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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
powered by Surfing Waves
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.”

Contact Marie

Click on this link to e-mail Marie.

Page Links
Saturday
Jun212014

The Commentariat -- June 22, 2014

Internal links removed; graphic & related text removed.

Juan Cole: "With the alleged fall to the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria of Qa’im on Saturday, and of Talafar a few days ago, the border between Iraq and Syria has now been effectively erased. A new country exists, stretching from the outskirts of Baghdad all the way to Aleppo. In history, it uncannily resembles the state ruled by Imad ad-Din Zangi (AD 1085 -- 1146), a Turkish notable who came to power in 1128 after a Shiite Assassin killed his father." Thanks to contributor safari for the link. ...

Whenever the conversation is on Iraq, it's not good news for Republicans. That's not helped at all over the last week by a bunch of people who we hadn't heard from in several years -- Republican figures associated with Iraq from the Bush administration -- who were suddenly back on major shows discussing the current state of affairs in Iraq. It was not a helpful reminder. They probably should have stayed off the shows. -- John Ullyot, a GOP strategist and former Senate aide

Remembrances of Cheney, et al. Alexander Bolton of the Hill: "For Republicans still smarting from the Bush years, this week's Iraq deja vu brought back painful memories."

"The Big Lobotomy." Paul Glastris & Haley Edwards have a long cover piece in the Washington Monthly on "how Republicans made Congress stupid." Major culprit: right-wing "intellectual" Newt Gingrich, who not only slashed staffed, he instituted a number of rules & policies that made Congressional committees less competent. "In addition to the outsourcing of policy development, the other big effect of the brain drain has been the atrophying of congressional oversight." And even some small-government conservatives have realized, belatedly, "that making Congress dumber has not, in fact, made government smaller." CW: After reading this article, you'll see that it isn't just gerrymandering and a more ideological voting that has made Congress more partisan & less effective.

In the Times, Maureen Dowd continues her Pulitzer-winning series My Obession with the Clintons. In today's* episode, Dowd psychoanalyzes Hillary Clinton & reveals Hillary is cautious & calculating & is something like a Disney character. Also, Chelsea Clinton makes far too much money (way more than MoDo!) at NBC. ...

     ... * Oops! Sorry, the above was linked in today's NYT Sunday Review section in the Saturday afternoon online edition, & I made the incorrect assumption that it was, well, this Sunday's Review. As I was on the road last Sunday so had no idea the column is a week old. Thanks to contributor Jack M. for setting me straight. No MoDo today. She's probably in rehab recovering from her Rocky Mountain high.

Oh, look what Politico just noticed: "Oil Boom Downside: Exploding Trains." Kathryn Wolfe & Bob King: "Communities throughout the U.S. and Canada are waking up to the dark side of North America's energy boom: Trains hauling crude oil are crashing, exploding and spilling in record numbers as a fast-growing industry outpaces the federal government's oversight." CW: The writers don't really advocate for Keystone XL to save the day.

Jake Sherman of Politico: "Longtime Alaska Rep. Don Young improperly used campaign funds for personal use, accepted 'impermissible' gifts and failed to report those gifts, the House Ethics Committee announced Friday. Young, a Republican, has to repay nearly $60,000 to his campaign, and donors, the Ethics Committee said. He has also been reproved by the committee."

Mike Allen of Politico (June 18): "SPOTTED: Rupert Murdoch, eating dinner with Valerie Jarrett at the Blue Duck Tavern in D.C. Among the topics they discussed: immigration reform." ...

... OR, as the Website Fire Andrea Mitchell (because Mitchell is so liberal -- ha!) put it: "The real POTUS, Valerie Jarrett, the unelected Iranian born Obama 'adviser' with Secret Service protect it meeting with big, bad Rupert Murdoch to help Fox News plan their amnesty pimping. The Obama, errr Jarrett regime always whines about Fox News' 'conservative bias.' Yet it seems after Bill O'Reilly two Obama softball interviews on Super Bowl Sunday, they are becoming quite chummy. Murdoch, like other Republican whores to big business wants the cheap labor. Obama/Jarrett want the future Democrat voter." ...

... Kos publishes some more reactions from Right Wing World's own special Commentariat. Hilarious. Thanks to James S. for the link. ...

... CW: Murdoch, a U.S. immigrant, as well as an immigrant from Australia to England, has long favored immigration reform here. As Jonathan Topaz of Politico reported last week, "He is a co-chairman of the bipartisan Partnership for a New American Economy, a pro-immigration group whose other chairmen include former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Democratic San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro, Democratic Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter and Disney CEO Bob Iger." I am grateful to Fire Andrea Mitchell, though, for alerting me that Jarrett, gender-ineligible to be the Ayatollah, has compensated by becoming the real POTUS.

MEANWHILE, George Will is fighting his slow-moving forced retirement by encouraging Congress to stop "a lawless president," because President Obama has failed to fully implement the Affordable Care Act, as written. ...

... Martin Longman of the Washington Monthly: "Mr. Will's concern that a law he loathes, the Affordable Care Act, isn't being implemented according to the exact wording of the bill is touching. These are the same crocodile tears they shed for the American victims in Benghazi and for prisoner-of-war Bowe Bergdahl. They politicize every single little thing. So, by all means, try to take the president to court to enforce the Affordable Care Act. It would be poetic justice."

 

Reuters: "Pope Francis has issued the strongest condemnation of organised crime groups by a pontiff in two decades, accusing them of practising 'the adoration of evil' and saying that mafiosi were excommunicated."

Comments Off

Reader Comments (8)

Gonna be fun to see how faux snooze begins playing immigration reform. As Lyndon Johnson said, wear a dark suit.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/06/21/1308561/-Saturday-nutpick-a-palooza-Murdoch-betrays-conservatives

June 21, 2014 | Unregistered CommenterJames Singer

Prof. Juan Cole gives us a good historical breakdown of the role of Sir Percy Cox, the British statesman responsible for the creation of the Syrian/Iraq border that followed very little logic except to be visually appealing with its artificial straightness. Local socio-cultural realities be damned.

http://www.juancole.com/2014/06/erases-border-hizbullah.html

June 22, 2014 | Unregistered Commentersafari

Marie, no need to post this. Just wanted you to know that the MoDo story is from last Sunday.

June 22, 2014 | Unregistered CommenterJack Mahoney

@Haley Simon: My opinion on the VA. I have no complaints from my standpoint. Since the VA considers ALS service connected (veterans have a higher incidence of ALS than non-veterans), I'm classified 100% disabled. Therefore, I receive excellent care. My neurologist specializes in ALS. She works at both the VA and the Emory University Hospital ALS Clinic. The surgeons who did my cataract surgery also are shared by both. I've had the same GP for several years, so she knows me well. The doctors typically spend about an hour with me at each visit. Once you're in the system, things work pretty well. It's getting that first visit that's the problem. 

Why is that an issue? We're looking at you deserter GW Bush, Five Deferment, "I had other priorities" Cheney, Rumsfeld ( cold war Navy), Bremer, et al. I don't remember who said there would be few casualties, but sadly that wasn't the case. The VA was overwhelmed. On top of that, troops were surviving wounds that would have been fatal just a few years earlier. I see young people at the VA hospital now where it used to be elderly.

Since there were going to be few casualties (they thought), Bush cut the VA budget and 
put an idiot in charge of the VA. 

Not only that, the wars were "off the books." And the chicken hawks have the unmitigated gall to scream about the deficit that they caused. 

Moral: if you can't take care of veterans, don't start dumb wars in places you know nothing about. 

There has also been sloppy reporting about the VA. It seemed reporters would trot out Walter Reed when covering the VA's problems. News flash: Walter Reed is NOT a VA hospital; it was an Army hospital at the time of its problems. 

If you get the idea that the crowd that started this whole mess makes my blood boil, you are correct, ESPECIALLY when people even listen to Dick Cheney!

June 22, 2014 | Unregistered CommenterBarbarossa

@Barbarossa, as a current VA employee and patient, I completely agree with your explanation of the VA's present predicament. I would only add that VA continues to be overwhelmed by the large number of newly-enrolling veterans; at the clinic where I work, the waiting time for initial primary care appointments is 4-5 weeks, due to large number of veterans signing up for benefits on a daily basis.There are mechanisms in place to provide care to active duty personnel not yet separated from service, and initial psychological evaluations and social work intakes are provided within days, if not the same day, of enrollment in VA healthcare.

Experientially, the increasing number of veterans enrolling in VA is not limited to the younger, Iraq war vets, but includes older vets who never previously considered enrolling and also those who somehow "didn't know" that healthcare was available to them.

IMHO, the only way the VA can manage the challenge of caring for the increasing number of veteran patients is to add more doctors, nurses, social workers, and front-line medical support assistants. I acknowledge that this will be costly and time-consuming but, economically speaking, the supply is at best inadequate to meet the rapidly rising demand.

June 22, 2014 | Unregistered CommenterDavid Wainwright

LOOK WHO IS TALKING! Former Goldman Sachs Chair & former U.S. Treasury Secretary weighs in on climate change.

"The Coming Climate Crash
Lessons for Climate Change in the 2008 Recession"

"We need to act now, even though there is much disagreement, including from members of my own Republican Party, on how to address this issue while remaining economically competitive. They’re right to consider the economic implications. But we must not lose sight of the profound economic risks of doing nothing."

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/22/opinion/sunday/lessons-for-climate-change-in-the-2008-recession.html?hp&rref=opinion&_r=0

It's a start in the right direction—even as Paulson sidesteps
some of the comparative issues to make his case. (As one commenter pointed out: "...First, the 2008 financial collapse was not caused by government "incentivizing us to borrow too much to finance homes.")

June 22, 2014 | Unregistered CommenterMAG

Barbarossa, I'm glad to learn you are getting good care. Thanks to both you and David Wainwright for the feedback. Here's hoping the Republicans will allow an increase to the VA budget. When they make me king, I will implement a plan whereby some percent of med school costs will be covered by the government in exchange for some service as a VA doc.

June 22, 2014 | Unregistered CommenterHaley Simon

This is America, my friends. This is how it thinks and votes.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/23/us/politics/running-on-tea-party-energy-chris-mcdaniel-barrels-through-mississippi.html?hp

June 22, 2014 | Unregistered CommenterJames Singer
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