Nick Baumann

"[E]xtreme left economic views are not popular among the rich. Here are some graphs. Ideological..."

Fri, 25 May 2012 16:44:24 -0400

“[E]xtreme left economic views are not popular among the rich. Here are some graphs. Ideological foaming about “trustfunders” aside, if campaigns are funded by rich “megadonors,” we’re going to see a push to conservative policies, especially on economic issues. The two parties are not symmetric. There’s no reason to think that for every Republican megadonor there is an equal and opposite rich funder on the Democrats’ side. Sure, there are some liberal richies, just not as many as on the other side.”

- Today in things that I meant to post to my personal Tumblr but posted to the MoJo Tumblr instead:

Today in things that are obvious but people pretend are not true. “Where Are All the Liberal Megadonors?”

Eugene Polley, Inventor of the TV Wireless Remote, Dies at 96

Tue, 22 May 2012 22:35:50 -0400

Eugene Polley, Inventor of the TV Wireless Remote, Dies at 96:

A true American hero. And I mean that—people whose inventions make everyday life a little bit easier and more comfortable are not celebrated enough. RIP.

"Connecticut is finally coming out of the dark ages. Now if we could only do something about stem..."

Tue, 22 May 2012 12:17:56 -0400

“Connecticut is finally coming out of the dark ages. Now if we could only do something about stem cell research.”

- Sunday Liquor Sales End an Era in Connecticut

James B. Stewart ‘73 Delivers DePauw’s 2012 Commencement Speech....

Tue, 22 May 2012 12:10:36 -0400

James B. Stewart ‘73 Delivers DePauw’s 2012 Commencement Speech. Remarkable.

Meant to post this to my tumblr but put it on MoJo’s by mistake.

Hello Maybe! via tylerkingkade. Oh, internet!

Tue, 08 May 2012 18:29:06 -0400

Hello Maybe! via tylerkingkade. Oh, internet!

"I’m convinced that the whole shoe-bomber business was a prank. What got me onto this theory was..."

Mon, 07 May 2012 16:15:59 -0400

“I’m convinced that the whole shoe-bomber business was a prank. What got me onto this theory was reading that the shoe bomber, a Muslim convert named Richard Reid, had been described by someone who knew him well in England as ‘very, very impressionable.’ I had already decided that the man was a complete bozo. He made such a goofy production of trying to light the fuses hanging off his shoe that he practically asked the flight attendant if she had a match. The way I figure it, the one terrorist in England with a sense of humor, a man known as Khalid the Droll, had said to the cell, ‘I bet I can get them all to take off their shoes in airports.’ So this prankster set up poor impressionable Reid and won his bet. Now Khalid is back there cackling at the thought of all those Americans exposing the holes in their socks on cold airport floors. If someone is arrested one of these days and is immediately, because of his M.O., referred to in the press as the underwear bomber, you’ll know I was onto something.”

- Calvin Trillin predicted the Underwear Bomber. Now there’s another one.

"Within a couple of days (“as soon as he could walk”), Thompson flew to Manhattan,..."

Fri, 04 May 2012 11:23:51 -0400

“Within a couple of days (“as soon as he could walk”), Thompson flew to Manhattan, “where we locked him down for five days in a room in the Royalton Hotel, just up 44th Street from the Scanlan’s office in an abandoned ballroom above an Irish bar a block from Times Square.””

- Looking back at Hunter S. Thompson’s classic story about the Kentucky Derby

"Counterinsurgency is when you try to win the hearts and minds of the enemy. Counterterrorism is when..."

Thu, 03 May 2012 12:29:54 -0400

“Counterinsurgency is when you try to win the hearts and minds of the enemy. Counterterrorism is when you kill the enemy and then try to win their hearts and minds.”

- A great line from Politico’s Roger Simon.

"John Doe #29’s counsel [says] his client is an octogenarian with neither the wherewithal nor the..."

Thu, 03 May 2012 10:35:15 -0400

“John Doe #29’s counsel [says] his client is an octogenarian with neither the wherewithal nor the interest… to download Gang Bang Virgins.”

- Furious judge decries “blizzard” of copyright troll lawsuits

THE BOSS singing The Weight, last night, for Levon Helm.

Thu, 03 May 2012 09:57:19 -0400

THE BOSS singing The Weight, last night, for Levon Helm.

This is pretty much the best thing that has ever happened on...

Thu, 03 May 2012 09:45:50 -0400

This is pretty much the best thing that has ever happened on cable television.

Shep Smith reacts to Mitt Romney reacting to Newt Gingrich quitting (by dkostv)

"Precisely because of the consequences of Carter’s failure, Obama was the more daring in making..."

Tue, 01 May 2012 10:38:12 -0400

“Precisely because of the consequences of Carter’s failure, Obama was the more daring in making his go/no-go decision. That’s the case I argued last year, and nothing I’ve learned since then changes my view. As a college student, Obama had seen a marginally popular Democratic president come to ruin because he approved a helicopter-based secret mission into hostile Middle Eastern terrain. Obama went ahead with a helicopter-based secret mission into nominally “allied” territory, also with huge potential for trouble if things had gone wrong.”

- ‘Even Jimmy Carter’ - James Fallows

Austerity!

Sat, 28 Apr 2012 15:31:18 -0400

Austerity!

"Faulding said he had made 300 unsuccessful attempts to lock himself inside an identical sized sports..."

Fri, 27 Apr 2012 14:00:20 -0400

“Faulding said he had made 300 unsuccessful attempts to lock himself inside an identical sized sports bag, measuring 81cm (32 inches) by 48cm (18.9 inches). Williams was the same height as Faulding, 170 cm (5 feet 7 inches) tall.”

- Experts: UK spy found dead in bag likely had help

"The reason austerity doesn’t work to quickly fix the problem is that, when the economy is..."

Wed, 25 Apr 2012 13:15:36 -0400

“The reason austerity doesn’t work to quickly fix the problem is that, when the economy is already struggling, and you cut government spending, you also further damage the economy. And when you further damage the economy, you further reduce tax revenue, which has already been clobbered by the stumbling economy. And when you further reduce tax revenue, you increase the deficit and create the need for more austerity. And that even further clobbers the economy and tax revenue. And so on.”

- I know lots of people hate Henry Blodget, but this is a pretty lucid summary of what Krugman’s been trying to say.

IT’S OFFICIAL: Keynes Was Right

"Richmond is the capital of a medium-sized state. D.C. is the capital of the mightiest empire in..."

Thu, 19 Apr 2012 09:52:07 -0400

“Richmond is the capital of a medium-sized state. D.C. is the capital of the mightiest empire in human history. In no universe should Richmond have more tall buildings than the District of Columbia.”

- D.C.’s height restrictions on buildings are hurting America.

This Place Is Called DC

Wed, 18 Apr 2012 10:34:56 -0400

This place is called DC

Everyone Instagrams

Legislating bills

On Capitol Hill

And their Tumblrs are deleted

and reposted, again and again

There’re guards at the airports

Armed to the teeth

And you may join the crowds at Black Cat, hear music pound

But you are not permitted to leave

We know there’s a big world out there but we only see it on tv

At the Tune Inn late last night

It was Boehner, Paul Ryan, and me.

And we know it’s not a party if it’s not Dem or GOP

Pretending there’s glamour in committee hearings

When Republicans get filibuster-y

"People ask me, “Why don’t you guys get together?” And I say, “Exactly how much would you expect me..."

Tue, 17 Apr 2012 10:38:52 -0400

“People ask me, “Why don’t you guys get together?” And I say, “Exactly how much would you expect me to cooperate with Michele Bachmann?” And they say, “Are you saying they’re all Michele Bachmann?” And my answer is no, they’re not all Michele Bachmann. Half of them are Michele Bachmann. The other half are afraid of losing a primary to Michele Bachmann.”

- God this interview is so good.

In Conversation: Barney Frank

"The GDP of the United States is $15 trillion. So 5.5% of GDP would be $820 billion. This means that..."

Tue, 17 Apr 2012 09:43:56 -0400

“The GDP of the United States is $15 trillion. So 5.5% of GDP would be $820 billion. This means that Spain’s two-year target would be the equivalent of the United States cutting its annual budget by $410 billion. No one — literally no one, not even Paul Ryan — has suggested budget cuts anywhere remotely near those levels. Even though the U.S. economy is in much better shape than Spain’s, everyone believes that budget cuts of that magnitude would wreck our fragile recovery.”

- They’re going crazy in Europe. (The Reign in Spain Is Not Keynes, by Kevin Drum.)

Hilarious tongue-in-cheek response to “Top 60 Ghetto Black...

Wed, 11 Apr 2012 14:31:38 -0400

Hilarious tongue-in-cheek response to “Top 60 Ghetto Black Names”: Top 60 Jewish Ghetto Names (by occi2907)