Saturday Morning Academic Links

by | Jan 13, 2024 | Daily Links | 142 comments

It just snowballs, and not just because there’s a pile on the ground. I moved here with the intention of giving up science and changing careers. Things which we’re all painfully aware of happened and I ended up getting sucked into the local university as a non-faculty researcher in engineering. Then a professor in the chemistry department suddenly quit.

“What are we going to do, the guy was supposed to teach three classes?”
“Say, isn’t there a chemist in the glass department?”

And now I’m a professor. This was not my goal, but I’m rolling with it. Tomb Raider bought me a sweater with leather elbow patches.

Speaking of rolling, birthdays today include a guy with a gold back; a guy whose name became a cliché; a guy who built bridges; the best actor in Airplane! and Beavis and Butthead Do America; a guy who proved that if you’re in opposition to Feynman, you’re likely wrong; a woman whose memory I cherish, since she told my first wife that she was not smart enough to be an academic; one of my favorite guitarists and a genuinely nice guy; a guy whom I always confuse with Paul Lynde; star of two of my favorite comedy TV series; and competition with Marianne Williamson for “Weirdest Team Blue Presidential Candidate of the 2020s.”

And now, class, let us consider Links.

 

War bones stroked harder, you should buy stock in defense contractors, who are dancing with joy.

 

Sorry to intrude on Swiss’s territory, but this is one more reason that Facebook is pure evil.

 

The latest in interactive games.

 

I assume this is the one getting money funneled through her accounts?

 

Despite rumors, this wasn’t Spud.

 

When I go to NYC with Tomb Raider, we get hit up by panhandlers every ten or fifteen seconds. But TBH, they all seem to be US natives.

 

When your movies are this shitty, desperate action is called for.

 

How can anyone not love Suitcase Junket? It’s a one-man band (Matt Lorenz) with great songs.

About The Author

Old Man With Candy

Old Man With Candy

Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me. Wait, wrong book, I'll find something else.

142 Comments

  1. I. B. McGinty

    Professor Candy?

    • Fourscore

      Do you think the kiddos know the other persona?

      Small town and all

      • Old Man With Candy

        No, they don’t. The vast majority of the kids are from the NYC area so aren’t tuned in to the locals. And we VERY much keep this on the downlow to avoid professional complications.

      • rhywun

        Small town and all

        Ha I suffered through a day at the ER this week with literally the nastiest woman I have ever encountered. Basically, “me, me, me.”

        The other day I saw the same woman on a bus coming home from Target, on the other side of town. This time, instead of carrying a cane, she was lifting a bicycle off the rack when she got off at her stop.

      • The Gunslinger

        “I suffered through a day at the ER this week”

        Everything good? What happened?

      • rhywun

        Undetermined pain. We’ll see.

      • Ghostpatzer

        Hope that’s all it is.

      • DrOtto

        Last time I went for undetermined pain, I found out you can get the equivalent of varicose veins in your testicles, although that has another name.

      • Trigger Hippie

        Blue Balls?

      • Gustave Lytton

        So blindness isn’t the only side effect?

  2. Gender Traitor

    Tomb Raider bought me a sweater with leather elbow patches.

    That’s lovely for casual, but a tweed sportcoat likewise elbow-patched is still de rigueur, is it not?

    As for the new gig…mazel tov?

    • SDF-7

      Only with a pipe, I thought. Have to go Full Tolkein for the proper look.

      • DEG

        This.

  3. SDF-7

    Tomb Raider bought me a sweater with leather elbow patches.

    Sweet! I have to confess I’ve contemplated hunting one of those down when I get bombarded with ads for them while playing Solitaire (at least it is more topical than most of MS’s stupid ads).

    Problem of course is that my cool weather clothes (the weather being cool… not me, obviously) sit in the closet 10.5 months out of the year. So it is hard to justify buying something just because I rather like it instead of more comfortable short sleeve shirts that can handle the unfortunately expanding American Frontier these days.

    Morning, OMWC.

    A little off-topic — but wanted to give a shout out to Sloopy when I saw this article this morning. Animal’s not the only one published (kinda 😉 ) by the Townhall group of sites apparently!

  4. Stinky Wizzleteats

    Yemen: We’ll be sending in ground troops, likely in a limited capacity at first and we’ll build from there, by summer, right after the geniuses at the Pentagon realize that we can’t bomb every little pissant location they launch $10,000 drones from. If you have teenagers maybe tell them to steer clear of the military, the army and marines in particular.

    • SDF-7

      Fallback plan for November if the Lawfare and Fortification look unlikely — Biden is going to be a War President, no matter how much instability they need to bring to the world to get there. “And you don’t change horses in midstream!” (I would like to think it shouldn’t apply when the asshole in question is who obviously got us into the war — but it probably would work… Sigh.)

      • R C Dean

        That will be Repub nominee Neocon Nikki’s cue to handle him with kid gloves so as not to undermine the Nation at War(tm). Like Romney declined to take a swing at Obama to Promote Racial Healing(tm).

  5. SDF-7

    ; a guy whom I always confuse with Paul Lynde

    Well, now you’ve made this obligatory! Sorry — I don’t make the rules…..

  6. juris imprudent

    Finnister later told FBI officials he had consumed “multiple alcoholic shots to calm his nerves prior to the flight, which he stated was his first,” according to the criminal complaint.

    Well, it was Spirit Airlines.

    • SDF-7

      Obviously I wasn’t there — but this seriously seems like the sort of thing that would have been handled quietly by the flight crew shutting the guy down (and / or fellow passengers telling the drunk to knock it off) before 9/11 — now everything gets escalated to law enforcement and the poor sap gets plastered on the news. Yay progress. Don’t be an ass — but at the same time, this doesn’t need to involve cops, assholes.

    • Brawndo

      He didn’t realize Spirit charges everything “la carte”. Even groping the flight attendants.

      • trshmnstr the terrible

        I look forward to the memes mixing this incident with the passive aggressive AT&T ad where the airlines charge for everything.

  7. Stinky Wizzleteats

    “When your movies are this shitty”
    She’s still wearing a mask I see and outside no less-I’ve noticed that picking up in my area again for some reason.

    • rhywun

      award-winning… acclaimed… compelling story of racism, family, and loss

      Yeah, the Academy should all over that like a… something that is naturally all over something else.

      I wonder what they’re not telling us.

      • Suthenboy

        The movie is shit?
        When it bombs she will claim it’s cuz she black
        “Those bigots won’t buy tickets!”

  8. Suthenboy

    “Origin tells a compelling story of racism…”
    Now, how did I know that upon reading the headline? I really am sick of hearing that horseshit. I guess they got nuthin’ else.

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      It’s a grift and that’ll be all they’ve got until it doesn’t pay off anymore.

      • Suthenboy

        Frederick Douglass complained about that quite a bit, and rightfully so. Dubois is the first race grifter I know of but I am sure he is just one in a long line of them. Anyway, I am sick of hearing about that shit.

      • Fourscore

        “You don’t know what it’s like to be…”

        /Said every kid sometime in their life

      • Suthenboy

        *Places gold star on Fourscore’s scorecard*

      • Ted S.

        Brochettaward doesn’t know what it’s like to be First.

      • R C Dean

        If the star of a movie is panhandling for customers on the street, the grift ain’t paying off any more.

  9. SDF-7

    I assume this is the one getting money funneled through her accounts?

    Hopefully her dad missed out on the “creepily shower with his daughter” heredity even under the influence of Cracky.

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      Well he was banging his ex SIL so who the hell knows? Not quite on the same level of weirdness but there seemed to be some unusual stuff with his niece too, allegedly of course, and none of that would surprise me.

      • Trigger Hippie

        Not allegedly. Somebody here once posted the leaked laptop photos of him choking out his underage niece while fucking her on a dirty bed.

        ‘In an interview that aired Thursday on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” first lady Jill Biden was asked how she is coping with Republicans’ accusations against her family, notably Hunter.

        “I think what they are doing to Hunter is cruel, and I’m really proud of how Hunter has rebuilt his life after addiction,” the first lady said. “I love my son, and it’s hurt my grandchildren.”’

        Which makes this quote all the more funny.

      • Suthenboy

        God, I had blocked that out. Thanks for bringing it back

      • Tonio

        “…it’s hurt my grandchildren.”

        Like the one you won’t acknowledge?

      • R C Dean

        Dang. Tonio from the top rope.

  10. I. B. McGinty

    “Spirit Airlines passenger arrested for asking flight attendants to join ‘mile high club’”

    Well if it wasn’t Spud, which one of us was it?

    • Suthenboy

      I dont know what you are talking about. *casts eyes away*

    • Fourscore

      The High Mile Club? That doesn’t seem to narrow down the list either

      /Smoking Section Citizen

  11. DEG

    Crockett said later in the hearing. “It was a spit in the face, at least of mine as a Black woman, for you to talk about what white privilege looks like, especially from that side of the aisle.”

    Crockett, if you want to be spit in the face you should take it up with your Dom.

    • SDF-7

      Oh, thanks for that! Now I have a slightly modified version of this running through my head….

      • DEG

        🙂

  12. Trigger Hippie

    After reading the quotes from our Congress Critters in that Hill article I can’t help but think that what passes as political discourse in this country often resembles smack talk at a junior high lunch table…or a YouTube comments section.

    We elected these fucking people?!… Jesus Christ.

    • Fourscore

      When I think our politics (ians) are the worst I have to remind myself that it’s the same in every country. It’s politicians all the way down.

      • R.J.

        We have to do something with the crazy people. Personally I think it’s a mistake to give them any real power. Just go look at them pontificating in congress, show them to the kids and tell them “that’s where we keep the loonys.”

    • R C Dean

      Democracy strongly selects for attention whores, so this should be no surprise.

      • Trigger Hippie

        Well, sure. I’m just saying the prose was far more elegant in the old days.

      • Old Man With Candy

        Coolidge’s Declaration of Independence speech is something so marvelously beautiful that I can’t imagine ANY current politician saying something like that.

      • Suthenboy

        Agreed. One of many reasons he is my favorite presidents…low bar, I know….by far.

      • juris imprudent

        Huxley: So long as men worship the Caesars and Napoleons, Caesars and Napoleons will duly rise and make them miserable.

        We can be outcasts and still suffer under the delusions of the masses.

    • Don escaped Texas

      it’s infesting many corners: basic discourse is infused with playground taunts and confrontation; I’m getting this from middle-class professional neighbors…30 year old women, even

      we lost the taste leaders, but, of course, those old leaders thought VietNam was totes okay; they failed us

      over the last 40 years we got to a place where the masses wanted Jerry Springer and Oprah and WWE and elected a chimp movie actor and a reality television star as president

      I spent my life getting away from my toothless hillbilly cousins, but now their notions and decorum are de rigueur…..fuck me

      • Fourscore

        “I spent my life getting away from my toothless hillbilly cousins…”

        Then I realized they were better than the alternative so I rejoined them.

      • Suthenboy

        This.
        Here I am living in Peckerwood, USA, happier than a pig in shit.

  13. Ted S.

    birthdays today include a guy with a gold back;

    Happy birthday Gert Fröbe!

  14. rhywun

    a guy whom I always confuse with Paul Lynde

    I can’t even.

    Distracted by the fabulous?

    • Ted S.

      The Match Game drunks are the funny drunks; the Hollywood Squares drunks are the mean drunks.

      A friend on a game show board was at a convention of some sort and happened to run into Paul Williams and told him something to the effect of “I just saw one of your Match Game appearances on TV last night!” Paul’s immediate response: “Was I lit?”

      • cyto

        Wait… Paul Williams is still kicking around??

      • Toxteth O'Grady

        Yeah; amusing interviewee.

  15. Ted S.

    a guy who built bridges;

    Happy birthday Charles Goren!

    • Old Man With Candy

      You mean Omar Sharif.

      • juris imprudent

        Wouldn’t Alec Guinness be the cinematic bridge builder?

      • SDF-7

        What about Sergio Leone?

    • Homple

      Isambard Kingdom Brunel?

    • creech

      The Roeblings?

  16. SDF-7

    In today’s candidate for Nut Punch of the Morning — and extra nut punchy because we were just talking about the stupid overuse of SWAT yesterday morning, I think — there’s this batch of shit.

    I don’t fucking understand what goes through these asshole police chief / officers / whoever made this call’s heads. You’re looking for a 14 year old fucking kid. You keep looking at a house where a different family moved in and says the prior one has been gone for two fucking years (which means they started when the kid was 12?). This is the kind of shit that Barney Fucking Fife could handle if you MUST keep checking to see if the kid magically lives there again.

    But no… you storm in like you’re getting off being SEAL Team 6 and this is the Bin Laden compound. Screw property damage. Screw that you could just knock on the fucking door and ask. Screw that you don’t need a fucking infantry platoon and whatnot. Screw that you could hurt people — and if the story is to be believed, you did fuck up yet another fucking infant.

    And most especially — SCREW THAT APPARENTLY NONE OF THIS SHAMES YOU OR YOU DON’T SEE ANYTHING WRONG!

    Goddamn, at least have some fucking shame you militaristic fucks.

    All I can figure is they’re of the “We’re at war with criminals!” mindset, and they’ve decided this family (probably because of where they live) are criminals regardless of what they’ve really done.

    A fucking disgrace to the entire concept of law enforcement. So fucking infuriating.

    • juris imprudent

      [leaps up from computer wildly applauding]

    • The Last American Hero

      The real disgrace to law enforcement is the rest of the profession that shrugs when this shit happens.

      • juris imprudent

        Yep. Any profession will have bad apples – it is how they are handled by the “good guys” that tells you what you need to know.

      • Don escaped Texas

        yes, I’ll meet you halfway:

        it matters less what fellow cops think, it matters more that the community rubber stamps it

        dumbshit law-and-order copsuckers like my dad are to blame: that’s how they vote and what they paid for
        and they’re too dumb to see that this is their fault, that they begged for it, that they did it to their own neighbors
        they’re reading this and shrugging that’s too bad these things happen

        no one understands anything until it happens to them….dumbshit

      • cyto

        And a press who only covers the problem from a “shut up you racist deplorables” point of view.

        So everyone knows “hands up don’t shoot” and George Floyd, even though they know a version that is a lie…. and nobody knows who Kelly Thomas is, even though that was a thousand times worse than even the fake version of Floyd and the gentle giant.

        So of course our neighbors don’t do anything. They don’t know anything. They think cops kill thousands of black people for no reason and have no clue that way more cops are killed by criminals than black folks are killed by cops.

    • R C Dean

      “All I can figure is they’re of the “We’re at war with criminals!” mindset”

      Oh, it’s much broader than criminals. These are the armed enforcers for the Ruling Class, after all.

      And, yeah, cop culture tolerates and encourages this. The old “90% of police give the rest a bad name” thing.

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      Out of curiosity what are the tones of the comments?

    • Brawndo

      JFC. I have a three year old and a 8 month old at home, so these kinds of stories are especially enraging now. I can’t imagine ignoring a screaming child in distress for that long. I’m reminded of stories of the Japanese “experiments” on the Chinese during WW2, they would leave a baby out in the cold to see how long it would take to die.

      • Brawndo

        And the end of the Waco siege where massive amounts of gas were sprayed into the house and the children not having masks that could fit their faces (which the FBI was counting on by the way), and they were so affected by the gas that they broke their own backs from spasms. Fuck I’m so mad. Fuck all cops.

  17. juris imprudent

    Didn’t see where Feyerabend crossed paths with Feynman, though clearly they were of vastly different minds.

  18. R C Dean

    “Origin tells a compelling story of racism, family, and loss.”

    Needz moar stunning and brave.

    “Video recorded outside the theater showed Ellis-Taylor removing her mask and engaging in a conversation about the film.”

    I always marveled at people who took off their masks when they went into maximum droplet production mode (coughing, sneezing, talking).

    • The Gunslinger

      The basketball coaches were great for that. When they needed to yell something to the team, the mask would get pulled down and the cooties would fly. And then the mask would go back up for protection. Utterly ridiculous, but they were just following the science.

  19. rhywun

    We obviously want to make sure that people have the ability to work

    Obviously. That dirt-cheap and compliant workforce isn’t going to materialize all on its own.

    • Trigger Hippie

      Activate Project Genius!

      • Trigger Hippie

        …Genesis

        Fuck you, auto-correct.

      • SDF-7

        GENESIS ALLOWED IS NOT! IS PLANET FORBIDDEN!

    • Ted S.

      Who *doesn’t* have the ability to work?

      • Old Man With Candy

        People in persistent vegetative states. And by that I don’t mean Idaho.

      • rhywun

        Illegally present “asylum seekers” before the government throws work papers at them.

      • hayeksplosives

        My ex husband

      • creech

        25 percent of Philadelphians.

  20. SDF-7

    On the “less infuriating” front…

    I played https://squaredle.com/xp 01/13:
    *19/19 words (+1 bonus word)
    🎯 Perfect accuracy

    I played https://squaredle.com 01/13:
    *38/38 words (+2 bonus words)
    🎯 Perfect accuracy
    🔥 Solve streak: 181

    • rhywun

      Streak is dead 🙁

      I played https://squaredle.com/xp 01/13:
      19/19 words (+2 bonus words)
      🎯 In the top 25% by accuracy

      I played https://squaredle.com 01/13:
      *38/38 words (+5 bonus words)
      🎯 Perfect accuracy

    • Sean

      I played https://squaredle.com/xp 01/13:
      19/19 words (+2 bonus words)
      ⏱️ In the top 33% by speed

      I played https://squaredle.com 01/13:
      *38/38 words (+6 bonus words)
      📖 In the top 22% by bonus words
      🔥 Solve streak: 111

  21. cyto

    SDF-7’s nutpunch link is excellent. What a perfect example. We have idiotic deployment of SWAT when they had been to the residence several times, we have claims that everyone acted properly and that they were at the right house because the search warrant listed that address.

    But even better, we have claims that flash bangs were only deployed outside, so there is no way that they hurt the baby. That one us a whopper. Who ever heard of using flash bangs outside the building? What a stupid lie! Where is the press? How dumb are you if you don’t challenge that statement on its face?? Why wait for the ring camera footage that your stupid mainstream station us never going to report on?

    Double bonus…. we have an incompetent hospital going along with the police narrative: the baby was like that when we found it! Holy crap! I hope they hit them with malpractice for that one.

    And who ignores a baby in distress???? Are these cartoon villains? Usually the cops in these wrong house raids are simply doing their job…. the wrong job… but at least trying to be professional, and it is the government as a whole who is the Mal actor. But leaving a baby in life-threatening distress, long after you have secured the risks? That is comic book villain shit.

    • juris imprudent

      I’ll remind you of the Jose Guerena shooting in Tucson. When that video was released one of the cops – a runt at that – was firing blindly through the door with his handgun over the shoulders of the cops in front of him.

      • cyto

        Wow… psychic much? I was just talking about that last night with a couple of cop buddies. They agreed, they would have beat his ass the minute they got back to the station.

  22. The Late P Brooks

    And now I’m a professor. This was not my goal, but I’m rolling with it.

    And for years people have been braying about how hard it is to get jobs in academia.

    • Old Man With Candy

      As with everything else, it’s “getting a job at a salary I’m willing to accept.” I came cheap.

    • Suthenboy

      There is something seriously wrong with those lips. A bit of a rictus grin there? Who would have sex with that? Creepy.

    • Fourscore

      Dress up night at a 4H Club party. Miss the old days…

  23. The Late P Brooks

    Saving the planet

    Oil and natural gas companies for the first time would have to pay a fee for methane emissions that exceed certain levels under a rule proposed Friday by the Biden administration.

    The proposed Environmental Protection Agency rule follows through on a directive from Congress included in the 2022 climate law. The new fee is intended to encourage industry to adopt best practices that reduce emissions of methane and thereby avoid paying.

    Methane is a climate “super pollutant” that is more potent in the short term than carbon dioxide and is responsible for about one-third of greenhouse gas emissions. The oil and natural gas sector is the largest industrial source of methane emissions in the United States, and advocates say reduction of methane emissions is an important way to slow climate change.

    Ban natural gas. Burn cow dung.

    • Urthona

      So basically the legal end around they tried with co2.

      • Urthona

        note: they are also sure to call it a pollutant — like co2 — even though it isn’t to give themselves legal jurisdiction.

    • Common Tater

      “The oil and natural gas sector is the largest industrial source of methane emissions in the United States”

      I thought it was egg salad.

  24. cyto

    On the “holy crap” front… Reason was slobbering Chris Chrstie’s knob this week, praising him for being the only republican brave enough to take on Trump.

    Anyway, he is gone now….

    Soooo…. “libertarians” for Haley is now a thing….

    • Urthona

      Man Haley is so libertarian.

      • Gustave Lytton

        “Free minds, free funerals”

    • Suthenboy

      They can propagandize until their jaws fall off. I would love if Vivek were telling the truth, I would vote for him, but I dont think he is. He is a little bit of a fast talker for my taste, if y’all know what that means. So, I am left with….OMB.

  25. Common Tater

    Fuck Peacock. How many cable channels and streaming services does one have to buy just to watch football? I remember when everything was on broadcast TV. Now I have to install an app, and sign up to a paid service, just to watch one game?

    • slumbrew

      Just say no. Don’t encourage them.

      • hayeksplosives

        Yeah, I know I could sign up for one month of Peacock for $6 and then cancel, but that would just help prove to them that football is important enough to make people jump through hoops. Then the next year they will require a full year subscription or some such crap.

        I’d rather go watch at the local pub but I don’t know if they’ll have the game either!

    • rhywun

      They have their rea$on$.

    • juris imprudent

      So what game am I missing?

      • Common Tater

        Dolphins vs. Chiefs

    • Suthenboy

      After the ‘take a knee’ thing I wouldn’t watch if they paid me.

  26. LCDR_Fish

    Good NRO material this week:

    https://www.nationalreview.com/2024/01/a-message-from-menem-to-milei-dollarize-argentina-now/

    All the talk and scribbling about the infeasibility of dollarization in Argentina is simply wrong.

    Carlos Menem was elected president of Argentina in May 1989. In the 45 preceding years, Argentina had witnessed unstable, slow growth, and rampant inflation. As if to usher in Menem, a bout of hyperinflation broke out the month he was elected president. It peaked in July 1989, when the monthly inflation rate reached 197 percent. If that wasn’t bad enough, the economy, according to Domingo Cavallo, Menem’s minister of economy, “was so complicated that not even specialists could understand what went on.” Anomie prevailed.

    President Menem set out to clean the stables, but early on, the going was slow. In late 1989, one of us (Hanke) met Menem for the first time. During that meeting, I advised Menem that until he killed the hyperinflation and stabilized the economy, he would not be viewed as credible and would lack the public’s trust. Without that credibility and trust, he would not be able to move forward with his economic-modernization plans.

    At President Menem’s suggestion, I co-authored a book, ¿Banco central o caja de conversión?, with Kurt Schuler, while he was working with me as a postdoctoral fellow at Johns Hopkins. We laid out a blueprint for an orthodox currency board. It would have replaced Argentina’s central bank (BCRA). And unlike the BCRA, it would have had no capacity to engage in monetary policy; it would only have had an exchange-rate policy: the peso–U.S. dollar rate would have been fixed, and the rate would have been credible because the peso would have been fully backed by U.S. dollar reserves. A draft of our book circulated in Buenos Aires in 1990 and was published by the Fundación República in early 1991.

    To stop Argentina’s triple-digit inflation, the Menem administration decided not to introduce a currency board, but rather introduced a convertibility system, which pegged the peso to the U.S. dollar at a 1:1 rate. It did so on April 1, 1991. While convertibility stopped inflation in its tracks and laid the foundation for an economic boom, it was administered by the BCRA, which had the capacity to engage in discretionary monetary policies. For me, this capacity was convertibility’s Achilles’ heel. The BCRA’s discretionary powers were the equivalent of setting a bottle of whiskey next to a recovering alcoholic. Shortly after convertibility’s introduction, I penned an op-ed in the the Wall Street Journal, “Argentina Should Abolish its Central Bank,” in which I argued that convertibility was not a currency board and that, unless the BCRA’s power to engage in discretion was removed, convertibility would eventually collapse.

    Sure enough, in 1998, convertibility started to show signs of trouble. Menem again called me in for advice and requested a draft dollarization law. Kurt Schuler and I published “A Dollarization Blueprint for Argentina” on February 1, 1999. Unfortunately, dollarization never became the law of the land. As they say, the rest is history. Indeed, Argentina has been embroiled in one currency crisis after another ever since convertibility was abandoned amid political and economic chaos in 2002.

    This brings us to Argentina’s newly elected president, Javier Milei. The scope and scale of the economic problems he faces are broadly the same as those that Carlos Menem faced 35 years ago. Although it’s not hyperinflation, Argentines have suffered from triple-digit inflation since February of last year.

    President Milei campaigned on the promise to kill inflation by mothballing the BCRA and peso and replacing them with the U.S. dollar. It seemed as though he had learned one big lesson from Menem, namely, to become credible and gain the public’s trust, inflation must be crushed.

    But once in office, Milei shelved dollarization, promising that it would arrive at some future, unspecified date. Apparently, Milei was spooked by a chorus of experts, including his own, who claimed that dollarization was not feasible without the receipt of a large loan because Argentina didn’t have enough foreign-exchange reserves to dollarize.

    This is unfortunate and could doom Milei. As it turns out, the chorus of experts is singing from a defective songbook. To dollarize, the only thing that must be physically converted into U.S. dollars is Argentina’s outstanding stock of peso notes and coins. To make that conversion, gross foreign-exchange reserves in dollars must exceed the value of the outstanding stock of peso notes and coins at the exchange rate decided on at the time of dollarization. All other peso assets and liabilities are simply nominal claims or IOUs that can be expressed or redenominated at any time in any unit of account or currency. They are not physical units that must remain intact until their maturity date.

    As of December 31 and at Argentina’s official exchange rate, the BCRA reported “International Reserves” of AR$ 18,654 billion pesos (US$ 23.1 billion), significantly more than the AR$ 7,435 billion (US$ 9.2 billion) in “Banknotes and Coins in Circulation.” Therefore, the stock of liquid unencumbered gross reserves is more than adequate to successfully convert Argentina’s stock of peso notes and coins into U.S. dollars. The experts clearly have things wrong.

    Just how could so many experts be so wrong? First, they have failed to realize that, with the exception of peso notes and coins outstanding, a stroke of the pen is all that is required to redenominate peso assets and liabilities into greenbacks. In consequence, they have exaggerated the amount of foreign exchange that would be required to dollarize Argentina.

    If that’s not bad enough, most experts believe that dollarization can only occur when a country’s net international foreign-exchange reserves are adequate. But, when determining the feasibility of dollarization, the value of net international foreign-exchange reserves turns out to be irrelevant. It is gross liquid foreign-exchange reserves that are relevant, not net reserves.

    Contrary to the deficiency of the foreign-exchange arguments that have spooked Milei, our analysis is based on sound economics and first-hand experience. Indeed, one of us (Zalles) served as an advisor to Ecuador’s president Gustavo Noboa when it dollarized. And both of us served as advisors to Ecuador’s minister of economy and finance, Carlos Julio Emanuel, who was responsible for the final implementation of dollarization.

    At the time Ecuador dollarized, its gross unencumbered reserves were US$ 872 million. Those were enough to cover the stock of outstanding sucre notes and coins of US$ 578 million. Interestingly, at the time of dollarization, Ecuador’s net international foreign-exchange position was negative. Indeed, Ecuador’s net reserves were a negative US$ 619 million.

    All the talk and scribbling about the infeasibility of dollarization in Argentina because of a lack of international foreign-exchange reserves is simply wrong. Official dollarization in Argentina is both desirable and feasible.

    Until he pulled the trigger and introduced convertibility to kill inflation, President Menem was going nowhere. Once inflation was crushed, Menem’s modernization reforms started moving. Menem’s message for Milei is clear: To succeed, a currency reform to kill inflation must come first, not last.

    [author description]
    Steve H. Hanke is a professor of applied economics at the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Md., and a senior fellow at the Independent Institute in Oakland, Calif. As President Milo Dukanovic’s chief adviser, Hanke designed and implemented Montenegro’s “dollarization” in 1999 and was an adviser to Ecuador’s minister of economy and finance, Carlos Julio Emanuel, when Ecuador was dollarized in 2001. He advised Argentine president Carlos Menem from 1989 to 1999.

    Francisco Zalles is an adjunct scholar at the Ecuadorian Institute for Political Economy. He served as an adviser to Ecuador’s president, Gustavo Noboa, and subsequently various ministers of economy and finance, including Carlos Julio Emanuel, when Ecuador was dollarized in 2001.

    • LCDR_Fish

      I know we have disagreement on this issue here but posting anyhoo.

      https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/obviously-hit-the-houthis/

      Noah writes:

      For all the peril Biden’s bizarre dithering over the Houthis’ terrorism has imposed on America and its partners abroad, his conduct established conditions that represent a test of sober-mindedness. Those who pass it understand the gravity of these attacks on the global maritime trade regime and American geopolitical hegemony, the most visible expression of which is its guarantee of the free navigation of the seas. Those who do not pass it have allowed their mistrust of U.S. hard power to cloud their judgment. They have failed a basic test of seriousness.

      I couldn’t agree more. Preventing savages from destroying the prerequisites of Western civilization — Anglo-American naval supremacy, open trade, the free movement of people, etc. — is one of the main reasons that we have a government, and it has been from the foundation of the United States. Pretty much the first thing that this country did on the global stage after its independence was take on the Barbary Pirates, who, by the end of the 18th century, were costing the federal government nearly one-fifth of its annual budget. Heck, this is why the U.S. Navy was founded in the first place. In modern America, we have all manner of debates about government policy, but this one ought to be considered pre-political. I have been trying to think if there is any role of government more basic than this, and I am coming up short. You could strip down Washington, D.C., to a borderline anarcho-capitalistic minimum, and still you’d have to protect shipping around the world. I do not like paying taxes, but I do not mind paying for this in the same way that I do not mind paying for courts. Were I not obliged to, I would volunteer.

      One can only wonder what Joe Biden thought was going to happen if he ignored the problem for longer. Did he think that we would just give up on the Suez Canal? That we would all agree to pay higher prices in tribute to the Houthi villains? That someone else would handle the issue, so he didn’t have to bother? The same question applies to those who have criticized the action on the grounds that it was “violent.” Yes, and . . . ? A bunch of international criminals are trying to interrupt the world’s shipping lanes. What should we do about this? Show them an instructional video?

      • juris imprudent

        American geopolitical hegemony

        That reads to me as “there is no hornet’s nest in the world that we will not go stick our dick in it”. We’re just going to ping-pong between the ass end of the Saudi peninsula and the Horn of Africa.

      • Suthenboy

        “Bizarre dithering”
        It’s just bizarre. Bizarre why Obama/Biden aid and abet America’s enemies. Bizarre. A mystery to be sure. Who can figure it out?

    • R C Dean

      Ya know, when you post a link, you don’t have to cut and paste the article.

  27. The Late P Brooks

    “EPA is delivering on a comprehensive strategy to reduce wasteful methane emissions that endanger communities and fuel the climate crisis,” Regan said in a statement. When finalized later this year, the proposed methane fee will set technology standards that will “incentivize industry innovation” and spur action to reduce pollution, he said.

    Leading oil and gas companies already meet or exceed performance levels set by Congress under the climate law, meaning they will not have to pay the proposed fee, Regan and other officials said.

    Nothing incentives innovation like government regulations designed to hobble small competitors.

    • Gustave Lytton

      Well, not pay the fee now. When the thresholds get lowered, now that the principle is established, then they’ll pay. And “their” lobbyists will continue to do a half assed job in self interest.

    • Common Tater

      “endanger communities”

      Oh, fuck off.

  28. The Late P Brooks

    New Jersey Rep. Frank Pallone, the top Democrat on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, said oil and gas companies have long calculated that it’s cheaper to waste methane through flaring and other techniques than to make necessary upgrades to prevent leaks.

    “Wasted methane never makes its way to consumers, but they are nevertheless stuck with the bill,” Pallone said. The proposed methane fee “will ensure consumers no longer pay for wasted energy or the harm its emissions can cause.”

    Que?

    • prolefeed

      “We’re gonna charge a tax to burn off waste oil refining products that are literally worthless — worth less than zero — thus raising energy costs for consumers, and without a trace of shame declare that consumers will save money from this theft. And characterize CO2, which fuels plant growth and is thus necessary for life, as a harmful emissions.”

      FTFY

  29. Common Tater

    “I was ‘gang raped’ in the metaverse -the trauma was similar to a real-world assault

    Speaking to DailyMail.com, psychotherapist and start-up co-founder Nina Patel said that her attackers may have felt ‘disinhibited’ due to being in a virtual world…

    Patel is co-founder of Kabuni, and is an expert in metaverse and VR – hence she was one of the earlier users of Horizon Worlds…

    A Meta spokesperson highlighted that the researcher did not have the Personal Boundary feature on – a safety tool that’s turned on by default and prevents non-friends from coming within four feet of your avatar.

    But Patel said in the case of her attack, she simply ‘froze’ and couldn’t activate her ‘Personal Boundary’ in time.”

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-12948027/I-gang-raped-metaverse-trauma-similar-real-world-assault.html

    Rape is like racism. Supply doesn’t meet demand.

    • Common Tater

      So she is the founder of competing VR company.

      “Leverage the synergy of intuitive design tools and generative AI to manifest your creative vision. Regardless of your experience, design compelling lessons in the physical, digital, or immersive realm, fostering transformative learning experiences.

      Morph your concepts into unique digital assets. Through Kabuni’s seamless minting process, your creative endeavours evolve into valuable NFTs, enabling exchange and recognition. Mint your way to innovation with blockchain technology, no coding required.”

      “Commitment to Children’s Digital Rights: A Manifesto for the Future
      Nina Jane Patel”

      https://medium.com/kabuni/commitment-to-childrens-digital-rights-a-manifesto-for-the-future-38a7082e6518

    • Common Tater

      It also looks like avatars are only from the waist up. So how was she “gang raped”?

    • Suthenboy

      Lunatics run the asylum. News at 11.

  30. TARDis

    “Votes For Women”

    I’m only willing to pay 82% of the asking price, and that’s if I’m guaranteed of a rejection of the 19th Amendment.

    • Common Tater

      From the article it sounds like the game designer is a progressive ass clown who probably supported Facebook censoring “disinformation”.

  31. The Late P Brooks

    The climate law, formally known as the Inflation Reduction Act, established a waste-emissions charge for methane from oil and gas facilities that report emissions of more than 25,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent per year to the EPA. The proposal announced Friday sets out details of how the fee will be implemented, including how exemptions will be applied.

    Jacking up energy prices is a sure fire way to reduce inflation. That’s Econ 101.

  32. juris imprudent

    Inflation Reduction – is there anything it can’t do?

  33. The Late P Brooks

    Meanwhile, in Turkey

    Turkey said on Saturday its forces had “neutralised” 45 Kurdish militants in northern Syria and Iraq following a clash on Friday with members of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in which nine Turkish soldiers were killed in northern Iraq.

    “Operations following the treacherous attack neutralised a total of 45 terrorists, 36 in northern Iraq and 9 in northern Syria,” Turkey’s Communications Directorate said in a statement after President Tayyip Erdogan chaired a security meeting.

    Ankara typically uses the term “neutralised” to mean killed.

    “Turkey will never allow the establishment of a ‘terrorland’ on its southern borders under any pretext and for any reason,” the statement in Turkish added.

    Earlier on Saturday, the Defence Ministry said the military had carried out airstrikes in the Hakurk, Metina, Gara and Qandil regions of northern Iraq, destroying 29 PKK targets included caves, bunkers, shelters and oil facilities.

    Just a little family squabble. Nothing to worry about.

  34. The Late P Brooks

    Inflation Reduction – is there anything it can’t do?

    It’s the Swiss Army Knife of legislation.

    • Brawndo

      Reduce inflation?

      • Suthenboy

        Brawndo for the win