Half of the 235 people arrested during disorder on the streets of Baltimore on Monday night have been released without being charged with a crime, The Baltimore Sun has reported. Read The Sun story here. Apparently, paperwork on many of the arrests could not be found. Continue reading
BALTIMORE SUN PHOTO
Baltimore Orioles-Chicago White Sox game is being played to an empty stadium in Camden Yards Wednesday afternoon. Game closed to public after trouble in the streets on Monday and Tuesday. For more breaking news, see BaltimoreSun.com
Anyone who isn’t familiar with Baltimore will need some background and perspective to even begin to understand the troubled story unfolding there. The protests and unrest in the city stem from the arrest and death in custody of Freddie Gray, who was buried Monday. But the underlying grievances have a long history. Continue reading
Regarding Monday’s unrest in Baltimore, most of us should take time to think before we speak. I live in Maryland, but not in Baltimore. Let’s listen first to the voices of the residents and elected leaders of Baltimore. Continue reading
Misinformation is a dangerous plague spread throughout the Web and what remains of the Mainstream Media. Propaganda and lies have always been with us. But before the rise of cable TV and the internet, newspapers in the West were able to filter out the worst misinformation. Many newspapers and journalists were dedicated to finding and reporting the truth, and they had sufficient resources for the job. With the demise of the newspaper industry, it’s now possible for propagandists to manufacture a fake “reality” at will and spread it unchecked. It’s becoming nearly impossible for the average person to know what’s real and what’s lies, unless you’re an actual eyewitness, or you have reliable sources. And of course any one eyewitness can touch only one small part of the elephant. Informed bloggers such as Clarissa try to counter misinformation. Well-informed bloggers can be reliable sources. Of course, it’s not easy to identify the informed bloggers, and their reach is small compared to the power of state-sponsored misinformation. Thanks to Clarissa for providing a steady stream of reliable information about Ukraine. — John
Right-wing publications are as dedicated to pushing Putinoid propaganda as the Leftie pro-Putin rag The Nation. Kremlin propaganda is always offered under the sauce of “We really want Ukraine to succeed but let’s keep in mind this string of Putin-generated myths that we will pretend have a connection to reality.”
Here is how The American Interest does it (and mind you, this is just one tiny example):
Throughout last week, armies of coal miners stormed Kyiv’s government district to protest unpaid wages and call for the sacking of Ukraine’s energy minister.
Of course, there were no “armies of coal miners.” The “coal miners” are actors whom we have already seen appear in Russian news segments as bus drivers from Lugansk, separatists in Gorlovka, persecuted Russian-speakers in Donetsk, etc. The moment I saw the very first newscast about the “protesting coal miners”, I immediately recognized one of them as the fake…
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Here’s a movie, “While We’re Young”, that contrasts two stages of adult life — middle-aged forties vs. twenty somethings — and touches on enough marriage and family angst to satisfy ten films.
Writer-Director Noah Baumbach packs four fictional documentary filmmakers — all of them quirky — into one narrative, creating excess competitive tension.
Ben Stiller (Josh) is a middle-aged documentary filmmaker who’s stuck on a project. His wife Naomi Watts (Cornelia) is also a documentary filmmaker who works with her father. Not surprisingly, the father, Charles Grodin (Leslie), who appears to be the dean of documentary filmmakers, has a strained relationship with his son-in-law Josh. How many times am I going to have to write “documentary filmmaker” in this one movie review?
The story might be better without the intrusion of the older filmmaker. Charles Grodin’s take on the character is great, but really, the old guy is a peripheral character. Most of the tension, comic and dramatic, is between the two couples, one young and the other middle-aged..
Adam Driver (Jamie) is the fourth and youngest documentary filmmaker. He’s married to Amanda Sayfried (Darby). I’m relieved to report that Darby makes ice cream, not films. I was impressed by Driver’s deft portrayal of the young and somewhat ruthless filmmaker. Stiller, with his piercing eyes, puts heartfelt intensity into the conflict between Josh and Jamie.
The two couples embark on an improbable intergenerational friendship, filled with glowing mutual admiration and envy in the beginning. The awkwardness of the friendship is good for humorous scenes at first. Alas, the friendship begins to sour about halfway through, and the comedy morphs into serious drama.
I won’t give away any more of the complicated plot, except to say that it leads to a serious dispute over documentary ethics between Josh and Jamie. A secondary theme about parenthood is not fully developed, but it’s a worthwhile counterpoint to the main theme, professional striving.
While We’re Young might disappoint if you’re looking for a barrel of laughs from beginning to end. The comedic part of the film is good, but the drama at the end is excellent. I’d see it again.
— John Hayden
Someplace in Frederick, MD, 04-24-15.
Someplace in Gaithersburg, MD, 04-24-15.
Rave about your Fall foliage, but I’ll take the many colors of blossoming trees in Spring. No elaboration required.
John Hayden Photos.
I’ve been hearing the latest health edict for quite a while.
“Sitting is the new smoking!”
The human body was made to move, not sit. Get up and walk. Just do it.
OK, I sprang for a book. “This Is Your Do-Over: The 7 Secrets to Losing Weight, Living Longer, and Getting a Second Chance at the Life You Want,” by Michael F. Roizen, M.D. It’s 358 pages hardback, including index and a forward by Dr. Oz. Yep, that Dr. Oz. Continue reading
Retirement is good. I haven’t felt like going to work a single day this week. I’m thankful that I don’t have to. Been there, done that. Enough!
When I say, hear, or read the words “Social Security” or “Medicare,” my reaction is:
“Thanks to God and the Democratic Party.”
Some say Social Security benefits need to be reduced because people are living longer.
Really?
We’ve always had old folks — eighty years, ninety, one hundred, and even higher. Nothing new under the sun. But are more folks living to advanced ages than ever before? Probably, because the population is larger than ever. But just because nearly everyone knows someone very old, that doesn’t mean that everyone is living deep into old age.
“Are people living much longer in retirement? Or is the truth, now and always, that a few people with good genes and good luck make it to old age?” — From “Me And The Blog”
I personally have known more people in the Boomer generation who died at 60, 62, or 66, to pick a few numbers. Boomers are dying in their forties and fifties. All the folks who die young paid into Social Security every week since they began working. They’re never going to collect a penny. Those who die in their sixties draw benefits only briefly. Who gets the money?
Who gets the uncollected old-age benefits of the masses of people who die young? Seems to me that more Baby Boomers are dying in the fourth, fifth and sixth decades of life, than will make it to the eighth and ninth decades.
Seems to me that the many who die young balance out the few who grow old. I’ll leave it to an enterprising young auditor who understands actuarial data to figure it out.
— John Hayden
A new AARP Livability Index can tell you how your city or town (or the place you’re thinking about relocating) ranks as a place to live and grow older. The Livability Index, which can rate practically any neighborhood in the U.S., goes live this week, according to The Washington Post and a host of other mainstream media outlets. You can find it at aarp.org/livabilityindex. (Interestingly, many MSM sources fail to give the url for the new AARP tool.)
AARP describes the new resource as follows:
“The Livability Index is a signature initiative of the Public Policy Institute to measure the quality of life in American communities across multiple dimensions: housing, transportation, neighborhood characteristics, environment, health, opportunity, and civic and social engagement.
An interactive, easily navigated website, the Livability Index allows users to compare communities, adjust scores based on personal preferences and learn how to take action to make their own communities move livable.”
I entered my Maryland zip code into the system and found out in about half a second that my Gaithersburg neighborhood rates 59 on a scale of zero to 100. I also received specific ratings on the following livability measures:
Housing in my neighborhood rates a measly 36. Not a surprise to me. I already know that generally speaking, you can’t buy or rent a home in Montgomery County, MD, unless you’re affluent. You need two middle-class incomes or one high income to support a family here. (That’s why I’m researching communities in Florida. The cost of living in many parts of Florida is quite reasonable, compared to the Maryland suburbs. Needless to say, the AARP Livability Index will be a great help in my search.)
On the positive side, my neighborhood rates high in Health (79), and gets pretty good scores of 64 on both Neighborhood and Engagement. (I’m doubtful about the high rating for Engagement. If AARP considered voter turnout in the last election, we would rank much lower.)
Transportation rates 56. Even if you own a car, that’s an optimistic number. The Washington, D.C. area is notorious for rush hour traffic. If you depend on public transportation, I dunno. My part of Montgomery County is past the end of the line for the Metro subway. And Metro overall? I don’t have to ride the subway every day, and I’m glad I don’t. MARC commuter trains are good if both your home and workplace are near a rail station.
The transportation score could go up or way down in the future, depending on whether our leaders and voters are willing to fund plans for the Purple Line in the southern parts of Montgomery and Prince Georges Counties, and Bus Rapid Transit in northern Montgomery.
Take a look at the AARP Livability Index. How does your hometown rate? Are your civic leaders going to be bragging, or running for cover?
— John Hayden
Living Simply And Still On The Grid 