Help!

To keep the Conversation going, please help me by linking news articles, opinion pieces and other political content in today's Comments section.

Link Code:   <a href="URL">text</a>

OR you can try this Link Generator, which a contributor recommends: "All you do is paste in the URL and supply the text to highlight. Then hit 'Get Code.'... Return to RealityChex and paste it in."

OR you can always just block, copy and paste to your comment the URL (Web address) of the page you want to link.

Note for Readers. It is not possible for commenters to "throw" their highlighted links to another window. But you can do that yourself. Right-click on the link and a drop-down box will give you choices as to where you want to open the link: in a new tab, new window or new private window.

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

Friday, May 3, 2024

CNBC: “The U.S. economy added fewer jobs than expected in April while the unemployment rate rose, reversing a trend of robust job growth that had kept the Federal Reserve cautious as it looks for signals on when it can start cutting interest rates. Nonfarm payrolls increased by 175,000 on the month, below the 240,000 estimate from the Dow Jones consensus, the Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday. The unemployment rate ticked higher to 3.9% against expectations it would hold steady at 3.8%.”

The Wires
powered by Surfing Waves
The Ledes

Thursday, May 2, 2024

Wisconsin Public Radio: “A student who came to Mount Horeb Middle School with a gun late Wednesday morning was shot and killed by police officers before he could enter the building. Police were called to the school at about 11:30 a.m. for a report of a person outside with a weapon.... At the press conference, district Superintendent Steve Salerno indicated that there were students outside the school when the boy approached with a weapon. They alerted teachers.... Mount Horeb is about 20 minutes west of Madison.”

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

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
Monday
Dec242018

The Best Christmas Ever

Worst Christmas Ever:

Original:

Politically-Correct Update:

The Worst Rendition of the Worst Christmas Song Ever:

A Reprieve:

A Lump for Coleman. Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: I had every intention to make this a Trumpless Christmas, but that turns out to be impossible. He probably ruined little Coleman's Christmas, so he might as well ruin ours, too:

... It's Worse Than You Think. Daniel Victor of the New York Times: "The president made the comments from the White House while he and the first lady, Melania Trump, fielded calls from a hotline for children wondering where Santa was.... [The occasion] is part of the annual Santa-tracking program run by the North American Aerospace Defense Command, known as Norad." Mrs. McC: What makes this even richer: it comes from a guy who himself has little touch with reality. ...

Earlier tonight walking next to some tourists on M Street, I heard the kid ask his parents if Santa was shut down too. The mom replied, 'No, even Trump can't screw that up.' He screwed it up! -- Jonathan Chait, in a tweet ...

... Luckily, Ken W. reminds us that there are fathers whose holiday manners top those of He-Who-Should-Not-Be-Mentioned:

Comments Off

Reader Comments (3)

“Santa is for suckers”: President Grinch

Fatty decides, in a telephone conversation with a seven year old, that the kid’s time for enjoying a magical Christmas is over, questioning his belief in Santa Claus and pointing out that by that advanced age, belief in Santa is “marginal” at best.

So the president* who spends more time in la-la fantasy land than a paranoid schizophrenic decides that a little kid needs to grow up and face reality.

Merry Christmas, you asshole.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.cbsnews.com/amp/news/norad-santa-tracker-unaffected-by-government-shutdown-where-is-santa-christmas-2018-12-24/

December 25, 2018 | Unregistered CommenterAkhilleus

CHRISTMAS MORNING: 2002
For Chris Hedges

In Trieste: Old men with sad stories gather every afternoon
In the seaside coffee shops

And here in Hamden, a Connecticut town
Covered this Christmas morning by a cold
Blanket of newly fallen snow,

Its people sleep late, so exhausted after weeks
Of frantic preparation;
Its children scramble down under
A tree’s bounty wrapped up with ribbons and bows.

One can see far across the field now
To the old barn whose roof glistens white against an ashen sky,
Its beams and timbers from an 18th century Vermont structure,
Standing barren and empty for decades
Like some glorious ancient memorial.

Oh, and look! Here comes the dog that belongs to the
Old man down the road who lost his wife to cancer
Not too long ago, see how his paws leave their signature
But not for long—

And somewhere someone is singing carols while someone
Else is stuffing a bird while others are saying their prayers;
Someone has just died.

Outside it is so still it’s as though
All of us are holding our breath waiting for
The New Year to envelop us with a blanket
Of warmth, of safety, of hope.

And in Trieste old men with sad stories gather every
Afternoon in the seaside coffee shops.

December 25, 2018 | Unregistered CommenterPD Pepe

@Bea McCrab: You can trot out those two oldies, but goodie video clips for "White Christmas" and "Santa Baby" every year...I pull up your page every so often and hit the Play button with the volume turned up while I gather myself to prepare for a late holiday dinner.

Helps put me in the mood!
Merry, merry to one and all RC-ers!

December 25, 2018 | Unregistered CommenterMAG
Comments for this entry have been disabled. Additional comments may not be added to this entry at this time.