Small Men, Big Problems

A coupla things about North Korea.

First, it's been less than a full generation since North Korea came relatively close to being wiped out by famine.

Nobody knows for sure what the numbers are - estimates range from 250,000 to 4 million dead N Koreans. That's anywhere from 2% to 18% of the total population. By comparison, what do you suppose happens to this country if somewhere between 3 million and 52 million Americans died over a 5 year period?

Now, some good old fashioned Keynesian Stimulus can do wonders to help you recover from just about anything, so a massive investment in a nationalized push towards (eg) nuclear weapons would definitely boost the economy, but that assumes you have a shitload of credit or the ability to monetize your national debt, neither of which was available to North Korea in the 90s.

One of the big reasons for that famine was the loss of patronage. The Soviet Union cratered and cut their support. China stepped in, but they had their own problems with drought and shortages and lack of hard currency, so they had to bail too.

Anyway, N Korea gets practically nothing done without the help of a Patron State.

Second (to shorten the story), Putin makes out like a bandit if he stirs the shit in SE Asia.

And while he risks creating the monster - a deliverable H-bomb means never having to say, "Yessir, whatever you want, boss" - Uncle Vlad gets a net benefit just by pimping the chaos and looking for the opportunities.

Keith

Betting their political lives on whether or not Trump gets away with it.

Today's Podcast

No, not The Professional Left. We'll get to that one a little later.

This one is You Are Not So Smart - Episode 108: Pandora's Lab:



20,000 dead Americans every year - because of Opioids.

And the idiocy of smart people.

So also too - be cautious about being cautious.

Corporatocracy

Lobbyists, Coin-Operated Politicians and self-subjugating citizens.

Newsweek, DAVID SIROTA, ALEX KOTCH, JAY CASSANO AND JOSH KEEFE:

The French company that says its Houston-area chemical plant is spewing "noxious" smoke—and may explode—successfully pressed federal regulators to delay new regulations designed to improve safety procedures at chemical plants, according to federal records reviewed by International Business Times.The rules, which were set to go into effect this year, were halted by the Trump administration after a furious lobbying campaign by plant owner Arkema and its affiliated trade association, the American Chemistry Council, which represents a chemical industry that has poured tens of millions of dollars into federal elections.

The effort to stop the chemical plant safety rules was backed by top Texas Republican lawmakers, who have received big campaign donations from chemical industry donors.

Representatives from Arkema Americas and the American Chemistry Council did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Will The Real God Please Stand Up

Joel Osteen took a (mostly) richly deserved slagging this past week because of his ridiculous "response" to the Harvey mess in Houston.

A fellow goddie takes him to task (John Pavolovitz, Stuff That Needs To Be Said):

Dear Joel Osteen,

Over the past few days you’ve faced an unrelenting wave of Internet shaming, and you’ve experienced the wrath of millions of people who watched the week unfold and determined they were witnessing in you and your megachurch’s response to the hurricane—everything they believe is wrong about organized Christianity; its self-serving greed, its callousness, its tone-deafness in the face of a hurting multitude, its lack of something that looks like Jesus.

They questioned your initial silence and your closed doors.

They watched with disdain as local Mosques and furniture stores rushed to receive newly homeless victims while you waited.

They shook their heads at the conflicting stories of a flooded church and impassable roads.

They lamented you tweeting out that “God was still on his Throne,” while thousands of your neighbors were literally under water.

They saw your social media expressions of “thoughts and prayers” as hollow and disingenuous, knowing the stockpile of other resources at your disposal.

They witnessed with disgust what they deemed as your late and underwhelming act of kindness performed under duress.

They raged at your excuse that Houston didn’t ask you to receive victims—because (whether Christian or not) they realized that Jesus’ life was marked by an overflow of generosity and compassion and sacrifice that rarely required official invitation.

As a result of the pushback and condemnation you received, I imagine you feel like this has been a rough week. It hasn’t. You’ve had the week you probably should have had, all this considered. You’ve had the week that was coming long before rain ever started falling in Houston.

I kinda stepped in my own shit on Facebook a few days ago when I Share-Posted a meme from Occupy Democrats, that got debunked at Snopes:

It sounded about right to me - partly because it confirms my bias. So, as usual, I posted it with the caveat that some of those churches likely had good reasons for not responding.  

I was thinking those reasons were all about the flooding, but there was also the point made by FEMA that I missed - sometimes, well-meaning efforts to help can end up making matters worse if they're not done properly.

There are stories about some neighborhood churches taking in the locals without having made adequate provisions for food water sanitation and security.

But none of that makes what Joel Osteen is doing (or not doing) OK.

I have practically no use for anybody who sells nothing as if it were something. Especially when they have a chance to substantiate their baloney in a real-world circumstance and still deliver nothing of substance.

Zoom

It's not just everything in Australia - everything in the whole fucking universe is trying to kill us.

EarthSky:

Asteroid 3122 Florence will safely pass by our planet on September 1, 2017 at over 18 times the Earth-moon distance. The asteroid will not be visible to the unaided eye. It will, however, become visible in small amateur telescopes by late August, in the course of what will become the closest encounter to Earth by this asteroid since 1890.

It won’t come this close again until after the year 2500.

Today's Tweet

Everything old becomes new again

They should remake Lord of the Flies but with old men so desperate to cut their own taxes and pollute that they fall in with Donald Trump

— LOLGOP (@LOLGOP) August 31, 2017

Today's Tweet

Reaffirming the reason we hear (mostly) "conservatives" constantly harping, "Ya cain't fix stoopid" - because so many of them have firsthand knowledge and direct experience.

Three days after Hurricane Katrina: Where was Michelle Obama? pic.twitter.com/hjwhsxHdq5

— Bikergirl4trump (@TrumpResponders) February 23, 2017

Troll Big Or Stay Home

WaPo, Michael Cavna:

At first glance, you might not notice. There’s the tangerine-tinted skin. The buttercream half-bouffante. The long red tie. Everything looks like standard-issue Trump caricature — till you get to the teeth. They jut out like a rodent’s, as if for chewing up opponents or gnawing on one’s own political tail.

This, standing 15 feet tall and puffed out by hot air, is Trump Rat. And he is set to make his Washington debut come lunchtime Tuesday on the green of Dupont Circle, for a two-day engagement a short hop north of the White House.

You Know It's Likely

In some ways it's kind of a cheap shot. At least it's a little too easy and obvious.

But I think we know that a year from now - even tho' a lot of 'em will still be getting payouts from Treasury - because it'll still be pretty fucked up down there - somebody will shake that Etch-A-Sketch and jagoffs like these guys will be right back at it.

And I might as well put my cynicism to work here and make the point that lots of cronies are about to get rich(er) because of their sudden realization that they have a burning passion to provide "relief goods" to all those poor innocent victims.

Today's Tweet

There is literally an archived Trump-as-hypocrite Tweet for every occasion.

Not only giving out money, but Obama will be seen today standing in water and rain like he is a real President --- don't fall for it.

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 30, 2012

But Then We're Stuck With Pence

Pinch-faced blue-nosed purity warrior - 2005 edition:

Video: “Katrina breaks my heart...but we must not let Katrina break the bank for our children & grandchildren” Mike Pence-2005 #ImpeachTrump pic.twitter.com/SxmT8NGEA7

— Scott Dworkin (@funder) August 29, 2017

It seems like they're just being assholes - and they are - but it goes beyond that.

I think they can't stand the thought that we'll notice how well good old-fashioned Keynesian economics works when you put it in action.

If they go ahead and do the funding for a proper recovery after a natural disaster, then they prove the real value of Direct Spending Stimulus - and they hate having to admit that.

They hate it so much that they'll cut that direct stimulus somewhere else - as a political offset.

So they're not "offsetting the spending" by saving money elsewhere; they're offsetting the benefits in Houston (eg) by creating damage in places like Des Moines or Omaha.

The cynicism required for that kind of move is pretty awful, but what's truly horrifying is knowing so many Americans are so ignorant of the fundamentals of economics that they'll swallow anything these assholes put out.

Education is not optional in a free society that wants to stay that way.

Keith

Back towards Righteous Preciousness

Another Today's Tweet

Read the whole thread (15 parts)

I was the judicial clerk for the judge in the original Apraio trial. I have some thoughts on the pardon. (1/15)

— Andrew Case (@AClaudeCase) August 29, 2017

OK For Me But Not For Thee

Pegged in the red.

WaPo Fact Checking - Sandy vs Harvy:

“The problem with that particular bill is it became a $50 billion bill that was filled with unrelated pork. Two-thirds of that bill had nothing to do with Sandy.”

-- Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.), interview with NBC’s Katy Tur, Aug. 28, 2017

- snip -

Many Republicans said that the emergency spending should have been offset by cuts elsewhere. House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.), at the time chairman of the Budget Committee, was one arguing the money needed to be offset. “This legislative abuse is an insult to families facing real emergencies in the wake of the storm,” he declared.

Many Republicans in the House voted for an alternative bill, crafted by Rep. Mick Mulvaney (R-S.C.), now President Trump’s budget director, that would have funded a smaller emergency bill with a 1.63 percent across-the-board reduction in spending on discretionary programs. “It’s so important to me that I think we should pay for it,” he said. But his gambit was rejected.

- snip -

So was the $50 billion bill filled with pork — two-thirds of which was unrelated to Sandy?

No.

The Congressional Research Service issued a comprehensive report on the provisions, and it’s clear that virtually all of it was related to the damage caused by Sandy. There may have been some pork in an earlier Senate version, but many of those items were removed before final passage. There were also some items that appear to have been misunderstood.

How many people in Houston were among those beating the drum right along with Cruz back then, while keeping very quiet about it now?

My guess is: a shitload of 'em.

But of course it won't matter because they've grown very comfortable with having been conditioned to forget anything from even the recent past that doesn't fit the current circumstance.

Say what you will about the near-total worthlessness of Mitt Romney's GOP, but they nailed it with that Etch-A-Sketch imagery.