Is Facebook creative?

I can't speak for anyone else who uses Facebook on their smartphone, but I really have to wonder whether it improves my life, or not. I have had a lot of fun, but I have also put in a lot of time on pointless arguments. I enjoy posting a photo, daily if I remember, and it does let me keep in touch with friends from long ago and far away. I suppose I should figure out some sort of filter to maintain conversation with those that improve my life, and ignore the rest. However at any given moment, it's just too tough to resist jumping in when someone says something remarkably thick headed. It is like a drug, that delivers a quick hot shot of endorphins or something better delivered by working out at the gym or dancing or who knows maybe even interacting with a live present human being. The problem is that you can't get a life present human being and small convenient packages like you can Facebook posting on a smartphone.

A Legacy Of Bullying: Antonin Scalia

Antonin Scalia's reputation for brilliance appears to come from the same place as any bully's reputation for strength: people are simply afraid to publicly disagree with him.

His increasingly unhinged jurisprudence was best displayed in his most recent attack on Obamacare, where he denounced as "jiggery-pokery" the idea that one should read an entire law, not merely one line, in figuring out how the thing works. As others have commented, no-one knows how the Scalia Method let you get past a STOP sign.

Scalia's "Original Intent" claims were just silly. For example, abortion was legal in all 13 states when the Constitution was enacted, but Scalia never seemed to include this in his original intent jurisprudence. To the contrary, he perpetuate the fiction that abortion was illegal then, and few called him a liar.

To use the technical term: the guy was a bullshitter. His bullshit plus his power made him a bully, and that's a lesson for us all.

Perhaps the most egregious example of Scalia's methodology of "Brilliance By Bullying" was the opinion he wrote in the Bush v. Gore stay. This was not the opinion (unsigned due to cowardice) that formed the ultimate decision a few days later; that has been generally analyzed as being unsupported by American law by anyone who took the time to read it.

Rather, it was the decision supporting the "stay", that actually stopped the Florida recount, of which I write. Keep in mind that a recount was actually under way before being stopped by order of the Supreme Court. Scalia explained the "reasoning" behind the order in an opinion that completely rewrites a major feature of the common law.

A "stay" is a court order that says "stop what you're doing until we can rule on the thing." Its purpose is to prevent a possible wrong from getting worse. A stay is not issued casually, because one party's wrong is another party's right, and a court cannot lawfully interfere without carefully balancing the equities involved. It is an ancient part of the common law, far older than the Constitution itself.

Under the law of the stay, a court balances the harm to each party and issues the stay ONLY if the party asking for the stay is at risk of suffering irreparable harm that is greater than the harm the other party would suffer from the stay. Got that? It's really a sensible rule - the court does something extraordinary only if it prevents an ongoing harm that can not otherwise be repaired, and that does not create an equal or greater harm.

Scalia explains that he voted for the stay because the presidency of George W Bush would suffer if the vote count continued. That's his entire reason.

WTF?

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Scalia's analysis depends on re-writing the law of the stay.

1. He does not balance the harm done to both parties, as the law requires. He does not balance the harm done to the Bush presidency with the harm done to the Gore presidency; he merely considers the harm done to one and not to the other, and that alone makes Scalia's analysis simply wrong. 

2. Scalia does not explain how the Bush presidency would be harmed by a recount. If the recount gave Bush the win, then there would be no harm done; if it gave Gore the win, then there would be no Bush presidency to be harmed.

3. Scalia does not specify the type of "harm" or why it is such a bad thing. The presidency would lose none of its power under the law, so Scalia has to be talking about its political power - the balance between the executive and the other branches. Perhaps Congress would be emboldened if the presidency were seen as illegitimate. I can't say if that's what Scalia meant because he doesn't say but merely bulls ahead asserting by bluster, but at any rate it is not the within the court's purview to decide whether the presidency shall be strong or weak. It is a coequal branch, not a doctor, Jim!

4. The harm which Scalia alleges depends on an unperfected right to be President. At the moment that Scalia and the rest issued their stay, the Electoral College had not met. Under the original vision of the Founders, the Electors meet and debate among themselves who of all eligible citizens shall be the best choice for President. Maybe it would be Bush, maybe it would be Gore, maybe it would be Scalia himself; the Founders did not intend that Electors should be chosen by Party nor that they should mechanically cast their ballot according to a vote of the People. Until the Electors deliberated and cast their ballots, no-one has any right to the Presidency and so no-one suffered any harm by letting Florida recount its ballots.

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Under Scalia's purported love for "original intent" Bush had no right to a Presidency in defense of which a court might issue a stay. This is yet another case where Scalia ignores the clear intent of the Founders to advance his political views.

"Original Intent" was merely a club Scalia waved around because, since we don't have term limits for judgeships, he could bully without consequence. (As the saying goes, "They are not Supreme because they are always right, they are always right because they are Supreme".) The joy he showed in bullying cheered his supporters and rewarded his patrons so that, if you ignored the harm he did to American law and to America itself, anyone may smile at his roguery.

At this time, it is right and appropriate to feel compassion for the family and surviving friends of this titan of jurisprudence, but we must remember that the Titans, like the other great figures of Greek mythology, were respected more for their power than for their wisdom or justice. 

Let the legacy of Scalia be a warning to us all that when we, in our turn, acquire power, we must not enjoy getting our way too much, we must not mistake bullshit for brilliance, for if this leads us to bullying it will lead us to error.

Wednesday got shift

Wednesday we all received notice of the shifts we had been assigned, & I got the early morning on that I had wanted so much. This will allow me to get back to doing Zumba in the evening and perhaps even late night Barre. I had made of solid try at doing early morning exercise, and it's just not working out. I am looking forward to getting back to the exercise, and in the meantime I'm putting in extra time on house. It was a little bit sad that my friend Jonathan did not get the shift that he wanted, we went out to lunch and talked about it. He's a retread like me, starting over after a career ended, and it is hard to be a retread.

Sunday book store reality

Today at my favorite bookstore I heard one of the employees gently explain to an enthusiastic applicant that the competition for a position was very great. The applicant went away sad, but what can you do? It is only the truth.

Later, my friend explained to me that they get something like one resume today. So many people want to work at a bookstore, it is such a wonderful thought to be surrounded by books! However the work itself is very different from the fantasy. There is very little time for reading - inventory and sales are what keep the store open.

I suppose this is referring to me, that I did not make a mistake in frantically applying to every book store in the area in the hopes of getting such delightful job. Better it is to stop in, give them a little trade, give myself a lot of enjoyment talking about books. Selling books is like raising chicken ; you may like them, but not too much for one way or another, if you are to succeed, they must depart.

MacWhat?

Last month my Windows laptop finally died.
I hauled out the Windows 10 machine I'd gotten early in 2015 and set aside in frustration; it worked for about a month and died.
I decided it was time to give Apple another try. It was possible that Windows machines were simply made from cheaper components, so in the long run, a Mac that lasted 10 years would be cheaper than buying 5 laptops over the same time span.
So far, it's been a difficult experience. Text editing is different; there is only one option for character deleting - delete left and no delete right - so a lot of habitual shortcuts just go away. I'd much rather had a delete-right button than the ridiculous backslash that I never use.
I imagine that there are a lot of keyboard shortcuts that I'll have to learn, but it just seems silly to have function, control, option (alt) and command keys.
Scanning and image manipulation is disturbingly complicated; there isn't a simply utility like MSPaint preloaded, and the scanning process has gained a few steps.
It also sleeps strangely, although it may be that I just haven't figured out the awaken ritual yet. I think that I may just be spoiled by the elegant simplicity of my android phone.
Really, all I need the laptop for is its nice keyboard.

Back to Work

It was great having a three day weekend! I got a lot of stuff done including dropping a load of books at the VA straightening up here. However, work has to be done and I I'm delighted to discover that I like my coworkers as people. I am Not sure that I've had that experience to this extent ever. Part of it maybe this time I have learned how to make conversation draw people out, part of it may just be the atmosphere of the place. Doesn't matter?
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Late last week Kris forwarded something to me from WSPA, and added the comment "How are things?"

I have gone all year (2016) without initiating conversation with her, but to reply to this seems to be different - it would politely responding to a query. So I wrote back saying that I was fine and asking how was Michelle, the cat that Kris took with her. Today Kris wrote back saying Michelle liked being an only cat and has lost a little weight. I think that ends the conversation since she did not ask you further questions, then I suppose that's fine. I have a happy little family here and that's enough. 

EDITTED: the first version of the above was more than usually incoherent, as it was the result of my blogging on my cellphone using speech-to-text, and then not copyediting. It may have alarmed a family member who asked me if I was all right - I am, I am in fact better than in a long time, albeit regretful that things didn't work out, but happy - and wiser about blogging!

Not Shiftless

Monday, when coming back from the store, Kiara brought up the possibility of learning to drive the stick. It's time, I figured; I had worried about the difficult time I'd had teaching Sherry and teaching Mila, and while it is necessary that Kiara be able to drive my car, I was not looking forward to it.
I pulled into a small park off 8th. It's not really ideal, but it was a start. And it turns out that there is really no problem; she killed the engine only once and panicked not at all. Perhaps her physical coordination is superior due to all that dancing, or perhaps she's just more accustomed to reacting to strange situations thoughtfully  .... for all her outward flightiness, she shows a lot of inside thinking. ... and perhaps at age 60 I am just better at staying calm and saying one or two words.
After all, the only words that really matter in this situation are "clutch" and "good"!

Back to the DAV

Today I dropped in at a DAV meeting for the first time in months. It was good to catch up with the guys who I had not seen in a long time, & I had the perfect excuse in the form of the divorce. Everyone knows the divorce takes up a lot of energy! I enjoyed mentioning my new job and reconnecting with Cyril. They spent a lot of time talking with his nephew, who has joined the auxiliary, making it two of us. The lady who does the catering also chatted for a long time. I will not be spending as much time there as I had, but I will help out as much as I can.
After the meeting I went over to the VA hospital and deployed another set of books. I rewarded myself by stopping by Pegasus and saying hi.

Bloody Tuesday

This morning I caught the 6:16 bus to the Fred Hutchinson cancer research campus for a blood draw. They are going to do something scientific with it, I don't really understand what column but I enjoy the donation. It's my contribution to science! One oddity is that the veins in my elbow that usually stand out and provide excellent sources of blood weren't popping out. This made the drive much more difficult but on the third try it was accomplished. That sure is a semicolon usually pretty good leader. I wonder if the blood pressure reduction program is having results? Or is it increased or changing musculature from the strength and fitness program?