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.”

The Wires
powered by Surfing Waves
Help!

To keep the Conversation going, please help me by linking news articles, opinion pieces and other political content in today's Comments section.

Link Code:   <a href="URL">text</a>

OR here's a link generator. The one I had posted died, then Akhilleus found one, but it too bit the dust. He found yet another, which I've linked here, and as of September 23, 2024, it's working.

OR you can always just block, copy and paste to your comment the URL (Web address) of the page you want to link.

Note for Readers. It is not possible for commenters to "throw" their highlighted links to another window. But you can do that yourself. Right-click on the link and a drop-down box will give you choices as to where you want to open the link: in a new tab, new window or new private window.

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.

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."

Contact Marie

Click on this link to e-mail Marie.

Page Links
Tuesday
Jan032012

The Commentariat -- January 4, 2012

My column in today's New York Times eXaminer is on David Brooks' "Real America." The NYTX front page is here. Also, please consider making a contribution to NYTX, which is doing a very good job of keeping 'em honest over at the Times. ...

... Case in Point: Mike Elk: "The New York Times Company gave departing CEO Janet Robinson a nearly $15 million severance package while demanding that its current employees take benefit and pay cuts."

Prof. Amar Bhidé, in a New York Times op-ed, writes "bring back boring banks" with "radical, 1930s-style measures.... If the average examiner can’t understand it, it shouldn’t be allowed." Bhidé reminds us that "Deposit insurance was also a long shot in 1933 — President Franklin D. Roosevelt, the Treasury secretary, the comptroller of the currency and the American Bankers Association opposed it. Somehow advocates rallied public opinion."

Driftglass on Glenn Greenwald & Andrew Sullivan: "Mr. Greenwald and Mr. Sullivan both exist quite comfortably in a parallel dimension made up of dorm rooms debates bolted together with abstractions, and where the ugly specter of imperfect political reality does not intrude. It is a fine place, safely above it all, where you can fire in all directions with impunity, and impugn the motives of anyone who disagrees with you with all the righteous fury of the perfectly pure."

David Kirkpatrick & Steven Lee Myers of the New York Times: "With the Muslim Brotherhood pulling within reach of an outright majority in Egypt’s new Parliament, the Obama administration has begun to reverse decades of mistrust and hostility as it seeks to forge closer ties with an organization once viewed as irreconcilably opposed to United States interests."

Right Wing World

Borowitz Report: "Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney was overjoyed today after finishing the Iowa caucuses in a virtual tie with a walking joke who wears sweater vests. 'The eight people have spoken!' exclaimed Mr. Romney, who was joined by supporters celebrating his .0006% margin of victory." Thanks to Haley S. for the link.

Andy Rosenthal, New York Times editorial page editor: "There has been a racist undertone to many of the Republican attacks leveled against President Obama for the last three years, and in this dawning presidential campaign."

Art via or by Driftglass.Melinda Henneberger in the Washington Post: "Have you ever seen a glummer or grouchier bunch of presidential aspirants than the current GOP crop? You’d be working those frown lines, too, I guess, if you thought, as Rick Santorum does, that this year’s race will decide “whether we will be a free people.” Or believed, as Michele Bachmann told Sean Hannity on Monday, that Iran might go nuclear before Inauguration Day. Of course, Ron Paul is as cataclysmic as ever...."

... Philip Rucker of the Washington Post: "There was a dark side to Mitt Romney’s close finish in the Iowa caucuses. After first approaching Iowa with reservation and then scrambling hard in the final weeks to win, he leaves here with about the same share of votes he snagged four years ago in the Republican presidential caucuses.... His Iowa showing — finishing just eight votes ahead of former senator Rick Santorum (Pa.) — highlighted the big problems that still dog Romney: suspicions about his avowed conservatism, struggles to connect with voters and an inability to rally more Republicans around his candidacy." ...

... Dave Weigel of Slate with some lessons Republicans should learn from Iowa. ...

... Main lesson, from Philip Klein of the Washington Examiner: "Though turnout was up from the 2008 caucuses, it was only up by a few thousand votes, even as GOP voter registration grew, more candidates were contesting the state and more Democrats and independents voted on the Republican side because there was no competitive Democratic race this time. Romney actually got six fewer votes this time than he did four years ago...."

... Jim Rutenberg of the New York Times: "All year long the story of the Republican race for president was Mitt Romney and a rotating cast playing the role of Someone Else. On Tuesday night, Someone Else was played by two candidates: Rick Santorum, the longtime champion of social conservative issues that were supposedly taking a backseat in this jobs-centric presidential race, and Ron Paul, the noninterventionist Texan who represents an almost 180-degree turn from the Republican Party’s direction." ...

... David Firestone of the New York Times: "It is jarring, in an age of irony and nuance, to hear Mitt Romney conclude his stump speeches with a riff on the hymn, 'America the Beautiful.' ... He sees its vision as matching his, and that is where he makes a serious mistake.... The lyrics were written in 1894 by the Massachusetts poet Katharine Lee Bates, an ardent feminist and lesbian who was deeply disillusioned by the greed and excess of the Gilded Age. Her original third verse was an expression of that anger:

America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
Till selfish gain no longer stain
The banner of the free!

      ... Bates’ revulsion at the inequality and corruption she saw around her ... became the core of the Progressive Movement. President Obama ... has a better claim to the spirit of the song than does Mr. Romney, who appears to have no problem with inequality." Thanks to Bill C. for the link.

Quote of the Day. I don't want to make black people's lives better by giving them somebody else's money. I want to give them the opportunity to go out and earn the money and provide for themselves and their families. -- Rick Caucasian Santorum

Steve Benen: when Newt Gingrich called Mitt Romney a liar on CBS, the hosts Nora O'Donnell & Bob Schieffer were visibly "shocked." And that's the really shocking story: that Newt did what the media will not: regularly call out candidates for lying. ...

... Benen on Mitt Romney's lies about jobs -- with charts. ...

... Paul Krugman on Mitt Romney's lies about jobs -- with charts. Seriously, read both posts. CW: If you thought Willard was a benign Ken doll, you may want to change out your toy collection for a Willard voodoo doll. He is just one smarmy, hateful liar.

Paul Krugman on "Wingnut Welfare." Why are Republicans willing to take far-out, radical-right positions that could cost them elections? Because there is always a far-out, radical-right special-interest "think tank" jobs waiting for them.

News Ledes

Gut-sy! The White House announces NLRB appointments: "President Obama announced today his intent to recess appoint four individuals to fill key administration posts that have been left vacant.

• Richard Cordray, Director, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
• Sharon Block, Member, National Labor Relations Board
• Terence F. Flynn, Member, National Labor Relations Board
• Richard Griffin, Member, National Labor Relations Board"

President Obama will speak about the economy in Cleveland, Ohio, at 1:15 pm ET. There are hints afloat he may make a recess appointment of Richard Cordray, former Ohio AG, as head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Wall Street Journal: "White House attorneys have concluded they have the legal authority to make a recess appointment despite Republican efforts to block the move, Democrats said Tuesday, and administration officials say they reserve the option to install Richard Cordray as head of the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau without Senate approval." ...

     ... New York Times Update: "President Obama will challenge Republican foes of the newly created Consumer Financial Protection Bureau by naming Richard Cordray as its director while Congress is out of town." ...

     ... Washington Post Update: "In a bold act of political defiance, President Obama installed Richard Cordray as head of a new consumer watchdog agency Wednesday, bypassing Republican opposition in the Senate that derailed his nomination last month. Obama cast the move as an effort to protect the interests of middle-class Americans who have suffered as a result of the Great Recession, which stemmed in part from abuses in the financial system."

Washington Post: "Former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney and former senator Rick Santorum (Pa.) were deadlocked for the lead in the Iowa caucuses late Tuesday night, ahead in a splintered and increasingly fractious field as the GOP presidential primary race moves to New Hampshire, South Carolina and Florida. With all but two precincts reporting at 1:20 a.m. Eastern, former senator Rick Santorum (Pa.) was in a virtual tie with Romney, leading him by just 18 votes. Both hovered around 24.5 percent of the total. Rep. Ron Paul (Tex.) was headed for a close but disappointing third-place finish...." ...

... Update: On MSNBC at 1:50 am ET, Chris Hayes said Santorum's lead over Romney had been reduced to 4 votes. ...

... Update 2: at 2:30 am ET, the Iowa Republican party leader announced that Mitt Romney won by 8 votes. No link. (Both he & Santorum will get 11 delegates, whom the party will choose later.) ...

... The New York Times has the final numbers here. ...

... Arlington, Texas Star-Telegram: "Gov Rick Perry was heading back to Texas today after his fifth-place finish in the Iowa caucuses, and aides said he could decide as early as Thursday whether to remain in the 2012 presidential race." ...

     ... San Francisco Chronicle Update: "After perhaps the shortest presidential campaign reassessment on record, Texas Gov. Rick Perry bounded out of Iowa on Wednesday saying he will continue his run for the White House, convinced he can still emerge as the leading conservative in the GOP race."

... AP: "Presidential candidate Michele Bachmann has cancelled her South Carolina trip and will hold a press conference at 11AM ET according to NBC News." ...

     ... New York Times Update: "Mrs. Bachmann said on Wednesday morning that she would not continue her campaign for the Republican presidential nomination."

New York Times: the NYPD has arrested a man who has admitted to making five firebomb attacks in Queens.

Comments Off