The wolf is at the door The Gannett layoffs have begun. Andrew Pantazi, a reporter at The Florida Times-Union and the co-chair of the Times-Union Guild, is compiling a running list of the layoffs across the country. You can track them (or add to the list) here. Meanwhile, Chicago Tribune columnist Mary Schmich has written a letter to the next owner of the Chicago Tribune: We need you, urgently. As Ray Long tweets, “Paper’s in the black, but wolf is at the door: Who or how many will rise up?” Gregory Pratt says, “This is a must-read: For every journalist, as a powerful reflection on why we do the work we do and why it matters. And for the city of Chicago’s citizens, as a plea for help.” Capers, travels and travails 
Miriam Elder wants you to know that “.@ChristopherJM is hunting Kyiv’s cigar bars and luxury hotels to find Giuliani for YOU.” And the headline of Christopher Miller’s BuzzFeed News story pretty much sums up what he’s learned: Rudy Giuliani Made A Surprise Visit To Kyiv And Nobody There Is Happy About It. Paul Hamilos tweets, “Giuliani’s arrival in Ukraine caused a manhunt among reporters, who exchanged frantic messages as they tried to find him. ‘Are you wasting your day looking for Giuliani, too?’ asked one. A Kyiv caper from @ChristopherJM.” Also from his reporting, Miller shares the “Quote of the day: ‘Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa.’” From Ashley Parker, Philip Rucker and Michael Birnbaum of The Washington Post we have Unruly, pouty and boastful: A field guide for Trump’s journeys abroad, and as Anne Gearan says, “You're gonna want to read this romp through Trump’s travels and travails overseas.” Putin knows Andrew Restuccia admits, “@rebeccaballhaus and I spent the last 24 hours learning way too much about the White House’s phone system.” In a new piece for The Wall Street Journal, he and Rebecca Ballhaus write that Doubts Surface Over Giuliani-White House Budget Office Calls. The number associated with OMB is also linked to several other offices in the White House, and some of the phone numbers in the impeachment report correspond to the numbers of Madeleine Westerhout, Trump’s former personal assistant, they report. 
One thing is certain: Phone logs in the impeachment report are renewing the concern about the security of Trump communications. Paul Sonne, Josh Dawsey, Ellen Nakashima and Greg Miller of The Washington Post note that there’s no indication that those calls were encrypted or otherwise shielded from foreign surveillance. As Ryan Lizza says, “Almost every paragraph of this piece has something jaw-dropping in it. But one big takeaway is that Putin probably knows more about the Trump-Giuliani-Ukraine scheme than Congressional investigators do.” Contemptible “A 16-yr-old boy died in Border Patrol custody. He had the flu. They didn’t take him to the hospital. They didn’t release him. They didn’t even seem to check on him as he was dying on the floor of his cell, contrary to the govt’s account. We have the video.” Eric Umansky links to the reporting by Maryam Jameel, Robert Moore and Susan Schmidt of ProPublica, who take us Inside the Cell Where a Sick 16-Year-Old Boy Died in Border Patrol Care (88,000+ shares). Video obtained by ProPublica shows the Border Patrol held the sick teen in a concrete cell without proper medical attention and did not discover his body until his cellmate alerted guards. Ana Marie Cox says, “I made myself watch this. In it, a sick boy struggles for life. You see his last movements. He dies. He had surrendered himself to the Border Patrol seven days earlier. Impeachment is too good for the President behind this, but I guess it’ll have to do.” Writing about working 
Here’s why Natt Garun has decided, “fuck it i’ll just wear all my weeks’ worth of clothes onto the plane.” In a new investigation by Zoe Schiffer of The Verge, former Away employees describe a toxic work environment at the luggage company. How bad is it? “not to be dramatic but this is one of the most deranged things i’ve ever read,” tweets Kelsey Sutton. Tom Gara puts it this way: “Behold this absolutely masterpiece of sociopathic management by the CEO of Away. Genuinely impressive even by the standard of generic management psychos.” On that note, Jason Schreier says, “This new report by @cecianasta is full of wild details about the CEO of Razer, who seems like a lovely man,” which is sarcasm and you’ll definitely want to check out Cecilia D'Anastasio’s story at Kotaku, Razer CEO Berated And Threatened His Staff, Former Employees Say. As Patricia Hernandez points out, “some of the quotes in this are just bonkers...he’s just admitting it! ‘There have also been occasions where a prototype has not met my standards, and in a design meeting, I have thrown the prototype to the wall or on the floor.’” For the first installment of his new series at Vice on “How I Get By,” Maxwell Strachan recounts A Week in the Life of a McDonald’s Cashier. John Cassidy highlights, “‘When you make $9.50/hour, you don’t have any wiggle room.’ Moving portrait of what it’s like to be a member of the American working class--2 jobs, poverty wages, working class.” For those who might be interested in sharing their story, Strachan says, “i should note: if retribution is a concern at your company, we will consider anonymous diaries.” In part one of an Orlando Sentinel special report called “Laborland,” Chabeli Herrera reveals, in a theme park parking lot at night, a worker sleeps in her car. This is life in America’s most visited city. Scott Maxwell says it’s an “Amazingly detailed look at the impoverished life some theme-park workers lead when the costumes come off and the bills are due. ‘This is the place where the pixie dust loses its sparkle.’” Pete’s past 
HuffPost’s Molly Redden reminds us that Pete Buttigieg Won’t Talk About His Secret Work At McKinsey, and The New York Times Editorial Board has had it. Writing about Buttigieg’s Untenable Vow of Silence, they argue that he “owes voters a more complete account of his time at the company.” Others are trying to fill in some of the blanks. Michael Forsythe of the Times takes us back to When Pete Buttigieg Was One of McKinsey’s ‘Whiz Kids.’ Friday round-up - It’s the second shooting at a U.S. military base in a week, this time at Naval Air Station Pensacola, where at least 2 have been killed, one of them the shooter, and multiple people were injured, Elisha Fieldstadt reports at NBC News.
- At the Charleston Gazette-Mail, Jake Zuckerman reports that several West Virginia state employees have been suspended after a photo emerged depicting a training class of roughly 30 correctional officers performing a Nazi salute.
- Christopher Knaus of The Guardian takes us Inside the hate factory: how Facebook fuels far-right profit. Tweets Sofia Diogo Mateus, “Great article by the @guardian, showcasing not just how easy it is to spread disinfo/hate online but above all, how the systems rewards it.”
- R. Kelly has been charged with using bribes to marry Aaliyah at age 15. Nicole Hong has the story at The New York Times.
- Yeesh. Uber disclosed 3,000 sexual assaults in U.S. rides last year in its long-awaited safety report, reports Faiz Siddiqui of The Washington Post. That included 235 rapes and thousands more reports of assault that could involve unwanted touching, kissing or attempted rape. The reports involved drivers and passengers.
- Mark Di Stefano of BuzzFeed News reports that British GQ Quietly Scrubbed China's President And Thailand’s King From Its “Worst Dressed” List.
- U.S. jobs trounce forecasts with 266,000 gain as wages heat up and the unemployment rate falls to 3.5%, matching a half-century low. Katia Dmitrieva has all the details at Bloomberg.
- From The Associated Press, don’t miss the Top AP photos of 2019, which range from the epic to the intimate.
Weekend reading Fenit Nirappil says, “I miss @PeteJamison, but our readers are lucky to have him in a new role that allows him to dig deep and write beautifully. His first big project tells the gripping story of a hate crime hoax with sensitivity and proper context.” He links to that story by Peter Jamison, The Confession, the sixth in the Washington Post hate crimes series. And about what it reveals...“well knock me over with a feather,” tweets Ramesh Ponnuru. In a feature for The New York Times Magazine, Josh Owens gives his account of working for Alex Jones: I Worked for Alex Jones. I Regret It. Charlie Warzel urges, “you should really read this wild essay from a young former Infowars staffer who left and has a lot of regrets.” As Dan Saltzstein says, “If you want to know just *how* awful Alex Jones is, this is as good a place to find out as any.” 
In The Power and Danger of Being a Difficult Woman, Rachel Sklar writes for Forge Magazine that Gabrielle Union’s ouster from “America’s Got Talent” shows it’s sometimes necessary to be “difficult.” As Amy Shearn tweets, “.@itsgabrielleu was ‘difficult,’ really? You don't say. The inimitable @rachelsklar wrote for @ForgeMag about the weirdly universal experience of women being labeled ‘difficult’ for speaking up.” Looking for a home? Kalyn Belsha, Matt Barnum, Lori Higgins and Melanie Asmar of Chalkbeat analyzed GreatSchools ratings, and their reporting reveals how GreatSchools ratings nudge families toward schools with fewer black and Hispanic students. As Alvin Chang says, “Make sure to read the @Chalkbeat piece. It really shows the great work they’re doing.” At GQ, Joshua Hammer immerses us into A Deadly Day of Chaos at the Top of Mount Everest. He reveals that the viral photo of “a horde of climbers clogged atop Mount Everest...only begins to capture the deadly realities of what transpired that day at 29,000 feet. These are the untold accounts of the people who were there.” Joel Pavelski calls it a “Beautifully written thrill ride of a story about the deadly traffic jam on top Everest and the dangers of overtourism.” Adds Julie DiCaro, “This is an incredible piece of writing. Seems like stories about Everest almost always are.” And lastly, Zach Geballe shares, “I just adored this piece by @jamesrgardner for @SeattleMet about the complicated and evolving relationship between Seattle and the Pacific octopus.” So check out The Octopus from Outer Space, by James Ross Gardner for Seattle Met. | 
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.