The Ledes

Thursday, September 19, 2024

New York Times: “A body believed to be of the suspect in a Kentucky highway shooting that left five people seriously injured this month was found on Wednesday, the authorities said, ending a manhunt that stretched into a second week and set the local community on edge. The Kentucky State Police commissioner, Phillip Burnett Jr., said in a Wednesday night news conference that at approximately 3:30 p.m., two troopers and two civilians found an unidentified body in the brush behind the highway exit where the shooting occurred.... The police have identified the suspect of the shooting as Joseph A. Couch, 32. They said that on Sept. 7, Mr. Couch perched on a cliff overlooking Interstate 75 about eight miles north of London, Ky., and opened fire. One of the wounded was shot in the face, and another was shot in the chest. A dozen vehicles were riddled with gunfire.”

The Wires
powered by Surfing Waves
Help!

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

Link Code:   <a href="URL">text</a>

OR here's a link generator. The one I had posted died, but Akhilleus found this new one that he says is easy to use.

OR you can always just block, copy and paste to your comment the URL (Web address) of the page you want to link.

Note for Readers. It is not possible for commenters to "throw" their highlighted links to another window. But you can do that yourself. Right-click on the link and a drop-down box will give you choices as to where you want to open the link: in a new tab, new window or new private window.

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."

Contact Marie

Click on this link to e-mail Marie.

Page Links
Sunday
Aug072016

The Commentariat -- August 7, 2016

Presidential Race

CW: In response to cries from Republicans to re-focus his campaign on Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump took that to mean, "make a lot of false ad-hominem attacks on my opponent." ...

... Jose DelReal of the Washington Post: "Donald Trump unleashed a series of nasty personal attacks Saturday against ... Hillary Clinton, mocking her appearance and questioning her mental health several times during a New Hampshire campaign rally and on social media. 'She is a totally unhinged person. She's unbalanced. And all you have to do is watch her, see her, read about her,' Trump said during a campaign rally in Windham, N.H., Saturday evening. 'She will cause -- if she wins, which hopefully she won't -- the destruction of our country from within.'... [Trump] called Clinton unstable and incompetent several times throughout the rally. At one point, he also called her 'Hillary Rotten Clinton.'... The attacks went far beyond what is considered appropriate in political discourse. And notably, his most charged attacks focused specifically on ad hominem attacks rather than on policy differences." ...

... Annals of Journalism, Ctd. CW: You may not have noticed, but straight reporters at all the major outlets -- even at Politico -- have begun to editorialize about Trump's behavior & remarks. Look at that last sentence cited above, for instance. Pre-Trump, the he-said/she-said standard would have would have left it at, "In a statement, Clinton campaign spokesperson Karen Finney denied that Clinton was crazy and charged that it was Trump who was 'unbalanced and incompetent.'" Or something like that. Now reporters are putting Trump's remarks in the context they merit. That is a yuuuge improvement, and let's hope it lasts post-Trump.

Vast Left-Wing Conspiracy, Ctd. Ben Kamisar of the Hill: "Donald Trump is casting doubt on the prospect of fair elections come November, criticism that could prompt his supporters to reject the possibility of a Hillary Clinton victory in the fall as fraudulent. Trump has predicted at almost every rally this past week that the election could be 'rigged' against him. He's labeled the mounting polls showing him trailing Clinton as 'phony' and warned that voter fraud could steal the election from him. The new tack comes days after [Roger Stone,] a top Trump confidante, warned to Breitbart News that there would be a 'rhetorical bloodbath' if the powers that be denied Trump a fair election and laid out a plan for Trump to begin to delegitimize the election results months before the first ballots are cast.... Those warnings have sent a chill through partisans on both sides of the aisle and independent observers alike, who have expressed concern about the implications of sewing distrust in America's democratic system." -- CW

Julian Hattem & Ben Kamisar of the Hill: "Nuclear security experts are nervous about the prospect of a Donald Trump presidency. Former officials from both Republican and Democratic administrations are expressing concern over what they describe as Trump's cavalier rhetoric about using nuclear weapons and potentially allowing them to be obtained by U.S. allies.... The Hill spoke to more than half-a-dozen nuclear weapons experts for this story. All expressed a level of concern or anxiety about Trump's control of nuclear weapons and his leadership of global nonproliferation." -- CW

Andrew Kaczynski of BuzzFeed: "The chairman of the American Nazi Party, Rocky Suhayda, declared on his radio program last month that a Donald Trump victory would present a great opportunity for white nationalists to build pro-white coalitions." -- CW

What Happened When MoDo & DoDo Fell Out. Two weeks ago, Maureen Dowd wrote, "Donald Trump is mad at me. He thinks I've treated him 'very badly.' But he returned my call on Friday night...." The column she wrote was in the form of a Q&A, but evidently Trump didn't care for the Qs, because it would appear he's no longer taking MoDo's calls. The result: an extraordinary takedown. Never underestimate the power of a woman scorned, especially if she has a New York Times column. -- CW

Thomas Batten of the Guardian: "In exciting news for fans of rich old white guys in positions of power, the former reality show host and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has announced the line-up for his economic policy team, a squad exclusively made up of members of the 'fat cat' demographic. Amongst those named in Trump's announcement is Howard Lorber, the 67-year old president and CEO of Vector Group Ltd, and chairman of Nathan's Famous, the fast food hot dog chain.... Actually, Trump and hot dogs are a match made in heaven. The only way either makes sense is if you apply no rational thought to the selection you are making." -- CW

Alexander Burns of the New York Times: "Representative Scott Rigell [R] of Virginia says he plans to vote for the Libertarian Party's presidential ticket, becoming the first member of Congress to express support for Gary Johnson's third-party campaign." -- CW

Rebecca Morin of Politico: On Bill Maher's show Friday night, "Julian Assange said WikiLeaks is 'working on' hacking Donald Trump's tax returns.... In a tweet later Saturday morning, however, WikiLeaks denied that it's 'working on' hacking Trump's tax returns. 'Claim is a joke from a comedy show. We are 'working on' encouraging whistleblowers,' WikiLeaks stated." -- CW

Nicholas Kristof: "ONE persistent narrative in American politics is that Hillary Clinton is a slippery, compulsive liar while Donald Trump is a gutsy truth-teller.... Yet the idea that they are even in the same league is preposterous.... [Clinton's lies amount to] junior varsity mendacity. In contrast, Trump is the champ of prevarication.... 'Essentially, Clinton is in the norm for a typical politician,' says Glenn Kessler, who runs Fact-Checker, while Trump 'is just off the charts. There's never been anyone like him, at least in the six years I have been doing this.'"

Congressional Races

Jonathan Martin & Alexander Burns of the New York Times: Donald "Trump’s plunge in polls this week, along with his dual attacks on the family of a fallen American soldier and the leadership of his own party, has convinced veteran Republican strategists that most of their candidates must navigate around the presidential nominee. Plans for ads that distance congressional candidates from the top of the ticket have accelerated.... At a recent conference of Republican donors, Paul D. Ryan, the speaker of the House, warned that even the party's substantial majority in that chamber might be in jeopardy." -- CW

Alexandra Jaffe of NBC News: "Donald Trump's campaign said Friday it barred House Speaker Paul Ryan's primary challenger Paul Nehlen from entering the candidate's Wisconsin rally because the candidate didn't show a ticket, refuting Nehlen's charges that the Wisconsin Republican Party was working to keep him away." -- CW

Marc Caputo of Politico: "Sen. Marco Rubio [R-Fla.] said Saturday that he doesn't believe a pregnant woman infected with the Zika virus should have the right to an abortion -- even if she had reason to believe the child would be born with severe microcephaly." CW: Somehow I don't think this is going to help him in his bid for re-election. Marco, after all, lives right next-door to the area where Zika-carrying mosquitos were discovered, even in a state that elected him once & voted to re-elect Gov. Rick Scott.

Other News & Views

Karen DeYoung of the Washington Post: "President Obama must approve operational plans to target overseas terrorist suspects with drones or other weapons outside war zones but in some cases does not sign off on specific strikes, according to newly declassified administration guidelines. In addition to setting out the role of the president, the guidelines emphasize the importance of 'verifying' the identity of high-value targets, even as they outline the criteria and legality of striking unidentified others when 'necessary to achieve U.S. policy objectives.'... Those rules included 'near certainty' that the terrorist target was present and that no civilians would be injured or killed, that the target posed a 'continuing and imminent' threat to Americans, that capture was not feasible, and that all relevant domestic and international laws were obeyed.... The president has made clear that he anticipates the more detailed, newly declassified procedures will govern future administrations." -- CW

Way Beyond the Beltway

Chris Johnston, et al., of the Guardian: "Two police officers have been attacked with a machete outside a police station in Belgium, local authorities have said. The officers, both women, were assaulted in Charleroi, south of Brussels, on Saturday afternoon by an attacker shouting in Arabic, police said. According to Charleroi police, the attacker, who has not yet been identified, was shot by a third officer at the scene and has since died. One of the two officers was believed to be badly injured, but both are now out of danger, Charleroi police said." -- CW

News Lede

Washington Post: "Pete Fountain, whose rousing performances on clarinet made him a star of Dixieland music, a familiar figure on television and in nightclubs, and one of the most popular musical ambassadors of his native New Orleans, died Aug. 6 in his home town. He was 86." -- CW

Comments Off

Reader Comments (6)

OK, it is starting to get serious.
Comments from Republicans, conservatives as well as real people calling Trump all sorts of mental names. And now Trump using those words to attack Clinton. Another classic symptom. Take a look at this and see if you know anyone that fits.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malignant_narcissism

August 7, 2016 | Unregistered CommenterMarvin Schwalb

TREAT YOURSELVES on this Sunday morning to Joseph O'Neill's splendid remembrance as a guest at the 2005 wedding of Donald and Melania at Mar-a-Lago's splendor. The bit about Trump buying big screen TV's for the inmates at a prison situated near the golf course in order to shut them up –––they were cat calling golfers–-is hilarious. And notice, Marie, O'Neill's "media" is plural!
http://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/memories-of-trumps-wedding

August 7, 2016 | Unregistered CommenterPD Pepe

Thanks, PD. Good article by O'Neill. Some clubs you just don't want to belong to or something like that. I haven't seen any comments about this, "http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2016/07/fmr-fox-booker-harassed-by-ailes-for-20-years.html." The small world where Trump advisors Paul Manafort and Roger Stone were investigated by Roger Ailes' victim long ago shows the length of time sickness has pervaded this bunch. Does anyone seriously believe that any of these men would support anything having to do with democracy or women's self-determination specifically? And lest anyone get the idea to blame the victims, "http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/26/opinion/sunday/who-blames-the-victim.html?_r=0".

August 7, 2016 | Unregistered Commentercitizen625

Life Unfair to Trump

I won't even begin to attempt to unpack the unworldly weirdness of someone who has had every bump smoothed, every game rigged, and every barrier to his most fetid desires eliminated, whining, day after day about how manifestly unfair things are for him.

The other day Marie joked (at least I think it was a joke; I'm not so sure now) that allowing a single Democrat to vote would be unfair to Trvmpvs. In fact, anything he does not see as a 100% uncontested victory for him personally, is unfair.

This from a deceptive, lying charlatan who rarely treats anyone fairly. He's cheated wives, business partners, investors, clients, employees (find me a single wage worker who has slaved for Trump or a visitor to one of his shill shop casinos who feels they were fairly treated).

This is likely more transference on his part but I don't really believe he would honestly admit that unfairness toward others is a core value, the one that makes him Trump. It's much more likely that he feels that his innate superiority endows him with the right to step on others and anytime he doesn't "win" by hook or by crook (he rarely wins anything fairly), is absolute proof of how unfair life is toward him personally.

But one only has to look at the plethora of examples of his unfairness and crookedness toward others to see the ridiculousness of this babified understanding of life. A few days ago, when he was pissed at Paul Ryan for not explicitly bowing before his Soiled Orangeness, Trvmpvs was all lightness and honey to Ryan's primary challenger. Now that he has recognized that self interest would be better served by endorsing the lying speaker, that challenger is conveniently kicked to the curb. He was even denied admittance to bask in the parlous orange glow at a campaign event.

If Trvmpvs is your friend, you can dismiss all your enemies. One will suffice.

And there is no doubt in my mind that reports of Trump's fecklessness will be considered more proof of how unfair life has been to him.

August 7, 2016 | Unregistered CommenterAkhilleus

Marie - Don't know whether you're referring to an earlier version of the Jose DelReal piece linked at the top of the page but the version I got when I clicked on the link doesn't include a lot of the most Trump-critical text you cite. Maybe our optimism for the press is premature ...

August 7, 2016 | Unregistered CommenterRockygirl

@Rockygirl: Wow. Thanks for pointing that out. The tone of the piece has changed completely. Even the lede sentence has changed from "nasty personal attacks" to "personal attacks." And this whole bit is gone: "The attacks went far beyond what is considered appropriate in political discourse. And notably, his most charged attacks focused specifically on ad hominem attacks rather than on policy differences.”

It's the same report; many of the grafs haven't changed from when I read it this morning. But the context DelReal originally provided sure as hell got edited out. Good journalism? You be the judge.

Marie

August 7, 2016 | Registered CommenterMarie Burns
Comments for this entry have been disabled. Additional comments may not be added to this entry at this time.