“Is it spring break yet? No? Christ.”
We’re still marching toward Algiers
9 04 2014Comments : 2 Comments »
Tags: fatigue, spring break
Categories : Quick hits
I’m free to do what I want any old time
3 04 2014I don’t care about Mozilla.
I don’t care that they hired Brendan Eich as CEO, and I don’t care that he resigned.
For the record, my browser is Firefox. If a better open-source alternative comes along, I”ll flick that switch—the browser has freeze issues and, of course, brand loyalty is for suckers—but there was nothing about the Brendan Eich scandale that made me want to switch. Mainly because I thought there was no scandale.
Oh, a CEO is an asshole? Surprise! I bet the CEOs of all of the companies which products I purchase are assholes. Nature of the beast.
But let’s get serious: Is this about who can best lead a company which has to compete for workers from a workforce which is generally pro-gay rights? About just desserts for a man who sought to strip rights from his neighbors and fellow citizens? About illiberal leftists suppressing speech? About gay mafiosi threatening to scour the corporate world clean of any queer-rights deviationists?
Yes? No?
There are no free speech or any other rights in the workplace. You can be fired for voting for the wrong guy, criticizing someone the boss likes, for gaining weight, because the shareholders want to enrich themselves by laying off you or tens or hundreds or thousands of workers, and just for you being you.
And I’m supposed to rend my garments because some asshole found out he didn’t have any more protections than the people who work for him?
There may be a scandal in all of this, but it ain’t what happened to Brandon Eich.
Comments : 2 Comments »
Tags: asshole, Brendan Eich, CEOs, free speech, gay rights, Mozilla, worker rights
Categories : Musing, Quick hits
Take it easy
2 04 2014Man, I have been all kinds of out of sorts recently.
Don’t know what it is. I’m not particularly sad, and there’s nothing going on to make me more stressed than usual.
I can teach, am not having any particular problems leading discussions; in fact, my best times are in the classroom.
But outside, outside my mood and mind just keep skittering off and sideways.
I’m not terrible. Just. . . can’t get easy.
Comments : 3 Comments »
Tags: life, mood, out of joint
Categories : Musing, Quick hits
Better not look down
31 03 2014It is apparently only okay to talk about how bad things used to be if you contrast it with how great things are now.
Things used to be overwhelmingly terrible and are now just ordinarily terrible! Progress!
And if it’s progress, then maybe it’s not so terrible, hmmm? So maybe you should just turn that frown upside down, Mr. Coates and go back to talking about stuff that makes us feel good.
Comments : 1 Comment »
Tags: black culture, culture of poverty, history, Jonathan Chait, pessimism, Ta-Nehisi Coates, United States, white supremacy
Categories : Quick hits
Doctor doctor
8 03 2014Psst, Ben Carson, I gotta tip fer ya:
If you don’t want people thinking you’re equating “Obamacare” to slavery, homosexuality to bestiality, and a liberalizing culture to Nazi Germany, then, maaayyybe you shouldn’t, y’know, compare “Obamacare” to slavery, homosexuality to bestiality, and a liberalizing culture to Nazi Germany.
Just a thought.
Comments : 2 Comments »
Tags: Ben Carson, misunderstanding, Politics, rhetoric
Categories : Quick hits
Nevermind
8 03 2014I wrote a terrible post yesterday: it veered off at the outset and I never quite wrangled it back in line.
Usually when that I happens I think Ah, what the hell and post it anyway. This time, I didn’t.
I’m learning. Slowly, but I’m learning.
Do allow me to lift the one thing that was good from that spiked post—and it was only good because it wasn’t mine:
I have no desire to make windows into men’s souls.
-Elizabeth I
Comments : 1 Comment »
Tags: bad, blogging, Elizabeth I, learning
Categories : Quick hits
Through these fields of destruction
2 03 2014I know zip about Ukraine & Crimea; this will not prevent me from having opinions about Ukraine & Crimea.
(Look ma! I’m pundit-ing!)
Anyway, the one thought that does keep popping up in me noggin is that Putin’s push in Crimea is a sign of weakness, not strength.
Soldiers, guns, tanks: these are artifacts of failure (of diplomacy, of cunning, of imagination); their use signals a breakdown, not a triumph.
Comments : 2 Comments »
Tags: Crimea, failure, Putin, Russia, strength, Ukraine, weakness
Categories : Politics, Quick hits
Secret policeman’s ball
26 02 2014If you’re an activist and someone pushes you downs a guns & ammo path, you should probably assume that person is cop or spy.
And yes, I’ve mentioned this before: If someone in your group promotes any kind of violence, you should ask, loudly and publicly, Are you a cop?
Even if the person is just an idiot (as opposed to agent provocateur), by calling him or her out you highlight how the police/feds have attempted to short-circuit activist movements by pushing them toward violence, and illegitimacy.
This isn’t paranoia; it’s just good sense.
Comments : 4 Comments »
Tags: activism, agent provocateurs, police, violence
Categories : Quick hits
Burn baby burn
22 02 2014I am glad that other people pay attention to Megan McCardle so that I don’t have to.
Do click over (I can’t embed the clip): it’s only 49 seconds, and the last few seconds are so, so worth all the bs before it.
Jon Chait brings the burn; satisfying, isn’t it?
Anyway, as to the bs: McCardle and other catastrophists seem to think that everyone is either completely healthy or has just been hit by a truck.
No need for insulin or levothryoxin or physical therapy or psychotherapy or amoxicillin or amitriptyline or blood work or prenatal tests or mammograms any other of the non-catastrophic types of care which keep a problem from becoming catastrophic.
Oh, and make you feel all right, too. Yeah, that.
I don’t even know why the catastrophists bother with defending even that minimalist plan. I mean, if you think it’s good that folks aren’t bankrupted over the big things, what’s the problem with making sure they’re not bankrupted over the small things? If you think folks should get care, well, then why not make sure they can actually get care?
Unless you don’t really care that people can’t get care and aren’t willing to say fuckemall.
h/t Fred Clark
Comments : Leave a Comment »
Tags: burn, catastrophe, health insurance, Jonathan Chait, Megan McCardle
Categories : Quick hits, Rant
AbsurdBeats 