All the news, views, and filtered excellence fit to consume during your morning grumpy. Just links today.
1. Former Editor-In-Chief of The Buffalo News, Margaret Sullivan, has revolutionized the public editor position in the best possible way. Her passion for ethics and the future of journalism is so strong, it calls into question why she wasn’t a more forceful voice while in Buffalo. Perhaps it was the culture created by the publisher which dampened her voice or she felt the audience wasn’t interested in this type of journalism, but I wish Buffalo had seen more of this version of Margaret Sullivan. We’d have been a better city for it.
2. Are Americans too stupid for democracy?
3. Helicopter parent down. There have already been early signs of a backlash against overparenting, but now it’s official – taking too active a role in your kids’ lives can cause depression and incompetence.
4. Some of you may know that I am a part-owner of Community Beer Works and if you didn’t know, now you do. Last week, our IPA (which we named “The IPA” because it’s that fucking awesome) took second place in the National IPA championship conducted by The Brewing News. We finished ahead of 126 other beers from around the nation and beat some quintessential American IPAs (Founders, Racer 5, etc.) along the way. We’re pretty excited about that. You should visit our website, check out our blog, pick up a growler at our brewery at 15 Lafayette, buy a pint at one of 50 or so local bars and pubs, and listen to CBW President Ethan Cox talk about our brewery on this podcast.
5. Luna The Polar Bear plays in the snow at The Buffalo Zoo. As grumpy as I am, I love me some polar bear frivolity.
6. The wealthiest Americans donate 1.3 percent of their income; the poorest, 3.2 percent.
7. This is what futurists in 1988 thought Los Angeles would look like today.
8. Wichita Falls is the largest city in Texas in danger of running out of water by the end of the year. The city of over 100,000 people could run out of water in less than 6 months and there are 24 other towns also on the list, which is likely to grow as drought worsens.
9. Mrs. Warren goes to Washington: Elizabeth Warren’s credentials, support, and savvy make her almost untouchable — and she knows it.
10. The transcript of President Obama’s speech in Israel. “It is not fair that a Palestinian child cannot grow up in a state of her own, and lives with the presence of a foreign army that controls the movements of her parents every single day”. As The Economist noted in its coverage:
Her hard-nosed observation was incontrovertible. But so was the fact—as this writer ascertained in unscientific polling—that the American president’s elegant, empathetic rhetoric brought tears, literally, to the eyes of many other Israelis who yearn for an end to the conflict with the Palestinians.
Just a speech, yes. But a corker of a speech.
Fact Of The Day: Chunk from “The Goonies” is now a lawyer.
Quote Of The Day: “If you would only recognize that life is hard, things would be so much easier for you.” – Louis D. Brandeis
Video Of The Day: “Atheism” – Jim Jeffries
Song Of The Day: “Roll With The Punches” – The Harpoonist & The Axe Murderer
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