Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

The current Supreme Court is a dangerous, rogue court.

There are times when telling just part of the truth is effectively a lie.

We are aware of all internet traditions.

Come on, man.

Pessimism assures that nothing of any importance will change.

It’s all just conspiracy shit beamed down from the mothership.

Republicans: The threats are dire, but my tickets are non-refundable!

Speaking of republicans, is there a way for a political party to declare intellectual bankruptcy?

I have other things to bitch about but those will have to wait.

I like political parties that aren’t owned by foreign adversaries.

“Just close your eyes and kiss the girl and go where the tilt-a-whirl takes you.” ~OzarkHillbilly

Every reporter and pundit should have to declare if they ever vacationed with a billionaire.

Well, whatever it is, it’s better than being a Republican.

This isn’t Democrats spending madly. This is government catching up.

Just because you believe it, that does not make it true.

If you don’t believe freedom is for everybody, then the thing you love isn’t freedom, it is privilege.

Usually wrong but never in doubt

“When somebody takes the time to draw up a playbook, they’re gonna use it.”

“In this country American means white. everybody else has to hyphenate.”

People really shouldn’t expect the government to help after they watched the GOP drown it in a bathtub.

Petty moves from a petty man.

Let’s delete this post and never speak of this again.

Thanks to your bullshit, we are now under siege.

Weird. Rome has an American Pope and America has a Russian President.

You are here: Home / Foreign Affairs / TGIFriday Morning Open Thread: Year of the Dragon

TGIFriday Morning Open Thread: Year of the Dragon

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The lunar Year of the (Wood) Dragon begins tonight (or has already begun, depending on your location). Per CNN [for entertainment purposes only]:

… Every year, a heavenly stem (one of five elements, which fall into the yin or yang category) is paired with an earthly branch (one of the 12 Chinese zodiac animals).

This year combines the heavenly stem “Jia” – which represents yang wood – and the earthly branch “Chen” which represents the Dragon. That makes 2024 the Year of the Wood Dragon…

Chow says industries with a strong wood presence – including culture, publishing and floristry – will be more likely to thrive than earth industries such as property development and mining.

Regardless of which heavenly stem the Dragon is paired with, the sacred creature is a very popular zodiac sign, especially in Asia.

“It’s believed that the Dragon represents strong and great leadership. A lot of people are looking to have Dragon babies this year,” says Chow…

“This year will also be significant because it’s the year when the world enters a new chapter from the eighth period to the ninth period of Xuan Kong flying star.”

She explains that there are nine Xuan Kong flying stars that affect the feng shui of the world. Each of them lords over us for two decades before passing the torch to the next star.

The year 2024 marks the beginning of the next 20-year reign under the ninth flying star.

“The number nine star represents feminine energy – so ladies are going to take over in a lot of the areas. It also represents technology, art and design as well as spirituality,” says Chow…

Guess that explains all the strong female energy at the Grammys, she said. I’m told that green and gold are excellent colors for honoring the Dragon, so y’all can get dual use out of those Mardi Gras party supplies this year. And red is always a lucky color for new beginnings. If you’ve got time to spare, the SCMP has a comprehensive collection of articles about Lunar New Year customs — including a list of lucky foods. (We’ve already got dekopons, which are just coming into season, in the house… and I may order takeout scallops for dinner this weekend… )
 
Speaking of strong and great leadership (remember: Sharing is caring!):

Reader Interactions

214Comments

  2. 2.

    OzarkHillbilly

    Republicans are redefining the word ‘equal’ in an Iowa anti-trans bill

    On Tuesday afternoon, the Iowa house education committee met to debate House Study Bill 649, a bill proposed by the Republican governor, Kim Reynolds. The bill, as drafted, would end legal recognition for transgender people anywhere “male” and “female” appear in Iowa code and would require special gender markers for transgender people on birth certificates, measures that were compared to “pink triangles” once used to identify LGBTQ+ people by Nazis in the 1940s. Perhaps the most ambitious attempt to discriminate against transgender people in the proposed legislation, however, is through redefining the word “equal” in the bill.

    The bill states that when it comes to transgender people, “The term ‘equal’ does not mean ‘same’ or ‘identical’,” which raises the question: what does “equal” even mean? The bill does not define the word, only declares that “equal” no longer means “same” or “identical” within the state of Iowa for transgender people. When the sponsor was asked directly what the word “equal” means in this bill, the representative Heather Hora answered: “Equal would mean … um … I would assume that equal would mean … I don’t know exactly in this context.”

    If the bill’s own sponsor cannot define the word “equal” due to eliminating the word’s actual definition, how can she claim to have created the perfect definition for “man” or “woman” in Iowa law? In attempting to write transgender people out of all legal protections in Iowa through definitions, the state legislature seems poised to undermine the very concept of equality itself. That should be enough to shake all Iowans, regardless of their political stance on transgender issues.

    Boy, that pretty much sums up the intellectual heft of today’s GOP.

  9. 9.

    Omnes Omnibus

    I’m told that green and gold are excellent colors for honoring the Dragon

    Packers win the Super Bowl next season! It is written!

  10. 10.

    zhena gogolia

    @Baud: Could we have transcripts of all Trump’s depositions in his various cases, and all the times he says “I don’t recall” in relation to his own business ventures?

  15. 15.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Baud: @Ceci n est pas mon nym:

    Not to worry, they go there:

    The bill’s sponsor is not content with redefining the word equal, however; the bill goes on to proclaim that “separate” is “not inherently unequal”. One opponent to the bill pointed to the cruel history of the doctrine of “separate but equal” and the attempt to revive that history with a new, Republican-condoned target. Though the new definition of the word “equal” and the revival of the “separate but equal doctrine” only applies to transgender people, the precedents that make up the bedrock of equality for all are threatened. Is it so important for Republicans to get a political victory against transgender people in the state that they are willing to go this far?

  17. 17.

    John S.

    I am confident that Mr. Hur will carry out his responsibility in an even-handed and urgent manner, and in accordance with the highest traditions of this Department.

    Merrick Garland’s assessment of Mr. Hur has not aged very well.

  21. 21.

    zhena gogolia

    @John S.: He didn’t recommend charges. That’s the most we can hope for from a Republican. If he’d been a Democrat they’d be screaming it’s a coverup.

  22. 22.

    Betty Cracker

    @John S.: No, it has not. If Biden wins a second term (please God, FSM and all relevant dragons), I hope Garland retires and is replaced with an AG who knows how to be a wartime consigliere. The Trumpian menace isn’t going away, even if Trump does.

  24. 24.

    Baud

    @zhena gogolia: We do have to find a way to collectively psychologically overcome their screaming if we hope to get anywhere, however. This is a problem Dems have top to bottom. I still believe we’ve made progress on our confidence, but we still have a ways to go.

  27. 27.

    Betty Cracker

    @Baud: True — that’s how it usually plays out. Good point about the status of the senate though. The map is brutal for us this year.

  28. 28.

    zhena gogolia

    @Baud: I thought Biden’s anger in the responses above was effective. He needs to do more of that. He has a way of showing anger without being obnoxious.

  29. 29.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @zhena gogolia:

    If he’d been a Democrat they’d be screaming it’s a coverup.

    Yes.  The public at large wouldn’t think Biden was cleared.

    With this, the public at large thinks Biden roasted Doocey pretty good.  Even Biden’s haters think “My memory is so bad I let you ask a question” was a great line.

    We get way too worked up over shit that nobody but us and the press care about.  Hur isn’t Comey.  Comey had authority as the head of the FBI.  This is some guy’s report and the press has been crying wolf on “Biden is OLD!” so long another round means nothing.  Hell, the zinger will be forgotten.  Once the news cycle is over, all anyone will care about, and not many people at that, is “Even a Republican said Biden was innocent.”

  30. 30.

    Baud

    @Betty Cracker: It is, but we basically have to hold MT, OH, and AZ to keep the majority of 50. We’d lose one seat, but we’d also have 50 Senators, none of whom are Manchin or Sinema (or Feinstein).

    Angus King could be the biggest thorn in our side in that situation. But on policy, not nominations.

  33. 33.

    John S.

    @Betty Cracker:

    100% agreed. This seems to be an issue for Garland. He wants to play the role of the AG who is above politics, and still believes in bipartisanship as if he were living in someone’s rosy recollection of how Democrats and Republicans used to behave in the 80s.

    Unfortunately, that does not meet the moment of where we are.

  34. 34.

    comrade scotts agenda of rage

    @Lacuna Synecdoche: ​
     
    We noted this yesterday–it’s nice to see other Moj fans here, he was an astute social commentator and brilliant lyricist.
    I didn’t realize he was in a debate of sorts on Crossfire with Pat Buchanan in 1990.
    Here’s hoping Moj is swapping stories with Elvis right about now.

  35. 35.

    Baud

    @Frankensteinbeck:

    The public at large wouldn’t think Biden was cleared.

    This is something we have to work on though.  It’s not as if it works the other way where only a Dem special prosecutor can investigate a Republican office holder.

  37. 37.

    Another Scott

    Meanwhile, a reminder that there still isn’t a FY24 federal budget (which started 132 days, nearly 4.5 months, ago). RollCall.com:

    […]

    The 12 appropriations subcommittees are negotiating those funding levels now but are not currently discussing policy riders, House Appropriations ranking member Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., said Wednesday. And that’s a problem for wrapping up the bills, because House Republicans thus far have been insistent on pushing for conservative “wins” in the final legislation, especially after Johnson agreed to the higher topline spending levels Democrats sought.

    “The riders, as I’ve said, will be an issue, but we are not talking about the riders at the moment,” DeLauro said. “For me, the riders have to be off the table, as it has been historically. It becomes almost untenantable to try to pass these bills” otherwise.

    In a typical year, appropriators try to solve as many issues as possible at the subcommittee level, before kicking anything outstanding upstairs to the full committee and eventually leadership.

    However, the significant partisan differences over policy riders will leave more work than usual for leadership, posing the biggest threat to passing final appropriations by the March 1 and March 8 deadlines laid out in the latest stopgap funding law.

    [Supermajority bar for spending bills a real, and risky, prospect]

    Democrats say “legacy” riders from previous years should stay, but they will not accept any new riders. Senate and House Republicans refused to discuss spending levels during the fiscal 2023 process until new riders Democrats had sought were removed from the bills, DeLauro has said.

    DeLauro said there are 35 “poison pill” riders in the House’s fiscal 2024 Labor-HHS-Education bill alone, including on abortion, gun rights and other hot-button issues that are themes across the set of House GOP-drafted bills.

    The House’s Agriculture bill was defeated on the House floor in part because of a rider relating to the abortion drug mifepristone. The bill would reinstate a rule that required patients to see a clinician in person to obtain the drug.

    Even typically noncontroversial bills like the chamber’s Military Construction-VA bill included riders Democrats object to, including language that would make it more difficult for the VA to provide abortion services in some cases. It also included language that would bar the flying of LGBTQ+ flags at veterans’ facilities and prevent gender-affirming services for transgender individuals.

    […]

    The GQP is just a bunch of bomb-throwers who don’t care about sensible policy.

    We’ve got to do what we can to vote them out.

    Eyes on the prizes.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  38. 38.

    Chris T.

    @Spanky: I’m more equal than me, for instance. On the other hand, I’m less equal than myself. Me myself and I, went into the kitchen and ate a pie…

  39. 39.

    jimmiraybob

    @comrade scotts agenda of rage: ​
      “…Crossfire with Pat Buchanan in 1990…”

    Which reminds me of the time that Buchanan said that he would be fine if America was ruled by a king ….. as long as it was a benevolent king …. and, likely, Catholic ….. and certainly Republican. An early harbinger of the movement.

  42. 42.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @Baud:

    It’s not as if it works the other way

    I would say it does, though.  If a Republican lets a Republican off, everybody knows they’re partisans and it means the guy was probably guilty.  If even a Democrat says a Republican is innocent, okay, maybe he’s innocent.

    The narrative that Republicans care about nothing but their own side is well established everywhere but in the pundits’ heads, which is why polls say people don’t trust TV news anymore.  The narrative that’s softer is whether Democrats are just as bad.

    What doesn’t work the other way is that Republicans are so partisan and so guilty that they would never let a Democrat investigate them.  So, you get the result that the population thinks “Yeah, yeah, partisan bullshit.”

    We’re paranoid because of Comey, but Comey was in the unusual position of being seen as nonpartisan and the ultimate expert as the head of the FBI.  He could say Hillary might be guilty and it wasn’t perceived as ‘a Republican’ saying it even though that’s exactly what was happening.

  44. 44.

    Suzanne

    Found a link I wanted to share. The topic came up a few days ago about housing, and how old people are when they buy their first house. I know some of the cohort here thinks that today’s younger people are dreaming about a past that never existed.

    The age of American homebuyers has climbed a lot.

    First-time buyers were a median of 35 in 2023 —  up from 31 in 2013 and 29 in 1981.

    Repeat buyers were 58 — up from 52 in 2013 and 36 in 1981.

    Here’s the part that gets to the crux of the issue:

    Rising costs of higher education, shaky job security, less tenure in employment and shepherding the burden of retirement savings “have made it more difficult for younger people to establish a foothold with their personal finances,” he said.

    It’s Axios, so written very bullet-point-y, but there’s a link inside to the nerdy part.

  45. 45.

    Betty Cracker

    @OzarkHillbilly: You don’t have to be a lawless, corrupt shithead like William Barr to function on a war footing. What you need is a clear view of what you’re up against and the willingness to use all lawful means to advance your goals.

    For example, Garland could have disregarded the extremely stupid and self-sabotaging position that Democratic administrations must hire Republicans as special counselors/prosecutors. He did not, and here we are.

    It’s a problem, and I’m not going to pretend like it’s not a problem because contemplating it harshes my mellow. I want us to win, and I want us to minimize risks to reelection. When someone doesn’t do that, it pisses me off.

  46. 46.

    p.a.

    … The basic defense of Garland’s appointment is that he’s a DOJ institutionalist, and I don’t know why people think that’s any kind of defense. Hoover was an FBI institutionalist. No I am not saying Garland is like Hoover, I’m saying that devotion to an institution like that is not, actually, a welcome quality, especially when it’s very understood that the DOJ (and FBI) are filled with corrupt Republican stooges.
    by Atrios

    yup

  47. 47.

    Soprano2

    I listened to the press conference Biden did last night. First item – I would tell all those braying hyenas to shut up when they all start yelling questions at the same time. Second, no way anyone with dementia could have given that answer he did about the Israel/Gaza conflict. Obviously no one writing about this has had any experience with someone who actually has any form of dementia. The way TFG rambles, OTOH, could definitely be a marker of that. It’s hard to say for sure. Finally, Republicans sure do know how to play the press, because that report had bait in it the special council knew the press would take hook, line and sinker. Mixing up two people’s names is not a sign of a mental deficit unless there are a lot of other things you can point to. Sometimes I do it – we all do! Good Lord, TFG said Biden was going to start WWII and can’t remember when the 1918 pandemic was – he always says it was 1917.

  49. 49.

    Ladyraxterinok

    A suggestion—-Celebrate Year of the Dragon by reading book by R A MacAvoy–Tea with the Black Dragon

  50. 50.

    Another Scott

    @Suzanne: In the anecdotes are not data file, we were in our late 30s when we bought our (first and only) house.  In 1998.

    The housing market is weird.  For first-time buyers it is highly dependent on interest rates – especially when the rates change rapidly.  (We had a 7% first and a 9% second mortgage (so we wouldn’t have to pay for PMI).)

    My father was 39 when he and my step-mom bought their first house in the early-mid 70s.

    I don’t think that we were that unusual for the times.

    When 25-30 year olds are buying $500k houses, or being upset that they can’t buy $500k houses, something weird is going on in the housing market, IMHO.

    FWIW.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  51. 51.

    narya

    @OzarkHillbilly: Awesome!

    @Baud: All pantsless joking aside, I appreciate your level-headed assessments and your insistence on working with the team we have, rather than imagining some fantasy superpower Dem team. I have long thought–and argued–that the diversity in the Dem caucus is ultimately a strength, and I would argue that the current R meltdown is a result of insisting on absolute fealty to a single vision.

  52. 52.

    Sanjeevs

    @zhena gogolia: All Garland had to do was find a prosecutor who would be professional and either bring charges with evidence or STFU.
    There are many independents who could have done it and many Democrats. You won’t find anyone like that in the party of Trump.

    Garland isn’t interested in truth or justice. Just playing the same game as Comey and Mueller amd Rosenstein.

  53. 53.

    Soprano2

    @zhena gogolia: It was a highly unprofessional report. He’s trying to “Comey” Biden. He sure did know exactly how to word it so the press would bite on it. One of the questions at that press conference last night could have been reworded to say “President Biden, are you concerned that what the special council said in his report that repeats concerns about your age that we have been pushing for three years, which caused the American public to think they should have concerns about your age, going to cause you problems with the voters?” This is a wholly media-created problem, because observing Biden day to day you wouldn’t think it was a concern other than in the way that anyone in their 80’s has age-related health problems. There is no indication of anything like dementia as far as I can see.

  54. 54.

    Baud

    While I disagree with the idea that special prosecutors for Dems need to be Republican — and recognize that experience has shown that it’s hard to find a Republican special prosecutor (or independent counsel) that won’t act like a partisan hack — I will note the risk that some nominally Democratic lawyers may well seek to make a name for themselves and their “independence” by bringing charges against a Dem office holder that isn’t supported by the facts, recognizing that it would be harder to complain about partisanship in that situation. Nothing is risk free.

  56. 56.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Spanky: Also, RIP Max Culpepper, former director of the Dartmouth Marching Band and Wind Ensemble.

    Not as famous as Ozawa, but efgoldman would have known who he was.

  57. 57.

    narya

    @Betty Cracker: Counterpoint (for argument’s sake): having someone as obviously partisan and cheap-shot as Hur makes it easier to point to his ultimate conclusion. I realize that I like Garland more than nearly everyone here, which is fine; I see the points that others are making.

    @Soprano2: Chris Hayes pointed out that Biden’s comments about Israel were the strongest public condemnation he’s made. And I appreciate his reiteration that aid to Gazans is absolutely needed.

  58. 58.

    Baud

    Since Garland picked Hur, he deserves criticism for the outcome. I disagree with those who believe that this mistake somehow is probative to other criticism he has faced regarding the Trump investigations. People like to extrapolate, but I don’t think it works here.

  60. 60.

    zhena gogolia

    @Baud: It was definitely a mistake. I’m willing to admit that. But why aren’t we focusing on the substance of the conclusion? No charges. We’re just amplifying Hur’s bullshit.

  63. 63.

    Suzanne

    @Another Scott:

    When 25-30 year olds are buying $500k houses, or being upset that they can’t buy $500k houses, something weird is going on in the housing market, IMHO. 

    The 25-30 year-olds who are buying $500K houses are doing so with their parents’ money. The ones who are upset that they can’t buy $500K houses are upset because that’s how much it costs to buy anything near their job or where they grew up…. and that’s upsetting. I don’t know why, on this issue, frustration is being interpreted as entitlement.

    The housing market is weird, if by “weird” you mean “historically expensive relative to wages”.

    The overall pattern is of more work collecting in cities. (And that’s the pattern around the world, not just here.) That means that those cities and their suburbs need to accommodate that growth. Even if it is just work shifting from rural to urban and population growth was zero (which it isn’t), that still requires a lot of new construction and replacement.

  65. 65.

    Sanjeevs

    @Baud: The J6 investigation has cracked down hard on the militias whilst leaving the GOP politicians  and financiers untouched (other than Trump himself).

    Why is that do you think?

  66. 66.

    Betty Cracker

    @Sanjeevs: That’s going too far, IMO. I believe Garland is interested in truth and justice. He’s just playing by an outdated set of rules. It hurt us in this instance. We can’t afford that type of mistake, so I’d like to see someone else in that role.

  69. 69.

    narya

    @Baud: @Sanjeevs: And I’m not convinced that nothing will happen. It took a long time to get access to Scott Perry’s phone contents, and I wouldn’t be shocked if there are eventually charges. I think it’s a little harder, because of the speech and debate clause, too.

    ETA: I also think some prosecutions will/would be easier with convictions of the J6 rioters–e.g., you gave this person a tour of this area, and this person has since been convicted of X.

  70. 70.

    TBone

    At Nuremberg, the prosecutors relied on the Nazis themselves in order to win their cases.  It was a lesson well taken by the J6 Committee and, I believe, by Dark Brandon.  Oh, and 2025 is the Year of the Snake coming back around.  I’m a Snake!

  71. 71.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Betty Cracker: ​

    Joyce Alene@JoyceWhiteVance
    ·
    Dec 28, 2017
    The first time President Obama met with his US Attorneys, he told us, “I appointed you but you don’t serve me. You serve the American people. And I expect you to act with independence & integrity.” None of us ever forgot that.

    It goes double for the AG.

    There is a place in an administration for a “war time consigliere”, but it’s not in the AG. If one appoints a political partisan to that position you are going to get politicized law. I didn’t like it when trump did it, I didn’t like it when W did it (John Yoo anyone?) and I won’t like it if a DEM does it.

  73. 73.

    schrodingers_cat

    A good economy meant low unemployment and low interest rates. Those are the twin mandates of the Fed. Now our progressive betters are moving the goal post to 25 year olds being able to buy the house they want in the location of their choosing.

    The  Great recession been memoryholed, when people were buying homes they could not afford using subprime loans

    Next up.

    What is Biden doing for me when I can’t own a beach front property  with a mortgage rate of less than 2%.

  74. 74.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @narya:

    you gave this person a tour of this area, and this person has since been convicted of X.

    I think Trump is screwed on a lot of stuff, and the rioters were slowly but mercilessly ground through the system, but I’m damn near positive the congress members won’t be touched.  “I gave one of my voters a tour of this area and that isn’t weird, what is weird was they used the information for things I didn’t intend,” sounds like an ironclad argument in court to me.

    If the investigators find much more direct evidence that the congressmen knew what would be done with the information that might change things, but I haven’t heard of any.

  76. 76.

    indycat32

    What was the point of  Mr. Hur questioning President Biden about Beau? The investigation concerned handling of classified documents and Hur just decided, oh by the way, do you happen to remember when your son died?

  77. 77.

    Betty Cracker

    @OzarkHillbilly: Again, you’re conflating the corrupt actions of Trump’s AG with a hypothetical Biden appointee who is aware of the threat to democracy that embedded Trump stooges pose and uses all lawful actions at her disposal to counter it. It’s not “partisan” to choose a special counselor who isn’t a Fed Soc hack. It’s common fucking sense!

  78. 78.

    narya

    @Frankensteinbeck: Yeah, I think you’re probably right. OTOH, I can see holding off on any possible actions–e.g., with Perry–for now. Garland is in the unusual position of having to go to the top of the pyramid–TIFG–and the bottom–the actual rioters–but needing to skip the middle tier [waving at Ginny Thomas and congress critters] for an assortment of reasons (speech & debate being the biggest one).

  80. 80.

    John S.

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    If I’m understanding Betty’s framing correctly, it’s not that Democrats should appoint political hacks who would behave the same way as Trump hacks.

    It’s more about having someone who understands the gravity of the moment, how the rules have changed and acting within the boundaries of the law while acknowledging the serious fuckery we are up against as a nation.

  81. 81.

    Matt McIrvin

    @schrodingers_cat: There’s genuinely a housing shortage, and also genuinely a long-term trend in which the price of real estate has gone up in real terms (because technological improvements and international trade don’t make more land, especially in areas where a lot of people want to live and some of them have serious money).

    Of course that’s no special problem with liberal economic policy that just cropped up–it’s a problem that has been compounding for decades. That’s the thing to emphasize.

  82. 82.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Baud: Since Garland picked Hur, he deserves criticism for the outcome.

    FTR, I am not defending Garland’s picking of Hur. Hur had a political ax to grind. Sort of highlighting my point about politicizing the law.​

  83. 83.

    Baud

    @Matt McIrvin:

    I’d be curious to see how housing prices relate to housing size.  I suspect buyers want larger houses today, or developers think that they do.

    I’m not saying that’s the only or main factor, but I rarely see it mentioned when comparing to the “good old days.”

  85. 85.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    I see Jack Smith has filed a motion for Cannon to reconsider her ruling unsealing witness names in the Mar-a-Lago case. Among other things, he cites the 11th circuit. From Mueller She Wrote, via Twitter.

    “First, the 11th Circuit has held that the compelling-interest standard applied by the Court does NOT apply to “documents filed in connection with motions to compel discovery,” which instead may be sealed or redacted simply upon a showing of “good cause”.

  86. 86.

    p.a.

    WASHINGTON (AP) — A jury on Thursday awarded $1 million to climate scientist Michael Mann who sued a pair of conservative writers 12 years ago after they compared his depictions of global warming to a convicted child molester…

    In 2012, a libertarian think tank named the Competitive Enterprise Institute published a blog post by Rand Simberg, then a fellow at the organization, that compared investigations into Mann’s work to the case of Jerry Sandusky, a former assistant football coach at Penn State University who was convicted of sexually assaulting multiple children. At the time, Mann also worked at Penn State…

    Investigations by Penn State and others found no misuse of data by Mann, but his work continued to draw attacks, particularly from conservatives.

    “Mann could be said to be the Jerry Sandusky of climate science, except for instead of molesting children, he has molested and tortured data,” Simberg wrote. Another writer, Mark Steyn, later referenced Simberg’s article in his own piece in National Review, calling Mann’s research “fraudulent.”

    The jury in Superior Court of the District of Columbia found that Simberg and Steyn made false statements, awarding Mann $1 in compensatory damages from each writer. It awarded punitive damages of $1,000 from Simberg and $1 million from Steyn, after finding that the pair made their statements with “maliciousness, spite, ill will, vengeance or deliberate intent to harm.”

  87. 87.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Baud: I think that to some degree that’s a product of economic inequality–people want big houses as a marker of having made it, and if you can make more money from McMansions than from multi-unit buildings, that’s what you’re going to do.

  88. 88.

    Baud

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    I suspect there may be several Republican attorneys who may have (rightly or wrongly) earned a reputation of being fair minded people but who would be willing to throw that reputation away if they have a chance to serve the cause.

    And it may be that Hur is just the latest if those.

  89. 89.

    schrodingers_cat

    @Baud: When we bought our first home about 7 years ago, that certainly was true. We had to buy a slightly larger home than our ideal home. It was also at the upper limit of what we could afford. And I was seriously questioning the wisdom of my decision when T got elected.

  91. 91.

    sab

    @Suzanne: Interesting. I bought my first house at 29 in the 1980s. My youngest stepson bought his at 35 a couple of years ago and his older siblings will never manage to buy anything.

    I remember when I bought mine my friends who couldn’t afford to used to moan that they should have banked the money they blew on Spring Breaks. Now it’s student loan debt holding them back.

  93. 93.

    Matt McIrvin

    @schrodingers_cat: It’s a lot like the gradually compounding problems with the cost of education and health care–these are things that technological improvements don’t make more efficient, so they get relatively more expensive.

  96. 96.

    Baud

    @schrodingers_cat: Yeah, I oftentimes withhold my criticisms because I don’t want my views to be confused with more vociferous criticisms of the subject that I think go too far, nor want to get drawn into endless debates about which criticism is most accurate.

  97. 97.

    Matt McIrvin

    @schrodingers_cat: When we had a baby we had a need to upgrade from the connected townhouse we were in, but we moved into a modest duplex that was only barely larger, in a relatively inexpensive neighborhood for the area, way less house than we can “afford”.

    I remember thinking we’d made a mistake for a long time (especially since the thing lost a massive amount of value in the crash leading up to the Great Recession, we spent some time underwater on the mortgage even though it was relatively modest, and it had a bunch of problems).

    But now I think keeping our housing expenses relatively low was one of the smartest things we ever did.

  98. 98.

    Suzanne

    @Baud: Housing sizes went up over time for sure. Prices went up more. Here’s FTFNYT on this very issue.

    By the end of 2022, the average new U.S. single-family home sold measured 2,559 square feet, according to the study, a mere 1 percent smaller than in 2012. But despite the slight shrinkage, the price per square foot nearly doubled during that period, to about $168 per square foot. 

    Again, people need to live where they can work. That isn’t progressive goalpost-shifting or generational warfare or a plot to discredit Biden. That is basic societal functioning.

  100. 100.

    coozledad

    @Lacuna Synecdoche:”Before his death the two enjoyed poking fun at each other such as Country Dick saying on stage that he’d been “fucking Mojo’s Mama” which led to Nixon to retort: “Country Dick can keep on fucking my mama, as long as he keeps on sucking my dick”.

    He will be missed.

  102. 102.

    Matt McIrvin

    @schrodingers_cat: Or that Garland himself is a bought Republican op. Or, occasionally, that Biden is a bought Republican op.

    Teri Kanefield has been driving herself out of her mind arguing with all the people who buy into this stuff because they’ve been driven to panic by someone going off on MSNBC. She was already on the edge of giving up before this latest eruption.

  105. 105.

    Suzanne

    @Matt McIrvin:

    I think that to some degree that’s a product of economic inequality–people want big houses as a marker of having made it, and if you can make more money from McMansions than from multi-unit buildings, that’s what you’re going to do.

    The housing market is like every other market in this regard: no developer targets the “starter” market unless the higher-end markets are already saturated, since the only way to make money with cheaper houses is to build a lot of units at once.

  106. 106.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Suzanne: “Drive till you qualify” is a huge contributor to sprawl and carbon footprint and general misery. While I just said that keeping our housing expenses low gives us a lot of peace of mind, it also gives us hell commutes when we can’t work from home.

  107. 107.

    stinger

    @sab:

    that they should have banked the money they blew on Spring Breaks. Now it’s student loan debt holding them back.

    Or their $30,000 weddings?

  108. 108.

    John S.

    @Baud:

    The point is that Garland deserves criticism for his actions in appointing a hack like Hur in the first place. It’s not about knowing the future, it’s about taking responsibility.

    If I hired someone who seemed good but turned out to be a disaster, I don’t get to tell my management “hoocoodanode” 🤷‍♂️ as a viable excuse.

  109. 109.

    schrodingers_cat

    @Matt McIrvin: Over 30 years of Reagonomics is not going to undone in one presidential term. Biden economy has been the most pro labor economy since the 80s. I don’t see him get any credit for that from the self appointed spokespeople of the left. They are all busy whining about Gaza or housing or his age.

  110. 110.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Betty Cracker: ​Again, you’re conflating the corrupt actions of Trump’s AG with a hypothetical Biden appointee who is aware of the threat to democracy that embedded Trump stooges pose and uses all lawful actions at her disposal to counter it.

    No, I am not. At this point, seeing as I am in no mood for an argument, let’s just agree to disagree.

    @Baud: ​I suspect there may be several Republican attorneys who may have (rightly or wrongly) earned a reputation of being fair minded people but who would be willing to throw that reputation away if they have a chance to serve the cause.

    And I would reply that there any number of DEMs who would do the same.

    To repeat myself, I am in no mood for an argument this AM, so agree to disagree.

  112. 112.

    narya

    @Baud: Honestly, I thought that about Hur from the beginning, so I wasn’t surprised by the hatchet job at all. If you’re playing a long game, it’s also a way to flush those people out of hiding, especially if you’re reasonably certain there’s no there there.

  113. 113.

    Suzanne

    @Matt McIrvin:

    “Drive till you qualify” is a huge contributor to sprawl and carbon footprint and general misery. While I just said that keeping our housing expenses low gives us a lot of peace of mind, it also gives us hell commutes when we can’t work from home. 

    Absolutely. It’s not a good solution, either.
    I vote for razing dead malls and giant parking lots and redeveloping them!

  114. 114.

    Betty Cracker

    @Matt McIrvin: Well, those kind of accusations are self-evidently stupid, and I don’t know why Kanefield or anyone else would waste their time refuting them. But that’s a separate issue from criticism of the Hur appointment as special prosecutor. One needn’t have consulted the Psychic Friends Network to predict that a Trump-appointed Fed Soc hack would sandbag Biden when he got the chance.

  115. 115.

    John S.

    @Baud: Yes you did. I inadvertently responded to someone else you responded to in a response to you. Apologies for the confusion (I think I just got myself confused writing that).

  116. 116.

    narya

    @Suzanne:

    I vote for razing dead malls and giant parking lots and redeveloping them!

    Oh, I would LOVE to see this happen . . . you’re the expert, so maybe you can tell me whether it would be easier because at least some of the infrastructure (e.g., water/sewer) is already in place?

  117. 117.

    Suzanne

    @stinger:

    Or their $30,000 weddings? 

    That whole statistic about average weddings costing $30K is for those that use a professional wedding planner, so a small minority of couples. And that cost is likely borne by their wealthy parents. And marriage rates are in decline, too.

  119. 119.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Suzanne: And massive improvements in public transit… but it seems like transit projects in the modern US always balloon to mind-boggling sticker shock for a variety of reasons (in the places where it’s most needed, real estate and labor are very expensive), and the attitude of most Americans is that transit always sucks and they’ll never use it anyway so they don’t want to pay for it.

  120. 120.

    UncleEbeneezer

    @zhena gogolia: Yup.  And if Garland had appointed a Dem, we would have had constant wailing from the GOP, claims of a cover-up etc., and Garland-haters would be mad at that decision too.

    Meanwhile, here’s another move of Mr. Wrong-Man-For-The-Job:

    The Justice Department proposed changes Monday to rules governing state-run programs that provide financial assistance to violent crime victims in order to address racial disparities and curb the number of subjective denials of compensation.

    The proposal from the Justice Department’s Office for Victims of Crime, a major overhaul to how states across the U.S. currently handle victims compensation claims, comes less than a year after an Associated Press investigation exposed that Black victims were disproportionately denied in many states — often for subjective reasons rooted in implicit biases that are felt across the criminal justice system.

    If adopted, the changes would bar states from considering a victim’s criminal history and eliminate some of the most subjective reasons for denials in many states.

    …the AP found last year that in 19 out of the 23 states willing to provide racial data, Black victims were disproportionately denied compensation. In Indiana, Georgia and South Dakota, Black applicants were nearly twice as likely as white applicants to be denied. From 2018 through 2021, the denials added up to thousands of Black families each year collectively missing out on millions of dollars in aid.

    If you’ve been following DOJ, there are dozens of excellent and important moves like this that Garland has overseen.  Moves to protect Voting Rights, Civil Rights, Abortion Rights, LGBTQ Rights etc.  I’ve literally lost count of them, there have been so many.  All the things Progressives say are the most important and I dare say we have never had a DOJ that has been so active on these fronts.

  121. 121.

    comrade scotts agenda of rage

    Razing dead malls is nice in theory and there’s not any appreciable push back.

    But, “dead malls” are not typically located in places where the developer money has wanted to go over the last decade.  There’s the rub.

  122. 122.

    Suzanne

    @narya: Yes, in general, it is cheaper per unit to tie into existing infrastructure like electrical service, water, sewer, roadway, etc. than to run out to new area. Depending on what is there and what is proposed, capacity may need to be added.

  123. 123.

    Sure Lurkalot

    @Baud:

    This is something we have to work on though.  It’s not as if it works the other way where only a Dem special prosecutor can investigate a Republican office holder.

    Hard not to belabor this point. It seems to be public perception, like Republicans are the law and order party or good for the economy, counter examples of which have abounded over time.

  127. 127.

    Freemark

    @Baud: First time buyers would, IMHO, like homes of SMALLER size. The problem is developers want homes of LARGER size to maximize profits. In South Central PA the area is growing, not at the breakneck pace of larger metropolitan areas, but still growing steadily. Townhome developments and ranchers on small plots sell almost immediately ($100,000-$200,000 range). Larger homes ($380,000-$550,000) sell significantly more slowly but between cost to build and land cost they are much more profitable. Younger people with no children or one child actually like smaller homes.

  128. 128.

    schrodingers_cat

    @WaterGirl: How do you like it? I wanted the pencil for digital art and handwriting. I have two drawing/handwriting tablets already but they need to be connected to a computer. IPad Air would let me do that on the go.

  129. 129.

    OzarkHillbilly

    An Alabama radio station has been forced to temporarily shut down after thieves stole a 200ft radio tower.

    WJLX, a station in Jasper, Alabama, was ordered to go off air by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) after thieves took the station’s AM tower last week, the Guardian first learned.

    “In all my years of being in the business, around the business, everything like that, I have never seen anything like this,” WJLX’s general manager, Brett Elmore, told the Guardian.

    “You don’t hear of a 200ft tower being stolen,” he added.

    Elmore said the theft was first discovered last week by a landscaping crew that regularly manages the area nearby the tower, WBRC reported.

    “They called me and said the tower was gone. And I said, ‘What do you mean, the tower is gone?’” Elmore said.
    …………………….
    Elmore quickly reported the theft, but said that local police were equally surprised at the brazen robbery.

    “They were just as stunned as I was. It’s unbelievable,” he said.

    It’s hard not to laugh about this, but it is definitely a hardship:

    For the small radio station, the theft has had a significant impact. Elmore said the station’s property was not insured. Replacing the tower could cost the station anywhere between $100,000 to $150,000, which is “more money than we have”, Elmore said.
    ………………………..
    “The sad part is that Jasper has always been a radio town. They have always supported their local radio station,” Elmore said.

    “Now we’re silent, but we won’t be silent for long. I’m gonna work tirelessly to get this thing back up and running, one way or the other.”

  130. 130.

    Suzanne

    @comrade scotts agenda of rage: Cities also generally don’t want to take commercial zoned area and turn it to residential because it returns less in taxes. They usually want it to be redeveloped as different commercial or denser mixed-use.

    And then nearby residents hate it because traffic and because gentrification.

    So nothing happens and the problem gets worse over time, and homeowners get older on average and talk more shit about young people wanting to be able to own property. You know, this core part of the American Dream and stability.

  131. 131.

    schrodingers_cat

    @Freemark: We saw some charming historic homes that were of a modest size but they had other problems like electrical wiring that was downright scary. Also. no closets in the bedrooms. I was renting a house like that so iffy electrical wiring and no closet space got old. Charm was not enough to make up for the hassle and the danger.

  133. 133.

    WaterGirl

    @indycat32: Hur probably thought he was being clever by asking about Beau, to throw Biden off his game, undoubtedly because Hur hoped Biden would blurt out something damaging.

    Hur makes my blood boil.

    I believe that an institutionalist at the DOJ was necessary – the DOJ needed a big course correction and depoliticization, and I think Garland was the one to do it.  Without Garland, I doubt any of the insurrection trials would be considered legitimate, even by “normies’ because the fuck press would only have talked about political prosecutions.

    We don’t all have to agree on everything.

  134. 134.

    BlueGuitarist

    from Politico via political wire

    Former Attorney General Eric Holder slammed Special Counsel Robert Hur’s report that contained observations on President Biden’s memory, Politico reports.

    Said Holder: “Special Counsel Hur report on Biden classified documents issues contains way too many gratuitous remarks and is flatly inconsistent with long standing DOJ traditions. Had this report been subject to a normal DOJ review these remarks would undoubtedly have been excised.”

  135. 135.

    Baud

    @Freemark: You seem to be comparing younger, first time buyers with older buyers in the current market.  I’m asking for a comparison between first-time buyers in the 50s and 60s received and what current first-time buyers receive or expect to receive.

  136. 136.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @comrade scotts agenda of rage: I know of a couple in the STL area that developers would jump on in a NY second if they didn’t have to shoulder the costs of razing the property. I know of a couple others that are just not in the “right” neighborhood (wink wink, know what I mean, know what I mean???) but there are other uses beyond housing for such large properties.

  138. 138.

    Suzanne

    @Freemark:

    First time buyers would, IMHO, like homes of SMALLER size. The problem is developers want homes of LARGER size to maximize profits. 

    Yes, there is data on this, too. First-timers want houses in the 1200-1800 SF range (could be single-family detached, townhomes, condos). And there are also older people who want houses of this size because they would prefer to downsize, but usually don’t want to move out of their area.

    Developers want to do whatever makes money. If there can only be a small amount of houses built, they will target the higher-end market (bigger house and lot with fancier interiors), because you make more profit per unit. The eras when there was a lot of production housing being built, the market differentiates, and some developers will go for building a high volume of cheap houses (smaller house and lot but also simpler and less nice on the inside). But there’s not a way to be profitable on this without high volume.

    There’s often community opposition to these sizes of home, tho.

  139. 139.

    karen gail

    Back in 1923 the ERA, equal rights amendment, when it was proposed it was supposed to give women equal rights to men. So here we are in 2024; as patriarchy rules and the US slips back into the 1600’s (which are being called “the good old days” and wrapped in 1950’s.)  It was suppose to be ratified in 2020, but like segregation official ratification and actual practice are two different things. As example I give you the latest in antiabortion laws where men decide what women can do with own body.

  141. 141.

    piratedan

    @Baud: I can accept that, but like any of us that choose to go off the reservation when it comes to accepted norms and practices, if you do so in such a way that casts doubts on your ability to perform the job in a fair and ethical way, you can expect it to come up in your performance review.

    I fully hope that Garland pulled Mr. Hur aside and stated bluntly that THIS is exactly how the DOJ should not perform it’s job by allowing this “commentary” to seep into a released document for public consumption, especially so when dealing with the President of the United States.  As such, you’re being transferred to the Elko, NV office not because you dissed the President but because you put personal commentary  into what is supposed to be an impartial arbiter of facts.

    But that kind of vindictiveness is usually reserved for when the GOP is in charge I suppose.  Just like all of us, I am fatigued when only one side has to follow the rules and that repercussions for actions only happen to the good guys.  I could be way off base on that, but I would enjoy seeing Mr. Hur assigned to cases of less “import” in the future.

  143. 143.

    oldgold

    The perception that Biden is too old for the job is a serious one and is going to get worse.

    To the surprise of on one here, I think it should be addressed head on.  For me that is having him examined for cognitive function by a team of the very best doctors in that field and making the report public.  If there is no material problem, we run with that.  If there is a material problem, we run someone else – probably Harris.

  145. 145.

    Matt McIrvin

    I work across the street from that gate– I can see it out the window of my office (when I’m in).

  146. 146.

    Miss Bianca

    @Suzanne: If we are speaking historically, however…I do wonder what the rate of home ownership among the general US population was like prior to WWII and the GI Bill and all the building that went on post-war. It seems to me (but I am neither a historian nor an architect) that all those things combined boosted  home ownership rates to a record high, and that that’s something we’ve come to *expect* – just as the post-WWII economy in the US set expectations for a middle-class lifestyle way higher than they had ever been, previously.

  147. 147.

    Geminid

    @Matt McIrvin: There was a lot of money for mass transit in the Infrastructure bill; $10 billion for New York City’s MTA alone. There will be a lot more to be done, but Congress may be able to add to it. I’m also hoping the $60 billion for Amtrak won’t be the last investment in that system this decade either.

    There is a shopping center in a prime location near Charlottesville that is designated for redevelopment. The big stores have all shut down and the parking lot is rarely even 10% full. I had big plans for it! A mixed use, commercial/residential complex with a bus station that would anchor local and inter-city mass transit!

    Instead, Home Depot take up half of the parcel with a store to compete with the Lowe’s a mile up the road.

  148. 148.

    jonas

    @Baud: The average size of new homes has gone up fairly substantially, but so have the costs for labor and materials. It’s a vicious circle — because construction costs are higher, builders are incentivized to build bigger homes to make a profit. Wash, rinse, repeat. More stringent code requirements have made homes safer and more comfortable, but also more expensive.

    Our first home in LA was a WWII-era bungalow — 2 br, 1 ba, 1000 sq ft. That was a single family home back then. It had been updated since with things like, you know, insulation, double-paned windows, grounded outlets, and AC. Hadn’t had any of that originally.

  150. 150.

    comrade scotts agenda of rage

    @jonas: ​
     

    Land prices for urban development are another, many consider the biggest, factor in this as well.

  151. 151.

    Suzanne

    @Spanky: I’m starting with the project I’m currently working on, which is replacing the Landmark Mall in Alexandria, VA. Some of the site will be redeveloped as housing.

  152. 152.

    danielx

    @Suzanne: ​
     
    Ain’t no lie. Spousal unit is addicted to HGTV network, and late night HGTV seems to be devoted to attractive couples in their late twenties and early thirties who are being shown homes that are “a little out of your range” at $550,000 or something. Even putting down five percent would amount to what, 27500 or something close. How many people that age can come up with that kind of cash, one in fifty?

    Granted those shows are complete fantasies…

  153. 153.

    Betty Cracker

    @piratedan: IIRC, Trump appointed Hur as a US attorney, and Hur later resigned that job and was in private practice before Garland had the brilliant idea to tap him to investigate Biden’s classified docs. So Hur’s DOJ work is done. He’s not even subject to an employer’s repercussions for executing a Trump campaign stunt on the taxpayers’ dime. Maybe his wingnut law firm will give him a big fat bonus! They should. The smear campaign he executed is priceless.

  154. 154.

    moonbat

    @UncleEbeneezer: Thanks for this. It is good to hear. I get panic fatigue every time Dems don’t get their most preferred outcome from anything the DoJ does.

    Ozark Hillbilly is right, Garland was not appointed to be Biden’s man. He was appointed to uphold the law. If we’re going to fly into a panic over the “Biden is OLD!” snark in a report that exonerates the president of any wrong doing then I predict a rough election year ahead.

    And on that theme, I think those employing the age narrative have overplayed their hand. They started beating that drum early in the hopes of having Biden challenged in the primaries. Now that that strategy has gone busto, folks are getting a little tired of it. I don’t think this report is going to outlive the next news cycle, particularly with Biden putting the smackdown on anyone suggesting he’s mentally infirm.

  155. 155.

    Suzanne

    @Miss Bianca:

    If we are speaking historically, however…I do wonder what the rate of home ownership among the general US population was like prior to WWII and the GI Bill and all the building that went on post-war. It seems to me (but I am neither a historian nor an architect) that all those things combined boosted  home ownership rates to a record high, and that that’s something we’ve come to *expect* – just as the post-WWII economy in the US set expectations for a middle-class lifestyle way higher than they had ever been, previously. 

    From what I gather, we don’t have great data on this prior to roughly 1900 because the census didn’t measure it. But here’s some data.

    In the 1890-1940 period, the homeownership rate fluctuated in the 43- to 48-percent range. From 1890 to 1920, the homeownership rate fell as immigration and urbanization offset the rise in income. Income growth increased the homeownership rate during the 1920s, but the Depression more than wiped out this gain so that the rate had fallen to a low of 43.6 percent by 1940.

    During the 1940-1960 period, the homeownership rate rose by over 18 percentage points, from 43.6 to 61.9 percent. This remarkable transformation was facilitated by higher incomes, a large percentage of households being in prime homebuying age groups, the FHA-led revolution in mortgage financing, the GI bill of rights, improved interurban transportation, and development of large-scale housing subdivisions with affordable houses. While all of these factors played an important role in making the United States a Nation of homeowners, it is important to note that a Department of Labor study (cited in the Housing and Home Finance Agency’s Housing Statistics Handbook of 1948) reported a 53.2-percent homeownership rate for 1945. If this survey was correct, then approximately half of this change took place prior to many of these factors becoming fully effective and during a time when wartime needs virtually halted residential construction. Higher wartime incomes, the absence of many competing consumer goods, and shortages of rental housing may explain this wave of homebuying.

    Since 1960 the homeownership rate has remained in the 61- to 65-percent range. After slow growth from 1960 to 1980, the rate fell to 63.9 percent in 1990. Part of the decline between the 1980 and 1990 censuses can be explained by the undercount adjustment, a first-time ever adjustment by the Census Bureau. Without the undercount adjustment, the 1990 census would show a 64.2-percent homeownership rate. An important factor in explaining the trend over this period was the virtual absence of growth in real family income. Between 1980 and 1992, median family income grew only 2.7 percent in real terms.

    The Current Population Survey (CPS) shows that the homeownership rate declined slowly but steadily during the 1980s before stabilizing in the early 1990s (see Table 25 in the Historical Data section). The CPS reports a 63.8-percent home-ownership rate for the second quarter of 1994.

    I will note that, quite frankly, life was pretty shitty for average people prior to WWII, and stayed shitty for lots of people both then and now.

    If people have come to expect homeownership, it’s because it was a key component of making life not shitty. It’s not unreasonable or entitled for people to think that it should be accessible to them if they want it.

    A core part of my worldview is that life should get longer, healthier, more secure, more prosperous, less violent. If it isn’t, we’re doing something wrong.

  157. 157.

    piratedan

    @Betty Cracker: then this should go into the ledger as an “own goal” by Garland, who went outside of the DOJ to pay for a smear job.  It’s one thing to be impartial, completely another to trust anyone that Trump appointed to provide a fair and impartial determination of crimes.  What would Garland have done if Hur had returned a finding that Biden should be prosecuted based on what we know?

  158. 158.

    Soprano2

    @Matt McIrvin: It’s also that things are just getting bigger, and we need more things now. Vehicles are bigger, so they need bigger garages. The queen-sized bed is standard now rather than the full-sized bed, so bedrooms need to be bigger. Most kitchens have dishwashers and  microwaves now, so you have to have room for them. And so on. But I agree, it’s rarely mentioned the the “standard” house these days is significantly bigger than the “standard” house of the 1950’s.

  159. 159.

    Harrison Wesley

    @Suzanne: If you don’t mind, I’d appreciate your opinion on two organizations, Strong Towns and Foundation for Intentional Community (I’ve never owned a condo or a house, so I’m pretty clueless about housing matters).  I contribute a miniscule amount to Strong Towns monthly since I kind of like their advocacy, and I’ve suggested FIC to friends who seem dissatisfied with their current locations.  I hope I’m not barking up the wrong trees.  Thanks.

  160. 160.

    Spanky

    @Suzanne: Yeah, housing there in Alexandria will cost a shit-ton more than anything that could be built on a slag heap in Pleasant Hills. I’m pretty sure there are a lot of malls doomed to rot because demolition costs make it unprofitable to redevelop.

  161. 161.

    comrade scotts agenda of rage

    Ah, Landmark Mall, I know (knew) it well.

    The redevelopment plan looks typical (I don’t mean that in a derogatory way). Of note, the housing (and I assume the “Mixed Vacancy” plots will have residential units above) appears to be rentals. Or will condos be available?

  162. 162.

    karen gail

    Year of Dragon, for me it has always been time for change but then I was born in year of Dragon and all my life changes have happened during year of Dragon. I only can hope, unicorns and everything mythical, that this will be the same. But then there are times when I believe magic is real; I have had too many things happen that bent the laws of physics.

  164. 164.

    comrade scotts agenda of rage

    @Harrison Wesley:

    I contribute a miniscule amount to Strong Towns

    This will not be a popular opinion here among the neoliberal, Reaganomics-For-Housing crowd but Strong Towns is a cult and should be treated as such.  Their founder is a failed, civil engineer who has a theory that suburbs are nothing but a ponzi scheme.

    And yet, he lives in an older house…in a burb…with lots of cars.

    His “theory” is factless and a grift.

    I know you didn’t ask for my opinion and I’m guessing you’ll get a very different answer from others here.  If my email client wasn’t acting up, I’d provide some links to reading on the group and others like them.

  165. 165.

    Suzanne

    @Soprano2: The increase in average size of homes being built relative to the past is definitely discussed. But that seems to have leveled out, but prices still climb.

    Data in that link doesn’t go as far back as Baud wants to see, but it goes back to 1980, so prime Boomer buying years.

    Encouragingly, when adjusting for inflation, changes in the price per square foot versus changes in the square footage seem less daunting. However, the numbers are still dire for the average home buyer.

    Since 1980, the increase in the median price per square foot has outpaced inflation by 44%. Notably, this trend has accelerated over time, with the margin increasing by 75% since 2022.

    A notable turning point emerged in the late 2000s when the rise in the median sale price per square foot exceeded inflation by 136% after the 2008 financial crisis — a notable leap from the 95% margin observed in 2000.

    Since 2008, home prices have been on a considerable upward trajectory, whereas square footage barely keeps up. All in all, Americans are paying more for less.

  167. 167.

    Miss Bianca

    @TBone: Dammit, I’m going to have to subscribe to my first ever Substack, at the rate I’m starting to read this guy – I like him!

  170. 170.

    Suzanne

    @Harrison Wesley: Strong Towns always seems to have this tenor of idolizing “cute”, “charming”, “quaint”, “vintage” looking architecture, which annoys me. I hate that Disney Celebration/Seaside fake-old-shit development. Contemporary buildings should look contemporary.

    They are right about the tax base issues, though. Lots of suburbs don’t tax themselves enough to maintain their infrastructure.

    I am not familiar with the other organization you mentioned.

  172. 172.

    Suzanne

    @comrade scotts agenda of rage:

    The redevelopment plan looks typical (I don’t mean that in a derogatory way). Of note, the housing (and I assume the “Mixed Vacancy” plots will have residential units above) appears to be rentals. Or will condos be available? 

    I am only working on the hospital portion and therefore don’t interface with the master developer, but my understanding is that it’ll be expensive apartments on the rest of the site.

    But there’s a lot of dead mall sites across the country that are getting redeveloped like this.

  174. 174.

    Suzanne

    @comrade scotts agenda of rage: Half of the Sun Belt doesn’t tax themselves enough to maintain what they already built. They push to grow/annex more land because it’s the only way to sustain themselves. I basically just described the Phoenix Metro suburbs, LOL. (Including the ones I lived in.)

  176. 176.

    Matt McIrvin

    @🐾BillinGlendaleCA: Very nice. Somewhat California-centric, but some of the issues operate elsewhere.

    The phenomenon of fear of cost overruns actually driving costs up is really interesting.

    It seems like the public voice mechanisms are very effective at transmitting the objections of people who would be harmed by transit projects (or think they would) but not at empowering people who will benefit from the upside (maybe in part because they don’t believe they will).

  177. 177.

    karen gail

    @Miss Bianca: I don’t know what home ownership was really like; but what I do know about one area. My great grandmother’s parents homestead in what is now  Steven’s Point, Wi; they fled Ireland and made friends, later adopted by local tribe, in middle of wilderness. They were allowed to build home, later “friends” were also allowed to build homes; then the colonizers arrived and the lands were taken over and a papermill was built. During the mid 1880’s the land was now longer open but belonged to papermill; for the most part the native people were driven out and so were most of those who had made “settlements” with natives. No clue why great-grandmother’s family was allowed to remain but trading post was given as explanation. There were many journals that were destroyed at Grandmother’s death so all I have is stories she told me.

  178. 178.

    comrade scotts agenda of rage

    @Suzanne:

    But there’s a lot of dead mall sites across the country that are getting redeveloped like this.

    It’s clear you and I don’t agree on certain fundamentals that surround urban development but probably do agree that “dead malls” are ripe for it.

    My earlier point is that most are in burbs where the people who propagandize for “market urbanism” don’t want to live and thus, don’t scream for it.  There are some pieces that indicate that approach might actually have some efficacy in burbs but it’s also a swath of land that is more effective at “upzoning pushback” than the minority populations that were in urban cores and have felt the brunt of pro-development, hyper-gentrification since we came out of the Great Recesssion.

    There’s a chilling piece:

    https://sylvanroad.com/wp-content/uploads/Housing-Market-Insights-A-Rentership-Society-July-2011.pdf?fbclid=IwAR0vJip_xPvdrrD-jxgY0yOd0SWDix7mrqrVICKSPNF-WY5mBy0eK4kIrMI

    about the Banksters (ah, Mojo Nixon nailed them years ago) creating a “rentership society”.  Sigh.

  179. 179.

    UncleEbeneezer

    Move on. Robert Hur crossed a line. He doesn’t need any more oxygen. -Joyce White Vance

    Indeed.  In fact I’d argue that one of the reasons Hur pulled this bullshit is because too many people on our side spent the past 4 years amplifying bad faith attacks on Biden’s mental acuity and clutching our pearls over it.  Our knew that not just MAGA spaces would run with these claims, but a sad number of people on our side would too.

  180. 180.

    UncleEbeneezer

    @piratedan: Garland would’ve had the ultimate say in whether charges went ahead.  But if hid decision didn’t follow the SC findings, he would have to report and explain to Congress.

  181. 181.

    karen gail

    Ex and I bought first house in 1987, for 32,000; it was it bad shape but when I divorced him it as valued at $300,000. My children’s grandparent bought home in San Jose for $12,000 in early 70s, my parent’s bought same size home in early 60’s for 5,000 in same area.; while the home they sold in “good part of Milwaukee” sold for $3.500.
    It is all about market and nothing to do with real value.

    ‘s

  182. 182.

    comrade scotts agenda of rage

    @Harrison Wesley:

    Email back up!

    There’s a crapton of pushback on the “Strong Towns Movement” but this is one of the better ones:

    https://www.currentaffairs.org/2023/09/the-strong-towns-movement-is-simply-right-libertarianism-dressed-in-progressive-garb

    Some pithy quotes from across twitter over the years that don’t add to any deep understanding of them but are helpful casual slurs:

    “Are so Republican with their fiscal conservatism except their bogeyman are highways instead of welfare.”

    “Strong Towns is a developer-bro lobbying group in skinny jeans.”

    “Strong Towns is a lobbyist for the Real Estate hedge-funder/developer industry. Laundering self-serving policies by cloaking them in banal, liberal-sounding talking points from a “nonpartisan think tank”. I hate to see progressives falling for the scam.”

    Again, my views on them will likely get beaten up in here but oh well.

  183. 183.

    Suzanne

    @comrade scotts agenda of rage: I have known about the Masters of the Universe trying to create a “rentership society” for a long time, and it is evil as fuck. It is resource extraction at its core. It’s not enough to profit from workers’ labor, they also want to destroy their old age and their kids’ chances for social mobility. It is inhumane and anyone who believes in it should be regarded as the parasite that they are.

  186. 186.

    Suzanne

    @comrade scotts agenda of rage: I don’t disagree with you on Strong Towns. I think they are correct about the tax base problems in lots of suburbs (again, I lived in some municipalities that exemplified this), but I generally think the way to rectify that is with, you know, paying more in taxes.

  188. 188.

    cain

    @Suzanne: That’s exactly what the hedge funds are doing. Those assholes are everywhere trying to create a renter’s society and also getting tech companies to lay off people because they think the american worker is too expensive.

  189. 189.

    comrade scotts agenda of rage

    @Suzanne: ​
     

    …but I generally think the way to rectify that is with, you know, paying more in taxes.

    Which isn’t ever mentioned by them because it would undercut their basic grift.
    I’ve always said “Patriots Pay Taxes”.
    When people point out to them how the private sector loves to bid on suburban services because they see it as a cash cow, said people get blocked.

  190. 190.

    Soprano2

    @UncleEbeneezer: I think it was also because he knew the press was primed for it and would bite on it eagerly. Notice how that’s exactly what they did. Republicans know how to structure things to get maximum press coverage.

  191. 191.

    Suzanne

    @comrade scotts agenda of rage:

    My earlier point is that most are in burbs where the people who propagandize for “market urbanism” don’t want to live and thus, don’t scream for it.  There are some pieces that indicate that approach might actually have some efficacy in burbs but it’s also a swath of land that is more effective at “upzoning pushback” than the minority populations that were in urban cores and have felt the brunt of pro-development, hyper-gentrification since we came out of the Great Recesssion. 

    Most dead malls are in suburban areas with large working-class and minority populations. The ones that are getting redeveloped, like Landmark, are mostly in wealthy suburbs. And there’s usually community support for it in those areas, because the empty mall is an eyesore.

    The biggest reason it is slower to happen in less-wealthy areas is the same as it’s been forever: because no private developer wants to take on a higher-cost project that will be less profitable. No private developer will build cheaper stuff until the higher-end market is saturated.

  192. 192.

    karen gail

    Nothing hurts like being told that a preteen rape victim can not get an abortion, topped off by an “illegal” abortion is killing her. At 13 a girl should be looking forward to life not having her mother deicide if she should be an organ donor.

  195. 195.

    Suzanne

    @comrade scotts agenda of rage: I haven’t read Strong Towns in a long time because they kept ignoring this basic fact and it was tiresome. Insolvency is not sustainable and I’m sick of it. I pay twice as much in taxes for my house in Pittsburgh as I did for my house in Phoenix, and it’s worth about half as much. And I’m happy to pay it, because that’s reasonable. I can’t tell you the number of times I voted for “budget overrides” so schoolchildren could have fucken Kleenex and pencils. But there was always money to resurface the goddamn eight-lane roads!

    They are correct about “stroads” and high-speed traffic patterns, and walkability, and parking minimums being shitty and adding stupid cost to development. But none of that is especially novel, and you can be in alignment with those positions without being on their train.

  197. 197.

    Kay

    @UncleEbeneezer:

    one of the reasons Hur pulled this bullshit is because too many people on our side spent the past 4 years amplifying bad faith attacks on Biden’s mental acuity and clutching our pearls over it.

    “you made dad hit us”

    I think Hur is 100% responsible for his hackish, unprofessional work product. Then, looking at the result, any ordinary workplace accountability scheme would then ask the next question – “who hired him for this job?” You instead of looking at up the chain, look down and blame voters, the least powerful actors on an individual basis in this whole scenario.

  198. 198.

    Kay

    @UncleEbeneezer:

    Hur has an enhanced duty, a greater duty, because he’s a lawyer and the United States is (supposedly!) his client and he behaved unprofessionally and unethically thereby poorly serving his client.

    But someone hired the bad lawyer, and it wasn’t voters.

  199. 199.

    Sister Golden Bear

    @OzarkHillbilly: Thank you for sharing this. It’s one of many Republican attempts to legally erase us.

    @Baud: It’s intended to block trans people from revising their birth certificates to mach their current gender identity. It’s another way to out trans people — especially if they’re flagged with a “pink triangle” — and make it harder to trans people to get other legal ID changed. Which also outs trans people and makes them the target of all the other types of anti-trans discrimination Republicans are legalizing.

  201. 201.

    kindness

    Merrick Garland’s actions during his tenure as AG have shocked me.  I mean, I figured he was kinda milquetoast.  It’s why Obama nominated him to the Supreme Court figuring Republicans wouldn’t squash him.  Merrick’s political cluelessness in trying to appear apolitical has knifed Joe Biden in the back how many times so far?  This new Hur Report is just the latest.

    I have to say I’m almost glad he’s not sitting on the Supreme Court now.  Sure, he’d be better than Trump’s Gorsuch but by how much I’m now questioning.

  202. 202.

    Sister Golden Bear

    @Baud: Sorry I was under-caffeinated and confused this with stuff going on in other states. My best reading of the news is that it would trans people with birth certificates that were revised, can keep the revised birth certificates — but with the “pink triangle” to out them as trans. Not sure if it would block trans people from changing birth certificates going forward.

    Kansas blocked trans people from changing their gender marker on drivers’ license and planned to revert both drivers’ licenses and birth certificates to list the sex someone was assigned at birth. I assume there’s court cases challenging it, but I have a hard enough time keeping up with the latest stuff — 370+ Republican anti-trans bills so far this year.

  205. 205.

    MCA1

    @Kay: Totally with you.  Garland allowing Hur, of all people, to be the one given this billet, was an obviously terrible mistake from the get-go.

    If I may revise UncleEbeneezer’s lament slightly: I think it’s also worth noting that, if the public weren’t so pathetically credulous from the get-go on the transparently bad faith “Biden’s a doddering old fool” reporting and insinuations and both-sidesing, then Hur’s bs wouldn’t matter and wouldn’t be getting amplified the way it is.  That fundamental isn’t specifically Garland’s fault (although I give Biden and his team plenty of blame for letting this stuff go unchecked for so long that’s it’s just become cw that he’s so enfeebled he probably can’t remember his own birthday).

  207. 207.

    Freemark

    @schrodingers_cat: I was actually talking about new construction. Homes like you mentioned are still fairly cheap, but are almost exclusively in the city, and have extremely high school taxes as a percentage of value. This is due to low home values and the fact close to half of the district is owned by non-profits and government. Actually designed that way as part of white flight in 50’s and 60’s. In PA school districts are small and very local.

  210. 210.

    Paul in KY

    @TBone: That was mostly because the stupid fascist scumwads (in typical Teutonic manner, I must say) documented all their horrible crimes for posterity.

  213. 213.

    Paul in KY

    @Suzanne: That Seaside or Surfside or whatever the fuck it’s called over there to West of Destin always creeps me out when I drive through it. There are some weird looking frame ‘cottages’ there. Rove was supposed to have a place there and whenever I drove through I was looking for him. Was going to have a ‘lapse in concentration’.

  214. 214.

    evodevo

    @Frankensteinbeck: ​
      My problem is, I want these choads closely questioned in public about these “suspect” tours they gave in a closed bldg in areas that were not the usual constituent tourist locations. And I want it hammered on in the media…

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