Monday Morning Tabs and Takes
Leftovers from last week and over the weekend.
- Via Reuters: Pakistani rupee plummets as markets adjust to removal of unofficial controls.
- The NYT has a lengthy piece on the anemic Durham investigation: How Barr’s Quest to Find Flaws in the Russia Inquiry Unraveled. It is difficult to excerpt, so I will just say that the clearly politically motivated attempt to show that investigations into the Trump campaigns connections to Russia didn’t turn out the way Trump (or Barr) wanted.
- In other words, this is a normal administration (via Politico): Unlike Trump Appointees, Biden Officials Are in Big Demand in the Private Sector.
The reasons for the rebound range from the prosaic (a lot of Biden appointees had lengthy Washington CVs even before signing on) to the historic (they don’t have to answer for things like an insurrection, which have a way of turning off PR-conscious employers).
Image that. Competence and not supporting insurrections are helpful items when looking for a job. Kids, take note!
- Via NBC News: California Senate race sets up clash of titans. Schiff v. Porter will be interesting (and expensive). I just wish that Senator Feinstein would have to grace to officially announce that she won’t be seeking reelection, as it is clearly time (past time, in fact) for her to depart.
- Via Florida Politics: Florida House ‘dress code’ asks women to cover their shoulders. I noted a similar story in Missouri a few weeks back. In looking at the poster (at the link), what this boils down to is that everyone has to be wearing a jacket when members of the chamber are in the building, which I will admit is pretty formal, but is perhaps not as bad as the headline suggests. Sleeveless dresses are otherwise allowed, and members of the legislature are also being protected from males in their shirtsleeves. Ultimately the dress code in mostly (contra Phil Collins) “jackets required” on the floor and when members are in the building. Whether that is necessary or not is another issue, but it is less gendered than suggested. There is therefore perhaps less there in these things that might be the case (and there is plenty other nonsense in Florida to be concerned with).
- Speaking of Florida, Jamelle Bouie argues in the NYT: Ron DeSantis Likes His Culture Wars for a Reason.
RE: Florida legislature dress codes, I remember reading about this debate a few weeks back but may it was in fact the Missouri case. And, yes, these things (and dress codes in general) tend to be gendered. But mostly that’s a function of men generally just having a lot less latitude.
While it’s not enforced anymore, male professors at my institution are expected to wear, at a minimum, dress pants, dress shoes, a long sleeve shirt, and a necktie while teaching and a jacket when lecturing, there’s not really anything like that for women. We’re actually 180 out from my youth, when women rightly complained about being expected to wear pantyhose, girdles, high heels and such to work.
A few weeks ago there was a poll suggesting that anti-abortion voters overwhelmingly favor DeSantis over Trump. I suspect that if you broke down a lot of specific right-wing positions–banning trans health care, opposing vaccines, and so on–you’d find the bloc that holds those positions favors DeSantis.
We’ve said for a long time that “Trumpism” isn’t an ideology, just a cult of personality around Trump. Those right-wingers who actually have strong beliefs on specific issues are the ones most likely to be drawn away from Trump and toward DeSantis.
The Iowa caucus on the GOP side has a tradition of picking the party’s loudest culture warriors running. The problem for such candidates is that they usually haven’t gone on to win the nomination. (The last one who did was George W. Bush.) DeSantis will probably need to break that curse to stand a chance.
Why do I always wander around the house looking for my coffee cup when about 90% of the time it is in the microwave.
Or…
Sorry…I couldn’t resist.
I think Trump and Barr got exactly what they wanted out of the Durham investigation. Remember, this is the guy who said to Zelensky, “All we need you to do is go to a microphone and announce an investigation”. Implying that the existence of an investigation is plenty of fuel for politics, which is what they were looking for. That’s the case for the Durham thing, which also turned up lots of tidbits that were fuel for speculation, which drives the rumor mill, etc.
@James Joyner: @Dr. Taylor
The idea that men need to wear ties is just a freaking joke to me. Most professors would be much more comfortable in a nice dress sweater and slacks, and do just a good a lecture than while wearing a tie.
I’ve always hated the “must wear a jacket and tie” nonsense. It’s always offended me that two men can walk up to high end 5 star restaurant with a dress code; one wearing a suit one wearing jeans, sneakers, and a hoodie, and the guy with the suit will get in and other other one will get rejected. BUT…. the guy in the suit bought his suit at JC Penny and paid $149 for it, and he’s wearing shoes from Payless, and a shirt from Ross Dress For Less (nothing wrong with any of that). However, the other guy is wearing Dolce & Gabbana $1000 jeans, a pair of $1500 Cactus Jack x Dior B713 sneakers, and a $1000 Balenciaga Hoodie. Which one is going to spend more money in your restaurant?
It’s idiotic to think that wearing a suit, or jacket and tie, somehow makes you more… what, classier? More serious? Smarter? How does wearing a suite or jacket actually affect the work?
@Jay L Gischer:
Which will probably be a pretty good summary of Durham’s report when it comes out. No substance but as much innuendo and fuel for FOX speculation as he can manage.
IIRC when this started there was a lot of press about Durham being a Republican, but a square jawed, steely eyed man of great professionalism and integritude. Just like Mueller and Rosenstein and Barr and Comey and Wray and whoever’s next. Seems like the key word always comes out to be “Republican”.
Is it just me, or are others noticing a lot of links in posts that have strike-throughs? For example, in the post above the ” How Barr’s Quest to Find Flaws in the Russia Inquiry Unraveled” hyperlink has a strikethrough.
@EddieInCA:
I’m definitely in the “fuck ties” group.
Try explaining to a space alien or someone entirely removed from western culture what purpose a tie serves. The answer is none – it’s an anachronism and a dumb one that is only buoyed by habit and norms of social status that don’t make any objective sense.
@Andy: I just noticed that this morning after it was posted. I just looked at the HTML code and I see nothing that should be causing it.
So I dunno.
@Andy:
But isn’t that true of most fashion? It’s all habits, expectations, and mores (this is not a defense of ties, BTW).
@EddieInCA: You make a good point, at least in these times. But many years ago the wearing of a shirt and tie indicated that you had “made it”, that you weren’t a farmhand or a laborer.
When I was in Peace Corps and teaching woodworking in a rural village, I suggested our students shouldn’t be required to wear a uniform and everyone was horrified. The students most of all. And it seems to me that the more underdeveloped a country, the more people wear uniforms and the fancier the uniforms for the most prestigious positions. So I suspect the fact that men don’t want to wear shirts and ties has more to do with economic and social security than anything else.
Says, Steven L. Taylor, pictured in jacket and tie.
@Steven L. Taylor:
It’s definitely true. I’m not a fashionista, to the surprise of no one that knows me, I put function over form. It’s probably good for everyone involved that I work remotely.
Men and boys should state protests where they take off and burn their ties.
@Joe: Oh, I wear a lot of jackets and ties. I have taken to wearing a tie far les frequently in the post-COVID world, but it is still an occupational hazard.
I wore a jacket and tie to teach in most of my career, in fact (starting at first because I was young and wanted to differentiate myself from the students!)
I think I mentioned this for the Missouri case as well… Coat and tie rules are largely about costuming to make it easier for the public to recognize the characters. Members of Congress on the floor are playing to the people in the gallery and C-SPAN. Those watching are just confused if some of the Senators show up in jeans and a hoodie. Someone on Sen. Sinema’s staff should have taken her aside early on and told her the gaudy fashion statement doesn’t say “maverick” to the public, who don’t know her from Eve, it says “staff”. They give awards for costuming on stage, movies, and tv for good reasons.
At one point most of 50 years ago my father and I compared the costuming we each wore when we were in outstate Nebraska (me with college friends for a weekend, him doing field inspections and audits for an insurance company). My cowboy hat and boots said, “Yeah, I work in these regularly,” and took me off the locals’ radar in a bar on Saturday night. His Stetson, polished boots, and string tie said “I’m here about money, and it’s a serious matter” and the hands automatically called him sir.
When I taught at the Harvard Business School (don’t ask), there was no dress code for the faculty except for the one the students imposed on the female teachers: dresses, skirted suits, plain high-heeled pumps, pantyhose, gold jewelry, and, preferably, furs to show that you’d made it financially.
She (allegedly) gave Schiff’s run her blessing, to him privately. If true, I don’t know what that means.
@Michael Cain:
@Steven L. Taylor:
@MarkedMan:
Maybe because I’m an asshole, but I refuse to wear a tie when requested for an event, except for black tie events. I like wearing a tie when I’m wearing one of my nice suits (mostly in NYC) and going to the theatre, opera, or philharmonic.. When I get an invitation that says “Jackets and ties required”, I wear a suit with a mock turtleneck or even a t-shirt. Let them kick me out. That’s a fight I’ll take.
First world problems.
@EddieInCA:
If I recall correctly, you’re in a profession and at a level where eccentricity is an accepted thing.
@DK:
Probably that on lucid days, she realizes that she needs to exit stage left but also that there aren’t enough lucid days strung together to make a pattern of behavior.-
@daryl and his brother darryl: I went round and round with my state rep about this bullshit. It ended with her saying, “Women are proposing this.” To which I replied, “2 words: Stockholm syndrome.” That shut her up, not that it changed her mind or anything.
@Michael Cain:
Sinema could wear a hoodie with “SENATOR” embroidered on the back.
As a union carpenter I had to wear carpenter’s whites and (after the laborer got crushed by a highlift at the pump back operation) neon green t-shirts +/or blaze orange. I always wore a bandanna under my hardhat, in the summer to keep the sweat out of my eyes, in the winter for a little bit of extra insulation on my head. At first I thought it was stupid but eventually it got to the point where nothing else was comfortable. I haven’t been on a jobsite in 10 years but that is still my go to dress.
I remember showing up at my 25 or 30 year class reunion straight from the jobsite. Why? Fuck if I know, I guess I thought it might be interesting. Turned out it was entertaining. There I am, sitting off by myself, just watching folks as they come in and socialize, waiting for a face I could recognize. They kept turning and giving me side eyes, like they didn’t know who I was but I might be dangerous. A biker or something.
After 45 mins or so, I had recognized a couple of folks, but I was having so much fun getting surreptitious looks I didn’t want to end it. Finally, one guy showed up who I instantly recognized and I knew would be the one to have the balls to approach this scary* looking dude. He did and I replied honestly and the game was up. I was welcomed into the fold in a way I never had been 30 years before.
Life is funny that way, clothes make the man.
*there was nothing whatsoever scary about me, I just looked rough and they weren’t used to associating with rough looking guys.
@EddieInCA:
@Steven L. Taylor:
I spent 30+ years (and still occasionally dabble) in an industry that, at the start, required men to wear suits and ties. Women wore dresses/hose. For a significant part of that time, my response was to wear bright cartoon ties (WB/Disney, occasional Jerry Garcia) with a suit, and hair in a club or ponytail and a Van Dyke/moustache combo*. Only time I had to wear a serious tie was going to court (Judges=rules=stuffy). One attorney told me he was paying me too much because I had the same suit he did. He freaked hearing I’d bought a Brooks Brothers suit at the Council Thrift Shop for $25.
*As a temp, I’d walk into offices as a temp, and tell the receptionist, “Hi, I’m Bill, and I’m your Kelly Girl™.”
These days, as a contractor, I show up in jeans/polo shirt, and (maybe) a sport coat. Still have one tie for occasional court appearances (and my eventual funeral).
@Kathy: “Sinema could wear a hoodie with “SENATOR” embroidered on the back.”
Or if she wanted to be honest, “For Sale.”