Google thanks Schmidt with $100 million. This generous goodbye gift suggests that Schmidt did not want to leave, that Larry Page and Sergey Brin no longer wanted him as the public face of Google.
Jan 26
Historical fiction
Americas, Culture, United States
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For the sake of a good story, a historian altered a Lincoln document to create a touching story that never happened.As a writer of historical fiction, he excels. As historian, he is banned from the National Archives forever.
Jan 14
ILAR-bashing in Tucson
Americas, assassination, Culture, Internet, political violence, United States
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I love Mike Kinsley’s denunciations of “the false rush to claim balance” in the story of the Tucson assassination story–not the least because he got the idea from me.
In 1984, when I was cub reporter at the New Republic–and Kinsley was the cub editor–I wrote a piece about that reflexive tendency of Washington journalists to denounce “ideologues of the left and right” (ILAR). ILAR-bashing, I argued, was usually the indolent scribe’s substitute for the hard work of passing judgment on the facts.
As Kinsley wrote this week.
The “extremists of the right and left” formula generally appeals to newspaper editorialists and the media because it is balanced. And maybe I’m too ideologically blinkered to see the situation clearly. But it seems — in fact, it seems obvious — that the situation is not balanced. Extremists on the right are more responsible for the poisonous ideological atmosphere than extremists on the left, whoever they may be. And extremists on the left have a lot less influence on nonextremists on the left than extremists on the right have on right-wing moderates. Sure, NPR, despite denials, tilts to the left. But not the way Fox News tilts toward the right. Rachel Maddow is no Glenn Beck.
But–my bias for balance is kicking in–I also think David Von Drehle has a fair point in Time. While the right is far more responsible for the legitimization of violence (and the criminally lax gun laws enable it), it has to be said that there is something “not normal” about some of the left/liberal/progressive reaction. The Guardian’s claim that Jared Loughner was “prone to right-wing rants” seems off-base at best. Juan Williams, the affable martyr to NPR, is prone to right-wing rants. Jared Loughner was more confused than ideological in his rants.
I don’t blame ideologues of the left or right for their prejudices. Anybody who writes online journalism understands the imperative of 1) capturing readers with 160 characters or less; for the sake of 2) generating links to other Web sites; which 3) increase the size of the audience. This ardent pursuit of the beloved reader is an exciting and often useful pastime.
But we should not pretend that what we are doing is a normal act of citizenship that deserves emulation. The media provocations in the wake of the Tucson tragedy–the Daily Kos accusations, the Sarah Palin “blood libel” response–were the the normal behavior of public actors seeking attention. These actions are not what most people regard as citizenship. Most people think of citizenship as paying taxes, voting, and obeying the law, not necessarily in that order.
There’s a difference between media provocation and citizenship. We ideologues of the left and right forfeit credibility if we forget the fact.
Jan 11
Larry Page's yacht, Senses, now docked in St. Maarten. (marinetraffic.com)
Google co-founder Larry Page’s recent purchase of an 187-foot, $45 million yacht is a classic case of “conspicuous consumption.” The term, coined by economist Thorstein Veblen, refers to “the waste of money and/or resources by people to display a higher status than others.”
As an investment the purchase of the yacht, dubbed “Senses,” makes little sense, as one commenter to Business Insider notes. The purchase is an intentional waste of money designed to prove something we already knew: that Page has the capacity to waste more money than most of us will have. Continue reading »
Jan 07
Former CIA asset Luis Posada goes to trial
Americas, political violence, terrorist organizations, War crimes
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It is noteworthy that the U.S. government’s so-called war on terrorism is preventing Posada from being brought to justice for bombing a civilian airliner in 1976 killing 73 people. (Posada planted an explosive-laden suitcase on the plane during a stopover in Venezuela.) The State Department says that Posada would be at risk for torture if he was extradited to charges there.
That’s a legitimate concern. The Venezuelan criminal justice system does not have a sterling record. But if the U.S. Justice Department wanted to insure that Posada was not mistreated it could easily reach a binding agreement with the Venezuelan government,civil society groups (which seek opportunities to hold the Chavez government accountable) and then extradite him. That would send a message to Latin America that the Washington was serious about the rule of law.
The problem isn’t torture, the problem is the CIA. The Agency cannot afford have Posada testify in open court about his relations with Agency operatives at the time of the bombing. That relationship, according to the CIA’s own records, was close and comfortable. Posada on trial might well implicate CIA officials–some of whom are still living– in his activities. I’ll be writing about Posada’s friends in Langley as the current trial unfolds.
Here’s my friend Jose Pertierra, Washington lawyer who represents the Venezuelan government in this case, talking about Posada. The impunity Posada has enjoyed is extraordinary.
Jan 07
How Taking the N-Word from Huck Finn Will Ruin the Meaning (StumbleUpon).
I don’t know about “ruin,” but it does change the meaning, and not for the better.
Jan 06
The story isn’t Assange’s woes
Americas, human rights, United States
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The story is the coming Gitmo threat assessment. The juicy Vanity Fair story on the fair-haired anarchist lends credence to earlier reports that Assange has U.S. government’s appraisal of which of the 800 Guantanamo detainees were jihadists who might pose a threat to the United States and which weren’t.
These documents, notes Wired, would be revelatory and useful the public in sorting out the nature of the threat that American people actually face. An astonishingly high proportion of the 800 detainess posed no threat whatsoever at the time of their detention. Many if not most of them have been released. Of the less than 200 remain some core would certainly return to planning attacks on U.S. targets if released.
Why can’t the American people be trusted with this information? These documents will likely illuminate the folly of rounding up people indiscriminately and torturing them for those who still defend those practice AND they would also highlight those jihadists who truly do pose a threat to the people of the United States.
But why talk policy when we can dish about Julian on the jump?
Jan 05
Does greed corrupt Google search quality?
Americas, Internet, United States
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Three rants about the decline for Google search quality highlight a phenomenon the better minds of Mountain View can’t afford to ignore, says culture blogger Anil Dash. Or can they? Continue reading »
Dec 09
Twitter and Facebook stand tall
Americas
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but don’t support no-name vigilantes. From Wired.com.
Twitter and Facebook, meanwhile, which have so far refused to ban WikiLeaks, dropped [the hacktivist group] Anonymous late Wednesday, prompting the group to re-register on Twitter within minutes under a new name.
