Links 3/29/16

Ocean temps predict U.S. heat waves 50 days out, study finds University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (martha r)

Australia’s Great Barrier Reef hit by ‘worst’ bleaching BBC :-(

Here’s the U.S. Earthquake Forecast, Now Including the Quakes We Cause Bloomberg (David L). I thought, per the book Ubiquity, that it is impossible to predict earthquakes and there were fundamental reasons why….

Updategate: latest Microsoft Windows 10 bungle is a giant PR disaster already and could turn out much worse than that Inquirer (Richard Smith). Important.

Theranos Results Could Throw Off Medical Decisions, Study Finds Wall Street Journal. You can put a fork in them. And get a load of the photo of Holmes at the FT. She looks possessed.

China?

Slowing in China: Not Just Economy but Political Resolve WSJ China Real Time Report

The Walking Dead — Chinese Version Forbes

Brazil

Lula attempts to save Rousseff from looming impeachment threat Financial Times

Brazil, like Russia, under attack by Hybrid War RT

Long goodbye of the European Left Politico

Europe on the Brink World Affairs Journal (resilc)

Brexit?

Bank of England risks being caught in Brexit cross-currents Reuters

What Brexit? Tech cash still floods into UK Politico

Ukraine/Russia

No Western White Knight Coming to Ukraine’s Rescue Russia Insider. Chuck L: “‘ Obama’s theory here is simple: Ukraine is a core Russian interest but not an American one, so Russia will always be able to maintain escalatory dominance there.’
So why did Obama let himself be talked into approving Victoria Nuland’s coup d’etat thingie in February, 2014?”

Syrqistan

The US Military: Back on the Battlefield in Iraq Counterpunch (resilc)

The tyranny of Isis terrorism will not always be with us. But history shows that a new militant threat will emerge Guardian. More scaring people who are bad at statistics. You are at vastly more risk getting in a car.

Saudi embassy hired mafiosi to smuggle Turkish PM Erdoğan’s son out of Italy ahead of money laundering charges Boing Boing

Big Brother is Watching You Watch

Google Questions & Unofficial Answers: “Is it true that France and other countries are now demanding the right to censor Google Search Results for everyone, everywhere on Earth? Isn’t this ‘Right To Be Forgotten’ stuff getting out Lauren Weinstein (Chuck L)

FBI has accessed San Bernardino shooter’s phone without Apple’s help Washington Post

Imperial Collapse Watch

The American Imperium in Zombie Mode Global Guerrillas

End of the End of History, Redux n+1 (C Dubbs)

2016

An Open Letter to Trump Voters from His Top Strategist-Turned-Defector
xoJane (Sherry). Today’s must read. Circulate widely. Consistent with my reading, that Trump never intended to win but his ego took over.

How Did the Media Create Donald Trump? – Media Still Doesn’t Get That the Process Began Decades Ago Charles Pierce, Esquire (resilc)

NOMINATING A PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE UNDER ACTIVE FBI INVESTIGATION IS AN INCREDIBLY RISKY GAMBLE Current Affairs (Li)

Why Bernie Sanders Needs the FBI’s Help to Beat Hillary Vice

Clinton campaign: Future debates depend upon Sanders’ tone Politco (martha r). Translation: I’ll debate if you don’t campaign against me.

This may shock you: Hillary Clinton is fundamentally honest Guardian. Phil D: “File under ‘comedy’. The comments below make it clear what regular readers think.”

Media Unimpressed as Sanders Barely Gets Seventy Percent of Vote New Yorker (RR)

Morning Joe Blasts the DNC for ‘Rigging’ Primary Against Bernie Sanders (VIDEO) US Uncut (Annie)

Trump wants to leave U.S. allies in the lurch Reuters. Resilc: “Allied leeches.”

This is your brain on Donald Trump CNN

At least 180K join GOP as Pa. primary nears philly.com (martha r)

Voters Angry at Elections Foul-Ups Disrupt Arizona House Associated Press (martha r)

Arizona Election Official Apologizes for Long Wait at Polls New York Times (martha r)

Stacey Champion video of arrests at AZ State Capitol House of Reps Gallery YouTube. Martha r: ”

Republicans begin to thaw on Obama’s Supreme Court pick BBC

Now There’s Proof: Doctors Who Get Company Cash Tend to Prescribe More Brand-Name Medications Pacific Standard (Chuck L)

Regulatory Laws Based on Phony Health Claims Erode Economic Liberty, But Some Free-Market Conservatives Have a Double Standard for Abortion Atlantic

Has BART’s cutting-edge 1972 technology design come back to haunt it? San Jose Mercury News (Chuck L)

Gunz

Man loses leg shooting rifle at lawn mower packed with explosives Washington Post. Dr. Kevin: “Most recent candidate for the Darwin Awards.”

52 Women Are Shot to Death by Their Husbands and Boyfriends Every Month in the US Nation (resilc)

Saudi loses oil market share to rivals Financial Times

One of Silicon Valley’s Most Esteemed VCs Says Start-ups Are “Mostly Crap” Vanity Fair

Private Equity Executive Accused of Faking Investments New York Times

Class Warfare

Robots are coming for your job Los Angeles Times

There is no Uber economy, there is only Uber Quartz (resilc)

Coddled’ students and their ‘safe spaces’ aren’t the problem, college official says. Bigots are. Washington Post

A $15 Minimum Wage Would Give Almost Half of American Workers a Raise. Is That Crazy? Slate. Ignore the scaremongering. In most parts of the US, that means people are being paid less than a living wage. And the author manages to overlook the fact that corporate profits are at a record share of GDP, nearly double the level Warren Buffet deemed the highest sustainable level in the early 2002, and that shift is due to both of the post 2000 expansions featuring the lowest share of labor income increases (hiring + wage gains) relative to all past post-WWII expansions. In other words, redistribution is overdue and would almost certainly be a plus for growth.

How the Cutthroat Walmart Business Model Is Reshaping American Public Education TruthOut (sherry)

Listen to the Victims of the Free Market Bloomberg (resilc). OMG, McArdle largely makes sense.

Antidote du jour (taken by reader John G):

monarch_butterfly_links

See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.

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157 comments

  1. Juneau

    From the FDA website: “The generic drug manufacturer must prove its drug is the same as (bioequivalent) the brand name drug. For example, after the patient takes the generic drug, the amount of drug in the bloodstream is measured. If the levels of the drug in the bloodstream are the same as the levels found when the brand name product is used, the generic drug will work the same.”

    http://www.fda.gov/drugs/resourcesforyou/consumers/buyingusingmedicinesafely/understandinggenericdrugs/ucm167991.htm

    Any thoughts on how to manipulate that data point (bioequivalence) In private testing centers that are for profit paid by the generic manufacturers? FDA allows about a 20 percent margin of error on bioequivalence. I know which direction I would want to go when I can shave 20 percent off of my active ingredient costs. I want to put 20 percent less drug in the pill if I want to make more money.

    I take lots of generics. But brand is not identical to generic and vice versa. Direct to consumer advertising is a much bigger monster but paying docs is a problem too.

    1. jonah

      Medication efficacy is surprisingly not well understood. A major issue with clinical trials is adherence, meaning that some people will not take their pills for various reasons. However, depending on the trial people may take their pills with greater regularity than the general population. The trials attempt to compensate by having large cohorts in the final stage of testing the medication, but there is always variability that cannot be eliminated even with large cohorts.

      This is relevant to your comment because it can be the case that lower dosages are actually better (or higher dosages are actually better) for a particular drug. No one really knows in many cases.

    2. ChiGal

      As the link indicates, not only is a variance of the active ingredient allowed, but the base ingredient can be entirely different. It is disinformation on the part of the FDA to insist that nonetheless generics are the “bioequivalent” of brand and safe and effective for everyone (this is part of the racket that allows big pharma to continue overcharging for the brand).

      I learned this the hard way when I did a nose-dive when the patent expired on Zoloft which I had taken with good results for years. I didn’t even realize the pharmacy had switched me to a generic but finally I consulted my shrink and we discovered the culprit – the cold-turkey change in formula had thrown me into withdrawal. Then I discovered online that many others had had the same experience, in the case of those taking the drug for panic attacks a return of same, etc.

      My shrink (a past prez of the APA) along with others wrote the FDA a letter re the impact on their patients. With a letter from her I am able to get my insurance that only provides generic to authorize brand, but no discount, so prohibitively expensive (several hundred dollars a month). For some years now I have been getting my meds from Canada (about $60/mo).

      In fairness, I have a friend who does just fine with the generic but for me it was a nightmare.

    3. hunkerdown

      The FDA used to would help. Watson Pharma’s generic bupropion once-a-day formulation was tested only in the 150mg dosage form, not the 300mg, which was offered for sale based upon the 150mg results and which, once tested, was found out of spec and recalled.

      The cost of the active ingredient is usually much less than 1/10 of the price of the finished dose, sometimes less than 1/100. The expenses are in testing — seems the fixed cost of the privilege to distribute would motivate a reasonably faithful supply chain practice in order to protect it.

  2. Mark Alexander

    Re: Windows 10 disaster. I don’t own any Windows machines myself, but whenever I have use such a machine for friends or for my volunteer work, the automatic updates drive me insane, and this isn’t even about the issue mentioned in the article. Both XP and Win7 will suddenly decide to install updates when starting up or shutting down, leaving me with a useless machine for periods that can be hours long sometimes. There may be a way to disable this “feature” but I haven’t found it yet.

    It’s also an annoying feature of the Android tablet that I use for taking payments at craft shows. A couple of times it has maxed out my cell data plan downloading monster updates. There’s no way to turn off this “feature” off without rooting (almost wrote “rotting” there) the device.

    I can’t understand why these OS makers can’t do what Linux distros do: provide a software update tool that warns you that updates are available, letting you take action or not.

    1. Stephen Liss

      I have an ancient version of Android on my phone. It can be configured to download updates only when connected via wifi, i.e. not grabbing data over the phone company network.

      1. Mark Alexander

        The tablet I’m using has this same feature. The problem is that I also have to use an ancient Android phone that supports wifi tethering when I’m at a craft show that has no wifi (very common situation in rural Vermont). When the tablet connects to the phone’s wifi, it says to itself, “Aha, I have a wifi connection now! I’m free to download that 50 MB update!” Then an hour later I get a text from the cell provider saying I’m over the data limit for that month.

        After being burned twice about this, I now make sure the tablet has checked for an update at home just minutes before I take it anywhere.

    2. Llewelyn Moss

      To control updates on Win7 (similar process for WinXP)
      – Go to Control Panel > Windows Update
      – Pick Change Settings
      – Pick “Download updates but let me choose whether to install them”
      (There is also an option to “Check for updates and let me choose whether to download and install them”)

      Win10 should be classified as Spyware. The default info sharing allows M$ to send all sorts of private data back to M$ and its marketing partners. IMO, M$ shares with the National Stasi Agency too, but no one can prove anything of course.

      1. Brooklin Bridge

        On XP you can choose to turn off automatic updates. Not sure if this is also true on W7. This means you are not even bothered unless you actively go to Microsoft. This is the best policy since downloading anything and having it sit around, besides wasting disk space (no longer much of a problem) makes it that much easier for some random “trick” or misplaced “click” or misunderstood question on a seemingly unrelated install, to trigger an unwanted update.

        I keep swearing I’m going to move to Linux, with a vm running xp for old programs, but never get the time, but it WILL happen.

        1. HotFlash

          My dear Ms/Mr Bridge, I totally recommend going to Linux. ASAP. I stalled for yrs but finally made the jump when the old laptop died, new one came with Win 8 and it wouldn’t talk to my HP printer *and* they no longer supported my email program. I installed a dual-boot system just in case, to make the transition easier (and give me a way back, if I needed it). It was easy to do with the version I installed (Linux Mint Cinnamon, I think it was v 13 back then). On my newer laptop didn’t even bother, Linux all the way!

          I did have to find a Linux work-around to get a driver for my printer, but simple searching got me a cook-book recipe, I followed it exactly and voila! My printer has been printing just fine ever since. I then installed WINE (which claims to *not* be a Windows emulator, but that’s the result) and many of my old favourite Windows programs work on it. I was in tears to get back Ample Notice, my beloved appt program, and Addraman, which I use for everything from addresses to recipes — both compact and really quick searches.

          I am currently up to Mint 18 Quiana and you could not ever, ever get me back to Windows. Mint (and I think the other ones, too) comes with an impressive office suite, Open Office, which will read and write MS Office files (Excel, Write, Powerpoint, etc.), has some great free software you can install such as Blue Griffon html editor and my new fave, GnuCash accounting software, and a software manager which you can just browse and click to install some 3-4 thousand programs. The usual sound, art, trivial games, email, etc, etc are all there. I find that the “Linux Community” is kinda geeky, and assumes more knowledge than I have, but I have found that just typing my question into a Privatelee search will usually get something helpful from a magazine kinda site or just Some Guy.

          Running a dual-boot system gives you the chance to run parallel Windows & Linux until you have transferred all your important stuff over, found new apps to handle the work you do, and generally gotten up to speed.

          I guarantee you, you will never regret going to Linux.

        2. nothing but the truthth

          i bought a chrome all in one from amazon for the kids.

          best thing ever. boots in a flash, no local programs so no virus, no way to hack it or mess with it. Updates in the background, no nags.

          If i were msft i would be very worried about chrome os. Once you use it you start hating windows.

    3. Chris

      “I can’t understand why these OS makers can’t do what Linux distros do: provide a software update tool that warns you that updates are available, letting you take action or not.”

      You can configure Windows to some degree: a) everything manual; b) automatic search, manual download & install; c) automatic search & download, manual install; d) everything automatically

      Default setting is d), automatic update, b) is roughly equivalent to what Linux does.

      We’ve been discussing for years how automatic updates take control away from the user. However, the vast majority of users don’t read the update-related KBs, much less understand them. They wave everything through, even if the update process is configured to require manual input. Or even better, they ignore it entirely, leaving those machines open for all kinds of malicious shenanigans.

      So automatic updates by default. Everyone savvy enough to roughly understand what those updates are about can easily configure the process to require manual input.

      1. diptherio

        I don’t buy that as an excuse for defaulting to the lowest common denominator. There’s no reason to not default to a dialog box asking if you want to update. Even mickey-mouse users will have times when they want to delay doing an update (like they’re shutting down the computer, or trying to pull up somebodies lung charts) and it’s not like one more mouse click is going to subtract from user experience.

      2. Llewelyn Moss

        Here’s the problem. To do what you suggest, all takes time. Lots of time (like hours every week)
        1) Hunting down the descriptions of every Win update (ie every KB12345678). 2) Reading and understanding all the geek-speak associated with the descriptions. 3) determining the affect on your installed apps.

        At some point you either trust your OS provider (M$) is not out to screw you or you don’t trust them. M$ has crossed the red line with Win10. Plus updates are no longer optional with Win10. All you can do is control what time of day the updates will begin.

          1. Antifa

            Linux for sure. I haven’t used Windows for years.

            I am wondering, though —

            if a person buys a computer with Windows 7 already installed,
            and it comes with a Recovery Disk to re-install Windows 7,
            and then they let their PC update to Windows 10 over the web,
            and then their hard drive dies of something,

            what does Microsoft provide for re-installing Windows 10?

            Will they mail you a Recovery Disk? For free? Or when the inevitable happens, and you need to re-install, will you be charged a few hundred for a new OS in a box, labeled Windows 10?

            How free is the upgrade, really?

            1. hunkerdown

              You should have created a recovery drive when you first installed a new release of an operating system. Get a cheap thumb drive, enter “Create a recovery drive” into the search box and follow the directions (Microsoft).

      3. reslez

        I run Win 7 on my Windows box and before that, XP. It used to be that when Microsoft identified a critical security update, it really was an important update. Now it’s just as likely to contain adware for Win 10. This means I can no longer blindly install the critical updates — I have to go through and google every single KB # to verify it won’t bombard me with annoying popup messages and banner ads for their latest OS atrocity.

        Now even more users have a reason not to install security updates.

        MS broke the one basic promise of security updates. They ruined themselves.

    4. YankeeFrank

      I was able to turn off updates on win 8.1, but had to go through a slew of menus to do so. I’m glad I did as I’ve so far avoided the forced update to 10 a/k/a “surveillance OS”. I don’t use windows except on this one gaming pc, its been a horrorshow for decades. MS Windows is the single greatest stressor and suck on time and energy of any consumer product ever devised.

    5. AugustWest

      Check out the ghacks dot net site — this issue is covered extensively. There are several remedies (manual, apps).

      The shame here is that for me, W7 is actually an excellent OS. However, I will not be moving to W10

      I just added Linux Mint as a dual boot (actually pretty easy to do) and am tweaking it for an eventual switch. Highly recommended.

    6. Jim Haygood

      From the article:

      “I’m *this* close to telling the techs to disable automatic updates completely for all business customers.”

      Given the way Windows updates can cripple the machine at inconvenient times (not to mention installing a whole new OS), it is irresponsible NOT to disable automatic updates.

      Last month friends turned on a Win 10 laptop to watch a movie on Sat. night … and it went into a 20-minute update cycle while guests sat twiddling their thumbs. Utterly unacceptable.

      The issue is control. Machines that presume to override the owner’s control must either be fixed, or fixed where they can’t BE fixed (i.e. sledgehammer to the mobo).

      1. MyLessThanPrimeBeef

        Will the Chinese buy Microsoft one day to save the world?

        They’ve enough global reserve money (because they’ve shipped lots of dry walls and laminating flooring) to do so.

      1. Chris Williams

        can only comment on Linux Mint. Here’s what I did:

        1. Copy all your files – office documents, pictures, movies, music etc to an external drive.
        2. Get a copy of the .iso boot file and download to a fresh usb stick, or disk if your computer has them.
        3. Reboot machine and interrupt the boot so that you force the machine to boot from the usb or disk. You will then have option to install Linux alongside Windows (dual boot) or by itself. I chose latter and machine will ask for partition percentages (get these from a Linux tutorial) – then cheer as Windows and any other software is deleted.
        4. Copy all your files back.
        5. Enjoy and breathe again.

        I have never regretted this decision and tell everyone I know

      2. legendary bigfoot

        Mint and Ubuntu are both quite simple and you can test them by running them from a USB stick to see which one you like best. There are harder core versions as well but these two distributions are easy peasy lemon squeezy with no commitment if run from a usb thumbdrive or disk. I have used them to repair windows machines as well. Nice.

    7. clinical wasteman

      Mac OSX maintains at least that basic courtesy too. No intent to say anything even conciliatory about Apple — whose mobile devices mark the cursed spot where DRM Enclosure meets ‘brand value’ psychosis — but at least what seems to be their contempt for actual computers as a sort of quaint niche product means the desktop OS hasn’t been meddled with as crassly as Windows (or, according to users of those things, any mobile OS) since browser issues sadly shut out OS9.
      No reason to expect that not to change tomorrow or to doubt the superiority of Linux if you can somehow drop what you’re doing and start over. Point was more that sticking with old-ish equipment — possible in London at least with cheap secondhand Mac hardware and a de facto software commons — isn’t always ignorance or ‘luddism’: more like thoughtful matching of tools to purposes (and money, or rather lack of it). If you want to play with games or antisocial networks or watch a lot of video then I guess you need other, newer tools. But for writing, web…1.5(?) & digital storage of analogue music, these old machines still work while Windows-wired objects of the same age are mostly seen outdoors, left for salvage with the cathode TVs.

      1. clinical wasteman

        Sorry, forgot yet again that by the time I finished writing, other comments would estrange mine from the one I was replying to.
        By way of belated correction, what I meant by “that basic courtesy” is what Mark Alexander mentions way, way above: the Linux (et al) method of announcing available software updates then letting the user accept or reject them as s/he sees fit, almost like an adult.

  3. Torsten

    Re: The End of the End of HIstory

    Thanks for passing this along. I’ve been waiting 50 years for this long-overdue takedown of Marty Peretz and his sodomization of The New Republic.

    1. clinical wasteman

      Can’t conjure references from the present void, but Cockburn (A.) and (in another idiom) Vidal also took turns knocking that vulture off his perch at some point(s) during those decades.

  4. Steve H.

    An Open Letter to Trump Voters from His Top Strategist-Turned-Defector

    – the goal was to get The Donald to poll in double digits and come in second in delegate count. That was it.

    Pay strict attention to his VP candidate. The date the candidate is named is the invoice date, payment must be received before swearing-in. Collateral must include a smoking gun to be displayed if payment date is not met. Failure to meet obligations in a timely fashion require four years of cleaning buckets of warm spit.

    One more twist in the kayfabe violations: He enjoys squishing people. He’ll put them down for a two-count, then lift them over his head and throw them down for another two-count. Rinse and repeat.

    1. Carolinian

      This is a fake story. The self-described top strategist was actually communications director for a pro Trump superpac that he parted from early in the campaign because he had claimed he was self funded and didn’t have a superpac. Let the game of telephone continue.

      And Trump probably was seeing how far he could get with this but wouldn’t that apply to most candidates?

      1. Dino Reno

        She’s probably on Mitt’s payroll now. For me, this opening paragraph in Roger Cohen’s NYT column today makes a Trump Presidency worthwhile:

        Goodbye to all that. Now we know that Donald Trump would rip up the post-1945 world order, trash an “obsolete” NATO, lean toward a Japan with nukes rather than the “one-sided agreement” that leaves the United States responsible for Japanese defense, tell Saudi Arabia that it “wouldn’t be around for very long” without American protection, and generally make clear that “we cannot be the policeman of the world.”

        His loutish behavior is nothing America doesn’t see everyday on cable TV. It’s no Big Deal and America knows it. The high dudgeon of the MSM to bury Trump is laughable since he is now their #l product. As for him not wanting to be President because it originally was all about Trump brand building for profit,
        that hardly makes sense now since he’s undergoing the biggest firestorm of criticism I’ve ever witnessed for a leader of a major party. Only if he quits and lets the neocons have back their country will all be forgiven.

        1. FluffytheObeseCat

          “Only if he quits and lets the neocons have back their country will all be forgiven.”

          This is undoubtedly true. And Beltway grifters are behind many of the think tanker/public “intellectual” jeremiads against him in the MSM. The Beltway babblers see their gravy train imperiled, and they are fighting to keep it running.

          However, Trump is precisely the sort of asshole described in this piece. It’s quite possible for him to be anathema to the neocons, and yet still be a disaster for our nation.

          1. Ulysses

            “It’s quite possible for him to be anathema to the neocons, and yet still be a disaster for our nation.”

            Well said!!

        2. HotFlash

          As for him not wanting to be President because it originally was all about Trump brand building for profit, that hardly makes sense now since he’s undergoing the biggest firestorm of criticism I’ve ever witnessed for a leader of a major party.

          The Donald *delights* in firestorms o’ criticism. They are meat and drink to him. I agree that he would be a not-so-hot president (but at least he says he doesn’t like TPP and the other trade agreements, so that is something, and he seems a bit less inclined to pursue foreign wars)* and that he didn’t and doesn’t really want to do the grinding work that presidentin’ is. But meanwhile, he’s enjoying a helluva ride. Wouldn’t you?

          * Seems to me that Candidate Obama said he’d renegotiate NAFTA and close Guantanamo and walk picket lines and there was some other good stuff, too, but campaign promises are not legally binding, so our mileage will probably vary.

      2. MyLessThanPrimeBeef

        Welcome to Roshomon.

        Every candidate thinks he/she is running to see how far he/she would go, and to save the country.

        And the supporters think their guy/gal is the person to do the saving.

        Because we are all unique, each of us has unique needs for survival. You have your candidate that will help you survive. And he has his.

        Your lawyer will do his/her best and the other side’s similarly.

        “Represent our local interests at the capital,” the voters demand of their representatives.

        Somewhere in there, the conscience or the ideal says we have to balance it with the society’s or the nation’s.

        What is the proper/optimal/functional mix?

        Well, that’s the journey part…the art of living.

        But everyone believes his/her horse is the one.

        1. OpenThePodBayDoorsHAL

          I believe we all have the same horse: we all want to be alive tomorrow. With the world in a descending spiral into WW III, I ask myself which candidate would do anything at all to try and avoid it so my kids and I can remain alive. It’s Bernie, of course. But of the other choices, one we must judge on their actions, and the other we must judge on their words. Donald’s words are to state the bleeding obvious on the stupidity of the Iraq War; to announce a policy of non-intervention; to question why NATO still even exists, and to call for pulling back America’s overseas troops. Hilary’s actions speak for themselves, she has never seen an intervention or a war or a Pentagon program she doesn’t like. And her words are terrifying, here talking blithely about the destruction of yet another nation that has not attacked us:
          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xvhBoF_pCHo

      3. myshkin

        It may be a fake story, the author reads like a shallow air head, particularly if DT was the basket she was putting her hope and change eggs in. However the premise that Trump’s original premise never envisioned running the Repub primary table and becoming the candidate is likely accurate in some way.

        I am skeptical that Trump has much compelling interest in participating in the drudgery of give and take governing with congress; calling people idiots and snarling ‘You’re fired!’ is more his temperment. Credit him for gambling the tactic would work well on the campaign trail but once in office, not so much. Like Sarah Palin and Huckabee and a host of other celebrity politicians the goal for Trump was to keep the name up in lights.

        Valuing name brand as a commodity needs constant pumping and the Republican primaries were a likely method. Also credit him for shrewdly choosing the Pubs over the Dems with whom has had a partisan history and recognizing the existence of an untapped core of angry,abused working class dissatisfaction, orginating from the Nixon Southern strategy that was ready to be mined.

        1. hunkerdown

          Give and take = a ruling class that doesn’t take any lip from the people.

          I’m not sure why everyone seems to fetishize compromise with bad results rather than leaving well enough alone.

          1. Jay M

            LBJ could rule congress, because it was where his power grew
            the frosty disengagement of Obama, even when ruling with Democratic majority threw democracy under the bus

      4. Yves Smith Post author

        She says clearly early on that she worked for the superpac. So the problem is with the headlines that various sites have put on the letter, not the letter per se.

        There/s no evidence that she did not hold this job or the letter was not by her.

        Further, a superpac is supposed to be independent form the campaign. So how could Trump part from it when they are supposed to be arm’s length?

        In other words, the claim she was communications director for Trump is exaggerated, but the idea that a pro-Trump superpac isn’t supporting Trump and does not have insight into his campaign’s aims is pretty dubious.

        Moreover, Trump might have had to denounce the superpac because someone told him the degree of coordination and communication was impermissibly tight.

        1. Carolinian

          Debatable whether misrepresentation in the headline itself constitutes fakery, but I Googled this woman trying to find out who she is and didn’t come up with much. She doesn’t even have a Wikipedia entry. My impression is that she is a minor figure in the Trump campaign whose connection with it ended months ago and is now seeking her fifteen minutes of fame. The accompanying photo of her tearing up a Trump poster has a certain self promotional aspect that she obviously must have cooperated with.

          Of course if the above is incorrect then happy to withdraw the “fake.”

          1. Yves Smith Post author

            Someone who is a mere minion at a communications firm or a freelancer hardly merits a Wikipedia entry. I don’t have one and Wikipedia nixed NC’s for a while but I think it is back up.

            Why would you expect a communications professional to have much visibility? They are a dime a dozen. Even the top people at very top firms like Burson Marsteller are not very well known outside the biz. Roger Ailes when he was doing communications consulting (1980s) didn’t have much profile outside the suites of power, which is how everyone liked it, and Roger Stone is more a hit and run artist than a communications professional in any normal sense.

  5. Alex morfesis

    Amerikkkan sharia…52 women executed per month…al boundi terrorist organization is much more dangerous to american women than al kayduh or isis.

    Listen up woman…!!!

    or the greek version…

    Ella nah soup oh…

    Misogyny is everywhere…the judge who was handed that gawker wrestler case in st pete probably because she had handled media when she was the original Schiavo case lawyer, is now being “questioned” publicly because she has been “overturned” by second dca a large number of times…which no one mentions is the public blowback, payback and rebuke for her fighting robosigning and foreclosure mills and helping keep homeowners in the fight…

    Misogyny…

  6. Paul Tioxon

    Is is it crazy to call Jordan Weissmann, Slate’s senior business and economics correspondent, a stupid fucking asshole? After all, he should be paid $7.25/hr for worthless tapping on a keyboard masquerading as writing. But that is the wild gamble Slate is willing to take with empty copy that pretends to enlighten us.

    Think of the children say Jordan Weissmann, and presumably the suffering parents of daycare children, who will no doubt be affected by the uncertainty of seeing the labor costs increased for this crucial service, the baby sitting of their children by adults while they are off at work, presumably earning a whole lot more than $7.25/hr. I guess it is not at all possible that a lot of people paying for daycare currently will also get that big fat paycheck of $15/hr. But who knows, it’s such a gamble when you are a stupid fucking asshole that simply casts doubt on giving people a raise and wonders what disasters, unintended by good hearted dopes or dupes, will definitely come crashing down on our collective heads.

    Well let’s see, we simply can not raise taxes to provide for public services used socially, we can not raise wages, which will be a gamble worse than fracking for oil which destroys the potable water supply and causes earthquakes. We can not create anymore jobs, or control the run away factories and offices to overseas locales. And we can not repatriate profits off shore to reinvest. Well, Jordan, just what can we do that meets with the approval of stupid fucking assholes who think exactly like you word for word from the Chamber of Commerce to Forbes and Wall St Journal writers. I’m waiting, while I watch the price of gas at the pump go up, the price of health care insurance go up, the price of meat go up and all of the other profitable items that increase in price, apparently a gamble that pays off even with such a poorly paid laborforce of almost 1/2 of the entire country. How do they make that complex decision to raise the prices on goods and services offered? I know, very carefully, as not to gamble with shareholder value. Because raising prices and rents and interest rates at the Fed is simply a no brainer, unlike raising wages, which is staring off into the abyss. Well guess what, the abyss wants a raise too, asshole!

    1. YankeeFrank

      Well said, with the proper proportion of restraint to derision. Anyone who reads Slate for any reason but to snort and sneer is a fool. Slate’s subhead should be “Neoliberal Tools for the 21st Century… and Beyond!!!”.

      The good news is the younger generation pays no mind to condescending, idiotic drivel like what this Weissman fellow pukes up. Almost all of us, which is enough, know that paying people starvation wages leads to garbage services, garbage communities and desperate people, not to mention the ethical morass it creates.

    2. Katniss Everdeen

      I’ve never really understood the logic of trying to find the lowest paid “worker” you can to raise your kid for you, and then buying a new car every other year.

      1. pretzelattack

        i see no need to buy a new car till the old one starts becoming too costly to maintain.

      2. MyLessThanPrimeBeef

        It’s like going to school to learn how to make money for the rich and for transnational corporations, instead of learning how to survive and live healthily in a toxic and dangerous world.

        “What can you do for us?”

        “I am the best in my class when it comes to people-monitoring technology.”

        “You are guaranteed a job in our organization!!!”

        1. paul

          Maybe be the profit motive is not all it is cracked up to promise.
          How many people make a profit?
          Why do they persist,
          how do they exist,
          without it?

    3. ChrisPacific

      It astonishes me that people can write this kind of thing. I read the headline and agreed with the sentiment (I would have said ‘appalling’ but crazy works). But apparently I read it wrong. It turns out that ‘crazy’ is thinking that the wealthiest country in the world could afford to pay more than half of its workers a living wage. In America you can apparently call yourself a senior economic correspondent and write this stuff for a major publication and not be fired for incompetence.

    1. Brindle

      Chris Hayes showed his centrist leanings in the interview. He always straddles that line between true progressive and loyal Dem spear carrier. I just don’t trust Hayes—too squishy.

      1. Mav

        Obviously, Chris Hayes has to work within the editorial lines in the sand set by his corporate masters or he’ll be without a job just like many before him. They are probably constantly instructing him on what not to say through his ear piece.

        But he has stretched that line as far as he could, especially with his coverage on drones under Obama. And he covers Glenn Greenwald regularly.

    2. MyLessThanPrimeBeef

      That part is right – the more Hillary speaks, the better.

      Do not interrupt her.

  7. RabidGandhi

    That Bill Schneider Reuters blog article is a piece of work. I wonder who his intended audience is, especially with ostrich-head-firmly-in-hole quotes like this:

    Trump is repudiating the entire framework of U.S. foreign policy since 1947. That’s when President Harry S. Truman committed the United States to lead the free world in the Cold War struggle against communism. The United States repudiated its isolationist past and became the principal guarantor of international order and humanitarian values.

    Communism! International Order! Humanitarian Values! (smirk)

    Schneider seems to have penned this from a well-appointed divan somewhere deep in Versailles, blissfully unaware of the approaching pitchforks.

    If his pearl-clutching is in hopes of dissuading Trump voters, he should give them less positive reasons to vote for The Donald. If he is, conversely, preaching to the Acela Corridor Choir, he should pray the plebs don’t read Reuters.

    1. Carolinian

      Come, come. We only create chaos in the name of humanitarian values. Sometimes a village has to be destroyed in order to be saved.

  8. ke

    That controller is just a conditional switch, replacing humans, and eliminating the opportunity to learn, creating a black box that can only implode.

    Government is obviously and completely corrupt.

  9. RabidGandhi

    I took the gamble of reading the Charlie Pierce piece and was once again castigated for doing so. As usual with Pierce, he barely rises above cutesy well-written oppo for Team Blue. Who’s to blame for the rise of Trump? Let’s see, he names Reagan, Gingrich, Paul Ryan, Bush Jr, Lee Atwater, Rove… Ne’ry a mention of Clinton, Carter, Pelosi, Krugman, Gephardt, Sharpton… who are every bit as complicit in destroying the middle class and driving them towards a Trump.

    Frankly, I get very turned off by Pierce, Robert Reich, Chris Hayes (see Brindle’s comment above)… trying to cram the popular angst leading to Trump into the Team Blue/Team Red framework, and every time I see them doing oppo now, to me it just sounds like shilling for the DNC, no matter how much they might claim to support Sanders.

    1. farrokh bulsara

      “…every time I see them doing oppo now, to me it just sounds like shilling for the DNC…”

      Same as it always was.

    2. jhallc

      I agree, Charlie could take a page from Pogo ” “WE HAVE MET THE ENEMY AND HE IS US.” The Democratic elite are just as out of touch with what’s going on and as much to blame as the Republicans.

      I also find myself in agreement with McArdle’s case for the elite being “tone deaf”on the impact of policy on the general public. She’s almost sounding like Robert Reich.

    3. Massinissa

      I kinda feel bad that you included Carter, hes at least the best ex-president we have ever had even though he was a crappy president, but yeah, the rest of them on that list are all assholes. And I also agree with you about Chris Hayes et al, that RedVsBlue crap is getting infuriating.

      Just the other day, someone on NakedCapitalism (not a regular poster here) accused me of being willing to send Muslims to death camps because I wasn’t willing to support Clinton against Trump… Damn, the hyperbole, it hurts.

  10. Anon

    Re: XOJane Article

    Apparently, performing research is too hard for people now. “He was an outsider, but I liked that about him!” yet she expected something different. In some ways, this is similar to how Greenwald accepted Omidyar’s money/journalism platform without doing any bit of research on the man beforehand. Also, why would she release this now as opposed to six months ago, when it could’ve made a difference? Is she counting on Kasich to save us all (assuming that the Cruz affair has some merit, which is looking to be increasingly likely)?

  11. DJG

    Cigielski on Dumping Trump: There is no likelihood that I will vote for Trump, but her motivations and actions don’t exactly come across as those of a rational person even if she keeps trying to make it seems as if Trump is the crazy one. Let’s see: She wasn’t in it to win. She just wanted to do communications. Then communications (whatever that is) got out of control. And she doesn’t like The Donald anymore, now that he has gone above 15 percent of the vote.

    She was playing office politics. (Which reminds me of the Clinton campaign and the e-mail fandango.) But we are in real politics, presidential politics. And she got bitten on her proverbial posterior. What is her point? And I”m sure that she will now go back to work for some investment bank communicating to the public why some small company should be bought and dismantled.

    1. MyLessThanPrimeBeef

      It’s possible small-dosage, non-lethal viral attacks like that will make the subject stronger in the long run.

      More not rational persons like this, and Trump might be the benefactor.

      We need more accurate battlefield intelligence.

      1. Qrys

        Were I the GOP, I’d be getting every credible bit of dirt she has on Trump out of her…

        …assuming it exists.

    2. Yves Smith Post author

      Huh? Your premise is ass backwards.

      When you are a hired gun, you do what your client tells you to do (unless you are a professional like a lawyer or lawyer, then you get to tell them otherwise IF AND ONLY IF they are planning to go afoul of the law or accounting standards, as applicable. Even then you are supposed to find a way to get what they want within the bounds of what is permitted).

      She was presented with a clear set of objectives. Then Trump moved the bar. If you are trying to do messaging, changing mandates or making shit up as you go along makes it impossible for the communications pro to do a good job. I could see quitting to protect my reputation.

  12. Katniss Everdeen

    RE: Arizona Election Official Apologizes for Long Wait at Polls New York Times

    “As the anger bubbled over within a packed State Capitol, a sheepish election official blamed the chaos on poor planning and a misguided attempt to save money by closing poll locations.

    “I apologize profusely — I can’t go back and undo it,” said Helen Purcell, the Maricopa County recorder…..

    —–

    Ms. Purcell, a Republican holding the office since 1988…….”

    Voters BEWARE. This is the kind of performance “experience” and “knowing how to get things done in government” will get you.

    Oh. And you’ll get some “apologies” too. “Profuse” ones.

    1. Vatch

      “… I can’t go back and undo it,” said Helen Purcell

      No she can’t, but she can do the next best thing by resigning.

      1. Brian

        She could be arrested for voter fraud, a federal and state crime, the election results mooted and a real vote be scheduled?
        of course.

        1. MyLessThanPrimeBeef

          It’s an ancient question – incompetence or something else.

          It’s ancient because it’s hard to catch.

          Probably resigning and, likely going by history, a more lucrative private career is, in this case, the situation, and a win-win one, for all.

        2. hunkerdown

          Election fraud, which probably isn’t a Federal PMITA crime in the big people’s law, is not the same as voter fraud.

        3. Ranger Rick

          The genius of the primary/caucus system: it’s not an actual election, it’s a poll, so it’s not fraud and not covered by federal election law. Machine politics are not just something they gloss over with a few sentences in history class.

  13. Vatch

    Media Unimpressed as Sanders Barely Gets Seventy Percent of Vote New Yorker

    Andy Borowitz is hilarious, and at the same time, he can be depressing, because what he says is so true.

    1. MyLessThanPrimeBeef

      The best way to impress the MSM is to capture New York…and CA.

      And if they are still unimpressed, well, does it matter that no one is around to hear the falling tree?

      1. Gio Bruno

        If NY and CA go to Bernie, the MSM will say “we saw it coming”; as Bernie takes to the Convention.

  14. Bill Smith

    The two articles “Robots are coming for your job” and “A $15 Minimum Wage Would Give Almost Half of American Workers a Raise. Is That Crazy?” are interesting. Likely both with exaggeration. But given the cost of capital versus an increasing cost of labor seems to bring the changeover closer, leaving an increasing number of people out of work.

    1. craazyboy

      But look at the bright side – someone could program a Commodore 64 to replace the entire Federal Reserve Board of Governors and save the world.

        1. craazyboy

          Diodes are irreversible. I was looking for ways to improve things. Maybe a 3V battery and a voltmeter would suffice. Total capex about $8, if you have a battery charger already. Then with a magic marker write across the voltmeter, “The fed funds rate is….”

          1. Gio Bruno

            If I’m not mistaken a diode is a “one-way” gate; depending on its’ physical orientation in the circuit.

            1. craazyboy

              You are correct. They are exactly like Janet Yellen, except much, much smaller and only cost savers a fraction of a penny – not a $trillion or so.

      1. MyLessThanPrimeBeef

        We are still OK.

        When robots become intelligent, I think that’w when we will be in trouble…they’d be stronger and smarter.

        Who wouldn’t want his daughter to marry a sober, hard working robot?

        “He (the robot) never watches football on TV, but is always mowing the lawn on weekends.”

        1. jhallc

          Just saw “Blade Runner” again after 30 years. “Nexus 6” coming to a location near you soon. I forgot it was set in LA 2019.

    2. MyLessThanPrimeBeef

      In the Age of Robots, work, guaranteed or otherwise, is not the question.

      Basic Income is.

      The citizens of this country are as entitled to that, as the country that gets $1 billion basic income a year (and asking to inflation adjust that to $5 billion).

      Basic income for (some chosen) foreigners and all Americans.

    3. Higgs Boson

      Technology / automation is going to continue displacing humans as technology gets cheaper and cheaper. Raising the minimum wage might accelerate that trend in some industries but it’s going to happen to everyone eventually, anyways.

      What to do with the displaced people? BIG? JG? A Modest Proposal?

      What happens when a human customer gets e coli poisoning from a burger they ate from a fast food kiosk? Shut down for one day and reprogram the foodbots? Who gets sued – the kiosk; the foodbot manufacturer; the software vendor?

      Don’t gaze too long into the Singularity …

      1. MyLessThanPrimeBeef

        JG?

        Robots are getting all the jobs.

        There is only one job they can take from you.

        ONLY ONE JOB.

        That job is you doing meditation to cure your depression.

        Yes, that’s a job.

        No robots can do that for you.

        And if that a job, then BIG = JG.

      2. Dave

        Sabotage your personal data.

        Whenever I am asked to fill out a survey or to give information, I gladly do so with a few modifications. Telephone surveys? I gladly do them. I tell them I am an 80 year old woman–I’m not.

        Find someone with your same name. Use their home address as the starting point of map searches. Always volunteer your social security number and birthdate, with a few modifications, except to those who have a legal right to ask for the “correct” one.

  15. flora

    re: FBI has accessed San Bernardino shooter’s phone without Apple’s help

    Of course they did. IMO, this case was always about setting the precedent of OK’ing the govt demanding private companies perform any action the govt demands. Threatening said company with theft of intellectual property – demanding the source code – was an even clumsier hammer. The PR on that was never going to work in the govt’s favor. My 2 cents.

    1. RabidGandhi

      The funny thing was how in all the debate about Apple vs. US, no one seemed to notice that the reporting was all based on FBI claims of impotence: this of course being the same FBI that has serially lied about everything since COINTELPRO (for our safety of course).

      The one contrary voice I heard was Ed Snowden who literally said the FBI’s claim that it couldn’t access an I-phone was “bullshit”.

      1. tegnost

        yes, I can’t shake the feeling it was all kayfabe so Apple could make a big stink about protecting their customers rights in order to maintain global demand for their product line, and in the end the fbi would get their data another way, while as you point out implying impotence. A good cop bad cop routine.

      2. Katniss Everdeen

        A certain website, the name of which begins with “z” and ends with “hedge,” suggests that the whole affair was an “iPublicity” stunt ” on the heels of what is almost sure to go down as one of the biggest product launch flops in company history.”

        “…. the entire Apple ‘stand’ for privacy and consumer rights might be one big theatrical spectacle as both parties involved clearly were aware the iPhone can be penetrated with the right tools.”

    2. Optimader

      John mcafee offered to do for free inside of three weeks, less time than the feebs spent pissing around about it, so the agenda was indeed larger than a single phone.

    1. grayslady

      An article from Daily Kos? And you are pretending you are unfamiliar with the site? More likely you are a regular at DK, not someone who just “found” an article with a title like that.

      1. grayslady

        Right now DK is desperate for clicks. Ever since so many people left the site after the March 15 edict, I understand traffic at DK is way down. Let Kos and his fan club stew in their own mess.

        1. Massinissa

          I don’t understand why they thought it would be a good idea to eject half the userbase of the site.

          Did they think their users would just just give up on 3/15 and say “Ok, DKos says I cant be a Bernie supporter anymore, im going to be quiet and support Hillary now”?

    2. Vatch

      I took a quick look at the article. Here’s a short quote:

      Q. Name four of the biggest donors of the committee that got Bernie his Senate seat.

      A. Goldman Sachs. Citigroup, Morgan Stanley, Morgan Chase.

      So I went to OpenSecrets.org and looked up the Sanders Senate campaign data. Here are the top contributors’ employers or PACs for the 2005-2008 election cycle:

      eScription Inc $25,200
      Carpenters & Joiners Union $20,000
      Intl Brotherhood of Electrical Workers $20,000
      Laborers Union $15,500
      United Steelworkers $12,700

      For the period 2007-2012:

      United Steelworkers $10,550
      American Assn for Justice $10,500
      National Education Assn $10,400
      American Federation of Teachers $10,200
      American Crystal Sugar $10,000

      I would like to know where the data about the big bank donations came from. Perhaps it came from the author’s imagination?

      1. MyLessThanPrimeBeef

        Some questions I am struggling with, as the primary season marches on.

        Can anyone not fight dirty in politics and still win?

        Or is it a matter of degree?

        If dirty is necessary, do we want the best in the business?

      2. RP

        Let’s go ahead and consider the source on this one.

        “Hello Dolly Llama” is the author.

        So it’s written anonymously. On DailyKos. Which publicly said no more HRC criticism past 3/15/16.

        Yawn.

        1. RP

          yet more: “Strong Hillary supporter here, also flagged — we don’t need this kind of crap.”

    3. RP

      Comment on article: “diarist joined yesterday and Mojo’d today. The whole diary is nothing more than a crock of sh*t lies.”

  16. Patrick Schmidt

    “An Open Letter to Trump Voters from His Top Strategist-Turned-Defector” is a well-written and most interesting inside look of how Trump saw himself when beginning his campaign one year ago. As many have speculated, I always believed that he was more in for the ego trip than actually wanting to become President.

    But there is a troubling question lingering in the back of my mind: In the view of the fact that Republican Party is currently working like crazy to get rid of this “monster” of their own creation, could it is possible that the Republican leadership paid off Ms. Cegielski to write this article in order to discredit Mr. Trump?

    1. Steve in Dallas

      “the Republican leadership paid… to write this article”

      Not just the Republicans… the entire establishment. I immediately had the same thought… and my suspicion only grew as I read the article… leaving very little doubt that she’s a typical corrupt American who took a bribe. The entire substance is “because I care about the country… I just want you to know… Trump is only in it for himself”.

      Really? That’s all she has to say? If she’s so concerned, why doesn’t she give us some idea what she thinks would be the alternative to Trump??? Cruz is better than Trump? Any other Repub or Hillary-the-Mafia-Killer-Queen would be better than Bernie?

      I’m shocked NC would link to this very weak and very suspicious garbage. No way would I send it to others. And, no, I’m not at all a Trump fan. IMO, this article was complete garbage… not remotely “must read”. Seriously, how could and ‘expert’ PR person write such an incredibly weak anti-endorsement if she wasn’t trying to hide her motives???

      1. Katniss Everdeen

        The long knives are out for Trump.

        His campaign manager was “arrested” this morning for “simple battery” of the ex-Breitbart reporter in Jupiter, FL, and scott walker has just endorsed cruz.

        The cruz camp is making hay over the “violence” that follows Trump around and seems to be a “feature” of his campaign.

        Haven’t heard any misogyny references yet, but I’m sure they’re on the way.

        1. MyLessThanPrimeBeef

          Knives are as lethal as guns.

          And in not a few cases, more gruesome.

          Both, on the other hand, have their Darwinian Award practitioners.

          Perhaps a knife ban is also called for (ask the Mongols, circa 14th Century China).

      2. hunkerdown

        Only the partisan considers linkage an endorsement. Our hosts like to keep people on their toes and awake.

  17. DJG

    Antidote: The amazing monarch stopping on a butterfly bush. Thanks. A quick trip to Wikipedia points out that the monarch is resident in Hawaii and the Azores, two island chains that are about as remote as a creature can get. So the butterfly people (and the bird people) have their own kind of wisdom that the Homo sapiens people don’t recognize.

  18. Dave

    Re Arizona vote fraud to deny Bernie votes;

    Looks like Hillary Clinton’s Katherine Harris moment in the sun.

    Why did those people filter out in the balcony? Imagine if they had simply surrounded the cops and packed in tighter.

  19. Jim Haygood

    From the BART article:

    “Back when BART was created [in 1972], (the designers) were absolutely determined to establish a new product, and they intended to export it around the world.”

    It didn’t work. Original BART trains were manufactured by two companies, Rohr Industries and Morrison-Knudsen, with no history of building rolling stock. They didn’t stay in the business.

    The aircraft-derived concept of lightweight aluminum bodies was competitive in 1972, but after the first oil shock in 1973, it wasn’t. Today stainless steel is dominant as a railcar body material.

    Shortly afterward, a venerable U.S. manufacturer of subway cars, St. Louis Car, ceased operations in 1974 thanks to fixed-price contracts which permitted no inflation adjustment, while its labor and material costs soared in Oil Shock I.

    Another U.S. rolling stock manufacturer, the Budd Company in the Philadelphia area, soldiered on until 1987 when it sold its rail car operations to Bombardier of Montreal. Bombardier will build the new BART cars.

    Today overseas manufacturers — Canadian, Japanese, Korean and Chinese, primarily — set up U.S. final assembly plants for rail cars. But the U.S. has no indigenous passenger rail car manufacturers left.

  20. Dino Reno

    So why did Obama let himself be talked into approving Victoria Nuland’s coup d’etat thingie in February, 2014?”

    Snowden.

      1. Dino Reno

        1.He got away with telling the truth about something everyone in power denied existed. 2.Nothing is beyond our reach except him. 3.His protectors must be sent a message.

  21. Qrys

    On this:

    Morning Joe Blasts the DNC for ‘Rigging’ Primary Against Bernie Sanders (VIDEO) US Uncut (Annie)

    It seems Hillary hasn’t learned the lessons of her prior run:

    Someone on the #BernieSanders twitter feed posted this 2008 article on how Hillary tanked:
    http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/Vote2008/story?id=4978839&page=1

    A lot of similar things in this campaign (although clearly the calendar is more rigged in her favor this time ’round). But it was pointed out back then one crucial flaw in how she fund raises:

    “Clinton cornered many of the Democratic “whales,” the big party fish who regularly write $2,300 checks and have friends who can do the same. But enough high-profile donors liked what they heard in Obama to ensure at least financial competitiveness — all while Clinton went much of 2007 without engaging Obama directly.

    “Then something else happened: Obama tapped the power of the Internet like no candidate before. His campaign dove into social-networking sites, not just as a means for supporters to connect but for them to start giving money.

    “Critically, his donors gave in smaller bursts, meaning they could give again and again throughout the campaign, in increments of $100, $50, or less. Clinton raised far more money in $2,300 bursts — giving her quick cash early, but not a base of donors she could go back to repeatedly. “

    1. Vatch

      My initial longer response was eaten by Skynet. Short version: $2300 limit in 2008, $2700 limit in 2016, 17% increase. Official inflation over the same period: 12%.

  22. Jim Haygood

    When doves cry:

    “Given the risks to the outlook, I consider it appropriate for the Committee to proceed cautiously in adjusting policy,” J-Yel said.

    “It is too early to tell if this recent faster pace [of core inflation] will prove durable.”

    http://tinyurl.com/h4nhd9q

    BlackRock begs to differ:

    “Stabilizing oil prices and a tighter labor market could contribute to rising actual, and expected, U.S. inflation,” Richard Turnill, BlackRock’s global chief investment strategist, wrote Monday on the company’s website. “We like inflation-linked bonds and gold as diversifiers.”

    http://tinyurl.com/hvq46j6

    Me too, Rich.

    1. MyLessThanPrimeBeef

      Earl is lower today, and by inflation, he means wage inflation, and by George, we are near Defcon 5.

      And if Mr. Tunill thinks it’s time to go nuclear against a tightening labor market, why would he want gold? Recently, gold has moved opposite of rate hike threats.

  23. NeqNeq

    Re:Windows 10

    IMO If the Internet Explorer update package is causing unauthorized updates, then that is something MS should stop. However, if auto updating is the route they want to take, just toss it in the ToS and be done with it. Its not like they will lose tons of money…Enterprise is exempt and there is only 1 alternative in the minds of the “it just works” crowd.

    However, I can’t help but notice that so many of the “problems” are the direct result of user choices in the first place. The bronchoscope issue is a prime example. Who exposed critical infrastructure to the Web in the first place? If the update was pushed down the local network, why didn’t they exempt that machine once they read the full package notes? So dumb…

  24. nccat

    falling off the subway platform by accident and getting run over may be hard to predict, but if you have folks actively looking to push people over the edge, that changes the odds a little :-)

  25. Desertmer

    There has to be a revote in Az. The entirety of Maricopa County needs to be occupying the Capitol 24/7 to make exactly that happen. Otherwise we may as well just stop voting and put an end to the farce.

  26. Stephen Gardner

    Lambert, you say “OMG, McArdle largely makes sense.” I’m sorry but I find her article a masterful piece of misdirection. Does anyone think that a sympathetic ear from the aristocracy will fix anything–or even start to fix anything? Would it help if I catch a thief in my house and he listens sympathetically while he continues out the door with my stuff? I don’t want them to listen. I’ve got nothing to say to them except “Give back what you have stolen. ” She and her ilk who make their (excellent ) salaries as apologists for those who have wrongly arrogated to themselves the lion’s share of the wealth generated over 4 decades in this country are not beginning dialog, they are deflecting anger from those that pay their salary. Megan is paid to monolog not dialog. Nothing good can come from her “listening sympathetically”.

    1. Yves Smith Post author

      This is my link and you seem to miss the point. When people like McArde, whose job is to tell the middle and upper middle classes that neoliberalism has created the best of all possible world, instead devotes an entire pretty straight up column to “Houston, the natives are restless and their grievance are real,” this says reality is starting to penetrate the NY-DC bubble.

      1. Vatch

        It’s a interesting point, and I think it’s a real phenomenon. I noticed something similar in late December when an issue of “Foreign Affairs” was devoted to the topic of inequality. For those who are scratching their heads, “Foreign Affairs” is the house organ of the ultra-establishment Council on Foreign Relations. It’s not normal for such a publication to pay attention to inequality.

        http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2015/12/links-122715.html#comment-2528421

  27. Jay M

    what happens when the robots are no longer supported because update 10.0
    will they have an urban camping subroutine?

Comments are closed.