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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
Mar312011

The Commentariat -- April 1

Our American Monarch ...

... ** Susan Crabtree of TPM: "The White House would forge ahead with military action in Libya even if Congress passed a resolution constraining the mission, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said during a classified briefing to House members Wednesday afternoon.... The War Powers Act of 1973 ... puts limits on the ability of the President to send American troops into combat areas without congressional approval. Under the act, the President can only send combat troops into battle or into areas where 'imminent' hostilities are likely, for 60 days without either a declaration of war by Congress or a specific congressional mandate. The President can extend the time the troops are in the combat area for 30 extra days, without Congressional approval, for a total of 90 days.... The act does not specifically say what Congress could do if the President turns a blind eye to Congress and refuses to have his role as commander-in-chief constrained, as Presidents have routinely done...." ...

... Adam Serwer of American Prospect: "This is really alarming.... There's no other way to describe this other than lawless." Serwer titles his post "Shades of John Yoo." ...

... ** Glenn Greenwald explains, in detail, how the Obama administration has totally embraced Yoo's infamous 2001 memo establishing Bush's war powers doctrine. Yoo is so happy about it he penned an approving op-ed for the Wall Street Journal (CW: which I purposely chose not to link yesterday, but you can get it via Greenwald). Greenwald takes the Obama position back further -- to the Iran-Contra affair when then-Rep. Dick Cheney argued -- preposterously -- that it was "'unconstitutional for Congress to pass laws intruding' on the 'commander in chief.'" But Greenwald goes all the way back to Alexander Hamilton, "the founder most enthusiastic of executive power," who wrote that

[The Commander-in-Chief power] would amount to nothing more than the supreme command and direction of the military and naval forces, as first general and admiral of the confederacy: while that of the British king extends to the declaring of war, and to the raising and regulating of fleets and armies; all which, by the constitution under consideration, would appertain to the legislature.

What's Wrong with This Picture? ...

Lloyd Blankfein. Bloomberg News photo.... Susanne Craig of the New York Times: "Lloyd C. Blankfein, the chief executive of Goldman Sachs, received $19 million in compensation for 2010, including his first cash bonus since the 2008 financial crisis, according to a regulatory filing from the firm late Friday. His 2010 payday includes a $5.4 million cash bonus and other previously reported awards including $12.6 million in restricted stock, $600,000 salary and $464,067 in other benefits. Mr. Blankfein received $9.8 million a year earlier; all but $800,000 of that amount came in restricted stock." ...

... NOW compare that story with this one from Motoko Rich of the New York Times: "... many of the jobs being added [to the U.S. economy] in retail, hospitality and home health care, to name a few categories, are unlikely to pay enough for workers to cover the cost of fundamentals like housing, utilities, food, health care, transportation and, in the case of working parents, child care.... The study, commissioned by Wider Opportunities for Women, a nonprofit group, builds on an analysis ... [of] how much income it takes to meet basic needs without relying on public subsidies."

Karen Garcia: "... when the president was awarded a prize for White House 'transparency' on Monday by a coalition of open government advocates, it was done in secrecy, without notifying the press.  The president was honored for his so-called honesty behind closed doors, without so much as an MSNBC stenographer-journalist to record the event."

"Dope & Glory." Tim Egan writes a post I hate contrasting obvious doper all-around creep Barry Bonds with spunky sports underdogs. But you sports fans might like to read Egan, so here's a link. My comment may appear somewhere down the page. Or not.

New York Times writer Mike McIntire doesn't explicitly say so, but this article might be titled "How Big Business is Snookering Tea Party Naifs into Backing its Agenda."

Josh Rogin of Foreign Policy: "As Congress struggles to negotiate a budget deal..., the head of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) told lawmakers Wednesday that the GOP version of the budget bill would result in the deaths of at least 70,000 children who depend on American food and health assistance around the world." ...

... Next, Kill All the Poor People -- in This Country. Jonathan Allen of Politico: "House Republicans are planning to cut roughly $1 trillion over 10 years from Medicaid, the government health insurance program for the poor and disabled, as part of their fiscal 2012 budget, which they will unveil early next month, according to several GOP sources." CW: this is an easy one for the GOP because poor people -- who depend on Medicaid -- have no political clout. The plan is more smoke-and mirrors, of course. It will ultimately cost middle-class Americans because cutting Medicaid will drive up health insurance costs as hospitals pass on the costs of treating critically-ill indigents, patients whose illnesses -- if treated earlier -- would have been less costly to control. As our old friend former Rep. Alan Grayson (D-Fla.) famously characterized the Republican healthcare policy: (1) Don't get sick; (2) If you do, die quickly. Nothing has changed.

Jeanne Cummings of Politico: "Many cops and firefighters have thrown their allegiance to the GOP for years – union members who frequently stray from labor’s longtime support for Democrats. A host of new Republican governors is changing all that. It’s a political shift that could have significant repercussions.... Chuck Canterbury, the national president of the Fraternal Order of Police ... is traveling the country to rally FOP members to rise up against anti-labor laws in their states or in support of their colleagues in other states.”

New York Times Editors: "Even by Washington’s low standards, the House’s Republican freshmen are turning pandering into a high art. At a recent transportation hearing in his home district, Representative James Lankford of Oklahoma heaped praise on a panel of private sector witnesses. Three of the four executives so publicly favored were later discovered to be donors to Mr. Lankford’s campaign.... Ordinary voters may be making a show of demanding real political change, but they are being increasingly outbid at the big money table where American politics happens."

... many of the proposed spending reductions would disproportionately affect the neediest among us, including housing and heating assistance. Likewise, some of the proposed cuts would be economically counterproductive, negatively impacting our ability to innovate and invest in research and development. -- Sen. Scott Brown

Sen. Scott Brown (R-Mass.) has so lost his Right Wing World creds. Jennifer Epstein of Politico: "While some Senate Republicans are tacking right on the budget, Sen. Scott Brown is attacking proposed cuts coming from members of his own party as 'irresponsible' and urging both sides of the aisle to come together on a bipartisan deal."

Right Wing World *

You Can't Top This. David Barton is an American evangelical Christian minister, political activist, Christian revisionist historian (the U.S. is a Christian nation) & founder of the group WallBuilders. He is roundly criticized by real historians who deal in facts. But potential presidential candidate Mike Huckabee, who apparently thinks there is only one amendment to the Constitution (the Second), says he wishes that "all Americans would be forced, at gunpoint no less, to listen to every David Barton message." Thanks to Right Wing Watch for posting the video & to reader Bonnie for calling it to my attention:

Paul Krugman: Republicans have embraced a new report which "argues that slashing government spending and employment in the face of a deeply depressed economy would actually create jobs." The comments section is here. ...

...  AND Krugman: a la Greenspan, use "with notably rare exceptions" in a sentence.

The Art of the Deal, How to Merge Conspiracy Theories. He may have one, but there's something on that birth certificate -- maybe religion. Maybe it says he's a Muslim. I don't know.
-- Donald Trump, on President Obama's birth certificate

Teabaggers at the Trough. This is something Think Progress & others have been covering for months, but let's give the MSM credit for finally catching up -- way after the election, of course:

     ... The print story is here.

Well, you know, it's never that easy to remove people from power -- even, you know, in Serbia and in Iraq we found that bombing alone didn't do it. Actually, ground troops had to go in and do it. There are many here in Washington now advocating ground troops. I think it's a slippery slope and it could it engage us in a third war. -- Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) Glenn Kessler of the Washington Post: history may teach, but only if you have some idea of what the history is. Paul, apparently, does not.

David Neiwert of Crooks & Liars reports on the "big important Tea Party rally on Capitol Hill ... of about 200 people." With fabulous Fox "News" video coverage. Neiwert remarks on the "strangely mixed message. The Tea Partiers wanted to blame the Democrats for shutting down the government -- while simultaneously demanding a shutdown!" It's a fine post.

Why do so-called reporters parrot Right Wing World talking points without doing any actual reporting? Greg Sargent: "CNN reporter Joe Johns last night credulously repeated an accusation by GOP Rep. Sean Duffy’s camp that Talking Points Memo posted a selectively edited video in which Duffy claimed to be having a tough time getting by on a Congressman’s $174,000 annual salary.... In fact, TPM originally posted the full video, but it was only pulled down after the Wisconsin GOP demanded it be yanked, and TPM’s original reporting specifically mentioned Duffy’s openness to the pay cut.... What’s perverse is that Johns was willing to amplify serious accusations of selective editing by TPM ... apparently without making any cursory effort to check out what happened, despite TPM’s well-respected journalistic track record. Meanwhile, mainstream news outlets too frequently give the benefit of the doubt to video 'revelations' from right-wing pseudo journalist/activists with known records of deception."

* Where facts never intrude.

News Ledes

** Wisconsin State Journal: "UW-Madison Chancellor Biddy Martin on Friday released some of the emails requested of a history professor [William Cronon] by the state Republican Party but said she is withholding others that 'fall within the orbit of academic freedom.'" Here's a response from Prof. Cronon, which includes copies of the texts of Chancellor Martin's letter & of the University attorney's letter to the GOP. ...

... La Crosse (Wisconsin) Tribune: "La Crosse area Democrats say they will file petitions today with enough signatures to trigger a recall election of Sen. Dan Kapanke, one of eight Senate Republicans targeted over votes to curtail collective bargaining rights for public workers. If approved, it would be just the fifth recall election of a Wisconsin legislator. Recall organizer Pat Scheller said volunteers have gathered more than the 15,588 signatures needed and that they plan to take them to Madison after a noon rally today at La Crosse City Hall."

Reuters: "Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives on Friday accused the AARP of gaining financially from President Barack Obama's healthcare overhaul, which the influential elderly advocacy group supported."

New York Times: "Stirred up by a trio of angry mullahs who urged them to avenge the burning of a Koran at Florida church, thousands of protesters overran the compound of the United Nations in [Mazar-i-Sharif, Afghanistan]..., killing at least 12 people, Afghan and United Nations officials said. The dead included at least seven United Nations workers — five Nepalese guards and two Europeans, one of them a woman." ...

... New York Times: "The incident that so enraged Afghans, the burning of a Koran after a mock trial in a small Florida church on March 20, was barely noticed in the United States but widely reported in Afghanistan and Pakistan. The presidents of both countries have called on the United States to arrest Terry Jones, the pastor of the church."

New York Times: "The United States economy added 216,000 jobs in March, the Labor Department reported Friday, adding to hopes that hiring was finally on a steadier track despite concerns about overseas turmoil. The gain in jobs slightly exceeded economists’ expectations. The unemployment rate continued to decline, to 8.8 percent. Quite a few signs have pointed to this economic recovery finally gaining some momentum."

Washington Post: "The Obama administration proposed rules Thursday for using the influential Medicare program to spur a controversial form of managed care emerging around the country that nudges doctors and hospitals to save money by coordinating treatment for their patients. The rules are designed to carry out the first broad changes in the delivery of care under the year-old federal law intended to overhaul the nation’s health-care system. The proposal lays out a path for hospitals, doctors and other care providers to form teams called accountable care organizations (ACOs) that can become responsible for all the medical needs of a group of older Americans on Medicare."

Ben Bernanke now must finally understand that this money doesn’t belong to the Federal Reserve, it belongs to the American people and the American people have a right to know how their taxpayer dollars are being put at risk. -- Senator Bernard Sanders

Bloomberg News: "A Supreme Court order that forces unprecedented disclosures from the Federal Reserve ended a two-year legal battle that helped shape the public’s perceptions of the U.S. central bank. The high court yesterday let stand a lower-court ruling compelling the Fed to reveal the names of banks that borrowed money at the so-called discount window during the credit crisis. The records were requested by Bloomberg LP, the parent company of Bloomberg News. In July, Congress passed the Dodd-Frank law, which mandated the release of other Fed bailout details."

New York Times: "A senior aide to one of Col Muammar el-Qaddafi’s sons has held secret talks in London with British authorities, a friend of the aide said on Friday, adding to the confusion and anxiety swirling around the Tripoli regime after the defection of a high-ranking minister and the departure of another senior figure to Cairo." Here's the Guardian story, which I linked late last night under yesterday's ledes. ...

... AP: "A Libyan opposition leader says the rebels will accept a U.N.-demanded cease-fire if Moammar Gadhafi pulls his forces from all cities and allows peaceful protests. Mustafa Abdul-Jalil spoke Friday during a joint press conference with U.N. envoy Abdelilah Al-Khatib. Al-Khatib is visiting the rebels' de-facto stronghold of Benghazi in hopes of reaching a cease-fire and political solution to the crisis embroiling the North African nation."

AP: "Hundreds of thousands of Yemenis have packed a main square in the capital and are on the march elsewhere across the nation, demanding the country's ruler of 32 years step down. Many mosques in Sanaa have shut down as clerics and worshippers stream to the square to join the protests. The opposition is striving to have a million people on the streets on Friday to press for President Ali Abdullah Saleh's ouster."

New York Times: "Syria braced for renewed antigovernment demonstrations on Friday despite the government announcement a day before of new measures seemingly aimed at addressing the protesters’ demands."

New York Times: "The end of the Ivory Coast strongman Laurent Gbagbo‘s rule appeared to be nearing on Friday as his rival’s troops pressed into the country’s main city of Abidjan, his own army chief of staff abandoned his post and his opponents claimed substantial defections of his troops and police officers."

New York Times: "Nasdaq OMX and IntercontinentalExchange on Friday made a hostile play for NYSE Euronext, offering $42.50 in cash and stock — in a deal that is valued at $11.3 billion. The joint proposal by the two exchanges bests the Deutsche Boerse offer by 19 percent and represents a 27 percent premium to the NYSE’s stock price before that initial deal was originally announced back in early February." Here's the Bloomberg story.

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