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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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Thursday
Nov232023

Thanksgiving Day 2023

~~~ Ah, that's inspiring! But scarcely realistic. The first Thanksgiving was a three-day harvest festival, likely held in late September or October. Those Pilgrim women seated at the table? Probably not. Though the only four white married women to survive may have done most of the cooking, this first Thanksgiving was a men-only event, and the "guest list" included about 50 male colonists and 90 Wampanoag Indians. It was a political gathering, and in the middle of it, the colonists "exercised arms" to show the Wampanoag how powerful they were. The main course was venison; the Wampanoag brought five deer. The colonists probably offered water fowl but not turkey, as well as sea food like clams and lobsters. As for cranberry sauce & pumpkin pies: nope. The colonists didn't have sweetener readily available. Thanksgiving dinner was a 19th-century invention, promoted by Abraham Lincoln as a national holiday and by ladies' cookbooks, which mentioned turkey as only one of several possible main courses -- after pork, mutton, goose, duck and chicken pot pie. 


Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. Contributor Jeeves brings us driftglass's discourse on both-sider "journalism," which continues apace.

Kara Scannell of CNN: “The New York judge overseeing Donald Trump’s civil fraud trial and his law clerk have received hundreds of harassing messages that court security has deemed 'serious and credible' since the former president began publicly criticizing court staff. Since October 3, when Trump posted on social media a baseless allegation about Judge Arthur Engoron’s law clerk, threats against the judge 'increased exponentially' and were also directed to his clerk, according to Charles Hollon, a court officer-captain in New York assigned to the Judicial Threats Assessment unit of the Department of Public Safety, who signed a sworn statement.... The ... details made public in the Wednesday filing ... reveal the extent of that contact, including dozens of messages daily, phone doxing and the increased use of antisemitic language.” See also Akhilleus' related comment below.

Judge Aileen's Very Long Game. Josh Gerstein of Politico: “On paper, [Judge Aileen Cannon] has scheduled a trial to open next May in the case charging Donald Trump with hoarding national security secrets at Mar-a-Lago. In reality, she has run the pretrial process at a leisurely pace that will make a postponement almost inevitable, according to experts on criminal prosecutions related to classified information. Delaying Trump’s trial until after the November election would have a momentous implication: It might mean the trial never happens at all. If Trump wins the election and the case is still pending, he’s expected to order the Justice Department to shut it down.”

Presidential Race 2024

Thomas Edsell of the New York Times: “Brian Klaas, a political scientist at University College London, captured the remarkable nature of the 2024 presidential election in an Oct. 1 essay, 'The Case for Amplifying Trump’s Insanity.' Klaas argued that the presidential contest now pits 'a 77-year-old racist, misogynist bigot who has been found liable for rape, who incited a deadly, violent insurrection aimed at overturning a democratic election, who has committed mass fraud for personal enrichment, who is facing 91 separate counts of felony criminal charges against him and who has overtly discussed his authoritarian strategies for governing if he returns to power against 'an 80-year-old with mainstream Democratic Party views who sometimes misspeaks or trips.'... In Klaas’s view, newspapers and television have succumbed to what he called the 'banality of crazy,' ignoring 'even the most dangerous policy proposals by an authoritarian who is on the cusp of once again becoming the most powerful man in the world — precisely because it happens, like clockwork, almost every day.'” ~~~

     ~~~ Ignore Him at Your Peril. Reid Epstein of the New York Times notes that Democrats are getting interested in more coverage of Trump. “'The more the American people are confronted with who Donald Trump is — a dangerous, extreme and erratic man who only cares about using the power of the government to help himself and his friends — the more they reject him,' said Ammar Moussa, a Biden campaign spokesman. 'We will continue to highlight for voters what’s at stake if Trump and his cronies are allowed anywhere near the Oval Office.'” ~~~

~~~ Marie: Here's a media lapse: Trump made his claim he had received a "Hannival Lecter endorsement" in early October; I'm just hearing about it now: ~~~

~~~ Donald Trump Is Still Crazy, Ctd. Tommy Christopher of Mediaite: “MSNBC host Ali Velshi cracked up his crew while roasting ... Donald Trump for bragging about getting the coveted — and entirely made-up — Hannibal Lecter endorsement....

VELSHI: Then there was this at a rally in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, this month.

TRUMP: Has anybody seen Silence of the Lambs? Hannibal Lecter. How great an actor was he? You know why I like him? Because he said on television on an — one of the — 'I love Donald Trump!' So I love him! I love him!

VELSHI: Hannibal Lecter said that.... It does seem that Trump got mixed up about the actor who played the cannibal in the 1991 film. But who really knows? Because Anthony Hopkins never actually publicly supported Trump. Neither did Mads Mikkelsen or Brian Cox, the other actors who portrayed Hannibal Lecter in the past. In fact, Cox is on record calling Donald Trump a, quote, 'effing a-hole and, quote, “so full of” rhymes with spit.'” Thanks to Akhilleus for the lead. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: No sane person would boast that a fictional serial killer admires him; neither is a sane person unable to disguish between an actor (who never said anything positive about Trump) & the evil character he played on screen. Trump's Hannibal Lecter boast is the ranting of a madman -- and one who doesn't even enjoy a nice Chianti.


Alexandra Marquez of NBC News: "More than half of American voters -- 52% -- say they or someone in their household owns a gun, per the latest NBC News national poll. That's the highest share of voters who say that they or someone in their household owns a gun in the history of the NBC News poll, on a question dating back to 1999." MB: So, umm, I guess that's a true Thanksgiving tradition. Sweet.

~~~~~~~~~~

Iowa. Timothy Bella of the Washington Post: “Kim Phuong Taylor was convicted Tuesday of 52 counts of voter fraud, the Justice Department announced.... Taylor carried out a scheme to fraudulently generate votes for her husband, Woodbury County Supervisor Jeremy Taylor, who was challenging Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) in the June 2020 GOP congressional primary election. After Jeremy Taylor finished a distant third in that race, Kim Phuong Taylor again engaged in ballot fraud to help her husband’s successful reelection campaign as county supervisor, prosecutors say.” The Iowa Public Radio story is here.

~~~~~~~~~~

Israel/Palestine

The Washington Post's live updates of developments Thursday in the Israel/Hamas war are here: "A swap of Palestinian prisoners in Israel for Israeli hostages held by Hamas in Gaza would not begin earlier than Friday, Tzachi Hanegbi, Israel’s National Security Council director, said in a statement overnight. The first part of the agreement, a four-day pause in fighting, is set to begin earlier. The deal, which involves the first major pause since Israel launched an air and ground assault on the Gaza Strip after Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, is set to allow the exchange of at least 50 Israeli hostages, civilian women and children, for 150 Palestinian women and teenagers held in Israeli prisons. Israel has said it could extend the pause by a day for every additional 10 hostages released after the initial group."

Alexander Ward, et al., of Politico: “Some Biden administration officials quietly say the hostage exchange agreement is the clearest signal yet its strategy toward the Israel-Hamas war is working.... Three U.S. administration officials ... suggested President Joe Biden shouldn’t shy away from what the policy has accomplished to date. 'It’s vindication,' said one of the officials earlier Tuesday before the deal was finalized, 'but there’s more to do.'... The Biden administration insists that Israel has an obligation to defend itself but should minimize civilian harm in the process. Over recent weeks, the U.S. worked to get 100 aid trucks a day into Gaza from Egypt and is in touch with humanitarian groups on how to further alleviate the suffering of Palestinians in the enclave. But the administration remains wary about Netanyahu’s endgame and seeming lack of a plan for what to do once Hamas is defeated.”

Comments Off

Reader Comments (14)

Thank you Marie for all your hard work keeping The Conversation going. I am sincerely grateful to you and all the regulars who chime in and so generously share everyday. Thank you, Thank you, Thank you!

November 23, 2023 | Unregistered CommenterJulia

As usual, in matters media, driftglass nails it: Our Unsolvable Problem

drifty and his wife, Blue Gal (aka Frances Langum of Crooks & Liars), also do a twice-weekly podcast: The Professional Left, available wherever you get your podcasts.

November 23, 2023 | Unregistered CommentermKaneJeeves

Something not to be thankful for…

As an appeals court decides who gets to control the trial, Judge Chutkan or a fat, treasonous defendant, an attorney for that flabby traitor suggests that the First Amendment is broad enough, when applied to Trump, that he should be allowed to tell his MAGA thugs the home addresses of jurors.

You know, in case they might want to “pay them a visit” or something.

“The problem of Trump’s outbursts and interference will surely arise again and again, most importantly during the jury selection phase and once the jury is seated. This seemed to be understood acutely during Monday’s oral arguments by the appellate judges, who questioned Trump’s attorney at length about the potential for a gag order restricting discussion of jurors. ‘It is revealing of the fortitude that you accord to the First Amendment and the really lack of any role for orders protecting the judicial process and that’s what I’m hearing,’ Judge Nina Pillard told Trump’s attorney after he argued that a gag order restricting the posting of a juror’s address—one of the most basic protections imaginable and a protection commonly used in high-profile prosecutions—might not pass constitutional muster.”

While it is unlikely (Jesus, at least I hope so) that this sort of outrageous latitude be granted to this dangerous, criminal piece of shit, the fact that he and his mouthpieces continue to try to shove their way into completely undermining any judicial proceeding that threatens to hold him in any way accountable should worry any American who believes in the rule of law. That, however, excludes nearly every MAGAt, whose understanding of “rule of law” does not apply to Trump, or really to any Party of Traitors hack.

November 23, 2023 | Unregistered CommenterAkhilleus

https://www.alternet.org/fox-news-hosts-thanksgiving-miracle/

Jason Chaffetz of Fox Noise claims he had to pay $90.00 for a
turkey this year.
The actual average price this year is $2,36 per lb. Where did he find
that 38 lb turkey. It would be tough as hell.
Also, cranberries are down 18% this year and inflation has dropped
from 9,1% of June last year to 3.2% last month and to 0% in October.

These people should probably get their facts straight before lying to
trumpbots who will believe every lie that comes their way.

November 23, 2023 | Unregistered CommenterForrestMorris

Commented thusly yesterday on the Edsall compendium of crazy:

So...What do we have here?

A presidential candidate who makes no sense who has the unquestioning support of millions who don't want him to...because they don't either.

Whadda country!

********

Nonetheless, much to be grateful for on this Thanksgiving Day, tho' finding it might require looking somewhere other than the headlines.

May you all have a good and peaceful one.

November 23, 2023 | Unregistered CommenterKen Winkes

The holiday wouldn't be complete without the Addams Family.

November 23, 2023 | Unregistered Commenterunwashed

@Forrest Morris: Chaffetz blamed Bidenomics for the price of his turkey even though the price of turkey/pound has gone down over the past couple of years.

But Jason produced the proof: the turkey he bought did not cost $90, but $114. He tweeted a picture of the bird with the price tag still slapped onto the packaging, which declares that the turkey came from California where it was "thoughtfully raised on sustainable family farms..., is 100% vegetarian fed..., raised without antibiotics..., and minimally processed." So that $114 bought the Chaffetz family one fine bird.

I didn't get a whole turkey, but a mere 5 pounds of turducken, which I had to special-order from Louisiana. It cost $90.

November 23, 2023 | Registered CommenterMarie Burns

The story of Florida governor Ron DeSantis and his personal "Florida State Guard" has been common knowledge for some time now. Lately there have been new developments nooted here from Crooks & Robbers: https://crooksandliars.com/2023/11/report-shows-desantis-has-private-fascist

November 23, 2023 | Unregistered CommenterBobby Lee

re today's feast,

I strictly adhere to an all natural diet, centered on Nature's Perfect food: Pizza. Of course I eat only pies grown on certified Organic Pizza trees, harvested by fairly compensated members of the Artisan Pizza Growers Union.

November 23, 2023 | Unregistered CommenterD in MD

I will always be grateful to you, Marie. Your responses to Times Op-Eds clued me in to your brilliance, and then you went and started this site. I have turned to you, AK, Ken, and the rest of the contributors every day since. You are my community.

November 23, 2023 | Unregistered CommenterJack Mahoney

@Jack Mahoney: Well, Jack, you've been one of my heroes for decades. I'm honored you're among the notables who have uses and/or contributed to this site over the years.

November 23, 2023 | Registered CommenterMarie Burns

A Thanksgiving story.

Looks like this millionaire next door was infected at an early age by those Humanities his father taught.

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/23/us/new-hampshire-hinsdale-millionaire-geoffrey-holt.html

No wonder the Right doesn't like them. They are not all about Me.

November 23, 2023 | Unregistered CommenterKen Winkes

Marie - What Jack said ^^. I also learned of your site reading your thoughtful NYT Op-Ed responses. As much as I appreciate the news and opinions linked each day, I enjoy reading your interests and perspectives on these stories and the perspectives from your contributors even more than the published work. I am so grateful you continued on in September. With the cast of r clowns proliferating like weeds and continuously finding new ways to shock and torment, we need this community more than ever.

November 23, 2023 | Unregistered Commenterlaura hunter
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