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The Ledes

Saturday, May 18, 2024

Washington Post: “Paul D. Parkman, a scientist who in the 1960s played a central role in identifying the rubella virus and developing a vaccine to combat it, breakthroughs that have eliminated from much of the world a disease that can cause catastrophic birth defects and fetal death, died May 7 at his home in Auburn, N.Y. He was 91.”

New York Times: “Dabney Coleman, an award-winning television and movie actor best known for his over-the-top portrayals of garrulous, egomaniacal characters, died on Thursday at his home in Santa Monica, Calif. He was 92.”

The Wires
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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.”

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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Saturday
Sep112010

The Commentariat -- September 12

No, this is not a war zone. It's San Bruno, California after the gas explosion that killed at least four & injured dozens of others. AP photo. CLICK TO SEE LARGER IMAGE.... The Huffington Post has more photos here. The San Francisco Chronicle lists aid groups you can contact.

What if [Obama] is so outside our comprehension, that only if you understand Kenyan, anti-colonial behavior, can you begin to piece together [his actions]? -- Newt Gingrich, proving he will tell any lie, spew any slur that he thinks will advance his agenda ...

... Gingrich ... is not a reasonable man.... He's just like the rest of them, with a worldview shaped by the most radical and fringe elements of the Republican Party, which are more dominant with each passing day. -- Hari Sevugan, DNC Press Secretary

Susan Saulny in the New York Times: Mayor Richard M. "Daley inherited a Chicago on a gritty decline, and he helped make it economically viable. He led an effort to resuscitate downtown.... He built new parks and refurbished old ones.... He gave incentives to developers who emphasized landscaping, art and environmentally friendly buildings. He was a stickler about trash.... But he was not always transparent in his decision-making. And critics say that downtown’s renaissance came at the expense of poor, far-flung neighborhoods. ...

... Chicago News Cooperative on the Daley legacy. "He is quick to anger, surprising, emotional; exceedingly loyal to some and ruthlessly business-like to others; parochial, yet overly sensitive when criticized for it. While he was in office, great strides were made."

Legal Corruption. Eric Lipton of the New York Times: House Minority Leader John Boehner "maintains especially tight ties with a circle of lobbyists and former aides representing some of the nation’s biggest businesses, including Goldman Sachs, Google, Citigroup, R. J. Reynolds, MillerCoors and UPS. They have contributed hundreds of thousands of dollars to his campaigns, provided him with rides on their corporate jets, socialized with him at luxury golf resorts and waterfront bashes and are now leading fund-raising efforts for his Boehner for Speaker campaign, which is soliciting checks of up to $37,800 each, the maximum allowed."

Michael Luo of the New York Times: "... from 2007 through 2009, the number of families in homeless shelters — households with at least one adult and one minor child — leapt to 170,000 from 131,000.... With long-term unemployment ballooning, those numbers could easily climb this year." ...

... Stephanie Armour of USA Today: "Anthony and April Soper of Lake Stevens, Wash., went on a trial plan that cut their monthly payment. But they didn't get a permanent modification, and they say they don't know why. Now, they're suing Bank of America, their mortgage servicer. BofA is seeking a dismissal of the case." CW: some of these cases are being rolled into a class action suit; at the very least, HUD should join as a plaintiff against the bank, but Secretary Donovan has been asleep at the wheel ever since he got the job, so be surprised if he suddenly wakes up. ...

... Gretchen Morgenson of the New York Times: big reason for all the foreclosures -- the powers-that-be in Washington were more interested in saving the banks than in saving the homeowners. (Think "TARP.") CW: evidently, they still are because nobody has stood up for homeowners. Nobody.

Rod Nordland of the New York Times: "Even as more American troops flow into the country, Afghanistan is more dangerous than it has ever been during this war, with security deteriorating in recent months, according to international organizations and humanitarian groups. Large parts of the country that were once completely safe, like most of the northern provinces, now have a substantial Taliban presence — even in areas where there are few Pashtuns, who previously were the Taliban’s only supporters." ...

... David Nakamura of the Washington Post: "Amid the warlords, ex-mujahideen fighters, hard-line clerics and shady businessmen running for a seat in the Afghan parliament, Robina Jalali, a 25-year-old candidate from Kabul, offers a more inspiring biography."

Glenn Greenwald points to another absurd example of U.S. double standards -- we don't allow (alleged) victims of U.S. torture to have their day in court under any circumstances, but we obtain hundreds of millions of dollars in "compensation" for Americans for alleged abuses by Saddam Hussein. CW: of course what this is really about is abuse of power; we do it because we can.

The Fuck Obama Xtravaganza (FOX) gives a sterling example of how to cover up breaking news AND simultaneously diss the President & First Lady. Neil Cavuto used the opportunity of Michelle Obama's Shanksville speech to, well, shut her up & remind the viewers where "that young lady... and her husband" were on September 11, 2001: "he was a nobody and she was married to a guy who wasn't that well-known." Video via Jeff Neumann at Gawker:

In the Washington Post, Wray Herbert reviews Delusions of Gender by Cordelia Fine. Fine details the way scientists, including the best-credentialed scientists, just "make stuff up" to suggest that men & women are "wired differently." Fine IDs what she calls "blobology" & "brain scams" & other phony science. ...

... "The Bad Science of Brain Sexism." In Salon, Thomas Rogers interviews Fine.

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