Agree with Andrew that this right here is the crux:
"The evidence we have coming out of the Afghanistan conflict is the bedrock principle of American defense, the elected civilian control and oversight of a professional military, has become just one more unmanageable, unaccountable, and untouchable branch of bloated bureaucratic government by the design of the people within and benefiting from it."
Basically, the military wants/needs a low risk proving ground for career advancement, new tech, and post-career opportunities selling new tech for low risk proving ground escapades that don't further national interests. The amount of money sloshing around DoD procurement is stupendous.
What surprises me a little is Biden agreeing to be a fall-guy. I mean, all he has to do to call the "Anonymous Top Pentagon officials'" bluff of leaking that Biden screwed the pooch is to kill the pooch by firing them.
But, at the end of the day, Biden isn't interested in this project... as Andrew said nicely, it's in his DNA to want to 'drive the machine' rather than fix it. There's no surprise there... unless the "Anonymous Officials" over-play their hand.
... as a side note, I don't have Health Care accounts any more... but over the past 20-yrs I've put a few tech contracts in place for health care accounts in MD. Would be funny if one of your worst contracts is one I negotiated. :-)
Checks out... their book group name is Sketchy Hired Guns.
But yeah, it's the weirdest thing... like my wife will come back and say that Sally works two states over for 48-hrs straight on Tues/Weds. Doesn't even go home, sleeps at the hospital and gets crazy overtime hours. Then she'll stop doing that after, say, 8 months - because, you know, 48-hrs two states over. Then 6 months after that she's got a new gig.
Weird too because even our little town has a brand new hospital not to mention the big hospitals in each county within 20 min drive. As I say, some sort of weird incentives going on from what I can tell on the outside.
I don't know much about the business/labor dynamics of nursing... but in our little town/community there are a lot of Nurses who regularly drop out of the employment pool because they aren't happy with the state of nursing. Feels like covid is exacerbating some underlying problems, making them worse, which then creates a bit of a spiral as nurses opt out.
Which is just to say, making an example of Nurses por l'autres is not the place to start... maybe at the end when things are heading for a soft landing it would be possible to address the underlying issues and look at vaccination policies en masse.
Well sure... but an *additional* $200? Or wrap it in a black plastic bag with lots of duct tape and carry it on for free? I mean, obviously you carry it on.
I think I just saw a video of Austrlian police shooting (rubber?) bullets at retreating protestors.
So, good points about filming.
However, one of the things I'm noting in this post-journalism world is that I'm not sure what the video I just saw was about... Just now? Last week? Once upon a time at a different protest not about Covid? I don't know or trust the source... videos come out all the time and are edited... not to mention deep-fakes (which I think will feature prominently in upcoming elections)... but then who are the curators and who's curating the curators?
What if the next Reichstag fire is a fake video? Or a consortium of fake videos?
Not exactly gainsaying filming things... but I've also seen things on video that weren't entirely what the video led us to believe.
Interesting, first I've seen that... wonder if it's too clever by half in that once you have to pay for it anyway, then you pay the extra to avoid the risk/hassle of bag-check. That is, the incentives are too soft. But might help around the margins I wonder?
But, we all know why they don't do this... it's so they can compete on the fare alone... then pile on the fees, plus they are selling the cargo space below, so they don't *really* want bags there - not for free anyhow.
So, if you think like an airline, everything is working as intended... how else are you going to get that f*ing transmission you inherited from Uncle Ed across country for $199?
Back when I flew a lot (you know when) we basically had random boarding by group.
Boarding hasn't been done dogmatically back-to-front in ages.
Admittedly, the priority group (after 1st - which doesn't take long to board at all) is sometimes clustered in some "business class" seats... but even then the boarding was fine. I'm usually in group 2 and often have plain coach seats, so its still whole-plane random (with a slight positional bias).
Basically the thing the video says at the very beginning is *the* boarding problem... bags. And the bag problem becomes much bigger as the boarding # increases. I and my fellow 1s and 2s usually travel with a bag that fits under our seat (I've done 1-wk corporate meetings with an under seat bag)... by the time group 5 is boarding, we're dealing with Sea Chests disguised as back-packs, furniture, and engine transmissions.
Speed up boarding? Charge for overhead carry-on... instead it is the opposite. We charge to stow your bags ahead of time, but make it free to try to carry as much as possible into the cabin.
So... if the goal is really fast seating (it isn't)... then you pay extra to take your bag with you. Problem solved.
Yeah... masks probably do reduce spread, but not how we're using them now. We were in your fine state over the weekend and everyone was very good at wearing their masks to their tables and to go potty... but for the other 2-3 hours we were dining? No masks for anyone -- well, except the staff -- but, you know.
This isn't pandemic protocol, this is pure theater.
And the fascinating blind-spot on 'gruelling' farm work no-one will do is the weird Liberal/Conservative policy blend that quite openly seeks to exploit labor, collude on processing, and explicitly pay corporations $Bs to keep competition out by artificially lowering food prices.
Cheap food is the policy goal... exploiting immigrants by lying about artificially deflated labor costs is the strangest liberal blindspot there ever has been.
Not really sure where that stat is coming from... State Dept. says:
"Since the passage of the Refugee Act in 1980, which incorporated this definition of refugee into the INA, the United States has admitted more than 3.1 million refugees."
If there are indeed 11M additional who are un-admitted/processed then definitionally asylum means immigration.
But either way, I'm not sure this is much of a gotcha... so much as a reason why we're operating under a bureaucratic regime that sees asylum as an Immigration+ regime. And my position is that Immigration+ muddies the water for asylum.
Further, fixing a system always requires accounting for the 'facts on the ground' as part of the fix. Like, first, stop digging... then look to get out of the hole... then fill the hole. No need to bury the workers.
Right... this is one of those things where a solid definition with broad support would be a step in building some trust in the process.
To be sure there would be a contingent whose definition would be too narrow, but at the moment the definitions are mostly managed by people who are vested in a broad definition of asylum.
Ideally we'd have a policy of asylum that is neither too broad nor to narrow... just like we should have an immigration policy that is neither too broad nor too narrow - which changes according to circumstances, etc.
Alas, there are no incentives for prudence, only for maximizing your interests and minimizing the interests of the opposition.
At some point I think Koz is just playing a Product Placement game... like if he just says vote republican without any reason or context it might just work. Koz being Koz. I've been Kozzed.
Sir, some of my very best friends are Fed Consulting Contractors... and your insinuation that their power points are not worth the millions they cost is a little bit off-putting.
I haven't committed to really digging in to the $3.5T one until Kyrsten Sinema tells me I should... so no idea what its all about.
Sure... but that only makes the Left's bluff more interesting.
Are they really willing to tank 70% of $1.5T 'bird-in-the-hand' non-infrastructure goodies for the other $3.5T Legislative-Agenda-Masquerading-as-Budget-Reconciliation?
Prob no... but I'd be impressed if they did.
... in that sort of 'sunova... they did shoot the goose after all' sort of way.
From a pure governance perspective... the evolution of the filibuster should be unwound... or trashed.
1. Go back to single legislative thread (can't remember technical term) for Senate.
2. Filibuster is only delay/awareness issue - a'la requirement to hold the floor because, see #1
3. If neither 1 nor 2 are possible, then cloture is already dead and I submit the filibuster is too owing to unintended consequence of ending 1 & 2. A sort of Chesterton's gate parable in action.
I'm not advocating this for any particular agenda, but because we've doinked our self-governance... and sometimes the only remedy to legislative constipation is an enema and what follows.
On “The DoD, CYA, And The “Accountability For Afghanistan” Blame Game”
Agree with Andrew that this right here is the crux:
"The evidence we have coming out of the Afghanistan conflict is the bedrock principle of American defense, the elected civilian control and oversight of a professional military, has become just one more unmanageable, unaccountable, and untouchable branch of bloated bureaucratic government by the design of the people within and benefiting from it."
Basically, the military wants/needs a low risk proving ground for career advancement, new tech, and post-career opportunities selling new tech for low risk proving ground escapades that don't further national interests. The amount of money sloshing around DoD procurement is stupendous.
"
Yep.
What surprises me a little is Biden agreeing to be a fall-guy. I mean, all he has to do to call the "Anonymous Top Pentagon officials'" bluff of leaking that Biden screwed the pooch is to kill the pooch by firing them.
But, at the end of the day, Biden isn't interested in this project... as Andrew said nicely, it's in his DNA to want to 'drive the machine' rather than fix it. There's no surprise there... unless the "Anonymous Officials" over-play their hand.
On “New York City Schools Mandatory Vaccinations Temporarily Halted”
... as a side note, I don't have Health Care accounts any more... but over the past 20-yrs I've put a few tech contracts in place for health care accounts in MD. Would be funny if one of your worst contracts is one I negotiated. :-)
"
Checks out... their book group name is Sketchy Hired Guns.
But yeah, it's the weirdest thing... like my wife will come back and say that Sally works two states over for 48-hrs straight on Tues/Weds. Doesn't even go home, sleeps at the hospital and gets crazy overtime hours. Then she'll stop doing that after, say, 8 months - because, you know, 48-hrs two states over. Then 6 months after that she's got a new gig.
Weird too because even our little town has a brand new hospital not to mention the big hospitals in each county within 20 min drive. As I say, some sort of weird incentives going on from what I can tell on the outside.
"
I don't know much about the business/labor dynamics of nursing... but in our little town/community there are a lot of Nurses who regularly drop out of the employment pool because they aren't happy with the state of nursing. Feels like covid is exacerbating some underlying problems, making them worse, which then creates a bit of a spiral as nurses opt out.
Which is just to say, making an example of Nurses por l'autres is not the place to start... maybe at the end when things are heading for a soft landing it would be possible to address the underlying issues and look at vaccination policies en masse.
On “Congress To Vote On Things Monday On Capitol Hill, YMMV”
Quite true, good chance it would go bankrupt or be bought by the better run government in its marketspace.
Alas, we take the good with the bad when it comes to government and finances.
On “Weekend Plans Post: How to Make a Truly Decadent Chicken Caesar Salad”
THEN MOAR
On “Immigration Policy That Ain’t Got The Good Sense God Gave A Horse”
So smaller than I thought?
"
I think almost everyone is in Group #2... But there's no agreement on what it means for "an Immigration Policy that serves National Interests."
Group #1, small subset of Republicans, smaller subset of Dems
Group #3, small subset of Democrats, smaller subset of Republicans
The fact that we can't agree on what #2 means is basically reverse-demagogued into the other team being #1 or #3.
On “We Are All Journalists Now”
I hear you... took me a while to figure this Trump Deep fake out... but I work for a silicon valley company... so, I haz the skills.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iC1-FOwDtV0
On “The Better Boarding Method Airlines Won’t Use”
Well sure... but an *additional* $200? Or wrap it in a black plastic bag with lots of duct tape and carry it on for free? I mean, obviously you carry it on.
On “We Are All Journalists Now”
I think I just saw a video of Austrlian police shooting (rubber?) bullets at retreating protestors.
So, good points about filming.
However, one of the things I'm noting in this post-journalism world is that I'm not sure what the video I just saw was about... Just now? Last week? Once upon a time at a different protest not about Covid? I don't know or trust the source... videos come out all the time and are edited... not to mention deep-fakes (which I think will feature prominently in upcoming elections)... but then who are the curators and who's curating the curators?
What if the next Reichstag fire is a fake video? Or a consortium of fake videos?
Not exactly gainsaying filming things... but I've also seen things on video that weren't entirely what the video led us to believe.
On “The Better Boarding Method Airlines Won’t Use”
For fun, just watch the stewards. Each flight they die a little inside until all that is left is a plaster smile and eyes that could slice granite.
"
Interesting, first I've seen that... wonder if it's too clever by half in that once you have to pay for it anyway, then you pay the extra to avoid the risk/hassle of bag-check. That is, the incentives are too soft. But might help around the margins I wonder?
But, we all know why they don't do this... it's so they can compete on the fare alone... then pile on the fees, plus they are selling the cargo space below, so they don't *really* want bags there - not for free anyhow.
So, if you think like an airline, everything is working as intended... how else are you going to get that f*ing transmission you inherited from Uncle Ed across country for $199?
"
Back when I flew a lot (you know when) we basically had random boarding by group.
Boarding hasn't been done dogmatically back-to-front in ages.
Admittedly, the priority group (after 1st - which doesn't take long to board at all) is sometimes clustered in some "business class" seats... but even then the boarding was fine. I'm usually in group 2 and often have plain coach seats, so its still whole-plane random (with a slight positional bias).
Basically the thing the video says at the very beginning is *the* boarding problem... bags. And the bag problem becomes much bigger as the boarding # increases. I and my fellow 1s and 2s usually travel with a bag that fits under our seat (I've done 1-wk corporate meetings with an under seat bag)... by the time group 5 is boarding, we're dealing with Sea Chests disguised as back-packs, furniture, and engine transmissions.
Speed up boarding? Charge for overhead carry-on... instead it is the opposite. We charge to stow your bags ahead of time, but make it free to try to carry as much as possible into the cabin.
So... if the goal is really fast seating (it isn't)... then you pay extra to take your bag with you. Problem solved.
On “Listed: AOC, The Met Gala, and That Dress”
Yeah... masks probably do reduce spread, but not how we're using them now. We were in your fine state over the weekend and everyone was very good at wearing their masks to their tables and to go potty... but for the other 2-3 hours we were dining? No masks for anyone -- well, except the staff -- but, you know.
This isn't pandemic protocol, this is pure theater.
The vaccines work... get vaccinated.
On “Parliamentarian Rules “Dreamers” Fix Can’t Be Done Through Reconciliation: Read It For Yourself”
Exactly.
And the fascinating blind-spot on 'gruelling' farm work no-one will do is the weird Liberal/Conservative policy blend that quite openly seeks to exploit labor, collude on processing, and explicitly pay corporations $Bs to keep competition out by artificially lowering food prices.
Cheap food is the policy goal... exploiting immigrants by lying about artificially deflated labor costs is the strangest liberal blindspot there ever has been.
"
Not really sure where that stat is coming from... State Dept. says:
"Since the passage of the Refugee Act in 1980, which incorporated this definition of refugee into the INA, the United States has admitted more than 3.1 million refugees."
If there are indeed 11M additional who are un-admitted/processed then definitionally asylum means immigration.
But either way, I'm not sure this is much of a gotcha... so much as a reason why we're operating under a bureaucratic regime that sees asylum as an Immigration+ regime. And my position is that Immigration+ muddies the water for asylum.
Further, fixing a system always requires accounting for the 'facts on the ground' as part of the fix. Like, first, stop digging... then look to get out of the hole... then fill the hole. No need to bury the workers.
"
Right... this is one of those things where a solid definition with broad support would be a step in building some trust in the process.
To be sure there would be a contingent whose definition would be too narrow, but at the moment the definitions are mostly managed by people who are vested in a broad definition of asylum.
Ideally we'd have a policy of asylum that is neither too broad nor to narrow... just like we should have an immigration policy that is neither too broad nor too narrow - which changes according to circumstances, etc.
Alas, there are no incentives for prudence, only for maximizing your interests and minimizing the interests of the opposition.
On “Heavenly! Schubert’s 5th Symphony”
That's a good way to put it... sometimes I think Schubert is did Mozart better than Mozart... but I'm not a Mozart fan.
On “Parliamentarian Rules “Dreamers” Fix Can’t Be Done Through Reconciliation: Read It For Yourself”
At some point I think Koz is just playing a Product Placement game... like if he just says vote republican without any reason or context it might just work. Koz being Koz. I've been Kozzed.
"
Sir, some of my very best friends are Fed Consulting Contractors... and your insinuation that their power points are not worth the millions they cost is a little bit off-putting.
I haven't committed to really digging in to the $3.5T one until Kyrsten Sinema tells me I should... so no idea what its all about.
"
Sure... but that only makes the Left's bluff more interesting.
Are they really willing to tank 70% of $1.5T 'bird-in-the-hand' non-infrastructure goodies for the other $3.5T Legislative-Agenda-Masquerading-as-Budget-Reconciliation?
Prob no... but I'd be impressed if they did.
... in that sort of 'sunova... they did shoot the goose after all' sort of way.
"
So you think the Left's bluff that 49 Reps will tank the $1.5T infrastructure bill will be called and won?
"
From a pure governance perspective... the evolution of the filibuster should be unwound... or trashed.
1. Go back to single legislative thread (can't remember technical term) for Senate.
2. Filibuster is only delay/awareness issue - a'la requirement to hold the floor because, see #1
3. If neither 1 nor 2 are possible, then cloture is already dead and I submit the filibuster is too owing to unintended consequence of ending 1 & 2. A sort of Chesterton's gate parable in action.
I'm not advocating this for any particular agenda, but because we've doinked our self-governance... and sometimes the only remedy to legislative constipation is an enema and what follows.