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

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OR here's a link generator. The one I had posted died, then Akhilleus found one, but it too bit the dust. He found yet another, which I've linked here, and as of September 23, 2024, it's working.

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.

Marie: Sorry, my countdown clock was unreliable; then it became completely unreliable. I can't keep up with it. Maybe I'll try another one later.

 

Public Service Announcement

Zoë Schlanger in the Atlantic: "Throw out your black plastic spatula. In a world of plastic consumer goods, avoiding the material entirely requires the fervor of a religious conversion. But getting rid of black plastic kitchen utensils is a low-stakes move, and worth it. Cooking with any plastic is a dubious enterprise, because heat encourages potentially harmful plastic compounds to migrate out of the polymers and potentially into the food. But, as Andrew Turner, a biochemist at the University of Plymouth recently told me, black plastic is particularly crucial to avoid." This is a gift link from laura h.

Mashable: "Following the 2024 presidential election results and [Elon] Musk's support for ... Donald Trump, users have been deactivating en masse. And this time, it appears most everyone has settled on one particular X alternative: Bluesky.... Bluesky has gained more than 100,000 new sign ups per day since the U.S. election on Nov. 5. It now has over 15 million users. It's enjoyed a prolonged stay on the very top of Apple's App Store charts as well. Ready to join? Here's how to get started on Bluesky[.]"

Washington Post: "Americans can again order free rapid coronavirus tests by mail, the Biden administration announced Thursday. People can request four free at-home tests per household through covidtests.gov. They will begin shipping Monday. The move comes ahead of an expected winter wave of coronavirus cases. The September revival of the free testing program is in line with the Biden administration’s strategy to respond to the coronavirus as part of a broader public health campaign to protect Americans from respiratory viruses, including influenza and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), that surge every fall and winter. But free tests were not mailed during the summer wave, which wastewater surveillance data shows is now receding."

NPR lists all of the 2025 Pulitzer Prize winners. Poynter lists the prizes awarded in journalism as well as the finalists in these categories.

Wherein Michael McIntyre explains how Americans adapted English to their needs. With examples:

Beat the Buzzer. Some amazing young athletes:

     ~~~ Here's the WashPo story (March 23).

Back when the Washington Post had an owner/publisher who dared to stand up to a president:

Prime video is carrying the documentary. If you watch it, I suggest watching the Spielberg film "The Post" afterwards. There is currently a free copy (type "the post full movie" in the YouTube search box) on YouTube (or you can rent it on YouTube, on Prime & [I think] on Hulu). Near the end, Daniel Ellsberg (played by Matthew Rhys), says "I was struck in fact by the way President Johnson's reaction to these revelations was [that they were] 'close to treason,' because it reflected to me the sense that what was damaging to the reputation of a particular administration or a particular individual was in itself treason, which is very close to saying, 'I am the state.'" Sound familiar?

Out with the Black. In with the White. New York Times: “Lester Holt, the veteran NBC newscaster and anchor of the 'NBC Nightly News' over the last decade, announced on Monday that he will step down from the flagship evening newscast in the coming months. Mr. Holt told colleagues that he would remain at NBC, expanding his duties at 'Dateline,' where he serves as the show’s anchor.... He said that he would continue anchoring the evening news until 'the start of summer.' The network did not immediately name a successor.” ~~~

~~~ New York Times: “MSNBC said on Monday that Jen Psaki, the former White House press secretary who has become one of the most prominent hosts at the network, would anchor a nightly weekday show in prime time. Ms. Psaki, 46, will host a show at 9 p.m. Tuesday through Friday, replacing Alex Wagner, a longtime political journalist who has anchored that hour since 2022, according to a memo to staff from Rebecca Kutler, MSNBC’s president. Ms. Wagner will remain at MSNBC as an on-air correspondent. Rachel Maddow, MSNBC’s biggest star, has been anchoring the 9 p.m. hour on weeknights for the early days of ... [Donald] Trump’s administration but will return to hosting one night a week at the end of April.”

 

Contact Marie

Email Marie at constantweader@gmail.com

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Tuesday
Sep212010

The Commentariat -- September 21

The Fall of Summers. It is fitting that September 21 marks the end of Summers. -- Karen Garcia

Buh-Bye, Larry. AP: "President Barack Obama's top economic adviser, Lawrence Summers, plans to leave the White House at the end of the year, a move that comes as the administration struggles to show an anxious public it's making progress on the economy." CW: I assume that Julie Pace, the AP reporter on this story, added the last line for ironical impact: "... but [Summers] looks forward to returning to Harvard to teach and write about the economic fundamentals of job creation." The New York Times has the full official announcement.

Peter Baker of the New York Times: "Obama’s Wars,” by the journalist Bob Woodward, depicts an administration deeply torn over the war in Afghanistan even as the president agreed to triple troop levels there amid suspicion that he was being boxed in by the military. Mr. Obama’s top White House adviser on Afghanistan and his special envoy for the region are described as believing the strategy will not work." Update: Washington Post story by Steve Luxenberg here. ...

... Michiko Kakutani of the New York Times reviews Woodward's book.

CW: when I need a Nobel Laureate to back up my observations, Paul Krugman is apt to come through, as he does here: "the [Obama] administration seems to go out of its way to alienate its supporters." ...

... Shahien Nasiripour of the Huffington Post has the money quote on Jacob Lew's Senate committee testimony to which Krugman refers. Oh, and Nasiripour reminds us that Lew is "a former Citigroup executive." ...

... Not a Whole Lot of Shakin' up Going on. Alas, Andrew Leonard of Salon probably has it right on the End of Summers: "Obama replaced Romer with his longtime advisor, Austan Goolsbee, ensuring near perfect continuity with his original economic team. He replaced Orszag with former Clinton budget director Jacob Lew -- the very antithesis of a shakeup." ...

... Robert Reich: "After three decades of flat wages during which almost all the gains of growth have gone to the very top, the middle class no longer has the buying power to keep the economy going. It can’t send more spouses into paid work, can’t work more hours, can’t borrow any more. All the coping mechanisms are exhausted."

Republican strategist Mark McKinnon in the Daily Beast: President Obama has a "Velma Hart problem." Here's Hart on CNN:

Mark Thompson of Time: "... military paychecks were the key engine of income growth for many of the cities that saw their average pay grow the fastest last year. In fact, the 11 cities with the fastest income growth all boast major military installations that help drive their local economies.... What does it mean when the nation's cities with the fastest-growing payrolls are dedicated to fighting wars instead of cancer, building brigades instead of bridges, and training combat engineers instead of computer engineers?"

Lori Montgomery of the Washington Post: "Official and independent budget estimates show that letting tax rates spring back to pre-Bush levels for all taxpayers would bring the country within striking distance of meeting President Obama's goal of balancing the budget, excluding interest payments on the debt, by 2015."

Jim Rutenberg & Kate Zernike of the New York Times: President Bill Clinton "... has emerged as one of the most important defenders of President Obama’s Congressional majorities. Some candidates are asking for his help on the campaign trail, rather than the president’s. Even though Mr. Clinton insisted on Monday that he was only 'peripherally and fleetingly' back in politics, he has been headlining rallies and fund-raisers across the country to buck up the depressed party faithful."

Ben Smith & Keach Hagey of Politico: the Jon Stewart/Stephen Colbert "dueling" marches October 30 are a "practical" joke that may energize young voters.

Christine O'Donnell is clearly a criminal, and like any crook she should be prosecuted. Ms. O'Donnell has spent years embezzling money from her campaign to cover her personal expenses.... Thieves belong in jail not the United States Senate. -- Melanie Sloan, CREW director

Andy Barr of Politico: "The campaign watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington filed a pair of complaints with the Federal Election Commission Monday accusing [Christine] O'Donnell of using more than $20,000 in campaign funds for personal expenses."

Flash Cookies. Tanzina Vega of the New York Times: "Since July, at least five class-action lawsuits filed in California have accused media companies like the Fox Entertainment Group and NBC Universal, and technology companies like Specific Media and Quantcast of surreptitiously using Flash cookies. More filings are expected as early as this week. The suits contend that the companies collected information on the Web sites that users visited and from the videos they watched, even though the users had set their Web browser privacy settings to reject cookies that could track them."

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