Friday Finds, XX
Capitalists or Cronyists? (No Mercy No Malice)
Morality for [...] the current administration, is not capitalism but the worst type of socialism, cronyism. Rugged individualism and capitalism on the way up, privatizing the gains — and then socialism/cronyism on the way down as we socialize the losses with bailouts.
What Professor Scott Galloway (who I have a hardcore intellectual mancrush on) says so efficiently is something that I'm happy that (I think) most of the democratic party's candidates agreed on. It was absolutely the case for Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren.
Why don't Americans know this? Why are we so afraid of socialism that'd benefits the working class when we've been living a socialism for the corporate class for decades now? Why, when crisis hits, do we allow the same things to happen over and over again?
If we're going to want Congress to pass stimulus packages, then we should demand that they bail out wage earners overwhelmingly over shareholders.
Vote the right people in, folks.
These are up-to-date values for Rt, a key measure of how fast the virus is growing.
Have you seen this? Pretty neat, although the visualization is only as effective as they data they have. The two Instagram co-founders (and now ex-Facebook employees), Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger, are behind this. Don't think they'll sell this one to Fuckerberg as well, thank goodness.
“The Soup” – Gifts (Seinfeld Law)
After Bania gives Jerry a brand new Armani suit, he tells Jerry that he can pay him back by taking him out to dinner sometime. Is Jerry actually under any legal obligation to take Bania out dinner? When Jerry took the Armani suit, did he create a legally binding contract that obligated him to take Bania out to dinner?
Do my lawyer friends already know about this? This has to be one of the most amusing mashing of two worlds I never previously considered. If you really love Seinfeld (which you should), and you're into law for whatever reason, then this is heaven in blog form.
Timeline: What Trump Has Said And Done About The Coronavirus (NPR)
With near-daily task force briefings, President Trump has delivered an ever-evolving message to the American public about the coronavirus pandemic.
The constant is the inconsistency. At times he has been in sync with the public health experts advising him on the response and with actions initiated by his administration. But often he has undercut or even contradicted his experts or White House policy.
You know what? I think it's better for my mental health to believe that he's not actually stupid. Nope. Instead, he's just such a narcissistic megalomaniac that he'll troll so hard just to stay in the headlines. He knows exactly what he's doing.
It actually makes me less angry believing that.
Brian Kemp on the other hand. Yeah he's just a fucking moron.