Linx

https://www.citylab.com/equity/2019/03/housing-rent-landlords-poverty-desmond-inequality-research/585265/

I thought this was interesting, but like the commentors... I think way underestimates the costs, or, as I like to say, the problem tenant problem.  Maybe this is me, given what I know of our clients at the food pantry, but I suspect that...well, ket's just say that Desmond and ilk are underestimating -- possibly grossly -- the actual cost of rehabbing and fixing up a property.

http://blog.adw.org/2019/03/ancient-mass-house-churches-not-informal-many-think/

Interesting....

https://medium.com/s/story/how-the-worlds-biggest-brewer-killed-the-craft-beer-buzz-e205a28ff632

I don't know...for one, no one is forcing some microbrewer to sell to a bigger firm; on the contrary, I can easily see someone figuring that they can make a real dollar there by selling out, and this is still the United States, you know.  And, as the article notes..well, if people really care, they can buy -- easily -- craft beer.  Let's also not discuss how we really need to modify the role of the state in beer distribution here, though I suspect InBev and ilk would buy every distributor if they could...

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/healthcare/what-happens-if-obamacare-is-struck-down/ar-BBVgfU0?li=BBnbfcN

Let me remind everyone once again that my health care costs have MORE than doubled -- by a lot -- since this bill was passed, and I suspect that this happened to a lot of others as well.  I suspect Mick Mulvaney realizes that the GOP base wants this gone -- people who are getting hammered by this stayed at home in 2018, and that can't happen again in 2020...

Amusement

All sorts of interesting college hoops news today, sort of... Tim Miles was fired.  Alabama hired the coach from Buffalo, whose inked contract extension was not even dry (this does not speak well for the people who don't want to compensate athletes, if you get my drift), and, interestingly... Tennessee fired Holly Warlickm the women's coach.  I mean... I get the feeling a lot of people would want the job, but it would also be an impossible -- almost so -- situation.

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/03/chelsea-clinton-gets-caught-call-out-culture/585397/
Hahaha!  I mean, I feel badly for her, but...this is sort of liberal heaven -- which Chelsea has done her best to create -- so....

https://aeon.co/essays/the-poor-might-have-always-been-with-us-but-charity-has-not

This was interesting; I mean, I guess i always knew this, but it was good to see a reminder.  Of course, the idea of the classics hasn't gone away... my GOPers are more guilty of this than anyone, but, as someone who has done social justice once or twice... let me put it this way:  in some cases, yes, people are poor by their own volition, and by their own voliition they will remain poor.  And, for the most part, I don't feel badly about this; indeed, one must help more-deserving people less because of it, and that simply rankles.

On to other less important news...  I am amused by the whole brouhaha about the Mueller report; I guess I never believed that there was collusion to begin with.  Do I think the President obstructed justice?  Probably.  On the other hand, the Lindsay Grahams of the world can say -- truthfully -- that if Democrats could parse perjury into nothingness, so too can Republicans, especially if the underlying crime never happened.  More seriously -- and I think Lindsay Graham shoud be extremely busy soon -- is the Smollet case, which means that for $10,000, you, too, can make a fake hate crime go away...

Quickies

It's been a long day.  Hell, it's been a long week!  The blogging frequency of course has suffered, but here we are now, watching March Madness.... I for one expected better games from Marquette and Nevada; everyone seemed to think that UF was like OSU, but..  this could be me, but it seemed like the committee was just trying to put Belmont and Fran Dunphy in the Dance, which is fine, but making them play each other...

https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/the-reckoning-of-morris-dees-and-the-southern-poverty-law-center
This could be me, but if the GOP had any brains, they would 1) File a class action suit and sue away for any harassment-related claim (Peter Thiel, I am thinking of you) and 2) have groups start doing the same...I would stress discovery over cash at any opportunity, just to air the dirty laundry...

https://www.wsj.com/articles/gas-tax-hike-a-rare-big-idea-with-bipartisan-backing-11553086670
I see we are having this debate in Ohio, and... well, this is me, but I would think it would be better to raise the tax a couple of cents every year, rather a big hike at once, as this way... no one really notices.  I think we are in agreement that the roads need to be fixed, but...this tax, like most, is regressive.

Linx

The long national nightmare(s) are over; Zion is back and Duke finally beat UNC!  :)  I don't know if they message is that Duke needed everyone to barely beat UNC, or UNC, playing with fire and emotion, was unable to beat a Duke team....

I got an email from the ACLU saying that they were in a fight for their lives over abortion rights... I was like, hmmm, I don't quite think that that is the right analogy here...

https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2019/04/john-bolton-trump-national-security-adviser/583246/

Reading the article...well, let's just say that I love John Bolton more....  even if he was not the Trevor Bauer of Trump appointees, I think he is...more right than people would like to admit.  Being a dick doesn't hurt, in my opinion.

https://sports.yahoo.com/a-preview-of-the-new-procedural-changes-coming-to-mlb-in-2020-162807254.html

I think these are...ok?  Ok the three batter rule is dumb, especially as -- from the union perspective -- it will destroy the careers of 100 guys, to say nothing of the guys who make a career out of platooning; a bunch of their ABs are going to dry up as well.  Less commercial time is good, though with a clock it would be better.  The roster stuff...I don't know; for one, teams should maximize the 40-man in September, for a number of reasons, and... I would think getting a bunch of guys on the roster and playing them in reason enough?  Sometimes teams like to have prospects up, and sometimes you call up guys to reward them or rest regulars.  I thin limiting that is dumb.

To the contrary

Long day.  Long week.  All sorts of crazy stuff.  Oi.  I will admit, though, that I still remain...well, not necessarily calm, but...serene?  I think somehow things are... reaching an equipose.  Prolly not, but for now, I am, to use my favorite phrase, guardedly optimistic.  And we all know what that means...

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/former-vice-president-cheney-challenges-pence-at-private-retreat-compares-trumps-foreign-policy-to-obamas-approach/ar-BBUDXmX?li=BBnbcA1
This could be me, but doesn;t this help  Trump and crew position themselves?  Cheney, fairly or not, is viewed as the architect of a war that is/was an expensive and costly failure... so if the next GOP president comes along and says, Gee, we're not doing this...  I guess the appeal of Trump is that -- using P.J. O'ORourke's phrase -- 90% of the same, and going off the GOP reservation on war... well, politically, it is smart.  It certainly is a pitch to say "I;m not sending your kids to die over there" and, I will admit, it is a traditional -- albeit minority -- GOP view.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/tucker-carlson-unapologetic-over-misogynistic-comments-on-statutory-rape-insults-against-women/ar-BBUC0c6?li=BBnb7Kz
As for this... well, for one, if he had any brains, he would have said "It was for 'Bubba the Love Sponge,' of course I wasn't serious!" or something similar.  I do have to give the liberals props for Breitbarting him -- well played -- but, again, like above...doesn't this sort of help him?  I mean, Sunday's comments...well, any guy just after a breakup says a lot worse, and today...well, I bet there are plenty of people who would agree with him. Also...I always thought Tucker Carlson was viewed as the spoiled rich kid, so spouting off stuff that a construction worker, or our Preseident would say...doesn't hurt the street cred.

Stuff happens

So, is it me, or has Duke played itself on to the 3 line? Ok, maybe I am just panicking, but... and yes, losing two starters to injury would cripple any team, but... they aren't exactly setting the world on fire right now.

In last week's bulletin, it was announced that the Diocese was shutting down the Manna program -- you buy your gift cards through the parish, they get a cut, and everyone is happy. On the one hand, I can see -- it is a lot of work for not much cash -- but it does help the parishes, and every little bit helps.  More seriously... I am going to miss it, as I bought a lot of cards from them.  I mean, my own purchases of gas and groceries, cards for Mom, and a few others, such as stuff from the drug store or fast food places for lunch (with Mom).  I also loaded up on them at Xmas, so I will have to shop (either for cards or other stuff) on my own. It is a first world problem, but...

I have to admit, I have been having trouble with some stuff lately -- my most recent endeavor -- so I made sure to light a candle and pray at the Pieta today... and my latest work on the project went...fairly smoothly?  I mean, compared to recent events.  I am guardedly optimistic that this will continue...

In other news...

Well, maybe now people will stop squawking about the format of the latest J! tournament... ok, prolly not.  Anyways, conveniently ignoring the elephant in the room...well, I sort of liked it... the whole switching per round is a good a way as any to get three people to play J! at once, and the draft... well, good stuff.  I didn't necessarily like the extra padding, but, as I noted... nowadays, anyone can go online and blog about the J! experience; but, a generation ago, you couldn't; it was only in a few books.  I guess the mystery of the experience is a lot less now, and people, like me, just want to answer questions.

PQ last nite...came in second, which was impressive, as it was just Dee and myself.  So there was a big payoff, and while I do not like not winning... it wasn't the worst experience.

https://www.newyorker.com/news/q-and-a/the-classicist-who-sees-donald-trump-as-a-tragic-hero

This, in the New Yorker???  I've added it to the book list, so in 2021 -- at this pace -- I will get along to it.  I like Hanson, in the way I like Clay Travis (quite the comparison); I may not agree with what they say, but I like how they present it, and at the end of it I can say "I get where they come from."  

A change of heart

I am tired...not just physically so, but in every sense of the word.  I mean, I know why; some of it IS physical in that I have not been sleeping well lately, and then, with all of the other things going on, it just cascades, and you can feel it in everything.  Not really seeing any way out of it, at least in the short run. Sigh. 

https://theresurgent.com/2019/02/11/ill-be-voting-for-president-trump-and-vice-president-pence-in-2020/

I think this interesting mainly for who is saying, but in general, I would think, most people -- even if they are not completely enthralled their party's candidate, are at least, will suck up and deal, given 1) the alternative and 2) the fact that 80 to 90% of the time, you are pleased because you are getting most of what you wanted, whereas, say, under Hillary... well, you wouldn't get jack.  

Amusements

https://www.theringer.com/music/2019/2/26/18240667/weezer-black-album-review-rivers-cuomo

I don't know; I've always liked Pinkerton, probaby because it was so...heartfelt?  Maybe some people didn't want to hear what he was saying, but as with most things, I think people just take wayyyy too much out of crap sometimes.

https://www.vox.com/culture/2019/2/25/18239309/oscars-2019-green-book-best-picture

I don't know, either... I mean, as I like to say, no one watches "Cavalcade," and we, and the Academy, survive.  I get many of the arguments above, but I also think that a film should be... fun?  I mean, not all of them, of course, but sometimes people go to the movies to be entertained, and "Rocky" does that... but it is a good film; isn't it the second-best sports movie of all time?  Isn't the point of the movie -- he loses, you know -- not that you win, but you stand and fight and hold your own?  No one believes in you and thinks you have a chance and you do? I mean, it has a hell of a lot MORE relevance than "The Shape of Water."  Of course, considering the competition in that year...

https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2019/02/united-methodists-fracture-lgbt-plan-rejected/583693/

I get a kick out of these articles for a bunch of reasons, such as:
1) They are Protestants, schism is what they do!
2) Isn't it racist to assail all of the African Christians who are upholding traditional practice and belief?
3)  I noticed this in the aftermath of the 2016 election, when I noted that no one went around asking Romney voters how sad they were... no one likes losing, but... they had a vote.   People, I assume, used their consciences and such, and at the end of careful prayer and reflection... they voted.  And you lost.
4)  This could be me, but... it seems in EVERY Catholic diocese in the US, there are always a few parishes that are more...ultramontane, if you will, and a few that are... not, if you get my drift. Mind you, it's still Mass and Confession and all that, but... some places might offer the Latin Mass, while others might have an LGBTQ ministry.  (You get the drift.)  The structure and spiritual life is the same as every OTHER parish, but the tilt is different. 

And you what?  It works.  I mean, people tend to self-select in most cases, but the important thing is that these people are still, nominally, at least... Catholic.  I would like to think people can figure this out and go where they like (or don't; I think Catholics LOVE to use the excuse of "I hate X" to give less), and I seem to recall, along the way, that if worse comes to worse, a tacit suggesstion is offered that if you don't like this parish, St. Moonbat is always available...  I just don't understand why the Mtethodists can't figure this out...