Tag Archives: mr-

The Fabulous Memory of Donald Trump

by AngieHerxjuipf Posted on November 27, 2015

Mother Jones

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Donald Trump on the reporter he mocked a few days ago:

Serge Kovaleski must think a lot of himself if he thinks I remember him from decades ago — if I ever met him at all, which I doubt I did.

Serge Kovaleski on Donald Trump:

In an interview on Thursday, Mr. Kovaleski said that he met with Mr. Trump repeatedly when he was a reporter for The Daily News covering the developer’s business career in the late 1980s, before joining The Post. “Donald and I were on a first-name basis for years,” Mr. Kovaleski said. “I’ve interviewed him in his office,” he added. “I’ve talked to him at press conferences. All in all, I would say around a dozen times, I’ve interacted with him as a reporter while I was at The Daily News.”

Donald Trump again:

I have the world’s greatest memory. It’s one thing everyone agrees on.

Donald Trump yet again, during the third Republican debate on October 28:

BECKY QUICK: You had talked a little bit about Marco Rubio. I think you called him “Mark Zuckerberg’s personal senator” because he was in favor of the H-1B visas.

DONALD TRUMP: I never said that. I never said that.

In fact, Trump had said exactly that in his own immigration plan six weeks earlier. There are legions of examples like this. Perhaps Trump’s memory isn’t quite as infallible as he thinks? Or maybe his memory is great but he’s a serial liar? Decisions, decisions.

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The Fabulous Memory of Donald Trump

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Robots Will Take Your Job Someday, But In the Meantime They’ll Decide Which Jobs You Can Have

by Rob028740809 Posted on November 23, 2015

Mother Jones

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Are you worried about the robots coming to take your job? You should be! But that’s still a ways away for most of us. In the meantime, the robots will be deciding which jobs we’re allowed to have. Today, the consistently fascinating Lydia DePillis points us to a new study that evaluates how well computer algorithms do at hiring new workers. The test bed is a large company with multiple locations. The workers perform relatively rote cognitive work that the authors can’t reveal, but it is “similar to jobs such as data entry work, standardized test grading, and call center work.”

In order to hire better workers, this company rolled out a new test that consists of “an online questionnaire comprising a large battery of questions, including those on technical skills, personality, cognitive skills, fit for the job, and various job scenarios.” So how did stony-hearted Mr. Robot do?

Better than humans, according to the authors. The test rates each applicant as green, yellow, or red, and they found that greens stayed on the job for 12 days longer than yellows, who in turn lasted 17 days longer than reds. This is significant since the average job tenure at this company is 99 days. More to the point, the authors find that more interference from hiring managers leads to worse results. “In our setting it provides the stark recommendation that firms would do better to remove discretion of the average HR manager and instead hire based solely on the test.”

But maybe hiring managers choose more productive workers? Nope. “In all cases, we find no evidence that managerial exceptions improve output per hour. Instead, we find noisy estimates indicating that worker quality appears to be lower on this dimension as well.”

Hmmph. I guess it’s HR managers who really need to be scared here. Apparently they simply add no value at all for jobs like this. Eventually, though, we’re going to start looking at whether these tests systematically discriminate against women or blacks or other protected classes. It would be pretty easy for this to happen either intentionally or unintentionally. Then the robots will either have to get smarter or else, ironically, find themselves out of a job.

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Robots Will Take Your Job Someday, But In the Meantime They’ll Decide Which Jobs You Can Have

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When Will Republicans at Last Get Serious About National Security?

by JohnettBloodswo Posted on November 19, 2015

Mother Jones

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Today the Wall Street Journal editorial page sings the praises of French President François Hollande:

French security forces Wednesday conducted hundreds of antiterror raids and placed more than 100 suspects under house arrest….Security forces found a weapons cache in the city of Lyon that included Kalashnikov rifles and a rocket launcher….France has some 11,500 names on government watch lists. Many are likely to be detained under the three-month state of emergency that Mr. Hollande declared after Friday’s attacks.

….Mr. Hollande has been right to declare war on Islamic State and order French bombing raids on its capital in eastern Syria. France is still a militarily capable nation, as it proved when it turned back an al Qaeda offensive in Mali in 2013. It can do significant damage to ISIS if it increases the tempo of its current bombing or deploys its Foreign Legion to liberate the city of Raqqa.

….Until America gets a new Commander in Chief, Mr. Hollande is the best antiterror leader the West has.

Hmmm. It’s certainly true that Hollande has been among the most hawkish of European leaders. It’s also true that France was one of the first to join the US air campaign against ISIS—though their military efforts so far have been little more than pinpricks. But let’s roll the tape back to June 2014, when President Obama was first trying to put together a coalition. He and Hollande issued a joint communique with all the right promises, but as France 24 reported, “Behind that facade of unity, there are significant disagreements between the two countries about how best to respond to the recent bloody territorial surge by ISIS.”

Why France is reluctant to act against ISIS in Iraq

On June 18, a meeting was held in the Elysee with the French Ministers of Defence and Foreign Affairs….For the moment, however, no military measures are planned….Moreover, “No one has asked for it”, added the same source. Requests for military assistance from Baghdad have so far been addressed to the international community or Washington, but “not specifically to France”, as a foreign affairs spokesman pointed out on June 17.

….The lack of French enthusiasm for an armed intervention in Iraq, whether it be air strikes or sending military advisers to Baghdad, is due partly to fear that any intervention would be ineffective if it were not accompanied by a real commitment by the Iraqi government to act on sectarian tensions.

That’s the best anti-terror leader the West has, according to the Journal. Nobody had “specifically” asked France, so Hollande decided to hang tight and see which way the wind was blowing.

This is the kind of thing that makes it so hard to talk about ISIS and terrorism. It’s not as if this has been Obama’s finest hour, after all, and it would be silly to suggest otherwise. But the opposition has generally been much worse. Obama waffled over Syria’s use of chemical weapons, but then Congress bungled things further by refusing to approve Obama’s call for retaliatory strikes—with both Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio joining in. Obama may have been late to recognize the threat from ISIS, but he’s still the guy who put together the coalition. France has been a good partner in the fight against ISIS, but that happened only after Obama spent some time cajoling them into action.

And Republicans simply can’t be bothered to take any of this seriously. They blather about Obama being weak, but when you ask them for their plans you just get nonsense. They demand “leadership”; they bask in cheap applause lines about a bigger military; they all chime in like puppets to agree on a no-fly zone; they suggest we stop worrying about civilian casualties; they propose more arms for the Kurds; they want to team up with Sunni tribal leaders without saying how they’d accomplish it; and they vaguely imply that we should bomb ISIS differently….or more….or with greater determination….or something.

None of this is remotely serious. A bigger military wouldn’t affect ISIS. A no-fly zone wouldn’t affect ISIS. Killing civilians would actively help ISIS. The Kurds aren’t going to fight ISIS in Sunni territory. Sunni leaders aren’t going to be reliable allies until they trust Baghdad to treat them equitably. And sure, we could bomb more, but there’s not much point until we have the ground troops to back it up. But Republicans have been unanimously opposed to American troops all along, and Iraqi ground troops flatly aren’t yet willing or able to do the job.

I hardly want to be in the position of pretending that Obama’s ISIS strategy has been golden. But Republicans make him look like Alexander the Great. They treat the whole subject like a plaything, a useful cudgel during a presidential campaign. Refugees! Kurds! Radical Islam! We need to be tougher!

That isn’t leadership. It barely even counts as coherent thought. It’s just playground jeering. But right now, that’s all we’re getting from them.

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When Will Republicans at Last Get Serious About National Security?

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Quote of the Day: "Carly Cut His Balls Off"

by GilbertHancock Posted on September 24, 2015

Mother Jones

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It’s been obvious to me for a while that the best way to get under Donald Trump’s skin is to attack him where it really hurts. Don’t call him a clown or an entertainer. That’s water off a duck. But he genuinely cares about his reputation as a dealmaker. Hit that. Or his reputation for being tough. Hit that. National Review’s Rich Lowry finally took this approach last night, and it worked:

“Let’s be honest: Carly cut his balls off with the precision of a surgeon — and he knows it,” Lowry said on “The Kelly File.” Host Megyn Kelly was shocked. “You can’t say that!” she said, before covering her eyes with a hand. “You can’t say that.”

….Trump quickly exploded on Twitter and wrote in a tweet: “Incompetent @RichLowry lost it tonight on @FoxNews. He should not be allowed on TV and the FCC should fine him!”

….”I love how Mr. Anti-PC now wants the FCC to fine me,” Lowry tweeted, adding a hashtag: #pathetic….Lowry finally threw up a white flag and offered this tweeted compromise: “A deal for you, Donald: if you apologize to Carly for your boorish insult, I might stop noting how she cut your b**** off.”

See? Easy peasy. Now I want someone to take on his dealmaking acumen. It shouldn’t be too hard. That should really get him hot under the collar.

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Quote of the Day: "Carly Cut His Balls Off"

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A Big Week for the RFS

by Posted on September 16, 2015

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A Big Week for the RFS

Posted 16 September 2015 in

National

Earlier this week, EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy and USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack both expressed support for the Renewable Fuel Standard at the annual Growth Energy fly-in. Biofuels industry leaders followed up with a letter to President Obama, urging him to support a strong RFS.

McCarthy told attendees that “The biofuel industry is the great American success story,” and that “the EPA is are working hard to make sure we are moving towards the [RFS] levels intended by Congress.” Secretary Vilsack also offered praise for the RFS and encouraged the industry to promote more positive news about ethanol.

Find more coverage of the conference here and here.

In their letter, industry leaders reminded the President that the EPA’s draft proposal endangers the progress our country has made toward bringing cellulosic ethanol, the cleanest motor fuel the world has ever known, to market.

“Mr. President, the ramifications of your decision on this issue are substantial for America’s largest renewable energy sector. If the final rule includes distribution waivers, the global market signal will be that your Administration is backing away from its support of the most transformative U.S. energy and climate policy on the books today; and one that is widely regarded to be the best cellulosic and advanced biofuels policy in the world. While our companies will not fail to deploy advanced biofuels, we will continue to be forced to look overseas where renewable fuel policies are more stable.”

Read the full letter here.

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A Big Week for the RFS

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Inflation Is Low? Let’s Tighten Monetary Policy Anyway.

by NewtonVallejos Posted on August 29, 2015

Mother Jones

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Federal Reserve Vice Chairman Stanley Fischer comments on inflation and monetary policy:

The Federal Reserve’s No. 2 official said there is “good reason” to think sluggish U.S. inflation will firm and move back toward the U.S. central bank’s 2% annual target, touching on a significant assessment facing the Fed ahead of its September policy meeting.

….When the time comes to raise rates, Mr. Fischer said, “we will most likely need to proceed cautiously” and with inflation low, “we can probably remove accommodation at a gradual pace. Yet, because monetary policy influences real activity with a substantial lag, we should not wait until inflation is back to 2% to begin tightening.”

A lot of people think the big problem with Fischer’s statement is the first bolded sentence. There’s been “good reason” to think inflation will increase for a long time. And yet it hasn’t. Why are we supposed to believe that this year’s good reason is any better than previous ones?

That’s fair enough. But I think the real problem is in the second bolded sentence: Fischer is intent on tightening monetary policy well before inflation shows any sign of hitting 2 percent. This illustrates a serious asymmetry in the Fed’s decisionmaking. If inflation goes below the 2 percent target, they’re willing to wait things out. But if it shows even the slightest sign of maybe, someday going a few basis points above the 2 percent target, then it’s time to tighten. The net result of this is that inflation won’t average 2 percent. It will swing between 1 and 2 percent, maybe averaging 1.5 percent or so.

That’s a bad thing, and it’s especially bad if, like me, you think our inflation target should be more like 3-4 percent anyway. But that’s the way it is.

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Inflation Is Low? Let’s Tighten Monetary Policy Anyway.

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Greece Surrenders to Europe — For Now

by SebastiHussey Posted on July 13, 2015

Mother Jones

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Well, it appears that Greece has accepted the European deal. This means austerity as far as the eye can see, and no guarantees from Europe except that negotiations over the real agreement will begin soon. Greek opinion on the street was mixed:

Miltiades Macrygiannis, proprietor of an antiques store in Athens, Art and Craft Interiors, said he was hopeful and relieved that a so-called Grexit — a Greek exit from the eurozone — appeared to have been avoided. But he was also disgusted.

“It’s simple: We wasted five months,” Mr. Macrygiannis said. In the end, he added, the austerity measures that had to be taken appeared to be worse than what the creditors had been willing to give five months ago, when the new Greek government took office.

All true. And banks will remain closed for at least another week until Greece passes legislation implementing the preconditions just to get talks started. After that, who know? But Grexit is still a live possibility. Alexis Tsipras has chosen against it for now, but there’s no telling if he’ll remain opposed once the Europeans really start twisting the knife.

In any case, if he’s smart he’ll start up all the plans for Grexit so he’s ready to go if that’s the way things turn out. There’s not much point in keeping it secret, either. Everyone knows it’s a real option now, so he might as well have drachmas and government IOUs ready to go if the day comes. Grexit may never come, but if it does, there’s no point in making it even more chaotic than it has to be.

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Greece Surrenders to Europe — For Now

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Greece Is Just a Few Days Away From Unconditional Surrender to Germany

by AnnX48qpyih Posted on July 1, 2015

Mother Jones

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Apparently the Greek prime minister is blinking:

In a letter sent on Tuesday to the creditors — the European Central Bank, the International Monetary Fund and other eurozone countries — Mr. Tsipras said Greece was “prepared to accept” a deal set out publicly over the weekend by the creditors, with small modifications to some of the central points of contention: pension cuts and tax increases. In the letter, released publicly on Wednesday, Mr. Tsipras linked Greece’s acceptance of the terms to a new package of bailout aid that would need to be negotiated.

The development initially raised the prospect of progress in resolving a financial crisis that has sent shudders through global markets and deeply strained European unity. President François Hollande of France called for talks in the hopes of getting a deal by the weekend, saying, according to Agence-France Presse: “We need to be clear. The time for a deal is now.”

But other European leaders, fed up with Mr. Tsipras and in no mood for quick compromise, dashed any hopes of an immediate breakthrough.

Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany responded by repeating her position that there should be no further negotiations until Greece holds the referendum on Sunday.

In other words, Merkel is not even willing to grant Tsipras a few meaningless face-saving concessions. Why? I think Merkel believes she now holds all the cards and has no reason to make any concessions at all, no matter how small. And I suspect she’s right. In the end, the Greek public will be unwilling to back Tsipras in Sunday’s referendum and will vote to accept the European deal as is. The potential catastrophe of default and leaving the euro is just too scary for most of them to contemplate.

So Tsipras will be out and Europe will effectively have total control of Greek finances. After six months of cage rattling, the Greek revolt will be over and future governments will simply have to accept whatever pain Merkel wants to deal out. At that point, with Tsipras gone, it’s actually possible she’ll agree to a few concessions here and there. Policy issues aside, there’s little doubt that Merkel’s personal contempt for Tsipras has done a lot to cement her hard line toward Greece.

So that’s my prediction. Unless Tsipras caves completely beforehand, the referendum will be held on Sunday and Greeks will vote to stay in the euro and accept Germany’s terms. It will basically be an unconditional surrender.

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Greece Is Just a Few Days Away From Unconditional Surrender to Germany

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The Law, In Its Finnish Majesty….

by DiegoBuring Posted on April 26, 2015

Mother Jones

In Finland, a speeding ticket costs you more if you’re rich than if you’re poor. Fair enough, perhaps. “The thinking here is that if it stings for the little guy, it should sting for the big guy, too,” says the New York Times.

In any case, I already knew this. What I didn’t know was the formula:

The fines are calculated based on half an offender’s daily net income, with some consideration for the number of children under his or her roof and a deduction deemed to be enough to cover basic living expenses, currently 255 euros per month.

Then, that figure is multiplied by the number of days of income the offender should lose, according to the severity of the offense.

Mr. Kuisla, a betting man who parlayed his winnings into a real estate empire, was clocked speeding near the Seinajoki airport. Given the speed he was going, Mr. Kuisla was assessed eight days. His fine was then calculated from his 2013 income, 6,559,742 euros, or more than $7 million at current exchange rates.

Sadly for Reima Kuisla, he was clocked at 103 kph, which set him back a whopping 54,024 euros. However, if he’d been traveling just 3 kph slower, his fine would have been only 100 euros. No matter what you think of the social justice of this system, that does seem like a bit of a steep spike, doesn’t it?

Here in America, though, perhaps we have different priorities. What minor but annoying infractions would you like to apply this system to here in the good ‘ol USA?

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The Law, In Its Finnish Majesty….

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Scott Walker May Have Just Scored 2016’s Biggest Sugar Daddies

by SarahTKTmunrv Posted on April 21, 2015

Mother Jones

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Charles and David Koch have already made it clear that they plan to do everything in their power to prevent Hillary Clinton (or, in case she stumbles, any other Democrat) from winning the presidency. The moguls hope to garner $889 million for the 2016 election from their networks, much of it bound to be channeled through their favorite Dark Money organizations. At one single summit in late January they managed to raise $249 million from friends and allies.

And now, it looks like the Koch brothers may have landed on their standardbearer for all that spending. As the New York Times reported:

On Monday, at a fund-raising event in Manhattan for the New York State Republican Party, David Koch told donors that he and his brother, who oversee one of the biggest private political organizations in the country, believed that Mr. Walker would be the Republican nominee.

“When the primaries are over and Scott Walker gets the nomination,” Mr. Koch told the crowd, the billionaire brothers would support him, according to a spokeswoman. The remark drew laughter and applause from the audience of fellow donors and Republican activists, who had come to hear Mr. Walker speak earlier at the event, held at the Union League Club.

If the Kochs do decide to back Scott Walker, according to the Times, the money would come from them personally, rather than their network of affiliated groups. But with a combined net worth of over $85 billion, Charles and David could set up a vehicle that would outspend nearly anyone while barely tapping into their bank accounts. Seeing the brothers get behind Walker isn’t terribly surprising. The pair invested heavily in his initial gubernatorial campaign and have aided him in his subsequent elections.

Not so fast, though, Politico‘s Mike Allen cautioned this morning. Despite David Koch’s remarks, he provided Politico a statement disavowing any endorsement. As Allen wrote, the brothers say they are undecided and still plan to hold “auditions” at their summer donor conference. In addition to Walker, the lineup of people under consideration reportedly includes Marco Rubio, Rand Paul, Ted Cruz, and, most surprisingly, Jeb Bush.

Whoever ends up gaining the Kochs’ support would have unparalleled fundraising might, and would have to be considered a favorite for the Republican nomination. And their ascent would be the latest example of the power of the ultrarich in the age of the super PAC: Winning broad support from small donors doesn’t matter when the affections of two individuals willing to spend astronomically could upend the entire campaign.

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Scott Walker May Have Just Scored 2016’s Biggest Sugar Daddies

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