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
Jul142011

The Commentariat -- July 15

President Obama's full press conference:

     ... Here's the Washington Post's post-presser report.

Paul Krugman seems all surprised that most media pundits are just now noticing that Republicans are crazy. ...

     ... I've posted a Krugman page on today's Off Times Square, but if you want to write about something else, go ahead. ...

     ... Driftglass is mighty pleased that Krugman has taken up the mantle that Driftglass has so long worn, as he amply demonstrates in this post.

Maybe the debt ceiling was the wrong place to pick a fight, as it related to trying to get our country's house in order. Maybe that was the wrong place to do it. -- Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) ...

... No kidding. -- Constant Weader

Nobody Wins. Nate Silver on the political ramifications of a debt payment default for Republicans, Democrats and President Obama. "This isn’t a zero-sum game, and although politicians are bad at many things, they are usually fairly perceptive about what will enable them to hold onto power." ...

... Stephen Colbert explains the whole controversy:

... The press seems to have ignored the import of what Jay Carney said in his press briefing yesterday, perhaps because it takes the breathless drama out of their cliffhangeresque prose. Carney said twice that the debt ceiling would be raised and that the negotiations were about what the final deal would be. He appeared to be saying this not as an optimistic prediction but as what the leaders had agreed to. Here's the transcript. Based on that, it seems to be the crisis has already been averted. I just don't think we're going to like the deal. -- Constant Weader

Tim Egan: anarchists like Michele Bachmann form a disturbingly large caucus within the Republican party, and it may be too late for tassel-loafered Republicans like the $350-a-bottle-sipping Paul Ryan to put the stopper on the crazies in time to avert the Great Depression II. ...

... E. J. Dionne: "Republicans are in disarray. They’re divided among those who know Boehner was right, those like McConnell who want to get out of the debt-limit mess altogether, and the troika now running Republican House strategy (Cantor, Ryan and Rep. Kevin McCarthy), which needs something to show for having brought the country to the brink. The best way out of this impasse is, unfortunately, a political nonstarter: to work with the budget crafted by Sen. Kent Conrad (D-N.D.), which shows you can get a lot of deficit reduction by mixing some spending cuts with higher taxes on the very wealthy. It’s a road Obama might usefully have considered earlier."

Eric Cantor Has Always Been a Dick. The real deal, this high school yearbook photo & citation have not been photoshopped. Thanks to Jefferson Dem at Democratic Underground.... Matt Yglesias: Majority Leader Eric Cantor has "poisoned the atmosphere" of debt ceiling negotiations by repeatedly leaking what Democratic leaders have said they would consider, then encouraging his caucus of radical conservatives to enact those considerations and only those, while making no concessions on their side. "If everyone in the room knows that Cantor has no compunction about misrepresenting every discussion as an agreement, it merely makes it that much harder for people to negotiate in a serious way." ...

... Andrew Leonard of Slate: Eric Cantor has always been a whiney guttersnipe who blames others for everything, including his own failures. Leonard thinks Cantor's latest shenanigans -- in which he has put his own aspirations before the needs of the country & has done so in a dangerous, dishonest way -- will not help his career.

... Are Tax Cuts Really "Jobs Creators"? Ron Brownstein of the National Journal: "In the past three decades, job growth has thrived after tax cuts and after tax increases, and it has stagnated after tax cuts. If there’s a pattern, it’s that tax policy typically isn’t the decisive factor in driving a machine as complex as the U.S. economy."

A Voice Crying in the Wilderness. I only ask ... as Congress looks at the timing and composition of its changes to the budget, that it does take into account that in the very near term the recovery is still rather fragile, and that sharp and excessive cuts in the very short term would be potentially damaging to that recovery. -- Ben Bernanke, to the Senate Banking Committee

Susan Madrak of Crooks & Liars: during a subcommittee hearing, Blue Dog Jim Cooper (D-Tenn.) calls out members of Congress for their rude treatment of Elizabeth Warren & for their utter disinterest in accomplishing anything for the American people. Madrak also has the transcript of Cooper's full remarks. Thanks to Bonnie for the link:

I do not want to be part of a committee, at least at the subcommittee level, that treated Miss Warren with more rudeness and disrespect than I have ever seen a committee witness treated. That is not the American way. -- Jim Cooper

NEW. On a Similar Note... Roger Simon: "We don’t have a debt crisis, a tax crisis or a spending crisis in this country. We have a hate crisis, an extremism crisis and a lack of patriotism crisis.... I will accuse most members of Congress of a lack of patriotism because they love power more than they love their country. They love knee-jerk ideology more than they love their country. And they love getting reelected more than they love their country." Thanks to Jeanne B. for the link.

Kevin Sack of the New York Times: "The White House on Wednesday declined to challenge an account in a new book that suggests that President Obama, in his campaign to overhaul American health care, mischaracterized a central anecdote about his mother’s deathbed dispute with her insurance company."

Right Wing World *

There are departments that can be revamped and some bills that can wait. And, again, it's our president's job, as the leader of the executive branch, to prioritize and administer those dollars that Congress has allocated. And our president obviously isn't capable of doing that, because he has no plan that he can even put forward to say here are my priorities.
-- Sarah Palin, former govenor (R-Alaska)

Palin either has a fundamental misunderstanding of the issue or she purposely is being misleading. -- Glenn Kessler, Washington Post fact-checker

"The Story We're Not Talking about." This is pretty hilarious. At about 1:50 into this Webcast of a commercial break during Fox "News"' so-called media criticism show "NewsWatch" the panelists remark they are "not going to touch" by far the biggest news story of the week: the implosion of Fox "News" owner Rupert Murdoch's British media empire. Eric Hananoki of Media Matters comments:

Joshua Green of The Atlantic: "the conservative Lutheran church [Michele Bachmann] belonged to for many years [believes] ... that the Roman Catholic Pope is the Antichrist."

"Will the Last Child out Please Leave on the Lights?" Dan Berman & Darius Dixon of Politico: "A Republican congresswoman wants the Energy Department to stop promoting energy efficiency to kids. Rep. Sandy Adams (R-Fla.) has introduced an amendment to the Energy and Water spending bill that would limit funds for any DOE website 'which disseminates information regarding energy efficiency and educational programs to children or adolescents.'” Apparently Energy Secretary Steven Chu is not sufficiently cooperating with Adams' noble ignorance initiative. Thanks to reader Doug R. for the link.

* Where the Devil lurks around every corner. So you'd better leave the lights on.

News Ledes

Buh-Bye. New York Times: "Les Hinton, the chairman of Dow Jones, announced his resignation on Friday, joining Rebekah Brooks, the embattled chief executive of Rupert Murdoch’s British newspaper operations, in the exodus of top officials from Rupert Murdoch’s media empire. Mr. Hinton, a long-time confidant of Mr. Murdoch, ran News International, the British publishing subsidiary of Mr. Murdoch’s News Corporation, from 1997 to 2005, during the time when the phone hacking that touched off the scandal took place." As chair of Dow Jones, Hinton was the publisher of the Wall Street Journal. ...

     ... The Wall Street Journal story, here, is good, straight reporting.

Fairly Happy Ending. New York Times: "A former spy agency official accused of leaking classified information to a newspaper walked out of court a free man on Friday, sentenced to a year’s probation and community service.... Judge Richard D. Bennett of the Federal District Court praised the former National Security Agency official, Thomas A. Drake, for his exemplary record of public service before giving him a mild scolding for improperly providing information on alleged agency mismanagement to The Baltimore Sun. But Judge Bennett reserved his strongest condemnation for the Justice Department...." ...

     ... Baltimore Sun story here. Video in July 16 Commentariat.

AP: "U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton says the Obama administration has decided to formally recognize Libya's main opposition group as the country's legitimate government. The move gives foes of Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi a major financial and credibility boost. Clinton announced Friday that Washington accepts the Transitional National Council as the legitimate governing authority of the Libyan people."

Al Jazeera: "As many as 19 protesters have been killed across Syria after security forces reportedly shot at protesters, hundreds of thousands of whom took to the streets in the biggest protests so far against Bashar al-Assad's rule." With video. Al Jazeera has a liveblog here.

Washington Post: "Obama administration officials have been privately exploring with major banks and foreign investors whether the government could devise a way to avoid a severe disruption in financial markets if the federal debt ceiling is not raised.... But the message back from the market has been discouraging: The failure to pay any significant obligations would scare away investors and undermine the financial system." ...

... Washington Post: "President Obama prepared Thursday to bring bipartisan talks over the debt to a close, as Senate leaders worked across party lines to craft an alternative strategy to raise the nation’s $14.3 trillion debt limit and avert a government default.... A breakthrough in the White House talks looked unlikely, however, leaving the Senate framework as the chief option for raising the debt limit before Aug. 2...." The AP story is here. ...

... Reuters: "Ratings agency Standard & Poor's has warned there is a one-in-two chance it could cut the United States' prized AAA credit rating if a deal on raising the government's debt ceiling is not agreed soon. Putting the U.S. on negative watch, S&P warned that it could cut the rating as soon as this month...." ...

... "Worst Idea in Washington" Advances. AP: "Right in the middle of their brawl with President Barack Obama over extending the debt ceiling and hacking trillions from projected deficits, GOP leaders are forcing House and Senate debates next week over similar amendments requiring the budget to be balanced, starting no sooner than five years from now. Reflecting tea party clout, both measures would also sharply curb Congress' ability to raise taxes and spending."

Minneapolis Star-Tribune: "After weeks of crippling political deadlock, DFL Gov. Mark Dayton and Republican legislative leaders emerged in the darkened Capitol on Thursday to announce they had brokered a budget deal to end the longest state government shutdown in U.S. history." With video. ...

     ... AP: "Minnesota's leaders made a deal that will probably end the nation's longest state government shutdown in a decade, but they didn't really solve their budget problem. Instead, they just shuffled it down the road to be faced another day."

Reuters: "Italy's parliament was set on Friday to approve a 48 billion euro austerity package aimed at averting a full scale financial crisis but there were growing questions about the government's capacity for further reforms. After what business daily Il Sole 24 Ore called an "absolute first," government and opposition parties have set aside differences to pass the austerity measures in a matter of days."

Guardian: "Rebekah Brooks, the News International chief executive, has resigned after 11 days of mounting political pressure over the phone-hacking scandal. Brooks announced her decision to News International staff in Wapping just before 10am on Friday, saying her resignation had been accepted by Rupert Murdoch and James Murdoch. She said she no longer wanted to be a 'focal point of the debate' surrounding the company's future and reputation." Here's her resignation letter. ...

... Los Angeles Times: "In a letter Wednesday to FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III, Rep. Peter T. King (R-N.Y.), who chairs the House Homeland Security Committee, had cited reports that News of the World journalists 'attempted to obtain phone records of victims of the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11th through bribery and unauthorized wiretapping.' King also cited reports that the reporters had solicited a New York police officer 'to gain access to the content of private phone records' of the Sept. 11 victims."

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