The Sunday Paper: Chapter 51
Amazingly, I’ve done nearly a year’s worth of these things. These posts. These collections of stuff I read (or scanned quickly) in the paper this morning. (And, by this morning, I mean yesterday morning, when I wrote this, okay? 🙂)
And off we go!
A-Section
Pressure mounts on major tech companies to get tougher on Russia. Have you noticed which company doesn’t get mentioned? After all, how wrong would it be to deny Russia any Internet access?)
As President Biden weighed his options for nominating the first Black woman to the Supreme Court, he scoured the records and backgrounds of his finalists and was struck by the work of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson.
A former public defender, she had served on a commission that took steps to reduce sentencing disparities. As Biden saw it, Jackson had compassion and firsthand experience understanding the human consequences of judicial decisions. What’s more, he had gotten to know her and concluded her consensus-building background was in the mold of the justice she would replace, the retiring Stephen G. Breyer.
Needless to say, it’s controversial, for all the usual reasons.
If confirmed, Jackson, 51, who currently sits on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, will make history as the first Black woman to sit on the nation’s most powerful court in its nearly 233-year history.
And, yes, it is a political process.
Some things are simply inexplicable.
Londongrad: Is Britain finally cracking down on ‘dodgy’ Russian money? And extra points for using the word “dodgy” in the headline! Well, done, old bean!
Op-Ed
Bigotry is reprehensible, but it’s not a federal offense.
The Outlook section didn’t interest me, until I found this …!
How a little-discussed revision of climate science could help avert doom.
Book World
A lawyer who broke barriers, for herself and others.
From 1946 to the 1960s, Constance Baker Motley was the sole woman on the small team of lawyers waging an insurgent challenge to the South’s racial caste system and laying the foundation for the civil rights revolution that transformed American life. The first Black woman appointed to a federal judgeship, in 1966, Motley’s rulings advanced the rights of women, gays and lesbians, prisoners, and the homeless. In “ Civil Rights Queen: Constance Baker Motley and the Struggle for Equality,”Tomiko Brown-Nagin recovers the story of this pioneering lawyer and jurist and invites a fresh consideration of the civil rights movement and the nature of its achievements.
Looks like a really interesting book. I hope the Post and its owner, the esteemed Mr. Bezos, doesn’t mind my inserting an affiliate link in the above quoted passage from the article, because it had been linked to Amazon, which I realize must be hurting for cash, but … you understand, right? Okay.
Metro
Yesterday was like spring. Me, I was indoors all day. Waiting for something. Oh, how do you suppose this would sound if it were read by Groucho Marx?
In our yearly pilgrimage from the seeming penance of winter to the obvious glories of spring, some days seem as much about the journey as the destination, and Saturday seemed to be one of those voyaging days.
It showed us a glittering brightness that seemed from indoors to announce proximity to the coming season.
But forays from cozy abode into the world beyond confronted us with coolness, wind and chill.
He’d probably sing it.
Reasons to get up early in the morning in March.
Obits
Belgian resistance agent rescued 135 downed Allied airmen in World War II.
Founder of 60s prog rock band Procol Harum sang ‘A Whiter Shade of Pale’.
Sports
The Caps lost. To the Philadephia Flyers.
Arts & Style
How ‘nothing’ is a space for serenity and grace. That’s the print headline.
The freedom that comes with living our own stories. Sometimes they match. In more ways than one.
Another Book World
Why the hell do I keep thinking I should read this damn book? I made that one up.
Travel Did you say hotel libraries?
How to take Instagram-worthy travel photos. And I totally get this as a storytelling medium, but that last suggestion really hits home with me.
Stop taking pictures!
Remember to savor your trips and live in the moment while you’re on them. And try not to turn your life into an endless series of photo ops. Unless that really is your idea of fun. And, yeah, I could probably use some of those tips.
Magazine
A comedian walks into a virtual bar. I’m picturing the Star Wars bar here! 🙂
And, if you want to just see the shooting scene, here you go! 🙂 (Consider the split infinitive an homage to Star Trek.)
‘You Just Got the World According to Spike Lee’.
I know the feeling, Damon Young! I’m telling ya, if only I could get my books banned.
Finally, the Funnies!
The Game of COVID Life from Stephan Pastis.
Spoiler alert from Tim Rickard.
You are big, Scott Stantis! It’s the screens that got small.
And, since I couldn’t give away any gift links to Post articles, here’s a freebie for you!
From painful spoilers to such trenchant criticism as “P.S. This book blows!”
PS: Get to know Tanya Davis! Here’s her website! Here’s her demo reel! Also, her Facebook page. Because … you know …
Originally published at http://randomandsundrythings.wordpress.com on February 28, 2022.
