By Lambert Strether of Corrente
Readers: Water Cooler is going to be a bit light today; I had multiple simultaneous infrastructural issues (“Winter is coming”).
Quantitative easing
All eyez on the FOMC [Bloomberg]. No press conference scheduled?
Analysts expect the taper to end on schedule [Business Insider].
Janet Yellen is not a partisan hack [Brookings].
2014
Senate, South Dakota: National parties turn off the money spigot, meaning R Rounds has the race in the bag [Argus-Leader].
Senate, Kentucky: McConnell says nobody thinks ObamaCare can be repealed. “It takes 60 votes in the Senate” (ha) [Talking Points Memo]. OK, so even in the majority the Rs aren’t going to use the nuclear option to abolish the filibuster either. A clearer signal of kayfabe in action would be hard to find.
Senate, Georgia: Could “the Ferguson effect” tip the balance? [Think Progress]. With no civil rights investigation from Holder? Not likely. The Feds can’t even get the Ferguson police chief to spend more time with his family!
Independents favor Rs by twenty points [Washington Monthly].
2016
States ranked by political engagement, which correlates to education, wealth, and “fairer tax systems” [WaPo].
Stats Watch
Retail shoppers demanding discounts from brick-and-mortar chains [Bloomberg].
EIA Petroleum Status Report, week of October 24: Inventories rise for the fourth week as switch to winter fuels winds down [Bloomberg].
Hong Kong
Informal survey says 90% of protesters would keep on for a year [Reuters].
James Tien Pei-chun, leader of Hong Kong’s Liberal Party, resigns hours after China’s top parliamentary advisory body expelled him for calling on Leung to step down [Straits Times].
Ferguson
CNN reports Ferguson police chief will step down, citing “government officials familiar with the ongoing discussions between local, state and federal officials.” Chief says “Nobody in my chain of command has asked me to resign, nor have I been terminated” [CNN]. Both statements could be true!
Ferguson PD spends $172,669 on tear gas and “less lethal” ammo and riot gear [Guardian]. So, since Ferguson treats “law enforcement,” in good neo-liberal fashion, as a revenue source, let’s do the math: At an average fine per Fergusonian in guilty cases of $275, that would mean 627.88 arrests would pay for the gear. Except that’s just the gross, so I guess I’d better guesstimate 1200 guilty pleas; with an 80% conviction rate, that would mean 1500 arrests. Good to know.
Big Brother Is Watching You Watch
Pre-Snowden Jewel v. NSA case on NSA tapping fibre optic cables based on information from AT&T technician and whistleblower Mark Klein still moving forward [TechDirt]. From the EFF brief:
[T]he act of copying entire communications streams passing through splitters at AT&T facilities is an unconstitutional seizure of individuals’ “papers” and “effects.” This should be obvious—our “papers” today often travel over the Internet in digital form rather than being stored in our homes—but the government contends that unless it physically interferes with individuals’ possession of some tangible property, it cannot “seize” anything. This is not so. If it were true that conversations could not be “seized” except by taking possession of physical objects, all warrantless wiretapping (where “recording” is a form of “copying” communications) would be constitutional.
That’s not a bug. It’s a feature. Still, I’m glad to see the EFF making the obvious and unobfuscated point that the Fourth Amendment’s “papers and effects” clearly includes, say, email, even under the narrowest possible construction of the Framers’ original intent.
Oh, and Obama’s “Justice” Department is now claiming state secret privilege for legal arguments, as opposed to factual information. Secret law is not law, of course, as the Bourbons found out the hard way in 1789 with the letter de cachet. Here’s the plaintiff’s brief.
Feds now say that (alleged) Marathon Bomber Tamerlan Tsarnaev was never involved in that unsolved triple murder in Waltham. Except remember that guy Ibragim Todashev, who got whacked by an FBI agent in an interrogation room, when the other FBI agents left the two of them alone? For some reason? Yes, Todashev was supposed to have been involved in that robbery, too [PrivacySOS]. But there’s a “bloodstained confession”!
How much access does the NSA have to census data? As much as it wants, I assume, but EFF is suing to find out [Courthouse News].
Imperial Collapse Watch
“Contrary to all myths the most deadly place on the American political spectrum is in the center” [Undernews]. Do the math.
News of the Wired
- Cool tweet:
Photo of the Day: The 8000 lighted balloons tracing the path of the Berlin Wall on the 25th anniversary of its fall pic.twitter.com/okHD8rXiYi
— Urbanphoto (@urbanphoto_blog) October 28, 2014
Nice tactic, too. Notice how it scales.
- AT&T sells consumers unlimited data plans, then throttles them, Feds to sue [Reuters]. Just the sort of monopolistic provider we want determining Internet policy!
- Facebook developer lies to Times reporter’s face on algorithmic news feed [Pressthink]. Note this is the tech guy lying, so it looks like public relations and software engineering have merged in Silicon Valley. Good to know.
- Is this the best tech video of all-time? [YouTube]. SQL and NoSQL bears go several rounds. Guess who wins?
- DropBox and AirBnB tech dudes violating Rule #1, as Silicon Valley financializes every public space it can get its dripping, greed-stained mitts on because “sharing economy” [New Yorker].
- How to use Twitter over SMS if your Internet connection should fail, for some reason [WaPo].
- Give ’em a chart, and they’ll follow you anywhere [Businessweek]. Even moreso for people who “believe in science.”
- Walmart apologizes for selling “fat girl costumes” on its website [Independent].
- 3D printing is cool, but also petroleum-based, and who needs so many tsotchkes? [Medium].
- The power that comes from (women’s) clothing [New York Times]. Was Janet Yellen wearing Nina McElmore?
Readers, feel free to contact me with (a) links, and even better (b) sources I should curate regularly, and (c) to find out how to send me images of plants. Vegetables are fine! Fungi are deemed to be honorary plants! See the previous Water Cooler (with plant) here. And here’s today’s plant:
Something got at my horseradish!
Talk amongst yourselves!
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Blinded by Science
“When they included the drug Florinef’s chemical formula—C21H29FO5—in a description of it, people thought its effects would last two hours longer than when the formula was omitted. (“It’s carbon-oxygen-Helium and-fluorine based,” read the formula-free description of the seemingly less-effective drug.)”
Uh … that’s carbon-oxygen-hydrogen-fluroine-based. Helium (He) is basically inert, and isn’t found in compounds under normal (i.e., drug use) conditions.
And of course, believing in science doesn’t make on a competent scientist. In fact, relying on belief alone (when considering the physical world anyway) is unscientific.
Independents favor Rs by twenty points
Let’s pause for a moment: The entire country knows the present Republican Party is insane but the GOP is winning among non-partisans by 20%!
It is clear that the Democrats would rather lose than follow their own party platform and act as economic populists. Most sentient beings realize that by now. But if the Democrats don’t start putting up a better front a lot of people are going to catch on that this is all kabuki and the game might get cancelled. Maybe the Democrats could watch some Washington Generals tapes. Or professional wrestling. See how it’s done.
I also read in the article that Kevin Drum thinks the the Democrats have learned all about power politics from the GOP and once the Democrats take Congress, those GOPers just better watch out. . . . You read a lot of funny things on the internet.
Of course it is hard not to have mixed emotions about the upcoming elections. If the RP make significant gains because independents are swinging I their direction then what does that tell you? What it tells me is that large numbers of Americans favor nihilism, radical selfishness, and the death of the commons and the natural environment as well as a race towards a neo-feudal order. Progressives are always saying that if only the American people voted their interests and favored policy they appear to follow they would vote more to the left yet, in fact, the trend for the past four decades shows a steady drift to not just conservative ideas but radically reactionary ones. The left simply has not been able to make a coherent argument to the American people. I’ve written about why that is many times here and don’t care to repeat it–but at the very least y’all should be asking more questions and the answers cannot be that the Democratic Party is corrupt–that’s only a minor part of the problem–the problem is that people have swallowed the ideology of radical selfishness and don’t realize it because sentimentality, lies/denial, and platitudes are central aspects of social life at all levels.
I think the American public has internalized the view that the political duopoly represents all that is politically possible and that anything outside the duolpoly doesn’t count. I think the American people are generally pretty good on the substantive issues but the political system does not permit candidates who hold the positions favored by the people. So in frustration the voters swing from one failed party to the other, back and forth, electing Democrats then casting them out for the Republicans, then casting the Republicans out for Democrats, etc. If there is to be a political solution, that cycle must be broken and that helpless, trapped mindset must be changed.
I think it’s just as likely that the voters are motivated to vote repub because of guns, gays, and obamacare, as much as anything else.
I would agree in previous elections that social issues would play a big role. But the economy is grinding down more and more people.
I think those who self classify as independents overall have always been more right than left leaning. I’m just talking sheer numbers, I think it’s fine for anyone to self-classify as independent just out of duopoly disgust.
Once again, Banger attacks the progressive left but now adds fearmongering about the dreaded Republicans.
Its not so much that the left failed to make a case or that people have changed in a ‘radical’ way but that the scales have been tipped. People have tended to “vote their pocketbooks” and for the “lesser evil” (despite warnings from Progressives). The result? They are overall very unsatisfied with government and especially the Democrats (whose corruption – highlighted by Obama’s betrayal – is a MAJOR part of the problem, not a minor part). That many are uninterested in a rigged game that generally works against their interests is not surprising.
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Note: until very recently, ordinary people have also benefited from the ‘tipping’ as US deficit spending and capital flows have benefited the economy. But today ALL gains go to the wealthy, while poor decisions and can-kicking of the past weigh on everyone else.
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H O P
Simply put, why vote for the party that backs the worse republican programs; always campaigning against same programs but in the end reapproving these bad policies.
Good Water Cooler, but change to today’s date!
Have been very appreciative of balanced ebola coverage (need it for work).
Thanks!
“How much access does the NSA have to census data? As much as it wants, I assume, but EFF is suing to find out [Courthouse News].”
I did some work on the 2010 census because I wanted to get an inside look at it. At least at the lower levels that I saw, the data is all outsourced to Wackenhut.
Wackenhut? I too have done census work and was wondering if you had a link for that.
Thanks.
I’d like to know about Wackenhut, too. Interesting!
Operation Ishtar Omnishambles:
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/oct/29/binyamin-netanyahu-a-chickenshit-say-us-officials-in-explosive-interview
Talk about kayfabe. The only chickenshits here are the politicians who planted this public squabble. I suppose that the White House (still playing eleventy-dimensional chess) didn’t know about the interview but will now decide that the Israelis have been sufficiently punished. Meanwhile, industrial espionage by the Israelis in the U.S. will continue on, undetected.
And speaking of kayfabe, are the Democrats even participating in this election?
And what would have eaten the horseradish? Now that is not kayfabe. Hmmm. Bet it was butterflies. They are some tough critters. (Or their kids, the larvae.)
To paraphrase PM Chickenshit, “MOAR settlements.”
Maybe it is time to find that some of the US DOD technology transfers to the IDF are actually stolen. When US defense contractors are losing sales to India from Israel, is it not time for US jobs and merch to overshadow the intellectual musings of the foreign policy establishment? I mean we are actually talking about property here and not people. Where is the righteous indignation of the right in respect to property rights when you need it.
http://www.jewishpress.com/news/breaking-news/india-to-buy-525-million-in-israeli-anti-tank-missiles/2014/10/25/
he said grassy knolls… PM Chickenshit, aka “bobo frikin-yahu” said grassy knolls in his speech to the knesset…grassy knolls…was that a threat ?? where is the smackdown on that statement…who says “ceremonies on grassy knolls” ??
TTIP in trouble ? – Juncker declares that Investor-state dispute settlement will be reviewed :
http://voxpoliticalonline.com/2014/10/29/is-isds-the-ttip-ping-point-for-juncker/
I can never work out whether a pollie who appears to be leaving the reservation on a key issue is doing so as part of a ‘limited hangout’ or is genuinely independent of mind. A new-ish Labour MP here Melissa Parke makes no bones about her opposition to TTIP:
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/oct/29/why-support-the-tpp-when-it-will-let-foreign-corporations-take-our-democracies-to-court
but it could be the latest in a long line of seeming dissenters (Swan on the 1%, Albanese on the metadata laws) who are permitted, within reason, to moan publicly in the interests of ensuring that the party doesn’t seem to the electorate to be uniformly gormless and craven, and to further the bipartisan project of pretence that there is a real choice between the major parties. Still, she has cleared her throat on refugees and the NatSec state too so maybe she’s the real deal.
It’s better than nothing I suppose.
re: “Walmart apologizes for selling “fat girl costumes” on its website,” [Independent].
See also “You can now dress your baby up like a marijuana leaf for Halloween”
http://theweek.com/article/index/270904/speedreads-you-can-now-dress-your-baby-up-like-a-marijuana-leaf-for-halloween
Bibi is a liability. He’s not the face that many westerners including Jews like to see for Israel. Mind you, I said Bibi, not his policies.
What Israel needs is a hip, young cool guy for PM. A kind of transformational PM who can mouth the platitudes in a nice speech, all the while continuing the same policies of ethnic cleansing and terror against Palestinians as his predecessors.
^Meant as a reply to DJG
Hmmm, Tony Blair perhaps?
That’s exactly what I was going to suggest… they need to find a jewish Tony Blair.
Mark Regev perhaps?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M_-76H-YRjs
Giants win series. Whee.
Good time to run some Dave Zirin reporting or this David Zlutnick piece about the concession workers:
therealnews.com/idirect.php?i=10457
The party in power in the Senate does not need the “nuclear option” to change the filibuster; it can do so by majority vote at the beginning of each Congress – ie, next year.
So the kayfabe is even worse than you thought.
That is the nuclear option. See the link provided.
They don’t even need to bother with the rules.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_v._Ballin
50 Senators plus the VP is the only requirement necessary for legitimacy. Yes, they can choose to perform arcane rituals to their hearts content, but 50+VP is as binding as 100 Senators sacrificing a virgin for a bipartisan tax cut for the rich.
When is paper paper? When are your papers your papers? That thing from the EFF reminded me of some videos I’ve seen recently about the beginning of computers and the internet from people who were there. Pardon the length of this, but it did take effort to find these clips again, and they do make kind of a circle:
Mail, folders, files, documents, cut, paste, copy, read…