Month: April 2025

Articles and video on New Haven pizza

There are several famous pizza restaurants in New Haven. CT. This Washington Post article on Pepe’s reminded me of the film Pizza: A Love Story which is about several New Haven pizza places. I supported it on Kickstarter.

At Frank Pepe’s, a century of coal, clams and thin-crust pizza

The people have spoken. Congrats to Modern Apizza in New Haven for winning the Connecticut Pizza Capital Trail Contest!I'm so grateful to the State of Connecticut who organized this contest to showcase the amazing pizza Connecticut’s has! More here: bit.ly/4m6KxN4

— Rosa DeLauro (@delauro.house.gov) 2025-05-04T18:04:22.522Z

Life Expectancy is low in the US

Fifty years ago, life expectancy in the U.S. and wealthy European countries was relatively similar.That began to change around 1980. As European life expectancy steadily increased, the U.S. struggled to keep pace — and its life expectancy even began declining in 2014.

— NBC News (@nbcnews.com) 2025-04-03T23:15:05Z

'Richest Americans have lower life expectancy than EuropeansThe wealthiest Americans had a lower life expectancy than the wealthiest Europeans, and did not exceed that of the poorest in some European countries such as Germany, France, and the Netherlands.'english.elpais.com/science-tech…

— Willem van Schaik (@wvschaik.bsky.social) 2025-04-05T12:15:16.094Z

Who cares about life expectancy?! Healthy life expectancy is what matters. Roughly speaking in richer countries you are healthy for longer. Costa Rica punches above its weight while the US ranks as a pathetic 71st. Great chart by @rubenbmathisen.

— Simon Kuestenmacher (@simongerman600.bsky.social) 2025-04-05T22:27:01.460Z

Why Life Expectancy Is Lower in the American South: The Legacy of Slavery and Inequality

In this video, we explore how America's South, shaped by slavery, fundamentalist religion.

— The Intellectualist (@theintellectualist.bsky.social) 2025-04-05T17:00:00.697Z

The average life expectancy in the U.S. has increased by 10 years since 1960 due to vaccines, and better disease prevention, diagnosis, and management. This increased lifespan would quite obviously carry with it a higher rate of chronic disease diagnosis.But RFK Jr. thinks it’s seed oils.

— Elizabeth Jacobs, PhD (@elizabethjacobs.bsky.social) 2025-04-25T18:34:47.327Z

Vance lies about Social Security fraud

Vance is lying (again). Social Security has repeatedly debunked this. The actual claim is that 40 percent of direct deposit fraud occurred via calls to the agency. That is wholly different, and massively less, than 40 percent of calls being fraudulent.www.nytimes.com/2025/04/01/u…

— Don Moynihan (@donmoyn.bsky.social) 2025-04-03T13:51:02.991Z

Vance’s whopper on alleged Social Security fraud

Florida Republicans want to undermine the voter-approved minimum wage

They just can’t accept that they lost and the majority disagrees with them.

60% of Florida voters approved a $15 minimum wage initiative in 2020 — a bigger vote share than Trump ever got in the state. But the state GOP is now trying to gut the law by carving out exceptions for major categories of workers. "Party of the working class".

— Robert Reich (@rbreich.bsky.social) 2025-04-06T19:00:06.566473Z

Want to make less money? Florida GOP undermines voters with minimum wage scheme. | Opinion Source: USA TODAYshare.newsbreak.com/ccno7za3

— SherryRN @pissedoffnurse (@sherryll.bsky.social) 2025-03-30T12:22:18.418Z

🚨NEWS: After a supermajority of Florida voters passed a minimum wage ballot measure, Republican lawmakers are now trying to gut the measure in an attempt to let employers underpay subminimum-wage workers — including children. www.levernews.com/florida-repu…

— The Lever (@levernews.com) 2025-04-04T17:52:33.011Z

New from me: Florida drove immigrant workers away with hostile laws, we face worker shortages that are getting worse and pushing up prices, and therefore the legislature wants to gut child labor laws to put minors to work while also pushing a law allowing workers to be paid below the minimum wage.

— Thomas Kennedy (@tomaskenn.bsky.social) 2025-04-02T17:45:52.752Z

My thoughts on Hollywood films about Hollywood

I recently watched two films directed by Vincente Minnelli and starring Kirk Douglas which were about filmmaking. They’re both on Warner Archive Blu-rays.

The first, The Bad and the Beautiful (1952) stars Douglas as a producer who screws over a writer, director and actor. Most of the film takes place in flashbacks. The great Gloria Grahame won an Oscar for a role in which she only had nine minutes of screen time. There’s lots of speculation on who the main characters are based on. It’s an entertaining gossipy film about the sleazy side of Hollywood and is well worth seeing.

Two Weeksi in Another Town (1962) isn’t a sequel. This time, Douglas plays an actor who is down on his luck and gets a role in a film shot in Rome. Hollywood’s underbelly is on display again but this one isn’t quite as good. One cool reference to the earlier film is when they show a clip of it; they show Douglas’s character in this one as an actor in the first one.

Some other Hollywood films about filmmaking that I like (and I’ll probably add to this)

Ed Wood (1994) is Tim Burton’s excellent film about the director of some of the worst films ever. It smartly is shot in black and white and focuses on three of his films. What makes it work is that Wood doesn’t realize he is terrible; he actually thinks he’s good.

Boogie Nights (1997) is Paul Thomas Anderson’s ensemble film about the porno film industry.

Singin’ in the Rain (1952) is a musical about the transition from silent films to sound films. One of the best musical films ever.

What Price Hollywood? (1932) directed by George Cukor follows the rise of a waitress to stardom

Bombshell (1933) directed by Victor Fleming is a comedy about a movie star played by Jean Harlow

The Last Command (1928) a silent film directed by Josef von Sternberg about a former Russian leader reduced to a movie extra.

Trump adminstration’s racist rewrite of the history of the Underground Railroad

Anybody still doubt that Trump is a bigot?

An image of and quote from Harriet Tubman have been removed from a National Parks webpage about the “Underground Railroad,” following several prominent changes to government websites under the Trump administration.

— CNN (@cnn.com) 2025-04-06T22:09:11.255Z

Since President Donald Trump took office, the Park Service, an agency charged with preserving American history, has changed how its website describes key moments from slavery to Jim Crow.

— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost.com) 2025-04-06T16:09:23.554Z
Trump Targets a Slavery Removal from the National Museum of African-American History and Culture

The latest on North Carolina’s Republicans efforts to steal an election

Disgraceful

A three-judge panel of the North Carolina Court of Appeals rules that more than 65,000 votes cast in the contested race for the state Supreme Court in 2024 must be recounted and verified — a win for the Republican candidate in the razor-thin, disputed contest.

— NBC News (@nbcnews.com) 2025-04-04T19:15:06Z

A three-judge panel of the North Carolina Court of Appeals rules that more than 65,000 votes cast in the contested race for the state Supreme Court in 2024 must be recounted and verified — a win for the Republican candidate in the razor-thin, disputed contest.

— NBC News (@nbcnews.com) 2025-04-04T19:15:06Z