible feat welding together the alliance behind Ukraine that it has gathered. They’ve also slowly, and relentlessly, backed Putin away from his endless threats revealing each paper tiger option and Potemkin red line for the frauds they are without managing to stumble across the actual red lines that would trigger a deadly escalation. That you think it’s been too slow and hesitate strikes me as merely Captain Hindsight posturing. That you’d suggest that it is being done either to bleed the Russians or to somehow use it for electoral advantage is conspiratorial for the former and ludicrously politically tin eared and risibly cynical for the latter.
Good thoughts in general David. A couple of my own.
-The media’s nonsensical media alignment (which is distinct from conservative or, a very small number of, liberal leaning media institutions and encompasses most major media that aren’t in the GOP Prada wheelhouse) is on especially glaring display when they talk about this. If McCarthy were to schedule a vote for the Senate bills that are on offer (which adhere to the framework the GOP, including McCarthy, previously agreed to during the debt limit showdown) then the budget would pass easily with all Democratic congressfolk and a handful of Republican ones voting for it. McCarthy has the votes, the only dysfunction is in that the GOP has its own internal rules that prevent him from scheduling one. The media acts like this is some kind of fact of political nature rather than a very specific choice the GOP has made. As usual with one unlovable but typical centrist liberal party and one deranged zombie rump party the media is utterly desperate to cast the two as, somehow, equivalent or near parity when it is nowhere near the case.
-I’m assuming McCarthy’s plan of play is to drive the shutdown into a ditch and suffer it until the livid elderly right-wing voters stop getting their SS checks and force the wingnuts into backing down. Presumably he then gets to remain Speaker and will then turn his attention to, somehow, persuading the electorate that his posse of idiots should remain in charge of the house majority. Has there been a more pitiful and venal Speaker in recent history? Paul Ryan at least believed in -something- (even if it was just gutting safety nets and lavishing money on plutocrats) and Boehner actually got some things done.
-As usual the iron rule of institutions is hard at work. What is good for the wing nuts is bad for both the GOP as a whole, Conservativism as a whole and the country.
I mean, sure, you can theorize that large corporate chains stores in different, often competing, companies are all suddenly investing in the (significant) cost of locking up their inventory and the (significant) inconvenience to employees and customers of same because a collection of nepo babies across all these companies are doing it to (somehow) manipulate share prices. That sounds very conspiratorial to me.
We shall see next month if it's transitory or not but Drum has been pretty good on inflation so far. Though he seems to think the interest rate spikes are going to take full effect later this year and thus fears a significant chance of a recession which is a pretty gloomy perspective.
I'm terrible at reading through comments here but I know I've retorted that more money on the renters side would simply go to landlords unless supply was increased. Likewise more money for "public housing'" would simply be absorbed by existing land owners and regulatory entities producing very few housing units. You have to reform the supply restrictions or you won't get anywhere.
Sweet agnostic jesus, it's like these clowns are running an academic study "what does it take to get a liberal jurisdiction to actively turn on police unions and try to get rid of them."
Lots of peeps round here beat that drum. I certainly do. It's not only a commonly beaten drum but it's a drumbeat that is making headway against the entrenched NIMBY's.
Point of order: I am asserted upthread that it's conspiracy thinking to presume that store closures or physically locking up store inventory and requiring employee help to access it is a corporate scheme instead of a response to shoplifting.
I agreed with Chip that it's likely that the stores fold all kinds of non-shoplifting loss of inventory under the shoplifting category. If we were going, only, off the stuff stores "say" is shoplifting I'd be utterly indifferent to their complaints. But site closures and physically locking up inventory is a very different animal.
On that we are both in agreement. Having been raised in Canada originally, I recall the conservative party there plunging into an abyss when the liberals under Cretchein did a Clinton style co-opting of several of their ideas. In the 90’s and Aughts there were simply alternative parties to fill in for the Conservatives while they flopped around and rediscovered themselves. In the American duopoly there just… isn’t. It’s an older and, in some ways, cruder system.
In normal circumstances I would be entirely sanguine about the matter and would say "Whelp, the kids will figure it out or else the political wilderness will figure it out for them." but, man, the GOP really doesn't look like it's in any state to hold down the fort for a cycle.
But I remain optimistic. Joe wasn't the only moderate in the race. Amy or Pete were relatively fine over all.
To be slightly uncharitable- I don't think our gerentocratic leadership is quite as indispensable as they find it convenient to claim.
Electorally the GOP has far less here than they even had on Clinton in the 90's and the public punished them sharply for impeaching Clinton in the following elections.
Well done Jay, that's really interesting. Unfortunately I'd say they'd have to get the local stuff too. Craigslist and similar level stuff would be perfectly adequate for thieves.
No, I agree that it is likely that near everything that costs companies inventory gets blamed on shoplifting, but the idea they'd impose genuinely costly measures on themselves, like locking up their merch, to advance such a narrative is unambiguously conspiratorial.
On “The Sky Isn’t Falling”
I was about half way through this article and thinking to myself “He’s doing a decent job” but then you whirled into the present-day critiques, particularly of Biden, and went off the rails. It was reassuring in a way, especially as you did it primarily to try and present the Administrations actions as somehow equivalent to the capering of the right wing quislings in Congress.
The Russians have been screaming at the top of their lungs and threatening since before they even began their invasion. When dealing with a seemingly deranged actor waving nuclear weapons around- especially when you also have to herd a giant flock of fractious allied cats, I mean nation states, along with you a certain degree of caution is necessary. The Biden admin has performed an incredible feat welding together the alliance behind Ukraine that it has gathered. They’ve also slowly, and relentlessly, backed Putin away from his endless threats revealing each paper tiger option and Potemkin red line for the frauds they are without managing to stumble across the actual red lines that would trigger a deadly escalation. That you think it’s been too slow and hesitate strikes me as merely Captain Hindsight posturing. That you’d suggest that it is being done either to bleed the Russians or to somehow use it for electoral advantage is conspiratorial for the former and ludicrously politically tin eared and risibly cynical for the latter.
On “Open Mic for the week of 9/18/2023”
Ratt was early 80's rock and I have a very soft spot both for 80's rock and Ratt because it's, like, one of the daddies of that sound.
"
Not to mention Deff Leppard or Ratt!
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A mix of what?
On “Republicans Are Stuck On Shutdowns”
Good thoughts in general David. A couple of my own.
-The media’s nonsensical media alignment (which is distinct from conservative or, a very small number of, liberal leaning media institutions and encompasses most major media that aren’t in the GOP Prada wheelhouse) is on especially glaring display when they talk about this. If McCarthy were to schedule a vote for the Senate bills that are on offer (which adhere to the framework the GOP, including McCarthy, previously agreed to during the debt limit showdown) then the budget would pass easily with all Democratic congressfolk and a handful of Republican ones voting for it. McCarthy has the votes, the only dysfunction is in that the GOP has its own internal rules that prevent him from scheduling one. The media acts like this is some kind of fact of political nature rather than a very specific choice the GOP has made. As usual with one unlovable but typical centrist liberal party and one deranged zombie rump party the media is utterly desperate to cast the two as, somehow, equivalent or near parity when it is nowhere near the case.
-I’m assuming McCarthy’s plan of play is to drive the shutdown into a ditch and suffer it until the livid elderly right-wing voters stop getting their SS checks and force the wingnuts into backing down. Presumably he then gets to remain Speaker and will then turn his attention to, somehow, persuading the electorate that his posse of idiots should remain in charge of the house majority. Has there been a more pitiful and venal Speaker in recent history? Paul Ryan at least believed in -something- (even if it was just gutting safety nets and lavishing money on plutocrats) and Boehner actually got some things done.
-As usual the iron rule of institutions is hard at work. What is good for the wing nuts is bad for both the GOP as a whole, Conservativism as a whole and the country.
On “A Real Problem For Retail? A Shoplifting Q and A”
I mean, sure, you can theorize that large corporate chains stores in different, often competing, companies are all suddenly investing in the (significant) cost of locking up their inventory and the (significant) inconvenience to employees and customers of same because a collection of nepo babies across all these companies are doing it to (somehow) manipulate share prices. That sounds very conspiratorial to me.
On “Open Mic for the week of 9/11/2023”
Funny but wrong!
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You and me both BB!
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Yes, entirely correct, and sometimes the different types of NIMBY's intermingle and code shift. It's a major challenge.
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For sure, concentrated benefits vs diffuse costs and, on top of that, the costs fall on nonvoting, future residents! It's a real pickle.
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We shall see next month if it's transitory or not but Drum has been pretty good on inflation so far. Though he seems to think the interest rate spikes are going to take full effect later this year and thus fears a significant chance of a recession which is a pretty gloomy perspective.
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https://jabberwocking.com/a-tidbit-of-good-news-about-inflation/
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They think they're untouchable- and so far they've remained untouched.
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I'm terrible at reading through comments here but I know I've retorted that more money on the renters side would simply go to landlords unless supply was increased. Likewise more money for "public housing'" would simply be absorbed by existing land owners and regulatory entities producing very few housing units. You have to reform the supply restrictions or you won't get anywhere.
"
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-66803960
Sweet agnostic jesus, it's like these clowns are running an academic study "what does it take to get a liberal jurisdiction to actively turn on police unions and try to get rid of them."
"
Lots of peeps round here beat that drum. I certainly do. It's not only a commonly beaten drum but it's a drumbeat that is making headway against the entrenched NIMBY's.
On “A Real Problem For Retail? A Shoplifting Q and A”
Point of order: I am asserted upthread that it's conspiracy thinking to presume that store closures or physically locking up store inventory and requiring employee help to access it is a corporate scheme instead of a response to shoplifting.
I agreed with Chip that it's likely that the stores fold all kinds of non-shoplifting loss of inventory under the shoplifting category. If we were going, only, off the stuff stores "say" is shoplifting I'd be utterly indifferent to their complaints. But site closures and physically locking up inventory is a very different animal.
On “Kevin McCarthy Goes Fishing”
On that we are both in agreement. Having been raised in Canada originally, I recall the conservative party there plunging into an abyss when the liberals under Cretchein did a Clinton style co-opting of several of their ideas. In the 90’s and Aughts there were simply alternative parties to fill in for the Conservatives while they flopped around and rediscovered themselves. In the American duopoly there just… isn’t. It’s an older and, in some ways, cruder system.
"
In normal circumstances I would be entirely sanguine about the matter and would say "Whelp, the kids will figure it out or else the political wilderness will figure it out for them." but, man, the GOP really doesn't look like it's in any state to hold down the fort for a cycle.
But I remain optimistic. Joe wasn't the only moderate in the race. Amy or Pete were relatively fine over all.
To be slightly uncharitable- I don't think our gerentocratic leadership is quite as indispensable as they find it convenient to claim.
"
Indeed, it'll be odd and interesting to see how long it can go on like this or, alternately, if the Dems degrade into a similar state.
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Electorally the GOP has far less here than they even had on Clinton in the 90's and the public punished them sharply for impeaching Clinton in the following elections.
On “Ignore the Biden-Trump Polls”
Well we are fresh out of August.
On “A Real Problem For Retail? A Shoplifting Q and A”
Well done Jay, that's really interesting. Unfortunately I'd say they'd have to get the local stuff too. Craigslist and similar level stuff would be perfectly adequate for thieves.
"
No, I agree that it is likely that near everything that costs companies inventory gets blamed on shoplifting, but the idea they'd impose genuinely costly measures on themselves, like locking up their merch, to advance such a narrative is unambiguously conspiratorial.
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Possibly, and eBay and everything else too.