Representatives of this year’s winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, Nihon Hidankyo, a grassroots movement of Japanese atomic bombing survivors! Photo courtesy of the Associated Press.

Dear Commons Community,

Terumi Tanaka, a 92-year-old Japanese man who lived through the American atomic bombing of Nagasaki described on Tuesday the agony he witnessed in 1945, including the charred corpses of his loved ones and the ruins of his city, as he accepted this year’s Nobel Peace Prize on behalf of Nihon Hidankyo, a grassroots movement of Japanese atomic bombing survivors who have worked for nearly 70 years to maintain a taboo around the use of nuclear weapons. The weapons have grown exponentially in power and number since being used for the first and only time in warfare by the United States on Nagasaki and Hiroshima in 1945.

The bombings pushed Japan to surrender to the Allies. They killed some 210,000 people by the end of 1945, but the full death toll from radiation is certainly higher.

As the survivors reach the twilight of their lives, they are grappling with the fear that the taboo against using the weapons appears to be weakening. It was a concern expressed by the 92-year-old-survivor, Terumi Tanaka, who delivered the acceptance lecture in Oslo’s City Hall to an audience that included Norway’s royal family.

“The nuclear superpower Russia threatens to use nuclear weapons in its war against Ukraine, and a cabinet member of Israel, in the midst of its unrelenting attacks on Gaza in Palestine, even spoke of the possible use of nuclear arms,” Tanaka said. “I am infinitely saddened and angered that the nuclear taboo threatens to be broken.”

That concern drove the Norwegian Nobel Committee to award this year’s prize to the Japanese organization, though it had honored other nuclear non-proliferation work in the past.

Jørgen Watne Frydnes, the chair of the committee, said in introducing the laureates that it was important to learn from their testimony as the nuclear dangers grow.

“None of the nine countries that possess nuclear weapons — the United States, Russia, China, France, the United Kingdom, India, Pakistan, Israel and North Korea — appear interested in nuclear disarmament and arms control at present,” he said. “On the contrary, they are modernizing and building up their nuclear arsenals.”

He said the Norwegian Nobel Committee was calling upon the five nuclear weapon states that have signed the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons — the U.S., Russia, China, France and the U.K. — to take seriously their obligations under the treaty, and said others must ratify it.

“It is naive to believe our civilization can survive a world order in which global security depends on nuclear weapons,” Frydnes said. “The world is not meant to be a prison in which we await collective annihilation.”

In his speech, Tanaka described the attack on Nagasaki on Aug. 9, 1945, three days after the first bomb was dropped on Hiroshima.

He recalled the buzzing sound of a bomber jet followed by a “bright, white light,” and then an intense shock wave. Three days later, he and his mother sought out loved ones who lived near the epicenter.

“Many people who were badly injured or burned, but still alive, were left unattended, with no help whatsoever. I became almost devoid of emotion, somehow closing off my sense of humanity, and simply headed intently for my destination,” he said.

He found the charred body of an aunt, the body of her grandson, his grandfather on the brink of death with severe burns and another aunt who had been severely burned and died just before he arrived. In all, five family members were killed.

He described the efforts of survivors to use their experiences to try to abolish nuclear weapons for the sake of humanity, and to try to receive compensation from the Japanese state, which started the war, for their suffering.

“I hope that the belief that nuclear weapons cannot — and must not — coexist with humanity will take firm hold among citizens of the nuclear weapon states and their allies, and that this will become a force for change in the nuclear policies of their governments,” he said.

Amen!

Tony

Dear Commons Community,

Last week I was invited to give a talk on the history of CUNY at The College of Staten Island. During the question and answer period at the end of the session, I was asked about the future. I speculated on several  issues but my most critical comment referred to the looming decline in the traditional student population particularly in states in the Northeast such as New York.

The latest data in the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education’s 11th edition of the “Knocking at the College Door” report, released yesterday, supports my comments and affirms consistent projections that the country is about to see a peak in high school graduates—between 3.8 million and 3.9 million—but will see a downward slope in the years to come, dropping below 3.4 million in 2041.

The impact will be felt in 38 states, but with some states affected more than others. Eight states will see a decline of 20 percent in the typical graduation class size over the next 15 years. Only the South, including Washington, D.C., will see net increases, according to the report.  New York will see a decline of 27 percent.

The decline is based largely on population trends, but influenced by a sizeable number of students who may have left K-12 schools altogether, and a nationwide graduation rate plateau, researchers say. And the pandemic’s lingering effects on the number of students who are prepared to graduate from high school are already being felt—and could worsen the decline.

“When we look around our region and more broadly around the country, we see workforce shortages in virtually any important employment sector that you can think of—from health care, teaching, nursing, engineering to things that may not be as high on people’s radar, things like diesel technicians,” Patrick Lane, the vice president for policy analysis and research for WICHE, a nonprofit that aims to expand access to higher education, said in a press call. “But if these declining high school graduate numbers translate into even more downward pressure on enrollments, it’ll be hard to meet some of these workforce demands.”

What the data show

Only 12 states, and the District of Columbia, will see an increase in total graduates in 2041, but most will see a decline, adding up to roughly a 10 percent drop nationally (see map above).

Seven states, however, will see declines of more than 20 percent, and five high population states (California, Illinois, Michigan, New York, and Pennsylvania) are anticipated to account for three-fourths of the total projected decline between 2023 and 2041

The decline is dependent on two factors, the report states: declining births, which fell sharply starting in 2008 due to the Great Recession and have continued to fall, and the rate of students progressing through school to earn diplomas.

Births have dipped nearly 1 percent each year between 2008 and 2023, with a sharp drop in 2020. Those numbers have since leveled out, but there’s still a consistent decrease, the report shows.

Increasing high school graduation rates would help offset the downturn, but wouldn’t totally halt it, according to the report. The country would have to graduate more than 95 percent of students who will be enrolled in 9th grade in 2037 to match the number of projected graduates in the class of 2025. However, for the last five cohorts, the average graduation rate is closer to 88 percent.

That 88 percent is an increase from 2010, when the average high school graduation rate was 80 percent. But because there will be fewer students in general, the number of graduates is still anticipated to decline.

Without a doubt, It will be a difficult time for many colleges and universities that are enrollment and/or tuition-driven.

Tony

Mark Warner (Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

Dear Commons Community,

Senator Mark Warner (Democrat, Virginia) says ‘The Democratic Brand Stinks’ and that his party needs to show it is not out of touch with U.S. voters.  In addition, Democrats face a cultural disconnect with many U.S. voters that’s making it hard for them to get their policy proposals across.  As reported by The Huffington Post.

“I think, frankly, the Democratic brand stinks. I think there are a whole lot of Americans that they don’t listen to your idea if your brand is so off,” he said yesterday at the annual Wall Street Journal CEO Council Summit in Washington.

Warner’s comments came as Democrats continue to ponder the losses in the Nov. 5 elections that will give Republicans control of the White House, the Senate and the House of Representatives for the first time since 2019.

The ongoing debate in some Democratic quarters is whether the party needs large, wholesale changes or smaller, incremental ones.

Warner’s remarks put him closer to the former approach, but that also may not be surprising given his background. Warner is a moderate, pro-business Democrat who became wealthy running a telecommunications company; he has won in a state that has only turned reliably Democratic in its presidential vote since 2008.

“I think the Democrats’ disconnect culturally with a lot of Americans is fundamental. I mean, it played out in things like the trans ad,” he said, referring to a Donald Trump campaign ad highlighting Vice President Kamala Harris’ support for the transgender rights of prisoners.

Warner said Democrats’ policy stances “make more sense” than those of Republicans, but that doesn’t matter “if people don’t hear you.”

When he ran for governor in 2001, his campaign included voter outreach efforts using NASCAR, bluegrass bands and a sportsmen’s group, he said.

“That’s not the right message for today, but showing that there’s a cultural connection before you ask people to listen to you on issues, I think, is critically important. I think Democrats [have] got to rethink that,” Warner said.

The three-term senator also cautioned Democrats against complacently thinking a typical midterm rejection of the party in power would see it regain some power on Capitol Hill in 2026. Instead, it should be more pro-business and support regulatory reforms as part of that, he said.

“I’ve got a litany of ideas here, but I think it will take an acknowledgment from the Democrats that the brand itself needs to be changed in a dramatic way,” Warner said.

Democrats should listen to Warner!

Tony

Suspected shooter Luigi Mangione is led from the Blair County Courthouse  in Hollidaysburg, Pennsylvania.  Photo courtesy of USA Today.

Dear Commons Community,

T-shirts, hoodies, coffee mugs and other merchandise referring to the suspected gunman, Luigi Mangione,  who is the prime suspect in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson on a Manhattan sidewalk, are popping up on the internet.  In addition, six of the 10 most engaged posts on social media platform X either expressed explicit or implicit support for the killing or denigrated the victim, according to the Network Contagion Research Institute at Rutgers University.

Sellers and other online providers that have expressed  support for Mangione are drawing criticism, if not alarm.  As reported by USA Today.

“Some attention in this case, especially online, has been deeply disturbing, as some have looked to celebrate instead of condemning this killer,” Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro said during a recent news conference.

Among the merchandise is a Christmas ornament with “Deny” “Defend” and “Depose” – the words found on bullet shell casings at the crime scene in New York – and “Free Luigi” stickers. Some platforms are taking down the merchandise, saying it violates their rules.

Etsy, an online platform where the Deny, Defend Depose ornament is listed for sale, did not respond to a request for comment.

Online marketplaces generally prohibit the sale of items that glorify violence, but that prohibition does not extend to all Mangione-related merchandise.

“eBay policies do not prohibit the sale of items with the phrase ‘Deny. Defend. Depose,’” the company said in a statement. “However, items that glorify or incite violence, including those that celebrate the recent murder of UHC CEO Brian Thompson, are prohibited.”

Amazon told USA TODAY it has pulled merchandise using the phrase for violating company guidelines. A search now only yields links to the 2010 book “Delay, Defend, Deny: Why Insurance Companies Don’t Pay Claims and What You Can Do About It.”

Mangione, a 26-year-old Ivy League graduate from a wealthy family was arrested Monday in Altoona, Pennsylvania, after a customer at a McDonald’s spotted him. He faces charges of second-degree murder, two counts of criminal possession of a weapon in the second-degree, criminal possession of a forged instrument and criminal possession of a weapon in the third-degree. He was denied bail Tuesday and is fighting extradition to New York.

Authorities said hand-written pages found on Mangione revealed a possible motive for the shooting. While police officials did not provide details, NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny said they revealed “ill will toward corporate America.”

This is a story worth following in the weeks and months ahead!

Tony

Luigi Mangione

Dear Commons Community,

Luigi Mangione, 26, of Towson, Maryland, was arrested yesterday in Altoona, Pennsylvania, where he was charged with two felonies and three misdemeanors before prosecutors filed a murder charge in New York later that night in connection with UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson’s killing.  As reported by NBC News.

Mangione was tracked down in a McDonald’s restaurant in Altoona, Pennsylvania, carrying multiple fake IDs, including one with the name “Marc Rosario,” according to two senior law enforcement officials. A restaurant employee recognized him and called local police, New York Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said at a news conference.

Investigators are looking into whether Mangione had recently traveled to Altoona by bus from Philadelphia, 240 miles away.

In Pennsylvania, Mangione was charged with carrying firearms without a license, forgery, tampering with records or identification, possessing instruments of crime and providing false identification to police.

Hours later, authorities in New York charged him with one count of murder, three counts of criminal possession of a weapon and one count of possession of a forged instrument, according to online court documents.

Police said last week that the man suspected in the shooting arrived in New York City by bus in late November and had stayed at a Manhattan hostel.

The man who checked into the hostel also used a fake New Jersey ID with the same name, “Marc Rosario,” according to three sources familiar with the investigation.

Investigators uncovered a three-page handwritten document “that speaks to both his motivation and mindset,” Tisch said.

Mangione also carried a ghost gun, which can be assembled at home and difficult to trace.

“As of right now the information we’re getting from Altoona is that the gun appears to be a ghost gun that may have been made on a 3D printer, capable of firing a 9 mm round,” NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny said.

Mangione graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 2020 with an undergraduate degree in computer science and a minor in mathematics, while simultaneously earning a graduate degree in computer and information science, a spokesperson from the university confirmed.

In 2016, he graduated from Gilman School, in Baltimore, where he was the class valedictorian.

“This is deeply distressing news on top of an already awful situation,” Henry P.A. Smyth, Gilman’s headmaster, said in a statement. “Our hearts go out to everyone affected.”

Mangione appeared to have a significant online footprint, with accounts using his name and pictures dating back years.

One of his most active accounts was on the book review platform Goodreads, where he said he had read 65 titles on topics ranging from Elon Musk to dieting.

The account did not show any record of his having read or commented on “Delay, Deny, Defend,” a book about the health insurance industry; police said shell casings found at the scene of the shooting had the words “delay,” “deny” and “depose” written on them.

In January, Mangione reviewed on Goodreads “Industrial Society and Its Future,” also known as the “Unabomber Manifesto” by Ted Kaczynski, which served as the ideological reasoning for Kaczynski’s mail bomb campaign that killed three people and injured 23 others.

“It’s easy to quickly and thoughtless write this off as the manifesto of a lunatic, in order to avoid facing some of the uncomfortable problems it identifies. But it’s simply impossible to ignore how prescient many of his predictions about modern society turned out,” Mangione wrote.

Mangione also quoted a “take” he said he “found online” that read, in part: “When all other forms of communication fail, violence is necessary to survive. You may not like his methods, but to see things from his perspective, it’s not terrorism, it’s war and revolution.”

It also read: “These companies don’t care about you, or your kids, or your grandkids. They have zero qualms about burning down the planet for a buck, so why should we have any qualms about burning them down to survive?”

Elsewhere online, Mangione became significantly more active on Twitter, now known as X, in 2021 after five years of not having posted or reposted content.

He followed and endorsed some of the most influential thinkers in the new conservative-leaning tech space, including neuroscientist and podcaster Andrew Huberman, author and social media critic Jonathan Haidt and writer Tim Urban. His posts focused on what he viewed as failures of modern society, including falling birth rates, the political gender divide and the compulsive use of social media.

A gym and wellness enthusiast, Mangione retweeted posts about masculinity and health, as well as the growing role and potential of artificial intelligence in reshaping society. Content he shared linked declining mental health and procreation to the increased reliance on technology. He also shared content that made fun of and criticized inclusive and “woke” political views.

An apparent fan of food writer Michael Pollan, Mangione shared content that interrogated the consumption of alcohol, psychedelic drugs and even coffee. According to Mangione’s Goodreads account, he was reading Pollan’s 2006 bestseller, “The Omnivore’s Dilemma.”

Mangione also displayed an interest in Japanese culture, posting a list of ideas to increase the birth rate in the country that included advocating against some of its cultural institutions. His cover image on X was a composite that included an image of a Pokémon, an X-ray of a spine with instrumentation in it and a picture that appeared to be of him hiking shirtless in Hawaii. His location on X was set to Honolulu.

Meantime, in New York on Monday, police continued to investigate the death of Thompson, 50, who was gunned down Wednesday morning in front of the New York Hilton Midtown as he walked to an investor conference.

Very interesting background and not typical for a suspect of such a brutal, public murder!

Tony

Rupert Murdoch  (Source: Associated Press)

Dear Commons Community,

A probate commissioner has ruled against Rupert Murdoch’s effort to change his family’s trust to give his son Lachlan control of his media empire and ensure Fox News maintains its conservative editorial slant, according to a sealed document obtained by The New York Times.

In a decision filed on Saturday, a probate commissioner in Nevada concluded that Murdoch, 93, and his son, Lachlan Murdoch, had acted in “bad faith” in their endeavor to amend the irrevocable trust, The New York Times reported yesterday.

The trust divides control of the company equally among four of Rupert Murdoch’s children — Prudence, Elisabeth, Lachlan and James — after he dies. Lachlan Murdoch has been the head of Fox News and News Corp since late last year, when his father stepped down.

The elder Murdoch has argued that to preserve his businesses’ commercial value for all his heirs, the trust must be changed to allow Lachlan Murdoch to maintain Fox News’ conservative bent. James and Elisabeth Murdoch are both known to have less-conservative political views than their father or brother, potentially complicating efforts to ensure that Fox News remains conservative.

In his 96-page opinion, Nevada Probate Commissioner Edmund J. Gorman Jr. of the Second Judicial District Court characterized the plan to change the trust as a “carefully crafted charade” to “permanently cement Lachlan Murdoch’s executive roles” inside the empire “regardless of the impacts such control would have over the companies or the beneficiaries” of the family trust.

Adam Streisand, a lawyer for Rupert Murdoch, told the newspaper that his client and his client’s son were disappointed with the ruling and intended to appeal.

A spokesperson for Prudence, Elisabeth and James Murdoch said in an emailed statement to The Associated Press that they welcome the ruling and hope that their family can “move beyond this litigation to focus on strengthening and rebuilding relationships among all family members.”

Gorman in his conclusion said: “The effort was an attempt to stack the deck in Lachlan Murdoch’s favor after Rupert Murdoch’s passing so that his succession would be immutable. The play might have worked; but an evidentiary hearing, like a showdown in a game of poker, is where gamesmanship collides with the facts and at its conclusion, all the bluffs are called and the cards lie face up.”

He added: “The court, after considering the facts of this case in the light of the law, sees the cards for what they are and concludes this raw deal will not, over the signature of this probate commissioner, prevail.”

It will be interesting to see how this case proceeds.

Tony

An opposition fighter steps on a broken bust of the late Syrian President Hafez Assad in Damascus, Syria, Sunday Dec. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

Dear Commons Community,

The toppling of the Syria’s the Bashar al-Assad regime following more than 50 years of brutal dictatorship was a “victory for the entire Islamic nation,” said Abu Mohammad al-Jolani, the leader of the main rebel group, HTS, which was formed out of an al Qaeda affiliate.   Assad’s removal was met with jubilation by Syrians at home and abroad. In Damascus, rebels and civilians were seen ransacking the former dictator’s palaces.

For Iran’s theocratic government, Assad’a removal is terrible news.  As reported by The Associated Press.

Iran’s decades-long strategy of building an “Axis of Resistance” supporting militant groups and proxies around the region is falling apart. First came the crushing Israeli campaign in Gaza triggered by the Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel by Iranian-backed Hamas.

That war spawned another in Lebanon, where Israel has mauled Iran’s most powerful ally, Hezbollah, even as Israel has launched successful airstrikes openly inside of Iran for the first time.

And now Iran’s longtime stalwart ally and client in Syria, President Bashar Assad, is gone. As dawn broke Sunday, rebel forces completed a lightning offensive by seizing the ancient capital of Damascus and tearing down symbols of more than 50 years of Assad’s rule over the Mideast crossroads.

Ali Akbar Velayati, a key adviser to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, once called Assad and Syria “the golden ring of the resistance chain in the region.”

“Without the Syrian government, this chain will break and the resistance against Israel and its supporters will be weakened.”

That break in the chain is literal. Syria was an important geographical link that allowed Iran to move weapons and other supplies to Hezbollah in Lebanon. Its loss now further weakens Hezbollah, whose powerful arsenal in southern Lebanon had put Iranian influence directly on the border of its nemesis Israel.

“Iran’s deterrence thinking is really shattered by events in Gaza, by events in Lebanon and definitely by developments in Syria,” a senior diplomat from the United Arab Emirates, Anwar Gargash, said at the International Institute for Strategic Studies’ Manama Dialogue in Bahrain.

Iran still holds the card of its nuclear program. Though it denies that intention, it can use the potential for building a weapons capability to cast a shadow of influence in the region.

“Iran remains a critical regional player,” Gargash said. “We should use this moment to connect and speak about what’s next in my opinion.”

It’s a dramatic reversal in Iran’s regional might

Only a few years ago, the Islamic Republic loomed ascendant across the wider Middle East. Its “Axis of Resistance” was at a zenith.

Hezbollah in Lebanon stood up against Israel. Assad appeared to have weathered an Arab Spring uprising-turned-civil war. Iraqi insurgents killed U.S. troops with Iranian-designed roadside bombs. Yemen’s Houthi rebels fought a Saudi-led coalition to a stalemate.

Syria, at the crossroads, played a vital role.

Early in Syria’s civil war, when it appeared Assad might be overthrown, Iran and its ally, Hezbollah, rushed fighters to support him — in the name of defending Shiite shrines in Syria. Russia later joined with a scorched earth campaign of airstrikes.

The campaign won back territory, even as Syria remained divided into zones of government and insurgent control.

But the speed of Assad’s collapse the past week showed just how reliant he was on support from Iran and Russia — which at the crucial moment didn’t come.

“What was surprising was the Syrian’s army’s failure to counter the offensive, and also the speed of the developments,” Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told state television late Sunday night. “That was unexpected.”

Russia remains mired in Ukraine years after launching a full-scale invasion there in 2022. For Iran, international sanctions over its advancing nuclear program have ground down its economy.

For Israel, breaking Iran’s regional network has been a major goal, though it is wary over jihadi fighters among the insurgents who toppled Assad. Israel on Sunday moved troops into a demilitarized buffer zone with Syria by the Israel-held Golan Heights in what it called a temporary security measure.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called Assad’s fall a “historic day,” saying it was “the direct result of our forceful action against Hezbollah and Iran, Assad’s main supporters.”

Iran’s theocratic rulers long touted their regional network to Iranians as a show of their country’s strength, and its crumbling could raise repercussions at home — though there is no immediate sign of their hold weakening. Anger over the tens of billions of dollars Iran is believed to have spent propping up Assad was a rallying cry in rounds of nationwide anti-government protests that have broken out over recent years, most recently in 2022.

Iran could respond by revving up its nuclear program

The loss of Syria does not mean the end of Iran’s ability to project power in the Mideast. The Houthi rebels continue to launch attacks on Israel and on ships moving through the Red Sea — though the tempo of their attacks has again fallen without a clear explanation from their leadership.

Iran also maintains its nuclear program. While insisting it enriches uranium for peaceful purposes, Western intelligence agencies and the International Atomic Energy Agency say Iran had an organized nuclear weapons program until 2003.

The head of the IAEA also warned Friday that Iran is poised to “quite dramatically” increase its stockpile of near weapons-grade uranium as it has started cascades of advanced centrifuges.

“If Iran would develop nuclear weapons, that would be a great blow to the international nonproliferation regime,” said Thanos Dokos, Greece’s national security adviser, in Bahrain.

There remains a risk of wider attacks in the region, particularly on oil infrastructure. An attack in 2019 initially claimed by the Houthis but later assessed by experts to have been carried out by Iran temporarily halved Saudi Arabia’s production of oil.

“If, as a result of escalation, there are attacks against the energy infrastructure of Iran or Saudi Arabia, that would be bad news for the global oil supply,” Dokos warned.

Whatever happens next, Iran will need to make the decision weighing the problems it faces at both home and abroad.

“Whereas stability is a difficult commodity to export, instability can travel very fast, which is why stability in the Middle East is very important for all of us,” Dokos said.

Tony

Dear Commons Community,

Star outfielder Juan Soto and the New York Mets have agreed to a record $765 million, 15-year contract, according to The Associated Press, believed to be the largest pact in team sports history.

The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the agreement, first reported by the New York Post, was subject to a successful physical.

He would have the right to opt out of the contract after the 2029 season if the Mets don’t at that time raise the contract to $805 million by increasing the average annual value by $4 million annually. Soto will get a $75 million signing bonus, payable upon the deal’s approval by the commissioner’s office.

Soto’s agreement is the largest and longest in Major League Baseball history, topping Shohei Ohtani’s $700 million, 10-year contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers, a deal signed last December. That agreement included $680 million in deferred payments and is valued at just under $46.1 million for baseball’s luxury tax.

While there are no definitive records in sports beyond the United States, Soto’s deal is thought to eclipse those in all other team sports. The deal was reached on the eve of the first full day of baseball’s annual winter meetings.

Soto’s agreement does not include deferred money, the person said, leaving its average annual value at $51 million. Its length tops Fernando Tatis Jr.’s $340 million, 14-year contract with San Diego that runs through 2034.

The New York Yankees’ final offer to retain Soto was for $760 million over 16 years, a second person familiar with the talks said, also on condition of anonymity because that detail was not announced. That offer had a $47.5 million average annual value.

A four-time All-Star at age 26, Soto is the most accomplished free agent at that age since shortstop Alex Rodriguez agreed to a record $252 million, 10-year contract with Texas in December 2000 at age 25.

Soto was 19 when he made his major league debut with Washington in 2018 and helped the Nationals win the World Series the following year, when he hit .282 with 34 homers and 110 RBIs.

He turned down Washington’s $440 million, 15-year offer in 2022 and was traded that August to San Diego. Following the death of Padres owner Peter Seidler, Soto was dealt to the Yankees in December 2023 and helped New York reach the World Series for the first time since 2009.

Soto batted .288 with 41 homers, 109 RBIs and 129 walks, hitting second in the batting order ahead of Aaron Judge to power an offense that led the major leagues with 237 homers. He hit a go-ahead homer in the AL Championship Series opener against Cleveland and a tiebreaking, three-run homer in the 10th inning that won the pennant against the Guardians in Game 5.

Soto has a .285 batting average with 201 homers, 592 RBIs and 769 walks over seven major league seasons.

Congratulations to Soto and the Mets!

Tony

UnitedHealthcare C.E.O.Brian Thompson and Murder Suspect!

Dear Commons Community,

The New York Times columnist, Zeynep Tufeksi, has a disturbing and insightful essay this morning entitled, “The Rage and Glee That Followed a C.E.O.’s Killing Should Ring All Alarms!”  Here is her introduction.

“It started barely minutes after the horrifying news broke that the chief executive of UnitedHealthcare, Brian Thompson, had been fatally shot in Midtown Manhattan. Even before any details were available, the internet was awash in speculation that the company had refused to cover the alleged killer’s medical bills — and in debates about whether murder would be a reasonable response.

Soon there was a video of a man in a hoodie, face not visible, walking up behind Thompson and shooting him multiple times, ignoring a woman standing nearby before walking away. Could he be a hit man?

Then came the reports that bullet casings bearing the words “delay,” “deny” and “depose” were found at the scene. “Delay” and “deny” clearly echo tactics insurers use to avoid paying claims. “Depose”? Well, that’s the sudden, forceful removal from a high position. Ah.

After that, it was an avalanche.

The shooter was compared to John Q, the desperate fictional father who takes an entire emergency room hostage after a health insurance company refuses to cover his son’s lifesaving transplant in a 2002 film of the same name. Some posted “prior authorization needed before thoughts and prayers.” Others wryly pointed out that the reward for information connected to the murder, $10,000, was less than their annual deductibles. One observer recommended that Thompson be scheduled to see a specialist in a few months, maybe.

Many others went further. They urged people with information about the killing not to share it with the authorities. Names and photos of other health insurance executives floated around. Some of the posts that went most viral, racking up millions of views by celebrating the killing, I can’t repeat here.

It’s true that any news with shock value would get some of this response online — after all, trolling, engagement bait and performative provocation are part of everyday life on digital platforms.

But this was something different. The rage that people felt at the health insurance industry, and the elation that they expressed at seeing it injured, was widespread and organic. It was shocking to many, but it crossed communities all along the political spectrum and took hold in countless divergent cultural clusters.”

Her conclusion:

The concentration of extreme wealth in the United States has recently surpassed that of the Gilded Age. And the will among politicians to push for broad public solutions appears to have all but vanished. I fear that instead of an era of reform, the response to this act of violence and to the widespread rage it has ushered into view will be limited to another round of retreat by the wealthiest. Corporate executives are already reportedly beefing up their security. ..

We still don’t know who killed Brian Thompson or what his motive was. Whatever facts eventually emerge, the anger it has laid bare will still be real, and what we glimpsed should ring all the alarm bells.”

Her entire essay is below. And well worth a read!

Tony

————————————————————————–

The New York Times

“The Rage and Glee That Followed a C.E.O.’s Killing Should Ring All Alarms!”

Dec. 6, 2024

By Zeynep Tufekci

Opinion Columnist

It started barely minutes after the horrifying news broke that the chief executive of UnitedHealthcare, Brian Thompson, had been fatally shot in Midtown Manhattan. Even before any details were available, the internet was awash in speculation that the company had refused to cover the alleged killer’s medical bills — and in debates about whether murder would be a reasonable response.

Soon there was a video of a man in a hoodie, face not visible, walking up behind Thompson and shooting him multiple times, ignoring a woman standing nearby before walking away. Could he be a hit man?

Then came the reports that bullet casings bearing the words “delay,” “deny” and “depose” were found at the scene. “Delay” and “deny” clearly echo tactics insurers use to avoid paying claims. “Depose”? Well, that’s the sudden, forceful removal from a high position. Ah.

After that, it was an avalanche.

The shooter was compared to John Q, the desperate fictional father who takes an entire emergency room hostage after a health insurance company refuses to cover his son’s lifesaving transplant in a 2002 film of the same name. Some posted “prior authorization needed before thoughts and prayers.” Others wryly pointed out that the reward for information connected to the murder, $10,000, was less than their annual deductibles. One observer recommended that Thompson be scheduled to see a specialist in a few months, maybe.

Many others went further. They urged people with information about the killing not to share it with the authorities. Names and photos of other health insurance executives floated around. Some of the posts that went most viral, racking up millions of views by celebrating the killing, I can’t repeat here.

It’s true that any news with shock value would get some of this response online — after all, trolling, engagement bait and performative provocation are part of everyday life on digital platforms.

But this was something different. The rage that people felt at the health insurance industry, and the elation that they expressed at seeing it injured, was widespread and organic. It was shocking to many, but it crossed communities all along the political spectrum and took hold in countless divergent cultural clusters.

Even on Facebook, a platform where people do not commonly hide behind pseudonyms, the somber announcement by UnitedHealth Group that it was “deeply saddened and shocked at the passing of our dear friend and colleague” was met with, as of this writing, 80,000 reactions; 75,000 of them were the “haha” emoji.

Politicians offering boilerplate condolences were eviscerated. Some responses came in the form of personal testimony. I don’t condone murder, many started, before describing harrowing ordeals that health insurance companies had put them through.

On a prominent Reddit forum for medical professionals, one of the most upvoted comments was a parody rejection letter: After “a careful review of the claim submitted for emergency services on December 4, 2024,” it read, a claim was denied because “you failed to obtain prior authorization before seeking care for the gunshot wound to your chest.” Just a few days earlier, the forum had been a place where people debated the side effects of Flomax and the best medical conferences.

I’ve been studying social media for a long time, and I can’t think of any other incident when a murder in this country has been so openly celebrated.

The conditions that gave rise to this outpouring of anger are in some ways specific to this moment. Today’s business culture enshrines the maximization of executive wealth and shareholder fortunes, and has succeeded in leveraging personal riches into untold political influence. New communication platforms allow millions of strangers around the world to converse in real time.

But the currents we are seeing are expressions of something more fundamental. We’ve been here before. And it wasn’t pretty.

The Gilded Age, the tumultuous period between roughly 1870 and 1900, was also a time of rapid technological change, of mass immigration, of spectacular wealth and enormous inequality. The era got its name from a Mark Twain novel: gilded, rather than golden, to signify a thin, shiny surface layer. Below it lay the corruption and greed that engulfed the country after the Civil War.

The era survives in the public imagination through still-resonant names, including J.P. Morgan, John Rockefeller, Andrew Carnegie and Cornelius Vanderbilt; through their mansions, which now greet awe-struck tourists; and through TV shows with extravagant interiors and lavish gowns. Less well remembered is the brutality that underlay that wealth — the tens of thousands of workers, by some calculations, who lost their lives to industrial accidents, or the bloody repercussions they met when they tried to organize for better working conditions.

Also less well remembered is the intensity of political violence that erupted. The vast inequities of the era fueled political movements that targeted corporate titans, politicians, judges and others for violence. In 1892, an anarchist tried to assassinate the industrialist Henry Clay Frick after a drawn-out conflict between Pinkerton security guards and workers. In 1901, an anarchist sympathizer assassinated President William McKinley. And so on.

As the historian Jon Grinspan wrote about the years between 1865 and 1915, “the nation experienced one impeachment, two presidential elections ‘won’ by the loser of the popular vote and three presidential assassinations.” And neither political party, he added, seemed “capable of tackling the systemic issues disrupting Americans’ lives.” No, not an identical situation, but the description does resonate with how a great many people feel about the direction of the country today.

It’s not hard to see how, during the Gilded Age, armed political resistance could find many eager recruits and even more numerous sympathetic observers. And it’s not hard to imagine how the United States could enter another such cycle.

A recent Reuters investigation identified at least 300 cases of political violence since the 2021 assault on the Capitol, which it described as “the biggest and most sustained increase in U.S. political violence since the 1970s.” A 2023 poll showed that the number of Americans who agree with the statement “American patriots may have to resort to violence in order to save the country” was ticking up alarmingly.

And the fraying of the social contract is getting worse. Americans express less and less trust in many institutions. Substantial majorities of people say that government, business leaders and the media are purposely misleading them. In striking contrast to older generations, majorities of younger people say they do not believe that “the American dream” is achievable anymore. The health insurance industry likes to cite polls that show overall satisfaction, but those numbers go down when people get sick and learn what their insurer is and is not willing to do for them.

Things are much better now than in the 19th century. But there is a similarity to the trajectory and the mood, to the expression of deep powerlessness and alienation.

Now, however, the country is awash in powerful guns. And some of the new technologies that will be deployed to help preserve order can cut both ways. Thompson’s killer apparently knew exactly where to find his target and at exactly what time. No evidence has emerged that he had access to digital tracking data, but that information is out there on the market. How long before easily built artificial-intelligence-powered drones equipped with facial recognition cameras, rather than hooded men with backpacks, seek targets in cities and towns?

The turbulence and violence of the Gilded Age eventually gave way to comprehensive social reform. The nation built a social safety net, expanded public education and erected regulations and infrastructure that greatly improved the health and well-being of all Americans.

Those reforms weren’t perfect, and they weren’t the only reason the violence eventually receded (though never entirely disappeared), but they moved us forward.

The concentration of extreme wealth in the United States has recently surpassed that of the Gilded Age. And the will among politicians to push for broad public solutions appears to have all but vanished. I fear that instead of an era of reform, the response to this act of violence and to the widespread rage it has ushered into view will be limited to another round of retreat by the wealthiest. Corporate executives are already reportedly beefing up their security. I expect more of them to move to gated communities, entrenched beyond even higher walls, protected by people with even bigger guns. Calls for a higher degree of public surveillance or for integrating facial recognition algorithms into policing may well follow. Almost certainly, armed security entourages and private jets will become an even more common element of executive compensation packages, further removing routine contact between the extremely wealthy and the rest of us, except when employed to serve them.

We still don’t know who killed Brian Thompson or what his motive was. Whatever facts eventually emerge, the anger it has laid bare will still be real, and what we glimpsed should ring all the alarm bells.

This photo shows the facade of Notre-Dame de Paris a few days before its reopening.  [Ludovic Marin/AFP]

Dear Commons Community,

Notre-Dame Cathedral, situated on an island in the River Seine in Paris, France, reopened this weekend after more than five years of intense reconstruction work to restore the medieval building to its former glory.

After a fire gutted the UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2019, the 12th-century Gothic masterpiece has now been masterfully restored and will reopen to the public today following the ceremony yesterday, which was attended by a lineup of heads of state and top-level delegates from around the world.

French President Emmanuel Macron, who promised to restore the cathedral within five years after the catastrophe, made a visit to the site on November 29 with his wife, first lady Brigitte Macron. The president thanked the thousands of workers who had reconstructed the building.

“The inferno of Notre-Dame was a wound for the nation, … and you were its remedy,” the president said.

The blaze broke out on the evening of April 15, 2019, on the roof of the cathedral. The fire sent tongues of orange flames into the sky as smoke billowed from the building. The fire burned for 15 hours while more than 400 firefighters battled to extinguish it.

It is still unclear what caused the blaze, but authorities suspect an electrical fault or a burning cigarette was the likely culprit. No members of the public were hurt because security officials had sounded the alarm and evacuated the cathedral. However, three security officials were injured.

By the time the fire was extinguished the following day, the inside and roof of the cathedral had been largely destroyed. Its wooden and metal spire, which had been undergoing reconstruction work, collapsed.

Its lead roof melted, and the intricate wooden beams that supported it burned away, leaving a gaping hole over the building.

Some religious relics inside the building as well as exposed artwork on the exterior of the building were badly damaged. However, the vaulted stone ceiling acted as a barrier to the fire and prevented serious damage to the cathedral’s interior stone walls.

The cathedral’s wooden frame was centuries-old, and authorities had long marked it as a possible fire hazard. Still, it was a painful period for the French nation. Toxic lead dust spread and cast a gloom over a solemn Paris. Macron, in an emotional speech on April 17, 2019, promised to restore the monument within five years and make it more beautiful than ever. Notre-Dame did not hold a Christmas Mass that year – for the first time since 1803.

How was the cathedral rebuilt?

Hundreds of donors, including some of France’s richest businesspeople, contributed more than 840 million euros ($889m) to the medieval building’s restoration campaign, which was launched by Macron. About 150 countries, among them the United States and Saudi Arabia, also contributed.

The restoration involved the work of about 2,000 people, including craftspeople, architects and other professionals.

Construction workers used powerful vacuum cleaners and cleaning gels to remove the thickened soot, dust and years of accumulated grime from the lower stone walls of the cathedral. Carpenters then hewed giant oak beams by hand to rebuild the intricate roof frame and the spire. About 2,000 oak trees were felled to provide the wood to rebuild the roof.

Work has not entirely finished, and scaffolding will cover parts of the exterior for a few more years so decorative features on the facade can be fully restored.

Today (Sunday), Notre Dame is hosting its first Mass since the fire of 2019.

A video showing the highlights of the reopening is below.

Vive Notre Dame!

Tony