The Chainsmokers' 'Don't Let Me Down' Turns Tearjerker in New State Farm Commercial: Watch; Billboard, March 14, 2017

Kat Bein, Billboard; 

The Chainsmokers' 'Don't Let Me Down' Turns Tearjerker in New State Farm Commercial: Watch

[Kip Currier: Usually, I assiduously avoid watching ads. (No ads are marketed on my blogs either.) But the first 2-3 seconds of this ad grabbed my attention and snared me (darn you--cute little scruffy white dog!).

A very effective mix of imagery and music to deliver State Farm's message about "doing some good".]

"If you thought that Humane Society commercial with the Sarah Mclachlan song was tough, wait 'til you get a load of this new State Farm commercial.

The Chainsmokers' hit “Don't Let Me Down” gets the ultra-ballad treatment as a musical means to motivate you to do some good. State Farm captures that guilty feeling we all get throughout the day as we're constantly and rightly reminded how hard life is for others. We could all do more to help our veterans, our troubled youth, our elderly, our homeless, even the neglected animals of the world.

You may often say to yourself, “I don't have the cash to spare to charity right now,” but what's even better to give is time. State Farm wants to make donating your time easier than ever. Just head over to neighborhoodofgood.com, enter your zip code, and see what organizations can benefit from your energies whenever works for your schedule."

Episode 76: X-Men – “The Dream”; ComicsVerse, June 10, 2016

Justin Gilbert Alba, ComicsVerse; 

Episode 76: X-Men – “The Dream”

"Joined by my friend, ComicsVerse X-Men writer and podcast co-host Marius Thienenkamp, Episode 76 of the ComicsVerse Podcast, “X-Men: The Dream,” explored the significance of the metaphor of the X-Men both in and outside of comics through discussions of race, sexuality, inequality, and “othering” in western civilization.  Podcast panelists Jamie Rice, Kay Honda, Nolan Bensen, and Corey Spanner weighed in on parallels between historical activists like Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X, and Gandhi which lead to conversations about dominant cultural hierarchies and the nature of humanity itself.

X-Men comics and characters are rife with meaning and serve as a mirror of how society treats anyone who is, and feels, different and how those same people cope in a world that hates and fears them. The concept of the X-Men served as a perfect platform during this podcast to embark on an analysis of American culture as a microcosm of human nature and what it ultimately means to be American."

Donald Trump’s One Awful Accomplishment; New York Times, April 29, 2017

Frank Bruni, New York Times; Donald Trump’s One Awful Accomplishment

"The other presidents in my lifetime have at least done a pantomime of the qualities that we try to instill in children: humility, honesty, magnanimity, generosity. Even Richard Nixon took his stabs at these. Trump makes a proud and almost ceaseless mockery of them.

And while I worry plenty that he’ll achieve some of his most ill-conceived policy goals, I’m just as fearful that he has already succeeded in changing forever the expected demeanor of someone in public office.

All around me people shrug and yawn at his latest petulant tirade, his newest baseless tweet, his freshest assertion that the numbers that the rest of us see are just optical illusions and he really did win the popular vote. Even outrage grows boring, and it begins to feel pointless: His obnoxiousness isn’t going to get him impeached.

Besides, the mendacity, the grandiosity: That’s just Trump being Trump. It’s old news by now. Many readers will get this far in this column and wonder why I and other naysayers don’t just let it go and cut him a break. As if we’re stuck on piddling things and his bearing is nothing more than peculiar.

But when something no longer provokes remark, it becomes unremarkable, and the road from there to acceptable is a short one."

The Handmaid’s Tale series premiere recap: ‘Offred’; Entertainment Weekly, April 26, 2017

Jessica Derschowitz, Entertainment Weekly; The Handmaid’s Tale series premiere recap: ‘Offred’

[Spoilers for Episode 1]


"When another student, Janine, talks back, Lydia (Ann Dowd) shocks her with a cattle prod and has her taken away, before offering a line straight from Atwood’s novel, which I’d say is the scariest quote of the entire episode:

“I know this must feel very strange. But ordinary is just what you’re used to. This may not seem ordinary to you right now, but after a time it will. This will become ordinary.”"

Chechnya’s Crackdown on Gays; New York Times, April 24, 2017

Editorial Board, New York Times; 

Chechnya’s Crackdown on Gays

[Kip Currier: I was recently thumbing through a file folder of comic strips and Op-Eds I've bookmarked over the years and came across this one by the brilliant political cartoonist Rob Rogers, featured frequently in The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. The cartoon is from 2007 but is eerily timely, and reminiscent of recent statements by Chechnya’s leader Ramzan Kadyrov and his administration, denying the very existence of gays, while euphemistically threatening "such people" with death. Frank Bruni's Food, Sex and Silence trenchantly points out "how often oppression is an act of omission rather than commission". Chilling first-hand reports from Chechen gay men and human rights groups show how oppression is also waged through both strategies.] 

[The Guardian, April 21, 2017] "Previously, Kadyrov’s spokesman Alvi Karimov denied the reports of the purge, saying there were no gay people in Chechnya. “If there were such people in Chechnya, law enforcement agencies wouldn’t need to have anything to do with them because their relatives would send them somewhere from which there is no returning,” he said."

[The New York Times Editorial Board, April 24, 2017] 

"The crimes in Chechnya have presented the Trump administration with its first major test on this issue on the international stage. Last Monday, Nikki Haley, the American ambassador to the United Nations, issued a strong statement calling for a prompt investigation and accountability for the culprits.

“We are against all forms of discrimination, including against people based on sexual orientation,” Ms. Haley said. “When left unchecked, discrimination and human rights abuses can lead to destabilization and conflict.”

It would be encouraging to see Ms. Haley take on this cause with as much passion and perseverance as her predecessor, Samantha Power. Without American leadership, forging a global consensus that gay rights are human rights will take longer. Time is not on the side of gay people living in terror in places like Chechnya."

THE LEFTOVERS: DAMON LINDELOF ON THE GUILTY REMNANT'S FATE, MISSING CHARACTERS AND MUCH MORE; IGN.com, April 23, 2017

Eric Goldman, IGN.com; 

THE LEFTOVERS: DAMON LINDELOF ON THE GUILTY REMNANT'S FATE, MISSING CHARACTERS AND MUCH MORE

Warning: Full spoilers for The Leftovers: Season 3 premiere follow.


"IGN: You seem to have come to a pretty Zen place about criticism. A couple years ago, people were hating on Prometheus, among other movies you were working on in the wake of Lost, but then you debuted The Leftovers, which became especially acclaimed in Season 2. As someone who’s experienced those highs and lows, in terms of response, do you just feel like you have to do your work and then whatever happens after you put it out there, happens? And some reactions will be great, and some won’t, but it all evens out in the end?

Lindelof: Yeah. I mean, again, f**k you Vince Gilligan! [Laughs] It feels like everything the guy has ever done is amazing, and so it is possible, but I can’t live my life under the sort of “I cannot fail” philosophy, because then every time I do fail, which feels more inevitable than me being perfect all the time, it’s going to be soul crushing. And more importantly, I’ll never take any risks. And my feeling about the final season of Leftovers is we took a lot of risks. Maybe people will be into it, maybe they won’t. There’s no way to anticipate what the hive mind of the audience feels. We did take what the audience feels into account, but the stupidest thing that we could have done was take no risks. That would have been immensely disappointing for everyone. So when you’re out there on the high wire and you realize it’s more exciting to be walking it without a net, you have to be prepared for the consequences of what happens when you slip. And so as I’m lying down there on the ground, sucking my last breaths through my shattered body, I want to look up at the high wire and be like, “At least I tried.”"

O’Reilly, Ousted; New York Times, April 20, 2017

David Leonhardt, New York Times; 

O’Reilly, Ousted

"Rupert Murdoch tried to make his firing of Bill O’Reilly seem as if it were based on morality. In a letter to Fox News employees (obtained by CNN’s Brian Stelter), Murdoch wrote that “we want to underscore our consistent commitment to fostering a work environment built on the values of trust and respect.”

This claim is false, and Murdoch’s use of “consistent” is especially rich. O’Reilly’s pattern of harassing women has been clear for more than a decade. Megan Garber of The Atlantic has a useful review — incomplete, no doubt — of his behavior...

But if O’Reilly’s firing wasn’t based on morals, it is still a victory for morality. A man who spent years abusing people less wealthy and powerful than him has lost his large public stage, in a very public way. His legacy — like that of his old boss, Roger Ailes — will always involve his ugly abusiveness."

Wolf strips state police protection from lieutenant governor; Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, April 22, 2017

Angela Couloumbis, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette; Wolf strips state police protection from lieutenant governor

"After news of the probe surfaced last week, Mr. Stack apologized and pledged both he and his wife would try harder. He did not describe what behavior he was apologizing for, saying only that he sometimes gets stressed and snaps "in anger and frustration.” He called such an outburst a "Stack moment."

"Danny Boy"; robrogers.com, April 19, 2017

Rob Rogers, robrogers.com; "Danny Boy"

Fox News Turmoil Highlights Workplace Culture's Role In Sexual Harassment; NPR, April 19, 2017

Yuki Noguchi, NPR; 

Fox News Turmoil Highlights Workplace Culture's Role In Sexual Harassment

"Experts say rooting out a culture of sexual harassment is a big challenge but can be done if handled correctly."

Fox News drops Bill O'Reilly in wake of harassment allegations; Fox News, April 19, 2017

Howard Kurtz, Fox News; 

Fox News drops Bill O'Reilly in wake of harassment allegations

"The net result is not just a transformation of Fox’s prime-time lineup, which has trounced the cable competition, but an effort by Rupert Murdoch and his sons, James and Lachlan, to change the company’s culture and make clear that harassment is unacceptable."

Bewildered Beaver Becomes Accidental Leader Of 150 Curious Cows; Huffington Post, April 18, 2017

Ed Mazza, Huffington Post; 

Bewildered Beaver Becomes Accidental Leader Of 150 Curious Cows

"A perplexed beaver who accidentally herded 150 head of cattle across a farm in Canada last week has become an online sensation."

First Woman to Enter Boston Marathon Runs It Again, 50 Years Later; New York Times, April 17, 2017

Victor Mather, New York Times; 

First Woman to Enter Boston Marathon Runs It Again, 50 Years Later

"“The marathon was a man’s race in those days; women were considered too fragile to run it,” she wrote in an essay for The New York Times 10 years ago. “But I had trained hard and was confident of my strength. Still, it took a body block from my boyfriend to knock the official off the course.” Switzer recovered to finish in 4 hours 20 minutes...

“In 1967, few would have believed that marathon running would someday attract millions of women, become a glamour event in the Olympics and on the streets of major cities, help transform views of women’s physical ability and help redefine their economic roles in traditional cultures,” Switzer wrote."

Rude Doctors, Rude Nurses, Rude Patients; New York Times, April 10, 2017

Perri Klass, New York Times; 

Rude Doctors, Rude Nurses, Rude Patients

"Just how much rudeness is there in the hospital, and who bears the brunt of it?

A few weeks ago I wrote about a study that looked at what happens to medical teams when parents are rude to doctors. In these studies of simulated patient emergencies, doctors and nurses working in the neonatal intensive care unit were less effective in teamwork and communication, and in their diagnostic and technical skills, after an actor, playing a parent, made a rude remark about the quality of the hospital."

Rooney Rule legacy touches entirety of NFL and beyond; Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, April 14, 2017

Brian Batko, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette; 

Rooney Rule legacy touches entirety of NFL and beyond

[Kip Currier: Standing across the street from St. Paul's Cathedral in Pittsburgh's Oakland neighborhood today, the site of Dan Rooney's funeral, I overheard a news reporter filing a story behind me say "Dan Rooney said you can get just about anything done if you share the credit."] 

"Chairman of the Fritz Pollard Alliance, a foundation promoting equality in coaching, scouting and front-office jobs for NFL teams, Mr. Wooten worked closely with Mr. Rooney to develop a league policy requiring teams to interview minority candidates. Eventually — and, as Mr. Wooten remembers, reluctantly — it would be named after an Irishman who grew up on the North Side.

“The thing about it is, he really didn’t want it to be called the Rooney Rule,” Mr. Wooten, 80, said over the phone from his Texas home on what he called a sorrowful evening for him and his organization. “I told him, ‘As much as I respect you, and will always do what you recommend, I don’t want to call it anything else but the Rooney Rule. Because you are the one that made it happen. You, and you alone, made it happen.’ ”

Undoubtedly, it was also the brainchild of people such as Mr. Wooten and the two attorneys he called on his victorious day in 2002 — Cyrus Mehri and the late Johnnie Cochran — but Mr. Rooney was the driving force behind it.

As Mr. Wooten sees it, no other NFL power broker would have been able to persuade the entirety of league ownership to vote in favor of the rule. But Mr. Rooney did, with alacrity, and now it’s viewed by many as a move that opened the gates for some of the sport’s finest coaches, including the Steelers’ Mike Tomlin."

Man filmed being dragged off United flight causes outrage in China; CNN, April 11, 2017

James Griffiths and Serenitie Wang, CNN; 

Man filmed being dragged off United flight causes outrage in China

"PR disaster

The incident, which quickly went viral in the US and other countries as well as China, has become a public relations nightmare for United.

Following a concentrated backlash on social media, United CEO Oscar Munoz issued a statement calling the incident "upsetting" and apologized "for having to re-accommodate" customers.

Ed Zitron, a PR expert and author of "This Is How You Pitch," said United's response to the incident "was a classic case of a company too afraid to make a categorical statement of compassion for fear of a lawsuit."

"Had United shown compassion and intent to make things right, they could have come out of this at the very least looking like an airline that cares. Instead they've just made it even worse," he said."

Jimmy Kimmel Creates A Brutally Honest New Commercial For United Airlines; Huffington Post, April 11, 2017

Ed Mazza, Huffington Post; 

Jimmy Kimmel Creates A Brutally Honest New Commercial For United Airlines

"“That is such sanitized, say-nothing, take-no responsibility, corporate BS speak,” Kimmel said on ABC’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live” on Monday night. “I don’t know how the guy who sent that tweet didn’t vomit when he typed it out.”

‘Unwanted Advances’ Tackles Sexual Politics in Academia; New York Times, April 5, 2017

Jennifer Senior, New York Times; 

‘Unwanted Advances’ Tackles Sexual Politics in Academia

"Among the educators who recently found herself at the treacherous intersection of free speech and sensitivity politics is Laura Kipnis, a film professor, cultural critic and dedicated provocateur at Northwestern University. Responding to a new campus directive that prevented professors from dating undergraduates, she wrote an essay for The Chronicle of Higher Education in February of 2015 entitled “Sexual Paranoia Strikes Academe.” Within days of publication, she was brought up on Title IX complaints for creating a “hostile environment.” She spent 72 days in the public stockade for it, until the university cleared her of any wrongdoing.

Kipnis has now written a book, “Unwanted Advances,” about feminism, relationship statecraft and the shadow world of Title IX investigations. It is invigorating and irritating, astute and facile, rigorous and flippant, fair-minded and score-settling, practical and hyperbolic, and maybe a dozen other neurotically contradictory things. Above all else, though, “Unwanted Advances” is necessary. Argue with the author, by all means. But few people have taken on the excesses of university culture with the brio that Kipnis has. Her anger gives her argument the energy of a live cable."

How the U.S. ethics chief took on Trump and became a reluctant Washington hero; Washington Post, March 30, 2017

David Montgomery, Washington Post; How the U.S. ethics chief took on Trump and became a reluctant Washington hero

"Reading aloud in a mild voice for 13 minutes, Shaub cited the Bible, Antonin Scalia and other authorities to make the case that presidents should act as if the conflict-of-interest law did apply to them. Previous presidents have done so, he said.

“Should a president hold himself to a lower standard than his own appointees?” he asked."

Uber Executive Invokes Fifth Amendment, Seeking to Avoid Potential Charges; New York Times, March 30, 2017

Daisuke Wakabayashi and Mike Isaac, New York Times; 

Uber Executive Invokes Fifth Amendment, Seeking to Avoid Potential Charges

"“The more we get into this, it might look like a public relations disaster for Uber,” said Michael Carrier, a law professor at Rutgers University. “The mere fact that you’re pleading the Fifth doesn’t look good.”"

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson spends his first weeks isolated from an anxious bureaucracy; Washington Post, March 30, 2017

Anne Gearan and Carol Morello, Washington Post; Secretary of State Rex Tillerson spends his first weeks isolated from an anxious bureaucracy

"Eight weeks into his tenure as President Trump’s top diplomat, the former ExxonMobil chief executive is isolated, walled off from the State Department’s corps of bureaucrats in Washington and around the world. His distant management style has created growing bewilderment among foreign officials who are struggling to understand where the United States stands on key issues. It has sown mistrust among career employees at State, who swap paranoid stories about Tillerson that often turn out to be untrue. And it threatens to undermine the power and reach of the State Department, which has been targeted for a 30 percent funding cut in Trump’s budget.

Many have expressed alarm that Tillerson has not fought harder for the agency he now leads."