As I read this story, I had a creeping sense of horror. And my oft-stated sentiment that maybe I made a mistake ten years ago by blogging under my own real name became a genuinely fearful reaction.

Really, this should be called terrorism.

I’ve been known to call some people who comment anonymously on the internet cowards, at least when they make vicious inflammatory comments that they know no one will be able to call them out on. I’ve always been proud of the fact that, even when I’ve embarrassed myself by losing my temper or drunkblogging, writing things I regretted, I could always say without shame that at least I wasn’t hiding myself and was willing to take the heat for whatever I said. Even if I was harshly critical of a person, you knew who I was, I wasn’t hiding under a fake name so I could say nasty things and not have to own up to it.

But in my ten years of blogging, I know I’ve been professionally slandered, that it has at times hurt my career, and I’ve known people who lost their jobs just through saying things online (including commenters and guest posters on Dean’s World) that someone didn’t like. I have been targeted for online harassment, including sometimes-innocent but sometimes obviously-intentional out-of-context quotations of my work, but I shrugged it off as “just part of the internet, man.” I have received threats, but usually shrugged them off although occasionally feeling the need to note, “by the way, I do own a gun and know how to use it in defense of self and my family.”

But this appalling attack on Patrick Frey has me wondering if I shouldn’t simply pull my blog completely offline, root and branch, and start over somewhere else with a different name that no one will know. There are times when I’m pretty sure blogging here has hurt my career, and now I begin to wonder if it could hurt me or someone I love in a much more direct way.

This is not a f*n joke: they could have KILLED Patrick Frey. For the audacity of having opinions they don’t like, and for committing shameless acts of journalism they didn’t care for.

I worry about it now. I write something someone doesn’t like: about feminism, about AIDS, about Islam, about Fundamentalist Christianity and its Rapture Cult, about the Tea Party, about Occupy Wall Street, or Obama, or Bush, or the Iraq War, about men’s rights, or abortion, and not only might some lunatic come looking for me, but worse, someone might attempt what could be called “murder by cop” just because they don’t like my opinion?

The cops could have killed this man. Not because the cops were bad, but because they were doing their jobs and some slimebag who hated him filed a phony police report. One wrong move by Frey there, one rookie cop whose training slipped for just a second, and we might be talking about the man’s f*n FUNERAL.

I want to vomit.

I offer a prayer for you and your family, Patrick. We may have had our agreements and our disagreements these last 10 years, but my God man. I’m so sorry. I hope they not only find this bastard but that he does hard, serious time. They probably can’t call it attempted murder, but whatever the maximum penalty for filing a police report is, and anything else they can book him for, I hope that’s what he gets.

And by the way, let’s not forget to call this what it is: an assault on journalism and free press.

(This item cross-posted to Dean’s World.)

UPDATE:

Safely in the U.S. — in “the heart of Greenwich Village” — Mr. Chen held “the kind of open-air news conference that he could have never imagined while under virtual house arrest in China,” says the New York Times.

Speaking through a translator, Mr. Chen said, “I hope to see that they continue to open discourse and earn the respect and trust of the people.”

Some additional excerpts from the Times:

“I don’t really feel that happy, but rather sentimental,” he said in the brief interview. “After all the suffering for years, I don’t have those tearful moments anymore, but I do feel something inside.”

He looked calm, but his hands shook as he talked about leaving a country he has tried to change from within for years.

“I’m very clear what kind of role I’m playing right now,” he said. “Opportunity and risk exist at the same time.”

Welcome Home, Mr. Chen

==

Original Post:

United Airlines flight UA88 has just — shortly after 6:00 p.m. EST — landed on American soil at Newark, New Jersey, ending at least the first phase of what had been a very delicate and potentially explosive diplomatic dispute between the United States and China.

As reported in an update here, Chinese activist Chen Guangcheng left China aboard a commercial flight on his way to the United States around 09:50 GMT.

After receiving their passports at the airport, the blind activist and his wife and two children boarded United Airlines flight UA88 bound for Newark, New Jersey, which departed Beijing at 17:50 Saturday evening, China time, (09:50 GMT), more than two hours late.

Mr. Chen had been taken from a Beijing hospital where he was being treated for a foot injury — incurred during a recent escape from house arrest in Shandong province — to the capital’s airport in a low-key manner designed “to spare Beijing further embarrassment over the case,” according to the BBC.

According to the New York Times:

Once on board, flight attendants promptly drew a curtain around their business class seats and barred other passengers in the cabin from using the toilet while the plane was on the runway.

Speaking by cellphone before he boarded the flight, Mr. Chen told friends he was excited to leave China but that he was also worried about the fate of relatives left behind. Bob Fu, president of ChinaAid, a Christian advocacy group in Texas that championed Mr. Chen’s case, said, “He’s happy to finally have a rest after seven years of suffering, but he’s also worried they will suffer some retribution.”

Airline officials increased security on the flight, and reporters were told they would not be able to speak to Mr. Chen during the 13-hour trip to Newark.

Mr. Chen and his immediate family are now finally in the U.S. where he has been offered a fellowship at New York University Law School.

“With the activist on his way, both China and the US will want to put this extraordinary diplomatic dispute behind them, says the BBC’s Martin Patience in Beijing.”

Image: www.shutterstock.com

CA TOP TWO

California Primary Ballot Hodgepodge: We Need a Return to Voting By Party Members Only (Michael Russnow, Screenwriter, former Member WGAW Board of Directors, former U.S. Senate aide, Huffington Post) Remembering that this was the year long-time incumbent Dianne Feinstein was running for re-election, I was hard pressed to find her in the ensuing clutter. Nor was it easier to find her opponents, none of whom I had ever heard of.
“No Party Preference” Voters To Sway Senate District 15 (by Jane Susskind, IVN) Almost 28% of voters in Senate District 15 have opted out of the two-party system and are registered as “No Party Preference,” placing this district on our radar of races to watch.
California focus – Feinstein strength exposes primary weakness (By THOMAS D. ELIAS, Ukiah Daily Journal) The top-two, or “jungle primary” system voters adopted for themselves and will use for the first time next month, will put the two leading finishers in every legislative and congressional race into November runoffs, regardless of their party affiliation. But U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein appears about to expose one wasteful difference between the new primary system and the way special elections have long operated: In special elections, if one candidate gets more than 50 percent of the first-round vote, there’s no runoff. That candidate simply wins. Not so with the new primary setup. No one running for Congress will win outright next month.

IDAHO CLOSED PRIMARY

8 Things You Need To Know To Vote In Idaho’s Primary (Samantha Wright / Boise State Public Radio) Closed Primary: This year, Idaho made the switch to a closed primary system. The Idaho Republican Party sued the state to make this happen, as Party Executive Director Jonathan Parker explains. “We do believe that it is our right to essentially let Republicans chose Republican candidates, Democrats choose Democrat candidates, as these are the candidates who will be our standard bearers, carrying the torch for the Republican Party in November.
Idaho Primary: Why The GOP Closed Its Ballot (By Samantha Wright, Boise State Public Radio) Grant says there was never a Democratic mandate to cross over and vote for someone in the GOP primary. But he does say, in local races, a tiny fraction of Democrats have done this. “And in many areas those races are decided in the Republican Primary. So there are folks, I’m sure there are folks now, folks that are good Democrats that have registered as Republicans so they can vote in those local races.”… That could be a challenge for the 37 percent of Idahoans who label themselves Independent, according to a 2011 Public Policy Survey by Boise State University.

WISCONSIN RECALL
Poll: Wis. Gov. Walker leads Dem opponent by 9 points in recall (By Justin Sink, The Hill/ Blog Briefing Room) But Walker’s lead shrinks among independent voters, among whom the incumbent governor holds just a three-point advantage. That’s an encouraging sign for Barrett, who must make inroads among swing voters as well as rally his Democratic base.

AMERICANS ELECT
Americans Elect vote deadline hours away (Jonathan Tilove, The Times-Picayune) “Yes, the deadline is 11:59:59 tonight,” Americans Elect spokesman Ileana Wachtel said in an email this morning, referring to the requirement that, in order to compete in the Americans Elect voting a candidate must first gain 1,000 clicks from supporters in each of 10 states. The leading declared candidate, by a mile, is former Louisiana Gov. Buddy Roemer, but as of today he had only 5,618 clicks, and the most from any single state is 583 from California.

MORE NEWS FOR INDEPENDENTS AT THE HANKSTER!

What a pyrrhic victory. What a sop to the GLBT community and the slight majority of Americans across the U.S. who favor such a nationwide change in our laws. There still exists a wide disparity in the many polls that measure the support or opposition to this change depending upon which State is being polled. This empty announcement by the President was pathetic – particularly since it occurred just before he attended a large Hollywood fundraiser that politically and socially required such a statement.

Since being in office, President Obama has established a pattern of doing practically nothing on any issue or making any efforts to move Congress on any legislation until it is absolutely necessary – and then he capitulates into doing the very least possible. Any person in (or who supports) the GLBT community that favors marriage equality is a delusional and desperate fool to suddenly support this President’s re-election as a result of this minor change of opinion.

The more pressing issue is whether the President will ever act towards repealing DOMA and stating that Marriage rights are a national issue concerning equal protection under the law – and not state mealy-mouthed that the issue should be left to the states to decide (if and when they might find the time or local desire.) This is not the same as naming State Flowers, Birds, and other useless things. If we are not a unified nation from the Atlantic to the Pacific (plus Alaska and Hawaii) then why would anyone – least of all a President who taught Constitutional law before taking office – continue to endorse an un-constitutional, unfair and idiotic patchwork of 50 conflicting state laws (still governed by DOMA) when it comes down to fundamental civil rights? Was the Civil Rights movement for Blacks and former slaves really effective on a state-by-state method over 100 years (1865-1965) or did not President Johnson effectively push Congress in 1965 to finally protect these civil rights nationwide? But what else would one expect from El Presidente sin Cojones? (corrected Spanish – I speak French. Thanks DDW.)

I have already come out in opposition to this President’s re-election on a variety of other issues. He has utterly failed to have the many departments and agencies in his Administration thoroughly investigate and prosecute the nationwide wave of serious crimes consisting of massive fraud, theft, deceit, accounting tricks, illegal lending and foreclosing procedures, and the gambling of depositor funds perpetrated by the financial and real estate cartels. Sadly, most politicians in Washington DC and the President himself have been, are, and will be totally beholden to the owners and executives of these huge corrupt industries for re-election. He did not need any Congressional support for performing his Executive Duties under the Constitution but he chose to ignore crime. His inaction has permitted massive crime to continue to this day.

This President – despite his crafty intelligence in political theatrics and his diligent service to the most corrupt crony capitalists in the Nation’s history – is simply incompetent and unwilling to serve the best interests of the vast majority Americans. He has expanded the unconstitutional homeland security spying on U.S. citizens, continuing a needless war in Afghanistan, and wasting billions of dollars on the Defense Industrial Complex are just more reasons not to re-elect him. There are even many other reasons to throw this President to the dung-heap of history this November.

Sadly, the Republican Party is offering a candidate who is even a more shallow, craven and callous servant of this nation’s 1% oligarchy – but at least Mitt Romney and conservatives do not lie about their true intentions, loyalties and policies. President Obama is a smiling, empty suit who will say anything to gullible and delusional Democrats, progressives, liberals, moderates and independents, but whose policies are just a variation on those of the Republicans. Both parties are mere puppets of the same oligarchy and voting for a candidate from either is a completely waste of time and effort.

This rapidly-declining nation of misinformed, intentionally ignorant, congenitally stupid, easily distracted, and generally disinterested, selfish, delusional and apathetic citizens probably deserves the full wrath of Republican and Ayn Rand Conservative policies that are a complete anathema to ethically-minded and critically-thinking Christians, Jews, Muslims, and even most non-believers. Many people who lack education, information and intelligence, and who are easily misled, confused and duped need to see the full destruction of their political and economic system and society itself to finally understand and learn even the basics of human behavior, ethics and clear thinking. They are not unlike some beasts of burden that need a sharp whip and other physical pain to finally wake up and move.

The majority of Americans have decided over the past 30 years to believe all the crap the wealthy Oligarchy has fed them, ignore facts and reality, and have willingly believed the Alger Hiss delusion they also would prosper economically by following the most narcissistic, greedy, selfish, corrupt, short-term-driven, and immoral people that ever lived on Earth. 95% of humanity in the U.S. and across most of the globe have given complete control over their lives and basic civil rights, our shared and finite natural resources, our savings, labor and capital, the global environment, and most aspects of government and public policy to the 5% of humanity that are amoral soulless sociopaths and psychopaths without consciences. These people care nothing for the well-being of the rest of humanity. Our sociopathic leaders are aided by many lower-level control-freak fascists, nasty sadists, ideological fundamentalists, and small-time grasping manipulators who are politicians, entertainers, mass media providers, and many extreme religious leaders.

Thus President Obama’s recent statement in favor of Gay Marriage is just a political diversion without any substance or promise of meaningful actions in the future. For the idiotic voters who principally cast their votes on whether a political candidate shares their irrelevant “social” and “religious” preferences, this may be a defining moment in determining how to vote in November. Sadly both U.S. Presidential candidates of the 2 corrupt and worthless major political parties are completely clueless on (1) how to pursue responsible economic and fiscal matters, (2) how to put tens of millions of Americans back to work, (3) how to address the mess that is healthcare, (4) what to stress in national defense and how to protect the constitutional rights of U.S. citizens, (5) how to deal with the global environment plus energy and resource depletion, (6) what should be the nation’s long-term policies, and (7) most every tax and spending issue that exists in 2012. All these issues (and many more) have been part of our inane national debates for the past 10 to 20 years.

Nothing really changes – only the obnoxious, smiling and dishonest faces we elect – who only worry about pleasing their wealthy masters and winning the next election. We’ve heard all the arguments before (fact-based and totally fact-free) and we will continue to debate them until our nation and society have fallen off the awaiting cliff of complete disaster. Our system is beyond reform, redemption or even minor changes. It has become so gridlocked, paralyzed, corrupt and delusional that only the complete collapse of this suffocating Matrix will provide the long-awaited chance for human freedom and enlightenment for the majority of people in the U.S. and on this planet.

I no longer wish to be a manipulated (and replaceable) actor in this depressing piece of global theatre. I’ll now settle for being a dispassionate observer who has stepped out of the Matrix and who will be preparing to work with many smart, well-informed, ethical and creative people to pick up the pieces after we collectively hit bottom. Until that happens within the next 10 to 20 years, you won’t find me going to the polls ever again.

Submitted on 5/14/12 by Marc Pascal from Phoenix, Arizona. (avenir99pm@yahoo.com) An open point for future discussion (provided that the U.S. Federal Government eventually recognizes same-sex marriages) would be to determine whether “marriage” could extend beyond just 2 adults? That question might open another proverbial “can of worms” but it will eventually become necessary yo resolve in light of many historical and current religious, social, economic, financial and environmental considerations. N.B. Dear Ohioan (I lived there for over 30 years) Please understand that I do not support OWS as they don’t know what they want or how to effectuate any changes to the status quo.

When Obama made the decision one year ago to go after Osama bin Laden, he took tremendous risks. If anything had gone wrong, if the daring mission had failed, he could pretty much kiss his re-election chances goodbye. It took courage, and he did the right thing.

When Obama declared on Wednesday that he supports same-sex marriage, he once again made a decision that comes with tremendous political risk. It could very well cost him his re-election. But once again, it took courage and he did the right thing.

Explaining his decision to ABC’s Robin Roberts, the President said:

At a certain point, I’ve just concluded that for me personally it is important for me to go ahead and affirm that I think same-sex couples should be able to get married.

Mr. President, while I applaud you for your courageous and right decision, I have to point out that millions of Americans came to that “certain point” a very long time ago, and — if the polls are right — that a good majority of Americans have now come to that “certain point,” too.

I personally haven’t “just concluded” that gay and lesbian Americans should be treated fairly and equally.

I concluded this a very long time ago when the most loved person in the world to my wife and me, our young son, told us that he was gay.

As our son grew up, I concluded that he deserves all the rights that you and I enjoy, Mr. President.

As our son met another young man and began a relationship, I concluded that he ought to be able to marry his partner when and if he wished to do so.

At a certain point in our history, Americans concluded that slavery was abominable and abolished it.

Similarly, at other points in our history Americans concluded that discrimination based on gender and race were wrong and unconstitutional and ended it.

I know it has taken you a long time to come to this conclusion, Mr. President, partially based of your dealings with friends and members of your staff who are in long-term, committed, same-sex relationships; partially from talking with your beautiful daughters and discovering that “it wouldn’t dawn on them that somehow their friends’ parents would be treated differently;” partially from discussions with the First Lady about values and about treating people equally. But you also mention the Golden Rule and how in being true to those precepts the better you’ll be as a dad and a husband and, hopefully, the better you’ll be as president.

You will be better, Mr. President.

Take it from the father of a gay man — a beautiful, loving, caring human being — whose heart breaks to see his son being “treated differently.”

Take it from the millions of gays and lesbians in America, from their parents, their brothers and sisters, their friends, who have come to this point, to this conclusion, a long time ago.

Mr. President, by speaking out in support of marriage equality you will certainly face a tsunami of vicious attacks from many quarters, you might even lose the election in November.

However, just as history has vindicated, honored, Abraham Lincoln, Woodrow Wilson, Lyndon B. Johnson and other presidents and leaders who faced similar excruciating, sometimes very unpopular decisions but did the right thing, history will look very kindly on the first sitting U.S. President with the courage and the principles to take the right stand on one of the last vestiges of institutionalized hate, prejudice, discrimination and injustice in America.

Charles Blow puts it so well in his “Liberty and Justice for All,” in today’s New York Times:

History will remember this president in this moment. He stood up for personal liberty and publicly affirmed what should have needed no affirmation: that in a just society the rights of some must be the rights of all, that we do not condemn those who love differently, that we are all made greater when we are all treated equally.

Thank you, Mr. President.

The Times:

In an extraordinary intelligence coup, the agent left Yemen, traveling by way of the United Arab Emirates, and delivered both the innovative bomb designed for his aviation attack and critical information on the group’s leaders to the C.I.A., Saudi and other foreign intelligence agencies.

After spending weeks at the center of the terrorist network’s most dangerous affiliate, Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, the agent provided critical information that permitted the C.I.A. to direct the drone strike on Sunday that killed Fahd Mohammed Ahmed al-Quso, the group’s external operations director and a suspect in the bombing of the destroyer Cole in Yemen in 2000.

Read more here.

In the ornate room from which the Czars ruled, Putin today declared his own sense of historical mission as, “I think it is the meaning of my whole life”. His first decrees were that all state-owned companies other than natural resources and defence will be privatised by 2016. And his government will raise Russia’s rank to 20 from 120 in the World Bank index on the ease of doing business.

The decrees were little noticed by the world media but their significance cannot be over emphasised. They open-handedly endorse the push for modernisation and entrepreneurial freedoms of Dmitry Medvedev, the former President who is now Putin’s Prime Minister. Further, they set deadlines for performance despite an all-encompassing scope. They throw down a gauntlet for the Putin-Medvedev tandem since corruption is the main hurdle to ease of doing business. They might also turn into a nepotistic sale of assets, opening a new reign of carpet baggers and oligarchs.

Of course, Russia’s economy will never be as large as China or the US because of an ageing population of just 144 million. Right now, it is a far from easy place because of a murky legal system and thoroughly corrupt business practices. Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index ranks it at 143 out of 183 countries.

The swap of jobs was much criticised in the US and the West as a power grab but the real reasons could turn out to be that only Putin at the helm can transform Russia into a global economic player while modernizing its colossal military.

As President, Medvedev could never have accumulated the raw power required to force politicians and business titans in the Russian republics to obey orders for modernisation directly affecting their wealth and influence. Many are closely linked to the corrupt Russian military, local power brokers and trigger-happy Mafia.

Now Putin will do the arm twisting, black mailing and politicking while Medvedev, the technocrat, will use his Prime Minister’s seat to obtain implementation. Having exercised real power as President, he will also be a uniquely influential and skilful Prime Minister.

Many young people in large cities, especially Moscow, did not live in the Soviet era and are demanding Western style freedoms. For a while, they even raised hopes for a “Russian spring” but they are leaderless and incoherent. Medvedev will co-opt them by bringing in the kinds of economic reforms and jobs they desire while continuing to postpone liberal democracy, like in China.

Coming from Putin, the decrees are not idle first words to be forgotten later. He has not risen to power through the political struggle and exaggerated populism usual in democratic countries. He is a tough man who does not abide dissent. He is also a nationalist who wants to upgrade Russian economic power and ensure his place in history by bringing better lives to the people. But he has fundamental flaws undermining his goals. He does not believe in liberal democracies like in the West and he expects courts to serve his version of the national interest.

Despite wide-spread antipathy for him in the US, Putin does have an impressive record of nation building, including a 400 percent increase in average incomes, a reversal of the social decline that marked the 1990s, and a slowdown in the collapse of birth rates depopulating the country. During the past 12 years under Putin and Medvedev as Presidents, Russia has been a predictable and rational global player. Its economy has had vicissitudes but it has not destabilised others, unlike the nefarious global impacts of the financial implosions in the US and European Union

If it happens, Russian economic success should be welcomed as a global asset because it will boost trade and generate prosperity. But the verdict on the Putin-Medvedev team will depend on their domestic political skills in stamping out corruption and the injustices inflicted routinely on ordinary people. It is not yet clear whether either sees justice and human rights as key components of human development and economic well-being. This short sightedness may become the tandem’s Achilles heel. (Ends)

Tom Janssen, The Netherlands

Socialist Hollande won the Presidency after a hard battle with Nicholas Sarkozy, who was so close to Merkel that journalists lampooned the duo as “Merkozy”. Holland can offer no such velvet hand to Merkel because he was elected on a platform of renegotiating a Europe-wide economic management plan that German officials say is not negotiable in any strand.

He was also elected on a platform of protectionism in foreign trade and early withdrawal of French troops from Afghanistan regardless of President Barack Obama’s intentions. His platform includes less deference to the NATO alliance, which, to US delight, Sarkozy supported whole-heartedly after decades of French coolness. These electoral commitments are sure to draw fire from the White House but Hollande has bound himself so tightly that he cannot water them down any time soon. That would be read as betrayal, especially as the French gave him a clear victory with an estimated 51.8 percent of the vote.

In recent years, Merkel has emerged as the new Iron Lady of Europe because she has succeeding in placing German interests above all others after the 2008 financial collapse in the US and the euro debt crisis in Europe. Both shocks occurred because of imprudent lending by banks, followed by their attempts to disguise greedy recklessness with financial instruments so murky that even experts could not decipher them. Some of the banks were vital to the national and international financial systems and could not be allowed to fail. So they received massive tax payer bailouts combined with ultra-cheap credits from the Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank.

Big German banks were particularly badly hit by their careless over-lending to European governments and to governments of provinces in Europe. The political risks to Merkel of bank collapses in Germany were so great that she fought fiercely to make indebted governments, including Greece, Ireland, Spain, Italy and Portugal, apply ruthless austerity plans. To be fair, she also tried to force most banks to take haircuts but German banks got off lightly.

Sarkozy fought Merkel at first but soon caved in exchange for less German pressure for an austerity plan in France. But he managed to make Merkel bend enough to recognize that the euro must be defended to avoid a collapse in credibility that could cause a run on some of the bigger banks.

Hollande understands the economic imperatives but has risen to power on a promise of more social justice and less austerity. He has pledged to add economic growth plans to the austerity plans to prevent shrinkage in French growth. Minutes after his victory he was being criticized for having mislead voters into believing that austerity plans and economic growth plans are not contradictory.

Even before he arrived at the Bastille in Paris to deliver his victory speech, all parties announced the start of their campaigns for the June Parliamentary elections. The far right National Front of Marine le Pen, which brought Sarkozy down by splitting the right, says it wants to convert future elections into a contest between the left, led by Hollande’s Socialists and the right, led by le Pen.

This is a traditional conservative’s nightmare because the electoral space held by Gaullism and its successors, including Sarkozy’s UMP, will be usurped by the far right. Much depends on what Hollande does in Berlin and the US later this month. Any sign of weakness under pressure from the Merkel and Obama will make Hollande look still more like Flanby, the soft jelly pudding used to describe him during the Presidential campaign. He cannot afford that before the Parliamentary elections.

There has been a flurry of accusations that the Obama administration botched the case of blind Chinese dissident lawyer Chen Guangcheng when he was, for all practical purposes, “handed over” to the Chinese earlier this week without concrete assurances that he would not be prosecuted, persecuted, or worse.

Chen, who has protested China’s laws on forced abortions and sterilizations of women — part of its one-child-per-family policy — had spent a week at the US embassy after escaping from house arrest that lasted more than 18 months. He has been in a Chinese hospital since his departure from the U.S. embassy.

Republicans, including GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney, were at the forefront of the criticism, saying that if reports that Chen had been persuaded by the U.S. to leave the embassy were true, it was “a day of shame for the Obama administration”.

Human rights activists and many Democrats, including this writer, were also disappointed.

Even senior American officials privately acknowledged missteps in the handling of the case.

The New York Times:

The United States failed to guarantee access to Mr. Chen at the hospital, [the officials] said, leaving him isolated and fearful that China would renege on its pledge not to harass him and to allow him to resume his legal studies.

Additionally, the Chen case threatened to impact the delicate, high-level US-China talks taking place in Beijing.

But today, according to the Times, the State Department announced that “China has agreed to accept an application by the dissident lawyer Chen Guangcheng to travel to the United States as a student.” The Times also says that this may point “to a quick resolution of an eight-day diplomatic crisis over human-rights issues that has deeply embarrassed the White House and threatened to further sour relations with Beijing.”

The BBC:

US State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said in a statement that Mr. Chen had been offered a fellowship from an American university – later identified as New York University (NYU).

She said Mr Chen could be accompanied by his wife and children, and that the US expected Beijing to process their application for travel “expeditiously”.

“The United States government would then give visa requests for him and his immediate family priority attention,” the statement added.

But don’t break out the champagne glasses yet.

The “road” between Beijing and New York University could be a long one for Chen and his family. A road that might be littered with the landmines of politics, failed diplomacy, intrigue, mistrust and the plain unpredictability of the Chinese government.

Even Secretary Clinton cautions, “there is more work to do, so we will stay engaged as this moves forward.”

But let’s hope for the best.

Read more here.

Image by www.shutterstock.com

It is now “wheels-up” at Bagram Air Base, Afghanistan, for Air Force One taking the President of the United States home after a secretive, whirlwind trip to the war front to salute the troops, sign an agreement with Afghan President Hamid Karzai on post-war expectations and make an address the nation on the future of that long war.

For those who were not able to watch President Obama’s address to the nation from Afghanistan, below are some excerpts as provided by the White House.

His remarks to the troops can be read here.

Remarks that started with “Hooah! How’s everybody doing tonight? It is good to be back here with all of you,” ended with “God bless you, and God bless the United States of America. Now I want to shake some hands” and were frequently interrupted by “Hooah’s!” and applause from enthusiastic and energized troops.

“Already, nearly half the Afghan people live in places where Afghan Security Forces are moving into the lead. This month, at a NATO Summit in Chicago, our coalition will set a goal for Afghan forces to be in the lead for combat operations across the country next year. International troops will continue to train, advise and assist the Afghans, and fight alongside them when needed. But we will shift into a support role as Afghans step forward.

As we do, our troops will be coming home. Last year, we removed 10,000 U.S. troops from Afghanistan. Another 23,000 will leave by the end of the summer. After that, reductions will continue at a steady pace, with more of our troops coming home. And as our coalition agreed, by the end of 2014 the Afghans will be fully responsible for the security of their country.”

“My fellow Americans, we have traveled through more than a decade under the dark cloud of war. Yet here, in the pre-dawn darkness of Afghanistan, we can see the light of a new day on the horizon. The Iraq War is over. The number of our troops in harm’s way has been cut in half, and more will be coming home soon. We have a clear path to fulfill our mission in Afghanistan, while delivering justice to al Qaeda.

This future is only within reach because of our men and women in uniform. Time and again, they have answered the call to serve in distant and dangerous places. In an age when so many institutions have come up short, these Americans stood tall. They met their responsibilities to one another, and the flag they serve under. I just met with some of them, and told them that as Commander-in-Chief, I could not be prouder. In their faces, we see what is best in ourselves and our country.”…

“As we emerge from a decade of conflict abroad and economic crisis at home, it is time to renew America. An America where our children live free from fear, and have the skills to claim their dreams. A united America of grit and resilience, where sunlight glistens off soaring new towers in downtown Manhattan, and we build our future as one people, as one nation.”

“This time of war began in Afghanistan, and this is where it will end.”

“The surprise trip was a closely guarded secret, kept by White House officials and members of the White House press corps — as is customary with presidential trips to war zones.” — for the security of the President (added by author)

Read here how the rumors and news were handled by the media and the White House.

UPDATE I:

The New York Times now reports:

On Surprise Visit to Kabul, Obama to Sign Partnership Agreement With Karzai

President Obama landed in Kabul, Afghanistan, on a surprise visit, to sign a strategic partnership agreement with Afghanistan meant to mark the beginning of the end of a war that has lasted for more than a decade.

Mr. Obama, arriving after nightfall on Tuesday under a veil of secrecy at Bagram Air Base north of Kabul, flew by helicopter to the presidential palace, where he was to meet President Hamid Karzai before both leaders signed the pact. It is intended to be a road map for two nations lashed together by more of than a decade of war and groping for a new relationship after the departure of American troops, scheduled for the end of 2014.

Mr. Obama was scheduled to address the American people from Afghanistan on Tuesday evening, which would be the middle of the night in Afghanistan. The address – on the one-year anniversary of the American raid that killed Osama bin Laden in neighboring Pakistan – will give Mr. Obama a new opportunity to make an election-year case that he has wound down two inexpensive and now unpopular wars, in Afghanistan and in Iraq.

Read More Here

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First, when one clicked on Memeorandum’s link to the story in the New York Post,”Obama arrives in Afghanistan report says; White House denies it,” this is what one found at The New York Post web site:

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Others reported the possible presidential travel as follows:

Mediaite.com:

On Tuesday morning, early and numerous reports that Presidents Barack Obama had made a surprise visit to Afghanistan were promptly struck down by the White House. But several foreign news outlets are confirming Obama’s trip to the South Asian nation.

The question is: where in the world is President Obama?

The Blaze reports that an official spokesperson in the White House denies Obama is in Afghanistan:

“That report is not accurate and the president is not in Kabul,” National Security Council spokesman Tommy Vietor said in comments made to NewsCore.

The president’s official schedule for Tuesday listed no public events, just meetings with senior advisors and Defense Secretary Leon Panetta in the Oval Office.

[::]

The Blaze notes that it is not out of character for the White House to deny the President is on an unofficial visit to Afghanistan to decrease potential security threats.

“It’s entirely possible that Obama is not in Afghanistan. Or, perhaps he is and security concerns have created a scenario under which government officials are avoiding the truth to ensure his protection.”

And Whitehousedossier, under “Something May be Going On . . .”:

There’s a report in the New York Post quoting something called TOLONews which reported that President Obama is in Afghanistan.

This would make sense as it’s the anniversary of the Bin Laden raid, Obama has no public events on his schedule, and the briefing has been weirdly scheduled for 3:00 pm…”

Well, MSNBC News has just reported that the President is indeed in Afghanistan. He arrived there at 2:39 PM EST and will be meeting with the Afghan president in Kabul.

The President will speak to the American people from Afghanistan this evening.

No doubt the lack of news and perhaps the confusion on the President’s trip was due to security concerns.

Will The Navy SEALs Swift Boat Obama? —  The operators’ resentment is real.  And their criticism could undermine the president’s clearest-cut victory, the slaying of America’s most notorious enemy.  —  President Barack Obama making a statement on the death of Osama bin Laden on May 1, 2011.

Gee. On May 1, a British tabloid smearer leads the pack with lots of intimate quotes from ex-Navy Seals and “highly placed” US Military stooges, “swift-boating” the killing of Osama bin Laden on its anniversary.

Daily Mail [UK]: SEALs slam Obama for using them as ‘ammunition’ in bid to take credit for bin Laden killing during election campaign —  Serving and former US Navy SEALs have slammed President Barack Obama for taking the credit for killing Osama bin Laden and accused him of using Special Forces operators as ‘ammunition’ for his re-election campaign…

Interesting timing, ain’t it?

As Leonard says in Hitchcock’s North by Northwest (screenplay by Ernest Lehman):

North By Northwest

Leonard: Sometimes the truth does taste like a mouthful of worms.
Phillip Vandamm: The truth? I’ve heard nothing but innuendos.
Leonard: Call it my woman’s intuition, if you will. But I’ve never trusted neatness. Neatness is always the result of deliberate planning.

And, with North Carolina a battle ground state — so important that the Democratic National Convention will be held there —  an “Anti-Gay Marriage” constitutional amendment appears as a ballot question:

[Bush Campaign Chief and Former RNC Chair Ken Mehlman] was aware that Karl Rove, President Bush’s chief strategic adviser, had been working with Republicans to make sure that anti-gay initiatives and referenda would appear on November ballots in 2004 and 2006 to help Republicans.

Interesting timing, don’t cha think?

Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me.

Hey Karl!

Karl plays hide & seek

Rove is sitting on hundreds of millions of dollars (much from anonymous donors) to retake the White House, the Senate and hold the House of Representatives. The Washington Post, April 13 2012 “Mystery donor gives $10 million to Crossroads GPS group to run anti-Obama ads”:

Crossroads GPS and its sister group, American Crossroads, hope to spend up to $300 million in the 2012 election cycle, promoting conservative ideas and helping elect Republicans up and down the ballot.

The two groups, which are run by the same Republican operatives and can both collect donations of any size, have become one of the biggest forces attacking Obama and other Democrats. They already have spent more than $11 million on ads against Obama,

And, like any reptile, he’s a creature of habit.

Cute animated advertising mascot

Oh, and the stupid “Obama is a celebrity” attack meme is back. (Like it worked the first time.)

So am I the only one out here to whom this vile electoral crap looks suspiciously familiar?

Thought so.

Courage.

=============

A writer, published author, novelist, literary critic and political observer for a quarter of a quarter-century more than a quarter-century, Hart Williams has lived in the American West for his entire life. Having grown up in Wyoming, Kansas and New Mexico, a survivor of Texas and a veteran of Hollywood, Mr. Williams currently lives in Oregon, along with an astonishing amount of pollen. He has a lively blog His Vorpal Sword. This is cross-posted from his blog

In an extraordinarily damning report released today, a select Parliamentary committee concludes that Murdoch is “not a fit person” to run his huge international media empire.

The report followed a months’ long investigation into the phone hacking scandal at Murdoch’s British newspapers and said he had exhibited “a willful blindness” to wrongdoing at his New York-based News Corporation, a global conglomerate of newspapers, magazines, Fox News and other broadcast outlets.

While the consequences of the Parliamentary panel’s findings were not immediately clear, it is unimaginable that a U.S. congressional committee would issue such a report, let alone investigate the unscrupulous and possibly criminal activities of the deeply conservative media baron. In fact, requests by Senator Jay Rockefeller, the West Virginia Democrat, for the FBI to investigate whether News Corporation engaged in similar tactics in the U.S. have gone nowhere.

The cross-party Parliamentary committee, which approved the report by a majority of six to four, scolded News Corporation for misleading Parliament and trying to cover up the hacking. It said that there had been huge failures in corporate governance which also raised questions about the competence of his son, James.

“News International and its parent News Corporation exhibited willful blindness, for which the companies’ directors — including Rupert Murdoch and James Murdoch — should ultimately take responsibility,” it said. “Their instinct throughout, until it was too late, was to cover up rather than seek out wrongdoing and discipline the perpetrators.”

“Even if there were a ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ culture at News International, the whole affair demonstrates huge failings of corporate governance at the company and its parent, News Corporation,” the 85-page report concluded.

The impact of the report was blunted by divisions within the panel itself. The committee said it had been split on party lines in the assessment of Murdoch, with the dominant Conservatives opposing the criticism while the Liberal Democrats, the junior coalition partner in Prime Minister David Cameron’s government, and the Labour opposition supporting it.

Murdoch, 81, and son James, 39, had long asserted and claimed last week in testimony before a separate judicial inquiry that the hacking was the result of a single rogue reporter and that they had no direct knowledge of its extent. This included the hacking in 2002 of a mobile phone belonging to Milly Dowler, an abducted and subsequently murdered teenager.

In a statement from its New York headquarters, News Corporation said it was “carefully reviewing the select committee’s report and will respond shortly.” It also said the company “fully acknowledges significant wrongdoing at News of the World”– the now-shuttered Sunday tabloid at the heart of the scandal — “and apologizes to everyone whose privacy was invaded.”

British police are conducting three separate investigations into phone hacking, e-mail hacking and bribery of police officers. More than 40 people have been arrested and questioned — though not charged — including senior editors and executives at the News International subsidiary.

The report also could embarrass Cameron, who has acknowledged that Britain’s political elite has been dazzled and charmed by the Murdoch’s media clout for years. The scandal also has threatened Jeremy Hunt, Cameron’s culture minister, who was in charge of overseeing a $12 billion BSkyB takeover bid by News Corporation that collapsed as the hacking scandal grew. As culture minister, Hunt had the power to waive regulatory scrutiny that could have doomed the takeover.

The elder Murdoch is filthy rich and has amassed enormous political power in Britain, the U.S. and Australia that would have made even Citizen Kane blush, but he has never attained and never will attain the one thing he has most wanted — respect.

What kind of person is Dania Londoño Suare, the woman at the center of one of the biggest scandals to hit the U.S. Secret Service since its inception under President Lincoln in 1865? Reporter Jerly Calvo Licero of Colombia’s El Espectador interviewed neighbors, the cab driver that drove her home after she was reportedly stiffed by her Secret Service client, and even a man who painted her apartment.

For El Espectador, Jerly Calvo Licero starts off this way:

Cartagena: Few people know Dania Londoño. Some say she is reserved and meticulous – and that she is now in Caracas.

The last time Dania Londoño Suarez walked the quiet streets of Cielo Mar in Cartagena, it was with Valentino, a white French poodle, a playful and friendly dog she took for a walk every afternoon. She was careful with money and was polite – just a good morning or good afternoon. At 24, she said little in the neighborhood she lived.

She is medium height, bronze skin and straight hair. “Beautiful, simply beautiful,” recall those who saw her at bars in the walled city of Cartagena.

Dania no longer resides in Cielo Mar, a neighborhood of three square acres near the beach and the Rafael Nuñez Airport, which now attracts an endless stream of TV crews and photographers. She has either left or fled. She got lost, along with Valentino and her son of nine-years-old Mateo, with whom she lived. She said nothing and no one saw her leave.

READ ON IN ENGLISH OR SPANISH AT WORLDMEETS.US, your most trusted translator and aggregator of foreign news and views about our nation.

While Rick Santorum still refuses to officially endorse Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich has finally done the right thing — in addition to suspending his foolhardy campaign.

Mr. Gingrich plans to officially endorse Mr. Romney’s candidacy after suspending his own efforts next week.

Newt Gingrich called Mitt Romney today (Wednesday) and told him that he would suspend his presidential campaign next week and begin working to turn out conservative voters for Mr. Romney and Republican candidates in the fall election, according to Gingrich’s spokesman, R.C. Hammond.

Hammond said, according to the New York Times that Mr. Romney was “cordial and respectful” during the call and that Mr. Gingrich said he was “committed to helping him in the fall.”

Read more here.

===

My post on Romney’s clean five-state sweep last night was getting a little cluttered with updates and with news about Gingrich’s “will he stay or will he go?” changing positions that this news deserves a post of its own.

Yes, Newt Gingrich, the unstoppable, lovable Cheshire cat, has finally, begrudgingly realized that he is out of his depth, out of fresh sand in his sand box, out of money — his campaign has more than $4.3 million in debt — out of “reassessments,” out of steam, out of “establishment” support and patience and out of options.

CNN has just reported that

Newt Gingrich will officially end his bid for the Republican presidential nomination and formally express his support for Mitt Romney next week, two sources close to Gingrich tell CNN.

While details are still being worked out, Gingrich is likely to hold his final campaign event Tuesday in Washington, DC where he will make the announcement surrounded by his family and supporters.

But will he still carry the Conservative banner to Tampa?

A final, final update for tonight — and it has to be on the “unstoppable” Newt Gingrich.

AJC.com reports:

Newt Gingrich said he was rethinking his bid for the presidency after another series of disappointing primary showings Tuesday night, but he stopped short of dropping out.

Gingrich, the former U.S. House Speaker from Georgia, maintained that he was committed to bringing conservative ideas to the Republican convention in Tampa. Whether he does so as a presidential candidate remains to be seen.

“Over the next few days we’re going to look realistically at where we’re at,” Gingrich said in remarks unusually frank for a rally setting. He said he is excited to continue campaigning, “But I also want to do that as somebody who’s a unifier and somebody who’s realistic.”

“Unifier”? Realistic”? When did those words sneak into Newt’s vocabulary?

==
A final update for the night:

The Associated Press reports that one candidate has now collected the 2,778 delegates he needs to become his party’s presidential nominee — it is not Romney. It is Obama.

UPDATES:

Add Pennsylvania to the list.

…and with 3 percent of the vote in New York in, Romney has 55 percent, Gingrich 18 percent, Ron Paul 16 percent and Santorum (?) 12 percent. Yours truly goes out on a limb and predicts that Mitt Romney will have a “full house” tonight.

…and Fox has just confirmed yours truly’s phenomenal prediction: Romney wins New York, too.
==

Original post:

The Associated Press had just declared Romney the winner in primaries in Connecticut, Rhode Island and Delaware, three of the five states voting on Tuesday. Races had yet to be called in Pennsylvania, as well as in New York, where polls close at 9 p.m.

Gingrich had indicated that if he did not win in Delaware, he could drop out of the race.

More recent reports, however, claim that “Gingrich won’t drop out Tuesday, no matter what happens in Delaware.”

Read more about Romney’s predicted victories and about the address he’s expected to deliver in New Hampshire this evening here.

UPDATE II:

It is not clear from subsequent reports on the Blackhawk helicopter crash last Thursday in Helmand province, Afghanistan, whether the four crew members killed were medics or crew in a helicopter flying along a medevac helicopter on a mission to pick up Afghan policemen wounded in a bombing.

Regardless, the helicopter was a “fallen angel” in aviation parlance and the four crewmembers were all heroes.

The boots, rifles and flight helmets in the photo above represent Chief Warrant Officer 2 Nicholas Johnson, 27, San Diego; Spc. Dean Shaffer, 23, Pekin, Ill.; Chief Warrant Officer 2 Don Viray, 25, Waipahu, Hawaii; and Spc. Chris Workman, 33, Boise, Idaho.

The soldiers were with 2nd Battalion, 25th Aviation Regiment, Task Force Hammerhead out of Hawaii, flying for the 25th Combat Aviation Brigade in Afghanistan.

They were mourned and remembered at Kandahar Airfield, Afghanistan yesterday.

(Please go here to view a series of touching images of the ceremony and to get a glimpse of who these heroes were)

Today, the Stars and Stripes reported that the Black Hawk helicopter “was likely shot down by insurgents, according to sources with knowledge of the crash.”

Read more here.

Image: Courtesy Stars and Stripes

UPDATE I:

The Defense Department confirms that four International Security Assistance Force members killed in a helicopter crash in southern Afghanistan yesterday were Americans.

According to the Stars and Stripes:

The UH-60L Blackhawk went down in Garmsir district around 9:40 p.m. while on a mission to pick up the wounded Afghans. The New York Times reported that four Afghan police officers had been killed and seven others wounded in a suicide attack at a police checkpoint, and that the American helicopter was flying to the scene to take the wounded to a nearby hospital.

However, Pentagon spokesman Navy Capt. John Kirby, who returned this week from approximately two months’ duty in Afghanistan, said no information is yet available on the mission the helicopter crew was performing. “We still believe that weather was the principal cause [of the accident],” Kirby said.

Original Post:

The New York Times didn’t mention the fact in today’s edition of the paper. Neither did the Wall Street Journal. Nor did the Los Angeles Times, though it did have a short piece about German environmentalists and nuclear power in their coutry.

Come Earth Day itself, of course, some notice of the natural environment will be on view. Doubtless the Obama Administration will use the day to strike out against Republicans’ non-existent environment protecting policies. Perhaps Mr. Obama and/or Vice-President Biden will even put on a flannel shirt a la Bill Clinton and Al Gore, and do a photo opportunity in a national park.

In fairness, it must be pointed out that some specific efforts to protect the environment have, in fact, been taken by Mr. Obama and Company. As a major priority pursued aggressively, however, it seems to rank on the level of raising more campaign funds from Wall Street. Indeed, it might be ranked exactly at that level, because an emissions trading scheme that Wall Street firms love because they would be doing the emission trading deals has been this Administration’s most energetic environmental initiative.

Other things hardly worth looking forward to this coming Earth day include media coverage of school children picking up trash at local parks. Alternative energy companies will also probably sponsor fairs and kindred events that only demonstrate that this country is falling woefully behind nations like Germany and even China in effectively promoting natural, non-polluting, ever renewable energy resources.

If you’re old enough you might remember the first Earth Day in 1970, when tens of millions of Americans marched for more stringent laws to protect the environment — and national leaders hastened to respond. You might also remember that in 2000, the largest-ever gathering of world leaders in Rio de Janeiro collectively promised to make the natural environment and its protection their number one priority.

That was then. Today, more contemporary priorities are what the media chooses to highlight. Like how much the two likely presidential contenders are raising from PACs for the coming election.

And there the focus will doubtless remain. Unless a dreadful environmental disaster forces even the likes of Fox News to pay attention to the reality that we are part of the natural order.

On behalf of humanity, I hereby apologize effusively to Mother Earth. And beg Her not to respond to our selfish and utterly foolish provocations in ways we so richly deserve.

As of Tuesday, April 17, 2012, at least 1,810 members of the U.S. military have died in Afghanistan as a result of the U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan in late 2001, according to an Associated Press count, and 15,672 U.S. service members have been wounded in hostile action, since the start of U.S. military operations in that country, according to the Defense Department.

Since Osama bin Laden was killed — ostensibly the reason we went into Afghanistan — approximately 380 American troops have been killed in Afghanistan.

As if this wasn’t a high enough price paid by America and Americans, on Tuesday, Afghan President Hamid Karzai was haggling over the price for America to continue to help defend his country, his government.

While the United States “already pays the vast majority of the budget to train, equip and run the Afghan security forces and expects to do so for years to come to compensate for Afghanistan’s moribund economy” and while U.S. officials have said they expect to pay about $4 billion a year to fund the Afghan forces, Karzai wants the U.S. to commit to pay at least $2 billion a year for his forces.

The Stars and Stripes:

“They are providing us money, there is no doubt about that. But they say they will not mention the amount in the agreement. We say: Give us less, but mention it in the agreement. Give us less, but write it down,” Karzai said in a speech in the capital marking the anniversary of the birth of a revered Afghan writer.

[::]

American administrations request money for specific countries in the foreign aid budget and work with Congress to determine amounts. A guaranteed sum would be highly unusual, especially with the current Democratic administration and a Republican-controlled U.S. House.

At a time when the U.S. is facing budget cuts in domestic programs and a sluggish economy, members of Congress have increasingly questioned the wisdom of spending billions of dollars in both Afghanistan and Iraq. Attacks by Afghan troops against the American forces who are supposed to be training them has also raised doubts about whether the money is worthwhile.

Mr. Karzai, with all due respect, our government at the moment can’t even decide how much money will be spent on our own people, on our own needs, on our own security.

Please be patient — and appreciative.

Read more here.

The New York Times, my favorite newspaper, has won two 2012 Pulitzer Prizes, one for its reporting on Africa (INTERNATIONAL REPORTING: Jeffrey Gettleman) and another for an investigative series on obscure tax code provisions that allow wealthy corporations and citizens to avoid paying taxes, (EXPLANATORY REPORTING: David Kocieniewski).

I was also pleased that The Huffington Post — an online news outlet I contribute to — and Politico won their first Pulitzer Prizes, for National Reporting and Editorial Cartooning, respectively — “a sign of the changing media landscape.”

The Times:

The prizes, celebrating achievement in newspaper and online journalism, literature, nonfiction and musical composition, were announced at Columbia University in New York. Given annually since 1917, they are awarded in 21 categories.

Here are some of this year’s other winners. For a complete list, click here.

JOURNALISM

PUBLIC SERVICE: The Philadelphia Inquirer

BREAKING NEWS REPORTING: The Tuscaloosa (Ala.) News Staff

INVESTIGATIVE REPORTING: Matt Apuzzo, Adam Goldman, Eileen Sullivan and Chris Hawley of The Associated Press and Michael J. Berens and Ken Armstrong of The Seattle Times

FEATURE WRITING: Eli Sanders of The Stranger, a Seattle weekly

COMMENTARY: Mary Schmich of The Chicago Tribune

LETTERS AND DRAMA

DRAMA: “Water by the Spoonful” by Quiara Alegría Hudes

HISTORY: “Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention” by Manning Marable, awarded posthumously (Viking)

BIOGRAPHY: “George F. Kennan: An American Life” by John Lewis Gaddis (The Penguin Press)

POETRY: “Life on Mars” by Tracy K. Smith (Graywolf Press)

GENERAL NONFICTION: “The Swerve: How the World Became Modern” by Stephen Greenblatt (W. W. Norton and Company)

Image: Daniel M. Silva / Shutterstock.com