Explanatory Journalism
Laurence Arnold
Writer, Bloomberg News
Washington, DC
Washington, DC
Explanatory Journalism
It's official: Clinton-Trump is a ratings hit. An estimated 84 million people watched the first debate between Democrat Hillary Clinton and Republican Donald Trump on Sept. 26, making it the most-watched presidential face-off in history. Their next debate, Sunday night at Washington University in St.
Politics
Hillary Clinton is sitting pretty. She's cooled the Bern, reconnected with black voters, might soon be able to pivot to the general election and could up getting votes even from certain disgusted Republicans. Everything's coming up Clinton -- except for that pesky felony talk.
Welcome, students! The first Trump University focused on real estate and didn't end well. The new Trump University, like its founder, thinks bigger, as reflected in the breadth of our courses: History 220/White Supremacy in America A review of U.S. hate groups and why no books or articles have ever been written about them.
Dear Carolyn: I'm no fan of the Washington Post, a charter member of the mainstream media, but you do seem to know about these things, so here goes. I'm a 44-year-old man with an Ivy League pedigree, a high-profile job, an opportunity for an enormous promotion and a growing fan club in Iowa.
Things move fast in politics these days. Just as a new kernel of conventional wisdom is taking hold -- that Hillary Clinton, Biden-free and post-Benghazi, is now a lock for the White House -- a counter-narrative emerges: Martin O'Malley has it in the bag.
MODERATOR: Welcome to the latest in a series of debates between Republican Abraham Lincoln and Democrat Stephen Douglas. The first question will go to Mr. Lincoln. If you were a tree, what kind of tree would you be? LINCOLN: Good evening, ladies and gentlemen.
Welcome to the Fox News junior-varsity debate, featuring these losers to my right and my left. They're all horrible. I'm Donald Trump, which you already know. I develop the world's best buildings, I have $10 billion, and I'll be your next president, which these dummies don't seem to understand.
Not to brag or anything, but a certain candidate for president is trying hard to get us on his team, and the proximity to power is intoxicating. Apparently, at some point during the interminable wait for Chris Christie to enter the Republican field, we clicked some sort of "keep me updated" button on ChrisChristie.com, which back then wasn't the cinematic feast it is today.
"From pre-production to final cut, we will be your partner every step of the way," promises the New York State Office of Motion Picture & Television Development, which offers tax incentives, "great locations" and a deep talent pool to productions that choose to film in the Empire State.
Welcome to the first 2016 presidential debate between Democrat Hillary Clinton and Republican Jeb Bush. We look forward to a frank and insightful exchange of views. The first question comes from ABC's George Stephanopoulos. Stephanopoulos: Governor Bush, if you ran a charitable foundation, and I gave money to it, would that be wrong?
A glib columnist-imagine that-would point out that El Chapo, or whoever is claiming to tweet on his behalf, did Donald Trump a huge favor. It's true, of course. But we wouldn't want to appear insensitive to the possible, er, downsides of having a powerful criminal syndicate mad at you, even if you're the great Donald Trump.
If Theodore Roosevelt hopped down from Mount Rushmore, flew business class to London and threw his hat in the ring for prime minister, would he be Ed Miliband? The U.S. president who ushered in the progressive era of land conservation, trust-busting and consumer protection has emerged as a force of sorts in Thursday's U.K.
(Bloomberg) -- On days when America gets a newly declared candidate for president, there's the requisite sidebar portraying the candidate's spouse as supportive, cautious, devoted to family, yadda yadda. It's safe to say that few such introductions yielded the daylong fascination that greeted Heidi Cruz after her husband, Ted, formally entered the Republican field.
The day Eric Holder became U.S. attorney general-Feb. 3, 2009-a front-page story in the New York Times declared, "Wall St., a Financial Epithet, Stirs Outrage and Punch Lines." Bloomberg headlined a story, "FDIC Boosts Estimate for U.S. Bank Failures Costs." Holder had no shortage of "top priorities" during his years at the Justice Department: voting rights, cybersecurity, drug laws.
The political operative who wrote New Jersey's new state slogan, "Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee," is ready to be rewarded for her work. "This fund will aid in ensuring truth and justice prevails," reads the appeal for money by Bridget Anne Kelly at the website of her new legal defense fund, which takes credit cards-"$25 minimum donation"-but warns that refunds are out of the question.
Business
(Bloomberg) -- Conrad Johnson's death last week, one month before what would have been his 111th birthday, left a question mark in the small but devoted world of supercentenarian watchers. Johnson, a resident of Rockford, Illinois, had been the oldest living American man, according to the Gerontology Research Group, which studies and keeps records on supercentenarians, people who live to 110.
Nov. 21 (Bloomberg) -- "Like Google and Facebook before it, Uber may now be in need of adult supervision." -- Bloomberg News "What all these incidents have in common is that they offer a portrait of a company without adults in charge."
The Lighter Side
'Twas the week before Christmas and at the White House, A guy named Obama was chasing a mouse.This foul little vermin he wanted to crush,But feared painting all rodents with such a broad brush.
Nov. 17 (Bloomberg) -- "Robert O'Neill, ex-SEAL who says he killed bin Laden, gives Redskins pep talk" -- Washington Times, Nov. 16 Greetings, fellow warriors. As you no doubt know by now, my name is Rob O'Neill. As a huge Skins fan, this is a thrill for me.
Nov. 20 (Bloomberg) -- The prospective bride has long brown hair and, in photos at least, a slight resemblance to the actress Mary-Louise Parker. The groom, more than a half-century her senior, wears prison uniforms and has what looks like a swastika carved into his forehead, because, funny story, he once carved a swastika into his forehead.
Obituaries
John Gutfreund, who was proclaimed the "King of Wall Street" in 1985 for harnessing the egos and fiefdoms of Salomon Brothers into one of the most profitable investment-banking firms, only to be deposed after a 1991 trading scandal, has died. He was 86.
John Nash, the Princeton University mathematician and Nobel laureate whose towering intellect and descent into paranoid schizophrenia formed the basis of the Academy Award-winning movie "A Beautiful Mind," has died. He was 86. Nash and his wife, Alicia, were killed when the taxi they were riding in crashed on the New Jersey Turnpike Saturday afternoon, ejecting the couple, New Jersey State Police Sergeant Gregory Williams said Sunday.
Nov. 21 (Bloomberg) -- Ted Forstmann, the Wall Street dealmaker who sounded the alarm in the 1980s when junk bonds reshaped the leveraged-buyout industry he had helped create, has died. He was 71. He died yesterday at his home in New York City, according to George Sard, a spokesman for Forstmann Little & Co.
April 2 (Bloomberg) -- Charles H. Keating, whose leadership of a California savings and loan made him the face of a U.S. banking crisis and a millstone around the politicians who tried to help him, has died. He was 90. His son-in-law, Gary Hall, confirmed his death, according to the New York Times.
Oct. 11 (Bloomberg) -- Andrew Brimmer, an economist who became the first black member of the U.S. Federal Reserve Board when President Lyndon B. Johnson appointed him in 1966, has died. He was 86. He died on Oct. 7 at George Washington University Hospital in Washington, said his daughter, Esther Brimmer.
Dec. 9 (Bloomberg) -- William "Billy" Salomon, who turned Salomon Brothers, the bond trading house co-founded by his father, into a Wall Street force in stock trading and underwriting, has died. He was 100. He died on Dec. 7 at his home in Manhattan following a gradual decline in health, his son, Peter F.
Aug. 6 (Bloomberg) -- John Phelan, who led the New York Stock Exchange into the modern era of competition and huge trading volumes and provided calm at the center of the storm when stock prices crashed in October 1987, has died. He was 81. Phelan died on Aug.
Aug. 26 (Bloomberg) -- Muriel Siebert, whose success as one of Wall Street's early, influential female analysts earned her the contacts and nest egg to become the first woman to buy a seat on the New York Stock Exchange, has died. She was 84. She died on Aug.
Feb. 21 (Bloomberg) -- Walter Schloss, the money manager who earned accolades from Warren Buffett for the steady returns he achieved by applying lessons learned directly from the father of value investing, Benjamin Graham, has died. He was 95. He died on Feb. 19 at his home in Manhattan, according to his son, Edwin.
April 23 (Bloomberg) -- Richie Havens, the New York City folk singer thrust by circumstance onto center stage as the opening act of Woodstock, the legendary 1969 music festival, has died. He was 72. He died yesterday of a heart attack at his home in Jersey City, New Jersey, according to Tim Drake, president of his booking agent, The Roots Agency of Westwood, New Jersey.