Favorites March 22nd 2022

Lawrence O'Donnell @Lawrence

For the 1st 127 years when only white Christian men were allowed to be Supreme Court Justices, there were zero confirmation hearings. Confirmation hearing was invented for the 1st Jewish nominee.

MSNBC @MSNBC

“Supreme Court confirmation hearings are not about qualifications,” @lawrence says. “They are about preening senators glorying in their minutes on camera.” https://t.co/1VnBY3F5kQ

Confirmation hearings for Ketanji Brown Jackson were going on today. The amount of preening for the cameras makes one wonder whether less time would be wasted if congress only allowed audio recordings. In the replies I found out that she'd be the lone Protestant on the court if confirmed, the others are all Catholic or Jewish.

Noah Smith 🐇🇺🇦 @Noahpinion

What annoys me is that these people think Hong Kong and Shanghai have the same urban layout. In fact one is a hyper-dense transit-centric city while the other consists of a small traditional downtown surrounded by superblocks and shopping malls connected by giant freeways.

Next door in Silicon Valley @nextdoorsv

I want to believe Silicon Valley is beyond racism. That long timers people hate new people not because of their race, but simply because they're new. But boy there sure are a lot of HONGKONIFICATION, BEIJINGIFICATIOM, and SHANGHAIIFICATION, posts on Nextdoor Silicon Valley https://t.co/QgyX9hY70U

Noah Smith 🐇🇺🇦 @Noahpinion

Lots of people who make fun of car-centric development use this picture. It's from Shanghai.

I'll readily admit that I can't quickly remember the differences in urban design between major asian cities. But this reminded me that the important thing about the Chinese cities is that they're surprisingly car-dependant.

• Great thread on how the NYT has changed their war map graphics seemingly in response to the realization that Russia may not actually conquer Ukraine.

• Details the concept of an 'off-ramp' for Russia in Ukraine with a comparison to Japan successfully putting some conditions on ‘unconditional surrender’ at the end of WWII.

Livermore, September 2021