2:00PM Water Cooler 10/21/2020

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1. jo6pac October 21, 2020 at 2:10 pm

   File under Sanction Wars are Easy to Win.

   https://www.asiatimesfinancial.com/china-acquires-japanese-chipmaking-machines-for-leap-into-3g-fabs

   My mail in ballot has been in the mail for week and only has to go 30miles to be counted.
   Nap time
   1. Glen October 21, 2020 at 9:42 pm

      Oh, ouch, China got their hands on the ability to make EUV lithography machines? Oh, THAT”S gonna leave a mark.

      You know it’s bad enough with American CEOs moving our technology, factories and jobs to China, but this one is gonna catch up with us if China figures out how to make state of the art chips at the same time that Intel is struggling to do 7nm, and AMD (Global Foundries) has gone right past them.
      1. Temporarily Sane October 22, 2020 at 5:16 am

         Why ouch? Does America have a divine right to a monopoly on technology or something? China has a 5000 year old culture and about 1/5th of the world’s population. It’s gonna have power and influence and there is nothing anyone can do to prevent that unless they want to nuke the planet into oblivion.

         The fact is only the West has an obsession with forcing its way of life on every country and casually invading, destroying and sanctioning to death countries that want to remain independent. Remember, China was supposed to let itself be exploited and become a colony of western capital. Just like Russia. They didn’t do that so now they are “threats to democracy” and use their cunning foreign ways to throw elections via Facebook memes while America the innocent trembles with righteous indignation. Give me a family blogging break.

         It’s amazing how many people buy into the whole ‘China is evil’ nonsense. Even people who are skeptical of Russiagate like Glenn Greenwald. Matt Stoller is completely unhinged when it comes to China.

         Americans just can’t help demonstrating over and over again that they are the most propagandized people on earth.
         1. J. October 22, 2020 at 1:07 pm

            Did you forget about the Uighur internment camps? Seems pretty evil to me.

            https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/sep/24/china-has-built-380-internment-camps-in-xinjiang-study-finds

            Since you mentioned “forcing its way of life on every country and casually invading, destroying and sanctioning to death countries that want to remain independent.”
2. flora October 21, 2020 at 2:19 pm

   Biden (D)(3):And speaking of talking directly to Black people:

   sho’ nuff. /s
   1. Synoia October 21, 2020 at 2:35 pm

      Biden (D)(3):And speaking of talking directly to Black people:

      “I feel your pain!”
      1. petal October 21, 2020 at 3:26 pm

         Come on, man!
         1. The Rev Kev October 21, 2020 at 7:19 pm

            You ain’t black!
            1. Guild Navigator October 22, 2020 at 11:30 am

               Don’t forget, Corn Pop don’t stop!
3. Howard Beale IV October 21, 2020 at 2:25 pm

   That Check Engine Light reminds me of the apocryphal story about Unix: “Ken Thompson has an automobile which he helped design. Unlike most automobiles, it has neither speedometer, nor gas gauge, nor any of the other numerous idiot lights which plague the modern driver. Rather, if the driver makes a mistake, a giant “?” lights up in the center of the dashboard. “The experienced driver,” says Thompson, “will usually know what’s wrong.””
   1. farragut October 21, 2020 at 4:02 pm

      “Rather, if the driver makes a mistake, a giant “?” lights up in the center of the dashboard. “The experienced driver,” says Thompson, “will usually know what’s wrong.”

      There’s a joke in here about clueless husbands (sheepishly raises own hand); however, being the mental oaf that I am, I’m unable to tease it out.
      1. BobW October 21, 2020 at 5:03 pm

         Oh yes, the dreaded “you know” answer. No. I don’t know. That’s why I asked.
         1. Procopius October 22, 2020 at 8:11 am

            “Well, if you don’t know I’m certainly not going to tell you.”
   2. dougie October 21, 2020 at 6:11 pm

      I would like to try to correct some misunderstandings about the CEL “scam”. I own and operate an auto repair shop, and have been in the business since 1977. Sorry if this becomes longish.

      First off, as we explain to our clients every single day, A CODE SCAN IS NOT A DIAGNOSTIC. Here is why.There are MANY different levels of “diagnostic” equipment. Do you seriously think that a generic scanner at an AutoZone store, one that they use on all makes and models, is capable of providing information in enough detail to be helpful in more than a handful of cases? Believe me, they are not.

      Every Monday, we deal with the fellow who watched a YouTube video, bought cheap parts online, and spent his weekend replacing those parts, all because a $200 scanner told him to. He may be $800 bucks into it, but still has the same problem. Most of the time, one of the trained professionals in our shop finds a simple problem, and repairs it for less than $100.

      The general public largely thinks that we hook up a device that tells us what part to replace, and we over charge for it. That may be the case, in certain circumstances. There are unethical people in all walks of life. We find that a general code scan with a high end Snap On generic scanner is sufficient for accurate results maybe 30% of the time, no more. After that, assuming you get accurate information, knowing what to do with that information, how to correctly interpret this information, is where the DIAGNOSIS occurs.

      I used to tell customers, when I worked on the counter “A “code” puts you in the zip code. Sometimes it will provide the street name. An accurate diagnosis finds the correct house number, room in the house, and even the closet where your actual problem lies.”

      In the last two years, I spent over $100k on diagnostic equipment to allow me to accurately repair CEL’s, recode vehicle computers, etc. The yearly subscriptions to dealership information systems runs $2- $10k PER CAR LINE. Our wonderful technicians earn into the low six figures. It’s not nearly as easy, or inexpensive, as most people think.
      1. rowlf October 21, 2020 at 7:52 pm

         A lot of folks think there is flash-card (X= part) corrections to faults, when often the fault is X= A x B x C x D for the fault code to appear.

         A – Part/component
         B – Fuse/power
         C – Switch
         D – Relay
         etc

         Since I do not like to work on my own vehicles if the goat rodeo factor ramps up (I can get lucky in my driveway, the shop has plans A, B, C), I feel fortunate to have a very reliable shop to go to. I have also shared the troubleshooting gospel with the owner, who prides himself as a troubleshooter and not a parts changer.
   3. The Rev Kev October 21, 2020 at 7:27 pm

      There is an old story about a Silicon Valley design for a car when Bill Gates criticised GM for how they built their cars when he said “If GM had kept up with technology like the computer industry has, we would all be driving twenty-five dollar cars that got 1000 mi/gal.”

      In return, General Motors issued a press release stating:

      If GM had developed technology like Microsoft, we would all be driving cars like this

      1- For no reason whatsoever, your car would crash twice a day.
      2- Every time they repainted the lines in the road, you would have to buy a new car.
      3- Occasionally your car would die on the freeway for no reason. You would have to pull over to the side of the road, close all of the windows, shut off the car, restart it, and re-open the windows before you could continue. For some reason you would simply accept this.
      4- Occasionally, executing a maneuver such as a left turn would cause your car to shut down and refuse to restart, in which case you would have to reinstall the engine.
      5- Macintosh would make a car that was powered by the sun, was reliable, five times as fast and twice as easy to drive – but would run on only five percent of the roads.
      6- The oil, water temperature, and alternator warning lights would all be replaced by a single “This Car Has Performed An Illegal Operation” warning light.
      7- The airbag system would ask “Are you sure?” before deploying.
      8- Occasionally, for no reason whatsoever, your car would lock you out and refuse to let you in until you simultaneously lifted the door handle, turned the key and grabbed hold of the radio antenna.
      9- Every time a new car was introduced car buyers would have to learn how to drive all over again because none of the controls would operate in the same manner as the old car.
      10- You’d have to press the “Start” button to turn the engine off.
      1. rowlf October 21, 2020 at 7:57 pm

         Microsoft if it was on aircraft
4. Lee Too October 21, 2020 at 2:31 pm

   Breaking: Thirty fifth anniversary of “check engine” light scam.
   1. Katiebird October 21, 2020 at 2:45 pm

      We got a “check engine light” decoder from Harbor Freight a few years ago. Since Rick works on all our cars, it’s been very handy
      1. Carolinian October 21, 2020 at 4:01 pm

         You can get a gizmo that will plug into your OBD socket and use bluetooth to display the codes on your smartphone. I have one and it costs like ten bucks.

         However I’ve never used it because in many many years my older car never turned on the check engine light once. The system mostly monitors pollution controls. Other problems may not show up depending on how computerized your car is. I now have a newer car which monitors all kinds of things including the tire pressure but if something is wrong will light an indicator light on the instrument panel. The check engine light, however, still exists along with those codes.
   2. a different chris October 21, 2020 at 2:46 pm

      The replies are worth reading, you get the brilliant sarcasm directed towards late-stage capitalism from Elaine:

      The real question is why auto makers don’t have *more* proprietary diagnostics. Like, manufacture custom tire valves, so you can only check tire pressure at an authorized dealer. Oil dipstick bolted down with proprietary Honda bolts; radiator cap requires custom spanner, etc

      To the more helpful but in its way completely clueless (not in an idiotic way, the guy is a dealer and sounds helpful in general, but in a cloistered worldview way):

      You can get a diagnostic for free at autozone

      Um, yeah. As pointed out (although not as a direct response) by others on the thread: The Car Knows What The Problem Is And Has A Way To Display It. In English.

      Why should Mr Keen, or whoever, have to find time to drive to the dealership/AutoZone/wherever and wait for an hour to learn what the car could just tell him instantly.
      1. hunkerdown October 21, 2020 at 4:09 pm

         Take a minute to ponder the ramifications of an infotainment device connected to God and the Internet, probably running a general-purpose embedded OS and a none-too-recent version at that, also being able to talk and listen unrestricted on the engine control network. Are you really sure that’s what you want?

         Not that I don’t miss the old days when you could short two positions on a connector and count the engine codes off of the status light, and not that I disagree that there are manufacturer-private codes and parameters that make the “open” port a scam, but engine-to-Internet is one firewall I’d be loath to punch a hole in.
         1. John October 21, 2020 at 4:39 pm

            This may already be illegal in Europe: car disable cell modem – uconnect https://youtu.be/q-yMRt6f1XQ
         2. Carolinian October 21, 2020 at 7:11 pm

            Well perhaps you know more about this than I do or perhaps the car repair guy upthread does, but don’t you have to affirmatively connect your car to the internet–in other words an opt in rather than an opt out? My car has a ‘connections’ screen that supposedly tells you whether you are online via cell or wifi in a manner similar to a computer or smartphone. I know this ‘head unit’ does have the radios to do both without a smartphone attached but I assume they are inactivated unless I do something to change that.

            I really want to know!
            1. John October 21, 2020 at 8:43 pm

               The cell modem is always active. You can pay for WiFi access over it, but the manufacturer uses the cell modem for themselves to exfiltrate diagnostic data about the car and also automatically download updates. Also with an active cell connection that means your car is leaving a trail of cell towers it connects to everywhere you drive. It’s all really unacceptable.
               1. Carolinian October 21, 2020 at 9:44 pm

                  Not to be a doubter but think I’d need a link for that to take it out of the urban legend department–even if it only applies to certain car brands.
                  1. Carolinian October 21, 2020 at 10:04 pm

                     I did a web search and my car brand supposedly only does updates to the map navigation system via OTA and that presumably with your consent since you have to pay for the service. Engine and critical updates are done by the dealer which is how it should be.

                     There is an Onstar type service that will monitor your car via cell but that too you have to pay for and presumably consent to.

                     Of course if car companies–or anyone–are secretly tracking our cars that we’d very much like to know.
                     1. thoughtful person October 22, 2020 at 7:07 am

                        License plate recording is common
                  2. hunkerdown October 22, 2020 at 1:49 am

                     WIRED from 2015, no longer germane for that model. They had discovered access to more vehicle controls in a later hack, after the apparent open Internet access was closed.
   3. Akratique October 21, 2020 at 2:52 pm

      Buy a cheap code reader ;)
      1. Chas October 21, 2020 at 6:53 pm

         Buy an electric car instead.
         1. WobblyTelomeres October 21, 2020 at 10:16 pm

            Makes me miss my DR650. Damn arthritis.
   4. hdude October 21, 2020 at 3:03 pm

      $35 bucks will buy a scanner that plugs into engine jack that will identify what the code in English is (from there Google is your friend /s).
   5. km October 21, 2020 at 4:20 pm

      No need to even buy a code reader. Most auto parts stores will lend you one (and other tools) if you ask.
      1. RMO October 22, 2020 at 3:56 am

         There are quite a few car models out there where the “infotainment” (I hate that word…) will display diagnostics if you want it too. An OBD scanner will do that if you don’t have a built in screen. Sure it costs money, but so does a set of wrenches – or a timing light and dwell meter as examples of tools that are needed for performing certain maintenance tasks on older cars. This can let you deal with a few simple Check Engine Light causes and avoid a visit to a mechanic (e.g. my father-in-law’s Toyota Echo that just needed the fuel filler cap to be tightened to put the light out). As pointed out above though just seeing the OBD code doesn’t necessarily diagnose all the problems for you. Unfortunately there are some mechanics out there who seem to start and stop with scanning for codes. An example being a friend who had an intermittent problem with his VW Golf where suddenly the engine would drop to idle no matter what was being done with the throttle and would then come back to life after a few seconds. Multiple dealer visits resulted in the car being scanned for errors and when none came up they just sent him on his (intermittent) way again after relieving him of some money. Eventually he went to an independent mechanic who actually diagnosed and fixed the problem.

         As for myself, I’m just not that enthusiastic about doing my own wrenching anymore. I actually go to the Honda/Nissan dealer who sold me my car for service because they’re fairly priced, competent and honest. I’ve had bad luck with independent mechanics starting with my first car back in the 80s. Him, and every one I’ve tried since has turned out to be some combination of incompetent and dishonest. In fact the reason I got started working on cars in the first place was in trying to figure out what was still wrong with my first car (a beater of a 1974 Capri 2.8) after two visits to that first guy. As I discovered he had unnecessarily replaced the carb (the running problems I was having were caused by something else) and managed to hook it up so that only the primary barrel was opening. Oh, and he left one spark plug wire disconnected too…
         1. Basil Pesto October 22, 2020 at 4:56 am

            in my experience, google maps/other consumer reviews are an excellent way of finding a car mechanic. If people feel they have been shafted, they will make it known – a mechanic with a rating of, say, 4.5 or higher, stands out as worthy of consideration.

            There’s always the possibility of competition sabotaging these reviews, but it’s worth reading a few of them: you can usually tell whether reviews are bona fide.
5. DJG October 21, 2020 at 2:39 pm

   Meanwhile, the Popester is making Justice Sammy Alito pisciare in his pantaloons by endorsing civil unions for gayfolk. News stories everywhere this morning. About the Pope, not craven “Justice” Alito.

   Also, La Stampa reports that he highlighted, and complimented, a woman for breast-feeding a baby during a papal audience.

   And Fratelli Tutti, his latest encyclical, just came out, condemning capitalism in no uncertain terms.

   I think that he’s doing all of this just to annoy Mike Pence.

   Next up: Following his patron, Saint Francis of Assisi, and preaching to the birds, I suppose.
   1. km October 21, 2020 at 2:43 pm

      It will be sorta satisfying to watch the smug First Things set once more call for the fainting couch, as they seem to do pretty much every time Francis opens his mouth.
      1. a different chris October 21, 2020 at 2:52 pm

         I won’t be that surprised if American Catholics eventually break away just like the Protestants did so long ago. They are that kind of stupid, and if they get two Popes in a row like this, well.

         It’s an authoritarian sect, and those things do the schism thing pretty darn well.
         1. NotTimothyGeithner October 21, 2020 at 6:03 pm

            The Protestant Reformation was about real power dynamics and real issues. The monasteries owning everything was a big deal. The Pope is just a man in a funny hat. He had a bit more sway in Italy back in the day. The loud mouths are one thing, but the rank and file could care less.

            What is going to the Association of Catholic Bishops sales pitch? Rome was too hard on us over the priest abuse scandal?

            There are occasional sedevacanists, but they are going nowhere as they are basically isolationist in nature. The Pope would have to do something like calling for shrinking of the church to really drive people into action.

            The converts like Jeb Bush, maybe not him specifically, could leave, but its just that.
         2. hunkerdown October 21, 2020 at 6:26 pm

            That would all be very Russian of them, wouldn’t it?
            1. NotTimothyGeithner October 21, 2020 at 6:37 pm

               For Jeb Bush converts, the Orthodox definitely have a similar appeal as the RCC in a style category, but I’ve heard about Orthodox Easter Vigil. It might still be going on.
6. Lambert Strether Post authorOctober 21, 2020 at 2:41 pm

   I added a few orts and scraps; please refresh your browsers.
7. ShamanicFallout October 21, 2020 at 2:42 pm

   Well, since I have to work everyday and do as much mitigation as can, I couldn’t resist- I ordered a FEND. I shall report back here as to whether I feel ‘washed and refreshed’. Approved by Harvard! How could it not be great?
   1. jaaaaayceeeee October 21, 2020 at 5:12 pm

      I keep googling aeronabs nasal spray (which I heard of here) because it sounds like it could be miraculous, if they ever finish trials and start production. It caps off the coronavirus spikes and wouldn’t need refrigeration or fancy admistration. A grad student came up with the idea to search for proteins like those that llamas use to fend off viruses.
      https://www.fiercebiotech.com/research/ucsf-engineers-develop-llama-inspired-aeronabs-to-strangle-covid-19-inhaler
8. Seth Miller October 21, 2020 at 2:42 pm

   Re: “I don’t think Roberts wants another Bush v. Gore, and will do what it takes to prevent it, ideally by diverting any such cases from the Court entirely.”

   As Wikipedia reports, a grant of certiorari (in other words, a decision to take a case) requires only four votes. Even if he positions himself dead center, Roberts cannot himself stop election cases from being heard. Not with the people on the Court now, and certainly not if Barrett joins.

   As I keep saying, instead of trying to push for court-packing (a non-starter that, even if it got anywhere would just lead the Republicans to do worse), the Democrats should be limiting the Court’s jurisdiction. They should start by requiring a unanimous vote before the Court can take a case.

   Corey Robin posted an article today that contains a link to this interesting law review article, which I haven’t finished, but which seems to make some of my points more elegantly than I have done: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3665032 . The basic point of the article is that supermajority requirements are more in sync with a progressive agenda than court packing. My basic point is that supermajority requirements both lessen the risk of damage from the Supreme Court and pull it away from extremism.
   1. Biph October 21, 2020 at 3:19 pm

      Court packing could work but the Dems would need to back it by adding at least 2 more states to the union. PR and DC are ripe for the picking there, 4 more Dem senators wouldn’t be a guarantee the repubs couldn’t take back the senate but it would make it much harder. They could also take a look at the viability of statehood for other US territories.
      If the court tosses Obamacare I would expect a lot of support for court packing, and quite honestly in that case it should be packed. I’m no fan of Obamacare, it being the worst possible republican plan, but it’s something that should be left up to legislative and executive branches. Remember when the GOP used to complain about un-elected judges legislating from the bench?
      1. drumlin woodchuckles October 21, 2020 at 3:32 pm

         When The Republic of Texas was admitted to the Union, it was admitted with open ended till forever permission to break itself up into 5 States any time it wanted. Those would probably be 5 Republican States.

         Good luck recruiting miserable little “statelettes” into the Union. That’s just one more game that the Republicans can play better than you can. And they will, too.
         1. Biph October 21, 2020 at 3:38 pm

            It wouldn’t be 5 republican states 3-2 at best, plus Texas had enough trouble with no longer being the biggest State in the union no way it gives up being the biggest in the lower 48.
            PR should have statehood if it wants it and while I would prefer DC be given federal city status with 1 house member and 1 senator it deserves representation in the legislative branch and I prefer statehood to the current set up.
         2. Darthbobber October 21, 2020 at 5:56 pm

            Not necessarily. This was the text of the annexation act, but the actual admission act that superseded it some months later said that Texas would admitted on the same basis as other states. (the original annexation act also said the 4 additional statelets could be admitted “with or without slavery. ”

            In any case, THAT Texas chose to secede in 1861 and had to be reconstructed by somewhat different provisions.
            1. Wukchumni October 21, 2020 at 6:52 pm

               Texas paper money backed by nothing (it went down to being worth 6 Cents on the Dollar in Federal $’s) eventually was worth par with the US $, when it got bailed out by the feds, kind of along the same lines as the CSA was hoping with their banknotes, once the south had beaten the union.

               Under the Compromise of 1850, Texas was given $10 million for all the land it had claimed outside its present state boundary. With this money, Texas paid off all its debts, including the redemption of its notes.

               https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas_dollar
   2. Lee October 21, 2020 at 3:43 pm

      I concur.

      Jurisdiction stripping Wikipedia

      “In the United States, jurisdiction-stripping (also called court-stripping or curtailment-of-jurisdiction), is the limiting or reducing of a court’s jurisdiction by Congress through its constitutional authority to determine the jurisdiction of federal and state courts.”
      1. Reality Bites October 21, 2020 at 4:21 pm

         Jurisdiction stripping is not at all a panacea. The courts have, in certain cases, found that stripping jurisdiction is unconstitutional. The cases surrounding Guantanamo Bay detainees are a good source for the arguments surrounding that. Also, be careful what you wish for. There was a short-lived effort to eliminate the ability to recoup attorney’s fees for successful constitutional challenges. This is often how poorer litigants are able to challenge unfair and unconstitutional practices. Eliminating this ability would cripple most constitutional cases unless the client has deep pockets. It was deemed to extreme for GWB.

         Access (that infamous word again) to justice is already similar to access to healthcare. However, as someone said above, Republicans play the game far better. If you come for jurisdiction, they will go for fees. They can also put a series of pleading requirements and numerous civil procedure rules in that will go much further. I don’t trust Democrats to start this fight because they will surrender quickly and the Republicans will go full on the moment they are back in power.
         1. Darthbobber October 21, 2020 at 6:05 pm

            Jurisdiction stripping is how the radical Republicans protected some of their reconstruction acts from being overturned. Guantanamo, as an extraterritorial possession held by lease, I believe falls into the original jurisdiction of the court, which is constitutionally specified.

            The appellate jurisdiction is not constitutionally specified, but has been controlled by congressional legislation for nearly the entire history of the nation.

            Then there’s the Jackson-Lincoln method on constitutional rulings. Just ignore them. Marbury v Madison rests, after all, on nothing more than a bare assertion by the court itself.
         2. Seth Miller October 21, 2020 at 6:06 pm

            No, not a panacea, and it’s got to be done very carefully. My idea is that granting cert should require unanimity. Then, there’s no argument that anyone is protecting unconstitutional conduct. I think unanimity should be required to overrule precedent, or to find legislation unconstitutional. This is consistent with the “balls and strikes” rhetoric that the Republicans employ so hypocritically.

            BTW, as I recall the Stevens flagged the issue in the Guantanamo cases, but did not rule on it. I agree that passing a controversial law (e.g., the upcoming law eliminating qualified immunity for cops) that says that the court will not have jurisdiction to hear challenges to this law, would be asking for trouble.

            But in this moment, when it looks like the Dems will control things for awhile, keeping the Court from taking any cases that Sotomayor doesn’t want, seems like a prudent way to protect any gains.
   3. Alternate Delegate October 21, 2020 at 4:11 pm

      The Court makes up its own rules, in this case the Rule of Four. In exactly the same way that they made up corporate personhood, and judicial review (the idea that they get to invalidate laws just because they feel like it). Out of whole cloth.

      In my opinion, the balance of power between the legislative and judiciary branches requires that the Legislature arrogate to itself the power to impeach and remove judges precisely for making wrong decisions.

      Yes, this asserts that these wrong decisions may rise to the level of high crimes and misdemeanors, which I claim is obviously true. In particular, it smashes the falsehood that “the law does no wrong”. Of course the law does wrong.

      More broadly, impeachment restores a necessary symmetry between branches of government. So the Court decided it could throw out laws? So the Legislature should decide it can throw out judges.
      1. Biph October 21, 2020 at 4:40 pm

         The legislative branch can already do that, high crimes and misdemeanors is vague enough already. The trouble is and always will be getting 2/3 of the Senate to vote to convict. Constitutionally the co-equal branches of govt is BS, the legislative branch is the most powerful branch as it has the ability to toss out any member of the executive branch and judicial branch any time it wants so long as it can get a majority in the House and 2/3 of the Senate to do so, the judicial and executive branches have no such lever to remove members of the legislative branch. Practically not so much as getting 2/3 of Senate to agree is much more difficult.
   4. Lambert Strether Post authorOctober 22, 2020 at 5:50 am

      > Roberts cannot himself stop election cases from being heard

      If Roberts has any clout in DC, now is the time to use it. He needs to get out from under the falling safe if he wants to maintain the integrity [snort] of the court.
9. DJG October 21, 2020 at 2:42 pm

   I noticed a whole bunch of “rats leaving sinking ship” posts. Then I noticed the post about still another article presenting the corporate-confection Mayor Pete as a serious person. The combination of rats and suck-ups makes me think that we should all wait till Wednesday, 4 November, to decide what to do about things.

   By then, the New Yorker and its enablers will have decided what to do with the ultra-exuberant Toobin, too.
   1. flora October 21, 2020 at 3:20 pm

      The New Yorker can send Toobin a joystick mouse for Zoom meetings to help keep him, uh, occupied.
      1. fresno dan October 21, 2020 at 4:10 pm

         flora
         October 21, 2020 at 3:20 pm

         Mere coincidence that the “occupation” consists of Toobin wrapping his hand around a cylindrical object of a particular circumference and length. After all, if he doesn’t have his hand wrapped around his joystick, what else would he be possibly doing?

         And I pledge, that is my last Toobin double entendre …. unless the opportunity for a really, really, REALLY good one …comes up
         1. Wukchumni October 21, 2020 at 5:52 pm

            After all, if he doesn’t have his hand wrapped around his joystick, what else would he be possibly doing?

            To pee or not to pee, that is the question~
      2. clarky90 October 21, 2020 at 4:33 pm

         There is a possibly innocent explanation for Toobin’s indiscretion.

         Perhaps Jeff was taking an investigative, deep-dive, into Hunter Biden’s laptop? He is a Harvard Law Alumni, so, clearly, a trained expert researcher.
   2. skippy October 21, 2020 at 3:57 pm

      Toobin is not trending as hot [tm] as Rudy … tips hat at Sacha …

      RUN DMC, Jason Nevins – It’s Like That … and that is the way it is … ummmm drop …

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TLGWQfK-6DY
10. Off The Street October 21, 2020 at 2:45 pm

    Good news in the never-ending struggle against Big Pharma.
    Purdue guilty on three counts and to pay $8.34 Billion settlement, per WSJ.
    That is a good start!
    1. notabanker October 21, 2020 at 5:21 pm

       Jail time or nothing. If pharma execs know the worst that happens is the company pays, then nothing changes. Put some in prison and they will start to take it seriously.
       1. JTMcPhee October 21, 2020 at 9:47 pm

          There was a brief period when the US EPA and US Atorneys and some few kooks at DoJ got around to using the criminal enforcement authorities Congress had written into the principal environmental protection laws. Having had a bit to do with creating the EPA’s criminal enforcement program, I got to look into the eyes of corporate executives who discovered that their whining about reputation damage and shared responsibility and the efficacy of ‘cost of doing business’ “Largest Settlement Ever” deals was not going to protect their lily-white a$$es from doing jail time. And having to recognize that they might ought to avoid the behaviors that could get them prosecuted personally and sent off (albeit, usually, to a pretty cush federal lockup) to do some time thinking about their misdeeds. Stuff like letting tanks full of toxins corrode to the point of rupture, sending lots of nasties directly into drinking water sources, gross and intentional violations of air and water discharge and emission permits, intentional dumping of hazardous waste.

          You look at the EPA and DoJ brag sheets from those days, and you saw real enforcement — not on as large a scale as was warranted, but for the time, it had a measurable effect on corporate behavior, as in CEOs and senior executives spending the effort and money to minimize the risk that they would be the ones getting arrested. Look at the brag sheets these days, and you see little people being raked over for pretty petty violations, interspersed with announcements of “Biggest Penalty EVah” and “Largest Fine EVah” with no admission of guilt, not jail time, and just another cost of doing business. Passed on to the mopery, of course.

          Regulatory capture has of course been at work. Congress has weakened or evaporated criminal enforcement authorities. The Sentencing Guidelines have been lobbied into largely nugatory noise. The DoJ has reverted to its longstanding partnership with corporate interests, and the recent Google antitrust action exists only because bigger corporate interests want it to proceed. Don’t expect any kind of enforcement action under any publicly beneficial regulatory processes against GoldmanSachs, Wells Fargo, BlackRock or other malefactors of great wealth.

          Fear of personal consequences is a significant motivator, and can outweigh the externality-generating corporate profit incentives that lead to the mess we have today. Looking at you, Exxon/Mobil, DowDuPont,Bayer/Monsanto… and all the minions serving your core of evil.
    2. LarryB October 21, 2020 at 5:32 pm

       When do we get to claw back the 10 billion dollars that the Sacklers took out fo the company?
       1. OpenThePodBayDoorsHAL October 21, 2020 at 11:20 pm

          No but I’m sure we can get redress from the regime that the Sackler money is installing in The White House LOLOLOL.

          Kind of like we’ll be allowed to know what the reference to “10% of amount held by Hunter for The Big Guy” on Hunter’s laptop means LOLOLOL.

          Hey I know, let’s get actual criminals running the place, that’ll be LOL “better”.
11. flora October 21, 2020 at 2:51 pm

    re: “Discipline Doesn’t Scale”

    Interesting read. I think what he’s talking about (and this applies to many fields) is “craftsmanship” vs time-and-motion-type assembly line work. Does craftsmanship scale in the same way assembly line work scales? People writing in FORTRAN or COBOL were probably writing code inhouse with a small/medium size IT department.

    But you know what’s better? You get the idea. You see similar things happen in other contexts: for example C++’s move from new/delete to smart pointers follows a similar trajectory over a similar time. The reliance on an entire programming community getting some difficult rules right, when faced with the alternative of using different technology on the same computer that follows the rules for you, is a tough sell.

    An entire programming community can be as large as all programmers in one country or all FORTRAN programmers eg, checking in and out of projects – often midstream – on a time limited consultancy basis, or never meeting co-workers in person but only sending code back and forth, only working on a tiny bit of code that will be combined with other bits of code someone else wrote, etc. Sort of like an assembly line. My 2 cents.
    1. flora October 21, 2020 at 3:05 pm

       adding: in assembly line programming it’s up to the chief manager to let everyone know what’s expected by way of file and data structures, and all the other acceptable code type parameters for the project: what language, OS platforms, file types, data structure types, coding tools, etc.

       This is a management issue, not a discipline issue, imo.

       (And that’s before getting into the issue of understandable documentation of code. I won’t open that can of worms. ;) )
12. jr October 21, 2020 at 3:19 pm

    This stinging rebuke of Identitarianism is from the Reductress:

    https://reductress.com/post/i-use-they-pronouns-because-im-non-binary-and-also-because-im-always-surrounded-by-my-bees/
    1. drumlin woodchuckles October 21, 2020 at 4:47 pm

       There! THAT should kick some sleeping wokes awake.
    2. Acacia October 21, 2020 at 7:03 pm

       Err… I’m missing the rebuke part.
13. KevinD October 21, 2020 at 3:28 pm

    Knowledge Takes the Sword Away

    Excerpt:
    In a political world in which those responsible for telling us the truth provide us with two distinct sets of facts, even if we are 100% convinced that our facts are always the correct ones and our truth-tellers the honest ones, dismantling the competition game that results in politically polarized truth-tellers should STILL be a huge objective.
14. drumlin woodchuckles October 21, 2020 at 3:30 pm

    About Pete Buttapig, as with Obama, look at who has been grooming them, developing them, advancing them from square to square. Just as Obama was a long-term UpperClass investment from when he played “community organizer” to begin burnishing his resume’, Buttapig has been a long-term UpperClass investment since at least his “Naval Service” in Afghanistan and time at McKinsey.

    It might be worth giving Americans a very short primer on the sport of Curling. The Stone, the Sweepers, the launcher, etc. Buttapig is somebody’s Curling Stone. Somebody launched him. Somebody keeps sending out the Sweepers to clear the treacherous icy path ahead of him in order to guide his trajectory into somebody’s preferred goal.

    Seen this way, how much effort is required to keep dropping a little sand now and then along Buttapig’s path, to nullify the guiding work of the Sweepers?
    1. petal October 21, 2020 at 6:15 pm

       You totally just ruined curling for me. sigh. It was so much fun to play and watch.
       1. edmondo October 21, 2020 at 7:16 pm

          No. Mayo Pete has all the personality, charm and ethics of a curling stone. The analogy was inspired.
    2. NotTimothyGeithner October 21, 2020 at 6:34 pm

       Pete is rat boy, and Obama was cool. Buttigieg is the Marco Rufio, an old out of touch person’s idea of a young person, of Team Blue, but he isn’t a position to establish himself for federal office.

       One problem with Biden is the idea people believed they already “knew” him. He was Leslie Knope’s friend or the guy who looked like a tv president who stood near Obama.

       There was an organic part of Obama’s popularity.

       The only real problem with Buttigieg is that he has enough backers they’ll allow him to squeak at various times and distract from otherwise bad people. All the time wasted on Pete, Beta, Kamala, and the rest was time not spent on exposing what a POS Biden is.
    3. NotTimothyGeithner October 21, 2020 at 8:07 pm

       A more competent O’Rourke is scary. Buttigieg isnt that.
15. ChrisAtRU October 21, 2020 at 3:35 pm

    #SwingStates

    Heh … I’ve seen a lot of people looking at national polls and preparing touchdown dances as they spew nonsense like “Biden’s going to crush it!”

    File under “T” for #TheyHaveLearnedNothing.

    It’s nip and tick even without considering potential suppression/malfeasance. When I look at the 270 to win graphic, I tell myself Trump is going to win PA and all the toss-ups which still leaves Biden with 270, but Biden has to sweep the upper-upper Midwest – WI, MI, MN. This is not trivial IMO. One can only hope that these Trump-adjusted-weights mean that there’s not an additional 2% in the offing for Trump beyond the MOE.
    1. drumlin woodchuckles October 21, 2020 at 4:45 pm

       Joemala would have to win EACH electoral-college-delegation-needed State by so much of a majority that every challenge the Trumpists mount would be ridiculizable on-its-face as spitefully frivolous.

       Wherever the least crack of hope exists to drive in a wedge of challenge, the Trumpists will drive it in. The lack of enthusiasm which the Joemala has and will continue to have will be a weakness in the November 4th-and-counting days of dispute.
    2. PhilK October 21, 2020 at 5:38 pm

       Trafalgar Group chief pollster Robert Cahaly told Fox News host Sean Hannity on Tuesday night he sees President Trump being reelected, citing a “hidden vote” Cahaly says is predominantly missing from polling showing Democratic nominee Joe Biden leading nationally and in most swing states.

       Trafalgar Group’s polling in 2016 showed Trump leading in key battleground states including Pennsylvania and Michigan when almost all other pollsters had the Republican nominee trailing Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton. Trump ended up wining both of those states and Wisconsin, becoming the first GOP presidential nominee to do so in decades.

       “I see the president winning with a minimum high 270s and possibly going up significantly higher based on just how big this undercurrent is,” Cahaly said, referring to Electoral College votes. A candidate needs 270 electoral votes to win the White House.

       Trafalgar chief pollster predicts Trump victory: Polls ‘predominantly missing the hidden vote’
       1. hunkerdown October 21, 2020 at 8:02 pm

          Maybe Cahaly is counting the Hawkins vote’s effect on the duopoly’s fortunes.
       2. ChrisAtRU October 21, 2020 at 8:18 pm

          It’s funny – Bragman’s follow-up tweet pointed to this #FiveThirtyEight article:

          What Pollsters Have Changed Since 2016 — And What Still Worries Them About 2020

          … needless to say, after the debacle of 2016, many pollsters no doubt want to regain credibility on the ultimate prediction stage as it were. Where that puts them given a penchant for functioning as push polls remains to be seen. It’s going to be interesting. I consider this the equivalent of half time adjustments in (American) football. #WeShallSee
       3. Lambert Strether Post authorOctober 22, 2020 at 5:44 am

          > a “hidden vote” Cahaly says is predominantly missing from polling

          “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” Heb 11:1
16. Leftcoastindie October 21, 2020 at 3:37 pm

    Not sure if this link will work or not. But my ballot is on the way to the registrars office.
    1. Leftcoastindie October 21, 2020 at 4:10 pm

       Evidently the link didn’t work. However it is a very simple screen that tells you when your ballot was mailed to you, when you sent it back and when it goes to the registrar and finally if it was accepted or not. Nice and simple.
17. rowlf October 21, 2020 at 3:52 pm

    Due to the superb Propublica article in yesterday’s Links on Georgia voting and the wife wanting to try early voting, I decided to go for it. We went to the county seat, the spaced out line took about 15 minutes, everyone wore masks, the ballot marking machines worked fine and the ballot scanner worked fine. I chatted with the friendly poll workers and manager, who said the first day last week was rough getting everything sorted but after that they had a smooth system. Little finger condoms were provided for using the touchscreens.

    I tend to like the poll workers as they remind me of friendly librarians and museum staff that want you to have a pleasant experience. The only negative I could think of was the ballot marking machine touchscreen were very large and there wasn’t much privacy with the small dividers. I also wanted to vote for the very popular incumbent Sheriff about eight more times as he treats everyone well and thinks no-knock warrants are stupid and dangerous, and says you can solve most problems with good police work.

    My wife told the poll workers this was her first vote in person since she recently naturalized and they gave her a warm congratulation. The Georgia voting stickers have been updated to include a slogan stating “I Secured My Vote”.
    1. Wukchumni October 21, 2020 at 5:31 pm

       When we had our evang-militia-survivalist-church in town, many of the poll workers were from that nutty outfit, and of course they got to see everybody’s political affiliation, which says an awful lot only knowing that tidbit.

       Thank goodness they’re gone!
       1. kareninca October 22, 2020 at 2:00 am

          Well, you could have worked at the polls and then it would have been done to your specifications.
    2. flora October 21, 2020 at 5:58 pm

       What a great antidote to this election season’s politicians (both parties) claiming half the country is horrible and doom is upon us. Thanks.
       1. rowlf October 21, 2020 at 6:56 pm

          You’re welcome. I like that the county I live in is very integrated and appears to stratify by class. The southern courtesies of holding doors, letting someone go ahead of you, having a maybe quick chat with whoever you are interacting with, and waving to people as you see them, agrees with me as does having some sense of community.

          A short aside. I had traveled back from Europe a year or so ago and the practice at the European airports was like a scrimmage for all the passengers to get on an airplane. Arriving back at the local airport the shuttle bus shows up and as the waiting riders surge to get on, one man says, hold on, let’s let the ladies go first. Why not, as Gomez Adams would say? A lot of the riders where airport workers at the end of their shift.

          I think if we try to get along and tell the federal politicians and their media hanger-ons to go climb trees as they work to divide us we can have a better life. I miss that the politicians rarely have to fear that the locals might pelt them with rotten produce and dead animals anymore.
       2. rowlf October 21, 2020 at 7:15 pm

          Simpler version: I agree with Ian Welsh.

          “It Doesn’t Have to Be This Way” Redux
          1. LilD October 22, 2020 at 12:15 am

             I never know if it’s right to share this. It’s lucid and to me so depressing that toaster bathing seems like a good option. I’d hate to cause my friends pain… which pill should we be taking?
             1. rowlf October 22, 2020 at 12:56 am

                Red. Not the blue pill. Not the black capsule.

                I hang around a lot of Buddhists, so the red pill is the only way. And one of my favorite Forest monks thinks the Matrix films are silly.
    3. Lambert Strether Post authorOctober 22, 2020 at 5:41 am

       > the ballot marking machines worked fine

       Ballot Marking Devices are not auditable. Hence, they cannot ever be said to “work fine” (at least not for the definition of “work” I think you are using).
       1. rowlf October 22, 2020 at 10:05 am

          The print out on heavy paper that I had to take over to the scanner showed all the Ba’ath party candidates I selected and a computer scan code on it. I guess the computer scan code could be different than what I selected.
18. Cuibono October 21, 2020 at 4:33 pm

    Where can you buy suitable Povodine for the nose in the US?
    1. GramSci October 21, 2020 at 11:00 pm

       I make my own. Get a saline nasal spray and a graduated eye dropper. Povidine is in any pharmacy, cheap, and a little goes a long way.
19. notabanker October 21, 2020 at 4:50 pm

    leaving almost 80 million of its citizens without adequate insurance….

    Ah so the rest of us with monster deductables, monthly contributions and out of pocket caps that could wipe out 50-100% of your annual take home pay are deemed adequate.

    So tired of this narrative. I’m convinced a third party could form to challenge these corporate politicians on this issue alone. This has got to be a 75%-80% issue already.
    1. wadge22 October 21, 2020 at 5:22 pm

       Every time I catch myself thinking there might be some issue like that that could unite us, I have to remind myself about Guns and Abortion. Ahh… Guns and Abortion. Very difficult to carve out a universally satisfactory non-stance on either of those issues, let alone both.

       “Abortions for some, miniature American flags for others!”
       
       1. Wukchumni October 21, 2020 at 5:34 pm

          Why not combine both….

          Sure, your newborn can’t even hold it’s head up hardly, but is it ever too soon for ‘baby’s first Beretta’?
       2. OpenThePodBayDoorsHAL October 21, 2020 at 11:32 pm

          Wait wait wait Pick Me!

          I have one. It’s something we waste hundreds of billions of dollars on every year. Not only is that money lit on fire, but the activity kills tens of thousands of people and causes untold refugee crises around the world. In polling almost 80% of American people say they are against it, across age, income, and race lines.

          THE WAR

          (But Oops! There’s a glitch in The Matrix! The nation is about to elect the team that caused The Iraq War, at a cost of $2 trillion so far and 2 million lives. Silly rabbi, didn’t you know kicks are for Trids?)
20. Another Scott October 21, 2020 at 5:04 pm

    I thought the controversy over the 1619 Project had died down, but I guess not. The World Socialist Web Site has a story about the controversy over Bret Stephens’ article and the newsroom fallout. It is well worth a read.
    https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/10/15/sulz-o15.html

    Each time this topic comes up, The New York Times seems to cover itself in less and less glory. The leaders seem afraid to say much of anything out of fear of upsetting liberals, inside and outside of the newsroom.
21. Wukchumni October 21, 2020 at 5:20 pm

    Luntz is one hellova massagionist, and it really is about the words you choose to push your product. I kinda wish he was on the other side of the political spectrum, even though the Donkey Show would promptly relegate him to right field.
    1. Geof October 21, 2020 at 7:08 pm

       His climate change memo is a work of genius. It has wreaked incredible harm, but it is still brilliant. If you want a model of effective communication, I don’t know if you can do better. Nor, as I recall, is it outright dishonest. It simply frames the issue to benefit Republicans.

       This is basically what a good lawyer does and should do, even for a bad client. Though there’s a good deal of difference between upholding the integrity (such as exists) of the justice system by offering a vigorous defense, and ruining the environment. Although it’s quite possible Luntz believed what he said in that memo, in which case I’m not sure you can criticize him for anything except being mistaken about climate change.

       Whatever. It is far too easy to blame the moral failings of individuals rather than address the structural failings of institutions. And this clip from Frontline is devastating. He describes the polarization and hate in America, and where he sees the country going. The months since this was filmed seem to be proving him right. Every American should watch this, and step back from the brink.

       So I have a soft spot for him too. Anyone who can listen to the range of ordinary people, on all sides – really listen, and see them as human beings – deserves some respect.
       1. notabanker October 21, 2020 at 9:05 pm

          Wow, that Frontline clip is really, really good. He pretty much nails it over the course of an hour, and the last minutes are just devastating, very good choice of word there.

          This is right up there with Blyth in terms of calling it like it is and backing it up with hard evidence. This truly is must see.

          One could argue with his framing of some of the issues, but in substance, I completely agree with him. This left / right framing of every single issue is very passive-aggressive in the sense that both sides are willing to fail just to prove their point, and that is destructive behavior. The McConnell-Pelosi mind games over stimulus is the perfect example. Multiply that by, well, everything, and it is a mess.

          No crystal ball here, but the magic 8-ball in my head says ‘Outlook not good’ no matter how many times I shake it.
       2. Lambert Strether Post authorOctober 22, 2020 at 5:38 am

          That’s quite a find. Thanks!
22. Arizona Slim October 21, 2020 at 5:43 pm

    Uh-oh. Surge in Arizona:

    https://www.kgun9.com/news/coronavirus/asu-experts-say-arizona-is-now-in-a-covid-19-surge

    Sotto voce: I think a lot of this surge has to do with the reopening of our state’s three universities. Note the final graf’s reference to super-spreader events. Quite a few of those near campus.

    “LaBaer said we need to continue to wear masks, communicate, limit gathering sizes and conduct more tests. He said ‘super-spreader events’ are also contributing to the increase in cases.”
23. Darthbobber October 21, 2020 at 5:46 pm

    I don’t think the problems with the New Yorker stem from getting conned by Obama or others. I suspect they stem from their absorption by Conde-Nast.
    1. Lambert Strether Post authorOctober 21, 2020 at 5:57 pm

       That’s part of it, though Conde-Nast used to be pretty good, in the Before Times. Nevertheless, Remnick and Hendryk Hertzberg lost their minds in 2008, and it showed.
       1. Wukchumni October 21, 2020 at 6:05 pm

          I used to read about 2/3rds of the New Yorker, and then the amount gradually went down to the point where although i’d always find something of worth in every issue, it became a diminishing returns gig, and after 35 years let my subscription lapse.
          1. Lambert Strether Post authorOctober 22, 2020 at 5:30 am

             The New Yorker was a much better magazine when it had no table of contents and all those capsule movie reviews in the front (which I learned a lot from). I grew up reading it, like you read it for decades, and now…. I don’t miss what it’s become at all. It’s sad.

             You kids get offa my lawn!
       2. Carolinian October 21, 2020 at 7:20 pm

          Bring back Pauline Kael! Oh wait…

          Honestly her reviews were about the only things I used to read in the mag. The Tina Brown era was also not so hot.
       3. Darthbobber October 21, 2020 at 9:16 pm

          The best articles were always ones they bought from other writers. They once had editors who were excellent at selecting those. Though even at their best, I think C Wright Mills’ summation of the New Yorker as having “a sophistication of tone but not of thought” was pretty spot-on.
          1. Lambert Strether Post authorOctober 22, 2020 at 5:31 am

             > a sophistication of tone but not of thought

             Ouch!
24. petal October 21, 2020 at 6:12 pm

    Re check engine light: my last car, a Subaru, the check engine light was on all the time even though there was nothing wrong. I finally taped a picture of Tom Magliozzi’s(RIP) laughing face over it. Fixed!
25. Pavel October 21, 2020 at 6:21 pm

    HRC: I’m going to be the most inauthentic POTUS candidate in history and turn off the voters!

    Kamaleon: Hold my bottle of hot sauce.

    Jeebus that video clip was cringeworthy. I’ve been following USA politics for 40+ years and Harris is possibly the least likeable candidate I’ve every witnessed. She is the luckiest politician of all time — she will become president by accident of history.
    1. Arizona Slim October 21, 2020 at 7:00 pm

       Yikes. She’s even less likeable than Vice Presidents Andrew Johnson and Lyndon Johnson, both of whom became POTUS through accidents of history.
       1. ambrit October 22, 2020 at 2:41 am

          Alas, the two worthies you note ascended through unforeseeable “accidents” of history.
          Mz. Harris, she of obstructionist lineage, is almost assured an ‘ascension’ in a year or two. Although, as Phyl reminds me, my ongoing jape about the “Artificial” President Reagan gives one reason for pause. “Cyborg” Joe Biden might become a ‘Thing’ all too soon. [With apologies to Christian Nyby and later, John Carpenter. I like the original story by John W Campbell, “Who Goes There?” From that to “Invasion of the Body Snatchers” gives a capsule prognostication of the next seventy years from the first film.]
    2. Acacia October 21, 2020 at 7:07 pm

       Kinda like Truman and then… oh, wait.
    3. notabanker October 21, 2020 at 7:47 pm

       “It is the worst campaign I’ve ever seen and I’ve been watching them since 1980. They’re on the wrong issues. They’re on the wrong message. They’ve got their heads up their assess. … Your damn job is to get your candidate to talk about things that are relevant to the people you need to reach. And if you can’t do your damn job then get out.”

       I was reading this and looking at those tweets and how it applies to both parties. They are now so entrenched they are just going through the motions. The people running these campaigns think they are the smartest people in the room and the reality is they are woefully dreadful at doing their jobs. Who is their right mind thinks HRC stumping for Harris is going to generate any more interest in that ticket that wasn’t already there. It has zero upside, all downside. And these campaign images of black masked Biden – Harris have pseudo post apocalyptic neo fascist imagery all over them. It’s just delusional.

       Not to excuse Trump from screwing up his campaign colossally as well. I watched his reporter Q&A yesterday and he was just a rambling fool, I had no idea what he was talking about. Best I could glean is something magical will happen to get more votes. In two weeks.
       1. The Rev Kev October 21, 2020 at 8:00 pm

          I see Obama on the news right now – telling black people how they should vote. Especially after everything that he and Joe did for them in their eight years of power such as ahhm, errrr, lemmethink, hmmmm. Let me get back to you on that one. And Joe? He has been MIA ever since he got busted by his son’s laptop files for being the crook that he is.
    4. nick October 21, 2020 at 9:21 pm

       I don’t understand all the hate. At least, for a time, she was for the elimination of private health insurers. So no Bernie, but a clear #2 in that pool
       1. notabanker October 21, 2020 at 10:06 pm

          “for a time” is doing some mighty Herculean lifting there.
          1. NotTimothyGeithner October 21, 2020 at 10:14 pm

             One would think the #Resistance would care that Harris let Steve Mnuchin off and then took a donation from him. I guess it really is an admission their opposition is purely about style.
          2. a different chris October 21, 2020 at 10:22 pm

             Or maybe “for a time” is the key to the hate?

             Do you hate the person more who is your implacable enemy, or the one that you thought was on your side and went turncoat? The first at least you have respect for.
    5. Clem October 21, 2020 at 11:01 pm

       Combine a color changing Kamaleon with a mockingbird of many accents and songs, than add a shape shifter to throw in a little razzmatazz of hip hop, a BMW driver who honks at bicyclists, a family Kamama who never had children, but claims his brood, who hate her guts, and you get Kamala Harris.

       You think the world laughs at Donald Trump?, wait until they see her act collapse on the world stage. Me? I’m voting for Kanye West.
26. John k October 21, 2020 at 7:27 pm

    …More has to break his way than 2016…
    A few points:
    Bragman comparison with 2016 seems to show it’s easier.
    Trafalgar, correct in 2016, again predicts trump, though closer.
    I’ve read dem leaning pollsters over sample dems.
    IMO Biden has less enthusiasm among dems than Clinton, though maybe more among indies.
    What about progressives? Clinton said she’d support Medicare down to 55, Biden just 60. What progressive thinks Biden will move left?
    Trump has extended some stimulus and moratoriums without congress. Pelosi maybe seen as the obstructionist now.
    Next debate maybe forcing trump to be more civil, which benefits him.
27. rowlf October 21, 2020 at 9:59 pm

    The Thomas Ferguson interview on Jacobin was awesome. I have been arguing forever (usually with Birchers and such) that FDR was not a leftist and he only enacted policy to neutralize the left, to steal their flags.

    I love this Ferguson comment “We have Single Payer for the banks”.

    I also agree with Ferguson’s descriptions of labor union development and compromises. Good stuff.
    1. Chris October 21, 2020 at 11:11 pm

       This was a fascinating interview to read by the author of “The Revolt of the Public.”

       I really liked this quote:

       Liberal democracy is still the only game in town. You can’t compete with it – but you can destroy it. You can smash it to bits and put nothing in its place. You can bring down an avenging chaos on a corrupt world. So when you ask whether today’s protests will ever lead to anything, the answer is probably not. They have little positive content. My concern is that they might lead to nothing – to a politics of righteous annihilation and a society lobotomized of all memory. The lust for destruction, rather than fascism or some “successor ideology,” looms as the great threat to democracy today.
28. TonyinSoCal October 22, 2020 at 1:13 am

    The polling in 2016 was different in terms of quantity to this year, this is not a valid comparison–RCP 15 days out.
29. ambrit October 22, 2020 at 3:31 am

    Zeitgeist Watch, NADS version.
    Took a trip about fifty miles south of here to pick up a turkey roaster pan, with the lid, natch. It was on sale for fifteen bucks! The price savings plus the gasoline toll still came in cheaper than anything being offered within twenty miles of our hovel in Hattiesburg.
    First, has anyone else observed the trend for brick and mortar outlets to stock mainly the high end, expensive versions of basic household items? I swear, [and I did a lot of swearing during my internet search for the item this morning,] that all I could find quickly available was bloody expensive tatt. Even the dreaded ‘shipped within two days’ items were on the high end of the price range. I saw roaster pans for fifty, sixty, one hundred and fifty, and even two hundred dollars on sites like Walmart and similar. The ‘cheap’ ones were in the twenty-five to thirty dollar range. I lucked out in finding a ‘basic’ model that was being put on clearance sale status to clear the shelves for the Christmas goodies. I ‘bought’ the item over the internet and then proceeded to trek on down to the store. To add insult to injury, I was told that the item was “out of stock” when I got there. Luckily, being a paranoid geezer, I had called the store and inveigled the store “associate” to pick up the item and sequester it. I got to the ‘back room’ and foud that someone was trying to sell “my” item out from under me. I raised Holy H— at the Pickup counter and basically successfully deployed the “squeaky wheel” strategy. [One useful behaviour the Phyllis has taught me. I am generally conflict averse and have been known to cave easily, sort of like a recent President.] Said item has been used this evening to prepare an unfortunate turkey. (I will sleep soundly tonight!)
    Secondly, this little town was chock full of Trump signs, bumper stickers, flags and tee shirts. Striking up conversations with various and sundry denizens of this area at the store led me to see a clear and strong distrust of the PMC cohorts. A few of the comments were of the ‘why do ‘they’ treat us so badly’ variety. Being the ‘sticks’ and all, though I expected it, I saw no overt signs of racism. One older black man had on a Trump 2020 tee shirt. One redneck fellow had on a Trump tee shirt in the design of a well known brand of beer. {Shades of brother Billy Carter!} I saw absolutely no Biden signs.
    Thirdly, I saw spotty mask usage. About a half of the people I saw at the store wore nothing over their mouths. Most of the older citizens I saw did wear masks. A trend of selective usage based on perceived threat levels? When I mentioned the Third Wave (TM) to one young man, he replied to the effect that “…it never really went away.” A ‘devil may care’ attitude among the younger cohorts could be surmised. I don’t know. No one I spoke to displayed signs of planning in their response to the Dreaded Pathogen. Making it up as you go along seemed to be the best explanation for the behaviours I observed.
    Fourthly, as some have mentioned here of late, I observed noticeable rises in prices for basic food items compared to nine months ago. Nothing was visibly out of stock, but prices were up, perhaps depressing purchases.
    Fifthly, in my drive there and back, (though no dragons or hoards of gold were to be seen,) the traffic on Hwy 49 was faster than I remembered it being last year. More reckless driving as well. I had a pickup truck cut in front of me, I going the speed limit in my ageing Chrysler, with about a half a car length to spare between us. In our half horse town, I observed ‘in the wild’ a new four door Maserati automobile today. I see the occasional Ford Era Jaguar, they being a sort of “Middle Class Manx’s Sportscar,” so, no big deal. Also a few Porsche ‘family’ model cars. No real ‘sporty’ Porsches show up here. I have yet to see a 911, but do see a few Cayennes. Also seen on our streets are Mercedes G Class SUVs. From this I surmise that the PMCs associated with the University are paid a bit more than the ‘lumpenproleteriat’ who actually ‘do stuff.’
    All in all, an eventful day.
    Stay safe!
30. Brunches with Cats October 22, 2020 at 6:38 am

    “What the heck was David Remnick thinking?”

    Perhaps a better question is, “What the heck was David Remnick thinking with?” I made a snide comment in Tuesday’s WC suggesting that Toobin was just the one who got caught (put a guy in a room alone with a computer, and what are the odds he’ll take advantage of it?). This whole thing reminded me of an experience I had during a brief on-site contract in Silicon Valley in the 1990s.

    The company was in the final stages of acquisition by Disney, and there was a steady flow of traffic past my desk in and out of mahogany row. One morning I came in to deathly silence. One of the execs had been arrested for soliciting sex from a minor online — or so he thought. When he arrived for the tryst, he was met by police with handcuffs. As with Toobin, corporate leadership issued a vague statement worded in a way to give the impression that it was an isolated case by someone with a problem. A few months later, I had a bizarre experience that suggested otherwise.

    When my contract was up, I went back to freelance writing. One of the top execs had a new product in the works that I thought would make a good story, so I requested an interview. He wanted to do it at his home, to which I readily agreed, thinking it would provide some color for my article. The housekeeper answered the door, said he was on a call, showed me to the living room, and disappeared. I waited … and waited. There was no sign anyone was home, so I got up and started looking around. On one wall was a gallery of family photos, including a studio photo of a woman I assumed was his wife. She was dressed in a business suit over a lace push-up bra, cleavage shoved up to her ears, makeup like the bride of Frankenstein.

    Finally he came in for the interview, distracted and disengaged. I did the interview as efficiently as possible, thanked him, and got up to leave. Well, suddenly he wanted to give me a tour. Walking by the photos, he pointed out the picture of his wife and said she was some local business VIP, I forgot the details. Then he took me down to the basement, with theater seating and a full bar. He flipped on the VCR and played a clip from a film shoot of his house. At one point, he was shown quickly opening and closing a safe, inside of which was an adult magazine with a woman dressed in black leather straps on the cover. I looked at my watch, feigned distress by how late it was, I had a long drive home over the summit, etc.etc. He left me to show myself out, didn’t even turn on the porch light.

    On the way home, I started thinking about the weird little clues at the office that had gone right over my head, kicking myself for being so dense.

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