The Intern's Bailiwick

The Impatient Convener: I'm In...Seeking the Democratic Nomination for Lt. Governor of Virginia in 2013

Sat, 02 Feb 2013 16:33:25 -0500

The Impatient Convener: I'm In...Seeking the Democratic Nomination for Lt. Governor of Virginia in 2013:

For my inaugural post, I am excited to share my announcement to run for Lt. Governor of Virginia in 2013. I am honored to have the support of my family, friends, and colleagues who encouraged me to seek this office.

You can read my full announcement statement here

I am hopeful this blog can serve as a platform to share ideas and start conversations about what we can do to create a more open and collaborative government that works to create opportunities and improve the lives of all Virginians.

In this era of open government, I find it important to provide access to my campaign information. For those in Virginia familiar with our lion for open government on candidate data, here’s my list of donors at the Virginia Public Access Project (http://www.vpap.org/committees/profile/money_in_donors/3746); or for those wishing to access both our data in machine-readable form, please visit our Github site – for contributions (https://gist.github.com/3099219) and expenditures (https://gist.github.com/3099212).

Thank you for your support and for taking the time to read my first Tumblr post. Please encourage your family and friends to connect with us on Facebook (facebook.com/apchopra), Twitter (@aneeshchopra), Tumblr (aneeshchopra.tumblr.com), or simply visit us at www.chopraforva.com.

Onward!

If you haven’t yet checked out Aneesh Chopra, Secretary of Technology under Gov. Tim Kaine, the first Chief Technology Officer of the United States, and now candidate for the Democratic nomination for Virginia Lieutenant Governor in 2013, you should.

He’s easily the most exciting candidate in state politics anywhere right now, and possibly the most innovative and forward-thinking politician Virginia’s seen in a long time.

The flu, explained.

Mon, 14 Jan 2013 21:19:27 -0500

The flu, explained.:

historyintheworks:

motherjones:

Because we explain THE FUCK out of shit.

Who is the intern writing these captions

From today’s transcript in Boyer v. Louisiana. This is the...

Mon, 14 Jan 2013 16:10:00 -0500

From today’s transcript in Boyer v. Louisiana.

This is the first time U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas has spoken during oral arguments since February 2006.

You guys, this is huge.

ryanoshea: Rep. Kyrsten Sinema, first Congressperson to...

Sat, 12 Jan 2013 11:54:00 -0500

ryanoshea: Rep. Kyrsten Sinema, first Congressperson to officially describe her religion as “none,” is sworn in not on the Bible, but on the document she’s actually supposed to be protecting and upholding—the Constitution. Edit: She’s also the first openly bisexual Congressperson. (via eyesdriftskyward)

[Fun fact: James Madison remains the only president to take his oath of office on a book of laws, rather than the Bible.]

Kyrsten Sinema’s wonderful, but that “fun fact” is super wrong. According to his letters, John Quincy Adams was sworn in with his hand on a constitutional law volume. There is actually no concrete evidence that a Bible was used to swear in Presidents John Adams through John Tyler. And in the hasty oaths of office following the assassinations of the presidents they succeeded, Theodore Roosevelt and Lyndon Johnson were not sworn in on Bibles, either (Johnson was sworn in on a Catholic missal from Kennedy’s bedroom in Air Force One).

In fact, after President Obama’s messy first oath of office, the 25-second do-over in the Map Room included no Bible.

"Using data on annual crime rates for large cities in the United States, we find that living wage..."

Sat, 05 Jan 2013 12:31:15 -0500

“Using data on annual crime rates for large cities in the United States, we find that living wage ordinances are associated with notable reductions in property related crime and little impact on non-property crimes.”

- Jose M. Fernandez et al., The Impact of Living Wage Ordinances on Urban Crime (2012). Download the paper at SSRN. h/t CrimProf Blog. (via letterstomycountry)

Interesting discussion on the effects of living wage laws - all the more interesting because of the lack of literature on this relationship relative to examinations of living wages’ effects on the labor market. Of course, the conventional understanding of minimum wage regulations is that they are positively related to unemployment rates (raising the minimum wage increases unemployment). I would argue that that causal mechanism is overstated - a bit on that to come.

Good morning, Tumblr. Earl Sweatshirt’s “Chum”...

Sat, 05 Jan 2013 08:24:39 -0500

Good morning, Tumblr.

Earl Sweatshirt’s “Chum” - probably the song I’ve been listening to more than any other over the winter break. Released a month ago, this unembellished and stunning confessional is from the Odd Future rapper’s very long-awaited and highly anticipated second album Doris, due out at some point this year.

"I’m not going to be coy. It’s not something I’ve ever been good at. I’ve told the governor that I..."

Fri, 04 Jan 2013 11:36:00 -0500

“I’m not going to be coy. It’s not something I’ve ever been good at. I’ve told the governor that I would now like, frankly, to do that because I would like to be a part of that…Coach, put me in!”

- Fmr. Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA) on Morning Joe Friday, saying he would now like to be appointed to Secretary of State nominee Sen. John Kerry’s seat, as the fiscal cliff “deal now means that February, March, and April are going to be among the most important months in American financial [history].”

barackobama: Photo of the day? Photo of the day.

Thu, 03 Jan 2013 12:05:14 -0500

barackobama:

Photo of the day? Photo of the day.

Photo

Sun, 23 Dec 2012 19:42:09 -0500

joshuamalina: They say if you don’t vote today, you can’t...

Sat, 15 Dec 2012 16:24:07 -0500

joshuamalina:

They say if you don’t vote today, you can’t complain tomorrow. That’s why Jewish turnout is always so high.

Just discovered Joshua Malina’s Tumblr blog.

Following the theater shooting in Aurora, Colorado, I posted...

Fri, 14 Dec 2012 23:46:00 -0500

Following the theater shooting in Aurora, Colorado, I posted this graph from The Atlantic with a critique on the poor data analysis employed (my original post was titled: “Where to Go Wrong with the Causes of Gun Violence, Or, Why the Above Graph is Less Useful Than it Looks”). I concluded the post with:

It would be problematic to conclude from these data, for instance, that mental illness has no significant correlation with gun violence - in fact, it may well be that while there is an elevated risk of gun violence among people with serious mental illnesses, the United States has such an uncommonly high rate of gun deaths that the severity of numerous other factors obscure mental illness as a strong cause here. The point is there are far more accurate and less misleading ways of investigating these factors on the individual level, and in a way that can actually establish causal relationships. This isn’t it.

In the wake of tragedies like the Aurora and Tuscon shootings, we should of course always strive for reasoned discourse about how we can try to prevent future gun violence. But sensitivity and careful deliberation are of utmost importance in these kinds of policy debates: both out of respect to the victims and their families, and to avoid allowing emotions to cloud our judgement and evaluation of rhetoric and data.

Details are still emerging from today’s mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School. But as we enter into reflection and policy debate, we must strive to be informed and discriminating producers and consumers of information. That can be a difficult task in today’s information environment.

shortformblog: soupsoup: One of the reasons why I have mixed...

Fri, 14 Dec 2012 23:25:01 -0500

shortformblog:

soupsoup:

One of the reasons why I have mixed feelings about covering these kind of stories.

I think a lot of people feel this way today.

(EDIT: More thoughts on the matter here.)

"JIM HENSON I think Ms. Rand and my character Oscar the Grouch would have a lot to talk about..."

Thu, 13 Dec 2012 09:20:00 -0500

“

JIM HENSON
I think Ms. Rand and my character Oscar the Grouch would have a lot to talk about actually. I am laughing out loud at this idea.

AYN RAND
Why would I want to talk to him. What has he achieved or trying to achieve.

JIM HENSON
He has achieved what I think is the ultimate goal of your way of thinking.

JIM HENSON
Isolation. Contempt for others. A hard heart. Yet even he can muster a bit of empathy every now and then.

AYN RAND
I am not isolated. I have no contempt for others. Millions of people read my books and find my thoughts inspirational. I hardly spend my time on the sidelines in a trash can grumping.

JIM HENSON
Not yet anyway.

”

- Jim Henson and Ayn Rand, along with Yoko Ono and Sidney Nolan, converse on ARPANET, 1976 (via antoine-roquentin)

This is just too perfect.

Good morning, Tumblr. Here’s Villagers’...

Wed, 12 Dec 2012 06:18:00 -0500

Good morning, Tumblr.

Here’s Villagers’ “Nothing Arrived” from their long-awaited (definitely by me) new album {Awayland}.

gedenkenbrauchtwissen: Meryl Streep and Hilary Clinton snap...

Sun, 02 Dec 2012 16:17:13 -0500

gedenkenbrauchtwissen:

Meryl Streep and Hilary Clinton snap photos with Meryl’s iPhone at the Kennedy Center State Dinner, Saturday December 1st in Washington D.C

apsies: Elizabeth Warren and Tammy Baldwin attend freshman...

Wed, 14 Nov 2012 22:31:04 -0500

apsies:

Elizabeth Warren and Tammy Baldwin attend freshman orientation for newly elected members of congress today in Washington DC.

unypl: “The Torah with Rashi’s Commentary: Vol. 1, Genesis,”...

Tue, 13 Nov 2012 16:05:39 -0500

unypl:

“The Torah with Rashi’s Commentary: Vol. 1, Genesis,” Edited by Rabbi Yisrael Herczeg

Borrow I Read

I went up to him after I took the picture, to find out what he was reading. He welcomed my interruption seamlessly; it was like he had been expecting me. He showed me that he was reading commentary on The Book of Genesis. Then he asked me, “Do you want to hear a great idea?” I said yes happily. He said he was concentrating on the very first sentence in Genesis, where it mentions what was created in the world first. He pointed at the sentence in his book and said, “If you read the full sentence, it says that the sky and the earth were created first. But, if you read just the first half of the sentence, the Hebrew word in the middle reveals that it was actually the alphabet that was created before anything else.” He took his finger off the page then, and he pointed at the subway doors. “You see these subway doors,” he told me, “they really are made of metal.” In a quieter tone, full of meditative curiosity, he continued. ”At their foundation though, they’re really made of letters.” He lowered his hand then and looked around the subway car, in a way as if he was literally reading the atmosphere.

Hemingway Pictogram Puzzle Solved

Wed, 07 Nov 2012 15:43:00 -0500

Hemingway Pictogram Puzzle Solved:

jfklibrary:

A few months back, we posted a Hemingway Pictogram for our followers to solve. Now, we finally have the results!

“Special thanks go out to Noah Kim and Ellen Knodt for their correct ordering of the document and narrative of the paragraphs.”

Neat shout-out from the JFK Library for contributing to the solution of a Hemingway pictogram puzzle.

timekiller-s: istealforksfromrestaurants: Hi Tumblr, it’s me,...

Fri, 02 Nov 2012 19:30:47 -0400

timekiller-s:

istealforksfromrestaurants:

Hi Tumblr, it’s me, a slightly older person…

I see a lot of you 20 somethings saying things about how you aren’t going to choose the lesser of two evils and that their policy on important matters are identical so what’s the point they’re both stooges for Wall Street and the Industrial War Complex.

You are right. Kind of.

I know y’all LOVE the 90’s. Me too. And I remember after after eight years of Clinton/Gore, I thought those motherfuckers were the devil. I was soooooooooooo upset with Bill Clinton waving his deregulation wand and his fucked foreign policy that I was all FUCK THE DEMOCRATS and I strongly advocated for Ralph Nader, even though he too didn’t really care about my “gonad politics.” Even when not choosing between the “lesser of two evils,” I was STILL having to compromise major issues.

Having been an adult person through 8 years of Clinton/Gore and 8 years through Bush/Cheney, I can tell you without a shred of hesitation that I will line up like my ass is on fire to vote for the lesser of two evils because the greater of two evils almost had us all living outside and eating dog food.

And if you think that a Romney presidency won’t be worse than Bush/Cheney, you are out of your mind.

I am fucking begging all of you, please, go vote. Aside from the fact that far more dangerous things are happening on your local level, (like collective bargaining being taken away in Illinois) this shit does matter.

If you think voting for Obama is the lesser of two evils, you’re wrong, it’s the lesser of three because not voting IS voting for Romney. Not voting is voting for dickbag judges that sentence people to jail in counties that have privatized prisons for minor drug infractions. Not voting is voting to remove pensions and collective bargaining and the last shreds of union power from the people. Not voting this election is voting for Feudalism.

Go vote.

Now pardon me, there’s some damn kids on my lawn and they want candy.

Bold emphasis is placed by me.

Shout-out to all of the 6 and 7 supporter ID’s out there: wake up.

"But on the rape thing, it’s like, how does putting more violence onto a woman’s body and taking the..."

Wed, 31 Oct 2012 23:02:00 -0400

“But on the rape thing, it’s like, how does putting more violence onto a woman’s body and taking the life of an innocent child that’s a consequence of this crime, how does that make it better?”

- Republican congressional candidate John Koster, who opposes abortion in cases of rape or incest, but supports its use to save the life of the mother. (via officialssay)

More Republican musings on “the rape thing.”