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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Saturday
Jul092011

The Commentariat -- July 10

I've posted an Open Thread on Off Times Square.

Our job is to protect bank customers, not banks. -- Sheila Bair

** Joe Nocera profiles outgoing F.D.I.C. chair Sheila Bair, who saw the financial crisis coming & warned Henry Paulson, Ben Bernanke & Tim Geithner, who ignored her. Nocera conducted an extended interview of Bair. Here's Bair on why Paulson, Bernanke, Geithner & Co. wouldn't back her push to get banks to modify home mortgages to minimize the impending crisis:

[They] thought maybe I was overstating the problem and that it wasn’t going to be that big a deal.... I think some of it was that they didn’t think borrowers were worth helping. There was some disdain for borrowers. ...

... AND Bair delivers knock-out punches to the powers-that-be in Wall Street & Washington in this Washington Post op-ed. CW: Bair is a Republican, and I don't agree with all of her remedies (oh, she's a "belt-tightener"), but it's lovely to read her so effectively knocking the establishment. Too bad she doesn't come right out & say, "Tim Geithner is a tool":

Wall Street seems all too ready to return to the same untenable business practices that brought it to its knees.... And some in government who claim to be representing Main Street seem all too ready to help. Already we have heard rationalization of the subprime mortgage debacle and denigration of those of us who have advocated long-term, structural changes in the way we regulate the financial industry. Too many industry leaders, as well as some government officials, compare the crisis to a 100-year flood. 'Who, us?' they say. 'We didn’t do anything wrong. Nobody saw this coming.' The truth is, some of us did see this coming.

David Rogers & Jake Sherman of Politico on why Speaker Boehner backed off the Big Deal: Majority Leader Eric Cantor & his conservative caucus won't vote for anything that can be construed as "taxes." CW: Rogers & Sherman call this a win for conservatives, but I see it as a win for progressives, too. The smaller the deal, the less damage Obama & his new BFF will do.

Catherine Rampell of the New York Times on why the unemployed are "invisible."

NEW. Tom Levenson of Balloon Juice does a swell takedown of self-proclaimed economic expert David Brooks. Thanks to reader Bonnie for the link. Levenson concludes with a rule set that works for me:

1.  Remember that David Brooks is always wrong.
2.  If your analysis leads you to conclude David Brooks might be right,
     refer to rule 1.

Joshua Miller of Roll Call: "Elizabeth Warren’s calendar sure looks like the schedule of a woman considering a Senate bid, or at least someone being courted by power players in Massachusetts and the Senate Democrats’ campaign operation in Washington. In recent weeks, Warren has met in person or spoke on the phone with Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee Chairwoman Patty Murray, David Axelrod, Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) and Massachusetts Democratic Reps. Barney Frank, Stephen Lynch and John Tierney.... The DSCC declined to comment."

The Final Edition's New Fox Times: "White House Chief of Staff William Daley unveiled a new campaign initiative today designed to 'refresh' the President’s image ahead of the 2012 race." You decide:

Now, this really is the Final Edition. Click on the image to link to the paper. CW: I had no idea the News of the World even had an online presence. It appeas that the news in Britain is mostly "Young Women Wear Skimpy Outfits":

CLICK ON IMAGE TO GO TO SITE.... NEW. AND Andy Borowitz reprints a letter from Rupert Murdoch, which begins,

As details of the scandal surrounding my company, News Corporation, have emerged in recent days..., my defense has been consistent: I had no idea what was going on. Now, I’m sure many of you are wondering, how could I, Rupert Murdoch, one of the most powerful men in the world, have no idea what is going on?  The answer, my friends, is simple: I get all of my information from my own newspapers.  If you relied on News of the World, The Sun, and The New York Post for your information, I can assure you that you wouldn’t have a clue what was going on, either.

... Jack Shafer of Slate has a really good post on Rupert Murdoch's influence on British politicians & why it is unwarranted. "The revolving door between Rupert Murdoch's house of crime and 10 Downing Street tells us all we need to know about giving the government additional oversight of the press." It was the press, after all -- specifically, the Guardian -- that uncovered the News of the World scandal, while the police & the government did squat.

CW: I missed this post by Dahlia Lithwick, but it's well worth a read: In three cases decided this term, the Roberts Court gave corporations guidelines on "how to screw over [their] customers and employees without breaking the law."

Guardian Editors: "The spectre of the old Murdoch, whose demise was signalled last week – voracious and threatening – must not rise again from the ashes of the News of the World." CW: the editorial presents a pretty good summary of what's happened so far.

Right Wing World *

Sandhya Somashekhar of the Washington Post: "A socially conservative group has apologized for including a passage about slavery in a pledge it asked the Republican candidates to sign as a prerequisite for the group’s endorsement in the presidential race. Rep. Michele Bachmann had been the first GOP hopeful to sign 'The Marriage Vow,' which included in the introduction a section that lamented that 'the Institution of Marriage in America is in great crisis.'” Bachmann now claims she only signed part of the pledge, not the part at the top about slavery being so great for marriage. Rick Santorum signed on, too.

* Where white folks think slavery is better than homosexuality, but they're not going to say so anymore.

Local News

Alex Isenstadt of Politico: "... Wisconsin lawmakers unveil[ed] a draft congressional map that boosts three House GOP incumbents including House Budget chief Paul Ryan. The proposal, released Friday afternoon by GOP leaders in the state Assembly and Senate, makes modest changes to the state’s eight districts but provides support to GOP Reps. Ryan, Sean Duffy and Tom Petri — crafting for each a new seat that is slightly more GOP friendly."

News Ledes

New York Times: "President Obama tried on Sunday to revive the chances for a sweeping budget agreement to reduce the nation’s deficit and repair its perilous finances, but Congressional Republicans continued to balk, insisting on a more modest deal to avert a default on the national debt.... The meeting [today among Obama & leaders from both parties] ended after an hour and 15 minutes with little progress, but the two sides agreed to resume talking Monday, and every day after that, until a deal is done." Washington Post story here.

New York Times: "The $12 billion bid by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation to take over Britain’s most lucrative satellite broadcast company, British Sky Broadcasting, ran into fresh trouble on Sunday when the opposition Labour Party promised to take the battle against the takeover to a vote in the House of Commons — a step that, if successful, could deal a fatal blow to the bid." Guardian story here. ...

... Guardian: "Les Hinton [who now runs the Wall Street Journal], Rupert Murdoch's lifelong lieutenant and closest adviser, faces questions over whether he saw a 2007 internal News International report, which found evidence that phone hacking was more widespread than admitted by the company, before he testified to a parliamentary committee that the practice was limited to a single reporter."

New York Times: "Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner said Sunday that President Obamawould continue to press for the largest deficit reduction possible in negotiations with Congressional leaders over raising the government’s debt ceiling, adding that 'it’s not clear that it’s easier trying to do less.'”

New York Times: "Reporters leaving the newsroom of The News of the World for the final time on Saturday night were told by the police to leave their desks, including their notebooks, untouched. They were allowed to keep only their cellphones. With that, the 168-year-old News of the World came to an end, brought down by a scandal over the interception of voicemail messages that is rocking Britain’s media, its police force and government, and threatens the empire of a previously unassailable mogul [Rupert Murdoch]. The final edition included an apology to readers for the newspaper losing its way."

Think Progress: "Sixteen senators led by Sen. Michael Bennet (D-CO) submitted a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder last week asking him to examine whether the Voting Rights Act’s prohibitions on laws preventing minorities from voting invalidate so-called 'voter ID' laws, which effectively disenfranchise thousands of elderly, disabled, and low-income voters."

Reuters: "Reports in the New York Times criticizing the Pakistan army and the powerful intelligence agency is a 'direct attack' on Pakistan's security, the army spokesman said on Saturday. Major General Athar Abbas, the Pakistan army's chief spokesman, repeatedly criticized the Times' reporting and said it was part of a calculated plan by 'unnamed officials' to 'weaken the state.'" CW: The Times report, also linked in yesterday's Ledes, is here.

Guardian: Rupert Murdoch flies to Britain to manage damage control efforts as senior News of the World management, including his son James & News International CEO Rebekah Brooks may become subjects of criminal investigations.

Yahoo! News: "The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has filed a court challenge to language on a ballot measure in Missouri. In November 2012, Missouri voters will decide whether or not the Voter Protection Act becomes law. The General Assembly's ballot language is misleading, according to the ACLU.... The [so-called] Voter Protection Act would place stricter standards on voter identification at the polls. If passed, voters would need to show a Missouri photo ID at polling places in order to vote in elections. The IDs require a state-approved birth certificate, which some citizens don't have due to their age. They also cost money."

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