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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Monday
Dec122011

The Commentariat -- December 13

My New York Times eXaminer column, "Of Philosophers & Things," is here. The NYTX front page is here.

** Law Prof. Jonathan Macey in a Wall Street Journal op-ed: "Several academic studies show that the investment portfolios of congressmen and senators consistently outperform stock indices like the Dow and the S&P 500, as well as the portfolios of virtually all professional investors.... Democrats' portfolios outperform the market by a whopping 9%. Republicans do well, though not quite as well. And the trading is widespread.... Senators outperform the market by an astonishing 12%.... These results are not due to luck or the financial acumen of elected officials. They can be explained only by insider trading based on the nonpublic information that politicians obtain in the course of their official duties." A proposed new bill, which has nearly identical House & Senate versions, introduced in reaction to the Congresional insider-trading scandal aired in a November "60 Minutes" segment, "would only make their shenanigans easier.... If the law passes in its current form..., I predict such trading will increase because the rules of the game will be clearer."

Deciding Not to Decide. Bryan Walsh of Time has what looks to be a realistic summary of the outcomes of the Durban climate summit: "... there’s no assurance coming out of Durban that we’re all that much closer to an actual treaty that would actually demand actual emissions cuts from all big emitters — developed and developing." Read the whole post; it's more complex than I've let on.

Charles Pierce isn't an expert on the judiciary, but I think he's onto something when he suggests -- based on pretty good circumstantial evidence -- that Chief Justice John Roberts and Associates have in mind to "rejigger" states rights back to where they were in the good ole days before FDR whipped the Supremes into line.

Anthony Faiola of the Washington Post: "Britain faced pointed criticism from across the English channel on Tuesday for thwarting a European Union-wide pact aimed at shoring up the foundations of the euro." Also "Nick Clegg, the deputy prime minister..., has pointedly criticized [PM David] Cameron’s decision to opt out of the pact." Sarah Lyall & Alan Cowell's New York Times story here.

Rich, Sleazy Candidates Revive that Hopey-Changey Thing. Anne Kornblut of the Washington Post: "Against the backdrop of a tightening Republican presidential contest, much of the hierarchy of President Obama’s campaign is decamping from Chicago to Washington on Tuesday for a high-profile debriefing on the the state of the president’s reelection effort. The message will be predictably upbeat. For Obama advisers in need of a little lift after months of bad news, there have been some encouraging signs in recent weeks. At the top of the list is an erratic Republican presidential field roiled by the ascent of Newt Gingrich...." ...

Right Wing World

... Rich, Sleazy Candidates on Their Rich, Sleazy Opponents

That would make him the highest-paid historian in history.” Romney added, “One of the things that I think people recognize in Washington is that people go there to serve the people and then they stay there to serve themselves. -- Mitt Romney, on the $1.6 million Newt Gingrich collected from Freddie Mac, income Gingrich characterized as payment for his services as a "historian"

[I'll consider returning my Freddie Mac earnings] if Governor Romney would like to give back all the money he’s earned bankrupting companies and laying off employees over his years. But I bet you $10 — not $10,000 — that he won’t take the offer. -- Newt Gingrich

Amy Gardner, et al., of the Washington Post: "Former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney escalated his rivalry with Newt Gingrich on Monday with a series of pointed, personal attacks, signaling a more aggressive and negative shift in the race for the Republican presidential nomination."

** Try Not to Gasp in Surprise. Stephen Ohlemacher of the AP: "The tax plan by GOP presidential hopeful Newt Gingrich would provide big tax breaks to the rich and blow a huge hole in the federal budget deficit, according to an independent study released Monday." The Tax Policy Center study results & links to data are here.

Be careful out there, Mitt. Teh gays look just like "regular" people. Mitt Romney accidentally meets a gay Vietnam vet in a New Hampshire diner:

... Dogwhistling through Dixie. Steve M. of No Mister Nice Blog: where he covers immigration in his stump speech, Mitt Romney channels the Ku Klux Klan. Yes, he does. He really does. Remember, this is the guy who is too moderate for his party. Via Charles Pierce.

The other day Paul Krugman criticized "moderate Republican" Sen. Olympia Snowe (Maine) for her opposition to raising taxes on millionaires (of which she is one, many times over) on a number of grounds worth your reading -- most of which will be merely reminders. But his post also implies another reminder: "moderate Republicans" are not very moderate and -- like their less wingier colleagues -- they are dedicated to shilling for the rich. BTW: Snowe isn't sticking up for millionaires because she has a huge millionaire constituency: in the whole state of Maine there are only about 375 people who earn over $1MM a year and would therefore be subject to the surtax.

Yuri Kozyrev for Time: in Egypt, Islamists make good democrats -- an interesting perspective.

Headline of the Day: "Anti-Gay Alabama GOPer Secretly Donated Sperm To Lesbian Couples In New Zealand." This would get the Hilarious Hypocrisy Prize if Bill Johnson's sperm-o-matic didn't pose some serious risks for his newborn and as-yet-unborn biological children. Also, Johnson's wife -- who didn't know about how Johnson was using his johnson Down Under -- is not amused.

Jesus (who miraculously [of course] turns out to be a Semitic blond) answers Rick Perry's "Strong" ad:

Local News

Marc Lacey of the New York Times: "... Joe Arpaio [who] calls himself 'America’s Toughest Sheriff,' [is] the top law enforcement official in sprawling Maricopa County, [Arizona, and] is perhaps best known for his hard-nosed treatment of prisoners and his aggressive raids aimed at illegal immigrants. But it is his department’s approach to more than 400 sex-crimes cases that has Sheriff Arpaio in trouble. His deputies failed to investigate or conducted only the sketchiest of inquiries into hundreds of sex crimes between 2005 and 2007.... Many of those cases involved molested children.... officials discovered that dozens of sensitive cases, many filed by illegal immigrants, had not been adequately investigated or investigated at all."

News Ledes

New York Times: "The Federal Reserve said Tuesday that it will take no new steps to boost economic growth this year, citing mounting evidence that the American economy is chugging slowly toward good health."

Politico: "Donald Trump has bowed out of moderating the Newsmax debate in Iowa later, announcing his decision in a statement saying he will not give up the option of running for president as an independent."

From the Fairly Stupid Ideas Department. AP: "Heady with their successful attempts to block trucks and curb business at busy ports up and down the West Coast, some Occupy Wall Street protesters plan to continue their blockades and keep staging similar protests despite requests to stop because they're hurting wage earners."

Washington Post: "The White House has formally threatened to veto a GOP-authored bill that would link the extension of a payroll tax cut that President Obama has sought to other Republican priorities."

The "But I Don't Read the Mail I Answer" Defense. New York Times: "An e-mail chain released Tuesday by a parliamentary panel investigating the phone hacking scandal shows that Rupert Murdoch’s son James received and responded to messages in 2008 that referred to widespread phone hacking at The News of the World tabloid, the first documentation that he may have been notified of the wider problem long before he has admitted. James Murdoch responded to the panel in a letter, saying that he had opened the e-mails on his BlackBerry and had not read their full contents at the time or since." Guardian story here.

Los Angeles Times: "Home improvement giant Lowe's Cos. continues to come under heavy criticism from activists, some politicians and customers after pulling its ads from a reality TV show featuring Muslim Americans. The North Carolina company decided to stop advertising on the show 'All-American Muslim,' on Discovery Communications Inc.'s TLC channel, after complaints by the Florida Family Assn., a conservative Christian group that lobbies companies to promote 'traditional, biblical values.'"

Think Progress: " Fourteen Democratic senators have written a letter to Kathleen Sebelius asking the HHS Secretary to provide 'specific rationale and the scientific data you relied on' to overrule the Food and Drug Administration and limit the availability of the morning after pill to women of all ages." The letter is here. The signers are "Senators Patty Murray (D-WA), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Barbara Boxer (D-CA), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Daniel Akaka (D-HI), Carl Levin (D-MI), John Kerry (D-MA), Tom Harkin (D-IA), Al Franken (D-MN), Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ), Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Ron Wyden (D-OR), Maria Cantwell (D-WA), and Jeff Merkley (D-OR)."

AP: "Facing a weekend deadline to avoid a government shutdown, a combative Congress appears on track to advance a massive $1 trillion-plus yearend spending package that curbs agency budgets but drops many policy provisions sought by GOP conservatives. Lawmakers reached a tentative agreement Monday on the measure. It chips away at the Pentagon budget, foreign aid and environmental spending but boosts funding for veterans programs and modernizing the U.S. nuclear arsenal."

AP: "Congress is pressing ahead with a massive $662 billion defense bill that requires military custody for terrorism suspects linked to al-Qaida, including those captured within the U.S. Lawmakers hope their last-minute revisions will satisfy President Barack Obama and erase a veto threat. Leaders of the House and Senate Armed Services Committees announced late Monday that they had reached agreement on the policy-setting legislation that had gotten caught up in an escalating fight on whether to treat suspected terrorists as prisoners of war or criminals.... The White House had no immediate comment late Monday, and it was unclear whether it would hold firm on its veto threat."

Thought I Already Covered This; Guess I Didn't. New York Times: "The [Supreme] Court announced Monday that it would decide whether Arizona was entitled to impose tough anti-immigration measures over the Obama administration’s objections. The case joined a crowded docket that already included challenges to Mr. Obama’s signature legislative achievement, the 2010 health care overhaul law, and a momentous case on how Texas will conduct its elections."

Baltimore Sun: "Baltimore police in riot gear moved in full force but peacefully evicted protesters with the Occupy Baltimore movement from the Inner Harbor's McKeldin Square during the early morning hours Tuesday. Officials reported no arrests. About 40 people grabbed their belongings and left the encampment, surrounded by police wearing shields and carrying nightsticks who stayed on the periphery. Those who were homeless were given the option of climbing into city buses to be taken to a shelter." With video.

Reuters: "Security forces shot dead 17 people in Syria on Tuesday and rebels killed seven police in an ambush, activists said, after the U.N. human rights chief put the death toll from nine months of protest against President Bashar al-Assad at 5,000."

ABC News: "Former MF Global CEO Jon Corzine is scheduled to testify before Congress again on Tuesday, this time before the Senate Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Committee, but the whereabouts of about $1.2 billion in client money is still unknown." ...

     ... Washington Post Update: "Returning to Capitol Hill on Tuesday to testify before the Senate, Jon Corzine backed off his earlier remarks that he could have inadvertently authorized an transfer of customer funds to the firm account of MF Global, the failed commodities brokerage that he had led."

Maybe You Understand This. Live Science: "Physicists are closer than ever to hunting down the elusive Higgs boson particle, the missing piece of the governing theory of the universe's tiniest building blocks. Scientists at the world's largest particle accelerator, the Large Hadron Collider at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) in Geneva, Switzerland, announced today (Dec. 13) that they'd narrowed down the list of possible hiding spots for the Higgs, (also called the God particle) and even see some indications that they're hot on its trail." The Guardian is liveblogging this story.

AP: "Former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky waived his preliminary hearing Tuesday, a decision that moves him toward a trial on charges of child sex abuse and cancels the possibility that he would publicly face his accusers."

Air-Tight Alibi. Def. ABC News: "LaDondrell Montgomery had his conviction for armed robbery  and a life sentence overturned thanks to his attorney discovering he was in jail at the time of the crime. But he's still not a free man. The Houston, Texas, felon remains in jail faced with five more robbery charges."

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