The Ledes

Tuesday, October 8, 2024

The New York Times is live-updating developments Tuesday as powerful Hurricane Milton moves through the Gulf of Mexico toward Central Florida.

New York Times: “Cissy Houston, a Grammy Award-winning soul and gospel star who helped shepherd her daughter Whitney Houston to superstardom, died on Monday at her home in Newark. She was 91.”

The Wires
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The Ledes

Monday, October 7, 2024

Weather Channel: “H​urricane Milton has rapidly intensified into a Category 3 and hurricane and storm surge watches are now posted along Florida's western Gulf Coast, where the storm poses threats of life-threatening storm surge, destructive winds and flooding rainfall by midweek. 'Milton will be a historic storm for the west coast of Florida,' the National Weather Service in Tampa Bay said in a briefing Monday morning.” ~~~

     ~~~ New York Times live updates are here for what is now a Cat 5 hurricane. 

CNN: “This year’s Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine has been awarded to Victor Ambros and Gary Ruvkun for their work on the discovery of microRNA, a fundamental principle governing how gene activity is regulated. Their research revealed how genes give rise to different cells within the human body, a process known as gene regulation. Gene regulation by microRNA – a family of molecules that helps cells control the sort of proteins they make – ... was first revealed by Ambros and Ruvkun. The Nobel Prize committee announced the prestigious honor ... in Sweden on Monday.... Ambros, a professor of natural science at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, conducted the research that earned him the prize at Harvard University. Ruvkun conducted his research at Massachusetts General Hospital, and is a professor of genetics at Harvard Medical School.”

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Public Service Announcement

Washington Post: "Americans can again order free rapid coronavirus tests by mail, the Biden administration announced Thursday. People can request four free at-home tests per household through covidtests.gov. They will begin shipping Monday. The move comes ahead of an expected winter wave of coronavirus cases. The September revival of the free testing program is in line with the Biden administration’s strategy to respond to the coronavirus as part of a broader public health campaign to protect Americans from respiratory viruses, including influenza and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), that surge every fall and winter. But free tests were not mailed during the summer wave, which wastewater surveillance data shows is now receding."

Washington Post: “Comedy news outlet the Onion — reinvigorated by new ownership over this year — is bringing back its once-popular video parodies of cable news. But this time, there’s someone with real news anchor experience in the chair. When the first episodes appear online Monday, former WAMU and MSNBC host Joshua Johnson will be the face of the resurrected 'Onion News Network.' Playing an ONN anchor character named Dwight Richmond, Johnson says he’s bringing a real anchor’s sense of clarity — and self-importance — to the job. 'If ONN is anything, it’s a news organization that is so unaware of its own ridiculousness that it has the confidence of a serial killer,' says Johnson, 44.” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I'll be darned if I can figured out how to watch ONN. If anybody knows, do tell. Thanks.

Washington Post: “First came the surprising discovery that Earth’s atmosphere is leaking. But for roughly 60 years, the reason remained a mystery. Since the late 1960s, satellites over the poles detected an extremely fast flow of particles escaping into space — at speeds of 20 kilometers per second. Scientists suspected that gravity and the magnetic field alone could not fully explain the stream. There had to be another source creating this leaky faucet. It turns out the mysterious force is a previously undiscovered global electric field, a recent study found. The field is only about the strength of a watch battery — but it’s enough to thrust lighter ions from our atmosphere into space. It’s also generated unlike other electric fields on Earth. This newly discovered aspect of our planet provides clues about the evolution of our atmosphere, perhaps explaining why Earth is habitable. The electric field is 'an agent of chaos,' said Glyn Collinson, a NASA rocket scientist and lead author of the study. 'It undoes gravity.... Without it, Earth would be very different.'”

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.”

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The Commentariat -- April 26, 2021

McCarthy Rewrites History. Amy Wang & Marianna Sotomayor of the Washington Post: "House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) continued to defend ... Donald Trump's response to the Jan. 6 insurrection, claiming in an interview Sunday that Trump was unaware the U.S. Capitol was being stormed until McCarthy called and urged him to tell his supporters to stop. 'I was the first person to contact him when the riot was going on, McCarthy told 'Fox News Sunday' host Chris Wallace. 'He didn't see it, but he ended the call ... telling me he'll put something out to make sure to stop this. And that's what he did. He put a video out later.' The statement contradicted McCarthy's initial response to Trump's role in the attack and a fellow GOP lawmaker's recollection of what had been a tense call between McCarthy and Trump. In addition, one Trump adviser told The Washington Post that the then-president had been watching live television coverage of the riot, as multiple people were trying to reach Trump and his aides to beg for help." An NBC News story is here. ~~~

~~~ It's All about Kevin's Ambitions. Mark Leibovich of the New York Times: "... nearly four months after Jan. 6, [Kevin] McCarthy continues to defend his support for Mr. Trump's bogus assertions that the election was stolen from him. Friends say that he knows better and is as exasperated by Mr. Trump's behavior as other top Republicans, but that he has made the calculation that the former president's support is essential for his ambitions to become speaker after the 2022 elections, when Republicans have a decent chance to win back the House.... Mr. McCarthy knows the surest way to blow up his speakership plans would be to alienate Mr. Trump, who relishes being both a potential kingmaker to his favored candidates and saboteur of those he is determined to punish."

Alex Kasprak of Snopes: President "Biden announced that his administration would seek to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in half by 2030. The Daily Mail ran a story that asserted, in entirely theoretical terms, that the policy "could" require Americans to reduce their meat consumption by 90%. Politicians like Rep. Lauren Boebert retweeted the Daily Mail's speculation as fact." The claim is false. ~~~

~~~ Mary Papenfuss of the Huffington Post: "... former [Trump] economic adviser Larry Kudlow ... wants the nation to know that President Joe Biden is plotting to force Americans to drink 'plant-based beer.'... The beer everyone drinks now ... [is] typically made from grains, hops and yeast -- and not an ounce of steak. (Additives may include animal products, like gelatin, but beer is definitely plant based.) The bonkers brewhaha was part of Kudlow's raging criticism on Fox Business Friday against the proposed Green New Deal, which he claimed would end the country's consumption of meat, eggs, cheese and dairy. None of that's true...." Thanks to unwashed, who wonders what Larry thinks beer is made of, for the link. MB: I suppose we'll have to drink plant-based wine and even plant-based V-8 juice. (Did you know the "V" in V-8 stands for "veal"?)

Mark Sherman of the AP: "... a profanity-laced posting [by then-14-year-old Brandi Levy] on Snapchat ... has, improbably, ended up before the Supreme Court in the most significant case on student speech in more than 50 years. At issue is whether public schools can discipline students over something they say off-campus. The topic is especially meaningful in a time of remote learning because of the coronavirus pandemic and a rising awareness of the pernicious effects of online bullying. Arguments are on Wednesday, via telephone because of the pandemic.... The case has its roots in the Vietnam-era case of a high school in Des Moines, Iowa, that suspended students who wore armbands to protest the war. In a landmark ruling, the Supreme Court sided with the students, declaring students don't 'shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate.'" The Washington Post's story, by Robert Barnes, is here.

Elliott Williams in a CNN opinion piece: "For nearly two decades, the Supreme Court has established more leniency toward children convicted of violent crimes, in line with the Constitution's ban on cruel and unusual punishment. This trend came to an abrupt stop on Thursday, with the Court's decision in Jones v. Mississippi that judges do not need to find a juvenile murderer to have a hope of rehabilitation before sentencing them to die in prison. Most stunning, however, is the manner in which the Court got there, by casting aside years of precedent with the stroke of a pen. [Friday's] decision was a frightening reminder of how easily the Court can speak out of both sides of its mouth: claiming fidelity to its own past decisions, while simultaneously gutting them."

Allyson Waller of the New York Times: "At Howard [University], the classics department is as old as the university itself. Established in 1867 -- the same year that Howard, one of the country's leading historically Black colleges and universities, was founded -- the department became a hub for Black thought, enlightening generations of students about Black people in antiquity.... The university plans to dissolve the department by the fall semester. The university's decision, which was reported in The Washington Post, has galvanized students and faculty members to preserve what the Society for Classical Studies says is the only classics department at an H.B.C.U.... An online petition in support of keeping the department has been signed over 5,000 times. Students have also brought awareness to the situation by using the hashtag '#SaveHUClassics' on their social media accounts." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

American Graffiti, D.C.-Style. Lindsay Watts of Fox 5 Washington, D.C.: "Two D.C. police cars were totaled after officers decided to drag race each other.... Sources tell FOX 5 the officers involved, who are new to the department, started racing each other on Anacostia Ave. NE near Kenilworth Park & Aquatic Garden and reports indicate they were traveling at least 60 mph."

The Pandemic, Ctd.

The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Monday are here.

The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Sunday are here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Katie Rogers & Sheryl Stolberg of the New York Times: "The Biden administration, under increasing pressure to address a devastating surge of the coronavirus in India, said on Sunday that it had partially lifted a ban on the export of raw materials for vaccines and would also supply India with therapeutics, rapid diagnostic test kits, ventilators and personal protective gear.... The announcement, an abrupt shift for the administration, came after Jake Sullivan, President Biden's national security adviser, held a call earlier in the day with Ajit Doval, his counterpart in India, and as the Indian government reported more than 349,000 new infections, a world record for a single day. [A spokeswoman for the National Security Council] said the United States had 'identified sources of specific raw material urgently required for Indian manufacture of the Covishield vaccine,' the Indian-produced version of the AstraZeneca vaccine." An AP story is here. ~~~

~~~ Mary Eccles of Politico: "The EU is preparing rapid assistance to help India as it tackles a spiralling COVID-19 resurgence, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Sunday. 'Alarmed by the epidemiological situation in India. We are ready to support,' she wrote on Twitter. 'The EU is pooling resources to respond rapidly to India's request for assistance.' European Commissioner for Crisis Management Janez Lenarcic wrote on social media that the EU would do its 'upmost' to mobilize assistance. He said the bloc's Emergency Response Coordination Center is working with EU governments to provide oxygen and medicine."

Rebecca Robbins of the New York Times: "Millions of Americans are not getting the second doses of their Covid-19 vaccines, and their ranks are growing. More than five million people, or nearly 8 percent of those who got a first shot of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines, have missed their second doses, according to the most recent data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That is more than double the rate among people who got inoculated in the first several weeks of the nationwide vaccine campaign.... [Stupid excuses] were expected, but another hurdle has been surprisingly prevalent. A number of vaccine providers have canceled second-dose appointments because they ran out of supply or didn't have the right brand in stock.... Several Walgreens customers said in interviews that they scrambled, in some cases with help from pharmacy staff, to find somewhere to get the correct second dose. Others, presumably, simply gave up." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) MB: So ~~~

(a) Walgreens screwed up;
(b) I'm skeert;
(c) Hey, I'll only get half-sick;
(d) Busy doing my nails.

Matina Stevis-Gridneff of the New York Times: "American tourists who have been fully vaccinated against Covid-19 will be able to visit the European Union over the summer, the head of the bloc's executive body said in an interview with The New York Times on Sunday, more than a year after shutting down nonessential travel from most countries to limit the spread of the coronavirus. The fast pace of vaccination in the United States, and advanced talks between authorities there and the European Union over how to make vaccine certificates acceptable as proof of immunity for visitors, will enable the European Commission, the executive branch of the European Union, to recommend a switch in policy that could see trans-Atlantic leisure travel restored." CNN's story is here.

Gretchen Reynolds of the New York Times: "More exercise means less risk of developing severe Covid, according to a compelling new study of physical activity and coronavirus hospitalizations. The study, which involved almost 50,000 Californians who developed Covid, found that those who had been the most active before falling ill were the least likely to be hospitalized or die as a result of their illness. The data were gathered before Covid vaccines became available and do not suggest that exercise can substitute in any way for immunization. But they do intimate that regular exercise -- whether it&'s going for a swim, walk, run or bike ride -- can substantially lower our chances of becoming seriously ill if we do become infected."

Michigan. Mitch Smith & Sarah Mervosh of the New York Times: "Across Michigan, which is experiencing by far the country's most dangerous outbreak, more younger people are being admitted to hospitals with the coronavirus than at any other time in the pandemic. Michigan hospitals are now admitting about twice as many coronavirus patients in their 30s and 40s as they were during the fall peak, according to the Michigan Health & Hospital Association. The shifting demographics come as a majority of Michigan residents age 65 or older have been fully vaccinated.... But the vaccinations of older people do not explain rising hospitalizations among people younger than 60, including those in their 20s and 30s. Public health experts say the outbreak -- driven by the B.1.1.7 variant of the virus, which is more contagious and more severe -- is spreading rapidly in younger age groups. And across the state, doctors and nurses are increasingly reporting a concerning trend: Younger patients are coming in more often with serious cases of Covid-19."

Jon Swaine of the Washington Post: "The stock price of government contractor Emergent BioSolutions has fallen sharply since the disclosure at the end of March that production problems at the firm's plant in Baltimore had ruined 15 million doses of Johnson & Johnson's coronavirus vaccine. Since then, AstraZeneca moved production of its own vaccine out of the facility, and Emergent temporarily halted new production there altogether. Those developments came after Emergent's stock price had tumbled on Feb. 19, following the company's published financial results. Emergent stock has fallen since mid-February to about $62 a share from $125 a share.... But the decline has had less of an impact than it might have on the personal finances of Emergent's chief executive, Robert G. Kramer, who sold more than $10 million worth of his stock in the company in January and early February.... Investors sued Emergent, Kramer and other executives in federal court in Maryland last week, alleging that the firm artificially inflated its stock price by boasting of its ability to make coronavirus vaccines and by failing to disclose problems at the Baltimore site...." And this isn't the first time Kramer has sold off stock just before bad news about his company became public.

Beyond the Beltway

Arizona. Michael Wines of the New York Times: "An audit of the vote in Arizona's most populous county was meant to mollify angry Trump voters. But it is being criticized as a partisan exercise more than a fact-finding one.... When a parade of flatbed trucks last week hauled boxes of voting equipment and 78 pallets containing the 2.1 million ballots of Arizona's largest county to a decrepit local coliseum, it kicked off a seat-of-the-pants audit process that seemed more likely to amplify Republican grievances than to put them to rest. Almost half a year after the election Mr. Trump lost, the promised audit has become a snipe hunt for skulduggery that has spanned a court battle, death threats and calls to arrest the elected leadership of Maricopa County, which includes Phoenix. The head of Cyber Ninjas, the Florida-based firm that Republican senators hired to oversee the audit, has embraced Mr. Trump's baseless theories of election theft and has suggested, contrary to available evidence, that Mr. Trump actually won Arizona by 200,000 votes. The pro-Trump cable channel One America News Network has started a fund-raiser to finance the venture and has been named one of the nonpartisan observers that will keep the audit on the straight and narrow." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: See also related commentary in yesterday's thread. The "audit" is worse than Wines makes out.

Virginia. Dennis Romero of NBC News: "Authorities in Virginia have released disturbing body camera video of a deputy shooting a Black man who was holding a cordless phone and who had just received a ride home by the same law enforcement officer. Isaiah Brown, 32, survived more than six rounds fired at him Wednesday and was in a hospital 'fighting for his life,' said a spokesman for the law firm representing him. The deputy was not named by the Spotsylvania County Sheriff's Office."

Way Beyond

Indonesia. Adi Renaldi & Claire Parker of the Washington Post: "Indonesia has found the wreckage of a navy submarine missing since Wednesday and declared all 53 of its crew members dead, the country's military chief announced Sunday. Underwater images captured by a remotely operated vehicle showed the wreckage in the Bali Strait at a depth of 838 meters, officials said. A search and rescue team found debris including a vertical rudder, anchor and safety jackets." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Iran. Farnaz Fassihi of the New York Times: "In a leaked audiotape that offers a glimpse into the behind-the scenes power struggles of Iranian leaders, Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said the Revolutionary Guards Corps call the shots, overruling many government decisions and ignoring advice. In one extraordinary moment on the tape that surfaced Sunday, Mr. Zarif departed from the reverential official line on Maj. Gen. Qassim Suleimani, the commander of the Guards' elite Quds Force..., who was killed by the United States in January 2020. The general, Mr. Zarif said, undermined him at many steps, working with Russia to sabotage the nuclear deal between Iran and world powers and adopting policies toward Syria's long war that damaged Iran's interests." The Guardian's report is here.

Comments Off

Reader Comments (10)

Digby provides a nice counterpoint to the current wave of vaccine doom & gloom reporting in the press.

https://digbysblog.net/2021/04/were-at-the-ill-wait-for-netflix-phase-of-the-vaccines/

April 26, 2021 | Unregistered CommenterRockyGirl

And the Arizona "audit" gets even worser...and worser.

https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/politics/elections/2021/04/25/cyber-ninjas-wants-to-keep-its-arizona-election-recount-secret/7379117002/

Didn't know ninjas had "trade secrets." Now that I do, sure wish I knew what they were, though I suspect "cheating" is one of them.

There really is something simultaneously clownish and disturbing about all this, isn't there?

The loonies are far from expunged..and too often still running the show.

April 26, 2021 | Unregistered CommenterKen Winkes

@Ken: Yup---looks like the loonies loom large but then I think of the biggest one that entertained us for four years and NOBODY stopped him although many tried. "Clownish and disturbing"?–-let's add "perverse" to that list.

"Tell him to go North, or I will come where he is and tear him with my teeth!"

"May I substitute the word 'bite'?

The saying comes to him––homo homini lupus––– Man is wolf to man. ( Wolf Hall)

April 26, 2021 | Unregistered CommenterPD Pepe

What's sad is reading the reader comments to these stories in Arizona papers and seeing almost universal support for both the audit(?!) and the secrecy surrounding it.

April 26, 2021 | Unregistered CommenterBobby Lee

President* Biden won the election by over 7 million votes.
So if the Ninjas find a hundred or so votes that were miscounted,
does that mean they are going to audit every state where Trump
lost? I fail to see how they could ever come up with 7 million
miscounted votes, not in this lifetime or the next.
*A real president.

April 26, 2021 | Unregistered CommenterForrest Morris

A solution in search of a problem. A bill just cleared the Florida senate that will prohibit municipalities from requiring gas stations to install an electric charging station.

April 26, 2021 | Unregistered CommenterBobby Lee

Could be grim:

https://www.nytimes.com/live/2021/04/26/us/biden-news-today#after-months-of-delay-the-census-bureau-is-set-to-release-us-population-figures

Just what we need. More Representatives from some of the growing states and fewer from a few shrinking northern ones.

Or (glass half full) maybe those moving into these states are saner than those who have resided in them for the last decade...

April 26, 2021 | Unregistered CommenterKen Winkes

Maybe T**** should go to India and remind them that the virus goes away in warm weather. Oh.

My second dose of Moderna walloped me for a day and left me a bit fuzzy for two more, worth every sip of cranberry juice.

April 26, 2021 | Unregistered CommenterNiskyGuy

Bobby Lee wrote:
"What's sad is reading the reader comments to these stories in Arizona papers and seeing almost universal support for both the audit(?!) and the secrecy surrounding it."

I read through the first several dozen comments, including the top comments, in the article linked by Ken. Only a couple of comments did not decry the "audit" -- and those were posted by someone who had signed up that day and who was lambasted by the others as a troll. To judge from reader reactions to this single article, the project does not have broad support in Central Arizona.

April 27, 2021 | Unregistered CommenterMonoloco
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