US Politics: The Accountability Problem

[Mudguard]

15 minutes ago, Kalbear said:

A second woman has come forward accusing Fairfax of assault, and the first one is now public, very credible, and is telling her story.

Fairfax should be the first to resign. 

Fairfax is finished.  Can't see how he can survive this.  Technically, Tyson's allegation is not past the statute of limitations, so theoretically Fairfax could be charged, though Tyson has gone on the record that she doesn't want to file charges.  Fairfax is also a partner at a top law firm, Morrison and Foerster (MoFo).  I could see him getting pushed out of MoFo and getting disbarred over this.

[DMC]

9 minutes ago, larrytheimp said:

at my local hipster coffee shop this morning I heard my Rush Limbaugh-loving neighbor

So this place is both hipster and frequented by a dittohead?  Sounds like the most insufferable coffee shop imaginable.

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

14 minutes ago, Mudguard said:

Fairfax is finished.  Can't see how he can survive this.  Technically, Tyson's allegation is not past the statute of limitations, so theoretically Fairfax could be charged, though Tyson has gone on the record that she doesn't want to file charges.  Fairfax is also a partner at a top law firm, Morrison and Foerster (MoFo).  I could see him getting pushed out of MoFo and getting disbarred over this.

Please tell me they really do go by MoFo!

 

Anyways, it looks the Northam and Fairfax are done. Herring might be able to hold on. I laid out yesterday how Democrats could remove all three without giving up any of the seats, but Fairfax probably has to be the first to go now, Northam can pick his replacement and then resign. There will have to be a special election in November, but it's better than nothing. Democrats cannot afford to give up the seat going into redistricting. 

[ThinkerX]

wonder if he'll tough it out?  And how ticked off the boarders here will be if he remains in office?

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/official-gov-northam-tells-staff-hes-staying/ar-BBTlSEp?ocid=msnclassic

RICHMOND, Va. — A senior official in Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam's administration says the governor has told his top staff that he does not plan to resign over a racist photo despite intense pressure to step down.

The official says Northam told his Cabinet during a Friday afternoon meeting that he intends to stay. The official was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.

 

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

I appreciate the multiple responses, and Kal, I age with the additional things you added. I'm not sure what the ideal system to fund education would be, but it cannot be taxing high population, low income areas to address a great many students while allowing low population, high income ares to fund a much smaller group of students. 

[Ice Queen]

Children in some urban areas have to deal with issues no amount of money will solve. Simply put, those kids have huge barriers to learning. Poverty, lack of nutritious food, drugs, gangs, etc. are issues urban schools deal with daily. It's hard to focus on schoolwork when your stomach is grumbling from no food. For many children, the school breakfast and lunch programs are their ONLY access to food and adequate calories. 

That's not to say there aren't poor kids in the suburbs, or that drugs don't exist among the middle and upper middle class--there are and they do. And many of them deal with the same issues as their urban counterparts. However, the suburban poor kids aren't surrounded by others just like them. Schools and communities go out of their way to help them and their families. It's a completely different mindset and it can really impact school performance.

[Mudguard]

4 minutes ago, Tywin et al. said:

Please tell me they really do go by MoFo!

 

Anyways, it looks the Northam and Fairfax are done. Herring might be able to hold on. I laid out yesterday how Democrats could remove all three without giving up any of the seats, but Fairfax probably has to be the first to go now, Northam can pick his replacement and then resign. There will have to be a special election in November, but it's better than nothing. Democrats cannot afford to give up the seat going into redistricting. 

They do!  Website is www.mofo.com.  MoFo is all over their website, and in recruiting materials, they acknowledge the obvious double meaning.  They are proud of it!

[DMC]

5 minutes ago, ThinkerX said:

wonder if he'll tough it out?  And how ticked off the boarders here will be if he remains in office?

I think the fact that he's lasted this long means his chances of surviving went from about 1% on Saturday to almost 50% right now.  Somebody down there likes him.

[ThinkerX]

No appetite for another shutdown:

 

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/gop-border-security-negotiator-chances-of-another-shutdown-are-nil-or-next-to-nil/ar-BBTkimR?ocid=msnclassic

 

And (genuine?) progress for a budget deal on the wall.  Makes me wonder if the budget deal will have enough votes to be veto proof.

 

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/congressional-negotiators-near-border-deal-that-would-offer-trump-less-money-for-barriers-than-he-has-demanded/ar-BBTlwEU?ocid=msnclassic

 

Congressional negotiators neared a deal Friday that would offer President Trump far less than the $5.7 billion he’s sought for walls along the U.S.-Mexico border, as lawmakers worked to prevent another government shutdown next week.

 

Two people familiar with the talks said the understanding among Republicans is that the deal would offer around $2 billion for border barriers. The people spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe the private deliberations.

 

Democrats disputed that figure, saying it was too high and that negotiations were ongoing. “We will not agree to $2 billion in funding for barriers,” said Evan Hollander, spokesman for House Appropriations Chairwoman Nita Lowey (D-N.Y.), who is leading the bipartisan talks.

Either way, it was clear negotiators were preparing to come in far below Trump’s demands, raising the question of whether the president would agree to their deal. Lawmakers face a Feb. 15 deadline

[Larry of the Lawn]

26 minutes ago, DMC said:

So this place is both hipster and frequented by a dittohead?  Sounds like the most insufferable coffee shop imaginable.

It's a scarcity issue - only place around with decent offerings in a rural area with a lot of second homes owned by city people.  So it's a mix of rednecks and then weekend city people.  

 

[DMC]

8 minutes ago, ThinkerX said:

No appetite for another shutdown:

Guess it hasn't been noted here, but Pelosi did pretty much guaran-damn-tee there won't be another shutdown, Vince McMahon style.

[DMC]

So this Klobuchar staff story isn't going away.

Harry Reid Rebuked Amy Klobuchar for Mistreatment of Staff

I'm sorry she hurt you @Tywin et al..

[ThinkerX]

 

It is articles like this that make me strongly suspect Trump won't be around for another presidential run:

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/white-house-trump-has-not-followed-diet-and-exercise-plan-religiously/ar-BBTjtZV?ocid=ob-fb-enus-580&fbclid=IwAR03HUVknX5GksxuabcBz0qx3BoGXUtyUJjaz5FKEGNPdKJlExULJGTouMs

 

the level of denial by Trump supporters in the comments are almost comical.

 

The president received a diet and exercise plan last year after his annual physical, but the President admits he has not followed it religiously," Hogan Gidley, the principal deputy White House press secretary,

told CNN.

 

The 72-year-old president, who has high cholesterol and has disputed reports he has a common form of heart disease but acknowledges a love for fast food, was given a diet and exercise plan over a year ago during his first physical since taking the Oval Office.

[ThinkerX]

AOC needs to get herself organized:

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/ocasio-cortez-contradicts-herself-on-role-of-government-in-massive-and-unprecedented-green-new-deal/ar-BBTjOuA?ocid=ob-fb-enus-580&fbclid=IwAR1vy33uPhfxk4e4xgShlWQi1XgCBasMbYe_RNRECWMv8kgk8GNlUYXsYMQ

 

Especially in light of (legitimate?) articles like this one:

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/2019/02/antarctic-greenland-ice-melt-less-bad/

 

of course, a great deal more research is needed.  That has not stopped right wing posters in the comments sections of these articles from declaring these studies are proof that global warming is a hoax.

 

But two new pieces of research,

published Wednesday in Nature, suggest a more measured retreat is likely in the coming decades. Both studies revise the estimates of just how much sea levels will rise by 2100 downward, suggesting that Antarctica could contribute somewhere between about three to 16 inches to the world’s oceans under the “worst case” scenarios.

Adding that to the other components that make up sea level rise—how the ocean expands as it warms (which will likely add about 10 inches), the melt from mountain glaciers (about six inches), and changes to the amount of water stored in lakes and rivers on land (one and a half inches), and the total is still a daunting number somewhere between just under two- to over three- foot range.

 

That is in no way a get-out-of-jail-free card, say the authors of both studies. It’s still an enormous amount of extra water that could slosh up onto coasts, enough to debilitate cities from Boston to Shanghai. But the most drastic impacts of sea-level rise, they say, are likely to kick in only after the turn of the century, giving communities around the world more time to adapt.

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

1 minute ago, DMC said:

So this Klobuchar staff story isn't going away.

Harry Reid Rebuked Amy Klobuchar for Mistreatment of Staff

I'm sorry she hurt you @Tywin et al..

Great last post before I go to the gym.....

Honestly I'm not surprised this story broke. It was an open secret that she could be hard to work for. The one thing in the story that made me want to scream BS were the accusations of public humiliations. I never saw that once.

 

[Zorral]

1 minute ago, Tywin et al. said:

Great last post before I go to the gym.....

Honestly I'm not surprised this story broke. It was an open secret that she could be hard to work for. The one thing in the story that made me want to scream BS were the accusations of public humiliations. I never saw that once.

 

Even many good bosses are hard to work for because they are forever expecting that everyone be as good as they are themselves.  As often we lowlier ones are not that good or that driven, well, collision.  Expressions of disappointment and directions for correction are not necessarily humiliation, especially if done with the door closed.  I dunno. Speaking only from my own experiences.  But it is good to hear from someone who has worked for her and doesn't necessarily agree with this public humiliation of her -- which feels quite targeted.  A lot of targets are being targeted in every way the oppo trolls can devise, it seems.

[DMC]

9 minutes ago, Zorral said:

A lot of targets are being targeted in every way the oppo trolls can devise, it seems.

Obviously at least a few people are very pissed at her, but I thought the HuffPo piece was very fair.

[IheartIheartTesla]

3 hours ago, Rorshach said:

I really don't know too much about CCS, so I'm probably behind the curve here. And I completely agree it should be part of the solution. 

I seem to remember, last time i checked, that the technology isn't viable for large scale CCS, though. Is that still the case?

So I was thinking more of CCU rather than CCS (U being use rather than sequestration). The thing that excited me a few months ago is someone put a $100-250 value per MT of CO2e being reused through capture. Previous numbers were closer to $600/MT, so a substantial improvement.

https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2018/06/its-possible-to-reverse-climate-change-suggests-major-new-study/562289/
 

Quote

A Harvard professor says his company should be able to suck carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere, at industrial scales, by 2021

The new paper says it can remove the same ton for as little as $94, and for no more than $232. At those rates, it would cost between $1 and $2.50 to remove the carbon dioxide released by burning a gallon of gasoline in a modern car.

Their technique, while chemically complicated, does not rely on unprecedented science. In effect, Keith and his colleagues have grafted a cooling tower onto a paper mill. It has three major steps.

Still, considering emissions reductions offsets are usually in the $1-2/MT range, it is still a more expensive option. And there is the usual academic disclaimer of "in 5 years this technology has the potential to...." which never pans out 5 years later, But funding for research in this area should be part of a green deal mix,

[DanteGabriel]

3 hours ago, DMC said:

So this place is both hipster and frequented by a dittohead?  Sounds like the most insufferable coffee shop imaginable.

 

2 hours ago, larrytheimp said:

It's a scarcity issue - only place around with decent offerings in a rural area with a lot of second homes owned by city people.  So it's a mix of rednecks and then weekend city people.  

 

I had assumed Larry was making a mocking reference to Jacob Wohl, the teenage scam artist who tried to fabricate a #MeToo scandal on Mueller and habitually made fatuous points on Twitter by inventing things allegedly overheard at the local hipster coffee shop.

[Zorral]

2 hours ago, DMC said:

Obviously at least a few people are very pissed at her, but I thought the HuffPo piece was very fair.

It did seem that way.  But so many Dems being targeted all at the same time -- and Bezos too.  Say I have a suspicious mind -- which has nothing to do with whether or not I think, or they are, guilty as charged.  Because if nothing else we should understand from the last two years, is that in every level of every society many, many men have been serial sexual predators and abusers of children, women and other men, and others, if not they themselves, have along the way committed many other crimes and corruptions, just as a matter of course -- while believe they are doing nothing wrong, just doing what's done, if one can.