Coming February 6, 2024 . . .
MURDER, POLITICS, AND THE END OF THE JAZZ AGE
by Michael Wolraich
Pre-order at Barnes & Noble / Amazon / Books-A-Million / Bookshop
Coming February 6, 2024 . . . MURDER, POLITICS, AND THE END OF THE JAZZ AGE by Michael Wolraich Pre-order at Barnes & Noble / Amazon / Books-A-Million / Bookshop |
Like some bizarre parody of a Trump rally, a belligerent man in a “Make America Great Again” hat was booted off a plane in Shanghai Sunday — defiantly waving as a crowd of passengers jeered in the terminal: “Lock him up! Lock him up!” [.....]
with video
Caroline Glick's take on US intelligence leaks. Her analysis of what is going on looks good, but I find her proposed solutions too simplistic.
the goal of this week’s leaks was to harm Trump. Israel was collateral damage.
The key point is that the leaks are coming from the same places in both cases.
All of them are members of the US intelligence community with exceedingly high security clearances. And all of them willingly committed felony offenses when they shared top secret information with reporters.
Despite the mistaken bombing a few weeks back (set up by ISIS or a genuine screwup by the allies, still not certain), the effort to retake Mosul continues forward slowly but successfully. 3 more central districts to take, including that damn mosque where Al-Bagdadi declared his stupid barborous retro-caliphate. Hope they paint it pink to really piss him off.
Fox News staffers are growing increasingly dismayed as network star Sean Hannity and others continue to promote the unfounded conspiracy theory that Seth Rich, a Democratic National Committee staffer was murdered last year for talking to WikiLeaks.
The Daily Beast spoke to nearly a dozen reporters, pundits, and hosts inside Fox News who all conveyed the same sentiment: Hannity is “embarrassing” the network, and the promotion of the Rich conspiracy theory is senselessly cruel to a grieving family.
“ARE WE STILL AIRING THAT SHIT?!” one Fox News political reporter, who says they are furious that the conservative cable-news giant is entertaining the conspiracy theory, messaged The Daily Beast when informed of recent coverage [....]
The top two leaders of the Senate intelligence committee are leaving the door open to holding Michael Flynn in contempt of Congress after President Trump's former national security adviser said he would invoke his Fifth Amendment rights rather than comply with a subpoena.
Sen. Richard Burr, the chairman of the Senate intelligence committee, said the panel was reviewing a range of options to compel Flynn to disclose records about his meetings with Russian officials, including holding Flynn in contempt. And he said the panel "could" call for Flynn to assert his Fifth Amendment rights in a public session [.....]
By the Editorial Board @ NYTimes.com, May 22
[.....] According to research released last week at a United Nations climate meeting in Germany, China and India should easily exceed the targets they set for themselves in the 2015 Paris Agreement signed by more than 190 countries. China’s emissions of carbon dioxide appear to have peaked more than 10 years sooner than its government had said they would. And India is now expected to obtain 40 percent of its electricity from non-fossil fuel sources by 2022, eight years ahead of schedule [.....]
At least 19 people were killed and more than 50 injured after an explosion in the foyer area of a crowded Manchester concert hall, which left hundreds of people fleeing in terror.
Sources said the the initial theory was that a suicide bomber was behind the suspected terrorist attack at the Manchester Arena, with witnesses claiming to have heard an explosion around 10.40pm as a revellers, many young, were leaving. It was feared that the casualty toll may rise.
Police said they were dealing with a possible terror incident which happened at the Manchester Arena, with witnesses claiming to have heard an explosion around 10.40pm [......]
Also:
LIVE UPDATES: Manchester Arena: reports of incident at Ariana Grande concert
James Q. Whitman ...: “Hitler’s American Model: The United States and the Making of Nazi Race Law.” Whitman illustrates how German propagandists sought to normalize the Nazi racist agenda domestically by putting forth the United States as a model. They assured the German people that Americans had “racist politics and policies,” just as Germany did, including “special laws directed against the Negroes, which limit their voting rights, freedom of movement, and career possibilities.”... new-age white supremacists who want so eagerly to expand their market shares recognize that covering themselves with swastikas is a route to marginalization. They are betting that they can achieve the effect they seek by embracing the Confederate cause, while serving up easy-listening Nazism on the side.
By Robert Barnes @ WashingtonPost.com, May 22
The decision continued a trend at the court, where justices have found that racial considerations improperly predominated in redistricting decisions by Republican-led legislatures in Virginia, Alabama and North Carolina. Some involved congressional districts, others legislative districts.
By Michael E. Miller @ WashingtonPost.com, May 21
In an industry where about half of employees say they have been sexually assaulted or harassed by a guest, perhaps the most unusual thing about what happened in Room 1065 of Washington’s Mayflower Hotel was that a man was arrested.
Venezuelans take to the streets, furious about shortages, rocketing inflation and human rights crackdowns, demanding President Maduro hold elections
Ivanka praises Saudi Arabia for progress like allowing women to buy cars they're not allowed to drive. Entrepreneur fund will allow Saudi women to better support their husbands' careers.
By David Stretfield @ Technology @ nytimes.com, May 20
[.....] Mr. Williams — a Twitter founder, a co-creator of Blogger — set everyone free, providing tools to address the world. In the history of communications technology, it was a development with echoes of Gutenberg.
And so here we are in 2017. How’s it going, Mr. Williams?
“I think the internet is broken,” he says. He has believed this for a few years, actually. But things are getting worse. “And it’s a lot more obvious to a lot of people that it’s broken.”
People are using Facebook to showcase suicides, beatings and murder, in real time. Twitter is a hive of trolling and abuse that it seems unable to stop. Fake news, whether created for ideology or profit, runs rampant. Four out of 10 adult internet users said in a Pew survey that they had been harassed online. And that was before the presidential campaign heated up last year.
The trouble with the internet, Mr. Williams says, is that it rewards extremes. Say you’re driving down the road and see a car crash. Of course you look. Everyone looks. The internet interprets behavior like this to mean everyone is asking for car crashes, so it tries to supply them [....]
For five years, Mr. Williams has been refining a communications platform called Medium. Its ambition: define a new model for media in a world struggling under the weight of fake or worthless content. Medium is supposed to be social and collaborative without rewarding the smash-ups. It is supposed to be a force for good [....]
By Peter Beamont in Jerusalem for theguardian.com, May 21
Israeli media reports say prime minister was angered to learn a number of ministers had planned to skip US president’s arrival
Sweden’s director of public prosecution says she has decided to discontinue the investigation into WikiLeaks founder
By Esther Addley & Alan Travis @theguardian.com, May 19
[.....] With the threat of extradition to Sweden removed, the 45-year-old Australian could potentially opt to leave the embassy.
However, Assange’s lawyers have repeatedly said he will not do so without assurances that he willnot face extradition to the US over possible espionage charges linked to WikiLeaks’ publishing activities – the basis on which Ecuador granted him asylum [.....]
Anatomical penises may exist, but as pre-operative transgendered women also have anatomical penises, the penis vis-à-vis maleness is an incoherent construct. We argue that the conceptual penis is better understood not as an anatomical organ but as a social construct isomorphic to performative toxic masculinity. Keywords: penis; feminism; machismo braggadocio; masculinity; climate change
By Thomas Erdbrink @ NYTimes.com, May 20
Hassan Rouhani’s resounding win should afford him the opportunity to strengthen reformist factions as the country prepares for the end of the rule of the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
By Mark Mazzetti, Adam Goldman, Michael S. Schmidt & Matt Apuzzo @ NYTimes.com, May 20
Trumps lining their pockets: When Donald Trump Jr. spoke to graduates of the American University in Dubai earlier this week, days before his father's trip to the Gulf, he joined the ranks of such distinguished commencement speakers as former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Colin Powell, while raising fresh questions about potential conflicts of interest as he and his brother, Eric Trump, run the Trump Organization while their father is president.