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Thanksgiving With ‘The Run-Up’: Are Black Voters Leaving Democrats Behind?

web_boss_university — Fri, 24 Nov 2023 08:55:09 +0000

Are Black Voters Leaving Democrats Behind?

Polls suggest they might be. So we convened a very special Thanksgiving focus group to try and understand why.

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Hosted by Astead W. Herndon

Produced by Anna Foley and Elisa Gutierrez

Photographs by Akilah Townsend

Reporting from Flossmoor, Ill.

The change was so remarkable that it almost seemed like a mistake: In a poll of residents in battleground states by The New York Times and Siena College this fall, 22 percent of Black voters said they would support former president Donald Trump over President Biden in a hypothetical 2024 matchup.

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“There’s a thought that, you know, like Black people are not Republicans. That’s just the bottom line. And Republicans are for the rich people.”

Pashal Mabry

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“We vote because that’s what we’re supposed to do. But then when you see the numbers, it’s almost disheartening. It’s like we’re once again like the bedrock having to put the weight on, and I want everybody to do it.”

Shanell Bowden

Mr. Trump carried 8 percent of the Black vote in 2020.

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Astead Herndon came to his childhood home, with colleagues and microphones in tow, to do the one thing you’re not traditionally supposed to do on Thanksgiving: Talk politics at the dinner table.

It is just one poll, of course, but it follows the 2022 midterm elections, in which turnout among Black voters was one of the weakest points for the Democrats.

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“I feel like the Democratic Party needs to train young people, educate them on this whole process. I think you’ll get a better understanding because people – we want to know. We want to know. We’re not afraid to learn.”

Christopher Hodges

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“Unfortunately, sometimes our government, whether it’s Democrat or Republican, we don’t take care of home base.”

Reginald Robinson

So what is really going on? How worried should Democrats be about the erosion of support among Black voters?

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Angelica Herndon’s early Thanksgiving dessert spread.

“The Run-Up” is in a particularly good position to try and answer those questions. We convened a focus group — a very special, one-time only focus group in the childhood home of Astead W. Herndon, who hosts “The Run-Up.”

For the wide-ranging discussion, he gathered family members, parishioners from his father’s church, community members and people he grew up with, all of whom largely leaned Democratic, but were clear about the ways in which the party had let them down.

The conversations were anchored in questions about Black voters and the Democratic Party, but also covered the apparent appeal of Mr. Trump to Black men specifically.

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“Oftentimes, we’re that extra whatever percentage that will take that particular candidate over the top to win,” Endla Thornton said, discussing the ways in which the Democratic Party relies on Black women voters.

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Pastor Michael Richardson and Anastasia Richardson were among those who gathered for the evening conversations.

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Younger Black voters spoke frankly about some distance they felt from the Democratic Party.

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The focus group gathering organized by Astead Herndon. Over the course of the evening, he divided the group into smaller conversations that corresponded with divisions that were present within polling: older voters, younger voters, men and women.

It was a special focus group in another way, too. It took place over a Thanksgiving meal — complete with 13 different homemade desserts.

Credits

“The Run-Up” is hosted by Astead W. Herndon and produced by Anna Foley, Elisa Gutierrez and Caitlin O’Keefe. The show is edited by Rachel Dry, Lisa Tobin and Frannie Carr Toth. Engineering by Sophia Lanman and original music by Dan Powell, Marion Lozano, Pat McCusker, Diane Wong and Elisheba Ittoop. Fact-checking by Caitlin Love.

Special thanks to Paula Szuchman, Sam Dolnick, Larissa Anderson, David Halbfinger, Tara Godvin, Renan Borelli, Mahima Chablani, Jeffrey Miranda and Maddy Masiello.

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Here are the 20 specific Fox broadcasts and tweets Dominion says were defamatory

web_boss_university — Thu, 14 Sep 2023 17:57:41 +0000

CNN —

For all the interest in big-name witnesses and eye-opening private text messages, at the core of the defamation lawsuit filed by Dominion Voting Systems against Fox News are 20 specific broadcasts and tweets in which the voting company says Fox knowingly promoted lies, destroying its reputation.

According to the lawsuit, all 20 statements took place between November 8, 2020, and January 26, 2021, and came in the form of on-air comments from Fox hosts Jeanine Pirro, Lou Dobbs and Maria Bartiromo; interviews with prominent pro-Trump election deniers Sidney Powell, Rudy Giuliani and Mike Lindell; and several of Dobbs’ tweets.

The wild allegations in the statements fell into four broad categories: that Dominion conducted election fraud, that it used algorithms to flip votes, that it had ties to Venezuela and that politicians received kickbacks to use the company.

The judge overseeing the defamation trial has already ruled that these allegations were false, saying it is “CRYSTAL clear that none of the Statements relating to Dominion about the 2020 election are true.”

At trial, it will be a jury’s job to determine if the statements were made with “actual malice” – a high bar based on knowing falseness or having a reckless disregard for the truth – and potentially award damages. Dominion has asked for $1.6 billion in damages and additional punitive damages, a number Fox says is wildly overblown.

Fox has denied wrongdoing and said the case is a meritless assault on press freedoms. Lawyers for Fox have argued that Dominion hasn’t come close to clearing the high bar to prove defamation.

Here’s a closer look at those 20 specific broadcasts and tweets of alleged defamation.

The broadcast: “Sunday Morning Futures” on November 8, 2020.

What they alleged: Election fraud and algorithm flips.

Key false quote: “Sidney, we talked about the Dominion software. I know that there were voting irregularities. Tell me about that,” Bartiromo said.

“That’s to put it mildly. The computer glitches could not and should not have happened at all,” Powell said. “That is where the fraud took place where they were flipping votes in the computer system or adding votes that did not exist.”

The broadcast: “Lou Dobbs Tonight” on November 12, 2020.

What they alleged: Election fraud and Venezuela ties.

Key false quote: “So, we’re using a foreign company that is owned by Venezuelans who are close to – were close to (Hugo) Chávez, are now close to (Nicolás) Maduro, have a history. They were founded as a company to fix elections, they have a terrible record, and they are extremely hackable,” Giuliani said.

The broadcast: “Lou Dobbs Tonight” on November 13, 2020.

What they alleged: Election fraud, algorithm flips, Venezuela ties, kickbacks.

Key false quote: “Let’s start with Dominion, a straight out disavowal of any claim of fraud against the company, its software or machines. Your reaction,” Dobbs asked.

“Well, I can hardly wait to put forth all the evidence we have collected on Dominion, starting with the fact it was created to produce altered voting results in Venezuela for Hugo Chavez and then shipped internationally to manipulate votes for purchase in other countries, including this one,” Powell said.

“We also need to look at and we’re beginning to collect evidence on the financial interests of some of the governors and Secretaries of State who actually bought into the Dominion Systems … to line their own pockets by getting a voting machine in that would either make sure their election was successful or they got money for their family from it,” she added.

“Well, that’s straightforward,” Dobbs said. “You’re going to have to be quick to go through and to produce that investigation and the results of it.”

The broadcast: Quote-tweet by Dobbs of Giuliani tweet on November 14, 2020.

What they alleged: Election fraud, algorithm flips, Venezuela ties.

Key false quote: “Did you know a foreign company, DOMINION, was counting our vote in Michigan, Arizona and Georgia and other states,” Giuliani wrote.

“Read all about Dominion and Smartmatic voting companies and you’ll soon understand how pervasive this Democrat electoral fraud is, and why there’s no way in the world the 2020 Presidential election was either free or fair. #MAGA @realDonaldTrump #AmericaFirst #Dobbs,” Dobbs wrote.

The broadcast: “Justice with Judge Jeanine” on November 14, 2020.

What they alleged: Election fraud, algorithm flips, Venezuela ties.

Key false quote: “It was created for the express purpose of being able to alter votes and secure the reelection of Hugo Chavez and then Maduro. They’ve used it in Argentina,” Powell said. “There is an American citizen who has exported it to other countries and it is one huge, huge criminal conspiracy that should be investigated by military intelligence for its national security implications.”

“Yes. And hopefully the Department of Justice, but who knows anymore,” Pirro said.

The broadcast: “Fox & Friends Sunday” on November 15, 2020.

What they alleged: Election fraud, algorithm flips, Venezuela ties, kickbacks.

Key false quote: “Sidney Powell is also talking about potential kickbacks that government officials, who were asked to use Dominion, actually also enjoyed benefits to their families,” Bartiromo said. “We’re going to talk about that coming up as well.”

The broadcast: “Sunday Morning Futures” on November 15, 2020.

What they alleged: Election fraud, algorithm flips, Venezuela ties, kickbacks.

Key false quote: “We have sworn witness testimony of why the software was designed. It was designed to rig elections … We have so much evidence, I feel like it’s coming in through a fire hose,” Powell said.

“Wow,” Bartiromo said.

The broadcast: “Lou Dobbs Tonight” on November 16, 2020.

What they alleged: Election fraud, algorithm flips, Venezuela ties.

Key false quote: “I’ve just gotten some stunning evidence from a firsthand witness, a high-ranking military officer, who was present when Smartmatic was designed in a way that – and I’m going to just read to you some of these statements, if you don’t mind, so I get them exactly right,” Powell said.

“Sure,” Dobbs said.

Powell continued, “From the affidavit, (Smartmatic was) ‘designed in a way that the system could change the vote of each voter without being detected.’”

Powell also incorrectly claimed that Smartmatic owns Dominion.

The broadcast: “Lou Dobbs Tonight” on November 18, 2020.

What they alleged: Election fraud, algorithm flips, Venezuela ties.

Key false quote: “But I mean just the mere fact that we have a foreign country, we had this in a foreign country, done by friends of an enemy of the United States, Maduro, is outrageous and has to stop immediately,” Giuliani said.

“It’s outrageous,” Dobbs said.

The broadcast: “Lou Dobbs Tonight” on November 19, 2020.

What they alleged: Election fraud, algorithm flips, Venezuela ties.

Key false quote: “Let me put it this way, there are thousands of people in federal prisons on far less evidence of criminal conduct than we have already against the Smartmatic and Dominion Systems companies,” Powell said.

The broadcast: “Justice with Judge Jeanine” on November 21, 2020.

What they alleged: Election fraud, algorithm flips, Venezuela ties.

Key false quote: “The President’s lawyers alleging a company called Dominion, which they say started in Venezuela with Cuban money, and with the assistance of Smartmatic software, a backdoor is capable of flipping votes,” Pirro said.

The broadcast: “Lou Dobbs Tonight” on November 24, 2020.

What they alleged: Election fraud, algorithm flips, Venezuela ties.

Key false quote: “We are just continuing to be inundated by evidence of all the frauds here and every manner and means of fraud you could possibly think of,” Powell said.

“I think many Americans have given no thought to electoral fraud that would be perpetrated through electronic voting; that is, these machines, these electronic voting companies, including Dominion, prominently Dominion, at least in the suspicions of a lot of Americans,” Dobbs said.

The broadcast: “Lou Dobbs Tonight” on November 30, 2020.

What they alleged: Election fraud, algorithm flips, kickbacks.

Key false quote: “Different states shaved different amounts of votes, or the system was set up to shave and flip different votes in different states,” Powell said. “Some people were targeted as individual candidates. It’s really the most massive and historical egregious fraud the world has ever seen.”

The broadcast: “Hannity” on November 30, 2020.

What they alleged: Election fraud and algorithm flips.

Key false quote: “The machine ran an algorithm that shaved votes from Trump and awarded them to Biden,” Powell said. “They used the machines to trash large batches of votes that should have been awarded to President Trump. And they used a machine to inject and add massive quantities of votes for Mr. Biden.”

The broadcast: “Lou Dobbs Tonight” on December 4, 2020.

What they alleged: Election fraud and algorithm flips.

Key false quote: “Dominion Voting Systems, you have described it with algorithms which were designed to be inaccurate rather than to be a secure system,” Dobbs said.

“Give us your sense of who is driving all of this,” Dobbs asked Phil Waldron, a Trump supporter who worked with Powell and others to spread conspiracy theories about the 2020 election.

The broadcast: Dobbs tweet with embedded document on December 10, 2020.

What they alleged: Election fraud and algorithm flips.

Key false quote: “The 2020 Election is a cyber Pearl Harbor,” Dobbs wrote, embedding a document.

“We have technical presentations that prove there is an embedded controller in every Dominion machine, that allows an election supervisor to move votes from one candidate to another,” the document stated.

The broadcast: “Lou Dobbs Tonight” on December 10, 2020.

What they alleged: Election fraud, algorithm flips, Venezuela ties.

Key false quote: “Let me make you an offer, very straightforwardly,” Dobbs said. “We will gladly put forward your evidence that supports your claim that this was a Cyber Pearl Harbor. We have tremendous evidence already … of fraud in this election, but I will be glad to put forward on this broadcast whatever evidence you have, and we’ll be glad to do it immediately.”

The broadcast: Dobbs tweet with embedded video of Powell interview on December 10, 2020.

What they alleged: Election fraud.

Key false quote: “Cyber Pearl Harbor: @SidneyPowell1 reveals groundbreaking new evidence indicating our Presidential election came under massive cyber-attack orchestrated with the help of Dominion, Smartmatic, and foreign adversaries. #MAGA #AmericaFirst #Dobbs,” Dobbs wrote.

The broadcast: “Fox & Friends” with hosts Will Cain, Pete Hegseth and Rachel Campos-Duffy on December 12, 2020.

What they alleged: Election fraud.

Key false quote: “We have a machine, the Dominion machine, that’s as filled with holes as Swiss cheese and was developed to steal elections, and being used in the states that are involved,” Giuliani said.

The broadcast: “Tucker Carlson Tonight” on January 26, 2021.

What they alleged: Election fraud.

Key false quote: “Every outlet in the country, they go, ‘Mike Lindell, there’s no evidence, and he’s making fraudulent statements.’ No. I have the evidence. I dare people to put it on. I dare Dominion to sue me because then it will get out faster. So, this is – you know, they don’t – they don’t want to talk about it,” Lindell said.

“No, they don’t,” Carlson said.

Google-parent stock drops on fears it could lose search market share to AI-powered rivals

web_boss_university — Thu, 14 Sep 2023 17:57:40 +0000

CNN —

Shares of Google-parent Alphabet fell more than 3% in early trading Monday after a report sparked concerns that its core search engine could lose market share to AI-powered rivals, including Microsoft’s Bing.

Last month, Google employees learned that Samsung was weighing making Bing the default search engine on its devices instead of Google’s search engine, prompting a “panic” inside the company, according to a report from the New York Times, citing internal messages and documents. (CNN has not reviewed the material.)

In an effort to address the heightened competition, Google is said to be developing a new AI-powered search engine called Project “Magi,” according to the Times. The company, which reportedly has about 160 people working on the project, aims to change the way results appear in Google Search and will include an AI chat tool available to answer questions. The project is expected to be unveiled to the public next month, according to the report.

In a statement sent to CNN, Google spokesperson Lara Levin said the company has been using AI for years to “improve the quality of our results” and “offer entirely new ways to search,” including with a feature rolled out last year that lets users search by combining images and words.

“We’ve done so in a responsible and helpful way that maintains the high bar we set for delivering quality information,” Levin said. “Not every brainstorm deck or product idea leads to a launch, but as we’ve said before, we’re excited about bringing new AI-powered features to Search, and will share more details soon.”

Samsung did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Google’s search engine has dominated the market for two decades. But the viral success of ChatGPT, which can generate compelling written responses to user prompts, appeared to put Google on defense for the first time in years.

In March, Google began opening up access to Bard, its new AI chatbot tool that directly competes with ChatGPT and promises to help users outline and write essay drafts, plan a friend’s baby shower, and get lunch ideas based on what’s in the fridge.

At an event in February, a Google executive also said the company will bring “the magic of generative AI” directly into its core search product and use artificial intelligence to pave the way for the “next frontier of our information products.”

Microsoft, meanwhile, has invested in and partnered with OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, to deploy similar technology in Bing and other productivity tools. Other tech companies, including Meta, Baidu and IBM, as well as a slew of startups, are racing to develop and deploy AI-powered tools.

But tech companies face risks in embracing this technology, which is known to make mistakes and “hallucinate” responses. That’s particularly true when it comes to search engines, a product that many use to find accurate and reliable information.

Google was called out after a demo of Bard provided an inaccurate response to a question about a telescope. Shares of Google’s parent company Alphabet fell 7.7% that day, wiping $100 billion off its market value.

Microsoft’s Bing AI demo was also called out for several errors, including an apparent failure to differentiate between the types of vacuums and even made up information about certain products.

In an interview with 60 Minutes that aired on Sunday, Google and Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai stressed the need for companies to “be responsible in each step along the way” as they build and release AI tools.

For Google, he said, that means allowing time for “user feedback” and making sure the company “can develop more robust safety layers before we build, before we deploy more capable models.”

He also expressed his belief that these AI tools will ultimately have broad impacts on businesses, professions and society.

“This is going to impact every product across every company and so that’s, that’s why I think it’s a very, very profound technology,” he said. “And so, we are just in early days.”

Why isn’t the House Judiciary Committee looking into Thomas?

web_boss_university — Thu, 14 Sep 2023 17:57:39 +0000

– Source: CNN ” data-fave-thumbnails=”{“big”: { “uri”: “https://media.cnn.com/api/v1/images/stellar/prod/230408080130-exp-justice-clarence-thomas-defends-luxury-travel-040804aseg2-cnni-world-00002024.png?c=16×9&q=h_540,w_960,c_fill” }, “small”: { “uri”: “https://media.cnn.com/api/v1/images/stellar/prod/230408080130-exp-justice-clarence-thomas-defends-luxury-travel-040804aseg2-cnni-world-00002024.png?c=16×9&q=h_540,w_960,c_fill” } }” data-vr-video data-show-html=”” data-byline-html=”” data-check-event-based-preview data-network-id data-details data-freewheel-lede=”true”>

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas defends luxury travel

00:42 – Source: CNN

Editor’s Note: Dean Obeidallah, a former attorney, is the host of SiriusXM radio’s daily program “The Dean Obeidallah Show.” Follow him @DeanObeidallah@masto.ai. The opinions expressed in this commentary are his own. View more opinion on CNN.

CNN —

On Monday, the GOP-controlled House Judiciary Committee — chaired by Donald Trump ally Rep. Jim Jordan — is set to hold a field hearing in New York City called “Victims of Violent Crime in Manhattan.” A statement bills the hearing as an examination of how, the Judiciary Committee says, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s policies have “led to an increase in violent crime and a dangerous community for New York City residents.”

In response, Bragg’s office slammed Jordan’s hearing as “a political stunt” while noting that data released by the New York Police Department shows crime is down in Manhattan with respect to murders, burglaries, robberies and more through April 2, compared with the same period last year.

In reality, this Jordan-led hearing isn’t about stopping crime but about defending Trump — who was recently charged by a Manhattan grand jury with 34 felonies. Trump pleaded not guilty to the criminal charges stemming from an investigation into a hush-money payment to an adult film actress. The former president also is facing criminal probes in other jurisdictions over efforts to overturn the 2020 election and his handling of classified documents at Mar-a-Lago.

Bragg sued Jordan and his committee last week in federal court, accusing the Judiciary Committee chairman of a “transparent campaign to intimidate and attack” his office for its investigation and prosecution of Trump by making demands for confidential documents and testimony.

While Jordan and his committee appear focused on discrediting the investigation into Trump, why aren’t they looking into two recent bombshell reports by ProPublica that raised red flags about Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas’ financial relationship with GOP megadonor Harlan Crow? After all, the House Judiciary Committee’s website explains that it has jurisdiction over “matters relating to the administration of justice in federal courts” – for which the revelations concerning Thomas fit perfectly.

First, we learned in early April that Crow had provided Thomas and his wife, Ginni, for decades with luxurious vacations including on the donor’s yacht and private jet to faraway places such as Indonesia and New Zealand. That information was never revealed to the public. (In a rare public statement, Thomas responded he was advised at the time that he did not have to report the trips. The justice said the guidelines for reporting personal hospitality have changed recently. “And, it is, of course, my intent to follow this guidance in the future,” he said.)

Then on Thursday, ProPublica reported that Thomas failed to disclose a 2014 real estate deal involving the sale of three properties he and his family owned in Savannah, Georgia, to that same GOP megadonor, Crow. One of Crow’s companies made the purchases for $133,363, according to ProPublica. A federal disclosure law passed after Watergate requires Supreme Court justices and other officials to make public the details of most real estate sales over $1,000.

As ProPublica detailed, the federal disclosure form Thomas filed for that year included a space to report the identity of the buyer in any private transaction, but Thomas left that space blank. Four ethics law experts told ProPublica that Thomas’ failure to report it appears to be a violation of the law. (Thomas did not respond to questions from ProPublica on its report; CNN reached out to the Supreme Court and Thomas for comment.)

The House Judiciary Committee has long addressed issues such as those surrounding Thomas. In fact, the committee is where investigations and the impeachment of federal judges often commence.

One recent example came in 2010 with Judge G. Thomas Porteous Jr., whom the committee investigated and recommended for impeachment.

The committee’s Task Force on Judicial Impeachment said evidence showed Porteous “intentionally made material false statements and representations under penalty of perjury, engaged in a corrupt kickback scheme, solicited and accepted unlawful gifts, and intentionally misled the Senate during his confirmation proceedings.” The Senate later found Porteous guilty of four articles of impeachment and removed him from the bench.

Yet the Judiciary Committee has neither released statements nor tweets raising alarm bells about Thomas. Instead, its Twitter feed is filled with repeated tweets whining that C-SPAN won’t cover Monday’s New York field hearing. Worse, the committee retweeted GOP Rep. Mary Miller’s tweet defending Thomas as being attacked “because he is a man of deep faith, who loves our country and believes in our Constitution.”

Jordan’s use of his committee to assist Trump should surprise no one. The House January 6 committee’s report called the Ohio Republican “a significant player in President Trump’s efforts” to overturn the election. The report detailed the lawmaker’s efforts to assist Trump including on “January 2, 2021, Representative Jordan led a conference call in which he, President Trump, and other Members of Congress discussed strategies for delaying the January 6th joint session.” As a result, the January 6 committee subpoenaed Jordan to testify — but he refused to cooperate.

In contrast with the House panel, the Senate Judiciary Committee — headed by Democrats — announced in the wake of the reporting on Thomas that it plans to hold a hearing “on the need to restore confidence in the Supreme Court’s ethical standards.” Beyond that, Democratic Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island and Rep. Hank Johnson of Georgia sent a letter Friday calling for a referral of Thomas to the US attorney general over “potential violations of the Ethics in Government Act 1978.”

The House Judiciary Committee’s website notes, “The Committee on the Judiciary has been called the lawyer for the House of Representatives.” Under Jordan that description needs to be updated to state that the Committee on the Judiciary is now “the lawyer for Donald J. Trump.” And the worst part is that the taxpayers are the ones paying for Jordan’s work on Trump’s behalf.

Recap: ‘Succession’ finds dark humor in the aftershocks

web_boss_university — Thu, 14 Sep 2023 17:57:38 +0000

Editor’s Note: The following contains major spoilers about the fourth episode of “Succession’s” fourth season, “Honeymoon States.”

CNN —

After the shock came the aftershocks, the power vacuum, and perhaps most significantly and impressively, the laughs, as “Succession” pivoted to face life after Logan Roy, in an episode that finally put the HBO show’s title into full flower.

Logan Roy’s abrupt demise left his grown children and subordinates scrambling, with each seemingly humbly offering themselves up to fill the void, while fretting about how the various candidates would play with the company’s board.

At the same time, they mourned the larger-than-life figure they had lost, taking into account that he had treated many of them abysmally. And the fourth hour also marked the return of Logan’s wife, Marcia (Hiam Abbass), in what felt like “Marcia Strikes Back,” while his current and much younger girlfriend, Kerri (Zoe Winter), was bluntly shown the door. (The latter evoked memories of the musical “Evita,” when the title character boots Peron’s mistress, who sings about another suitcase in another hall.)

More than anything, the episode underscored just how brutally funny “Succession” can be, with Shiv (Sarah Snook) reading her father’s obituary and musing, “Dad sounds amazing. I would like to have met dad,” while brothers Kendall (Jeremy Strong) and Roman (Kieran Culkin) hilariously translated the language, with references to Logan having been “a man of his time” equaling “racist.”

The episode also showcased the executives at Waystar Royco, who uncomfortably wondered what to do with a document that included not only Logan’s posthumous wishes but hand-written notes that seemingly specified who he wished to succeed him. They joked, feebly, about tossing the paper in the toilet, while making very clear how much they really wanted to toss the paper in the toilet.

All the knives came out, with Carl (David Rasche) brutally insulting Tom (Matthew Macfadyen), scarcely hiding behind the fact that he was presenting the doubts about Tom’s future as a hypothetical.

Amid that, though, there were also human moments, with the tortured Kendall articulating his conflicted feelings to Waystar executive Frank (Peter Friedman) by saying, “He made me hate him, and he died. I feel like he didn’t like me. I disappointed him.”

“Succession” also underscored the fragility of not just life, but a corporate legacy, with the public-relations folk discussing how to spin and diminish Logan’s involvement in his later years as a means of bucking up the company and its stock price – a maneuver that Kendall ultimately and surreptitiously approved, concluding that it was the sort of smart and ruthless move that his father would have executed.

Questions of succession also appear to be threatening the harmony achieved by Kendall, Shiv and Roman prior to Logan’s exit, with Shiv being left as the odd woman out in a plan to fill the CEO seat just long enough to close the sale to GoJo. Trust doesn’t come easily in series creator Jesse Armstrong’s world, and when Shiv said, “I need to wet my beak,” the assurances from her brothers clearly left the impression how easily that beak could wind up bent out of joint.

Ultimately, after the operating highs of the previous episode, the series successfully turned the page from grieving to the next order of business. And that too, as Kendall put it regarding Logan and the “bad dad” PR leaks, is “what he would do.”

Jeremy Renner revisits ‘the amazing group of people’ who helped him recover from his accident

web_boss_university — Thu, 14 Sep 2023 17:57:37 +0000

CNN —

Jeremy Renner is continuing his recovery after his devastating snowplow accident in January, and recognizing those who’ve helped him along the way.

The “Rennervations” star posted to the Stories portion of his verified Instagram account ahead of the weekend, showing his recent visit to Renown Regional Medical Center, a Reno, Nevada hospital.

“I got to revisit the amazing group of people who saved my life,” Renner, 52, wrote over a photo of himself posing in the center of a group of people standing in front of a screen that displayed the words “Welcome back!”

He included two other photos with staffers from the medical center, including one outside in front of a Renown sign.

Renner was crushed by a snowplow on New Year’s Day near his Nevada home while trying to clear snow for a relative, and broke several bones including eight ribs, an eye socket, a knee and shoulder. His liver was also pierced, and one of his lungs collapsed.

Last week, the “Hawkeye” star made his first red carpet appearance since the life-threatening incident, for the premiere of his Disney+ series “Rennervations.”

In the show, he and his team help refurbish and repurpose service vehicles to help communities and children in need.

Three episodes are currently streaming, with a fourth, set in India, to premiere soon.

Even when wives make as much as husbands, they still do more at home

web_boss_university — Thu, 14 Sep 2023 17:57:36 +0000

New York CNN —

Few women will be surprised to learn that even when wives earn about the same as their husbands or more, a new Pew Research Center study finds that they still spend more time on housework and child care, while their husbands spend more time on paid work and leisure.

“Even as financial contributions have become more equal in marriages, the way couples divide their time between paid work and home life remains unbalanced,” Pew noted.

So who’s earning what?

Pew found that in 29% of heterosexual marriages today, women and men earn about the same (roughly $60,000 each). “Husbands in egalitarian marriages spend about 3.5 hours more per week on leisure activities than wives do. Wives in these marriages spend roughly 2 hours more per week on caregiving than husbands do and about 2.5 hours more on housework,” the study notes.

In 55% of opposite-sex marriages, men are the primary or sole breadwinners, earning a median of $96,000 to their wives’ $30,000.

Meanwhile, in 16% of marriages the wives outearn their husbands as the primary (10%) or sole breadwinner (6%). In these marriages women earn a median of $88,000 to their husbands’ $35,000.

Of all of these categories, the only one in which men are reported to spend more time caregiving than their wives is when the woman is the sole breadwinner. And the time spent per week on household chores in those marriages is split evenly between husbands and wives.

In all instances, it’s a big change from 50 years ago — when, for instance, husbands were the primary breadwinner in 85% of marriages.

Today, which women are most likely to be the primary or sole breadwinners can vary by age, family status, education and race.

For instance, Pew found Black women are “significantly more likely” than other women to earn more than their husbands. For instance, 26% of Black women bring home more than their husbands, while only 17% of White women and 13% of Hispanic women do.

But Black women with a college degree or higher and few children at home are also among the most likely to earn about the same as their husbands.

These numbers are reported against a backdrop of society’s attitudes about who should earn more and how caregiving should be divvied up between spouses.

Nearly half of Americans (48%) in Pew’s survey said husbands prefer to earn more than their wives, while 13% said men would prefer their wives earn about the same as them.

What do women want? Twenty-two percent of Americans said most women want a husband who earns more, while 26% said most would want a man who earns about the same.

Meanwhile, when it comes to having a family, 77% said that children are better off when both parents focus equally on their job and on taking care of the kids. Only 19% said children are better off when their mother focuses more on home life and their father focuses more on his job.

The Pew study is based on three data sources: earnings data from the US Census’ Current Population Survey; data from the American Time Use Survey and a nationally representative survey of public attitudes among 5,152 US adults conducted in January.

Top secrets come spilling out

web_boss_university — Thu, 14 Sep 2023 17:57:35 +0000

Editor’s Note: Sign up to get this weekly column as a newsletter. We’re looking back at the strongest, smartest opinion takes of the week from CNN and other outlets.

CNN —

In 1917, British analysts deciphered a coded message the German foreign minister sent to one of his country’s diplomats vowing to begin “unrestricted submarine warfare” and seeking to win over Mexico with a promise to “reconquer the lost territory in Texas, New Mexico and Arizona” if the US entered the world war. When it became public, the Zimmerman Telegram caused a sensation, helping propel the US into the conflict against Germany.

“Never before or since has so much turned upon the solution of a secret message,” wrote David Kahn in his classic 1967 history of secret communications, “The Codebreakers.” The Germans had taken great pains to keep their intentions confidential, and the codebreakers in London’s “Room 40” had to do a lot of work to decipher the telegram.

Their efforts stand in stark contrast to the ease with which secrets came tumbling out of a Pentagon intelligence network when 21-year-old Massachusetts Air National Guard cyber specialist Jack Teixeira allegedly posted hundreds of documents on a Discord chatroom known as “Thug Shaker Central.” The disclosures likely won’t start a war, but they could prove extremely damaging to the US and several of its allies, including Ukraine.

Teixeira is one of more than one million people who have Top Secret clearance. “The Pentagon has already started taking steps to limit the number of people who have access to such sensitive information,” wrote Brett Bruen, a former US diplomat and Obama administration official. “But much more can be done. … Why do so many people, especially those working short stints in government, have access to information that can shape the fate of nations and their leaders?”

Writing in the Financial Times, Kori Schake saw “some good news.”

“While specific details will be incredibly valuable to Russia and other adversaries, these are not bombshell revelations: journalists had already reported Ukrainian ammunition running low; peace talks between Moscow and Kyiv were never likely; allies have long been aware that the US eavesdrops on them; and the disparaging assessment of Ukraine’s forthcoming offensive may prove no more accurate than previous predictions were.” These will not prove as damaging as the Edward Snowden and Chelsea Manning disclosures.

But, she warned, “Technology making data ever more portable, distribution more global and communications more bespoke will make it easier to amass information and distribute it — either privately or publicly.”

In less than a week, the two Democrats expelled from the Tennessee House for their participation in a gun control protest were sent back to office by local officials.

Writing for CNN Opinion, Rep. Justin Pearson noted, “This should be a chastening moment for revanchist forces in Tennessee’s legislature and across the country. Over the long haul, the undemocratic machinations employed to oust us from office are destined to fail. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. once famously said that the moral arc of the universe bends toward justice. Events this week demonstrated, more than ever, that this is indeed the case…”

“Over two-thirds of Americans — including four out of 10 Republicans — support the kind of common sense gun safety laws that Rep. Jones, Rep. Johnson and I were protesting in favor of, in the wake of the senseless March 27 Covenant School massacre.”

“And yet, calls for common sense gun reform measures fall on deaf ears in our legislature where a Republican supermajority is wildly out of step with most people’s values.”

The politics of gun control have shifted, argued Democratic strategist Max Burns. The NRA’s internal struggles have weakened its influence while Democrats in office, who once feared touching the issue of guns, are increasingly speaking out. And they are making some progress in enacting new state laws, Burns noted.

“The American people decisively support Democratic proposals for addressing the scourge of gun violence. Political watchers who criticized Democrats for talking too much about abortion during the 2022 midterm elections later ate crow after that once-dreaded culture war topic topped the list of voter concerns nationally…

“Biden and the Democrats have the rare opportunity to build yet another winning coalition out of an issue once viewed as political poison.”

On Friday, the Supreme Court issued an order that temporarily ensured access to a key drug used in many medication abortions. The move gave the justices more time to consider the issue after a Texas federal judge suspended the US Food and Drug Administration’s approval of the abortion pill 23 years ago.

“If abortion opponents are successful, access to the pill — reportedly used in more than half of abortions in the United States — will be severely undercut,” wrote Michele Goodwin and Mary Ziegler.

“Beyond the dangerous precedent this sets for challenges to other important FDA-approved drugs that some political factions don’t like, the case is an alarming expression of the way right-wing activists are using junk science to bypass the will of the American public and restrict abortion…”

“There are no grounds for challenging mifepristone’s approval, especially 23 years after the fact. The drug received extensive review — more than four years — before FDA approval. Moreover, claims that mifepristone threatens the health of those who take it are unfounded. The drug has a better safety record for use than Viagra and penicillin. Notably, it was available and used for years without incident in Europe.”

In 1986, Nicholas Daniloff, the Moscow bureau chief for US News & World Report, was seized by Soviet authorities and locked up in Lefortovo prison. He was the last American journalist to be arrested in Russia before last month’s detention of Wall Street Journal correspondent Evan Gershkovich, who like Daniloff, speaks Russian fluently. Gershkovich has been charged with espionage but US officials have concluded that he was “wrongfully detained.”

As David A. Andelman noted, Daniloff’s detention in prison lasted for 13 days before he was put under house arrest and then eventually swapped for an accused Soviet spy. In a conversation with Andelman, Daniloff recalled his reaction when he was imprisoned. “I felt claustrophobic, and I felt like I wanted to get out of there immediately. Of course, there was no chance of that. The door slams, and you have all these thoughts and feelings that run through you, and then you settle down and you realize you’re going to be hanging around that cell for some time.”

Gershkovich’s family in Philadelphia received a letter, handwritten in Russian, from the reporter Friday.

“I want to say that I am not losing hope,” he noted. “I read. I exercise. And I am trying to write. Maybe, finally, I am going to write something good.”

The Amazon series “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” returns this month for its fifth and final season — and David Perry is here for it. The series brings back memories of visiting his grandparents Irma and Mordy in their “tiny rent-controlled Greenwich Village apartment,” an experience that helped shape his Jewish identity.

“As a Jewish historian,” Perry wrote, “I worry about the tension between preserving the memory of past hardships while not locking our entire history into a tale of oppression. The moments of peace and joy are as vital as the moments of violence. In fact, it’s the periods of peace, of success, of interfaith community, that reveal the terrible truth about the violence: it wasn’t inevitable. People could have made different choices…”

“A show like ‘The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel’ lets me revel in my personal New York Jewish heritage while also getting a little break from all the worry. It’s a warm, funny, sexy, extremely Jewish …. comedy that hits me straight in my glossy childhood memories. That isn’t to say the show isn’t also problematic — it most certainly is.”

In the latest installment of CNN Opinion’s “Little Kids, Big Questions” series, 10-year-old Ronan wonders if animals are capable of being smarter than humans. With the help of the John Templeton Foundation, which is partnering on the project, the answer came from Jane Goodall, world renowned for her work with chimpanzees.

“One of the attributes of intelligence is the ability to think and solve problems. In the early 1960s, I was told that this was unique to humans, and only we could use and make tools, only we had language and culture,” Goodall said. “But more and more research has proved that many animals are excellent at solving problems. Many use tools, and many show cultural differences. Some scientists believe that whales and dolphins are communicating with what may be a real language.”

“Although the difference between humans and other animals is simply one of degree, our intellect really is amazing. …bees can count and do math, and that just shows how much we still have to learn about animal intelligence. But humans can calculate the distance to the stars.”

Earlier this month, a Texas jury convicted Daniel Perry of murder for fatally shooting a Black Lives Matter protester in 2020. The jury deliberated for 17 hours and decided Perry’s action couldn’t be excused under the state’s “stand your ground” law. Prosecutors argued Perry had instigated the incident and they introduced into evidence messages that suggested the shooting was not a spur-of-the-moment act but a premeditated one.

On the evening of the jury verdict, Fox News host Tucker Carlson criticized the decision and told viewers he had invited Texas Gov. Greg Abbott on the show to ask if he would consider pardoning Perry. Others on the right called for Abbott to issue a pardon, and the governor soon responded with an announcement that he would do just that, as long as the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles recommended that Perry should be granted one.

“Trial verdicts are determined by judges and juries,” wrote Dean Obeidallah. “What Abbott is doing is not just wrong, it’s dangerous. His pardon, when it comes, is not what the rule of law looks like.”

Two of the likeliest candidates for president in 2024 haven’t officially committed yet.

President Joe Biden says he intends to run again but has delayed making a formal announcement. And Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is making all the moves a presidential contender usually makes, including hawking his new book and visiting New Hampshire, but he hasn’t joined fellow Republicans including former President Donald Trump, former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley and former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson in declaring.

“DeSantis, who was neck and neck with the former president just a few months ago, may have lost a step or two in more recent polling. But his track record of successful governance in Florida should force GOP voters to think long and hard about what version of their party they want to put forward,” observed Patrick T. Brown.

“A third Trump presidential nomination would indicate that Republican primary voters may prefer style over substance. But if they are serious about not just making liberals mad but advancing actual policy, GOP voters should consider other names, starting with the Florida governor.”

Even without an official announcement by the president, wrote Julian Zelizer, the Biden-Harris campaign is very much under way. “By choosing to lie low while Republicans are gearing up for 2024, Biden is employing his version of what has become known as the ‘Rose Garden Strategy,’ whereby the incumbent campaigns by focusing on the business of being president and showing voters that he is the responsible figure in the race.”

“The president’s understated strategy makes room for Republicans to stoke chaos, tear each other apart and make unforced errors while he remains above the fray for as long as possible. This strategy makes the GOP the focus of the election, allowing Biden to reinforce his message from 2020: do voters want someone who will govern and act in a serious manner or do they want a circus?”

Gene Seymour: I am betting on Cousin Greg. But I am not a serious person (Spoiler alert)

Frida Ghitis: Amid fallout of Macron-Xi meeting, another world leader tries his luck

Michael Bociurkiw: How the battle for Bakhmut exposed Russia’s ‘meat-grinder’

Peggy Drexler: Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s dilemma is a reminder of this universal question

Christopher Howard: The overlooked problem with raising the retirement age for Social Security

Elliot Williams: The justice system Trump and other white-collar defendants see is different than what most accused criminals get

Phoebe Gavin: The hard lessons I learned the first time I was laid off

Meg Jacobs: ‘Air’ celebrates those who do the hard work and get rewarded

AND…

Jill Filipovic recently took a domestic flight in South Africa. “Passengers and airport staff alike were friendly and polite. The airplane seat offered enough room for both of my legs and both of my arms. We took off on time and landed early. My shoes stayed on the whole time I was at the airport.”

It was a vivid reminder of what’s possible in air travel — and of what’s usually lacking.

Take the security system: “More than 20 years after Sept. 11, 2001, only passengers who pay for the privilege can avoid removing their shoes and laptops from their bags by submitting their personal information ahead of time and undergoing background checks.”

Filipovic added, “Admittedly, I do pay — I don’t want to wait in a long security line, walk my stocking feet through a metal detector and have to un- and re-pack the MacBook I’ve carefully crammed into my carry-on. But the existence of pay-to-play shorter-line security options like Clear and TSA Pre-Check make clear that it is indeed possible to pre-screen a critical mass of passengers to avoid the morass of cranky people trying to pull on their shoes while re-packing their electronics.”

Review: ‘Barry’ takes a whack at its farewell season

web_boss_university — Thu, 14 Sep 2023 17:57:34 +0000

CNN —

“Barry” has taken chances from the very beginning, which is certainly true of a fourth and final season that picks up where the third left off, with its hitman-turned-wannabe actor getting arrested. That paves the way for an even darker season that accentuates the show’s ensemble aspect while leaning a little too heavily on blurring lines with flights of fancy.

Thanks to “Succession,” “Barry” won’t be the highest-profile goodbye on HBO this spring, but the Emmy-nominated series isn’t chopped liver either. It’s fair to say, in fact, that while these episodes don’t quite measure up to what’s gone before, even a less-lethal “Barry” is still very, very good.

Bill Hader’s auteur turn as director-producer-star remains one of TV’s most unpredictable series, and the new season has a strong “Better Call Saul” vibe to it, triggered by fallout from the seemingly inevitable fact that Hader’s Barry couldn’t maintain his double life forever.

The consequences of his arrest flare out to both sides of that equation, from his acting teacher Gene Cousineau (as played by Henry Winkler, still a towering mixture of ego and need) and girlfriend Sally (Sarah Goldberg) to the rogues gallery of petty criminals in his orbit, including Fuches (Stephen Root) and NoHo Hank (Anthony Carrigan), who has improbably found love in the course of his travels, while somehow turning “Barry” into a four-syllable name.

“Barry” has always wrestled with the discomfort of having a protagonist who murders people, and the question of empathizing with its namesake becomes particularly acute in these episodes with the character in prison. When Barry asks, “Are you mad at me?” with an almost-childlike naivete, it’s easy to forget, at least momentarily, some of the horrible things he’s done, even if the revenge-minded Jim Moss (Robert Wisdom) can’t.

Hader (who directed every episode) also excels at darkly comic visual gags, which are augmented in the new season with a few hysterical cameos by actual Hollywood figures, among them director Guillermo del Toro, made even funnier by how random they seem to be.

That said, the show’s surreal digressions and detours into fantasy become more distracting, in a way that feels a little too precious at times. The saving grace, consistently, is the strength of the cast, even if prison creates impediments to their interactions.

HBO made most but not all of the season available, and the series effectively keeps the audience on edge and guessing about where it will all end up, and how (or if) its various threads will connect.

The likelihood of a happy ending for everyone in “Barry”-land never seemed to be in the cards, but Hader and co-creator Alec Berg appear determined to exit on their own terms, as good (mostly) and sporadically frustrating as that might be. That’s why it’s hard to get mad at a show that takes such bracing creative risks, even with a season that isn’t quite the stone-cold killer that it has been.

“Barry” begins its fourth and final season April 14 at 10 p.m. ET on HBO, which, like CNN, is a unit of Warner Bros. Discovery.

Pilot makes history after landing on top of a 56-story hotel

web_boss_university — Thu, 14 Sep 2023 17:57:33 +0000

– Source: CNN ” data-fave-thumbnails=”{“big”: { “uri”: “https://media.cnn.com/api/v1/images/stellar/prod/230317140252-helipad-plane-landing.jpg?c=16×9&q=h_540,w_960,c_fill” }, “small”: { “uri”: “https://media.cnn.com/api/v1/images/stellar/prod/230317140252-helipad-plane-landing.jpg?c=16×9&q=h_540,w_960,c_fill” } }” data-vr-video data-show-html=”” data-byline-html=”” data-check-event-based-preview data-network-id data-details>

Pilot makes history after landing on top of a 56-story hotel

Polish pilot Lukasz Czepiela made history after landing a plane on a helipad at the top of a 56-story hotel in Dubai.

00:53 – Source: CNN

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Pilot makes history after landing on top of a 56-story hotel