An excerpt from Vox -
Henry Kissinger just damned Jared Kushner with the faintest of praise
By Zack Beauchamp
The entire thing is the most lukewarm of lukewarm praise, about as generic and uninspired as it comes. One academic I follow on Twitter called it “the letter of recommendation you never want an advisor to send,” which sounds about right.
http://www.vox.com/world/2017/4/20/15373668/henry-kissinger-jared-kushner-time-100
Thursday, April 20, 2017
How TED Became TED
An excerpt from Wired -
The Oral History of TED, a Club for the Rich That Became a Global Phenomenon
By Emma Grey Ellis
BEFORE ITS 2,000-PLUS videos had been viewed 8 billion times, TED was an annual conference for wealthy eggheads. Starting in February 1984, 1,000 people who could afford to pay $4,000 (and up) would gather in Monterey, California, to hear 18-minute lectures on technology, entertainment, and design. (TED, get it?) Then, in 2006, TED started posting the presentations on its website, transforming a once-exclusive conference into a viral think-piece factory. As TED kicks off its 33rd conference this spring, here’s how the talks went global.
https://www.wired.com/2017/04/an-oral-history-of-ted-talks/
The Oral History of TED, a Club for the Rich That Became a Global Phenomenon
By Emma Grey Ellis
BEFORE ITS 2,000-PLUS videos had been viewed 8 billion times, TED was an annual conference for wealthy eggheads. Starting in February 1984, 1,000 people who could afford to pay $4,000 (and up) would gather in Monterey, California, to hear 18-minute lectures on technology, entertainment, and design. (TED, get it?) Then, in 2006, TED started posting the presentations on its website, transforming a once-exclusive conference into a viral think-piece factory. As TED kicks off its 33rd conference this spring, here’s how the talks went global.
https://www.wired.com/2017/04/an-oral-history-of-ted-talks/
Jordan Gets An Undeserved Pass
An excerpt from the Guardian -
Craig Hodges: 'Jordan didn't speak out because he didn't know what to say'
He was one of the NBA’s finest sharpshooters and a two-time champion alongside Michael Jordan, but was run out of the league for his outspoken views. A quarter of a century on, Craig Hodges is still fighting the good fight
By Donald McRae
Hodges has told his compelling life story with fiery passion, looping around a cast of characters stretching from Jordan, Magic Johnson and Phil Jackson back to Muhammad Ali, Arthur Ashe and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, before returning to the present. Sport and politics are entwined again in a country where Donald Trump is president and Colin Kaepernick remains locked outside football as an unsigned free agent who had the temerity to sink to one knee during the national anthem. And teenage African American boys, just like they were when Hodges was trying to shake up the NBA, are still being gunned down.
Hodges always wanted to voice his opposition to injustice. In June 1991, before the first game of the NBA finals between the Bulls and the LA Lakers, Hodges tried to convince Jordan and Magic Johnson that both teams should stage a boycott. Rodney King, an African American, had been beaten brutally by four white policemen in Los Angeles three months earlier – while 32% of the black population in Illinois lived below the poverty line.
As he writes in his new book Longshot: The Triumphs and Struggles of an NBA Freedom Fighter, Hodges told the sport’s two leading players that the Bulls and Lakers should sit out the opening game, so “we would stand in solidarity with the black community while calling out racism and economic inequality in the NBA, where there were no black owners and almost no black coaches despite the fact that 75% of the players in the league were African American”.
Jordan told Hodges he was “crazy” while Johnson said: “That’s too extreme, man.”
“What’s happening to our people in this country is extreme,” Hodges replied.
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2017/apr/20/craig-hodges-michael-jordan-nba-chicago-bulls?CMP=oth_b-aplnews_d-1
Craig Hodges: 'Jordan didn't speak out because he didn't know what to say'
He was one of the NBA’s finest sharpshooters and a two-time champion alongside Michael Jordan, but was run out of the league for his outspoken views. A quarter of a century on, Craig Hodges is still fighting the good fight
By Donald McRae
Hodges has told his compelling life story with fiery passion, looping around a cast of characters stretching from Jordan, Magic Johnson and Phil Jackson back to Muhammad Ali, Arthur Ashe and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, before returning to the present. Sport and politics are entwined again in a country where Donald Trump is president and Colin Kaepernick remains locked outside football as an unsigned free agent who had the temerity to sink to one knee during the national anthem. And teenage African American boys, just like they were when Hodges was trying to shake up the NBA, are still being gunned down.
Hodges always wanted to voice his opposition to injustice. In June 1991, before the first game of the NBA finals between the Bulls and the LA Lakers, Hodges tried to convince Jordan and Magic Johnson that both teams should stage a boycott. Rodney King, an African American, had been beaten brutally by four white policemen in Los Angeles three months earlier – while 32% of the black population in Illinois lived below the poverty line.
As he writes in his new book Longshot: The Triumphs and Struggles of an NBA Freedom Fighter, Hodges told the sport’s two leading players that the Bulls and Lakers should sit out the opening game, so “we would stand in solidarity with the black community while calling out racism and economic inequality in the NBA, where there were no black owners and almost no black coaches despite the fact that 75% of the players in the league were African American”.
Jordan told Hodges he was “crazy” while Johnson said: “That’s too extreme, man.”
“What’s happening to our people in this country is extreme,” Hodges replied.
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2017/apr/20/craig-hodges-michael-jordan-nba-chicago-bulls?CMP=oth_b-aplnews_d-1
Birds of a Feather?
From the Los Angeles Times -
The Bill O'Reilly case shows how much Fox News and UC Berkeley have (horrors!) in common
By Michael Hiltzik
What may be most telling about the O’Reilly case is that it’s far from unique. Indeed, many of its features were replicated at an institution that, on the surface, is as different from Fox as one could imagine: UC Berkeley. Neither Fox nor Berkeley would probably relish being discussed in the same sentence as the other, but it’s their handling of accused serial harassers that makes them cousins.
The Berkeley case involves renowned astronomer Geoff Marcy, who was forced to resign his tenured professorship in 2015 after reports surfaced of multiple accusations from students of unwanted sexual overtures. Marcy had joined the Berkeley faculty in 1999 from San Francisco State University and was touted as one of its stars. Often cited as a candidate for the Nobel Prize, he commanded millions of dollars in research funds.
http://www.latimes.com/business/hiltzik/la-fi-hiltzik-berkeley-sexual-harassment-20170418-story.html
The Bill O'Reilly case shows how much Fox News and UC Berkeley have (horrors!) in common
By Michael Hiltzik
What may be most telling about the O’Reilly case is that it’s far from unique. Indeed, many of its features were replicated at an institution that, on the surface, is as different from Fox as one could imagine: UC Berkeley. Neither Fox nor Berkeley would probably relish being discussed in the same sentence as the other, but it’s their handling of accused serial harassers that makes them cousins.
The Berkeley case involves renowned astronomer Geoff Marcy, who was forced to resign his tenured professorship in 2015 after reports surfaced of multiple accusations from students of unwanted sexual overtures. Marcy had joined the Berkeley faculty in 1999 from San Francisco State University and was touted as one of its stars. Often cited as a candidate for the Nobel Prize, he commanded millions of dollars in research funds.
http://www.latimes.com/business/hiltzik/la-fi-hiltzik-berkeley-sexual-harassment-20170418-story.html
Wednesday, April 19, 2017
Keep Saying "Good Morning"
From the Los Angeles Times -
Getting older, and falling apart, but no shortage of role models for fighting on
By Steve Lopez
http://www.latimes.com/local/california/la-me-lopez-20170418-story.html
Getting older, and falling apart, but no shortage of role models for fighting on
By Steve Lopez
http://www.latimes.com/local/california/la-me-lopez-20170418-story.html
Paid Time Off to Protest
From the Washington Post -
The newest Silicon Valley perk? Paid time off to protest Trump.
By Abha Bhattarai
Silicon Valley firms have long been known for offering a litany of employee perks: home-cooked lunches, free massages, climbing walls and dog-friendly offices.
Now some are adding yet another incentive to attract — and retain — workers: paid time off to protest.
Fauna, a San Francisco-based database start-up, recently began allowing its 13 employees to take unlimited paid leave to participate in rallies, vote, write letters to elected officials and take part in other civic activities. Before February, employees could take time off on an as-needed basis. But the political climate — and polarization — after President Trump’s inauguration called for more defined measures, said Amna Pervez, director of recruiting and retention.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/business/wp/2017/04/18/the-newest-silicon-valley-perk-paid-time-off-to-protest-trump/?utm_term=.d06dd727f125&wpisrc=nl_rainbow&wpmm=1
The newest Silicon Valley perk? Paid time off to protest Trump.
By Abha Bhattarai
Silicon Valley firms have long been known for offering a litany of employee perks: home-cooked lunches, free massages, climbing walls and dog-friendly offices.
Now some are adding yet another incentive to attract — and retain — workers: paid time off to protest.
Fauna, a San Francisco-based database start-up, recently began allowing its 13 employees to take unlimited paid leave to participate in rallies, vote, write letters to elected officials and take part in other civic activities. Before February, employees could take time off on an as-needed basis. But the political climate — and polarization — after President Trump’s inauguration called for more defined measures, said Amna Pervez, director of recruiting and retention.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/business/wp/2017/04/18/the-newest-silicon-valley-perk-paid-time-off-to-protest-trump/?utm_term=.d06dd727f125&wpisrc=nl_rainbow&wpmm=1
Jesuits & Georgetown Repent
An excerpt from CNN -
In emotional service, Jesuits and Georgetown repent for slave trading
By Daniel Burke
(CNN)There is wide gulf, Frederick Douglass wrote in 1845, between Christianity proper and the "slaveholding religion of this land." One is "good, pure and holy," the other corrupt and wicked, the "climax of all misnomers, the boldest of all frauds."
"We have men-stealers for ministers, women-whippers for missionaries and cradle-plunderers for church members," Douglass wrote in "Life of an American Slave."
For Douglass, as for other African-Americans, the sin of slavery was intolerable; the complicity of Christians unforgivable.
http://www.cnn.com/2017/04/18/living/georgetown-slavery-service/index.html
In emotional service, Jesuits and Georgetown repent for slave trading
By Daniel Burke
(CNN)There is wide gulf, Frederick Douglass wrote in 1845, between Christianity proper and the "slaveholding religion of this land." One is "good, pure and holy," the other corrupt and wicked, the "climax of all misnomers, the boldest of all frauds."
"We have men-stealers for ministers, women-whippers for missionaries and cradle-plunderers for church members," Douglass wrote in "Life of an American Slave."
For Douglass, as for other African-Americans, the sin of slavery was intolerable; the complicity of Christians unforgivable.
http://www.cnn.com/2017/04/18/living/georgetown-slavery-service/index.html
Tuesday, April 18, 2017
Pie Thrower Trial
An excerpt from Deadspin -
Will The First Amendment Save The Kevin Johnson Pie Bandit
By Dave McKenna
Can pie throwing be considered a protected form of speech? Will Kevin Johnson be asked, for the first time ever, to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth about his seamy side, so help him God? Will Michelle Rhee get cross-examined—or even examined?
Getting the answers to those questions will be among the reasons folks who’ve followed the never-ending soap opera of Johnson, the ex-NBA superstar turned disgraced (and now former) mayor of Sacramento, are excited about the upcoming trial of Sean Thompson, the man who hit Johnson with a pie at a fall charity gala, then took a beating from the pied politico. Thompson was charged with counts of assaulting a public official, a felony, and committing assault on school grounds, a misdemeanor. At a hearing last week in Sacramento Superior Court, a judge confirmed that the trial will indeed start on April 19. The court has set aside two weeks, a huge amount of time for a typical assault case. But nobody expects this trial to proceed typically.
http://deadspin.com/will-the-first-amendment-save-the-kevin-johnson-pie-ban-1794317698
Will The First Amendment Save The Kevin Johnson Pie Bandit
By Dave McKenna
Can pie throwing be considered a protected form of speech? Will Kevin Johnson be asked, for the first time ever, to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth about his seamy side, so help him God? Will Michelle Rhee get cross-examined—or even examined?
Getting the answers to those questions will be among the reasons folks who’ve followed the never-ending soap opera of Johnson, the ex-NBA superstar turned disgraced (and now former) mayor of Sacramento, are excited about the upcoming trial of Sean Thompson, the man who hit Johnson with a pie at a fall charity gala, then took a beating from the pied politico. Thompson was charged with counts of assaulting a public official, a felony, and committing assault on school grounds, a misdemeanor. At a hearing last week in Sacramento Superior Court, a judge confirmed that the trial will indeed start on April 19. The court has set aside two weeks, a huge amount of time for a typical assault case. But nobody expects this trial to proceed typically.
http://deadspin.com/will-the-first-amendment-save-the-kevin-johnson-pie-ban-1794317698
I Don't Drink, But I'd Go to This Bar
From Thrillist -
THIS JUST-OPENED NYC BAR IS DONATING ALL PROCEEDS TO CAUSES THREATENED UNDER TRUMP
By TANNER SAUNDERS
Get ready to drink, New York, because there’s a new bar putting all your pricey cocktail money towards charity.
Coup, which opened Friday night, is the city’s first 100% not-for-profit cocktail bar. Founded by Ravi DeRossi, the brains behind some of the city’s most influential cocktail bars (like Death & Co. and Amor y Amargo) and bartenders Sother Teague and Max Green, Coup was founded in response to the policies of President Trump. The goal is to offer people a way to support causes threatened by the new administration, and to celebrate the diversity of New York. “The way we define ourselves is: we’re not an anti-Trump bar, we’re just a pro-charity bar and the charities we happen to be working with right now are organizations that need money right now to fight this current administration or are being defunded,” DeRossi tells Thrillist.
https://www.thrillist.com/drink/new-york/east-village/coup-bar-nyc-protests-trump-donates-profits
THIS JUST-OPENED NYC BAR IS DONATING ALL PROCEEDS TO CAUSES THREATENED UNDER TRUMP
By TANNER SAUNDERS
Get ready to drink, New York, because there’s a new bar putting all your pricey cocktail money towards charity.
Coup, which opened Friday night, is the city’s first 100% not-for-profit cocktail bar. Founded by Ravi DeRossi, the brains behind some of the city’s most influential cocktail bars (like Death & Co. and Amor y Amargo) and bartenders Sother Teague and Max Green, Coup was founded in response to the policies of President Trump. The goal is to offer people a way to support causes threatened by the new administration, and to celebrate the diversity of New York. “The way we define ourselves is: we’re not an anti-Trump bar, we’re just a pro-charity bar and the charities we happen to be working with right now are organizations that need money right now to fight this current administration or are being defunded,” DeRossi tells Thrillist.
https://www.thrillist.com/drink/new-york/east-village/coup-bar-nyc-protests-trump-donates-profits
Yes Ladies!
From Oakland Magazine -
The Oakland Sisterhood
Women hold every top leadership job in the city’s bureaucracy. Plus, Libby Schaaf’s mayoral staff has six women in senior roles.
By Robert Gammon, Sarah Phelan, Matthew Artz, and Steven Tavares
Oakland has long been a liberal bastion, but it took 159 years for the city to swear in its first-ever female mayor. And now, just six years after that precedent-setting event, Oakland is making up for lost time. Not only did the city’s second female mayor take office in 2015, but women currently dominate nearly every corner of City Hall.
When Mayor Libby Schaaf swore in the city’s first-ever female police chief, Anne Kirkpatrick, on Feb. 27, women for the first time held all the major leadership roles in the city’s bureaucracy: the mayor, the city administrator, the city administrator’s three top deputies, the police chief, and the fire chief. Schaaf’s mayoral office staff also has six women in senior management jobs, plus 10 more women in supporting roles. And that’s not counting the four female city councilmembers and the city attorney.
Call it the Oakland Sisterhood.
http://www.oaklandmagazine.com/April-2017/The-Oakland-Sisterhood/
The Oakland Sisterhood
Women hold every top leadership job in the city’s bureaucracy. Plus, Libby Schaaf’s mayoral staff has six women in senior roles.
By Robert Gammon, Sarah Phelan, Matthew Artz, and Steven Tavares
Oakland has long been a liberal bastion, but it took 159 years for the city to swear in its first-ever female mayor. And now, just six years after that precedent-setting event, Oakland is making up for lost time. Not only did the city’s second female mayor take office in 2015, but women currently dominate nearly every corner of City Hall.
When Mayor Libby Schaaf swore in the city’s first-ever female police chief, Anne Kirkpatrick, on Feb. 27, women for the first time held all the major leadership roles in the city’s bureaucracy: the mayor, the city administrator, the city administrator’s three top deputies, the police chief, and the fire chief. Schaaf’s mayoral office staff also has six women in senior management jobs, plus 10 more women in supporting roles. And that’s not counting the four female city councilmembers and the city attorney.
Call it the Oakland Sisterhood.
http://www.oaklandmagazine.com/April-2017/The-Oakland-Sisterhood/
She's Fired Up
An excerpt from Salon -
Maxine Waters, Donald Trump and impeachment: One Democrat is ready — her party and the American people may follow
A California Democrat calls for impeachment, and the world says it's too early. That might change — and quickly
By HEATHER DIGBY PARTON
The anti-Trump resistance is very much a grassroots effort, but there are leaders emerging. One of the most vocal is Rep. Maxine Waters, a Democrat who represents Los Angeles. Appearing at the Washington Tax Day march last Saturday, Waters put it bluntly: “I don’t respect this president,” she said. “I don’t trust this president. He’s not working in the best interests of the American people. I will fight every day until he is impeached!” Then she led the crowd in a chant of “Impeach 45!” It doesn’t get any more resistant than that.
Waters has always been a tough and forceful politician, unafraid to take a position and speak her mind. She first came to national attention after the violence following the acquittal of police officers in the beating of Rodney King when she went on TV and explained to America through gritted teeth that the African-American community in L.A. hadn’t just exploded out of nowhere. It was a message a lot of people didn’t want to hear, but she made sure they received it anyway. She has been a thorn in the side of conservatives ever since then, once inspiring Ann Coulter to venomously spew that without affirmative action Waters “wouldn’t have a job that didn’t involve wearing a paper hat.” Right-wingers often lose their composure when confronted with such a strong, unapologetic African-American woman who is unafraid of getting right up in their faces.
http://www.salon.com/2017/04/17/maxine-waters-donald-trump-and-impeachment-one-democrat-is-ready-her-party-and-the-american-people-may-follow/
Maxine Waters, Donald Trump and impeachment: One Democrat is ready — her party and the American people may follow
A California Democrat calls for impeachment, and the world says it's too early. That might change — and quickly
By HEATHER DIGBY PARTON
The anti-Trump resistance is very much a grassroots effort, but there are leaders emerging. One of the most vocal is Rep. Maxine Waters, a Democrat who represents Los Angeles. Appearing at the Washington Tax Day march last Saturday, Waters put it bluntly: “I don’t respect this president,” she said. “I don’t trust this president. He’s not working in the best interests of the American people. I will fight every day until he is impeached!” Then she led the crowd in a chant of “Impeach 45!” It doesn’t get any more resistant than that.
Waters has always been a tough and forceful politician, unafraid to take a position and speak her mind. She first came to national attention after the violence following the acquittal of police officers in the beating of Rodney King when she went on TV and explained to America through gritted teeth that the African-American community in L.A. hadn’t just exploded out of nowhere. It was a message a lot of people didn’t want to hear, but she made sure they received it anyway. She has been a thorn in the side of conservatives ever since then, once inspiring Ann Coulter to venomously spew that without affirmative action Waters “wouldn’t have a job that didn’t involve wearing a paper hat.” Right-wingers often lose their composure when confronted with such a strong, unapologetic African-American woman who is unafraid of getting right up in their faces.
http://www.salon.com/2017/04/17/maxine-waters-donald-trump-and-impeachment-one-democrat-is-ready-her-party-and-the-american-people-may-follow/
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