The Ledes

Thursday, September 19, 2024

New York Times: “A body believed to be of the suspect in a Kentucky highway shooting that left five people seriously injured this month was found on Wednesday, the authorities said, ending a manhunt that stretched into a second week and set the local community on edge. The Kentucky State Police commissioner, Phillip Burnett Jr., said in a Wednesday night news conference that at approximately 3:30 p.m., two troopers and two civilians found an unidentified body in the brush behind the highway exit where the shooting occurred.... The police have identified the suspect of the shooting as Joseph A. Couch, 32. They said that on Sept. 7, Mr. Couch perched on a cliff overlooking Interstate 75 about eight miles north of London, Ky., and opened fire. One of the wounded was shot in the face, and another was shot in the chest. A dozen vehicles were riddled with gunfire.”

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The New York Times lists Emmy winners. The AP has an overview story here.

New York Times: “Hvaldimir, a beluga whale who had captured the public’s imagination since 2019 after he was spotted wearing a harness seemingly designed for a camera, was found dead on Saturday in Norway, according to a nonprofit that worked to protect the whale.... [Hvaldimir] was wearing a harness that identified it as “equipment” from St. Petersburg. There also appeared to be a camera mount. Some wondered if the whale was on a Russian reconnaissance mission. Russia has never claimed ownership of the whale. If Hvaldimir was a spy, he was an exceptionally friendly one. The whale showed signs of domestication, and was comfortable around people. He remained in busier waters than are typical for belugas....” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Oh, Lord, do not let Bobby Kennedy, Jr., near that carcass. ~~~

     ~~~ AP Update: “There’s no evidence that a well-known beluga whale that lived off Norway’s coast and whose harness ignited speculation it was a Russian spy was shot to death last month as claimed by animal rights groups, Norwegian police said Monday.... Police said that the Norwegian Veterinary Institute conducted a preliminary autopsy on the animal, which was become known as 'Hvaldimir,' combining the Norwegian word for whale — hval — and the first name of Russian President Vladimir Putin. 'There are no findings from the autopsy that indicate that Hvaldimir has been shot,' police said in a statement.”

New York Times: Botswana's “President Mokgweetsi Masisi grinned as he lifted the diamond, a 2,492-carat stone that is the biggest diamond unearthed in more than a century and the second-largest ever found, according to the Vancouver-based mining operator Lucara, which owns the mine where it was found. This exceptional discovery could bring back the luster of the natural diamond mining industry, mining companies and experts say. The diamond was discovered in the same relatively small mine in northeastern Botswana that has produced several of the largest such stones in living memory. Such gemstones typically surface as a result of volcanic activity.... The diamond will likely sell in the range of tens of millions of dollars....”

Click on photo to enlarge.

~~~ Guardian: "On a distant reef 16,000km from Paris, surfer Gabriel Medina has given Olympic viewers one of the most memorable images of the Games yet, with an airborne celebration so well poised it looked too good to be true. The Brazilian took off a thundering wave at Teahupo’o in Tahiti on Monday, emerging from a barrelling section before soaring into the air and appearing to settle on a Pacific cloud, pointing to the sky with biblical serenity, his movements mirrored precisely by his surfboard. The shot was taken by Agence France-Presse photographer Jérôme Brouillet, who said “the conditions were perfect, the waves were taller than we expected”. He took the photo while aboard a boat nearby, capturing the surreal image with such accuracy that at first some suspected Photoshop or AI." 

Washington Post: “'Mary Cassatt at Work' is a large and mostly satisfying exhibition devoted to the career of the great American artist beloved for her sensitive and often sentimental views of family life. The 'at work' in the title of the Philadelphia Museum of Art show references the curators’ interest in Cassatt’s pioneering effort to establish herself as a professional artist within a male-dominated field. Throughout the show, which includes some 130 paintings, pastels, prints and drawings, the wall text and the art on view stresses Cassatt’s fixation on art as a career rather than a pastime.... Mary Cassatt at Work is on view at the Philadelphia Museum of Art through Sept. 8. philamuseum.org”

New York Times: “Bob Newhart, who died on Thursday at the age of 94, has been such a beloved giant of popular culture for so long that it’s easy to forget how unlikely it was that he became one of the founding fathers of stand-up comedy. Before basically inventing the hit stand-up special, with the 1960 Grammy-winning album 'The Button-Down Mind of Bob Newhart' — that doesn’t even count his pay-per-view event broadcast on Canadian television that some cite as the first filmed special — he was a soft-spoken accountant who had never done a set in a nightclub. That he made a classic with so little preparation is one of the great miracles in the history of comedy.... Bob Newhart holds up. In fact, it’s hard to think of a stand-up from that era who is a better argument against the commonplace idea that comedy does not age well.”

Washington Post: “An early Titian masterpiece — once looted by Napolean’s troops and a part of royal collections for centuries — caused a stir when it was stolen from the home of a British marquess in 1995. Seven years later, it was found inside an unassuming white and blue plastic bag at a bus stop in southwest London by an art detective, and returned. This week, the oil painting 'The Rest on the Flight into Egypt' sold for more than $22 million at Christie’s. It was a record for the Renaissance artist, whom museums describe as the greatest painter of 16th-century Venice. Ahead of the sale in April, the auction house billed it as 'the most important work by Titian to come to the auction market in more than a generation.'”

Washington Post: The Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, D.C., which houses the world's largest collection of Shakespeare material, has undergone a major renovation. "The change to the building is pervasive, both subtle and transformational."

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Saturday
Sep182010

The Commentariat -- September 19

Bill Clinton praises the tea party constituency, then explains why they should vote Democratic. The guy is a fucking genius: 

Glenn Greenwald on Jon Stewart's false equivalencies:

Stewart's examples of right-wing rhetorical excesses (Obama is a socialist who wasn't born in the U.S. and hates America) are pervasive in the GOP, while his examples of left-wing excesses (Code Pink and 9/11 Truthers) have no currency (for better or worse) in the Democratic Party.  The claim that Bush is 'a war criminal' has ample basis, and it's deeply irresponsible to try to declare this discussion off-limits, or lump it in with a whole slew of baseless right-wing accusatory rhetoric, in order to establish one's centrist bona fides. 

Digby on rich people whining because the President wants to "punish" them by making them pay taxes....

     ... Krugman comments.

Christine O’Donnell is the best kind of fringe candidate — the kind with a history of random, long-ago television appearances. -- Joshua Green, The Atlantic

Frankly, if we get the majority again, even if it's just in the House, and we don't do what we say, I think the Republican Party is dead.... And the urgency for me here is the Democrat Party -- and I know this sounds partisan but -- are completely dysfunctional. They're the left of Europe. -- Sen. Jim DeMint

     ... Here's the full transcript of DeMint's appearance on CNN's "State of the Union." Of course Candy Crowley didn't have the sense to ask DeMint about how tax cuts for the rich fit into his deficit reduction meme. ...

... Jon Walker of Firedoglake: where have all the deficit hawks gone now that they're pushing tax breaks for the rich?

... in Washington talk about 'reducing the deficit' is almost always nothing more than code for screwing over regular Americans and almost always completely divorced from any actual concern about the size of the federal debt. -- Jon Walker

Yahoo News: President Clinton has some campaign advice for President Obama:

 

Sandhya Somashekhar & Perry Bacon Jr. of the Washington Post on Christine O'Donnell: "While her come-from-nowhere victory undoubtedly catapulted the 'tea party' movement forward, it has also brought a new and intense level of scrutiny that has the potential to damage it. Even as many activists within the movement praised her victory as a strike for the everywoman against elite politicians, strange stories about O'Donnell emerge daily. Some of her financial troubles could counter the tea party's message of fiscal and personal responsibility. And her wide-ranging comments on sex could marginalize a movement that has tried hard in recent months to portray itself as a cross-section of America." ...

Ryan Lizza of The New Yorker & Robert Reich discuss tea party populism & what President Obama should do about it (volume control is on the right):

 

... Janie Lorber & Eric Lipton of the New York Times profile Sal Russo, the long-time Repubican operative who runs the Tea Party Express, who has raised more than $5.2 million since January 2009, a goodly portion of which he has kept for himself and his wife's political "consulting" firm. Thanks to reader Bob M. for the link. ...

... Dana Milbank on the Republican/Tea party: "The "civil war" [Mark] McKinnon and others describe implies that party leaders are fighting back. Instead, they're stepping out in front of the Tea Party parade and pretending to be drum majors. Who in the supposed Republican establishment has opposed the Tea Party? Not Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele....  Not House Republican leader John Boehner....  Not Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell.... Not National Republican Senatorial Committee Chairman John Cornyn. Not even Karl Rove." ...

... Here's a link to the Time cover story Milbank mentions & to which I linked last weel. AND here's a link to the USA Today story that cites Mark McKinnon. ...

... ** Jacob Weisberg of Newsweek analyzes the tea party phenomenon: "... the Tea Party is old and looks backward to a capitalist-constitutionalist paradise that, needless to say, never existed.... Other than nostalgia, the strongest emotion at Tea Parties is resentment, defined as placing blame for one’s woes on those either above or below you in the social hierarchy.... The most radical statement of individualism is choosing your own reality, and to some in the Tea Party, the very fact that experts believe something is sufficient to disprove it."

Peter Orszag in the New York Times on why "... slowing the growth of health costs may be among the best things we can do to help the next generation attend a high-quality public college." ...

... Glenn Hubbard & Chris Mayer of the Columbia School of Business suggest a home refinancing program that would reduce mortgage payments & add no tax burden. Hubbard is a former chair of George W. Bush's Council of Ecnomic Advisers.

Joe Conason of Salon: at the Values Voters convention, speaker after speaker claimed not to be an Islamophobe, then made a speech stoking fears of Islam. ...

... Nicholas Kristof apologizes "to Muslims for the wave of bigotry and simple nuttiness that has lately been directed at" them.

"The Most Secretive Election Cycle since the Watergate Years." New York Times Editorial Board: "... this [is] .... The battle for Congress is largely being financed by a small corps of wealthy individuals and corporations whose names may never be known to the public. And the full brunt of that spending — most of it going to Republican candidates — has yet to be felt in this campaign."

Rick Hertzberg blogs on the Carter-Kennedy feud, this time over competing healthcare proposals. Here's Hertzberg on Chris Matthews' "Hardball":

Gardiner Harris of the New York Times: "... the Senate has still not acted to fix many of the flaws in the nation’s food safety system — although a bill to do so has broad bipartisan support, is a priority for the Obama administration and has the backing of both industry and consumer groups. The House passed its version of the bill more than a year ago.... The blame lies with a tight Senate calendar, a stubborn senator [Tom Coburn] from Oklahoma and an unusual coalition of left- and right-wing advocates for small farmers who have mounted a surprisingly effective Internet campaign. Their e-mail messages have warned, among other untruths, that the bill would outlaw organic farming."

Manfred Gans in 1945. Photo via the New York Times.New York Times: Manfred Gans of Fort Lee, New Jersey has died. His obituary reports his remarkable World War II experience.

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Saturday
Sep182010

Bob Herbert implores "the movers and shakers to lift the shroud of oblivion and reach out to those many millions of Americans trapped in a world of hurt." Herbert cites a boatload of statistics on what we already know -- there is no economic recovery for average American workers.

The Constant Weader comments:

Although some of the statistics you cite are news, the general deteriorating conditions for American workers has been known for a long time. It has been reported for at least two decades that the rich are getting richer & the poor getting poorer. Every year brings new statistics that show the situation is getting worse for "real Americans."

That is why it is mind-boggling to hear Mitch McConnell defend tax cuts for the rich with this out-and-out lie: "

We can't let the people who've been hit the hardest by this recession, and who need to create the jobs that will get us out of it, foot the bill for the Democrats' two-year adventure in expanded government.

Later, McConnell's spokesman tried to walk back the remark. A little. Allow me to rephrase the spokesman's "clarification": "I'm sorry, my boss is a craven pawn of the rich and said what he meant. Let me tell you what sounds better."

The major Republican "justification" for tax cuts for the rich, as McConnell so inartfully put it, is that if they are allowed to lapse, small businesses will be pinched & will not be able to hire any of those out-of-work Americans. As the Times reported Friday evening, that is malarkey. IRS stats show only 3 percent of small businesses would be hit. Many of those approximately 750,000 so-called businesses that would be subject to the old tax rate "are sole proprietors — a classification so amorphous it can include everyone from corporate executives who earn income on rental property to entertainers, hedge fund managers and investment bankers." Ninety percent of these "small businesses" have no employees at all.

Anyone who thinks Republicans are even vaguely interested in improving the economic lives of ordinary Americans is a fool. Republicans have been as upfront as possible in their shilling for the rich, at the expense of the rest of us. Their defense of their policies is a joke, & their offense is offensive -- calling the President names, insinuating he is a foreigner -- an exotic import one might come across while on an African safari -- blaming him for the decade of decreasing economic power for American workers, & complaining that the government the Republicans themselves have hobbled isn't doing enough for American workers.

The President is finally fighting back:

Some of the Republican candidates for office are noticeably worse than the obstructionists who are already there. There is some hope. If Democrats will fight not just for their own survival, but also for the survival of Democratic values, the results of the November elections won't be as bad as today's polls indicate. But the prospects are dicey. As the AP reported, & as we all know, “...a majority of Americans today are very confident in — nobody.” All of us must do all we can to avert a Republican landslide. Nothing could be worse for the American worker.


Update: Extra-Credit Reading. Timothy Noah has a ten-part series in Slate on growing income inequality.

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Friday
Sep172010

The Commentariat -- September 18

Just when you think Newt Gingrich can't get any crazier.... Kasie Hunt of Politico reports, "Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich on Saturday said Republicans should try to oust Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius because she was acting 'in the spirit of the Soviet tyranny' and represents 'left-wing thought police.'” ...

... The Second Coming, Values Voters, Style. Ashley Parker of the New York Times: "... At the Values Voters Summit, Indiana Congressman Mike Pence..., whose forceful, hard-line speech at the conference Friday drew calls of 'Pence for President,' came in first in the summit’s annual straw poll on Saturday with 24 percent of the vote. He also took first in the poll for vice president:

I guess that would be good — if he died he could replace himself. -- Tony Perkins, President of the Family Research Council, which sponsors the event

       ... Following Mr. Pence was Mike Huckabee (22 percent), Mitt Romney (13 percent), Newt Gingrich (10 percent) and Sarah Palin (7 percent).

They tell us that they they represent America the way it used to be, self-reliant, virtuous individuals and small businesses. And the truth is, what they want to do is dismantle government so corporations, big corporations will control our destiny. -- Bill Clinton, on the extreme right that is taking over the Republican party

Who Do that Voodoo like You Do? Christine O'Donnell cancels her Sunday talkshow appearances -- even the one on Fox! -- after Bill Maher airs her witchcraft video, which is embedded on my post above titled "Woman of the Middle Atlantic."

Glenn Greenwald: at a $30,000-per-plate DNC fundraiser in Greenwich, Connecticut, President Obama mocks the "petulant" left. CW: does he really think this is a good way to energize his base? Here's the money quote:

Democrats, just congenitally, tend to get -- to see the glass as half empty. (Laughter.) If we get an historic health care bill passed -- oh, well, the public option wasn't there. If you get the financial reform bill passed -- then, well, I don't know about this particularly derivatives rule, I'm not sure that I'm satisfied with that. And gosh, we haven't yet brought about world peace and -- (laughter.) I thought that was going to happen quicker. (Laughter.)

     ... Here's Jane Hamsher on the same subject.

Margaret Wheeler Johnson, in Slate, on the history & art of gay-baiting in American politics.

Gail Collins on the Alaskan Senatorial campaign. Collins highlights a candidates' forum: "On Thursday, in the beautiful fishing town of Petersburg, [Joe] Miller and [Scott] McAdams mixed it up in a candidate forum. The organizers seemed unsure about whether Miller would show up, but he walked in halfway through the proceedings to murmurs of excitement in the school gym where people had been listening to a rather unthrilling discussion on a transportation reauthorization act." You can watch the debate here.

On the presidency, Sarah Palin would "give it a shot" if she's "The One":

Surprise! The Republicans Have Been Lying to You. David Kocieniewski of the New York Times: IRS "statistics indicate that only 3 percent of small businesses would be subject to the higher tax, and many studies of previous tax increases suggest that it would have minimal impact on hiring.... Even among the 750,000 businesses that would be subjected to the higher rates in 2011, many are sole proprietors — a classification so amorphous it can include everyone from corporate executives who earn income on rental property to entertainers, hedge fund managers and investment bankers." Ninety percent of these "small businesses" have no employees.

Keith Hagey of Politico wonders if the Jon Stewart-Stephen Colbert Washington rally on October 30 is the Democrats' "October surprise." CW: he has a point. The rally is three days before the election. I'd love to go.

Stupid Secrecy. Scott Shane of the New York Times: the publisher distributed about 100 advance copies of the uncensored version of Lt. Col. Anthony Shaffer's Operation Dark Heart before the Defense Department bought & destroyed the entire first printing. Now the second, redacted printing is out, replete with blacked-out text, giving a window into the Pentagon's ideas of what should be "secret." Shane says a lot of the so-called secrets are common knowledge or are available from multiple sources:

There’s smart secrecy and stupid secrecy, and this whole episode sounds like stupid secrecy. -- conservative scholar Gabriel Schoenfeld, whose book Necessary Secrets defends protecting classified information

Nancy Youssef of McClatchy News: "With the U.S. drawdown in Iraq, the Army is finally confronting an epidemic of drug abuse and criminal behavior that many commanders acknowledge has been made worse because they'd largely ignored it during nearly a decade of wars on two fronts.... A 350-page report issued in July after a 15-month investigation into the Army's rising suicide rate found that levels of illegal drug use and criminal activity have reached record highs, while the number of disciplinary actions and forced discharges were at record lows."

Ah, Looking ahead to 2012. Jim Rutenberg & Jeff Zeleny of the New York Times: "The Republican presidential field for 2012 is beginning to take shape in a period of intensive upheaval set off by the rise of the Tea Party movement, expanding the roster of potential candidates but presenting a more complicated road to the nomination.

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