The Washington Post just hired Megan McArdle.
Let’s review some of her greatest hits:
(1) Shooter-rushing as a way to minimized casualties in mass shootings.
What else?
I think that, as with Stephens, her derp-fu is too weak even for the Post’s totebag-adled readers. So this is harmless. I’m disgusted but I’m also amused.
What Have The Romans Ever Done for Us?
Glibertarians can never fail, they can only be failed…upwards.
dmsilev
Surely we can also mock her love of overpriced kitchen gadgets?
sherparick
Because the asshole libertarian point of view does not get enough media space to spread their stupidity. One more of the many voices on the WaPo editorial page stating “Social Security” is evil and must be destroyed.
Also, talk about failing upward.
gene108
Failing upwards is a skill, I wish I could master.
Barbara
I nominate Megan McArdle for a live demonstration of her “rushing the shooter” technique, so long as she signs a full release and waiver in advance.
Steve in the ATL
Did you just sneak in an Elvis Costello reference?
My Truth Hurts
I canāt stand her opinions and I hate to say it but she is not wrong in theory about adults rushing shooters. Children doing it is insane however if adults do it it screws up their OODA loop (observe, orient, decide, act) and gets inside their heads because they expect to be in control of the situation. Rushing them can cause them to panic and not know what to do next. A lot of experts recommend it.
Having said that Iād turn and run the other way.
ixnay
Are your wings rusted?
Doug!
@Steve in the ATL:
Yes
Dorothy A. Winsor (formerly Iowa Old Lady)
Is she the pink salt lady?
MJS
@My Truth Hurts: Umm, she was suggesting that school-age children rush the shooter. So yes, she is wrong in theory on that topic as well.
My Truth Hurts
@MJS: check my comment, I edited to add that children doing it is insane.
David Rickard
Do glibertarians constitute a disproof of the Peter Principle?
oldster
Don’t forget her proposal that citizens protesting the Iraq War should be beaten with 2x4s.
And Tom Scocca has already discussed her horrendous response to the Grenfell Towers case.
She is a vicious ideologue, bought and paid for by the Libertarian conspiracy against America.
JPL
@dmsilev: I wouldn’t read her column if the Post put her in the food section.
Brachiator
To do what?
@My Truth Hurts:
Probably not many living experts.
Another Scott
@My Truth Hurts: Um, it’s the last resort. Run, Hide, Fight (5:55).
HTH.
Cheers,
Scott.
StringOnAStick
So little Miss Gastritis Broke My Calculator gets a WaPo gig? That should have gone to Roy Edroso, Driftglass, or one of our kittens; all are much better qualified than McMeeeeeeeegan.
Steeplejack
@Dorothy A. Winsor (formerly Iowa Old Lady):
Yes. Pink Himalayan salt.
JPL
Has anyone checked on Tom Levenson since the Megan news broke?
My Truth Hurts
@Brachiator: Since youāre not an expert maybe do some research on the subject before dismissing the idea outright. You might be surprised by what you find out.
TenguPhule
@What Have The Romans Ever Done for Us?:
But they hang nicely from lamppoles downwards.
TenguPhule
@gene108:
No you don’t, the end result of that would turn you into Donald Trump.
Mike in NC
How did this idiot not get hired to replace Sean Spicer or Seb Gorka?
p.a.
So what newspaper can we still subscribe to? Guam Gazette?
My Truth Hurts
@Another Scott: Um, yet it is still an option. So Iām not wrong. Thanks for your support.
Leto
@dmsilev: At this point, there’s really nothing left that you can’t mock her about. It’s open season.
laura
@What Have The Romans Ever Done for Us?: It’s like you read my mind. The derp-er upper syndrome can’t be stopped and yet the newspapers wonder why subscriptions are cancelled.
It is a puzzlement.
opiejeanne
Didn’t she also propose that children should have canned goods at their desks to throw at a shooter?
SRW1
Every circus needs a clown. If only to wear the red nose.
unpopularopinion
“Democracy dies in darkness” and it can also be smothered in BS.
MJS
@My Truth Hurts: Does your back hurt? You know, from continually moving goal posts?
JPL
@p.a.: If she doesn’t receive clicks to her articles, she won’t last long.
Snarki, child of Loki
@Barbara: “I nominate Megan McArdle for a live demonstration of her ārushing the shooterā technique, so long as she signs a full release and waiver in advance.”
She can show us how it works at the forthcoming Bowling Green Massacre Zeroth Anniversary event.
TenguPhule
@JPL: If that were true Ed Rogers wouldn’t still be there.
laura
@StringOnAStick: I’m with you on the Driftglass deserves a prominent place in our newspapers!!!
Also, I hope your spouse’s CLL is well under control and not causing you any agita.
TenguPhule
@opiejeanne:
No, I believe it was textbooks as shields.
Just One More Canuck
@My Truth Hurts: Can you source that, please? How could you possibly test an assertion like that
Leto
@My Truth Hurts: @Another Scott: Scott is correct. Literally every Active Shooter poster we have, along with all the Active Shooter training we receive, say fight as your last resort. Granted I’m in the military so take that collective knowledge with a grain of salt. But hey, if you want to rush’em, more power to you!
My Truth Hurts
@MJS: Calm down there internet tough guy. Iām not trying to āwinā anything here, just pointing out that itās a valid tactic if necessary because this is a discussion thread and weāre supoosed to discuss different aspects of the topic above. Does your ass hurt from having your head so far up it all the time?
Another Scott
@My Truth Hurts: “Experts recommend it” =/= “Last resort”
HTH.
Cheers,
Scott.
germy
There used to be a wonderful blog devoted to analyzing megan’s columns. I think it was called the hunting of the snark. It doesn’t seem to have been updated lately. That blogger would have been a better choice for the WaPo than megan.
kindness
I subscribed to the WaPo specifically because I didn’t want to give the FNYT a dime of my money and my local paper (the SF Chronicle) which I do get a dead tree version of isn’t of the same league. I am saddened that the WaPo seems to look at the NY Times and says to itself ‘Damn! I better up my game!’.
Megan is not upping the game in a manner I can be happy with. I’m having a hard enough time liking Jennifer Rubin’s stuff after she sucked so bad during Obama’s terms.
Jeffro
@unpopularopinion:
This is a great quote for everyone to use when you email the editor in chief of the WaPo…everyone’s going to take 30 seconds to do that at some point later today, right? Couldn’t hurt.
p.a.
D. Black:
opiejeanne
@TenguPhule: Someone proposed the chucking of canned goods at a shooter.
I don’t know about you, but when I was in K-2 I probably couldn’t have thrown a soupcan very far.
germy
@JPL: She’ll receive a billion hate/mock clicks. Her bosses won’t care; they’ll love the clicks.
Immanentize
@My Truth Hurts:
The poetic plea of the pre-pubescent.
Inventor
My grandma and your grandma
sittin’ by the fire
my grandma tells your grandma
we’re gonna set your flag on fire!
talkin’ ’bout
hey now! (hey now!)
hey now!
aiko aiko aindee (ooohhh!)
Jocomo fi na ai na ney!
Jocomo fi na ney!
NCSteve
Sweet onion relish.
She’s back. Just when you think she’s finally sunk into well-deserved obscurity, someone feels the need to lift her higher. The Glibertarian Bill Kristol. The most infallible identifier of the wrong answer by selecting it since Colonel Klink. She’s like a nest of insecticide resistant cockroaches. A stupid opinion page editor’s idea of what a smart contrarian sounds like. You can actually sense her frustration that no good opportunity has yet arisen for her to write those columns suggesting that the phlogiston theory of combustion, the luminiferous aether of electromagnetic radiation propagation, the humoralist theory of disease, may not have been given a fair shake.
All across America, opinion writers who are smart, articulate, have actual subject matter expertise rather than dilettantish arrogance, and who have been repeatedly been proven right are languishing on DFH dying blogs or eking out life on a red-state school teacher salary so that the chronically wrong and, often, demonstrably malevolent, can continue in their top-tier sinecures. For just a brief period, I allowed myself to believe that McMegan McArglebargle’s steady decline from prominence to ever-increasing obscurity gave cause for some tiny shred of hope that meritocracy might creep into the opinion pages of our major outlets. And now that faith is shattered. Thanks WaPo.
Mnemosyne
@Steve in the ATL:
If so, he got it slightly wrong, so it may have been subconscious.
I used to be disgusted, but now I try to be amused.
My Truth Hurts
@Leto: Iāve already agreed itās a last resort. I also agree itās not for children. Itās still a valid tactic if necessary, thatās all Iām saying. What is everyoneās problem with that?
Also I donāt give a fuck if youāre military. That means nothing to me. For all I know youāre clerk on a supply ship stationed in Guam.
My Truth Hurts
@Immanentize: Eat an entire back of deep fried dicks.
TenguPhule
@opiejeanne: Her idea was worse. Using textbooks as shields while charging at the shooter.
Remember, her ideas are not merely stupid, but completely batshit insane.
MJS
@My Truth Hurts: What an odd reaction to me pointing out that you edited your original comment to the point of completely changing it (i.e., you originally agreed with McArdle that yes, teaching children to rush a shooter was in fact a valid approach) AND that you consider something identified as “the last resort” to be “recommended by experts”. The reason your Truth Hurts is because it’s painfully stupid.
My Truth Hurts
@Another Scott: Experts recommend it as a last resort = experts recommend it but only as a last resort.
HTH
Cheers
Sab
But as step one of our middle-aged life change, we should be kind, although mean-ness is more natural.
burnspbesq
Jeezus. First voice I heard today was Orrin Hatch, lying his ass off ( he gave a 15-minute ākeynoteā for a Brookings webinar on the new tax law that I dialed into). And now this?
Itās only Tuesday, but this is already a bad week to stop sniffing glue.
My Truth Hurts
@MJS: I edited my comment and even said I edited my comment. I didnāt realize she had recommended it for children. I stand by everything else I posted but good for you for winning today. Youāre super smart!
Mnemosyne
@Another Scott:
There are people who have done that, but we usually refer to them as āmartyrs,ā like Greg McKendry in Knoxville, who sacrificed himself to give other church members time to grab the killer.
TenguPhule
@Sab:
We will kindly ship Megan off to the tumbrels, which I understand can be a bit mean.
lowtechcyclist
@germy:
Hell, most of the front-pagers here at Balloon Juice would be a better choice than McMegan. We’ve got a damned good crew of front-pagers.
WestTexan70
@germy: Give her no clicks. Click on the other opinion writers. That can get her canned quickly.
narya
JesuschristOnRollerblades. I was contemplating dropping my FYNYT sub and adding WaPo, but I really loathe McArgleBargle. Glib, entitled, and doltish, and a crappy writer on top of that.
trollhattan
A WaPo perch gets her more talking head appearances on the political “news” shows so yeah, this is a double-bad thing. Her ability to craft a career out of nothing more than connections and the ability to match subject and verb in sentences, while sporting glasses is a thing of wonder. Sippy Cup follows closely in her footsteps.
eemom
Thought of you instantly when I saw this.
#dreksgonnadrek
hitchhiker
I have a better idea, Washington Post. You should hire Betty Cracker for your op ed page. She’s smarter, a much better writer, more human by a mile, and just generally someone people would pay to read.
sigh. This makes me think of my reaction every time I walk past a grocery store display of novels. Are there really only a dozen people in the whole country who are designated as the ones we need to hear from over and over and over?
TenguPhule
@lowtechcyclist:
Hell, most of the common jackals here are better choices then McMegan.
TenguPhule
@hitchhiker:
Two dozen. And yes, sadly.
Sab
Inquiring minds want know: is she worse than Ruth Marcus? I think she actually is, on a regular basis.
Mnemosyne
@trollhattan:
Itās easy to get hired as a libertarian woman, because thereās not much competition. The stupidity explains why sheās a libertarian in the first place.
opiejeanne
@Sab: that won the thread.
trollhattan
@burnspbesq:
Hatch has really let his freak flag fly in the last year, either from tertiary Republican prion disease ( ™ Charlie Pierce) or because this is what he believed all along, but was playing “nice” to his Mormon voters. Fvck that guy.
Now watch Utah send in somebody half his age and even worse.
TenguPhule
@Sab:
Yes. The woman compared people dying in a building fire to the evils of being homeless.
Mnemosyne
OT, but I have to admit I laughed when I received a fundraising email from Joe Kennedy III titled, āMe Again!ā
Iām still not going to give Move On any of my money, but that was good marketing.
opiejeanne
@TenguPhule: She misunderstood the textbook thing, which is to throw them at the shooter, not to use them as shields. Again, this will not work with the 5-6yo set. Works best with jr hi and up.
TenguPhule
What the hell, Balloon Juice?!
Why are there ads of scantily clad young women trying to sell me corsets?!
opiejeanne
@trollhattan: I’ve forgotten. Who is sippy cup?
dnfree
The Megan McArdle who wrote this?
https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2018-01-30/megan-mcardle-s-12-rules-for-life
The person who thinks anyone can save 25% of their income after age 45 if they just make up their mind to do so? The one with no kids?
Leto
@Mnemosyne: Or USAF Staff Sgt Spencer Stone, who has a Clint Eastwood movie coming out about it. Of course he and his companions were extremely lucky in that the guy’s AK47 malfunctioned because otherwise the story would have a very different ending.
Back to McArgle: I googled “stupid shit Megan McArdle has written” and was not disappointed.
Nice summary of stupid shit since 2001: Megan McArdle has a lot of bad ideas
Regarding the birthday list she wrote: Privilege Avatar Megan McArdle Pulls Off the Rare “Owned Trifecta”: Original Own, Self-Own, Crowd-Own
@lowtechcyclist: But does anyone notice a top 10k most popular blog, apart from this hive of jackals?
GregB
I believe the official Ayn Randian position on mass shooter response is for the adult to encourage the children to rush the shooter, chanting “Long live John Galt” while the adult slips out of a back window.
opiejeanne
@TenguPhule: *raises eyebrow at you*
Unexpected depths…
LAO
Totally Off Topic — but I’m peeing myself. The whole Piers Morgan Trump love fest cracks me up.
Leto
@TenguPhule: Pretty sure the ads are pulled from your browsers search cache, so…
Brachiator
@My Truth Hurts:
Bite me.
trollhattan
@opiejeanne:
S.E. Cupp, a younger, hawter, meaner McMegan.
TenguPhule
@Leto: Then I blame the google bot that linked someone here mentioning romance novels for the ad.
opiejeanne
@trollhattan: Oh, I remember now. Thanks.
I haven’t noticed that name in quite a while.
Ben Cisco
So a plum job gets handed to one of the most aggressively stupid people on the planet because OF COURSE SHE WAS HANDED THE JOB.
A block of pink Himalayan salt has more sentience and logic, and probably also possesses a better writing style to boot.
trollhattan
@dnfree:
The find-a-cheaper-restaurant thing is so profoundly odd, and so profoundly her.
joel hanes
@My Truth Hurts:
I don’t think that coconut cream pie is an effective defense against an active shooter.
opiejeanne
@TenguPhule: Funny, I’m not seeing anything even remotely racy. I’m seeing ads for cute dresses.
Amir Khalid
@My Truth Hurts:
What McArdle advocated would condemn an adult unarmed hostage, let alone a six-year-old, to all-but-certain death for a very low chance of success. It was barbaric and stupid to suggest it as a plausible action. No framing changes that.
Butch
Have you ever looked at the comment section to her articles? They’re a cheering section, along with some disparaging remarks about anyone who might dare challenge her wisdom.
? ?? Goku (aka Baka Amerikahito) ? ?
@p.a.:
Dead god.
Butthurt Jordan Trombone (fka XTPD)
OT: eat moldy dog balls, Muppet Nazi
Brachiator
@hitchhiker:
Oh, hell yes!
raven
So now we can have endless posts about canceling the WAPO, oh boy!!! FTWP!!!!
Jeffro
@raven: Nah, don’t cancel – just let them know (every day and twice on Sundays) that this is a dumb hire.
Wild Cat
@opiejeanne: Pseudo-atheist and right-wing loon S.E. Cupp.
? ?? Goku (aka Baka Amerikahito) ? ?
Has it always been this bad? Where incredibly stupid people continue to fail upwards? Or is this more evidence of the decay of our civilization?
Humdog
Although I havenāt pied it, thinking about reading pie facts from such a self important nym as My Truth Hurts gives me a giggle.
TenguPhule
@? ?? Goku (aka Baka Amerikahito) ? ?:
Yes.
Sab
@opiejeanne: I am seeing ads for Clarkes Shoes. Also ads for tiny childrens holiday costumes. The shoes I understand. The costumes I don’t.
Arclite
@p.a.: subscribe to the Guardian. Another advantage they have is no pay wall, so money you spend goes to helping others who wish to stay informed but may not be able to afford to.
TenguPhule
@? ?? Goku (aka Baka Amerikahito) ? ?: And unlike a modest proposal, she’s fucking serious.
Brachiator
@? ?? Goku (aka Baka Amerikahito) ? ?:
I think this is the way of the world. In some societies, a formal class system helped smooth the path for some people. In the world of journalism, people cultivate relationships that helps them land jobs without respect to any depth or talent (except for being able to bang out columns on demand).
What is doubly sad is that as newspapers and magazines die, the mediocrities keep rising up. I know of some great veteran journalists who were laid off from various California papers who tried to found a web site. Unfortunately, they couldn’t make it work.
Sab
@? ?? Goku (aka Baka Amerikahito) ? ?: OT: how are your mother and grandmother doing?
danielx
@? ?? Goku (aka Baka Amerikahito) ? ?:
Without a doubt.
It’s probably a hire that Bezos loves.
Immanentize
Just got back from lunch — went to the newish BBQ place around the corner, had a half-rack of baby back ribs. Yummy
bemused
@NCSteve:
So many of these rightwingers get reborn over and over. Just when you think they are permanently irrelevant, it’s “liberal” media who revives them! I was just wondering whatever happened to Dick Armey. He was a huge player in the tea party/freedom movement.
LAO
@Immanentize: Hey there — I have a weird evidentary issue, can I run it by you? I’m not sure it’s even a problem, but it’s bugging the shit out of me.
Immanentize
@Sab: I’ve got Annie Liebovitz teaching photography on Master Class web site….
I like some of her work, but she is not one of those kind persons you seek.
Immanentize
@LAO: Yes, please do, I’m waiting for a student and they may be bagging on me….
SiubhanDuinne
@? ?? Goku (aka Baka Amerikahito) ? ?:
Since April 8, 1966.
Tenar Arha
@Mnemosyne: Itās like, I get it, column writing as it is currently done, is hot takes that are repetitive & always a combination of instinct & ignorance. I tend to agree with driftglass, it is designed to tell a chunk of people reading these papers that the status quo is okay or unsolvable. Who would want that gig, if they had to do it this way? So McMegan is perfect for this job.
I really wouldnāt wish my worst enemy a regular columnist gig if this is the point of 1/2 or more of the editorial page. Plus I also vaguely remember when TNC turned down the FTFNYT. Didnāt he say something about how it would have probably at some point required him to talk about something he didnāt know anything about and how he didnāt want that?
However I do wonder if, for example, Digby is available, would she be able to define the gig where sheās the designated squeaky wheel, like Krugman? Sheād probably have to spend 2-3 times longer working on her biweekly columns compared to her moronic colleagues who do āthey sayā because she refuses to stoop that low. Iām now Iām intrigued by how itād play out if she got such a platform & wondering what sheād think….
I dunno. Just spitballing a dream I guess.
ETA Wishing for the future when the editorial pages of major newspapers actually reflect the liberal ideals of their readership. [chuckles]
danielx
@TenguPhule:
What, you have a problem with it? Could be worse, it isn’t pharmaceuticals or firearms.
ThresherK
@dmsilev: I’m a user of my Kitchen Aid mixer, and I think Betty Cracker has shown one in her photos. Mine has flour, batter and icing “scars” worn with pride.
McArdle’s sin is not using hers. Mine isn’t overpriced, because I use it. And it’s now 23 years old–which is cheap if you think of it.
danielx
@Tenar Arha:
I suspect that David Brooks has some sort of software that churns out drivel on any topic upon demand.
patrick II
“The 15:17 to Paris” is movie out now about successfully rushing a shooter. But that was about three young men, two in the military. So in the right circumstances, and part of that circumstance being brave, athletic service members in close quarterrs, rushing the shooter might work. In the context of Sandy Hook, where six and seven year olds were the majority of the victims, in a more open space, it was a ridiculous suggestion.
jl
@danielx: Why is Jesse Ventura always yelling at me on this blog?
If the WaPo gig doesn’t work out, Megan could do spots like that selling various moderately upscale kitchen gadgets. I wouldn’t buy a salt grinder specially designed for pink Himalayan salt, but it would be fun to watch her start the pitch before I turned to sound off.
LAO
@Immanentize: OK — Here it is:
Defendant is on trial for, among other things, a drug conspiracy. A cooperator is on the stand saying that he sold drugs to the defendant and knows the defendant sold drugs to other people. AUSA then asks if the witness sees anyone in the courtroom who defendant sold drugs to, and the witness identifies a guy in the audience by name. Later the government argues that the guy in the audience was a conspirator (an unindicted co-conspirator) and reminds the jury that he was in the courtroom.
Of course, defense counsel doesn’t object, so good luck to me. I think, because the random guy in the audience wasn’t indicted — I can argue the summation was improper witness bolstering; I mean there is no evidence he was a co-conspirator other than the AUSA’s claim.
I don’t know. The whole trial was fucked up, so there is plenty to argue but this really irritates me for some reason.
Immanentize
@SiubhanDuinne: I like the joke by the artist I formally respected named Woody Allen —
“Modern Men and Women are those born between the time when Nietzche declared God is Dead and when the Beatles came out with their first hit single.
danielx
@ThresherK:
I use ours at least weekly for something, although I do try to clean it up afterwards. ;)
danielx
@jl:
I’m sure there are a few Ron Popeil spots she could use for pointers. Why not learn from the best where possible?
Sab
@ThresherK: Shrove Tuesday! I am going to put batter in the Kitchenaid and husband will eat it whether he likes it or not. Hopefully he will.
trollhattan
@danielx:
.The real issue is clearly somebody’s showing excessive waistline girth.
LongHairedWeirdo
Herm. Nitpick: the “bum’s rush” is a method of grabbing someone so you can keep their center of mass below their hips so their feet can get no purchase, pursuant to pitching them flat on their face. The bum is being “rushed” (hurried) out of the establishment. Yes, language evolves, etc., but BUMS DO NOT RUSH AT THINGS! They’re survivors; if they “rush” it might be to (as Miracle Max might put it) search the pockets for loose change, but not to be a scary mass (or scary single person).
TenguPhule
@danielx:
I object to the corsets. Although its not nearly as disturbing as the scantily clad women on this site now trying to sell me the other two you mentioned.
dnfree
@Butch: Yeah, that’s what I just saw when I looked for the 45th birthday article. Apparently some people love her and feel sorry about all the hate she encounters.
TenguPhule
@trollhattan: Thankfully the models doing the selling obviously didn’t actually need the corsets.
jl
@trollhattan: I keep getting baldness cures. I’m not balding. Why does the ad placement algorithm think I’m balding?
Wsy my healthful slimming diet and exercise program is going, i may need a corset soon. I never get an ad for those.
Is this the first sign AI is total BS and will crash human civilization in a mire of automated incompetence?
Edit: humanity has been able to defeat human incompetence for untold thousands of years, because the attention that incompetent humans can give to being competence flags, and they wander off for a while. Human incompetence is inconsistently and incompetently incompetent, and thus can be defeated sometimes. AI incompetence will be relentless, nothing will stop it.
TenguPhule
@jl:
I think Skynet is trying to drive us insane, then kill us.
JPL
sean hannity
Full story on Mediate
https://www.mediaite.com/online/sean-hannitys-blog-speculates-that-obama-portrait-has-hidden-secret-sperm/
Hannity is green with envy that such a good looking dude was also a great president.
Ohio Mom
I am skipping to the end of the comments but I’m pretty sure no one else has this favorite.
Back on the days she was the anonymous Jane Galt, she wrote about going with a friend on an impromptu outing to bar, and hanging out on the smokey patio, without her asthma rescue inhaler.
Lucky for her (perhaps unluckily for the rest of us), a kind stranger who had obviously never heard of Ayn Rand lent her his abuterol when he saw her frantically wheezing and gasping for air. Somewhere, he is owed four puffs.
The moral she drew from this incident was that it is too hard to keep oneself stocked with abuterol because regulations force you to go to the doctor once a year to get your prescription renewed, instead of letting abuterol be readily available over the counter.
It has nothing whatsoever to do with taking personal responsibility for your own health.
Sign me,
One rescue inhaler in the house, another in my purse
trollhattan
@dnfree:
With all that spare time she probably sockpuppets the holy hell out of herself.
“My dear Megan, I can’t possibly envision how you continue to stand so strongly against those who would denigrate your invaluable work and by extension break down the very country they live in. Please keep the light of liberty and free markets lit.”
Rinse and repeat.
Citizen Alan
@dnfree:
Why would anyone expect Jane Galt to have kids? They don’t appear anywhere in any of Ayn Rand’s works, so I doubt McIdiot knows what kids are. I certainly wouldn’t expect her to produce on unless a doctor told her that she was at risk of needing a bone marrow transplant someday so she decided to breed a possible donor.
TenguPhule
@JPL:
smh.
Make it stop. Just make it stop!
Kay
They all get promoted and have jobs for life- no one knows why. A lot of attention gets paid to the peons but our elites are very low quality. Someone should write a contrarian column about how the problem isn’t the rank and file public- it’s the elites. They’re bad.
This is a good piece on the scam that is “bonuses”:
trollhattan
@JPL:
Those hands, did you see THOSE HANDS?!?
I honestly think the artist is trolling the crap out of Trump, but maybe it’s just me. :-)
rikyrah
@LAO:
Why tell us now?
Kay
Workers chose a pay raise over a bonus because they’re not dumb. They know a pay raise over time is worth more than a bonus. Given a choice between the sugar high of a bonus and the steady gains of a raise, they chose “raise”, which is smart.
The people who don’t know that? The elites who promoted the bonus system.
Immanentize
@LAO: Wow! It is kinda like a Bruton problem too — the other guy, by sitting there “testified” to the conspiracy. But, no objection either at the time or at the summation?
OK — plain error analysis; highly prejudicial, uncorroborated, maybe slip in a 404(b) argument (that it would be inappropriate even under other bad acts?), ask the appellate court to remand for an evidentiary hearing regarding whether that was planned by the prosecutor and witness before, and argue prosecutorial misconduct in both the evidence/testimony and the argument? If the prosecutor asked the question, it was pre-arranged.
But no preservation? harumph.
ThresherK
@danielx: Somewhat cleaned, yes. Showroom clean? Not gonna happen.
I have lubricated the gears inside, though. Priorities, I haz them.
jl
@TenguPhule: Spelling and grammar autocorrection in on the plot, clearly.
opiejeanne
@ThresherK: I bought mine at 40% discount with another $50 off sale when I worked at Williams Sonoma for Christmas in 2002. I use it pretty often; it replaced the one that I wore out the motor making bread after 20 years.
McMegan bought some high-priced blender thingie, $600+ at the time and bragged that it made a perfect bechamel. I don’t think she uses that thing any more either.
Sab
@Citizen Alan: I really like your new name for her:mcidiot.
trollhattan
@Citizen Alan:
In that regard she’s ironically like the wife of Idiocracy’s yuppie couple during the opening sequence.
Yutsano
@Immanentize: GDI…I jus got paid, I’m an hour and a half from lunch, and I just read this. Would hate but damn if that isn’t a tempting dinner possibility.
trollhattan
@opiejeanne:
Behold, the Thermomix (PBUI)
Roger Moore
@Mike in NC:
Lack of a Y chromosome. Also, too, insufficient hatred of non-white people.
jl
@JPL: I dunno, That Gerald Ford is wielding some pretty upfront pipe action in his portrait, if you know what I mean. The Ford painting screams “Hey, you want some of my pipe? I got some damn fine pipe right here.”
Yutsano
@opiejeanne: The thing that really gets me about this is bĆ©chamel is…not that hard to make. It just takes a bit of attention to details, which is half of cooking. I honestly don’t want a machine that does something for me that I can probably do better myself. And yes this might just be my inner French snob but seriously. If you’re THAT lazy in the kitchen get out.
trollhattan
@Roger Moore:
She’d turn into a puddle the first time Trump yelled at her and noted to the gathered sycophants she wasn’t nearly the “piece of tail” that Hope is.
? ?? Goku (aka Baka Amerikahito) ? ?
@Sab:
Fine, thank you for asking. My grandfather had been suffering from dementia for a long time and the last 3 years he became much worse until he had to be put in a nursing home the last year of his life. We’re relieved that he’s no longer suffering, but miss him greatly.
SiubhanDuinne
@Immanentize:
It’s really tragic that he turned out to be such a terrible human being, because he was wise, funny, insightful, and unexpected. But I can’t bring myself to watch his films now, knowing what I know about his sordid private life. Cannot summon respect, and that really saddens me.
? ?? Goku (aka Baka Amerikahito) ? ?
@SiubhanDuinne:
I meant Dear God. Damn autocorrect.
Brachiator
@Ohio Mom:
She missed the even more obvious moral that the altruism of a stranger saved her ass, not being a self-sufficient, selfish libertarian.
Leto
@patrick II: Regarding “15:17”.: (Italics mine)
One of the passangers attempted just that; still got shot and almost died were it not for Stone’s (medic) intervention. Fight should be the absolute last option for when there’s literally no other way out, including barricading yourself in. And that’s for adults. Any talk about “oh, some type of advantage/throwing their OODA loop in a loop (lol, wut?)”, those people can take one for the team and go investigate what’s happening.
Back to Argleblargle mocking.
(((CassandraLeo)))
@LongHairedWeirdo: I’m pretty sure Doug was more going for a Public Enemy reference than for complete historical accuracy.
Amaranthine RBG
@p.a.:
Yeah this is all pretty ridiculous. There are scores of talented, insightful reporters working at the NYT and WaPo but *some* people lose their shit because there are a handful of reporters/opinion writers who fail to brush the pretty, pretty mane of the purity pony.
Some people need to get a little perspective.
Leto
@opiejeanne:
I do this with a pot, whisk, and spatula. I don’t understand how a machine even comes into play =/
Zach
https://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2010/10/violent-rhetoric-then-and-now/65122/
Jamey
Of course those of us who have studied, practiced, and taught journalism for dozens of years are quite amused…
WaterGirl
New BJ Rule: All Megan Mc Crap links must be clearly marked as such.
P.S. Wonder how much her previous employer paid the Washington Post to take her?
Brachiator
@WaterGirl:
Hope they also got a future draft pick.
Sab
@Leto: You have a point, spurtle is easier to wash than the Kitchenaid and works as well. But it isn’t taking up half my kitchen counter, so I don’t have to use it to justify its existence in my kitchen.
sharl
That would be the most excellent Susan of Texas. She has seen this news and her twitter response has been on fire today.
As you noted, her Hunting of the Snark blog hasn’t been updated for awhile. For her McMegan stuff it would probably be most efficient to scroll through today’s tweets from her, where she is linking to specific archival blog posts that document just some of McMegan’s atrocities against logical thinking and her general lack of human decency.
ETA – I can’t help but wonder if this hire was the result of a directive from Bezos himself, e.g., “hey minions, hire a healthcare-for-all skeptic for the op-ed page.” If this is the case, she’s a bit of a curious choice, unless WaPo wants the hate clicks. (Maybe Avik Roy’s price was too high?)
Vhh
@Dorothy A. Winsor (formerly Iowa Old Lady): yup
Millard Filmore
@TenguPhule:
Eh? Now I will have to turn off NoScript.
TenguPhule
@sharl:
General? Don’t you mean complete?
patrick II
@Leto:
On a train there not a lot of places to hide. And the wounded man you are referring to would have most likely been shot whether he fought back or not. Although luck and circumstance were involved, rushing the shooter that day saved lives.
geg6
@Leto:
Yeah, it’s not the most difficult sauce in the world.
sharl
@TenguPhule: Heh, yeah that would have been better.
LAO
@Immanentize: harumph indeed. Thanks for your thoughts. I’ve always argued every appellate lawyer should try at least one case and every trial lawyers should draft one appeal. Preservation, preservation, preservation!
Immanentize
@LAO: Does NY allow IAC claims on appeal?
WaterGirl
@LAO: Could one of you define preservation in this context? Inquiring minds want to know!
a thousand flouncing lurkers (was fidelio)
@ThresherK: For what it can be used to do, and the durability of the appliance itself, Kitchen Aid mixers are pretty reasonably priced, if you’re serious about using them.
Of course, if you’re buying one because your kitchen should have one, yet you’re going to subsist on the fruits of your take-out menus, that’s another thing altogether, as you note.
LAO
@Immanentize: Yes, but … only if clear from the the record, which is neigh on impossible. Best route in NY state court is a CPL 440.40 motion to the trial court –> appellate division –> Court of Appeals.
ETA: if not clear enough, the appellate court will usually withhold a finding so as to permit the appellate to file the motion at the trial court. So, there is very little downside to pursuing the claim in a direct appeal.
CPL 440.
LAO
@WaterGirl: Making an evidentary objection in real time, so that the trial court can make a ruling on the record. When trial counsel fails to do that, most appellate courts will not address the error on appeal.
Immanentize
@WaterGirl: In order to “preserve” an issue for consideration on appeal, the trial attorney must make:
1) A timely
2) Objection
3) That is overruled by the trial court Judge.
If you don’t, then the issue is considered “waived” (not preserved for appeal) and the Appellate Court will only consider the issue if it creates “plain error” (called different thing sin different States). But plain error is near impossible to demonstrate — It means that the unpreserved, waived evidence/action complained of was so prejudicial to the defendant that it rendered the entire trial unfair. That is a very high burden. So, every appellate attorney wants every trial attorney to object to everything that happens in trial that is wrong. Object, and get the trial Judge to deny the objection….
Does that help?
LAO
@Immanentize: I’m laughing because your answer was so much better than mine. Teach law much? I’m really settling into life as a bottom feeder.
WaterGirl
@LAO: Thanks. That hardly seems fair, but I suppose your view of it depends on whether you are with the prosecution or the defense.
WaterGirl
@Immanentize: Absolutely! It is now clear as a bell. Thank you!
Leto
@patrick II:
Because it was literally their only option, hence: “Fight should be the absolute last option for when thereās literally no other way out”
Immanentize
@LAO: I am starting to really want to return to practice…. My colleagues annoy the hell out of me.
Gravenstone
@Another Scott: This is the crap we have to refresh ourselves on annually, plus a drill to put it into practice. Such a world we live in today …
LAO
@Immanentize: Just remember internet friend, the grass is always greener. My clients annoy the hello out of me too.
Another Scott
@sharl: Thanks.
She deserves a medal and combat pay for doing that.
Cheers,
Scott.
Immanentize
@LAO: Too true. Working atthe Supreme Court level is mostly nice because there is very little client involvement in cases at that point AND one need only deeal with kibitzing peers. But come to think of it, they annoy the hell out of me too!
I see a pattern emerging. My friend once gave me a card (still hanging on my wall) that says: “Remember — the only common factor in all your failed relationships is you.” OK, I accept that condemnation….
Mart
@My Truth Hurts: I want no part of this pissing match… but – from the ads for Clints new “Murica fuck yea” movie; it looks like rushing the shooter is what the actual US of A heroes on the train in France did to overcome the terrorist shooter. I forget details, but recall one of them was shot up pretty good – but lived. Overall, rushing seems to have been their only option, and worked pretty well in the confines of a passenger rail car.
As for me, would be trying to figure how to jump out the window to die before I get shot to death.
Gravenstone
@? ?? Goku (aka Baka Amerikahito) ? ?: Yes, yes he is.
J R in WV
@TenguPhule:
Obviously an Artificial Intelligence unit (aka artificial stupid) decided you need a corset stat, because you are off the Weight Watchers Diet plan.
;-)
chopper
@My Truth Hurts:
but she was arguing that children should rush the shooter.
Mnemosyne
@patrick II:
I think you guys agree with each other. āOn a speeding trainā seems to fit the criteria for being a place with very few options other than fighting.
But itās also notable that the people who successfully fought had some actual military training, which helped a lot.
Honus
@lowtechcyclist: Iād rather read about Cole shaving a catās ass than anything by McArdle.
Ruckus
Why would someone hire this moron to write a column? Well first off she writes a lot on how bad national healthcare is or would be. Think about national healthcare from the standpoint of a rwnj newspaper owner. Healthcare is something they have to provide to get people to work for them. A perk. Taking that away from them to provide and control is taking away a piece of their largess, their magnificence, making them like all other bosses. It’s not that they like paying for the healthcare, they just really, really like that control. National healthcare is just one more step to ripping control away from them.
The Moar You Know
@Mart: Something most people don’t know about trains but should: you can’t break the windows. There are exit windows, but those have a special gasket so you can just yank the whole thing out. They’re built to take the impact of large rocks (people throw shit at trains, who knew?) at a speed (in the US) of 100 mph. A train like that one in France, the windows are probably close to bulletproof.
Like an airplane, when you get on a train figure out where the emergency exits are. Unlike an airplane, each train is different, no standardization, and they’re not marked well.
WaterGirl
@Immanentize:
Not exactly chipper, but I love that because it’s a good reminder. Plus, it made me laugh.
Ruckus
@Mnemosyne:
They don’t teach most people in the military to rush an active shooter. Doing that is Medal of Honor stuff. Usually awarded postumiously.
WaterGirl
@The Moar You Know: The emergency exits are certainly marked well on Amtrak trains. I know because I look for that when I choose my seat.
Jake the antisoshul soshulist
I think the WaPo has one up on FTFNYT.
FTFNYT does not have an equivalent to
our lady of the gastritic calculator.
celticdragonchick
@My Truth Hurts:
Multiple adults tried to rush the shooter at Sandy Hook. They died. No guarantees.
Brachiator
@The Moar You Know:
True dat. On my train commute, I sit next to or near the windows with the special latches. These windows are clearly marked. They also weigh 70 pounds each.
Mart
@The Moar You Know: In my youth I commuted on Chicago’s West Suburban BNSF downtown and back. The windows opened. Express trains ran over 60 MPH. An acquaintances high school son, showing off after a free concert and a few drinks, stuck his head out the window. He was decapitated. Found a reference on the Google:
MoxieM
Life’s too short. I cancelled the WaPo scription, and will re-up the Boston Glob. Sigh.
Ruckus
@Mart:
People feel safe in their modern cars. Seatbelts, crumple zones, disc brakes, airbags….. And they are safer. Most don’t realize that a good part of the reason for this is government. Most in the US don’t travel to places that still aren’t as safe as here. The air is much cleaner, most of our water is as well. Of course our current maladministration wants to fuck that up. Fortunately they aren’t very good at even that. But they are giving it the good old stupid try.
If most of the morons understood what it really was like 50 yrs ago, they really wouldn’t want to go back to the shitty old days.
Caphilldcne
Wow. Just seeing all this. I am so pissed. I’m going to take a day to Chill before I act. I unsubscribed once before because of the hiring of Marc Thiessen (torture supporter) which lasted a decade before I missed Gene Weingarten so much that I finally decided to give in. This is such BS. Also I like being an old coot that actually gets the paper OMB weekends.
The Pale Scot
And this why I cut the cable, both TV and internet, 6 months ago.
I bike to the library to DL BJ and a couple of other things (Mike the Mad Biologist, LGM, Safari DLs pages as a single document, makes it easy) every couple of days.
Trump has turned the necessity of the media’s flaming circuses to always get past 11. Everything is on course for the 6th major extinction event.
Yeepee we’re all gonna DIE!
opiejeanne
@The Pale Scot: Been trying to figure out where to move that’s safer than the PNW, 20 miles from Puget Sound and so far I haven’t seen any place that would be unaffected if Trump gets his wish.
burnspbesq
@Immanentize:
That may not rise to the level of ineffective assistance, but the overworked, underpaid PD done fucked up.
Xenos
Someone on twitter had a graphic explaining this appointment – the second largest news aggregator sending clicks to WaPo is Drudge, and the largest advertiser on WaPo in terms of click-through to purchase is Amazon.
In short, this helps put money into Bezos’ pocket, first at WaPo, then at Amazon. And people with disposable income an who like distant, efficient market relationships are exactly the sort who like to read McArdle.