The Ledes

Monday, September 30, 2024

New York Times: “Kris Kristofferson, the singer and songwriter whose literary yet plain-spoken compositions infused country music with rarely heard candor and depth, and who later had a successful second career in movies, died at his home on Maui, Hawaii, on Saturday. He was 88.”

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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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Washington Post: “First came the surprising discovery that Earth’s atmosphere is leaking. But for roughly 60 years, the reason remained a mystery. Since the late 1960s, satellites over the poles detected an extremely fast flow of particles escaping into space — at speeds of 20 kilometers per second. Scientists suspected that gravity and the magnetic field alone could not fully explain the stream. There had to be another source creating this leaky faucet. It turns out the mysterious force is a previously undiscovered global electric field, a recent study found. The field is only about the strength of a watch battery — but it’s enough to thrust lighter ions from our atmosphere into space. It’s also generated unlike other electric fields on Earth. This newly discovered aspect of our planet provides clues about the evolution of our atmosphere, perhaps explaining why Earth is habitable. The electric field is 'an agent of chaos,' said Glyn Collinson, a NASA rocket scientist and lead author of the study. 'It undoes gravity.... Without it, Earth would be very different.'”

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.'”

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The Commentariat -- February 8, 2012

Chris Spannos of the New York Times eXaminer: "In its treatment of WikiLeaks The [New York] Times has thoroughly undermined press freedoms that the Supreme Court argued for on its behalf. In its publication of Cablegate documents, The Times did not participate in the international consortium of media partners—organized by WikiLeaks—and instead acquired the cables through the Guardian (in violation of its contract with WikiLeaks). The Times then gave 'the White House an early warning' of the cables it was going to publish and listened to Washington’s concerns relating to the cables. The Times shared these concerns with other news media outlets." ...

My column in the New York Times eXaminer is on a "fundamentally dishonest" New York Times report which advances the GOP party line. The NYTX front page is here. You can contribute here.

New York Times Editors: "On Monday, the president's ... aides announced that the Obama campaign would begin to assist the 'super PAC' that can raise and spend unlimited sums to support the president’s re-election effort.... The president gave in to the culture of the Citizens United decision that he once denounced as a 'threat to our democracy.' Obama has given up that higher ground. He had already undermined the public financing system for presidential campaigns by refusing to use it in 2008, but this is much worse." ...

... Kevin Drum of Mother Jones echoes a comment today from contributor Dennis Garber: "Is this hypocritical of Obama? For the thousandth time, no, no, no. The playing field is the playing field, and once a public policy has been legally put in place you'd be a sap not to play by the same rules as everyone else." ...

... Dana Milbank: "While Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum are making each other unelectable, the president is singing Al Green, congratulating Super Bowl winners, playing with science projects, raising obscene amounts of campaign cash and watching his poll numbers soar."

In a New York Times op-ed, David Miller, a tax lawyer, suggests a "Zuckerberg tax," or what he calls a "mark-to-market" tax. Under the current tax code, Mark Zuckerberg will pay no tax on the stock he doesn’t immediately sell. "Instead, he can simply use his stock as collateral to borrow against his tremendous wealth and avoid all tax.... After rejoining Apple in 1997, [Steve] Jobs never sold a single Apple share for the rest of his life, and therefore never paid a penny of tax on the over $2 billion of Apple stock he held at his death. Now his widow can sell those shares without paying any income tax on the appreciation before his death." Miller's suggested Zuckerberg tax would change that. "A mark-to-market system of taxation on the top one-tenth of 1 percent would raise hundreds of billions of dollars of new revenue over the next 10 years."

Scott Higham, et al., of the Washington Post: "Some members of Congress send tax dollars to companies, colleges and community groups where their spouses, children and parents work.... A U.S. senator from South Dakota helped add millions to a Pentagon program his wife evaluated as a contract employee. A Washington congressman boosted the budget of an environmental group that his son ran as executive director. A Texas congresswoman guided millions to a university where her husband served as a vice president."

Bill Moyers interviews social psychologist Jonathan Haidt. While I disagree with some of Haidt's premises, a number of his general principles are well-supported. The Moyers site is here. Thanks to Lisa for the link:

Igor Volsky of Think Progress: " Twenty-eight states already require organizations that offer prescription insurance to cover contraception and since 98 percent of Catholic women use birth control, many Catholic institutions offer the benefit to their employees.... Many Catholic colleges have purchased insurance plans that provide contraception benefits." CW: I wish somebody would conduct a poll on this of women of child-bearing years. ...

... Think Progress: "... a majority of Catholics, support [the Obama administration’s rule requiring employers to provide contraception], according to a new poll conducted by the Public Religion Research Institute. The requirement garners support from 55 percent of Americans and 58 percent of Catholics, though the number is slightly lower (52 percent) for Catholic voters."

Right Wing World

Obvious, but Not Often Said. Jia Lynn Yang of the Washington Post: "A core argument of Romney’s presidential campaign is that he knows how to create jobs based on his career in finance. As governor, Romney faced his first test in applying his business background to a slow-growing economy — and data show that the results were unremarkable.... As Romney’s opponents have pointed out, the state ranked 47th in job creation during his term. The parallels between Massachusetts then and the country as a whole now point to the same central problem that has dogged the U.S. economy the last three times it’s climbed out of a recession: The recovery hasn’t created enough jobs."

"A Long Battle." Nate Silver: "Whatever your perspective on how likely Mitt Romney was to lose the Republican nomination race prior to Tuesday evening, it should be acknowledged that he had about the worst results conceivable." ...

... Igor Volsky: "Mitt Romney has launched a petition accusing the Obama administration of 'using Obamacare to impose a secular vision on Americans who believe that they should not have their religious freedom taken away.' The move is the latest in a concerted campaign effort to rally the conservative base around a supposed 'war against religion' and misrepresent or outright lie about a new regulation requiring employers and insurers to offer contraception coverage." P.S. RomneyCare "offers primary and preventive care that includes 'family planning services' and prescription contraceptives."

Local News

Steve Schultze of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: "Darlene Wink pleaded guilty Tuesday to two misdemeanor charges of fundraising in the courthouse for then-Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker's campaign for governor. Her convictions were the first stemming from a secret John Doe investigation into a variety of issues from Walker's tenure as county executive. Three other former Walker courthouse aides and appointees also have been charged through the Doe probe." ...

... MacKenzie Weinger of Politico: "Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker will voluntarily meet with the Milwaukee County prosecutors about the John Doe investigation into some of his former aides.... Walker said he had hired two criminal lawyers for the meeting." CW: John Nichols of The Nation appeared on Ed Schultz's show Tuesday evening & said the interview was not "voluntary," but I can't find a story backing that up. ...

... Charles Pierce on the back-room blood-pacts and related goings-on in "Wisconsin, a former state of the union now d/b/a a wholly owned subsidiary of Koch Industries under goggle-eyed homunculus Scott Walker and his pet state legislature."

News Ledes

New York Times: "Washington was poised Wednesday to become the seventh state to allow same-sex couples to marry after the State House gave final passage to such a bill. Gov. Christine Gregoire promised to sign it."

New York Times: "His candidacy all but dismissed just days ago, Rick Santorum won the Minnesota and Colorado caucuses and a nonbinding primary in Missouri on Tuesday, an unexpected trifecta that raised fresh questions about Mitt Romney’s ability to corral conservative support. With his triumphs, Mr. Santorum was also suddenly presenting new competition to Newt Gingrich as the chief alternative to Mr. Romney, the front-runner. Where Mr. Gingrich has won one state, South Carolina, Mr. Santorum has now won four, including Iowa." Washington Post story here.

Now Republicans have our backs against the wall. We can’t win the argument. We’re going to have to go on to something else. -- Mean Sen. Jim DeMint (RTP-S.C.) ...

... New York Times: "Any hope for a fast and quiet resolution to the Congressional battle over a payroll tax cut seemed to dim Tuesday as members of a bipartisan negotiating committee clashed over how to pay for the extension, and Senate Democrats suggested that they would come up with their own bill to get the matter resolved."

New York Times: "Facing vocal opposition from religious leaders and an escalating political fight, the White House sought on Tuesday to ease mounting objections to a new administration rule that would require health insurance plans — including those offered by Catholic universities and charities — to offer birth control to women free of charge."

Washington Post: "New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman abruptly called off a news conference at which he could have provided a crucial endorsement of a proposed settlement with some of the nation’s biggest banks over shoddy foreclosure practices. Schneiderman’s unexplained last-minute postponement cast another cloud of uncertainty over the ongoing negotiations, which have dragged on for more than 16 months. State and federal officials have been intent on finalizing the deal by the end of the week."

AP: "The European Union will impose harsher sanctions on Syria, a senior EU official said Wednesday, as Russia tried to broker talks between the vice president and the opposition to calm violence. Activists reported at least 50 killed in military assaults targeting government opponents." The Guardian has a liveblog on the story.

New York Times: "Greek political leaders continued to struggle Wednesday to secure agreement on new austerity measures to be presented to the country’s financial backers in the coming days. Driving the talks has been a clear recognition that the ever-worsening collapse of the Greek economy will require another increase in bailout funds — money that will not be forthcoming until the rest of Europe is persuaded that Greece is serious about taking such steps as firing more public-sector workers and cutting private-sector wages." ...

     Reuters Update: "Greek political leaders failed early on Thursday to sign off on a tough reform and austerity program, the price of a new international bailout for the nation, but Prime Minister Lucas Papademos said they would try to strike a deal within hours."

Reuters: "Iran is capable of hitting U.S. military forces around the world if attacked by the United States, Russia's Interfax news agency quoted the Iranian ambassador to Moscow as saying on Wednesday."

AP: "All but one of the first wave of phone hacking cases against Rupert Murdoch's News International have been settled, victims' lawyer told Britain's High Court on Wednesday. The latest settlement brings to more than 60 the number of claims that Murdoch's UK newspaper company has dealt with."

ABC News: "A retired general today assailed the commander of the Navy SEAL raid that killed Osama bin Laden for drawing too much media attention to operations that he argued should be kept under wraps. Special Operations Commander Adm. Bill McRaven was confronted by retired Lt. Gen. James Vaught, who said he didn't understand why the recent raids by the Navy SEALs, such as the one to kill Osama bin Laden or to rescue U.S. hostage Jessica Buchanan, were all over the media."

Some People Are So Cheesy. AP: "A memorabilia collector and self-styled expert on presidential history pleaded guilty Tuesday to conspiring to steal thousands of documents signed by leaders throughout U.S. history. Barry Landau, whose knowledge of the White House earned him appearances on network morning shows, admitted in the plea to taking documents from the Maryland Historical Society and conspiring with his assistant to steal documents from several institutions with the intention of selling them. Thousands of documents were seized by authorities over the summer from the 63-year-old Landau’s artifact-lined Manhattan apartment. Prosecutors say he schemed for years, if not decades, to steal valuable documents."

Comments Off

Reader Comments (6)

Regarding the NYT opinion piece on the Dems and Citizen's United, I offer the following, which will likely not be posted on the NYT:

What a piece of work this article it! The Supremes have made the rules, and now you are criticizing Obama for following their wishes? Let's be realistic-who, in their right mind, would propose that the re-election campaign not take advantage of every legal method to make known their position to the American voters? If the Dems stood on principle, the GOP would run rough--shod over them and trample them in November - just like they have been doing for three years now. Savvy people know that there is little "principle" in the GOP network, if any at all! And you really propose that the Dems should not use this available method to win votes?

I am becoming rather disenchanted with the New York Times Opinion pages. A remarkable lack of judgement is being used herein lately.

February 8, 2012 | Unregistered CommenterDennis Garber

@ Dennis Garber. You're such a callous pragmatist! See, an Obama loss to one of the billionaires' sock puppets would drive the country to rack and ruin for at least a generation, but Obama could nurse his uncompromised principles from a well-placed position on his high horse the whole damned time. And the editors at the New York Times would keep on keepin' on, smug as a bug in a rug. Oh, that's "snug." Well, they would be that, too.

February 8, 2012 | Registered CommenterMarie Burns

@Dennis Garber-

I agree with you completely. Obama may be "bought off" in the same manner as almost all politicians holding high office (no, not you, Bernie Sanders). However, he is NOT stupid--like the NYT editors, who, let us get real, are similarly bought off. For him to stand on principle, which he certainly did not when Wall Street was lovin' him in 2008, would be disastrous. If he wants to be re-elected (big duh), he will have to take Super Pac money. If he IS re-elected, he likely can do something about it There may be a big groundswell about Citizens United after the 2012 election, and I would love to see Obama support a constitutional amendment against this destroyer of democracy--what little we have left, that is. Not sure he will, but I am a dreamer.

In the meantime, I am hoping that the Republican candidate will be Rick Sanitarium! This will be cause for the nice men in white to come get Karl Rove--gently take him to an upscale private hospital, where he can be given electroshock "therapy" and make Origami birds in art therapy. And perhaps Mitters will provide him with a round the clock nurse with whom to play scrabble and listen to him ramble. They could even allow Sean Hannity to interview Turdblossom in his hospital suite. The possibilities are endless.

Oh yeah, Callista will lose her hair, and Newtie will dump her for Kim Kardashian.

Are we having fun yet?

February 8, 2012 | Unregistered CommenterKate Madison

Regarding the discourse between Davie-boy Brooks and Gail Collins:
How can people miss the core issue so completely? This has nothing to do with anything other than the Catholic Church FORCING their "dogma" on employees, who may or may not be Catholic! No one forces the employees to use the contraceptives. Why is there a problem with this? If a person's belief prohibits them from using a contraceptive, then they shouldn't take it. But for an employer to dictate to employees what they can or can't do is a violation of personal rights. Obviously the problem here is what is always has been-the "church" is dictating to people what to do, and will not permit them to control their own lives. This is a power play by the Catholic Church (and others), nothing else.
I fail to understand the argument. After all, if they really want to offer a health plan without contraception, they can do it; they just can't deduct it. The Catholic Church just refuses to be pulled out of the dark ages....when I was a child, I was told that the reason Catholics eschew birth control was that it was the only way to increase the church rolls (read, "income"), because so rarely does anyone convert to Catholicism.

February 8, 2012 | Unregistered CommenterDennis Garber

I am confused. Are these three clowns running for POTUS or looking for a job at Ringling Bros? I am petrified that there is even one person who would vote for Rick Demoron. I wonder what the current housing market looks like in Paris. At least I can get high quality health care.

February 8, 2012 | Unregistered CommenterMarvin Schwalb

How do you compete against those who cheat like it's their second nature? The Greedy Old Party are the party of Nixon. If Barry O has retained an iota of his upbringing, he will engage in a different game in his second term.
I can't compare the child of a single mother against a entitled trust funder like Mitt who has always had the deck of cards stacked in his favor. And the Frothy Lube and the Serial Adulterer won't win unless the people of the US are as insipid as they are ignorant. And I don't think that is the case when the issue is jobs and fairness. Citizens United is a simple issue when framed as jobs retained here at home, the rich paying the same tax rate as the middle class and foreign or domestic powers buying elections.

February 8, 2012 | Unregistered Commentercitizen625
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