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The Ledes

Saturday, May 18, 2024

Washington Post: “Paul D. Parkman, a scientist who in the 1960s played a central role in identifying the rubella virus and developing a vaccine to combat it, breakthroughs that have eliminated from much of the world a disease that can cause catastrophic birth defects and fetal death, died May 7 at his home in Auburn, N.Y. He was 91.”

New York Times: “Dabney Coleman, an award-winning television and movie actor best known for his over-the-top portrayals of garrulous, egomaniacal characters, died on Thursday at his home in Santa Monica, Calif. He was 92.”

The Wires
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The Ledes

Friday, May 17, 2024

AP: “Fast-moving thunderstorms pummeled southeastern Texas for the second time this month, killing at least four people, blowing out windows in high-rise buildings, downing trees and knocking out power to more than 900,000 homes and businesses in the Houston area.”

Public Service Announcement

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

Marie: BTW, if you think our government sucks, I invite you to watch the PBS special "The Real story of Mr Bates vs the Post Office," about how the British post office falsely accused hundreds, or perhaps thousands, of subpostmasters of theft and fraud, succeeded in obtaining convictions and jail time, and essentially stole tens of thousands of pounds from some of them. Oh, and lied about it all. A dramatization of the story appeared as a four-part "Masterpiece Theater," which you still may be able to pick it up on your local PBS station. Otherwise, you can catch it here (for now). Just hope this does give our own Postmaster General Extraordinaire Louis DeJoy any ideas.

The Mysterious Roman Dodecahedron. Washington Post: A “group of amateur archaeologists sift[ing] through ... an ancient Roman pit in eastern England [found] ... a Roman dodecahedron, likely to have been placed there 1,700 years earlier.... Each of its pentagon-shaped faces is punctuated by a hole, varying in size, and each of its 20 corners is accented by a semi-spherical knob.” Archaeologists don't know what the Romans used these small dodecahedrons for but the best guess is that they have some religious significance.

"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.”

Contact Marie

Click on this link to e-mail Marie.

Page Links
Saturday
Apr162016

The Commentariat -- April 17, 2016

Presidential Race

Kurtis Lee & Evan Halper of the Los Angeles Times: Hillary Clinton interrupted her campaign in New York "to join George Clooney in toasting some of California's most well-heeled Democratic donors -- and collect copious amounts of their cash -- as well as to stir up voter enthusiasm with a Los Angeles rally. The amount of money Clinton stands to rake in on the visit is well into the millions of dollars. A pair of seats at her table with Clooney cost donors more than $353,000 Friday night in San Francisco, the most expensive tickets at an event attended by 70 people and hosted by venture capitalist and early Uber investor Shervin Pishevar. Another event was to be held at Clooney's home in Los Angeles, where the priciest tickets cost $100,000 per couple." -- CW

Anita Kumar, et al., of McClatchy News: "Hillary Clinton recently blasted the hidden financial dealings exposed in the Panama Papers, but she and her husband have multiple connections with people who have used the besieged law firm Mossack Fonseca to establish offshore entities. Among them are Gabrielle Fialkoff, finance director for Hillary Clinton's first campaign for the U.S. Senate; Frank Giustra, a Canadian mining magnate who has traveled the globe with Bill Clinton; the Chagoury family, which pledged $1 billion in projects to the Clinton Global Initiative; and Chinese billionaire Ng Lap Seng, who was at the center of a Democratic fund-raising scandal when Bill Clinton was president. Also using the Panamanian law firm was the company founded by the late billionaire investor Marc Rich, an international fugitive when Bill Clinton pardoned him in the final hours of his presidency." -- CW

Perry Bacon of NBC News: "... even as she remains a strong favorite to win the Democratic nomination, the 2016 campaign is forcing [Hillary Clinton] ... to distance herself from her husband's record.... Sen. Bernie Sanders is waging in effect a political war on 90s-era policies -- a tactic aimed at hitting Hillary Clinton where it hurts: her husband's presidential legacy." -- CW

Maureen Dowd: Hillary Clinton never says she's sorry. -- CW

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, in a Washington Post op-ed, endorses Hillary Clinton because she "possesses that rare but crucial combination of idealism and pragmatism." Thanks to contributor Patrick for the link.

John Wagner of the Washington Post: "Fresh off his trip to the Vatican, Democratic presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders staged an event Saturday in a Brooklyn church to highlight what he characterized as the moral underpinnings of his policy positions, including steps to address income inequality." -- CW

CW: Not certain who produced this video, but it is clearly pro-Bernie. Thanks to LT for calling it to my attention:

Patrick Healy of the New York Times: Bernie "Sanders has long presented himself as an issues-oriented, plain-speaking politician from rural New England, now seeking the presidency with promise of a political revolution. But his combative side has now emerged as the Democratic race has tightened and Hillary Clinton has sharpened her own rhetoric.... More than anything, the recent Sanders broadsides reflect a political strategy he has carried out in previous campaigns: the use of blunt criticisms, sarcastic asides and a thundering style against his opponents." -- CW


Dan Berman of CNN: "It's a Ted Cruz sweep in Wyoming. Cruz won 14 of 14 Republican National Convention delegates up for grabs at the Wyoming state convention here Saturday.The crowd here was clearly in Cruz's corner, as the Texas senator was the only candidate to make the trip to Casper -- ahead of a major snowstorm -- and Sarah Palin, scheduled to speak for Trump, previously canceled." -- CW

Jim Galloway & Greg Bluestein of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution: "On March 1, Donald Trump finished first in Georgia's Republican presidential primary with 39 percent of the vote. On Saturday, at gatherings of Republican activists meeting by congressional district, the billionaire may have lost most of the delegates that were supposed to come with that March 7 victory." -- CW

McKay Coppins & Christopher Massie of BuzzFeed: "Donald Trump is a fiercely loyal boss right up until he fires you." -- CW

Other News & Views

Matt Spetalnick of Reuters: "The United States on Saturday transferred nine Yemeni men to Saudi Arabia from the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo, including an inmate who had been on a hunger strike since 2007, under a long-sought diplomatic deal between Washington and Riyadh, U.S. officials said. The transfer, which took place just days before President Barack Obama's visit to Saudi Arabia for a summit of Gulf Arab allies, marked the latest step in his final push to close the controversial detention center at the U.S. naval base in Cuba before he leaves office in January 2017." -- CW

Mark Mazzetti of the New York Times: "Saudi Arabia has told the Obama administration and members of Congress that it will sell off hundreds of billions of dollars' worth of American assets held by the kingdom if Congress passes a bill that would allow the Saudi government to be held responsible in American courts for any role in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. The Obama administration has lobbied Congress to block the bill's passage, according to administration officials and congressional aides from both parties, and the Saudi threats have been the subject of intense discussions in recent weeks between lawmakers and officials from the State Department and the Pentagon." -- CW

Kristina Wong of the Hill: "The State Department is hoping to bring an average of nearly 1,500 Syrian refugees to the United States per month in order to meet President Obama's target of settling 10,000 refugees in the country by September. About 1,300 refugees have already been placed in the United States since Obama first made the commitment in September." -- CW

German Lopez of VOX: On Friday, [Washington] DC Mayor Muriel Bowser called for a citywide vote to turn at least some of the federal district into the 51st state in America. Six good questions to ponder. -- LT

Beyond the Beltway

Steve Lopez of the Los Angeles Times: "California's irresponsible coastal commission is as dangerous to the coast as Mother Nature. -- CW

Sarah Parvini & Ruben Vives of the Los Angeles Times: "The University of California's student association late Friday called on UC Davis Chancellor Linda Katehi to resign amid revelations that the university paid to remove Internet references to a 2011 incident in which police pepper-sprayed students. The group is the latest to join a growing call for Katehi to step down." -- CW

Ken Ritter of the AP: "Two sons of Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy and three other men refused to enter pleas in federal court in Las Vegas to charges in an armed confrontation with government agents two years ago. Magistrate Judge George Foley Jr. entered not guilty pleas on behalf of each man during a sometimes contentious arraignment that featured cat-calls and cheers from about 30 Bundy backers and defendants' family members, under watchful eyes of about a dozen U.S. marshals." -- CW

Way Beyond

Jim Yardley of the New York Times: "Pope Francis made an emotional visit into the heart of Europe's migrant crisis on Saturday and took 12 Muslim refugees from Syria, including six children, with him back to Rome aboard the papal plane." -- CW

AP: "Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday his country will never withdraw from the Golan Heights and the strategic plateau bordering Syria will forever stay in Israeli hands."-- CW

Jennifer Oulette of Gizmodo: "... during a press briefing at the Perimeter Institute in Waterloo, Ontario..., a journalist in the audience jokingly said [to Canadian PM Justin Trudeau], "I was going to ask you to explain quantum computing, but.... haha..." Here's Trudeau's response:

... CW: Now imagine Donald Trump's answer.

News Ledes

AP: "The strongest earthquake to hit Ecuador in decades flattened buildings and buckled highways along its Pacific coast, sending the Andean nation into a state of emergency. As rescue workers rushed in, officials said Sunday at least 77 people were killed, over 588 injured and the damage stretched for hundreds of miles to the capital and other major cities." ...

     ... New York Times Update: "The strongest earthquake to strike Ecuador in decades left the Andean nation traumatized on Sunday, with collapsed buildings in a swath of destruction stretching hundreds of miles. More than 200 people were killed and hundreds more were wounded."

Comments Off

Reader Comments (6)

"Hillary Clinton Never Says She's Sorry" . . .

Neither does Moron Dowd.

April 16, 2016 | Unregistered CommenterOphelia M.

http://jessescrossroadscafe.blogspot.com/

A very thoughtful take down of Mr. Krugman. I think the CW crew will enjoy and appreciate this piece.
He comes to praise Sanders, not bury him.

April 16, 2016 | Unregistered CommenterDan Lowery

I thought I'd share this blog post about the state of our nation and the presidential election: http://www.stonekettle.com/2016/04/two-wolves.html

April 17, 2016 | Unregistered CommenterLT

@LT A good link. Great assessment on how 'we've' (as a nation) changed, how the good became the bad, "liberal "and "optimism" disparging words.

I'll try to remember to starve one of my own wolves!

April 17, 2016 | Unregistered CommenterMAG

This video, created to support Bernie Sanders, can be a little frustrating to watch because it makes me realize how long people have been warning us about the state we are in.
"Crooked Politics" https://vimeo.com/163142526

April 17, 2016 | Unregistered CommenterLT

Justin Trudeau makes me want to go visit Canada; Donny Trump makes me want to go visit Canada. Good post.

April 17, 2016 | Unregistered Commentercitizen625
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