2016 archive
“The Dismal Science” 0
Harry Shearer interviews economist James Galbraith. Follow the link to listen; you’ll be smarter for it (the interview starts at about the 14 minute mark).
Chartering a Course for Disaster 0
At Cleveland.com, Brent Larkin acerbically dissects the lastest outbreak of the privatization scam in Ohio. A snippet:
The amount of money taxpayers send to online charter schools depends on how many students attend those schools.
However, charter operators have a history of submitting notoriously inaccurate attendance numbers. If you wonder why that is, reread the previous paragraph.
Responsible Fiscals 0
You can’t make this stuff up. (Actually, these days, you could, but you don’t have to.)
Feel the Draft 0
Somewhere, I still have my draft card.
Headline of the Day 0
Police apologize for raiding wrong house in Southwest Philadelphia
At least they apologized, and at least no one was killed. This time.
People of the Book 0
No, no, no. That other book.
Card-Carrying 0
Alexandra Petri plays Trump with her “woman card.”
I have been carrying one of these for years, proudly.
It is great. It entitles you to a sizable discount on your earnings everywhere you go (average 21 percent, but can be anywhere from 9 percent to 37 percent, depending on what study you’re reading and what edition of the Woman Card you have.) If you shop with the Woman Card at the grocery, you will get to pay 11 percent more for all the same products as men, but now they are pink.
Read the rest. Collect the full deck.
But wait! The card pays strange dividends.
Nothing To Do, Nowhere To Go 0
Still not bad.
(snip)
The four-week moving average of claims, a less volatile measure than the weekly figures, decreased to 256,000, the lowest since December 1973, from 260,750.
The number of people continuing to receive jobless benefits fell by 5,000 to 2.13 million in the week ended April 16, the fewest since November 2000. The unemployment rate among people eligible for benefits held at 1.6 percent. These data are reported with a one-week lag.
“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0
Politeness is child’s play.
It happened around 7 a.m. at a home on Camp Circle in Dallas. Holston Cole was taken to Paulding-Wellstar hospital where he was pronounced dead.
Detectives said the shooting was an accident but don’t know how the toddler got the gun.
It’s not going to stop, you know.
