Watched August 29, 2022 - PBS NewsHour full episode from PBS NewsHour
Monday on the NewsHour, the death toll rises and thousands are stranded after monsoons cause catastrophic flooding in Pakistan. Ukrainian forces launch a counteroffensive to retake a strategic southern city from Russian invaders. Plus, Serena Williams competes in what could be her final major tennis tournament. We examine her impact on the sport and her towering legacy.
Listened to Grain and transport As wheat travelled, it created the modern world by Jeremy Cherfas from eatthispodcast.com

Cereals provide their offspring with a long-lived supply of energy to power the first growth spurt of the seed. Thousands of years ago, people discovered that they could steal some of the seeds to power their own growth, taking advantage of the storability of seeds to move the food from where it grew to where it might be eaten. Wheat, the pre-eminent cereal, moved along routes that were ancient before the Greek empire, carried, probably, by ox-drawn carts and guided along these black paths by people remembered in Ukraine today as chumaki.

In this episode, Scott Nelson, author of Oceans of Grain, tells me about the various ways in which the ability to move wheat more efficiently changed world history, geography and economics, for starters.

Notes

  1. Scott Reynolds Nelson’s book Oceans of Grain is published by Basic Books.
  2. Listen to Persephone’s Secret, if you haven’t already, and I promise no vengeful gods will render you dumb.
  3. Banner photo of a grain elevator and train in Wichita Falls, Texas by Carol M. Highsmith. Image of a 19th century Chumak by Jan Nepomucen Lewicki; Public Domain.
  4. Transcript coming soon.

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In the trailer for this short series, I presumed some context about the relationship of the topic to the Ukraine, but missed the true mark with the additional context provided here.

Even better, I suspect that some of the history here is right up my alley in relation to work I’ve been doing on oral cultures. Some of it “sounds” like early oral Ukrainian culture is eerily reminiscent to Milman Parry’s work on orality among the guslars of Yugoslavia and reading I’ve been doing on Indigenous astronomy! What a great find. I’ve immediately ordered a copy of the book.

I wouldn’t expect these sorts of information and insight in a typical podcast about food, but Jeremy Cherfas always delivers the goods.

Listened to The Daily: ‘We Followed the President’s Orders’ from New York Times

In highly anticipated testimony, a top envoy said the operation to extract a political favor from Ukraine was done at the direction of the president, vice president and secretary of state.

Gordon D. Sondland, the United States ambassador to the European Union, has evolved from a loyal Trump campaign donor to a witness central to the impeachment inquiry. But his testimony has been contradicted on multiple occasions.

Today, we look at how both Democrats and Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee handled their most complicated witness to date.

Listened to The Latest: ‘Everyone Was in the Loop’ from New York Times

Ambassador Gordon Sondland testified that President Trump ordered a pressure campaign on Ukraine and that senior-most administration officials knew about it.

In explosive testimony, Gordon D. Sondland, the United States ambassador to the European Union, directly implicated President Trump, Vice President Mike Pence, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and other top administration officials in what he said was a push for a “clear quid pro quo” with the president of Ukraine. But during questioning, things got complicated.

Why is it that Sondland testified but others in the administration did not?
Read Kyiv not Kiev: US changes spelling of Ukrainian capital | KyivPost - Ukraine's Global Voice (KyivPost)
The United States Board on Geographic Names, or BGN, has changed its English spelling of Ukraine’s capital from Kiev to Kyiv, the Embassy of Ukraine in the U.S. announced in a statement on June 13. The U.S. BGN is a federal body under the U.S. Secretary of the Interior that is tasked with deciding on …
Interesting to see the date on this vis-a-vis the whole Ukraine and impeachment business.
Watched Meet the Press – 11/24/19 from NBC
House Intelligence Chair Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA), Commission on Security & Cooperation in Europe Co-Chair Sen. Roger Wicker (R-MS), NBC News Legal Analyst Neil Katyal, Fusion GPS Founders Glenn Simpson and Peter Fritsch, NBC News' Katy Tur, former Governor Pat McCrory, Washington Free Beacon's Eliana Johnson, and author Michael Eric Dyson.
Listened to The Daily: Why Military Assistance for Ukraine Matters from New York Times
American aid has the power to tip the scales in a broader battle between authoritarianism and democracy.

Listened to The Daily: The Saga of Gordon Sondland from New York Times
How a loyal Trump donor ended up at the center of the impeachment investigation — and why Republicans now accuse him of betrayal.

Watched November 21, 2019 - PBS NewsHour from PBS NewsHour
Thursday on the NewsHour, another packed day of public hearings in the impeachment inquiry, including testimony from Dr. Fiona Hill and David Holmes. Plus: The impeachment inquiry in historical context, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is indicted, the fifth Democratic presidential debate, how two Nobel-winning economists are fighting poverty and high honors in the arts and humanities.
Watched PBS NewsHour West Live Episode, Nov. 20, 2019 from PBS | YouTube
Wednesday on the NewsHour, the U.S. Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland shares explosive testimony during the fourth day of the impeachment inquiry’s public hearings. Plus: Counselor to President Trump Kellyanne Conway and Rep. Steve Cohen, D-Tenn., respond to Sondland’s claims and a preview of the Wednesday night debate among 2020 Democrats.
I’m still not sure why any reputable news agency still gives Kellyanne Conway airtime, much less this much.
Liked a tweet by Michael SteeleMichael Steele (Twitter)