John Brown's Notes and Essays

Russia has suffered serious losses recently.  A Ukrainian armored vehicle outside Kherson. Finbarr O'Reilly for The New York Times By German Lopez , The New York Times , Nov. 14, 2022, 6:34 a.m. ET On the offensive Russia’s retreat last week from Kherson, a southern port city that it had seized shortly after invading Ukraine, was one of the biggest setbacks yet to President Vladimir Putin’s war effort. A renewed Ukrainian military offensive has clearly put Russian troops on the run. “If you had asked a reasonable person in September what the best-case scenario for Ukraine was, the situation in Kherson is pretty close,” my colleague Julian Barnes, who covers national security for The Times, said. But the war may be about to enter a new phase, as  The Times explained . The cold, wet fall and coming winter, with its freezing temperatures and snowfall, could pause large offensives. Putin seems to be counting on it to give Russian troops extra time to rebuild and regroup. Today’s n...

From: Nov 13, The New York Times Kherson image from compilation Here’s what we know: After nearly nine of months of occupation, officials are examining the damage to the city they reclaimed days ago, where water, power and food are in short supply. [click on below links for full article] Kherson’s buildings largely stand. But much of its infrastructure is severed. Criticism of Russia’s military from the country’s war hawks hits a new high. Kherson residents say the Russification attempts ‘just didn’t work.’ Zelensky calls the fighting in Donetsk ‘hell,’ a sobering view after the recapture of Kherson. The artist Banksy unveils a mural in a war-scarred Ukrainian town. Zelensky says bomb squads are clearing explosives in reclaimed Kherson.

From: Photos of the Week Curated by CNN photos

PUBLISHED SAT, NOV 12 20228:00 AM EST Jessica Dickler @JDICKLER,  cnbc image (not from article) from Still, 44% of all job seekers with college degrees regret their field of study. Journalism, sociology, communications and education all topped the list of most-regretted college majors, according to ZipRecruiter’s survey of more than 1,500 college graduates who were looking for a job. Although students may be drawn to those fields while they’re in school for reasons beyond salary and job security, “when we graduate, reality hits,” said Sinem Buber, ZipRecruiter’s lead economist. 10 most-regretted majors: After graduation, ‘reality hits’ Still, 44% of all job seekers with college degrees regret their field of study. Journalism, sociology, communications and education all topped the list of most-regretted college majors, according to ZipRecruiter’s survey of more than 1,500 college graduates who were looking for a job. Most-regretted college majors Percentage of graduates who would p...

They dominated far longer than they were dominated, and, a  news book maintains, shaped the United States in profound ways uncaptioned image from article By David Treuer, The New Yorker , November 7, 2022 I remember when I first encountered what must be the best-selling book of Native American history ever published, “ Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee ,” by Dee Brown. I was twenty years old, and had made my way from the Leech Lake Reservation, in northern Minnesota, where I grew up, to Princeton, in a part of New Jersey that seemed to have no Indians at all. Since “Bury My Heart” appeared, in 1970, it has been translated into seventeen languages, and sold millions of copies. In the opening pages, Brown wrote, “The greatest concentration of recorded experience and observation came out of the thirty-year span between 1860 and 1890—the period covered by this book. It was an incredible era of violence, greed, audacity, sentimentality, undirected exuberance, and an almost reverential atti...