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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Tuesday
Jul192011

The Commentariat -- July 20

Maureen Dowd on the Murdoch Inc. testimony: "The hunters became the hunted during three hours of riveting testimony in the House of Commons.... They stuck to a hoary formula for scandals, claiming the cognitive advantage that being on top of the world left them out of touch." ...

... I've posted a Dowd page on Off Times Square. ...

... NEW. John Cook of Gawker has an excellent, accurate take on the performances of Murdoch, Murdoch & Brooks. If you skipped the hearings & want to know what went down, read Cook. With videos. ...

... Jeremy Peters & Brian Stelter of the New York Times: analysts say Rupert & James Murdoch did their companies & themselves no harm in their appearance before a parliamentary committee yesterday. ...

... Reid Epstein of Politico: "Rupert Murdoch came across as old, out of touch, and unfamiliar with even the basic workings of his company during Tuesday’s high-stakes Parliament hearing -- but some suggested that was just a ruse.... During nearly three hours of testimony, the News Corp. CEO, wrote the Guardian’s John Plunkett, 'revealed the full extent of his ignorance.' ... But the Telegraph’s U.S. editor, Toby Harnden, wrote that Murdoch’s old-man act unaware of the details of his newspapers was a con job."

... Custard Pie. AND Wendi Deng Murdoch Whacks the Pieman:

     ... The Guardian has full video and transcript of the proceedings. ...

... Freedom of the Press, British Edition. AND, the House of Commons revoked the press pass of BBC producer Paul Lambert for this video. Pretty ironic considering the vid was shot at a hearing where the subjects, so-called newspapermen, were extolling the virtues of a free press. The New York Times' The Lede has this & other breaking stories related to the scandal here:

"The Debt Default Enablers." Jonathan Chait of The New Republic: "It's not 'the politicians in Washington' who don't understand the risks of failing to raise the debt ceiling. It's the Republican Party.... The problem is that various reporters, pundits, and business types appear intent on blurring that reality. That's an important reason why Republicans are playing debt ceiling chicken. If the Republicans believe that the blame for a debt default will be aimed at the diffuse 'politicians in Washington,' they have little incentive to avoid it." ...

... Kevin Drum of Mother Jones: "... now Wall Street is finally reacting and (most) reporters are finally telling the story pretty straight: gambling with the debt ceiling is really dangerous and it's the GOP that has its fingers on the button." CW: which is why we're now seeing polling results like this:

     ... Americans Are Catching on. Dan Balz & Jon Cohen of the Washington Post: "... the public views the GOP leaders as particularly intransigent, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll. Fifty-eight percent [of Republicans] say their leaders are not doing enough to strike a deal, up from 42 percent in March.... A majority view the president as more committed to protecting the interests of the middle class and small businesses, while large majorities see Republicans as defending the economic interests of big corporations and Wall Street financial institutions.... Exactly half of all Democrats say the president is 'too willing' to compromise.... More than eight in 10 — including 80 percent of Republicans — say there would be serious harm to the U.S. economy if the government could not continue to borrow money to fund its operations and pay its debts after Aug. 2." ...

     ... Chris Cillizza of the Washington Post: "Seventy-two percent — said they favored the idea of raising taxes on those making $250,000 or more to help shrink the debt.... Eighty-seven percent of Democrats supported such a move, so did 54 percent of self-identified Republicans. And, nearly six in 10 people said they would support raising taxes on oil and gas companies, including 55 percent of Republicans who agreed with the idea. Those numbers suggest that the notion that any tax increase is anathema to the party base — a belief that seems to be guiding much of House Republicans’ negotiating strategy to date — may be misguided or, at least, overstated.... Making major changes to Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security for the general population were broadly unpopular."

... AND Now for a Really Important Poll. Dave Weigel: "Only 19 percent of Republicans think Obama would be raptured up."

In case you're wondering what's in the Gang of Six (or Seven, but who's counting?) deficit reduction plan, Tim Fernholz of the National Journal has the summary. ...

... As Jonathan Chait of The New Republic points out, discussion of the Gang of Six proposal is mostly academic, since the plan doesn't stand a chance of getting past the anti-tax, anti-government crazoids in the House. ...

... AND there's this from Alexander Bolton & Erik Wasson of The Hill: "Senate Democratic whip Dick Durbin (Ill.), a member of the Gang of Six, said Tuesday the group’s plan is not ready to be attached to legislation to increase the debt limit."

... How to Cut a Million American Jobs. Stephen Gandel of Time: "Douglas Elmendorf, director of the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, ran the numbers on what a deal that either cuts spending or raises taxes in order to reduce the deficit by $2 trillion would mean to the economy." Based on Elmendorf's assumptions, Gandel writes that "a debt-ceiling deal of the size Elmendorf is talking about could cost the economy as much as over a million jobs during the next three years.

Would a Republican President Do All This? Steve Benen: "President Obama has successfully repealed the 'Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell' law; expanded federal benefits for the same-sex partners of executive-branch employees; signed the Hate Crimes Prevention Act into law; cleared the way for hospital-visitation rights for same-sex couples; lifted the travel/immigration ban on those with HIV/AIDS; ordered the Federal Housing Authority to no longer consider the sexual orientation of applicants on loans; expanded the Census to include the number of people who report being in a same-sex relationship; and hired more openly gay officials than any administration in history.... And today, the president has offered his well-timed endorsement of the Respect For Marriage Act. [which repeals DOMA]... There have also been more symbolic gestures...."

You are the most vile, unprofessional, and despicable member of the US House of Representatives. If you have something to say to me, stop being a coward and say it to my face, otherwise, shut the heck up.
-- Allen West (R-Fla.), in an e-mail to Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) ...

... Here's video of the floor speech which inspired Teabagger West's intemperate letter, the full text of which Ben Smith has here:

     ... You go, Girl! ...

     ... NEW. Max Read of Gawker: "... West, who was drummed out of the Army for torturing an Iraqi cop, is more or less completely nuts — a violent, short-fused Islamophobe who thinks 'Planned Parenthood women' are 'neutering American men' and who recently said Obama supporters were a 'threat to the gene pool.' .... And why is he demanding pistols at dawn? Apparently because Wasserman-Schultz called him out (as 'the gentleman from Florida' ...) as 'supportive of this plan that would increase costs for Medicare beneficiaries.' This didn't sit well with West. '... Focus on your own congressional district!' West told her. The funny thing is: West actually lives in Wasserman-Schultz's district."

Michele Bachmann's Bad Day. Jonathan Bernstein, commenting on Bachmann's staff roughing up ABC News reporter Brian Ross (see yesterday's Right Wing World): "There are a number of reasons why Members of the House, especially junior Members, don't compete seriously for presidential nominations. One of them ... is that most of them have virtually no experience at all in contested elections with an attentive press."

Right Wing World *

... A more moderate/former liberal like Ronald Reagan ... would never be elected today in my opinion. -- Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.)

Dana Milbank: A hundred "years after Reagan’s birth, it’s clear that the Tea Party Republicans have little regard for the policies of the president they claim to venerate.... During the debt-limit debate, a procession of Democrats ... claimed Reagan’s support for their position.... Half a century after he left the party, the Gipper is winning one for the Democrats."

Where "courage" means never having to understand the first damned thing about legislation on which you are required to vote:

... A Real Headache. CW: I haven't covered the Bachmann migraine story, except as it related to Bachmann's personnel roughing up reporter Brian Ross who was trying to question her about it. A disgruntled former Bachmann staffer initiated the story that Bachmann suffered from "incapacitating ...stress-induced medical episodes that she has characterized as severe headaches," & the irresponsible right-wing Daily Caller published it. But now Kasie Hunt & Molly Ball of Politico dig deeper, and it turns out migraines have incapacitated Bachmann in the past. ...

... ** I Am a Headache. In a fairly sympathetic post, Karen Garcia posits a plausible explanation for Michele Bachmann. Period.

     ... Luckily, Joshua Green of The Atlantic finds "The Christian Cure for Bachmann's Headaches":

* Where Ronald Reagan would not be welcome and it's courageous to be willfully ignorant.

News Ledes

Michelle Obama announces a plan to team with grocers and other retailers to bring healthy and affordable food to communities that typically have not had access to fresh fruits and vegetables and other healthy foods:

     ... Related New York Times story here.

New York Times: "Prime Minister David Cameron went before a rowdy special session of Parliament on Wednesday to defend his record in Britain’s phone hacking scandal and for the first time seemed to distance himself from a former Murdoch employee he hired to work in 10 Downing Street. Shortly before he spoke, a parliamentary panel investigating the spreading hacking scandal released a scathing report accusing the Murdoch empire of “deliberate attempts” to thwart its investigations and said police inquiries had been a 'catalog of failures.'” A pdf of the parliamentary report is here. ...

     ... Guardian: "The prime minister has refused to deny that he discussed the BSkyB bid with senior executives at News International since the election. Repeatedly pressed on the issue following a Commons statement on the phone hacking scandal, David Cameron would only say: 'I have never had one inappropriate conversation.'" ...

... The Telegraph has a liveblog of the scandal, which includes the amusing back-and-forth in the House of Commons.

I'm at a point where I'm saying we need to hear from the House of Representatives. We have a plan to go forward over here. But until we hear from the House of Representatives, really our, all of our work here would be for naught. I await the word from the Speaker. -- Harry Reid ...

... The Hill: "Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) on Wednesday claimed his chamber has a 'path forward' for raising the debt ceiling but said he's waiting on Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) to tell him what can pass the House.  ...

... Reuters: "The Federal Reserve is actively preparing for the possibility that the United States could default as a deadline for raising the government's $14.3 trillion borrowing limit looms.... Charles Plosser, president of the Philadelphia Federal Reserve Bank, said the U.S. central bank has for the past few months been working closely with Treasury, ironing out what to do if the world's biggest economy runs out of cash on August 2."

... CNN: "President Barack Obama sat down with television stations from three key political states." He said politics was interfering with efforts to raise the debt ceiling. "'This is actually a self-created crisis in some ways. It has to do with folks who are digging into set positions rather than saying how do we solve a problem,' the president told KMBC, a CNN affiliate in Kansas City, Missouri."

New York Times: "At the Royal Courts of Justice in London, lawyers for the actor Hugh Grant and his former girlfriend, the socialite Jemima Khan — once the subject of relentless tabloid attention — mentioned The News of the World and unspecified 'other newspapers' while demanding police information on Glenn Mulcaire, the private investigator who was jailed in 2007 for hacking into the phones of royal staff members. It was the first suggestion that Mr. Mulcaire, who had an exclusive contract with The News of the World, might have sold his information to other publications.”

The Latest Twist. After repeatedly saying a short-term extension was a non-starter, Politico reports that "President Barack Obama would support a short-term extension of the debt limit if Democrats and Republicans reach agreement on a broader deficit-cutting deal but need more time to move it through."

Guardian: "Lawyers representing the two women who claim Dominique Strauss-Kahn tried to rape them have met for the first time in New York, raising the prospect that they will join forces to strengthen their cases against the former IMF boss."

Reuters: "Applications for home mortgages surged last week, racking up the biggest increase in four months on a flood of refinancing demand as interest rates remained low, an industry group said on Wednesday."

Milwaukee Jounal Sentinel: "Democratic state Sen. Dave Hansen of Green Bay was the first of nine state senators to face a final recall election, and he easily survived Tuesday. Hansen won a lopsided victory over his Republican challenger, wind farm developer David VanderLeest of Green Bay, against whom Democrats and their allies have been hammering away on his personal and legal problems."

AP: "China, the biggest holder of U.S. Treasury debt, appealed to Washington on Wednesday to take steps to boost confidence in the dollar and protect its investors."

Reuters: "Iran has shot down an unmanned U.S. spy plane over its Fordu nuclear site, a state-run website reported Wednesday, a day after it confirmed it was installing a new generation of advanced uranium enrichment centrifuges.... The Pentagon denied that report but acknowledged some spy planes had crashed in the past due to mechanical failure."

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