Tag: #NYTimes

  • Keep It Together

    I have been trying to stay positive through the move to California, all the changes that it has brought, and the fact that I am way outside of my comfort zone. It has been messin’ with my head.

    The biggest issue that I am having right now is that I haven’t been able to find a job. I have sent out 20+ resumes to prospective jobs in the span of 6 weeks, and I have only landed two interviews. It has made me start second guessing myself, and then on Friday night I started down the spiraling path of self-destructive thinking by beginning to believe that I would never find a job, and that would cause us to default on all of our bills, and that it is only a matter of time before we are homeless…

    And then I read this opinion piece over the weekend, all about rejection.

    It did put a few things in prospective, which I needed, so thank you Emily Winter for writing it.

    I still need to get a job to pay bills, that part hasn’t changed, but it reminded me to start thinking about longer term goals. What are the steps that I need to be taking now? And there is a difference from just “trying” at something, and working hard at it. As Emily said in her piece, “I’m so tired, and that’s how I know I did it right. If I weren’t exhausted, it would mean I’d just spent the last year asking for things without putting in the work to earn them. To me, there’s nothing more off-putting than entitlement.”

    She has a very good point.

  • Corporate Welfare

    The New York Times ran this piece today about tax breaks for corporations, and how it’s just a big con being played on the American people. Corporations never live up to their promises, and we the tax payers are left holding the bag.

    I do speak from firsthand knowledge having grown up in Arlington, TX and watched the Rangers pull this con game twice, and the Cowboys once.

    Back in 1989, the Texas Rangers were bought by an investment group headed by George W. Bush, and they pushed very hard after acquiring the team that they needed a new stadium. (The old ballpark was pretty bad, in all fairness.) They threatened to take the team to another city unless Arlington ponied up 71% of the cost of a new stadium. Also, the city created a corporation that used eminent domain to take over additional tracks of land for future development. What was promised was a San Antonio-esq Riverwalk with shops and hotels, and all kinds of other crap that would bring “additional job.” They never built the Riverwalk, and no additional job were ever created. The Ballpark in Arlington, they said, was the type of stadium that would be around for 100 years.

    Then, Jerry Jones does the same thing with the Dallas Cowboys. In 2004, he wanted a new stadium in Dallas, but the Dallas county commissioners wouldn’t put it to a vote, as the polling showed Dallas citizens had no interest with paying for a stadium and getting nothing in return. People pointed to the Ballpark in Arlington that Bush built, and how none of the promises materialized. But Jerry is a smart one. He took the whole thing to Arlington, and the people of that city again agreed to raise their taxes for a load of promises of the “entertainment center” that would be built. They got the AT&T Stadium, but Jerry only built parking lots, and nothing else.

    The in 2016, the new Rangers owners decided that they had to have a new stadium as well. They followed the same playbook; threatened to leave unless the city put up the money for a new stadium. But this time it would be different. The new owners promised that there would be a new entertainment center that would create lots of new jobs. Again, people voted for it…

    When I talk to friends and family that still live in Arlington, they tell me that the tax raise is not that big, that they are getting the jobs in return, and this will make Arlington a better place.

    But if you bring up raising taxes to help the local schools, or to provide a mass transit option (Arlington is the largest city in America without any public transportation) then these same people will say they can’t afford the tax increase, that they get nothing out of it, and it won’t make Arlington a better place. And you can’t trust the government.

    But you can trust billionaires who need a handout, and never keep their promises?

  • Vote Today

    It Primary Day in New York, which is pretty useless. I had written how to get more people to vote, and this morning there was a piece in the NY Times about how New York state does things that seem to hamper people’s ability to vote.

    Full disclosure, I won’t be voting in the primaries as I am not registered with a political party. The process of registering with the Board of Elections as a member of a party is complicated and has to be done well in advance. (yet another reason why turnout is low, and incumbents stay in power.) I preferred to keep my independence, but now I am beginning to feel that to make changes in the system, I have to start taking part in the party.

    Though I am not voting, there are two people I would specifically be voting for today; Cynthia Nixon, and Zephyr Teachout. And by putting my support behind the two of them, I can see that I am still hanging on to my Bernie Sanders ideology; progressivism fighting and gumming up the system, if need be.

    I want to believe that this stance is part of the solution, but I do know that democracy really does run on compromise, and how much of my progressivism and liberal leanings am I willing to find middle ground on?

    Either way, you should get out and vote.

  • What Is Happening?

    It has been such a strange news week. All of it bad.

    I try to avoid writing about politics as it makes me angry and I feel like not a whole lot gets settled.

    But this week has started me rethinking that decision.

    First of all, the context of this week’s events was clearly framed by John McCain’s funeral. From The New Yorker calling it the “…Biggest Resistance Meeting Yet,” to W. Bush and Obama saying nice things about an adversary while sharing a pew together. (And the two couples did seem to be enjoying each other’s company.)

    Then we get Bob Woodward’s book, “FEAR,” which proposes that things are very bad in the Trump White House. Only to be followed by the anonymous New York Times Op-Ed that pretty much confirms Woodward’s book.

    I agree with most of the late-night comedians, nothing about Woodward’s book or the Op-Ed piece make me feel any better. Trump is surround ideologies encouraging his worst tendencies, and  cowards who have a way to save the Republic, the 25th Amendment, but won’t do anything other than secretly try to thwart their boss when he’s not looking.

    I can’t help but wonder, how will this end? It just keeps getting worse every week. I’m ready to vote in the Blue Wave, but even then, it would only be a check to Trump’s power. What I fear, but know is right, is that we have to get through two more years of this, because I want Trump removed in an election. I want the people of this country to say, “No more,” and elect another person.

    And that is a dangerous gamble. I have a bad feeling that Trump could find a way to win in 2020.

    It’s not that crazy of an idea, because none of us thought he’d win in 2016.

  • News Media

    I am not a fan of VICE Media. There is something about the organization that has always rubbed me the wrong way. It’s like they want to be the more adult Buzzfeed, but what they come across to me is a Dan Cortese BK Tee-Vee commercial from the 90’s. Now, I do fully admit that they do get it right when it comes to their reporting, especially in regard to how they covered all the Charlottesville violence. I might not like the package it’s in, but it is a solid product.

    I bring all of this up for a good reason, and it’s that I think news media will start to function more in the VICE model. Not in the sense that traditional media will hire a bunch of millennials with weird glasses and bad haircuts… I think traditional media will start to be more of a combination of print, video and social. Diversifying their reach.

    The New York Times has started to do this with some of their feature reporting. Their story, “Deliverance From 27,000 Feet” is a piece that has to be read online to get the full impact of the videos, photographs and images. The use of all these different forms of media, enhanced the reporting when it came to this specific story, and I think it is only a matter of time before more newspapers start moving in this direction.

    Furthermore, to take this all back to VICE again, as they now have their own cable network, VICELAND, this is what traditional media will end at; just becoming all-encompassing media companies. Though focused on news, I would not be surprised if The New York Times soon start their own cable channel with 24-hour news, and programming, which is all tied together in a social media way with the newspaper and the website.