Bad Crow Review: Slacker Sunday Is Embittered By Change
badcrow.substack.com
Links are at the end.
Substack has dropped the subhed line and changed the text font in the editor for no good reason at all. We’re with Garth on this one; yr. editors were frankly overwhelmed today even before the formatting cataclysm.
Trump’s Call for ‘Termination’ of Constitution Draws Rebukes
That’s a New York Times headline, and it’s a direct result of the great 2017 copy desk massacre.1
It may be splitting hairs in this case to try to parse the chicken-and-egg problem of whether implementing new editorial strategies really necessitated hanging a significant portion of one’s employees out to dry. In any case, this year we witnessed the Times make a hard commitment to a theory of the way that journalism may sustain itself financially, and we watched the company put the livelihoods of its staffers on the line for that commitment. The reorganization whittled the Times’ desk of one hundred and nine copy-editors down to fifty-some positions, and by the end of July, at least eighty-one journalists across the company had submitted for a buyout. I remember thinking to myself, where are all of these copy editors going to find new jobs?
Wei Tchou writing in 2017 at The Outline,2 a fine online rag which ceased publication without notice in 2020, the entire staff a victim of pirate equity. It’s a good read.
The problem with the headline is that it buries the lede, which is that hardly any of the rebukes came from elected Republicans, and none of the ones who disagreed with the notion suggested that calling for the dissolution of the republic disqualifies Trump as a candidate. This is not all that far from “I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody and I wouldn’t lose voters” territory; he probably has 20 or 30 million no-questions-asked supporters in the bank, and Republicans are disposed toward rallying the candidate no matter what.
The Times reporter described Trump’s statement as “extraordinary antidemocratic” and “astonishing,” which is astonishing arriving as it does in a reported piece rather than an opinion one. Maybe the editors have decided that pointed descriptors are not such a bad thing after all. Let ‘er rip, kids.
Why paid sick leave became a big issue in rail labor talks
Well, I mean, they don’t have any and it fucks up their lives. Railroads laid off 25% of their workforce between 2018 and 2020 and now they don’t have enough workers to cover for workers who get sick.
“There’s nothing inherent about the railroad industry to make paid sick leave unsustainable,” [labor professor Todd Vachon] said, adding that rail workers in Europe have the benefit. “This idea that it’s not possible is really just a cop-out. … The companies are deciding how to spend their resources, and they’re spending the money to buy back their stocks and give dividends to shareholders rather than investing in their workers.”
As we noted at length yesterday,3 Democrats could have resolved this in favor of the unions, and instead they came down on the side of the railroad bosses, one of whom is cuddly billionaire Warren Buffett.
Ah well. At least now they can campaign on getting paid sick days for railroad workers.
Kanye West falsely claimed Hitler invented the microphone.
We’d be yeah, whatever, except the story is about a Black and moderately radical inventor who developed the technology used in most modern microphones, and has spent his life inventing things and laboring on behalf of Black society.4 The first microphones were invented severally in the late 19th century.
Police arrest elderly Alabama woman over unpaid $77 trash bill
Debtor’s prison, baby. They actually jailed this Martha Menefield for being three months late on her trash removal bill.5
Police are not here to protect and serve, or at least not to serve you. And we know what you’re thinking, but no, this was not a member of the oppressed white race.
Art Lovers Trekked by Boat to Half Gallery’s Pop-Up in a House on Stilts in Biscayne Bay
We’re generally down with any old fashion or art extravagance, but this one has us stroking our chin and mumbling.
As the rain came pouring down, the future of our [1.5-mile] trip to Stiltsville seemed very much in doubt.
This year marked the second time that Half Gallery had hosted the exclusive, one-day-only Miami Art Week pop-up. However, the torrential storm made the trek to the site—an open-walled wooden shack surrounded on all sides by the water—seem less than ideal.
The wind was so strong it took our catamaran 40 minutes to make its final approach to the site, and we all had to clamber onto motor boat shuttles when it became clear docking was impossible. But just as we touched down at the ramshackle home on stilts, the sun finally broke through the clouds.
Dyspetic: that’s what we are today, and as usual we’ll do what we can to share the mood. The music’s pretty mellow today, though.
Galaxie 500 with their 1988 debut album, “Together;” The Clean, “Modern Rock,” which it was at the time; Pere Ubu, “Lady From Shanghai;” Unrest, “Perfect Teeth.”
With that, comrades, we take our leave. Take care, be well.
Bad Crow Review: Slacker Sunday Is Embittered By Change
Bad Crow Review: Slacker Sunday Is Embittered By Change
Bad Crow Review: Slacker Sunday Is Embittered By Change
Links are at the end.
Substack has dropped the subhed line and changed the text font in the editor for no good reason at all. We’re with Garth on this one; yr. editors were frankly overwhelmed today even before the formatting cataclysm.
Trump’s Call for ‘Termination’ of Constitution Draws Rebukes
That’s a New York Times headline, and it’s a direct result of the great 2017 copy desk massacre.1
Wei Tchou writing in 2017 at The Outline,2 a fine online rag which ceased publication without notice in 2020, the entire staff a victim of pirate equity. It’s a good read.
The problem with the headline is that it buries the lede, which is that hardly any of the rebukes came from elected Republicans, and none of the ones who disagreed with the notion suggested that calling for the dissolution of the republic disqualifies Trump as a candidate. This is not all that far from “I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody and I wouldn’t lose voters” territory; he probably has 20 or 30 million no-questions-asked supporters in the bank, and Republicans are disposed toward rallying the candidate no matter what.
The Times reporter described Trump’s statement as “extraordinary antidemocratic” and “astonishing,” which is astonishing arriving as it does in a reported piece rather than an opinion one. Maybe the editors have decided that pointed descriptors are not such a bad thing after all. Let ‘er rip, kids.
Why paid sick leave became a big issue in rail labor talks
Well, I mean, they don’t have any and it fucks up their lives. Railroads laid off 25% of their workforce between 2018 and 2020 and now they don’t have enough workers to cover for workers who get sick.
As we noted at length yesterday,3 Democrats could have resolved this in favor of the unions, and instead they came down on the side of the railroad bosses, one of whom is cuddly billionaire Warren Buffett.
Ah well. At least now they can campaign on getting paid sick days for railroad workers.
Kanye West falsely claimed Hitler invented the microphone.
We’d be yeah, whatever, except the story is about a Black and moderately radical inventor who developed the technology used in most modern microphones, and has spent his life inventing things and laboring on behalf of Black society.4 The first microphones were invented severally in the late 19th century.
Police arrest elderly Alabama woman over unpaid $77 trash bill
Debtor’s prison, baby. They actually jailed this Martha Menefield for being three months late on her trash removal bill.5
Police are not here to protect and serve, or at least not to serve you. And we know what you’re thinking, but no, this was not a member of the oppressed white race.
Art Lovers Trekked by Boat to Half Gallery’s Pop-Up in a House on Stilts in Biscayne Bay
We’re generally down with any old fashion or art extravagance, but this one has us stroking our chin and mumbling.
artnet news on a gallery out to sea.6
Newsletter editors found dead of dyspepsia
Dyspetic: that’s what we are today, and as usual we’ll do what we can to share the mood. The music’s pretty mellow today, though.
Galaxie 500 with their 1988 debut album, “Together;” The Clean, “Modern Rock,” which it was at the time; Pere Ubu, “Lady From Shanghai;” Unrest, “Perfect Teeth.”
With that, comrades, we take our leave. Take care, be well.
NYT on Republicans not rejecting Trump’s call to suspend the constitution
The Outline on the NYT’s copy desk massacre
Bad Crow Review’s Sour Saturday screed on Democrats screwing over rail workers
Insider on the inventor of the modern microphone
BBC on the arrest of a Black woman for an overdue trash removal bill
artnet news on the offshore pop-up gallery