Welcome to Friday, April 12, 2024, and National Grilled Cheese Day, a sandwich that MUST be accompanied by tomato soup, comme ça:
It’s also Big Wind Day, National Dive Bar Day (I honor Anthony Bourdain), Walk on Your Wild Side Day, and the Commemoration of first human in space by Yuri Gagarin:who flew for 108 minutes into space on this day in 1961. The holiday incorporates Cosmonautics Day in(Russia and the interntional holidays Yuri’s Night and International Day of Human Space Flight.
Below: Gagarin, who died at 34 in a crash of a MIG plane during a training flight. He wrote that his space flight didn’t give him any religious feelings (from Wikipedia):
. . . in his book Gagarin denied God and wrote: “Man’s flight into space dealt a crushing blow to the churchmen. In the streams of letters coming to me, I was pleased to read the confessions in which believers, impressed by the achievements of science, renounced God, agreed that there is no God and everything connected with his name is fiction and nonsense.”
Readers are welcome to mark notable events, births, or deaths on this day by consulting the April 12 Wikipedia page.
Da Nooz:
*Obituaries first. O. J. Simpson died at 76 from cancer.
O.J. Simpson, who ran to fame on the football field, made fortunes as a Black all-American in movies, advertising and television, and was acquitted of killing his former wife and her friend in a 1995 trial in Los Angeles that mesmerized the nation, died on Wednesday at his home in Las Vegas. He was 76.
The cause was cancer, his family announced on social media.
The tweet:
On April 10th, our father, Orenthal James Simpson, succumbed to his battle with cancer.
He was surrounded by his children and grandchildren.
During this time of transition, his family asks that you please respect their wishes for privacy and grace.
-The Simpson Family
— O.J. Simpson (@TheRealOJ32) April 11, 2024
More from the NYT:
The jury in the murder trial cleared him, but the case, which had held up a cracked mirror to Black and white America, ruined his world. In 1997, a civil suit by the victims’ families found him liable for the deaths of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald L. Goldman, and ordered him to pay $33.5 million in damages. He paid little of the debt, moved to Florida and struggled to remake his life, raise his children and stay out of trouble.
In 2006, he sold a book manuscript, titled “If I Did It,” and a prospective TV interview, giving a “hypothetical” account of murders he had always denied committing. A public outcry ended both projects, but Mr. Goldman’s family secured the book rights, added material imputing guilt to Mr. Simpson and had it published.
In 2007, he was arrested after he and other men invaded a Las Vegas hotel room of some sports memorabilia dealers and took a trove of collectibles. He claimed that the items had been stolen from him, but a jury in 2008 found him guilty of 12 charges, including armed robbery and kidnapping, after a trial that drew only a smattering of reporters and spectators. He was sentenced to nine to 33 years in a Nevada state prison. He served the minimum term and was released in 2017.
My involvement with Simpson is shown below in the thank-you letter from his lawyer Johnnie Cochrane after his client was acquitted. I was in fact on Simpson’s defense team, which I joined after spending a few years serving as an exper expert witness in diverse cases involving the DNA “match statistics” of defendants, a statistic that involves population-genetic calculations. Except for Simpson, I had always defended poor people using public defenders, people whose charges were based on DNA evidence that, at the time, I thought was being used and calculated improperly. (It’s much better now.)
When I was asked to help with this case, I decided that even rich people deserved a proper DNA defense, and agreed to help, but only if I received no fees (except for my very first DNA case, I charged no money to be an expert witness, thinking it would damage my credibility if I were paid—and the prosecution always asks you on the stand.). After O. J. was acquitted, I decided to stop doing any DNA cases because I thought that he was guilty and that his acquittal was a miscarriage of justice. But of course everyone deserves a decent defense and most criminal lawyers do think that their clients were guilty. (Public defenders told me that they thought 80-90% of the clients they defended were guilty.) But the job of the defense is not to set the guilty free, but to make the prosecution PROVE their guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. I didn’t conclude Simpson was guilty until after the trial ended when I had already done my part and had heard all the other evidence.
I didn’t testify, thank goodness, nor did I help much save give my opinion about the DNA “match” statistics to the defense team. My view in the end was that the jury was simply bamboozled by the confusing DNA evidence, didn’t understand it (try telling a lay jury what DNA is, how it works, and what probability is), and, along with the glove business, decided to let O. J. go because at least some of them had reasonable doubt.
*Here’s a change in gun merchandising that the Biden Administration calls “the biggest increase in gun regulation in decades.” And indeed, it’s an important change and a big improvement in vetting potential gun owners. It used to be that you could buy a gun online or at a gun show on the spot without a background check. No more. I see that as a big deal, though only one small step for gun-owner kind:
In a move that officials touted as the most significant increase in American gun regulation in decades, the Justice Department has finalized rules to close a loophole that allowed people to sell firearms online, at gun shows and at other informal venues without conducting background checks on those who purchase them.
Vice President Harris and U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland celebrated the rules and said they would keep firearms out of the hands of potentially violent people who are not legally allowed to own guns.
The rules — which are expected to take effect in 30 days — codify changes outlined in the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, which was signed into law by President Biden in June 2022 and expanded which gun sellers were legally required to conduct background checks on buyers.
“Every person in our nation has a right to live free from the horror of gun violence. I do believe that,” Harris said on a call with reporters. “We know how to prevent these tragedies, and it is a false choice to say you are either in favor of the Second Amendment or you want to take everyone’s guns away.”
As part of the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, officials tasked the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, which is responsible for regulating the sales and licensing of firearms in the United States, with developing rules that would make clear to gun owners how officials will implement and enforce the new gun laws.
The rules clarify who is required to conduct background checks and aims to close what is known as the “gun show loophole” — which refers to the reality that gun-show sellers and online vendors are subject to much looser federal regulations than vendors who sell at bricks-and-mortar stores.
And those vendors should never have looser regulations than apply to those who sell guns from stores. My view on gun control is well known: it should be at least as strict as it is in the UK or Scotland, and I’ll say no more
*Inflation is up again, and that’s bad news for the Biden Administration and those of us who fear the reelection of Tr*mp.
The result: The Federal Reserve is very unlikely to cut interest rates in the next few months. Officials have been looking for a bit more assurance that inflation is steadily falling before deciding it’s time to trim borrowing costs. But since the start of the year, the data has brought unwanted surprises, with economists and the markets now expecting no cuts until later in 2024.
The Fed “is nowhere near where they’re going to need to be,” said Douglas Holtz-Eakin, president of the American Action Forum and former director of the Congressional Budget Office. “March would not give anyone any confidence.”
The Wall Street Journal explains why this is Biden’s most stubborn political problem.
Inflation has emerged as the most intractable domestic policy issue facing President Biden less than seven months before the election—but there isn’t a whole lot the White House can do to fix it.
. . .For now, officials said, Biden and his senior aides aren’t planning any major policy or rhetorical shifts. They plan to continue talking about the president’s proposals to lower the cost of housing and prescription drugs, while slashing student-loan debt and eliminating surcharges tacked on to everything from concert tickets to banking services.
“Our agenda to lower costs on behalf of working families is as urgent today as it was yesterday,” said Jared Bernstein, the chair of the White House Council of Economic Advisers. “We’re just going to keep our heads down and continue fighting to lower costs.” While a White House official said that inflation doesn’t decrease on a linear path and that there will always be bumps in the road, the administration thinks the trajectory is moving in the right direction.
Some of Biden’s cost-cutting plans will take months to come to fruition and will do little in the short term to slow the rate of price increases. Some stubbornly high prices, such as the cost of groceries, are mostly out of the Biden administration’s control. The president has called on grocery retailers and other companies to lower prices, citing their high profits. But he can’t compel companies to take action.
In the end, voters are going to put a lot of weight on their grocery bills and on how much it costs to fill up their car with gas. And both of those price indices have risen. Biden’s going to suffer big time if inflation doesn’t drop between now and election day, and even if it does, people are still paying more than they think they should have for their food and gas (and houses!).
*Here’s a headline from the AP: “Trump assails Jewish voters who back Biden: ‘Should have their head examined.’”
Donald Trump on Wednesday lashed out at Jewish voters who back President Joe Biden and framed this year’s election as a referendum on the strength of Christianity in the U.S., part of his sharp-edged continuing appeal to evangelical conservatives who are a critical element of his political base.
Speaking in Atlanta ahead of a fundraiser, the presumptive Republican nominee renewed his running criticism of Biden’s reaction to the Israel-Hamas war and the administration’s support for the rights of LGBTQ Americans, including transgender persons.
“Biden has totally lost control of the Israel situation,” said Trump, whose rise in 2016 depended heavily on white Christian conservatives. “Any Jewish person who votes for a Democrat or votes for Biden should have their head examined.”
Trump spoke after Biden last week warned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that future U.S. support for Israel’s Gaza war depends on the swift implementation of new steps to protect civilians and aid workers.
In Trump’s interpretation, Biden “has totally abandoned Israel.”
The Gaza conflict has sandwiched Biden between conservatives – both Christian and Jewish – who want stalwart support for Netanyahu’s government, and progressives. The matter is important to conservative Christians, among Trump’s most supportive constituencies, who see the political state of Israel as the modern manifestation of God’s chosen people, the Israelites of the Old Testament in the Christian Bible.
Biden’s left flank, though, is dominated by progressives incensed by Israel’s retaliation in Gaza that has resulted in thousands of Palestinian deaths. The president has repeatedly been greeted by protesters throughout his spring travels, and activists have organized votes against Biden in many Democratic primaries, even as he coasts to renomination.
Let’s be clear about one thing: I blame Hamas, not Israel, for thousands of deaths in Gaza, for all Hamas had to do was stop fighting and release the hostages, and they’d still be running the area. But American voters seem to have forgotten that there will be many civilian casualties produced by of an urban war fought among human shields, that Hamas committed real war crimes several times over, and that the mainstream media slants the news because they don’t care about Israel’s existence.
Now about Trump. He may have had, or will have (if, Ceiling Cat forbid, he’s elected) a better policy towards Israel than does Biden. I also think Biden’s conduct of the war has been dire, particularly in telling Israel how it has to fight. I’m no fan of Netanyahu, and am becoming even less of one as the war proceeds, but I am not a one-issue voter. Biden may be pandering to the progressives while still supporting Israel, support he declares constantly. I have no reason to believe otherwise—yet. But Trump may not only become erratic on Israel but, more important, has the power and the mental instability to drive the democracy right out of America. I will never vote for the man; if Biden shows himself irredeemably stupider on Israel than he has to date, or seems to be getting dementia, I might not vote at all (it wouldn’t matter in a Democratic state like Illinois). But as things stand, I guess I’m one of those Jewish voters that, according to Trump, should have his head examined.
*The U.S. firmly believes that an Iranian attack on Israel—justified by Iran after a likely Israeli strike on the Iranian embassy in Syria, killing terrorists—is imminent. And another Times of Israel headline says, “Top U.S. general arrives in Israel for talks amid fears of impending Iran strike.”
From the first article, which was buttressed by a report on last night’s NBC Evening News:
The United States believes a major Iranian attack on Israel is imminent and could happen in the coming days, according to a report Wednesday, as Iran reiterated its vow to retaliate for an alleged Israeli strike in Syria that killed two generals among several Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps officers.
Citing people familiar with US and Israeli intelligence assessments, Bloomberg reported Iran could launch strikes involving high-precision missiles and drones targeting military and government sites in Israel.
One of the people quoted in the report said it was a matter of when — not if — Tehran will attack Israel.
. . . The reports came as US President Joe Biden reiterated America’s commitment to Israeli security in the face of threats from Iran.
Speaking at a press conference with Japanese Prime Minister Kishida Fumio in the White House’s Rose Garden, Biden told reporters Wednesday that “[w]e also addressed the Iranian threat, as they threaten to launch a significant attack on Israel.
“As I told Prime Minister Netanyahu, our commitment to Israel’s security against these threats from Iran and its proxies is ironclad,” said Biden. “Let me say it again, ironclad. We’re going to do all we can to protect Israel’s security.”
Well, that’s good to hear, but I do wonder what the U.S. will do if Iran fires a bunch of missiles at Israel. Hezbollah, a proxy of Iran, also has a gazillion high-quality Iranian missiles, and if both fired at once, the Iron Dome simply couldn’t handle them. Would the U.S. really engage in a military strike on Iran? Given that both Israel and the U.S. have nukes, and Iran doesn’t (yet), I think Iran may hold its fire for a while, or perhaps fire a missile at an Israeli embassy in some other country.
About the second article, well, the U.S. military is in Israel plotting joint strategy:
Gen. Michael Kurilla, head of the US Central Command, lands in Israel.
Kurilla is expected to hold consultations with Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and other officials to discuss the threat of an Iranian attack.
The report added that US and Israeli officials across various agencies have been in contact over the last few days, as the countries prepare for a possible response by Tehran to the alleged Israeli strike on April 1 that hit an Iranian consulate building in Damascus that killed two generals among several Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps officers.
Yesterday, Bloomberg reported Iran could launch strikes involving high-precision missiles and drones targeting military and government sites in Israel after Iran reiterated its vow to retaliate.
I have to say that after the tension of the last few weeks, it’s good to see the U.S. and Israel cooperating even a little.
Meanwhile in Dobrzyn, Kulka is trying to take over Listy, but she won’t displace Hili, who is The Editor and occupies The Editor’s Chair. Szaron looks on.
Kulka: We are occupying the office.Hili: I rule here.
Kulka: Okupujemy biuro.Hili: To ja tu rządzę.*******************
Trigger warning: JAZZ! From America’s Cultural Decline into Idiocy:
From The Dodo Pet, a very kind cat owner:
From Not Another Science Cat Page. Yes, I used to have this experience at night, sometimes walking down the stairs:
Masih comments on calls for violence in Michigan. It’s freedom of speech, but Masih is worried that this speech will promote violence. (That still doesn’t make it illegal.) She also talks about Islamism.
“Death to America”, “Death to Israel”. I and millions of
of Iranians were brainwashed to shout these slogans in Iran from the age of 7. Now the same slogans heard on US soil yesterday. A few months ago Osama bin Laden became a hero for the youth in America via TikTok. What is… pic.twitter.com/gwnPUvUWcm— Masih Alinejad 🏳️ (@AlinejadMasih) April 10, 2024
A Democratic congresswoman from Texas, in the Party of Science, makes a bloody fool of herself. A NY Post article on her speech to high school students is here (ht/Rosemary)
Congresswoman Sheila Jackson-Lee (D):
The moon is "made up mostly of gases" so we can soon live inside it, unlike the sun which is "almost" too hot to go near. pic.twitter.com/bSd9zXcEPo
— End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) April 9, 2024
From Peter, a blackbird hanging out next to a British police station imitates the new car siren:
Incredible mimicry from a Blackbird on display here ! #springwatch https://t.co/Jxr0TTzhQQ
— Chris Packham (@ChrisGPackham) April 10, 2024
From Luana: A hijab-clad law student, invited to a private party at the dean of Berkeley Law School and his wife (a professor), decides to ideologically grandstand at a professor’s home, apparently bringing along a microphone and some like-minded companions. The hosts try to stop the broadcasting on their private property, but the woman won’t give up. Why are these people so aggressive, especially because it was a celebration in honor of the students?
First, there was apparently a plan because the dean is a Jew. That appears to be his sole crime. That’s enough to get him denounced. See the video below.
Antisemites at @BerkeleyLaw are targeting their professors.
When Dean Erwin Chemerinsky and Prof. Catherine Fisk invited 3Ls to dinner, students called for a boycott and then came to their home with a mic to protest.
Now @sairasameerarao is spreading this video without context. pic.twitter.com/mHILs5To8m
— Steve McGuire (@sfmcguire79) April 10, 2024
And the risible haranguing. Does the physical touching of the person, asking them to leave, constitute any form of assault? Below that, support for the dean from the Chancellor of UC Berkeley.
The pro-Palestinian activists don’t observe either civility or legality here; the woman won’t leave when asked. I would have called the cops.
The Los Angeles Times has the whole story, including this predictable bit:
Nine activists organized the protest as part of the law school’s Students for Justice in Palestine chapter.
Why was the dean targeted? For no reason other than that he’s Jewish.
Here’s his confirmation as well as statements of support for Chemerinsky and Fisk from other UC leaders: pic.twitter.com/N5vIASSuRG
— Steve McGuire (@sfmcguire79) April 11, 2024
Reader Barry says that he doesn’t wear caps, but if he did it would be this one:
We have a champion in the atheist hat contest! While all the hats were fantastic, Jen's contribution truly stood out as the perfect choice! 😊🎉 https://t.co/FdHPM30oB5
— Lilith (@Lilith_Atheist) April 9, 2024
From the Auschwitz Memorial: a French Jewish girl gassed to death at 12.
12 April 1930 | A French Jewish girl, Dora Gottfried, was born in #Paris to Chaya and Selig.
On 23 August 1942 she was killed in a gas chamber at #Auschwitz she was 12 years old. pic.twitter.com/rPvNrivLee
— Auschwitz Memorial (@AuschwitzMuseum) April 12, 2024
Three tweets from Dr. Cobb about the eclipse. He comments on the first one, “Lintott is a lovely bloke, extremely tall, an astronomer and a TV presenter.”
I don’t really have words for that. #Eclipse2024 pic.twitter.com/BCbUZkE2tV
— chrislintott (@chrislintott) April 8, 2024
Another one:
Let’s do it again tomorrow
— Dr. Laura Robinson (@LauraRbnsn) April 8, 2024
And the eclipse, whose shadow started in Mexico:
Mazatlán, Mexico has reached totality 🌑 The first city to experience #Eclipse2024 pic.twitter.com/AcdeptfCKX
— Collin Gross (@CollinGrossWx) April 8, 2024
On this day:
1204 – The Crusaders of the Fourth Crusade breach the walls of Constantinople and enter the city, which they completely occupy the following day.
1606 – The Union Flag is adopted as the flag of English and Scottish ships.
1831 – Soldiers marching on the Broughton Suspension Bridge in Manchester, England, cause it to collapse. [None of the men were killed, but twenty were injured, including six who suffered severe injuries including broken arms and legs, severe bruising, and contusions to the head. It’s believed that mechanical resonance induced by the troops marching in step across it caused the bridge, one of the first suspension bridges in Europe, to fail. As a result of the incident, the British Army issued an order that troops should “break step” when crossing a bridge.]
1861 – American Civil War: Battle of Fort Sumter. The war begins with Confederate forces firing on Fort Sumter, in the harbor of Charleston, South Carolina.
1864 – American Civil War: The Battle of Fort Pillow: Confederate forces kill most of the African American soldiers that surrendered at Fort Pillow, Tennessee.
1900 – One day after its enactment by the Congress, President William McKinley signs the Foraker Act into law, giving Puerto Rico limited self-rule.
1917 – World War I: Canadian forces successfully complete the taking of Vimy Ridge from the Germans.
1927 – Shanghai massacre of 1927: Chiang Kai-shek orders the Chinese Communist Party members executed in Shanghai, ending the First United Front.
1927 – Rocksprings, Texas is hit by an F5 tornado that destroys 235 of the 247 buildings in the town, kills 72 townspeople and injures 205; third deadliest tornado in Texas history.
1928 – The Bremen, a German Junkers W 33 type aircraft, takes off for the first successful transatlantic aeroplane flight from east to west.
1934 – The strongest surface wind gust in the world at the time of 231 mph, is measured on the summit of Mount Washington, New Hampshire. It has since been surpassed.
1937 – Sir Frank Whittle ground-tests the first jet engine designed to power an aircraft, at Rugby, England.
1945 – U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt dies in office; Vice President Harry S. Truman becomes President upon Roosevelt’s death.
1955 – The polio vaccine, developed by Dr. Jonas Salk, is declared safe and effective.
1961 – Space Race: The Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin becomes the first human to travel into outer space and perform the first crewed orbital flight, Vostok 1.
1981 – The first launch of a Space Shuttle (Columbia) takes place: The STS-1 mission.
1983 – Harold Washington is elected as the first black mayor of Chicago.
1999 – United States President Bill Clinton is cited for contempt of court for giving “intentionally false statements” in a civil lawsuit; he is later fined and disbarred.
1999 – During the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia, an American McDonnell Douglas F-15E Strike Eagle shoots a passenger train, killing between 20 and 60 people.
2002 – A suicide bomber blows herself up at the entrance to Jerusalem’s Mahane Yehuda Market, killing seven people and wounding 104.
2007 – A suicide bomber penetrates the Green Zone and detonates in a cafeteria within a parliament building, killing Iraqi MP Mohammed Awad and wounding more than twenty other people.
2009 – Zimbabwe officially abandons the Zimbabwean dollar as its official currency.
Births:
1484 – Antonio da Sangallo the Younger, Italian architect, designed the Apostolic Palace and St. Peter’s Basilica (d. 1546).
1639 – Martin Lister, English naturalist and physician (d. 1712).
1705 – William Cookworthy, English minister and pharmacist (d. 1780). [The first person in Britain to discover how to make hard-paste porcelain, like that imported from China. He subsequently discovered china clay in Cornwall.]
1839 – Nikolay Przhevalsky, Russian geographer and explorer (d. 1888). [Although he never reached his ultimate goal, the holy city of Lhasa in Tibet, he traveled through regions then unknown to the West, such as northern Tibet (modern Tibet Autonomous Region), Amdo (now Qinghai) and Dzungaria (now northern Xinjiang). He contributed substantially to European knowledge of Central Asian geography. He also described several species previously unknown to European science: Przewalski’s horse, Przewalski’s gazelle, and the wild Bactrian camel, all of which are now endangered.]
1883 – Imogen Cunningham, American photographer and educator (d. 1976).
1884 – Otto Meyerhof, German physician and biochemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1951).
1898 – Lily Pons, French-American soprano and actress (d. 1976).
1907 – Zawgyi, Burmese poet, author, literary historian, critic, scholar and academic (d. 1990).
1908 – Ida Pollock, English author and painter (d. 2013). [She sold millions of copies over her 90-year career under numerous pen names. She has been referred to as the “world’s oldest novelist” who was still active at 105 and continued writing until her death. On the occasion of her 105th birthday, Pollock was appointed honorary vice-president of the Romantic Novelists’ Association, having been one of its founding members.]
1912 – Hound Dog Taylor, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1975). [Inspired the young George Thorogood. Taylor was posthumously inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in 1984. His induction statement included: “He was not a virtuoso, nor a master technician. But the few things he could play, he could play like no one else could. He told writer Bob Neff the way he would like to be remembered: ‘He couldn’t play shit, but he sure made it sound good.'”]
1923 – Ann Miller, American actress, singer, and dancer (d. 2004).
1925 – Evelyn Berezin, American computer designer of the first computer-driven word processor (d. 2018). [Today’s Woman of the Day, see next post below.]
1925 – Oliver Postgate, English animator, puppeteer, and screenwriter (d. 2008).
1926 – Jane Withers, American actress (d. 2021). [One of the most popular child stars in Hollywood in the 1930s and early 1940s, with her films ranking in the top ten list for box-office gross in 1937 and 1938.]
1932 – Tiny Tim, American singer and ukulele player (d. 1996).
1933 – Montserrat Caballé, Spanish soprano and actress (d. 2018).
1939 – Alan Ayckbourn, English director and playwrightm
1940 – Herbie Hancock, American pianist, composer, and bandleader.
1941 – Bobby Moore, English footballer and manager (d. 1993).
1944 – Lisa Jardine, English historian, author, and academic (d. 2015).
1947 – Martin Brasier, English palaeontologist, biologist, and academic (d. 2014).
1947 – Tom Clancy, American historian and author (d. 2013).
1947 – David Letterman, American comedian and talk show host.
1948 – Jeremy Beadle, English television host and producer (d. 2008).
1950 – David Cassidy, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2017).
1950 – Joyce Banda, Malawian politician, 4th president of Malawi.
1954 – Pat Travers, Canadian singer-songwriter and guitarist.
1956 – Andy Garcia, Cuban-American actor, director, and producer.
1978 – Guy Berryman, Scottish bassist (Coldplay).
1979 – Claire Danes, American actress.
1987 – Brendon Urie, American singer, songwriter, musician and multi-instrumentalist.
Everybody going to be dead one day, just give them time. (Neil Gaiman):
1684 – Nicola Amati, Italian instrument maker (b. 1596). [The teacher of illustrious Cremonese School luthiers such as Andrea Guarneri and Giovanni Battista Rogeri. While no clear documentation exists for their being apprentices in his shop, Amati may also have apprenticed Antonio Stradivari, Francesco Rugeri, and Jacob Stainer, as their work is heavily influenced by Amati.]
1817 – Charles Messier, French astronomer and academic (b. 1730). [Published an astronomical catalogue consisting of 110 nebulae and star clusters, which came to be known as the Messier objects, referred to with the letter M and their number between 1 and 110.]
1866 – Peter Hesketh-Fleetwood, English politician, founded Fleetwood (b. 1801).
1912 – Clara Barton, American nurse and humanitarian, founded the American Red Cross (b. 1821).
1945 – Franklin D. Roosevelt, American lawyer and politician, 32nd President of the United States (b. 1882).
1975 – Josephine Baker, French actress, activist, and humanitarian (b. 1906).
1984 – Edwin T. Layton, American admiral and cryptanalyst (b. 1903).
1989 – Abbie Hoffman, American activist, co-founded Youth International Party (b. 1936).
1989 – Sugar Ray Robinson, American boxer (b. 1921).
1997 – George Wald, American neurologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1906).
1999 – Boxcar Willie, American singer-songwriter (b. 1931).
2001 – Harvey Ball, American illustrator, created the smiley (b. 1921). [It wasn’t Forrest Gump?!]
2008 – Jerry Zucker, Israeli-American businessman and philanthropist (b. 1949).
2022 – Gilbert Gottfried, American comedian, actor, and singer (b. 1955).
Woman of the Day:
[Text from the excellent The Attagirls X/Twitter account]
Woman of the Day physicist and computer engineer Evelyn Berezin born OTD 1925 in New York, who designed the world’s first word processor. Have you ever booked a plane ticket online, used spreadsheets, placed an online bet? Do you rely on your bank having an automated banking system so you can manage your account online? She invented all of those systems.
Her childhood in an apartment under elevated tracks in the East Bronx was spent reading science fiction in a magazine called Astounding Stories. Evelyn attended evening classes at all-female Hunter College until a WW2 City University programme allowed the admission of women to an all-male school to study calculus and other specialised subjects. She studied physics at NYU and after earning her bachelor’s degree, did graduate work through an Atomic Energy Commission fellowship.
In 1951, Evelyn started work as the only woman in a shop of engineers in Brooklyn. “They said to me, ‘Design a computer’. I had never seen one before. Hardly anyone else had. So I just had to figure out how to do it. It was a lot of fun – when I wasn’t terrified.”
First, she designed a computer for the Defense Department to make range calculations for artillery pieces and other big guns to hit their targets. Then she designed a computer that kept books and accounts, and another that automated a national banking system. In 1962, she developed the world’s first computerised airline reservations system for United Airlines, one of the largest computer systems ever built. Customers were linked with seat availability and airline offices in 60 cities with a one-second response time.
In 1969, Evelyn launched her own company, Redactron, in Long Island. At that time, an IBM typewriter using magnetic tape was regarded as state-of-the-art for processing text but it wasn’t designed for general secretarial use. She thought computer chips were the answer – Redactron had to design and build some of its own computer chips because so few were available on the market – and after less than two years, she brought the Data Secretary, a computerised word processor, on the market. “We delivered the first machine to our first customer in September of 1971 and it was so beautiful…I felt like dancing with joy.”
The machines were slow, bulky, noisy, but they could edit, delete, and cut and paste text. They revolutionised the work of authors, journalists and other writers. They also freed secretaries from the tyranny of the manual typewriter, often to the dismay of their male bosses. “It became obvious to the men that they didn’t need their secretaries anymore. They could do most of it themselves. But we also learned that if there is anything a man hates, it is to give up his secretary.”
Redactron was later sold to Burroughs and Evelyn joined the board of many companies, a benefit she attributed to the women’s movement. “Companies were scrambling to get a woman on the board. Companies were hiring the wives of people who were the presidents of companies…You can’t imagine the idiocy of what was going on.”
Evelyn held nine computer-related patents. She died in 2018 at the age of 93.
“So the way I got interested was purely accidental. I was really very lucky, because my parents, having had so little education, had no reason to discourage a girl studying physics because they had never heard of it and did not know what it was or that girls weren’t supposed to study it.”
https://twitter.com/TheAttagirls/status/1778672010530300140
The version of the Chemerinsky poster shown here is one that they cleaned up later. The original had blood on the eating utensils, unmistakably evoking the ancient blood libels against the Jews. You can see it in this blog post: https://reason.com/volokh/2024/04/10/berkeley-students-post-anti-semitic-cartoons-disrupt-dinner-at-dean-chemerinskys-home/
I saw, but can’t find via google, Jackson Lee’s full speech in Houston. While her observations on the eclipse are risible, her entire remarks are an unbelievable mess. By the way, she went to Yale and served on the House space and science committee.
I found your statement about Jackson’s education hard to believe, so I googled it. And amazingly enough, Jackson really and truly is a graduate of both Yale and UVA law school. This is from her official bio:
> Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee earned a B.A. in Political Science from Yale University with honors … followed by a J.D. from the University of Virginia Law School.
By coincidence, my brother also has a BA from Yale and a JD from UV Law School. Yet, somehow, he’s well aware that the moon isn’t a planet, isn’t made of gas, etc. etc. It just beggars the mind that Jackson could be so well educated while harboring such fantastical beliefs at the same time. And it’s hard to believe she never revealed her ignorance about basic science at any time she was serving on the science committee.
Not even basic science, really. More like basic reality. Maybe political science and law degrees don’t require a grounding in basic reality.
Photos of the surface of the moon show how rocky it is.
Maybe she thinks the moon landings were faked. I’ve encountered people (online) who believe that.
The full cringeworthy jackson-lee speech is available at
https://twitter.com/JacksonLeeTX18/status/1777403218110067050
Her short repartee with one of her hosts seeking assurance that what she said was basically correct, reminded me of tRUMP looking to the visibly uncomfortable Dr Birx onstage for affirmation as he discussed possible ridiculous remedies for covid. This was an indictment both of the congresswoman regarding some basic facts that any educated person should know and her staffer who actually wrote such crap…and of course her management of an office that would put out such drivel without a fact check by a subject matter expert.
So much for “elite” universities.
Regarding Chemerinsky, I assume that a person has a right to physically eject a person from their home, but that probably depends on the locale. Unless the student was claiming squatter’s rights.
“Given that both Israel and the U.S. have nukes, and Iran doesn’t (yet), I think Iran may hold its fire for a while, or perhaps fire a missile at an Israeli embassy in some other country.”
It is time to make sure that Iran never produces nuclear weapons because if they do and attack Israel there will be a devastating response because Israel must survive and Islam will happily crisp the planet in the sure and certain fact that paradise awaits with all its obscene benefits. Islamic theocracy is the existential risk to the planet eclipsing all others in my opinion and “Free Speech “ notwithstanding allowing representatives of these people to call for “ death to America” on American soil openly and with no recourse is just stupid. It will ensure the Trump victory.
The Congresswoman stating that the “moon is gas” has to be a reflection of her own speech content, just hot air. How do these people become representatives of their communities? It is more than embarrassing. It did not sound like it was meant as humour but perhaps I am being unfair?
Chemerinsky and Fisk were very patient and managed to evict the protestors from their property without the police—although, I read, that they were close to calling them. This is the payback they get for inviting students to their home. This is clear antisemitism. Jews being blamed for events in a country 7,500 miles away over which they have no power, say, or formal affiliation. When Jews are blamed for events in Israel, they are experiencing antisemitism.
And, of course, I’m looking forward to the glorious day when humans build their first city inside the gassy moon. Such a moron.
I don’t know, it’s getting to the point where I think we can expect this kind of performative protest at every social function, and at every venue.
“The blood of innocent Palestinians is on your hands …”
“Ma’am, this is a Wendy’s.”
Had no idea PCC(E) was involved in the OJ Simpson trial — a sadly unforgettable episode of our criminal justice history. The letter from Cochran is a piece of that history! I saw a clip yesterday, from an interview of one of the jurors some years after the trial. She said most jurors, including herself, thought he was guilty but wanted him to get off in the interest of racial justice.
I believe the term used was “payback.”
https://x.com/thexreportcard/status/1778450837788062134?s=61&t=f3tfa_dRLrupkxoDqTq45g
Yep. That was the clip.
That letter from Johnnie Cochran is such a fascinating artifact! He uses “innocence” in referencing his client, which I suppose he is obligated to do. I can’t help but wonder what he truly believed but could not ever say about Mr. Simpson.
Regarding the dean’s party and the disruptive protestors, it is a simple case of trespassing onto private property. Whether or not to involve the police is up to the property owner, but he was certainly within his rights to have them removed by law enforcement.
I’m going to bet that the police would not have removed the student from the professor’s back yard. She wasn’t inside the residence and she wasn’t disturbing the peace. What’s more, he had invited her there, and presumably allowed her and the other students into the house to use the bathroom. (At the scene, the police can’t easily determine who is the owner of the property with authority to decide who is allowed to be on it. It is a civil matter.)
At least in Canada the police will not remove trespassers from private property, especially if the trespass involves political protest because this creates great political risks for the police if a protester gets hurt during what will be decried as police suppression of the democratic right to protest.
The homeowner’s recourse is to remove the trespasser himself, assisted by his employees such as what a bouncer does in a nightclub. Ideally the other students should have come to his assistance and gently escorted her off his property being scrupulous to not hurt her. This would have had the additional benefit of inflicting moral isolation on her. Instead they sat by and did nothing in the video clip shown, indicating their support or cowardice.
If the property owner is not physically able to remove the trespasser(s), he can get an injunction, which the police “must” enforce. However they may still not (and usually don’t) if they believe the protesters make credible threats to create mayhem elsewhere if they are removed or even confronted. The landowner may end up losing his land if the occupiers are determined, well-funded, and enjoy media sympathy. The professor should be thankful she did eventually leave.
I’m sure he has learned a bitter lesson about the clash between leftism and property rights. No more backyard soirées for untrustworthy guests.
You have it correct as I understand trespass law, Leslie.
It is important to screen whom we invite to our homes very carefully.
D.A.
NYC
Here is a link to (what purports to be) a video of a (black) juror saying that the jury acquitted as “payback” for the Rodney King beating. That is, they refused to convict because OJ was black and the two people he killed were white.
I was never a public defender: those poor people have NO money. I was a cut rate defender though, representing the poor. If you got pinched and your family could whip around to pay me (not a lot, but more than a public defender) I was your atty. Our office was next to the pawn shop, opposite Queens Criminal Court – we had plastic lawn chair office furniture: far from the white shoe firms of Law and Order.
Nearly all of my clients were in fact guilty. But they still deserved (and got) a defense.
I did the job for a few years (after my more remunerative career on Wall St. in my 20s) so most of my clients were people banged up on silly, forgivable crimes*. I wasn’t in the career long enough to defend criminal big shots on murders, rapes, air piracy, etc. hehehe You climb the felony ladder as you age as a defense attorney. I think the only crime I couldn’t defend on my own morals is crimes against animals – to do so would ensure a less than adequate defense for my client. As for murderers, bring ’em on.
I went to law school after OJ and didn’t need a law degree to know he was utterly guilty.
Today our justice system (particularly in liberal cities like NYC and Chicago) bends over backwards for defendants I think. Given the mathematical power law of criminality – with a small number of people committing MOST of the crime, we need to lock more persistent offenders up, almost forever, for our peace and security.
hahaha. Earlier than all the above – before I came to America – I lived in Tokyo. Japan is different in every respect. Not in every way superior to us but they do get the big things right crime wise. Much of this is “upstream” due to their high social trust society which is more important than their system of justice and policing. So what works there isn’t easily reproducible here.
D.A.
NYC
*drugs, fighting, lock outs, etc.- mostly not life wrecking stuff.
Excellent stories David – as always. “You climb the felony ladder as you age as a defense attorney”. Thanks!
I think I would like Japanese society. I’m curious what would be an example of something really negative about it. All I’ve ever heard from people who’ve lived there as expats are positive things.
The various candidates for president present an interesting dilemma for those of us who support Israel’s battle against Hamas.
Biden is weak and equivocating, apparently more concerned about his own future than he is about Jews in Israel. And after the botched Afghanistan withdrawal and his a$$-kissing of Iran, I don’t know why anyone would look to him for sound operational or strategic advice. Other than that, he is a known quantity: take him or leave him.
Trump, at least to his supporters, seems to be a stronger candidate when it comes to defense of Israel. But he is on record with a statement that should raise doubt: “You have to finish up your war. You have to finish it up. You’ve got to get it done,” he said in an interview with Israeli newspaper Israel Hayom. “We’ve got to get to peace. You can’t have this going on, and I will say Israel has to be very careful because you are losing a lot of the world. You are losing a lot of support.” But Trump is Trump, and all that entails. Known quantity: take him or leave him.
Kennedy has been solid and unapologetic in his support of Israel and the need to destroy Hamas. Of course, he comes with other baggage, as the press cannot report on him without saying “vaccines” and “conspiracy.” That baggage strikes me as less heavy having listened to the man at length rather than relying on predigested political smears. His medical views, seemingly more questions than answers, but sometimes answers posing as questions, rely heavily on published observational studies, which are often confounded. He also seems unaware that much of the peer-reviewed academic literature is junk; that, or he is prone to confirmation bias on certain topics. The man is apt to speculate openly about things that need further study; his openness to discuss at length any topic about which he feels informed—and to speak without either prepared notes or formulaic bumper stickers—is unusual for a politician. He remains deeply suspicious on any matter about which the government refuses to comply with FOIA requests or otherwise lacks transparency. His consequent “conspiratorial” takes should be judged on how often they prove true or false rather than on the fact that he questions establishment views.
All that said, I would rather see a man err in having a healthy skepticism of what he was told by government agencies rather than one who had an excessive and unwarranted trust in those agencies. Indeed, skepticism, properly balanced, is an essential-but-not-sufficient trait to effectively manage the executive branch. The question is whether Kennedy’s skepticism of government agencies and moneyed interests is excessive. As of now, I think he is like a book that most people have never read but they feel compelled to judge after reading an unfavorable review or two. (Do they ever ask if the reviewer is supporting a competing book for this year’s literary prizes?) RFK Jr’s propensity to talk, along with a mix of positions distinct from the other two candidates, will either earn him support or bury him as more people get to know him better by his own words—assuming they bother to do so.
Paul Offit, MD, has a very unflattering account of his dealing with RFK Jr. on his site.
https://pauloffit.substack.com/p/my-conversation-with-robert-f-kennedy
(Offit was involved in developing the rotavirus vaccine.)
The two have a lively back-and-forth going on, don’t they! Thanks for the link.
Gee, Jerry! I’m fascinated to hear that you were an expert witness for OJ.’s defense. Long timers here probably already know about this, but it’s mind-blowing news to me. To hear you tell why you did it and why you stopped providing such services says so much about you as a human being. My, oh my. You’re not so bad, after all (hee hee). Pretty cool, indeed.
Today’s feline shot and narrative from Dobrzyn is my favorite of all the days I’ve been reading them. I love those cats.
On bird mimicry, it can be somewhat embarrassing. More than once I’ve come out of my house and heard the call of a buzzard, which are common in the fields and fells around where we live, but which I’ve never seen in our town. Then after several unsuccessful minutes rubbernecking to try and chalk up my first urban buzzard, I remember that the local starlings are excellent mimics.
I also wonder if starlings mimic each other. Over the last few years they have been making a distinctive, cheery weee-EEEEEEE call, which I used to hear very frequently, although I haven’t heard it much this year. Could this have been a starling meme, which has recently become a bit old hat? Any other Brits noticed this?
This from David Lat’s writeup of the UC Berkeley affair:
“The dean [of a different law school] pointed out to me that the United States has a long and noble tradition of civil disobedience, but civil disobedience involves accepting the consequences of your actions. As David French once quipped on Advisory Opinions, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s famous essay is titled “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” not “Letter from Birmingham Coffeeshop.’”
https://davidlat.substack.com/p/protest-berkeley-law-dean-erwin-chemerinsky-home
And here is a more complete video of the protest:
https://twitter.com/sfmcguire79/status/1778390157277774052