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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
Dec172022

December 18, 2022

We are blessed this Sunday with a no-news day (so far). So plenty of time to get ready for some futbol.

But Tomorrow. Farnoush Amiri of the AP: "The House panel investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol is considering recommending the Justice Department pursue an unprecedented criminal charge of insurrection and two other counts against ... Donald Trump. Besides insurrection, an uprising aiming to overthrow the government, the panel is also considering recommending prosecutors pursue charges for obstructing an official proceeding and conspiracy to defraud the United States, according to a person familiar with the matter who could not publicly discuss the private deliberations and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity. The committee's deliberations were continuing late Friday, and no decisions were formalized on which specific charges the committee would refer to the Justice Department. The panel is to meet publicly Monday afternoon when any recommendation will be made public." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: The committee is scheduled to meet at 1:00 pm ET tomorrow. CNN & MSNBC will begin coverage at noon Monday. For those who cannot watch the hearing live, the committee usually provides a complete video, so I'll get up a link to that video when it becomes available.

AND Earlier Last Week:

Fake President* Makes, Breaks Promises. Real President Keeps Them. Josh Boak of the AP: "Donald Trump pledged to fix U.S. infrastructure as president. He vowed to take on China and bulk up American manufacturing. He said he would reduce the budget deficit and make the wealthy pay their fair share of taxes. Yet after two years as president, it's Joe Biden who is acting on those promises. He jokes that he's created an 'infrastructure decade' after Trump merely managed a near parody of 'infrastructure weeks.' His legislative victories are not winning him votes from Trump loyalists or boosting his overall approval ratings.... Gone are blanket tax cuts. No more unfettered faith in free trade with non-democracies. The Biden White House has committed more than $1.7 trillion to the belief that a mix of government aid, focused policies and bureaucratic expertise can deliver long-term growth that lifts up the middle class. This reverses the past administration's view that cutting regulations and taxes boosted investments by businesses that flowed downward to workers."

Fifty Years Ago. Michael Ruane of the Washington Post: Fifty years ago today, on December 18, 1972, "Joe Biden's first wife, Neilia, and baby daughter, Naomi Christina..., [were] killed in a car crash. His sons, Beau and Hunter, ages 3 and 2, >had been critically injured." The next day, [President] Richard Nixon, who had just been re-elected to the presidency, telephoned Biden, who had won his first term as U.S. Senator, to express his condolences. The article contains a transcript of the call. The audio is here:

Eric Lipton, et al., of the New York Times: "The prospect of growing military threats from both China and Russia is driving bipartisan support for a surge in Pentagon spending, setting up another potential boom for weapons makers that is likely to extend beyond the war in Ukraine. Congress is on track in the coming week to give final approval to a national military budget for the current fiscal year that is expected to reach approximately $858 billion -- or $45 billion above what President Biden had requested."

Unsafe at Any Altitude. AP: "The federal agency tasked with screening passengers before they get on planes says officers this year have stopped a record number of guns brought by passengers attempting to go through airport security checkpoints. The Transportation Security Administration said in a news release Friday that officers have stopped 6,301 firearms so far this year, and the agency is anticipating that number will rise to 6,600 by the end of the year. That's nearly a 10% increase over last year, which was already a record, the agency said. Nearly 90% of the weapons caught so far were loaded, the agency said. The agency considers a weapon to be loaded if the passenger has access to both the gun and the ammunition. In response, the agency said it is increasing the maximum civil penalty for firearms violations to $14,950. Passengers caught with a weapon also lose their TSA PreCheck status ... for at least five years, the agency said.... People caught with weapons in their carry-on bags can also face criminal charges depending on which state they live in, the agency said." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I think it's fair to assume that at least a tiny fraction of these yahoos planned on using the guns during the flights.

Philip Kennicott, the Washington Post's art critic, slams Trump's trading cards: "Along with laughter ... was the pervasive sense that this newest scheme has distilled the essence of Trump to its purest form. It was 'on brand' in a way more telling and disturbing than previous efforts to cash in on a name once associated with the Oval Office.... The shorthand critique of this phenomenon is: 'My kid could do that.' And, indeed, your kid could probably make images of Trump as laughably awful as the ones that Trump is now attempting to sell, if your kid has even a passing familiarity with the tropes of pop culture and basic competence with photo-editing software." MB Note: This crap sold out in one day & reportedly netted about $4.5 MM.

Although Trump likened the NFTs to "baseball cards," a few days ago, Patrick enumerated ~~~

Things you can't do with DiJiT's "baseball cards":

-- sail them against the wall/step, two players at the same time, card closest to the wall wins, takes the other. Two leaners are ties, leave them and play with two new cards, winner take all.

-- flip them and call the bet before they land. Two players: two heads, two tails, my head (your tail), my tail (your head), winner take all

-- sail for distance, farthest card wins, takes the other card

-- clothespin clip to bike wheel downtube so tip of card is between spokes and makes clatter when you ride

-- build a house of cards

-- flip into a hat for distance, backing up after (n) throws, see who can get the most in

-- draw mustaches and glasses, horns, etc. on the players

And more. But put in a plastic sleeve? No.

But with DiJiT's cards, you can do none of those things. If he put them out in pasteboard stock, I'd pay a nickel, draw a mustache and google eyes on his faces, and clip him to my bike wheels.

In fairness to Trump, there's this: ~~~

~~~ Meredith McGraw of Politico: "Thursday night's Log Cabin Republicans' 'Spirit of Lincoln' gala in the main ballroom of Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago beachfront club was a joyous celebration of gay rights and -- in a case of ironic timing -- the historic same-sex marriage law signed by President Joe Biden days earlier.... The main attraction, obviously, was Trump. He received a standing ovation after delivering an enthusiastic affirmation of gay rights not often heard in the GOP.... Trump did not mention the law in his speech.... Throughout the evening, speakers praised Trump for his embrace of the gay community.... Trump and his administration had a mixed record on LGBTQ issues. He's been criticized for driving a wedge between gay and transgender communities, and for promoting extreme religious liberty policies and executive orders they say allowed for discrimination against LGBTQ people that pushed the movement backwards."

Here's how stunningly stupid & egomanical Elon is: ~~~

~~~ Taylor Lorenz of the Washington Post (Dec. 17): "Earlier tonight, Elon Musk suspended my Twitter account [substack link]. I only had three tweets live on my account when it was banned. Two were promoting my social media profiles on other platforms (follow me on TikTok and IG @taylorlorenz!), and one was [a] tweet ... where I asked Musk for comment: 'Hi, Elon. @drewharwell and I sent you a couple emails about this. We've learned some information that we'd like to share & discuss with you. We're taking this very seriously and want to ensure this is pursued in the right way. Thanks'"

** "Not Another Column about Elon Musk." Alexandra Petri of the Washington Post: "In 'The Madness of King George,' there are several scenes where very learned doctors dedicate considerable time and effort to squinting at the contents of the king's chamber pot. Watching the movie, you think, 'Well, at least we are at a stage of civilization where we don't have to do that! We do not live in a world that hinges so completely on the condition of one or two powerful men that it is worth our while to spend hours every day examining their stools in minute detail and trying to draw conclusions from them.' But then Elon Musk buys Twitter, and -- I can think of no better analogy for what has ensued.... In addition to encouraging some of Twitter's worst voices, he is astoundingly boring.Here is a sample of his tweets: 'The woke mind virus is either defeated or nothing else matters.' 'Thanksgiving cuisine is such a delightful symphony of flavor!'"

AND this looks like a good bet for those of you with New Yorker subscriptions: https://www.newyorker.com/humor/borowitz-report/poll-most-people-want-to-know-elon-musks-location-so-they-can-avoid-him (copy & paste into your address bar). Thanks to Ken W. for the link.

Beyond the Beltway

New York. Timothy Bella of the Washington Post: "The New York Police Department is investigating an alleged attack in Central Park this week in which a man in his mid-40s assaulted a 63-year-old man and spewed antisemitic comments before yelling out 'Kanye 2024,' a reference to rapper Ye's recent antisemitic rhetoric. The older man was walking in Central Park about 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday when the other man allegedly hit him from behind, according to police. When the older man fell to the ground, he broke his hand and chipped a tooth, authorities said." A Raw Story report is here. MB: I realize that what news media choose to cover may account for some of the reporting on antisemitic attacks, but it does seem that West, Trump, Musk & other "influencers" have normalized antisemitism among a large subset of Americans.

Way Beyond

Ukraine, et al. The Washington Post's live updates of developments Sunday in Russia's war on Ukraine are here: "President Volodymyr Zelensky renewed his appeal to Western leaders to provide Ukraine with a 'reliable air defense shield' after a barrage of Russian missile strikes. In his nightly address, Zelensky said that when Ukraine's skies are protected, 'the main form of Russian terror -- missile terror -- will become simply impossible.'... Russia's efforts to raise its troops' morale by assembling groups tasked with entertaining them are 'unlikely to substantively alleviate' soldiers' broader concerns about pay and the direction of the war, said Britain's Defense Ministry. The ministry said the two new 'front line creative brigades' announced by Russia's Defense Ministry last week and made up of opera singers, actors and circus performers are part of a 'Soviet-era concept of ideological political education.'" MB: That's odd. One would have thought that the droll fellows at the Russian Defense Ministry would be great at coming up with terrific entertainment. More dancing bears, please. ~~~

     ~~~ The Guardian's live updates for Sunday are here. The Guardian's summary report is here.

News Lede

CNN: "It took 90 minutes of regulation, 30 minutes of extra time and a penalty kick shootout to decide it -- but Argentina is the 2022 World Cup champion."

Comments Off

Reader Comments (5)

Isn't it amazing that all these trumpbots complaining about gas prices
and inflation have $99 to spend on the picture of an idiot?
That would have bought them about 30 gallons of gas.

December 18, 2022 | Unregistered CommenterForrest Morris

Forest: Good point but maybe these Trumpbots who are nuts enough to pay that kind of money for Fatty's fantastic cards are the same fools who are unable to equate reality from unreality––so gas prices don't even register in their decisions.

Watched the documentary "Pelosi in the House" last night. I was struck by Nancy saying before Trump was even elected –- He's a dangerous man–-mark my word." Her animus towards him knew no bounds and she wasn't afraid to show it. Seeing different scenes from the insurrection––the race to protect the ledge chilled me; one step away form a killing field.

On the other hand it was lovely to watch Nancy dancing with her grandchildren and doing laundry while on the phone–-always on the phone while her husband was doing the dishes. This is a portrait of a spunky, talented gal who has the gift of a true blue democrat whose love "for the children," her religion, blessed with a talent for counting the votes and not giving up. She was schooled early and never lost her zeal.

December 18, 2022 | Unregistered CommenterP.D. Pepe

My favorite Pelosi story is one she told on herself. Early in her marriage, her husband gave her some shirts to iron. She responded with words to the effect of, "There are people who make their living doing that, and we should pay them for doing your shirts."

December 18, 2022 | Unregistered CommenterPatrick

Patrick,

Good story--with multiple possible meanings...

First, it may have a young married woman's reaction to the assumed roles of men and women. My mother, a German woman of an earlier generation, was known to iron underwear...

Another possible meaning is its (to me disturbing) air of noblesse oblige.

Or maybe lurking behind my approach to the story is my habitual insistence on doing things myself that I could easily hire done, likely because I'm so cheap.

December 18, 2022 | Unregistered CommenterKen Winkes

@Ken W. I can recall my father ironing his own shirts, but my mother -- or later I -- usually did the ironing. I think after my mother went to work outside the home -- which was a couple of decades into their marriage, my father did more shirt-ironing. Of the many husbands I have had, not a one ironed his own shirts. I did the ironing, whether I was working away from home or not. And that was even when we had enough money to "send the shirts out." Oh, lucky for me -- we girls learned the proper way to do it in home ec -- no boys allowed. Inside collar first, then outside collar, yoke, back, fronts, cuffs, sleeves. Being an extremely innovative person, I did the sleeves & cuffs first because I figured the wrinkles wouldn't show if the sleeves got wrinkled, and the cuffs wouldn't wrinkle.

So I say good for Nancy for putting her foot down (or leaving the iron in the closet). Her husband made a lot of money: he could afford to pay someone to iron his shirts. And to iron his wife's dresses & the kids' smocks, too.

December 18, 2022 | Registered CommenterMarie Burns
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