Matthew Yglesias » Endgame

Jul 7th, 2009 at 6:16 pm

Endgame

Congress back in session and as annoying as ever:

— Life is good in Poland.

— LeBron’s not promising to stay in Cleveland.

— I probably should have been paying attention to these Uighur-Han clashes in Western China over the past 48 hours.

— Extreme poverty makes you sad, as does being Italian.

— Comprehensive survey of Republican members of congress lying about cap and trade.

Song of the day—Gaslight Anthem’s “Great Expectations”.

Comments
45

45 Responses to “Endgame”

24AheadDotCom Says:
July 7th, 2009 at 6:24 pm
- Congrats to Amanda Terkel of ThinkProgress for finding the good side of the despotic, murderous, genocidal, tyrannical Saddam regime. Good job.

- It could happen.
Bitter Celtics Fan Says:
July 7th, 2009 at 6:24 pm
— LeBron’s not promising to stay in Cleveland.

He is like, so going to be a Laker. It’s been obvious since he was a senior in high school.
Walker Says:
July 7th, 2009 at 6:28 pm
The Polish situation is entirely because of their aversion to debt. We visited the in-laws last year (my wife is Polish), it was remarkable how cash-based the society is. Nothing outside of the most touristy sections of Krakow would take credit cards. Even in Zakopane, a major tourist area (albeit Polish, not international, tourists), no place would take a credit card,

With that said, they did have a housing bubble of their own. Some of the prices that I heard for square footage in Krakow would put NYC to shame.
rea Says:
July 7th, 2009 at 6:32 pm
So, LeBron is going to Poland?
pete from baltimore Says:
July 7th, 2009 at 6:36 pm
Regarding comment #3 by Walker
I wonder how much of their housing bubble is caused by polish workers in Britain sending money home just like the latinos do in America.Many Salvadorians have told me that all of the money sent to El Salvador from the USA has caused prices to rise in El Salvador. I would think that this source of income in Poland would be drying up since the UK is in deep economic trouble.

The comment about debt reminds me of an article about Moldavia in this months Atlantic Monthly.They too seem to have very little personal debt.
Petey Says:
July 7th, 2009 at 6:38 pm
“LeBron’s not promising to stay in Cleveland.”

What an ugly off-season for the Cavs. First they do the Shaq thing. Then Artest and Ariza spurn them. And now it looks like they’re going to lose Kuester, who is an offensive genius.
jb Says:
July 7th, 2009 at 6:40 pm
love gaslight anthem. i’ve been blasting their cd ever since i got it last month…
Flatt and Scruggs Says:
July 7th, 2009 at 6:46 pm
Come and listen to a story ’bout 24Ahead
A dumb Birther bastard, who no-one ever read
Posts a million comments linking to his site,
Though nobody will follow them, he does it every night.

Well 24 hates brown folks getting everywhere
Kin folk said, ‘head, move away from there
Said California ain’t the place you wanna be
So they loaded up the truck and they moved to Tennessee.
Niklas Blanchard Says:
July 7th, 2009 at 7:08 pm
1. The tone of the Polish article is odd…or I just don’t understand what there is to be surprised about.

2. The first two bullet points are the problem with the (current) iteration of cap and trade. The hit in pocketbooks needs to be large enough to change marginal utility preferences…
curious sampler Says:
July 7th, 2009 at 7:09 pm
The Obama administration, aided deftly by Secretary of State Clinton has brokered a formal mediation process to help solve the Honduras political crisis. Nothing on the front of the NYTS online, nothing on the Atlantic Online, nothing in your blog, Matt.

Obama’s policy here as undercut Chavez big time, helped avert bloodshed and already raised the reputation of the US in Latin America.

But next to no coverage. It’s Palin and Jackson, and Franken and hosts of other stuff.

What gives?
Stefan Says:
July 7th, 2009 at 7:09 pm
I probably should have been paying attention to these Uighur-Han clashes in Western China over the past 48 hours.

Of course I read the above as “Uruk-Hai clashes in Western China”…..
Zach Says:
July 7th, 2009 at 7:40 pm
There’s no reason to follow the Uighur-Han stuff; Andy McCarthy’s got you covered:

Hard to Believe the Lovable Uighurs Could Be Involved in Terrorism…
even though the ones we were holding at Gitmo were trained in al-Qaeda-affiliated camps.

The Wall Street Journal (as flagged in the NRO web briefing) reports on rioting in China by Uighur “students” that has left scores dead and hundreds wounded. The “students,” described elsewhere in the story as from a “predominantly Muslim ethnic group[, which has] long chafed at restrictions on their civil liberties and religious practices imposed by a Chinese government fearful of political dissent,” expressed their dissent by torching cars and buses, as well as — according to accounts of some witnesses to state-controlled media — rampaging “with big knives stabbing people” on the street.

No reason for non-Muslims in Bermuda, Palau, or the United States to worry, though. The lovable Uighurs are merely trying to address “economic and social discrimination.” Once they get social justice, I’m sure they’ll stop.
Duvall Says:
July 7th, 2009 at 7:42 pm
I don’t mean to suggest that Obama has driven our nation’s wingnuts completely around the bend, but commentators at National Review are now approvingly citing the state-run press of Communist totalitarian states.
Zach Says:
July 7th, 2009 at 7:53 pm
Not to mention approving the restrictions of civil liberties and religious practices of Muslims. It’s amazing how quickly a country can get on National Review’s good side by opening its markets.
Don Williams Says:
July 7th, 2009 at 8:08 pm
1) Meanwhile, Sarah Palin will be a constant critic of the Obama Administration over the next 4 years. Not a fucking sparrow will fall from a tree limb without it being made Obama’s fault. Republican Members of Congress are restrained by the need to obtain funds for their districts — and Republican Donors are restrained by the need to protect their business interests. But there is nothing now to restrain Sarah’s spleen –she is the perfect mouthpiece for her rich patrons.

2) Our enemy Sarah will prosper and thrive –as George W Bush prospered and thrived –because our Democratic leaders are too cowardly and spineless to fight the Republicans.

3) The news channels should have been full with Democrats pointing out how the people of Alaska need a governor who will focus on obtaining them jobs –not a diva focused on her own self-promotion and self-interest.

4) Democrats should be pointing out that when Alaska’s revenues fell –because of the drop in the price of oil — and when Alaska’s unemployment rose to 8.1 percent, Sarah chose to CUT AND RUN.

Who would want to fly on an airline if the pilot parachuted out in mid-flight when she got a better job offer on her Blackberry? Who would want a President who would resign in the midst of War in order to go off and promote a book?

5) But Democrats don’t fight the Republicans — they evidently ENABLE them.
pseudonymous in nc Says:
July 7th, 2009 at 8:14 pm
It’s amazing how quickly a country can get on National Review’s good side by opening its markets.

The backstory for the unrest (from the WSJ!) in case people haven’t heard: Uighur migrant workers at a massive toy factory in southern China were falsely accused online of rape, leading to mob reprisals that got two of them killed. Video of the mob was put online and seen in their home region. Hence the riots, and the demands for “social justice”.

In other news, Andrew McCarthy is a “piece of shit”.
Steve LaBonne Says:
July 7th, 2009 at 8:39 pm
In other news, Andrew McCarthy is a “piece of shit”.

You’ll be hearing from the Anti-Shit-Defamation League soon.
tao9 Says:
July 7th, 2009 at 8:43 pm
2 (of 5!!!): “Our enemy Sarah will prosper and thrive…”

Don, take five deep breaths, wash off the Klingon make-up, and put down the plastic light-saber.
DTM Says:
July 7th, 2009 at 9:17 pm
I wouldn’t believe LeBron even if he did promise to stay in Cleveland. I mean, he might, but you never know what could go wrong in Cleveland this year, and he’ll have plenty of other opportunities.
DTM Says:
July 7th, 2009 at 9:41 pm
Don obviously isn’t a big believer in the adage, usually attributed to Napoleon, that “if your enemy is destroying himself, don’t interfere.”
joe from Lowell Says:
July 7th, 2009 at 9:46 pm
Don is one of those people who jumps out of his shoes whenever a Republican says boo.

Ohnoes, Sarah Palin will be popular among Rush Limbaugh fans! Obama’s doomed!

The last election should have demonstrated clearly enough: it’s not 1988 anymore.
Adam Says:
July 7th, 2009 at 9:53 pm
Don, you might want to ask yourself why you irrationally panic over FUCKING EVERYTHING. Remember all those charts you used to post multiple times a day about how swine flu was growing exponentially and how we were going to have millions of deaths? This is a personality flaw of yours. Palin is completely irrelevant. Who gives a fuck if she goes on Fox News to say the exact same talking points everyone on Fox News is saying. She’s lost all credibility with everyone outside of the Republican party, which is pretty damn small these days. Go for a walk and take a few deep breaths.
Don Williams Says:
July 7th, 2009 at 9:55 pm
Re DTM at 20: [ Don obviously isn’t a big believer in the adage, usually attributed to Napoleon, that “if your enemy is destroying himself, don’t interfere.”]
———–
1) Sarah Palin is the person who stated during the campaign that Obama likes to pal around with domestic terrorists who attack the United States of America. And you people think this deceitful bitch should survive so she can spread more lies.

2) She isn’t destroying herself — she’s giving interviews to TIME and other news organizations. See today’s at
http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1908983,00.html

An excerpt:
“President Obama is growing government outrageously, and it’s immoral and it’s uneconomic, his plan that he tries to sell America. His plan to “put America on the right track” economically, incurring the debt that our nation is incurring, trillions of dollars that we’re passing on to our kids, expecting them to pay off for us, is immoral and doesn’t even make economic sense.”

3) Most of the time, both Republican and Democratic national leaders are constrained by multiple forces into a fixed pattern — like two sumo wrestlers straining against one another who lack freedom to move because that would allow the opponent an opening.

Sarah is going to be the little fucking dwarf who comes out and hits the Obama sumo wrestler on the kneecap with a ball peen hammer at opportune moments. From any direction and at any time.

Axelrod and Rahm are fucking idiots if they let her survive.
Don Williams Says:
July 7th, 2009 at 10:04 pm
Re Adam at 22: “Remember all those charts you used to post multiple times a day about how swine flu was growing exponentially and how we were going to have millions of deaths?”
————
Actually, What i pointed out was the rapid exponential growth of swine flu and I noted that would lead to millions of cases by mid-summer if it did not decline.

The spread of the flu did slow down with the onset of summer –but is likely to resume in the fall (look at Argentina and Chile).

I don’t see where we are well prepared with either N95 Masks or an adequate supply of vaccines. According to CDC , we’ve already had 170 Deaths out of 33,902 cases. Plus our healthcare system is about as robust as the New Orleans levees were.
Adam Says:
July 7th, 2009 at 10:04 pm
1) Sarah Palin is the person who stated during the campaign that Obama likes to pal around with domestic terrorists who attack the United States of America. And you people think this deceitful bitch should survive so she can spread more lies.

It doesn’t matter. Nobody who heard her say that and wasn’t already automatically voting Republican believed her. Moderates/independents have no respect whatsoever for Palin or anything she says, least of all after this. Even my ultraconservative fundamentalist family all think she’s a complete idiot and voted for McCain praying he wouldn’t die.

2) She isn’t destroying herself — she’s giving interviews to TIME and other news organizations.

…Ok? A person who’s destroying herself gives an interview to Time. I can just see the average Time reader suddenly deciding after reading it that Obama’s plans are “immoral and uneconomic” (uneconomic? what the fuck?) You’re such a dolt sometimes.

Sarah is going to be the little fucking dwarf who comes out and hits the Obama sumo wrestler on the kneecap with a ball peen hammer at opportune moments. From any direction and at any time.

Let’s try it again. She’s going to be the little fucking dwarf who comes out and tries to punch him in his tree trunk legs. At which point when he decides to stop laughing he’ll pick her up and throw her into the wall.

Axelrod and Rahm are fucking idiots if they let her survive.

And you’ve been wrong about pretty much everything ever that you’ve panicked over, while Axelrod and Rahm got a black man named Hussein with a black nationalist preacher elected and keeping a 60% approval rating. I think I’ll take my chances with their grasp of strategy over yours.
Adam Says:
July 7th, 2009 at 10:06 pm
Actually, What i pointed out was the rapid exponential growth of swine flu and I noted that would lead to millions of cases by mid-summer if it did not decline.

And you consistently ignored evidence that it wasn’t actually rising at anywhere near the rate you predicted, until you eventually stopped posting them when you couldn’t even remotely credibly make the argument anymore. Just like you do with everything else and just like you will with this.
Don Williams Says:
July 7th, 2009 at 10:09 pm
We’ve had to commit almost $10 TRILLION of taxpayer dollars to keeping the economy from collapsing — and it is still on shaky ground.

Can anyone point out where one single Republican has been criticized by the Democrats for this disaster? Can anyone point out where a wealthy Republican donor has been indicted?
Where any fucking Republican has even received a slap on the wrist or even a harsh word of criticism?
Don Williams Says:
July 7th, 2009 at 10:18 pm
Re Adam at 26: “And you consistently ignored evidence that it wasn’t actually rising at anywhere near the rate you predicted, until you eventually stopped posting them when you couldn’t even remotely credibly make the argument anymore.”
——–
It was growing exponentially until the onset of summer. WHO declared a Phase 6 Pandemic on June 11, the flu is spreading rapidly in South America and several cases of Tamiflu-resistant viruses have been recently reported. Wait until we start running out of ventilators in the hospitals.

When things turn to shit in December-January — and they will — the Republicans will be all lined up to point out that the flu would not have spread anywhere near as rapidly if Obama had quarantined Mexico.

Instead , he let the USA –and its global airlines — become the premier incubator and tranmitter of the virus. All because he –like most Democrats — didn’t want to stand up to the Hispanic Lobby.

You better hope it doesn’t reassemble with the Avian flu in Asia.
DTM Says:
July 7th, 2009 at 10:32 pm
Don, I might note, also has a tendency to treat these comment sections as his personal blog.
Don Williams Says:
July 7th, 2009 at 10:33 pm
If we are so damm well-prepared, why has the Obama Administration drawn up Triage plans for Swine Flu vaccines??

In which the Military, Law Enforcement, Senior Government Officials and workers in Critical Infrastructure get vaccines –while 197 MILLION Americans are relegated to “Tier 4″ and “Tier 5″ . Which means they are fucked because their shots will become available sometime around March next year.

See http://www.pandemicflu.gov/vaccine/prioritization.html#DraftGuidanceonAllocatingandTargetingPandemicInfluenzaVaccine
rea Says:
July 8th, 2009 at 6:22 am
If we are so damm well-prepared, why has the Obama Administration drawn up Triage plans for Swine Flu vaccines??

Uh, Don, if you ever go to a hospital emergency room, the first thing they do is send you through triage. Triage is how you repsond to medical emergencies. The notion that any government can just wave a magic wand and instantly treat everyone is risable. Drawing up triage plans is a very basic part of preparing for an epidemic.
Joe McCarthie Says:
July 8th, 2009 at 6:47 am
Biden: If Israel Wants to Bomb Bomb Bomb, Bomb Bomb Iran, That’s Okay With Me”:

Ok Matt give the old plagiarizer the same you gave Palin. NOT! Duh,
Don Williams Says:
July 8th, 2009 at 7:39 am
Re rea at 31: “The notion that any government can just wave a magic wand and instantly treat everyone is risable.”
————-
There is a difference between someone not seeing a doctor for a few hour — versus going several months through flu season without a vaccine. Especially when they are High Risk for flu — asthma, diabetes,etc.

People have a right to ask why we spend almost $1 TRILLION per year on “defense” — yet the Obama Administration didn’t defend them from a flu virus.

Hasn’t procured an adequate supply of N95 masks. Hasn’t procured an adequate supply of vaccines. Made no moves to seal the southern border back in May to slow the spread of the disease.

How many people have died so far? 170? Many of them young, healthy adults — not 70 year old elderly people who have had long lives. Many of the dead have been young people without an existing condition.
bdbd Says:
July 8th, 2009 at 9:11 am
you really need a health care related song of the day!
Njorl Says:
July 8th, 2009 at 9:15 am
How many people have died so far? 170? Many of them young, healthy adults — not 70 year old elderly people who have had long lives. Many of the dead have been young people without an existing condition.

No, they haven’t. I’ve seen suspect anecdotal reports that young, healthy people are becoming unusually sick, but not dying. That’s probably because dying is more quantifiable, while “becoming very sick” isn’t being refuted statistically yet. Looking at the specifics of individual cases, of the first 20 I looked at, all had some underlying medical complications. Two children who were otherwise healthy before gettting swine flu were infected with MRSA in the hospital at which they were being treated, and died. MRSA has killed about 50,000 people so far this year.

Don, can you provide any links to stories of otherwise healthy Americans dying of swine flu? Can you supply 17 (10%)?

According to CDC , we’ve already had 170 Deaths out of 33,902 cases. Plus our healthcare system is about as robust as the New Orleans levees were.

Seasonal flu has killed 13,000 people so far this year.
That’s ~0.5% mortality for the swine flu.
Seasonal flu has a ~1% mortality.

Don, if you really
sydney Says:
July 8th, 2009 at 9:17 am
the game will never be over
joe from Lowell Says:
July 8th, 2009 at 9:46 am
2) She isn’t destroying herself — she’s giving interviews to TIME and other news organizations.

Ohnoes, Sarah Palin giving interviews to news organizations!

No way she can destroy herself that way.

In what respect, Charlie?
Don Williams Says:
July 8th, 2009 at 10:30 am
Re Njorl at 35: “I’ve seen suspect anecdotal reports that young, healthy people are becoming unusually sick, but not dying.”
—————
They are not “anecdotal”. Hospitalization rates for kids 2-18 years of age have been TWICE the rates for adults 18 and over.

From CDC’s report at
http://www.cdc.gov/flu/weekly/

“During April 15, 2009 to June 27, 2009, the following preliminary laboratory-confirmed overall influenza associated hospitalization rates were reported by the EIP (rates include type A, type B, and confirmed pandemic H1N1):

Rates for children aged 0-23 months, 2-4 years, and 5-17 years were 1.4, 0.5, and 0.4 per 10,000, respectively. Rates for adults aged 18-49 years, 50-64 years, and >= 65 years were 0.2, 0.2, and 0.2 per 10,000, respectively. ”

Why do you think the Government’s swine flu triage plan –that I linked to above — gives higher priority to vaccinations of kids over adults –even High Risk adults?
Don Williams Says:
July 8th, 2009 at 12:15 pm
Re Njorl at 35: “Don, can you provide any links to stories of otherwise healthy Americans dying of swine flu? Can you supply 17 (10%)?”
—————–
1) How about this? http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=news/local/east_bay&id=6886804&rss=rss-kgo-article-6886804

” The concern comes as Solano County reports the death of a 53-year-old man with the H1N1, who had no pre-existing condition.

In seven of 17 California deaths, patients had no other underlying health problems. Contra Costa county has had two H1N1-related deaths. ”
Don Williams Says:
July 8th, 2009 at 12:20 pm
Some more anecdotes for Njorl. This Texas Department of State Health Services release show that 67 percent of the Texas flu cases have been 5-18 years of age and another 14 percent was 19-45 years old. Median age of Texas flu deaths has been 39.

http://www.dshs.state.tx.us/swineflu/analysis_casecount-061009.pdf
DTM Says:
July 8th, 2009 at 2:05 pm
This Texas Department of State Health Services release show that 67 percent of the Texas flu cases have been 5-18 years of age and another 14 percent was 19-45 years old. Median age of Texas flu deaths has been 39.

Which means the mortality rate must be considerably higher among old people (otherwise the median age would be in the 5-18 range).
Don Williams Says:
July 8th, 2009 at 3:35 pm
Re DTM’s comment “Which means the mortality rate must be considerably higher among old people ”
————–
Not necessarily — not everything is a symmetrical Bell Curve. The link above shows that Only 4 percent of Texas flu cases have occurred in the age group of 45 years or older.
Njorl Says:
July 8th, 2009 at 10:17 pm
In seven of 17 California deaths, patients had no other underlying health problems. Contra Costa county has had two H1N1-related deaths. ”

Sorry Don. This is a local TV news story that doesn’t present their information in a manner that can be verified. I think they are probably making this up to get viewers. About half of all local news stories are like that. Every death I see with a name attached to it, so that multiple sources of information are available, is someone who has had underlying health issues.
Njorl Says:
July 8th, 2009 at 10:23 pm
Don,
You are also misreading what I said. While I am surprised that young people are becoming sick in disproportionate numbers, I was objecting to anecdotal evidence that young people were suffering disproportionate severity of infection. Numbers of cases do not address that. To analyse that statistically, you’d have to look at something like a ratio of hospital sdmissions to infections, or a ratio of ICU patients to hospital admissions.
Njorl Says:
July 8th, 2009 at 10:28 pm
You can see in this blockquote one of the tricks of crappy local TV newspeople:

“There is still considerable activity uncharacteristic of this time of the year. We are still seeing hospitalizations, emergency room visits and some deaths that are uncharacteristic for this time of the year for influenza,” said California Public Health Director Dr. Mark Horton.
The concern comes as Solano County reports the death of a 53-year-old man with the H1N1, who had no pre-existing condition.
In seven of 17 California deaths, patients had no other underlying health problems. Contra Costa county has had two H1N1-related deaths.
“This is a pandemic flu, which doesn’t mean it’s a terrible flu, but it means it’s a new virus that humanity hasn’t seen before,” said Contra Costa Public Health Director Dr. Wendel Brunner.

They sandwich unsourced statements between quotes from verifiable sources, giving the implication that the information is reliably sourced.

Matt Yglesias

Endgame

45 Responses to “Endgame”

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