Wednesday: Hili dialogue

April 17, 2024 • 7:00 am

Welcome to a Hump Day (“Küürupäev” in Estonian):  Wednesday, April 17, 2024, and National Cheeseball Day, a party treat from the Fifties.  Here’s a specimen from Wikipedia. (I was once called a “cheeseball” on one of my undergraduate course evaluations for wearing colorful Hawaiian shirts when I taught class.  It could have been worse!)

 

Valereee, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons

There will be no “Readers’ wildlife” today, but those of you who sent pictures should not worry: I have them all. We’re running low, I am debilitated from getting no sleep last night, and I must prepare a lecture to give in Amsterdam. Posting will be light but not nonexistent. Bear with me; I do my best.

It’s also Bat Appreciation Day, International Haiku Poetry Day (cultural appropriation), School Librarians’ Day (special kudos here), National Crawfish Day, National Banana Day, International Ford Mustang Day, Malbec World Day, and World Hemophilia Day

Readers are welcome to mark notable events, births, or deaths on this day by consulting the April 17 Wikipedia page.

Da Nooz:

*The latest in the Trump hush money trial: 7 jurors have now been seated, they’re allowed to be vetted on their social-media posts, and the judge chewed out the Donald:

Another three jurors have been added, bringing the total to six. [JAC: it’s now seven. Remember that they need 18 because there must be six “alternates” if regular jurors drop out.]

The jurors are picked by process of elimination in a system that will repeat until a full jury is selected: Eighteen prospective jurors are brought to the jury box, then lawyers move to have certain prospective jurors eliminated “for cause.” They then eliminate some with peremptory challenges, which don’t require a reason.

Those remaining become jurors for the trial.

. . .With prospective jurors not yet back in the room, Trump lawyer Todd Blanche tells the judge that he has found a number of social media posts he says come from possible jurors that are “very much contrary to the answers they gave.”

As an example, he shows the judge a Facebook post that he said was from a prospective juror’s account and described going to a Manhattan dance party to celebrate Trump’s loss in the last election.

Judge Merchan says he’s going to ask the juror to come in and allow attorneys to ask her questions about it.

. . .Judge Merchan has dismissed a potential juror after Trump’s attorneys raised concerns about a 2017 Facebook post, which they said was shared by the man, celebrating a court decision against one of the Republican’s presidential policies.

Part of the post read, “Get him out and lock him up!”

The man was called into the courtroom and acknowledged the post was from his account, though he said he didn’t remember sharing it.

If Trump is found guilty in the hush money case, a potential sentence could include jail time, the judge said.

“I don’t think I can allow this juror to remain,” Merchan said.

And Trump got admonished, as I’m sure he will be–many times:

. . .Judge Juan Merchan admonished Trump for speaking loudly and gesturing while a prospective juror was being questioned about Facebook posts she made regarding his 2020 election loss.

“Before we continue, I just want to put something on the record. Mr. Blanche, while the juror was at the podium, your client was audibly uttering something,” Merchan said after the prospective juror left the courtroom, referring to lawyer Todd Blanche.

“I don’t know what he was uttering, but it was audible and he was gesturing and he was speaking in the direction of the juror. I won’t tolerate that. I will not tolerate any jurors being intimidated in this courtroom.”

Merchan then instructed Blanche to “take a minute and speak to your client about it.”

If Trump bad-mouths the judge or anybody else, though, he’ll violate the gag order and could be put in the pokey! This isn’t exactly the “Trial of the Century,” but I’m pretty sure that Trump is guilty, though not sure at all that he’ll spend any time in the slammer.

*Many of the rioters in the January 6 “insurrection” event have been charged with an obscure “obstruction” law, but now the Supreme Court has doubts about whether that charge is Constitutional. Those affected (i.e., freed or given lighter sentences) could include not only those already in jail, but Trump himself.

The Supreme Court seemed wary on Tuesday of letting prosecutors use a federal obstruction law to charge hundreds of rioters involved in the Capitol attack on Jan. 6, 2021.

A decision rejecting the government’s interpretation of the law could not only disrupt those prosecutions but also eliminate two of the federal charges against former President Donald J. Trump in the case accusing him of plotting to subvert the 2020 election.

Mr. Trump’s case did not come up at the argument, which was largely focused on trying to make sense of a statute that all concerned agreed was not a model of clarity. But the justices’ questions also considered the gravity of the assault and whether prosecutors have been stretching the law to reach members of the mob responsible for the attack.

Justice Clarence Thomas, who returned to the bench after an unexplained absence on Monday, asked whether the government was engaging in a kind of selective prosecution. “There have been many violent protests that have interfered with proceedings,” he said. “Has the government applied this provision to other protests?”

. . .But the justices mostly considered whether a provision of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, enacted in the wake of the collapse of the energy giant Enron, covers the conduct of a former police officer, Joseph W. Fischer, who participated in the Capitol assault, on Jan. 6, 2021.

The law figures in two of the federal charges against Mr. Trump in his election subversion case, and more than 350 people who stormed the Capitol have been prosecuted under it. If the Supreme Court sides with Mr. Fischer and says the statute does not cover what he is accused of having done, Mr. Trump is almost certain to contend that it does not apply to his conduct, either.

It all seems to hinge on the interpretation of one word—”otherwise”—in  2002 law that makes it illegal to “corruptly obstruct, influence or impede any official proceeding.” This is really above my pay grade, but the Court’s decision could have a profound effect not just on Trump, but on many demonstrates already convicted or those yet to be charged.

*Israel has decided that it must respond to the attack from Iran, but also that it will probably do so by attacking Iranian proxies like Hezbollah or Iranian forces in Iraq. It will also take its time. I think that’s smart if it wishes to keep whatever goodwill Israel has acquired by simply defending itself against Iran.

The Israeli military said Iran would not get off “scot-free” following its unprecedented missile and drone attack early Sunday, as the country’s leaders continued to mull how to balance a forceful response with calls by the United States and other allies to keep the round of fighting from snowballing further.

“We cannot stand still from this kind of aggression,” Israel Defense Forces spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari told reporters in English at Julis military base near Kiryat Malachi, while displaying the remains of an intercepted ballistic missile. “Iran will not get [off] scot-free with this aggression.”

It was the latest threat from military officials, after IDF chief Herzi Halevi vowed Monday night that “there will be a response” to the approximately 350 drones and missiles launched at Israel late Saturday and early Sunday.

Israel’s high-level war cabinet was set to meet Tuesday for the third time in three days to decide on a response to Iran’s first-ever direct attack, which left one person with serious injuries and caused only minor damage to a military base.

The US and other allies have urged restraint, amid fears that an Israeli reprisal could fragment the US-led coalition that coalesced to take down Iran’s aerial attack. Despite worries of a larger conflagration breaking out, hardliners say Israel must mount a response to restore deterrence.

Meanwhile, the U.S. is now accusing Hamas rather than Israel of being an impediment to peace, as Hamas has rejected Israel’s peace proposal.

The United States on Monday accused Hamas of being the barrier to a temporary ceasefire in Gaza, adding that Israel had moved in a “significant way” to submit a reasonable proposal in the ongoing hostage talks.

“There’s a deal on the table that would achieve much of what Hamas claims it wants to achieve, and they have not taken that deal,” US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said in a briefing.

Truth be told, I suspect that only about 40 hostages are left alive, and Israel would be foolish to accept any deal that releases hundreds of jailed Palestinian terrorists for an unknown number of Israeli hostages (Hamas refuses to disclose the number of living hostages, or even total hostages, which tells you something.)  Bargaining like this encourages the taking of more hostages.

*I had heard this as a rumor, but the Wall Street Journal brings it out into the open: the three members of the Israeli war cabinet, charged with running the conflict with Hamas, not only disagree, but don’t even like each other.

Six months into the conflict against Hamas, the Israeli public is deeply divided about how to win the war in the Gaza Strip. So, too, are the three top officials in the war cabinet meant to foster unity in that effort.

Long-simmering grudges and arguments over how best to fight Hamas have soured relations between Israel’s wartime decision makers—Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and the former head of the Israeli military, Benny Gantz. The three men are at odds over the biggest decisions they need to make: how to launch a decisive military push, free Israel’s hostages and govern the postwar strip.

Now, they also must make one of the biggest decisions the country has ever faced: how to respond to Iran’s first-ever direct attack on Israeli territory. Their power struggle could affect whether the Gaza conflict spirals into a bigger regional fight with Iran that transforms the Middle East’s geopolitical order and shapes Israel’s relations with the U.S. for decades.

“The lack of trust between these three people is so clear and so significant,” said Giora Eiland, a former Israeli general and national security adviser.

Netanyahu, the nation’s longest-serving premier, increasingly is trying to direct the Gaza war by himself, while Gallant and Gantz are widely seen to be trying to cut out Netanyahu from decisions.

Gantz, the general who led Israel’s last major war against Hamas a decade ago, has previously expressed a desire to oust Netanyahu as prime minister. He called earlier this month for early elections in September after tens of thousands of people demonstrated against the prime minister’s handling of the war—a sign that Gantz’s base has grown frustrated with his role in a Netanyahu-led government.

. . . On April 8, Netanyahu said he has set a date to push into the Gazan city of Rafah, the last Hamas stronghold where more than a million Palestinians are sheltering. He has faced opposition, though, from Gallant, who wants to figure out how to manage American expectations before proceeding, said people familiar with the disagreements.

. . . All three men have different ideas about postwar Gaza. The prime minister has said the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority in its current form should play no role, and is focused on the Israeli army working with local leaders. Palestinians say Netanyahu’s plan amounts to occupation, something he says he opposes.

. . . The three men also don’t agree about how to free the hostages held by Hamas. Gantz has called publicly for a deal to secure their release, saying their lives are at risk. Netanyahu and Gallant have emphasized that only military pressure along with negotiations will lead to their release.

I might be accused of being antisemitic if I said, responding to the above, “Hey, they’re Jews. They’re not going to agree on anything!”  But in fact it’s true that Jews are known for arguing and disagreeing; that’s all the hyperorthodox Jews do besides studying the Torah.  But non-Orthodox argue, too. If they didn’t, Israel would have a constitution! But this disagreement is still distressing.

*The NYT has a story about the damning tweets by NPR’s new CEO Katherine Maher, following hard on the heels of the exposé of the organization by Uri Berliner in the Free Press (Berliner has since been given the boot; see below). The Free Press is really doing its job! From the NYT:

Katherine Maher, the chief executive of NPR, is facing online criticism for years-old social media posts criticizing former President Donald J. Trump and embracing liberal causes.

The posts, published on the social media platform Twitter, which is now called X, were written before she was named chief executive of NPR in January. They resurfaced this week after an essay by an NPR staff member who argued that the broadcaster’s leaders had allowed liberal bias to taint its coverage.

“Also, Donald Trump is a racist,” read one of Ms. Maher’s posts in 2018, which has since been deleted. Another post, from November 2020, shows Ms. Maher wearing a hat with the logo for the Biden presidential campaign.

“Had a dream where Kamala and I were on a road trip in an unspecified location, sampling and comparing nuts and baklava from roadside stands,” Ms. Maher wrote, an apparent reference to Vice President Kamala Harris. “Woke up very hungry.”

Ms. Maher, who had not worked in the news industry before joining NPR, was the chief executive of the Wikimedia Foundation, a nonprofit that supports the popular online resource Wikipedia, when she wrote many of the posts that were now being criticized.

An NPR spokeswoman, Isabel Lara, said in a statement that Ms. Maher “was not working in journalism at the time and was exercising her First Amendment right to express herself like any other American citizen.”

. . . . Ms. Maher said in a statement that in America, “everyone is entitled to free speech as a private citizen.” She heralded the network’s commitment to independent reporting and called on Americans to “listen, watch and read our work.”

Yes, of course, but it’s good to see who’s running what was (and likely will remain) the People’s Station., substantially fundied through tax monies though it’s biased and uber-woke.  Regardless of whether she was working in journalism, you can see some of her tweets on the site of Chris Rufo, who broke this story, or at Matt Taibbi’s article on her:

Two more from Taibbi (screenshots):

The NYT has more, but click to read for yourself (it’s archived here):

Of course progressives won’t object to these tweets, but liberals who want to listen to a variety of viewpoints will. And of course, conservatives shouldn’t tune in or they’ll blow an artery. All in all, Maher’s views, as expressed in her tweets, don’t seem to make her an optimal candidate for CEO at NPR.

Meanwhile in Dobrzyn, Hili and Szaron want their privacy from Andrzej:

Hili: Don’t spy on us. We are looking for privacy here.
A: OK, I’m going.
In Polish
Hili: Nie podglądaj nas, my tu szukamy prywatności.
Ja: O.K., już znikam.

*******************

From Kurt:

From The Dodo Pet:

From History for the Witty:

Masih also report on her site that Iran began increased enforcement of hijab-wearing on Saturday night, which of course is when Iran attacked Israel. Here’s a CNN report in which Maish and Reena Ninan discuss the Iran/Israel attack.

Related lagniappe: An eloquent Iranian woman tells off Western “saviors”:

Simon says this about the tweet below (Trump’s NY trial): ” I can see why Melania would have no sympathy – given that she was pregnant when these affairs occurred…..”

NPR suspended correspondent Uri Berliner, who, in a Free Press piece, called out the organization (of which he was an editor) for excessive bias:

A bit more; be sure you can find the damning tweets by CEO Katherine Maher on Rufo’s Twitter feed, and read the NYT story above

WHAT ARE THESE?

From the Auschwitz Memorial, one that I retweeted:

Several tweets from Dr. Cobb, who’s now safely back in Old Blighty. These show lost American architecture. Look at that library!

27 thoughts on “Wednesday: Hili dialogue”

  3. “And of course, conservatives shouldn’t tune in or they’ll blow an artery.”

    Laughed out loud at that one.

    Reply

  4. “WHAT ARE THESE?”

    Whatever they are, I can’t shake the feeling that they taste like blackberries.

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    1. Lionhead goldfish. We can rightly marvel at the hyper-variety that we’ve bred into dogs, but we have also done much to goldfish.

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  5. It’s worth noting that before going to NPR, Katherine Maher had a senior role at Wikipedia. The same political bias is also seen at Wikipedia. One of the ways they do this is by labelling left-wing media sources as “reliable” but right-wing media sources as “unreliable”, thus disallowing the latter as sources for wikipedia articles, and so neatly building in a distinct bias.

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    1. The Society for Evidence-Based Gender Medicine has suffered from this neat bias reinforcing device. Back in 2022, a trans-gender rights activist wrote up a hit piece about the Society and posted it to Wikipedia. That is now SEGM’s page on Wikipedia. People friendly or sympathetic to what SEGM actually says and does cannot make edits because only “trusted editors”, can offer edits to the talk page for contentious articles. Trusted editors have to have made 500 edits on neutral topics they know something about in order to achieve that status. Meanwhile, “trusted editors” can pillory individuals associated with SEGM without fear of rebuttal.

      Funny how things fit together.

      Disclaimer: I am not a donor, member, employee, or officer of SEGM.

      Reply

      1. Another good example is Rationalwiki, which — in the old days — used to be a useful resource on rational/sceptic issues. Then some radical-left editors got hold of it, and locked out any editors they disagreed with. It’s now a set of hit pieces on anyone who disagrees with the radical-left on anything.

        That in itself would not matter much, except that Rationalwiki comes high on Google searches. That’s because they have friends at Google who have rigged the algorithm to give undue prominence to the site.

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  6. The Berliner suspension was as predictable as the sun coming up in the morning.

    I’m not terribly concerned about reports that Netanyahu, Gantz, and Gallant are at odds. The future of Israel as a state is at stake, and I would expect the men to be thrashing over the various options. If the way forward were obvious, the disagreements would be few. Of course, as Jerry says: “Hey, they’re Jews… ” so perfect alignment is impossible.

    They’ll figure it out. And what could go wrong, when the three are getting so much “help” from leaders in North America and Europe?

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    1. Uri Berliner and Don McNeil should start a podcast. It could be called “The Strikethrough”. Or “Control-Alt-Delete”.

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    2. So Berliner exaggerated and things are ~90% as bad as he said. That.. isn’t the takedown these guys seem to think it is.

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  11. Late again…

    On this day:
    1521 – Trial of Martin Luther over his teachings begins during the assembly of the Diet of Worms. Initially intimidated, he asks for time to reflect before answering and is given a stay of one day.

    1524 – Giovanni da Verrazzano reaches New York harbor.

    1895 – The Treaty of Shimonoseki between China and Japan is signed. This marks the end of the First Sino-Japanese War, and the defeated Qing Empire is forced to renounce its claims on Korea and to concede the southern portion of the Fengtian province, Taiwan and the Penghu to Japan.

    1907 – The Ellis Island immigration center processes 11,747 people, more than on any other day. [Controlled immigration – how old fashioned…]

    1931 – After negotiations between Catalan and Spanish provisional governments, the Catalan Republic proclaimed in April 14 becomes the Generalitat de Catalunya, the autonomous government of Catalonia within the Spanish Republic.

    1942 – French prisoner of war General Henri Giraud escapes from his castle prison in Königstein Fortress.

    1951 – The Peak District becomes the United Kingdom’s first National Park.

    1961 – Bay of Pigs Invasion: A group of Cuban exiles financed and trained by the CIA lands at the Bay of Pigs in Cuba with the aim of ousting Fidel Castro.

    1969 – Sirhan Sirhan is convicted of assassinating Robert F. Kennedy.

    1970 – Apollo program: The ill-fated Apollo 13 spacecraft returns to Earth safely.

    2003 – Anneli Jäätteenmäki takes office as the first female prime minister of Finland.

    2006 – A Palestinian suicide bomber detonates an explosive device in a Tel Aviv restaurant, killing 11 people and injuring 70.

    2014 – NASA’s Kepler space telescope confirms the discovery of the first Earth-size planet in the habitable zone of another star.

    2021 – The funeral of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, takes place at St George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle.

    Births:
    1598 – Giovanni Battista Riccioli, Italian priest and astronomer (d. 1671). [Known, among other things, for his experiments with pendulums and with falling bodies, for his discussion of 126 arguments concerning the motion of the Earth, and for introducing the current scheme of lunar nomenclature. He is also widely known for discovering the first double star. He argued that the rotation of the Earth should reveal itself because on a rotating Earth, the ground moves at different speeds at different times.]

    1799 – Eliza Acton, English food writer and poet (d. 1859). [Produced one of Britain’s first cookery books aimed at the domestic reader, Modern Cookery for Private Families. The book introduced the now-universal practice of listing ingredients and giving suggested cooking times for each recipe. It included the first recipes in English for Brussels sprouts and for spaghetti. It also contains the first recipe for what Acton called “Christmas pudding”; the dish was normally called plum pudding, recipes for which had appeared previously, although Acton was the first to put the name and recipe together.]

    1820 – Alexander Cartwright, American firefighter and (disputed) inventor of baseball (d. 1892). [Wikipedia has added “disputed” to the description since this time last year.]

    1837 – J. P. Morgan, American banker and financier, founded J.P. Morgan & Co. (d. 1913).

    1897 – Thornton Wilder, American novelist and playwright (d. 1975).

    1906 – Sidney Garfield, American physician, co-founded Kaiser Permanente (d. 1984).

    1916 – Sirimavo Bandaranaike, Prime Minister of Sri Lanka, world’s first female prime minister (d. 2000).

    1918 – William Holden, American actor (d. 1981).

    1923 – Lindsay Anderson, English actor, director, and screenwriter (d. 1994).

    1928 – Cynthia Ozick, American short story writer, novelist, and essayist. [She appears briefly in the film Town Bloody Hall, where she asks Norman Mailer, “in Advertisements for Myself you said, quote, ‘A good novelist can do without everything but the remnant of his balls’. For years and years I’ve been wondering, Mr. Mailer, when you dip your balls in ink, what color ink is it?”]

    1929 – James Last, German-American bassist, composer, and bandleader (d. 2015).

    1930 – Chris Barber, English trombonist and bandleader (d. 2021).

    1934 – Don Kirshner, American songwriter and producer (d. 2011). [Dubbed “the Man with the Golden Ear” by Time magazine, he was best known for managing songwriting talent as well as successful pop groups, such as the Monkees, Kansas, and the Archies.]

    1940 – Billy Fury, English singer-songwriter (d. 1983).

    1942 – Buster Williams, American jazz bassist.

    1946 – Clare Francis, English sailor and author. [Today’s Woman of the Day, see next post below.]

    1948 – Jan Hammer, Czech pianist, composer, and producer.

    1955 – Pete Shelley, English singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2018). [Ever Fallen in Love (With Someone You Shouldn’t’ve)?]

    1957 – Nick Hornby, English novelist, essayist, lyricist, and screenwriter.

    1959 – Sean Bean, English actor.

    1967 – Barnaby Joyce, Australian politician, 17th Deputy Prime Minister of Australia. [Came to the attention of those outside Australia when he became embroiled in the affair surrounding Johnny Depp and Amber Heard’s dogs, Pistol and Boo.]

    1972 – Jennifer Garner, American actress.

    1974 – Victoria Beckham, English singer and fashion designer.

    1985 – Rooney Mara, American actress.

    No one here gets out alive. (Jim Morrison):
    1669 – Antonio Bertali, Italian violinist and composer (b. 1605).

    1695 – Juana Inés de la Cruz, Mexican poet and scholar (b. 1651). [Colonial Mexican writer, philosopher, composer and poet of the Baroque period, as well as a Hieronymite nun, nicknamed “The Tenth Muse” and “The Phoenix of America” by her contemporary critics. As a Spanish-criolla from the New Spain, she was among the main American-born contributors to the Spanish Golden Age, alongside Juan Ruiz de Alarcón and Garcilaso de la Vega “el Inca”, and is presently considered one of the most important female authors in Spanish language literature and the literature of Mexico.]

    1790 – Benjamin Franklin, American inventor, publisher, and politician, 6th President of Pennsylvania (b. 1706).

    1840 – Hannah Webster Foster, American journalist and author (b. 1758).

    1882 – George Jennings, English engineer and plumber, invented the flush toilet (b. 1810).

    1942 – Jean Baptiste Perrin, French-American physicist and chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1870).

    1960 – Eddie Cochran, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1938).

    1967 – Red Allen, American singer and trumpet player (b. 1908).

    1993 – Turgut Özal, Turkish engineer and politician, 8th president of Turkey (b. 1927).

    1997 – Chaim Herzog, Israeli general, lawyer, and politician, 6th President of Israel (b. 1918).

    1998 – Linda McCartney, American photographer, activist, and musician (b. 1941).

    2003 – Robert Atkins, American physician and cardiologist, created the Atkins diet (b. 1930). [The Atkins diet has been described as “one of the most popular fad diets in the United States”.]

    2003 – Earl King, American blues singer, guitarist and songwriter (b. 1934).

    2007 – Kitty Carlisle, American actress, singer, socialite and game show panelist (b. 1910).

    2014 – Gabriel García Márquez, Colombian journalist and author, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1927).

    2018 – Barbara Bush, American political matriarch and literacy advocate, First Lady of the United States (1989–1993), and Second Lady of the United States (1981–1989) (b. 1925).

    Reply

    1. Woman of the Day
      [Text from Wikipedia]

      Clare Mary Francis MBE (born on this day in 1946) is a British novelist who in her first career as a yachtswoman has twice sailed across the Atlantic on her own. She was the first woman to captain a successful boat on the Whitbread Around the World race.

      Francis was born in Thames Ditton in Surrey and spent summer holidays on the Isle of Wight, where she learned to sail. She was educated at the Royal Ballet School, then gained a degree in economics at University College London.

      In 1973, after working in marketing for three years, she took leave to sail singlehandedly across the Atlantic in the Nicholson 32 Gulliver G, departing from Falmouth in Cornwall and arriving, 37 days later, at Newport, Rhode Island. Following this, she received sponsorship to take part in the 1974 Round Britain Race with Eve Bonham, again in Gulliver G. They finished in third place. In 1975, she took part in the Azores and Back and the L’Aurore singlehanded races; and, in 1976, she competed in the Observer Singlehanded Transatlantic Race in her Ohlson 38 yacht Robertson’s Golly, finishing thirteenth overall and setting a new women’s single-handed transatlantic record. She also took part in that year’s L’Aurore singlehanded race. During 1977 and 1978, she became the first woman to skipper a yacht in the Whitbread Round the World Race, finishing in fifth place in her Swan 65 ADC Accutrac.

      Francis married a draughtsman named Jacques Redon in 1977. He became a crew member on her yacht. They divorced in 1986. The marriage produced one child. Francis suffers from chronic fatigue syndrome and is a trustee of the UK charity Action for ME.

      After writing three accounts of her sailing experiences, she turned to fiction and is the author of eight best-sellers.

      https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clare_Francis

      Reply

  12. Regarding Gabriel García Márquez being a journalist; one of his earliest published stories as a journalist was Story of a Shipwrecked Sailor. It was ghost written, and he wasn’t famous at the time, but it’s a riveting piece of writing and reporting. He was in his twenties when he wrote it, and I know if I was a contemporary I would have thought, “Damn, this guy can write.” It seems journalism is a good background for writing…many famous artists started out as journalists. I can think of Joan Didion, Twain and I think Dickens was a journalist.

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  13. Thanks for the links, Stephen. Alicia Montgomery’s piece (Slate) describes pretty common workplace “politics”. People are people wherever they go. Inskeep sounded pretty “butt sore” to me. He’ll get over it. It’s all a lot to do about nothing, in my opinion. NPR once had a good thing going. It’s been a long time since that was true.

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  14. With respect Jerry, the following passage is a zombie myth:
    …the People’s Station., substantially funded through tax monies…”
    NPR (and also public radio in general) is not substantially funded by taxpayers. >99% of funding is via private donations/subscriptions from individuals and corporate sponsorships much of it via local public radio stations.
    https://www.npr.org/about-npr/178660742/public-radio-finances
    “On average, less than 1% of NPR’s annual operating budget comes in the form of grants from CPB and federal agencies and departments.”

    Reply

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