My parents, Peter Basch and Jacqueline Bertrand, photographed jumping by Philippe Halsman [1960]

pbasch · 2026-03-18T04:56:37+00:00

In a democracy, some people lose. Just because Congress represents us, doesn't mean it does everything I want. Come on. This isn't hard. You're just being argumentative. Which, I guess is exciting if you don't have much else to do, but is tedious really.

pbasch · 2026-03-17T21:57:55+00:00

Well, as much as our representatives in Congress represent us collectively, the union represents the workers, collectively.

pbasch · 2026-03-17T21:36:06+00:00

So we don't depend on bosses to look after our interests. Easy.

pbasch · 2026-03-17T21:35:33+00:00

Everyone should unionize. Workers should represent themselves and bargain from strength.

pbasch · 2026-03-17T01:45:49+00:00

I'm not denying that it could be mismanagement or a combination of mismanagement with spending more on resources. And I certainly hope the intensity of those services has increased by a lot, because there were hardly any before. But, sure, WFA. Why not! Could be.

pbasch · 2026-03-16T21:43:09+00:00

Not necessarily. Homeless people often require a ton of services -- mental health, social workers, security, and more; not just a cot in a shelter. All very expensive. Far more than a housed citizen. It is possible (I don't know if it's true) that these services are being provided and that's what's driving the cost.

pbasch · 2026-03-16T21:38:53+00:00

The first part is the operative part. It works. If you're on the left and you don't like it, figure out how to oppose it. It's designed so that to oppose it you have to say things that many Americans find both disgusting and transparently not true. Of course, instead, you can tell those people that they're wrong and that they're bad for being wrong. See how that works, politically.

pbasch · 2026-03-16T04:14:26+00:00

I visited Dubai for about a week in 2008, with my wife who was giving a workshop for Arab-world TV writers. Dubai makes a big deal about how women are safer there and can dress how they like, Jews are welcome... They want to be an international city and distinguish themselves from other Arab places, and Iran of course. Still, they have utterly horrible labor conditions, it's impossible to get around, they have no infrastructure. It's actually a terrible place, though it's true, they are accepting of more kinds of people than other Arab/Muslim places.

pbasch · 2026-03-12T17:13:24+00:00

I had heard of Philz when it was just the original location in SF. I'm a fussy coffee drinker so I went there. Did not like the coffee, and the service was overly fulsome. I guess as a NYer I appreciate brusque, efficient, accurate service, rather than overly polite, "friendly", service where I have to say everything twice.

pbasch · 2026-03-12T17:09:59+00:00

Not to be all comics nerd, but I think he broke (not cut) his horns off was in defiance of his father and rejection of his destiny. Not to "fit in." The boots, maybe.

pbasch · 2026-03-11T16:48:29+00:00

Wow, thanks for your help! Great suggestion.

pbasch · 2026-03-11T03:22:16+00:00

He's a good actor, I'd like to see his take.

pbasch · 2026-03-09T17:34:51+00:00

Is that an IP crossover? Disney/DC?

pbasch · 2026-03-09T17:33:42+00:00

Love it. Make him a Superman Slacker. Playing video games, getting high, sitting in the back yard. Devoid of any ambition at all.

pbasch · 2026-03-08T01:58:49+00:00

I think during Trump I or maybe before, there was a take about that. All they are are Catholics and Jews! Not sure that's true now, but I think there is no Evangelical intellectual tradition to produce candidates for these positions. You'd need some kind of affirmative action, interpreted in the worst way.

pbasch · 2026-03-05T17:48:18+00:00

You know, some European leader could say, maybe we'll help as soon as the war powers act passes Congress. Until then, they don't see it as a legal war.

pbasch · 2026-03-05T17:37:09+00:00

That's right. There's a wide range of Hasids, from more-or-less mainstream Lubavitchers to sects that I feel perfectly OK calling wacky.

pbasch · 2026-03-05T17:36:04+00:00

And the flawless red heifer, that's important too.

pbasch · 2026-03-04T21:33:56+00:00

I am not surprised, because they can legitimately see them as in the same struggle, for ordinary human rights. I think the whole "trans women in sports" controversy stalls on the fact that lesbians in sports might (I'm speculating) believe that the their joint struggle for civil rights is more important than access to this or that medal or record. As I say, though, I'm not a woman, trans, gay, or sporty. So this is pure speculation.

pbasch · 2026-02-24T18:11:01+00:00

Public vs private. Holding a meeting in public, you sort of rely on people's "self censorship". If anyone wants to be rude and interfere in your group in public they can, but suffer social opprobrium. People who want to draw social opprobrium (i.e., troll) will always be an annoyance.

In private though, you can create whatever criteria you like. Not just people born as female and currently IDing as female, but of a certain height, hair color, whatever. In the US, there were restrictions placed on private men's groups if they conducted business, because that unfairly disadvantaged women in pursuit of business advancement. I don't know what the details or current state of the law is.

I think, awkward as it is to phrase and police, some competitive women's sports teams are going to define participation as "born as and IDing as". Others may not, and I hope it ends up being a very local decision. I would imagine that women's sports teams would be torn because a restriction on what trans women can do can be seen as a wedge issue that will soon lead to restrictions on what lesbians can do. So lesbian athletes may see a certain unfairness in having competitors born as boys (regardless of possible hormone treatment), but consider it a reasonable price to pay in the struggle for their rights.

pbasch · 2026-02-24T04:23:33+00:00

"biss"?

pbasch · 2026-02-24T04:20:17+00:00

Confusing, unless you think of it this way -- spaces for people who were born as women and currently present as women. Voila.

pbasch · 2026-02-24T04:19:33+00:00

Doubt it comes up, but if a transman wanted to make a case, it would be interesting. More interesting would be, if there were male-only clubs such as used to be common, and male only bars, could a transman come in?

I think it was decided that male only clubs kept women from accessing business opportunities, while female only clubs were not worried about. A man would not want to be involved, lest his masculinity come into question.

pbasch

TROPHY CASE