Updates
- Originally published, September 6, 3:13 am.
- September 6, 7:46 pm:
- Amy Davidson Sorkin has just about everything you need to know about the wrongful arrest of a Utah nurse by a cop who absolutely should have known better which was witnessed by other cops who absolutely should have known better.[1]
Unauthorized Migration
It seems to me like something of a tangent in an analysis of costs of a border wall, but Vanda Felbab-Brown defends the North American Free Trade Agreement by blaming job losses on technology.[2] While this is a standard functionalist conservative and neoliberal (and therefore neoconservative by implication) claim, I very much doubt that many of those who have lost jobs will be persuaded.
At this point, having suffered sixteen years of being unable to find gainful employment; having, in that time, gotten all of four interviews and of those, only one (maybe) resulting from the countless thousands of applications I have submitted; and having, in that time, finished a Bachelor’s degree, a Master’s degree, and a Ph.D., there is exactly one argument that will persuade me: A real fucking job, right fucking now. Not the promise of a job. Not even the opportunity to “apply” for a job. And certainly not any nonsense about how the economy has changed and I should be “entrepreneurial.” And I’m not interested in what anybody has to say about the economy until they have that job for me because that’s the only thing that matters and until I have that job, as far as I’m concerned, they haven’t the foggiest idea what they’re talking about.
I’m completely done with the bullshit. Job now. End of story. Full stop.
Other than that, Felbab-Brown’s article is useful.
Vanda Felbab-Brown, “The Wall: The real costs of a barrier between the United States and Mexico,” Brookings, August, 2017, https://www.brookings.edu/essay/the-wall-the-real-costs-of-a-barrier-between-the-united-states-and-mexico/
Brian Bennett and Joseph Tanfani, “Trump tells Congress to resolve fate of ‘Dreamers’ as he phases out their protections from deportation,” Los Angeles Times, September 5, 2017, http://www.latimes.com/politics/la-na-pol-trump-dreamers-20170905-story.html
John T. Bennett, “Trump Ends DACA Immigration Program — With a Twist,” Congressional Quarterly Roll Call, September 5, 2017, http://www.rollcall.com/news/politics/trump-ends-daca-immigration-program-twist/
Golden Showers
Benjamin Wittes, “How to Read a News Story About an Investigation: Eight Tips on Who Is Saying What,” Lawfare, September 4, 2017, https://lawfareblog.com/how-read-news-story-about-investigation-eight-tips-who-saying-what
Police
I may have more to say about this later but there are a few points here that bear notice: First, the cop was self-righteous even as he was flat wrong. Second, he was acting under orders from a supervisor for which the same criticism applies. Third, the entire incident was witnessed by other cops who also should have known better but did nothing. Fourth, he would have gotten away with it had the nurse’s lawyer not succeeded in obtaining and releasing the cop’s body cam video.[3] Fifth, this kind of thing is almost certainly a lot more common than police advocates would have you believe.
Amy Davidson Sorkin, “What the Utah Good-Nurse, Bad-Cop Video Says About Medical Privacy,” New Yorker, September 5, 2017, https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/what-the-utah-good-nurse-bad-cop-video-says-about-medical-privacy
- [1]Amy Davidson Sorkin, “What the Utah Good-Nurse, Bad-Cop Video Says About Medical Privacy,” New Yorker, September 5, 2017, https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/what-the-utah-good-nurse-bad-cop-video-says-about-medical-privacy↩
- [2]Vanda Felbab-Brown, “The Wall: The real costs of a barrier between the United States and Mexico,” Brookings, August, 2017, https://www.brookings.edu/essay/the-wall-the-real-costs-of-a-barrier-between-the-united-states-and-mexico/↩
- [3]Amy Davidson Sorkin, “What the Utah Good-Nurse, Bad-Cop Video Says About Medical Privacy,” New Yorker, September 5, 2017, https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/what-the-utah-good-nurse-bad-cop-video-says-about-medical-privacy↩