Archive for 2016

THE BIG PROBLEM OF OUR AGE: Shrinkage.

SO I MENTIONED A WHILE BACK THAT I WAS WORKING ON A PAPER ON MILITARY COUPS AND THE UNITED STATES CONSTITUTION: I now have a draft online. Any comments welcome!

WHEN NARRATIVE CONTROL OVERRIDES THE LAW: FBI asks agencies who responded to Orlando Pulse shooting to deny records requests.

A June 20 letter from the FBI, attached to the City or Orlando’s lawsuit over withholding 911 calls and other records from 25 media outlets including the Orlando Sentinel, was also sent to the Seminole County Sheriff’s Office with instructions pertaining to how they should respond to records requests.

The letter requests that agencies deny inquiries and directs departments to “immediately notify the FBI of any requests your agency received” so “the FBI can seek to prevent disclosure through appropriate channels, as necessary.”

Why are they so eager to cover this up?

THERE GOES RHYMIN’ SIMON?

Paul Simon says he is ready to give up making and playing music, 61 years after he started as a 13-year-old. “You’re coming towards the end,” he said in an interview this week, discussing the mysterious epiphanies that delivered some of his greatest songs, the toxic qualities of fame, and his yearning to explore questions of spirituality and neuroscience.

“Showbiz doesn’t hold any interest for me,” Mr. Simon said. “None.”

Here is why you might consider believing him.

As someone who saw The Who at JFK Stadium in Philadelphia in 1982, during the first of their many, many “farewell tours,” I’ll take Simon’s claim he’s retiring from showbiz with a healthy smidgen of sodium chloride.

21ST CENTURY SHOPPING: Walmart Is Offering a Free Trial for Its Amazon Prime ‘Killer’

The world’s largest retailer, looking to rev up online sales growth that has sagged in recent quarters, said on Tuesday it was as of Friday offering a free 30-day trial of ShippingPass. That annual subscription service, like Prime, offers members unlimited free two-day shipping (that was three days until recently for Walmart) and no order minimums. The program’s cost is $49 a year, compared to $99 for Amazon Prime.

It would take a lot to wean me off of Amazon Prime.

However, the VodkaWife recently switched from King Sooper’s $10 grocery delivery service to Walmart’s free grocery pickup service. She said that the selection was good-if-not-great, but that the food prices were generally lower — and on some items much lower.