Change in the Works

Scott Walker has officially been demoted to my second tier of GOP candidates.

It's hard to believe that HUD ever defended this.

Here's an example of John Rawls at work in the public education system.

Nate Silver's website is bringing data analysis to the bedroom.

I feel a little bad because we had such memories in it and also the name makes me sound unpatriotic, but in my view the Jeep Liberty has been replaced with this.

Chris Borland recently retired from the NFL after just one year of playing, in part because of concerns about brain trauma and injury generally.

It sounds as if the choice is either ballerina or good education. Or poor house, I guess.

Responses:

1. The Black Lives Matter movement is starting to remind me of the Occupy Wall Street movement (never a good sign) in that they want to be heard and relevant more than they want to participate in the political process. As for Shaun King, I don't really care except that these allegations (and facts, in the case of Rachel Dolezal) further undermine the idea that race has to matter in how we organize ourselves as a society.

2. It's funny when liberals say that people in need will never take advantage of the system. There is obviously not a lot of incentive for colleges and grad schools to cut costs (since they aren't the ones who have to worry about getting paid), but I wonder if a good law school that could afford it (maybe even a T-10 school would gain a competitive advantage by cutting tuition by 10%. Would students even notice? Also, look at all the terrible schools these people get loans for...

3. She's right about confirmation bias - most people tip a normal amount. I think you'd have to do a real study (for which you would never get funding) to see what the averages are.

4. I assume that as well, but I don't see the butler...

5. I'm glad we cleared that up.

6. Where is the Mosaic district? In any case, I'm looking forward to trying that bone-in ribeye, as well as the 35-40 other new items...

7. That makes a lot of sense. If you have Starbucks locations everywhere, and people aren't exactly climbing over each other for coffee and pastries at 8 pm, why not use the space for yummy dinner items? That said, I've only been to a Cosi with a bar (the closest comparison) once after 7, and that was at Dulles while waiting for a connection.

R2R:

3. When I have my kitchen back, I will make my triumphant return!

5. That's what I thought too, but it's this symbolic thing now, and rather than making the campaign promise, "I'm going to reform Guantanamo!", which isn't as flashy, I guess, they've decided to close it. But I don't think really anyone put much thought into the convenient solution Gitmo gave to the problem of what to do with foreigners with no presence in the United States who nonetheless were waging war against us.

6. Tesla is more than happy to use government subsidies, renewable energy credits, and whatever else it can get its hands on to help it sell cars. I would consider buying a Tesla because they're cool, but I wouldn't be smug about it...

R2R2R:

3. The second story was the woman who used her lotto winnings to bail her boyfriend out of jail. It was the second story you linked in #2. That said, you get your bail money back as long as the defendant shows up for court, so maybe it turned out okay.

R2R2R2R:

3. The downside is that we can never again use the old plan, so we should make sure that switching makes sense. It also means we have to pay the full cost of the phone upfront, though I think you can maybe $20/month and pay for the phone over time. You can't leave the plan until the phone is paid off if you do this, so it ends up being remarkably similar. Also, I think sticking with the old plan makes more sense if you don't use a lot of data and don't share. I think Verizon is doing this primarily because people want unlocked phones, and to be sure, if I had to pay for my international data I may have done better with an unlocked phone.

B