Here's an odd one. A few weeks ago the CFPB issued a new rule substantially cutting late fees on credit card payments. The US Chamber of Commerce quickly sued. They unsurprisingly chose to file in the Fort Worth division of the Northern District of Texas, home to judges Reed O'Connor and Mark Pittman, who are ...continue reading "Reliable Republican judge throws Chamber of Commerce under the bus"
Just in case you're curious, here's the annual rate of bridge failures in the US: There's no trend either up or down. It's perhaps also worth noting that virtually none of these failures were due to age or bad design. The vast majority failed due to floods, being hit by trucks, being hit by barges, ...continue reading "Bridge failures haven’t changed in the past quarter century"
The LA Times reports today on the impact of raising the fast-food minimum wage in California to $20 per hour: Chipotle, McDonald’s, Starbucks, Jack in the Box and Shake Shack are planning to raise menu prices. Fast-food franchisees are laying off employees or cutting their hours. Smaller independent business owners, meanwhile, worry their workers will ...continue reading "Burger flippers in California set to get 12% raise"
Sunset at the Desert Lily Sanctuary in Chuckwalla Valley. This is where I go (almost) every month to skygaze, and I have yet to see any lilies. Of course, I've never been there in daytime, and I've never walked beyond the parking area. Maybe I should leave early and check it out for real the ...continue reading "Lunchtime Photo"
Sam Bankman-Fried was sentenced to 25 years in prison today for his role in the collapse of crypto broker FTX. Here's what John Ray, the guy hired to clean up the mess after FTX declared bankruptcy, had to say about him a few days ago: Vast sums of money were stolen by Mr. Bankman-Fried, and ...continue reading "Sam Bankman-Fried is off to prison"
GDP and GDI are supposed to be identical: just different ways of measuring the same thing. But a gap opened up in late 2022 and has grown ever since. GDP is now about half a trillion dollars bigger than GDI. wtf?
The BLS began collecting unemployment data by race in 1972. Since then, the lowest Black unemployment rate ever recorded was in 2023. The second lowest was in 2022.
This is a rhinoceros hornbill at the LA Zoo. I assume the name comes from its big yellow horn, which looks sort of rhinoceros-like. I wonder what its evolutionary purpose is?
Here's the latest in defamation suits against right-wing zealots who think they can say whatever shit pops into their brains. This time it's Kari Lake, who ran for governor in Arizona: Stephen Richer, the top election official in Maricopa county, sued Lake, her campaign and an aligned Pac last year after she lost her gubernatorial ...continue reading "Update on the end of right-wing terrorism"
Via Adam Ozimek, it appears that even the betting markets are starting to lose faith in Donald Trump: Last month Trump's lead was 21%. Today it's 5%. This is probably the closest thing you can get to a pure vibes take on the election.
According to TheRighting, which tracks right-wing websites, traffic in 2024 is way down compared to the last presidential election cycle in 2020: Traffic compared to 2023 was also mostly down: Traffic tanked to most right wing websites for the sixth straight month. Only five right wing news websites posted gains in YOY unique visitors. For ...continue reading "Right-wing websites are hemorrhaging traffic"
A few days ago I mentioned that Joe Biden had pulled ahead of Donald Trump in national polling. Today brings news that he's doing better in swing states too: Joe Biden had some good news on Tuesday as polling showed him gaining on Donald Trump in six battleground states, seven months before the presidential election. ...continue reading "Biden gaining on Trump in swing states"
A Democrat won a landslide victory in an Alabama state legislature race tonight: In the Huntsville AL area, Democrats have flipped state House District 10 tonight. In 2022, Marilyn Lands (D) lost by about 7 points. This time, she won by almost 25%, sweeping nearly everything. This was a stronger margin here than Doug Jones's ...continue reading "Pro-choice Democrat wins big in Alabama special election"
You all remember Christopher Rufo, don't you? He's a right-wing activist who made his bones as an opponent of Critical Race Theory, DEI, wokeness, systemic racism, LGBT "grooming," and, in general, liberalism's "long march" to take over America's most powerful institutions. Just recently he was largely responsible for getting Christine Gay to step down as ...continue reading "A conservative takes on right-wing social media"
This is some hot buying and selling action at the Montreuil Flea Market in Paris. It's one of the three big flea markets in the city, but it was a disappointment: basically just a bunch of ordinary goods like this being sold at arguably ordinary prices. Are all the Paris flea markets like this? Or ...continue reading "Lunchtime Photo"
A sign of the times: Last night I saw a post on Twitter that displayed a video of the Francis Scott Key bridge in Baltimore collapsing. I did a quick check of a couple of news sites and saw nothing about it, so I assumed it was some kind of AI joke and moved on. ...continue reading "A fake bridge collapse? Nope."
After 20 years of fighting, Visa and Mastercard have agreed to lower their swipe fees. Check it out: In the deal, the credit-card networks and banks will lower the fees that merchants pay to accept credit cards. There is a range of these fees, typically referred to as swipe fees or interchange fees, with an ...continue reading "Credit card companies agree to lower swipe fees by 0.04%"
We all know that Donald Trump loves the Bible. No one has ever loved the Bible more than Trump. He even loves both the Corinthians. But it turns out that Trump especially loves one particular Bible: the large-print King James "God Bless the USA Bible" from singer Lee Greenwood, which can be yours for only ...continue reading "Only one special Bible is endorsed by Donald Trump"
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