YouGov says Theresa May might be losing her bet: Daily Bullshit, May 31, 2017

Brexit

The assumption has been that Theresa May would win in a landslide[1] in her bid to marginalize hardliners in her own party and thereby bolster her negotiating position with the European Union on Brexit.[2] It was a gamble, but it looked like a decent gamble at the time she made it.[3]

That’s now all been called into question with a new survey—apparently using a new methodology that had apparently been successfully tested in the Brexit vote—by YouGov, a respected polling firm in the United Kingdom.[4] I do not see any indication, however, that the problem of low response rates[5] has been addressed and, in fact, it seems to me that a “constituency-by-constituency estimate of the election result”[6] would multiply rather than decrease the risk of a failure. Which makes all of this—both the Tory optimism and now the Tory pessimism—bullshit.

Sam Coates, “Poll firm predicts shock losses for Theresa May’s Tories at general election,” Times, May 31, 2017, https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/news/latest-general-election-poll-predicts-conservatives-will-lose-seats-02zfwl8lc


  1. [1]Francis Elliott and Sam Coates, “May on course for landslide,” Times, May 6, 2017, https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/news/may-on-course-for-landslide-f7pqgwwfp; Peter Geoghegan, “UK election reinforces Scotland’s divide,” Deutschewelle, May 3, 2017, http://www.dw.com/en/uk-election-reinforces-scotlands-divide/a-38674936
  2. [2]Jenny Gross and Jason Douglas, “U.K.’s Theresa May Calls Early Election, Seeking Brexit Leverage,” Wall Street Journal, April 18, 2017, https://www.wsj.com/articles/u-k-prime-minister-theresa-may-calls-general-election-1492510159
  3. [3]Timothy Stafford, “Theresa May’s Risky General Election Plan,” National Interest, April 18, 2017, http://nationalinterest.org/feature/theresa-mays-risky-general-election-plan-20255
  4. [4]Sam Coates, “Poll firm predicts shock losses for Theresa May’s Tories at general election,” Times, May 31, 2017, https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/news/latest-general-election-poll-predicts-conservatives-will-lose-seats-02zfwl8lc
  5. [5]David Benfell, “On a nine percent response rate,” May 28, 2017, https://parts-unknown.org/drupal7/journal/2017/05/28/nine-percent-response-rate
  6. [6]Sam Coates, “Poll firm predicts shock losses for Theresa May’s Tories at general election,” Times, May 31, 2017, https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/news/latest-general-election-poll-predicts-conservatives-will-lose-seats-02zfwl8lc

Russians claimed to have possible leverage over Donald Trump: Daily Bullshit, May 29-30, 2017

Updates

  1. May 30, 2017, 1:18 pm:
    • Labeling the investigation a “total fishing expedition,” Donald Trump’s lawyer has declined an invitation to appear before Congress.[1] (Golden Showers)
    • In a move that should convince no one, “Uber Technologies Inc. said Tuesday it fired Anthony Levandowski, the driverless-car executive at the center of its legal battle with Google parent Alphabet Inc., GOOGL 0.30% making good on its threat to dismiss him if he didn’t cooperate with court orders.”[2]
  2. May 30, 10:19 pm:
    • Added commentary on Uber.

Golden Showers

I hate the defense that merely points to “yet another round of false and unverified claims made by anonymous sources to smear the President,” offered by—get this—an unnamed “White House spokesman.”[3] I mean, really, no one notices the irony there?

But I’m thinking there really is a problem with anonymous claims on this story. Donald Trump has made himself a target, not only from the Left, but the news media and the intelligence community.[4] And here we have anonymous (presumably) intelligence community sources leaking information to the news media that can’t be independently verified.[5] It really is too neat a package—and worse, one that we can’t see the insides of.

That said, so far as I am aware, Trump’s lawyer is correct in asserting that “[t]hey have yet to produce one single piece of credible evidence that would corroborate the Russia narrative.”[6] For all the smoke—and my, oh my, look at all that smoke—my previous assessments of the evidence stand.[7]

Jim Acosta and Tom LoBianco, “Trump lawyer Michael Cohen won’t cooperate with Congress,” CNN, May 30, 2017, http://www.cnn.com/2017/05/30/politics/michael-cohen-wont-cooperate-with-congress/

Pamela Brown, Jim Sciutto, and Dana Bash, “Sources: Russians discussed potentially ‘derogatory’ information about Trump and associates during campaign,” CNN, May 30, 2017, http://www.cnn.com/2017/05/30/politics/russians-trump-campaign-information/index.html


Facebook

So here’s a problem. Facebook, for better or for worse (I’m inclined toward the latter), is the de facto town square of the Internet. A town square provides an essential function in a society as a meeting place and as a venue for an exchange of views. One of my professors at Saybrook, Joel Federman, who founded a Transformative Social Change program there, characterized such places as critical for nonviolent social movements. As such, a town square really needs to be a place that is safe from authoritarian (whether economic or political) influence and monitoring. That means that Facebook has some responsibilities that I think it has failed to live up to, particularly with regard to privacy. Its censorship policies also sometimes seem capricious.

Under proposed legislation, Germany would 1) impose its own notion of ‘hate speech’ on an international platform, and 2) require Facebook to censor such speech.[8] Yes, this is problematic. But Facebook’s response is also inadequate:

“The legislative state cannot pass on its own shortcomings and responsibilities to private companies,” [Facebook’s] statement read. “Preventing and combating hate speech and fake news is a public task that the state cannot avoid.”[9]

The trouble is three-fold: First, Facebook has in effect taken on a public function by becoming the de facto town square of the Internet. Second, as noted, “companies like Facebook will err on the side of restrictions rather than risk fines,” inhibiting public discourse with “monitors [who] are required to evaluate around 2000 posts a day, some involving extreme violence, pornography or other potentially traumatizing content. They are paid slightly above the minimum wage and are only given minimal training.”[10] Yes, this will certainly lead to cases where “Facebook will delete posts that shouldn’t be deleted in cases of doubt.”[11]

But third, I think some speech can inhibit other speech by making some potential participants feel unwelcome. Civil libertarians too rapidly respond that some on the Left have become overly sensitive and to a limited degree, they have a point: I think it really is true that the Left has taken its notion of what constitutes acceptable speech too far, particularly when it responds to some potential speakers with threats of violence.[12] But to say as much is not to say that there is no speech or expression that intimidates: Nooses hanging from trees, obviously intended to evoke a visceral memory of lynchings, are only one example. It’s simply too naïve to say anything goes in polarized contexts where participants have no interest in basic civility.

Jefferson Chase, “Facebook slams proposed German ‘anti-hate speech’ social media law,” Deutschewelle, May 29, 2017, http://www.dw.com/en/facebook-slams-proposed-german-anti-hate-speech-social-media-law/a-39021094


Labor Force Participation Rate

It isn’t just white males who are dropping out of the labor force. Women are too—and often for similar reasons.[13]

Natalie Kitroeff, “Why are so many women dropping out of the workforce?” Los Angeles Times, May 28, 2017, http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-women-dropping-out-20170522-story.html


Whole Foods

The “conscious capitalism” that Nicole Aschoff refers to[14] looks a lot like organizational development theory that a Ph.D. student I have been unofficially mentoring studied in a recent class. This theory has serious issues that I may yet take up but to take Whole Foods as representative would be a mischaracterization.

Nicole Aschoff, “Whole Foods represents the failures of ‘conscious capitalism,’” Guardian, May 29, 2017, https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/may/29/whole-foods-failures-conscious-capitalism


Uber

So if I understand all this correctly, Uber “fired [Anthony] Levandowski when he missed a deadline Uber set after pressing him to assist its investigation for months.”[15] Asserting his fifth amendment rights,[16] the suspicion would seem to be that Levandowski is sitting on evidence Uber needs for its defense against Waymo’s suit. And the judge in that suit was indeed sufficiently suspicious that he referred the matter for criminal investigation,[17] which would be just the sort of thing that Levandowski might well be asserting his fifth amendment rights over. Which would seem to suggest that Uber does not (and, I’m guessing, did not want to) know whether its self-driving technology is in fact derived from the intellectual property that Levandowski allegedly stole from Google (now Waymo).[18] That bit in parentheses suggesting plausible deniability is central in my thinking now: Uber’s defense may well amount to a claim that the company had absolutely no idea that its technology was in fact based on Waymo’s intellectual property. This would be right in line with the company’s method of operation, that is, asking for forgiveness later. Such a defense ought to work, maybe once or twice. But beyond that, they’re just playing the courts and everybody else for suckers.

Jack Nicas, “Uber Fires Driverless-Car Executive at the Center of Google Legal Battle,” Wall Street Journal, May 30, 2017, https://www.wsj.com/articles/uber-fires-driverless-car-executive-at-the-center-of-google-legal-battle-1496172294


  1. [1]Jim Acosta and Tom LoBianco, “Trump lawyer Michael Cohen won’t cooperate with Congress,” CNN, May 30, 2017, http://www.cnn.com/2017/05/30/politics/michael-cohen-wont-cooperate-with-congress/
  2. [2]Jack Nicas, “Uber Fires Driverless-Car Executive at the Center of Google Legal Battle,” Wall Street Journal, May 30, 2017, https://www.wsj.com/articles/uber-fires-driverless-car-executive-at-the-center-of-google-legal-battle-1496172294
  3. [3]Pamela Brown, Jim Sciutto, and Dana Bash, “Sources: Russians discussed potentially ‘derogatory’ information about Trump and associates during campaign,” CNN, May 30, 2017, http://www.cnn.com/2017/05/30/politics/russians-trump-campaign-information/index.html
  4. [4]Robert Parry, “Will Russiagate Hysteria Lead to an American ‘Soft Coup?’” Truthdig, May 15, 2017, http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/will_russiagate_hysteria_lead_to_an_american_soft_coup_20170515
  5. [5]Pamela Brown, Jim Sciutto, and Dana Bash, “Sources: Russians discussed potentially ‘derogatory’ information about Trump and associates during campaign,” CNN, May 30, 2017, http://www.cnn.com/2017/05/30/politics/russians-trump-campaign-information/index.html
  6. [6]Michael Cohen, quoted in Jim Acosta and Tom LoBianco, “Trump lawyer Michael Cohen won’t cooperate with Congress,” CNN, May 30, 2017, http://www.cnn.com/2017/05/30/politics/michael-cohen-wont-cooperate-with-congress/
  7. [7]David Benfell, “Vladimir Putin’s motives,” Not Housebroken, December 15, 2017, https://disunitedstates.org/?p=9162; David Benfell, “Blaming the Russians,” Not Housebroken, December 17, 2017, https://disunitedstates.org/?p=9151
  8. [8]Jefferson Chase, “Facebook slams proposed German ‘anti-hate speech’ social media law,” Deutschewelle, May 29, 2017, http://www.dw.com/en/facebook-slams-proposed-german-anti-hate-speech-social-media-law/a-39021094
  9. [9]Jefferson Chase, “Facebook slams proposed German ‘anti-hate speech’ social media law,” Deutschewelle, May 29, 2017, http://www.dw.com/en/facebook-slams-proposed-german-anti-hate-speech-social-media-law/a-39021094
  10. [10]Jefferson Chase, “Facebook slams proposed German ‘anti-hate speech’ social media law,” Deutschewelle, May 29, 2017, http://www.dw.com/en/facebook-slams-proposed-german-anti-hate-speech-social-media-law/a-39021094
  11. [11]Markus Hibbeler, quoted in Jefferson Chase, “Facebook slams proposed German ‘anti-hate speech’ social media law,” Deutschewelle, May 29, 2017, http://www.dw.com/en/facebook-slams-proposed-german-anti-hate-speech-social-media-law/a-39021094
  12. [12]David Benfell, “On violence,” Not Housebroken, April 29, 2017, https://disunitedstates.org/?p=9289
  13. [13]Natalie Kitroeff, “Why are so many women dropping out of the workforce?” Los Angeles Times, May 28, 2017, http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-women-dropping-out-20170522-story.html
  14. [14]Nicole Aschoff, “Whole Foods represents the failures of ‘conscious capitalism,’” Guardian, May 29, 2017, https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/may/29/whole-foods-failures-conscious-capitalism
  15. [15]Jack Nicas, “Uber Fires Driverless-Car Executive at the Center of Google Legal Battle,” Wall Street Journal, May 30, 2017, https://www.wsj.com/articles/uber-fires-driverless-car-executive-at-the-center-of-google-legal-battle-1496172294
  16. [16]Alexandria Sage and Dan Levine, “Waymo-Uber judge says may grant injunction if key witness doesn’t testify,” Reuters, March 30, 2017, http://www.reuters.com/article/us-uber-tech-alphabet-lawsuit-idUSKBN17206X
  17. [17]Aarian Marshall, “Google’s Fight Against Uber Takes a Turn for the Criminal,” Wired, May 12, 2017, https://www.wired.com/2017/05/googles-fight-uber-takes-turn-criminal/; Jack Nicas, “Judge Asks Federal Prosecutors to Investigate Uber’s Driverless Car Program,” Wall Street Journal, May 12, 2017, https://www.wsj.com/articles/judge-asks-federal-prosecutors-to-investigate-ubers-driverless-car-program-1494559677
  18. [18]Adrienne LaFrance, “Can Uber Survive Without Self-Driving Cars?” CityLab, March 27, 2017, https://www.citylab.com/tech/2017/03/can-uber-survive-without-self-driving-cars/520911/

Are you tired of this? I’m tired of this. It’s the debt limit again: Daily Bullshit, May 28, 2017

Updates

  1. May 28, 1:39 pm:

Debt Limit

I think what Catherine Rampell misses is that for a great many people, the “chain reaction of panic and chaos throughout the world” that she fears would result from a U.S. debt default[1] would merely be a well-deserved comeuppance for an elite that has failed to consider our situation worthy of dealing with.

Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney — a House Freedom Caucus alumnus, as it happens — has also been distressingly cavalier about safeguarding the country’s creditworthiness. As a congressman, he voted against raising the debt ceiling four times and publicly questioned whether it would be so terrible if we stopped being able to pay all our bills.[2]

I can’t figure out why I should care, except that it will be further evidence of Republican—now principally authoritarian populist—dysfunction in power, already on display with their attempt to repeal and replace Obamacare, about to be revealed further with their attempt to pass yet another tax cut for the rich, and now to be explored with the debt limit. I certainly have no stake in “the health of the global financial system.”[3] I say, let it crash and burn; I’ll dance (even though I dance badly and generally don’t dance) on the ashes. And if you want me to think otherwise, you need to be thinking about why I should when you absolutely refuse to gainfully employ me.

Catherine Rampell, “America is about to face a major hostage situation,” Washington Post, May 26, 2017, https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/trump-is-about-to-face-a-major-hostage-situation/2017/05/26/540e6898-4235-11e7-9869-bac8b446820a_story.html


Trump administration and Russia

“Now that [Donald] Trump’s current and former aides and allies officially know a [Russia] probe exists, they’re responsible for preserving all available information that might be relevant,” but “[t]here were several other moments over the last 10 months that legal experts say qualify as ample warning for document preservation too.” That includes the Trump campaign, which probably hasn’t complied. “Under U.S. criminal law, documents must be preserved once an individual is aware they may become relevant to an investigation, even if there’s no formal notice one has begun.”[4]

Darren Samuelsohn, “Trump aides facing perilous stage of Russia probe,” Politico, May 27, 2017, http://www.politico.com/story/2017/05/27/trump-russia-probe-risk-238878


  1. [1]Catherine Rampell, “America is about to face a major hostage situation,” Washington Post, May 26, 2017, https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/trump-is-about-to-face-a-major-hostage-situation/2017/05/26/540e6898-4235-11e7-9869-bac8b446820a_story.html
  2. [2]Catherine Rampell, “America is about to face a major hostage situation,” Washington Post, May 26, 2017, https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/trump-is-about-to-face-a-major-hostage-situation/2017/05/26/540e6898-4235-11e7-9869-bac8b446820a_story.html
  3. [3]Catherine Rampell, “America is about to face a major hostage situation,” Washington Post, May 26, 2017, https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/trump-is-about-to-face-a-major-hostage-situation/2017/05/26/540e6898-4235-11e7-9869-bac8b446820a_story.html
  4. [4]Darren Samuelsohn, “Trump aides facing perilous stage of Russia probe,” Politico, May 27, 2017, http://www.politico.com/story/2017/05/27/trump-russia-probe-risk-238878

“Just keeps coming”: Daily Bullshit, May 23-27, 2017

Updates

  1. May 24, 7:09 am:
    • Geoffrey Pullum debunks William Strunk, Jr., and E. B. White’s The Elements of Style.[1] (Style Guides)
  2. May 25, 2:47 am:
    • The Congressional Budget Office scored the bill already passed by the House to repeal and replace Obamacare.[2]
    • James Comey’s decision to publicly announce his decision not to prosecute Hillary Clinton may have been based on a Russian document of doubtful authenticity. Comey seems to have wanted to avoid the appearance of participation in alleged collusion between the Clinton campaign and the Department of Justice to prevent the investigation from going too far.[3]
    • “The [Bill] Cosby team (now) cares about how the public and maybe even how the black community feels about this whole situation [referring to Cosby’s trial for sexual assault], which is striking given his diatribes against the most vulnerable people in that community.”[4] So he’s none too subtly pushing a narrative that his predicament is due to racism.[5] (Bill Cosby)
    • Attorney General Jeff Sessions failed to disclose contacts with Russians in applying for a security clearance, but because these contacts allegedly occurred on Senate business, the FBI allegedly advised him (possibly erroneously) to omit the contacts.[6] (The Trump administration and Russia)
  3. May 25, 12:40 pm:
    • There’s more reason to think Uber is doomed.[7]
    • The courts just aren’t buying Donald Trump’s allegations of a national security rationale for his Muslim ban.[8]
  4. May 26, 2:01 am:
    • Vox has an explainer on why Donald Trump’s loss in the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals on his Muslim ban is bad news for his policy.[9]
    • Donald Trump demanded that NATO allies contribute their “fair share” in defense spending and refused to reiterate Article 5 of the NATO treaty.[10]
    • Brian Resnick argues that the “Goldwater Rule,” imposed by the American Psychiatric Society, is of dubious merit especially in the case of Donald Trump, whose finger is on the nuclear button.
  5. May 26, 11:28 am:
    • CNN reports that the FBI knew the aforementioned ‘dubious’ document that James Comey relied upon in deciding to publicly announce his recommendation that Hillary Clinton not be prosecuted was fake.[11]
  6. May 27, 1:46 am:

Uber

So when, today, House Minority Whip Heny Stoyer said, “Just keeps coming,” he was reacting[13] to another story in the Washington Post about Donald Trump apparently attempting to interfere with the investigation that James Comey’s FBI was conducting into allegations of collusion between Russians and the Trump campaign.[14] But you know what? Even more so with Uber, it “[j]ust keeps coming.”

Eric Newcomer, “Uber Plans Millions in Back Pay After Shorting NYC Drivers,” Bloomberg, May 23, 2017, https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-05-23/uber-said-it-shortchanged-nyc-drivers-will-pay-out-millions


James Comey

“If further reports are accurate that White House staff also tried to persuade personnel at these agencies to help get FBI Director Comey to back off an investigation involving Michael Flynn,” [House Intelligence ranking member Adam] Schiff said, “the specter of possible obstruction has grown larger and more troubling.”[15]

John T. Bennett, “Lawmakers React to Latest Trump-Russia Bombshell: ‘What Now?!’” Congressional Quarterly Roll Call, May 22, 2017, http://www.rollcall.com/news/politics/lawmakers-react-to-latest-trump-russia-bombshell-what-now

Adam Entous and Ellen Nakashima, “Trump asked intelligence chiefs to push back against FBI collusion probe after Comey revealed its existence,” Washington Post, May 22, 2017, https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/trump-asked-intelligence-chiefs-to-push-back-against-fbi-collusion-probe-after-comey-revealed-its-existence/2017/05/22/394933bc-3f10-11e7-9869-bac8b446820a_story.html


Style Guides

I pretty strongly suspect that someone could find similar issues to those Geoffrey Pullum found with The Elements of Style[16] with Fowler’s Dictionary of Modern English Usage. Really, the issue is deeper—and demands a critical examination: Who has the authority to decide what ‘correct’ usage is? How do they acquire that authority? Why should we recognize it? And what is the validity to preferring the usage of certain classes or of certain ethnic or racial groups over others?

Admittedly, that renders Geoffrey Pullum’s methodology suspect as he debunks William Strunk, Jr., and E. B. White’s work. I’ll applaud his effort anyway.

Something to remember with style guides is that language and culture are intertwined. The answer to the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis (that never seems to go away even as it fails to gain empirical support[17]) is probably that language, culture, and the concepts that a culture recognizes in its vocabulary almost certainly arise together in a relationship of mutual causation. Sapir-Whorf fails because it instead relies on linear causation.[18] And by definition, style guides prefer certain usages over others, seeking to establish these through an authoritarian relationship of imposed linear causation as when we might follow a guide’s alleged authority.

Here’s the problem: We keep looking to linear causation when we should be looking at mutual causation. Adding an authoritarian relationship only makes it worse, leading unsurprisingly to Geoffrey Pullum’s blistering (by scholarly standards) conclusion that “[t]he fact is that Strunk simply doesn’t bother to look for literary evidence to support his prejudices.”[19]

Geoffrey Pullum, “Dracula, Strunk, and Correct English Usage,” Chronicle of Higher Education, May 23, 2017, http://www.chronicle.com/blogs/linguafranca/2017/05/23/dracula-strunk-and-correct-english-usage/


Obamacare

I wouldn’t call it “blue chip” quality yet, but a bet that Republicans will fail to repeal and replace Obamacare is seeming safer and safer.

Paul Demko and Jennifer Haberkorn, “Peril for Republicans if they push forward with Obamacare repeal,” Politico, May 24, 2017, http://www.politico.com/story/2017/05/24/republicans-uninsured-cbo-obamacare-repeal-238798

Peter Sullivan, “New CBO score triggers backlash,” Hill, May 24, 2017, http://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/335058-new-cbo-score-triggers-backlash

Stephanie Armour and Kristina Peterson, “House GOP Health Bill Would Add 23 Million Uninsured, Cut $119 Billion in Deficit Through 2026, CBO Says,” Wall Street Journal, May 25, 2017, https://www.wsj.com/articles/house-gop-health-bill-would-add-23-million-uninsured-cut-119-billion-in-deficit-by-2026-cbo-says-1495658914


Hillary Clinton

Karoun Demirjian and Devlin Barrett, “How a dubious Russian document influenced the FBI’s handling of the Clinton probe,” Minneapolis Star-Tribune, May 24, 2017, http://www.startribune.com/how-a-dubious-russian-document-influenced-the-fbi-s-handling-of-the-clinton-probe/424132973/

Dana Bash, Shimon Prokupecz, and Gloria Borger, “Sources: Comey acted on Russian intelligence he knew was fake,” CNN, May 26, 2017, http://www.cnn.com/2017/05/26/politics/james-comey-fbi-investigation-fake-russian-intelligence/index.html


Bill Cosby

MaryClaire Dale, “Culture critic: Cosby seeking new solidarity with blacks,” Minneapolis Star-Tribune, May 24, 2017, http://www.startribune.com/culture-critic-cosby-seeking-new-solidarity-with-blacks/424239643/


The Trump administration and Russia

Manu Raju and Evan Perez, “AG Sessions did not disclose Russia meetings in security clearance form, DOJ says,” CNN, May 24, 2017, http://www.cnn.com/2017/05/24/politics/jeff-sessions-russian-officials-meetings/index.html

Ellen Nakashima, Adam Entous, and Greg Miller, “Russian ambassador told Moscow that Kushner wanted secret communications channel with Kremlin,” Washington Post, May 26, 2017, https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/russian-ambassador-told-moscow-that-kushner-wanted-secret-communications-channel-with-kremlin/2017/05/26/520a14b4-422d-11e7-9869-bac8b446820a_story.html

Matthew Yglesias, “The dueling scoops about Jared Kushner’s plan for secret communications with Russia, explained,” Vox, May 26, 2017, https://www.vox.com/2017/5/26/15703668/kushner-secret-russia-communication


Muslim ban

Dara Lind, “The Trump administration just lost its best chance at a legal win on the travel ban,” Vox, May 25, 2017, https://www.vox.com/2017/5/25/15692698/trump-muslim-ban-fourth-circuit

Lydia Wheeler, “Appeals court upholds injunction blocking Trump’s travel ban,” Hill, May 25, 2017, http://thehill.com/policy/national-security/335163-appeals-court-upholds-injunction-blocking-trumps-travel-ban


NATO

There is, apparently, only one time that NATO has ever invoked Article 5, guaranteeing that members will come to each other’s defense, of its treaty: In response to the 9/11 attacks, NATO countries joined George W. Bush’s invasion of Afghanistan. And “[Donald] Trump is unveiling a memorial to the victims of 9/11 while in Brussels.” But “[a]fter bashing ‘23 of 28 nations’ in NATO for failing to live up to their defense spending obligations, Trump made no mention of American commitment to the promise of mutual defense that underpins the organization.”[20]

Zeeshan Aleem, “Trump didn’t say the one thing about NATO he was supposed to say,” Vox, May 25, 2017, https://www.vox.com/world/2017/5/25/15691198/trump-nato-article-5-brussels


Donald Trump

Brian Resnick, “Psychiatry’s “Goldwater Rule” has never met a test like Donald Trump,” Vox, May 25, 2017, https://www.vox.com/science-and-health/2017/5/25/15680354/psychiatry-goldwater-rule-trump


  1. [1]Geoffrey Pullum, “Dracula, Strunk, and Correct English Usage,” Chronicle of Higher Education, May 23, 2017, http://www.chronicle.com/blogs/linguafranca/2017/05/23/dracula-strunk-and-correct-english-usage/
  2. [2]Stephanie Armour and Kristina Peterson, “House GOP Health Bill Would Add 23 Million Uninsured, Cut $119 Billion in Deficit Through 2026, CBO Says,” Wall Street Journal, May 25, 2017, https://www.wsj.com/articles/house-gop-health-bill-would-add-23-million-uninsured-cut-119-billion-in-deficit-by-2026-cbo-says-1495658914; Paul Demko and Jennifer Haberkorn, “Peril for Republicans if they push forward with Obamacare repeal,” Politico, May 24, 2017, http://www.politico.com/story/2017/05/24/republicans-uninsured-cbo-obamacare-repeal-238798; Peter Sullivan, “New CBO score triggers backlash,” Hill, May 24, 2017, http://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/335058-new-cbo-score-triggers-backlash
  3. [3]Karoun Demirjian and Devlin Barrett, “How a dubious Russian document influenced the FBI’s handling of the Clinton probe,” Minneapolis Star-Tribune, May 24, 2017, http://www.startribune.com/how-a-dubious-russian-document-influenced-the-fbi-s-handling-of-the-clinton-probe/424132973/
  4. [4]James Braxton Peterson, quoted in MaryClaire Dale, “Culture critic: Cosby seeking new solidarity with blacks,” Minneapolis Star-Tribune, May 24, 2017, http://www.startribune.com/culture-critic-cosby-seeking-new-solidarity-with-blacks/424239643/
  5. [5]MaryClaire Dale, “Culture critic: Cosby seeking new solidarity with blacks,” Minneapolis Star-Tribune, May 24, 2017, http://www.startribune.com/culture-critic-cosby-seeking-new-solidarity-with-blacks/424239643/
  6. [6]Manu Raju and Evan Perez, “AG Sessions did not disclose Russia meetings in security clearance form, DOJ says,” CNN, May 24, 2017, http://www.cnn.com/2017/05/24/politics/jeff-sessions-russian-officials-meetings/index.html
  7. [7]Elizabeth Knight, “The death of Uber: Australian investor predicts company will be broke in 10 years,” Sydney Morning Herald, May 25, 2017, http://www.smh.com.au/business/comment-and-analysis/the-death-of-uber-australian-investor-predicts-company-will-be-broke-in-10-years-20170524-gwc8gt.html
  8. [8]Lydia Wheeler, “Appeals court upholds injunction blocking Trump’s travel ban,” Hill, May 25, 2017, http://thehill.com/policy/national-security/335163-appeals-court-upholds-injunction-blocking-trumps-travel-ban
  9. [9]Dara Lind, “The Trump administration just lost its best chance at a legal win on the travel ban,” Vox, May 25, 2017, https://www.vox.com/2017/5/25/15692698/trump-muslim-ban-fourth-circuit
  10. [10]Zeeshan Aleem, “Trump didn’t say the one thing about NATO he was supposed to say,” Vox, May 25, 2017, https://www.vox.com/world/2017/5/25/15691198/trump-nato-article-5-brussels
  11. [11]Dana Bash, Shimon Prokupecz, and Gloria Borger, “Sources: Comey acted on Russian intelligence he knew was fake,” CNN, May 26, 2017, http://www.cnn.com/2017/05/26/politics/james-comey-fbi-investigation-fake-russian-intelligence/index.html
  12. [12]Ellen Nakashima, Adam Entous, and Greg Miller, “Russian ambassador told Moscow that Kushner wanted secret communications channel with Kremlin,” Washington Post, May 26, 2017, https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/russian-ambassador-told-moscow-that-kushner-wanted-secret-communications-channel-with-kremlin/2017/05/26/520a14b4-422d-11e7-9869-bac8b446820a_story.html; Matthew Yglesias, “The dueling scoops about Jared Kushner’s plan for secret communications with Russia, explained,” Vox, May 26, 2017, https://www.vox.com/2017/5/26/15703668/kushner-secret-russia-communication
  13. [13]Heny Stoyer, quoted in John T. Bennett, “Lawmakers React to Latest Trump-Russia Bombshell: ‘What Now?!’” Congressional Quarterly Roll Call, May 22, 2017, http://www.rollcall.com/news/politics/lawmakers-react-to-latest-trump-russia-bombshell-what-now
  14. [14]Adam Entous and Ellen Nakashima, “Trump asked intelligence chiefs to push back against FBI collusion probe after Comey revealed its existence,” Washington Post, May 22, 2017, https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/trump-asked-intelligence-chiefs-to-push-back-against-fbi-collusion-probe-after-comey-revealed-its-existence/2017/05/22/394933bc-3f10-11e7-9869-bac8b446820a_story.html
  15. [15]John T. Bennett, “Lawmakers React to Latest Trump-Russia Bombshell: ‘What Now?!’” Congressional Quarterly Roll Call, May 22, 2017, http://www.rollcall.com/news/politics/lawmakers-react-to-latest-trump-russia-bombshell-what-now
  16. [16]Geoffrey Pullum, “Dracula, Strunk, and Correct English Usage,” Chronicle of Higher Education, May 23, 2017, http://www.chronicle.com/blogs/linguafranca/2017/05/23/dracula-strunk-and-correct-english-usage/
  17. [17]Richard Connor, “‘Arrival’ linguist: ‘I had never thought about communicating with aliens before,'” Deutschewelle, February 25, 2017, http://www.dw.com/en/arrival-linguist-i-had-never-thought-about-communicating-with-aliens-before/a-37711115; Ben Panko, “Does the Linguistic Theory at the Center of the Film ‘Arrival’ Have Any Merit?” Smithsonian, December 2, 2016, http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/does-century-old-linguistic-hypothesis-center-film-arrival-have-any-merit-180961284/
  18. [18]David Benfell, “Of course hermeneutic inquiry is bound to culture—and a few other things,” October 26, 2011, https://parts-unknown.org/drupal7/journal/2011/10/26/course-hermeneutic-inquiry-bound-culture%E2%80%94and-few-other-things
  19. [19]Geoffrey Pullum, “Dracula, Strunk, and Correct English Usage,” Chronicle of Higher Education, May 23, 2017, http://www.chronicle.com/blogs/linguafranca/2017/05/23/dracula-strunk-and-correct-english-usage/
  20. [20]Zeeshan Aleem, “Trump didn’t say the one thing about NATO he was supposed to say,” Vox, May 25, 2017, https://www.vox.com/world/2017/5/25/15691198/trump-nato-article-5-brussels

A scholar tries to reprise Sokal’s hoax. And mostly fails. Daily Bullshit, May 20-21, 2017

Updates

  1. May 21, 1:31 pm:
    • Uber is “charging some passengers more because it needs the extra cash.”[1]

Not Sokal’s Hoax

Come on, guys. It[2] just ain’t that hard.

Andrew Mytelka, “Hoax Article in Social-Science Journal Gets a Rise Out of Some Scholars,” Chronicle of Higher Education, May 20, 2017, http://www.chronicle.com/blogs/ticker/hoax-article-in-social-science-journal-gets-a-rise-out-of-some-scholars/118526


Donald Trump

From what I can see the conventional wisdom is that if Donald Trump is removed from office, it will most likely be via impeachment.[3] But, to my understanding, the 25th amendment offers a quicker and—I think at least in the short term—less painful route, at least to the end of getting Trump out of office.[4] And while I’m no fan of having mental health professionals violate the Goldwater Rule and believe that there’s more value to that rule than just not getting sued,[5] in combination with Trump burning Mossad and demonstrating himself to be a threat to “national security,”[6] these remote assessments do provide a rationale.[7]

Will Pavia, “The psychiatrists’ verdict: Donald Trump is a man incapable of guilt, with inner rage,” Times, May 20, 2017, https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/world/psychiatrists-verdict-on-trump-a-man-incapable-of-guilt-with-inner-rage-zsrlt707b


James Comey

McKay Coppins, “How Does This End?” Atlantic, May 18, 2017, https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/05/how-will-the-trump-presidency-end/527055/


Discouraged Workers

Eleanor Krause and Isabel V. Sawhill, “What we know and don’t know about declining labor force participation: A review,” Brookings, May 17, 2017, https://www.brookings.edu/research/what-we-know-and-dont-know-about-declining-labor-force-participation-a-review/


Uber

Uber is “charging some passengers more because it needs the extra cash.”[8] Ummm, hello, Uber? Drivers need the cash too.

Eric Newcomer, “Uber Starts Charging What It Thinks You’re Willing to Pay,” Bloomberg, May 19, 2017, https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-05-19/uber-s-future-may-rely-on-predicting-how-much-you-re-willing-to-pay


  1. [1]Eric Newcomer, “Uber Starts Charging What It Thinks You’re Willing to Pay,” Bloomberg, May 19, 2017, https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-05-19/uber-s-future-may-rely-on-predicting-how-much-you-re-willing-to-pay
  2. [2]Abhishek Roy, “The Sokal Affair,” University of California, Berkeley, February 23, 2004, http://www.ocf.berkeley.edu/~abhishek/sokal.html; Jennifer Ruark, “Bait and Switch,” Chronicle of Higher Education, January 1, 2017, http://www.chronicle.com/article/Anatomy-of-a-Hoax/238728; Steven Weinberg, “Sokal’s Hoax,” New York University, August 8, 1996, http://www.physics.nyu.edu/sokal/weinberg.html
  3. [3]McKay Coppins, “How Does This End?” Atlantic, May 18, 2017, https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/05/how-will-the-trump-presidency-end/527055/
  4. [4]Andrew Prokop, “The 25th Amendment, explained: how a president can be declared unfit to serve,” Vox, May 17, 2017, https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/2/9/14488980/25th-amendment-trump-pence
  5. [5]Aaron Blake, “The American Psychiatric Association issues a warning: No psychoanalyzing Donald Trump,” Washington Post, August 7, 2016, https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/08/07/the-american-psychiatric-association-reminds-its-doctors-no-psychoanalyzing-donald-trump/
  6. [6]Bryan Bender, “Ex-intelligence leaders: ‘Nightmare’ if Trump leaked to Russia,” Politico, May 15, 2017, http://www.politico.com/story/2017/05/15/trump-secrets-russia-isis-238421; Yochi Dreazen, “Donald Trump is a serious threat to American national security,” Vox, May 15, 2017, https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/5/15/15644928/donald-trump-russia-share-intelligence-lavrov-isis-oval-office; Shane Harris and Carol E. Lee, “Israel Provided Intelligence Trump Shared With Russia, Officials Say,” Wall Street Journal, May 16, 2017, https://www.wsj.com/articles/intelligence-trump-shared-with-russia-was-from-israel-officials-say-1494960259; Greg Miller and Greg Jaffe, “Trump revealed highly classified information to Russian foreign minister and ambassador,” Washington Post, May 15, 2017, https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/trump-revealed-highly-classified-information-to-russian-foreign-minister-and-ambassador/2017/05/15/530c172a-3960-11e7-9e48-c4f199710b69_story.html
  7. [7]Henry Alford, “Is Donald Trump Actually a Narcissist? Therapists Weigh In!” Vanity Fair, November 11, 2015, http://www.vanityfair.com/news/2015/11/donald-trump-narcissism-therapists; Matthew Goldenberg, “A professional opinion: You don’t need a psychiatrist to know there’s something wrong with Donald Trump,” Los Angeles Times, August 23, 2016, http://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-goldenberg-trump-mental-health-20160823-snap-story.html; Dan Hannan, “The real reason Donald Trump is unfit to be president,” Washington Examiner, May 16, 2016, http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/the-real-reason-donald-trump-is-unfit-to-be-president/article/2591147; Will Pavia, “The psychiatrists’ verdict: Donald Trump is a man incapable of guilt, with inner rage,” Times, May 20, 2017, https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/world/psychiatrists-verdict-on-trump-a-man-incapable-of-guilt-with-inner-rage-zsrlt707b; Gail Sheehy, “At Yale, Psychiatrists Cite Their ‘Duty to Warn’ About an Unfit President,” New York, April 23, 2017, http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2016/04/yale-psychiatrists-cite-duty-to-warn-about-unfit-president.html
  8. [8]Eric Newcomer, “Uber Starts Charging What It Thinks You’re Willing to Pay,” Bloomberg, May 19, 2017, https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-05-19/uber-s-future-may-rely-on-predicting-how-much-you-re-willing-to-pay

Loose lips sink ships, Donald Trump edition: Daily Bullshit, May 15-19, 2017

I have a new research journal entry up, “The problem of ‘intellectual property.’


Updates

  1. May 16, 3:46 pm:
  2. May 16, 8:17 pm:
    • It now appears that Donald Trump fired James Comey at least in part because Comey wouldn’t stop an FBI investigation into Michael Flynn.[2]
    • Israel was the source of the intelligence that Donald Trump revealed to Russian diplomats visiting the White House and Mossad is furious.[3] (Loose Lips)
  3. May 17, 4:25 am:
    • Robert Parry shares my concern about invoking a new Cold War in service to partisan (Democratic Party) resentment against Donald Trump.[4] (Golden Showers)
    • A freewheeling Donald Trump is leaving White House staffers effectively paralyzed in response to the seemingly endless scandals.[5] (James Comey)
  4. May 17, 2:22 pm:
    • Donald Trump’s actions regarding Michael Flynn and James Comey look a lot like obstruction of justice[6] and Republicans are beginning to acknowledge the possibility of impeachment.[7] (James Comey)
    • Vox has reprised its explainer (which I did not archive when it first ran) on the 25th amendment which offers a much faster and easier procedure for removing an unfit president than impeachment.[8] (Loose Lips)
    • Sure, Israeli politicians may make nice, but former and current intelligence officials are scathing about Donald Trump’s revealing highly classified material from Israel to the Russians.[9]
  5. May 19, 2:49 am:
    • The Justice Department appointed a “special counsel,” which I guess is the same thing as a “special prosecutor,” to look into Trump team contacts with Russia.[10] (Golden Showers)
    • The Hill lowers itself to clickbait-level with a headline that should read, “GOP senator: Flynn ‘not cooperating’ [yet] in Russia probe.”[11] (Golden Showers)
    • Hypatia’s Board of Directors has disavowed its associate editors’ disavowal of Rebecca Tuvel’s article.[12] (Transgenderism and Transracialism)
    • Sweden is dropping its investigation of Julian Assange,[13] who has been holed up in the Ecuadorian embassy in London for fear that Sweden’s proceedings were a ploy to extradite him to the U.S.[14]
  6. May 19, 1:32 pm:

Ridesharing

Greg Bensinger and Jack Nicas, “Alphabet’s Waymo, Lyft to Collaborate on Self-Driving Cars,” Wall Street Journal, May 15, 2017, https://www.wsj.com/articles/alphabets-waymo-lyft-to-collaborate-on-self-driving-cars-1494813169

Tom Krisher, “Judge tells Uber to return Waymo files taken by engineer,” Seattle Post-Intelligencer, May 15, 2017, http://www.seattlepi.com/business/technology/article/Judge-orders-Uber-not-to-use-technology-taken-11146534.php


Loose Lips

I think we are about to witness extraordinary events. I do not know how this[15] plays out. And while I (and a lot of other folks) have certainly been wrong before about Donald Trump’s durability, it is really hard to see how he gets away with this and it will be all too easy for some folks to see how they might act against him believing they would do so with the highest motives.[16]

As of Tuesday afternoon, apart from the dysfunctional White House messaging we’re learning to expect,[17] but which seems actually to be intensifying,[18] this story appears to be going quiet as I’m seeing mostly only echoes. To me, that suggests one—and probably only one—of two things: First, people may have stopped yammering because they really haven’t any more to say, but this does not mean lack of interest or concern; further, we could be in a phase where whatever they do say publicly or even off the record should not be trusted. Or second, it could be they are whispering among themselves about what the fuck to do. I should emphasize here that this doesn’t just have to be one group of people holding one conversation—it could be many and I wouldn’t be the slightest bit surprised if some of these conversations were occurring within the intelligence community. Whatever does or does not happen, it will, one way or another, not look good for the republic but the question here, especially for the intelligence community and for those who care about it, is how to prevent further damage to their mission.

Zack Beauchamp, “Trump gave Russia classified intelligence: what we know so far,” Vox, May 15, 2017, https://www.vox.com/world/2017/5/15/15643720/trump-russia-classified-intelligence-post

Bryan Bender, “Ex-intelligence leaders: ‘Nightmare’ if Trump leaked to Russia,” Politico, May 15, 2017, http://www.politico.com/story/2017/05/15/trump-secrets-russia-isis-238421

Yochi Dreazen, “Donald Trump is a serious threat to American national security,” Vox, May 15, 2017, https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/5/15/15644928/donald-trump-russia-share-intelligence-lavrov-isis-oval-office

Greg Miller and Greg Jaffe, “Trump revealed highly classified information to Russian foreign minister and ambassador,” Washington Post, May 15, 2017, https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/trump-revealed-highly-classified-information-to-russian-foreign-minister-and-ambassador/2017/05/15/530c172a-3960-11e7-9e48-c4f199710b69_story.html

Politico, “White House pushes back against report Trump shared classified info with Russians,” May 15, 2017, http://www.politico.com/story/2017/05/15/trump-classified-russia-pushback-238415

John T. Bennett, “Trump Appears to Confirm Report He Gave Russians Classified Info,” Congressional Quarterly Roll Call, May 16, 2017, http://www.rollcall.com/news/trump-appears-to-confirm-report-he-gave-russians-classified-info/

John T. Bennett, “White House Shifts Talking Points Again on Russia Disclosure,” Congressional Quarterly Roll Call, May 16, 2017, http://www.rollcall.com/news/white-house-shifts-talking-points-russia-disclosure/

John Bresnahan and Rachael Bade, “Republicans may be reaching their breaking point with Trump,” Politico, May 16, 2017, http://www.politico.com/story/2017/05/16/trump-comey-republicans-congress-scandals-238479

Shane Harris and Carol E. Lee, “Israel Provided Intelligence Trump Shared With Russia, Officials Say,” Wall Street Journal, May 16, 2017, https://www.wsj.com/articles/intelligence-trump-shared-with-russia-was-from-israel-officials-say-1494960259

Annie Karni, “Trump’s intelligence gaffe creates tension with Israel,” Politico, May 16, 2017, http://www.politico.com/story/2017/05/16/trump-israel-secrets-238465

Michael Warren, “Trump’s Intelligence Problem,” Weekly Standard, May 16, 2017, http://www.weeklystandard.com/trumps-intelligence-problem/article/2008070

Judah Ari Gross, “Former Israeli spymasters rip into Trump, say Israel must reassess intel sharing,” Times of Israel, May 17, 2017, http://www.timesofisrael.com/former-israeli-spymasters-rip-into-trump-say-israel-must-reassess-intel-sharing/

Jacob Magid, “Israeli intelligence source: We must reassess what info we share with US – report,” Times of Israel, May 17, 2017, http://www.timesofisrael.com/israeli-intelligence-source-we-must-reassess-what-info-we-share-with-us-report/

Andrew Prokop, “The 25th Amendment, explained: how a president can be declared unfit to serve,” Vox, May 17, 2017, https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/2/9/14488980/25th-amendment-trump-pence


Phone polls

Ummm, yes, phone polls are dead. No matter how much pollsters may fool themselves, there is simply no way to take seriously survey research with a nine percent response rate.[19]

Steven Shepard, “Report: Phone polls aren’t dead yet,” Politico, May 15, 2017, http://www.politico.com/story/2017/05/15/pollsters-phone-polls-238409


James Comey

Heather Caygle, “Chaffetz demands Comey-Trump memos in letter to FBI,” Politico, May 16, 2017, http://www.politico.com/story/2017/05/16/chaffetz-demands-comey-memo-in-letter-to-fbi-238478

Michael S. Schmidt, “Comey Memo Says Trump Asked Him to End Flynn Investigation,” New York Times, May 16, 2017, https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/16/us/politics/james-comey-trump-flynn-russia-investigation.html

Josh Dawsey and Matthew Nussbaum, “White House on edge: ‘We are kind of helpless,'” Politico, May 17, 2017, http://www.politico.com/story/2017/05/17/trump-white-house-on-edge-238482

Ryan Goodman, “Did Trump Obstruct Justice?” Politico, May 17, 2017, http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/05/17/did-trump-obstruct-justice-215147

Cristina Marcos, “First Republicans talk possibility of impeachment for Trump,” Hill, May 17, 2017, http://thehill.com/homenews/house/333803-first-republicans-talk-impeachment-for-trump


Golden Showers

I think one can, while still continuing to reject for want of actual evidence claims that the Russians interfered with the 2016 U.S. election,[20] reasonably ask, What the fuck is up with Donald Trump and the Russians?

Robert Parry, “Will Russiagate Hysteria Lead to an American ‘Soft Coup?’ Truthdig, May 15, 2017, http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/will_russiagate_hysteria_lead_to_an_american_soft_coup_20170515

Joseph Tanfani, Noah Bierman, and Brian Bennett, “Special counsel is named to take over investigation of Russia and Trump associates,” Los Angeles Times, May 17, 2017, http://www.latimes.com/politics/washington/la-na-essential-washington-updates-former-fbi-director-robert-mueller-1495058507-htmlstory.html

Katie Bo Williams, “GOP senator: Flynn ‘not cooperating’ in Russia probe,” Hill, May 18, 2017, http://thehill.com/policy/national-security/334049-gop-senator-flynn-wont-comply-with-committees-subpoena


Transgenderism and Transracialism

Andy Thomason, “Journal’s Board of Directors Disavows Editors’ Apology for Article on ‘Transracialism,’” Chronicle of Higher Education, May 18, 2017, http://www.chronicle.com/blogs/ticker/hypatias-board-of-directors-disavows-editors-apology-for-article-on-transracialism/118477


Julian Assange

I’m sure it’s just a coincidence that right after Donald Trump burns Mossad, an allied intelligence service, leading other allies to doubt whether they can trust the U.S. to uphold its end of intelligence-sharing agreements,[21] Sweden, a U.S. ally internationally pursuing Julian Assange on rape allegations it almost certainly would have ignored in almost any other case[22] and suspected of pursuing those charges as a pretext to extradite Assange to the U.S.[23] drops the charges.[24] Just a coincidence.

And it really might just be a coincidence. Or it might be that now that the U.S. thinks it has figured out how to charge Assange,[25] Sweden is no longer needed to hold Assange for extradition—the British can do it directly.[26] In this scenario, Sweden would merely have waited a decent interval before dropping an investigation that was sufficiently seriously viewed as a pretext that Ecuador granted Assange asylum at its London embassy,[27] which Assange remains unlikely to walk out of as a free man for the foreseeable future.[28]

Laura Smith-Spark, “Sweden drops Julian Assange rape investigation,” CNN, May 19, 2017, http://www.cnn.com/2017/05/19/europe/julian-assange-sweden-charges-dropped/index.html


  1. [1]John T. Bennett, “Trump Appears to Confirm Report He Gave Russians Classified Info,” Congressional Quarterly Roll Call, May 16, 2017, http://www.rollcall.com/news/trump-appears-to-confirm-report-he-gave-russians-classified-info/; John T. Bennett, “White House Shifts Talking Points Again on Russia Disclosure,” Congressional Quarterly Roll Call, May 16, 2017, http://www.rollcall.com/news/white-house-shifts-talking-points-russia-disclosure/; Shane Harris and Carol E. Lee, “Israel Provided Intelligence Trump Shared With Russia, Officials Say,” Wall Street Journal, May 16, 2017, https://www.wsj.com/articles/intelligence-trump-shared-with-russia-was-from-israel-officials-say-1494960259; Michael Warren, “Trump’s Intelligence Problem,” Weekly Standard, May 16, 2017, http://www.weeklystandard.com/trumps-intelligence-problem/article/2008070
  2. [2]John Bresnahan and Rachael Bade, “Republicans may be reaching their breaking point with Trump,” Politico, May 16, 2017, http://www.politico.com/story/2017/05/16/trump-comey-republicans-congress-scandals-238479; Heather Caygle, “Chaffetz demands Comey-Trump memos in letter to FBI,” Politico, May 16, 2017, http://www.politico.com/story/2017/05/16/chaffetz-demands-comey-memo-in-letter-to-fbi-238478; Michael S. Schmidt, “Comey Memo Says Trump Asked Him to End Flynn Investigation,” New York Times, May 16, 2017, https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/16/us/politics/james-comey-trump-flynn-russia-investigation.html
  3. [3]Annie Karni, “Trump’s intelligence gaffe creates tension with Israel,” Politico, May 16, 2017, http://www.politico.com/story/2017/05/16/trump-israel-secrets-238465
  4. [4]Robert Parry, “Will Russiagate Hysteria Lead to an American ‘Soft Coup?’ Truthdig, May 15, 2017, http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/will_russiagate_hysteria_lead_to_an_american_soft_coup_20170515
  5. [5]Josh Dawsey and Matthew Nussbaum, “White House on edge: ‘We are kind of helpless,'” Politico, May 17, 2017, http://www.politico.com/story/2017/05/17/trump-white-house-on-edge-238482
  6. [6]Ryan Goodman, “Did Trump Obstruct Justice?” Politico, May 17, 2017, http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/05/17/did-trump-obstruct-justice-215147
  7. [7]Cristina Marcos, “First Republicans talk possibility of impeachment for Trump,” Hill, May 17, 2017, http://thehill.com/homenews/house/333803-first-republicans-talk-impeachment-for-trump
  8. [8]Andrew Prokop, “The 25th Amendment, explained: how a president can be declared unfit to serve,” Vox, May 17, 2017, https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/2/9/14488980/25th-amendment-trump-pence
  9. [9]Judah Ari Gross, “Former Israeli spymasters rip into Trump, say Israel must reassess intel sharing,” Times of Israel, May 17, 2017, http://www.timesofisrael.com/former-israeli-spymasters-rip-into-trump-say-israel-must-reassess-intel-sharing/; Jacob Magid, “Israeli intelligence source: We must reassess what info we share with US – report,” Times of Israel, May 17, 2017, http://www.timesofisrael.com/israeli-intelligence-source-we-must-reassess-what-info-we-share-with-us-report/
  10. [10]Joseph Tanfani, Noah Bierman, and Brian Bennett, “Special counsel is named to take over investigation of Russia and Trump associates,” Los Angeles Times, May 17, 2017, http://www.latimes.com/politics/washington/la-na-essential-washington-updates-former-fbi-director-robert-mueller-1495058507-htmlstory.html
  11. [11]Katie Bo Williams, “GOP senator: Flynn ‘not cooperating’ in Russia probe,” Hill, May 18, 2017, http://thehill.com/policy/national-security/334049-gop-senator-flynn-wont-comply-with-committees-subpoena
  12. [12]Andy Thomason, “Journal’s Board of Directors Disavows Editors’ Apology for Article on ‘Transracialism,’” Chronicle of Higher Education, May 18, 2017, http://www.chronicle.com/blogs/ticker/hypatias-board-of-directors-disavows-editors-apology-for-article-on-transracialism/118477
  13. [13]Laura Smith-Spark, “Sweden drops Julian Assange rape investigation,” CNN, May 19, 2017, http://www.cnn.com/2017/05/19/europe/julian-assange-sweden-charges-dropped/index.html
  14. [14]Paul Lewis, “Ecuador seeks to stop ‘evil’ of Julian Assange US extradition,” Guardian, July 26, 2012, http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2012/jul/26/ecuador-julian-assange-extradition-us
  15. [15]Zack Beauchamp, “Trump gave Russia classified intelligence: what we know so far,” Vox, May 15, 2017, https://www.vox.com/world/2017/5/15/15643720/trump-russia-classified-intelligence-post; Bryan Bender, “Ex-intelligence leaders: ‘Nightmare’ if Trump leaked to Russia,” Politico, May 15, 2017, http://www.politico.com/story/2017/05/15/trump-secrets-russia-isis-238421; Greg Miller and Greg Jaffe, “Trump revealed highly classified information to Russian foreign minister and ambassador,” Washington Post, May 15, 2017, https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/trump-revealed-highly-classified-information-to-russian-foreign-minister-and-ambassador/2017/05/15/530c172a-3960-11e7-9e48-c4f199710b69_story.html
  16. [16]Yochi Dreazen, “Donald Trump is a serious threat to American national security,” Vox, May 15, 2017, https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/5/15/15644928/donald-trump-russia-share-intelligence-lavrov-isis-oval-office
  17. [17]John T. Bennett, “Trump Appears to Confirm Report He Gave Russians Classified Info,” Congressional Quarterly Roll Call, May 16, 2017, http://www.rollcall.com/news/trump-appears-to-confirm-report-he-gave-russians-classified-info/; John T. Bennett, “White House Shifts Talking Points Again on Russia Disclosure,” Congressional Quarterly Roll Call, May 16, 2017, http://www.rollcall.com/news/white-house-shifts-talking-points-russia-disclosure/
  18. [18]Josh Dawsey and Matthew Nussbaum, “White House on edge: ‘We are kind of helpless,'” Politico, May 17, 2017, http://www.politico.com/story/2017/05/17/trump-white-house-on-edge-238482
  19. [19]Steven Shepard, “Report: Phone polls aren’t dead yet,” Politico, May 15, 2017, http://www.politico.com/story/2017/05/15/pollsters-phone-polls-238409
  20. [20]David Benfell, “Vladimir Putin’s motives,” Not Housebroken, December 15, 2017, https://disunitedstates.org/?p=9162; David Benfell, “Blaming the Russians,” Not Housebroken, December 17, 2017, https://disunitedstates.org/?p=9151
  21. [21]John T. Bennett, “Trump Appears to Confirm Report He Gave Russians Classified Info,” Congressional Quarterly Roll Call, May 16, 2017, http://www.rollcall.com/news/trump-appears-to-confirm-report-he-gave-russians-classified-info/; Shane Harris and Carol E. Lee, “Israel Provided Intelligence Trump Shared With Russia, Officials Say,” Wall Street Journal, May 16, 2017, https://www.wsj.com/articles/intelligence-trump-shared-with-russia-was-from-israel-officials-say-1494960259; Greg Miller and Greg Jaffe, “Trump revealed highly classified information to Russian foreign minister and ambassador,” Washington Post, May 15, 2017, https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/trump-revealed-highly-classified-information-to-russian-foreign-minister-and-ambassador/2017/05/15/530c172a-3960-11e7-9e48-c4f199710b69_story.html
  22. [22]Guy Rundle, “Rape case against the WikiLeaks chief ‘weak’,” Telegraph, February 5, 2011, http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/sweden/8306348/Rape-case-against-the-WikiLeaks-chief-weak.html; Naomi Wolf, “J’Accuse: Sweden, Britain, and Interpol Insult Rape Victims Worldwide,” Huffington Post, December 13, 2010, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/naomi-wolf/jaccuse-sweden-britain-an_b_795899.html
  23. [23]Paul Lewis, “Ecuador seeks to stop ‘evil’ of Julian Assange US extradition,” Guardian, July 26, 2012, http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2012/jul/26/ecuador-julian-assange-extradition-us
  24. [24]Laura Smith-Spark, “Sweden drops Julian Assange rape investigation,” CNN, May 19, 2017, http://www.cnn.com/2017/05/19/europe/julian-assange-sweden-charges-dropped/index.html
  25. [25]Evan Perez, Pamela Brown, Shimon Prokupecz, and Eric Bradner, “Sources: US prepares charges to seek arrest of WikiLeaks’ Julian Assange,” CNN, April 20, 2017, http://www.cnn.com/2017/04/20/politics/julian-assange-wikileaks-us-charges/index.html
  26. [26]Laura Smith-Spark, “Sweden drops Julian Assange rape investigation,” CNN, May 19, 2017, http://www.cnn.com/2017/05/19/europe/julian-assange-sweden-charges-dropped/index.html
  27. [27]Paul Lewis, “Ecuador seeks to stop ‘evil’ of Julian Assange US extradition,” Guardian, July 26, 2012, http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2012/jul/26/ecuador-julian-assange-extradition-us
  28. [28]Laura Smith-Spark, “Sweden drops Julian Assange rape investigation,” CNN, May 19, 2017, http://www.cnn.com/2017/05/19/europe/julian-assange-sweden-charges-dropped/index.html

The cases of Rachel Dolezal and Caitlyn Jenner, regurgitated: Daily Bullshit, May 9-14, 2017

Updates

  1. May 9, 3:58 pm:
  2. May 9, 6:12 pm:
    • Philip Bobbitt doubts the stated rationale for James Comey’s firing.[2]
  3. May 9, 8:09 pm:
  4. May 9, 9:43 pm:
    • James Comey’s firing had been under consideration for at least a week but very few knew about it, even as Donald Trump sent the letter.[4]
  5. May 10, 12:13 pm:
  6. May 11, 1:51 am:
    • The emerging (and, of course, infallible) media consensus is that Donald Trump fired James Comey because the FBI was investigating alleged links between the Trump campaign and Russia.[6]
    • Many Democratic Senators want a special prosecutor appointed to investigate the Trump campaign’s alleged links with Russia prior to confirmation of James Comey’s successor, but Republicans disagree and don’t need Democratic support.[7] (Golden Showers)
    • A Cato Institute fellow pulls together a lot of thinking about James Comey’s firing (and this is an area where capitalist libertarian analyses are often useful).[8]
  7. May 12, 2:21 am:
    • The White House shit show is on full display in the James Comey firing as its explanations for the firing keep changing.[9]
    • The next time someone ridicules the idea of a “deep state,” remember this article by Zack Beauchamp in Vox suggesting that Donald Trump has made an enemy of the FBI that he doesn’t want to make, complete with ideas on how the Bureau might exact its revenge.[10] (James Comey)
    • The judge in Waymo’s suit against Uber for theft of trade secrets has asked federal prosecutors to investigate and temporarily partially restrained Uber in its self-driving car program.[11]
  8. May 12, 12:57 pm:
    • A federal appellate court has ruled that the civil suit in the Andy Lopez shooting by a Sonoma County Sheriff’s deputy should go before a jury.[12]
  9. May 13, 1:45 am:
    • Jordan Fabian writes that “President Trump added fuel to the fire engulfing his White House on Friday,”[13] which feels like an understatement. (James Comey)
  10. May 13, 12:32 pm:
    • This really is trouble for Uber that its lawyers (not that they seem to be doing so well in what they should be doing) can’t get it out of: The engineers who develop its self-driving car technology are jumping ship.[14]
  11. May 14, 9:05 am:
    • Wired’s Aarian Marshall fleshes out what I’m looking at in my suspicions regarding Uber’s seemingly increasingly perilous fight with Waymo.[15]
    • Former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper thinks U.S. institutions are under assault both from outside—Russia—and inside—Donald Trump—the country.[16] (Golden Showers)

Trangenderism and tranracialism

I comment on all this in a research journal entry.[17] But if you read nothing else on this, you should read Suzanna Danuta Walters who, actually having read Rebecca Tuvel’s article, and being a journal editor herself, condemns the reaction to Rebecca Tuvel’s article.

Suzanna Danuta Walters, “Academe’s Poisonous Call-Out Culture,” Chronicle of Higher Education, May 5, 2017, http://www.chronicle.com/article/Academe-s-Poisonous-Call-Out/240016

Lindsay McKenzie, Adam Harris, and Fernanda Zamudio-Suaréz, “A Journal Article Provoked a Schism in Philosophy. Now the Rifts Are Deepening,” Chronicle of Higher Education, May 6, 2017, http://www.chronicle.com/article/A-Journal-Article-Provoked-a/240021

Kelly Oliver, “If this is feminism…,” Philosophical Salon, May 8, 2017, http://thephilosophicalsalon.com/if-this-is-feminism-its-been-hijacked-by-the-thought-police/

Shannon Winnubst, “Why Tuvel’s Article So Troubled Its Critics,” Chronicle of Higher Education, May 8, 2017, http://www.chronicle.com/article/Why-Tuvel-s-Article-So/240029


James Comey

I’m usually not into the personality parade. I see it as a distraction from what they’re doing, and it’s what they’re actually doing that I think matters. I felt James Comey had managed to lose the trust of both Republicans and Democrats in his handling of the Hillary Clinton email scandal, but apparently while “his actions over the past six months may have drawn down that reservoir of goodwill, . . . they have not exhausted it.”[18] And at a time when his agency is looking into Donald Trump’s alleged Russian connection, I just don’t see is how anybody Trump appoints to replace him will be more trustworthy at a time when, even more than usual, we desperately need someone trustworthy. And of course it’s seriously nuts that the White House either cannot or does not care to be bothered to get its story straight on the reasons for this firing.[19] I mean, it isn’t just like “President Trump added fuel to the fire engulfing his White House on Friday,”[20] but rather Trump as arsonist to his own White House.

Philip Bobbitt, “The Comey Firing and the Rule of Law,” Just Security, May 9, 2017, https://www.justsecurity.org/40761/comey-firing-rule-law/

Jordan Fabian and Katie Bo Williams, “Trump fires FBI Director Comey,” Hill, May 9, 2017, http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/332613-trump-fires-comey

Josh Dawsey, “Behind Comey’s firing: An enraged Trump, fuming about Russia,” Politico, May 10, 2017, http://www.politico.com/story/2017/05/10/comey-firing-trump-russia-238192

Andrew Prokop, “More and more reporting is suggesting that Trump fired Comey because of the Russia investigation,” Vox, May 10, 2017, https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/5/10/15616344/trump-comey-russia

Julian Sanchez, “Some Obvious Thoughts About the Comey Firing,” Just Security, May 10, 2017, https://www.justsecurity.org/40770/obvious-thoughts-comey-firing/

Zack Beauchamp, “Why the FBI might wage “war” on Trump — and how they would actually do it,” Vox, May 11, 2017, https://www.vox.com/world/2017/5/11/15624544/fbi-trump-comey-war

Aaron Blake, “The White House explanations for Comey’s firing are crumbling before our eyes,” Washington Post, May 11, 2017, https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2017/05/11/the-white-house-explanations-for-comeys-firing-are-crumbling-before-our-eyes/

Josh Gerstein and Josh Dawsey, “Rosenstein takes heat over role in Comey firing,” Politico, May 11, 2017, http://www.politico.com/story/2017/05/11/rod-rosenstein-blamed-james-comey-firing-238266

Andrew Prokop, “Trump has now admitted he fired Comey because of the Russia investigation,” Vox, May 11, 2017, https://www.vox.com/2017/5/11/15628276/trump-comey-fired-russia

Byron Tau, Del Quentin Wilber, and Paul Sonne, “Acting FBI Head Says Agents Supported Comey, Contradicting White House,” Wall Street Journal, May 11, 2017, https://www.wsj.com/articles/acting-fbi-head-to-testify-days-after-comey-firing-1494495005

Jordan Fabian, “Trump’s warning to Comey deepens White House crisis,” Hill, May 12, 2017, http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/333212-trumps-warning-to-comey-deepens-crisis-for-white-house


Golden Showers

Seung Min Kim and Elana Schor, Partisan brawl shaping up on Comey replacement,” Politico, May 10, 2017, http://www.politico.com/story/2017/05/10/comey-fbi-trump-democrats-238231

Eli Watkins, “Clapper: US institutions ‘under assault,'” CNN, May 14, 2017, http://www.cnn.com/2017/05/14/politics/james-clapper-russia-collusion/index.html


Uber

I am not a lawyer, so I can’t say this[21] looks bad for Uber, but it sure sounds bad for Uber. And apparently the engineers who develop the company’s self-driving car technology agree.[22] If indeed “the development of self-driving cars is ‘existential’ to Uber,”[23] and the company has indeed bet its bank accordingly, the notion that Uber can survive probably moves from doubtful to fantasy. And here’s Aarian Marshall to flesh that out.[24]

Ryan Felton, “Self-Driving Engineers Are Looking To Flee Uber’s Sinking Ship,” Jalopnik, May 12, 2017, http://jalopnik.com/self-driving-engineers-are-looking-to-flee-ubers-sinkin-1795162066

Jack Nicas, “Judge Asks Federal Prosecutors to Investigate Uber’s Driverless Car Program,” Wall Street Journal, May 12, 2017, https://www.wsj.com/articles/judge-asks-federal-prosecutors-to-investigate-ubers-driverless-car-program-1494559677

Aarian Marshall, “Google’s Fight Against Uber Takes a Turn for the Criminal,” Wired, May 12, 2017, https://www.wired.com/2017/05/googles-fight-uber-takes-turn-criminal/


Andy Lopez

Paul Payne, “Erick Gelhaus may face jury in civil lawsuit over Andy Lopez shooting,” Santa Rosa Press-Democrat, May 12, 2017, http://www.pressdemocrat.com/news/6984782-181/justices-deadly-threat-not-there


  1. [1]Jordan Fabian and Katie Bo Williams, “Trump fires FBI Director Comey,” Hill, May 9, 2017, http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/332613-trump-fires-comey
  2. [2]Philip Bobbitt, “The Comey Firing and the Rule of Law,” Just Security, May 9, 2017, https://www.justsecurity.org/40761/comey-firing-rule-law/
  3. [3]Kelly Oliver, “If this is feminism…,” Philosophical Salon, May 8, 2017, http://thephilosophicalsalon.com/if-this-is-feminism-its-been-hijacked-by-the-thought-police/
  4. [4]Josh Dawsey, “Behind Comey’s firing: An enraged Trump, fuming about Russia,” Politico, May 10, 2017, http://www.politico.com/story/2017/05/10/comey-firing-trump-russia-238192
  5. [5]Suzanna Danuta Walters, “Academe’s Poisonous Call-Out Culture,” Chronicle of Higher Education, May 5, 2017, http://www.chronicle.com/article/Academe-s-Poisonous-Call-Out/240016
  6. [6]Andrew Prokop, “More and more reporting is suggesting that Trump fired Comey because of the Russia investigation,” Vox, May 10, 2017, https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/5/10/15616344/trump-comey-russia
  7. [7]Seung Min Kim and Elana Schor, Partisan brawl shaping up on Comey replacement,” Politico, May 10, 2017, http://www.politico.com/story/2017/05/10/comey-fbi-trump-democrats-238231
  8. [8]Julian Sanchez, “Some Obvious Thoughts About the Comey Firing,” Just Security, May 10, 2017, https://www.justsecurity.org/40770/obvious-thoughts-comey-firing/
  9. [9]Aaron Blake, “The White House explanations for Comey’s firing are crumbling before our eyes,” Washington Post, May 11, 2017, https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2017/05/11/the-white-house-explanations-for-comeys-firing-are-crumbling-before-our-eyes/; Josh Gerstein and Josh Dawsey, “Rosenstein takes heat over role in Comey firing,” Politico, May 11, 2017, http://www.politico.com/story/2017/05/11/rod-rosenstein-blamed-james-comey-firing-238266; Andrew Prokop, “Trump has now admitted he fired Comey because of the Russia investigation,” Vox, May 11, 2017, https://www.vox.com/2017/5/11/15628276/trump-comey-fired-russia; Byron Tau, Del Quentin Wilber, and Paul Sonne, “Acting FBI Head Says Agents Supported Comey, Contradicting White House,” Wall Street Journal, May 11, 2017, https://www.wsj.com/articles/acting-fbi-head-to-testify-days-after-comey-firing-1494495005
  10. [10]Zack Beauchamp, “Why the FBI might wage “war” on Trump — and how they would actually do it,” Vox, May 11, 2017, https://www.vox.com/world/2017/5/11/15624544/fbi-trump-comey-war
  11. [11]Jack Nicas, “Judge Asks Federal Prosecutors to Investigate Uber’s Driverless Car Program,” Wall Street Journal, May 12, 2017, https://www.wsj.com/articles/judge-asks-federal-prosecutors-to-investigate-ubers-driverless-car-program-1494559677
  12. [12]Paul Payne, “Erick Gelhaus may face jury in civil lawsuit over Andy Lopez shooting,” Santa Rosa Press-Democrat, May 12, 2017, http://www.pressdemocrat.com/news/6984782-181/justices-deadly-threat-not-there
  13. [13]Jordan Fabian, “Trump’s warning to Comey deepens White House crisis,” Hill, May 12, 2017, http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/333212-trumps-warning-to-comey-deepens-crisis-for-white-house
  14. [14]Ryan Felton, “Self-Driving Engineers Are Looking To Flee Uber’s Sinking Ship,” Jalopnik, May 12, 2017, http://jalopnik.com/self-driving-engineers-are-looking-to-flee-ubers-sinkin-1795162066
  15. [15]Aarian Marshall, “Google’s Fight Against Uber Takes a Turn for the Criminal,” Wired, May 12, 2017, https://www.wired.com/2017/05/googles-fight-uber-takes-turn-criminal/
  16. [16]Eli Watkins, “Clapper: US institutions ‘under assault,'” CNN, May 14, 2017, http://www.cnn.com/2017/05/14/politics/james-clapper-russia-collusion/index.html
  17. [17]David Benfell, “Transracialism and transgenderism, revisited,” May 9, 2017, https://parts-unknown.org/drupal7/journal/2017/05/09/transracialism-and-transgenderism-revisited
  18. [18]Julian Sanchez, “Some Obvious Thoughts About the Comey Firing,” Just Security, May 10, 2017, https://www.justsecurity.org/40770/obvious-thoughts-comey-firing/
  19. [19]Aaron Blake, “The White House explanations for Comey’s firing are crumbling before our eyes,” Washington Post, May 11, 2017, https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2017/05/11/the-white-house-explanations-for-comeys-firing-are-crumbling-before-our-eyes/; Josh Gerstein and Josh Dawsey, “Rosenstein takes heat over role in Comey firing,” Politico, May 11, 2017, http://www.politico.com/story/2017/05/11/rod-rosenstein-blamed-james-comey-firing-238266; Andrew Prokop, “Trump has now admitted he fired Comey because of the Russia investigation,” Vox, May 11, 2017, https://www.vox.com/2017/5/11/15628276/trump-comey-fired-russia; Byron Tau, Del Quentin Wilber, and Paul Sonne, “Acting FBI Head Says Agents Supported Comey, Contradicting White House,” Wall Street Journal, May 11, 2017, https://www.wsj.com/articles/acting-fbi-head-to-testify-days-after-comey-firing-1494495005
  20. [20]Jordan Fabian, “Trump’s warning to Comey deepens White House crisis,” Hill, May 12, 2017, http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/333212-trumps-warning-to-comey-deepens-crisis-for-white-house
  21. [21]Jack Nicas, “Judge Asks Federal Prosecutors to Investigate Uber’s Driverless Car Program,” Wall Street Journal, May 12, 2017, https://www.wsj.com/articles/judge-asks-federal-prosecutors-to-investigate-ubers-driverless-car-program-1494559677
  22. [22]Ryan Felton, “Self-Driving Engineers Are Looking To Flee Uber’s Sinking Ship,” Jalopnik, May 12, 2017, http://jalopnik.com/self-driving-engineers-are-looking-to-flee-ubers-sinkin-1795162066
  23. [23]Ryan Felton, “Uber Is Doomed,” Jalopnik, February 24, 2017, http://jalopnik.com/uber-is-doomed-1792634203
  24. [24]Aarian Marshall, “Google’s Fight Against Uber Takes a Turn for the Criminal,” Wired, May 12, 2017, https://www.wired.com/2017/05/googles-fight-uber-takes-turn-criminal/

Uber under federal investigation over ‘Greyball’ program: Daily Bullshit, May 5-6, 2017

Others may celebrate Cinco de Mayo, but it was nine years ago on May 5, 2008, that I went vegan. Though I continue vegan practices, these days I prefer the label ‘vegetarian ecofeminist‘ because I think vegetarian ecofeminism is more philosophically coherent than what I see among many vegans.[1]


Updates

  1. May 5, 8:50 am:
    • The Senate will take its time ‘fixing’ the Obamacare “repeal and replace” bill that the House just passed.[2]
  2. May 6, 2:26 am:
    • Tories did very well in British local elections considered a harbinger for the upcoming national election.[3] (Brexit)
  3. May 6, 12:52 pm:
    • Sunil Rajaraman sees the “on-demand” economy, which includes the likes of Uber and Lyft, as a bubble about to burst.[4]
    • Nate Silver believes that the late-breaking FBI investigation probably is the largest quantifiable factor leading to Hillary Clinton’s defeat.[5] (Democrats)

Uber

It just never quits with Uber.

Sunil Rajaraman, “The on-demand economy is a bubble—and it’s about to burst,” Quartz, April 28, 2017, https://qz.com/967474/the-on-demand-economy-is-a-bubble-and-its-about-to-burst/

Del Quentin Wilber and Greg Bensinger, “Uber Faces Federal Criminal Probe Over ‘Greyball’ Software,” Wall Street Journal, May 4, 2017, https://www.wsj.com/articles/uber-faces-federal-criminal-probe-over-greyball-software-1493948944


Obamacare

Alexander Bolton, “Senate GOP vows big changes for ObamaCare bill,” Hill, May 5, 2017, http://thehill.com/homenews/senate/332025-senate-gop-vows-big-changes-for-obamacare-bill


Brexit

Francis Elliott and Sam Coates, “May on course for landslide,” Times, May 6, 2017, https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/news/may-on-course-for-landslide-f7pqgwwfp


Democrats

Nate Silver lends some support to Hillary Clinton’s thesis that she lost in large part due to James Comey’s late letter to Congress [6] that “the FBI had ‘learned of the existence of emails that appear to be pertinent to the investigation” into the private email server that Clinton used as secretary of state.’”[7] But what’s missing from the headline is that he also writes

the effect of [other] factors — say, Clinton’s decision to give paid speeches to investment banks, or her messaging on pocket-book issues, or the role that her gender played in the campaign — is hard to measure. The impact of Comey’s letter is comparatively easy to quantify, by contrast. At a maximum, it might have shifted the race by 3 or 4 percentage points toward Donald Trump, swinging Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Florida to him, perhaps along with North Carolina and Arizona. At a minimum, its impact might have been only a percentage point or so. Still, because Clinton lost Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin by less than 1 point, the letter was probably enough to change the outcome of the Electoral College.[8]

In Silver’s light, a large issue for Clinton was, whether she admits it or not, was overconfidence:

Clinton woke up on the morning of Oct. 28 as the likely — by no means certain — next president. Trump had come off a period of five weeks in which he’d had three erratic debates and numerous women accuse him of sexual assault after the “Access Hollywood” tape became public. Clinton led by approximately 6 percentage points in national polls and by 6 to 7 points in polls of Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania. Her leads in Florida and North Carolina were narrow, and she was only tied with Trump in Ohio and Iowa.1 But it was a pretty good overall position.

Her standing was not quite as safe as it might have appeared from a surface analysis, however. For one thing, there were still lots of undecided voters, especially in the Midwest. Although Trump had a paltry 37 percent to 38 percent of the vote in polls of Michigan, for instance, Clinton had only 43 percent to 44 percent. That left the door open for Trump to leapfrog her if late developments caused undecideds to break toward him. Furthermore, in the event that the race tightened, Clinton’s vote was inefficiently distributed in the Electoral College, concentrated in coastal states rather than swing states. While she had only an 11 percent chance of losing the popular vote according to FiveThirtyEight’s forecast that morning, her chances of losing the Electoral College were a fair bit higher: 18 percent.

Another danger to Clinton was complacency. Several days earlier, the Times had written that she was on the verge of having an “unbreakable lead.” And there was a risk that people looking at statistical forecasts were misreading them and “rounding up” a probable Clinton win to a sure thing. (We’ll take up that topic up at more length in a future article in this series.) But Clinton had actually slipped by a percentage point or so in polls since the final debate on Oct. 19. And the news cycle had become somewhat listless; the most prevalent story that morning was about the trial in the Oregon wildlife refuge standoff. Clinton was in a danger zone: Her lead wasn’t quite large enough to be truly safe, but it was large enough to make people mistakenly think it was.[9]

In the end, Clinton lost to a catastrophically bad candidate in a race that was hers to lose and that, had the Democrats nominated an electable candidate, shouldn’t even have been close. Trump was so awful even in the closing phase of the campaign that even though I had forecast his victory in my dissertation defense, I had come to think this prospect a lot less likely.[10] And that makes other analyses, such as those pointing to folks who had voted for Barack Obama, become disillusioned by his (and the Democratic Party’s) capture by wealthy interests, and voted for Donald Trump,[11] a lot more meaningful.

Nate Silver, “The Comey Letter Probably Cost Clinton The Election,” FiveThirtyEight, May 3, 2017, https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/the-comey-letter-probably-cost-clinton-the-election/


  1. [1]David Benfell, “The Inevitability of Speciesism,” December 7, 2012, https://parts-unknown.org/drupal7/journal/2012/12/07/inevitability-speciesism
  2. [2]Alexander Bolton, “Senate GOP vows big changes for ObamaCare bill,” Hill, May 5, 2017, http://thehill.com/homenews/senate/332025-senate-gop-vows-big-changes-for-obamacare-bill
  3. [3]Francis Elliott and Sam Coates, “May on course for landslide,” Times, May 6, 2017, https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/news/may-on-course-for-landslide-f7pqgwwfp
  4. [4]Sunil Rajaraman, “The on-demand economy is a bubble—and it’s about to burst,” Quartz, April 28, 2017, https://qz.com/967474/the-on-demand-economy-is-a-bubble-and-its-about-to-burst/
  5. [5]Nate Silver, “The Comey Letter Probably Cost Clinton The Election,” FiveThirtyEight, May 3, 2017, https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/the-comey-letter-probably-cost-clinton-the-election/
  6. [6]Mark Hensch, “WikiLeaks’ Assange to Clinton: ‘Blame yourself’ for election loss,” Hill, May 3, 2017, http://thehill.com/homenews/news/331781-wikileaks-assange-to-clinton-blame-yourself; Aidan Quigley, “Axelrod: Comey ‘didn’t tell Hillary Clinton not to campaign in Wisconsin,'” Politico, May 3, 2017, http://www.politico.com/story/2017/05/03/david-axelrod-reacts-hillary-clinton-james-comey-237924
  7. [7]Nate Silver, “The Comey Letter Probably Cost Clinton The Election,” FiveThirtyEight, May 3, 2017, https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/the-comey-letter-probably-cost-clinton-the-election/
  8. [8]Nate Silver, “The Comey Letter Probably Cost Clinton The Election,” FiveThirtyEight, May 3, 2017, https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/the-comey-letter-probably-cost-clinton-the-election/
  9. [9]Nate Silver, “The Comey Letter Probably Cost Clinton The Election,” FiveThirtyEight, May 3, 2017, https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/the-comey-letter-probably-cost-clinton-the-election/
  10. [10]David Benfell, “Donald Trump wins,” (Supposedly) Daily Bullshit, November 9, 2017, https://parts-unknown.org/reading/2016/11/09/donald-trump-wins-daily-bullshit-november-8-9-2016-early/
  11. [11]Alex Roarty, “Democrats say they now know exactly why Clinton lost,” McClatchy, May 1, 2017, http://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/politics-government/article147475484.html?rh=1; Greg Sargent, “Why did Trump win? New research by Democrats offers a worrisome answer,” Washington Post, May 1, 2017, https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2017/05/01/why-did-trump-win-new-research-by-democrats-offers-a-worrisome-answer/

Republicans are probably still failing to repeal and replace Obamacare: Daily Bullshit, May 1-4, 2017

Updates

  1. May 1, 3:12 pm:
    • No shit: “[Hillary] Clinton had a much bigger problem with voters who had supported President Barack Obama in 2012 but backed [Donald] Trump four years later.”[1] (Democrats)
    • No shit again: “The White House and congressional Republicans are in serious danger of not having enough votes to pass their health care bill.”[2] (Obamacare)
    • If there was any doubt about the neoliberal attitude toward labor, consider what happened when American Airlines gave its workers a raise.[3]
    • Pittsburgh’s mayor is mad at Uber.[4]
  2. May 2, 1:30 am:
    • I’m leaving room for doubt, in part because my own understanding of conservatism[5] doesn’t seem to help much with the divisions among Republicans we’re currently seeing, but it’s looking more and more like Obamacare will live to see another day.[6]
  3. May 2, 11:00 pm:
    • It appears that Republicans made some faulty assumptions in crafting their strategy for repealing Obamacare[7] and it continues to get even harder to see how their effort can succeed.[8]
    • Greg Sargent follows up on the story on research as to why the Democrats lost last year, presenting the results more starkly.[9]
  4. May 4, 02:57 am:
    • That crack that’s set to make Larsen C into a massive iceberg has grown a branch.[10] (Antarctica)
    • Republicans have come up with a fig leaf that might enable the House to pass their bill to repeal and replace Obamacare[11] although a few suspect the Senate may be more discerning.[12]
    • Folks are still arguing about why Hillary Clinton lost,[13] even if the Democratic Party had finally figured it out.[14] (Democrats)
    • Hopes for a relatively amicable divorce between Britain and the United Kingdom currently appear to be dimming[15] and the vote that Theresa May, a Conservative, has called to strengthen her negotiating position appears set to deal Labour a blow in Scotland, hand the Glasgow city council over to the Scottish National Party, and may boost May’s Tories among Scots opposed to independence as well.[16] (Brexit)
  5. May 4, 11:32 am:
    • The Republican bill to repeal and replace Obamacare has passed the House[17] but likely has a “less than 1 in 5” chance of passing the Senate, with “Republican senators say[ing] they don’t see a way to get healthcare reform over the finish line.”[18]

Obamacare

Earlier, I wrote,

Republicans are trying to be mean, by cutting coverage, and nice, by not cutting coverage, at the same time. It might be possible to resolve a paradox, but this looks like a contradiction and, if so, until they agree on one course of action—which they probably can’t do—the “repeal and replace” effort is almost certainly doomed.[19]

This contradiction has not been resolved[20] but rather a lean toward the mean side[21] has been covered over with a fig leaf (Matthew Yglesias minces no words in labelling this move as dishonest).[22] It really did appear that the House effort was doomed[23] and it still might fail when it reaches the Senate.[24]

Rachael Bade, John Bresnahan, and Kyle Cheney, “GOP faces make-or-break moment on Obamacare repeal,” Politico, April 30, 2017, http://www.politico.com/story/2017/04/30/ryan-obamacare-repeal-house-republicans-237815

Lauren Fox, “GOP on verge of losing health care vote,” CNN, May 1, 2017, http://www.cnn.com/2017/05/01/politics/republicans-continue-to-work-on-health-care/index.html

Jessie Hellmann, “GOP struggles to find ObamaCare repeal votes,” Hill, May 1, 2017, http://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/331478-gop-struggles-to-find-obamacare-repeal-votes

Rachael Bade, Kyle Cheney, and John Bresnahan, “Outlook for Obamacare repeal turns bleak,” Politico, May 2, 2017, http://www.politico.com/story/2017/05/02/republicans-obamacare-repeal-votes-237871

Kristina Peterson and Stephanie Armour, “GOP’s Health-Bill Woes Show New Power of Party’s Centrist Wing,” Wall Street Journal, May 2, 2017, https://www.wsj.com/articles/gop-losing-votes-on-health-bill-imperiling-its-chances-1493742778

Andrew Prokop, “Why Republicans are still desperate to pass a health bill absurdly quickly,” Vox, May 2, 2017, https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/5/2/15515216/republicans-health-bill-rush

Peter Sullivan and Jessie Hellmann, “GOP bill hung up on pre-existing conditions,” Hill, May 2, 2017, http://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/331632-gop-bill-hung-up-on-pre-existing-conditions

Adam Cancryn and Paul Demko, “No good GOP options if Obamacare repeal fails,” Politico, May 3, 2017, http://www.politico.com/story/2017/05/03/republicans-obamacare-repeal-fails-237903

Greg Sargent, “Republicans just hatched a last-ditch strategy to destroy Obamacare. It’s a total scam,” Washington Post, May 3, 2017, https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2017/05/03/republicans-just-hatched-a-last-ditch-strategy-to-destroy-obamacare-its-a-total-scam/

Matthew Yglesias, “House Republicans are charging ahead with a dishonest, reckless health care plan,” Vox, May 3, 2017, https://www.vox.com/2017/5/3/15531702/ahca-republicans-lying

Alexander Bolton, “In Senate, pessimism over ObamaCare repeal,” Hill, May 4, 2017, http://thehill.com/homenews/senate/331842-in-senate-pessimism-over-obamacare-repeal

Lisa Mascaro and Noam N. Levey, “With a push from Trump, House Republicans pass Obamacare overhaul,” Los Angeles Times, May 4, 2017, http://www.latimes.com/politics/la-na-pol-house-obamacare-vote-20170504-story.html


Democrats

Alex Roarty, “Democrats say they now know exactly why Clinton lost,” McClatchy, May 1, 2017, http://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/politics-government/article147475484.html?rh=1

Greg Sargent, “Why did Trump win? New research by Democrats offers a worrisome answer,” Washington Post, May 1, 2017, https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2017/05/01/why-did-trump-win-new-research-by-democrats-offers-a-worrisome-answer/

Mark Hensch, “WikiLeaks’ Assange to Clinton: ‘Blame yourself’ for election loss,” Hill, May 3, 2017, http://thehill.com/homenews/news/331781-wikileaks-assange-to-clinton-blame-yourself

Alex Roarty, “Democrats say they now know exactly why Clinton lost,” McClatchy, May 1, 2017, http://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/politics-government/article147475484.html?rh=1


American Airlines

Matthew Yglesias, “American Airlines gave its workers a raise. Wall Street freaked out,” Vox, April 29, 2017, https://www.vox.com/new-money/2017/4/29/15471634/american-airlines-raise


Uber

Ashley Gold, “How Uber lost its way in the Steel City,” Politico, May 1, 2017, http://www.politico.com/story/2017/05/01/uber-pittsburgh-city-mayors-237772


Antarctica

Andrew Freedman, “Uh oh: The rift that’s about to cleave off a massive Antarctic iceberg has a sibling,” Mashable, May 2, 2017, http://mashable.com/2017/05/02/second-crack-larsen-c-ice-shelf-largest-iceberg/


Brexit

I have my doubts about how seriously to take this spat between Theresa May and the European Union negotiator. I’ve learned to suspect posturing in advance of negotiations and it’s possibly wiser to just wait for the outcome of those negotiations.

Peter Geoghegan, “UK election reinforces Scotland’s divide,” Deutschewelle, May 3, 2017, http://www.dw.com/en/uk-election-reinforces-scotlands-divide/a-38674936

Laurence Norman, Valentina Pop, and Jason Douglas, “U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May Hits Out at EU officials on Brexit,” Wall Street Journal, May 3, 2017, https://www.wsj.com/articles/european-union-lays-out-tough-position-on-brexit-talks-1493804444


  1. [1]Alex Roarty, “Democrats say they now know exactly why Clinton lost,” McClatchy, May 1, 2017, http://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/politics-government/article147475484.html?rh=1
  2. [2]Lauren Fox, “GOP on verge of losing health care vote,” CNN, May 1, 2017, http://www.cnn.com/2017/05/01/politics/republicans-continue-to-work-on-health-care/index.html
  3. [3]Matthew Yglesias, “American Airlines gave its workers a raise. Wall Street freaked out,” Vox, April 29, 2017, https://www.vox.com/new-money/2017/4/29/15471634/american-airlines-raise
  4. [4]Ashley Gold, “How Uber lost its way in the Steel City,” Politico, May 1, 2017, http://www.politico.com/story/2017/05/01/uber-pittsburgh-city-mayors-237772
  5. [5]David Benfell, “Conservative Views on Undocumented Migration” (doctoral dissertation, Saybrook, 2016). ProQuest (1765416126).
  6. [6]Jessie Hellmann, “GOP struggles to find ObamaCare repeal votes,” Hill, May 1, 2017, http://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/331478-gop-struggles-to-find-obamacare-repeal-votes
  7. [7]Andrew Prokop, “Why Republicans are still desperate to pass a health bill absurdly quickly,” Vox, May 2, 2017, https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/5/2/15515216/republicans-health-bill-rush
  8. [8]Rachael Bade, Kyle Cheney, and John Bresnahan, “Outlook for Obamacare repeal turns bleak,” Politico, May 2, 2017, http://www.politico.com/story/2017/05/02/republicans-obamacare-repeal-votes-237871; Kristina Peterson and Stephanie Armour, “GOP’s Health-Bill Woes Show New Power of Party’s Centrist Wing,” Wall Street Journal, May 2, 2017, https://www.wsj.com/articles/gop-losing-votes-on-health-bill-imperiling-its-chances-1493742778; Peter Sullivan and Jessie Hellmann, “GOP bill hung up on pre-existing conditions,” Hill, May 2, 2017, http://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/331632-gop-bill-hung-up-on-pre-existing-conditions
  9. [9]Greg Sargent, “Why did Trump win? New research by Democrats offers a worrisome answer,” Washington Post, May 1, 2017, https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2017/05/01/why-did-trump-win-new-research-by-democrats-offers-a-worrisome-answer/
  10. [10]Andrew Freedman, “Uh oh: The rift that’s about to cleave off a massive Antarctic iceberg has a sibling,” Mashable, May 2, 2017, http://mashable.com/2017/05/02/second-crack-larsen-c-ice-shelf-largest-iceberg/
  11. [11]Greg Sargent, “Republicans just hatched a last-ditch strategy to destroy Obamacare. It’s a total scam,” Washington Post, May 3, 2017, https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2017/05/03/republicans-just-hatched-a-last-ditch-strategy-to-destroy-obamacare-its-a-total-scam/; Matthew Yglesias, “House Republicans are charging ahead with a dishonest, reckless health care plan,” Vox, May 3, 2017, https://www.vox.com/2017/5/3/15531702/ahca-republicans-lying
  12. [12]Adam Cancryn and Paul Demko, “No good GOP options if Obamacare repeal fails,” Politico, May 3, 2017, http://www.politico.com/story/2017/05/03/republicans-obamacare-repeal-fails-237903; Greg Sargent, “Republicans just hatched a last-ditch strategy to destroy Obamacare. It’s a total scam,” Washington Post, May 3, 2017, https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2017/05/03/republicans-just-hatched-a-last-ditch-strategy-to-destroy-obamacare-its-a-total-scam/
  13. [13]Mark Hensch, “WikiLeaks’ Assange to Clinton: ‘Blame yourself’ for election loss,” Hill, May 3, 2017, http://thehill.com/homenews/news/331781-wikileaks-assange-to-clinton-blame-yourself; Alex Roarty, “Democrats say they now know exactly why Clinton lost,” McClatchy, May 1, 2017, http://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/politics-government/article147475484.html?rh=1
  14. [14]Greg Sargent, “Why did Trump win? New research by Democrats offers a worrisome answer,” Washington Post, May 1, 2017, https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2017/05/01/why-did-trump-win-new-research-by-democrats-offers-a-worrisome-answer/
  15. [15]Laurence Norman, Valentina Pop, and Jason Douglas, “U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May Hits Out at EU officials on Brexit,” Wall Street Journal, May 3, 2017, https://www.wsj.com/articles/european-union-lays-out-tough-position-on-brexit-talks-1493804444
  16. [16]Peter Geoghegan, “UK election reinforces Scotland’s divide,” Deutschewelle, May 3, 2017, http://www.dw.com/en/uk-election-reinforces-scotlands-divide/a-38674936
  17. [17]Lisa Mascaro and Noam N. Levey, “With a push from Trump, House Republicans pass Obamacare overhaul,” Los Angeles Times, May 4, 2017, http://www.latimes.com/politics/la-na-pol-house-obamacare-vote-20170504-story.html
  18. [18]Alexander Bolton, “In Senate, pessimism over ObamaCare repeal,” Hill, May 4, 2017, http://thehill.com/homenews/senate/331842-in-senate-pessimism-over-obamacare-repeal
  19. [19]David Benfell, “Cornel West advocates abandoning the Democratic Party,” (Supposedly) Daily Bullshit, April 28, 2017, https://parts-unknown.org/reading/2017/04/28/cornel-west-advocates-abandoning-the-democratic-party-daily-bullshit-april-26-2017/
  20. [20]Kristina Peterson and Stephanie Armour, “GOP’s Health-Bill Woes Show New Power of Party’s Centrist Wing,” Wall Street Journal, May 2, 2017, https://www.wsj.com/articles/gop-losing-votes-on-health-bill-imperiling-its-chances-1493742778
  21. [21]Rachael Bade, John Bresnahan, and Kyle Cheney, “GOP faces make-or-break moment on Obamacare repeal,” Politico, April 30, 2017, http://www.politico.com/story/2017/04/30/ryan-obamacare-repeal-house-republicans-237815
  22. [22]Matthew Yglesias, “House Republicans are charging ahead with a dishonest, reckless health care plan,” Vox, May 3, 2017, https://www.vox.com/2017/5/3/15531702/ahca-republicans-lying
  23. [23]Rachael Bade, Kyle Cheney, and John Bresnahan, “Outlook for Obamacare repeal turns bleak,” Politico, May 2, 2017, http://www.politico.com/story/2017/05/02/republicans-obamacare-repeal-votes-237871; Lauren Fox, “GOP on verge of losing health care vote,” CNN, May 1, 2017, http://www.cnn.com/2017/05/01/politics/republicans-continue-to-work-on-health-care/index.html; Jessie Hellmann, “GOP struggles to find ObamaCare repeal votes,” Hill, May 1, 2017, http://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/331478-gop-struggles-to-find-obamacare-repeal-votes; Kristina Peterson and Stephanie Armour, “GOP’s Health-Bill Woes Show New Power of Party’s Centrist Wing,” Wall Street Journal, May 2, 2017, https://www.wsj.com/articles/gop-losing-votes-on-health-bill-imperiling-its-chances-1493742778; Peter Sullivan and Jessie Hellmann, “GOP bill hung up on pre-existing conditions,” Hill, May 2, 2017, http://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/331632-gop-bill-hung-up-on-pre-existing-conditions
  24. [24]Alexander Bolton, “In Senate, pessimism over ObamaCare repeal,” Hill, May 4, 2017, http://thehill.com/homenews/senate/331842-in-senate-pessimism-over-obamacare-repeal; Adam Cancryn and Paul Demko, “No good GOP options if Obamacare repeal fails,” Politico, May 3, 2017, http://www.politico.com/story/2017/05/03/republicans-obamacare-repeal-fails-237903