@LouisIngenthron here in Florida, a Republican proposal would significantly narrow the scope of the 'actual malice' standard and make defamation suits much easier. more liberal-minded people point out mockingly that the party most prominently hoping for protection under that standard is Fox News, in its case against Dominion. 1/
@LouisIngenthron but it occurs to me that Republican vulnerability is arguably the point: R commentators lie so freely that the standard is weak protection for them, while almost everyone else can speak as freely as they like (which might include insults but few actual-malice lies) about a broad array of Republican actors. so better, from a Florida Republican perspective to gut the standard for everyone, to, um, relevel the playing field. /fin
Uncapping the social security tax wouldn't very much soak the rich. cf #MattBruenig https://www.peoplespolicyproject.org/2023/03/07/uncapping-the-social-security-tax/
the problem is an “actual malice” standard protects only the one side of the political spectrum that restrains itself from more creative commentary, and that’s not fair.
we can know very little, though we are told very much.
@BenRossTransit nothing is good if a blue municipality authors it.
quiet YIMBYism among Florida Republicans. https://www.tallahassee.com/story/news/politics/2023/03/07/florida-state-of-the-state-quotables-session-will-be-all-about-gov-desantis/69977223007/
Renner said during his speech the legislation has the House's support, and DeSantis likewise gave his stamp of approval on Tuesday. While less likely to generate the amount of headlines the more controversial priorities invite, the bill is as expansive as it is timely, coming as Florida is plagued by a shortage of affordable apartments and houses. It would provide incentives for private investment in affordable housing, pre-empt local government rules on zoning, density and building height in certain circumstances, encourage mixed-use development in struggling commercial areas and bar local rent controls.
my "drafts" blog into which i now put much more work than the one ostensibly for finished products now has... an archive page!
i feel so high tech.
but at least there's a list of what i've been writing lately.
A good op-ed by an old friend on #NewCollege https://www.tampabay.com/opinion/2023/03/04/florida-new-college-what-we-lose-when-we-ignore-stewardship-competence-column/
@Simplicator i think it's possible to have a more institutional hegemon, rather than one nation-state. just like the leviathan of the liberal state is meaningfully different than a traditional security-through-obeisance autocrat, there could be some international analogue, what the UN tried and failed to be, but without all the veto points. on the one hand it sounds idealistic, on the other, neither continuing US nor emerging Chinese hegemony strikes me as very practical (for different reasons).
@laprice they could! but to do it credibly it would be very costly in terms of other goals, like fast growth. they can talk about per-capita and talk about how the west had its chance to grow on fossil fuels, all true. but besides being the world's green tech leader, they are also the world's largest emitter and unlike the diabolical west still growing their footprint.
Strong case for the prosecution. But so often when we accuse, we find our own sins in our adversaries (even when they genuinely are our adversaries' sins as well).
It's unbalanced, but a solid critique. The US legit squandered the soft power we once had, now stuff like this hits hard. The US has a great deal to repent.
But how persuasive to the world is a claim that what a hegemonic China might offer would in fact be a overall better?
We'll see.
via #PatrickLawrence
https://www.fmprc.gov.cn/mfa_eng/wjbxw/202302/t20230220_11027664.html
"The correct number is 0%." #KevinDrum https://jabberwocking.com/our-national-shame-q3-of-2022-edition/
My family just effing moved here and the wife really loves it. I guess they think they want us to go, though. (Careful what you wish for.)
"We are actively working to move away from Florida and will be gone by mid-summer. We will never live in a red or trending-red state again; just too much risk." #quoderat http://www.technologyasnature.com/move-and-groove/
@chrisp yeah, everybody hates the look. the intention was skeuomorphic, like a typed draft with blue bic-pen edits. but obviously it doesn't contribute to readability.
[new draft post] Economists are such scoundrels https://drafts.interfluidity.com/2023/03/06/economists-are-such-scoundrels/index.html
// inspired by @SteveRoth Thanks Steve!
“The reason why so many campus controversies seem to follow the same script is … that they are following the same script. A conservative group invites a figure onto campus who seems guaranteed to provoke outrage, leading to protests, and likely headlines about campus illiberalism. This is not a reaction against purported wokism so much as a means of weaponizing it for the other side’s political purposes.” @henryfarrell https://crookedtimber.org/2023/03/06/conservatives-on-campus/ ht @Obdurodon
Dan Wang's annual letter on China, long but beautifully written and insightful: https://danwang.co/2022-letter/ ht Tyler Cowen
@bmath some degree of what might be termed social violence is i think always used. florida's fascist movement is animated by the perceived violence of being called bigots for what they take as traditional views. is that social violence? where on the spectrun from poppy seeds to junk is "cancel culture"? and the escalation in purported reaction, $35K almost automatically if someone calls you a racist: defense or social violence? enmity is often mutual, but who wields it from a position of power?
@bmath physical violence is a clearer boundary. and the permeability of enemy status is important. when the enemy is an ethnicity, an enemy can only be exiled or eliminated. Bernie's enemies can be taxed to innocence without a feather on their physical persons. how about desantis and trans/gay people? is that more like Bernie (a person is physically capable of living as gender-assigned-at-birth) or like ethnicity (capable not really, much of the class would be wholly immiserated, mb suicide?)
@bmath part iii, if i get to it (never promise future blog posts, once they are debts you will never write them), fascism is a primary color. diluted from its pure and deadly form, the tropes and techniques are common across political movements. but there are important differences between poppy seeds and fentanyl, even when they share certain characteristics. but there are poppy seeds at least in wars on terrorism and diatribes against billionaires and plutocrats (the latter i endorse!)