The Ledes

Sunday, September 29, 2024

Washington Post: “Towns throughout western North Carolina ... were transformed overnight by ... [Hurricane Helene]. Muddy floodwaters lifted homes from their foundations. Landslides and overflowing rivers severed the only way in and out of small mountain communities. Rescuers said they were struggling to respond to the high number of emergency calls.... The death toll grew throughout the Southeast as the scope of Helene’s devastation came into clearer view. At least 49 people had been killed in five states — Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia. By early counts, South Carolina suffered the greatest loss of life, registering at least 19 deaths.”

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The Ledes

Saturday, September 28, 2024

Washington Post: “Rescue teams raced to submerged homes, scoured collapsed buildings and steered thousands from overflowing dams as Helene carved a destructive path Friday, knocking out power and flooding a vast arc of communities across the southeastern United States. At least 40 people were confirmed killed in five states since the storm made landfall late Thursday as a Category 4 behemoth, unleashing record-breaking storm surge and tree-snapping gusts. 4 million homes and businesses have lost electricity across Florida, Georgia and the Carolinas, prompting concerns that outages could drag on for weeks. Mudslides closed highways. Water swept over roofs and snapped phone lines. Houses vanished from their foundations. Tornadoes added to the chaos. The mayor of hard-hit Canton, N.C., called the scene 'apocalyptic.'” An AP report is here.

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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Wednesday
Jan252023

January 25, 2023

Afternoon Update:

Trae Crowder, the Liberal Redneck, explains all:

     ~~~ Marie: To be fair to Donald Trump, Kevin McCarthy, Sean Hannity, et al., I think they already knew every bit of the wisdom the Liberal Redneck shares with us. Thanks to RAS for the lead.

Karen DeYoung, et al., of the Washington Post: "The Biden administration announced Wednesday that it will send 31 of its premier battle tanks to Ukraine, following agreement with Germany to deliver scores of its Leopard 2 tanks from across Europe. The decisions end months of debate among Western allies and pave the way for a major shift in the balance of power on the Ukrainian battlefield. President Biden said after morning calls with European leaders that the decisions belied Russian President Vladimir Putin's belief that the West would eventually tire of its commitment to Ukraine and 'break up' their coalition." Related story linked below.

My Kevin Says He's Found a Red Line. Andrew Solender of Axios: "House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) on Tuesday said Rep. George Santos (R-N.Y.) will be removed from Congress if the House Ethics Committee finds he broke the law.... It's the closest McCarthy has come to outlining potential consequences for the Long Island freshman amid a battery of investigations into revelations he fabricated huge swaths of his resume." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: In case you're relieved that Kevin has found the vestiges of his spine, think again. The Ethics Committee, unlike other House committees is equally divided. (I don't think this Congress's committee members have been named.) That means Republicans (or Democrats) on the committee can veto any measure the committee considers. So, let's say one or more of the entities finds that George Anthony has broken the law, an eventuality that seems likely. The Ethics Committee, at Republicans' behest, may still decide not to decide. And My Kevin will just have to support keeping George Anthony on his back bench.

Louisiana. Glenn Thrush of the New York Times: "The Justice Department has found that Louisiana's longstanding practice of detaining more than a quarter of its inmates beyond their court-ordered release dates violates the Constitution. The Louisiana Department of Public Safety and Corrections 'is deliberately indifferent to the systemic overdetention of people in its custody,' according to a copy of a report obtained by The New York Times on Wednesday.... Louisiana officials, who cooperated with federal investigators, are discussing a possible agreement with the Justice Department to overhaul the system. But the department ... concluded that the state has known about the problem for at least a decade and has done little to address it."

Virginia. Paul Bibeau & Sarah Mervosh of the New York Times: "In the hours before a 6-year-old boy shot his first-grade teacher in Virginia this month, school leaders were warned three times that the boy might have a gun, a lawyer for the teacher said on Wednesday, including an account from another child at the school who tearfully reported that the boy had shown him the gun at recess. The lawyer, Diane Toscano, announced the teacher's intent to file a lawsuit against the school district in Newport News, Va., laying out a series of escalating warnings that unfolded on the day of the shooting, when the police say a 6-year-old boy took his mother's gun from home, brought it to Richneck Elementary School and fired at his teacher, Abigail Zwerner." MB: If this is true, and I have no reason to doubt it, the school administration's negligence is inexcusable.

~~~~~~~~~~

** Jamie Gangel, et al., of CNN: "A lawyer for former Vice President Mike Pence discovered about a dozen documents marked as classified at Pence's Indiana home last week, and he has turned those classified records over to the FBI, multiple sources familiar with the matter told CNN. The FBI and the Justice Department's National Security Division have launched a review of the documents and how they ended up in Pence's house in Indiana. The classified documents were discovered at Pence's new home in Carmel, Indiana, by a lawyer for Pence in the wake of the revelations about classified material discovered in President Joe Biden's private office and residence, the sources said. The discovery comes after Pence has repeatedly said he did not have any classified documents in his possession." At 12:10 pm ET, this is a breaking news story. The New York Times' breaking story is by Maggie Haberman. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     ~~~ CNN reported on-air that the documents at Pence's residence were discovered in a non-secure area.

Catie Edmndson & Karoon Demirjian of the New York Times: "Speaker Kevin McCarthy on Tuesday unilaterally exiled Representatives Adam B. Schiff and Eric Swalwell from the House Intelligence Committee, making good on a longstanding threat to expel the California Democrats in his first major act of partisan retribution since taking the majority..., though [McCarthy] denied that his decision was retaliatory. Instead, he argued that both men had displayed behavior unbecoming of the committee tasked with overseeing the nation's intelligence services.... Because the intelligence panel is a 'select' committee, the speaker has the authority to dictate who can serve.... Mr. Schiff and Mr. Swalwell are not expected to lose their other committee assignments. Removing members from other committees requires a vote on the House floor.... Mr. McCarthy has also threatened to remove Representative Ilhan Omar, Democrat of Minnesota, from congressional committees for criticism of Israel that Republicans and some Democrats have condemned as anti-Semitic." During the last Congress, Democrats and some Republicans voted to remove GOP Representatives Marjorie Taylor Greene and Paul Gosar from committees for endorsing violence against Democratic members of Congress. A Guardian report is here.

Covid Conspiracy Theorist Joins Covid Subcommittee. Jordain Carney of Politico: "House Republicans have tapped the members who will lead an investigation into how the government handled the coronavirus pandemic, including conservative firebrand Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene.... The subcommittee is likely to be at the center of a multi-pronged, GOP-led effort to investigate coronavirus policies. That's expected to include pandemic restrictions, the origins of the virus and decisions by high-profile health officials, including Anthony Fauci, who stepped down from his post as President Joe Biden's chief medical adviser last year." ~~~

     ~~~ We can be sure Miss Margie will bring a wealth of expertise to the committee. Eugene Scott of the Washington Post (January 22, 2022): "Facebook suspended Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) for one day for spreading misinformation about covid-19, a day after Twitter permanently suspended her personal account for repeatedly violating the company's policy"

The Case of the Unmarked Boxes. Michael Gold & Nicholas Fandos of the New York Times: "An updated campaign finance report filed on Tuesday raised new questions about the source of six-figure loans that Representative George Santos gave his congressional campaign. In previous filings with the Federal Election Commission, the Santos campaign has reported that Mr. Santos, a Republican from New York who is already facing inquiries from federal and local investigators over his lies and financial dealings, lent his own campaign more than $700,000. But in an update to a report originally filed in April 2022, the Santos campaign unmarked a box that had originally indicated that $500,000 of those loans came from Mr. Santos's own personal funds.... In a separate amended report, another $125,000 loan that Mr. Santos gave to his campaign on Oct. 26 similarly had an unchecked box, suggesting that it did not come from his personal funds either.... Mr. Santos's campaign on Tuesday filed 10 amended reports, updating filings it had previously sent the F.E.C. over the last two years." ~~~

     ~~~ Dareh Gregorian of NBC News: "In an interview last month with WABC radio, Santos said the loans were money 'I paid myself' through the Devolder Organization, his company." MB: But hey, it's not against the law to lie to the media.

Ben Sisario & Matt Stevens of the New York Times: "Live Nation Entertainment, the concert industry giant that owns Ticketmaster, came under withering attack during a Senate Judiciary hearing on Tuesday, with committee members from both parties criticizing it for the botched sale of tickets to Taylor Swift's latest tour and calling the company a monopoly that hinders competition and harms consumers. Over nearly three hours, senators pilloried a top Live Nation executive, Joe Berchtold, over the handling of Ms. Swift's tickets last November and over longstanding allegations that the company badgers its competitors to win new business. Such bullying would be a violation of a Justice Department agreement that set conditions on the merger of Live Nation and Ticketmaster in 2010."

Lindsay Whitehurst of the AP: "The month before the riot at the U.S. Capitol, members of the Proud Boys were growing increasingly angry about the outcome of the 2020 election and were expecting a 'civil war,' a former member told jurors on Tuesday as he took the stand in the seditious conspiracy case against the group's former leader. Matthew Greene testified in the case against former Proud Boys national chairman Enrique Tarrio and four lieutenants under a cooperation deal with the government after pleading guilty to storming the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, with fellow extremists.... The Proud Boys were getting 'ready and willing for anything that was going to happen,' Greene said, adding that the group saw itself as 'essentially the tip of the spear.'"

** Richard Fausset & Danny Hakim of the New York Times: "Fani T. Willis, the local prosecutor overseeing the investigation into efforts by ... Donald J. Trump and his allies to overturn his 2020 election loss in Georgia, asked a judge in Atlanta on Tuesday not to make public the findings of a special grand jury that heard months of testimony in the case, saying that she was 'mindful of protecting future defendants' rights. n a two-hour hearing before Judge Robert C.I. McBurney of Fulton County Superior Court, Ms. Willis argued that disclosing the jury's recently completed investigative report could complicate potential efforts to seek indictments.... A lawyer representing a coalition of news organizations asked Judge McBurney to make the report public.... Judge McBurney said he would rule on the matter at a later date." MB: Teevee commentators are very excited about Willis' use of the word "defendants."

Cutting His Losses, Ctd. John Wagner of the Washington Post: "... Donald Trump on Tuesday withdrew a second lawsuit against New York Attorney General Letitia James (D) related to her office's fraud probe of his business practices.... No reason was given for the withdrawal. Trump first filed the lawsuit in federal court in Syracuse, N.Y., claiming James was violating his rights and that of his company by pursuing a politically motivated investigation. After a judge in May found 'no evidence' that James had acted with bias, Trump appealed the ruling.... U.S. District Judge Donald M. Middlebrooks [earlier] had fined Trump and Habba almost $1 million for what was ruled a frivolous lawsuit brought against his 2016 presidential rival, Hillary Clinton, and others. In his 46-page judgment, Middlebrooks cited the lawsuit against James as among those that demonstrated 'a pattern of abuse of the courts' by Trump."

Washington Post Editors: "Former secretary of state Mike Pompeo['s] ... commentary on the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, a Post contributing columnist, reveals [that he] coddled the person who sent the Khashoggi hit squad..., Prince Mohammed bin Salman.... The murder was at least partly retribution against Khashoggi for commentaries in The Post in which he had called for a freer Arab world and a more open and tolerant Saudi Arabia -- and in which he criticized MBS's dictatorial ways.... Donald Trump and his secretary of state reacted to the murder by protecting the Saudi despot, refusing to impose serious penalties against the kingdom, ignoring a congressional resolution calling for sanctions, and seeking to refurbish MBS's standing. Mr. Pompeo makes no secret of his admiration.... Mr. Pompeo reveals that, in private, he and Mr. Trump felt they rescued the crown prince from disrepute.

David McCabe & Nico Grant of the New York Times: "The Justice Department and a group of eight states sued Google on Tuesday, accusing it of illegally abusing a monopoly over the technology that powers online advertising, in the agency's first antitrust lawsuit against a tech giant under President Biden and an escalation in legal pressure on one of the world's biggest internet companies. The lawsuit said Google had 'corrupted legitimate competition in the ad tech industry by engaging in a systematic campaign to seize control of the wide swath of high-tech tools used by publishers, advertisers and brokers to facilitate digital advertising.'" The Guardian's report is here. A Vox story is here.

Sarah Ellison of the Washington Post: "In a major reversal, Rupert Murdoch and Lachlan Murdoch have decided that the two companies controlled by their family will no longer seek to recombine. News Corp., which owns the Wall Street Journal, New York Post and other newspapers, and Fox Corp., which oversees Fox News and Fox Sports, said Tuesday evening that the media mogul and his eldest son had concluded that the proposed recombination was 'not optimal for shareholders' right now. The special committees that both companies formed to evaluate the possible combination have been dissolved. The move came after several shareholders objected to the deal."

Way Beyond the Beltway

Ukraine, et al.

The New York Times' live updates of developments Wednesday in Russia's war on Ukraine are here. ~~~

     ~~~ The Washington Post live briefing for Wednesday is here: "Berlin announced plans Wednesday to send German-made Leopard 2 main battle tanks to Ukraine, following weeks of international pressure. Germany will send 14 tanks from its own military stocks and begin training Ukrainian forces in Germany. The package will also include logistics, ammunition and system maintenance support, the government said, adding that it would also 'issue the appropriate transfer permits' enabling other European nations to reexport their Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine. NATO members welcomed the news.... Ukrainian forces have withdrawn from the eastern town of Soledar, military spokesman Sergiy Cherevaty told Agence France-Presse on Wednesday. The withdrawal leaves the small salt mining town of around 10,000 people in the eastern Donetsk region in Russian hands and is the first significant town that Russia has captured since July.... [Ukraine President Volodymyr] Zelensky promised to make wide-ranging personnel changes amid a public outcry over corruption allegations involving government and law enforcement officials.... Two British men were killed while attempting to evacuate civilians in eastern Ukraine, according to a family statement." ~~~

     ~~~ A Politico report on Germany's plans to send battle tanks to Ukraine is here.

Helene Cooper & Eric Schmitt of the New York Times: "Reversing its longstanding resistance, the Biden administration plans to send M1 Abrams tanks to Ukraine, U.S. officials said on Tuesday, in what would be a major step in arming Kyiv in its efforts to seize back its territory from Russia. The White House is expected to announce a decision as early as Wednesday, said the officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the discussions. Two officials said the number of Abrams tanks could be about 30. Over the past month, Pentagon officials had expressed misgivings about sending the Abrams, citing concerns about how Ukraine would maintain the advanced tanks, which require extensive training and servicing. And officials said it could take years for them to actually reach any Ukrainian battlefields. But Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III has now come around to the view that committing to sending American tanks is necessary to spur Germany to follow with its coveted Leopard 2 tanks." An AP report is here.

Andrew Meldrum of the AP: "Several senior Ukrainian government officials lost their jobs as President Volodymyr Zelenskyy sought Tuesday to contain a burgeoning corruption scandal amid the nearly 11-month-old Russian invasion. The high-level shakeup came as Poland formally requested permission from Germany to transfer a modest number of its Leopard 2 battle tanks to Ukraine. Germany builds the high-tech armor and Warsaw needs Berlin's permission to send them to a non-NATO country.... The deputy head of Ukraine's presidential office, Kyrylo Tymoshenko, quit as Zelenskyy pledged to address allegations of graft -- including some related to wartime spending -- that embarrassed authorities and could slow Ukraine's efforts to join the European Union and NATO.... Deputy Defense Minister Viacheslav Shapovalov also resigned, local media reported, alleging his departure was linked to a scandal involving the purchase of food for Ukraine's armed forces. Deputy Prosecutor General Oleksiy Symonenko also quit. In all, four deputy ministers and five regional governors were set to leave their posts, the country's cabinet secretary said on the Telegram messaging app." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Vatican. Nicole Winfield of the AP: "Pope Francis criticized laws that criminalize homosexuality as 'unjust,' saying God loves all his children just as they are and called on Catholic bishops who support the laws to welcome LGBTQ people into the church. 'Being homosexual isn't a crime,' Francis said during an interview Tuesday with The Associated Press. Francis acknowledged that Catholic bishops in some parts of the world support laws that criminalize homosexuality or discriminate against the LGBTQ community, and he himself referred to the issue in terms of 'sin.' But he attributed such attitudes to cultural backgrounds, and said bishops in particular need to undergo a process of change to recognize the dignity of everyone."

News Lede

New York Times: "A man who fatally shot three people in what was apparently a random attack at a convenience store in Yakima, Wash., early Tuesday morning later shot and killed himself after an hourslong police manhunt, the authorities said. The gunman, Jarid Haddock, 21, took his own life before officers arrived and found him about 3:15 p.m., the authorities said.... A tip from a woman eventually helped the authorities find him dead from a self-inflicted gunshot. At a Target store in Yakima, the woman, whose name was not shared by the police, let Mr. Haddock use her cellphone to make a call, Chief Murray said. She then heard Mr. Haddock call his mother and say, 'I killed those people,' according to [Yakima Police Chief Matthew] Murray."

Comments Off

Reader Comments (6)

"Optimal for shareholders" say the Murdochs? Who dat?

In the Murdochs case since the major shareholders are themselves, I'd guess they are the shareholders they are most concerned about in deciding not to go through with the contemplated merger.

Why would that be?

Could it be the Dominion lawsuit. (are there others?) has them a bit a-tremble, and they wish to limit their liability exposure to Faux only.

News Corp wants no part of Faux, at least until the legal dust settles.

January 25, 2023 | Unregistered CommenterKen Winkes

There is a new Sundance documentary about Brett Kavanaugh that features the story about ole Brett wagging his willy at two female students while he was in college. We knew about one of these incidents but the girl declined to come forward; the documentary has more info on these episodes. Looks to me, given Brett's "I was a virgin" thingy, he seems to have needed to advertise his equipment in a more direct --erect way.

God, by the way. was very pleased that Francis told his flock that God loves all his children even though God has lots and lots of problems with "bad" dudes that kill those children and other mistreats who destroy and plunder. God confesses that he has trouble remembering all those letters ---LGBTQ plus some other letters tagged on the end so he refers to them as The Alphabet Soup Group–--he figures whatever or whomever you want to be is fine with him as long as you love your neighbor as you would yourself.

January 25, 2023 | Unregistered CommenterP.D. Pepe

Today is Burns Day, celebrated mainly in Scotland (40% of my
heritage).
Too bad it's not in celebration of Marie Burns, but it's a celebration
of Robert Burns' birthday.
Anyone want my serving of Haggis?

January 25, 2023 | Unregistered CommenterForrest Morris

@Forrest Morris: I'll skip the haggis, though I admit I've never tasted it. However, Scotland is a'changin'.

When my husband and I traveled to Scotland, we stopped at the only B&B that had an opening within miles of this little mill town. The town was unremarkable (except for the fabulous mill shop!), and the B&B was a ways away, somewhere out on the moors. Best meals we'd ever had, and we ate well in Europe. We stayed an extra day. For the food. The chef, who was otherwise an unschooled local boy, had gone to culinary school in York.

January 25, 2023 | Registered CommenterMarie Burns

The out of control conspiracy agenda of the right.

January 25, 2023 | Unregistered CommenterRAS

Forrest,

You’re welcome to the haggis (Jesus!). The rest of us will enjoy a day in honor of ol’ Robbie Burns.

Back in the day, my friends and I used to celebrate the date with a night of songs, pints, poetry, and highlands inspired hijinks. For us it was right up there with Bloomsday, a commemoration of the day “Stately plump Buck Mulligan” came to the stairhead with his shaving utensils.

January 25, 2023 | Unregistered CommenterAkhilleus
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