Author Archives: Tom Liberman

Canada versus USA, does anyone Care?

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Canada versus USA

Hype! More Hype! Super Hype! Super-Duper Hype! Canada versus USA!

It’s the hockey game of the century. There’s bad blood between the superstars dating back hours! Fighting before the puck drops, fighting after the puck drops! Name calling galore. They hate each other! It’s a winner take all and there can be only one winner! It’s Canada versus USA.

USA! Canada! It’s for the Stars and Stripes! It’s for the Maple Leaf! Oh Canada versus The Land of the Free. It’s must watch television. It’s the Super Bowl, the World Series, and the World Cup all wrapped up in a four-nation battle of the world’s best hockey teams, excluding Russia of course, we don’t like them. They were bad.

It’s Trump versus Maple Syrup. If you’re not watching, you’re not a man. Or a woman. Or whatever you are.

Canada versus USA is Stupid

Yawn. The NHL season got paused for two weeks so we can only enjoy this utter borefest. I do not care and if you do, well, I guess you’re a weirdo. That’s your business of course. I mean, if you actually buy into the stupidity of the hype around this non-event, then I won’t insult you. I mean, I will in my mind but I won’t say it loud.

It’s worse than those stupid made for tv golf events where they play indoors and hit the ball into a computer screen, move the hole around an artificial green, and pretend it’s the greatest thing since the scoop top. Listen, I like sliced bread as much as the next guy, but come on, scoop tops are the better invention.

It’s all about the Money

Am I the only one sick of these made for tv, artificial, nonsensical, “sporting” events?

Is the Four Nations Hockey Tournament of any interest to you?

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Tom Liberman

Watson is Watson not Sherlock

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Watson

I finished watching the pilot episode of Watson and I came away shaking my head in disbelief. I’m an enormous Sherlock Holmes fan. I’ve read all the official Arthur Conan Doyle stories and novels and a number of Holmes stories by other authors.

When I heard about a new Sherlock Holmes spinoff television show, Watson, excitement flowed through my neurons, as did fear. Excitement because it seemed like a new spin on the Sherlock Holmes lore with the potential to be quite interesting. Fear because it might disappoint. No spoilers here, my disappointment is immeasurable, and my day is ruined. Why? Let’s discuss.

So Many Things Wrong with Watson

There are many things wrong with Watson and most of them are the same problems manifested in a lot of shows these days. A lot of exposition, too many pretty people playing roles for which they clearly are not suited, fast-paced dialog that is impossible to follow, and lots of mumbling. Having mentioned all those horrors, they are not the major problem with the show.

The Big Problem with Watson

Watson is Sherlock! I’m not kidding. The character of Watson is not playing the character of Watson. He’s playing Sherlock Holmes. Watson is the solid and discreet companion. He is the stalwart friend. He is kind. He is sturdy. He is a people person.

Sherlock Holmes is a jerk. He’s addicted to cocaine. He’s not a people person. He’s intolerant of those who don’t have his exceptional gifts. He’s condescending. He’s impatient.

In the pilot, Watson is Holmes. He’s not Watson. He’s the genius diagnostic physician who through observation and Wikipedic knowledge of diseases is able to figure out what ails the patient. Eventually patients.

He’s condescending to his staff. He’s addicted to pills. He’s brusque. He’s overbearing in his know-it-all attitude.

What were they Thinking?

Who is this show designed to please? Anyone who is a Sherlock Holmes fan knows this isn’t a show about Watson, it’s a show about Dr. Sherlock. The show is titled Watson! Watson. The entire show is advertised as being about Watson. I’m utterly baffled.

Would I like to see a modern and reimagined Watson navigating the world? Yes, by golly, I would. I’m not exactly sure how such a show would work, I could put on my writer’s cap and likely come up with something but that’s not my job today.

Did anyone like it? Why? I’d be interested in hearing what you have to say.

Tom Liberman

State Mandated Education is the Road Paved with Good Intentions

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State Mandated Education

I just read yet another article about how state mandated education goals cause problems. In this case it’s a requirement that eighth grade students take a mandatory algebra class in Minnesota. A lot of these good intentions started way back in 2002 when President Bush signed the No Child Left Behind Act.

I was against that law and I’m against most of the state mandated education reforms going on across the country, usually promoted as some sort of parental rights legislation. Why am I against them? Is it because I hate Republicans, I hate Democrats? Nope.

To Algebra or Not to Algebra

In this case the mandate is forcing kids who are completely unready for algebra classes to take them. They can’t do them. It’s just an enormous waste of time for many students and school districts.

Local Education is Local

The problem is not democrats, it’s not republicans, it’s the state telling local schools what they must do. I’ve written about this before when it comes to the school year and my general argument stands. There is no possible way for the state to make a single curriculum that serves the various communities across that state.

We have urban schools, rural schools, schools in wealthy communities, schools in poverty-stricken communities, schools with the best and highest paid teachers, schools with whatever teacher they can get to show up that day, big schools with thousands of students, small schools with dozens. The idea that a single, state mandated education curriculum can work for all of them is beyond stupidity, it crosses over into insanity.

I’m sure the politicians promoting these various schemes, on both sides of the political divide, have the best intentions. Well, frankly, I’m not even sure about that but I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt. It cannot work in all situations.

That’s why state mandated education goals, and federal for that matter, are always a bad idea, even if they are a good idea in some school districts.

Local School Boards should decide curriculum

The local school board is closest to the situation and they should make the decisions. The state shouldn’t be telling rural districts they must be teach black history anymore than they should be telling urban districts they can’t teach it. It’s the same state overreach, republican and democrat.

Yes, there will be local school boards who decide on a curriculum that offends some people. In religious communities there will be religious orientated lessons taught by religious teachers. Tough. Likewise, in some areas religion will be completely excluded from the education process. Don’t like it, that I understand, but trying to force what you want on others is wrong.

Conclusion

The challenges that face local school districts are significant. The people trying to solve them sometimes fail, sometimes they are corrupt, but when the state and federal government come in with mandates it doesn’t help the situation, it makes it worse.

Tom Liberman

Why Good Rules are Important

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Good Rules

The 2024 Chess Rapid and Blitz World Championship just wrapped up and boy oh boy did we have a lot of controversy in relation to good rules, or the lack thereof. It was quite an exciting event for a number of reasons, but dress-code problems and lack of tiebreakers resulted in some rather unfortunate incidents.

The problems largely stem, in my opinion, from the lack of good rules. If you have vague rules or rules that don’t take into account the reality of the world, you’re going to have problems, sooner or later. In this case; sooner.

Good Rules in Dress-Code

The first problem came from bad dress-code rules. The organization that runs the tournament, FIDE, has a rule against competitors wearing jeans. Well, sort of. Jeans are generally not allowed. I’ve went to a few clubs back in the old days where they had no jeans rules although they generally allowed dressy jeans.

In any case, apparently that’s what Magnus Carlsen, the defending champion in both Rapid and Blitz, thought. He showed up for the second day of the event wearing a nice pair of jeans. Not blue jeans. Dark colored jeans, well stitched, looking fairly nice. He played the first two rapid games with no issues. Then he was approached after the third game and told to change into slacks.

Carlson, who was already embroiled in several issues with FIDE, said there was only one round left in the day, that he’d make sure to wear slacks for the third day but that he didn’t want to rush back to the hotel, change, and then rush back to the game as any sort of delay might cause him to be late.

That wasn’t good enough for FIDE so they didn’t pair him for the fourth game. He then left in a huff and said he was done with the tournament.

To my mind, good rules are the solution here. Jeans are not allowed is a good rule. Jeans are not generally allowed is a bad rule. Show up wearing jeans and you don’t play in the first round. You don’t get told after you’ve already played three rounds that you can’t play in the fourth. What a mess.

Anyway, Carlson relented the next day and agreed to play in the Blitz portion of the event. This takes us to the next problem arising from a lack of good rules.

No Tiebreaks

Way back in 1984 the World Chess Championship between Anatoly Karpov and Gary Kasparov went on for over five months and resulted in serious health concerns for the players. This because the match went on until someone won six games. After that debacle the World Chess Championship was limited to 24 games with ties going to the defending champion.

Nobody really liked that format either so eventually events were decided either by mathematical tiebreaks or an Armageddon game in which the player with the white pieces has more time but if the game ends in a draw the player with black pieces wins. This is now the format for almost every tournament in the world.

Unfortunately, FIDE, decided there would be no tiebreaks in this tournament. Well, you guessed it. The players in the finals, Magnus Carlsen and Ian Nepomniachtchi ended up in a tie. It’s important to note they both played in the quarter-finals and semi-finals the same day as the finals. That’s a lot of exhausting chess for one day. Then they played four winner-take-all tiebreak games. Four more draws. Now the players were exhausted, the New Year celebration was on the horizon.

The two players decided they’d prefer to share the title than continue on in a match which would be won simply by sheer exhaustion rather than skill over the board. For now, FIDE allowed this compromise to stand although I suspect it will be reviewed.

Conclusion

The problem, of course, was the lack of good rules. Just have a tiebreaker. It’s not that hard to figure out. They do it in tennis now instead of having endless extra games. They do it in hockey with a shootout, during the regular season at least. They do it in futbol with shootouts.

With travel for players and fans, television obligations, venue issues, and other problems associated with the modern world, endless matches really just don’t work anymore and they certainly are not fair to the players.

Good rules, good games.

Tom Liberman

Counter Strike Global Offensive Gambling Correlation

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Counter Strike Global Offensive

Almost everyone knows about Luigi Mangione and the murder of Brian Thompson but most of you are probably unaware of what is happening with Counter Strike Global Offensive. Much like the murder of Thompson, there are no good guys in this story but the news of both gives us an insight into some of the problems facing the world right now.

Counter Strike Global Offensive, technically Counter Strike 2 now but most call it CS:GO, is a gambling website and computer game. Many people who play the game simply do so to gamble and this includes a lot of young people. There is tremendous damage being done and people are angry.

Counter Strike Global Offensive and Skins

Valve, the developer of Counter Strike Global Offensive, introduced skins to the game back in 2013. These skins are cosmetic items applied to weapons. No big deal so far. These skins are popular and Valve runs a cash store where people can sell their skins to other players for money. Valve takes a percentage of this money, estimated at over a billion dollars in 2023. That’s Valve’s cut, not the entire value of the sales. Just their cut of it.

How do people get skins? They get them by playing or buying in-game weapon cases for $2.49. The items in the weapon case are randomly generated, with most of them being of low or no value. The rare skins sell for many thousands of dollars. This created an industry where influencers purchase these weapon cases live on their streams and, when they get high value items, respond with over-the-top excitement.

These influences draw in young people who want to win. They, in turn, spend enormous amounts of money on the weapon cases, hoping for financial return. It’s, for all intensive purposes, gambling. Many young people suffer enormous negative outcomes from this gambling. They use their parents’ money and cause financial hardships.

It’s bad.

Personal Responsibility with Counterstrike Global Offensive

Don’t get me wrong. I do think people who purchase these weapon cases are largely to blame for their own financial suffering. No one forced them to buy the cases. That being said, there is a lot of rage out there against the influencers who promote this destructive gambling. The same rage we see from people who are delayed, deposed, and denied in the healthcare industry.

Think if your child destroyed the family finances and their own future because they emulated an influencer who was pretending to gamble.

No Legal Recourse

Fueling the rage is the lack of legal recourse, both in Counter Strike Global Offensive and the Healthcare industry. People suffer, for years, horribly, and the courts ignore them, finding for the side who can pay for better lawyers.

The Palpable Rage

The rage is enormous. People who suffered want someone to pay, in the same way Mangione wanted Thompson to pay. Coffeezilla just released the first installment of his take on this and it’s a fascinating watch.

People are organized, they harass, they threaten, they incite. They think they are doing the right thing; they are certain our courts have abandoned them, that they, the little guy, has been sold out. They might be right.

Big money is winning and we the people are losing. Rural, urban, right-wing, left-wing, Christian, Atheist, young, old, sick. Liberté, égalité, fraternité doesn’t always end politely.

Tom Liberman

Boneless Chicken Wings with Bones

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Boneless Chicken Wings with Bones

It’s hard to believe I’m just now hearing about the Ohio Supreme Court case involving boneless chicken wings with bones which was decided back in July, but here we are.

What is this boneless chicken wings with bones case all about? It’s not quite as straight-forward as you might imagine. Michael Berkheimer had some boneless chicken wings at a restaurant named Wings. He ordered his usual boneless chicken wings. He ate them. A small bone got lodged in his esophagus and ended up causing extensive damage requiring multiple surgeries.

He sued and that’s where it all gets legal.

Is it a violation to have boneless chicken wings with bones?

The case went through several courts before arriving at the Ohio Supreme Court. The court decided that boneless is a term meaning cooking style, not an absence of bones. They dismissed the case with the author of the opinion writing the following: A diner reading ‘boneless wings’ on a menu would no more believe that the restaurant was warranting the absence of bones in the items than believe that the items were made from chicken wings, just as a person eating ‘chicken fingers’ would know that he had not been served fingers.

I think it can be argued that it’s possible a bone might accidently slip into a boneless chicken wing and therefore Mr. Berkheimer is not entitled to sue Wings or their supplier. I disagree, but I do think it’s an argument.

Can a Jury Decide if Boneless Chicken Wings with Bones is actionable?

Here’s where things get incredibly dubious, at least in my opinion. The Ohio Supreme Court argues that Mr. Berkheimer cannot even bring the case to a jury. They dismissed the case as unwinnable. No reasonable person might think the boneless chicken wings with bones is actionable.

It’s clear to me, and virtually everyone else who’s been writing about this case since July when it first appeared, a reasonable person might well find Wings and their suppliers liable. Of course, it’s possible they might not find them so. But to suggest the case is unwinnable, that no reasonable person would find for Mr. Berkheimer, smells deeply of corruption. Of judges bowing the will of their moneyed masters.

Conclusion

The system is rigged against people without the financial resources to influence court cases. That’s the facts.

Tom Liberman

Abolition of Time Zones

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Abolition of Time Zones

If you want freedom then you’ll join me in supporting the abolition of times zones. Our eager politicians are once again attempting to impress us with their busy-body, do-nothing ideas, discussing whether or not to abolish Daylight Savings Time. Meanwhile, no one even considers what I think is the best solution to the problem. Coordinated Universal Time.

What is the nature of the problem in the first place? The earth is an oblate spheroid, despite what some few people seem to actually believe. It’s daylight in some places and night in others. How do we solve this problem? Let me explain.

Same Time Everywhere? Are you insane Tom?

It seems like a farcical idea at first glance. How can it be 9:00 a.m. in New York City and Los Angeles at the same time. In one it’s breakfast and the other lunch. The problem is our nomenclature using a.m. and p.m. and terms like noon and midnight.

Imagine it’s just 00:00 to 24:00. So, it’s 09:00 in New York and California at the same time. As long as we don’t imbue the time of day with the position of the sun in the sky, it makes no difference. People in those two places will soon come to associate 09:00 with breakfast or lunch. It doesn’t really make any difference how we number things, it’s just numbers.

Why is the Abolition of Time Zones Better?

It’s better for a couple of simple reasons. Coordinating activities of people across our country is much easier. You don’t need to calculate time changes anymore. If you’re flying, if you’re having an online meeting, if you’re planning a phone call; you just say what time it is and everyone is on the same page without any tricky calculations. Is Bob in Mountain Time? Does Sara work on the west coast? None of it matters anymore.

Even better, from my point of view, is the freedom this gives us. One of the main reasons we have Daylight Savings Time is that we don’t want people having to get up and go to school and work when it is still dark outside.

In this system it’s up to every individual community and business to make that decision. As winter begins to set in and the days get shorter; a school district or an individual business can change their starting time. Let’s move back the start day to 08:30 on October 15 and 09:00 on December 15. Basically, it gives us the most amount of flexibility.

An urban school district and a rural school district can make their own decisions and leave the government all the way out of their business.

Why is Abolition of Time Zones Worse?

It’s not a perfect solution, certainly. The moment the day changes will be a little strange. We will go from Monday to Tuesday at 00:00 but that won’t be in the middle of the night for everyone. Still, not a major issue from my perspective and one people will get used to quickly enough.

The biggest problem is coordinating activities on a local level with other communities. If one school district, or business, has pushed their day’s end to 16:00 while another is at 15:00 then activities involving both entities might overlap on school and work time. A baseball game between two such schools might start while the second school is still in session. Hardly insurmountable but admittedly a nuisance.

Conclusion

I think the benefits of local freedom over government control far outweigh the nuisances and it will put an end to all the politicians blithering on about how they know what’s best for all of us. They don’t. They can’t make a system that is best for every business, every school district. It’s impossible. Therefore, let us decide for ourselves.

Tom Liberman

The Penguin is Just Plain Boring

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The Penguin

It’s not often a comic book adaptation is boring, but The Penguin manages it with honors. Full disclosure, I am not generally a fan of comic book movies. They are usually ridiculously stupid with contrived action sequences, over the top special effects used to replace meaningful dialog and filled with enormous plot holes. Not that The Penguin doesn’t suffer from some of this as well.

The bigger problem is the show is just plain boring. There are huge segments of nothing happening in order to get us to a boring soliloquy that is supposed to touch us emotionally. Rage, sympathy, understanding, pity, whatever. None of it works.

The Penguin

What is The Penguin about? It’s about the rise of Oswald Cobblepot from organized crime button man to the king of crime in Gotham City. It follows on the heels of The Batman movie in which Colin Farrel played the titular character.

Oz, as he is called throughout the series because he has yet to earn The Penguin sobriquet, is a member of the Falcone crime family at the beginning. He murders the newly crowned boss of the family in a fit of rage and events spiral from there. His main foil is the sister of the boss, Sofia, played by Cristin Miloti.

He also picks up Victor as a sidekick when the boy attempts to steal hubcaps from the Penguin Mobile.

Why is it so Boring?

I’m going to have to get into a little bit of my own writing experience in order to explain why I think the show ended up so incredibly dull. I couldn’t make it through most episodes and was looking at my phone for extended periods.

When I write a novel, I try to flesh out pretty much everything that is going to happen. This includes most of the important scenes, conflicts, various resolution points, and, of course the ending. What I don’t have finalized in my mind is the vital middle work. In order for my big scenes to have meaning, I’ve got to lead up to them. I have to lay the groundwork. I must include foreshadowing, character development, and other writing elements in order to get the audience immersed and ready for the big scene.

This is the hard work of a novel, at least for me it is. The big scenes are easy to write. They largely write themselves. What’s hard is getting to them.

I think the writers did a pretty good job of imagining the big scenes. They knew where they wanted to get. The Penguin, Sofia, Victor, or another minor character has a big, long soliloquy all ready to go, all ready to punch home a point to the audience.

The problem is twofold. First, there are far too many big speeches, three or four an episode at least. It’s impossible to lay the groundwork for that many monologues. It’s almost like they pretty much gave up even trying. We skip over everything in order to rush from one big, boring speech to the next. The speeches themselves are probably pretty good, they are certainly acted powerfully, but because there is no buildup, they left me flat, bored.

One Example

I don’t want to waste a lot of your time giving example after example of what I’m talking about so I’ll only give one. Oswald sways the other crime families to his side. He gives a big speech while passing out beers from a ridiculously oversized cooler.

Ok, great. That could be interesting. The problem is we’ve barely seen any of the other families, there are no scenes where they are convinced to come to the big meeting. They are just there, the scene prefabricated and ready for the speech. Who are they? The Tongs are the only one we’ve sort of met. Other than that, just actors standing around pretending to look impressed.

I’m not invested because nothing led me to this moment. I suppose the big speech is fine although the oversized cooler really does bother me. I mean, there are like ten people there. Ok, enough, must move on.

Lots of Torture

As a side note, there is way too much torture. I guess that turns some people on. Baddies getting tortured. I don’t like it. It’s just awful. The episode about Sofia was impossible to watch. It was designed to get us into her mindset for when her big speeches come but it was just gratuitous and unhelpful.

If you like torture, well, have no fear, there is yet another torture scene coming soon.

Other Aspects

The acting is good, the music is fine, the sets are largely great, the cinematography is well done. The production values are top notch throughout. I honestly think, and judging by the predominantly positive reviews, this is the sort of thing people want. Hollywood knows what they are doing, I guess.

Conclusion

It’s not for me.

Tom Liberman

Flag Planting and Dick Swinging

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Dick Swinging

Well, rivalry week is over in college football, and I had the joy of reading about half a dozen dick swinging, er, I mean flag planting incidents. The Michigan v. Ohio State game was probably the biggest news as far as dick swinging, er, I mean flag planting in college football, but we actually had a number of incidents all across this brave and free nation of ours.

Nebraska v. Iowa, Texas A&M v. Texas, North Carolina State v. North Carolina, Florida v. Florida State and probably half a dozen more I don’t even know about. Hooray. It’s good to see all those dicks, er I mean flags, are bigger and better than yours.

What is with all this Dick Swinging, er I mean Flag Planting?

Basically, rivalry week in college football is when two traditional rivals play each other. It’s fairly straight-forward concept designed to generate a lot of enthusiasm from fans, players, luxury box owners, and particularly television viewers. By that I mean money.

What happens is when the visiting team wins the game they wish to celebrate. All well and good. You win the game, go right ahead and celebrate. Lately the celebration seems to include dick swinging, er, I mean flag planting. This is when the visiting team runs to the center of the field, pulls out their insecure, tiny little dick, er I mean flag, and plunges it into soft, yielding turf where their opponents’ logo is painted.

What heroes. What brave men. What considerate guests.

The home team then rushes forward, their own dicks, er, I mean flags a waving and attempt to forcibly pull their opponents’ dick, er I mean flag, out of the soft yielding turf or prevent the penetration all together. It’s a glory to behold.

College football, the great and glorious home to the dick swingers, I mean flag planters. Aren’t we proud?

Tom Liberman

NFL Flexed Game Stresses Traveling Fans

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NFL Flexed Game

The NFL Flexed Game on Thursday night football for the first time in league history but it is far from the first them they flexed a game. This flex stressed fans who travel to the game and purchased non-refundable airline tickets and hotel rooms.

At least one analyst thinks the fans out of pocket money should be refunded by the league. It’s an interesting question and that’s the sort of thing I live to talk about.

What is an NFL Flexed Game

An NFL flexed game is one that changes from one date on the schedule to another. Generally, the NFL announced these decisions twelve days in advance to help fans and players prepare for the change. Because this was the first time they flexed a Thursday Night game they announced it twenty-eight days in advance.

Why does the NFL Flex Games?

The reason for NFL flexed games is simple. Media ratings. The NFL schedule is prepared in advance of the season. During the course of the season what appeared to be an attractive game for national viewing might become less so because the two teams are having poor years. In this case, the NFL will flex the game, moving it from one date to another.

This almost always involves one of their specialty games. Sunday Night Football, Monday Night Football, etc. The NFL wants a high-profile game in the slot rather than a couple of teams that have a small national audience or a game of little importance.

The Stress of an NFL Flexed Game

The stress of such a game is obvious. Fans paid for tickets on a particular date and now must make arrangements to attend on a different date. For fans traveling to the game, this is particularly stressful. They now must make new travel and hotel plans. Even if given the longer twenty-eight days, this can be expensive. If given just twelve days the ability to change plans becomes even more difficult.

There will always be some fans flexed out of a game because they have unalterable plans on the new date of the game.

The Individual Fan Matters Less

One of the biggest issues is fan attendance is becoming almost an afterthought in the revenue stream of sports franchises. The teams make much more money from media rights, luxury boxes, gambling website associations, and jersey sales than they do from individual fans in the relatively inexpensive seats.

Stadiums are eating away at cheap seats with enormous luxury boxes. The average fan watches from home on television.

Conclusion

It’s not going to change. As a greater and greater portion of revenue stems from sources other than fans at the game, the leagues will continue to be unperturbed by annoyed fans unable to attend flexed games. They just don’t care. They will not reimburse. Hate it all you want.

Tom Liberman

Law Enforcement Destroying a House

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Law Enforcement Destroying a House

The United States Supreme Court just ended an interesting case involving law enforcement destroying a house while pursuing a criminal. There is no question about what happened, just the financial responsibility of the McKinney, Texas government to pay for the damages.

What happened is fairly straight-forward. A fugitive with a kidnapped child entered a house and refused to leave. After the child was released, the McKinney police force did an enormous amount of damage to the home in an effort to force out the criminal.

The municipality refused to pay for the damages and the Supreme Court let stand a ruling supporting their non-payment.

Is Law Enforcement Destroying a House reasonable?

The first question to answer is if law enforcement destroying a house is a legal action. There seems to be little question about this, at least from the court’s perspective, my own opinion is different. The courts seem to accept without question that law enforcement can pretty much destroy whatever they want in the name of public and personal safety.

Going into the house eliminated a potentially dangerous criminal and using explosives and bulldozes was safer for law enforcement officers than risking their lives by entering personally.

The criminal in this case committed suicide and the destruction proved unnecessary but law enforcement did not know this.

Is Compensation Required?

The second question is if the suburb of McKinney owes the home owner money to pay for the damages. The initial verdict seemed to think so, awarding $60,000 in damages. The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals disagreed and vacated the judgment. The Supreme Court agreed with the Fifth Circuit and refused to hear the case.

Insurance Company being an Insurance Company

The insurance company refused to pay for damages because the destruction is an act of government and not covered by the policy.

Not as Isolate as you might Imagine

While this case of law enforcement destroying a home is fairly extreme, it is hardly an isolated incident. Police kick in doors, ransack homes, and otherwise cause damage every day in the United States. Often times they catch criminal, sometimes they do not. In either case, the courts largely agree they did their job and do not owe any money to pay for repairs.

That is the underlying problem. You might say to yourself, why doesn’t the government of McKinney just pay out this one egregious case? The reason is they’d then have to pay out for hundreds of other, smaller, cases just like it. As will cities all across the United States.

As things currently stand, if law enforcement destroys your property in the legitimate pursuit of a criminal, whether or not the crime is actually taking place, they owe you nothing. You must foot the bill.

What do I think?

I mentioned earlier that while the courts do not object to such wanton destruction, I do. I think the local government agency should always pay for the damage, even if the destruction occurred in pursuit of a criminal in order to safeguard the community.

Anything else just leads to abuse of the system. If law enforcement can always damage your property without fear of any financial renumeration, they will do so. They are doing so. It happens to poor people disproportionality and often involves the failed policy we call the war-on-drugs.

The people who have the least recourse and the least money to pay for such destruction are the ones suffering from it the most.

Equal protection? Ha.

Tom Liberman

What is Back to the Office Really About?

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Back to the office

There’s a lot of talk about back to the office for not only federal workers but workers all over the country. It’s usually couched in insulting terms like slackers, lazy, unproductive, and words of that nature. The rational isn’t fully articulated by the people espousing back to the office.

If they do talk about why they want it, it’s usually about the lack of teamwork, personal associations, team building, and productivity. I’m not going to say there are no arguments for back to the office but the primary force driving it is office space.

Office Space is the Back to the Office Reality

Large companies are heavily invested in enormous office buildings. Realtors are heavy invested selling square footage in large office buildings. Construction companies spend money to build these structures. In short, there’s a lot of established money tied up in office buildings all over this country. From urban centers to rural town. Office space is big business.

When people work remotely, they aren’t in those office. Who does that hurt? As they always say in detective shows, follow the money.

People Like Working from Home

The vast majority of everyday workers enjoy working from home because they don’t have to get dressed, drive in rush-hour traffic in two directions, and make or buy a lunch. They don’t like being away from small children and having to pay for daycare and other services.

Again, I’m not an absolutist. Some people like the social aspect of the office. They enjoy happy hour after work. Still, I think it’s safe to say the average worker prefers working from home and the average business owner doesn’t like paying rent for empty office buildings.

It’s really pretty simple. Who stands to benefit from back to the office? Average workers or those associated with office buildings and their financial stake in them?

Tom Liberman

Louisiana Business-Friendly Tax Policy

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Business-Friendly

I just read an interesting article about the business-friendly tax policy enacted by legislators in the state of Louisiana. The state of Louisiana already has some of the highest sales taxes in the country when state and local taxes are combined.

The new business-friendly policy reduces corporate taxes and personal income taxes to the tune of about $1.3 billion and this revenue is made up by increasing sales taxes to an even higher level. The rational for this is the desire to be competitive in attracting businesses to the state.

Business-Friendly Taxation State Competition

At its heart, the business-friendly taxation plans implemented all across the United States are a giant competition to bring in corporations. Every state and every municipality has long championed this tax structure. If we make it so a company has to pay little or often no taxes, they will build their factories here.

Businesses now hold bidding wars with various states and municipalities in order to get not only low taxes but enormous refunds and credits on the little taxes they do pay.

The rational expounded in Louisiana is just that. Their neighbor states have created enormous tax shelters and attracted businesses away from the Cajun State.

The Problem with Business-Friendly

Let me say I’m not a Bernie Sanders loving socialist screaming tax the rich from my soap box. I’m a Libertarian who believes in limited taxes and smaller government.

That being said, the problem with enterprise companies paying no taxes is the state still provides services for those factories. The state spends enormous sums to build and maintain roads so trucks can carry goods. The state pays for sewage and utilities. The state pays to clean up waste problems associated with spills. The state pays for the port facilities and the airports.

If the companies aren’t paying that money, then it falls on the citizens to pay via sales taxes. This is a horrendous solution. Taxes should be tied to the government services associated with them. Gas taxes should be spent on road maintenance. Gambling taxes should be spent on helping problem gamblers.

The current system is nothing more than taking money from the bottom income earners in this country to pay the bills for the wealthiest.

The system isn’t rigged as Bernie Sanders and many others in poor, rural communities like to argue. The system is working exactly the way it was designed to work. To siphon money from the bottom to the top.

The Solution is Simple

The solution to the entire business-friendly, take money from the poor and give it to the wealthy, is relatively simple. The government shouldn’t be involved in business enterprises in any way. They shouldn’t be giving tax breaks to incentivize companies to build in particularly locations.

This cuts both ways on the political spectrum. As an example; it’s obvious to me that electric car companies shouldn’t be getting $7,500 from tax-payers every time someone buys one of their cars because the government thinks it’s good for the environment. Nor should oil refineries and oil companies get enormous tax breaks because the government wants to drill-baby-drill.

I wrote about this in my Pretty Woman post when I suggested Edward is the protagonist of the movie. A business owner shouldn’t be shopping around to local government, it’s a perversion of capitalism and it’s doing dirty the great people of this country, democrats, republicans, and all the rest.

Tom Liberman

Will Deregulation Prevent Synapse Collapse?

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Synapse Collapse

People are losing their lifesavings everywhere and the Synapse Collapse is just the tip of the iceberg. A lot of people are making extremely risky financial decisions involving Crypto Currencies, NFTs, and other get-rich-quick schemes.

I don’t have a lot of sympathy for people who lose their money to such schemes but the Synapse collapse and others like it are not of the same ilk. Fiscally careful investors are losing their money all over this country.

What is the Synapse Collapse?

I’m sure most of you haven’t followed the story of Synapse, fintech, and Yotta or even heard about it but I watch a few YouTube channels that cover this stuff regularly. That being the case, I’ll go over it briefly but for a detailed examination you should visit those channels and read the articles.

Basically, a company, Synapse, took money from a variety of investors all over the United States who deposited it with startup companies like Yotta and Juno. Synapse used something called fintech to deposit the money in Evolve Bank. By having the money in a bank backed by the U.S. Government, people assumed that it was safe.

Sadly, this turned out to be false. The money wasn’t deposited properly although there is still a great deal of confusion about what happened to it in the maze of transactions through fintech, Yotta, Juno, and Evolve Bank.

Where did the Money Go?

The money may never be found. It’s a maze of transactions without a clear trail. What’s clear, it is the money is gone. Regular folks deposited at least $64.9 million through Yotta although there are likely many more investors from different startups. Now they are being offered $11.8 million in payment returns.

That’s about an 80% loss for most investors. It is their life savings. It is college funds. It is retirement money. It is real life and real suffering.

Sympathy for the Gullible

I mentioned earlier that I don’t have a huge amount of sympathy for people who make risky investments. I personally consider the entire Synapse Collapse a bit of a risky investment but for a lot of people that required more financial sophistication than they had. They don’t have a great team of financial advisors like me.

While I don’t have a huge amount of sympathy for the risky investors, I still feel their pain. This is real suffering. These are real people and what happened to them is brutal, even if it was through their own decisions.

In many cases the foolish decision was believing the lies of a convincing scammer. This sort of thing isn’t going away any time soon.

The Regulatory Roll

Much as my fellow Libertarians will hate me for it, I do think government led regulatory organizations are way behind the Synapse Collapse. This is not an isolated incident. There are many potential problems brewing in the industry. Many have lost their money to scams, schemes, and even well-intentioned investment advisors.

We don’t want people to put their money in a bank and then lose it. It’s bad for everyone. Regulations have a role here in helping people recover money and preventing them from losing it.

Creating good and useful regulations is another matter and a topic for a different time. That being said, I’m on board to get regulatory organizations up to speed on the new paradigms we face in the financial world.

Tom Liberman

Cardinals: Jets Drama or the Steelers Stability?

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Jets Drama

I’ve been watching the New York Jets drama with interest for a few weeks now. Maybe I, like everyone else, just likes a trainwreck. It’s a mess. The team is a gigantic failure and hasn’t made the playoffs in fourteen years. It’s actually thirteen but I’m going out on a limb and saying the current 3-8 team ain’t gonna get it done this season.

In the midst of watching the Jets drama I came across a comment that really struck me. A fellow mentioned it was nice to have the stability of the Pittsburgh Steelers organization under the guidance of the Rooney family.

It took me a day or so to realize why I was so struck by the comment but now I shall explain.

I’m a St. Louis Cardinals Fan

Born and bred right here in St. Louis and still living here. Yes, embarrassing but I don’t mind. I love my town and I love my team. The Cardinals have long been associated with stability, much like the Steelers. Our ownership went from August Busch to Bill Dewitt but both men clearly love the team and they love stability.

In 1980 the team hired Whitey Herzog to be the manager and we’ve largely kept managers for lengthy periods since then. Eleven years for Herzog, six years for Joe Torre, a single season for Mike Jorgensen, sixteen years for Tony LaRussa, seven years for Mike Matheny. Then we hired Mike Schildt and he lasted only four years.

Now there is intense pressure to fire Oliver Marmol. We are drifting away from the Steelers model and toward the Jets drama.

Stability is a Good Thing

To paraphrase the famous military quote. Stability has a quality all its own. If the players coming up in an organization know from day one the organizational goals, it helps them maximize their potential as players.

While the Cardinals certainly didn’t win the World Series every year, they did make it to the playoffs more often than not, and generally were an above average team. They gave an effort that fans were glad to see and filled the stadium year after year to do so. A bad season here or there didn’t change the organization philosophy.

The Cardinal Way

The organizational philosophy can be summed up with the annoying The Cardinals Way phrase. Annoying because it worked and other teams and fans hated us for consistent winning. Mike Schildt was a big believer in the Cardinal Way and it is largely what got him fired. Upper management wanted analytics-based teams and that is not the Cardinal Way.

The Cardinal Way is based on pitching to contact with a strong defensive team in the field and manufacturing runs with walks, base hits, and minimizing strikeouts. Modern analytics want strike outs and home runs. We got a team of fence swingers and fireballers. We started losing and now Marmol is in danger of being fired.

Jets Drama or Steelers Stability?

Sure, the Pittsburgh Steelers haven’t won a Super Bowl since 2008. That being said they make the playoffs far more often than they don’t. They put out a competitive team for the fans to watch week after week. They don’t stink and they don’t have a lot of drama.

The Jets? Well, the less said the better. They are terrible and, to my way of thinking, that has a lot to do with instability. An instability inspired by their owner, Woody Johnson, that trickles down to all aspects of the team.

Which do we want? I suspect I’ve made my preference clear.

Tom Liberman

Local Law Enforcement and The Marlow Murder Club

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The Marlow Murder Club

I just finished watching the Marlow Murder Club and took away something from it that I did not expect. I’m not going to get into a detailed review of why the show is good or bad but instead talk about the real-world ramifications that I’m not sure were even intended. Law enforcement isn’t engaged with the citizens they are supposed to protect and serve.

The Marlow Murder Club tells the story of Judith Potts, a retired woman living in a large estate she inherited from an aunt, and her involvement and investigation of a local murder.

The Basic Plot of The Marlow Murder Club

It’s important to understand the plot of the Marlow Murder Club in order to understand the topic of today’s post. Judith Potts is swimming along in the river when she overhears an argument followed by a gunshot. She immediately begins to investigate.

Eventually there are more murders and Potts involves Suzie Harris, a local dogwalker, and Becks Starling, the wife of the town’s church leader.

Local Law Enforcement

The constabulary is led by DS Tanika Malik who is new to the job and eager to prove her worth although suffering somewhat from imposter syndrome. Malik’s team of investigators is able enough but the leads they follow don’t get them any closer to solving the crime. Meanwhile, Potts finds useful clue after useful clue.

Eventually Malik recognizes Potts is helpful and hires on the trio to aid in the investigation. That’s the point I’d like to discuss today.

It neatly coincides with the brilliant but hard to watch miniseries We Own this City. In that show Treat Williams plays Brian Grabler, a retired Baltimore detective now teaching at the police academy. At one-point Grabler gives a monolog where it lambastes the Baltimore police department’s personnel as unable to investigate crime. They do not have the skills nor the contacts. They never get out of their cars, he says.

This is, in my opinion, an enormous disconnect which impacts both citizens and law enforcement in a negative fashion. The officers just are not in the communities they protect serve. The people in those communities don’t know the officers and the officers don’t know the people.

Officers spend their off hours drinking at the union lodge, not in the community at the local pub. They don’t go have breakfast at the diner where everyone who is anyone in town meets. They don’t get their hair cut at the barbershop. Thus, they are unable to solve crimes with the help of the locals. The focus isn’t even really on solving crimes, it’s on generating revenue but that’s another topic.

The Rural and Urban Divide

All the problems I just listed here are exacerbated by a large population. In rural areas with small populations, it’s easier for law enforcement to be a part of the fabric of the community. In urban areas the opposite is true and I think, sadly, a lot of law enforcement departments have just given up trying to be part of the community. They don’t live there, they don’t socialize there, they avoid the places they patrol.

In rural areas people find it difficult to understand why urban dwellers don’t trust the police. While in urban areas people don’t understand unconditional support for law enforcement. What’s wrong with those idiots? Don’t they see how it is?

They do see, they just see it from their own lens.

Solutions

Solutions are not easy in a densely populated urban region. Police have outreach programs where they visit schools and what not but that really doesn’t solve the disconnect problem. Law enforcement officers must be part of the community they serve. There must be trust.

I think the slow way back involves local police offices scattered liberally throughout an urban center. A small number of officers who remain in that area patrol on foot, have breakfast, grab a brew, and create relationships with the people. It will take time, it will take money, and it will take the desire to change.

Is all that possible in today’s climate of distrust, even hate? I’m not sure. Still, I advocate the effort.

Tom Liberman

A Nation’s Right to Defend Itself with U.S. Supplied Weapons

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Nation’s Right to Defend Itself

The ongoing wars between Russia and Ukraine and Israel and its various Arabic enemies brings forward the question of a nation’s right to defend itself. At least it does so for me and that’s why I’m writing this post. It’s an important question for people of the United States for a couple of reasons.

We provide weapons to Ukraine and Israel and restrict how they can be used. President Biden recently announced that the Ukraine can use missiles to strike deep into Russia after having long banned the practice. Meanwhile there are few restrictions on how Israel uses its U.S. made weapons.

What is the role of the United States in all of this? A fair and complicated question.

Absolutist Position One

It seems almost self-evident that a nation’s right to defend itself is without limits. When involved in war, there are few, if any limits. A nation must be able to defend itself using all available means.

Absolute Position Two

Our weapons are being used and the United States has every right to restrict how those weapons are used in a nation’s right to defend itself. If we tell a country not to use weapons in a specific way, then they must abide by those rules. After all, without our weapons they would largely be unable to defend themselves at all.

The Nuanced Position

The pragmatic position is far more difficult. Yes, we provide many of the weapons. Yes, a country is fighting for its existence. But there are global ramifications to both wars. The conflicts have the potential to spiral into larger wars. Could the entire Middle East become embroiled in war? All of Europe? Even the entire world? Are nuclear attacks completely off the table?

What are the long-term ramifications if Ukraine is destroyed, Isreal?

When a country uses weapons made in the United States there is always the potential for errors. A bomb meant for a military target might hit a school or a hospital. These are almost inevitable outcomes in the horrors of war. Children are dying in both conflicts.

It is only fair and reasonable that U.S. taxpayers who, after all, paid for all these weapons, have some say in how they are used. There are many in the United States who sympathize with both Israel and Ukraine. There are others less sympathetic and politicians are wise to consider these sentiments when restricting the use of such weapons.

My Opinion on a Nation’s Right to Defend Itself

I suppose that’s enough waffling about on the issue. I think a nation’s right to defend itself is unlimited. If they choose methods that turn their allies away from their cause, so be it. Yes, there are enormous global consequences to both conflicts but I don’t think the United States should be telling other nations how to defend themselves anymore than I think other nations should be telling the United States how to do so.

This, of course, leads me to my idealistic position.

We Shouldn’t have to ask this Question

We produce far too many weapons in this country. Far more than are needed for our defense and at an enormous price tag to the U.S. taxpayer. We sell huge numbers of our weapons to warring nations and blood is all over our hands. We are steeped in the blood of other nations and it is distressing to this Libertarian.

George Washington said it best in his Farewell Address where he advises against foreign entanglements. His reasoning is superb, and I recommend everyone read the Wikipedia summation of his thoughts.

Tom Liberman

DUI Arrests with No Impairment

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DUI Arrests

There’s a lot of news lately about a story in Tennessee where many people with no alcohol or drugs in their system are getting DUI arrests on their record. A part of the problem here is many people take a field sobriety test where an officer determines that person is under the influence.

It’s an interesting problem because it’s quite clear the total number of people arrested with no impairment is a very low percentage, less than one percent, of all such arrests. It’s also clear we have a vested interest in keeping impaired drivers off the road.

Field Sobriety Tests are Hard

Do not take the field sobriety test. It’s hard. You will likely fail. Even the best-intentioned officer can mistake nervousness or being uncoordinated for being under the influence of drugs or alcohol. DUI arrests often follow such failed tests.

Officers typically perform field sobriety tests after accidents. The driver might be disoriented, even injured from the accident.

Frankly, I think the field sobriety test should just be shelved altogether. There’s just too much pressure on law enforcement officers to make an arrest. Imagine being the officer who pulled over a driver, decided they were sober, the driver went on cause an accident where people die, and the subsequent blood tests show the driver was under the influence.

Imperfect Detection

The tools officers use are imperfect. Drug test kits give false positives, the breathalyzer give false positives, drug-sniffing dogs take cues from officers and give false positives. The end result is too many DUI arrests where the driver was not impaired in any way.

The Negative Ramification of DUI Arrests

The people who are arrested in these circumstances face enormous difficulties. In the story we read about people who lost out on career opportunities while the case was pending, people who paid thousands of dollars to clear their name, and people who were ostracized within their peer group when they did nothing wrong at all.

It’s not fair to We The People.

Impaired Driving and Distracted Driving

Personally, I think distracted driving is a far greater problem than impaired driving but that’s not really the subject of today’s post. That being said, it is an enormous problem. Talk a walk around your town for a few miles and watch every driver who passes you by. The number of people not paying attention is frightening.

Solutions

As I wrote earlier; solutions are not particularly easy in this case. We do want to keep people off the road who are impaired. I think the best solution is to simply stop field DUI arrests. If an officer suspects a driver, pull them over, take them to the hospital for a blood test, and drive them to their destination afterwards. Don’t publicize it, don’t put a name in a report, don’t arrest them.

When the blood test comes back, take the appropriate action. Saving a few people from injustice is worth the price. Just ask anyone wrongly arrested.

Tom Liberman

The Fake Fight Hype Tyson versus Paul

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Tyson versus Paul

I don’t know about anyone else but I’ve got scam fatigue and the fake fight of Tyson versus Paul is just another yawn for me. Tyson versus Paul is a nonsense event dreamed up by people who want your money and will provide some sort of product.

If you want to pour your hard-earned dollars into this silliness, that’s your business. If you want to enrich Tyson, Paul, and their various backers, have at it. I don’t like it, I’m not watching it, and I’m going to explain why.

The Endless Scam

Crypto, NFT, boxing matches, romance, pig butchering, whatever. Mr. Beast, Logan Paul, Liz Friesen, just from today’s headlines. It’s endless. It goes on and on. Caveat Emptor. My old-man memory told me the first celebrity boxing matches was Danny Bonaduce versus Barry Williams, but Wikipedia reminded me way back in 1979 we had Muhammad Ali versus Lyle Alzado.

Why You Shouldn’t Pay to Watch Tyson versus Paul

If people want to watch Tyson versus Paul, they can do so. I’m not saying you can’t watch. That the government should sanction this event, but I am saying by paying money for this you are enriching people who are borderline evil. They don’t care about anything other than taking your money and providing as little product as possible.

Sure, there will be a boxing match. They will fight. There is no doubt in my mind they’ve already spoken to the lawyers and they’ll stay behind the legal line of a scam.

This doesn’t make it ethically right and I think it would be awesome of everyone who promoted this sort of nonsense went bankrupt instead of making tens of millions of dollars. Windmill Tilting Tom, they call me. It’s not the first time I’ve taken on such a hopeless cause, and I suspect it won’t be the last.

This idiocrasy we’re living in is perhaps the ultimate and inevitable result of intelligence in evolution. We love the spectacle. We allow the worst people who laugh all the way to the bank after taking our money to lead us.

It’s your money, do with it as you please. Don’t come bitching to me after the fight.

Tom Liberman

Dark Chocolate with Cadmium and Lead is not Premium

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Dark Chocolate with Cadmium and Lead

I just read about an interesting false advertising legal case making its way through the U.S. Court system involving dark chocolate with cadmium and lead. In this particular case it’s Lindt Chocolate made in Switzerland.

I’ve written about false advertising in the past and I do think manufactures should give a fairly reasonable description of the product. In this case, Lindt advertises its chocolates as expertly crafted with the finest ingredients. They do not write dark chocolate laden with cadmium and lead on the label, for obvious reasons.

Study Reveals Dark Chocolate with Heavy Metals

The reality is that dark chocolate is usually laden with at least some heavy metals. The Cadmium generally arrives from the cocoa plant itself while lead gets there during the processing phase. The study that led to the lawsuit examined a number of dark chocolate brands including Lindt.

The result from Consumer Reports showed Lindt dark chocolate contained high-levels of Cadmium. Cadmium is generally considered a dangerous heavy metal that can lead to a variety of negative healthy effects.

Of the dark chocolate tested, Lindt wasn’t the highest for cadmium and lead nor was it the lowest.

The Lawsuit over Dark Chocolate with Cadmium and Lead

At issue is the advertising statement of expertly crafted with the finest ingredients. The argument goes that this statement might lead a consumer to pay for Lindt with the expectation that it did not have some of the problems associated with dark chocolate of a lower quality.

Lindt lawyers call the advertising statement puffery. Puffery is a legal term indicating that a reasonable consumer knows it’s merely exaggeration, boasting, and blustering. That it isn’t a real indication of the product quality. Anyone who has ever seen any advertisement knows all about puffery.

Lindt Dark Chocolate Conforms with Regulations

There are regulations about how much cadmium and lead is allowed to be in various food products and there is no question that Lindt chocolate comes in under this level. The Food and Drug Administration considers it safe for consumers in the United States.

The Fate of the Lawsuit

I strongly suspect the suit will result in no damages for the plaintiffs but that, perhaps, is not the point. The lawsuit, in my opinion, aims to educate the average buyer as to what they are consuming when they eat dark chocolate. Which is often advertised as healthier than milk or white chocolate.

We’ve seen quite a few lawsuits of this nature. Tuna in Subway sandwiches. Strawberries in Pop-Tarts. Various ingredients in supplements. It’s an interesting way to illustrate, Caveat Emptor. Let the buyer beware.

While I suspect the lawsuit is going nowhere, I do applaud the effort. In this modern age it pays to be aware of what you are consuming. The origin of the product, the quality of the product, the way labor is treated by the manufacturer, the environmental impacts of production.

Whether it be dark chocolate with cadmium and lead or any other product, I think most people want to make the world a better place. The government can’t save us and neither can the courts. Your purchasing power is the last line of defense. Use it wisely.

Tom Liberman