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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.

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Friday
Dec312010

The Commentariat -- January 1

New Year's Eve, Times Square, New York City, 2011. CLICK TO SEE LARGER IMAGE.New York Times readers pick their top political moments of 2010. The Caucus writers pick a few more.

Robert Reich has a realistic; i.e., depressing, prediction for the U.S. economy in 2011.

Filibuster "Reform." Look for a watered-down, meaningless change you can't believe in:

     ... Brian Beutler of TPM: "A handful of junior Democrats, including Sens. Tom Udall (D-NM) and Jeff Merkley (D-OR), have done an impressive job building momentum for a package of modest, but meaningful, changes to the Senate's filibuster rules. But their plan could be completely upended and replaced by even more modest reforms, if Democratic and Republican leaders successfully negotiate a bipartisan rules reform compromise. In a phone interview with me Wednesday, Udall described negotiations between Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, and Sens. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Lamar Alexander (R-TN) as a 'separate track' from his own efforts." ...

     ... David Waldman of the Daily Kos has a little on the history of "negotiated filibuster reforms." ...

     ... David Dayan of Firedoglake on the elements of the Merkeley plan. ...

     ... Here's more from Beutler on how the arcane procedure for changing procedures is supposed to proceed. ...

... Speaking of the do-nothing Senate, Steve Benen has more on Chief Justice John Roberts' plea to them to get off the dime on judiciary appointments. Senate Judiciary Committee Pat Leahy concurs with Robets. And Benen opines,

... Senate Republicans will do what they've been doing -- slowing everything down, blocking as many nominees as they can. But don't forget, the Senate will have very little else to do for the better part of two years. Over the last two years, Reid and the Democratic leadership had a lengthy to-do list, and couldn't eat up the calendar on nominees. GOP obstructionism meant it took at least three days for the Senate to consider one nominee, during which time the chamber could do nothing else, so more often than not, Reid just didn't bother. But that won't be much of a hindrance in 2011 and 2012, when the entire lawmaking process goes from difficult to impossible. ...

     ... Ezra Klein on filibustering judicial nominees.

Politico's "most memorable moments" video is okay till the end, which devolves into Palinostalgia:

      ... Stephanopoulos does a much better job:

I don't call [President Obama] a socialist because he's not. I don't doubt that he was born in Hawaii because he was. I don't call him a Muslim because he says he's a Christian. And I didn't say anything about death panels because there weren't any in that health care bill. -- Rep. Bob Inglis (R-SC), on why he lost his primary race to a teabagger

Irony Alert! Amy Gardner of the Washington Post profiles Gena Bell, a grassroots tea party activist who was so opposed to President Obama & all that government spending -- that she decided to take a job with the government.

Rose Aguilar in Common Dreams: the public believes myths because well-paid spinmeisters repeat them over & over again & "teach" them to members of Congress who repeat them, and reporters & interviewers seldom or never challenge the spinners.

Kevin Drum of Mother Jones makes what amounts to a general apologia for liberal compromisers (oh, you may want to think President Obama here). CW: personally, I'm not buying it. I think liberals compromise because they've done a piss-poor job -- compared to conservatives -- of explaining why their programs are better than conservative programs. Liberals compromise because they have failed to gain support for causes that are good for the majority of the public.

Linda Greenhouse interviews retired Justices Sandra Day O'Connor & David Souter on civics education. The interview begins about 7 min. in:

Evelyn Rusli of the New York Times: "U.S Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson ... sold his Washington D.C. home at a $1 million loss last week.... Mr. Paulson ... first put his home on the market in April.... But don’t feel too bad for the former Treasury secretary. As Reuters pointed out, the loss will barely dent Mr. Paulson’s personal fortune, last estimated at $700 million."

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