I wasn't suggesting that courts shouldn't have contempt sanction power, but as you note throwing politicians in jail for not voting a particular way is undemocratic.

Right, I'm sure the negative portrayal of the Yonkers voters has nothing to do with the fact that they're seen cursing and shouting in every scene where they're shown.

Didn't the federal government decide where to put the bad housing project featured in the show?

Interesting link. The summaries of the articles suggest that public housing efforts are a mixed bag in terms of improving surrounding local property values, which makes sense. For example, the 2007 Harvard article is pretty positive overall when examining New York's efforts in the 80s and 90s to rebuild extremely…

Although it may have been irrational to fight the Court's contempt sanctions, given their severity, it was perfectly rational to question whether the contempt sanctions were proportional or warranted. And, in fact, it seems that the appellate courts (if I was able to discern the development correctly) found certain of…

No, of course, he's not sympathetic. Maybe his portrayal is true to life. I have no idea.

There's no evidence? Huh? There's a massive amounts of evidence in every American city. In fact, the show depicts an era when good liberals had concluded—because it was blazingly obvious—that their initial attempt at public housing was a giant, unmitigated failure.

Yes, the point is that the one sympathetic white person who is initially against public housing comes around to seeing its virtues because she allows compassion into her heart and reason into her brain. It's a liberal fantasy.

Yeah, I take it that she's going to come round to the liberal position by the show's end. I also thought the interview between her and the black reporter was condescending. It portrayed her as someone who had not thought through the issues, and when confronted with the notion that black people might have the same…

I agree it'll win awards, but probably because it's Simon and it strikes the right pose on a political issue.

There's a legitimate fear that the appearance of low-income housing in a lower middle class neighborhood will have a cascading effect in which the wealthiest leave, housing prices decline, more taxpayers leave, and housing prices decline further, eventually leaving what was once a middle class neighborhood in dire…

No, I think it stinks, and I'm close to not watching it anymore.

Dey tuk R jabs.

I'm going to see this through because I love the Wire, but this show doesn't inspire me. A big part of the problem is that HBO is airing the show in two episode blocks, and I feel compelled to try and slog through both at once. If I were given an hour per week, I might not have the sinking feeling that this is…

You may be right on the first point, but that doesn't mean that making a noir in the 1950s noir style with a lot of 1950s style dialogue that strikes the modern ear as cheesy / laughable is a good idea. It needs updating.

Good call. So much of the finale was a crib of other stuff. Heat, Breaking Bad, a bunch of old movies I've not seen.

In exchange for info about Caspere's killer, Frank had made a deal to allow them to sell drugs in his clubs. Then, Frank burnt down his clubs, and they decided to kill Frank. They had been established as crazy / extremely hard core already, so it wasn't too much of a surprise.

Local Man Reviews TV Show For Its Inaccurate Depiction of Traffic Patterns

He was clearly suffering from uromysitisis.

Although the second season of Halt & Catch Fire has, much to my shock, turned out to be my favorite show currently airing new episodes right now (not saying much), your comment is well taken.