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bobbyshaddoe80 · 3 years

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Liberated Audio Reviews

Introduction:

The cult Sci-Fi series Blake's 7 has seen great admiration and appreciation in the 40 plus years since its initial broadcast in the UK., continuing to enthrall audience old and new alike. Despite its rather low budget, it possessed some pretty impressive writing and acting from its rotating cast of characters. Despite it being yet another Terry Nation brainchild, the series would evolve beyond the initial proposal/concept of 'Robin Hood in Space' under the direction of Chris Boucher to become something more than just a Star Wars clone.

Over the years, the show's devoted fanbase have poured over the show's 52 episodes and have long clamored, demanded, begged and pleaded with the Powers That Be for some sort of continuation or revival... In spite of the show's rather unorthodox and controversial ending.

After numerous rumors and false starts, which even included a full on audio reboot/reimagining by B7 Media back in late 2007/early 2008, it would be Big Finish Productions that would take up the daunting task of reviving and expanding the Blake's 7 universe starting in February 2012 with the Liberator Chronicles and the Classic Audio Adventures in January 2014.

The Liberator Chronicles are essentially enhanced audiobooks often told in the first person by whichever character is chosen to be the focus of the story. Often they are supported by one or two other cast members in order to help keep things from falling completely into standard audiobook monotony. Before tackling the full cast audios, I shall endeavor to present my thoughts and views on all twelve volumes of the Liberator Chronicles.

Please bear in mind that these reviews are based on my own opinions and no one else's. While I shall endeavor to be as fair as possible, I am not claiming that my opinion is the only one that matters and you are free to agree or disagree with me as you see fit. Just try to keep it civil. So, without further ado, let's get started by examining volume one.

Blake's 7 - The Liberator Chronicles Vol. 1

RELEASED FEBRUARY 2012

Recorded on: 23 September, 11 and 14 October 2011

Recorded at: Moat Studios

Review By Robert L. Torres

The Turing Test by Simon Guerrier

'After evading an attack by Cassini Pirates, the Liberator heads to the rogue moon of Quentil, where Avon and Vila infiltrate a top secret Federation science facility.

Vila assumes the guise of Dr. Yarding Gill, an expert in digital memory. And Avon is his "creation" - a super-advanced android that could pass for human. In fact, he does...

Can they maintain the ruse long enough to complete their mission? And will the Cassini Pirates catch up with them?'

Chronological Placement:

Series A - set after the events of LC Vol. 7's Disorder, between episodes Mission To Destiny and Duel.

This is a very well written story starring the late Paul Darrow as Kerr Avon, ably supported by Michael Keating as Vila Restal.

I love how the story is structured with Avon recounting these events AFTER the fact, like he was recording then for posterity into a dictaphone. I loved that Guerrier's writing didn't fall into the trap of having Avon try to do other voices or say 'said Blake', 'said Jenna' and so on. Nothing felt disruptive to the narrative and having Vila around never felt intrusive.

Kudos to Michael Keating for slipping back into the role of Vila Restal with relative ease. He will be quite reliable in a support capacity during many of these audios, and even get a chance at the spotlight... Which we will examine in due course. Right now, he lends his exceptional charm in this undercover mission posing as the scientist responsible for "creating" Avon.

Still, this story belongs to Paul Darrow, and he does a great job. It was a great story about what it means to be alive, what it means to be human and even serving as an examination of Avon himself. It was a nice inverse of the usual sort of questions regarding machine life wishing to be more human. Here we have a human considering himself to be more machine than man.

That is the interesting thing about Avon. Most scifi programs that deal with space travel tend to have an archetypical character known as the 'royal smart person'. For Star Trek TOS it was Spock, for Star Trek TNG it was Data, for DS9 it was Dax (and to a certain extent Bashir), for Voyager it was Seven of Nine, for Enterprise it was... Who the hell knows since everyone on that show was an idiot. As for Discovery... I honestly don't know cuz I haven't watched Discovery yet, but that's beside the point.

Avon is exceptional in his characterization only in that his desire to focus on pure logic and suppress his emotions does not come without its own drawbacks. Despite his intellect and skill with computers, he is someone that is also socially and emotionally cut off from others due to an inability to trust. He is also someone that sees the futility in giving over to emotional and irrational hysterics in order to showcase that he cares. Avon's intelligence also comes with a certain amount of ego, as he knows that he is smarter than many of his contemporaries, and much of the logic he embraces stems from a certain degree of self-serving self-interest.

His desire to assist in the situation with the AI android 14 stems from having an affinity with another creature of pure logic, and not wanting such a creature to be exploited and corrupted to further the aims and agendas of the Federation. This story is a great reminder of why Avon is a great antihero, as he is still willing to do the right thing in spite of himself.

Final Score: 8 out of 10 Plasma Bolts

Solitary by Nigel Fairs

‘Vila is in solitary confinement. His friends have abandoned him, his only contact with the world outside is Nyrron, a scientist from the planet Auron.

Amnesiac and confused, Vila attempts to piece together recent events... A mission to Dulcimer 4. An important meeting. And a visit to the jungle world of Terrulis Major.

In the depths of the foliage, the truth is waiting. And it's more terrifying than Vila could possible have imagined...’

Chronological Placement:

Series B - between episodes Redemption and Shadow.

I really do not have much to say about this story as it is profoundly unremarkable and is a major clunker in terms of execution of its concept, as well as the first person narration.

It has some interesting ideas, there is a central mystery that is interesting, with Vila finding himself in solitary confinement and abandoned by his friends, and we are introduced to a semi recurring guest character in the form of Auron scientist Gustav Nyrron, played by Anthony Howell ('Dr. David Keel' of the The Avengers: Lost Episodes range).

Nyrron himself is an interesting character as an ally for Blake and the Resistance, which begs the question why Cally wasn’t involved in this story as well. Because for an Auron scientist, he actually spends most of the time acting like either a reasonable interrogator or a benevolent psychiatrist for the imprisoned Vila.

The whole story itself is not executed terribly well. The Vila character spends a good chunk of the first few moments talking to himself, and then when Nyrron comes into the narrative, Vila spends the rest of the runtime being asked if he remembers certain events, and then goes on to basically recount events that lead up to meeting Nyrron and then goes on to tell Nyrron things that he already knows about.

As a Vila centric story, its also not terribly good, not even with certain unexpected revelations made. This story does Vila no favors and we don't learn much about Nyrron either. Fortunately, those are issues that would end up being rectified in later stories. Definitely give this one a miss.

Final Score: 4 out of 10 Plasma Bolts

Counterfeit by Peter Anghelides

‘The Bovee Mining Facility: A Federation slave camp worked by disgraced scientists.

The planet shouldn't be of interest but it is: Avon's investigations reveal that it's rich in Illusium, a mineral that can change from one substance to another. With it, the Federation could be invulnerable...

Blake teleports down to Bovee, but gets more than he bargained for. There's another visitor to the facility - and his presence changes the whole game...’

Chronological Placement:

Series A - set after the events of LC Vol. 1's The Turing Test, between episodes Mission To Destiny and Duel.

This is not a bad Blake focus story, with added support from Avon. However, what we get is a pretty standard adventure with Blake hoping to obtain certain materials and destroy the means of that material being reproduced in another effort to cripple the Federation's power. We even get in an appearance by Travis, Blake's personal nemesis, to lure him into a trap.

There isn't a whole lot to say about the story because of how standard and basic it all is. The fact that the story is done on audio does play in well into certain revelations and surprise twists made within the narrative. Many of which I will not speak on as it goes into spoiler territory. Other than that, the story itself is not bad, it is definitely worth a once-over. Its just unfortunate that it is also pretty average and fairly unremarkable.

Final Score: 5 out of 10 Plasma Bolts

Final score for Volume One of The Liberator Chronicles in its entirety is 6 out of 10 Plasma Bolts.

It isn't the best start to the Blake's 7 audio range as it really only has one story out of three to recommend it. Its great to hear the original actors back again, and thankfully they will be served better stories in the volumes to follow.

Special thanks to Craig Brawley of the Big Finish Listeners Facebook Group for his tireless efforts in mapping out the chronology of the audios and determining how they fit in with the established TV continuity.

#blake's 7 #reviews #big finish productions #audiobook

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bountyofbeads · 5 years

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Trump Employs an Old Tactic: Using Race for Gain https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/20/us/politics/trump-race-record.html

Trump Employs an Old Tactic: Using Race for Gain

By Peter Baker, Michael M. Grynbaum, Maggie Haberman, Annie Karni and Russ Buettner | Published July 20, 2019 | New York Times | Posted July 20, 2019

For the fourth season of “The Apprentice,” Donald J. Trump searched for a gimmick to bolster ratings. His idea was simple if explosive — pit an all-white team against an all-black team.

“Do you like it?” he asked, previewing the concept on Howard Stern’s radio show in April 2005.

“Yes,” Mr. Stern said.

“Do you like it?” Mr. Trump asked Robin Quivers, the African-American co-host.

“Well,” she said, “I think you’re going to have a riot.”

That gave Mr. Trump no pause. “It would be the highest-rated show on television,” he exulted.

Long before he ignited a firestorm by telling four Democratic congresswomen of color to “go back” to their home countries, even though three were born in the United States and all are citizens, Mr. Trump sought to pit Americans against one another along racial lines.

Donald J. Trump✔@realDonaldTrump

So interesting to see “Progressive” Democrat Congresswomen, who originally came from countries whose governments are a complete and total catastrophe, the worst, most corrupt and inept anywhere in the world (if they even have a functioning government at all), now loudly......

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Donald J. Trump✔@realDonaldTrump

· Jul 14, 2019

Donald J. Trump✔@realDonaldTrump

....and viciously telling the people of the United States, the greatest and most powerful Nation on earth, how our government is to be run. Why don’t they go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came. Then come back and show us how....

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Over decades in business, entertainment and now politics, Mr. Trump has approached America’s racial, ethnic and religious divisions opportunistically, not as the nation’s wounds to be healed but as openings to achieve his goals, whether they be ratings, fame, money or power, without regard for adverse consequences.

He was accused by government investigators in the 1970s of refusing to rent apartments to black tenants (he denied it but settled the case) and made a name for himself in the 1980s by championing the return of the death penalty when five black and Hispanic teenagers were charged with raping a jogger. They were later exonerated. He threatened to sell his Mar-a-Lago estate to the Unification Church in 1991 and unleash “thousands of Moonies” if city officials in Palm Beach, Fla., did not allow him to carve up his property.

Taking on competitors of his Atlantic City casinos, he questioned whether rival owners were really Native Americans entitled to federal recognition — then later teamed up with another tribe when there was money to be made. With his eye on the White House, he opened a yearslong drive to convince Americans that President Barack Obama was really born in Africa.

His own campaign in 2016 was marked by slurs against Mexicans, a proposed Muslim ban and other furors. To deflect criticism, two campaign officials said they regularly positioned a supporter nicknamed “Michael the Black Man” so cameras would show him behind Mr. Trump at his rallies.

In the White House, Mr. Trump equated “both sides” of a white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Va., referred to African nations as “shithole countries” and said Nigerian visitors to the United States would never “go back to their huts.”

Mr. Trump has insisted he is the “least racist person you have ever met” and over the years he has made friends with prominent African-Americans, particularly sports and hip-hop stars. Just Friday, Mr. Trump spoke with the rapper Kanye West and promised to intervene in the case of his fellow artist ASAP Rocky, who is being held in Sweden on an assault charge, and followed up by calling the Swedish prime minister on Saturday.

Donald J. Trump✔@realDonaldTrump

Just spoke to @KanyeWest about his friend A$AP Rocky’s incarceration. I will be calling the very talented Prime Minister of Sweden to see what we can do about helping A$AP Rocky. So many people would like to see this quickly resolved!

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Some of Mr. Trump’s black friends defended him in recent days, saying his raw, politically incorrect approach was just bracing honesty about the reality of America, and not motivated by hate.

“I have an advantage of knowing the president very well, and he’s not a racist and his comments are not racist,” Ben Carson, the secretary of housing and urban development and only black member of the cabinet, said on Fox News. “But he loves the country very much and, you know, he has a feeling that those who represent the country should love it as well.”

Lynne Patton, a Trump family event planner now working in the administration, rejected accusations of racism.

“Trump sees success and failure, not color not race, not gender not religion,” said Ms. Patton, who is African-American. “I’ve traveled the country with this family, I’ve had drinks with this family, I’ve been at their weddings, their baby showers, their bachelorette parties. I’ve never heard anyone say anything bigoted or racist in my life.”

And White House officials argue that actions speak louder than words. Unemployment among Hispanics and African-Americans has fallen to record lows on Mr. Trump’s watch, they say, and the president signed legislation overhauling a criminal justice system tilted against people of color.

But the longer Mr. Trump spends on the stage, the more friends and former employees, like Michael D. Cohen, Omarosa Manigault Newman and Anthony Scaramucci, have concluded that he is more racist than they had admitted.

“Let me be clear: Donald Trump is a disgusting, filthy, petty racist and he is trying to start a race war in this country and what we saw this week is just the beginning,” said Ms. Manigault Newman, a former “Apprentice” star fired after a stint in the White House.

Mr. Scaramucci, who briefly served as White House communications director, wrote on Twitter that Mr. Trump would never have told a white immigrant to go back to his country. “That’s why the comments were racist and unacceptable,” he said, remarks that got him disinvited from a Republican fund-raiser.

For some who defended Mr. Trump against charges of racism in the past, this was a turning point. “As much as I have denied it and averted my eyes from it, this latest incident made it impossible,” Geraldo Rivera, a roaming correspondent at large for Fox News and longtime friend, said in an interview.

“My friendship with the president has cost me friendships, it has cost me schisms in the family, my wife and I are constantly at odds about the president,” he added. “I do insist that he’s been treated unfairly. But the unmistakable words, the literal words he said, is an indication that the critics were much more right than I.”

‘The City Was a Caldron’

Mr. Trump is a product of his place and time, born and raised in the Queens of another era. As he sought to make his mark in Manhattan real estate in the 1980s and 1990s, New York was struggling with a string of racial episodes, including the Bernhard H. Goetz subway shooting, the Howard Beach racial killing, the Tawana Brawley rape hoax and the Crown Heights riots.

In a city rived by tribal politics, elections were about assembling coalitions — white ethnic groups in Queens and Brooklyn, Hispanics in the Bronx, African-Americans in Harlem and, later, central Brooklyn. Race was a part of every citywide campaign every four years. That shaped the outlook of many rising stars of the moment.

“It was a period of enormous tension and the city was a caldron for those kind of emotions and very strong passions and feelings, and they spilled over,” said Robert Abrams, the special prosecutor in the Brawley case. “And unfortunately, I think Donald Trump was helping to fan some of those flames.”

The Justice Department housing discrimination lawsuit against him and his father and the case of the Central Park Five accused of rape were early milemarkers on Mr. Trump’s path. But he was a Democrat then operating in a diverse city and he showed a different side to many he met.

Charles B. Rangel, then a powerful African-American Democratic congressman from New York, saw Mr. Trump regularly when the developer would drop off checks for the party. What defined him was his “giant ego,” Mr. Rangel said the other day, but he never heard him make a racial remark.

“I don’t remember any remarks he ever made that was not sharing with me how much he thought about himself,” he said. “It was always the same story.”

The Rev. Al Sharpton, the civil rights leader who has grown more publicly critical of Mr. Trump in recent years, likewise recalled nothing overt. “I’ve never heard him say anything racial,” he said. But, he added, “I always sensed he was not comfortable being around us. He reminded me what he was — a Queens guy. He saw us as entertainers or athletes that he had to do business with.”

When Mr. Trump opened Mar-a-Lago as a club in the 1990s, he welcomed African-American and Jewish members. Still, he did not mind turning societal divisions to his advantage, at one point claiming Palm Beach was anti-Semitic in a zoning dispute because his members would be Jewish.

‘Put People in These Boxes’

Some who worked for Mr. Trump said he showed his true colors after growing comfortable with people. Jack O’Donnell, who was president of the Trump Plaza Hotel and Casino and later wrote a scathing book about Mr. Trump, said the mogul would come into the casino and notice many African-Americans. “It’s a little dark tonight,” he would say.

According to Mr. O’Donnell, Mr. Trump said “laziness is a trait in blacks” and complained about an African-American accountant: “Black guys counting my money! I hate it. The only kind of people I want counting my money are short guys that wear yarmulkes every day.”

In an interview, Mr. O’Donnell said Mr. Trump trafficked in stereotypes. “He genuinely believes things like white people are smarter. And black people don’t want to live next to white, and white people don’t want to live next to black people,” Mr. O’Donnell said. “And he rationalizes that as, everybody thinks that, so it’s not racist.”

Mr. Trump has dismissed Mr. O’Donnell as “a loser” but at one point accepted the book’s description. “The stuff O’Donnell wrote about me is probably true,” he told Playboy. Later he disputed Mr. O’Donnell’s account, telling NBC’s “Meet the Press” that “he made up stuff.”

Mr. Trump’s assumptions about people are based on what his biographer, Michael D’Antonio, called his “racehorse theory of human development.” Mr. D’Antonio said Mr. Trump told him a person’s genetic traits at birth were more important than anything learned over life.

“He likes to put people in these boxes and deal with them accordingly,” Mr. D’Antonio said. “It’s not universal and you can work your way out of the box. But working your way out of it is always personal. So one by one, black people can gain his confidence, but he does have this mentality about people as members of a group.”

‘The Blacks Love Me’

That helped shape Mr. Trump’s time on “The Apprentice,” where he was accused of giving short shrift to an African-American contestant, Randal Pinkett, who won the fourth season. During the finale, Mr. Pinkett said he was stunned when Mr. Trump, upon declaring him the winner, suggested he share the honor with the white woman he had just beaten.

“I would describe it as racist,” Mr. Pinkett said in an interview. “Not even racist overtones — racist.”

“Donald,” he said, “has constructed a world around him that reflects his identity and reflects his values. People who agree with him, people who celebrate him, people who he would consider to be his peers — wealthy white men.”

Mr. Pinkett added: “He’s completely out of touch with the realities of people not like him. Whether that’s people of color, ethnic minorities, immigrants — I mean, take your pick.”

Over the years, Mr. Trump has deflected criticism by citing friendships with black celebrities. In the 1980s, he became a fixture ringside in Atlantic City, befriending the boxing legends Muhammad Ali and Mike Tyson and the promoter Don King. He briefly owned a United States Football League team, leading to friendship with its star player, Herschel Walker.

As the hip-hop industry flourished in the 1990s and 2000s, rappers often used Mr. Trump’s name in lyrics as a symbol of wealth and flash. Along the way, he became friendly with Sean Combs, Snoop Dogg and Russell Simmons.

Mr. Trump boasted about the mention of his name in rap videos, asking one of the secretaries to find examples on YouTube and play them for guests. “The blacks love me,” he said proudly.

By 2015, now running for president, he stopped using “the” before describing ethnic groups. While some black celebrities stood by Mr. Trump, other relationships have soured because of his politics. Mr. Simmons, in an open letter that year, told his estranged friend to “stop fueling fires of hate.”

‘This Is Just Politics’

The foundation of Mr. Trump’s campaign was built on questioning the birth of the first African-American president. To Ms. Manigault Newman, a conversation she had with Mr. Trump about the “birther” campaign during a break in taping of “The Apprentice,” was the first time she saw him as overtly racial.

“He was bragging about it,” she said in an interview. “I asked him, ‘Why would you do this?’ He said, ‘This is just politics. This is what happens in politics, you do opposition research.’”

And yet like others in Mr. Trump’s orbit, Ms. Manigault Newman did not find it so objectionable that she broke with him at the time. She spoke out about what she considered Mr. Trump’s racism only after she followed him to the White House and was subsequently fired.

In a campaign filled with racial controversy, Mr. Trump’s team sought to prevent a backlash. An ally in their efforts was the one they called Michael the Black Man.

Michael is Maurice Symonette, a man from Florida who once belonged to a violent religious cult and was charged but acquitted of two murders in the 1990s. During the campaign, he traveled the country to appear at Mr. Trump’s rallies holding a sign saying, “Blacks for Trump.”

Campaign officials said they made sure to position him behind the candidate. In October 2016, Mr. Trump noticed his sign. “Blacks for Trump,” he said. “Those signs are great. Thank you.”

Lynnette Hardaway and Rochelle Richardson, two African-American sisters and internet stars better known as Diamond and Silk, came to Mr. Trump’s attention after one of their videos went viral attacking Megyn Kelly, then a Fox host, for her aggressive questioning during a debate. They met Mr. Trump in December 2015 when he brought them onstage at a rally in Raleigh.

“I turn on my television one night and I see these two on television,” he told the crowd. He called them an “internet sensation” and implored them to entertain the crowd. “Do a little routine; come on,” he said. From then on, they became a regular opening act at his rallies.

Mr. Trump’s presidency has been filled with so many racial conflicts that many in Washington have become numb. After he made his “shithole countries” remark to lawmakers, some just shook their heads. “It wasn’t too much of a surprise,” said former Senator Jeff Flake, an Arizona Republican and outspoken critic. “He had been consistently coming from this.”

By the time of Mr. Trump’s “go back” taunt and the “send her home” chants of a rally crowd a few days later, congressional Republicans were clearly discomfited but unwilling to publicly repudiate him.

“The president,” said Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Republican leader, “is not a racist.”

‘When the Riot Starts’

Mr. Trump’s vision of a black-against-white season of “The Apprentice” never came to pass. He pitched it to NBC executives, prompting a series of can-you-believe-this conversations inside the network, according to two executives involved. It was quickly rejected.

One former executive described his reaction as, “Uh, I don’t think so!”

The concept later came to fruition on a rival network, CBS, which aired a season of “Survivor” in 2006 in which contestants were initially grouped by ethnicity. The idea generated protests but was defended by the producer: Mark Burnett, who also created “The Apprentice.”

“He always told me that was Mark Burnett’s idea,” Ms. Manigault Newman recalled. “But Donald Trump was champing at the bit to do that.”

He sounded enthusiastic during his appearance on Mr. Stern’s show in 2005. Mr. Stern asked if there would be both light-skinned and dark-skinned contestants on the black team and Mr. Trump said it would be an “assortment.” As for the white team, Mr. Trump said it should include all blonds.

Even as he egged him on, Mr. Stern expressed more concern about the ramifications than Mr. Trump. “Wouldn’t that set off a racial war in this country?” he asked.

“See, actually, I don’t think it would,” Mr. Trump replied. “I think that it would be handled very beautifully by me. Because, as you know, I’m very diplomatic.”

Mr. Stern agreed. “I gotta tell you something, on some level it’s wrong,” he went on. “But I like it. I like it. I would watch.”

“You’d have to,” Ms. Quivers replied, “because you’d want to know when the riot starts.”

Even as he egged him on, Mr. Stern expressed more concern about the ramifications than Mr. Trump. “Wouldn’t that set off a racial war in this country?” he asked.

“See, actually, I don’t think it would,” Mr. Trump replied. “I think that it would be handled very beautifully by me. Because, as you know, I’m very diplomatic.”

Mr. Stern agreed. “I gotta tell you something, on some level it’s wrong,” he went on. “But I like it. I like it. I would watch.”

“You’d have to,” Ms. Quivers replied, “because you’d want to know when the riot starts.”

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theresidentnews · 5 years

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“Queens”

Bell’s confidence in Quovadis continues to waver when the poster child for one of its medical devices, Henry Barnett (guest star Evan Whitten), is rushed back into the ER, experiencing seizure-like symptoms. Meanwhile, Mina’s past comes to light when her mother, famous Nigerian surgeon Dr. Okeke (guest star Lynn Whitfield), pays a visit to Chastain, and Conrad makes a risky move when Henry returns to the hospital.

Original Airdate: February 18, 2019

Written By: Jenny Deiker Restivo

Directed By: John Brawley

Starring:

Matt Czuchry - Conrad Hawkins

Emily VanCamp - Nic Nevin

Manish Dayal - Devon Pravesh

Shaunette Renée Wilson - Mina Okafor

Bruce Greenwood - Randolph Bell

Malcolm-Jamal Warner - AJ Austin

Glenn Morshower - Marshall Winthrop

Jane Leeves - Kitt Voss

Guest Cast:

Tasso Feldman - Irving Feldman

Michael Weston - Gordon Page

Daniella Alonso - Zoey Barnett

Evan Whitten - Henry Barnett

Michael Hogan - Albert Nolan

Lynn Whitfield - Josephine Okeke

Erinn Westbrook - Adaku Eze

Robert Rescigno - Brent Trainor

Paul Rescigno - Milo Trainor

Jessica Miesel - Nurse Jessica Moore

Paul Schackman - Todd Eckart

More Cast

Promotional Photos:

Here and Here

Press Release

Ratings:

Same Day | Live +3 | Live +7

Reviews

Promo:

youtube

Sneak Peeks:

youtube

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orbemnews · 3 years

Link

Charles Strum, Versatile Editor for The Times, Dies at 73 “He loved writing but grew to love editing and supporting reporters,” Ms. Strum said by phone. “He was at a place with many giant egos, and he didn’t have one.” Mr. Strum collaborated with five Times reporters on the book “Outrage: The Story Behind the Tawana Brawley Hoax” (1990), about the 1987 case in which a Black teenager claimed to have been kidnapped, gang-raped and further defiled by white racists. Mr. Strum acted as the internal editor for the book, which was reported by Robert D. McFadden, Ralph Blumenthal, E.R. Shipp, M.A. Farber and Craig Wolff and written by Mr. McFadden. After his stint as New Jersey bureau chief, Mr. Strum continued to write for The Times occasionally, often flashing his characteristic wit. One article, in 2000, was about taking a French immersion class. “Mercifully, this was not like high school, where teenagers wince from embarrassment,” he wrote. “I felt no trace of the angst of my sophomore year, when my teacher — a humorless woman who looked like Howdy Doody with a gray wig and spoke French with an Indiana twang — aimed her intolerance up and down the rows like a machine-gunner.” In addition to his wife, who is known as Becky, he is survived by their daughter, Kate Strum, and their son, Alec, as well as twin daughters, Sara and Mary Lee Kenney, from a relationship with Nancy Kenney. After retiring from The Times in 2014, Mr. Strum worked for three years as an editor at The Marshall Project, the nonprofit journalism site that covers criminal justice. “Some editors edited stories; Chuck edited writers,” said Bill Keller, the former executive editor of The Times who was The Marshall Project’s founding editor in chief. “He made them better. At the start, being a start-up, we had some writers who had more promise than practice. Chuck didn’t just fix their stories, he helped them grow.” Source link Orbem News #Charles #Dies #Editor #Strum #Times #Versatile

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stephenmccull · 3 years

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Looking to Kentucky’s Past to Understand Montana Health Nominee’s Future

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It can be republished for free.

The nominee to be Montana’s next health director faced an unwieldy disease outbreak and pushed Medicaid work requirements — two issues looming in Montana — when he held a similar job in Kentucky.

Montana senators will soon decide whether to confirm Adam Meier, Republican Gov. Greg Gianforte’s pick for director of the state Department of Public Health and Human Services. He would earn $165,000 leading Montana’s largest state agency, which oversees 13 divisions and is a leader in the state’s pandemic response.

Gianforte is confident Meier “will bring greater transparency, accountability, and efficiency to the department as it serves Montanans, especially the most vulnerable among us,” Brooke Stroyke, a governor’s office spokesperson, said in an emailed statement.

For many Montana officials and health care industry players, the focus is on Montana’s future, not Kentucky’s past. But it can be instructive to see how Meier handled similar issues in his prior role, which he held from May 2018 through December 2019.

Some have praised the job he did in Kentucky, including his spearheading of a program that would have created work requirements in the state’s Medicaid program. But others criticized those proposed changes as well as his handling of a large hepatitis A outbreak that spread through rural Appalachia starting in 2017, ultimately sickening more than 5,000 Kentuckians and killing 62. The details of the state’s response to the outbreak came to light after an investigation in The Courier Journal in 2019.

“The hep A response is probably one of the darkest or most concerning things he did when he was in Kentucky. He also didn’t perform well in my eyes on other issues,” said Simon Haeder, an assistant professor at Pennsylvania State University who studies politics, health care and public policy. “He didn’t do so well in Kentucky, so I don’t know how well he’s going to do in Montana.”

Dr. Kevin Kavanagh, a retired Kentucky physician who runs the national watchdog group Health Watch USA, is among those who said Meier and his team needed to do more early on to curb the hepatitis outbreak as it made its way into Appalachia. Kavanagh said Meier’s handling of the outbreak provides a window into how he might handle the covid crisis in Montana.

“But it could be a learning opportunity if failed strategies are corrected,” Kavanagh said. “The biggest question is: What did he learn in Kentucky?”

During Meier’s confirmation hearing before Montana’s Senate Public Health, Wellness and Safety Committee, the nominee said one lesson he learned was to invest in public health infrastructure. Because hepatitis A was spreading in rural Kentucky mountains, he said, standard outreach to vulnerable populations in settings like homeless shelters didn’t work. Instead, health officials started vaccinating people at convenience stores.

“One of the things I’ve learned there is, you have to be creative about how you reach folks,” Meier said.

Kentucky’s outbreak first centered in Louisville, where a more than 200-person health department was able to administer tens of thousands of vaccines against the highly contagious liver infection caused by a virus. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention called the city’s response a “gold standard.”

But in spring 2018, the disease began to spread in Appalachia, which had thinly staffed county health departments.

Dr. Robert Brawley, then the state’s chief of infectious diseases, sounded the alarm to his bosses. Brawley asked state officials to spend $10 million for vaccines and temporary health workers. Instead, the acting public health commissioner, Dr. Jeffrey Howard, sent $2.2 million in state funds to local health departments. Brawley called the response “too low and too slow.”

In the months that followed, the outbreak metastasized into the nation’s largest.

Meier stood by Howard’s decisions at the time and the agency’s response. In Meier’s Feb. 10 Montana hearing, he said Kentucky lacked the infrastructure to buy $10 million worth of vaccines, and they would have gone bad anyway because the state didn’t have the necessary storage. Brawley’s proposal had called for sending $6 million to health departments to buy vaccines, however, and $4 million for temporary health workers.

“The ‘too low and too slow’ response to the hepatitis A outbreak in Kentucky, reported in The Courier Journal, may be an albatross around his neck for a long time,” Brawley, who resigned in June 2018, said of Meier in an email.

Montana’s Democratic Party cited the hepatitis A outbreak when Meier was nominated for the Treasure State job in January, slamming him as unsuitable.

The health department declined KHN’s request for an interview with Meier but provided letters from local Kentucky officials written in 2019. Allison Adams, public health director of Buffalo Trace District Health Department in Kentucky, defended the state’s actions in one February 2019 letter, arguing Kentucky’s leadership “made sound decisions regarding the support and known resources available.”

Meier has pitched himself as someone who works well with others, bolstered Kentucky’s family services and cut through the state’s bureaucracy.

Meier, an attorney, lived in Fort Thomas, Kentucky, near Cincinnati, with his wife and three children, where he served on the City Council just before being named deputy chief of staff for former Gov. Matt Bevin in 2015. After leaving Kentucky’s health Cabinet, he worked as a policy consultant with Connecting the Dots Policy Solutions LLC.

During Meier’s confirmation hearing before Montana lawmakers, Erica Johnston, operations services branch manager for the health department, said she was already impressed by his knowledge of the agency’s programs and ideas for changes. Past colleagues said he listened to those he oversaw. John Tilley, a former Democratic Kentucky representative who served as the state’s former head of Kentucky’s Justice and Public Safety Cabinet, called Meier a problem-solver.

“What I got in Adam was this refreshing take on government, this less than bureaucratic take,” Tilley testified.

While deputy chief of staff for Bevin, Meier oversaw the development of a Medicaid overhaul plan called Kentucky HEALTH, which would have required recipients who were ages 19-64 and without disabilities to work or do “engagement” activities such as job training or community service.

Bevin, a Republican who, like Gianforte, joined politics after making a fortune in business, described the effort as a way to ensure the long-term financial stability of Medicaid and prepare enrollees to transition to private insurance. In Meier’s Montana hearing, he said the goal was for Medicaid recipients to be linked to employment and training. Kentucky opponents said the program would have caused people to lose coverage and increase the state’s administrative burden.

That debate is familiar in Montana, where lawmakers approved work requirements for people who joined Medicaid under its expansion. The work rules are awaiting federal approval.

Kentucky’s requirements never took effect. They were authorized by a federal waiver but were tied up in legal challenges until the state’s current Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear rescinded the rules.

Still, Meier has said Medicaid’s enrollment dropped during his leadership and benefits remained steady for those who stayed on the rolls. That drop paralleled an overall national decline in Medicaid enrollment that lasted through 2019.

Penn State’s Haeder, who observed Meier’s tenure, criticized Meier’s support for Medicaid work requirements, saying “excessive amounts of data show how detrimental they are to public health” because vulnerable people lose coverage.

Mary Windecker, executive director for the Behavioral Health Alliance of Montana, said work restrictions aren’t a good model for Medicaid. But she said it isn’t surprising Meier has been in favor of those steps, given Montana’s recent efforts.

Even so, Windecker is optimistic when she talks about Meier’s confirmation. She said she’s thrilled he has experience with another state health agency.

“These are very complicated systems to run,” Windecker said. “If you understand health care, you stand a better shot at getting this.”

The Montana Senate has to take up Meier’s confirmation, which moved out of a committee Feb. 17.

While Meier awaits confirmation, he is already engaged in the state’s covid vaccine efforts and is working on the agency’s daily tasks, department spokesperson Jon Ebelt said in a statement. Meier is “focused on the job at hand,” Ebelt said.

Houghton, Montana correspondent, reported from Missoula. Ungar, Midwest editor and correspondent, reported from Louisville and formerly worked for The Courier Journal.

Kaiser Health News (KHN) is a national health policy news service. It is an editorially independent program of the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation which is not affiliated with Kaiser Permanente.

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enjoypaitings · 6 months

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Robert Julius Brawley (American, 1937 - 2006) - Room Space With Standing Figure, 1988

picture resolution 2048 × 2720

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More by #robert julius brawley enjoypaitings

#robert julius brawley #robert julius brawley enjoypaitings

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zurumba · 6 months

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Robert Julius Brawley

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astreiants-archive · 7 years

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because you can never have too many lgbtq+ rec lists right? here's yet another one for your pleasure. i've tried for the most part to include books by lgbtq+ authors (there are some that aren't, i realise, mostly because they were so good i had to include them), and i've also, to the best of my knowledge/memory, put trigger warnings alongside.

criteria for inclusion

happy ending

no bury your gays

lgbtq+ character is the/a main and gets a pov

not harmful representation

lgbtq-ness is not the only plotline - tho there may be argued to be some exceptions to this included. i mean more like, the plot does not revolve around them realising they're gay and having a terrible time of everything before someone (usually straight) tells them they're allowed to be happy or whatever. you know what kind of book i mean.

most importantly (lol) i liked it

p.s. there will be more parts to this, as i read more. if there's one not on here that you think should be, feel free to ask about it. i'll either have not read it or it'll be excluded for one of the reasons above. equally, if there's one on here with bad rep of any sort, let me know and i'll take it off.

#gaymers by annabeth albert [new adult, m/m]

out of uniform by annabeth albert [new adult, m/m] (tw for homophobia)

simon vs the homo sapiens agenda by becky albertalli [young adult, m/m]

aristotle and dante discover the secrets of the universe by benjamin alire sáenz [young adult, m/m]

six of crows by leigh bardugo [young adult, m/m, bi mc] (tw for gore, torture, death)

wonders of the invisible world by christopher barzak [young adult, m/m]

the darkest part of the forest by holly black [young adult, m/m]

how to make a wish by ashley herring blake [young adult, f/f, bi mc] (tw for child abuse)

the turn of the story by sarah rees brennan [young adult, m/m, bi mc]

reason number one by briston brooks [new adult, m/m] (tw for domestic abuse, attempted rape)

georgia peaches and other forbidden fruit by jaye robin brown [young adult, f/f]

santa olivia by jacqueline carey [young adult, f/f, bi mc]

postcards from no man's land by aidan chambers [young adult, m/m, bi mc]

peter darling by austin chant [young adult, m/m, trans mc] (tw for misgendering, transphobia)

coffee boy by austin chant [new adult, m/m, trans mc] (tw for misgendering)

a hero at the end of the world by erin claiborne [young adult, m/m]

the miseducation of cameron post by emily m danforth [young adult, f/f] (tw for homophobia, suicide, self harm)

dreadnought by april daniels [young adult, lesbian mc, trans mc] (tw for transphobia)

a hundred thousand words by nyrae dawn [new adult, m/m, bi mc]

the history of us by nyrae dawn [new adult, m/m]

black wolves trilogy by kate elliott [adult, f/f, bi mc] (tw for rape)

cyberlove by megan erickson and santino hassell [new adult, m/m, bi mc]

in focus by megan erickson [new adult, m/m, bi mc]

nightrunner by lynn flewelling [adult, m/m, bi mc] (tw for torture)

scoring chances by avon gale [new adult, m/m, bi mc, demi mc] (tw for child abuse)

whiskey business by avon gale [new adult, m/m]

dates! ed. by zora gilbert and cat parra [comics, m/m, f/f]

young avengers by kieron gillen [comics, m/m, lesbian mc]

whatever, or how junior year became totally f$@ked by sj goslee [young adult, m/m, bi mc]

into the blue by pene henson [new adult, m/m, demi mc]

storm season by pene henson [new adult, f/f, bi mc]

ask me how i got here by christine heppermann [young adult, f/f]

kiss the morning star by elissa janine hoole [young adult, f/f, bi mc]

the five stages of andrew brawley by shaun david hutchinson [young adult, m/m] (tw for suicide attempt)

the backup boyfriend by river jaymes [new adult, m/m] (tw for implied attempted rape, implied child abuse)

inheritance trilogy by nk jemisin [adult, f/f, bi mc]

know not why by hannah johnson [young adult, m/m]

my name is n by robert karjel [adult, m/m, bi mc] (tw for implied torture)

the sidekicks by will kostakis [young adult, m/m] (tw for drug abuse, death)

fresh romance by sarah kuhn [comics, f/f, m/m]

riverside by ellen kushner [adult, m/m, f/f]

superior by jessica lack [young adult, m/m]

you know me well by nina lacour and david levithan [young adult, m/m, f/f]

everything leads to you by nina lacour [young adult, f/f]

holmes and moriarity by josh lanyon [new adult, m/m]

adrien english mysteries by josh lanyon [new adult, m/m, bi mc] (tw for threatened rape)

not your sidekick by cb lee [young adult, f/f, bi mc]

free fall by christina lee and nyrae dawn [new adult, m/m, bi mc, demi mc]

the machineries of empire by yoon ha lee [adult, m/m, f/f, bi mc, nb characters] (tw for suicidal thoughts, implied attempted suicide, rape, death/murder)

how to repair a mechanical heart by jc lillis [young adult, m/m] (tw for homophobia, internalised homophobia)

adaptation by malinda lo [young adult, f/f, bi mc]

ash by malinda lo [young adult, f/f]

the young elites by marie lu [young adult, f/f, bi mc]

colorblind by siera maley [young adult, f/f]

fall hard by jl merrow [new adult, m/m]

the plumber's mate by jl merrow [new adult, m/m]

hold me by courtney milan [new adult, trans mc]

the song of achilles by madeline miller [adult, m/m]

the errant prince by sasha l miller [new adult, m/m, trans mc]

hero by perry moore [young adult, m/m] (tw for homophobia)

henry rios mysteries by michael nava [adult, m/m] (tw for homophobia)

i'll give you the sun by jandy nelson [young adult, m/m]

have you seen me by katherine scott nelson [adult, bi mcs]

more than this by patrick ness [young adult, m/m] (tw for suicide)

midnighter by steve orlando [comics, m/m] (tw for extreme violence, gore)

midnighter and apollo by steve orlando [comics, m/m] (tw for extreme violence, gore)

sprout by dale peck [young adult, m/m]

serpentine by cindy pon [young adult, f/f]

the trials of apollo by rick riordan [young adult, m/m, bi mc]

cut and run by abigail roux and madeleine urban [new adult, m/m] (tw for drug abuse, alcohol abuse, rape, torture, extreme violence, character deaths, murder)

carry on by rainbow rowell [young adult, m/m]

batwoman: elegy by greg rucka [comics, f/f]

shades of magic by ve schwab [adult, m/m]

far from you by tess sharpe [young adult, f/f, bi mc] (tw for drug abuse, death)

timekeeper by tara sim [young adult, m/m]

forgive me if i've told you this before by karelia stetz-waters [young adult, f/f] (tw for attempted rape)

engelsfors by mats strandberg and sara b elfgren [young adult, f/f, bi mc] (tw for attempted rape, torture, suicide mention, drug abuse, suicide attempt, self harm, bullying, animal death, character deaths, alcohol abuse, paedophilia mention, homophobic language, murder)

because you'll never meet me by leah thomas [young adult, m/m]

fan art by sarah tregay [young adult, m/m]

barracuda by christos tsiolkas [adult, m/m] (tw for thoughts of rape)

a taste of honey by kai ashante wilson [adult, m/m] (tw for homophobia, implied physical abuse)

dirty london by kelley york [young adult, f/f] (tw for outing, homophobia)

[more to come]

#mydarlinginej #prouveaire #rykemedows #litedit #**#book recs #lgbtqmaster #recs: ya #recs: na #recs: adult #recs: lgbt

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go-redgirl · 4 years

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2019 Was the Year That Democrats Went Off the RailsCOMMENTARY.

By Frank MieleDecember 30, 2019

Every year at this time, it is incumbent upon us columnists to gird ourselves with chest-high waders and a deluxe trash grabber as we venture back through the muddy waters of another annum in search of significance.

Sometimes, it’s as clear as the pimple on a teenager’s nose. Other times it’s as obscure as the reason why anyone would invest their life savings in blockchain — whatever that is. Usually, it’s a mixed bag. You pays your money and you takes your choice.

For me, I’m going to remember 2019 as the Democrats’ last stand. The party of Thomas Jefferson was given the keys to the nation’s future and told, simply, don’t drive it off the road. Instead, the Democrats honored their Southern roots and decided to go mud bogging! Might have been fun if they had four-wheel drive, but they were stuck with the antique transmission of the Constitution. Voters were sure to notice when the yee-haw Democrats covered them with dirt, ground the gears to dust, and spun the engine into oblivion.

How we got here:

Jan. 3: Democrats took over the Animal House of Representatives and immediately pledged to take down President Trump in the mistaken belief that he is really Dean Vernon Wormer. Nancy Pelosi auditioned for the role of chapter president, but was told she was born to play the John Belushi part of “Bluto,” the pathological sergeant-at-arms. That big nasty gavel sure does make power go to one’s head — and you don’t have to be a good ol’ boy to understand that!

Jan. 15: An apparent messiah complex leads Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand to join dozens (hundreds?) of other Democrats offering themselves as the Chosen One to defeat DJT. Political spin doctors warn that the delusion could spread rapidly and, indeed, before the year is half over, it has infected Jay Inslee, Marianne Williamson, John Hickenlooper, Beto O’Rourke, Bill de Blasio, Julian Castro, Steve Bullock and other non-entities. It appears, however, that although non-politicians were for the most part immune, a related condition resulted in uncontrollable laughter whenever two or three people gathered to discuss the state of the Democratic primary.

Jan. 29: Democrats encountered a detour on their road to ruin when “Empire” actor Jussie Smollett claimed to be the victim of a hate crime on the streets of Chicago in the middle of the coldest night of the year. The noose still hanging around his neck when police came to his door later may have seemed like the perfect prop to TV star Smollett, but to everyone else it seemed like a giant neon light shouting, “Give me attention!” Did I say everyone? Oops. Not Democrats, who have mastered the marriage of victimhood and hagiography. To them, St. Jussie was the second coming of Tawana Brawley. Oh, wait. This is getting way too uncomfortable! It’s almost like Democrats specialize in phony attacks and disingenuous outrage. Hmmm. On Feb. 21, Smollett was arrested for filing a false police report, but thanks to a corrupt system in Chicago, he walked away without even a slap on the wrist for his staged hate crime. Did I mention Chicago?

March 22: I know Democrats thought that Robert Mueller was the Easter Bunny, but when he delivered his report on Trump and Russia, it turned out to be a big goose egg. Attorney General Bill Barr tried to warn the nation that there was “no there there,” but we didn’t know he was talking about the space between Mueller’s ears until July 24 when the special counsel testified before the House Judiciary Committee. Turned out that Mueller doesn’t even recognize the name of Fusion GPS, the company that hired Christopher Steele to write the dossier that was behind the entire phony Trump-Russia collusion conspiracy sham. Case closed. But the Democrat conspiracy elves cobbled together a new hoax that was ready to go 24 hours later — the Ukrainian extortion quid pro quo bribery scandal. This time, surely it would be the beginning of the end for that impostor president!

March 25: CNN’s preferred candidate for president, porn-star lawyer Michael Avenatti, is arrested for a real extortion scheme he allegedly plotted against Nike. Over the next month, Avenatti, the darling of the Never Trumpers, would be indicted and charged with north of 40 federal crimes. The presidency would have to wait for a better con man.

April 25: Enter Joe Biden. Ignoring former boss Barack Obama’s wise counsel that “You don’t have to do this, Joe,” Biden commits professional suicide by announcing his candidacy for president, thus ensuring he will leap from comfortable irrelevancy to irrelevant corrupt con-man politician who will eventually have to answer for his bragging about a quid pro quo in Ukraine. Talk about poetic justice!

May 3: Unemployment falls to 3.6% in the United States, the lowest in 49 years. By October, it is down to 3.5%, setting the 50-year record, and jobless numbers for blacks, Latinos and other minorities are at all-time lows. Nor surprisingly, the Democrats blame Trump for the horrible economy because — well — there was nothing else they could do.

June 27: Wait, there actually was something else the Democrats could do. All 10 Democrat candidates in the first presidential primary debate on NBC raised their hands when asked if they would guarantee health-care coverage for illegal aliens. Democrats swooned, but the rest of us just felt sick.

Aug. 24: At their summer convention in San Francisco, the Democrats voted against holding a climate-change presidential debate. Three days later, 16-year-old climate phenom Greta Thunberg arrived in New York City propelled only by her own hot air across the Atlantic from her native Sweden. Told she is too early to appear as a teenage blimp in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, she decides instead to testify at the U.N. on gaseous emissions, of which she has become an expert. Somehow she never gets around to telling the Democrats what she thinks about their decision to sidetrack the climate debate. How dare they!

Aug. 28: Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand withdraws from the race for the Democratic presidential nomination. LOL.

Sept. 3: The San Francisco Board of Supervisors passes a resolution calling the National Rifle Association a “domestic terrorist organization.” In response, the NRA passes its own resolution calling the San Francisco Board of Supervisors “a lime Jell-O salad with marshmallows.” At least that’s what I think they did. Reporting on this is somewhat vague.

Sept. 8: Disgraced former South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford announces his primary challenge to President Trump. As part of his doomed bid for attention, Sanford simultaneously announces he will be departing the race on Nov. 12, but because he is not wearing a noose around his neck, the media misses the story altogether.

Sept. 9: The inspector general of the intelligence community, Michael Atkinson, draws the short straw and is forced to launch a third unsuccessful coup attempt against President Trump by the CIA involving the “urgent” and “credible” whistleblower complaint that turned out to be “irrelevant” and “partisan” a few days later when President Trump released the consensus transcript of his call with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky. When will they ever learn? Oh, well, after Trump is reelected, they will have four more years to get their impeachment-coup machine in working order. If at first you fail to smear, try, try again.

Sept. 20: New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announces his withdrawal from the presidential race. New Yorkers tremble in fear at the prospect of his return to work.

Sept. 24: In a legacy-building move, Nancy Pelosi announces she will go after the Guinness Book of World Records title for shortest successful impeachment proceeding in history. In a surprise, she also added a last-minute bid to win the title for the impeachment with the least evidence, and Guinness decided to award her that one summarily. As one Guinness judge was overheard to remark about Trump’s call with President Zelensky, “That was a perfect call. How the hell does she impeach with that call? Damn, she’s good.”

Then, in a shocking turn of events, the entire fourth quarter of 2019 was canceled on account of impeachment. Speaker Pelosi, who had been holding the nation hostage since September, is expected to free the impeachment sometime early in 2020, but the nation itself will remain a prisoner throughout most of the year as Pelosi and her henchmen in the media continue to pretend that the other shoe is about to drop, leading to a bombshell revelation that this is the beginning of the end of President Trump, who will nonetheless breeze to reelection on his pledge to Keep America Great and to keep the socialist Democrats at bay.

I, for one, can’t wait for 2020, but it will be hard to top 2019 if you enjoy a good laugh at the expense of liberals.

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