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[.]”

The Wires
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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
May062023

May 6, 2023

Afternoon Update:

Maureen Dowd of the New York Times mocks the whiney boys on the Supreme Court, with special shoutouts to Gorsuch, Thomas & Suffering Sam.

Ukraine. Marc Santora, et al., of the New York Times: "An American-made Patriot air-defense missile successfully intercepted one of the most sophisticated conventional weapons in Russia's arsenal for the first time over Kyiv on Thursday night, the Ukrainian air force claimed on Saturday. The downing of a Russian hypersonic Kinzhal missile by a Patriot missile, confirmed by three senior U.S. officials, appeared to offer the first proof that Russia's hypersonic missiles -- presented as invulnerable by President Vladimir V. Putin -- could be defeated by current Western missile defense systems. 'I congratulate the Ukrainian people on a historic event,' Lt. Gen. Mykola Oleshchuk, the commander of the Ukrainian air force, said in a statement posted on the Telegram messaging app. 'Yes, we have shot down the "unparalleled Kinzhal."'"

Presidential Race 2024. Slicker, and Worse Than Trump. Jonathan Weisman of the New York Times: Vivek "Ramaswamy, [a candidate for the GOP presidential nomination and] a lavishly wealthy 37-year-old entrepreneur and author pitching himself as a new face of intellectual conservatism, is promising to go farther down the road of ruling by fiat than Mr. Trump would or could."

~~~~~~~~~~

The Washington Post is liveblogging the coronation of King Charles III & Queen Camilla of the U.K. Aw, go ahead and turn on the teevee. Be a witness to history. This is literally a once-a-lifetime event (at least for Chuck & Cam). The New York Times liveblog is here. ~~~

~~~ Marie: I looked for a "summary" video of the whole hoohah but didn't find one. The Times liveblog has a bunch of very short videos that more or less do the trick. ~~~

     ~~~ Update: So here's the BBC's "Coronation Ceremony in Four Minutes":

More Worms Turn. Amy Gardener & Holly Bailey of the Washington Post: "At least eight of the 16 Georgia Republicans who convened in December 2020 to declare Donald Trump the winner of the presidential contest despite his loss in the state have accepted immunity deals from Atlanta-area prosecutors investigating alleged election interference, according to a lawyer for the electors. Prosecutors with the office of Fulton County District Attorney Fani T. Willis (D) told the eight that they will not be charged with crimes if they testify truthfully in her sprawling investigation into efforts by Trump, his campaign and his allies to overturn Joe Biden's victory in Georgia, according to a brief filed Friday in Fulton County Superior Court by defense attorney Kimberly Bourroughs Debrow. Willis has said that the meeting of Trump's electors on Dec. 14, 2020, despite Republican Gov. Brian Kemp's certification of Biden's win, is a key target of her investigation...." (Also linked yesterday.) Politico's story, by Kyle Cheney, is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Update. Danny Hakim of the New York Times: "More than half of the bogus Georgia electors who were convened in December 2020 to try to keep ... Donald J. Trump in power have taken immunity deals in the investigation into election interference there, according to a court filing on Friday and people with knowledge of the inquiry. In addition, Craig A. Gillen, the former deputy independent counsel in the 1980s-era Iran Contra scandal, has been hired to represent a fake elector who could still face criminal charges, David Shafer, the head of the Georgia Republican Party. Mr. Gillen specializes in cases involving racketeering, which is among the charges being weighed by Fani T. Willis, the district attorney of Fulton County, Ga." According to a filing by attorney Kimberley Debrow, eight of her fake-elector clients had accepted immunity deals as had at least one other fake elector.

Clare Hymes & Graham Kates of CBS News: "Attorneys for the writer E. Jean Carroll released about 48 minutes of deposition video shown at the trial in which former President Donald Trump was pressed about Carroll's claim that he raped her in the 1990s. The video was released after media organizations, including CBS News, asked the judge in the case to make it public." MB: Not mentioned in the report is the part where Trump changes his tack on the "Access Hollywood" footage. Instead of sticking with the oft-repeated "locker-room talk" defense, now Trump essentially endorses his remarks about sexual assault, saying that it was true that "stars" can do whatever they want with women and agreeing with Carroll's that he is a "star." That's an admission not only of the veracity of the views he once expressed in the "Access Hollywood" interview but also of the assaults he routinely made on women. ~~~

     ~~~ Below is a portion of Donald Trump's deposition that jurors heard Thursday during the last day of testimony in E. Jean Carroll. Video of the full portion of the deposition shown to the jury is here: ~~~

America's No. 1 Traitor for President*! John Wagner of the Washington Post: "A day after federal prosecutors won their latest high-profile cases against leaders of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol..., Donald Trump lashed out in a social media post at the Justice Department.... 'Back in the USA, but sadly I see so many really bad things happening to our Country,' Trump, who broke ground earlier this week on a golf course in Scotland, wrote on Truth Social, his social media platform. 'The DOJ and FBI are destroying the lives of so many Great American Patriots, right before our very eyes,' he wrote. 'The Court System is a RUBBER STAMP for their conviction and imprisonment. All this while the Radical Left protects and coddles extremists and murderers at a level, and with intensity, never seen before. GET SMART AMERICA, THEY ARE COMING AFTER YOU!!!'" (Also linked yesterday.) This should go under "Presidential Race 2024," but I've filed that under "Normal News," and Trump's remarks are shockingly abnormal, even for him.

You are not a political prisoner, Mr. Schwartz. You are not Alexei Navalny. -- Judge Amit Mehta, in sentencing insurrectionist Peter Schwartz, who called himself "Patriot Pete Political Prisoner in DC" ~~~

~~~ Another Very Fine Insurrectionist Gets Long Jail Sentence. Alan Feuer & Zach Montague of the New York Times: "A Pennsylvania welder [-- Peter Schwartz --] who attacked police officers at the Capitol with a chair and then chemical spray was sentenced on Friday to slightly more than 14 years in prison, the most severe penalty handed down so far in connection with the events of Jan. 6, 2021.... In court papers filed last month, prosecutors said that [Schwartz] and his wife at the time made their way to 'the thick of the violence' at the west terrace of the Capitol, where they 'aggressively participated in the effort to overwhelm the police line.' He later boasted in a text message that he had thrown 'the first chair at the cops,' adding, 'I started a riot.' Prosecutors claimed that the chair he hurled created an opening in the police line, enabling hundreds of other rioters to flood the terrace as police officers retreated. Mr. Schwartz ... then stole a canister of pepper spray and other chemical munitions the police had left behind and used them 'to attack those same officers as they desperately tried to escape the growing and increasingly violent mob.'" The NBC News story is here.

Normal News

Reuters: President Joe Biden said on Friday he was not yet ready to invoke the 14th Amendment to avoid the United States defaulting on its debts as early as June 1, comments which for the first time suggested he has not ruled out the option. 'I've not gotten there yet,' Biden said in an interview with MSNBC when asked about the possibility of invoking the amendment."

Michael Shear of the New York Times: "Neera Tanden, a longtime Democratic adviser who is currently President Biden's staff secretary, will serve as the director of the Domestic Policy Council, the president announced on Friday. Ms. Tanden, who has been a fixture in Washington for more than two decades as an adviser to President Barack Obama and as the president of the Center for American Progress, will replace Susan Rice as Mr. Biden's top domestic policy adviser." (Also linked yesterday.)

Apoorva Mandavilli of the New York Times: "Dr. Rochelle Walensky, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, will step down from her position on June 30, she announced on Friday. In an agencywide meeting, Dr. Walensky admitted to having mixed emotions about her decision and broke down in tears, according to people on a conference call with her." (Also linked yesterday.)

New York Times Editors Get Real: "If [Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.)] cannot fulfill her obligations to the Senate and to her constituents, she should resign and turn over her responsibilities to an appointed successor. If she is unable to reach that decision on her own, [Sen. Chuck] Schumer, the majority leader, and other Democratic senators should make it clear to her and the public how important it is that she do so.... Her absence is a failure that deprives American voters of full representation on legislation and appointments that will affect them for decades to come.... Ms. Feinstein's difficulties with advancing age are serious and long predate her current illness. Last year, her hometown newspaper, The San Francisco Chronicle, reported that her memory has so deteriorated that she can no longer fulfill her job duties." (Also linked yesterday.)

Presidential Race 2024. Katie Rogers of the New York Times: "In his first interview since announcing that he would seek a second term, President Biden sought to downplay concerns about his age by saying he was the most experienced person to have ever run for the presidency. 'I have acquired a hell of a lot of wisdom and know more than the vast majority of people,' Mr. Biden told the MSNBC host Stephanie Ruhle in an interview that aired on Friday night. 'And I'm more experienced than anybody that's ever run for the office. And I think I've proven myself to be honorable as well as also effective.'"

Beyond the Beltway

Florida. Still Wrastling with the Mouse. Brooks Barnes of the New York Times: "There is a new wrinkle in the ongoing tussle between Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida and the Walt Disney Company. On Friday, Mr. DeSantis signed a bill into law giving a board that oversees government services at Disney World the ability to void development agreements that had already been approved for the resort." Implementation against Disney is on hold while dueling lawsuits by the parties make their way through the courts. A CNBC report is here.

Georgia. Jason Morris & Sydney Kashiwagi of CNN: "Republican Gov. Brian Kemp of Georgia signed legislation Friday that will create an oversight commission with the power to remove local prosecutors and district attorneys from their jobs. The measure has been heavily criticized by Democrats, including an Atlanta-area DA, who is seriously weighing charges in connection with ... Donald Trump's actions in Georgia during the 2020 election.... Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis ... has vocally opposed the the legislation, warning that it would be 'dangerous' to undo decisions made by voters. In testimony before the Judiciary Committee of the Georgia Senate earlier this year, she also described the bill as racist and retaliatory. 'This bill was never deemed necessary until a historic thing happened in 2020. And let's just talk about it and tell the truth,' Willis testified, saying that in 2020, Georgia went from having five minority district attorneys to 14." MB: This is part of numerous efforts in GOP-controlled states to take local control away from their states' urban areas, particularly those cities and counties controlled by minorities and/or Democrats.

Oklahoma. Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "The Supreme Court granted a stay of execution on Friday to Richard Glossip, a death row inmate in Oklahoma, after the state's attorney general, Gentner F. Drummond, a Republican, told the justices that he agreed that Mr. Glossip's execution should be halted. In a rare move, Mr. Drummond wrote that the state had 'come to the difficult but essential conclusion that Glossip's capital conviction is unsustainable and a new trial imperative.' Lawyers call such statements 'confessions of error,' and courts ordinarily give them great weight. The stay issued by the Supreme Court will remain in place while the justices decide whether to hear Mr. Glossip's appeal, and if they do, until they decide it." CNN's story is here. (Also linked yesterday.)

North Carolina. Rebekah Riess of CNN: "Former North Carolina Rep. Madison Cawthorn pleaded guilty Friday to bringing a loaded handgun through a Transportation Security Administration checkpoint at the Charlotte Douglas International Airport last year, according to his attorney. Cawthorn, whose trial was set to start Friday, entered a guilty plea for the third-degree misdemeanor charge of possession of a dangerous weapon on city property, according to his attorney Missy Owen. The former Republican congressman was fined $250, without probation, and his firearm will be returned, his attorney said." (Also linked yesterday.)

News Lede

CNN: "Authorities in [Allen, Texass,] a suburb of Dallas, are responding to a shooting at an outlet mall, with ATF personnel on the scene at Allen Premium Outlets. There is at least one confirmed shooter who is being reported as deceased on the ground, a law enforcement source told CNN. There is a search for a possible second gunman, according to the source, based on descriptions from witnesses, although the involvement of a second shooter is not confirmed. Congressman Keith Self told CNN's Paula Reid that there are multiple casualties but he declined to specify a number, saying he would leave that information to law enforcement. 'The shooter is dead and I am told by law enforcement that there was only one shooter, they have now confirmed that,' the Republican representative said. 'There are now multiple victims but I am going to leave that to law enforcement to announce. The scene is now secure but it's fluid.'" ~~~

     ~~~ MB: At about 7:40 pm ET, the Allen police chief would not say how many fatalities there were but he did say that nine people were taken to area hospitals that he knows of and that others might have been taken in private vehicles. He said a police officer who was at the shopping mall on an unrelated call heard gunshots; the officer returned fire and killed the shooter.

Comments Off

Reader Comments (7)

It's so hard to praise oneself within the bounds of modesty....

"I have acquired a hell of a lot of wisdom and know more than the vast majority of people," may be true but maybe better for Biden to let his actions do the talking...


Much better tho' than the laughable and easily disproved "very stable genius" claim.


......if I do say so myself.

May 6, 2023 | Unregistered CommenterKen Winkes

Maureen Dowd takes on the boys in the band of brothers on the S.C. The one we haven't been looking into as closely as the others is Gorsuch. Here's her partial rundown:

"Neil Gorsuch is settling a score for his mother.
In her memoir, Anne Gorsuch Burford wrote that when she was forced out as Ronald Reagan’s Environmental Protection Agency administrator in 1983, her 15-year-old son, Neil, “was really upset.” He told her: “You should never have resigned. You didn’t do anything wrong. You only did what the president ordered. You raised me not to be a quitter. Why are you a quitter?”
Burford was attacked during her tempestuous tenure as an enemy of the environment who slashed rules and spending to gut the E.P.A. The last straw, even for Republican lawmakers and Reagan officials, was when she rejected calls to turn over documents about a toxic-waste cleanup program that her agency had corrupted. She received a contempt citation from Congress.
Last year, her son moved to complete her toxic mission. He enthusiastically joined the 6-to-3 vote to severely curtail the E.P.A.’s ability to regulate power plant emissions. The activists who pushed for Gorsuch to be nominated to the court are finally getting to their real goal: the dismantling of their despised administrative state...

Even though I’ve been writing since Bush v. Gore that the court is full of hacks and the bloom is off the robes, it is still disorienting to see the murk of this Supreme Court."

I'll drink to that!

May 6, 2023 | Unregistered CommenterP.D.Pepe

Just learned that Wesleyan University is going to cover costs of abortions, emergency contraception for all students. This is our youngest son's alma mater and possibly his daughter's in another year. What good news!

Ken: Yes, perhaps Biden could have been more modest but his accomplishments are not getting out to the public enough. But talking about modesty––-I just watched the full interview with Trump and E.Jean's "and you're not my type either if you don't mind me saying so"lawyer. Fascinating to watch Fatty, looking for all the world like a person who is totally bored by the whole mess but gradually begins to show his anger and resentment as the truth emerges and he begins to feel trapped.

Long live the King! in another country.

May 6, 2023 | Unregistered CommenterP.D.Pepe

PD,

Wow. That explains a few things. Judges who harbor resentment and seek vengeance, I would suggest, could have a difficult time developing the proper judicial temperament of balance, moderation, and fairness. We know for certain that Thomas and Kavanaugh are boiling over with bile and resentment. Barrett likely hauls around the resentment typical of religious zealots who live in a world where others don’t bend to their rules. Alito is the Court’s nasty old man who throws the next door kid’s baseball into the woods rather than hand it back over the fence. And now Gorsuch. Sticking to the hated guv’mint because his mom was fired.

Roberts? Who the fuck knows?

The grifting, the ethical holes, the grudges, the resentments, the barely checked hyper partisanship…the arrogance of unbridled power in the hands of people who hate.

Jesus. Could it get any worse?

May 6, 2023 | Unregistered CommenterAkhilleus

My wife informed me, while the replay was on, that Twitter wags watching the coronation thingy were surprised to see that Camilla (now the Queen C?) has backups. Those two ladies dressed exactly like Camilla, standing behind her (one, her sister, the other a friend) have been dubbed “Emergency Camillas”, in case, I suppose, the original is indisposed.

Also history making…I noticed that King Chuck is forgoing the karate chop hand wave made famous by his mum. Kinda sorry to see that go. It was so…other worldly. “We don’t wave. But we’ll do the karate chop.”

May 6, 2023 | Unregistered CommenterAkhilleus

Akhilleus asks, "Jesus. Could it get any worse?"

Short Answer: Yes, and it may again, but it already has.

Longer Answer: Tim Egan's "A Fever in the Heartland," his account of the explosive growth of the Ku Klux Klan in the northern and western United States during the 1920's, when the resurrected Klan controlled city governments, state legislatures, and governorships, chronicles one such time.

Egan follows the career and eventual downfall of the huckster who led the Klan's revival in the north. A cross between Billy Sunday and Al Capone, D. C. Stephenson's message of hate and fear fell on thousands of ready ears disturbed by all those same tensions that still splinter us into tribes: race, religion, and regionalism.

The resonances with the present are not subtle. Egan's occasionally droll text is deliberately littered with eye-rolling expressions like The Big Lie and Stephenson's loud claims of Fraud and Hoax.

I'd known something of the Klan's activities at that time in Oregon (which had one of the Klan governors) and more locally here in northwest Washington, but had no idea of the infection's extent.

If warnings can ever qualify as delightful reading, "A Fever in the Heartland" comes close.

Since 2016, tho, we shouldn't need one.

May 6, 2023 | Unregistered CommenterKen Winkes

Ak: Always remember Murphy's Law with the uncomforting comment that "Murphy was an optimist".

May 6, 2023 | Unregistered CommenterBobby Lee
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