SCIENCE TECH UNIVERSITY

Electric vs Manual Awnings: Which Is the Better Choice for Your Space?

web_boss_university — Sun, 18 Jan 2026 19:17:04 +0000

Electric vs Manual Awnings

Choosing between an electric awning and a manual awning is not about finding a universal “best” option. The right choice depends on how the awning will be used, the size of the installation, and the level of comfort required on a daily basis.

Many buyers focus only on price at first. However, long-term usability, maintenance, and safety play an equally important role in determining which awning system is more suitable.

Electric vs Manual Awnings | Daily Use and Practicality

Manual awnings are often selected for their simplicity. They operate without electricity, motors, or electronic components, making them mechanically reliable and easy to control. When installed correctly, a manual awning can function for many years with minimal intervention.

As awning width increases, manual operation becomes less practical. For installations wider than three meters, frequent opening and closing can require noticeable physical effort. In these cases, electric awnings provide a clear advantage, especially in environments where the awning is adjusted multiple times per day.

Electric vs Manual Awnings | Cost Considerations Beyond the Initial Price

Electric awnings typically have a higher upfront cost due to the motor and automation features. Depending on the configuration, this difference may range from a few hundred euros upward. What is often overlooked is the cost of long-term ownership.

Motors exposed to dust, humidity, and temperature fluctuations may require servicing every few years. Manual awnings are not immune to wear either; mechanical components gradually degrade, particularly under daily use.

Routine maintenance can significantly extend the lifespan of both systems. Periodic lubrication of moving parts with silicone-based products reduces friction and prevents premature failure.

Electric vs Manual Awnings | Wind and Weather Safety

Weather resistance is one of the most critical factors in awning selection. Electric awnings can be equipped with wind and rain sensors that automatically retract the awning when conditions become dangerous. This feature minimizes the risk of structural damage, even when the property is unattended.

Manual awnings depend entirely on user awareness. Leaving an awning extended during strong winds can result in severe damage to both the awning and the building structure. For added protection, manual systems can be paired with mechanical wind sensors that provide early warning.

Electric vs Manual Awnings | Accessibility and User Comfort

Ease of use becomes increasingly important over time. While manual awnings are manageable for most users, repetitive operation may become challenging for individuals with limited mobility or joint issues.

Conversely, electric awnings require responsible use. Motorized systems exert significant force, and improper operation can cause damage if obstructions are present during movement.

Fabric Quality and Installation Details

The durability of an awning is influenced heavily by fabric quality. High-grade acrylic fabrics offer superior resistance to UV exposure and fading, while lighter polyester materials may degrade more quickly under prolonged sun exposure.

For electric awnings, proper electrical installation is essential. Motors and wiring must be adequately protected against moisture and condensation, as water intrusion is a common cause of motor failure.

Common Buyer Preferences

Smaller balconies and terraces are often fitted with manual awnings due to their lower cost and simplicity. Larger outdoor spaces typically benefit from electric systems that provide effortless operation and improved safety.

A hybrid solution also exists: awnings that combine electric motors with manual cranks. These systems offer operational flexibility and allow continued use in the event of a power or motor failure.

How to Choose the Right Awning System

Selecting the appropriate awning system requires evaluating actual usage needs rather than focusing solely on price.

Electric awnings are generally recommended for large spans, frequent daily use, and situations where convenience and automation are priorities.
Manual awnings are better suited for smaller areas, lower budgets, and users who prefer mechanical simplicity.

Ultimately, the most reliable decision comes from understanding how the awning will function in real-world conditions rather than relying solely on technical specifications.

‘Animal,’ Episode 3: Manatees

web_boss_university — Sun, 16 Jun 2024 17:21:47 +0000

This transcript was created using speech recognition software. While it has been reviewed by human transcribers, it may contain errors. Please review the episode audio before quoting from this transcript and email transcripts@nytimes.com with any questions.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

sam anderson

From “The New York Times,” this is “Animal.” I’m Sam Anderson. Episode three, Manatees.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

^KAITLIN ROBERTS^ All right.

speaker 1

Morning.

^KAITLIN ROBERTS^ Good morning. How are you?

buddy powell

Hey.

sam anderson

How you doing?

buddy powell

Doing all right. How about yourself?

sam anderson

I’m good.

buddy powell

You picked a great day.

sam anderson

[LAUGHS]: I know.

buddy powell

Come on. I wonder if I have the right —

sam anderson

What are the rules on that?

buddy powell

Yeah. The rain’s not an issue. It’s the lightning. And I got a little app on my phone here that’s — yeah, we got — definitely have some lightning. But it’s their call, obviously. But I’m not comfortable going out if there’s a lot of lightning. You don’t want to be on the water during the lightning, yeah.

sam anderson

Yeah.

buddy powell

So you all booked a private tour? Yeah. OK.

sam anderson

Is Kelsey coming?

buddy powell

Yeah, I think Kelsey’s going to join us. She just texted me.

sam anderson

For some reason I do not fully understand, I’ve always wanted to get in the water with a manatee.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

A manatee is a big, pudgy, blubby-looking — I don’t know — cross between a walrus and a potato? Sometimes people call them sea cows because they basically just float around grazing. But they’re a lot weirder looking than cows. They have these funny little flippers, sort of boomerang-shaped flippers up front that they use to navigate around, and then this big, flat paddle of a tail, like a super beaver or something. They eat wet vegetables, seagrass mainly. Almost never aggressive. They kind of float outside all of these cycles of predators and prey and doing stuff.

They just float there. And I sort of want to float outside all of those cycles and just not worry about deadlines and meetings and whatever.

It’s stressful out there, but not under the water.

sam anderson: It looks like they’re sending people out.
buddy powell: Yeah, they’ll be watching the weather.
sam anderson: OK.

sam anderson

So when I think about getting in the water with a manatee, I don’t know exactly what I want to happen. But when I really try to imagine it, I think what I want is for a manatee to look at me. I want to see a manatee seeing me. I want to look at a manatee, and I want the manatee to look back at me. And I just want to have a moment of connection or whatever it is.

sam anderson: People said they were ugly?
buddy powell: Oh, yeah.

sam anderson

Now, manatees are a protected species. And the only place I know of in the United States where you can legally swim with manatees is a place in Florida called Crystal River. I’d heard about that place from watching the classic manatee documentary made by Jacques Cousteau back in the 1970s. And Jacques Cousteau and his whole crew of French oceanographers with their little red beanies, they have a local guide. And it’s a kid, a teenager named Buddy Powell.

sam anderson: This is you in your element.
buddy powell: Yeah, this is my element here.

sam anderson

And Buddy Powell is actually still there. In the decades since, he’s become maybe the pre-eminent manatee scientist in the world, and he’s the director of a big marine center not far from Crystal River. And he occasionally will still take people around Crystal River, where he grew up, as he did for Jacques Cousteau.

kaitlin roberts: What is this? This is liability, assumption of risk.

sam anderson

So we arranged a private boat tour with Buddy Powell, me, and my colleague Kaitlin Roberts, who is there with the microphone.

sam anderson: See if they say cover alligators.

sam anderson

Buddy’s PR person Kelsey is going to join us too. She’s running a little late.

sam anderson: One more is coming.
speaker 2: OK. Not here yet?
sam anderson: No. She’s close, though. All right, guys. Well, we’re going to go ahead and get started.

sam anderson

So Kaitlin and I had actually been in Florida for about a week before this swimming day, criss-crossing the state, talking to various manatee experts, getting ready for that moment when I get in the water and have an encounter.

speaker 1: So everyone here is for 10:15, correct?
kaitlin roberts: Yes.

sam anderson

And once you start — as soon as you start learning about manatees, things get pretty heavy. Because from a distance, manatees make me very happy, and I find them very soothing. Manatees, I don’t think, experience life that way, which we found out very quickly.

speaker 1: Fresh water we have out on the bay.

sam anderson

We talked to a guy who works with the Save the Manatee Club. And he paddles around in his canoe, and he recognizes all the manatees by their scars, by the damage that they’ve taken. So manatees are — they’re huge animals. They float slowly and often right near the surface. And so when a speedboat comes ripping through, often it will hit a manatee. And getting hit by a speedboat is basically like getting hit by a truck that has swords all over it.

So he’s seen manatees sliced up so badly they don’t have tails or hit so hard by a boat that their ribs are sticking out, just the worst of the worst. He also told us some really freaky stories about alligators that I’m not going to get into right now, but — [LAUGHS]

buddy powell: You’ll need to get wetsuits and snorkeling gear here.
sam anderson: OK.
buddy powell: So just rent it. And then you’ll need to watch a video.
sam anderson: OK.
buddy powell: “Manatee Manners.”
sam anderson: “Manatee Manners,” OK.

sam anderson

OK. Where else did we go? We went to this pathology lab in Tampa where they actually do autopsies on every manatee that turns up dead in Florida to figure out the reasons why. And they’ve been seeing a huge increase in the number of manatees that are coming in. Sometimes, it’s just days on end, 8, 9, 10 manatees. And when they open up the door the next day, it’s just that many manatees again. And it’s just nonstop. The boat strikes.

There’s something called red tide, which is a kind of algae that blooms in the water under certain conditions and makes manatees drown. And then, lately, they’ve been seeing something really horrible, which is a new front in this crisis, which is starvation — finding manatees with sand in their stomachs because they’re just desperately rooting around, trying to find any bits that they can eat. Because the water quality has become so bad that these huge seagrass meadows where manatees have been feeding for hundreds and thousands of years are dying off. And so they go there to eat, and it’s just fields of sand.

sam anderson: Should we get out on the boat, if it’s —
speaker 1: You’ve got to watch the —
sam anderson: Oh, we have to watch manatee manners?
speaker 1: Yeah.
speaker 3: Welcome to the Crystal River National Wildlife Refuge and the Kings Bay Manatee Refuge. You are among the —

sam anderson

I kept asking these experts, like, how do you deal with this emotionally? Is it hard? Do you cry? And —

speaker 3: The following activities or the attempt to perform any of the following activities is prohibited throughout Kings Bay. Chasing or pursuing a manatee.

sam anderson

— a lot of them were able to have a kind of scientific detachment. They’re just really trying to diagnose what’s wrong and help as best they can.

speaker 3: — cornering or surrounding a manatee.

sam anderson

But I remember one guy I spoke with —

speaker 3: — riding, holding, grabbing —

sam anderson

— he surprised me a little bit. I said, do you have hope for the future of manatees?

speaker 3: — poking, prodding, or stabbing a manatee with anything, including your hands and feet.

sam anderson

And he said, deep in my heart, no.

speaker 3: — standing or stepping on a manatee.
buddy powell: Come on, now.

sam anderson

But he said he’s still — deep in his heart, no, but he still hopes.

speaker 3: — separating a mother and calf or separating —

sam anderson

He also said, if we can’t save manatees, we can’t save anything because manatees are so resilient. They have really tough skin that’s hard to cut. They have very fast coagulation in their blood, so their wounds heal very quickly, which is how they’re able to survive so many of these boat strikes. And so if we can’t find a way to keep manatees alive, then we’re not going to be able to save anything.

speaker 4

Ready?

buddy powell

All set?

sam anderson

Let’s do it. I’m ready.

buddy powell

Follow me.

speaker 3

— and other visitors. By following these simple ground rules —

speaker 4

Bye.

buddy powell

Bye. Thank you.

speaker 4

Thank you.

sam anderson

Thank you.

speaker 3

— and disturbance, while increasing your opportunity —

buddy powell

Oh, blue sky.

^KAITLIN ROBERTS^ I know.

sam anderson

To be honest, that kind of makes me hate us for wanting to swim with manatees. ^KAITLIN ROBERTS^ Well, the people that don’t follow the regulations —

But even us in our stupid wetsuits floating around in the crowds of people staring at them, man. It’s just, like, shut the whole thing down.

^KAITLIN ROBERTS^ Well, hopefully people will feel a sense of awe and want to protect them, right?

Yeah. I guess that’s the risk benefit-ratio you have to weigh. ^KAITLIN ROBERTS^ Yeah.

Like, how much does this increase people’s awareness and affection and therefore lead to protection and all that? How much does it bother the manatees and mess up the environment? ^KAITLIN ROBERTS^ Yeah, exactly. That’s why there has to be, I mean, also, a lot of regulation on the tour guides, too.

sam anderson

So after we signed all of our forms, and squeezed into our wetsuits, and watched this video, we stepped outside, and the sky had cleared miraculously. And we got ready to step on this boat, where Buddy was going to drive us around and hopefully make my stupid manatee dream come true.

speaker 1

Why don’t we go —

sam anderson

Oh, OK.

speaker 1

— go over to the boat, and then we can get — after you — so you can go back into —

sam anderson

We have out snorkels.

KAITLIN ROBERTS Oh, yeah. [QUIET MUSIC]

All right, let’s plug these in.

buddy powell

Have you driven one of these before, sir?

sam anderson

I have.

buddy powell

OK, so you understand that stream of water that needs to come out of the side of that motor at all times?

sam anderson

Yep.

sam anderson

So Buddy Powell, the local guide —

buddy powell: If you’re ready to go, I’ll get you unhooked.
speaker 1: All right, thanks for your —
sam anderson: Thanks a lot.

sam anderson

— gets us in our boat, and we toodle off into the water.

sam anderson: This is where you grew up?
buddy powell: This is where I grew up. I was actually born in Clearwater, but my family had a little fishing cottage up here, and so we came —

sam anderson

I wanted to know all about his Jacques Cousteau experience and what that was like.

sam anderson: Were you aware of Jacques Cousteau at this point in your life?
buddy powell: Oh, yeah, yeah. I mean, back in the day when we only had three channels, you would sort of wait. What did they come out, like, four times a year or twice a year? It was a big deal to watch that show. So obviously, very much a role model.

sam anderson

To be a kid who loved nothing more than being in a boat, who had memorized all the creatures that lived in this habitat that he grew up in, to get a call from Jacques Cousteau in the 1970s, when that name was as big as a name could be, especially for a kid like that.

buddy powell

And so they kind of adopted me and took me under their wing.

sam anderson

You must have felt like a little rock star.

buddy powell

It was pretty incredible. That’s for sure.

sam anderson

Did you did you wear the little red hat?

buddy powell

I did.

sam anderson

Really?

buddy powell

I did, indeed.

sam anderson

Did you ever try smoking a pipe?

buddy powell

I never tried smoking a pipe, no.

sam anderson

Did you drink some wonderful French wine?

buddy powell

I have — definitely, at that age, they were trying to cultivate my inner Frenchness. And yes, I drank my fair share of wine. And it was a wonderful experience because I just — absolutely fabulous. And of course, that just changed my entire life.

So I’m going to be keeping an eye out, as we’re going along, for manatees. But I wanted to tell you a little bit of about what we’re seeing here. So this whole Crystal River —

sam anderson

And so, yeah, he’s steering us all over his childhood territory. And he’s, of course, able to say, you know, this used to be like this, and this used to be like that. And now there’s a giant mansion here. And now — he said the water used to be — I mean, it’s called Crystal River because the water used to be crystal clear. And now it’s pretty murky in most of it. The water quality has really plummeted.

buddy powell: There are a lot of manatee tours.

sam anderson

And you used to see none of the boat traffic that we were seeing that day. You would not see groups of tourists out there looking for manatees. It was just Buddy and the manatees all alone back in those days.

sam anderson: What are these little heads that I keep seeing popping out of the water?
buddy powell: Those are turtles.

sam anderson

I keep seeing things in the water. You see a little — something pop up from the water, and I’m like, manatee! But he’s like, nope, that’s a turtle. And something would jump out of the water and just be a fish. But then, at one point, he did say —

buddy powell: There.
sam anderson: — there it is.
buddy powell: At our 11:00. So you can see the series of them, one in front of the other. So it’s just slowly swimming along.
sam anderson: Here?
buddy powell: That’s right.

sam anderson

And we saw this manatee off to the left of the boat.

buddy powell: So we don’t want to disturb it because it’s — there. It’s coming up to the surface. See the back? There’s the back of it. So that’s a nice adult manatee.
sam anderson: The tail — we saw the whole —

sam anderson

We could see its back come up and then its tail. And it would leave these — what Buddy called tail prints on the water. That’s so you could sort of follow where it was going. And it was really thrilling to see one so far from shore, just doing its natural thing.

sam anderson

Does it still feel special for you to see a manatee?

buddy powell

Oh, yeah. It’s hard to explain it, but every time I see a manatee, I still get excited about it. And I can watch them forever.

So back then —

sam anderson

So we’re cruising around. He’s taking us down a little side coves. And as we’re cruising around, we keep seeing —

buddy powell: These guys are probably with one. Those guys over there are probably with one.

sam anderson

— these other tourist boats and crowds of people in the water. And that was the fastest way to find a manatee. It’s kind of like when you’re at Yellowstone. The fastest way to find a bear is to find the traffic jam of people looking at the bear on the side of the road. Here, there were traffic jams of boats and crowds of tourists who were floating with pool noodles, and flippers, and goggles, and they’re all just kind of hanging around a manatee while it’s eating.

sam anderson: I don’t know. I feel almost inclined not to get in the water with a big crowd of people staring at one manatee.
buddy powell: Yeah, I can understand that.

sam anderson

So we’re kind of keeping our distance because once I see that, it’s not what I imagined for my manatee encounter.

sam anderson

Somehow it does not feel to me like outside of the predator-prey, hustle and bustle chain, the sort of —

buddy powell

Oh.

speaker 4

Oh, there’s one right there.

sam anderson

Whoa.

speaker 5

I get scared by —

^KAITLIN ROBERTS^ There’s two propeller marks on it.

buddy powell

Oh, my god. [DISTANT VOICES]

sam anderson

Could you tell what size that one was?

buddy powell

It’s a small adult.

sam anderson

Just hanging out at the bottom?

buddy powell

Just feeding.

^KAITLIN ROBERTS^ Can you describe what the scene looks like?

sam anderson

Well, we’ve got one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight-plus boats out here full of people in wetsuits. And then we’ve got groups of people in wetsuits with pool noodles and snorkels sticking up who are in the water, kind of face down, all in a tight cluster, we assume, staring at one manatee. And we’ve got two or three groups of people like that.

Yeah, we’ve got boats docked outside of houses, boats with huge, huge, powerful-looking motors.

This boat has two giant motors on the back, two big Honda motors.

buddy powell

And as you can see, he’s — he doesn’t realize that there’s a manatee. And as you can see, you can see the bottom. It’s not really that —

sam anderson

It’s super shallow.

buddy powell

That’s shallow.

sam anderson

So he couldn’t be doing some damage?

buddy powell

Well, he’s going slowly enough that that manatee will move out of the way. But if he wasn’t going slowly, yes, absolutely. And not only that, it’s just a matter of disturbance, too. These animals — they’ve become somewhat habituated. But generally, they want to be left alone to feed.

sam anderson

So we basically did this all day. We’d see a manatee. It would be surrounded by a crowd, and I would say, well, let’s try another one. And finally, the day was over. I was sunburned. We had to take the boat back. And we went into this little lagoon, and there was a manatee, and there was a crowd of people around it.

sam anderson

I don’t know, Kelsey How do you feel? Do you want to jump in?

^KAITLIN ROBERTS^ I mean, I’m hot, so — [LAUGHS] Yeah, yeah, me too.

sam anderson

I thought about it, and decided, OK.

sam anderson

I guess we should probably just do it.

^KAITLIN ROBERTS^ See, we could do it here.

Yeah, since we know we’re here.

sam anderson

Came all this way — I don’t want to miss my opportunity and regret it later. So I guess I’ll just —

sam anderson: It’s kind of quiet back in here.

sam anderson

— be one of the crowd and get in there.

sam anderson: What do you think? Let’s try it.
buddy powell: These guys are kind of harassing him a little bit.

sam anderson

And sometimes Buddy would point out, like, oh, they’re kind of harassing that manatee. You’re really not supposed to be that close, or you’re not supposed to be swimming after it. You just stay still and let it do what it wants, and you don’t follow it, and you don’t interact. You just look.

buddy powell: Swim very slowly.
sam anderson: He told me to just float like a log when I get in there.
buddy powell: And try to stay at least —
speaker 6: — hear me, and I’m like, where’d it go?
buddy powell: — a manatee or two length away from it.
sam anderson: OK. What if it approaches?
buddy powell: Then you just stay still and let it do its thing. And like I said, just pretend to be another object in the water.
sam anderson: OK.

[equipment rustling, clunking]

^KAITLIN ROBERTS^ All right, so Sam, I’m probably going to stay up here. Maybe you can tell me what you’re doing as you’re doing it, as you’re getting in the water.

sam anderson

All right. Well, I’m going to put this snorkel on.

And I’m going to take my shoes off.

buddy powell

OK, so there’s two right here, just feeding. And so what you don’t want to do is disturb them in any way. And just be as quiet as you possibly can. Keep an eye out. Keep an eye on me because I can — obviously, that’s one of the reasons I don’t get in the water is I can spot and see further away. And so I’ll give you directions. I don’t like to yell out over the water, but occasionally just lift your head up and take a look at me.

sam anderson

Keep an eye out for alligators.

buddy powell

I’ll tell you if one comes.

^KAITLIN ROBERTS^ And the sun came out.

Appreciate that, yeah. [SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC]

speaker 7

So is that one still over there? Because there’s two over here now.

speaker 8

No, that’s the one.

sam anderson

So I was in my wetsuit already. I put on my flippers, and my goggles, and my snorkel and got in the water.

sam anderson: So 72 degrees doesn’t feel that warm.

sam anderson

Kind of chilly water.

So I get in, and the water is very murky. There’s a lot —

buddy powell: 11:00 — straight ahead, 12:00, 11:00.

sam anderson

There’s a lot of plants, a lot of seagrass. And so it’s just, like, murk and seagrass, and I can’t really see where I’m going. But I know the general direction the manatee is in, and Buddy is kind of shouting out, it’s at 11:00, and he’s guiding me across the water.

So I’m kind of just swimming with a face full of murky seagrass. And I can’t see where I’m going, and I’m not sure if I’m going anywhere. And then all of a sudden — it was such a shock. All of a sudden —

[DRAMATIC MUSIC]

— I come shooting out of the murk, and I’m just — I’m, like, on top of the manatee, practically. I did not see it coming. By the time I saw it, I was there. And it’s eating, facing away from me. And so I come to a stop basically right next to its gigantic tail, which I know, from my manatee research, is so strong and potentially dangerous. And so I was instantly kind of panicked.

[DRAMATIC MUSIC]

But I also knew that rule number 1 of being near a manatee is that you can’t panic and thrash around because you’ll scare the manatee, and then it will potentially thrash. And so I had to work as hard as I could to stop my momentum as quickly but as gently as I could until my momentum stopped just, like, inches from the manatee tail.

And I was able to kind of scooch backwards very slowly until I was a few feet away.

^KAITLIN ROBERTS^ Sam is about a manatee away from the manatee, a manatee-length away.

And then I just watched. I just stared because this thing was so otherworldly, almost ghostly pale kind of gray color, almost glowing in the light. And it’s just peacefully eating grass. And all these other people around me, but we’re not noticing each other at all because we’re all just so in awe of this manatee, really.

And I don’t know how long I floated there, but for a pretty long time. And then I decided, all right, I saw a manatee. It didn’t turn around and look at me, which, I mean, why would it? But that was OK.

So very gently, I turned, and I swam through the murk back to the boat. And just as I was starting to tell everybody what I had seen, one of the little crowd watching the manatee eat shouted, it’s turning! It’s coming your way!

sam anderson: Really?

sam anderson

And I turned, and the manatee had turned around and was swimming directly toward our boat.

buddy powell: See him right there?
sam anderson: Oh, my gosh.
speaker 4: Oh, wow.
sam anderson: If I can get back in right here —
buddy powell: They’re just feeding along the bottom there.
sam anderson: Should I get back in or no?
buddy powell: It’s up to you. Be very, very quiet.

sam anderson

And so I just gently let go of the ladder and dropped back under the water to see what it was going to do. And the manatee came right over to me and started grazing the seagrass right next to our boat, kind of down below my flippers. And so I just floated there, suspended, watching it.

KAITLIN ROBERTS Now he’s right next to the boat. And Sam is right next to it, directly next to it.

And then, after a few seconds, the most magical thing happened, which is the manatee stopped eating. And it tilted its body up vertical, and it floated up toward the surface. And it paused, and it looked at me.

Like, it really looked me in the eyes. And I was looking at the manatee, and the manatee was looking at me. And I always fantasized about this moment and all the many feelings that would pass between us. And we would just kind of beam warm feelings back and forth to each other. I felt — in the manatee’s gaze, I felt nothing.

[CALM MUSIC]

There was no magical soul connection. And that was good and normal. And the fantasy I had was abnormal. And I should probably talk to my therapist, Susan, about it on Friday at 1:00 PM.

[CALM MUSIC]

And so it kept drifting up, and it took a breath.

And then it went back down with bubbles coming out. And it tilted itself back to horizontal, and it started just swimming past me and under the boat.

And this thing was so huge, it took forever, it felt like. It felt like it was swimming in slow motion. I just watched its whole pale, glowing body kind of pass right in front of my face, peacefully, gracefully. And its huge tail came by last, and then it was gone.

buddy powell: It swam under the boat.
sam anderson: They both swam under it, right under the boat.

sam anderson

And I went back up to the surface.

sam anderson

This one here was so close. It was feeding right there. It came up and surfaced right in front of me to breathe. It looked at me.

[CHUCKLING]

Which, that was my goal. I wanted to be looked at by a manatee. ^KAITLIN ROBERTS^ It looked deep into your soul?

No, she didn’t.

sam anderson

And I really was so jazzed. I really was — it was very profound.

sam anderson: And the manatee cam to me.

sam anderson

It just looked at me. ^KAITLIN ROBERTS^ How are you feeling right now?

sam anderson

I feel good. I feel happy. Yeah, I feel, like, weirdly fulfilled, like a life mission has been fulfilled. ^KAITLIN ROBERTS^ What was it like?

It was — I don’t know, like, sweet. The people were sweet.

sam anderson

I wonder where that manatee is now. I bet it’s right near the same spot, eating — eating grass, taking a nap, farting, sending bubbles up to the surface, big jowls shaking while it chews it’s lettuce, it’s grass.

[JAUNTY MUSIC]

This episode was produced by Kaitlin Roberts and Larissa Anderson with help from Cristal Duhaime. It was reported by me, Sam Anderson, and edited by Wendy Dorr and Larissa Anderson. It was engineered by Marion Lozano. Our executive producer is Paula Szuchman. Original music by Marion Lozano and Pat McCusker. Fact-checking by Ana Alvarado.

Special thanks to Jake Silverstein, Sasha Weiss, and Sam Dolnick, also, to all the manatee experts we met — Wayne Hartley, Martina Devitt, Andy Garrett, Wanda Jones, and Tom Pitchford, and to Craig Pittman, who wrote the book “Manatee Insanity,” which was a great resource.

You can listen to all of our episodes wherever you get podcasts or visit our website at nytimes.com/animal. I’m Sam Anderson. Thanks for listening.

[JAUNTY MUSIC]

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.

More episodes ofThe Run-Up

Listen and follow ‘The Run-Up’
Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon

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.

Credit…

“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

Credit…

“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.

Credit…

“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

Credit…

“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

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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.”

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