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Thank you to everyone who has been contributing links to articles & other content in the Comments section of each day's "Conversation." If you're missing the comments, you're missing some vital links.

The Ledes

Monday, April 21, 2024

New York Times: “Terry Anderson, the American journalist who had been the longest-held Western hostage in Lebanon when he was finally released in 1991 by Islamic militants after more than six years in captivity, died on Saturday at his home in Greenwood Lake, N.Y., in the Hudson Valley. He was 76.”

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The Washington Post offers tips on how to keep your EV battery running in frigid temperatures. The link at the end of this graf is supposed to be a "gift link" (from me, Marie Burns, the giftor!), meaning that non-subscribers can read the article. Hope it works: https://wapo.st/3u8Z705

"Countless studies have shown that people who spend less time in nature die younger and suffer higher rates of mental and physical ailments." So this Washington Post page allows you to check your own area to see how good your access to nature is.

Marie: If you don't like birthing stories, don't watch this video. But I thought it was pretty sweet -- and funny:

If you like Larry David, you may find this interview enjoyable:


Tracy Chapman & Luke Combs at the 2024 Grammy Awards. Allison Hope comments in a CNN opinion piece:

~~~ Here's Chapman singing "Fast Car" at the Oakland Coliseum in December 1988. ~~~

~~~ Here's the full 2024 Grammy winner's list, via CBS.

He Shot the Messenger. Washington Post: “The Messenger is shutting down immediately, the news site’s founder told employees in an email Wednesday, marking the abrupt demise of one of the stranger and more expensive recent experiments in digital media. In his email, Jimmy Finkelstein said he was 'personally devastated' to announce that he had failed in a last-ditch effort to raise more money for the site, saying that he had been fundraising as recently as the night before. Finkelstein said the site, which launched last year with outsize ambitions and a mammoth $50 million budget, would close 'effective immediately.' The New York Times first reported the site’s closure late Wednesday afternoon, appearing to catch many staffers off-guard, including editor in chief Dan Wakeford. As employees read the news story, the internal work chat service Slack erupted in what one employee called 'pandemonium.'... Minutes later, as staffers read Finkelstein’s email, its message was underscored as they were forcibly logged out of their Slack accounts. Former Messenger reporter Jim LaPorta posted on social media that employees would not receive health care or severance.”

Washington Post: “The last known location of 'Portrait of Fräulein Lieser' by world-renowned Austrian artist Gustav Klimt was in Vienna in the mid-1920s. The vivid painting featuring a young woman was listed as property of a 'Mrs Lieser' — believed to be Henriette Lieser, who was deported and killed by the Nazis. The only remaining record of the work was a black and white photograph from 1925, around the time it was last exhibited, which was kept in the archives of the Austrian National Library. Now, almost 100 years later, this painting by one of the world’s most famous modernist artists is on display and up for sale — having been rediscovered in what the auction house has hailed as a sensational find.... It is unclear which member of the Lieser family is depicted in the piece[.]”

~~~ Marie: I don't know if this podcast will update automatically, or if I have to do it manually. In any event, both you and I can find the latest update of the published episodes here. The episodes begin with ads, but you can fast-forward through them.

Contact Marie

Click on this link to e-mail Marie.

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Friday
Apr122013

The Commentariat -- April 13, 2013

Contributors' comments on Reality Chex are always superb. If you missed those to my post on Jim Gile, I highly recommend you give them a read.

Philip Rucker of the Washington Post: "President Obama has asked the mother of a six-year-old killed in last December's massacre in Newtown, Conn., to stand in for him in addressing the nation this weekend. Francine Wheeler, whose son, Ben, was killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School, will deliver the president's weekly address that is aired on television and radio, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney told reporters on Friday." New York Times story, by Sarah Wheaton, here:

... See also Charles Pierce's commentary on the Politico piece on the Newtown family members, linked below. CW: what is galling about this week's address is that Wheeler has to make this plea to the Cowardly Congress, begging members to just do their damned jobs. ...

... Dana Milbank has more on how the Newtown family members pressured senators. (The difference between Milbank's characterization & Politico's is striking.)

Gail Collins, on President Obama's budget: "... anything that makes Paul Ryan this enthusiastic is scary." ...

... Annie Lowrey of the New York Times: President Obama's plan to calculate Social Security benefits based on chained CPI "would mean less money for the elderly. But it would also mean less money for children. One underappreciated point is that Social Security benefits millions of children and working-age Americans, as well as older adults." ...

... Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar of the AP: "... President Barack Obama's budget would raise ... Medicare premiums ... [for] comfortably retired seniors, adding to a surcharge that already costs some 2 million beneficiaries hundreds of dollars a year each. More importantly, due to the creeping effects of inflation, 20 million Medicare beneficiaries would end up paying higher 'income related' premiums for their outpatient and prescription coverage over time. Administration officials say Obama's proposal will help improve the financial stability of Medicare by reducing taxpayer subsidies for retirees who can afford to pay a bigger share of costs. Congressional Republicans agree with the president on this one, making it highly likely the idea will become law if there's a budget deal this year." CW: I guess I'm "comfortably retired" because the Feds take out about a fifth of my Social Security payment to cover the Medicare premium, a hefty deduction that makes me "uncomfortable."

Obama 2.0. John Broder of the New York Times: "Sally Jewell officially became the 51st interior secretary on Friday, taking the oath at noon from retired Justice Sandra Day O'Connor in the Supreme Court's West Conference Room, one of two formal ceremonial conference rooms at the court.... The Senate approved her nomination on Wednesday on a vote of 87 to 11."

Michael Shear of the New York Times: "President Obama's personal income has plummeted in the four years since he was first inaugurated, thanks mostly to declining sales of his two best-selling books, according to his 2012 tax returns released on Friday. For 2009, Mr. Obama and Michelle Obama reported earning $5.5 million in income, almost all of it from royalties related to Mr. Obama's books, 'Dreams from My Father' and 'The Audacity of Hope.' Sales of the books made him a multimillionaire. By 2012, the couple's taxable income had dropped to about $608,000, with only about $273,000 from sales and royalties from the books, according to the tax return. Most of the income came from Mr. Obama's presidential salary of $400,000 per year." A pdf of the Obamas' tax return is here. The Bidens' tax return is here.

Kirk Johnson of the New York Times: "Under an agreement signed with the Obama administration last year, and just now taking shape, Oregon and the federal government have wagered $1.9 billion that -- through a hyper-local focus on Medicaid -- the state can show both improved health outcomes for low-income Medicaid populations and a lower rate of spending growth than the rest of the nation."

News Flash! Corporations Are Not Democracies. James Stewart of the New York Times: At 41 publicly traded companies where directors actually lost their elections last year, meaning that more than 50 percent of the shareholders withheld their votes of approval..., they remained in their posts.... That an electoral system unworthy of Soviet-era sham democracies is flourishing today in corporate America is largely thanks to the management- and director-friendly policies of Delaware, where more than half of United States companies are incorporated and where the corporate franchise tax contributes disproportionately to the state's revenue. State law controls board governance, and Delaware has long tolerated [so-called] plurality voting [where] ... directors run unopposed and just one vote is enough to be elected."

Graft, Virginia-Style. The Washington Post Editors whack Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell for taking bribes gifts to family members from a Virginia CEO in exchange for promoting his company's products.

In a few grafs about a disgusting piece by Jim VandeHei & Mike Allen, Charles Pierce sums up what's the matter with Politico.

Local News

Laura Vozzella of the Washington Post: "The Virginia Board of Health voted Friday to require clinics that perform abortions to meet strict, hospital-style building codes that operators say could put many of them out of business."

News Ledes

Reuters: "A former justice of the peace in Kaufman County, Texas, whose home was searched as part of the probe into the killings of the local district attorney, his wife and a prosecutor, has been arrested on suspicion of threatening violence, officials said on Saturday. Eric L. Williams, 46, was arrested on Friday on charges of making a 'terroristic' threat, which generally involves a threat to commit violence.... It was not immediately clear whether the alleged threat had any connection to the slayings...."

AP: "Palestinian Prime Minister Salaam Fayyad resigned on Saturday, leaving the Palestinians without one of their most moderate and well-respected voices just as the U.S. is launching a new push for Mideast peace."

New York Times: "Secretary of State John Kerry arrived [in Beijing] on Saturday to seek China's help in defusing the growing tensions with North Korea." ...

     ... AP Update: " The United States and China committed Saturday to a process aimed at ridding North Korea of its nuclear weapons, with the Obama administration gaining at least the rhetorical support of the only government that can exert significant influence over the reclusive North."

Washington Post: "As promised, Russia on Saturday released the names of American officials who are now banned from the country, in retaliation for the Magnitsky list made public in Washington on Friday. The United States imposed visa and banking sanctions on 18 Russian officials suspected of human rights abuses. Russia responded by naming 18 Americans it accuses of human rights violations at the Guantanamo prison camp, or of having had a role in the detention of Russian citizens in third countries."

Reuters: "The retrial of former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak was aborted on Saturday when the presiding judge withdrew from the case and referred it to another court, causing an indefinite delay that sparked anger in the courtroom. Lawyers said that while the transfer would give prosecutors more time to draw on new evidence in an unpublished fact-finding commission's report into the repression, it could delay the case by months, increasing the risk that Mubarak, 84, may never be finally convicted and sentenced."

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Reader Comments (1)

A word about Jonathan Winters who I still think is one of the funniest and most talented of comedians: I had a friend who had a couple of disk jockey shows, one in Wisconsin and then in Ohio. His voice was sliver tongued, his shtick was clever and soon he was picked up by a New York station and from there he became a writer for comedians like Phyllis Diller, Johnny Carson, and Henny Youngman. He'd get us tickets to the Carson show when we'd come to the city and once after the show we were having drinks in Youngman's hotel room when Winters came in. He was well greased and gave us some good laughs but only stayed for about a half hour. Sometime later my friend procured a private recording of Winter doing hilarious, off color––WAY off color––bits. Seems he made these recordings for friends only. The fact that drink and depression were constant companions made for a life fraught with ups and downs–––as it was with my friend whose marriage dissolved along with a separation from his daughters when his wife finally had enough and moved away. Many years later I saw him again: he had stopped drinking, was a conservative, and had found Jesus. I barely recognized him.

VandeHei and Allen could also be comedians––like Fred Allen and Gracie––listening to these two on panel shows one wonders which one is trying harder for the idiot of the day.

April 13, 2013 | Unregistered CommenterPD Pepe
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