The Ledes

Thursday, September 26, 2024

The New York Times:' live updates of Hurricane Helene developments today are here. “Hurricane Helene was barreling through the Gulf of Mexico on Thursday en route to Florida, where residents were bracing for extreme rain, destructive winds and deadly storm surge ahead of the storm’s expected landfall. The storm could intensify to a Category 4, if not higher, before making landfall late Thursday, and forecasters warned Helene’s anticipated large size could make its impacts felt across an extensive area. Areas as distant as Atlanta and the Appalachians are at risk for heavy rains.... Many forecast models show the storm making landfall late Thursday near Florida’s Big Bend Coast, a sparsely populated stretch....” ~~~

     ~~~ The Washington Post has forecasts for some cites in Florida, Georgia, North Carolina & Tennessee that are in or near the probable path of Helene. ~~~

     ~~~ This morning, an MSNBC weatherperson said Tallahassee (which is inland) would experience wind gusts of up to 120 m.p.h. and that the National Weather Service said expected 20-foot storm surges near the coast would be “unsurvivable.”

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The Ledes

Wednesday, September 25, 2024

The New York Times is live-updating developments in the progress of Hurricane Helene. “Helene continued to power north in the Caribbean Sea, strengthening into a hurricane Wednesday morning, on a path that forecasters expect will bring heavy amounts of rain to Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula and western Cuba before it begins to move toward Florida’s Gulf Coast.” ~~~

~~~ CNN: “Helene rapidly intensified into a hurricane Wednesday as it plows toward a Florida landfall as the strongest hurricane to hit the United States in over a year. The storm will also grow into a massive, sprawling monster as it continues to intensify, one that won’t just slam Florida, but also much of the Southeast.... Thousands of Florida residents have already been forced to evacuate and nearly the entire state is under alerts as the storm threatens to unleash flooding rainfall, damaging winds and life-threatening storm surge.... The hurricane unleashed its fury on parts of Mexico’s Yucátan Peninsula and Cuba Wednesday.“

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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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Thursday
Jun302011

The Commentariat -- July 1

Paul Krugman: President Obama has been "clueless" about Republican motives. "It’s hard to avoid the suspicion that G.O.P. leaders actually want the economy to perform badly. Republicans believe, in short, that ... for practical purposes his presidency is already over. It’s time — indeed, long past time — for him to prove them wrong." ...

... I've posted a comments page on Krugman's column on Off Times Square and have added my comment.

Republicans aren't just opposing the president any more, they are opposing the economic recovery itself and all that means for America's working and middle class families. -- Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) ...

... Steve Benen: "One of Congress’ most prominent Democrats has effectively accused Republicans of trying to sabotage the nation’s economy, and Republican officials aren’t expressing any outrage, and aren’t even calling for an apology.... And why not? Because to do so would be to engage in the very debate the GOP is desperate to avoid. The lesson for congressional Democrats, then, is to follow Schumer’s lead."

I find it ironic that at times people who continually attack the president, beat him up not only on policy, personality, a whole bunch of things, the minute he takes a tone that is a little more direct, and it was not personal, it was direct in that the leaders of Congress in both parties and especially those who are saying that revenue are off the table period..., that somehow that’s going to hurt the feelings of people. This is not a time to worry about feelings, this is a time to get results. -- White House Chief of Staff Bill Daley ...

... Prof. Jack Balkin on the history of the Fourteenth Amendment re: the Republican-generated debt crisis:

The original purpose of Section Four [of the Fourteenth Amendment], which is reflected in its text, was to prevent political disruption and party wrangling over the public debt following the Civil War. However, the language of the Amendment went beyond this particular historical concern. It was stated in broad terms in order to prevent future majorities in Congress from repudiating the federal debt to gain political advantage, to seek political revenge, or to try to disavow previous financial obligations because of changed policy priorities. ...

Stan Collender of Capital Gains & Games: "Tim Geithner was thinking about the 14th Amendment over a month ago, and ... Geithner absolutely wanted to make sure that others knew about it.... The White House wants to make sure that invoking the amendment won't be a shock if it is used and that the bond market will be comfortable buying debt issued without specific congressional approval.... The White House clearly wants to show congressional Republicans that their plan to demand ransom for the debt ceiling might well be based on a completely incorrect assumption that they can hold the borrowing limit hostage."

New York Times Editors: "The framers of the Constitution envisioned law as having authority apart from politics. They gave justices life tenure so they would be free to upset the powerful and have no need to cultivate political support.... The justices must address doubts about the court’s legitimacy by making themselves accountable to the code of conduct." ...

... Dana Milbank: "The real campaign-finance abuses are more horrible than [Stephen] Colbert’s fiction. The Supreme Court, in five straight campaign-finance decisions, has largely wiped out post-Watergate campaign reforms and, in the case of corporate contributions, undone nearly a century of law. Adding to the anarchy, Congress has been unable to agree on legislation requiring donors disclosure. For those who violate what’s left of the law, there is little risk of punishment, because the FEC, paralyzed by a partisan split, has been unable to agree on much enforcement." ...

... Colbert reports on his grueling FEC hearing. See also yesterday's Ledes for an updated video of his speech following the hearing:

The President of the United States set up an officially authorized system of off-the-book, extralegal prisons and a regimen of government-sanctioned torture; and the consequences of this dark period will be -- at most -- two criminal prosecutions. -- David Kurtz of TPM on the news that the DoJ is conducting criminal investigations into the deaths of two prisoners who were in CIA custody

In preparation for today's David Brooks column, read Driftglass on Brooks' last column. CW: what these "moderate" Republican hacks, like Brooks & Mark Obama-Was-Sort-of-a-Dick Halperin, are doing is attempting to coax Obama to accommodate the right-wing loon-o-garchy. Don't be aloof, Mr. President, don't be direct, Mr. President, roll the fuck over & take it like a wimp. It makes me think Obama has been taking their advice all along, & Wednesday's surprise (to us) presser was an expression of his frustration with the ineffectiveness of his Republican pundit-buddies' sagacious counsel. ...

     ... Update: okay, I really couldn't finish reading Brooks today. He writes something about mediocre teachers, testing & Diane Ravitch. and finishes off with an opinion on a subject about which he seems to know almost nothing. In other words, standard Brooks. This is so not recommended reading.

Cash-In Time for Turbo-Boy. Hans Nichols of Bloomberg: "Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner has signaled to White House officials that he’s considering leaving the administration after President Barack Obama reaches an agreement with Congress to raise the national debt limit, according to three people familiar with the matter.

CW: According to my own winger buddies, today is Glenn Beck's last regular show on Fox "News." Media Matters produces this fine commemorative video of Glenn's Greatest Hits, or what David Ferguson of the Raw Story calls a "Beck-quiem":

     ... Remember this isn't dubbed. Beck really said this stuff. ...

     ... Update: guess Beck's last show was yesterday. Well, how would I know? And how sad to have missed it. Just as I missed every single other Glenn Beck Show.

Right Wing World *

The President's failed. He did not cause this recession, but he made it worse. -- Mitt Romney, June 27

When he took office, the economy was in recession, and he made it worse, and he made it last longer. -- Mitt Romney, June 2 in his annoucement address

The "I Didn't Say What I Said" Fallacy. Mark Murray & Matt Loffman of NBC News: "Over the last few weeks, Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney has argued that President Obama's policies have made the economy worse.... When NBC producer Sue Kroll asked the former Massachusetts governor why he believes that Obama's policies have made the economy worse..., Romney gave this answer:

I didn't say that things are worse. -- Mitt Romney, June 30 ...

... Lying about Lying. Steve Benen: "It was amusing when Michele Bachmann falsely characterized John Quincy Adams as a Founding Father, but Romney getting caught telling a blatant falsehood about one of the central themes of his presidential campaign is infinitely more important." ...

... AND this from Dave Weigel on Romney's attacking Obama because Allentown (Pennsylvania) Metal Works went out of business. But, as Weigel writes, "AMW's only chance for survival was an infusion of capital from the government into local projects, something Romney opposed. Its collapse was classic creative destruction -- there simply wasn't business for the plant to do anymore. If you're against bailouts, as Romney is, and you're for bankruptcies and restructing in failing industries, as Romney is, how exactly were you going to save AMW? You weren't."

* Where facts never intrude.

Local News

St. Pete Times: "In an affront to his tea party base and to backers of a Florida bullet train he killed earlier this year, Gov. Rick Scott on Friday gave the green light to SunRail, a controversial Orlando-area commuter rail project on hold since he took office. Critics characterized the move as hypocritical in light of Scott's high-speed rail decision and stated principle of limited government spending, but he defended it by saying SunRail was in the works before he became governor and was so far along he had no choice but to approve it."

News Ledes

New York Times: "The House Ethics Committee confirmed Friday that it is investigating two lawmakers, Representatives Gregory W. Meeks, Democrat of New York, and Jean Schmidt, Republican of Ohio."

New York Times: "A federal judge issued a preliminary injunction on Friday preventing new regulations from taking effect that would have forced the closing of two of the state’s three abortion clinics."

New York Times: "The sexual assault case against Dominique Strauss-Kahn is on the verge of collapse as investigators have uncovered major holes in the credibility of the housekeeper who charged that he attacked her in his Manhattan hotel suite in May.... Senior prosecutors met with lawyers for Mr. Strauss-Kahn on Thursday and ... the parties are discussing whether to dismiss the felony charges." ...

     ... Update: "Dominique Strauss-Kahn was released from house arrest on Friday as the sexual assault case against him moved one step closer to dismissal after prosecutors told a Manhattan judge that they had serious problems with the case." ...

     ... New York Times: "The release of Dominique Strauss-Kahn on Friday from house arrest in New York represented a startling turnaround, sharpening the focus of political debate [in France] on a central and potent issue: with the weakening of sexual assault charges against him, will he be able to resume a potentially stellar career that could lead to the presidency of his country?" ...

     ... Here's a reproduction of the letter from the Manhattan D.A. to the defense in the Strauss-Kahn case. ...

     ... Don’t worry, this guy has a lot of money. I know what I’m doing. -- Alleged Strauss-Kahn rape victim, to a prison inmate, 28 hours after the incident; trans. from a dialect of Fulani

New York Times: "Fulfilling the wishes of local political leaders, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo announced on Friday that a special election to fill the seat of former Representative Anthony D. Weiner would be held on Sept. 13. The special election means that party leaders will select the candidates to represent the Ninth Congressional District...."

New York Times: "Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner said Thursday that he planned to stay in his job 'for the foreseeable future.'”

New York Times: "The Cuomo administration is seeking to lift what has effectively been a moratorium in New York State on hydraulic fracturing, a controversial technique used to extract natural gas from shale, state environmental regulators said on Thursday. The process would be allowed on private lands, opening New York to one of the fastest-growing — critics would say reckless — areas of the energy industry. It would be banned inside New York City’s sprawling upstate watershed, as well as inside a watershed used by Syracuse, and in underground water sources used by other cities and towns. It would also be banned on state lands, like parks and wildlife preserves."

AP: "Minnesota's state government is closed for business. It shut down at 12:01 a.m. CDT Friday, the victim of an ongoing dispute over taxes and spending between Democratic Gov. Mark Dayton and Republican legislative majorities.... Even before the final failure, officials padlocked highway rest areas and state parks, herding campers out. The full impact will hit Friday morning as thousands of laid-off state employees stay home until further notice and a wide array of services are suspended."

AP: "Kansas still has one abortion provider, but two others that don't have state licenses were hoping to persuade a federal judge to block a new licensing law and health department regulations they consider burdensome."

AP: "Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez revealed that he is fighting cancer after having a tumor removed in Cuba, raising uncertainty about his political future even as he assured his country he expects to fully recover. Chavez was noticeably thinner and paler as he appeared on television Thursday night...."

Today there are new democracies fighting for life, there are vicious autocrats clinging to power. This is an hour or need. And every democracy should stand up and be counted. -- Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, in a speech in Lithuania today

AP: "Monaco's reigning prince, Albert II, wed Charlene Wittstock of South Africa on Friday in a long-awaited civil ceremony that transformed the one-time Olympic swimmer into the Princess of Monaco.... On Saturday, the new royal couple is holding an elaborate religious wedding ceremony and a star-studded wedding gala." The civil ceremony:

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