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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."

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.”

New York Times: “Joy Reid’s evening news show on MSNBC is being canceled, part of a far-reaching programming overhaul orchestrated by Rebecca Kutler, the network’s new president, two people familiar with the changes said. The final episode of Ms. Reid’s 7 p.m. show, 'The ReidOut,' is planned for sometime this week, according to the people, who were not authorized to speak publicly. The show, which features in-depth interviews with politicians and other newsmakers, has been a fixture of MSNBC’s lineup for the past five years. MSNBC is planning to replace Ms. Reid’s program with a show led by a trio of anchors: Symone Sanders Townsend, a political commentator and former Democratic strategist; Michael Steele, a former chairman of the Republican National Committee; and Alicia Menendez, the TV journalist, the people said. They currently co-host 'The Weekend,' which airs Saturday and Sunday mornings.” MB: In case you've never seen “The Weekend,” let me assure you it's pretty awful. ~~~

     ~~~ AP Update: "Joy Reid is leaving MSNBC, the network’s new president announced in a memo to staff on Monday, marking an end to the political analyst and anchor’s prime time news show."

Y! Entertainment: "Meanwhile, [Alex] Wagner will also be removed from her 9 pm weeknight slot. Wagner has already been working as a correspondent after Rachel Maddow took over hosting duties during ... Trump’s first 100 days in office. It’s now expected that Wagner will not return as host, but is expected to stay on as a contributor. Jen Psaki, President Biden’s former White House press secretary, is a likely replacement for Wagner, though a decision has not been finalized." MB: In fairness to Psaki, she is really too boring to watch. On the other hand, she is White. ~~~

     ~~~ RAS: "So MSNBC is getting rid of both of their minority evening hosts. Both women of color who are not afraid to call out the truth. Outspoken minorities don't have a long shelf life in the world of our corporate news media."

 

Contact Marie

Email Marie at constantweader@gmail.com

Page Links
Monday
Nov012010

The Commentariat -- November 2

... You've probably already seen the 15-second spot above, urging us to vote. The DNC, Ben Smith writes, is "blanketing the web with $2.5 million worth of online ads -- I think the largest online ad buy anyone has made this cycle."

New York Times reporters are taking questions about the election now, some of which they will answer beginning at about noon ET Tuesday.

Politico has the latest independent polling data for house races as well as for key Senate & gubernatorial races.

Nate Silver has up-to-date election result forecasts here.

The major papers' front-page election-day observations: New York Times, Washington Post, Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Times, Houston Chronicle, Wall Street Journal. AND from the wire services: Associated Press and Reuters.

"The War the Election Forgot." Faye Fiore & Mark Barabak of the Los Angeles Times: "In this turbulent election season — amid the talk of 'tea parties' and the economy and President Obama's approval rating and the fight to control Congress and bailouts and deficits and fear and anger — there is little mention of Afghanistan or Iraq."

Dana Milbank riffs on professional election prognosticators. Milbank thinks the best bet is to wait for the actual results.

On the Hill, there's this sense that there are three [political] parties, the president, Democrats in Congress and Republicans in Congress. -- House Democratic political strategist, a/k/a Anonymous ...

** ... Peter Wallsten & Jonathan Weisman of the Wall Street Journal: "Some high-level Democrats are calling for President Barack Obama to remake his [communications team] or even fire top advisers.... Some Democrats were so unhappy with the White House [strategy] meetings, they started their own. Among the complaints: Mr. Obama conveyed an incoherent message that didn't express what Democrats would do over the next two years if they retain power; he focused more on his own image than helping Democratic candidates; and the White House picked the wrong battle when it attacked Republicans for using 'outside' money to pay for campaigns, an issue disconnected from voters' real-world anxieties."

AP: "Republicans outperformed Democrats getting to the polls in Nevada, a promising sign for Republican tea party favorite Sharron Angle in her dead-heat race with Majority Leader Harry Reid, figures showed Monday. Final tallies for two weeks of in-person voting and a preliminary count of mail-in ballots for the state's two most populous counties, Clark and Washoe, gave Democrats about a 9,000-voter edge. The slim margin stands out because Democrats hold a 60,000-voter edge in statewide registration." ...

Screenshot from Angle's "Amnesty Game" page.More last-minute hilarity from Amanda Terkel of the Huffington Post: "Toymaker Hasbro has sent Sharron Angle's Senate campaign a cease and desist letter, saying the Nevada Republican never received permission to use the rights to Monopoly for its "Harry Reid Amnesty Game" website." As of 10:45 am ET, the Angle site was still up.

... Meanwhile, in nearby Colorado, on the eve of the election Sarah Palin endorses xenophobic loon Tom Tancredo for governor.

Campus Progress gives us a reason to vote (this is a spoof on a conservative ad that YouTube took down because of copyright violation claims):

Michael Kinsley in Politico: "This conceit that we’re the greatest country ever may be self-immolating. If people believe it’s true, they won’t do what’s necessary to make it true."

"Young Republicans with axes! New York firemen run amok!" Adam Goodheart, in a New York Times op-ed: You think this election cycle is characterized by a lack of civility? "Welcome to election week, 1860"!

Absurdity Is Reality. On one of Krugman's posts some weeks back, I hypothesized, mostly in jest, that tea partiers who railed against President Obama's "Keynesian economics" were really expressing their opposition to his "Kenyan economics." Maybe tea partiers are smarter than the people who rallied for sanity last Saturday. In any event, watch this video of Andy Cobb of Second City interviewing folks who attended the Rally to Restore Sanity:

Bob Herbert: "... political scientists Jacob Hacker of Yale and Paul Pierson of the University of California, Berkeley, argue persuasively that the economic struggles of the middle and working classes in the U.S. since the late-1970s were not primarily the result of globalization and technological changes but rather a long series of policy changes in government that overwhelmingly favored the very rich." ...

... I think my pal Karen Garcia has made the smartest observation of the day in her comment (#6) on Herbert's column:

We're finally beginning to realize that the two-party system - indeed, the whole three-part government system of checks and balances - has collapsed into itself to form one plutocratic whole.

The corporations run the executive branch, the legislative branch and now the judicial branch with the Citizens United case - which has given corporations their own human rights status. Even the so-called "fourth estate" of a free press has begun to be subsumed by the propaganda machine of News Corp and other media conglomerates. -- Karen Garcia

Darrin Bell finds a couple of guys who agree to disagree. Is this what Jon Stewart had in mind?

Click image to enlarge.

ABC News Gets Its Just Desserts. Greg Sargent. "Andrew Breitbart ... is now accusing the network of lying about whether they had tapped him to do on-air election night analysis. ABC News ... adamantly denied Breitbart's latest attack. But it appears he will still have some kind of role with ABC's coverage. This is worth noting, because it shows how insane it is for any serious news organization to play footsie with this guy." ...

... Eric Boehlert of Media Matters remarks that ABC News execs & Breitbart are feuding over the meaning of their e-mailed correspondence. Boehlert asks, "If ABC doesn't think Breitbart can read emails, why do they want him to comment on Tuesday night's election results?"

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