Tuesday, June 9, 2015

some early June notables

June came in lush and green after a very wet May here. Where there are cherries, people pick them. Where it isn't too wet, weeding the garden or wheat harvesting can begin. The series of crises of varying size and scope all over, continue, of course. But despite the wars in Syria, over Ukraine and Yemen, despite the increasingly desperate migrants in the Mediterranean and of the Rohingya, the intensity of last month seems tempered slightly. News of the tennis open in France, of hockey's Stanley Cup, and the NBA finals, of baseball in the US, of US Supreme Court decisions,  all compete with the sound of lawnmowers and the smell of outdoor grills to announce that summer has finally arrived. Even the stunning indictment of FIFA by the FBI last week seemed to be the first indication that people had instead found their armchairs or that missing weeding trowel and could get back to the tasks at hand.

With that breezy summer feel in mind, a number of topics floated by.

A CBS/NYT poll found that more Americans are concerned about money in politics.

David Dayen gives an overview of the robust turnaround that California has made with its state budget.

Elections in Turkey give more voice to Kurds in government.

On the Media had an hourlong discussion on the repeal of the Patriot Act and its replacement, the Freedom Act. Well worth the time. They also look at how libraries have your back, for now.

A book of fiction, Book of Numbers has an author feeling cheated by tragedy and search engines, somehow. 8 min audio

Another book, Iterating Grace, a mystery in origin, pokes fun at startups, silicon valley and social media in a beguiling rabbit-hole of playful happenstance. Here it is complete, with some additional clues asking the who in order to get at the why of the project.

Horseracing in US has a new Triple Crown winner. First time since 1978:

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