Stop making excuses for antisemitism (part 2)!

Last updated on: December 31, 2019 at 2:13 pm By Jane the Actuary

Here’s an excerpt from an opinion piece at NBC News: It’s impossible to discuss what might be motivating these attacks without an understanding of the role anti-Semitism plays in narratives about gentrification and poverty. Anti-Semitism is not just a blind hatred of Jews — it is often tied to conspiracy theories about Jewish economic and political power. The Jews running the banks. The Jews as the landlords. Just as capitalism absolutely depends on racism in order to justify exploiting black... Read more

Is anti-Hasidism more acceptable than antisemitism?

Last updated on: December 29, 2019 at 4:56 pm By Jane the Actuary

Incidental initial comment: once upon a time, when I was a college student, I took a class on the subject of the Holocaust, and the professor, who was, by the way, a rabbi, said that the proper label for antipathy against Jews should not be spelled anti-Semitism because it was not opposition to “Semites” as a general grouping of Middle Eastern peoples, but to Jews specifically. Having said that, here are some recent developments in New York City and environs:... Read more

Was Jesus a refugee? It doesn’t frickin’ matter

Last updated on: December 26, 2019 at 5:57 pm By Jane the Actuary

Imagine this dystopian scenario, if you will: Puerto Rico negotiates a status which is even more autonomous than its current “commonwealth-ness” but not quite that of an independent country. (Let’s say the territory wanted to get itself out of the Jones Act restrictions that increase the cost of goods shipped onto the island.) Then, the country’s government becomes less respecting of civil rights and, because of the semi-autonomous status we’ve granted it, the federal government considers itself unable to intervene.... Read more

Some thoughts on Uber, Shipt, the Gig Economy, and the Employee vs. Contractor debate

Last updated on: December 17, 2019 at 8:08 am By Jane the Actuary

Yesterday, I wrote at Forbes about a bill that aims to force “gig”-type companies to pay Social Security taxes on the workers’ total compensation — for providing taxi services, handyman services, grocery shopping, etc. I observed that it was flawed by its inability to differentiate between gross and net income. But in looking at some of the details, I came across an article saying that Uber was making some changes to its structure in order to bolster its claim that... Read more

What about Latrell — and other invisible men?

Last updated on: December 7, 2019 at 8:20 am By Jane the Actuary

So in the last two posts I’ve mentioned the book Pressure Cooker, which wants to talk about such issues as the challenges the poor have using their food stamps to shop, and the pressures (some) middle class women perceive to put from-scratch meals on the table every night, but can’t really pull this together into a coherent whole. The book bops back and forth from one family to the next, of the 9 women and their families which it profiles,... Read more

“. . . neither shall he eat” — more on Food Stamps/SNAP and work

Last updated on: December 6, 2019 at 12:28 pm By Jane the Actuary

So, as is my usual practice, I posted a little comment and link about yesterday’s post to my twitter feed, and, as is not usually the case, one of my twitter followers, who herself has far more followers, replied to it, and it started circulating among a more progressive/woke crowd than is usually the case. Suffice it to say, they were Not Happy. There were, I’d say, four categories of people replying. First, those who really did not understand what’s... Read more

A brief rant about SNAP/Food Stamp work requirement whining

Last updated on: December 5, 2019 at 3:26 pm By Jane the Actuary

In the news today: “Feds tighten work rules for food stamps: 688,000 adults could lose benefits” The Trump administration on Wednesday announced changes to the federal food stamp program that will make it harder for states to exempt adults from the program’s work requirements, a move it expects will cause 688,000 people nationwide to lose their benefits. . . . Those affected by the changes announced Wednesday are able-bodied adults under age 50 without children or other dependents, a group... Read more

In defense of that Peloton commercial

Last updated on: December 4, 2019 at 1:17 pm By Jane the Actuary

Yes, you know the one. Husband gifts wife Peloton bike, she takes selfies of herself being nervous about riding the bike, being happy about managing 5 days in a row, getting up at 6 am, and having the Peloton instructor call out her name, then puts them all together, along with one last video clip saying she didn’t realize how much it would change her, which she watches with her husband to thank him. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pShKu2icEYw&feature=youtu.be It’s being endlessly mocked. She... Read more

It’s Giving Tuesday. Let’s talk about giving.

Last updated on: December 3, 2019 at 4:37 pm By Jane the Actuary

Many years ago, I was a graduate student studying medieval history. Heck, I even got as far as doing some of the initial research on a doctoral dissertation (I didn’t make it very far), which would have been about medieval “hospital sisters,” who were unique in the religious landscape in providing active service “in the world” rather than being cloistered. Now, I never managed to really find a lot of sources, and didn’t really have a good angle on them... Read more

We’re burying people all wrong!

Last updated on: November 20, 2019 at 10:24 am By Jane the Actuary

So this morning, Pew published an article on consumer interest in “green burial” and the lack of available spaces, and the state regulations that get in the way of such options. And my first thought was, “hey, I wrote about that!” but then I couldn’t find the article, and ultimately figured out that it had been sitting in draft form for the past two years. (I had orginally hoped to publish it elsewhere, but couldn’t find any takers, and then... Read more