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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:
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.”
Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.
Success is not final, failure is not fatal; it is the courage to continue that counts. — Anonymous
A nation of sheep will beget a government of wolves. — Edward R. Murrow
Publisher & Editor: Marie Burns
I have a Bluesky account now. The URL ishttps://bsky.app/profile/marie-burns.bsky.social . When Reality Chex goes down, check my Bluesky page for whatever info I am able to report on the status of Reality Chex. If you can't access the URL, I found that I could Google Bluesky and ask for Marie Burns. Google will include links to accounts for people whose names are, at least in part, Maria Burns, so you'll have to tell Google you looking only for Marie.
Monday
Mar142011
The Iraq War Was All Your Fault
Found this portrait of Douthat on the Internet. Seems appropriate.What a surprise. The Times moderators scrubbed my comment on Ross Douthat's column. I don't think my comment was abusive, as no doubt the Times trolls did. I think Douthat was abusive. You be the judge. I am purposely not linking to his column. The citation below is what irked me. My response to it follows:
The Iraq war became known as George W. Bush’s war after Saddam Hussein’s weapons of mass destruction didn’t turn up, because at that point no liberal wanted to take responsibility for the conflict. -- Ross Douthat
You've written a lot of malarkey in your columns, Mr. Douthat, but this little throwaway line is a stunning new low.
The Iraq War "became known as George W. Bush's war" because it was George W. Bush's war.
Saddam's WMDs didn't "turn up"? In this clever little phraseology, you have made the inanimate WMDs responsible for not creating themselves, then marching into our sights waving white flags. Yup, it's all their fault. The fact that the Bush Administration & their enablers in the CIA just invented WMDs to try to justify an unjustifiable war is all the WMDs' fault. They failed to "turn up."
"No liberal wanted to take responsibility for the conflict"? Why would a "liberal .. take responsibility" for getting us into the Iraq War since no liberal had anything to do with it. Yeah, quite a few quasi-liberals voted to allow Bush to take military action against Saddam's regime, but they did it based on Bush & George Tenet's "slam-dunk" assurances that Saddam was building bombs & cooking up chemical weapons in the basement. When the IAEA couldn't find any nuke production, the Bush Administration just said they hadn't looked hard enough. Meanwhile, Bush and Co. were tarring people like me as "unpatriotic" because we opposed the war. Bush thought the whole scheme was so hilarious that when WMDs failed to "turn up," he did a little skit where he looked for them under his desk. Funny. Too bad all the people killed in Iraq couldn't laugh along with him.
I didn't read the rest of your column, Mr. Douthat. Maybe it says something brilliant. I'll never know. But when you tar the left for not taking responsibility for a war that was a total Bush job, you completely discredit yourself. Nothing else you write matters. Ever.
Glenn Greenwald on the firing of state department spokesman P. J. Crowley: "So, in Barack Obama's administration, it's perfectly acceptable to abuse an American citizen in detention.... But speaking out against that abuse is a firing offense. Good to know.... Of course, it's also the case in Barack Obama's world that those who instituted a worldwide torture and illegal eavesdropping regime are entitled to full-scale presidential immunity, while powerless individuals who blow the whistle on high-level wrongdoing and illegality are subjected to the most aggressive campaign of prosecution and persecution the country has ever seen." ...
... Andrew Sullivan: "By firing PJ Crowley for the offense of protesting against the sadistic military treatment of Bradley Manning, the president has now put his personal weight behind prisoner abuse. The man who once said that forced nudity was a form of torture, now takes the word of those enforcing it over a distinguished public servant.... As commander-in-chief, Obama is directly responsible for the inhumane treatment of an American citizen. And Crowley's firing will make it even less likely in the future that decent public servants will speak out against such needless sadism." ...
... Ezra Klein: Candidate Obama would not approve of President Obama. "The tradeoff between security and moral purity is always more difficult for a president than a candidate, but as we saw in the Bush administration, the pendulum can swing too far towards security, in a way that does little to make us safer and erodes who we are. Crowley’s firing is a sign that that may be happening to the Obama administration." ...
... Constant Weader: Secretary Clinton should have stood by Crowley. She didn't. Still, I'm sure she'll continue on her world tour urging other countries to respect human rights.
... BUT, in one way, the Obama Administration is making government more transparent. Under the direction of Cass Sunstein, the Administration is putting useful government data on line, & some private entities have mined those data to provide even more useful services -- like real-time transportation apps ("the #49 bus will be ten minutes late").
In an op-ed piece in the Tuscon Arizona Daily Star, President Obama proposes gun reforms, or so the headline says. No, he doesn't. He repeatedly panders to all the "responsible" gun owners, then he says states should better maintain the registration system already in place. Bold move. ...
... NEW. Bush III. AP Spin Meter: "Barack Obama once said it was a 'scandal' that then-President George W. Bush didn't force renewal of a federal assault weapons ban. Now it's Obama himself who's steering clear of that and other politically sensitive gun-control measures...."
Janet Hook & Naftali Ben David of the Wall Street Journal: "Washington has quietly begun the most serious debate on long-term deficit-reduction in decades — the 'adult conversation' that political leaders have said will be needed to address this fiscal year's forecast of a $1.65 trillion deficit and the nation's long-term fiscal woes. Even as the parties have deadlocked over discretionary spending cuts involving less than 2% of the $3.7 trillion budget, the political climate is growing more hospitable to the kind of grand bargain needed to rein in the rest of the budget — potentially encompassing the tax code, the defense budget and entitlement programs, such as Medicare and Social Security." ...
... AND Ezra Klein in the Daily Beast or Newsweek or something: "...there's a good chance politicians will destroy hundreds of thousands of jobs without doing anything at all about long-term deficit problems.... Most economists don't think we should start cutting spending until 2012."
Jennifer Haberkorn of Politico: some Congressional Democrats are looking for viable alternatives to the Affordable Care Act's individual mandate in case the Supreme Court strikes down the mandate. CW: the bad news: one of the prime movers of this effort is ConservaDem Ben Nelson of 'Cornhusker Kickback" infamy. ...
... Harold Pollack & Christopher Lillis of Kaiser Health News: "Both Democrats and Republicans should be dismayed at the sight of a partisan campaign driving yet another distinguished figure [-- Dr. Donald Berwick --] out of American government. In a recent letter, 42 Republican senators harshly urged that Berwick's permanent nomination [be] withdrawn.... [Berwick] is exactly the type of health policy wonk who, if circumstances were different, might have been appointed to the same job under a Republican administration.... For government to succeed, we need such experts who can do their work at least somewhat shielded from the immediate partisan fray.... If we don't fix this, we will all come to regret it."
Jeff Mason & Will Dunham of Reuters: "Anxiety over Japan's quake-crippled nuclear reactors has triggered calls from lawmakers and activists for review of U.S. energy policy and for brakes on expansion of domestic nuclear power."
Hannah Allam & Mohannad Sabry of McClatchy News: "The Arab world's much-heralded collective push toward democracy is now in jeopardy, activists and analysts say, as autocrats fight back with lethal force.... Over the weekend, Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi reclaimed territory from outgunned rebels through a vicious offensive of air strikes and tank fire. Saudi Arabia flooded its streets with so many security forces that much-anticipated demonstrations never even materialized. And Yemen's president came back Saturday with snipers and riot forces even after record crowds had gathered for the 'Friday of no return.'"
Right Wing World
The Wagons Are Circling. In case your wondering how much mainstream Republicans dislike Sarah Palin, an op-ed in The Hill by staunchly conservative former New Hampshire governor & Sen. Judd Gregg will give you a clue. Gregg is horrified that Palin's name recognition, along with a wide-field primary, could help her win the Republican nomination for president. ...
She's becoming Al Sharpton, Alaska edition. -- Matt Labash of the hard right-wing Weekly Standard, on Sarah Palin & her whiney, everybody's-picking-on-me meme
... Jonathan Martin & John Harris of Politico: "This year, the conservative intelligentsia doesn’t just tend to dislike Palin — many fear that her rise would represent the triumph of an intellectually empty brand of populism and the death of ideas as an engine of the right."
Local News
Total Recall. Devin Rose of the Wisconsin State Journal explains how the recall process works in Wisconsin & describes some efforts to recall Gov. Scott Walker, who must have been in office for a full year before an official recall effort can be mounted. ...
... Rose also links to the state's Government Accountability Board site which tells how to proceed with recall efforts. CW: I've linked to the GAB's home page. I won't be surprised if the GAB becomes an early victim of the Walker "reform" movement. My friend Kate M., who forwarded me the link to the Rose story, writes, "I think we need a National Government Accountability Board with a hundred links to D.C. -- K Street, Congress, Supremes."
News Ledes
Here are President Obama's full remarks on education. He also discusses the situation in Japan:
President Obama spoke about reforming education at a middle school in Arlington, Virginia this amorning. AP: "President Barack Obama is calling on Congress to rewrite the nation's governing education law in time for a new school year next fall. It's an ambitious timeline but one administration official says it is necessary to start closing the achievement gap between American students and their counterparts in China and elsewhere." Here's an updated, post-speech AP story.
... New York Times: the death toll from the Japanese quake & tsunami rises. ...
... Stars & StripesUpdate: "The U.S. 7th Fleet has moved its ships and aircraft away from the Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear power plant in Japan after low levels of contamination were detected in the air and found on the crews of three helicopters returning from disaster relief missions near Sendai." ...
... New York TimesUpdate: "Japan’s struggle to contain the crisis at a stricken nuclear power plant worsened sharply early Tuesday morning, as emergency operations to pump seawater into one crippled reactor failed at least temporarily, increasing the risk of an uncontrolled release of radioactive material, officials said."
New York Times: "Military forces loyal to Col. Muammar el-Qaddaficranked up military and psychological pressure against rebels on two fronts on Monday, offering an amnesty to those who surrendered their weapons while bombing a strategic linchpin in the east and surrounding a rebel-held town in the west."
New York Times: "The Pakistani government again postponed resolution on Monday of the case of a C.I.A. operative, Raymond A. Davis, who is in jail here under investigation for murder after shooting two alleged robbers in January."
New York Times: "The State Department spokesman, Philip J. Crowley, resigned on Sunday, three days after publicly criticizing the Pentagon as 'ridiculous and counterproductive and stupid' in its treatment of Pfc. Bradley E. Manning, the soldier imprisoned on charges of leaking classified government documents to the antisecrecy group WikiLeaks."
Reuters: "Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said on Monday the killing of a Jewish settler couple and three of their children was 'inhuman,' telling Israel he was determined to help catch those responsible. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had complained that Abbas's administration insufficiently condemned the attack and even encouraged such bloodshed through "incitement" in official Palestinian forums."
Reuters: "Anonymous, a hacker group sympathetic to WikiLeaks, released on Monday emails that it obtained from someone who said he is a former Bank of America Corp employee. In the emails dating from November 2010, people that appear to be employees of a Balboa Insurance, a Bank of America insurance unit, discuss removing documents from loan files for a group of insured properties."
Wall Street Journal: "The World Trade Organization handed an important victory to China, ruling that the U.S. illegally imposed both antidumping and antisubsidy duties on some Chinese exports in 2007. The trade body's surprise decision sets a precedent in limiting the ability of China's trading partners to impose punitive duties on its exports."
David Sirota, in a Washington Post op-ed, thinks we're living in a 1980s timewarp.
Maureen Dowd doesn't think a no-fly zone over Libya is a good idea, & she takes to occasion to slam Paul Wolfowitz, which all by itself is a good idea.
The Associated Press reports that union leaders had asked both Vice President Biden & Labor Secretary Hilda Solisto go to Wisconsin in support of public unions. Nothing doing.
Bio-Diversity. Ben Smith: "Aides to John McCain initially added Sarah Palin to his 'short list' of potential running mates because McCain wanted a woman on the list, according to his campaign manager."
Bill Maher & Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.) argue about the content of the Kuran:
Right Wing World
What I love about New Hampshire is ... you're the state where the shot was heard around the world in Lexington and Concord. -- Michele Bachmann, in a speech yesterday in New Hampshire ...
... CW: See, there is a Lexington Ski Club in New Hampshire, and Concord is the New Hampshire state capital. Any doofus could make the mistake of moving Lexington & Concord, Massachusetts, to New Hampshire, though a doofus running for president, speaking from prepared text in the critical state of New Hampshire, might be advised to find out where "the shot heard 'round the world" was actually fired. Video clip here. ...
... Derek Wallbank of the Minneapolis Post: Bachmann said the same thing at a Friday night fundraiser in New Hampshire. ...
... Scott Conroy of Real Clear Politics: "Bachmann's contorting of a basic fact about the fight for American independence was made all the more glaring because of her repeated references throughout her speech to the nation's founding."
Lawrence O'Donnell parses Newt Gingrich. Now we know what the Newt really meant:
Local News
Another Candidate for America's Worst Governor. Chris Christoff of the Detroit Free Press, on the way Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder, a Republican, added a $100 appropriation to a bill, which makes the bill exempt from voter referendum. The bill, which Democrats & the AARP oppose, taxes "pensions and other retirement income while cutting business taxes."
A farmer brings his tractor to Madison to participate in a farmer tractor-parade protest of the new Republican law that allows Gov. Walker to eliminate or reduce programs like BadgerCare, which assist Wisconsin farm families. Getty image.Jessica VanEregen of the Madison, Wisconsin, Capital Times: farmers, most of them Republicans, are brining their tractors to Madison (Saturday) to protest the Republican "reform" bill which Gov. Walker signed into law last week. According to a spokesman for the Wisconsin Farmers Union, "many of those coming to Madison are upset by the realization that Walker's agenda is 'sacrificing Wisconsin's quality of life for everyone, not just unions.'"
News Ledes
New York Times: "Japanese officials struggled on Sunday to contain a widening nuclear crisis..., saying they presumed that partial meltdowns had occurred at two crippled reactors and that they were bracing for a second explosion, even as they faced serious cooling problems at four more reactors." Story has links to other Times stories about the quake, tsunami & aftermath. ...
... Update: "Japan faced mounting humanitarian and nuclear emergencies Sunday as the death toll from Friday’s earthquake and tsunami climbed astronomically, partial meltdowns occurred at two crippled plants and cooling problems struck four more reactors. In one town alone, the port of Minamisanriku, a senior police official said the number of dead would 'certainly be more than 10,000.' The overall number is also certain to climb as searchers began to reach coastal villages that essentially vanished under the first muddy surge of the tsunami, which struck the nation’s northern Pacific coast."
... CNN: "The powerful earthquake that unleashed a devastating tsunami Friday appears to have moved the main island of Japan by 8 feet (2.4 meters) and shifted the Earth on its axis." ...
... Guardian: "Several years ago, the seismologist Ishibashi Katsuhiko stated, specifically, that such [a nuclear plant] accident was highly likely to occur. Nuclear power plants in Japan have a 'fundamental vulnerability' to major earthquakes, Katsuhiko said in 2007."
AP: "Libyan state television reported Sunday that forces loyal to Moammar Gadhafihave retaken the oil town of Brega in eastern Libya, swiftly advancing on the poorly equipped and loosely organized rebels. The report could not immediately be verified. Libyan TV has issued faulty reports claiming territory in the past." ...
... Politico: "The White House on Saturday lauded Arab nations for their global call to do more in pressuring the Qadhafi regime and supporting the Libyan opposition."
AP: "Israel said Sunday it has approved hundreds of settler homes after five members of an Israeli family — including three children — were knifed to death as they slept in a West Bank settlement over the weekend. The attack and the government's response threatened to drive Israeli-Palestinian peacemaking even further out of reach."
Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel: "Unbowed and unrepentant, 14 Democratic state senators returned to the Capitol on Saturday and received a tumultuous welcome from tens of thousands of pro-labor demonstrators." ...
... Reuters: "Up to 100,000 people protested at the Wisconsin state Capitol on Saturday against a new law curbing the union rights of public workers that is seen as one of the biggest challenges in decades facing U.S. organized labor."
AP: NFL "owners imposed a lockout on the players Saturday, essentially shutting down operations. That came hours after talks broke off and the union dissolved itself, meaning players no longer are protected under labor law but instead are now allowed to take their chances in federal court under antitrust law. Nine NFL players, including superstar quarterbacks Tom Brady, Peyton Manning and Drew Brees, and one college player headed for the pros filed a class-action lawsuit in Minnesota and asked for a preliminary injunction to block a lockout, even before it went into effect.
Found this portrait of Douthat on the Internet. Seems appropriate.What a surprise. The Times moderators scrubbed my comment on Ross Douthat's column. I don't think my comment was abusive, as no doubt the Times trolls did. I think Douthat was abusive. You be the judge. I am purposely not linking to his column. The citation below is what irked me. My response to it follows:
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