A look at a few passings of note this week, after the jump …..
But first: Top Comments appears nightly, as a round-up of the best comments on Daily Kos. Surely ... you come across comments daily that are perceptive, apropos and .. well, perhaps even humorous. But they are more meaningful if they're well-known ... which is where you come in (especially in diaries/stories receiving little attention).------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Send your nominations to TopComments at gmail dot com by 9:30 PM Eastern Time nightly, or by our KosMail message board. Please indicate (a) why you liked the comment, and (b) your Dkos user name (to properly credit you) as well as a link to the comment itself.
As my T/C colleague Tara the Antisocial Social Worker put it last night: I am also trying to find a counter-programming idea for tonight, just as to have something to discuss otherwise. And so here are a few obituaries from this past week (some of which may/may not have gained notoriety) — excluding those (such as Terrence McNally) who have perished from the coronavirus — in a Hail & Farewell salute.
Bobbie Battista was one of the original CNN television anchors, having worked-up from station WRAL in North Carolina. She worked on several shows for twenty years, leaving after the merger of CNN's parent company (Time Warner) with America Online in 2001 and in recent years has been a guest lecturer at universities, organizations and conventions worldwide. She died of cervical cancer at the age of sixty-seven.
Richard Reeves was one of the most prominent mainstream liberal writers in the 20th Century. A former chief political correspondent at The New York Times, Reeves also served as an editor and columnist for New York Magazine and Esquire, wrote nine political books and was a lecturer at the Annenberg School at USC. In 1993, he appeared in the film Dave, one of several journalists who played themselves in the film. He died from cardiac arrest after battling cancer at the age of eighty-three.
Eric Weissberg was a veteran banjo player, performing with numerous folk, rock and bluegrass performers over the course of a nearly sixty-year career: these include Judy Collins, Billy Joel, Bob Dylan,Talking Heads, Jim Croce, and Richard Thompson. Yet he is best known for his cover version (as a duet with guitarist Steve Mandell) of the Arthur “Guitar Boogie” Smith instrumental Dueling Banjos— reaching #2 on Billboard’s Hot 100 in early 1973. He died at the age of eighty after a five-year struggle with dementia.
Ray Mantilla was a veteran Latin jazz percussionist —believed to be one of the three most recorded conga players in the history of jazz (along with Ray Barretto and Cándido Camero). In 1977, Mantilla also made political history: as part of a group of musicians led by Dizzy Gillespie who became the first to perform in Cuba since the travel embargo of 1962. He performed with many noted jazz musicians (including Max Roach, Charles Mingus and Art Blakey) with his major break coming when he performed on some of the flutist Herbie Mann’s records at the dawn of the 1960’s (which were popular with young people not necessarily drawn to jazz). He died due to complications of lymphoma at the age of eighty-five.
And just today: the death of a true showman, Fred “Curly” Neal— the bald-headed star of the Harlem Globetrotters, who appeared in more than 6,000 “games” in 97 different countries (from 1963-1985), who has died at the age of seventy-seven (of undetermined causes). He was a dribbling wizard, believes that the Globetrotters were instrumental in introducing many people to the sport of basketball and ...
"The Harlem Globetrotters have been –— and will continue to be — at the forefront of breaking down racial barriers in this country. Even if we once weren't welcomed in restaurants and hotels, we have always been welcomed on the court, in front of people who wanted to have a good time."
Now, on to Top Comments:
From Northern Pol:
In the diary by vacantlook about the advertisement that the Trumpster campaign issued a cease-and-desist letter over … since it consisted of actual quotes …. Major Kong offers a clarification for us about his supporters.
From belinda ridgewood:
In this morning’s COVID-19 discussion hosted by Mark Sumner— in which he offered video remarks and then live Q&A in the thread — there were many good comments of all kinds, but Mark himself made a really excellent one, a trenchant observation about the current U.S. view of hands-on work. And elfling had a great followup to it.
Highlighted by Eyesbright:
(In the front-page story about the Trumpster’s trade guru being brought-up-short — by an annoyed CNN host — over his insistence on blaming everything about the pandemic to all except the Administration) — this comment by amoverton.
And from Ed Tracey, your faithful correspondent this evening ........
In the front-page story about the relative success that Gov. Andy Beshear (D-KY) is having combatting the virus — especially compared to neighboring Tennessee and despite GOP attempts to throttle his every move — Bluegrass State resident wesmorgan1 first has a cute visual about the governor’s future…. then follows-up with a salute to the Republican attorney general, who is fighting-the-good-fight in a slightly different way.
TOP PHOTOSMarch 25th, 2020 Next - enjoy jotter's wonderful *PictureQuilt™* below. Just click on the picture and it will magically take you to the comment that features that photo. (NOTE: Any missing images in the Quilt were removed because (a) they were from an unapproved source that somehow snuck through in the comments, or (b) it was an image from the DailyKos Image Library which didn't have permissions set to allow others to use it.) |
And lastly: yesterday's Top Mojo - mega-mojo to the intrepid mik ...... who rescued this feature from oblivion:
5) One punch, walk-off KO. by MBishop1 +16614) One week ago … by Besame +13417) Zerlina Maxwell by Denise Oliver Velez +13017) Even hell wouldn't want him. by Mirelle +13026) [image] by Mollytraveler +11730) Biden by Denise Oliver Velez +102