August, 2015 archive
Nothing To Do, Nowhere To Go 0
For all practical purposes, status quo ante.
The number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits last week remained historically low.
Jobless claims increased by 4,000 to 277,000 in the week ended Aug. 15, a Labor Department report showed Thursday in Washington. The median forecast of 48 economists surveyed by Bloomberg projected 271,000. Applications have been lower than 300,000, a level typically associated with an improving job market, since early March.
(snip)
The four-week average of claims, a less-volatile measure than the weekly figure, climbed to 271,500 from 266,000 the week before, the lowest in more than 40 years. . . .
Estimates from 48 economists in the Bloomberg survey ranged from 264,000 to 285,000. The prior week’s claims were revised to 273,000 from an initial reading of 274,000.
Follow the link to see Bloomberg’s fear-mongering headline. It’s a hoot.
Still Rising Again after All These Years 0
Unreconstructed rebels resort to the I know I am, but what are you? defense.
Sharing a Cell (Phone) 0
Afterthought:
No matter how many times they change their name, they are still and forever Southwestern Bell, renowned for their execrable customer service.
Rick Scott, Responsible Fiscal 0
Florida’s Governor Scoffaw picks the public purse.
No other sitting governor has used tax money to end public records cases that were caused by his own secretive misbehavior. Scott couldn’t care less.
He paid off in one case to avoid producing thousands of emails from private Google accounts on which he and staff members conducted public business, against the law. Scott said such accounts didn’t exist, which was a flat-out lie.
It’s not like this should surprise anyone.
Facebook Frolics 0
You couldn’t make this stuff up.
I think Henry Mancini* wrote a song about just these sorts of antics:
When we played our crusade,
We were like children posing . . . .
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*I apologize to the memory of Mancini, who was a marvelous composer whose music I cherish, but, really, I couldn’t resist.
“The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night”* 0
I have never visited Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello, though I spent a year in Charlottesville a long time ago. Desiree S. Melton, though, was recently there and noticed that something was missing: even a quasi-honest treatment of chattel slavery.
Here’s a bit of her reaction (emphasis added):
Follow the link.
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*If you know the Canon, you know that this post’s title refers to something that didn’t happen.
Twilight of the Elites 2
He has a point.
Suffer the Children . . . 0
. . . or be held in contemptible court.
The Golden Fleecing 0
The Inky talks to Atlantic City residents about their experiences with Donald Trump. The picture that emerges is one of a skilled card shark–well, read it for yourself. Here’s a bit from early on in the article.
“But in this neck of the woods, his actions speak volumes in terms of numerous bankruptcies and nonpayment to hardworking individuals.”
As Trump – who got called out on his A.C. history during the recent Fox News debate – dominates polls and airtime, old Atlantic City wounds have resurfaced. His boasting “I had the good sense to leave Atlantic City” and calling those who lost out “not the nice, sweet little people that you think, OK?” felt to some like rubbing it in.
In many cases, it was, in fact, the little people left unpaid.
“When it came time to pay for the pianos, we weren’t getting paid,” said Michael Diehl, 88, owner of Freehold Music Co., which sold Trump eight Yamaha grand pianos for about $100,000. “I’m not going to vote for him, that’s for sure. That’s a crude way of doing business.”
One more time: with Republicans, watch what they do, not what they say.