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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
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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

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Page Links
Friday
Jun032011

The Commentariat -- June 4

I've posted an Open Thread for today's Off Times Square.

The President's Weekly Address:

Charles Blow has a pretty good column on Republican policy: "... the modern doctrine of a compassion-free conservatism that’s using the fog of the fiscal crisis to push a program of perverse wealth inequality as sound economic policy: The only way to jump-start the economy is to slash taxes on the wealthy and on companies; the only way to compensate for the deficits that those tax cuts exacerbate is to slash benefits to the poor and vulnerable. It would be comical if it weren’t so callous."

Binyamin Appelbaum & Carl Hulse of the New York Times: "Almost 25 million Americans could not find full-time work during May, but their plight has not spurred Washington into a collaborative response.... Neither party has suggested that the issue deserves the kind of urgent response that might require ideological compromises. The Federal Reserve, charged with minimizing unemployment, has indicated that it intends to stand back.... The central bank is immobilized by the same political forces as Congress, with conservative members of the Fed board and outside critics demanding that it withdraw the money it has pumped into the economy, and liberals arguing for additional aid."

I  meant to post this yesterday, but better late than never:

... In fact, it was Donald Trump who reminded me:

Representative [Eric] Cantor, who I like, said we don't want to give money to the tornado victims. And yet in Afghanistan we're spending $10 billion a month. But we don't want to help the people that got devastated by tornadoes? Wiped out, killed, maimed, injured -- we don't have money for them but we're spending $10 billion a month in Afghanistan? -- Donald Trump

Paul Krugman writes a short & sweet comparison of Obamacare & Ryancare. I should make that "Ryan-'care.' There's not much "care" in Ryancare.

Mitt Romney Gets Real. Ross Krasny of Reuters: "Presidential hopeful Mitt Romney broke with Republican orthodoxy on Friday by saying he believes that humans are responsible, at least to some extent, for climate change." Jerk. He probably thinks Lexington & Concord are in Massachusetts, too, & has no idea Paul Revere clanged some bells to warn the British that Americans had the right to bear arms.

"Paul Ryan for President? Forget It." Jonathan Bernstein in the Washington Post: "Nominating Ryan would make the election an argument over the GOP’s least popular policy proposal, instead of a referendum on the economy, which would be the GOP’s best chance of winning."

CW: sorry for all the Palin stories. I don't like to cover Palin because I think she's a sideshow, but when she's dominating the news, I must. A reader called her a moron the other day, and I thought that was a little harsh. Now that I've had to read a bunch of stories about her, I think the reader's comment was an insult to morons everywhere.

** "Hubris & Humility: Dana Milbank: "... Robert Gates, defense secretary to presidents George W. Bush and Obama..., set off on a tour of Asia and Europe, where he is receiving the gratitude of soldiers and the acclaim of allies.... The week’s dueling tours of Gates and Palin show the best and worst in American public life. Both call themselves Republicans, but he comes from the best tradition of service while she is a study in selfishness. He’s self-effacing; she’s self-aggrandizing. He harmonized American foreign policy; she put bull’s-eyes on Democratic congressional districts and then howled about 'blood libel.'” ...

... William Browning, writing a Yahoo! News commentary, makes an interesting point: "Sarah Palin must be running for president.... Her 'One Nation' bus tour ... is funded by Sarah Palin's political action committee. Political action committees are regulated by the Federal Election Commission.... Palin has to use this money to do either one of two things. She has to contribute all of her fundraising efforts to candidates in federal elections or run for a federal position herself."

Right Wing World *

Glenn Kessler, the WashPo fact-checker, fact-checks an interview Sarah Palin gave to Greta van Susteren while on her "One Nation I Know Nothing About" tour. Kessler writes, "Much of the interview consisted of fluffy stuff, but every so often van Susteren diverted into asking about policy issues." Kessler calls her answers "absolute whoppers." This of course has nothing to do with Palin's complete rewrite of Paul Revere's ride. See yesterday's Commentariat for that not-to-be missed history lesson from Right Wing World; using Kessler's standards, Palin could have got at least 16 Pinocchios out of a single paragraph (not to suggest Palin speaks in paragraphs; she doesn't even speak in sentences).

* Where facts never intrude.

News Ledes

AP: "British Apache and French attack helicopters struck targets for the first time in NATO's campaign in Libya, hitting Moammar Gadhafi's troops early Saturday near a key coastal oil city, the alliance said."

Reuters: "Senior al Qaeda operative Ilyas Kashmiri, regarded as one of the most dangerous militants in the world, was killed by a U.S. drone aircraft missile strike in Pakistan, an intelligence official and local media said on Saturday."

New York Times: "Alabama has passed a sweeping bill to crack down on illegal immigrants that both supporters and opponents call the toughest of its kind in the country, going well beyond a law Arizona passed last year that caused a furor there."

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