By , ,
Published May 21, 2015
Now some fresh pickings from the Political Grapevine:
A sharply critical profile of New York Times chairman and publisher Arthur Sulzberger, Jr. speculates whether journalistic incidents such as the Jayson Blair case and the Valerie Plame leak investigation will lead to The Times' downfall.
New Yorker magazine writer Ken Auletta questions whether Sulzberger has what it takes to run the Gray Lady and ridicules everything from his humor to his manners. But in the eyes of openly-gay veteran journalist Charles Kaiser, who is quoted in the piece, Sulzberger is a trail blazer in one sense transforming The Times newsroom from what Kaiser calls the most homophobic institution in America to the most gay-friendly.
On the Bright Side
Despite looming concerns over security, the majority of Iraqis are optimistic about the future, according to a new survey released today by the BBC. Seventy-one percent of the Iraqis surveyed say their lives are very good, and sixty-four percent believe their lives will improve in the next year. And while 53 percent say the overall situation in Iraq is bad, 69 percent of the people interviewed expect things to improve.
And although establishing democracy is important to Iraqis in the long run, there is a sense of urgency to have a single, strong leader after Thursday's elections. Improving security topped the list of post-election priorities, which also included the removal of U.S.-led forces from Iraq.
Abortion Capital
New York state is increasingly becoming the abortion capital of America according to data collected over the past five years. New York Magazine reports that thirty-five years after passing the first laws allowing abortion, the state has the highest abortion rate in the country. In fact, one in every ten abortions in the U.S. is performed in New York. On average for every thousand women in the state, thirty-nine have terminated pregnancies.
New York City accounts for seventy percent of the state's abortions and in some parts of the city, the ratio of abortions to births is one to one. And research shows that doctors in New York City perform more abortions on minors, more repeat abortions, and more late term abortions than anywhere else in the country.
Bogus Bio
A false entry linking former JFK aide, John Seigenthaler to the 35th president's assassination and that of his brother has finally been removed from the Wikipedia Web site. A Nashville man, Brian Chase has apologized for posting the false information about Seignethaler, a prominent Tennessee newspaperman who was also a Kennedy adviser.
The information was inserted into Seigenthaler's biography on Wikipedia, which calls itself an online encyclopedia, but is in fact an open site in which anyone can enter false information anonymously and factual errors abound. Chase said he was unaware the site was taken seriously when he posted the bogus information as a joke last May. Seigenthaler didn't find out about it until recently and it was not removed until Seigenthaler complained in an article in USA Today.
— FOX News' Aaron Bruns contributed to this report
https://www.foxnews.com/story/gray-skies-ahead