Washington Post: “Valérie André, a French military officer, brain surgeon and licensed pilot who was believed to be the first woman to fly helicopter rescue missions in combat zones — during the French-Indochina war of the early 1950s — and who two decades later became the first woman to reach the rank of general in the French armed forces, died Jan. 21 in Paris. She was 102.”
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."
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New York Times: “The president of MSNBC, Rashida Jones, is stepping down from that position, the company said on Tuesday, a major change at the news network just days before ... Donald J. Trump takes office. Rebecca Kutler, senior vice president for content strategy at MSNBC, will succeed Ms. Jones as interim president, effective immediately. Ms. Jones will stay on in an advisory role through March.... MSNBC is among a bundle of cable channels that its parent company, Comcast, is planning to spin out later this year into a new company.” ~~~
~~~ MSNBC: “On Monday, Jan. 20, MSNBC will present wall-to-wall coverage of the inauguration of ... Donald Trump and Vice President-elect JD Vance and will kick off special programming for the first 100 days of the new Trump administration.... On the heels of her field reporting during the last 100 days of the 2024 presidential campaign, Alex Wagner will travel the country to follow the biggest stories as they develop in real-time during Trump’s first 100 days in office, reporting on the impact of his early promises and policies on the electorate for'Trumpland: The First 100 Days.'... During the first 100 days, Rachel Maddow will bring her signature voice and distinct perspective to the anchor desk every weeknight at 9 p.m. ET, offering viewers in-depth analysis of the key issues facing the country at the outset of Trump’s second term. After April 30, 'The Rachel Maddow Show' will return to its regular schedule of Mondays at 9 p.m. ET and Wagner will return to anchoring 'Alex Wagner Tonight' Tuesday through Friday.”
New York Times: "Neil Cavuto, a business journalist who hosted a weekday afternoon program on the Fox News Channel since the network began in 1996, signed off for the final time on Thursday[, December 19]. Mr. Cavuto could be an outlier on Fox News, often criticizing President Trump and his policies, and crediting the Covid-19 vaccination with saving his life."
Have Cello, May Not Travel. New York Times: “Sheku Kanneh-Mason, a rising star in classical music who performed at the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle in 2018 and has since become a regular on many of the world’s most prestigious concert stages, was forced to cancel a concert in Toronto last week because Air Canada refused to allow him to board a plane with his cello, even though he had purchased a separate ticket for it.... 'Air Canada has a comprehensive policy of accepting cellos in the cabin when a separate seat is booked for it,' it said in a statement. 'In this case, the customers made a last-minute booking due to their original flight on another airline being canceled.' The airline’s policy for carry-on instruments, outlined on its website, specifies that travelers must purchase a seat for their instruments at least 48 hours before departure.”
Here are photos of the White House Christmas decorations, via the White House. Also a link to last year's decorations. Sorry, no halls of blood-red fake trees.
Yes, You May Be a Neanderthal. Me Too! Washington Post: “A pair of new studies sheds light on a pivotal but mysterious chapter of the human origin story, revealing that modern humans and Neanderthals had babies together for an extended period, peaking 47,000 years ago — leaving genetic fingerprints in modern-day people.... [According to the report in Science,] Neanderthals and humans interbred for 7,000 years starting about 50,500 years ago.... Modern humans, Homo sapiens, originated in Africa about 300,000 years ago. Somewhere around 50,000 to 60,000 years ago, a key group left the continent and encountered Neanderthals, a hominin relative that was established across western Eurasia but went extinct about 39,000 years ago.” ~~~
~~~ Marie: Maybe you parents were upset when you told them you planned to marry someone of a different race or religion. But, hey, think how distressed they would have been if you'd told them you were hooking up with a person of a different species!
There's No Money in Bananas. New York Times: “A week after a Chinese cryptocurrency entrepreneur bought an artwork composed of a fresh banana stuck to a wall with duct tape for $6.2 million at auction, the man, Justin Sun, announced a grand gesture on X. He said he planned on purchasing 100,000 bananas — or $25,000 worth of the produce — from the Manhattan stand where the original fruit was sold for 25 cents. But at the fruit stand at East 72nd Street and York Avenue, outside the doors of the Sotheby’s auction house where the conceptual artwork was sold, the offer landed with a thud against the realities of the life of a New York City street vendor. [Even if it were practicable to buy that many bananas at once,] the net profit ... would be about $6,000. 'There’s not any profit in selling bananas,' [the vendor Shah] Alam said.”
Jeremy Barr of the Washington Post on what's to become of MSNBC: “In the days that followed [the November election], MSNBC began seeing a significant decline in viewership (as has CNN), as left-leaning viewers opted to turn off the channel rather than watch the aftermath of Donald Trump’s victory. One of the network’s most valuable franchises, 'Morning Joe,' faced backlash after hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski revealed Nov. 18 that they had traveled to Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in an effort to 'restart communications.'... Questions about the future of the network picked up considerably Nov. 20, when parent company Comcast announced that it would spin off MSNBC and some of its other cable channels into a separate company.... The fear inside the building is about whether the move could portend a less ambitious future for MSNBC — with a smaller, lower-compensated staff and a lot less journalism, considering the network will be separatedfrom the NBC News operation that contributes much of the reporting.”
The Washington Postintroduces us toLucy, the small, hominid ancestor of humans who lived 3.2 million years ago. American paleoanthropologist Donald Johanson discovered her skeleton in Ethiopia exactly 50 years ago, beginning on November 24, 1974. Eventually, about 40 percent of Lucy's skeleton was recovered.
New York Times: “Chris Wallace, a veteran TV anchor who left Fox News for CNN three years ago, announced on Monday that he was leaving his post to venture into the streaming or podcasting worlds.... He said his decision to leave CNN at the end of his three-year contract did not come from discontent. 'I have nothing but positive things to say. CNN was very good to me,' he said.”
New York Times: In a collection of memorabilia filed at New York City's Morgan Library, curator Robinson McClellandiscovered the manuscript of a previously unknown waltz by Frédéric Chopin. Jeffrey Kallberg, a Chopin scholar at the University of Pennsylvania as well as other experts authenticated the manuscript. Includes video of Lang Lang performing the short waltz. ~~~
~~~ Marie: The Times article goes into some of Chopin's life in Paris at the time he wrote the waltz, but it doesn't mention that he helped make ends meet by giving piano lessons. I know this because my great grandmother was one of his students. If her musical talent were anything like mine, those particular lessons would have been painful hours for Chopin.
New York Times: “Improbably, [the political/celebrity magazine] George[, originally a project by John F. Kennedy, Jr.] is back, with the same logo and the same catchy slogan: 'Not just politics as usual.' This time, though, a QAnon conspiracy theorist and passionate Trump fan is its editor in chief.... It is a reanimation story bizarre enough for a zombie movie, made possible by the fact that the original George trademark lapsed, only to be secured by a little-known conservative lawyer named Thomas D. Foster.”
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.
It's great fun to laugh at these losers, but haven't we done that enough? You & the rest of the media have made Joe Miller & Christine O'Donnell households names. If they don't wind up in Washington, they've got a sure shot at becoming Fox "News" "analysts," thanks to the name recognition you've bestowed upon them.
So why not mention some of the candidates who are worthy of the people's trust? I'll bet most Americans -- even those who pay attention to the news -- don't know who Scott McAdams is (in fairness, you did tell us last week). He's the Democratic nominee for Senate in Alaska, & among his bona fides, he's the mayor of a town even bigger than Wasilla. Before that, he served on the local school board & was president of the state association of school boards. He seems like a guy whose heart is in the right place. And as far as I know, his father didn't appoint him to his best job ever (think Murkowski). Here's McAdams' Website.
Does the name Chris Coons ring a bell? No? He's the Democratic nominee for Senate in Delaware. He has been a very effective County Executive, which in a state that has only two counties is, as former Delaware Senator Joe Biden would say, "a Big Fuckin' Deal." Like Joe a-Noun-a-Verb-and-Unconstitutional Miller, Coons is a Yale Law alum, & he had an extensive & exemplary career working for charitable & non-profit organizations. You can read more about Coons on his Website.
Even in South Carolina, where the media have made the spectacularly unqualified Democrat Alvin Greene a star & given the odious Sen. Jim DeMint a free ticket back to Washington, there is an alternative: Green Party candidate Tom Clements seems downright normal and has worked for civic causes for a long time. Here's an introduction to Clements:
Instead of concentrating on the worst choices, give the better candidates some space. They might not be as funny, but it won't be funny if you in the media make these losers the winners in November.
... Michael Crowley of Time on Jim Jones' departure & Tom Donilon who will replace Jones. ...
... David Sanger of the New York Timesdishes on office resentment of Jones. Sanger says of Donilon, "In the Afghanistan-Pakistan review, he argued that the United States could not engage in what he termed 'endless war,' and has strongly defended Mr. Obama’s decision to withdraw American troops from Afghanistan next summer."
"Double-Crist?" Stephen Moore of the Wall Street Journal: "Republican leaders in [Florida] ... are fretting that a deal may be in the works to get Democratic nominee Kendrick Meek out of the Florida Senate race in order to boost Charlie Crist's flagging chances of beating Republican Marco Rubio. Across the state, groups such as Palm Beach Democrats for Crist and Tampa Democrats for Crist are emerging. Republican fears are further stoked by the almost universal acknowledgment that Mr. Meek has almost no chance to win." CW: if Crist would pledge to caucus with Democrats, this might be okay-ish. See more on the Florida Senate race on the Florida page.
Okay When I Do It; Unconstitutional When You Do It. Anchorage Daily News, October 7: "U.S. Senate candidate Joe Miller acknowledged Thursday that in the past his family received assistance from federal Medicaid and Denali KidCare, the state low income health care program. His opponents in the race responded that he’s a hypocrite for taking assistance while now saying federal entitlement programs are unconstitutional. Miller’s campaign didn’t provide an answer for for the past week-and-a-half did not answer when asked what low-income assistance he has received." See more on the Alaska race on the Alaska page.
Brent Budowsky of The Hill: "Bill Raggio, the minority leader in the Nevada state Senate and a leading Silver State Republican, added a major new dimension to the U.S. Senate race there by blasting Sharron Angle for being radical and extreme, and endorsing Sen. Harry Reid (D) for reelection.... Raggio has never before endorsed a Democratic candidate in a major race. His political viewpoint is Republican-conservative." See more on the Nevada Senate race on the Nevada page.
Ezra Kleincharts the "Anti-Stimulus." It's what Krugman & others have been predicting for two years. ...
... One result of Klein's Anti-Stimulus: David Leonhardt of the New York Times: "Local governments are cutting jobs at the fastest rate in almost 30 years." ...
... Steve Benin: "We have an obvious economic problem. But the political problem is standing in the way of making things better."
Kim Zetter in Wired: "A California student got a visit from the FBI this week after he found a secret GPS tracking device on his car, and a friend posted photos of it online.... A half-a-dozen FBI agents and police officers appeared at Yasir Afifi’s apartment complex in Santa Clara, California, on Tuesday demanding he return the device. Afifi, a 20-year-old U.S.-born citizen, cooperated willingly.... Comments the agents made during their visit suggested he’d been under FBI surveillance for three to six months."
Paul Krugman explains why New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie's decision to scuttle a much-needed new rail tunnel between New Jersey & Manhattan was "destructive and incredibly foolish," and how it was emblematic of "a nation whose politicians seem to compete over who can show the least vision, the least concern about the future and the greatest willingness to pander to short-term, narrow-minded selfishness." ...
... The underlying story from Angela Delli Santi of the AP: "As a candidate last year, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie was willing to support the planned New Jersey-to-Manhattan rail tunnel. As governor, he now says the nation's largest public transportation project is a luxury the state can no longer afford. Christie justified his decision ... as a move to protect the long-range financial interests of New Jersey taxpayers. But supporters of the nearly $9 billion project said the decision will have the exact opposite result." Related Star-Ledgerstory. Lautenberg says the cancellation will cost the state $300 million.
Michael Luo of the New York Times: "Television spending by outside interest groups has more than doubled what was spent at this point in the 2006 midterms.... The explanation for how these interest groups have become such powerful players this year includes not just the Supreme Court’s ruling in January in the Citizens United case ..., but also a constellation of other legal developments since 2007 that have gradually loosened strictures governing campaign financing and the regulation of third-party groups."
CW: I don't do polls, BUT ... from Rasmussen: "Republican challenger Sharron Anglehas now moved to a four-point lead over Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid in Nevada’s bare-knuckles U.S. Senate race." In November 2008, I really thought we had moved out of a country that could ever again elect an insane, lying right-wing extremist to Congress. We have not. ...
... This, and other, scary election predictions inspire me to post this blatantly self-serving video:
Obama's First Veto. Andrew Leonard of Salon thinks Elizabeth Warrenmay be behind President Obama's veto of a fast-tracked bill that would have made it easier for banks to foreclosure on homes. ...
So far, banks are claiming that the many forged documents uncovered by courts and attorneys represent a simple 'technical problem' with foreclosure processes. This is not true. What is happening is fraud to cover up fraud. -- Rep. Alan Grayson, in a letter to regulators
... NEW. Annie Lowrey of the Washington Independent: the winners & losers in the foreclosures fraud fiasco. ...
... Andrew Martin & David Streitfeld of the New York Times: "... as a scandal unfolds over mortgage lenders’ shoddy preparation of foreclosure documents, the fallout is beginning to hammer the housing market, especially in states like Florida where distressed properties are abundant." ...
NEW. Banks were lying and committing fraud, and our regulators were covering them and so a bad problem has become a hellacious one. -- derivatives expert Janet Tavakoli, on the origins of the housing crisis, in an Ezra Klein interview
... Jon Stewart explains the financial meltdown & foreclosure crisis:
Junk Bonds Are Back. Nelson Schwartz of the New York Times: "The market for high-yield securities, as junk bonds are more politely known in the business, is booming as never before."
I feel so disappointed that the secretary and the president let a misrepresentation of my words on the part of the tea party be the reason to ask me to resign. Please look at the tape and see that I use the story from 1986 to show people that the issue is not about race but about those who have versus those who do not." -- Shirley Sherrod, from her forced resignation letter
Anatomy of a Fiasco. Peter Nicholas & Kathleen Hennessey in the Los Angeles Times: "Obama administration officials knew they did not have all the facts last summer when they rushed to dismiss Shirley Sherrod ... after learning of a video that painted her as a racist, newly released e-mails show."
Isabel Macdonald of The Nation & Lou Dobbs face off on Lawrence O'Donnell's show re: Macdonald's charge that Dobbs employed illegal immigrants. Here's the link to Macdonald's story:
CNN: "Delaware Republican Senate candidate Christine O'Donnell is asking voters to give her a second look. At a candidate forum sponsored by a group of local Republicans, O'Donnell blamed her campaign's recent troubles on unfair coverage in the 'liberal media'" who had subjected her to "character assassination."
Running for President is like having sex: you don’t do it once and forget about it. It has a high, high recidivism rate. -- James Carville, on whether or not Hillary Clinton will run for President again
Nicholas Kristof demonstrates that in the most elemental economic issues, the Democrats' programs are far more effective than Republican proposals. Kristof provides a good summary you can share with your neighbor: outside analysts say the Democrats' programs produce more jobs, reduce the national debt more & mitigate the disparity between rich & poor. ...
... AND do read Kristof's blogpost reaction to Sen. Jim DeMint, who said gays or an unmarried women "sleeping with her boyfriend" should not be allowed to teach children. Kristof's remarks on Republican "values" are something else you can share with your friends.
Peter Nicholas & Christi Parsons in the Los Angeles Times: "As President Obamaremakes his senior staff, he is also shaping a new approach for the second half of his term: to advance his agenda through executive actions he can take on his own, rather than pushing plans through an increasingly hostile Congress."
The truth is: all that will be remembered of the [2008 presidential] campaign is that America’s original sin was finally expunged. That’s all. In history, that’s all. The real McCain will be lost to history.... The narrative is the narrative, completely untrue and unfair, but he is the old guy who ran a derogatory campaign and can’t remember how many houses he had. -- Mark Salter, long-time top aide to John McCain
"The Man Who Never Was." Todd Purdum in Vanity Fair: "Desperate to keep his Senate seat, John McCain repudiated his record, his principles, and even his maverick reputation, entrenching himself as the anti-Obama. Which raises the issue of whether the leader so many Americans admired—and so many journalists covered—ever truly existed."
Jia Lynn Yang of the Washington Post: "For months, companies have been sitting on the sidelines with record piles of cash, too nervous to spend. Now they're starting to deploy some of that money -- not to hire workers or build factories, but to prop up their share prices. Sitting on these unprecedented levels of cash, U.S. companies are buying back their own stock in droves."
W. J. Hennigan of the Los Angeles Times: "... after one of the biggest military buildups in decades..., thousands of aerospace suppliers across Southern California [are] bracing for a downturn, a slide that could have gut-wrenching consequences for an economy struggling to recover."
Axelrod on Letterman -- of witchcraft, Fox "News" & Trump:
Here's the Top Ten list Axelrod mentioned:
Dana Milbank: an on-the-record, off-the-teevee press briefing by Robert Gibbswas a lot more productive than the usual briefings where both Gibbs & reporters perform for the cameras.
We are going for a ‘Hicky’ Blue Collar look. These characters are from West Virginia so think coal miner/trucker looks.... Clothing Suggestions: ... jeans, work boots, flannel shirt, denim shirt, Dickie’s type jacket with t-shirt underneath, down-filled vest, John Deer [sic] hats (not brand new, preferably beat up), trucker hats (not brand new, preferably beat up). -- National Republican Senatorial Committee casting call for a West Virginia ad (abridged) ...
... Here's the resulting ad. "Hicky" enough for ya?Update: Ha, ha. The ad has been pulled. Here's Michael Shear of the New York Timeswith more. Update 2: Ah, fortunately, the ad is preserved for us elsewhere on YouTube:
Rand Paul hires an Obama impersonator to read his campaign ad script. The ad is kind of funny when you know it isn't Obama speaking, but some of those "hicky" Kentucky viewers could be fooled:
Alexander Burns of Politico: EMILY's list has launched a campaign to turn out Democratic & Democratic-leaning female voters. CW: big surprise: their research shows women don't know much about the issues but are moved by "narrowly-tailored attacks." I'd say the same is true for male voters.
Lamest Endorsement Humanly Possible. Matt Finkelstein of Media Matters: "Leaked emails revealed a dispute between Todd Palin and Tea Party-backed Senate candidate Joe Miller (R-AK) over Miller's apparent hesitation to say Sarah Palin is qualified to be president." When repeatedly pressed, Miller told Fox "News" that Palin was qualified under the Constitution. CW: yeah, so am I. Media Matters has the video.
Isabel Macdonald of The Nation: "... with his relentless diatribes against 'illegals' and their employers, [Lou] Dobbs is casting stones from a house—make that an estate—of glass. Based on a yearlong investigation, including interviews with five immigrants who worked without papers on his properties, The Nation and the Investigative Fund at The Nation Institute have found that Dobbs has relied for years on undocumented labor for the upkeep of his multimillion-dollar estates and the horses he keeps for his 22-year-old daughter, Hillary, a champion show jumper." CW: Dobbs has hinted he will run for President in 2012. ...
... NBC Update: I have never, nor has The Dobbs Group at any time, hired an illegal immigrant. -- Lou Dobbs
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