Thursday, May 16, 2024

Red-Winged Blackbird




 

28 comments:

  1. Did you know that we in the US have had
    "unemployment below 4% for a record 27 months, and more than 15 million jobs created since Biden took office, including 789,000 in manufacturing. According to Politifact, three quarters of those jobs represented a return to the conditions before the coronavirus pandemic, but the rest are new. Politifact noted that it is so rare for manufacturing jobs to bounce back at all, that the only economic recovery since World War II that beats the current one was in 1949, making the recovery under the Biden-Harris administration the strongest in 72 years.
    "And yet, a recent Philadelphia Inquirer/New York Times/Siena College poll found that 78% of Pennsylvania voters thought the economy was “fair” or “poor.” Fifty-four percent of them said they trust Trump to handle the economy better than Biden, compared with just 42% who prefer Biden.
    "The divorce between reality and people’s beliefs illuminates just how important media portrayals of events are.

    More here: Heather Cox Richardson's latest

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Good HCR column.
      ----Alan

      Delete
    2. I saw an explanation for this some time ago. People don't think of "the economy" in terms of jobs. They assume they have a job due to their own efforts. But they're still feeling the effects of that spike in inflation two years ago and don't realize that, aside from housing, inflation is now under control.

      Delete
  2. Replies
    1. By the time of the first "debate" Trump could well have been convicted in his current NYC case for a month. He might even be incarcerated.
      ----Alan

      Delete
    2. From your lips to God's ear!

      Delete
    3. Trum[ will appeal and any actual threat of incarceration is months off. But he will be a convicted felon at that pont.

      Delete
  3. Emma Brockes on Cohen testimony [Click] “… Cohen, assuming a mild air that somehow made his testimony all the more devastating, didn’t mince words. It reminded me of that bit in A Fish Called Wanda when Jamie Lee Curtis, in the witness box at the Old Bailey, says casually that, yes, she could be absolutely sure of what time her boyfriend had left the house because, “I was saying to myself, ‘It’s five to seven, where could he be going with that sawed-off shotgun?’” I don’t recall that bit of the movie; maybe I should re-watch it! I have a copy.
    ——Alan

    ReplyDelete
  4. New book review: Maurice Isserman: I spent years studying American communism. Here’s what I learned [Click] Reds: The Tragedy of American Communism.
    —Alan

    ReplyDelete
  5. My sports story of the day (month, more like): Most valuable pest? Raccoon’s soccer pitch invasion delights observers [Click]
    —Alan

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh, I'm picturing it! Go Raccoon! LOL

      Delete
    2. I do hope they didn't hurt him!

      Delete
    3. {listener}
      I saw the video; it seemed cruel. They chased him with a plastic trash can that they eventually got over him, but not before blundering and hitting him with it a few times.
      Why didn’t they just set out some food for him and slip it over him during his meal?

      Delete
  6. I am terribly apprehensive that something will go wrong and Trump will not be convicted. At the same time, it seems Blanch keeps making misstep after misstep.

    Video: ‘Unflappable’: Michael Cohen appears unfazed by Todd Blanche’s cross-examination - Click

    ReplyDelete
  7. Replies
    1. I don't know it. C-notes to doughnut holes, the jurors have long since made up their minds and it is too late to change that.
      ----Alan

      Delete
  8. I just watched the second feature, and enjoyed it immensely. The style of presentation is out of fashion, and it irritates me that the speaker doesn't know how to pronounce "shaman," but those are minor things.
    ----Alan

    ReplyDelete
  9. MSNBC end-of-day panel discussion of the day’s goings-on in the NY Trump trial [Click] Evidently the defense’s cross examination will end Monday morning, to be followed by re-direct and closing arguments. So, maybe to the jury on Thursday?
    —Alan

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. So the defense will present no witnesses/

      Delete