I am so glad that I do not work for a public entity. Evanston fired a good city manager a couple of years ago stemming from a disgruntled former employee.
Yes, we lived in Evanston back then, and it was shameful that Erica, a very competent and dedicated city employee, was treated that way because of the very loud crowd of critics.
Evanston District 65 was just as bad, letting an outstanding superintendent go in favor of a total incompetant who didn't even last two years before jumping ship (to a lot of people's relief), leaving a lot of mess behind.
D65 has become a battleground for neighbors to fight each other. IMO, it should dissolve and split into smaller districts. One can focus on development of students and the the other can have racially segregrated schools, not have tracking and tell 5 year-olds that whiteness is bad. It appears the two approaches cannot coexist.
Half birthdays have long had a place in our family celebration list. My husband was born on his brother's birthday. His mom instituted half birthdays so that each kid got his own day. He only got one birthday but he didn't have to share.
We did the same with out daughter born two weeks after Christmas. The weather is crummy and everyone is partied out. We marked the day in January but the celebration and gift giving were in July. She preferred it that way
Explained this way, I get why people enjoy half birthdays. Thanks! Clearly you have smart people in your family. Our middle daughter's birthday is January 11 and she would have loved a July celebration ... if only we'd thought of it.
My January 12 b-day son has often celebrated a half-birthday and shared a celebration weekend with his July 1 b-day cousin (the boys are 6 months apart born in 2001 and 2000, respectively. Thankfully the boys (now men - sob!) enjoyed celebrating together since they don't see much of each other after being super close when they were little (we moved away).
We never celebrated half birthdays. I always thought that half birthdays were invented (by a compassionate teacher, no doubt) so kids who had summer birthdays could have them celebrated at school like their friends whose birthdays occurred during the school year. (A nice gesture, I thought, giving thanks to whichever teacher devised the celebration.) However, even this bifurcation of the year leaves some kids out. My daughter, born on June 26th, had the bad luck of her half birthday always falling during Christmas/Hanukkah/Kwanza/Winter Solstice year end holiday.
I flat out despise Ben Bradlee, because he & he alone denied the Sun-Times it's very well deserved Pulitzer for the Mirage series.
I've read Ben Hecht's stories about his thefts of photos for article about people killed & the numerous articles written about harry Romanoff impersonating all sorts of Chicago figures to get info on things for the papers he wrote for.
I find nothing wrong with secretly recording public figures about their actual beliefs, compared to their public stances on things.
Or have they all forgotten the tape of the fat orange traitor saying he could grab women's pussies all the time & nothing would happen to him, because he was rich & famous?
Employees who worked on his tv show The Apprentice say that executive producer has locked up hours of the fat orange traitor using the "N" word all the time.
I want reporters to investigate the rich & powerful, not kow tow to them!
You're so right Garry. The Mirage deserves to have a parade and a statue. Better yet, they should make the building it was in into a replica Mirage, and hire bartenders etc. who look like some of the people who staffed the Mirage, like Pam Zekman. Make it into like a Colonial Williamsburg but for the Mirage. All the staffers ARE that person from the Mirage, and as they get you a beer, can tell you all about the pay-offs they had to make with various inspectors, etc. Wait, I think I just found my next project.
That would mean every inch of wall space was nothing but mug shots of convicted aldermen. The two father & son teams should be right next to each other!
I think Chicago should have a permanent museum or at least a wall of shame for all convicted government officials. How about an electronic billboard that rotates the mugshots of our elected criminals?
Lots of marketing opportunities, you could serve a local draft called “Corrupt Beer”.
There would be “Payoff Vodka” and “inspected Bourbon”.
Just creating drink names would be fun and it would become a mandatory tourist stop.
On the weekends you could have a show where actors dressed as health inspectors would come in and inspect and then leave with payoffs. Then the bar announces half off on all drinks. What fun.
I can't stand it, this would be *perfect*. Yes, *AND* you could staff the place in a partnership with Second City with improv actors for free by making it a Second City internship/class.
Our half-birthday celebrations typically involved a trip to Dairy Queen and now, with the girls all grown, "Happy half-birthday!" texts. (I think it drives my son-in-law somewhat crazy.) And because of your question on it, I just realized I missed my youngest daughter's half birthday on June 8 ... And the son-in-law's half birthday on June 11.
That Oak Park library story is terrible. I loved that town, but don't regret that I'm not living there now.
I have a modest request. Could you also link the tweet poll at the end of the full post--either before or after the p.s? I don't want to interrupt my reading to take it, but I don't want to miss it, either.
The Mincing Rascals live podcast turned out to be a blast, which I didn't expect as someone who hasn't been on a stage since the last time I graduated from something. I'm guessing many listeners are Sentinel readers so just wanted to say thanks for making it so much fun! Next time (since they seem to be talking about a next time) I would be ready to just enjoy it and hope to get to mingle more with everybody who came out.
I love Bill Kurtis but he stopped being a journalist a long time ago. As a non-native Illinoisan, he first came to my attention for his self-produced true crime/mystery shows - clearly a step outside traditional journalism. He is now a (delightful) game show announcer - he's a hoot on WWDTM but I don't think he's a journalist anymore.
I rather enjoyed his narration on the opening track from The Dandy Warhols’ album Welcome To The Odditorium, as well as his “I’m Bill Kurtis” voice contribution for that fictitious board game that appears in some of the older South Park episodes.
I am conflicted about investigative journalists pretending to be someone other than who they are, especially when asking leading questions phrased so that the responder can simply agree. They may do so just to end the conversation and avoid engaging in a controversial discussion.
In such cases maybe the solution is an unedited release of the audio/video. At least then the reader can make their own judgment as to how true or misleading the responses are.
Certainly we can remember the deceptive editing done by Project Veritas and the dishonesty of their “reporting”.
The issue is not so much the undercover part, but the failure of the journalist to get the subject's views in his own words. The the snippets shown in today's PS, I can't tell if Alito was just saying yes because I did not want to get into a detailed discussion or if meant "Yes! right on".
Your point about leading questions is spot on. Apart from the matter of ethicality, it should be noted that the big “gets” that our journalist/activist elicited from Alito were really more like a couple of big nothing burgers, in part because of the way she lead the questions, but mostly because they were completely benign and unremarkable (EZ’s “disquiet” notwithstanding).
I agree that leading questions are problematic, especially when aimed at less suspecting sources, but Alito is one of the most powerful people in our country, and he knows it. The contrast between his answer and that of Roberts is the tell that his beliefs about religion and state may be unconstitutional. Also, contrast these private sentiments with his public statements about religion, wherein he is very careful to frame everything in the context of a general “religious liberty”, not the “one side vs. the other” philosophy he espouses at the private event. Sounds like Christian Nationalism to me, which I hope we agree is not benign, coming from someone with his power.
I too am concerned by Alito’s responses. What I am questioning are the tactics used. That said, the genie is now out of the bottle for Alito (as if there might have been any question about how he feels).
I hear you, and I commented earlier, separately, on why I’m less troubled by the tactics given the context and Windsor’s willingness to defend her work publicly.
i don't have a problem w- the leading questions. i do have a problem w- the 'reporter' misrepresenting herself.
accd'g to the P-S, the surreptitious reporter told cnn: '...please tell me how we’re going to get answers when the Supreme Court has been shrouded in secrecy and really refusing any degree of accountability whatsoever.'
if that's true [it's not - tho i do believe that certain members of SCOTUS defy reasonable ethical standards], well, tough. there's a thing called the US constitution, and in that document it provides for separation of powers. even if you believe that SCOTUS shd up its game on policing itself [it shd], would you prefer Congress or the President [any Prez] setting ethics standards for SCOTUS?
The Lauren Windsor/Alito story reveals the sad state of journalism. Journalism has completely lost control of its profession.
Look at doctors, nurses, dentists, lawyers, police, heck even motor vehicle operators MVOs).
They all have a consistent set of study, must qualify for a license, and have a connected ethics/rule code with teeth which requires a basic level of conduct in their profession. Finally you cannot practice law without a license, or practice medicine, you can not drive without a license. If you do, you face penalties which may even rise to criminal.
None of this applies to journalism. When discussing the Windsor/Alito issue, Eric cites the Professional Journalists Code of Ethics which I guess is a set of suggestions with no teeth. Kind of like the Supreme Court’s code of ethics.
I think Windsor is justified in secretly recording the Alitos, but there is no definitive basis in journalism to either justify that or not.
One last thing, I represent myself as a doctor, dentist or even a MVO (I no longer have a diver’s license) , I am looking for trouble. But I can represent myself as a journalist without any legal or even ethical issues. And by reading any of my posts, including this one, you can tell I am not a journalist by any stretch of the imagination!
Oak Parker here. Man, that whole incident was bonkers and our own local Facebook politics groups still don't understand why she was fired. And there's always more to the story.
+ I think she's going to be suing the library for wrongful termination, breach of contract.
+ One of the activists heavily involved in getting the director fired was also heavily involved in getting an Oak Park-River Forest high school board member to quit. Her feelings are always hurt, but this doesn't stop her from calling people names on Facebook, Like "KKK" this
+ When the former director resigned, the library board hired a noted library director executive recruiter. He quit after a few weeks because people on the board were calling him racist or white supremacist.
+ The board then hired a woman to do the executive search. She is a local anti-racism activist, and had never ever done an executive search before. Oh, and she employ(ed) one of the library board members
+ Just this week, the library board decided to hire 2 of 8 firms to find the new executive director
+ The library board has been approving budgets larger than tax revenues.
+ The library sees itself as primarily an anti-racism/social services organization above all else.
We're also the town where one Village Trustee told the other trustees they don't have a right to say anything about a diversity statement and even told the Palestinian immigrant Village president "Your skin is white enough" as she told him, too, to shut up about the diversity statement.
Another Trustee coached a diversity teen group to protest at the Village President's home. They wrote obscenities on the side walk, went onto his porch and banged on his windows while he was on the Zoom board meeting. They also went into his back yard and destroyed the family's patio furniture and plants (which activists denied until the photos showed up on Facebook).
I'm grateful we still have a local paper, for sure. But they're certainly not as dogged about local government as they used to be, especially when it comes to diversity issues.
This is a great place to live, if you just ignore the insanities of local politics (as 80+% of people here do).
And you are willing to pay the astronomical property taxes to pay for the profligate and misguided village, township, school districts, and library. And we shouldn't forget the attacks on the 'racist' policies and practices of our police department that were based on - nothing.
Yes. Because like 80+% of Oak Parkers, we think this is a great place to live.
Yes, taxes and crime are a bit higher than other suburbs. But the schools are certainly better than average, we like the proximity to the city, walkability, generally nice neighbors and well, diverse neighbors and friends.
Our police department is also certainly better than most. And like all organizations, can use continuous improvement.
Also, unlike most Oak Park complainers, I actually took action — by running for D200 board last Spring on a fiscal responsibility and common sense message. (I lost, for whatever that means...)
20 years ago I might have agreed that Windsor crossed the journo ethics line by not disclosing her identity and purpose to her “sources”. Now? In a media environment where some of our most popular news outlets brazenly lie and mislead without accountability? Clinging to the well-intentioned norms of the past may get us nowhere in search of important truths. I’m fine with Windsor in this particular case because she didn’t hit and run, dumping her “get” without context. She published her recording quickly, and she made herself available to multiple outlets who were free to critique her methods and motives.
There is much that I do not understand about this time and its politics. One thing that baffles me is the pearl-clutching and sal volatile sniffing about the exposing of Alito--a man who openly flouts the ethics of his profession and position, who shrouds himself in mystery and double talk, who was instumental in bringing misery to many , many poor women by denying them a human right (control of their bodies), and who is a Christian nationalist ruling on secular laws. But, heavens to Murgatroyd!!! how terrible it is for a journalist to expose him by recording his own words ... I feel faint!!!
Actually, the real pearl clutchers here are the paranoids that seem to think that an esteemed jurist and member of the nation’s highest court is actually some sort of comic book evildoer who warrants undercover sting operations to pierce his “shroud of secrecy” just because he holds a judicial philosophy that isn’t always agreeable to progressives. The questions of ethicality about Ms. Windsor’s tactics are peanuts compared to the ones that should be raised regarding her mental state.
Oh, I just noticed that Alito was a signatory of today’s unanimous, Kavanaugh authored ruling that threw out the legal challenge to mifepristone. Not exactly incontrovertible evidence of a sinister plot to convert the nation into a hardline Christian theocracy that denies women access to abortion everywhere, but I’m sure that your pearls will continue to be clutched.
Esteemed jurist? Give me a break. Only a dyed in the wool far rightist wi look at his machinations in the matter of Dobbs and think that is worthy of esteem. The victimised poor women will have a different opinion.
I do not think Alito is an idiot and only an idiot would think that the people challenging mifeprestone had standing. The ruling expresses no views on the central matter. Let's wait until the MAGA justices get a chance to tackle that.
The mifepristone decision was based entirely on standing. Plaintiffs clearly suffered no harm and will suffer no harm from mifepristone's availability. This was not a decision on mifepristone's approval.
How is Brandon Johnson spending so much on expensive hairdressers and his hair ends up looking ridiculous? What is up with it being so pointy? He needs to get his money back - unless "conehead" is his preferred aesthetic
had to chime in here re: name calling (I've been gone and just caught up on all the PS issues-one being the term "thug" in another issue I believe--I'm glad to know about that but don't really get the reasoning-I'll still call Trump one) "Pinhead" is a really derogatory term for someone born with a condition called microcephaly where the skull does not grow to allow the brain to grow. As such it results in serious developmental development in many areas. I'd vote for conehead
I don’t understand these curmudgeons who don’t believe in half birthdays. My mom always celebrated ours with half a cake. I did it for my daughters. We still acknowledge them with half a cake. No presents but a happy half birthday and cake lifts my spirits every time.
Boy, me either. I actually have a (very) mini-celebration on the 28th of every month, as the 12ths tick by to the next birthday. May 28th was 79-11/12.
I am so glad that I do not work for a public entity. Evanston fired a good city manager a couple of years ago stemming from a disgruntled former employee.
Yes, we lived in Evanston back then, and it was shameful that Erica, a very competent and dedicated city employee, was treated that way because of the very loud crowd of critics.
Evanston District 65 was just as bad, letting an outstanding superintendent go in favor of a total incompetant who didn't even last two years before jumping ship (to a lot of people's relief), leaving a lot of mess behind.
D65 has become a battleground for neighbors to fight each other. IMO, it should dissolve and split into smaller districts. One can focus on development of students and the the other can have racially segregrated schools, not have tracking and tell 5 year-olds that whiteness is bad. It appears the two approaches cannot coexist.
Half birthdays have long had a place in our family celebration list. My husband was born on his brother's birthday. His mom instituted half birthdays so that each kid got his own day. He only got one birthday but he didn't have to share.
We did the same with out daughter born two weeks after Christmas. The weather is crummy and everyone is partied out. We marked the day in January but the celebration and gift giving were in July. She preferred it that way
Explained this way, I get why people enjoy half birthdays. Thanks! Clearly you have smart people in your family. Our middle daughter's birthday is January 11 and she would have loved a July celebration ... if only we'd thought of it.
My January 12 b-day son has often celebrated a half-birthday and shared a celebration weekend with his July 1 b-day cousin (the boys are 6 months apart born in 2001 and 2000, respectively. Thankfully the boys (now men - sob!) enjoyed celebrating together since they don't see much of each other after being super close when they were little (we moved away).
We never celebrated half birthdays. I always thought that half birthdays were invented (by a compassionate teacher, no doubt) so kids who had summer birthdays could have them celebrated at school like their friends whose birthdays occurred during the school year. (A nice gesture, I thought, giving thanks to whichever teacher devised the celebration.) However, even this bifurcation of the year leaves some kids out. My daughter, born on June 26th, had the bad luck of her half birthday always falling during Christmas/Hanukkah/Kwanza/Winter Solstice year end holiday.
I flat out despise Ben Bradlee, because he & he alone denied the Sun-Times it's very well deserved Pulitzer for the Mirage series.
I've read Ben Hecht's stories about his thefts of photos for article about people killed & the numerous articles written about harry Romanoff impersonating all sorts of Chicago figures to get info on things for the papers he wrote for.
I find nothing wrong with secretly recording public figures about their actual beliefs, compared to their public stances on things.
Or have they all forgotten the tape of the fat orange traitor saying he could grab women's pussies all the time & nothing would happen to him, because he was rich & famous?
Employees who worked on his tv show The Apprentice say that executive producer has locked up hours of the fat orange traitor using the "N" word all the time.
I want reporters to investigate the rich & powerful, not kow tow to them!
You're so right Garry. The Mirage deserves to have a parade and a statue. Better yet, they should make the building it was in into a replica Mirage, and hire bartenders etc. who look like some of the people who staffed the Mirage, like Pam Zekman. Make it into like a Colonial Williamsburg but for the Mirage. All the staffers ARE that person from the Mirage, and as they get you a beer, can tell you all about the pay-offs they had to make with various inspectors, etc. Wait, I think I just found my next project.
I’d invest in this!
You could include a rogues gallery of convicted alder persons for wall art.
That would mean every inch of wall space was nothing but mug shots of convicted aldermen. The two father & son teams should be right next to each other!
I think Chicago should have a permanent museum or at least a wall of shame for all convicted government officials. How about an electronic billboard that rotates the mugshots of our elected criminals?
Lots of marketing opportunities, you could serve a local draft called “Corrupt Beer”.
There would be “Payoff Vodka” and “inspected Bourbon”.
Just creating drink names would be fun and it would become a mandatory tourist stop.
On the weekends you could have a show where actors dressed as health inspectors would come in and inspect and then leave with payoffs. Then the bar announces half off on all drinks. What fun.
I can't stand it, this would be *perfect*. Yes, *AND* you could staff the place in a partnership with Second City with improv actors for free by making it a Second City internship/class.
Our half-birthday celebrations typically involved a trip to Dairy Queen and now, with the girls all grown, "Happy half-birthday!" texts. (I think it drives my son-in-law somewhat crazy.) And because of your question on it, I just realized I missed my youngest daughter's half birthday on June 8 ... And the son-in-law's half birthday on June 11.
That Oak Park library story is terrible. I loved that town, but don't regret that I'm not living there now.
I have a modest request. Could you also link the tweet poll at the end of the full post--either before or after the p.s? I don't want to interrupt my reading to take it, but I don't want to miss it, either.
The Mincing Rascals live podcast turned out to be a blast, which I didn't expect as someone who hasn't been on a stage since the last time I graduated from something. I'm guessing many listeners are Sentinel readers so just wanted to say thanks for making it so much fun! Next time (since they seem to be talking about a next time) I would be ready to just enjoy it and hope to get to mingle more with everybody who came out.
I love Bill Kurtis but he stopped being a journalist a long time ago. As a non-native Illinoisan, he first came to my attention for his self-produced true crime/mystery shows - clearly a step outside traditional journalism. He is now a (delightful) game show announcer - he's a hoot on WWDTM but I don't think he's a journalist anymore.
I rather enjoyed his narration on the opening track from The Dandy Warhols’ album Welcome To The Odditorium, as well as his “I’m Bill Kurtis” voice contribution for that fictitious board game that appears in some of the older South Park episodes.
I am conflicted about investigative journalists pretending to be someone other than who they are, especially when asking leading questions phrased so that the responder can simply agree. They may do so just to end the conversation and avoid engaging in a controversial discussion.
In such cases maybe the solution is an unedited release of the audio/video. At least then the reader can make their own judgment as to how true or misleading the responses are.
Certainly we can remember the deceptive editing done by Project Veritas and the dishonesty of their “reporting”.
The issue is not so much the undercover part, but the failure of the journalist to get the subject's views in his own words. The the snippets shown in today's PS, I can't tell if Alito was just saying yes because I did not want to get into a detailed discussion or if meant "Yes! right on".
Your point about leading questions is spot on. Apart from the matter of ethicality, it should be noted that the big “gets” that our journalist/activist elicited from Alito were really more like a couple of big nothing burgers, in part because of the way she lead the questions, but mostly because they were completely benign and unremarkable (EZ’s “disquiet” notwithstanding).
I agree that leading questions are problematic, especially when aimed at less suspecting sources, but Alito is one of the most powerful people in our country, and he knows it. The contrast between his answer and that of Roberts is the tell that his beliefs about religion and state may be unconstitutional. Also, contrast these private sentiments with his public statements about religion, wherein he is very careful to frame everything in the context of a general “religious liberty”, not the “one side vs. the other” philosophy he espouses at the private event. Sounds like Christian Nationalism to me, which I hope we agree is not benign, coming from someone with his power.
I too am concerned by Alito’s responses. What I am questioning are the tactics used. That said, the genie is now out of the bottle for Alito (as if there might have been any question about how he feels).
I hear you, and I commented earlier, separately, on why I’m less troubled by the tactics given the context and Windsor’s willingness to defend her work publicly.
i don't have a problem w- the leading questions. i do have a problem w- the 'reporter' misrepresenting herself.
accd'g to the P-S, the surreptitious reporter told cnn: '...please tell me how we’re going to get answers when the Supreme Court has been shrouded in secrecy and really refusing any degree of accountability whatsoever.'
if that's true [it's not - tho i do believe that certain members of SCOTUS defy reasonable ethical standards], well, tough. there's a thing called the US constitution, and in that document it provides for separation of powers. even if you believe that SCOTUS shd up its game on policing itself [it shd], would you prefer Congress or the President [any Prez] setting ethics standards for SCOTUS?
i shudder at the thought.
The Lauren Windsor/Alito story reveals the sad state of journalism. Journalism has completely lost control of its profession.
Look at doctors, nurses, dentists, lawyers, police, heck even motor vehicle operators MVOs).
They all have a consistent set of study, must qualify for a license, and have a connected ethics/rule code with teeth which requires a basic level of conduct in their profession. Finally you cannot practice law without a license, or practice medicine, you can not drive without a license. If you do, you face penalties which may even rise to criminal.
None of this applies to journalism. When discussing the Windsor/Alito issue, Eric cites the Professional Journalists Code of Ethics which I guess is a set of suggestions with no teeth. Kind of like the Supreme Court’s code of ethics.
I think Windsor is justified in secretly recording the Alitos, but there is no definitive basis in journalism to either justify that or not.
One last thing, I represent myself as a doctor, dentist or even a MVO (I no longer have a diver’s license) , I am looking for trouble. But I can represent myself as a journalist without any legal or even ethical issues. And by reading any of my posts, including this one, you can tell I am not a journalist by any stretch of the imagination!
I always celebrate on my half birthday along with much of the world. It’s New Year’s Eve…😉
Oak Parker here. Man, that whole incident was bonkers and our own local Facebook politics groups still don't understand why she was fired. And there's always more to the story.
+ I think she's going to be suing the library for wrongful termination, breach of contract.
+ One of the activists heavily involved in getting the director fired was also heavily involved in getting an Oak Park-River Forest high school board member to quit. Her feelings are always hurt, but this doesn't stop her from calling people names on Facebook, Like "KKK" this
+ When the former director resigned, the library board hired a noted library director executive recruiter. He quit after a few weeks because people on the board were calling him racist or white supremacist.
+ The board then hired a woman to do the executive search. She is a local anti-racism activist, and had never ever done an executive search before. Oh, and she employ(ed) one of the library board members
+ Just this week, the library board decided to hire 2 of 8 firms to find the new executive director
+ The library board has been approving budgets larger than tax revenues.
+ The library sees itself as primarily an anti-racism/social services organization above all else.
We're also the town where one Village Trustee told the other trustees they don't have a right to say anything about a diversity statement and even told the Palestinian immigrant Village president "Your skin is white enough" as she told him, too, to shut up about the diversity statement.
Another Trustee coached a diversity teen group to protest at the Village President's home. They wrote obscenities on the side walk, went onto his porch and banged on his windows while he was on the Zoom board meeting. They also went into his back yard and destroyed the family's patio furniture and plants (which activists denied until the photos showed up on Facebook).
I'm grateful we still have a local paper, for sure. But they're certainly not as dogged about local government as they used to be, especially when it comes to diversity issues.
This is a great place to live, if you just ignore the insanities of local politics (as 80+% of people here do).
And you are willing to pay the astronomical property taxes to pay for the profligate and misguided village, township, school districts, and library. And we shouldn't forget the attacks on the 'racist' policies and practices of our police department that were based on - nothing.
Yes. Because like 80+% of Oak Parkers, we think this is a great place to live.
Yes, taxes and crime are a bit higher than other suburbs. But the schools are certainly better than average, we like the proximity to the city, walkability, generally nice neighbors and well, diverse neighbors and friends.
Our police department is also certainly better than most. And like all organizations, can use continuous improvement.
Also, unlike most Oak Park complainers, I actually took action — by running for D200 board last Spring on a fiscal responsibility and common sense message. (I lost, for whatever that means...)
20 years ago I might have agreed that Windsor crossed the journo ethics line by not disclosing her identity and purpose to her “sources”. Now? In a media environment where some of our most popular news outlets brazenly lie and mislead without accountability? Clinging to the well-intentioned norms of the past may get us nowhere in search of important truths. I’m fine with Windsor in this particular case because she didn’t hit and run, dumping her “get” without context. She published her recording quickly, and she made herself available to multiple outlets who were free to critique her methods and motives.
There is much that I do not understand about this time and its politics. One thing that baffles me is the pearl-clutching and sal volatile sniffing about the exposing of Alito--a man who openly flouts the ethics of his profession and position, who shrouds himself in mystery and double talk, who was instumental in bringing misery to many , many poor women by denying them a human right (control of their bodies), and who is a Christian nationalist ruling on secular laws. But, heavens to Murgatroyd!!! how terrible it is for a journalist to expose him by recording his own words ... I feel faint!!!
Actually, the real pearl clutchers here are the paranoids that seem to think that an esteemed jurist and member of the nation’s highest court is actually some sort of comic book evildoer who warrants undercover sting operations to pierce his “shroud of secrecy” just because he holds a judicial philosophy that isn’t always agreeable to progressives. The questions of ethicality about Ms. Windsor’s tactics are peanuts compared to the ones that should be raised regarding her mental state.
Oh, I just noticed that Alito was a signatory of today’s unanimous, Kavanaugh authored ruling that threw out the legal challenge to mifepristone. Not exactly incontrovertible evidence of a sinister plot to convert the nation into a hardline Christian theocracy that denies women access to abortion everywhere, but I’m sure that your pearls will continue to be clutched.
Esteemed jurist? Give me a break. Only a dyed in the wool far rightist wi look at his machinations in the matter of Dobbs and think that is worthy of esteem. The victimised poor women will have a different opinion.
I do not think Alito is an idiot and only an idiot would think that the people challenging mifeprestone had standing. The ruling expresses no views on the central matter. Let's wait until the MAGA justices get a chance to tackle that.
It was a standing ruling, nothing else
The mifepristone decision was based entirely on standing. Plaintiffs clearly suffered no harm and will suffer no harm from mifepristone's availability. This was not a decision on mifepristone's approval.
How is Brandon Johnson spending so much on expensive hairdressers and his hair ends up looking ridiculous? What is up with it being so pointy? He needs to get his money back - unless "conehead" is his preferred aesthetic
And Conehead is what many who hate him call him!
My wife doesn't hate him, but she calls him "Pinhead." "Conehead" is probably more apt, though.
had to chime in here re: name calling (I've been gone and just caught up on all the PS issues-one being the term "thug" in another issue I believe--I'm glad to know about that but don't really get the reasoning-I'll still call Trump one) "Pinhead" is a really derogatory term for someone born with a condition called microcephaly where the skull does not grow to allow the brain to grow. As such it results in serious developmental development in many areas. I'd vote for conehead
EZ, exactly why do I always have to vote twice for the Tweets?
And this week's group was far better than the last few weeks.
The TotWs were better this week.
to show there's no acctg for taste, i thought this week's collection of TotWs was one of the worst in many weeks.
but to quote mike murphy, an orig show host on The SCORE: 'hey, i'm just a fan.'
I don’t understand these curmudgeons who don’t believe in half birthdays. My mom always celebrated ours with half a cake. I did it for my daughters. We still acknowledge them with half a cake. No presents but a happy half birthday and cake lifts my spirits every time.
Boy, me either. I actually have a (very) mini-celebration on the 28th of every month, as the 12ths tick by to the next birthday. May 28th was 79-11/12.
Happy 78& 11/12 birthday. And soon…happy birthday for a whole new year.
Whoops, happy 79 & 11/12