Here are a few further thoughts on the Roy Moore issue. Voters in Alabama are understandably upset that these reports are coming out at the last minute, past the time when they could have chosen another GOP candidate in the primary, past the time when the state GOP could have replaced him on the ballot. “If everyone knew he was a creep, why did they keep their mouths shut for so long?” they reasonably ask. After all, at this point... Read more
Two items: On hoaxes: “Racist messages at Air Force Academy were written by student who claimed to be targeted.” On politics in Venezuela: “Venezuela’s hate crime law seeks to silence political opposition, bishops warn.” The pro-regime defense: “Venezuela’s ANC to Approve New Hate Crime Legislation.” The statistics: “Latest Hate Crime Statistics Released.” The FBI report itself. Let’s start with the first: the racist messages left on students’ doors at the Air Force Preparatory Academy turned out not to have been... Read more
A beach scene. A pirate ship. A shark. The Stone Army guy from Ninjago. The Enterprise. And The Battle of Hoth (with apologies, in the last two instances, for the poor lighting/focus). Yes, my son is back to building with Legos, and I’m showing off a bit, because I like the fact that he’s being creative with them rather than just building according to instructions. I could make this into some sort of grand metaphor, but that’ll have to be... Read more
So I’m trying to think through the whole mess with Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore. For those of you who’ve been living under rocks, he was revealed in a Washington Post article to have, let’s say, gone to second or third base (depending on your metrics) with a 14 year old girl when he was 32. Moore, of course, denies the allegations, but the general consensus is the girl, now woman, in question, is being truthful, that there are witnesses... Read more
You’re likely seen variations on the “what if the South won?” theme before. There are various novels with this premise, for instance. But what if the war had never been fought? What if the South had been content to preserve, rather than trying to expand slavery? Two articles came across my twitter feed in the wake of White House Chief of Staff John Kelly’s statement that it was a “lack of an ability to compromise” that led to the Civil... Read more
There are a number of articles out there about how the GOP is out to destroy graduate education. At Forbes, “The GOP Tax Plan Will Destroy Graduate Education.” At The Verge, “The Republican tax plan could financially devastate graduate students.” At Wired, “Grad Students Are Freaking Out About the GOP Tax Plan. They Should Be.” Is the panic justified? Imagine that you and I are both actuaries. I work for Tom’s Actuaries, Inc., and my employer offers me a tuition... Read more
So it’s November. It’s getting cold — the perfect time to start planning, or dreaming, anyway, about a summer vacation, in particular, the big road trip we’ve talked about for years. This will be the last summer before our oldest goes away to college, too. This is what I’ve mapped out. Readers, please share your experiences. What’s realistic in terms of travel times? How much time should we allot at each destination? How quickly will hotels fill up? etc. I... Read more
So I’ve been watching The Orville lately. Actually, that’s not entirely correct. I have watched three episodes, on demand, while using the exercise bike in the morning, after I got bored with This Is Us. It’s a curious mix of a show, trying to be serious and yet add in humor at the same time, with lots of references to current day popular culture that you have to just take with some suspension of disbelief, and consider these references as... Read more
Apparently, this is a thing in Scandinavia. According to The Economist, SWEDES discuss their incomes with a frankness that would horrify Britons or Americans. They have little reason to be coy; in Sweden you can learn a stranger’s salary simply by ringing the tax authorities and asking. . . . In 2001, tax records in Norway were put online, allowing anyone to see easily what other Norwegians had earned and paid in tax. . . . Even Nordic governments continue to tweak... Read more
So I’m still writing in general terms about tax reform, since the actual Republican tax proposal seems to still be evolving. Here’s what I’m thinking: Tax deductions are largely premised on the idea of “this is money you didn’t get to enjoy spending, so it’s unfair that you should have to pay taxes on it.” Medical expenses: it’s kind of unfair that you had these expenses, and it pinched you financially, so you shouldn’t have to pay taxes on this... Read more
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