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.”

Help!

To keep the Conversation going, please help me by linking news articles, opinion pieces and other political content in today's Comments section.

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Thank you to everyone who has been contributing links to articles & other content in the Comments section of each day's "Conversation." If you're missing the comments, you're missing some vital links.

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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Wednesday
Aug312011

The Commentariat -- August 31 a/k/a Day 4 with No Power

The President's speech from earlier today:

     ... The transcript is here.

As an official know-nothing, I've posted a new Open Thread on Off Times Square.

David Kocieniewski of the New York Times: At least 25 top United States companies paid more to their chief executives in 2010 than they did to the federal government in taxes, according to a study released on Wednesday. The companies — which include household names like eBay, Boeing, General Electric and Verizon — averaged $1.9 billion each in profits, according to the study by the Institute for Policy Studies, a liberal-leaning research group. But a variety of shelters, loopholes and tax reduction strategies allowed the companies to average more than $400 million each in tax benefits...."

David Dayen of Firedoglake: "Nevada Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto’s amended complaint in a lawsuit against Bank of America ... is a stick of dynamite to the foreclosure fraud settlement, exposing it as a useless whitewash that won’t deter banks from their criminal practices. Masto joins other skeptical AGs here in not acceding to such a dereliction of duty, and instead she lays out a thorough case of systematic fraud, in this case by Bank of America, at every step of the mortgage process." CW: read Dayen's whole post. See also today's Ledes. for the backstory.

Sam Youngman of The Hill: "President Obama is preparing to fight a political war this fall on two fronts -- the first against Republicans who want his job and the second against Republicans who want to make his job more difficult."

Right Wing World *

Right Every Time (Even Though I Was Surrounded by Idiots) -- Dana Milbank's suggestion for a retitle of Dick Cheney's memoir In My Time

** GOP War on the Poor, Part 1. New York Times Editors: "In a decade of frenzied tax-cutting for the rich, the Republican Party just happened to lower tax rates for the poor, as well. Now several of the party’s most prominent presidential candidates and lawmakers want to correct that oversight and raise taxes on the poor and the working class, while protecting the rich, of course.... This is factually wrong, economically wrong and morally wrong." ...

... GOP War on the Poor, Part 2: Mike Lillis of The Hill: "House Majority Leader Eric Cantor's insistence that federal disaster aid be offset elsewhere in the budget runs directly counter to his position in the past when the money went to help his Virginia district. In the summer of 2004, after Tropical Storm Gaston slammed into Richmond, Cantor was on the front lines of efforts to secure millions of dollars in federal assistance to clean the wreckage and repair damaged infrastructure. Although the funding was not offset, Cantor cheered its arrival." ...

... CW: The Hostage Taking, Con'd. Here's the backstory, a version of which I linked to way last week before Irene hit the U.S. mainland: Michael Stickings of the Moderate Voice: "Just as Republicans held the country hostage over the debt ceiling ('give us what we want, or else'), Cantor is now trying to do the same over disaster relief (some of which may be needed in his home state of Virginia, which is in Irene’s path). As his spokesperson explained, 'Eric has consistently said that additional funds for federal disaster relief ought to be offset with spending cuts.' ... This is ugly ideological extremism operating as insensitivity to suffering, political hostage-taking with lives and livelihoods in the balance.”

Aman Batheja of the Fort Worth, Texas, Star-Telegram: "Since his first race for office more than a quarter century ago, Gov. Rick Perry has emphasized his roots as a rural farmer. Yet Perry's bank account no longer reflects those humble beginnings as his bottom line has soared in recent years, records show, thanks largely to a handful of real estate deals that critics allege were achieved through the presidential candidates's political connections." ...

Either faith in Christ can cleanse all people of their sin, or none, but not some. The truth of Christ’s death, resurrection, and power over sin is absolute. -- Rick Perry, in a book titled On My Honor, as if he had any ...

... "Rick Perry Is a Theocrat." Dana Milbank: "My problem with Perry’s zeal is one of my problems with the Tea Party generally: Though it claims to be libertarian, it is remixing the religious right’s greatest hits." ...

... Ruth Marcus, one of the fake liberals over on the Washington Post editorial page (a/k/a/ "Fox on 15th") is nonetheless appalled by Rick Perry's Fed Up!: "Perry’s ideas range from wrongheaded to terrifying: requiring federal judges to stand for reappointment and reconfirmation; and letting Congress override the Supreme Court with a two-thirds vote in both houses."

Isn't He Amusing?

Evan McMorris-Santoro of TPM: "For some undefined but Texas governor-sized-and-shaped reason, Mitt Romney is suddenly very interested in attending tea party events." ...

... An Invitation to a Tea Party. Get off the Bus, Gus. Alex Altman of Time: "FreedomWorks, the big-time Tea Party booster run by seasoned Washington insiders, has been a co-sponsor of the latest cross-country bus tour organized by the Sacramento-based Tea Party Express.... But Mitt Romney’s planned appearance on the tour has opened a fissure between the two. On Wednesday, citing opposition to Romney, FreedomWorks announced that it will sever its ties to the tour and join local New Hampshire Tea Party groups in protesting Romney’s speech."

Glen Johnson of the Boston Globe: in his campaign speeches, Mitt Romney regularly bashes Harvard University, never mentioning that not only did he attend Harvard, so did his sons & many of his advisory staff. CW: And did you know one of Mitt's son's is named "Tagg"? Maybe he changed it from "George" after he learned the names of the Palin kids Track, Trig & Tripp.

* Where the villains are too villainous to be believable characters.

News Ledes

New York Times: "The California Legislature is poised to pass a law that would allow illegal immigrants to receive state-financed aid for college. Known as the California Dream Act..., the state law would do nothing to provide a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants, [but] it would provide them with more education benefits than they have in any other state."

Trivial Pursuits. New York Times: "President Obama and Speaker John A. Boehner clashed over, of all things, the date and time of the president’s much-awaited speech to the nation about his proposal to increase jobs and fix the economy.... Congressional historians say that Mr. Boehner’s move was unprecedented."

New York Times: "The Justice Department sued on Wednesday to block AT&T’s proposed $39 billion acquisition of T-Mobile, a deal that would create the largest carrier in the country and reshape the industry." ...

... Washington Post: "AT&T vowed on Wednesday to challenge a Justice Department lawsuit that seeks to block its $39 billion bid for T-Mobile, setting up titanic legal war between the telecommunications giant and the Obama administration.The company said it will ask a federal court for an expedited hearing on the matter, saying Justice’s lawsuit came as a 'surprise' and 'disappointment' as government officials had not indicated in repeated meetings that they would reject the deal."

BBC News: "A Kosovo man has told a German court he regrets shooting dead two US servicemen at Frankfurt airport and does not understand why he did it. Arid Uka, 21, told the court he had been radicalised by jihadist propaganda videos he watched online. Prosecutors believe he acted alone in carrying out the first deadly attack by an Islamist on German soil."

New York Times: "Hurricane Irene will most likely prove to be one of the 10 costliest catastrophes in the nation’s history, and analysts said that much of the damage might not be covered by insurance because it was caused not by winds but by flooding, which is excluded from many standard policies." ...

... AP: "As emergency airlift operations brought ready-to-eat meals and water to Vermont residents left isolated and desperate, states along the Eastern Seaboard continued to be battered Tuesday by the after effects of Irene, the destructive hurricane turned tropical storm. Dangerously-damaged infrastructure, 2.5 million people without power and thousands of water-logged homes and businesses continued to overshadow the lives of residents and officials from North Carolina through New England, where the storm has been blamed for at least 44 deaths in 13 states."

... New York Times: "Four-wheel drive vehicles carrying supplies were able by Wednesday morning to get into all but one of 13 Vermont towns that have been cut off since this weekend without running water or power by floodwaters from the remnants of Hurricane Irene, officials said." ...

... New York Times: "From the Hudson Valley to areas farther north [in New York state], along the Mohawk River and Schoharie Creek, New York growers, many of whose farms have been in the family for generations, were dealt a devastating blow by the storm, which dumped heavy rain on the region." ...

... The Hill: "White House press secretary Jay Carney on Tuesday took a shot at House Republican Majority Leader Eric Cantor for insisting disaster aid for Hurricane Irene should be offset with other spending cuts. Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One, Carney said the federal government’s priority should be to respond to the disaster. He also noted that Cantor (R-Va.) hadn’t demanded offsets when the Bush administration rang up 'unprecedented bills.'”

Minneapolis Star-Tribune: "Speaking to thousands of veterans gathered in Minneapolis on Tuesday, President Obama vowed to ensure that returning soldiers have the job skills they need to succeed and made an ironclad commitment to the military and veterans. He pledged to create a job training "boot camp" for veterans who are struggling to find employment in the private sector, a rising problem nationally. He also said he will press states to make it easier for vets to get professional licenses." Video below.

New York Times: "The Obama administration on Tuesday replaced two top Justice Department officials associated with an ill-fated investigation into a gun-trafficking network in Arizona that has been at the center of a political conflagration. Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. announced the resignation of the United States attorney in Phoenix, Dennis K. Burke, and the reassignment of the acting director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Kenneth E. Melson."

New York Times: "The attorney general of Nevada is accusing Bank of America of repeatedly violating a broad loan modification agreement it struck with state officials in October 2008 and is seeking to rip up the deal so that the state can proceed with a suit against the bank over allegations of deceptive lending, marketing and loan servicing practices."

Reuters: "A federal judge temporarily blocked key provisions of a Texas abortion law on Tuesday that would require women seeking the procedure to view a sonogram and listen to the heartbeat of their fetus. The law, which had been due to go into effect on Thursday, was a major part of Republican Governor and presidential candidate Rick Perry's agenda in this year's Texas legislative session." The Austin Statesman story is here.

Al Jazeera: "Thousands of Libyans have gathered in Tripoli to mark the end of Ramadan and celebrate Eid al-Fitr, kneeling in prayer in Martyrs' Square as they rejoiced in the collapse of Muammar Gaddafi's regime." ...

... Al Jazeera's liveblog on Libya is here. ...

... NEW. Washington Post: "The spokesman for Moammar Gaddafi’s collapsing government on Wednesday rejected a rebel ultimatum to surrender or face an all-out military assault." ...

... Guardian: "New details have emerged of the route used by Muammar Gaddafi's family to escape into neighbouring Algeria, triggering a diplomatic row over their fate.... The manhunt for Gaddafi and his most powerful sons, Saif al-Islam, Mutassim and Khamis, is moving southwards to the Bani Walid-Sebha desert road. It was being assisted by western intelligence and special forces, including MI6 officers and the SAS. However..., their role is to pick up signals from intercepting equipment not available to the Libyans and identify their significance...."

President Obama spoke to the American Legion in Minneapolis yesterday:

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