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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.”

The Wires
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The Ledes

Thursday, May 16, 2024

CBS News: “A barge has collided with the Pelican Island Causeway in Galveston, Texas, damaging the bridge, closing the roadway to all vehicular traffic and causing an oil spill. The collision occurred at around 10 a.m. local time. Galveston officials said in a news release that there had been no reported injuries. Video footage obtained by CBS affiliate KHOU appears to show that part of the train trestle that runs along the bridge has collapsed. The ship broke loose from its tow and drifted into the bridge, according to Richard Freed, the vice president of Martin Midstream Partners L.P.'s marine division.”

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.”

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Friday
Apr082016

CaptRuss Says

Not Good at All. All candidates, by definition, say that they're more qualified than their opponent. Various things Clinton said can be reasonably interpreted as questioning whether Sanders is up to the job of the presidency.... But it is incumbent on both candidates to fight hard and yet not say things that can't be unsaid.... -- Josh Marshall of TPM

OH, please!! Josh Marshall’s nostalgic “simple realities of political campaigns” – that Clinton and Sanders should refrain from questioning each other’s qualifications to be president - is so 20th Century. This presidential campaign, with the Republican mudslingers leading the way, is such a free-for-all that civility gets no traction, while bombast gets all the headlines. While there are differences in policy issues, Clinton’s leanings toward Wall Street and big money vs. Sander’s focus on inequality and the little guy, neither can break through the Republican noise machine to get coverage without sharp elbows. As Les Moonves has said - appropriately in the Hollywood Reporter - "It may not be good for America, but it's damn good for CBS." Moonves and Roger Ailes at Faux News have been at the forefront of flushing our democracy down the toilet.

Comments Off

Reader Comments (4)

Capt. Russ, I totally agree. You can bet that whoever wins the Democratic nomination will have to face a lot worse criticism in the general election. What Sanders said is exactly what many progressives believe, that Clinton's past actions do not represent progressive values, so to many progressives she does not meet their qualifications for the ideal Democratic candidate. Sanders is making points that his supporters feel need to be said. Sanders was very clear to explain what he felt disqualified her, but as usual people are focusing on his word choice rather than the issues.

April 8, 2016 | Unregistered CommenterLT

I missed the Cap't Russ attribution but I couldn't disagree more. The Republicans are appealing to the information challenged. If that is your view of America then maybe I'm wrong but I think politicians should appeal to the electorate that wants to reach that city on the hill. Not return to some mythical past.
I watched Hillary and Secretary Gates appear on an interview program. Asked a question Gates fumbled and uhmmed and ahhd whereupon Hillary stepped in. Here's where we are. Here's where we need to be. Here's how we are going to get there. Bang Bang Bang. Next question.
Yesterday I heard a Republican mouthpiece, pointing out that Cruz has appeared before the Supreme court 5 times Unprecedented!! Cruz will dismember Hillary in the debates he concluded. Remembering the Hillary/Gates interview I could only think "When bullshit baffles brains"
Yesterday I saw Hillary in the middle of one of those "Move your lips, We'll provide the words" media scrums, refusing time after time to say that Sanders was not qualified to be president. Turn to Sanders responding to the MSM shouting and screaming why he considers Hillary unqualified. I know who I think will be dismembered by Cruz in debate.
Hillary has spent a normal lifespan subject to the Conservative manure spreader. Sanders not so much. I Know who will be reelig from the Conservative shitstorm.
Finally, Hillary is running for president of the USA. Bernie is running to be Prime Minister of some mythical country.

April 8, 2016 | Unregistered CommenterCowichan's Opinion

@Cowichan's Opinion - You miss my point, completely: "This presidential campaign...is such a free-for-all that civility gets no traction, while bombast gets all the headlines."

If you follow the link to the Hollywood Reporter story, you will find that Les Moonves also "[C]alled the campaign for president a 'circus' full of 'bomb throwing,' and he hopes it continues...'Man, who would have expected the ride we're all having right now? ... The money's rolling in and this is fun,' he said...'I've never seen anything like this, and this going to be a very good year for us. Sorry. It's a terrible thing to say. But, bring it on, Donald. Keep going,' said Moonves."

The media are businesses, they care only that ratings = profits. With a few exceptions, they don't give a damn about the future of the country, or the world for that matter.

April 10, 2016 | Unregistered CommenterCaptRuss

@CaptRuss: Quite right. In fact, the worse things are, or the worse the media can make things appear, as Moonves says, the better it is for the media. Moonves's remark is of course a riff on what Charles Wilson, the CEO of GM, was supposed to have said (but didn't): "What's good for General Motors is good for the country."

Indeed, it's reasonable to argue that a WashPo headline writer is largely responsible for Bernie's rant that Hillary was "unqualified to be president." Altho that's what Hillary implied about Bernie, that's not what she said: in her customary coy manner, she refused to say outright, "Sanders is not qualified to be president," tho repeatedly goaded by Joe Scarborough to say just that. Rather, when asked the question several times, she merely cited a litany of complaints about Sanders & said "Let the voters decide" (or words to that effect). Nonetheless, the WashPo headline writer, whose job is more to increase clicks than to report accurately, wrote, "Clinton questions whether Sanders is qualified to be president." While the headline is not entirely inaccurate, it not-so-subtly exaggerates Clinton's remarks in the back-and-forth with Scarborough. According to Sanders (who also cited a CNN headline), the headline is what inspired him to say during a campaign rally that Clinton was unqualified.

As I've written before, Sanders should not have taken the bait, because it was exactly what Clinton wanted him to do. And the Washington Post -- which is anti-Bernie -- served as her able enabler.

Marie

April 10, 2016 | Registered CommenterMarie Burns
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