The Ledes

Monday, June 30, 2025

It's summer in our hemisphere, and people across Guns America have nothing to do but shoot other people.

New York Times: “A gunman deliberately started a wildfire in a rugged mountain area of Idaho and then shot at the firefighters who responded, killing two and injuring another on Sunday afternoon in what the local sheriff described as a 'total ambush.' Law enforcement officers exchanged fire with the gunman while the wildfire burned, and officials later found the body of the male suspect on the mountain with a firearm nearby, Sheriff Robert Norris of Kootenai County said at a news conference on Sunday night. The authorities said they believed the suspect had acted alone but did not release any information about his identity or motives.” A KHQ-TV (Spokane) report is here.

New York Times: “The New York City police were investigating a shooting in Manhattan on Sunday night that left two people injured steps from the Stonewall Inn, an icon of the L.G.B.T.Q. rights movement. The shooting occurred outside a nearby building in Greenwich Village at 10:15 p.m., Sgt. Matthew Forsythe of the New York Police Department said. The New York City Pride March had been held in Manhattan earlier on Sunday, and Mayor Eric Adams said on social media that the shooting happened as Pride celebrations were ending. One victim who was shot in the head was in critical condition on Monday morning, a spokeswoman for the Police Department said. A second victim was in stable condition after being shot in the leg, she said. No suspect had been identified. The police said it was unclear if the shooting was connected to the Pride march.”

New York Times: “A dangerous heat wave is gripping large swaths of Europe, driving temperatures far above seasonal norms and prompting widespread health and fire alerts. The extreme heat is forecast to persist into next week, with minimal relief expected overnight. France, Spain, Portugal, Italy and Greece are among the nations experiencing the most severe conditions, as meteorologists warn that Europe can expect more and hotter heat waves in the future because of climate change.”

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Marie: Sorry, my countdown clock was unreliable; then it became completely unreliable. I can't keep up with it. Maybe I'll try another one later.

 

Commencement ceremonies are joyous occasions, and Steve Carell made sure that was true this past weekend (mid-June) at Northwestern's commencement:

~~~ Carell's entire commencement speech was hilarious. The audio and video here isn't great, but I laughed till I cried.

CNN did a live telecast Saturday night (June 7) of the Broadway play "Good Night, and Good Luck," written by George Clooney and Grant Heslov, about legendary newsman Edward R. Murrow's effort to hold to account Sen. Joe McCarthy, "the junior senator from Wisconsin." Clooney plays Murrow. Here's Murrow himself with his famous take on McCarthy & McCarthyism, brief remarks that especially resonate today: ~~~

     ~~~ This article lists ways you still can watch the play. 

New York Times: “The New York Times Company has agreed to license its editorial content to Amazon for use in the tech giant’s artificial intelligence platforms, the company said on Thursday. The multiyear agreement 'will bring Times editorial content to a variety of Amazon customer experiences,' the news organization said in a statement. Besides news articles, the agreement encompasses material from NYT Cooking, The Times’s food and recipe site, and The Athletic, which focuses on sports. This is The Times’s first licensing arrangement with a focus on generative A.I. technology. In 2023, The Times sued OpenAI and its partner, Microsoft, for copyright infringement, accusing the tech companies of using millions of articles published by The Times to train automated chatbots without any kind of compensation. OpenAI and Microsoft have rejected those accusations.” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I have no idea what this means for "the Amazon customer experience." Does it mean that if I don't have a NYT subscription but do have Amazon Prime I can read NYT content? And where, exactly, would I find that content? I don't know. I don't know.

Washington Post reporters asked three AI image generators what a beautiful woman looks like. "The Post found that they steer users toward a startlingly narrow vision of attractiveness. Prompted to show a 'beautiful woman,' all three tools generated thin women, without exception.... Her body looks like Barbie — slim hips, impossible waist, round breasts.... Just 2 percent of the images showed visible signs of aging. More than a third of the images had medium skin tones. But only nine percent had dark skin tones. Asked to show 'normal women,' the tools produced images that remained overwhelmingly thin.... However bias originates, The Post’s analysis found that popular image tools struggle to render realistic images of women outside the Western ideal." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: The reporters seem to think they are calling out the AI programs for being unrealistic. But there's a lot about the "beautiful women" images they miss. I find these omissions remarkably sexist. For one thing, the reporters seem to think AI is a magical "thing" that self-generates. It isn't. It's programmed. It's programmed by boys, many of them incels who have little or no experience or insights beyond comic books and Internet porn of how to gauge female "beauty." As a result, the AI-generated women look like cartoons; that is, a lot like an air-brushed photo of Kristi Noem: globs of every kind of dark eye makeup, Scandinavian nose, Botox lips, slathered-on skin concealer/toner/etc. makeup, long dark hair and the aforementioned impossible Barbie body shape, including huge, round plastic breasts. 

New York Times: “George Clooney’s Broadway debut, 'Good Night, and Good Luck,' has been one of the sensations of the 2024-25 theater season, breaking box office records and drawing packed houses of audiences eager to see the popular movie star in a timely drama about the importance of an independent press. Now the play will become much more widely available: CNN is planning a live broadcast of the penultimate performance, on June 7 at 7 p.m. Eastern. The performance will be preceded and followed by coverage of, and discussion about, the show and the state of journalism.”

No free man shall be seized or imprisoned, or stripped of his rights or possessions, or outlawed or exiled, or deprived of his standing in any other way, nor will we proceed with force against him, or send others to do so, except by the lawful judgment of his equals or by the law of the land. -- Magna Carta ~~~

~~~ New York Times: “Bought for $27.50 after World War II, the faint, water stained manuscript in the library of Harvard Law School had attracted relatively little attention since it arrived there in 1946. That is about to change. Two British academics, one of whom happened on the manuscript by chance, have discovered that it is an original 1300 version — not a copy, as long thought — of Magna Carta, the medieval document that helped establish some of the world’s most cherished liberties. It is one of just seven such documents from that date still in existence.... A 710-year-old version of Magna Carta was sold in 2007 for $21.3 million.... First issued in 1215, it put into writing a set of concessions won by rebellious barons from a recalcitrant King John of England — or Bad King John, as he became known in folklore. He later revoked the charter, but his son, Henry III, issued amended versions, the last one in 1225, and Henry’s son, Edward I, in turn confirmed the 1225 version in 1297 and again in 1300.”

NPR lists all of the 2025 Pulitzer Prize winners. Poynter lists the prizes awarded in journalism as well as the finalists in these categories.

 

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Katie Glueck of the New York Times: "A series of high-profile races will unfold on Tuesday in New York and Florida as the 2022 midterm primaries arrive in two of the nation's most populous states." Politico's story is here.

The Democrats are trying to overturn the Supreme Court's West Virginia vs. E.P.A. victory. -- Sen. Ted Cruz, on Fox Business, ahead of the Senate vote on amendments to the Clean Air Act

Ted was right. -- Marie ~~~

~~~ Lisa Friedman of the New York Times: "When the Supreme Court restricted the ability of the Environmental Protection Agency to fight climate change this year, the reason it gave was that Congress had never granted the agency the broad authority to shift America away from burning fossil fuels. Now it has. Throughout the landmark climate law, passed this month, is language written specifically to address the Supreme Court's justification for reining in the E.P.A., a ruling that was one of the court's most consequential of the term. The new law amends the Clean Air Act, the country's bedrock air-quality legislation, to define the carbon dioxide produced by the burning of fossil fuels as an 'air pollutant.' That language, according to legal experts as well as the Democrats who worked it into the legislation, explicitly gives the E.P.A. the authority to regulate greenhouse gases and to use its power to push the adoption of wind, solar and other renewable energy sources.... This month, in the hours before the bill passed the Senate, Republicans waged a last-minute, mostly unsuccessful predawn battle to remove the language from the legislation." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I recall reading, on occasion, some confederate Supreme saying of a particular decision, "Well, if Congress doesn't like the ruling, they can change the law." Such remarks were made with a big helping of snide, inasmuch as the justice knew full well that Democrats would not be able to get 60 votes to override a GOP Senate filibuster. They didn't get 60 votes in this EPA matter, either, but it passed under reconciliation, which requires only a simple majority.

Katie Shepherd, et al., of the Washington Post: "Two months after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, about 20.9 million women have lost access to nearly all elective abortions in their home states, and a slate of strict new trigger laws expected to take effect in the coming days will shut out even more. Texas, Tennessee and Idaho all have existing restrictions on abortion, but the laws slated to begin Thursday will either outlaw the procedure entirely or heighten penalties for doctors who perform an abortion, contributing to a seismic shift in who can access abortion in their home states. At least 11 other states have banned most abortions, prohibiting the procedure with narrow exceptions.... Five more states have similar bans temporarily blocked by the courts. If those injunctions are lifted, abortion could soon be inaccessible for millions more -- in total, 36 percent of U.S. women between the ages of 15 and 44 would be largely unable to obtain an elective abortion in the state where they live."

I am particularly proud to have served as the Chief Medical Advisor to President Joe Biden since the very first day of his administration. -- Dr. Anthony Fauci, in a statement, Monday

Funny, no mention of Trump. -- Marie ~~~

~~~ Yasmeen Abutaleb of the Washington Post: "Anthony S. Fauci, the nation's preeminent infectious-disease expert who achieved unprecedented fame while enduring withering political attacks as the face of the coronavirus pandemic response under two presidents, plans to step down in December after more than a half-century of public service, he announced Monday. Fauci, 81, has led the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases since 1984. He joined the parent agency, the National Institutes of Health, in 1968 as a 27-year-old doctor who had just finished medical residency and was quickly identified as a rising star. Most recently, Fauci has also served as President Biden's chief medical adviser since the start of his administration." The Hill's report is here. Dr. Fauci's statement is here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Joseph Menn, et al., of the Washington Post: "Twitter executives deceived federal regulators and the company's own board of directors about 'extreme, egregious deficiencies' in its defenses against hackers, as well as its meager efforts to fight spam, according to an explosive whistleblower complaint from its former security chief. The complaint from former head of security Peiter Zatko, a widely admired hacker known as 'Mudge,' depicts Twitter as a chaotic and rudderless company beset by infighting, unable to properly protect its 238 million daily users including government agencies, heads of state and other influential public figures. Among the most serious accusations in the complaint, a copy of which was obtained by The Washington Post, is that Twitter violated the terms of an 11-year-old settlement with the Federal Trade Commission by falsely claiming that it had a solid security plan. Zatko's complaint alleges he had warned colleagues that half the company's servers were running out-of-date and vulnerable software and that executives withheld dire facts about the number of breaches and lack of protection for user data, instead presenting directors with rosy charts measuring unimportant changes." CNN's report is here. ~~~

~~~ Faiz Saddiqui & Elizabeth Dwoskin of the Washington Post: "Elon Musk alleges Twitter is vastly undercounting the number of spam and bot accounts on its platform. A new whistleblower complaint from a recently fired top Twitter executive could add ammunition to that argument, though it provides little hard evidence to back up a key assertion.... And [the whistleblower] lays out another argument that could give Musk a potential boost in his fight to prove Twitter broke its contract when he agreed to acquire the company for $44 billion: that Twitter deceived regulators regarding its defenses against hackers.... Any new allegations that Twitter misled shareholders and regulators could bolster Musk's case in Delaware Chancery Court in October, according to half a dozen legal experts....

Beyond the Beltway

Arkansas. Andy Rose, et al., of CNN: "Three Arkansas law enforcement officers have been removed from duty and are under investigation, their departments confirmed, after bystander video captured at least two of them punching and kneeing a suspect during an arrest Sunday. At one point in the 34-second video, one of the officers also appears to lift the suspect's head and slam it into the pavement. A Crawford County Sheriff's Department Facebook post identifies the law enforcement personnel involved in the arrest as sheriff's deputies Zack King and Levi White and officer Thell Riddle of the Mulberry Police Department. CNN has reached out to the deputies and officer." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Colorado. Brad Reed of the Raw Story: "Republican Colorado State Sen. Kevin Priola on Monday announced that he was leaving the GOP to become a Democrat -- and he said that ... Donald Trump's lies about the 2020 election were a major factor. In a letter Priola released on Monday, the one-time Colorado Republican said that his former party's reaction to the January 6 riots at the United States Capitol made it impossible for him to continue identifying with it. 'I cannot continue to be a part of a political party that is okay with a violent attempt to overturn a free and fair election and continues to peddle claims that the 2020 election was stolen,' he wrote. He also said he's been dismayed by the way that the GOP has tried to hound out anyone within the party who has tried to hold Trump accountable." Update: A Guardian story is here.

Georgia Senate Race. "Enough Trees." John Wagner of the Washington Post: "In an appearance Sunday..., [Republican Senate nominee Herschel] Walker reiterated his opposition to the Inflation Reduction Act, signed by [President] Biden last week, that invests in curbing global warming, among other things. 'They continue to try to fool you that they are helping you out. But they're not,' Walker said. 'Because a lot of money, it's going to trees. Don't we have enough trees around here?' It's possible Walker might have been referring to a provision in the law that allocates $1.5 billion to the U.S. Forest Service's Urban and Community Forestry Program." MB: Well, Georgia does have more privately-ownered timberland than any other U.S. state, and it's a global leader in the forest industry. And a couple of national forests, too. So yeah, lots of trees around there.

Way Beyond

Ukraine, et al. The New York Times' live updates of developments Tuesday in Russia's war on Ukraine are here. The Guardian's live updates for Tuesday are here. ~~~

     ~~~ The Washington Post's live briefings for Tuesday are here: "Russia is preparing to launch more strikes against Ukraine's civilian infrastructure and government facilities in the coming days, the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv warned ahead of Ukrainian Independence Day on Wednesday. The Pentagon is set to send more weapons to Ukraine to help fight Russian troops at closer ranges.... [The father of Daria Dugina -- who was killed in a car explosion last week --] Alexander Dugin, an ally of ... Vladimir Putin, called for 'more than just revenge' after his daughter's killing. Hundreds attended a memorial ceremony Tuesday, and Dugina's father said her 'ultimate sacrifice, the highest price we pay, can only be justified by victory' in Ukraine."

News Ledes

New York Times: "A woman shot and killed two people and injured a third in Midtown Atlanta on Monday, prompting an extensive search by multiple law enforcement agencies that led to her arrest at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, the police said. The daytime shooting drew heavily armed police officers to busy midtown on Monday afternoon and briefly led the police to urge residents to stay off the streets as they searched for the person responsible for the shooting. About two hours after shooting, the Atlanta Police said that a woman had been arrested at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport and that officers had recovered a handgun. The police did not immediately release the woman's name or a possible motive."

Washington Post: "Streets and highways around Dallas[, Texas,] remained waterlogged Monday afternoon after flash floods struck the Dallas-Fort Worth area overnight, leaving at least one person dead. Signs of flooding lingered even after the rain mostly cleared from the metroplex."

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