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 ofcommunities across the southeastern United States. At least 40 people were confirmedkilled in fivestates since the storm made landfall late Thursdayas 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.
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."
My column in today's New York Times eXaminer is on Tom Friedman's latest turn on the Iraq War. Of course I caught him in an itty-bitty fib about -- Tom Friedman. The NYTX front page is here. Also, be sure to read the excerpt from Belén Fernández’s book The Imperial Messenger: Thomas Friedman at Work. The excerpt is hilarious, in a creepy sort of way.
Robert Pear of the New York Times: "More than three million people stand to lose unemployment insurance benefits in the near future because of an impasse in Congress over how to extend the aid and how to offset the cost. Jobless benefits have been overshadowed by debate on a payroll tax cut, but have become a huge sticking point in negotiations on a bill that deals with both issues. Republicans would continue aid for some of the unemployed, but would sharply reduce the maximum duration of benefits and impose strict new requirements on people seeking or receiving aid."
The Obama Campaign Doesn't Seem All That Sad about the House Move. Marc Ambinder of the National Journal: "In several hours Tuesday, 10,000 Obama supporters had responded to an e-mail from senior adviser David Plouffe asking what $40 per week, about what the payroll tax cut is worth, would mean to them.... The White House also asked the question on Twitter, creating a hashtag, #40dollars, that was trending worldwide just hours later. The official cited data from hashtracking.com, which showed that the hash tag had generated more than 5.7 million impressions, equivalent to roughly 3 million people."
Nate Silver: "President Obama has seen improved approval ratings in the past few weeks.... The improvement in Mr. Obama’s numbers, while fairly modest, is potentially meaningful.... One popular theory is that Mr. Obama is benefiting from the confrontation with Congress over the payroll tax cut.... I would suggest that another explanation is much more plausible: Mr. Obama’s improved approval ratings reflect rising economic expectations." CW: And I would suggest that's something for Obama to worry about: we haven't much actual reason to expect the economy to improve.
Katrina vanden Heuvel in the Washington Post: "President Obama likes to quote Martin Luther King Jr., who said that 'the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.' But it doesn’t bend by itself. Faced with the roadblocks of the right, perhaps the pragmatic thing to do and the idealistic thing to do are one and the same: We have to build a movement that will push our politics and our current president — and the next one, and the next one, and the next one.... 2012 must be about more than just his reelection. It needs to be about what comes next, not just who."
In a post titled, "PolitiFact, R.I.P.," Paul Krugman writes: "This is really awful. Politifact, which is supposed to police false claims in politics, has announced its Lie of the Year — and it’s a statement that happens to be true, the claim that Republicans have voted to end Medicare.... The people at Politifact are terrified of being considered partisan if they acknowledge the clear fact that there’s a lot more lying on one side of the political divide than on the other. So they’ve bent over backwards to appear 'balanced' — and in the process made themselves useless and irrelevant." CW: I sent this link along to PolitiFact, which never responded to the explanation I sent them some weeks back that jibed with Krugman's analysis here. Dopes. ...
... Ezra Klein: "The meta-point here is that we’re seeing, in real time, why the 'fact checker' model is probably unsustainable.... [Paul] Ryan actually campaigned to get PolitiFact to name 'end Medicare' their Lie of the Year. And yet Ryan is one of the prime offenders behind the 2010 Lie of the Year — that the Affordable Care Act was a 'government takeover' of the health-care system. But Ryan hasn’t apologized for those comments or even, as far as I can tell, stopped making that argument. He wants PolitiFact on his side when it’s useful for him, and he’ll ignore the outlet when it isn’t. ...
By their logic if Republicans had voted to replace the FBI with a voucher program giving citizens subsidies to pay for private investigators, it would have been inaccurate to say they had 'ended the FBI.' -- Jed Lewison, Daily Kos
... Dave Weigel of Slate: "Getting somewhat lost in this discussion is where the 'ends Medicare' line came from. It was not birthed like Athena from the skull of Nancy Pelosi. It came from an April 4, 2011 preview of the Ryan plan by Naftali Bendavid, writing in the Wall Street Journal -- that simmering pot of liberal bias. Here is how Bendavid described it.
The plan would essentially end Medicare, which now pays most of the health-care bills for 48 million elderly and disabled Americans, as a program that directly pays those bills. Mr. Ryan and other conservatives say this is necessary because of the program's soaring costs.
"In subsequent Democratic spin and ads, this was the citation for the claim that the Ryan plan 'would essentially end Medicare.' Strangely, PolitiFact never mentions this original, reported analysis. The fact-checkers claim that 'Democrats pounced' on Ryan, that 'the Democrats were turning the tables' on the spin, and that the lie is 'the Democrats’ claim.' No mention of how a non-partisan analysis of the bill, by a congressional reporter, first made the 'ending' claim." CW: I sent this to PolitiFact, too.
Jack Ewing of the New York Times: big banks really want to risk other people's money, including yours, the better to increase the bonuses of their top dogs. "The debate centers on an international accord..., the so-called Basel III rules. The core issue and main point of dispute is capital — the money that banks accumulate through issuing stock and holding onto profits, money that they do not have to repay. The regulators want banks to finance their operations with more capital and less borrowed money. Advocates argue that the bigger the capital buffer, the greater the stability of the financial system. But financing operations from capital, rather than borrowing money, is less profitable, and that means lower bonuses."
The Rev. Jim Rigby on empire: "Christmas is not a fact of history, but Christianity’s particular symbol of every human being’s hope for world peace and universal happiness. When the angels sang, 'peace on earth good will to all,' they were expressing the song written in every heart. But, that song calls us out of empire and into our entire human family. Maybe stopping the frenzy of Christmas long enough to really hear the song the angels sang to the wretched of the earth, would give us the humanity to stop hanging our Christmas lights until we no longer kill our brothers and sisters for the fuel to illumine them."
Dean Baker in Nation of Change: Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Oregon), evidently realizing that "just because something has failed repeatedly is no reason not to do it again; especially if it protects the interests of the 1 percent," did so for the accolades from the usual suspects. If he weren't such a coward, he would suggest a plan that would actually work to reduce costs & improve healthcare.
Right Wing World *
Dana Milbankmocks House Republicans for their weird embrace of the Mel Gibson film "Braveheart." Of course, it isn't very funny if you're one of the millions of victims of the House GOP caucus. ...
... They've Even Lost the Wall Street Journal Editorial Board, which is an Amazing Turn: "The GOP's Payroll Tax Fiasco.... Given how [GOP Senate leader Mitch McConnell] and House Speaker John Boehner have handled the payroll tax debate, we wonder if they might end up re-electing the President before the 2012 campaign even begins in earnest. The GOP leaders have somehow managed the remarkable feat of being blamed for opposing a one-year extension of a tax holiday that they are surely going to pass. This is no easy double play." ...
... Laurie Kellman of the AP: "John Boehner vowed early on that as speaker, he would let the House 'work its will.' At the end of his first year in charge of the fractious Republican-controlled chamber, it's clear he has little choice. An uncompromising band of conservatives, led by GOP freshmen to whom Boehner owes his speakership, has repeatedly forced him to back away from deals with President, Democrats and, this week, even one struck by Senate Republicans. Gridlock, again and again, has defined Congress in the Boehner era even as Americans fume and the economy continues to wobble."
David Lynch of Bloomberg News (in a straight news article): Mitt Romney & Newt Gingrich "have embraced an explanation of the financial crisis that has been rejected by the chairman of the Federal Reserve, many economists and even three of the four Republicans on the government commission that investigated the meltdown. Both ... lay much of the blame on U.S. government housing policies, saying they led to the real estate crash that almost brought down the banking system and has cost homeowners $6.6 trillion since 2006. 'We are aware of such claims but have not seen any empirical evidence presented to support them,' Fed Chairman Ben S. Bernanke wrote...."
... Dahlia Lithwick in Slate, on the increasingly irrelevant Mr. Gingrich: "With his escalating attacks on the federal judiciary, he has confirmed that, if elected, he would place himself atop a government that simultaneously manages to be both a dictatorship and a theocracy. In recent weeks — and just as his presidential star was improbably rising — he doubled down on his initial claims that the federal courts 'have become grotesquely dictatorial and far too powerful,' to offer up new promises that, as president, he would abolish federal judgeships, occasionally ignore the Supreme Court, and — in the manner of a tiny tyrant in khaki shirts and mirrored sunglasses — have federal marshals arrest errant federal judges and force them to testify before Congress about their unpopular decisions."
Peter Wallsten of the Washington Post: "Rep. Ron Paulhas become a serious force with the potential to upend the nomination fight and remain a factor throughout next year’s general-election campaign.... He has built a strong enough base of support that he could be a spoiler — or a kingmaker. In a muddled field, Paul could win the Iowa caucuses. Over the past week, he has spent more than $600,000 on attack ads that are cutting into support for a fellow front-runner, former House speaker Newt Gingrich (Ga.). And Paul has built an organization that will allow him to remain in the race well beyond the early-voting states and amass convention delegates. Perhaps most fearsome to Republican leaders is Paul’s refusal to rule out a third-party presidential bid that would steal votes from the Republican nominee and make President Obama’s path to reelection considerably easier."
Brian Tashman of Right Wing Watch: "Calvin Beinser of the Cornwall Alliance has no scientific credentials but has become the go-to person for right-wing activists on questions of science, particularly climate change.... What Beisner does have is close ties to organizations financed by the energy industry and a history of attacking scientists, spreading misinformation, and fueling fears that the environmental movement is a pagan plot to destroy Christianity and kill 'about 95% of the human race.' ... He joined Focus on the Family’s political arm CitizenLink ... to disparage the [Evangelical Environmental Network] for thanking both Republican and Democratic politicians who supported efforts to reduce mercury emissions.... The Center for Disease control did in fact find that one in six newborns ... annually, are 'at risk for developmental disorders because of mercury exposure in the mother's womb.' ... Apparently for Focus on the Family, being 'pro-life' does not entail protecting newborns from mercury poisoning."
* Where all is not right.
News Ledes
AP: "Careening toward a politically toxic tax hike, President Barack Obama implored House Speaker John Boehner on Wednesday to get behind a two-month stopgap until a longer deal could be struck early next year, calling it the only real way out of a mess that is threatening the paychecks of 160 million workers and isolating House Republicans." ...
... New York Times: "The holiday brinkmanship over the issue recalled the December budget showdown 16 years ago between another first-term Democratic president, Bill Clinton, and a new Republican Congressional majority — a fight that capped their year of confrontation over the nation’s fiscal priorities by reviving Mr. Clinton politically as he began his re-election race."
AP: "Lawyers for the Army intelligence analyst blamed for the biggest national security leak in American history rested their case Wednesday, with closing arguments ahead before Pfc. Bradley Manning learns whether he will face a court-martial."
AP: "More than two dozen members of Congressare calling for investigation into the CIA's relationship with the New York Police Department."
AP: "The European Central Bankloaned a massive euro489 billion ($639 billion) to hundreds of banks for an exceptionally long period of three years to shore up a financial system that is under pressure from the eurozone's government debt crisis. It was the biggest ECB infusion of credit into the banking system in the 13-year history of the shared euro currency." This Guardian liveblog has details & reactions.
New York Times: "For the first time ever, a government advisory board is asking scientific journals not to publish details of certain biomedical experiments, for fear that the information could be used by terrorists to create deadly viruses and touch off epidemics. In the experiments, conducted in the United States and the Netherlands, scientists created a highly transmissible form of a deadly flu virus that does not normally spread from person to person. It was an ominous step, because easy transmission can lead the virus to spread all over the world."
Washington Post: "Eight American soldiers deployed in Afghanistan have been charged in connection with the Oct. 3 death of a comrade who apparently committed suicide in a guard tower, U.S. military officials said Wednesday. Pvt. Danny Chen, 19, an infantryman, died from an 'apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound' at a small combat outpost in Kandahar Province.... A military official told Chen's parents that fellow soldiers had been physically abusive toward Chen, and taunted him with ethnic slurs, The New York Times reported in October."
ABC News: "While blizzard conditions may have ended over the U.S. for now, a Nor'easter is now a possibility for December 24 - 25, which might mean a white Christmas for major cities along the East Coast from Washington, D.C. to Boston and hectic travel conditions for millions. Over the last 24 hours some 24 inches of snow fell in New Mexico, with winds gusting over 70 mph in the mountains. Up to a foot of snow from was seen from Colorado to Kansas and Oklahoma, and 10-foot drifts were reported in Colorado."
AP: "Iraq's prime minister urged the Kurdish authorities in the north of the country to hand over the Sunni vice president accused of running hit squads that targeted government officials, saying he must face justice. The comments by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki during a news conference Wednesday sharpened the divisions in what is shaping up to be one of the most serious political confrontations in Iraq in years."
AP: "The parliament chosen in a fraud-tainted election that set off protests throughout Russiaopened its first session Wednesday with the new speaker promising more genuine debate to win back the voters' trust. Under Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, the parliament has become little more than a rubber stamp for government initiatives. The previous speaker once famously said it was 'not a place for political discussion.' Sergei Naryshkin said this would change with him as the new speaker."
Guardian: "The Metropolitan police have arrested a 52-year-old female serving police officer over payments from journalists, Scotland Yard has said.... She is the first police officer arrested under Operation Elveden, an inquiry into alleged illegal payments to officers which is running alongside the Operation Weeting phone-hacking inquiry."
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