On January 16, the Seattle Times published a letter critical of the the proposed Seattle plastic bag ban submitted by one “Ken Holmes” of Seattle, which makes charges of “false claims” and “misleading information”

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/northwestvoices/2017234273_groceryplasticbagban.html  

Ken Holmes’s intense conflict of interest seems a worthwhile fact to disclose to your readers.

Would be much funnier if these were dogs not witches.

newyorker:

A morning cartoon. For more cartoons from this week’s issue: http://nyr.kr/yMIvZE

re: aforelinked Keyholez on banks: 

What banks got in bailout $ when they desperately need it is quite analagous to a payday loan.

Which do not come at almost 0% interest.

They come at high rates, with some moral condemnation and disrespect along for the ride.

If the banks had been punished, some CEOs fired — anything! — then the payback of $ could legitimately be a victory.

Also — as Keyholez certainly knows — the $ to payback the TARP and Fed bailouts also came through a form of backdoor bailout via interest rate, accounting, and regulatory policies. 

And in the end, the ratio of bankers arrested to protestors arrested says a lot. You think bad banking isn’t a crime? Well I’m not convinced that camping is a crime either.

Keyholez is right about the facts. However, lending unlimited pots of money to entities that desperately need it at close to 0% interest and getting no changes in behavior, structure, or management as a result is legitimately something to be mad about I think. Desperation loans deserve a hell of a lot more than we got.

keyholez:

It occurred to me yesterday that a lot of the complaints about bank bailouts stem from a misunderstanding. I believe (but cannot fully prove) that others think that the banks were given money by the government, and that was that. Money: gone. In fact, this is not what happened at all. Go here if…

newyorker:

Cartoon of the Day. Remember to enter this week’s caption contest!

Holy shit, an actually funny New Yorker cartoon!

keyholez:

@fattailed seems to be taking some hits too.

Some pretty big hits. In fact, the graph of the number of things I can accomplish in a day of work seems to have a fatter tail at the end then is probably sustainable. As does the graph of the number of dishes I can leave un-done.

Why It’s Constitutional to Execute an Innocent Man - The Daily Beast (via felixsalmon)

(via felixsalmon)

The last beverage is the least of the offense here, but still — the default is a grape drink?

Curious choice of examples, NY Times.