re: #215 Belafon

Charles, I have an idea for you, based on something they do in Duolingo (which I wish they would do more of): Allow us to “spend” karma to “buy stuff” for the site. At duolingo, you can spend points you earn on an outfit for the little avatar, buy extra lessons, and things that allow you to keep streaks alive if you’re not able to make one lesson.

What if we could spend karma on things like having a background image, changing the color of our comments or those of others, and other related things?

My wife used points at duolingo to get the lessons on “Spanish pickup lines.”

Those three lessons were possibly the lamest lines I ever heard, and I imagine if you used some of them you’d get clocked.

Scoop: Ryan Zinke has notified the White House he intends to step down as interior secretary.

Concern about legal costs and scrutiny of his travel, political activity and potential conflicts of interest were factors in Zinke’s decision, I’m told.

Plan is to announce Wednesday.

— Jennifer Jacobs (@JenniferJJacobs) December 15, 2018

I served with Ryan Zinke in Congress. He had a bright future.

But then he entered the world of @realDonaldTrump, and allowed its corrupting influence to destroy his reputation. Zinke is now facing multiple investigations and mounting legal bills. Sad. https://t.co/b4dXNYTKiq

— Ted Lieu (@tedlieu) December 15, 2018

Rep. Lieu is more charitable than I’d be.