The Ledes

Friday, September 27, 2024

New York Times: “Maggie Smith, one of the finest British stage and screen actors of her generation, whose award-winning roles ranged from a freethinking Scottish schoolteacher in 'The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie' to the acid-tongued dowager countess on 'Downton Abbey,' died on Friday in London. She was 89.”

The Washington Post's live updates of developments related to Hurricane Helene are here: “Hurricane Helene left one person dead in Florida and two in Georgia as it sped north. One of the biggest storms on record to hit the Gulf Coast, Helene slammed into Florida’s Big Bend area on Thursday night as a Category 4 colossus with winds of up to 140 mph before weakening to Category 1. Catastrophic winds and torrential rain from the storm — which the National Hurricane Center forecast would eventually slow over the Tennessee Valley — were expected to continue Friday across the Southeast and southern Appalachians.” ~~~

     ~~~ The New York Times' live updates are here.

Mediaite: “Fox Weather’s Bob Van Dillen was reporting live on Fox & Friends about flooding in Atlanta from Hurricane Helene when he was interrupted by the screams of a woman trapped in her car. During the 7 a.m. hour, Van Dillen was filing a live report on the massive flooding in the area. Fox News viewers could clearly hear the urgent screams for help emerging from a car stuck on a flooded road in the background of the live shot. Van Dillen ... told Fox & Friends that 911 had been called and that the local Fire Department was on its way. But as he continued to file the report, the screams did not stop, so Van Dillen cut the live shot short.... Some 10 minutes later, Fox & Friends aired live footage of Van Dillen carrying the woman to safety, waking through chest-deep water while the flooding engulfed her car in the background[.]”

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The Ledes

Thursday, September 26, 2024

The New York Times:' live updates of Hurricane Helene developments today are here. “Hurricane Helene was barreling through the Gulf of Mexico on Thursday en route to Florida, where residents were bracing for extreme rain, destructive winds and deadly storm surge ahead of the storm’s expected landfall. The storm could intensify to a Category 4, if not higher, before making landfall late Thursday, and forecasters warned Helene’s anticipated large size could make its impacts felt across an extensive area. Areas as distant as Atlanta and the Appalachians are at risk for heavy rains.... Many forecast models show the storm making landfall late Thursday near Florida’s Big Bend Coast, a sparsely populated stretch....” ~~~

     ~~~ The Washington Post has forecasts for some cites in Florida, Georgia, North Carolina & Tennessee that are in or near the probable path of Helene. ~~~

     ~~~ This morning, an MSNBC weatherperson said Tallahassee (which is inland) would experience wind gusts of up to 120 m.p.h. and that the National Weather Service said expected 20-foot storm surges near the coast would be “unsurvivable.”

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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
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May 20, 2023

Marie: If every American voter were forced to read this Washington Post story about Baby Milo before going to the ballot box, none would ever vote for a Republican. Please let us not hold just Gov. Ron DeSantis and his mostly-captive state legislature, who are more than willing to cause death & incalculable pain in service of DeSantis' national ambitions. Let us start with Sadistic Sam & the Supremes. Here's a video version of the story:

     ~~~ Jamelle Bouie of the New York Times: "All across the country, Republicans have passed laws to ... ban, limit or restrict the right to bodily autonomy, whether abortion or gender-affirming health care for transgender people..., regardless of public opinion.... The war on bodily autonomy is a critical project for nearly the entire G.O.P., pursued with dedication by Republicans from the lowliest state legislator to the party's powerful functionaries on the Supreme Court.... There is the push to free business from the suffocating grasp of child labor laws.... Republican-led legislatures are placing harsh limits on what teachers and other educators can say in the classroom about American history or the existence of L.G.B.T.Q. people.... Last but certainly not least is the Republican effort to make civil society a shooting gallery.... Famously, [President Franklin Roosevelt named four] freedoms: ... the 'freedom of speech and expression,' the 'freedom of every person to worship God in his own way,' the 'freedom from want' and the 'freedom from fear.'... There are, I think, four freedoms we can glean from the Republican program.... The freedom to control..., the freedom to exploit..., the freedom to censor..., and there is the freedom to menace...."


Catie Edmondson of the New York Times: "Bipartisan talks between top White House and Republican congressional officials over a deal to raise the debt limit ended without a breakthrough on Friday, capping a day of whiplash as negotiators seeking to avoid the first default in the nation's history repeatedly started and ended discussions amid growing G.O.P. frustration. Negotiations came to a halt on Friday morning after Republicans vented anger about discussions on spending caps, and Speaker Kevin McCarthy declared a 'pause' to the talks. Just hours later, he announced Republicans' return to the negotiating table, but the discussions ended after an hour on Friday night, and it was unclear when negotiators planned to meet again." (This is an update of a story linked yesterday afternoon.) The AP's story is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Every failure is an opportunity. Quit messing with these deadbeat hostage-takers, Joe. It's Fourteenth Amendment time! ~~~

     ~~~ BUT. Adam Cancryn of Politico: "Progressive lawmakers renewed their call for President Joe Biden to bypass Congress to avert a default after the abrupt cancellation of debt ceiling talks on Friday. But the White House remains resistant. It issued a subdued statement indicating it sees no reason to pull the plug on talks. And privately, its message has been even blunter. Senior Biden officials have told progressive activists and lawmakers in recent days that they do not see the 14th Amendment -- which says the 'validity of the public debt' cannot be questioned -- as a viable means of circumventing debt ceiling negotiations.... The White House has studied the issue for months, with some aides concluding that Biden would likely have the authority to declare the debt limit unconstitutional.... But Biden advisers have told progressives that they see it as a poor option overall, fearing such a move would trigger a pitched legal battle, undermine global faith in U.S. creditworthiness and damage the economy. Officials have warned that even the appearance of more seriously considering the 14th Amendment could blow up talks that are already quite delicate."

Charlie Savage of the New York Times: "F.B.I. analysts improperly used a warrantless surveillance program to search for information about hundreds of Americans who came under scrutiny in connection with two politically charged episodes of civil unrest: the protests after the 2020 police killing of George Floyd and the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, a newly declassified court ruling shows. While the F.B.I. has tightened restrictions since then, the disclosure of the misuses is likely to provide fodder to critics of the program as the Biden administration seeks to persuade Congress to renew it. The surveillance program, known as Section 702, empowers the government to collect, without a warrant and from American companies like Google and AT&T, the communications of foreigners abroad who are targeted for intelligenc purposes -- even when they are talking with or about Americans." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Meet Your Congressman. Nicholas Fandos of the New York Times: "... [Rep. Jamaal] Bowman, a media-savvy democratic socialist from the Bronx, has rapidly made a name for himself this spring by going where most of them have not: up to his opponents' actual faces.... Michael Eric Dyson, a professor of African American studies at Vanderbilt University, said that Mr. Bowman was part of a younger generation of Black politicians who have been shaped by hip-hop culture and who bring 'unvarnished gutbucket speech to bear on American politics,' with no desire to coddle those who disagree with them."

Alicia Napierkowski & Glenn Thrush of the New York Times: "Jack Teixeira, the 21-year-old Air Force National Guardsman accused of posting a trove of secret documents online, will remain in prison pending his trial because he poses a continuing threat to national security and public safety, a federal magistrate judge ruled on Friday. The judge, David H. Hennessy, cited Airman Teixeira's history of seeking out and posting classified intelligence materials in defiance of his superiors at an Air Force base on Cape Cod in Massachusetts, in denying his request to be released on bond into the custody of his father."

Zach Schonfeld of the Hill: "Conservative Justice Neil Gorsuch on Thursday slammed the use of emergency power during the pandemic as a mass intrusion on civil liberties. The high court on Thursday dismissed as moot a case seeking to preserve Title 42 after the pandemic emergency expired last week. The public health authority had allowed for the swift expulsion of migrants without allowing them to seek asylum. Gorsuch, in an attached statement to the court's unsigned order, more broadly railed against the use of emergency powers since COVID-19 shut down normal life, referencing among other things, lockdown orders, a federal ban on evictions and vaccine mandates. 'Since March 2020, we may have experienced the greatest intrusions on civil liberties in the peacetime history of this country. Executive officials across the country issued emergency decrees on a breathtaking scale,' Gorsuch wrote." MB: Yeah, Neil, you arrogant prick, because when you voted in Dobbs to overturn Roe v. Wade, nobody who matters (to you) lost her civil rights. But you had to wear a mask?! Oh, horrors.

Ryan Reilly of NBC News: "A Metropolitan Police Department lieutenant who supervised the intelligence branch of the Washington, D.C., police was indicted this week, charged with tipping off former Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio about a pending warrant for his arrest just ahead of the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.... Shane Lamond, 47, was indicted on one count of obstruction of justice and three counts of making false statements, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia said Friday. A federal grand jury charged Lamond with obstructing the investigation into the burning of [a Black Lives Matter] banner Dec. 12, 2020, when the Proud Boys were roaming the streets of Washington for a pro-Trump event. Between July 2019 and January 2021, Tarrio and Lamond communicated 'at least 500 times using cloud-based messaging services...," the indictment said. They sent approximately 145 messages using a secret chat function on Telegram that causes messages to disappear, the indictment charged, adding 'at least 101 of these messages were destroyed.'" (Also linked yesterday.)

Rudy's Legal Woes. (1) Josh Gerstein of Politico: "A federal judge has ordered Rudy Giuliani to provide a detailed accounting of his finances and net worth in connection with a lawsuit filed by two Georgia poll workers who contend the Trump lawyer defamed them by publicly accusing them of fraud in the 2020 presidential election. U.S. District Court Judge Beryl Howell issued the order during an unusual hearing Friday on ongoing disputes about access to Giuliani's evidence related to the suit brought by Ruby Freeman and Wandrea Moss two years ago.... After the hearing, Giuliani declined to speak to reporters about the document fight.... However, outside the courthouse, he held forth on a series of other subjects. He portrayed himself as a victim of a 'fascist state' seeking to punish anyone who provided legal counsel to ... Donald Trump." ~~~

~~~ (2) Sky Palma of the Raw Story: "Former Montgomery County district attorney Bruce Castor, who recently represented Rudy Giuliani in a civil suit, filed a motion in court this Tuesday to be removed as Giuliani's lawyer in the case, The Inquirer reported. 'He's not cooperating, and he's not paying me,' Castor explained. Giuliani was named in a lawsuit by a Delaware County voting-machine supervisor who says conspiracy theories about the 2020 election made him a target of hatred."~~~

~~~ (3) Adam Klasfeld of Law & Crime: "Two days after a woman filed a salacious lawsuit accusing Rudy Giuliani of rape, The Gateway Pundit ran the former mayor's raw and 'EXCLUSIVE' reaction to her sexual abuse claims. Law&Crime has learned that Giuliani's supposed comment was quietly airbrushed.... Within hours of publication, the right-wing website -- known for propagating fake news and conspiracy theories -- quietly deleted some of the most incendiary claims about Giuliani's accuser: Noelle Dunphy." In his original statement, Giuliani accused Dunphy of being a professional sex worker who scammed elderly men, a woman whom he never employed & who illegally taped him & accessed his emails. The massaged statement omitted those claims.

Emma Brown & Chris Dehghanpoor of the Washington Post: "A Nevada computer scientist has gone to federal court to pursue the $5 million prize he is owed by MyPillow chief executive Mike Lindell following a ruling by private arbitrators last month. The arbitrators found that Robert Zeidman deserved the money because he had successfully challenged data related to Lindell's false claims that the 2020 presidential election was stolen -- and had thus won a contest Lindell had dubbed: 'Prove Mike Wrong.' In their April 19 decision, they gave Lindell's firm, Lindell Management, 30 days to pay. Since then, Lindell has not turned over any money, and on Thursday he asked a state court in Minnesota to vacate the award on the grounds that the arbitration panel had 'exceeded its powers.'" A CBS News story is here.

Annals of "Journalism," Ha Ha Ha. Aidan McLaughlin of Mediaite: "The New York Post dropped a bombshell report last week: amid a nationwide influx of migrants, nearly two-dozen homeless veterans were kicked out of hotels where they were being temporarily housed in order to make room for migrants in upstate New York. The story, which was based on a claim by a veterans advocate, got the front page treatment: 'VETS KICKED OUT FOR MIGRANTS,' bellowed the Post last Saturday.... Naturally, Fox News covered the story enthusiastically, treating it as gospel on nearly every program. Hosts pinned blame for the very local story on [President] Biden.... Then, the story fell apart. First, the hotels that veterans were supposedly booted from told Mid-Hudson News they had no idea what the advocate, YIT Foundation Executive Director Sharon Finch, was talking about. Then, a local Republican New York lawmaker dug into her claims and concluded that she lied.... But wait, it gets worse. The Mid-Hudson News -- kudos to this local paper for some tremendous coverage on this story, by the way -- reported on Friday morning that seven homeless men had come forward to reveal that Finch approached them at a shelter this week, offering to pay them in cash, food, and alcohol to pretend that they were veterans who had been kicked out of the hotels to make way for migrants. [The New York Post printed a correction and a report on their story being false.] Fox News has yet to issue any correction over the story." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Presidential Race 2024. Jonathan Weisman of the New York Times: "The bipartisan political group No Labels is stepping up a well-funded effort to field a 'unity ticket' for the 2024 presidential race, prompting fierce resistance from even some of its closest allies who fear handing the White House back to Donald J. Trump. At the top of the list of potential candidates is Senator Joe Manchin III, the conservative West Virginia Democrat who has been a headache to his party and could bleed support from President Biden in areas crucial to his re-election." MB: These people make me sick. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Beyond the Beltway

Nebraska. Molly Hennessy-Fiske of the Washington Post: "Conservatives in the Nebraska legislature won just enough votes Friday to pass a combined ban on abortion at 12 weeks and gender-affirming treatment for minors, amid continuing protests at the state Capitol.... Friday's vote followed the 49-member Republican-dominated legislature's interim approval of the measure Tuesday. Gov. Jim Pillen (R) has said he will sign the bill and released a statement applauding its passage." The AP story is here.

Way Beyond

Ukraine, et al.

The New York Times' live updates of developments Saturday in Russia's war on Ukraine are here. The Guardian's live updates for Saturday are here. The Guardian's summary report is here. ~~~

     ~~~ The Washington Post's live briefing for Saturday is here: "President Biden is likely to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Japan for the Group of Seven summit this weekend, according to White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan.... The Ukrainian president has been on a whirlwind diplomatic tour in recent days, visiting Western European capitals and Saudi Arabia.... Zelensky urged Arab countries to help secure the release of Ukrainians in Russian detention in a Friday speech at the Arab League summit in Saudi Arabia."

David Sanger, et al., of the New York Times: "President Biden told U.S. allies on Friday that he would allow Ukrainian pilots to be trained on American-made F-16 fighter jets, moving toward letting other countries give the planes to Ukraine -- a major upgrade of the Ukrainian military and a sharp reversal.... Mr. Biden told other leaders of the Group of 7 nations, the world's wealthiest democracies, of his decision on pilot training, opening a path to supplying Ukraine with fighter jets, at their summit meeting in Hiroshima, Japan."

News Ledes

New York Times: "Martin Amis, whose caustic, erudite and bleakly comic novels redefined British fiction in the 1980s and '90s with their sharp appraisal of tabloid culture and consumer excess, and whose private life made him tabloid fodder himself, died on Friday at his home in Lake Worth, Fla. He was 73."/p>

New York Times: "Jim Brown, the Cleveland Browns fullback who was acclaimed as one of the greatest players in pro football history, and who remained in the public eye as a Hollywood action hero and a civil rights activist, though his name was later tarnished by accusations of violent conduct against women, died on Thursday night at his home in Los Angeles. He was 87."

Comments Off

Reader Comments (5)

Dear Neil.

Thanks for setting me straight. I had thought that stop signs, speed limits and perhaps prohibitions on drinking and driving were the greatest limitations ever imposed on our freedoms.

Now I know I was wrong.

The powers of your intellect and the great depth of your analyses are breathtaking.

May 20, 2023 | Unregistered CommenterKen Winkes

https://democraticunderground.com/10143076712

Russia issues list of 500 Americans who are banned from entering
their country.
I'll bet I could come up with dozens who are NOT on that list. Can't
wait for it to be published somewhere.
Tried to find it but I'm not very internetty.

May 20, 2023 | Unregistered CommenterForrest Morris

@Forrest Morris: Ha ha. I couldn't find the complete list either, but I'm sure Barack Obama & Stephen Colbert are mighty upset they won't be able to take their usual Siberia holidays this year.

May 20, 2023 | Registered CommenterMarie Burns

The problem with the traitor “justices” on the Supreme Court is that they all have agendas, and those agendas have nothing to do with the fair and impartial application of the law. Whether it’s living the good life while sticking it to those you hate, or trying to return the country to 19th century social and economic structures, or using phony originalism claims to wipe out generations of progressive improvements of which you disapprove, or getting revenge on the hated government for firing your mother (for not doing her job), or establishing a nation that must put theocracy ahead the law, or whatever…

As one of our regulars out here used to say, “Remember the Supremes”, meaning remember to vote. Vote so the crooks and gun knobbers and bible thumpers don’t get to pick Supreme Court justices.

Well, that’s what happened. Democrats (and the media!!) should have raised holy hell when the evil Turtle screwed Obama’s choice for the court. They should have done the same when the Fat fascist appointed a new Justice with weeks left in his term.

But they didn’t.

And here we are with a court beholden to extremist thinking in their party. You don’t think Gorsuch was influenced by all the snowflake caterwauling about masks? He’s concerned about masks. What about the way his president* allowed hundreds of thousands of Americans to die so he could win an election? Did their freedom not matter? The freedom to live?

Supremes with personal vendettas, lining their pockets as they go.

Wow. Couldn’t make this up.

May 20, 2023 | Unregistered CommenterAkhilleus

Happy Armed Forces Day everyone. Been reminiscing about all
those battles I fought during my 2 years in the military. No, they
weren't on the battlefield. It was the battle of San Francisco, trying
to outlive all those temptations (not the Supremes) of the big city,
with side trips to military bases near New Orleans (more temptations)
and the top secret underground command center in Virginia, which
I can't discuss because I signed my life away to the FBI and promised
not to tell anything about something which probably millions of
people know about.

May 20, 2023 | Unregistered CommenterForrest Morris
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