“Billionaires In Wine Caves” Is Our New Meme About Rich Donors
Elizabeth Warren really didn’t like Pete Buttigieg’s recent fundraiser held in a wine cave.PBS The biggest fight of the night—by far—has been about whether Democratic candidates should accept donations from rich people. Billionaires in particular, and “billionaires in wine caves,” to be super specific about it. (This was Elizabeth Warren’s jab at Pete Buttigieg for…
The Filibuster Will Be With Us For a While
Bernie Sanders says Medicare for All will pass after his silver tongued oratory spurs a revolution. Really?PBS I’ve written at greater length about this before, but it’s worth mentioning that the only way a Democratic president will get anything done is to get bills through the Senate with Republican support. Even if Democrats win a…
Warren Slams Economists Who Criticize Her Wealth Tax
Scott Varley/Orange County Register/Zuma Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) earned huge applause at Thursday night’s Democratic presidential debate by challenging a fundamental economic assumption. A central component of Warren’s campaign involves a two-cent tax on every dollar of net worth above $50 million. Many economists have said that such a large tax increase could slow economic growth,…
Sanders: NAFTA 2.0 Is Better, But I Still Won’t Vote For It
PBS At the debate tonight, Bernie Sanders just spent his full minute saying that he opposed the original NAFTA, but the new USMCA is a bit of an improvement. Then, after this big buildup, he suddenly finished up with, “I will not vote for this agreement even though it makes some modest improvements.” What? Why…
Climate R&D Gets Short Shrift at the Democratic Debate
Mayor Pete didn’t say much about climate R&D, but at least he mentioned it.PBS Everyone is now talking about climate change. Everyone is in favor of emergency action. Everyone (?) is in favor of a carbon tax. I guess this is good to hear, but it sounds an awful lot like what I’ve been hearing…
Facial Recognition Turns Out To Be Not So Great If You Aren’t a White Man
The National Institute of Standards and Technology released a report today about the accuracy of facial recognition software. The news was grim: most algorithms make a lot more errors when the subject is anything other than a white male, which means that women and people of color are more likely to be misidentified. But this…