February 2012
5 posts
Firth of Forth: On this $26 billion dollar... →
firthofforth:
squashedcomments:
andrewgraham:
squashed:
Speaking tentatively, because I don’t have all the details I would like, I’m happy with this settlement. It’s huge. As in, it’s over three tines bigger than the huge tobacco settlement. Critically, it also preserves borrower’s rights to sue.
Here’s the bottom…
As a general rule, civil courts don’t distribute criminal liability....
Firth of Forth: On this $26 billion dollar... →
andrewgraham:
squashed:
Speaking tentatively, because I don’t have all the details I would like, I’m happy with this settlement. It’s huge. As in, it’s over three tines bigger than the huge tobacco settlement. Critically, it also preserves borrower’s rights to sue.
Here’s the bottom…
As a general rule, civil courts don’t distribute criminal liability. This suit is over a much...
“[L]ong before Barack Obama achieved any significance on the political scene, I...”
– Glenn Greenwald on the follow the leader mentality pervasive in American politics.
(via aheram)
I’d be interested in response to this Greenwald article from Ari Kohen or Squashed, if they see this and are so inclined.
(via jeffmiller)
I see it. I’m inclined. I’m traveling...
The Callus: Santorum wins keep the Republican... →
thecallus:
squashed:
This is just fantastic.
Just more derps for the herping. The amusing thing is that turnout has been suppressed throughout the process, and absolutely no one seems to be energized but Romney’s money-powered political machine. Romney still has the election on total lockdown in all…
Truthfully, I think Romney’s going to win. (By the way, how’s your man...
The Callus: MERS →
thecallus:
The database we want and the database we need.
Yeah, I’m pretty upset about MERS. MERS was designed with government approval to begin fixing the morass of record keeping problems with mortgages. If you’ve ever gotten a mortgage, you’re probably familiar with some of the nightmares associated…
Fair enough. We mostly agree.
Part of my issue with MERS is that it didn’t...
January 2012
7 posts
My Day With FINRA And Recommendations (Wonkish,...
thecallus:
A look inside the financial self-regulatory system.
I’m a registered representative. I just had my first bout of “continuing education”, which is intended to keep me updated on the latest regulatory developments in the financial industry. You probably have some idea of what this is like if you’ve ever attended mandatory corporate training of any stripe. Which is to say: it...
Squashed: craigslist, Comcast, and Capitalism →
zombiecuddle:
squashed:
I’m moving—which means I’m doing a bit more buying and selling than usual. Some of this involves selling large objects on craigslist. Like most craigslist transactions, it’s pretty straightforward. Something is listed at a price. Maybe some negotiation occurs. Sale commences or doesn’t. Everybody…
I generally agree with your post and fully agree with your sentiment,...
Social Security, Bankruptcy, and Insolvency →
thecallus:
squashed:
No.
No matter how many times conservatives repeat this, it’s simply not true. The social security trust fund has about $2.6 trillion in assets. Those assets are comprised of long term, interest-bearing U.S. bonds.
Without some changes, the social security trust fund will eventually run out…
Only right-wing idiots mis-speak and state that Social Security is bankrupt....
1 tag
Squashed: State responsibilities and... →
zigziggityzoo:
squashed:
zigziggityzoo:
It’s not exactly that he wants them to be cut - it’s that he believes that it’s the states’ responsibility to be doing many of the things the Federal government is doing.
And it’s not that I don’t want to take out the trash, it’s just that I believe it’s the dog’s job to do…
But don’t you think there are some things that the Federal government is...
MUPPETPANTS: On "Fringe" →
muppetpants:
squashed:
[snippy-poos]
But if you go around talking about cutting the things that Ron Paul wants to cut, it’s going to be hard to lift your support above about 10%.
There are a lot of people who try to make Ron Paul (the man) look a lot more fringe than he is: when matched up against…
We’re not going to agree on the merits of Obama as president—so...
December 2011
18 posts
The Trunk: Libertarians and Racism →
squashed:
… I think The Callus is right—at least to the extent that the Libertarians’ race issues go beyond some awful things that Ron Paul may or may not have allowed to be said in his name. I would lay it out a bit differently, though.
Any real-world political ideology should grapple…
Jeff, despite our (persisting) disagreement, I’m always thankful for your thoughts on an...
Husker Red: Dead White Men →
huskerred:
This will be a reply for both Squashed and Politicalprof, who have been courteous enough to engage with me in a thread of discussion on the Enlightenment. I’d like to quickly provide what I hope can steer the discussion in the direction I originally intended, which is most certainly not…
I’m going to reply on my comments blog—because I just have a few scattered...
The Callus: I was thinking about this thing and I... →
littleorphanammo:
How do we know that rape is under-reported, you know, If it’s not reported. Does that mean under-reported to police, or under-reported altogether.
I’ve never understood how we can say things like 70 percent of rapes (or whatever!) are not reported…if they aren’t reported!
Somebody (say, Zombie Cuddle) could probably get this better than I could—though I think we also...
They should make a Successful Black Kid videogame
zombiecuddle:
jasencomstock:
for white dudes to play that would be like Nation-States.
it could be like day 1. make a choice:
1. you find $10, are you going to invest it in the stock market and be bored today so you have to study
or
2. buy drugs.
School is canceled today because some crackheads lit the gym on fire. Do you:
1. Catch up on back-issues of the economist on your personal...
Mohandas Gandhi on Sharia Law →
I’m also no theologian but aren’t we assuming a lot here in saying that ostensible ideological contradictions in the text render the entire faith worthless?
If we’re talking about ideological contradictions (or, at least, tensions) in a text, we’re at least treating the text seriously. That doesn’t bother me at all. I find a cursory reading for the sole purpose of finding ...
Mohandas Gandhi on Sharia Law →
thecallus:
squashedcomments:
thecallus:
mohandasgandhi:
I find that those who have the biggest aversion to Shari’a law are those who haven’t studied the various schools at all or know anything about Islam. I’m saying this as an Atheist. The responses I received sound like they came straight from Western right-wing talking points. Yes, there are countries with statutes in place that claim...
Mohandas Gandhi on Sharia Law →
thecallus:
mohandasgandhi:
I find that those who have the biggest aversion to Shari’a law are those who haven’t studied the various schools at all or know anything about Islam. I’m saying this as an Atheist. The responses I received sound like they came straight from Western right-wing talking points. Yes, there are countries with statutes in place that claim to be based on Islamic doctrine...
OTTERS: Why bring religion into it at all? →
squashed:
In response to my quotation from a National Religions Campaign Against Torture press release criticizing the indefinite detention provisions in the National Defense Authorization Act, Waskommeng replied: This is a good goal, but I simply don’t get why we can’t appeal to…
So that’s actually why I think it’s important for moderate to progressive liberal voices to be...
1 tag
SWAG: mohandasgandhi:... →
mohandasgandhi:
ihaveabigdickbutanicepersonality replied to your audio post: Every time someone asks me about Tyler from now…
Playing the race card is so lame. No one is against him because he’s black, but most of his music is just shock value. Quentin is a genius, can’t…
Come on, man. Seriously? At least let it go a few iterations before throwing out the gender-motivated insults....
OTTERS: Confession: Carolyn is in better shape... →
squashed:
I mean way better shape. Unambiguous, no-questions-worth-asking better shape. She runs an 20:18 5k. I run a few blocks, have an asthma attack, and tip over for a while. I console myself by only participating in sports she doesn’t play to ensure there’s no easy way to compare…
Believe me—I’m stacking this one every way I can. I’ll probably end up with...
Squashed: Marriage, that blessed arrangement, that... →
zombiecuddle:
squashed:
zombiecuddle writes:
I do not think most people know what the social goals of marriage are, I do not agree that they are universally good things so far as I understand them, and I am woefully unconvinced our present social and policy approach to marriage does anything to achieve them. Ban all…
So, I mostly agree with you here. I should start by admitting (as I kind...
thecallus:
zombiecuddle:
thecallus:
zombiecuddle:
catbawse replied to your post: Okay, I actually LIKE Bieber Maybe “Biebstradamus” got vetoed by the producer.
“Biebsonable Doubt”
36 Biebers
“The Middle School Dropout”
I hear some woman is running around saying the sperm used to create her child came Straight Outta Bieber
Darkside of the Bieb
Squashed: I'm pretty unhappy with my Senator, Carl... →
thecallus:
squashed:
My senator, Senator Levin (D-MI, Phone: 202-224-6221) sponsored National Defense Authorization Act which, among other things, permits the indefinite detention of anybody suspected by the administration of connections to terrorism without trial. As it turns out, whomever is answering the phone is…
No one cares that you called and you can’t vote for anyone that opposed...
robot-heart-politics:
squashedcomments:
““Really poor children in really poor neighborhoods have no habits of working and have nobody around them who works,” the former House speaker said at a campaign event at the Nationwide Insurance offices. “So they literally have no habit of showing up on Monday. They have no habit of staying all day. They have no habit of ‘I do this and you give me cash,’...
“Really poor children in really poor neighborhoods have no habits of working and...”
– Newt Gingrich: Poor kids don’t work “unless it’s illegal” - Political Hotsheet - CBS News
I just…I can’t…what? Does he even realize that nearly a quarter of the American labor force lives in poverty? Close to a third are “low income”? Has this man ever visited reality?
(via...
Squashed: Where the jobs data comes from →
But you are not a “participant” if you fall out of the survey pop - this is because people who lose benefits don’t get surveyed anymore.
I’m not quite sure what you mean by this—but I think it’s wrong.
If you’re receiving unemployment benefits, you need to do a few “job searching” things every week that more than qualify you to be part of the labor...
The Trunk: ThinkProgress: "FACT: Obama's... →
jeffmiller:
Because, obviously, it was President Obama’s policies that created these jobs. No one else could have done it, right? Private citizens couldn’t have done it. Companies couldn’t have done it. It must have been the policies. After all, the President does have policies, right? And some new jobs…
Though it does seem that we shouldn’t attribute the unemployment crisis to...
November 2011
25 posts
Zombie Cuddle: Let me tell you about love →
squashed:
For something so universal, love is wonderfully subjective. I have known I love you for ten years, and every year I learn a little more what love means. Every year, love means a little more. Do not ask me what love is—I have no words to contain it. I know only my life, our lives,…
Thus is now a blawg about feelings.
Squashed: "Religion is a crutch" →
thecallus:
squashed:
I’ve always found this criticism a bit perplexing. What do you have against crutches? As medical technology goes, they’re not terribly controversial. If you break an ankle, there’s really no substitute. It’s great to have a crutch around when you need it. And that’s the essence of the…
You’ve got it all wrong. The problem isn’t crutches. The problem is that we have a...
DC Decoder: LIVECHAT the GOP Debate, tonight at 8... →
shortformblog:
dcdecoder:
If there’s a GOP debate tonight, you can bet we’ll be assembling some of Tumblr’s finest to livechat it.
Shortformblog, Ilya Gerner and Pantsless Progressive are all on board this evening - stop by or shoot Decoder a line if you’d like to join us as a panelist!
<a…
You know you wanna. Watch the debate over a big helping of yams and mashed...
OTTERS: The right questions →
squashed:
Asking what the Occupy Wall Street protestors want is probably not a helpful question. They want a lot of things—and we don’t much care what they want, except where we already agree with them. Writing about their goals is really writing about what we want their goals to be. It’s…
I’ll give the first two answers passing grades. But that third one? I’m going to light...
virtual ephemera: Follow up thoughts on abortion →
I have a few thoughts—but I’m going to move them over to the lower traffic comment blog. (I hate to do that—but this is one of those issues where one side goes over a whole lot better than the other. Nasty things get said. As much as I joke about wanting to alienate anybody reading my blog, I’m not sure I actually want to do it.)
Let’s talk specifics then. You say that...
Squashed: Follow up thoughts on abortion →
reelaroundthefountain:
squashed:
Earlier today, I tried to take a stance on about every controversial issue anybody named. As you might imagine, there was some controversy (though it’s been worse.)
Virtual Ephemera asks:
Your earlier post on abortion is vague. Are you saying you favor the overturning of Roe v. Wade or…
#This topic makes everybody mad
Um, yeah it does. And me being...
The Trunk: On subsidizing renewable energy →
squashed:
Fossil fuels are dirty and have high external costs. (Air pollution, global warming.) Clean energy subsidies react to a broken market by offsetting some of these negative externalities. It partially repairs a broken market.
Put more simply, clean energy subsidized by tax dollars…
It’s a good point—and I would take the tax if I had the choice. That said, I think...
“A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies. The man who never reads lives...”
– George R.R. Martin (via real-cream-cheese)
Of course, I you’re reading George R.R Martin, you’ll also do a thousand deaths in pretty short order. I’m not hatin’ it’s just why Are all the nice characters dead?
Squashed: Free speech and public spaces (briefly) →
reignofdreams:
squashed:
In light of the discussion over the Zuccotti park eviction, let me offer a (very) quick overview of first amendment law as it applies to public protest. As a general rule, free speech—particularly political speech—is highly protected. There are a few exceptions, like threats, slander, and…
_______________________________
A fair point, and eloquently made.
...
I love how the concept of "Troll" has been reduced...
thecallus:
littleorphanammo:
I hate so many goddam people right now.
I wish stupidity was a terminal fucking disease.
In fairness to Jasen, I am a frequent troll. But breaking up the encampment was a good idea - I have yet to read a compelling argument against. Come at me, bros. I have all day, at the rate this doctor is going.
I don’t wholly disagree with you.
Screw the NYPD.
...
The Court scheduled 5 1/2 hours for oral arguments... →
thecallus:
squashed:
thecallus:
jasencomstock:
c-newt:
The record is 4.
God that’s a long day.
Justices Thomas and Alito are going to be BORED!
I would bet that the individual mandate doesn’t survive SCOTUS.
Done.
Alright, let’s do it. Individual mandate is dead meat, IMO. I’m not impressed by the lower court’s opinions in support
I think there’s a good 40% chance the...
JasenComstock: zombiecuddle:... →
zombiecuddle:
jasencomstock:
rivertrash:
zombiecuddle:
jasencomstock:
rivertrash replied to your link: Today in stupid ideas: Veteran’s courts
why do you think this is a stupid idea?
I don’t think people should be able to have a different standard by which they are judged than others. We don’t and should not live…
There are lots of specialized court systems around the country like...
O Catbus! My Catbus!: michelledean: So the other... →
michelledean:
So the other day when all this Paterno stuff was coming out, I and a few other people said some infelicitous things about college athletics that other people I like and respect took issue with. Because they said that rape happens everywhere, not just in sports, etc etc.
…
I’m going to phone this one in—but let my contribution be the observation that people...
Squashed: On conspiracy and intent →
thecallus:
squashed:
Regarding the sexual abuse thing at Penn State, zombiecuddle asks: Can these people all be tried for conspiracy for not doing anything about this? I mean, I don’t know, I watch a lot of crime movies. Someone who knows about law — Squashed?
Generally, no. At least, they can’t be criminally tried. Civil law casts a much wider net. (As a heads up for anybody reading, this...
