The Ledes

Sunday, September 29, 2024

Washington Post: “Towns throughout western North Carolina ... were transformed overnight by ... [Hurricane Helene]. Muddy floodwaters lifted homes from their foundations. Landslides and overflowing rivers severed the only way in and out of small mountain communities. Rescuers said they were struggling to respond to the high number of emergency calls.... The death toll grew throughout the Southeast as the scope of Helene’s devastation came into clearer view. At least 49 people had been killed in five states — Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia. By early counts, South Carolina suffered the greatest loss of life, registering at least 19 deaths.”

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The Ledes

Saturday, September 28, 2024

Washington Post: “Rescue teams raced to submerged homes, scoured collapsed buildings and steered thousands from overflowing dams as Helene carved a destructive path Friday, knocking out power and flooding a vast arc of communities across the southeastern United States. At least 40 people were confirmed killed in five states since the storm made landfall late Thursday as a Category 4 behemoth, unleashing record-breaking storm surge and tree-snapping gusts. 4 million homes and businesses have lost electricity across Florida, Georgia and the Carolinas, prompting concerns that outages could drag on for weeks. Mudslides closed highways. Water swept over roofs and snapped phone lines. Houses vanished from their foundations. Tornadoes added to the chaos. The mayor of hard-hit Canton, N.C., called the scene 'apocalyptic.'” An AP report is here.

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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The Commentariat -- December 12

My column in the New York Times eXaminer, titled "Bill and Newt's Excellent Idea," is here. In it I refute the "wisdom" of Newt Gingrich's plan to implement a national identity card and New York Times columnist Bill Keller's support of Newt's plan. the NYTX front page is here.

** John Eidelson in Salon: "At a time of high unemployment and stagnating wages, the Boeing case shows why it is so hard for workers to collect a larger share of national income. It highlights Republicans’ resolute defense of law-breaking big business, and President Obama’s lack of equivalent fire in defense of the 99%.  Obama expresses sympathy for the occupation movement But it a case where he might have actually done something for the people who do America’s work, he passed.... Asked about the NLRB case at a June press conference, Obama said he shouldn’t comment on the details and then, rather than saying that in general workers need the freedom to go on strike, he said, 'as a general proposition, companies need to have the freedom to relocate.'" (Emphasis original.)

Tom Engelhardt in Salon: "... the electoral process has been occupied by the 1 percent; which means that what you hear in this “campaign” is largely refracted versions of their praise, their condemnation, their slurs, their views, their needs, their fears, and their wishes. They are making money off, and electing a president via, you. Which means that you — that all of us — are occupied, too. So stop calling this an 'election.' Whatever it is, we need a new name for it."

Matti Taibbi of Rolling Stone on indefinite detention of American citizens: "If these laws are passed, we would be forced to rely upon the discretion of a demonstrably corrupt and consistently idiotic government to not use these awful powers to strike back at legitimate domestic unrest."

Paul Krugman: ominous political trends, European-style. CW: I knew almost none of this; if you're as clueless as I was about what's going on in Hungary, for instance, read Krugman.

** Mission Creep Done Crept: "The Cowboy Chronicles." Glenn Greenwald in Salon: so now local police are using military drones to catch Americans suspected of cattle-rustling, Americans who incidentally belong to an anti-government group.

David Remnick, in a long New Yorker piece, ponders how far resistance to Vladimir Putin can go.

Elizabeth Warren's campaign sends me this new ad, which responds to the Crossroads GPS attack ads against her:

Alec Baldwin may be a jerk, but he's a hilarious jerk:

Right Wing World

Pretty clever. It's worthy clicking on to see the fine print:

Art by Brian McFadden of the New York Times. CLICK TO SEE LARGER IMAGE.Rick Hertzberg: Not long ago, the idea that Newt Gingrich could become president would be relegated to alternate-history fiction. Now it is "not inconceivable." ...

... AND here's Hertzberg on why Newt won the debate. ...

... David Remnick of the New Yorker: when it comes to pandering to Jews in hopes of softening their support for President Obama, to Newt Gingrich, "no pandering seems out of bounds." ...

... Phoebe Greenwood of the Guardian: Palestinian officials said the claims Gingrich made in Saturday's debate that Palestinian children learn terrorism in school "were based substantially on material produced by an Israeli organisation, Palestinian Media Watch," and are untrue. ...

... AND Ron Paul runs this devastating ad against Gingrich. Obama or his supporters could lose the purple hues and run the same ad in the general:

Jonathan Chait of New York magazine: Romney's electability problem: he's rich -- and he looks it. He knows that, and to counter it, he's made a capital gains tax proposal that he says will benefit the middle class. to the horror of conservatives, to push that tax reform, Romney sounds suspiciously like a librul, someone who recognizes the trade-off between taxes and spending. ...

... AND Jeff Zeleny & Ashley Parker of the New York Times: opponents -- except for frontrunner Newt Gingrich -- are using Mitt Romney's $10,000 debate challenge to Rick Perry to paint him as too rich & out-of-touch with middle-class Americans. Jon Huntsman, Jr., who wasn't invited to the debate because his poll numbers are too low, takes up Mitt's challenge (the video include the exchange between Romney & Perry):

... NEW. AND Paul Krugman bestows upon Romney the well-earned Silver Foot Award: "When a man worth circa $200 million offers to bet someone who isn’t that rich $10,000, he’s practically waving a sign saying that he has no sense of how other people live."

News Ledes

Washington Post: "President Obama and Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki outlined a broad agenda for postwar cooperation Monday as they marked the impending end of America’s long conflict in the Middle East":

Reuters: "Anti-Wall Street demonstrators, confronted by police in riot gear, marched on several West Coast ports on Monday seeking to disrupt cargo traffic and re-energize their faltering protest movement. By singling out port operations from California to Alaska, organizers hoped to call attention again to U.S. economic inequalities, high unemployment and a financial system they complain is unfairly tilted toward the wealthy. The protests disrupted morning arrivals of trucks and dockworkers at some waterfronts, including two terminals effectively closed in Portland, Oregon."

New York Times: "At least 17 Occupy Wall Street protesters were arrested on Monday at the World Financial Center, whose owner, Brookfield Properties, also owns Zuccotti Park." Includes video. ...

... New York Times eXaminer: "At an Occupy Wall Street protest today in the World Financial Center, New York Police Department officers, some in riot gear, began arresting protestors by slamming them onto the highly-​polished marble floors. A veteran and credentialed New York Times photographer, with a press pass around his neck, was repeatedly physically prohibited from photographing the arrests and police activity...."

AP: "With the U.S. troop withdrawal from Iraq in its final days, President Barack Obama and Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki will meet at the White House Monday to discuss the next phase of the relationship between their countries."

Washington Post: "It appears increasingly likely that, with little fuss, lawmakers will approve a bipartisan compromise in coming days that will keep government running past Friday, when a short-term funding measure that has kept the lights on expires."

AFP: "US online shopping rose 15 percent from November 1 to December 9 compared to the same period last year, according to industry tracker comScore."

Reuters: "A longtime ally of Vladimir Putin called on Monday for the creation of a liberal party to fill a void in Russian politics exposed by mass protests against the prime minister's 12-year rule, and cast himself as its potential leader."

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