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Introducing: the bounty program

https://www.drupal.org/drupalorg/blog/introducing-the-bounty-program
Created
Wed, 17/01/2024 - 00:29

As part of my role in the Drupal Association, we are trying to find new ways to unleash innovation. Innovation as it happens is a key goal for the Drupal Association. What surprised me when I started with the Drupal Association was to meet companies that were contributors, (some of them known for being long-time contributors) or that are very interested in contributing, but then not knowing how they could maximize their contributions or even where they should be contributing to.

I Just Caught Up with Everything After Waking from an Eight-Year Coma, and You’re Telling Me He Could Be Elected Again?

https://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/i-just-caught-up-with-everything-after-waki…
Created
Wed, 17/01/2024 - 00:02

Thanks for the flowers, Tim. I suppose no one exactly expects to randomly fall into a ninety-six-month-long coma—it’s all still a bit disorienting, of course, but the hydrangeas provide a nice little burst of color in this hospital room.

I just caught up with all the news I missed these last eight years, and phew, it certainly sounds like everyone got put through the wringer. What a waking dystopian nightmare—can’t say I’m sad I spent it all on ice. Well, I imagine it at least feels pretty good knowing there’s no way in hell people would fall for that rotten fake billionaire again, right?

… Right?

Okay, now hold on a moment. You’re telling me that barring an act of God, he is once again statistically the only GOP ghoul capable of clinching the Republican nomination? Again? After straight-up losing last time? And, you know, all the crimes and trials and documented corruption and open admissions of guilt?

Running From The Border

https://digbysblog.net/2024/01/15/running-from-the-border/
Created
Tue, 16/01/2024 - 11:30
Mike Johnson held a conference call yesterday and reportedly said that. Hmmm. What do you suppose he meant by that? Josh Marshall has this: Keep an eye on how the national press covers this. The White House, as you know, has been under immense pressure to offer concessions to address the continuing large number of migrants coming to the US-Mexico border. Now there’s a bipartisan compromise bill in the Senate. Last night Majority Leader Steve Scalise said that bill in DOA in the House. But Speaker Johnson said something more specific and revealing. He refused to bring up the bill and according to Jake Sherman of Punchbowl said “Congress can’t solve border until Trump is elected or a republican is back in the White House.” Two things to note here. First, Johnson isn’t saying they won’t consider this bill. He’s saying they won’t consider any bill until Trump is elected. Sherman appears to have accepted the GOP wording – that “Congress can’t solve [the] border until Trump is elected.” But there’s more here. Johnson is saying openly that they won’t pass any bill until Trump is elected.

People Must See Him To Believe What He’s Become

https://digbysblog.net/2024/01/15/people-must-see-him-to-believe-what-hes-becom…
Created
Tue, 16/01/2024 - 10:00
Trump isn’t the same person he was in 2016. Or 2020. McCay Coppins makes a point that I’ve been trying desperately to make a while now: people should be exposed to Trump not protected from him. They need to see what he’s become: If Donald Trump has benefited from one underappreciated advantage this campaign season, it might be that no one seems to be listening to him very closely anymore. This is a strange development for a man whose signature political talent is attracting and holding attention. Consider Trump’s rise to power in 2016—how all-consuming his campaign was that year, how one @realDonaldTrump tweet could dominate news coverage for days, how watching his televised stump speeches in a suspended state of fascination or horror or delight became a kind of perverse national pastime. Now consider the fact that it’s been 14 months since Trump announced his entry into the 2024 presidential race. Can you quote a single thing he’s said on the campaign trail? How much of his policy agenda could you describe? Be honest: When was the last time you watched him speaking live, not just in a short, edited clip?

How tax theory in economics treats us

https://www.ppesydney.net/how-tax-theory-in-economics-treats-us/
Created
Tue, 16/01/2024 - 09:16

In a recent paper in Journal of Economic Issues, I explore a particularly interesting variant on the problem of unexplored normativity, politicisation and its ethical consequences. Put simply, standard theory of tax evasion inadvertently treats everyone as a criminal. Moreover, while recent work on theory of “tax morale” seems different it is not as different as one might think. Both contribute to a world of biddable neoliberal subjects.    

The post How tax theory in economics treats us appeared first on Progress in Political Economy (PPE).

Sad Little Sycophant

https://digbysblog.net/2024/01/15/sad-little-sycophant/
Created
Tue, 16/01/2024 - 08:30
Has there ever been a more pathetic decline into craven servility than what he see with this guy? Marco Rubio formally endorsed Donald Trump for president in a post on X Sunday. “I support Trump because that kind of leadership is the ONLY way we will get the extraordinary actions needed to fix the disaster Biden has created,” the Florida senator and former Republican presidential candidate wrote. He previously ran against Trump in 2016, during which he called him “an embarrassment” and a “con artist” before bowing out of the primary race. Since then, he’s been a careful supporter of Trump, dodging when asked to condemn the former president’s actions over the Jan. 6 insurrection or when asked to address Trump’s repeated election lies. In his 2024 endorsement, the senator managed to toot his own horn while repeating Trump’s anti-establishment messaging. “When Trump was in WH I achieved major policies I had worked on for years,” he wrote. “It’s time to get on with the work of beating Biden & saving America!” Remember when?

The Party Of Law And Order

https://digbysblog.net/2024/01/15/the-party-of-law-and-order-2/
Created
Tue, 16/01/2024 - 07:00
They have become completely un-moored from principles and morals: More than 6-in-10 likely Republican caucusgoers — 61% — say that it doesn’t matter to their support if former President Donald Trump is convicted of a crime before the general election, according to the latest numbers from the new NBC News/Des Moines Register poll of Iowa. By comparison, 19% of likely Iowa caucusgoers say a Trump conviction would make it more likely that they’d back Trump, while 18% say it would make them less likely to support the former president in the general election. As with the other findings from the Iowa poll, the likely caucusgoers backing former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley — half of whom are independents and crossover Democrats — have far different perceptions about Trump and his legal challenges than other GOP caucusgoers. Among Haley’s supporters, 56% say a possible conviction of Trump doesn’t matter to their Nov. 2024 vote choice, but 41% say it would make them less likely to back Trump.

January 6th Is Now Global

https://digbysblog.net/2024/01/15/january-6th-is-now-global/
Created
Tue, 16/01/2024 - 05:30
We are a role model. Unfortunately. From @capitolhunters: A right-wing party loses a free & fair election, claims election fraud, and refuses to certify the results – first the US, then Brazil, today it’s Guatemala. No armed militia but still chaos at the Capitol – pushed by the same people who pushed Jan 6.  Anticorruption candidate Bernardo Arévalo was fairly elected. The losers then blocked the peaceful transfer of power. The NYT shamelessly finds a new low in how to trivialize this attempted coup: “Tempers Flare as Guatemala’s Presidential Inauguration is delayed”. One difference: in Guatemala the people in the streets with flags are the winning party, those trying to preserve democracy. As on Jan 6, everyone knew what was coming and converged on the Capitol.  The rise of authoritarianism is a global issue. The Biden administration has been quietly working to convince the losers in Guatemala to leave. Sen. Mike Lee (UT), who knew Jan 6 plans, is pushing for the coup – and Ric Grenell is there in person to cheer it on.