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BeyondGeography
BeyondGeography's Journal
BeyondGeography's Journal
February 29, 2024
Weve never come to terms with the fact that were dealing with crazyand very determinedpeople. Our brains are wired to expect reasonable outcomes. We keep waiting for the right thing to happen after weve played the conventional game.
And we never fucking learn.
Leave it to a Republican never-Trumper to put it better than any Democrat Ive seen so far:
https://twitter.com/walshfreedom/status/1763202454206734723?s=61&t=EcvWMxA1syxTf8zqNwq-IA
Problem: Democrats are process-oriented and bar fights aren't
Weve never come to terms with the fact that were dealing with crazyand very determinedpeople. Our brains are wired to expect reasonable outcomes. We keep waiting for the right thing to happen after weve played the conventional game.
And we never fucking learn.
Leave it to a Republican never-Trumper to put it better than any Democrat Ive seen so far:
https://twitter.com/walshfreedom/status/1763202454206734723?s=61&t=EcvWMxA1syxTf8zqNwq-IA
Urgency. It was never treated with sufficient urgency. For the first time in American history, a President lost an election and then tried to overthrow the election. And NOBODY treated it with the urgency it required. Because what Trump did was so unprecedented, our entire political and justice systems froze, and they ALL simply waited too damn long to deal with it.
February 26, 2024
$1 Billion Donation Will Provide Free Tuition at a Bronx Medical School
https://twitter.com/krassenstein/status/1762121808097018077?s=46&t=UDtLaS-w7g67AF4Q2Xb1mgThe 93-year-old widow of a Wall Street financier has donated $1 billion to a Bronx medical school, the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, with instructions that the gift be used to cover tuition for all students going forward.
The donor, Dr. Ruth Gottesman, is a former professor at Einstein, where she studied learning disabilities, developed a screening test and ran literacy programs. It is one of the largest charitable donations to an educational institution in the United States and most likely the largest to a medical school.
The fortune came from her late husband, David Gottesman, known as Sandy, who was a protégé of Warren Buffett and had made an early investment in Berkshire Hathaway, the conglomerate Mr. Buffett built.
The donation is notable not only for its staggering size, but also because it is going to a medical institution in the Bronx, the citys poorest borough. The Bronx has a high rate of premature deaths and ranks as the unhealthiest county in New York. Over the past generation, a number of billionaires have given hundreds of millions of dollars to better-known medical schools and hospitals in Manhattan, the citys wealthiest borough.
Gift link:
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/26/nyregion/albert-einstein-college-medicine-bronx-donation.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare
The donor, Dr. Ruth Gottesman, is a former professor at Einstein, where she studied learning disabilities, developed a screening test and ran literacy programs. It is one of the largest charitable donations to an educational institution in the United States and most likely the largest to a medical school.
The fortune came from her late husband, David Gottesman, known as Sandy, who was a protégé of Warren Buffett and had made an early investment in Berkshire Hathaway, the conglomerate Mr. Buffett built.
The donation is notable not only for its staggering size, but also because it is going to a medical institution in the Bronx, the citys poorest borough. The Bronx has a high rate of premature deaths and ranks as the unhealthiest county in New York. Over the past generation, a number of billionaires have given hundreds of millions of dollars to better-known medical schools and hospitals in Manhattan, the citys wealthiest borough.
Gift link:
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/26/nyregion/albert-einstein-college-medicine-bronx-donation.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare
February 25, 2024
Mozart Clarinet Quintet - Larghetto
?si=VOh68Sj08YSY7jjP
February 20, 2024
Fani Willis: Wine tasting server corroborates $400 cash payment testimony
https://twitter.com/pettylupone/status/1760020750399091100?s=61&t=EcvWMxA1syxTf8zqNwq-IA
February 11, 2024
Ozawa (1985), a documentary directed by Albert and David Maysles
Beauty and artistry, soul and spirit.
A great cross-cultural escape. Highly recommend.
February 10, 2024
Trump tells Harrisburg NRA audience PA's name will be changed if he loses
https://twitter.com/btoellner/status/1756156639273472077?s=61&t=EcvWMxA1syxTf8zqNwq-IA
February 9, 2024
Josh Marshall: More Angry Biden, Please
Is it frustration? Something deeper, or more shallow? I woke up this morning to see that the front page of the Times has five stories above the virtual fold. All five were about Joe Bidens memory, press conference, special counsel report. Full news day, I guess. Yesterday I noticed the Times Astead Herndon on this on Twitter. He is not some slightly younger version of David Broder. Hes a pretty new entrant to the upper echelon of elite DC news media. I think he graduated from college as Trumps first campaign was getting underway. But the acculturation appears complete. After Hurs report dropped he wrote that despite questions about Bidens age being the most impt non-Trump issue in this elec[tion] the DC press corps has a sorta gentlemans agreement for the last year to pretend like its not. Maybe that ends now.
Am I taking crazy pills here? Do I have dementia? I think its fair to say that at least a third of the political chatter about President Biden for the last year, and quite possibly half of it, is about the Presidents age. But maybe the omertà is about to end? Im still trying to process the idea that a top Washington reporter really thinks theres been some kind of fix-is-in ban on discussing the Presidents age. As David says, the press sees the blood in the water and this will keep up for a while now. As for the report itself, if you missed it, I shared my thoughts on that yesterday. The Presidents ongoing verbal gaffes speak for themselves. I wanted to zoom in on something a bit different about yesterdays spectacle. Aside from discussions of the Presidents cognitive faculties, the main focus actually the two were melded together was commentary about his anger. This seemed to be a universal response from the DC press corps, that the whole impromptu press conference was a mess because the President displayed clear and clearly genuine anger.
Its probably not lost on you that Donald Trump is basically permanently angry. And not just angry in response to particular events but the kind of perpetual and often peristaltic anger that in day to day life most people find threatening or at least off-putting. But we virtually never hear anything about the purported damage from expressions of anger when its Donald Trump. Thats not bias. Its simply that its assumed. So it just doesnt come up. Its no longer policed. Thats just what Donald Trump does. But theres an additional factor that people dont notice. Being responsive to this kind of press policing signals a basic weakness, a perpetual hedging, a practice of being controlled and responsive to the press chorus rather than indifferent to it. Trumps able to work outside this framework of policing because he simply ignores it and because of that reporters decide it doesnt apply to him. This isnt just Biden. Its not even just Trump. Democrats for a host of reasons tend to be far more responsive to this kind of policing. People want to see expressions of agency and power from political leaders. Trumps ability to set the terms for how the press reacts and interprets his actions is itself an expression of power.
All of which is to say that it wasnt just okay that Biden showed some anger. It was good. And he should do more of it. Both because people expect people to have normal and appropriate human responses and grow latent suspicions when they dont see it but also because its Biden showing some energy and direction. They should put him in front of reporters and the cameras more, not less. If you are responding to the tut-tutting and line-drawing of the prestige media youre losing. Its as simple as that. Youre always either reacting or being reacted to. The latter is always better.
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/more-angry-biden-please
Am I taking crazy pills here? Do I have dementia? I think its fair to say that at least a third of the political chatter about President Biden for the last year, and quite possibly half of it, is about the Presidents age. But maybe the omertà is about to end? Im still trying to process the idea that a top Washington reporter really thinks theres been some kind of fix-is-in ban on discussing the Presidents age. As David says, the press sees the blood in the water and this will keep up for a while now. As for the report itself, if you missed it, I shared my thoughts on that yesterday. The Presidents ongoing verbal gaffes speak for themselves. I wanted to zoom in on something a bit different about yesterdays spectacle. Aside from discussions of the Presidents cognitive faculties, the main focus actually the two were melded together was commentary about his anger. This seemed to be a universal response from the DC press corps, that the whole impromptu press conference was a mess because the President displayed clear and clearly genuine anger.
Its probably not lost on you that Donald Trump is basically permanently angry. And not just angry in response to particular events but the kind of perpetual and often peristaltic anger that in day to day life most people find threatening or at least off-putting. But we virtually never hear anything about the purported damage from expressions of anger when its Donald Trump. Thats not bias. Its simply that its assumed. So it just doesnt come up. Its no longer policed. Thats just what Donald Trump does. But theres an additional factor that people dont notice. Being responsive to this kind of press policing signals a basic weakness, a perpetual hedging, a practice of being controlled and responsive to the press chorus rather than indifferent to it. Trumps able to work outside this framework of policing because he simply ignores it and because of that reporters decide it doesnt apply to him. This isnt just Biden. Its not even just Trump. Democrats for a host of reasons tend to be far more responsive to this kind of policing. People want to see expressions of agency and power from political leaders. Trumps ability to set the terms for how the press reacts and interprets his actions is itself an expression of power.
All of which is to say that it wasnt just okay that Biden showed some anger. It was good. And he should do more of it. Both because people expect people to have normal and appropriate human responses and grow latent suspicions when they dont see it but also because its Biden showing some energy and direction. They should put him in front of reporters and the cameras more, not less. If you are responding to the tut-tutting and line-drawing of the prestige media youre losing. Its as simple as that. Youre always either reacting or being reacted to. The latter is always better.
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/more-angry-biden-please
February 9, 2024
The Battle is Over but the War Goes On - Levon Helm Band
?si=lLtKvbmT3_nD4YjQ
February 9, 2024
Our good citizenship award for being the adults in the room over the years
https://twitter.com/chrislhayes/status/1755741598699143350?s=61&t=EcvWMxA1syxTf8zqNwq-IA
February 8, 2024
Talk about a cheap shot
Biden spent five hours answering Hurs questions on October 8 and 9.
From a response letter from Bidens attorneys which is included in the report:
We do not believe that the reports treatment of President Bidens memory is accurate or appropriate. The report uses highly prejudicial language to describe a commonplace occurrence among witnesses: a lack of recall of years-old events, the lawyers write. They complain that other witnesses lapses in memory are not treated with the same pejorative tone, and say that Bidens interview occurred the day after the October 7 attacks in Israel, so the presidents attention was elsewhere. I was so determined to give the Special Counsel what they needed, Biden said in a statement, that I went forward with five hours of in-person interviews over two days on October 8th and 9th of last year, even though Israel had just been attacked on October 7th and I was in the middle of handling an international crisis.
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2024/02/special-counsels-devastating-charge-against-biden/677396/
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2024/02/special-counsels-devastating-charge-against-biden/677396/
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