I find it hard to believe that when there isn’t support for the Illinois constitutional amendment from people like you and me, that it could prevail. It is likely doomed by the fact that needed pension reform in Illinois is made difficult if not impossible by the current constitutional situation. Tying the hands of the legislature seems foolhardy.
The Uihlein funded person on "Mincing Rascals" says Amendment 1 only pertains to public sector unions. There is nothing in the wording quoted that says that is so. Is it?
His point was that Federal labor law will supersede state regulations as far as private sector employees goes, so the main impact of this will be on public employees. I don't think that's wrong.
Sorry. He said "The secret is that the amendment applies only to public service workers" (as near to an exact quote as I recall)--it was an unhedged flat out statement, nothing about why or "the main impact."
Thanks to Mary Schmich for sharing "Let the Mystery Be." How consoling it is to be honest about all we don't know and will never understand! And I'm especially grateful for her mention of "The Leftovers," a great television show that didn't get the viewership it deserved. Watching the three seasons helped me process some ambiguous grief I'd been struggling with in my life. I suspect it also helped many find healing with their own experiences of loss. And Iris DeMent's song in the opening credits perfectly sets up the premise.
I am glad to see your conclusions on Twitter and the useful tips. But I have a couple of quibbles. First, Musk is a shoot-from-the-lip sort of person, but also has a pretty good track record in business. His tweets should get the same 'delete history' assessment and treatment. Actions will speak louder than words, eventually, so we will have to see how well the Moderation Committee and new policies work. And it is highly unlikely that Musk wants to continue losing money as Twitter has over its life. Of course, his attempts to turn a profit will be condemned by people opposed to that capitalist evil.
While it is a good idea to have reasonable and effective content moderation, it should also be recognized what a small percentage of traffic is objectionable. There are 500 million tweets per day, but the WP thought the 501 (tweet, retweet) and 4000 likes was somehow indicative and newsworthy. A review of the Pew research convinces me that the Twitterverse has a very small and not very influential population of objectionable people and traffic.
How well has your good Twitter-feed hygiene worked now that bad words are up x00%? I use similar tools to manage my feed and haven’t seen one instance. Of course I don’t attract the online attention you do. For me, it’s a non-problem so far.
I have low confidence in the information value of media coverage of the election and their reporting on polling. So, it is hard to make any kind of predictions. But I won't let that stop me. I agree with all of your predictions and would add that the amendment will also pass. I also predict that the media and pundits will make all sorts of addled rationalizations for the results.
I think Amendment 1 is a terrible idea and that with the Democratic majority on the Supreme Court we can expect to cede even more power and influence to public employee unions.
Goozner's article about EV charging prices is based on the proven fallacy that government regulators are better than the market at setting prices that achieve the optimal balance of supply, demand, and features. Just as there is no reason to believe that any pundit or government agency has any ability to predict the adoption, usage patterns, innovations, or new business entrants that will affect charging. There is still no common level 3 (fastest) charger/connection, and the onboard batteries and electronics are still rapidly evolving. Had regulators attempted to standardize charging and pricing five years ago they would have been completely wrong and there is no reason to believe that they would know better today.
I have two ballot proposals. If we can't have ranked choice voting, then I would like a 'none of the above' choice for every race so that we can make it clear when we think neither is worthy of support. This will help the winner to have a better appreciation of their actual level of support and popularity. And the same goes for the tweet poll. I would like to report that some weeks I just don't find any of them amusing.
I can tell by the overall vote totals when a week has been a dud -- sometimes I know in advance -- and the poll in Issue No. 58 was the worst yet in the judgement of the electorate https://ericzorn.substack.com/i/78231620/re-tweets
If it is possible, I would be much more interested in seeing the percentage of participants voting for each tweet rather than the percentage of total votes cast. The total number of participants would also be interesting.
Twitter keeps banning just about anything about gender mutilation—oops, I mean gender affirmation. Take a look at the banning of LibsofTickTock for running a clip ona Boston children’s hospital spokesman denying they performed mastectomies on underage girls—and followed it with another clip noting more than a dozen, some as young as 13. Oops, can’t do that. You can lie all you want on Twitter but you can’t tell the truth if it runs afoul of the woke police. Give Musk a shot. The media is 90-some percent liberal (I can vouch for that after 40 years in MSM).
2022 elections: Michael Moore corrected predicted that Trump would beat Hillary -he was right so now when he predicts that the Dems will prevail-I hire he's right again.
Amendment One "...and to promote their economic welfare and safety at work."
At present, Illinois very appropriately allows unions to collectively bargain or strike over compensation, benefits and working conditions. However, the very vague and ambiguous language quoted above in the proposed amendment one leaves the door wide open for a very broad interpretation which would allow an ending public employee union intervention in the political realm.
Several years ago, the radically leftist Chicago Teachers Union attempted to demand that the city of Chicago provide more subsidized housing. Fortunately, present law did not allow this type of overreach. But if Amendment Ine would pass, it will not be very long at all before CTU will once again demand concessions in city housing policy, and perhaps even a city-wide reparations program among many other things.
Currently, public employee unions wield astounding political power in Springfield and throughout the state. There is absolutely no need for any type of constitutional amendment to enshrine workers rights. Amendment One would be disastrous public policy, and would further fuel the ongoing parade of businesses and residents fleeing Illinois.
With Amendment 1 and a CTU dominated elected school board, I shudder to think what will happen. But I am pretty confident that it will require much higher property taxes and be of little value to the students.
I badmouthed Oliver in my last comment, but that segment on bail reform was compelling and fair. If there's a flaw, it's that he didn't address the non-bogus critique from the right, which is not entirely baseless fear-mongering. Murders are up, after all. But that would be a different sort of show. I thought the recent debate between conservative think-tanker Rafael Manguel and progressive lawyer Lara Bazelon on Bari Weiss's podcast, hosted by Kmele Foster, was pretty good.
I fear that the big crime reduction in the '90s relied in large measure on a Casablanca strategy -- rounding up the usual suspects in large numbers and locking them away. Progressives don't want to admit that this strategy, in a sense, "worked." Conservatives don't want to admit that the strategy only worked at the expense of fairness, justice, and the Constitution. Manguel's pooh-poohing of wrongful convictions, for example, as just a few eggs necessary to make the omelette was outrageous.
We remain in search of the right middle ground. I'm beginning to think that our criminal justice system is by turns both too harsh and too lenient. For every report of the unacceptably draconian, there's a report of a violent crime committed by someone whose ridiculous rap sheet suggests he should have been in prison.
That was a very good debate with a healthy ending, thanks. Lara Bazelon made some excellent points on reform & prisons, but IMO she ignores some of the main reasons social justice overreach has been the leading cause of the crime wave. Despite the political talking points on both sides, the change in the psyche of both perpetrators and policing has had more to do with biased rhetoric, viral videos, social media, etc. than any official change in laws, funding, or prosecutors.
I'm not on Twitter so I don't know -- would your tips essentially block all advertising on the platform? How do you feel about Musk's floating of a monthly subscription charge? Would you pay it?
In all the years I've been doing the poll only one account asked me not to use their* tweets because they felt it was unfair that the Tribune was profiting off their work without compensation. I was glad to comply, though nearly every other user seems to feel that exposure of their work -- which they put out there for free anyway -- and the chance to attract new followers is enough "compensation." They dropped their objection when I left the Tribune and moved to the free version of the PS.
If Twitter starts charging for media use of tweets it will be a big mistake, business wise, but I'll drop the poll in a heartbeat.
*the gender identity is unclear from the screen name/avatar.
"Add diversity to your team" vs. "tokenism" can be a slippery slope. The Hideout is about as good as gets in terms of a small business prioritizing community, charity, inclusiveness, diversity, etc. There is always room for improvement, so yes, take a look at what really happened. I wouldn't expect to find much different than what typically happens behind the scenes at most music clubs. That doesn't make it right, just not unique to this guy. It really sounds like he was expecting all glory no guts at a beloved Chicago institution, and decided to blame much of it on racism. Episodes like this will only discourage businesses from taking risks and diversifying.
The Michael Moore post that you linked to left me with a few thoughts; first, for the sake of the country I hope that he’s right and that the Democrats win big on Tuesday. I remember him predicting in summer of ‘16 that Trump would win, and I sort of dismissed it as being a scare tactic that he was using to ensure more people would get out and vote for Clinton, but in hindsight, it appears that he was clued into something that most of the rest of the observers and pundits were missing. I hope that
I find it hard to believe that when there isn’t support for the Illinois constitutional amendment from people like you and me, that it could prevail. It is likely doomed by the fact that needed pension reform in Illinois is made difficult if not impossible by the current constitutional situation. Tying the hands of the legislature seems foolhardy.
The Uihlein funded person on "Mincing Rascals" says Amendment 1 only pertains to public sector unions. There is nothing in the wording quoted that says that is so. Is it?
No, there isn't.
I suppose the next question is why the rest of the panel did not call him out on that, um, misstatement?
His point was that Federal labor law will supersede state regulations as far as private sector employees goes, so the main impact of this will be on public employees. I don't think that's wrong.
Sorry. He said "The secret is that the amendment applies only to public service workers" (as near to an exact quote as I recall)--it was an unhedged flat out statement, nothing about why or "the main impact."
Thanks to Mary Schmich for sharing "Let the Mystery Be." How consoling it is to be honest about all we don't know and will never understand! And I'm especially grateful for her mention of "The Leftovers," a great television show that didn't get the viewership it deserved. Watching the three seasons helped me process some ambiguous grief I'd been struggling with in my life. I suspect it also helped many find healing with their own experiences of loss. And Iris DeMent's song in the opening credits perfectly sets up the premise.
I hope to come back as some broccoli, myself.
I am glad to see your conclusions on Twitter and the useful tips. But I have a couple of quibbles. First, Musk is a shoot-from-the-lip sort of person, but also has a pretty good track record in business. His tweets should get the same 'delete history' assessment and treatment. Actions will speak louder than words, eventually, so we will have to see how well the Moderation Committee and new policies work. And it is highly unlikely that Musk wants to continue losing money as Twitter has over its life. Of course, his attempts to turn a profit will be condemned by people opposed to that capitalist evil.
While it is a good idea to have reasonable and effective content moderation, it should also be recognized what a small percentage of traffic is objectionable. There are 500 million tweets per day, but the WP thought the 501 (tweet, retweet) and 4000 likes was somehow indicative and newsworthy. A review of the Pew research convinces me that the Twitterverse has a very small and not very influential population of objectionable people and traffic.
https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2019/04/24/sizing-up-twitter-users/
https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2022/05/05/10-facts-about-americans-and-twitter/
Really good stuff about The Hideout. I totally agree,
How well has your good Twitter-feed hygiene worked now that bad words are up x00%? I use similar tools to manage my feed and haven’t seen one instance. Of course I don’t attract the online attention you do. For me, it’s a non-problem so far.
I have yet to encounter any slurs or epithets, but it's because I'm so selective about what I read.
I have low confidence in the information value of media coverage of the election and their reporting on polling. So, it is hard to make any kind of predictions. But I won't let that stop me. I agree with all of your predictions and would add that the amendment will also pass. I also predict that the media and pundits will make all sorts of addled rationalizations for the results.
I think Amendment 1 is a terrible idea and that with the Democratic majority on the Supreme Court we can expect to cede even more power and influence to public employee unions.
Goozner's article about EV charging prices is based on the proven fallacy that government regulators are better than the market at setting prices that achieve the optimal balance of supply, demand, and features. Just as there is no reason to believe that any pundit or government agency has any ability to predict the adoption, usage patterns, innovations, or new business entrants that will affect charging. There is still no common level 3 (fastest) charger/connection, and the onboard batteries and electronics are still rapidly evolving. Had regulators attempted to standardize charging and pricing five years ago they would have been completely wrong and there is no reason to believe that they would know better today.
I have two ballot proposals. If we can't have ranked choice voting, then I would like a 'none of the above' choice for every race so that we can make it clear when we think neither is worthy of support. This will help the winner to have a better appreciation of their actual level of support and popularity. And the same goes for the tweet poll. I would like to report that some weeks I just don't find any of them amusing.
I can tell by the overall vote totals when a week has been a dud -- sometimes I know in advance -- and the poll in Issue No. 58 was the worst yet in the judgement of the electorate https://ericzorn.substack.com/i/78231620/re-tweets
If it is possible, I would be much more interested in seeing the percentage of participants voting for each tweet rather than the percentage of total votes cast. The total number of participants would also be interesting.
Twitter keeps banning just about anything about gender mutilation—oops, I mean gender affirmation. Take a look at the banning of LibsofTickTock for running a clip ona Boston children’s hospital spokesman denying they performed mastectomies on underage girls—and followed it with another clip noting more than a dozen, some as young as 13. Oops, can’t do that. You can lie all you want on Twitter but you can’t tell the truth if it runs afoul of the woke police. Give Musk a shot. The media is 90-some percent liberal (I can vouch for that after 40 years in MSM).
2022 elections: Michael Moore corrected predicted that Trump would beat Hillary -he was right so now when he predicts that the Dems will prevail-I hire he's right again.
Amendment One "...and to promote their economic welfare and safety at work."
At present, Illinois very appropriately allows unions to collectively bargain or strike over compensation, benefits and working conditions. However, the very vague and ambiguous language quoted above in the proposed amendment one leaves the door wide open for a very broad interpretation which would allow an ending public employee union intervention in the political realm.
Several years ago, the radically leftist Chicago Teachers Union attempted to demand that the city of Chicago provide more subsidized housing. Fortunately, present law did not allow this type of overreach. But if Amendment Ine would pass, it will not be very long at all before CTU will once again demand concessions in city housing policy, and perhaps even a city-wide reparations program among many other things.
Currently, public employee unions wield astounding political power in Springfield and throughout the state. There is absolutely no need for any type of constitutional amendment to enshrine workers rights. Amendment One would be disastrous public policy, and would further fuel the ongoing parade of businesses and residents fleeing Illinois.
(And once again, I did not proofread my voice to text before I hit post on this. Mea Culpa for my grammatical and spelling errors.)
With Amendment 1 and a CTU dominated elected school board, I shudder to think what will happen. But I am pretty confident that it will require much higher property taxes and be of little value to the students.
I badmouthed Oliver in my last comment, but that segment on bail reform was compelling and fair. If there's a flaw, it's that he didn't address the non-bogus critique from the right, which is not entirely baseless fear-mongering. Murders are up, after all. But that would be a different sort of show. I thought the recent debate between conservative think-tanker Rafael Manguel and progressive lawyer Lara Bazelon on Bari Weiss's podcast, hosted by Kmele Foster, was pretty good.
I fear that the big crime reduction in the '90s relied in large measure on a Casablanca strategy -- rounding up the usual suspects in large numbers and locking them away. Progressives don't want to admit that this strategy, in a sense, "worked." Conservatives don't want to admit that the strategy only worked at the expense of fairness, justice, and the Constitution. Manguel's pooh-poohing of wrongful convictions, for example, as just a few eggs necessary to make the omelette was outrageous.
We remain in search of the right middle ground. I'm beginning to think that our criminal justice system is by turns both too harsh and too lenient. For every report of the unacceptably draconian, there's a report of a violent crime committed by someone whose ridiculous rap sheet suggests he should have been in prison.
That was a very good debate with a healthy ending, thanks. Lara Bazelon made some excellent points on reform & prisons, but IMO she ignores some of the main reasons social justice overreach has been the leading cause of the crime wave. Despite the political talking points on both sides, the change in the psyche of both perpetrators and policing has had more to do with biased rhetoric, viral videos, social media, etc. than any official change in laws, funding, or prosecutors.
I'm not on Twitter so I don't know -- would your tips essentially block all advertising on the platform? How do you feel about Musk's floating of a monthly subscription charge? Would you pay it?
I'm waiting to see if Musk finds out about Zorn's 'Tweet of the Week' poll, and charges him a fee for including it in this publication.
In all the years I've been doing the poll only one account asked me not to use their* tweets because they felt it was unfair that the Tribune was profiting off their work without compensation. I was glad to comply, though nearly every other user seems to feel that exposure of their work -- which they put out there for free anyway -- and the chance to attract new followers is enough "compensation." They dropped their objection when I left the Tribune and moved to the free version of the PS.
If Twitter starts charging for media use of tweets it will be a big mistake, business wise, but I'll drop the poll in a heartbeat.
*the gender identity is unclear from the screen name/avatar.
"Add diversity to your team" vs. "tokenism" can be a slippery slope. The Hideout is about as good as gets in terms of a small business prioritizing community, charity, inclusiveness, diversity, etc. There is always room for improvement, so yes, take a look at what really happened. I wouldn't expect to find much different than what typically happens behind the scenes at most music clubs. That doesn't make it right, just not unique to this guy. It really sounds like he was expecting all glory no guts at a beloved Chicago institution, and decided to blame much of it on racism. Episodes like this will only discourage businesses from taking risks and diversifying.
The Michael Moore post that you linked to left me with a few thoughts; first, for the sake of the country I hope that he’s right and that the Democrats win big on Tuesday. I remember him predicting in summer of ‘16 that Trump would win, and I sort of dismissed it as being a scare tactic that he was using to ensure more people would get out and vote for Clinton, but in hindsight, it appears that he was clued into something that most of the rest of the observers and pundits were missing. I hope that