The Angry Bear

In the practice of Law, there is terminology used to establish whether a person or Company (also a person) is following a pattern or practice of doing something. Typically, the terminology is used in discrimination suits to determine or describe whether a defendant has a policy of doing so, even if the policy of doing so is not always followed.  Nancy LeTourneau at Horizons Blog looks at such a pattern or practice with regard to migration issues...

Economic data and coronavirus quick hits I really need to rouse myself to write a long-form piece on interest rates, housing, and the economy to post over at Seeking Alpha. Ugh! In the meantime, here are a few quick hits on some important or noteworthy new data. 1. New home sales – interest rates bite, but don’t panic New home sales are the most leading, but most noisy, of housing data. Yesterday they were reported as having declined...

Naked Capitalism had an article up in the “Links” assortment of other articles taken from various sites. The Common Dreams article touched upon one of the topics I write about and have done so over the last decade – Student Loans and Alan Collinge’s Student Loan Justice Org. In my public discussions with Alan and his followers on Facebook, I have pointed out the $1.6 trillion or the $1.8 trillion as stated in this article are important numbers to...

These are they who insist on their right to easily buy guns, to own as many guns as they wish. They who insist that mass shootings should be dealt with by prosecution. They who vehemently oppose any addressment of the question of who should be permitted to own guns. They who would only treat the symptoms of gun violence; who dare not look to science for the causes. They who think their Second Amendment rights are more important than the lives of mass...

Coronavirus dashboard for March 22: crossing an important threshold, to the *good* side The US is on the verge of crossing an important threshold: as of today, the 7 day average of COVID 19 deaths in the US has declined to exactly 1000: The last time the US averaged less than 1000 deaths a week from the virus was the beginning of November, almost 5 months ago. Since the January peak, deaths have declined by 70%. The story is even more...

Peace in Libya?, Econospeak, Barkley Rosser  On the tenth anniversary of the Arab Spring uprisings that held so much hope at the time but would lead eventually only to one nation, Tunisia where they started, ending up with a democratic government, while others ended up with either authoritarian governments such as Egypt or in ongoing states of internal war, such as Syria, Yemen, and Libya. But now it appears there might be hope for a peaceful, if...

Republican Equates Gun Control To Attacking Sober Drivers, Crooks and Liars, John Amato The Republican argument strengthens the militaristic ones inhabiting states like Michigan. Empowered by the rhetoric coming from a Senator (Kennedy) or a President (trump) of the United States, they storm the capitol or plot the kidnapping of governors with little fear. John Amato: In response to the second gun massacre in a week, and a day after a new...

Steve Hutkins at Save The Post Office Save The Post Office’s Service Performance Dashboard provides easier access to recent performance reports shared by the Postal Service with the Postal Regulatory Commission, Congress, the courts (as part of litigation involving mail delays), and FOIA requests. This capability is not readily available today. NB: This is not an official USPS website. Charted First Class Service Performance March – Dec....

A Curious Form of Sex Addiction, EconoSpeak, Barkley Rosser  The murderer of 8 people recently in the Atlanta area, of whom 6 were Asian American women, mostly (if not completely) Korean American, has claimed that he did not do it out of any anti-Asian prejudice, much less anti-women prejudice, although apparently only one of those killed was a man.  Rather he claims that he did it to “remove temptation” for himself due to a claimed “sex...

Democrats: legislate the society you want to live in first; worry about how to pay for it afterward I want to add my voice to and amplify several themes I have read elsewhere in recent weeks. To summarize: 1. If there is no majority to kill the Senate filibuster, reforming it into an actual talking filibuster is almost as good, and maybe even better. 2. Each element of the democratic constituency should have at least one tangible and...