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It says "over 50" but... why not 100? Is there some reason any senator should be without one if there's a worry? I'm pretty sure we can afford a few more phon
by Natsu 3y ago
It says "over 50" but... why not 100? Is there some reason any senator should be without one if there's a worry? I'm pretty sure we can afford a few more phones.
- kevinventullo 3y agoFrom the second paragraph of the article: “The satellite phone technology has been offered to all 100 senators. CBS News has learned at least 50 have accepted the phones…”
- Natsu 3y agoThanks, I missed that because I saw several previous versions of this story that left that out.
- Mountain_Skies 3y agoMakes me wonder if CBS News asked how many accepted the phones and were told "the majority did" with no specific number given.
- 0cf8612b2e1e 3y agoGiven our geriatric government, I could believe many of them do not regularly use phones. As of 2015, Senator Lindsey Graham claimed to have never sent an email [0]. [0] https://www.nbcnews.com/meet-the-press/lindsey-graham-ive-never-sent-email-n319571 https://www.nbcnews.com/meet-the-press/lindsey-graham-ive-ne... Edit: median Senator age is 65 https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/aging-congress-boomers/ https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/aging-congress-boomers/
- SoftTalker 3y agoIf I could change one thing about federal office eligibility it would be to add a mandatory retirement age of 65. That would go for elected office as well as agency and judicial appointments. There are too many old people set in their ways at the highest levels of governent who need to get out of the way. And I say that as someone who's less than a decade away from that age himself.
- AlbertCory 3y ago"set in their ways" == "have experience with life and don't agree with me" That said, some are just TOO old to do the job: Feinstein, for example.
- dehrmann 3y agoWhat's interesting is they can offer experience, and while some is still relevant (history rhymes), some isn't. They're also more likely to have mental acuity declines (Feinstein's had a few). They might also be less invested in long-term policies and more concerned with near-term, retiree-friendly policies. Or they could be a Jerry Brown who comes back without political ambitions, just wanting to do the right thing. Or you get a Ruth Bader Ginsburg whose lasting legacy was the overturn of Roe because she couldn't step down at 80.
- gentleman11 3y agoEnough of the ageism in tech
- yarg 3y agoCognitive decline is a real thing. Experience counts for a lot, but it doesn't help with creativity. One of the things in technology is that novel problems often require novel solutions - and most of us aren't Knuth. Beyond a point age counts against you more than it helps.
- phpisthebest 3y agoI am going to guess you are in your 20's or 30's... I bet when you hit 50 you will be seeing the world differently
- yarg 3y agoI'm as likely to complain about agism in sport as to change my position on this. The simple truth is that sometimes reality is shit, and none of us is immune to decay. We can't yet change the nature of aging, but there is value in wisdom and it does lead to people being pushed upwards in organisational hierarchies. But it's not a column - it's a tree, so there's also exponential decay in the number of people required. Meaning that the vast majority get pushed out not up. Look at C-levels, there's agism there as well - but the population isn't high enough to counteract the average trend at lower levels. Biology does not care about your feelings, eventually everyone ceases to function at a cellular level - this is gradual rather than sudden, it sneaks up on you with the men you used to be nipping at your heels, but surpassing you in the end. The same will happen to them one day. Sucks to be a meat machine. Just be glad you're in a field that depends on the mind rather than the body.
- NoZebra120vClip 3y agoIt's one thing to accept a device as an emergency backup, and it's another thing to know whether the device and its user will be ready when that emergency comes. Will the firmware be updated? Will the user be familiar with its operation? Will it be incorporated into regular drills and practice scenarios?
- wildzzz 3y agoGraham has been office since before email became ubiquitous. He's always had an aide to handle that for him.
- CPLX 3y agoAnother thing to know is that members of congress lie. Routinely, about matters big and small, for fun, for no reason, for personal gain, for amusement value, sometimes more then once in the same sentence. Members of congress who tell you they have never used email are lying. It's a nice thing to be able to say when someone asks them to produce email records. There's not a single one that doesn't have powerboy775X@gmail.com or whatever for when they need it, and I'm willing to bet on that. Except for maybe Feinstein. I'm not convinced she's aware of the internal combustion engine at this point.