The nominal occasions for a conference call today with “Julian Assange & Whistleblowers” were, obviously, Edward Snowden’s recent leaks; the ongoing Bradley Manning court-martial; and the one-year anniversary of Assange’s “embassy confinement” (he took aslyum in Ecuador’s embassy in London; during the call, he accused Britain of violating international law by refusing to allow him to travel from the embassy to Ecuador itself).
During the fourth quarter of the instant-classic Game Six of the NBA Finals last night (one of the “two or three” best games in NBA history, said Magic Johnson), I flipped over to Twitter—it’s the way we watch now—and refreshed several minutes’ worth of tweets.
Did NYU Screw Over Its Famous Chinese Dissident?
Sussing out Chen Guangcheng’s allegations against his host
Sussing out Chen Guangcheng’s allegations against his host.
Newark Mayor Cory Booker’s ascent to the national stage has been at once a long time coming—the chief executive of the country’s 68th-largest city received Time cover treatment four years ago—and unexpectedly accelerated since Senator Frank Lautenberg died earlier this month.
The average American spends $144 celebrating Mother’s Day, while for Father’s Day, the figure is $82. And that Father’s Day was inspired by Mother’s Day rather than vice versa is probably the least surprising fact you will read today.
About midway through a White House conference call Thursday on Syria, the Wall Street Journal email newswire sent out a quick update. It had reported that the United States was proposing a no-fly zone in Syria—a massive step that would represent a severe escalation of U.S. involvement in the Syrian civil war, and an explicit militarization of that involvement. Not so fast! The Journal update noted merely that a U.S. military proposal calls for a no-fly.
As several journalists waited on Tuesday a little after noon on the north side of Manhattan’s Union Square at the thrice-weekly farmers market, it could be difficult to tell who was there for former congressman and current mayoral candidate Anthony Weiner—young earnest assistants and young earnest media members, all dressed business casual—and who was just there to grab lunch outdoors at the tables on a nice, hot day. The vast majority of people arriving were in the latter group.
New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg is—by virtue of his billions of dollars and his eagerness to use them to bend policies well outside the five boroughs in his preferred direction—a national figure. So it is no surprise this morning to see him producing one major story of national import and one major story of exclusively local concern. I just wish they could switch places.
David Brooks Is Right About One Thing
Edward Snowden is a symbol of our growing distrust of government
There is a lot that David Brooks gets wrong in his much, much, much reviled New York Times column today.
Mike Tannenbaum, as general manager of the New York Jets, once consulted Wall Street management specialists to solve the dilemma every National Football League franchise faces: How do you consistently excel when you're not allowed to outspend other teams? The finance guys’ advice for Tannenbaum was to sign players with what are known as “character issues”: good athletes who are also bad apples.
