listen | Chris Aldrich

🎧 ‘The Daily’: Trump’s Personal Lawyer Under Scrutiny | The New York Times

Listened to ‘The Daily’: Trump’s Personal Lawyer Under Scrutiny by Michael Barbaro from nytimes.com

The F.B.I. has raided the home of President Trump’s personal lawyer, Michael D. Cohen — the same man who acknowledged paying $130,000 to a pornographic film actress who said she had a sexual encounter with Mr. Trump.

What are investigators looking for?

On today’s episode:

• Matt Apuzzo, who covers law enforcement for The New York Times.

Background reading:

• The F.B.I. raid against President Trump’s longtime personal lawyeropens a new front for the Justice Department in its scrutiny of Mr. Trump and his associates.

• Mr. Trump angrily denounced the raids as “disgraceful” and “an attack on our country.” Read an annotated transcript of his remarks.

It kills me that we don’t have the morality and common sense people had in the 1990’s even. Thank goodness there are some solid institutions in the country left to handle these things.

🎧 ‘The Daily’: A ‘Big Price to Pay’ in Syria | The New York Times

Listened to ‘The Daily’: A ‘Big Price to Pay’ in Syria by Michael Barbaro from nytimes.com

After a suspected chemical attack in Syria, President Trump said Iran and Russia were responsible for backing “Animal Assad.” But Damascus may view the United States as being focused on a different fight.

President Trump has warned that there will be a “big price to pay” after yet another suspected chemical weapons attack in Syria.

But the suspicion that Syria continues to use those weapons suggests it views the United States as being focused on a different fight.

On today’s episode:

• Ben Hubbard, who covers the Middle East for The New York Times.

Background reading:

• Dozens suffocated in Syria after a reported chemical attack on a rebel-held suburb of Damascus.

• Trump sought a way out of Syria, but the latest attack is pulling him back in.

• There have been similar deadly assaults for years, including one in 2013 that killed more than 1,400.

Listening to this a few days on it sounds more like Trump has even more bluster than Obama, but he’s doing roughly the same thing. Yet again, small countries that should know far better are continuing to trod on their own people. Sadly, America is doing it to, just with far more sophisticated weapons. If we can’t figure out the right and wrong at the big obvious scale, how can we have proper morality at the smaller and more subtle scales?

🎧 ‘The Daily’: Taking Over Local News | The New York Times

Listened to ‘The Daily’: Taking Over Local News by Michael Barbaro from nytimes.com

On local TV stations across the United States, news anchors have been delivering the exact same message to their viewers. “Our greatest responsibility,” they begin by saying, “is to serve our communities.”

But what they are being forced to say next has left many questioning whom those stations are really being asked to serve.

On today’s episode:

• Sydney Ember, a New York Times business reporter who covers print and digital media.

• Aaron Weiss, who worked several years ago as a news director for Sinclair in Sioux City, Iowa.

Background reading:

• Anchors at local news stations across the country made identical comments about media bias. The script came from their owner, Sinclair Broadcast Group.

• David D. Smith, the chairman of Sinclair Broadcast Group, said his stations were no different from network news outlets.

• The largest owner of local TV stations, Sinclair has a history of supporting Republican causes.

🎧 ‘The Daily’: From Fox to Twitter to the National Guard | The New York Times

Listened to Listen to ‘The Daily’: From Fox to Twitter to the National Guard by Michael Barbaro from nytimes.com

It started with a report on Fox News, and ended with calls for troops at the border with Mexico. We look at how President Trump’s approach to immigration transformed over 72 hours.

We look at how President Trump’s approach to immigration transformed over just 72 hours.

On today’s episode:

• Julie Hirschfeld Davis, who covers the White House for The New York Times.

Background reading:

• President Trump said on Tuesday that he planned to deploy the National Guard to the border with Mexico to confront what the White House calls the growing threat posed by illegal immigrants and crime.

• Three days of presidential tweets contained many false and misleading accusations. Here’s a fact-check.

Another data point in the story that we have a System 1 only President who completely lacks any System 2 capabilities.

🎧 This Week in the IndieWeb Audio Edition • March 31st – April 6th, 2018 | Marty McGuire

Listened to This Week in the IndieWeb Audio Edition • March 31st - April 6th, 2018 by Marty McGuire from martymcgui.re

IndieWeb for Drupal, IndieWeb for Businesses, and Foodspotting going under. It’s the audio edition for This Week in the IndieWeb for March 31st - April 6th, 2018.

🎧 Mitch Landrieu | The Atlantic Interview

Listened to Mitch Landrieu by Jeffrey Goldberg from The Atlantic Interview

A white southern mayor confronts the history in his city.

"There is a difference between remembrance of history and reverence of it," said New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu in his now-famous speech in May of 2017. As Landrieu said those words, city workers a few blocks away uprooted an enormous statue of Robert E. Lee – the last of four Confederate monuments the mayor removed from the city after a years-long process. In a conversation with The Atlantic's editor in chief Jeffrey Goldberg, Landrieu discusses the politics of race in the south, his grappling with history as a white southerner, and his own family’s connection to the story of civil rights in America.

I miss the days when I had a seemingly unending backlog of episodes to listen to. Now I just wait with bated breath for them to be released.

I love extended interviews on small topics like this one. This does a really good job of taking a look at some of the broader details behind removing Confederate statues in New Orleans.

🎧 This Week in Google 451 B055man69 | TWiT.TV

Listened to This Week in Google 451 B055man69 by Leo Laporte, Jeff Jarvis, Wendy Nather, Ant Pruitt from TWiT.tv

Shooting at YouTube Headquarters. Facebook's continuing kerfuffle. Apple snags Google's AI head. Chromebooks on school buses. Cheaper Pixel 3 on the way - but not for you. Trump vs. Amazon. Security breaches here, security breaches there, even in our underwear. Don't leave your pepperoni on the hotel balcony.

🎧 ‘The Daily’: Linda Brown’s Landmark Case | The New York Times

Listened to ‘The Daily’: Linda Brown’s Landmark Case by Michael Barbaro from nytimes.com

Behind the landmark Supreme Court ruling of Brown v. Board of Education was a girl named Linda Brown, whose story led to states being ordered to desegregate schools, mostly against their will. Ms. Brown died on Sunday. Who was she, and what has changed in the nearly 64 years since the case was decided?

On today’s episode:

• Nikole Hannah-Jones, an investigative reporter covering race and civil rights for The New York Times Magazine.

Background reading:

• The New York Times obituary of Linda Brown.

A fantastic piece of journalism here. Timely, interesting, and important. This is the type of coverage that keeps me coming back to The Daily on a regular basis.

🎧 ‘The Daily’: The Prospect of Pardons | The New York Times

Listened to ‘The Daily’: The Prospect of Pardons by Michael Barbaro from nytimes.com

As the special counsel built his case against Michael T. Flynn and Paul Manafort, pressure was mounting for the men to to cooperate with the Russia inquiry.Then a lawyer for President Trump came to them with an idea: What if the president were to pardon his former advisers?

On today’s episode:

• Michael S. Schmidt, who has been covering the Russia investigation for The New York Times.

Background reading:

• The talks about possible pardons for two former Trump adviserssuggest that the White House was concerned about what Mr. Flynn and Mr. Manafort might reveal to the special counsel in the Russia investigation.

Presidents should not be able to grant or push potential pardons in actions in which they’re so closely involved.

🎧 ‘The Daily’: A Cold War Flashback | The New York Times

Listened to ‘The Daily’: A Cold War Flashback by Michael Barbaro from nytimes.com

Eight years ago, the United States and Russia agreed to a spy swap that sent a Russian double agent to safety in Britain. That former spy and his daughter were poisoned by a nerve agent this month, and the Kremlin has been accused of orchestrating the attack. Why did it happen now?

On today’s episode:

• Peter Baker, the chief White House correspondent for The New York Times.

Background reading:

• President Trump joined a coordinated campaign by more than 20 countries to retaliate for the poisoning of a former Russian spy, ordering the largest-ever expulsion of Russian officials in the United States.

• It may not be a new Cold War, but relations with Russia are in some ways even more unpredictable.

🎧 ‘The Daily’: When Gun Violence Is a Daily Threat | The New York Times

Listened to ‘The Daily’: When Gun Violence Is a Daily Threat by Michael Barbaro from nytimes.com

As hundreds of thousands of demonstrators prepared to march in Washington in response to the school shooting in Parkland, Fla., students on the South Side of Chicago felt sympathy, but also frustration.

Why hadn’t the gun violence in their community earned the nation’s outrage?

On today’s episode:

• Sameen Amin, a senior video producer at The New York Times.

Background coverage:

• Video: Ke’Shon Newman’s brother was shot and killed on the South Side of Chicago, where gun violence is a daily threat. He decided to join the march in Washington with high school students from Parkland, Fla.

• For some students who joined protests against gun violence over the weekend, bloodshed doesn’t come in isolated bursts of mass slaughter, it’s a constant urban reality.

• Highlights from the March for Our Lives: Students protesting guns say “enough is enough.”

🎧 ‘The Daily’: Racism’s Punishing Reach | The New York Times

Listened to ‘The Daily’: Racism’s Punishing Reach by Michael Barbaro from nytimes.com

For decades, Americans have believed that the best way to end racial inequality is to end class inequality. But a landmark 30-year study is debunking that logic.

On today’s episode:
• Emily Badger writes about cities and urban policy for The Upshot, The New York Times’s data-driven venture.
• William O. Jawando worked in the Obama administration on My Brother’s Keeper, a mentoring initiative for black boys.

Background reading:
• Extensive data shows the punishing reach of racism for black boys.

Is there no humanity left in the world? The more I see and hear of the world, the more I want to remove the positive connotation that the word humanity is frequently assigned.

This story is both very powerful and painfully depressing for me, and yet I know there are many that are still far worse. I hope we can find something in these statistics that can help drastically improve the paying field.

🎧 ‘The Daily’: Can Facebook Be Fixed? | The New York Times

Listened to ‘The Daily’: Can Facebook Be Fixed? by Michael Barbaro from nytimes.com

Five days after details about Cambridge Analytica were made public, Mark Zuckerberg, the chief executive of Facebook, broke his silence on his company’s role in the data breach.

Minutes after posting a statement on Facebook, he spoke with The New York Times.

On today’s episode:
• Kevin Roose, a business columnist for The Times.

Background reading:
• Facebook, in crisis over the Cambridge Analytica data breach, vows to bolster security and privacy.
• A transcript of Mr. Zuckerberg’s conversation with Mr. Roose and another Times reporter, Sheera Frenkel.

I think Roose humanizes Zuckerberg a bit too much in his discussion of his interview. Facebook has some of the best and brightest engineering talent and a multi-billion dollar war chest. They’ve known about their pending problem for quite a while now and should have long since begun building a remedy. The plain truth is that they’ve actively chosen not to. Worse, even with the swirling problems in the public consciousness, they’re not actively doing anything much to fix things after-the-fact other than paying it some lip service. If Zuckerberg is as seemingly naive as Roose suggests, he needs to be removed from his position.

I’m coming much closer to calling it quits on Facebook. I’ve outlined a plan for extracting myself and just need to begin implementation. I’ve even got a potential scalable plan for family/friends who would like to leave as well.

I actually feel like my remaining on the platform is subsidizing keeping many third world people on it, and the way Facebook has been and is operating in many other countries it becomes a moral issue which is forcing me to actively seek to leave it.