October 13, 2023

Kaiser strike settled

CNN link below. I have it from some upper sources that it's a 21% increase over a 3 year contract with new minimum wage at $23/hr.

https://www.cnn.com/2023/10/13/business/kaiser-permanente-strike-deal-reached/index.html

October 11, 2023

Harvard student groups issued an anti-Israel statement. CEOs want them blacklisted.

Oh hey, it's the dildo of consequences, on schedule and unlubed.

The CEOs want the students blacklisted. But some of those students have since distanced themselves from the letter.

“One should not be able to hide behind a corporate shield when issuing statements supporting the actions of terrorists,” Ackman said in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter.

If the members support the letter, the names of the signatories “should be made public so their views are publicly known,” Ackman said. The CEO of Pershing Square Capital Management said he wanted to ensure his company and others don’t “inadvertently hire” any students belonging to Harvard groups that signed the letter.

Following a backlash to the statement, some of the student groups have since withdrawn their endorsements.

https://www.cnn.com/2023/10/11/business/harvard-israel-hamas-ceos-students/index.html

I strongly suspect the people signing that letter are used to being leaders and participants of social media mobs - not the targets of them.

This must be a completely unforeseen turn of events for them.

October 10, 2023

"But" is the strongest word in the English language

It does an awful lot of lifting.

October 5, 2023

The migrant crisis has reached a critical point - it's angering the NIMBYs

And that's why it's a serious political problem.

It's easy to be blithely unconcerned about the border when the problems arising from failed policy only affect distant border regions. Ensconced in comfortable suburban or city environments, the impact has largely been minimal for a lot of people for a long time.

That's changing.

And the NIMBYs are not happy.

NIMBYs vote, btw.

September 16, 2023

Hasan Minhaj outed as racial fabulist

I thought he was a shoo-in for Trevor Noah on the Daily Show, but . . . This New Yorker piece is really something.

https://www.newyorker.com/news/annals-of-communications/hasan-minhajs-emotional-truths

Shame. I like a lot of his stuff, although he's always struck me as fairly attention-seeking. Guess that wasn't far off.

August 17, 2023

Enjoy your hurricane, uh, California

So this is a thing that is apparently happening.

Tropical Storm Hilary intensified into a full-blown hurricane over the eastern Pacific Ocean on Thursday, and the National Hurricane Center is warning that as the system moves to the northwest, Baja California and portions of the southwestern United States could see “significant impacts” this weekend and into early next week.

Confidence in the storm’s track is increasing, though the path could still shift in coming days. There’s also uncertainty in the storm’s overall strength and timing.

...

In the latest forecast, Hilary’s center is projected to approach land in central or northern Baja California as a hurricane on Sunday and weaken to a tropical storm as it moves over northern Baja. The system is predicted to continue to lose strength as it nears California, moving into cooler waters and a cooler air mass. On the current track, the system will push into Southern California near the San Diego-Imperial county line at 6 a.m. Monday.

https://www.sfgate.com/weather/article/map-shows-hurricane-hilary-probable-storm-track-18301569.php

Who had Californian hurricane on their bingo card this year?

August 4, 2023

Cultural slapfight update

Sound of Freedom is beating Mission Impossible domestically.

Jason Aldean is #1 on Billboard.

Barbie is going to easily blast through $1 billion. It's doing Infinity War numbers.

So this was all a good use of time.

July 27, 2023

Florida dog attack leaves 6-year-old boy dead

So . . . since it's apparently common understanding that animals are psychic and know the good humans from the bad . . .

Does someone want to explain what the six year-old did to deserve it? Or nah?

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/florida-dog-attack-leaves-6-year-old-boy-dead/

May 23, 2023

Man set free after setting Asian students on fire.

I know people don't care about anti-AAPI stuff unless it can be pinned on Trump, but as someone with a lot of AAPI nieces and nephews, the anti-Asian environment in the Bay Area bothers me. And it bothers me more when my own side seems studiously and concretely set on ignoring it.

A man who was found guilty of lighting UC Berkeley students on fire at a boba shop near the Cal campus in 2020 has been released from custody without prison time or probation after agreeing to participate in a diversion program for veterans, court records show.

In late April, according to records reviewed by The Berkeley Scanner, Brandon McGlone was convicted of multiple felonies in connection with the boba shop attack as well as felony assault and gun charges from a separate domestic violence case.

https://www.berkeleyscanner.com/2023/05/20/uc-berkeley-crime/berkeley-boba-shop-attack-man-released-diversion-program/

April 20, 2023

Cheering on technological failure seems like a right-wing thing

Musk is a fuckstick - I don't think that's too arguable.

But space flight is something to be encouraged and cheered.

Human advancement is a good thing.

Let's not cheer failure in advancement because the man I don't like on Twitter is poopy.

Hatred like that is dumb and eats reason from the inside out.