The Ledes

Monday, October 7, 2024

Weather Channel: “H​urricane Milton has rapidly intensified into a Category 3 and hurricane and storm surge watches are now posted along Florida's western Gulf Coast, where the storm poses threats of life-threatening storm surge, destructive winds and flooding rainfall by midweek. 'Milton will be a historic storm for the west coast of Florida,' the National Weather Service in Tampa Bay said in a briefing Monday morning.”

CNN: “This year’s Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine has been awarded to Victor Ambros and Gary Ruvkun for their work on the discovery of microRNA, a fundamental principle governing how gene activity is regulated. Their research revealed how genes give rise to different cells within the human body, a process known as gene regulation. Gene regulation by microRNA – a family of molecules that helps cells control the sort of proteins they make – ... was first revealed by Ambros and Ruvkun. The Nobel Prize committee announced the prestigious honor ... in Sweden on Monday.... Ambros, a professor of natural science at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, conducted the research that earned him the prize at Harvard University. Ruvkun conducted his research at Massachusetts General Hospital, and is a professor of genetics at Harvard Medical School.”

The Wires
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The Ledes

Sunday, October 6, 2024

New York Times: “Two boys have been arrested and charged in a street attack on David A. Paterson, a former governor of New York, and his stepson, the police said. One boy, who is 12, was charged with second-degree gang assault, and the other, a 13-year-old, was charged with third-degree gang assault, the police said on Saturday night. Both boys, accompanied by their parents, turned themselves in to the police, according to Sean Darcy, a spokesman for Mr. Paterson. A third person, also a minor, went to the police but was not charged in the Friday night attack in Manhattan, according to an internal police report.... Two other people, both adults, were involved in the attack, according to the police. They fled on foot and have not been caught, the police said. The former governor was not believed to have been targeted in the assault....”

Weather Channel: “Tropical Storm Milton, which formed in the Gulf of Mexico on Saturday, is expected to become a hurricane late Sunday or early Monday. The storm is expected to pose a major hurricane threat to Florida by midweek, just over a week after Helene pushed through the region. The National Hurricane Center says that 'there is an increasing risk of life-threatening storm surge and wind impacts for portions of the west coast of the Florida Peninsula beginning late Tuesday or Wednesday.'”

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Public Service Announcement

Washington Post: "Americans can again order free rapid coronavirus tests by mail, the Biden administration announced Thursday. People can request four free at-home tests per household through covidtests.gov. They will begin shipping Monday. The move comes ahead of an expected winter wave of coronavirus cases. The September revival of the free testing program is in line with the Biden administration’s strategy to respond to the coronavirus as part of a broader public health campaign to protect Americans from respiratory viruses, including influenza and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), that surge every fall and winter. But free tests were not mailed during the summer wave, which wastewater surveillance data shows is now receding."

Washington Post: “Comedy news outlet the Onion — reinvigorated by new ownership over this year — is bringing back its once-popular video parodies of cable news. But this time, there’s someone with real news anchor experience in the chair. When the first episodes appear online Monday, former WAMU and MSNBC host Joshua Johnson will be the face of the resurrected 'Onion News Network.' Playing an ONN anchor character named Dwight Richmond, Johnson says he’s bringing a real anchor’s sense of clarity — and self-importance — to the job. 'If ONN is anything, it’s a news organization that is so unaware of its own ridiculousness that it has the confidence of a serial killer,' says Johnson, 44.” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I'll be darned if I can figured out how to watch ONN. If anybody knows, do tell. Thanks.

Washington Post: “First came the surprising discovery that Earth’s atmosphere is leaking. But for roughly 60 years, the reason remained a mystery. Since the late 1960s, satellites over the poles detected an extremely fast flow of particles escaping into space — at speeds of 20 kilometers per second. Scientists suspected that gravity and the magnetic field alone could not fully explain the stream. There had to be another source creating this leaky faucet. It turns out the mysterious force is a previously undiscovered global electric field, a recent study found. The field is only about the strength of a watch battery — but it’s enough to thrust lighter ions from our atmosphere into space. It’s also generated unlike other electric fields on Earth. This newly discovered aspect of our planet provides clues about the evolution of our atmosphere, perhaps explaining why Earth is habitable. The electric field is 'an agent of chaos,' said Glyn Collinson, a NASA rocket scientist and lead author of the study. 'It undoes gravity.... Without it, Earth would be very different.'”

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.”

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The Commentariat -- July 24, 2013

Reuters: "Former U.S. spy agency contractor Edward Snowden was on Wednesday granted documents that will allow him to leave a Moscow airport where he is holed up, an airport source said on Wednesday." ...

     ... UPDATE. Daniel Strauss of the Hill: "White House press secretary Jay Carney on Wednesday said the administration is pressing Russian officials to clarify the status of National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden, amid reports he has been granted permission to leave Moscow airport."

... Spencer Ackerman of the Guardian: "The Obama administration has forcefully urged the defeat of a legislative measure to curb its wide-ranging collection of Americans' phone records, setting up a showdown with the House of Representatives over domestic surveillance. A statement from the White House press secretary, Jay Carney, late on Tuesday evening capped an extraordinary day of near-revolt on Capitol Hill concerning the secret National Security Agency surveillance programes revealed by ex-NSA contractor Edward Snowden and published by the Guardian and Washington Post." ...

... James Risen & Charlie Savage of the New York Times: "Gen. Keith B. Alexander, the N.S.A. director, met with Democrats and Republicans to lobby against a House bill that would stop the financing for its phone data collection program. The Republican-sponsored legislation is one of the first Congressional efforts to curb the agency's domestic spying efforts since they were leaked by Edward J. Snowden, the former N.S.A. contractor." ...

... Hayes Brown of Think Progress: "Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) warned an audience at the Center for American Progress on Tuesday of the threat that the post-9/11 surveillance state could not only become permanent, but extend far beyond even its current reach.... While Wyden was unable to comment in detail on whether spying programs exist beyond those now revealed, he made clear that he believes that the current incarnation of the PATRIOT Act would authorize nearly limitless intrusion into citizens' lives."

... Justin Elliott of ProPublica: the NSA claims it doesn't have the technology to surveil its own employees' e-mails. CW: the NSA made this claim in response to an FOIA request by Elliott. Sounds like a convenient excuse to me.

My friend Barack asked me to pass this along to my friends. So here ya go:

... Jonathan Weisman of the New York Times: "As Mr. Obama prepares to deliver a major economic address on Wednesday in Illinois, Republicans in Washington are delivering blow after blow to programs he will promote as vital to a more robust economic recovery and a firmer economic future -- from spending on infrastructure and health care to beefing up regulatory agencies. While Mr. Obama would like to keep the economic conversation lofty, his adversaries in Congress are already fighting in the trenches." ...

... Dana Milbank: the White House is promoting today's speech as a Very Big Deal. "But even a reincarnated Steve Jobs would have trouble marketing this turkey: How can the president make news, and remake the agenda, by delivering the same message he gave in 2005?" ...

... Matt Canham of the Salt Lake City Tribune: "Sen. Mike Lee [R-Utah] has delivered an ultimatum: Stop funding Obamacare or he'll try to shut down the entire federal government. Utah's firebrand conservative is hitting friendly radio and TV shows to rally Republicans to his cause, appearing on Fox News' morning show Monday saying so far he has at least 13 senators on board. They'll make their stand in October, when Congress is expected to vote on a continuing resolution that will keep the federal government functioning. Lee sees it as the last attempt to wind down Obamacare before it takes full effect Jan. 1." ...

... Charles Pierce notes the Lee's "massive hissy fit" reveals him to be a "massive chickenshit," who proposes "to keep all the really popular stuff and do away with everything that makes the really popular stuff possible." ...

... Ed Kilgore: "I'm not sure congressional Republicans really want to enter a promising midterm election year just having engineered another phony crisis, but I also don't know if they can put this particular genie back in the bottle.... The GOP has managed to talk itself into a very firm belief that this national version of Mitt Romney's Massachusetts health plan is a satanic abomination that will either ... crash and burn taking the entire U.S. economy down with it, or succeed in seducing Americans to sell themselves into the voluntary slavery of 'socialized medicine.'" ...

... Alex Roarty of the National Journal: "A majority of adults don't want to repeal the Affordable Care Act, according to the latest United Technologies/National Journal Congressional Connection Poll, preferring instead to either spend more on its implementation or wait to see if changes are needed later. But based on recent news that the White House is delaying its employer health insurance mandate, the public appears convinced that the law's implementation is going poorly." ...

... Jennifer Epstein of Politico: "First lady Michelle Obama on Tuesday joined the White House's campaign to build support for Obamacare, as she urged a major Hispanic advocacy group to help spread the word as state exchanges prepare to open.... The first lady also spoke briefly on immigration reform, telling the crowd of Hispanic activists that while the fight for new legislation is 'hard,' they shouldn't give up 'because I promise you that my husband won't give up until a good bill gets on his desk.'" ...

... "Cruel & Indecent." The Spanish-language La Opinion: "Family values are a pillar of traditional Republican discourse. But as soon as it comes time to address immigration issues, all of their emphasis on family unity goes out the window, replaced by advocacy for division. This is the logical conclusion that follows from the KIDS Act, being developed by the House of Representatives.... It is the height of hypocrisy to posture oneself as representing family integrity, while heartlessly promoting actions that divide the family home, whose human worth knows no borders." ...

... Most Hispanic Kids Are Drug Smugglers. Some of them are valedictorians -- and their parents brought them in. It wasn't their fault. It's true in some cases, but they aren't all valedictorians. They weren't all brought in by their parents. For every one who's a valedictorian, there's another 100 out there who weigh 130 pounds -- and they've got calves the size of cantaloupes because they've been hauling 75 pounds of marijuana across the desert. -- Rep. Steve King (R-Disgusting) ...

... James Downie of the Washington Post: "... no GOP leader has yet disavowed [King's] intolerant views. For now, despite some prominent talking heads softening their attitudes on immigration, anti-immigrant bias remains strong in the Republican Party, blocking any chance of reform making it through Congress. But America is changing, and if Republicans want to stay relevant, they'll have to kick prejudices like King's out of the party." ...

     ... Shocking Update. Seung Min Kim of Politico: "Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) said in a statement late Tuesday that comments from King ... likening so-called DREAMers to drug mules was 'wrong.' King's remarks came from an interview conducted last week but circulated widely on Tuesday.... Eric Cantor (R-Va.) ... said of King's remarks: 'I strongly disagree with his characterization of the children of immigrants and find the comments inexcusable.'" ...

     ... Totally Expected Update. Steve Benen: "... soon after, King doubled down on his remarks, appearing on an Iowa radio show to say, 'It's not something that I'm making up. This is real.' ... In case facts still matter, King's assessment isn't even close to being accurate.... [King] may come across as a racist buffoon that the American mainstream finds repulsive, but at this point, he's winning -- King has been fighting to kill comprehensive immigration reform, and by all appearances, House Republican leaders intend to hand him and his allies the outcome they prefer ... largely because Boehner and his friends are too inept to lead."

Li'l Randy Is No Ike. For inspiration and guidance, I often look towards America's great military leaders. Some of the best observations on war and diplomacy come from the president who was also one of our most decorated generals, Dwight Eisenhower. -- Sen. Rand Paul (RTP-Ky.)

Glenn Kessler of the Washington Post: "Paul repeatedly referenced ... Eisenhower ... as a model for Paul's argument for a foreign policy that drastically cuts foreign aid and minimalizes overseas entanglements." But Eisenhower continued the internationalist policies of FDR & Truman, he promoted CIA covert actions, he bankrolled the French war in Vietnam, he used foreign aid as a central strategy. "Paul needs to find a new model for 'inspiration and guidance.' We suggest he consult a biography of [isolationist Sen. Robert] Taft [R-Ohio]."

Mark Murray of NBC News: "The American public's dissatisfaction with Washington has reached new heights, according to the latest NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll.... A whopping 83 percent of Americans disapprove of Congress' job, which is an all-time high in the survey. What's more, President Barack Obama has seen his job-approval rating dip to its lowest level since August 2011, when the debt-ceiling showdown wounded almost every Washington politician."

We all know John Boehner has no control over his House caucus, but is Mitch McConnell losing control of Senate Republicans, too? Alexander Bolton of the Hill: "Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) is trying to contain a GOP rebellion on spending levels, a struggle that has major implications for budget negotiations this fall. Nineteen Republicans voted Tuesday to advance a motion to begin debate on a bill funding the departments of Transportation and Housing and Urban Development, even though McConnell says the bill will bust the spending cap set by the 2011 Budget Control Act (BCA)."

New York Times Editors: "The government should not be making money off the backs of struggling student borrowers. In the long term, the loan program needs to be restructured so that the loans are closely linked to the government's actual cost of borrowing, which could reduce rates for students. A Senate compromise bill that is supposed to address the harmful rate increase falls well short." The editors recommend the Congress accept an amendment offered by Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass) & Jack Reed (D-R.I.) which would cap loan rates.

Ryan Grim of the Huffington Post: " President Barack Obama is leaning towards former White House Economic Adviser Larry Summers as his choice to replace Ben Bernanke as chairman of the Federal Reserve, according to people who have been briefed on the administration's thinking. Liberal critics of Summers' economic record, along with those who continue to question his ability to work with women, are waging a last-minute campaign to persuade the president to change his mind and instead choose the other frontrunner for the job, Fed Vice Chair Janet Yellen."

Jonathan Martin of the New York Times: Chris Christie is full of himself.

Maureen Dowd continues with her coverage of the gruesome Whitey Bolger trial.

Reid Cherlin, formerly a White House assistant press secretary to Robert Gibbs, argues in The New Republic that it's time to end the White House press conference, which is a waste of time for both the press & the White House.

Local News

David Chen & Michael Barbaro of the New York Times: "A new scandal involving raunchy online messages engulfed Anthony D. Weiner, imperiling an improbable political comeback that had catapulted him to the top of the New York City mayor's race. Mr. Weiner, who left Congress amid revelations that he had engaged in a pattern of reckless online conduct, acknowledged during a hastily arranged news conference that the behavior had continued even after his resignation." ...

... Weiner & his wife Huma Abedin speak at a news conference:

... Here is the BuzzFeed post, by Ben Smith, which is mentioned in the Times story. ...

... Politico's story, by Mike Zapler & Katie Glueck is here. ...

... Andrew Kaczynski of BuzzFeed: "A high-profile interview with People Magazine seen as a first step in rehabilitating his tattered image came a week after Anthony Weiner allegedly stared an online relationship with a woman that quickly descended into dirty messages and pictures." ...

... Here's the Dirty's first post. The Dirty's main page is here & currently ledes with a post of a pixelated image of Weiner's penis. The main page has links to other posts, but the links are broken. ...

New York Times Editors: "... the serially evasive Mr. Weiner should take his marital troubles and personal compulsions out of the public eye, away from cameras, off the Web and out of the race for mayor of New York City."

Katy Steinmetz of Time: "For nearly two weeks, San Diego Mayor Bob Filner has refused to resign in the face of sexual harassment allegations, apologizing for any misbehavior while maintaining his innocence. It has been an awkward dance of acknowledgement and resistance, and one made easier by the anonymity of his accusers. That changed Monday when Irene McCormack Jackson, the mayor's former communications director, accused Filner of sexual harassment in a lawsuit against him and the nation's eighth largest city." ...

... Craig Gustafson of the San Diego Union-Tribune: "The former top spokeswoman for Mayor Bob Filner sued him and the city for sexual harassment Monday, alleging he repeatedly made unwanted sexual advances toward her and put her in a headlock on several occasions so she couldn't get away." ...

... Mark Walker of the Union-Tribune: "Five hours after his former communications manager went public with allegations of sexual harassment against him, San Diego Mayor Bob Filner issued a written statement asking again that due process be allowed to run its course."

The Apology Tweet. Laura Vozzella & Rosalind Helderman of the Washington Post: "Gov. Robert F. McDonnell announced Tuesday that he repaid more than $120,000 in loans to a businessman whose nutritional supplement he and his wife promoted, and he apologized for the first time for a gifts scandal that has consumed his final year in office. 'I am deeply sorry for the embarrassment certain members of my family and I brought upon my beloved Virginia and her citizens,' McDonnell (R) announced via Twitter. 'I want you to know that I broke no laws and that I am committed to regaining your sacred trust and confidence. I hope today's action is another step toward that end.' The McDonnells paid back Star Scientific chief executive Jonnie R. Williams Sr. $52,278.17 for a $50,000 loan made to first lady Maureen McDonnell in 2011 and $71,837 for $70,000 provided last year to a real estate company the governor owns with his sister."

David Savage of the Los Angeles Times: "Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote for the Supreme Court in 2011 to uphold an order against California's overcrowded prisons. Now Gov. Jerry Brown wants him to block a release of more than 9,000 inmates."

Charles Pierce on North Carolina's legislative Jubilee, with a special shout-out to Chief Neutral Arbiter John Roberts, "who had been crusading against the [Voting Rights Act] for his entire career as a government lawyer...."

Senate Race

Molly Reddin of The New Republic: "... just because [Liz] Cheney is the worst species of partisan hack doesn't mean that her target is a bastion of comity and compromise.... What [Sen. Mike] Enzi [RTP-Wy.] is, on an average day, is a personally inoffensive, fairly ineffectual conservative nonentity.... For years, his vote has mainly been good for making sure that every meaningful piece of legislation to come before the Senate faces a filibuster.... He is susceptible to the worst pressures of tea partyism.... Enzi ... has not engaged in a meaningful attempt at compromise since 2009.... Even then, it was not clear that he was participating in good faith.... Because he attracts praise for the 'integrity' he projects while paralyzing the Senate at every opportunity, you could say that Enzi is the worse of the two [between Enzi & Cheney]."

Gubernatorial Race

Alexander Burns of Politico: "Virginia gubernatorial candidate Ken Cuccinelli once suggested that society would benefit from enforcing anti-adultery laws, according to a report dating to the Republican's days as a state senator. Speaking to Richmond's Style Weekly magazine back in 2008, Cuccinelli defended laws criminalizing extramarital sex, saying that such restrictions 'ought to stay on the books.... Frankly it wouldn't hurt to enforce them more,' Cuccinelli is quoted saying." CW: a truly excellent use of our criminal justice system, Kenny. Also an excellent way to solve our unemployment problems -- millions of people would be in jail instead of working or looking for work, & thousands of single people could be put to work building new jails. Plus, your brilliant suggestion would totally disband Congress. And, no, Kenny, you're not an extremist at all. You can start your prosecutin' with my ex-husbands.

News Ledes

New York Times: "The New York City Council notified [Madison Square Garden] that it has 10 years to vacate its 45-year-old premises and find a new home, the Garden's fifth since it opened in 1879. By a vote of 47 to 1, the Council voted to extend the Garden's special operating permit for merely a decade.... Ten years should be enough time, officials said, for the Garden to find a new location and for the city to devise plans for an expanded Pennsylvania Station, which currently sits below the Garden, and the redevelopment of the surrounding neighborhood."

New York Times: "President Obama, in his first punitive response to the ouster of Mohamed Morsi as president of Egypt, has halted the delivery of four F-16 fighter planes to the Egyptian Air Force."

Reuters: "At least 56 people were killed and 70 injured when a train derailed on the outskirts of the northern Spanish city of Santiago de Compostela on Wednesday in one of Europe's worst rail disasters."

New York Times: "Ronell Wilson, whose first death sentence for killing two undercover police detectives was overturned, was sentenced again on Wednesday to die by a federal jury that heard gripping testimony about his time in jail, where he roamed freely after the shootings, intimidated fellow inmates and fathered a child with a guard."

AP photo/Office of George Bush.The Classy President Bush. AP: "Former President George H.W. Bush has shaved his head to show solidarity for the sick child of a Secret Service agent. A statement issued by a Bush spokesman Wednesday says the 89-year-old former president acted earlier this week at his summer home in Kennebunkport, Maine. That was after he saw members of his Secret Service detail with newly shaved heads to show support for the 2-year-old son of an agent."

Guardian: "The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have announced their newborn son is to be called George Alexander Louis. He will be known as His Royal Highness Prince George of Cambridge. The announcement at 6.20pm showed the couple have chosen to stick with very traditional royal names. There have already been six British monarchs called George -- the last being the Queen's father, George VI. Louis is also a favourite and was the name of Lord Mountbatten, the uncle of the Duke of Edinburgh."

Guardian: "Lance Armstrong has claimed the United States government was happy to overlook drug-taking allegations because it was ready to take advantage of the publicity of being associated with him.... His legal team is now claiming the US government's federal lawsuit against him be dismissed because the case is too old."

San Francisco Chronicle: "The family of a man killed when a bicyclist slammed into him in San Francisco's Castro neighborhood last year didn't want the rider to spend time behind bars, prosecutors said Tuesday. Chris Bucchere, 37, avoided jail time when he agreed Thursday to plead guilty to felony vehicular manslaughter for having killed 71-year-old Sutchi Hui as he walked through a crosswalk at Market and Castro streets on March 29, 2012. Bucchere is scheduled to be sentenced to three years of probation on Aug. 16."

AP: "An out-of-control natural gas well off the Louisiana coast has caught fire, hours after a blowout that prompted the evacuation of 44 workers. Meanwhile, officials stressed that Tuesday's blowout wouldn't be close to as damaging as the 2010 BP oil spill...."

Reuters: " A federal judge on Tuesday delayed until next year the enforcement of Alabama's new abortion law, which tightens restrictions on providers and, according to opponents, could force the closing of more than half of the state's abortion clinics."

Comment7 Comments

Reader Comments (7)

If we accept the logic of Rep Steve King (R-pond scum) in re: oversize calves as the result of drug running, then it stands to reason that a glimpse of King's woefully underused brained would require an electron microscope.

July 24, 2013 | Unregistered CommenterDiane

I reckon we gots a bunch of raging loons looming around in our state houses (the ones in Washington notwithstanding). We have governors that have reaped the rich while selling snake oil to various and sundry; we have a mayor in San Diego who has a propensity for sexually mauling any female that comes within three feet of him–––he apologizes and says he's gonna get some therapy. He looks like a man on a mission and I'd bet it ain't reconstruction. Then we have Weiner, AKA Carlos Danger, whose sexual turn on evidently has to do with internet hanky-panky ( in his youth was the thrill only in his imagination?) He, too, apologizes for the second time and says a lot of things he said once before before he lied about it. He wants to be a mayor. I once said I would vote for him–– that was before I realized that Christine Quinn was running and before I knew he would break a trust for the second time. The list goes on, each day brings out the strange bed fellows of bad behavior. Or as Shakespeare once put it, "Good wombs have borne bad sons."

July 24, 2013 | Unregistered CommenterPD Pepe

Pithy Eichenwald observations:

http://www.vanityfair.com/online/eichenwald/2013/07/Zimmerman-abortion-obamacare-guns

July 24, 2013 | Unregistered Commentercowichan's opinion

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/nunns-senate-bid-puts-pressure-on-georgia-republicans/2013/07/23/544d5db8-f3b6-11e2-a2f1-a7acf9bd5d3a_story.html

Michelle Nunn gives us a glimmer of hope. Oh for the days of Sam Nunn, when people went to Washington to serve the country. Sam was a centrist, who didn't mind working across the aisle.

Michelle had better develop a really thick skin, because the Rethugs are already coming after her.

July 24, 2013 | Unregistered CommenterBarbarossa

Am I the only one awaiting that delicious moment when a powerful politico who happens to have breasts apologizes again to her constituents for her sexual peccadillos while her silent husband stands bravely by her side, trying to smile?

July 24, 2013 | Unregistered CommenterKen Winkes

Incredible story of your elected cowards in action.

http://thehill.com/blogs/on-the-money/domestic-taxes/313259-senates-tax-writers-offering-50-years-of-secrecy

July 24, 2013 | Unregistered CommenterJames Singer

Dear Ken: When pigs fly. But–––it would be something to knock the socks off, wouldn't it?

July 24, 2013 | Unregistered CommenterPD Pepe

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