All purpose news and politics thread part v: The quickening

[Mister Mets]

The economist Bryan Caplan makes the argument for the benefits of deregulation in the Housing Market.

https://www.econlib.org/deludedly-de...on-a-disaster/

Consider the myriad ways that homeowners could nevertheless selfishly benefit from deregulation:

1. Homeowners who own little or no equity could walk away from their small, expensive home in favor of a larger, cheaper home.

2. Homeowners who eventually planned to move to a larger, more expensive home could easily find that their losses on their old home are smaller than their savings on their new home. And they wouldn’t have to wait as many years to upgrade.

3. The grown children of settled homeowners could much more easily afford to live near their parents – and wouldn’t need so much help for a down payment.

4. Yes, higher local population means more congestion. Yet it also means better shopping, entertainment and employment opportunities. What’s the net value of all the good effects of more people bundled with all the bad effects of more people? The very fact that prices are much higher in densely-population areas strongly suggests that the net value is highly positive. “New York would be great without all the people” is sadly naive, because without all the people, New York would no longer be great. Upshot: When prices fall in half, established homeowners get at least some offsetting gain in consumers’ surplus.

5. If you’re willing to move, improve, or subdivide, deregulation allows even established owners with lots of equity to readily profit. If you suddenly gain the right to legally subdivide your lot into three homesites, a 50% fall in the value of the home you own is a fair price to pay. The same goes if you can now build up. Replace your home with a 10-story apartment and pocket the difference. Cha-ching.

Do I seriously believe that many – perhaps most – existing homeowners will profit from deregulation? Earnestly, I do.

[Tendrin]

Just about the only thing that everyone in Hong Kong can agree on is that they don't like mainland China, and they're not exactly shy about pointing out that it's not just the government but the people that they dislike, and that pretty much all of the problems in the city are caused by mainlanders who buy up housing, take the jobs, etc. It's pretty obvious that the actual solutions to their problems involve more redistributive and egalitarian policies, but that of course would be socialism, and socialism is Chinese and therefore bad in their eyes.

And it's not hard to see why Trump would support them, they asked him to.

I mean, signs like that are not unique to Hong Kong when you're protesting. The root of this is not the ugly nativism you're trying to rightly decry, but inequality, as you said, but I think pretending that they 'just don't understand' this is sort of arrogant. Only a very slender majority of HK citizens, 51% at last polling I saw, want reduced immigration from mainland China. That's a large number, but it doesn't speak to the kind of claims you're making as well.

I'm not denying nativism as a factor -- I'm simply pointing out that the protests are about something broader than that and trying to paint it as a 'nativist uprising' serves only the interests of the murderous authoritarians in Beijing, and no matter how gentle a hand you think they 're playing now, I assure you it will not be gentle forever and the populace of HK is in a far better position to know it than you are.

[Tendrin]

The economist Bryan Caplan makes the argument for the benefits of deregulation in the Housing Market.

https://www.econlib.org/deludedly-de...on-a-disaster/

Oh yes. More deregulation. That's sure to help us build livable spaces and walkable cities. And how exactly does he think we're going to get 'cheaper homes', exactly? Ah, right, a wave of the magic deregulation wand, so sub-standard homes can be built.

[PwrdOn]

I mean, signs like that are not unique to Hong Kong when you're protesting. The root of this is not the ugly nativism you're trying to rightly decry, but inequality, as you said, but I think pretending that they 'just don't understand' this is sort of arrogant. Only a very slender majority of HK citizens, 51% at last polling I saw, want reduced immigration from mainland China. That's a large number, but it doesn't speak to the kind of claims you're making as well.

I'm not denying nativism as a factor -- I'm simply pointing out that the protests are about something broader than that and trying to paint it as a 'nativist uprising' serves only the interests of the murderous authoritarians in Beijing, and no matter how gentle a hand you think they 're playing now, I assure you it will not be gentle forever.

Even if acknowledging the truth serves the interests of dictators, it is still the truth. The HK protesters have made it pretty clear that they are NOT protesting economic issues and have rejected any attempts by the local authorities to try and alleviate the housing problems. And it's not a matter of them not understanding that more socialist policies would help fix their economic problems, it's just the identitarian aspect takes precedence over that, and advocating socialism would mean moving closer to China which is unacceptable to them, economics be damned.

To be honest, my view on HK was pretty much the same as yours until I actually went there. The society there is toxic as hell in just about every aspect, and it's entirely a product of its history as this colonial island of hyper-capitalist "freedom." And even if the protesters got everything that they wanted, it wouldn't fix anything because these little tax haven city-states are inherently an abomination that do nothing but suck wealth from the surrounding areas and can never develop into healthy and productive societies.

[Tendrin]

Even if acknowledging the truth serves the interests of dictators, it is still the truth. The HK protesters have made it pretty clear that they are NOT protesting economic issues and have rejected any attempts by the local authorities to try and alleviate the housing problems. And it's not a matter of them not understanding that more socialist policies would help fix their economic problems, it's just the identitarian aspect takes precedence over that, and advocating socialism would mean moving closer to China which is unacceptable to them, economics be damned.

They have made it clear? Where? How? Because I'm not seeing that outside of Beijing friendly papers. any large social movement is going to have factions, but again, it's not all Hong Kong indigenous just because you say so or have pics of them holding up Trump signs. Come on, dude.

Moreover, the propaganda war is pretty dang intense.

be honest, my view on HK was pretty much the same as yours until I actually went there. The society there is toxic as hell in just about every aspect, and it's entirely a product of its history as this colonial island of hyper-capitalist "freedom." And even if the protesters got everything that they wanted, it wouldn't fix anything because these little tax haven city-states are inherently an abomination that do nothing but suck wealth from the surrounding areas and can never develop into healthy and productive societies.

Singapore would like to have a word with you, sir.

More seriously, I'd be careful with characterizing a city and it's people like that.

[Mister Mets]

The argument that the last decade was a good one, even with climate change, Trump, Syria, Putin and Brexit.

[JackDaw]

Hong Kong already has more autonomy than any other sub-national entity in the world. They pay no taxes to the Chinese government and enforce border controls with China as if they were a separate country. Now I'm sure that some people there would argue that this isn't enough and that they need to be independent, but as they are effectively just an offshore financial hub with no industry to speak of, they'd never actually be able to survive on their own. Just like Trump voters, they just like to blame people they consider to be "other" for all of their problems, while conveniently ignoring how much of their livelihoods depend on the people they hate.

And maybe this is just me, but HK is pretty much the only place in the world where that "white savior" narrative is actually reciprocated, and it's just cringey af. Seems like what they are really protesting is the fact of them being Chinese, and no amount of freedom or democracy will let you vote THAT away.

I think the HK fear of mainland China taking more and more control over HK has just as much a strong rational basis as the emotional ones you cite. (Not saying the emotions you cite aren’t important..just saying there are also strong rational reasons.)

In mainland China the government maintains a strong control over many aspects of daily life..and worker rights and conditions are low by HK standards. I can see why HK residents prefer their “own” lifestyle!

[Tami]

It’s the end of the World Trade Organisation as we know it

“WINTER IS COMING,” warned a Norwegian representative on November 22nd, at a meeting of the World Trade Organisation (WTO). The multilateral trading system that the WTO has overseen since 1995 is about to freeze up. On December 10th two of the judges on its appellate body, which hears appeals in trade disputes and authorises sanctions against rule-breakers, will retire—and an American block on new appointments means they will not be replaced. With just one judge remaining, it will no longer be able to hear new cases.

The WTO underpins 96% of global trade. By one recent estimate, membership of the WTO or General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), its predecessor, has boosted trade among members by 171%. When iPhones move from China to America, or bottles of Scotch whisky from the European Union to India, it is the WTO’s rules that keep tariff and non-tariff barriers low and give companies the certainty they need to plan and invest.

[Tami]

Trump Is First to Use PATRIOT Act to Detain a Man Forever

For the 18-year lifespan of the war on terrorism, an obscure provision of the PATRIOT Act permitting the indefinite detention of non-citizens on U.S. soil has gone unused. But to keep a Palestinian man behind bars even after he finished serving his sentence, the Trump administration has fired this bureaucratic Chekhov’s gun.

Adham Amin Hassoun, now in his late 50s, has spent nearly the entire war on terrorism in cages. First picked up on an immigration violation in June 2002, he ended up standing trial alongside once-suspected “dirty bomber” Jose Padilla. But Hassoun was never accused of any act or plot of violence. His crime was cutting checks to extremist-tied Muslim charities operating in places like Kosovo and Chechnya that Congress outlawed after the 9/11 attacks. Hassoun wrote all but one of those checks before 9/11.

[Tami]

Editorial: Thousands of Floridians have died. Heartless Republicans still won't expand Medicaid

In his first year in office, Gov. Ron DeSantis has shown more concern for Florida’s environment than his predecessor, Rick Scott, ever did. It’s time for the governor and his Republican colleagues in the Legislature to muster some compassion for people, too.

Florida’s refusal to expand Medicaid coverage is costing lives, according to data from the nonpartisan National Bureau of Economic Research. The study found that states that broadened coverage for low-income residents between 2014 and 2017 saw significant reductions in death rates among adults ages 55 to 64 — enough, essentially, to save an estimated 19,200 people nationwide.

A follow-up study by the progressive Center on Budget and Policy Priorities broke down the numbers further and found that an estimated 2,776 Floridians lost their lives during that time period because they didn’t have Medicaid coverage. Only Texas, with an estimated 2,920 deaths, fared worse.

Not surprisingly, Florida Republicans are dismissive of the research — just as they’ve been dismissive of the many Floridians pushing for expanded coverage. Efforts to broaden coverage have gone nowhere since then-Gov. Scott withdrew his endorsement of the idea in 2015, leaving the Legislature deadlocked.

“The chances (of expansion) are as likely as a foot of snow in Miami,” says Sen. Aaron Boone, R-Fernandina Beach, chairman of the Senate’s health care budget committee. “We had that debate a few years ago, and we’ve moved on.”

That’s a heartless — and gutless — position. A growing number of Floridians can’t move on from this debate because they have no affordable health care options. Accepting federal funds to expand eligibility would help an estimated 850,000 residents who make too much to qualify for Medicaid but not enough to buy a plan through the federal marketplace under the Affordable Care Act.

[Tami]

London Bridge: Two killed in stabbing attack

Two members of the public have died after a stabbing attack at London Bridge, in which police also shot dead the suspect.

The Met Police has declared the attack a terrorist incident.

The suspect, who died at the scene, was believed to have been wearing a hoax explosive device, police said.

Videos on social media appear to show passers-by holding down a man. An officer arrives, seems to indicate to the group to move, and fires a shot.

A Whitehall source confirmed two members of the public died to the BBC but gave no further information.

Details are still emerging and Neil Basu, the head of UK counter-terrorism policing, said the force was keeping an open mind over the motive.

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Multiple people wounded in stabbing attack in The Hague, Dutch police say

Several people were wounded Friday during a stabbing attack in a shopping district of The Hague, Dutch police said.

First responders from the city's emergency services unit rushed to the scene, according to Reuters.

The Dutch attack came several hours after a man stabbed several people in London, police said. That attacker was fatally shot by London police, officials said.

[Tami]

Facebook's only Dutch factchecker quits over political ad exemption

Facebook’s only Dutch factchecker has quit over the social network’s refusal to allow them to highlight political lies as being false.

The online newspaper Nu.nl had been Facebook’s only factchecking partner in the Netherlands since Leiden University dropped out of the programme last year. The website had sole responsibility for marking Facebook and Instagram news content for Dutch users as being false or misleading, in order to help power the social network’s tools that suppress distribution of misinformation.

According to an NPO 3 interview with Nu.nl’s editor-in-chief, Gert-Jaap Hoekman, the relationship ended over Facebook’s decision to ban it from checking content and adverts posted by politicians. “What is the point of fighting fake news if you are not allowed to tackle politicians?” Hoekman asked.

The organisation has had an uncomfortable relationship with Facebook since May, when Nu.nl labelled an advert from a Dutch politician as “unsubstantiated” – a move that was reversed by Facebook, which enforced its rules against factchecking politicians. But the “final straw”, according to the NPO programme, was when Facebook again pushed the factcheckers to reverse rulings against the far-right Freedom party (PVV) and FvD party.

In a statement, Facebook said: “We value the work that Nu.nl has done and regret to see them go, but respect their decision as an independent business.

“Fighting misinformation takes a multi-pronged approach from across the industry. We are committed to fighting this through many tactics, and the work that third-party factcheckers do is a valued and important piece of this effort. We have strong relationships with 55 factchecking partners around the world who factcheck content in 45 languages, and we plan to continue expanding the program in Europe and hopefully in the Netherlands.”

The dispute cuts to the heart of Facebook’s decision not to allow politicians to be factchecked on the platform. The company insists that it does not want to be in the position of judging what is true and false, with its head of communications, Nick Clegg, saying that it was not an “appropriate role for us to referee political debates and prevent a politician’s speech from reaching its audience and being subject to public debate and scrutiny”.

But some factcheckers point out that Facebook is not doing any factchecking anyway: ever since the company announced its plans to fight misinformation, in the wake of the 2016 US election, it has outsourced the work to third parties, many of whom are experienced and comfortable with taking on the false claims of politicians.

[PwrdOn]

Singapore would like to have a word with you, sir.

More seriously, I'd be careful with characterizing a city and it's people like that.

It's a harsh truth but it is still the truth. Hong Kong only exists because the British needed a port through which to sell opium to China, but the fact that a tiny fraction of the immense wealth they looted ended up trickling down to the locals made it an attractive option for refugees fleeing chaos and deprivation to settle. However, as a result of the ultra free market economic policies, which again were instituted by the British for the benefit of their companies and which they would never dream of implementing at home, very little was invested in improving the well-being of the people. This is why, despite enjoying an enormous head start over mainland China in development, they are currently in the process of sinking into economic irrelevance. The brief sugar high that the city enjoyed at the end of the colonial period that the protesters long to return to was never sustainable to begin with, no more so than the postwar boomer economy was over here. And now with these protests, it's virtually assured that the Chinese government will abandon its plans to economically integrate the city with the surrounding area, so barring an unprecedented surge of investment from the West which no one should be holding their breath for, so that they will only become more and more isolated and their economic woes will only become worse. And in such a climate, given a choice between looking for innovative and productive solutions, or just blaming everything on those evil commies, which path do you think those pro-democracy HK politicians will take?

[worstblogever]

On this date, in 2014, in 2015, and in 2016, "Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day" published profiles of Charles Van Zant, from the Florida House of Representatives. This fervent social conservative has repeatedly tried passing laws to completely outlaw abortion, which he has compared to the Holocaust, and says kills 1 in 4 African American children in the United States, making it even deadlier for them than the Ku Klux Klan. Seriously, he went there. Van Zant was also highly concerned that Common Core education is “turning all the children gay”, and has repeatedly pushed for legislation that would instead allow prayer in public schools (in spite of that sort of thing being unconstitutional via our separation of church and state). While those painfully stupid misconceptions might be enough to get someone booted for office, inexplicably no one has run against Van Zant in a primary or general election since he first won office in 2008. For four consecutive election cycles, this boob has been allowed to help make Florida… well… Florida. As we also mentioned in our 2015 profile, Charles Van Zant couldn’t stand the thought of missing out on trying to outlaw abortion or stopping homosexuality from being, y’know, tolerated in our society. So he decided he would govern by proxy, and his wife Katherine was going to run for the seat he has to give up in January. And just when it seemed like that would come to pass, both Mr. and Mrs. Van Zant were revealed by the media to have illegitimately claimed a homestead exemption on their taxes since 2008 on a property that no one actually lives in. Defrauding your local government out of thousands of dollars in bogus tax breaks was enough to cause Katherine Van Zant to lose the GOP primary to her opponent, so both Charles and his wife are now out of Florida politics.

On this date in 2017, “Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day” profiled Mark Assini, who very nearly unseated Democratic Congresswoman Louise Slaughter in New York’s 25th District in the 2014 elections, coming within about 1,000 votes of doing so and refusing to concede the election to her until eight days later. In 2016, he figured he’d give it another shot, but things did not quite go according to plan, mostly because old blog posts written by Assini back from 2005-2009 were discovered where he had some delightful opinions about the LGBTQ community. Oh, sorry, did we say delightful? We meant hateful and bigoted. Links to those articles show Assini agreeing with a reader who called members of the LGBTQ community "sexual deviants" and quoting a pastor who called transgender individuals "mentally disturbed." But the best quote was probably that he wanted the only openly gay Congressman at the time, Barney Frank, jailed for imagined crimes, and threw in a prison rape joke while he was at it, writing, “Barney Frank should go to prison. Old Barney would have plenty of dates along with three squares and cable TV.” There were also plenty of press releases from Assini that made misleading and xenophobic claims about illegal immigrants committing crimes in the United States. Assini has not resurfaced yet in politics.

On this date in 2018, “Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day” profile, where we’ll be talking about Joshua Youssef, a candidate for New Hampshire State Senate back in 2012 who lost in the general election with 41% of the vote, and that may have had something to do with the fact his ex-wife’s attorney had a blog that noted that Youssef was behind on paying both child support, as well as numerous tax debts, and that story started to get covered by the local media. Youssef then tried to “bury the lede” by creating his own version of the lawyer’s blog that would praise himself, and discredit the lawyer, but the state attorney general had to bring Youssef up on charges of election fraud. And, being terrible to his former spouse, a tax cheat, and convicted felon wasn’t enough to stop Donald Trump from hiring Youssef to head his 2016 presidential campaign headquarters in Belknap County. He was also a delegate sent to the 2016 Republican National Convention to cast his vote there for Trump, but alas, with “very good people” like Joshua Youssef working for Donald Trump in New Hampshire, that wasn’t enough to help him win the state in the 2016 election over Hillary Clinton. So instead, when Donald Trump claimed that Clinton won the state due to “voter fraud” and that illegal voters were brought in by bus to help her win the campaign (with no evidence whatsoever of this happening), Joshua Youssef furthered the theory. And by that, we mean he went on CNN to be interviewed by Alisyn Camerota and lie his arse off. Youssef was called out for believing such a paranoid conspiracy theory, and forced to slowly back away from the story. To sum up so far… Donald Trump hired a man convicted of election fraud to run his campaign, who then tried accusing Democrats of election fraud without evidence, and had to backpedal after being caught in such an easy lie. Now, these reasons would probably be enough to earn a CSGOPOTD profile and for us to call it a day. But Joshua Youssef is much, much more dangerous and odious of a human being. It wasn’t long ago that we also had a profile of Robert Fisher, a former New Hampshire state legislator who was outed for creating a Reddit group called “The Red Pill” that defended raping women, and offered advice to “men’s rights activists” about how to get away with the crime. And when Robert Fisher had a day job at a business called Same Day Computer, you’ll never guess who his boss was… Joshua Youssef. Who also ended up being outed as a “Men’s Rights activist” whose bitter divorce had him posting hateful things about women and feminists online as well. We’re glad Youssef has never won an election, and now it seems a done deal that he never will. He has yet to run for office again, and as such, we will also retire his profile at this time, and go ahead and take a look at a different kooky Republican today instead. (Current crazy/stupid scoreboard, is now 801-40, since this was established in July 2014.)

[worstblogever]

Mike Kennedy

Welcome to what is the 801st original profile here at “Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day” profile, where we’ll be discussing Mike Kennedy, a former member of the Utah House of Representatives from 2013-2019 in District 27. Kennedy’s former district, as it is… is about as conservative as you’ll find of any one in the state, and all Kennedy had to do was survive the GOP Primary and could cake walk into re-election in the state legislature, winning with 92% in 2012, 88% in 2014, and 100% in 2016 because he was completely unopposed. Kennedy is both a doctor, with a MD from Michigan State, as well as a lawyer with a JD from Brigham Young University. And that’s why it was kind of mindblowing to see such an educated guy speak before the Utah House of Representatives in 2014, and claim that more poor people would die if they had proper access to healthcare:

”Sometimes access to healthcare can be damaging and dangerous… I’ve heard from National Institutes of Health and otherwise that we’re killing up to a million, a million and a half people every year in our hospitals. And it’s access to hospitals that’s killing those people.”

Fearmongering about dangerous hospitals… when you’re a doctor? WHAT?

But maybe Mike Kennedy doesn’t know what’s dangerous and what’s not. After all, he’ll hang out with pro-gun groups extreme enough that they appear in towns where the Parkland survivors are to auction off assault rifles and insult those gun violence survivors.

Other than that, Mike Kennedy is a big defender of Trump administration immigration policies, and as a legislator, voted against a bill to end discrimination based on sexual orientation, voted to return to using the firing squad as a means of execution for capitol crimes, voted against the Medicaid Expansion, and even voted against a bill to outlaw bigamy in Utah.

So here’s the thing… if Kennedy’s district was so conservative, how is he not still in office? Well, delusions of grandeur being what they are, with the retiring of Sen. Orrin Hatch, Kennedy thought it was time to move up into the big leagues, and run for U.S. Senate. There’s just one catch to that plan… another Republican had designs on that Senate seat… and his name is Mitt Romney.

Kennedy got 52% of the votes… at the Utah Republican Party convention. When voting was opened up to the public, he was crushed at the polls, and only got 28% of the vote. We’ll have to see if he runs for his old seat in 2020, or if he decides to go back to being a full-time doctor.