News Haul Sunday 1.23.22
Introduction
Martin Luther King Memorial in Washington, DC
“Amanda Gorman: Why I Almost Didn’t Read My Poem at the Inauguration” (In The New York Times.)
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/20/opinion/amanda-gorman-poem-inauguration.html?referringSource=articleShare
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state of equality: voting rights and racial equity
mountain of despair…
Republicans block action on voting rights legislation again, setting the stage for a filibuster showdown. NYT Wednesday, 1.19.22
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/19/us/politics/voting-rights-senate-debate.html
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(Before the vote…)
“Senate plows ahead on voting rights” (The Los Angeles Times)
https://edition.pagesuite.com/popovers/dynamic_article_popover.aspx?artguid=152bb84a-6754-4416-82fc-3119aabc5e58
“On Voting Rights Bill, Democrats Say They Had to Go Down Swinging”(The New York Times)
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/20/us/politics/democrats-voting-rights.html
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(A bit too little, too late for this round of the battle…)
“Our votes need protecting. The filibuster is in the way.”
(The Charlotte Observer)
https://edition.pagesuite.com/popovers/dynamic_article_popover.aspx?artguid=138f297e-46ee-497e-bda9-79b938c60252
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(A historic perspective)
“Who owned slaves in Congress? A list of 1700 enslavers in Senate, House history” (The Washington Post)
https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/interactive/2022/congress-slaveowners-names-list/
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meanwhile, at states’ level…
“NC can go ahead with political maps, court rules in win for GOP ahead of 2022 midterms” (Charlotte Observer)
https://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/politics-government/article257130202.html
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NPR hosts' departures fuel questions over race. The full story is complex. (Story from NPR… about NPR.)
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(a few stones of hope…)
“Ohio Supreme Court Strikes Down Republican Gerrymander of Map” (The New York Times.
(However, this is in disturbing contrast to the N.C. 3-judge panel this week’s issuing the exact opposite ruling that downright endorses partisan gerrymandering. See above under "Too-Long Arc”.) How can a crippled U.S. Congress and fragmented partisan state-by-state voting processes possibly add up to anything resembling fair, equitable and constitutional federal — as in national, nationwide — elections?)
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Diversity on the Fed Board (a biden campaign promise.)
“Biden nominates Davidson professor to Fed board” (Charlotte Observer)
https://edition.pagesuite.com/popovers/dynamic_article_popover.aspx?artguid=384e6fa5-0ebb-43bd-be60-a0ca9fe258b7
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And my favorite video of the week, from CBS News Sunday, Steve Hartman’s On the Road piece:
“An interracial couple was forced to break up. Four decades later, they’ve rekindled their romance.”
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/steve-hartman-on-the-road-jeanne-gustavson-steve-watts-love/
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state of the presidency (and the president)
“President Biden Holds Rare Formal Press Conference to Mark his 1st Year in Office” (from NPR.)
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“After one year in office, what has Biden done about the four crises he pledged to address?” (The Washington Post.)
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/interactive/2022/biden-covid-race-economy-climate/
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“Biden first year takeaways: Grand ambitions, humbling defeats” (Associated Press summary analysis published in The Charlotte Observer.)
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Frustrated Democrats Call for ‘Reset’ Ahead of Midterm Elections - (The New York Times)
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/14/us/politics/democratic-frustration-midterms.html
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Biden overshoots on what’s possible in divided DC. (From the Associated Press in The Charlotte Observer.)
https://edition.pagesuite.com/popovers/dynamic_article_popover.aspx?artguid=0107d591-fc67-478b-83b8-1999b3460f8e
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(Building back better… now in chunks?)
‘“Build Back Better’ Hit a Wall, but Climate Action Could Move Forward” (NYT)
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/20/climate/build-back-better-climate-change.html?referringSource=articleShare
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“Biden Ends First Year as President with ‘Bleak, Discouraging’ Marks from the Public.” (From NBC News Meet the Press.)
“Biden Strengthens His Words on Ukraine After Flustering European Partners” (NYT)
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/20/world/europe/ukraine-biden-eu.html?referringSource=articleShare
Some stones of hope: Accountability for January 6 Insurrection
“In Rebuke to Trump, Supreme Court Allows Release of Jan. 6 Files”
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/19/us/politics/trump-supreme-court-jan-6.html?referringSource=articleShare
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“11 Oath Keepers face rare charge of seditious conspiracy.”(From the Associated Press in The Charlotte Observer.)
https://edition.pagesuite.com/popovers/dynamic_article_popover.aspx?artguid=9225c4d3-be8b-4c34-90fd-f79781121185
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“How Oath Keepers Are Accused of Plotting to Storm the Capitol” (NYT)
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2022/01/19/us/oath-keepers-capitol-riot.html?referringSource=articleShare
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state of the press
“These mass shooting survivors were called journalism heroes. Then the buyouts came.” (The Washington Post.)
Capital Gazette reporters were once the face of the First Amendment. What happened over the next three years?
By Emily Davies and Elahe Izadi
https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/01/14/capital-gazette-survivors/ -
David Brooks’ thought-provoking, soul-feeding annual Sidney Awards for …
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/30/opinion/brooks-sidney-awards-2021.amp.html
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“Everything is broken?” (From Tablet magazine). Despite its title, an inspiring piece from xxxx in Tablet, one of David Brooks’ Sidney Award winners.
https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/news/articles/everything-is-broken
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state of the pandemic
“Supreme Court blocks Biden's vaccine-or-test mandate for large private companies” (From NPR’s Nina Totenberg.)
And from CNBC:
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This story from David Leonhardt of The New York Times may be a bit optimistic as yet for most parts of the country, and in those areas the current surge still overwhelms capacity of many large hospital systems requiring US military backup sent in by the President. As the NBC poll numbers illustrate, whether the virus is surging or in retreat, vaccines masks successful in saving lives and ending pandemic or assaults on individual liberties… all things negative have Joe Biden’s name on them.
“Omicron Is in Retreat”
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/19/briefing/omicron-variant-cases.html?referringSource=articleShare
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“Omicron May Peak Soon in NC, Local Doctors Say” (The Charlotte Observer)
https://edition.pagesuite.com/popovers/dynamic_article_popover.aspx?artguid=3c97f8e3-fc95-4808-a9e7-5677c6b8db53
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“You’re so misinformed that it’s extraordinary… (off camera but on mic: What a moron.”
“Inane Squabble With Dr. Fauci Shows the problem with oversight”
https://edition.pagesuite.com/popovers/dynamic_article_popover.aspx?artguid=c79045a4-d991-4415-acfa-2acdc730fcba
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state of the judiciary
U.S. Supreme Court — More like the ‘40s “nine scorpions in a bottle” with every session?
“Is Ginni Thomas A Threat to the Supreme Court?” from The New Yorker’s brilliant Jane Mayer.
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2022/01/31/is-ginni-thomas-a-threat-to-the-supreme-court
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state of religion
NPR story… “Christian Nationalism?”
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ironic photo: This guy is officially “His ‘Holiness?”
“Benedict Faulted for Handling of Abuse Cases When He Was an Archbishop”
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/20/world/europe/benedict-germany-sexual-abuse.html?referringSource=articleShare
(… rather than this guy?)
“Thich Nhat Hanh, Zen Master and Political Reformer, Dies at 95” (NYT)
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/21/world/asia/thich-nhat-hanh-dead.html?referringSource=articleShare
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state of the psyche
Individual and collective, from clinical/mental health to depth psychological dimensions.
“The Mental Health Toll of Trump-Era Politics” (Columnist Michelle Goldberg of The New York Times)
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/21/opinion/trump-politics-mental-health.html
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“The Case Against the Trauma Plot" (The New Yorker,December 27, 2021, by Pahul Sehgal). https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2022/01/03/the-case-against-the-trauma-plot
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finally, to paraphrase Jung, bidden or not, the soul comes in
to Wordle?!
First of all, Wordle is news.
(The source is a social scientist rather than a neuroscientist but still a good piece)
“This is your brain on Wordle.” (NPR this past Science Friday)
https://www.sciencefriday.com/segments/why-we-love-wordle/
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“Wordle Is A Love Story” (The New York Times).
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“What’s behind the Wordle CRAZE?” (NPR)
https://www.npr.org/2022/01/12/1071840091/wordle-word-game-tips
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The real-life Maria von Trapp
https://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2005/winter/von-trapps-html
The Charlotte Observer - Why Wordle is the perfect game for America’s pandemic moment
https://edition.pagesuite.com/popovers/dynamic_article_popover.aspx?artguid=3b8d7215-ffd2-4f2c-b701-da84cd470a25
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