Friday, December 16, 2011
Boston's Traffic Has Always Been Bad
Turning to traffic, Kenmore Square is at a complete standstill outbound. "Even in the 1920s, news photographer Leslie Jones was capturing local traffic jams - and the accidents that often caused them. Here are some from the Boston Public Library's Leslie Jones collection"
The Year in Volcanic Activity
It turns out nature isn't all cute animals, In Focus presents The Year in Volcanic Activity. "Out of an estimated 1,500 active volcanoes around the world, 50 or so erupt every year, spewing steam, ash, toxic gases, and lava. In 2011, active volcanoes included Chile's Puyehue, Japan's Shinmoedake, Indonesia's Lokon, Iceland's Grímsvötn, Italy's Etna, and recently Nyamulagira in the Democratic Republic of Congo. In Hawaii, Kilauea continues to send lava flowing toward the sea, and the ocean floor has been erupting near the Canary Islands. Collected below are scenes from the wide variety of volcanic activity on Earth over the past year. [36 photos]" And each and every one is amazing.
Dear Congress, It's No Longer OK To Not Know How The Internet Works
Joshua Kopstein declares Dear Congress, It's No Longer OK To Not Know How The Internet Works "We get it. You think you can be cute and old-fashioned by openly admitting that you don’t know what a DNS server is. You relish in the opportunity to put on a half-cocked smile and ask to skip over the techno-jargon, conveniently masking your ignorance by making yourselves seem better aligned with the average American joe or jane — the “non-nerds” among us. But to anyone of moderate intelligence that tuned in to yesterday’s Congressional mark-up of SOPA, the legislation that seeks to fundamentally change how the internet works, you kind of just looked like a bunch of jack-asses."
"Later, Iowa Representative Steve King tweeted, somewhat ironically, about surfing the internet on his phone because he was bored listening to his colleague Shiela Jackson speak about the bill. Then, even more ironically, another representative’s comments calling him out for it were asked to be stricken from the record."
"Later, Iowa Representative Steve King tweeted, somewhat ironically, about surfing the internet on his phone because he was bored listening to his colleague Shiela Jackson speak about the bill. Then, even more ironically, another representative’s comments calling him out for it were asked to be stricken from the record."
50 best photos from The Natural World
The Big Picture picks the 50 best photos from The Natural World "We share our world with many other species and live in an ever-changing environment. Fortunately, photographers around the world have captured the moments and beauty that allow us to see amazing views of this awe-inspiring planet. This is a collection of favorite photos from The Natural World gallery in 2011, a showcase of images of animals and environment that runs on Boston.com throughout the year. Next week posts will take a look at the year in photos, so stay tuned. -Leanne Burden Seidel (50 photos total)" Every single one is amazing.
Death of U.S. Postal Service: Many Jobs, Locations at Risk
Last month Time had an interesting article on Death of U.S. Postal Service: Many Jobs, Locations at Risk. I particularly like the history section.
"It wouldn't be far-fetched to argue that the postal service has been the most important institution in our country's history. For decades, the postal service was the largest public-sector employer in the U.S. At one point in the 19th century, three-quarters of all government employees were postal workers. The Founding Fathers considered the postal service so important that they put it in the Constitution, mandating that Congress have the power to establish and regulate post offices...In the country's early days, the postal service held together the far-flung populations of the U.S. by delivering newspapers — the only real source for information about the new nation — throughout the country. "
"For decades, this massive operation ran fairly smoothly, expanding along with the country and taking advantage of the new technologies brought about by railroad and flight. Mail volume increased from 50 billion pieces in 1953 to 75 billion in '66. Even so, the postal service often ran deficits. Its mandate of universal mail access almost ensured that it would go in the red. By the middle of the 20th century, the postal service was losing $600 million a year, and that's when the system starting breaking down. On the brink of the holiday season in 1966, a sudden influx of advertising mail hit the enormous Chicago main post office (13 stories high, covering 60 acres and billed at the time as the world's largest postal facility). What happened? The mail simply stopped. Stopped. For almost three weeks, 1 million lb. of mail — 10 million pieces — barely moved. It was a confluence of employee hours' being cut, inexperienced workers' attempting to sort the mail, a postmaster position left empty for too long and improved pensions that led to a high number of retirements."
"A few years later in New York City, a wildcat strike (one in which workers defy their union leadership) broke out, primarily over low wages. TIME called it "the Strike that Stunned the Country." At the time, postal workers were making less than sanitation workers, according to Philip Rubio, an assistant professor of history at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University. "A postal worker with a family of four could qualify for food stamps," he said.
When the workers walked out, President Richard Nixon sent in National Guard and U.S. Army troops to try to sort the mail. But it didn't help. "They rapidly realized what a failure that was," Rubio said. "They just couldn't get up to speed, and the mail kept stacking up. Within eight days, the Nixon Administration signaled it was willing to negotiate.""
"These incidents led to the Kappel Commission, a presidential advisory group made up of corporate leaders who had, admittedly, little knowledge about mail-delivery operations. By 1970, they were at work on proposals to reform the postal service, which eventually became the Postal Reorganization Act, turning the U.S. Post Office Department into the U.S. Postal Service. It was more than just a name change. Congress essentially turned the postal service into a quasi-governmental organization — not really a business but not really part of the government either. It was being forced to run more like a corporation or a private entity, to be self-supporting, even as it was still tasked to maintain service to every home in the country.
For the next several decades, the USPS was successful by most measures, surviving the occasional disgruntled worker's becoming violent — incidents that brought the phrase going postal into our consciousness. And, of course, there were some perennially angry customers fed up with long lines at the post office. But in general, the USPS was doing well enough that Congress decided it should start prefunding its retiree accounts — for the next 75 years. So in 2006, Congress passed a law requiring an annual prepayment of retiree health benefits, to the tune of $5.5 billion a year for 10 years. Except Washington didn't see the recession coming two years later. "That act has left such a devastating legacy that it threatens to drive our nation's postal service off the rails," Rubio said."
"It wouldn't be far-fetched to argue that the postal service has been the most important institution in our country's history. For decades, the postal service was the largest public-sector employer in the U.S. At one point in the 19th century, three-quarters of all government employees were postal workers. The Founding Fathers considered the postal service so important that they put it in the Constitution, mandating that Congress have the power to establish and regulate post offices...In the country's early days, the postal service held together the far-flung populations of the U.S. by delivering newspapers — the only real source for information about the new nation — throughout the country. "
"For decades, this massive operation ran fairly smoothly, expanding along with the country and taking advantage of the new technologies brought about by railroad and flight. Mail volume increased from 50 billion pieces in 1953 to 75 billion in '66. Even so, the postal service often ran deficits. Its mandate of universal mail access almost ensured that it would go in the red. By the middle of the 20th century, the postal service was losing $600 million a year, and that's when the system starting breaking down. On the brink of the holiday season in 1966, a sudden influx of advertising mail hit the enormous Chicago main post office (13 stories high, covering 60 acres and billed at the time as the world's largest postal facility). What happened? The mail simply stopped. Stopped. For almost three weeks, 1 million lb. of mail — 10 million pieces — barely moved. It was a confluence of employee hours' being cut, inexperienced workers' attempting to sort the mail, a postmaster position left empty for too long and improved pensions that led to a high number of retirements."
"A few years later in New York City, a wildcat strike (one in which workers defy their union leadership) broke out, primarily over low wages. TIME called it "the Strike that Stunned the Country." At the time, postal workers were making less than sanitation workers, according to Philip Rubio, an assistant professor of history at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University. "A postal worker with a family of four could qualify for food stamps," he said.
When the workers walked out, President Richard Nixon sent in National Guard and U.S. Army troops to try to sort the mail. But it didn't help. "They rapidly realized what a failure that was," Rubio said. "They just couldn't get up to speed, and the mail kept stacking up. Within eight days, the Nixon Administration signaled it was willing to negotiate.""
"These incidents led to the Kappel Commission, a presidential advisory group made up of corporate leaders who had, admittedly, little knowledge about mail-delivery operations. By 1970, they were at work on proposals to reform the postal service, which eventually became the Postal Reorganization Act, turning the U.S. Post Office Department into the U.S. Postal Service. It was more than just a name change. Congress essentially turned the postal service into a quasi-governmental organization — not really a business but not really part of the government either. It was being forced to run more like a corporation or a private entity, to be self-supporting, even as it was still tasked to maintain service to every home in the country.
For the next several decades, the USPS was successful by most measures, surviving the occasional disgruntled worker's becoming violent — incidents that brought the phrase going postal into our consciousness. And, of course, there were some perennially angry customers fed up with long lines at the post office. But in general, the USPS was doing well enough that Congress decided it should start prefunding its retiree accounts — for the next 75 years. So in 2006, Congress passed a law requiring an annual prepayment of retiree health benefits, to the tune of $5.5 billion a year for 10 years. Except Washington didn't see the recession coming two years later. "That act has left such a devastating legacy that it threatens to drive our nation's postal service off the rails," Rubio said."
McConnell Demands Keystone XL In Any Payroll Tax Agreement
It will be interesting to see how this plays out, McConnell Demands Keystone XL In Any Payroll Tax Agreement. (Well probably not.)
"It’s gut check time for Congressional Democrats on the payroll tax cut bill.
Regarding that legislation, Don Stewart, a spokesman for Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell emails me with the following statement: “The Leader will not support any bill without the Keystone XL language as part of the agreement.”
House Speaker John Boehner is also insisting that he’ll amend any Senate-passed payroll tax cut bill to add the Keystone provision to it, if it’s not already in there. So Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and President Obama now have a choice: stick to their guns and object to the provision — at the risk of allowing the payroll tax cut (and unemployment insurance and the Medicare “doc fix”) to expire? Or give in to the GOP."
Update: More here. "But it doesn’t really matter why they voted no, or whether McConnell got embarrassed by his members. The effect was to turn the payroll tax cut into something Republicans would only be able to sign off on reluctantly — and at a steep price. In other words, after they’d accepted that allowing it to lapse would turn into a political catastrophe, they turned it into a bargaining chip instead of a direct concession. That’s why they now have leverage, and can make steep demands in these last minute negotiations."
Update: Keystone XL or else, "Note, as of a few days ago, both parties were pushing for measures in the payroll fight the other party found objectionable — Democrats wanted a surtax on millionaires and billionaires; Republicans wanted Keystone. Democrats, hoping to reach a deal, effectively said yesterday, “We’re willing to drop our demand.” To which Republicans responded, “Give us what we want or else.”"
"It’s gut check time for Congressional Democrats on the payroll tax cut bill.
Regarding that legislation, Don Stewart, a spokesman for Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell emails me with the following statement: “The Leader will not support any bill without the Keystone XL language as part of the agreement.”
House Speaker John Boehner is also insisting that he’ll amend any Senate-passed payroll tax cut bill to add the Keystone provision to it, if it’s not already in there. So Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and President Obama now have a choice: stick to their guns and object to the provision — at the risk of allowing the payroll tax cut (and unemployment insurance and the Medicare “doc fix”) to expire? Or give in to the GOP."
Update: More here. "But it doesn’t really matter why they voted no, or whether McConnell got embarrassed by his members. The effect was to turn the payroll tax cut into something Republicans would only be able to sign off on reluctantly — and at a steep price. In other words, after they’d accepted that allowing it to lapse would turn into a political catastrophe, they turned it into a bargaining chip instead of a direct concession. That’s why they now have leverage, and can make steep demands in these last minute negotiations."
Update: Keystone XL or else, "Note, as of a few days ago, both parties were pushing for measures in the payroll fight the other party found objectionable — Democrats wanted a surtax on millionaires and billionaires; Republicans wanted Keystone. Democrats, hoping to reach a deal, effectively said yesterday, “We’re willing to drop our demand.” To which Republicans responded, “Give us what we want or else.”"
Carrier IQ: Which wireless carrier is the biggest user?
The Washington Post writes Carrier IQ: Which wireless carrier is the biggest user? "In response to a request for more information from Senator Al Franken, AT&T, Sprint, Samsung, HTC, and Carrier IQ have responded with letters detailing their use of Carrier IQ's software on their handsets. Sprint is by far the biggest user of the software, admitting to installations on 26 million devices. Additionally, HTC has, for the first time, directly and publicly addressed the fact that Carrier IQ blames it for the insecure log files found on its devices — though not in a way that's likely to satisfy unhappy users. Another surprise: AT&T's network and dropped calls reporting app, Mark the Spot, utilizes Carrier IQ (though not on the iPhone).
All told, it's safe to estimate that Carrier IQ's software is installed on over 30 million US devices and now, for the first time, the companies involved are publicly naming them. We break it all down for you below."
All told, it's safe to estimate that Carrier IQ's software is installed on over 30 million US devices and now, for the first time, the companies involved are publicly naming them. We break it all down for you below."
Republicans Blocking Appointments and Breaking Government
One of the most annoying thing the Republican minority in the Senate has done is to prevent confirmation of qualified Obama appointees. As near as I can tell Obama has been slow to nominate for many positions as he's going through an extensive vetting process and trying to find uncontroversial people. That doesn't matter, lately Republicans are blocking just about everyone. Peter Diamond for the Fed was perhaps the most egregious.
Last Thursday, "Forty-five Republican senators voted to block a confirmation vote for Richard Cordray, President Barack Obama's nominee to head the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau." It's not that they didn't like him or think him qualified, they didn't like the new CFPB even though it was passed by Congress and signed into law by the President. "Republicans said that until the Obama administration agrees to changes at the agency, they will keep blocking the president’s pick from taking charge."
Dr. Don Berwick was a recess appointment as head of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Steven Benen wrote about Berwick’s brilliant tenure cut short. "Republicans crushed Berwick’s chances without a credible reason, and it limited his CMS tenure to a year and a half. But these were a very productive 17 months, during which Berwick did some incredibly important and worthwhile work. He should have been confirmed and encouraged to serve indefinitely, but if 17 months of Berwick is the best we can do due to Republican recklessness, it’s much better than nothing." Berwick wasn't happy about what happened to him.
Obama's choice as Berwick's replacement is Marilyn Tavenner. She's been Principal Deputy Administrator of CMS since Feb 2010, a few months before Berwick got there, though apparently they have similar views. You'd think that Republicans would be opposed to her too, but "House Majority Leader Eric Cantor was resolute in his support for" her. They've known each other for 15 years. We'll see how good his relationship with the Senate is.
Mari Carmen Aponte was a recess appointment in 2010 to serve as the U.S. ambassador to El Salvador. Steven Benen explains that "GOP senators are balking, however, because they don’t like her ex-boyfriend from 20 years ago."
Caitlin J. Halligan was a nominee to the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit which has three of eleven seats vacant. Her appointment was filibustered on party-line votes, except for Lisa Murkowski (R-AK). Linda Greenhouse explains that this isn't unusual now.
"Across the federal judiciary, confirmation has been proceeding at a slow crawl. This week, the Judiciary Committee held a scheduled confirmation hearing that could have accommodated five nominees. But because Republican senators claimed not to be finished reading the F.B.I. files of four of the nominees, only one, Paul J. Watford, nominated for the Ninth Circuit, was able to appear for his hearing. Nominees who clear the committee without opposition have to wait months for a floor vote because the Republicans won’t agree to a speedier schedule. Of 21 nominees now awaiting floor votes, 18 had no committee opposition, but only a handful, at most, will get a vote before the Senate recesses for the year."
Each year, in his report, Chief Justice John Roberts begs the President and Senate to appoint federal judges as there have been too many vacant seats for too long. Of the 179 seats in the 13 circuit Court of Appeals there are 14 vacancies. 86 seated judges were appointed by Republicans and 79 by Democrats. Wikipedia has some good tables. The separate D.C. Circuit has 3 vacancies and is otherwise 5-3 Republican-Democrat appointees.
I don't know the stats for the 678 authorized district judges (in 94 districts) but here's a fun fact from 2008, "All along the 2,000-mile U.S.-Mexico border, courts are clogged with immigration-related cases. As a result, the region's courtrooms handle a disproportionate amount of the country's crime. Just five of the country's 94 districts -- South California, New Mexico, Arizona, West Texas and South Texas -- handle 75 percent of all the criminal cases in federal district courts around the country."
Sure the minority party can complain and can block some appointments. Republicans are mad at Democrats for blocking two of Bush's judicial appointments and threatening to filibuster. They cried foul since that hadn't be done before and we had the whole nuclear option debate until the gang of whatever agreed to end it. Bush got most of his nominees through, just a few of the more ideological ones did Democrats oppose. Now Republicans are blocking most appointments and I think for the second time, Congress Won't Recess To Block Obama Appointments. "Ever since late May, Congress has remained in permanent session, mainly because Republican lawmakers want to prevent any more recess appointments."
I like this approach, "Betty Koed, an associate Senate historian, says that in 1903, Teddy Roosevelt used an almost nonexistent congressional break to make recess appointments. "When the presiding officer brought the gavel down to end one session, he simultaneously began the next session," Koed says, "And in that split second it took the gavel to go down, Roosevelt appointed 193 people." Catholic University law professor Victor Williams says President Obama should show similar audacity. "He should not ignore the pro-forma sessions," Williams says. "He should explicitly, deliberately challenge them." If he doesn't, Williams says, a pattern of pro-forma sessions shutting off recess appointments that began late in the Clinton administration will only continue, leaving key posts in the administration vacant."
Last Thursday, "Forty-five Republican senators voted to block a confirmation vote for Richard Cordray, President Barack Obama's nominee to head the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau." It's not that they didn't like him or think him qualified, they didn't like the new CFPB even though it was passed by Congress and signed into law by the President. "Republicans said that until the Obama administration agrees to changes at the agency, they will keep blocking the president’s pick from taking charge."
Dr. Don Berwick was a recess appointment as head of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Steven Benen wrote about Berwick’s brilliant tenure cut short. "Republicans crushed Berwick’s chances without a credible reason, and it limited his CMS tenure to a year and a half. But these were a very productive 17 months, during which Berwick did some incredibly important and worthwhile work. He should have been confirmed and encouraged to serve indefinitely, but if 17 months of Berwick is the best we can do due to Republican recklessness, it’s much better than nothing." Berwick wasn't happy about what happened to him.
Obama's choice as Berwick's replacement is Marilyn Tavenner. She's been Principal Deputy Administrator of CMS since Feb 2010, a few months before Berwick got there, though apparently they have similar views. You'd think that Republicans would be opposed to her too, but "House Majority Leader Eric Cantor was resolute in his support for" her. They've known each other for 15 years. We'll see how good his relationship with the Senate is.
Mari Carmen Aponte was a recess appointment in 2010 to serve as the U.S. ambassador to El Salvador. Steven Benen explains that "GOP senators are balking, however, because they don’t like her ex-boyfriend from 20 years ago."
Caitlin J. Halligan was a nominee to the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit which has three of eleven seats vacant. Her appointment was filibustered on party-line votes, except for Lisa Murkowski (R-AK). Linda Greenhouse explains that this isn't unusual now.
"Across the federal judiciary, confirmation has been proceeding at a slow crawl. This week, the Judiciary Committee held a scheduled confirmation hearing that could have accommodated five nominees. But because Republican senators claimed not to be finished reading the F.B.I. files of four of the nominees, only one, Paul J. Watford, nominated for the Ninth Circuit, was able to appear for his hearing. Nominees who clear the committee without opposition have to wait months for a floor vote because the Republicans won’t agree to a speedier schedule. Of 21 nominees now awaiting floor votes, 18 had no committee opposition, but only a handful, at most, will get a vote before the Senate recesses for the year."
Each year, in his report, Chief Justice John Roberts begs the President and Senate to appoint federal judges as there have been too many vacant seats for too long. Of the 179 seats in the 13 circuit Court of Appeals there are 14 vacancies. 86 seated judges were appointed by Republicans and 79 by Democrats. Wikipedia has some good tables. The separate D.C. Circuit has 3 vacancies and is otherwise 5-3 Republican-Democrat appointees.
I don't know the stats for the 678 authorized district judges (in 94 districts) but here's a fun fact from 2008, "All along the 2,000-mile U.S.-Mexico border, courts are clogged with immigration-related cases. As a result, the region's courtrooms handle a disproportionate amount of the country's crime. Just five of the country's 94 districts -- South California, New Mexico, Arizona, West Texas and South Texas -- handle 75 percent of all the criminal cases in federal district courts around the country."
Sure the minority party can complain and can block some appointments. Republicans are mad at Democrats for blocking two of Bush's judicial appointments and threatening to filibuster. They cried foul since that hadn't be done before and we had the whole nuclear option debate until the gang of whatever agreed to end it. Bush got most of his nominees through, just a few of the more ideological ones did Democrats oppose. Now Republicans are blocking most appointments and I think for the second time, Congress Won't Recess To Block Obama Appointments. "Ever since late May, Congress has remained in permanent session, mainly because Republican lawmakers want to prevent any more recess appointments."
I like this approach, "Betty Koed, an associate Senate historian, says that in 1903, Teddy Roosevelt used an almost nonexistent congressional break to make recess appointments. "When the presiding officer brought the gavel down to end one session, he simultaneously began the next session," Koed says, "And in that split second it took the gavel to go down, Roosevelt appointed 193 people." Catholic University law professor Victor Williams says President Obama should show similar audacity. "He should not ignore the pro-forma sessions," Williams says. "He should explicitly, deliberately challenge them." If he doesn't, Williams says, a pattern of pro-forma sessions shutting off recess appointments that began late in the Clinton administration will only continue, leaving key posts in the administration vacant."
The Nightmarish SOPA Hearings
Surprisingly I haven't followed the SOPA debate much. This is a bill in Congress meant to deter online piracy that is badly written and will break the Internet. Here's a good post from the Washington Post on The nightmarish SOPA hearings.
Christopher Hitchens and Rabbi David Wolpe: The Great God Debate
I was sorry to hear that Christopher Hitchens passed away last night. I saw him in Boston almost two years ago just before he announced his cancer. I had taken notes but never managed to get a blog post up. Here's a video of the event.
Thursday, December 15, 2011
Google Zeitgeist 2011
I remember when Google Zeitgeist used to be interesting. I'm not sure what it means when under fastest-rising we get Ryan Dunn, who's name I didn't know but was in the Jackass films and died in June. He's third and Steve Jobs is ninth. The other lists I find equally uninteresting and the graphics annoying. It's a 2.5d grid with height showing the value and a slider you must use to traverse the year. They break the year down into months, but if you click on one item they change to weeks. While the slider moves across a linear scale, the bars in the chart recycle the twelve bars, just relabeling the weeks. It took me too long to figure that out.
It's also too difficult to navigate the different sections, once I found the US part.
And get off of my lawn!
It's also too difficult to navigate the different sections, once I found the US part.
And get off of my lawn!
Tea Party Leader Mark Meckler Arrested With Handgun At Airport
TPM reports Tea Party Leader Mark Meckler Arrested With Handgun At Airport. The headline is a little misleading.
"According to the Queens District Attorney’s office, Meckler arrived at the airport with the gun, a Glock 27, and ammunition locked in a safe and presented it to the flight attendant at the Delta counter. He allegedly told authorities that he needed the gun for protection after receiving threats, but did not have a New York State license to carry the weapon. He’s being charged with second degree possession of an illegal weapon, a charge that carries a penalty of up to 15 years in prison.
“Before leaving home, passengers should acquaint themselves with the weapon laws of the jurisdiction that they are visiting and comply with any and all legal requirements if they choose to travel with a weapon,” Queens DA Richard Brown said in a statement. “Otherwise, they may find themselves being arrested and charged with a felony - as is what occurred in this case.”"
The Wall Street Journal has a little more info. It wasn't just a connecting flight, he had been in New York from Sunday to Thursday, with the gun, in violation of New York state law.
"Spokesman Kevin Ryan said the Queens District Attorney's Office, which has jurisdiction over both the city's major airports, handles approximate 50 to 60 cases of airline passengers transporting weapons licensed in places other than New York a year. The gun charge is a Class C felony punishable by up to 15 years in prison. However, "if the weapon is not illegal and the person can prove that they are duly licensed to possess the weapon in their state, then they could walk away with just a violation [a non-criminal offense with a fine]. But in all cases the weapons are confiscated and destroyed," Mr. Ryan said."
I wonder if it's any different if he carried it in NYC as opposed to just leaving it in his hotel room. It will also be interesting to see if and how he fights this. The tea party is all about states' rights so New York should be free to have different laws. Any effort to standardize them among the states would I would think be viewed as over-reaching federalism. But then there's the second amendment which in Heller the Supreme Court said is an individual right and in McDonald said it's incorporated to the states, meaning that neither the federal government nor state governments can infringe the right to keep and bear arms. There's debate, since Heller, about NYC's gun laws, this might be a test case. The specifics in this case make the law seem kinda dumb. He was trying to leave the state, wasn't resisting or hiding the gun in any way, and was carrying it responsibly. New York felt the need to arrest him and then let him go, but according to the WSJ report, felt the need to keep and destroy the weapon. I don't in any way see how this action in this case is supposed to limit gun violence.
"According to the Queens District Attorney’s office, Meckler arrived at the airport with the gun, a Glock 27, and ammunition locked in a safe and presented it to the flight attendant at the Delta counter. He allegedly told authorities that he needed the gun for protection after receiving threats, but did not have a New York State license to carry the weapon. He’s being charged with second degree possession of an illegal weapon, a charge that carries a penalty of up to 15 years in prison.
“Before leaving home, passengers should acquaint themselves with the weapon laws of the jurisdiction that they are visiting and comply with any and all legal requirements if they choose to travel with a weapon,” Queens DA Richard Brown said in a statement. “Otherwise, they may find themselves being arrested and charged with a felony - as is what occurred in this case.”"
The Wall Street Journal has a little more info. It wasn't just a connecting flight, he had been in New York from Sunday to Thursday, with the gun, in violation of New York state law.
"Spokesman Kevin Ryan said the Queens District Attorney's Office, which has jurisdiction over both the city's major airports, handles approximate 50 to 60 cases of airline passengers transporting weapons licensed in places other than New York a year. The gun charge is a Class C felony punishable by up to 15 years in prison. However, "if the weapon is not illegal and the person can prove that they are duly licensed to possess the weapon in their state, then they could walk away with just a violation [a non-criminal offense with a fine]. But in all cases the weapons are confiscated and destroyed," Mr. Ryan said."
I wonder if it's any different if he carried it in NYC as opposed to just leaving it in his hotel room. It will also be interesting to see if and how he fights this. The tea party is all about states' rights so New York should be free to have different laws. Any effort to standardize them among the states would I would think be viewed as over-reaching federalism. But then there's the second amendment which in Heller the Supreme Court said is an individual right and in McDonald said it's incorporated to the states, meaning that neither the federal government nor state governments can infringe the right to keep and bear arms. There's debate, since Heller, about NYC's gun laws, this might be a test case. The specifics in this case make the law seem kinda dumb. He was trying to leave the state, wasn't resisting or hiding the gun in any way, and was carrying it responsibly. New York felt the need to arrest him and then let him go, but according to the WSJ report, felt the need to keep and destroy the weapon. I don't in any way see how this action in this case is supposed to limit gun violence.
The GOP's Two Conversations Over Taxes
Ezra Klein talked about The GOP's two conversations over taxes "There are two very different tax-policy conversations playing out in the Republican Party right now. In Washington, House Republicans are arguing with each other over how small of a temporary tax cut to give the middle class. Out on the primary trail, the Republican presidential candidates are arguing over how huge of a permanent tax cut to give the wealthy."
"In other words, Romney, who began the primary by looking toward the general, has an unexciting tax plan that, insofar as it does anything, cuts a few taxes for the middle class. The other Republican candidates, who have plans aimed at winning the primary, have proposed plans that massively cut taxes on the rich and, in most cases, raise them on the middle class. And in Washington, congressional Republicans are fighting Democratic efforts to raise taxes on the rich in order to finance a larger middle-class tax cut."
"In other words, Romney, who began the primary by looking toward the general, has an unexciting tax plan that, insofar as it does anything, cuts a few taxes for the middle class. The other Republican candidates, who have plans aimed at winning the primary, have proposed plans that massively cut taxes on the rich and, in most cases, raise them on the middle class. And in Washington, congressional Republicans are fighting Democratic efforts to raise taxes on the rich in order to finance a larger middle-class tax cut."
Daniel Craig Interview
Daniel Craig exclusive interview – with Time Out Film talks about The Girl With a Dragon Tattoo but also explains why Quantum of Solace sucked:
"On “Quantum”, we were fucked. We had the bare bones of a script and then there was a writers’ strike and there was nothing we could do. We couldn’t employ a writer to finish it. I say to myself, “Never again”, but who knows? There was me trying to rewrite scenes – and a writer I am not.’"
"On “Quantum”, we were fucked. We had the bare bones of a script and then there was a writers’ strike and there was nothing we could do. We couldn’t employ a writer to finish it. I say to myself, “Never again”, but who knows? There was me trying to rewrite scenes – and a writer I am not.’"
Analyzing The Primary
At the beginning of December there were a few articles about how this primary race is different than expected.
This is in Bloomberg but I think it's the same as was widely cited in the Washington Post but is now offline: Cheapest Primary in Decade Defies Forecast "Even as experts predict that the 2012 presidential race will be the most expensive in U.S. history, a funny thing is happening on the way to the Republican nomination: It’s becoming one of the cheapest primaries in a more than a decade."
One big reason they give is that all the debates are obviating the need for expensive TV commercials. That makes sense and is I think, an improvement. They also say: "Most new political action committees that are officially independent and can take unlimited contributions to help a candidate won’t report spending until January. Their ad spending accounted for less than $700,000 of the total $2.5 million through Nov. 27."
The Week had an article, The 'cheapest' primary in a decade: 5 theories. In addition to debates they point out that viral videos are free to distribute via social media. Follow a link and Jazz Shaw points out that Hermain Cain spent zero dollars to distribute his "smoking man" ad. It didn't run on TV, it was on the web and then all the news shows played it for free.
Kevin Drum wonders Where Have All the GOP Donors Gone? Maybe they haven't liked any of the contenders or don't see a difference between them or they're giving all their money to Super PACs.
Finally, Paul Waldman wants us to Let Elections Be Elections Again. "But the 2012 Republican primaries have made that script seem outdated. Oh, we have our boring establishment candidate and his temporarily interesting rivals. But the fact that this race has been led at one time or another by no fewer than six candidates has made it less a coherent plot than a cacophonous muddle. And that's hardly the only thing different about 2012. This race has upended a whole series of things we thought we knew about contemporary presidential campaigns—so many, in fact, that it's worth arranging them in a list."
In addition to money and debates he points out that it ain't over til it's over. Gingrich came back from no where and Pawlenty probably would be doing very well if he stayed in. He also downplays the tea party because "When everyone is a Tea Party candidate, no one can be the Tea Party candidate." Also everyone is using social media and no one so far is using it in a new way.
This is in Bloomberg but I think it's the same as was widely cited in the Washington Post but is now offline: Cheapest Primary in Decade Defies Forecast "Even as experts predict that the 2012 presidential race will be the most expensive in U.S. history, a funny thing is happening on the way to the Republican nomination: It’s becoming one of the cheapest primaries in a more than a decade."
One big reason they give is that all the debates are obviating the need for expensive TV commercials. That makes sense and is I think, an improvement. They also say: "Most new political action committees that are officially independent and can take unlimited contributions to help a candidate won’t report spending until January. Their ad spending accounted for less than $700,000 of the total $2.5 million through Nov. 27."
The Week had an article, The 'cheapest' primary in a decade: 5 theories. In addition to debates they point out that viral videos are free to distribute via social media. Follow a link and Jazz Shaw points out that Hermain Cain spent zero dollars to distribute his "smoking man" ad. It didn't run on TV, it was on the web and then all the news shows played it for free.
Kevin Drum wonders Where Have All the GOP Donors Gone? Maybe they haven't liked any of the contenders or don't see a difference between them or they're giving all their money to Super PACs.
Finally, Paul Waldman wants us to Let Elections Be Elections Again. "But the 2012 Republican primaries have made that script seem outdated. Oh, we have our boring establishment candidate and his temporarily interesting rivals. But the fact that this race has been led at one time or another by no fewer than six candidates has made it less a coherent plot than a cacophonous muddle. And that's hardly the only thing different about 2012. This race has upended a whole series of things we thought we knew about contemporary presidential campaigns—so many, in fact, that it's worth arranging them in a list."
In addition to money and debates he points out that it ain't over til it's over. Gingrich came back from no where and Pawlenty probably would be doing very well if he stayed in. He also downplays the tea party because "When everyone is a Tea Party candidate, no one can be the Tea Party candidate." Also everyone is using social media and no one so far is using it in a new way.
Epic Tantrum Thrown By 30 Octillion Ton Baby Star
Bad Astronomer goes into some surprising detail explaining this image, Epic tantrum thrown by 30 octillion ton baby.
"This devastatingly beautiful image shows the birth pangs of a massive star. Called IRS 4 (for Infrared Source 4; it was first seen in IR images), it’s the really bright star just below center where the two blue lobes come together. It’s a bruiser, an O-type star with at least 15 times the Sun’s mass — 30 octillion tons! — and is a staggering 10,000 times as bright. It’s still in the process of forming, but it’s nearly there.
Located about 2000 light years away, IRS 4 is surrounded by an enormous cloud of gas and dust that may have a mass as high as 25,000 times the mass of the Sun. When the star first ignited, fusing hydrogen into helium in its core, the vast amount of energy it started pouring out lit up the cloud in the immediate vicinity around it. Most of the cloud is still dark and cannot be seen here, but everything within a few light years of the star is being illuminated, if not ionized, by the fierce ultraviolet light from the star."
There's more interesting stuff in the article.
"This devastatingly beautiful image shows the birth pangs of a massive star. Called IRS 4 (for Infrared Source 4; it was first seen in IR images), it’s the really bright star just below center where the two blue lobes come together. It’s a bruiser, an O-type star with at least 15 times the Sun’s mass — 30 octillion tons! — and is a staggering 10,000 times as bright. It’s still in the process of forming, but it’s nearly there.
Located about 2000 light years away, IRS 4 is surrounded by an enormous cloud of gas and dust that may have a mass as high as 25,000 times the mass of the Sun. When the star first ignited, fusing hydrogen into helium in its core, the vast amount of energy it started pouring out lit up the cloud in the immediate vicinity around it. Most of the cloud is still dark and cannot be seen here, but everything within a few light years of the star is being illuminated, if not ionized, by the fierce ultraviolet light from the star."
There's more interesting stuff in the article.
Galaxy cluster collision makes a splash… a million light years long
Bad Astronomy writes Galaxy cluster collision makes a splash… a million light years long! "What you’re looking at is a collision on a massive scale: not just two galaxies, but two clusters of galaxies slamming into each other, forming this object, called Abell 2052. The total mass of this combined cluster is almost beyond imagining: something like a quadrillion times the mass of the Sun — 1,000,000,000,000,000 Suns! Note that our galaxy has about a hundred billion stars in it, so Abell 2052 is about 10,000 more massive. "
"As the clusters approached each other prior to the collision, gas in one cluster was drawn off and headed toward the other. Once the clusters passed, the gas got whipped around by gravity, reversing direction, and essentially, well, sloshed. The analogy the astronomers used was wine in a wineglass as you swirl it; if you suddenly whip the glass a bit faster the wine will slosh up the side in a wave.
That long blue curved streamer? That’s the wave: extraordinarily hot gas (30 million degrees C!) that got sloshed around by the cluster’s gravity. The scale of it is simply epic; that streamer is over a million light years long! Again, for comparison, the Milky Way is 100,000 light years across, 1/10th as big as that wave."
"As the clusters approached each other prior to the collision, gas in one cluster was drawn off and headed toward the other. Once the clusters passed, the gas got whipped around by gravity, reversing direction, and essentially, well, sloshed. The analogy the astronomers used was wine in a wineglass as you swirl it; if you suddenly whip the glass a bit faster the wine will slosh up the side in a wave.
That long blue curved streamer? That’s the wave: extraordinarily hot gas (30 million degrees C!) that got sloshed around by the cluster’s gravity. The scale of it is simply epic; that streamer is over a million light years long! Again, for comparison, the Milky Way is 100,000 light years across, 1/10th as big as that wave."
The 25 Most Beautiful College Libraries in the World
Flavorwire » The 25 Most Beautiful College Libraries in the World "The college library, whether ornate or modern, digital or dusty, is in many ways the epicenter of the college experience — at least for some students. It is at once a shining emblem of vast, acquirable knowledge, a place for deep discussions and meetings of the mind, and of course, a big building full of books, which, as far as we’re concerned, is exciting enough. Colleges and universities are understandably quite proud of their libraries, which can be a selling point for prospective students and donating alumni alike, and they often become the most well-designed and beautifully adorned buildings on campus. To that end, and perhaps to inspire your studies a bit, we’ve collected a few of the most beautiful college and university libraries in the world, from Portugal to France to Boston."
For-Profit College Rules Scaled Back After Lobbying
A week ago the New York Times explained how For-Profit College Rules Scaled Back After Lobbying. "The story of how the for-profit colleges survived the threat of a major federal crackdown offers a case study in Washington power brokering. Rattled by the administration’s tough talk, the colleges spent more than $16 million on an all-star list of prominent figures, particularly Democrats with close ties to the White House, to plot strategy, mend their battered image and plead their case."
"In all, industry advocates met more than two dozen times with White House and Education Department officials, including senior officials like Education Secretary Arne Duncan, records show, even as Mr. Obama has vowed to reduce the “outsize” influence of lobbyists and special interests in Washington. The result was a plan, completed in June, that imposes new regulations on for-profit schools to ensure they adequately train their students for work, but does so on a much less ambitious scale than the administration first intended, relaxing the initial standards for determining which schools would be stripped of federal financing."
"In all, industry advocates met more than two dozen times with White House and Education Department officials, including senior officials like Education Secretary Arne Duncan, records show, even as Mr. Obama has vowed to reduce the “outsize” influence of lobbyists and special interests in Washington. The result was a plan, completed in June, that imposes new regulations on for-profit schools to ensure they adequately train their students for work, but does so on a much less ambitious scale than the administration first intended, relaxing the initial standards for determining which schools would be stripped of federal financing."
Astronomers Find Evidence of a Special Direction in Space
Scientific American writes Astronomers Find Evidence of a Special Direction in Space. "The universe has no center and no edge, no special regions tucked in among the galaxies and light. No matter where you look, it’s the same—or so physicists thought. This cosmological principle—one of the foundations of the modern understanding of the universe—has come into question recently as astronomers find evidence, subtle but growing, of a special direction in space."
Thomas Friedman’s Confusions
Belén Fernández in the London Review of Books documents Thomas Friedman’s Confusions. He uses Friedman's own positions from the last decade to shred any credibility he might have had.
The Mystery of Darrell Issa's Low Profile
A week ago Kevin Drum wondered about The Mystery of Darrell Issa's Low Profile. "When Darrell Issa took over the Oversight and Government Reform Committee, everyone expected a tsunami of scandal investigations. But it hasn't really happened. Why? Jonathan Bernstein says it might be because Obama just runs a really clean shop, but he doesn't find that convincing. Or maybe Issa is just incompetent. But that's not very convincing either." He then poses a few theories.
Is Your Cell Phone Listening in on You?
Time asks
Is Your Cell Phone Listening in on You?.
"The federal Wiretap Act makes it illegal to intercept communications and intentionally disclose or use them. That law seems to be the perfect avenue for thwarting the companies that surreptitiously collect information from smartphones. But the Wiretap Act also contains a major loophole. Courts have held that if only one party consents to the wiretapping, then it’s legal. So if your wireless carrier says that it’s okay for a marketing company to collect and transmit your personal information, your consent is not required. Laws pending in Congress deal only with narrow slices of the problem by placing limits on monitoring of phones’ GPS data (Senate bills 1212 and 1223) or expanding the Federal Trade Commission’s power to go after data aggregators that surreptitiously collect personal information about people (Senate bill 913). But even if piecemeal laws were passed, there’s no guarantee that judges would give sufficient weight to digital privacy in interpreting them. In 2010, a New York judge likened digital communications (in that case, an email) to “postcards” that anyone could see — thus gutting privacy protections altogether."
Fox News Graphics
Apparently they really suck at them, or like inserting mistakes to make a point. Here are two see if you can spot the mistakes (both images are links to articles about them):
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