The Ledes

Thursday, July 3, 2025

CNBC: “Job growth proved better than expected in June, as the labor market showed surprising resilience and likely taking a July interest rate cut off the table. Nonfarm payrolls increased a seasonally adjusted 147,000 for the month, higher than the estimate for 110,000 and just above the upwardly revised 144,000 in May, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Thursday. April’s tally also saw a small upward revision, now at 158,000 following an 11,000 increase.... Though the jobless rates fell [to 4.1%], it was due largely to a decrease in those working or looking for jobs.”

Washington Post: “A warehouse storing fireworks in Northern California exploded on Tuesday, leaving seven people missing and two injured as explosions continued into Wednesday evening, officials said. Dramatic video footage captured by KCRA 3 News, a Sacramento broadcaster, showed smoke pouring from the building’s roof before a massive explosion created a fireball that seemed to engulf much of the warehouse, accompanied by an echoing boom. Hundreds of fireworks appeared to be going off and were sparkling within the smoke. Photos of the aftermath showed multiple destroyed buildings and a large area covered in gray ash.” ~~~

The Wires
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The Ledes

Wednesday, July 2, 2025

New York Times: “The Rev. Jimmy Swaggart, who emerged from the backwoods of Louisiana to become a television evangelist with global reach, preaching about an eternal struggle between good and evil and warning of the temptations of the flesh, a theme that played out in his own life in a sex scandal, died on July 1. He was 90.” ~~~

     ~~~ For another sort of obituary, see Akhilleus' commentary near the end of yesterday's thread.

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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.

INAUGURATION 2029

Commencement ceremonies are joyous occasions, and Steve Carell made sure that was true this past weekend (mid-June) at Northwestern's commencement:

~~~ Carell's entire commencement speech was hilarious. The audio and video here isn't great, but I laughed till I cried.

CNN did a live telecast Saturday night (June 7) of the Broadway play "Good Night, and Good Luck," written by George Clooney and Grant Heslov, about legendary newsman Edward R. Murrow's effort to hold to account Sen. Joe McCarthy, "the junior senator from Wisconsin." Clooney plays Murrow. Here's Murrow himself with his famous take on McCarthy & McCarthyism, brief remarks that especially resonate today: ~~~

     ~~~ This article lists ways you still can watch the play. 

New York Times: “The New York Times Company has agreed to license its editorial content to Amazon for use in the tech giant’s artificial intelligence platforms, the company said on Thursday. The multiyear agreement 'will bring Times editorial content to a variety of Amazon customer experiences,' the news organization said in a statement. Besides news articles, the agreement encompasses material from NYT Cooking, The Times’s food and recipe site, and The Athletic, which focuses on sports. This is The Times’s first licensing arrangement with a focus on generative A.I. technology. In 2023, The Times sued OpenAI and its partner, Microsoft, for copyright infringement, accusing the tech companies of using millions of articles published by The Times to train automated chatbots without any kind of compensation. OpenAI and Microsoft have rejected those accusations.” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I have no idea what this means for "the Amazon customer experience." Does it mean that if I don't have a NYT subscription but do have Amazon Prime I can read NYT content? And where, exactly, would I find that content? I don't know. I don't know.

Washington Post reporters asked three AI image generators what a beautiful woman looks like. "The Post found that they steer users toward a startlingly narrow vision of attractiveness. Prompted to show a 'beautiful woman,' all three tools generated thin women, without exception.... Her body looks like Barbie — slim hips, impossible waist, round breasts.... Just 2 percent of the images showed visible signs of aging. More than a third of the images had medium skin tones. But only nine percent had dark skin tones. Asked to show 'normal women,' the tools produced images that remained overwhelmingly thin.... However bias originates, The Post’s analysis found that popular image tools struggle to render realistic images of women outside the Western ideal." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: The reporters seem to think they are calling out the AI programs for being unrealistic. But there's a lot about the "beautiful women" images they miss. I find these omissions remarkably sexist. For one thing, the reporters seem to think AI is a magical "thing" that self-generates. It isn't. It's programmed. It's programmed by boys, many of them incels who have little or no experience or insights beyond comic books and Internet porn of how to gauge female "beauty." As a result, the AI-generated women look like cartoons; that is, a lot like an air-brushed photo of Kristi Noem: globs of every kind of dark eye makeup, Scandinavian nose, Botox lips, slathered-on skin concealer/toner/etc. makeup, long dark hair and the aforementioned impossible Barbie body shape, including huge, round plastic breasts. 

New York Times: “George Clooney’s Broadway debut, 'Good Night, and Good Luck,' has been one of the sensations of the 2024-25 theater season, breaking box office records and drawing packed houses of audiences eager to see the popular movie star in a timely drama about the importance of an independent press. Now the play will become much more widely available: CNN is planning a live broadcast of the penultimate performance, on June 7 at 7 p.m. Eastern. The performance will be preceded and followed by coverage of, and discussion about, the show and the state of journalism.”

No free man shall be seized or imprisoned, or stripped of his rights or possessions, or outlawed or exiled, or deprived of his standing in any other way, nor will we proceed with force against him, or send others to do so, except by the lawful judgment of his equals or by the law of the land. -- Magna Carta ~~~

~~~ New York Times: “Bought for $27.50 after World War II, the faint, water stained manuscript in the library of Harvard Law School had attracted relatively little attention since it arrived there in 1946. That is about to change. Two British academics, one of whom happened on the manuscript by chance, have discovered that it is an original 1300 version — not a copy, as long thought — of Magna Carta, the medieval document that helped establish some of the world’s most cherished liberties. It is one of just seven such documents from that date still in existence.... A 710-year-old version of Magna Carta was sold in 2007 for $21.3 million.... First issued in 1215, it put into writing a set of concessions won by rebellious barons from a recalcitrant King John of England — or Bad King John, as he became known in folklore. He later revoked the charter, but his son, Henry III, issued amended versions, the last one in 1225, and Henry’s son, Edward I, in turn confirmed the 1225 version in 1297 and again in 1300.”

NPR lists all of the 2025 Pulitzer Prize winners. Poynter lists the prizes awarded in journalism as well as the finalists in these categories.

 

Contact Marie

Email Marie at constantweader@gmail.com

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Thursday
Dec012011

The Commentariat -- December 2

My New York Times eXaminer column on David Brooks' paean to the superiority of the German culture is here. (Either Brooks is getting sicker & sicker, or I'm just reading more closely.) The NYTX front page is here.

The Lighting of the National Christmas Tree (Thursday evening):

... AND on that happy note: "The Senate Wants the Military to Lock You up without a Trial." Spencer Ackerman of Wired: The Senate has included an amendment in the defense spending bill, which allows "the military to detain American citizens indefinitely without a trial.... The detention mandate to use indefinite military detention in terrorism cases isn’t limited to foreigners."

     ... Update. Jeremy Herb of The Hill: "The Senate passed a $662 billion Defense bill Thursday evening after a long fight over how the U.S. military detains terror suspects. The bill passed overwhelmingly 93-7, following an agreement reached late Thursday afternoon to add compromise language on the detention of U.S. citizens and terror suspects on U.S. soil.... It is not clear whether the change will satisfy the White House, which has threatened to veto the Defense bill over the detainee provisions. The Obama administration expressed its opposition to the use of military detention within the United States, but also had concerns over the legislation tying the hands of federal law enforcement by mandating military custody and prosecution of al Qaeda members. The administration also opposes restrictions on transferring Guantanamo detainees."

Paul Krugman on how the Very Serious Europeans are killing the euro.

Karen Garcia on the two-tiered world of New York Times commenters and Obama supporters. CW: I'll probably have something on the Times' "trusted commenters" in tomorrow New York Times eXaminer. I just felt obligated to let Brooks have it today (see above).

Brian Stelter of the New York Times: "Whatever the long-term effects of the Occupy movement, protesters have succeeded in implanting 'We are the 99 percent,' referring to the vast majority of Americans (and its implied opposite, 'You are the one percent' referring to the tiny proportion of Americans with a vastly disproportionate share of wealth), into the cultural and political lexicon." ...

... Occupy the Office. Print story here, with additional audio:

Jonathan Chait of New York magazine explains the arithmetically different ways a presidential campaign treats the Electoral College and a specific demographic, because -- here's a surprise -- the right wing, including the Wall Street Journal editorial page, is making up stuff. So, no, no matter what you hear in Right Wing World, Obama is not abandoning white working class Americans.  CW: Maybe Chait could also start vetting David Brooks' columns & save him some embarrassment.

Greg Sargent: "The [Karl] Rove-founded group Crossroads GPS has run ads falsely insuinating that [Elizabeth] Warren backs the violence of protesters, and national Republicans have called on her to repudiate the protests.... A new poll just out from the University of Massachusetts suggests this conservative line of attack has yet to bear fruit. The poll finds that Warren has edged ahead of Scott Brown among registered Massachusetts voters, 43-39, though that’s within the margin of error. What’s more interesting is what the internals tell us about whether each side’s message is resonating."

Right Wing World

The public ... still prefers capitalism to socialism, but they think capitalism is immoral. And if we're seen as defenders of quote, Wall Street, end quote, we've got a problem. -- Pollster Frank Luntz, advising GOP governors on how to "message" Occupy ...

... More on Luntz's words of wisdom from Greg Sargent. ...

... AND more yet from Seth Michaels of Working America: "Remember, when you hear talking points like those touted by Luntz, what you’re really hearing is anxiety and desperation. It’s the anxiety and desperation of the 1 percent and their political allies, who know that a message about economic fairness resonates with voters and threatens their control over our politics and our economy. Take these talking points for what they are—calculated falsehoods, and a cheap, transparent attempt to use real economic worries to support the same old 1% agenda."

"Mister One Percent." MoveOn.org is running this ad in Iowa;

Willard & Newt. Art via Esquire.Charles Pierce of Esquire assesses Willard & Newt: Willard "come[s] across like Eddie Haskell with a hedge fund. Newt's reversals come within the overall currents of his apparently depthless self-regard."

News Ledes

Presidents Obama & Clinton announces a $4 billion investment in energy efficiency upgrades for commercial buildings:

ABC News: "With his chances for winning the GOP nomination sliding by the day, Herman Cain’s team today launched a 'Women for Cain' campaign, chaired by his wife Gloria, in what appears to be a last-ditch effort to salvage his candidacy. The embattled candidate said this afternoon that he’s going to make an announcement Saturday to 'clarify' what his next steps are."

AFP: "Facebook said Friday that it plans to hire thousands of employees over the next year and add an engineering team to its office in New York."

New York Times: "Chancellor Angela Merkel [of Germany] on Friday called for swift action to amend European treaties to address the underlying causes of the debt crisis that has shaken Europe and jeopardized the future of the common currency."

Politico: "Tired of waiting, the House Agriculture Committee moved Friday to subpoena former New Jersey Democratic Sen. Jon Corzine to testify regarding the collapse of MF Global and the loss of customer funds belonging to farmers who relied on the futures broker.... Hours later, Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) who chairs the Senate Agriculture Committee, announced she would also seek a vote in her panel next week to compel her former colleague to appear."

New York Times: "House investigators examining the 2008 push by Representative Jesse L. Jackson Jr. to take the Senate seat being vacated by Barack Obama found 'probable cause' that Mr. Jackson, an Illinois Democrat, directed one of his supporters to raise money for Rod Blagojevich, who was then the Illinois governor, in exchange for the appointment to the Senate, a detailed investigative report released Friday shows." The report (pdf) is here.

AP: "U.S. officials gave Pakistan soldiers the wrong location when asking for clearance to attack militants along the border last weekend, Pakistani military officials said Friday. The strike resulted in the deaths of 24 soldiers and a major crisis in relations between Washington and Islamabad."

ABC News: "The morning after the Senate defeated Democratic and Republican plans to extend the payroll tax cut, President Obama issued a Grinch-like threat to Congress to pass a payroll tax cut before the holiday recess or 'we can all spend Christmas here together.'” See also Saturday's Commentariat.

The Hill: "Unemployment dropped to 8.6 percent in November, its lowest level in nearly three years.The steep drop — the jobless rate was 9 percent a month ago — is good news for Democrats and President Obama, who is counting on a recovering economy to help him win a second term." New York Times story here.

Washington Post: "The Senate late Thursday rejected competing partisan visions for extending a temporary tax break that benefits virtually every American worker, clearing the way for more serious negotiations over how to cover the cost of the tax cut. All but a handful of Democrats voted in favor of their party’s proposal, but in a surprising turn, more Republicans voted against the GOP plan than in favor of it. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) predicted this week that a majority of his conference would vote for the party’s plan to extend the payroll tax cut."

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