The Ledes

Thursday, September 19, 2024

New York Times: “A body believed to be of the suspect in a Kentucky highway shooting that left five people seriously injured this month was found on Wednesday, the authorities said, ending a manhunt that stretched into a second week and set the local community on edge. The Kentucky State Police commissioner, Phillip Burnett Jr., said in a Wednesday night news conference that at approximately 3:30 p.m., two troopers and two civilians found an unidentified body in the brush behind the highway exit where the shooting occurred.... The police have identified the suspect of the shooting as Joseph A. Couch, 32. They said that on Sept. 7, Mr. Couch perched on a cliff overlooking Interstate 75 about eight miles north of London, Ky., and opened fire. One of the wounded was shot in the face, and another was shot in the chest. A dozen vehicles were riddled with gunfire.”

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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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The Commentariat -- July 26, 2019

I will be out of commission until late tomorrow afternoon. It's possible I'll be able to post a few links tonight, but after that, nada. -- Mrs. Bea McCrabbie

Juliegrace Brufke & Niv Elis of the Hill: "The House passed a two-year budget deal Thursday that lifts the debt ceiling and boosts government spending by $320 billion. The legislation would suspend the debt limit through July 2021 and increase spending caps for the next two years, putting the U.S. on track to add an estimated $1.7 trillion to the deficit over the next decade when compared with the billions in automatic spending cuts that would otherwise kick in. Lawmakers passed the package in a 284-149 vote. Sixty-five Republicans voted against the measure, as did 16 Democrats. The legislation now heads to the Senate, which is expected to pass it next week before senators leave town for the August recess. The bill's passage comes just days after President Trump signed off on a deal reached between administration officials, Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and other congressional leaders."

Jordain Carney of the Hill: "The Senate will vote Monday evening to try to override President Trump's vetoes of resolutions blocking his arms deal with Saudi Arabia. Senators locked in the override votes Thursday as they wrapped up their work for the week.... The veto override attempts are widely expected to fall short after the initial resolutions of disapproval passed with 51 and 53 votes -- well short of the 67 votes needed to override a veto. Trump vetoed the three resolutions of disapproval on Wednesday." ...

... Dan De Luce & Robert Windrem of NBC News list 11 "favors" Trump has done for Saudi Arabia since he's becomes president*. Some are very consequential. Mrs. McC: Of course in the most quid-pro-quo, White-House-for-sale Trumpy tradition, the Saudis are doing & have done plenty of favors for Trump, too.

Senate Republicans Oppose Everything about Fair Elections. Jordain Carney of the Hill: "Senate Majority Leader (R-Ky.) blocked two election security measures on Thursday, arguing Democrats are trying to give themselves a 'political benefit.' The move comes a day after former special counsel Robert Mueller warned about election meddling in 2020, saying Russia was laying the groundwork to interfere in the 2020 election 'as we sit here.' Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) had tried to get consent Thursday to pass a House bill that requires the use of paper ballots and includes funding for the Election Assistance Commission. It passed the House 225-184 with one Republican voting for it. But McConnell objected, saying Schumer was trying to pass 'partisan legislation.'... Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) also asked for consent to pass legislation that would require candidates, campaign officials and their family members to notify the FBI of assistance offers from foreign governments. McConnell also objected to that bill." (Also linked yesterday.) ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: I am beginning to think this is part of a GOP plot not only to erode voters' confidence in election results but also to give Republicans a fake "basis" to challenge results that go against them. There is no good reason to oppose ballot-box security. Therefore, Republicans' motivations must be self-serving & malevolent. Mitch's remark about the bills giving Democrats a "political benefit" certainly implies he sees election chaos to be a "political benefit" to Republicans. We live in dangerous times. ...

... Zachary Basu & Joe Uchill of Axios: "The Senate Intelligence Committee on Thursday released the first part of its redacted report on Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election, focusing on 'Russian efforts against election infrastructure.'... The committee found that the Russian government, beginning in at least 2014 and continuing through at least 2017, directed 'extensive activity' targeting state and local election infrastructure. The committee did not find 'indications that votes were changed, vote tallying systems were manipulated, or that any voter registration data was altered or deleted.'... Michael Daniel, former cybersecurity coordinator for the White House, told the committee that by late August 2016, he had 'already personally concluded that the Russians had attempted to intrude in all 50 states, based on the extent of the activity and the apparent randomness of the attempts.'" ...

     ... The New York Times report, by David Sanger & Catie Edmondson, is here.

Andrew Desiderio of Politico: "The House Oversight and Reform Committee voted on Thursday to authorize subpoenas for senior White House officials' communications via private email accounts and messaging applications, a significant escalation in a years-long, bipartisan effort to learn more about potential violations of federal record-keeping laws. Thursday’s vote by the Democrat-led panel came after the White House refused to turn over the messages voluntarily earlier this month -- including senior adviser Jared Kushner's WhatsApp communications with foreign officials, senior adviser Ivanka Trump's use of a private email account to conduct official business, and former chief strategist Stephen Bannon's use of a personal mobile device for White House business." (Also linked yesterday.)

Charlie Savage of the New York Times: "Mr. Trump's answers [to the special counsel's questions], submitted in writing and under oath, are receiving new scrutiny after Mr. Mueller agreed in his closely watched congressional testimony this week that some of the president's responses were untruthful.... Mr. Mueller's answer to [Val] Demings [(D-Fla.) regarding Trump's written answers were] a rare moment in which he went beyond his report.... Mr. Trump's answers are becoming additional fodder for the internal debate among House Democrats about whether to open an impeachment inquiry into Mr. Trump, congressional aides said. Notably, one of the two articles of impeachment against President Bill Clinton accused him of lying under oath." Savage summarizes other matters Democrats are considering as areas of inquiry. Worth a read.

Jonathan Chait: In the last minutes of the Intelligence Committee hearing yesterday, "Mueller confirmed that Russia had blackmail leverage over Donald Trump during the 2016 campaign." Chait runs through the lines of questioning that establish Russia's ability to compromise Trump. Mrs. McC: I suspect Russia's got more on Trump than Schiff & Mueller highlighted. If so, I'll bet Trump knows it. (Also linked yesterday.)

John Cassidy of the New Yorker: "With Republicans united behind the President, Democrats uncertain about how to proceed, and Mueller reluctant to the last to come straight out and say that the President committed impeachable offenses, it looks like Trump's blitzkrieg tactics of demonizing anyone who challenges him, terrorizing potential dissidents on his own side, and relentlessly spouting propaganda over social media may have worked. If so, he will have recorded a historic victory over the bedrock American principles of congressional oversight and equality before the law.... The wanton disrespect that these elected Republicans [on the House committees] showed Mueller was perhaps the most alarming testament yet to Trump's total conquest of the Party." (Also linked yesterday.) ...

... Tom Nichols in USA Today: "The Republicans once prided themselves on being the toughest opponents of America's enemies. They have now been reduced to inane babbling about conspiracy theories, excusing the Russians, whitewashing the hostile foreign intelligence service called WikiLeaks, and attacking a man of indisputable honor and probity -- a fellow Republican, no less -- all in the name of covering Donald Trump's tracks.... I have never been prouder to be an ex-Republican." (Also linked yesterday.) ...

... ** David Corn of Mother Jones: "The former special counsel did not drop any new revelations about the Trump-Russia affair. Yet in a simple but important manner, he reiterated the basics of this scandal -- perhaps the most consequential political scandal in American history.... Russia attacked, and Trump denied the attack happened -- which provided cover for Moscow -- yet attempted to benefit from it. This is a profound act of betrayal. It is the essence of the scandal: A presidential candidate aiding and abetting an assault on the United States.... This is the narrative that Trump has desperately wanted to obstruct and smother since the campaign. He was elected president partly due to the Russian intervention he has refused to fully acknowledge and address.... Whether or not Trump engaged in active collusion with Vladimir Putin's regime, he gained the presidency with covert foreign assistance and then abandoned his most fundamental duty: to protect the United States. Arguably, this is more significant than the obstruction issue, for Trump has permitted a foreign power to get away with perverting the foundation of American democracy." --s

** Katie Benner of the New York Times: "The federal government will resume executions of death-row inmates after a nearly two-decade moratorium, Attorney General William P. Barr said Thursday. The announcement reverses what had been essentially a moratorium on the federal death penalty. The federal government has not executed an inmate since 2003, though prosecutors still seek the death penalty in some cases, including for Dylann S. Roof, an avowed white supremacist who killed nine African-American churchgoers in 2015, and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the Boston Marathon bomber.... Mr. Barr said that Hugh Hurwitz, the acting director of the Bureau of Prisons, has scheduled executions in December and January for five men convicted of murder. They will take place at the federal penitentiary in Terre Haute, Ind., and additional executions will be scheduled later, Mr. Barr said." (Also linked yesterday.) ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: How to divert attention from Mueller's denunciation of Barr & Trump: execute somebody.

Andrew Napolitano of Fox "News": "When [Trump] loudly called for four members of Congress ... to go back to the places from which they came, he unleashed a torrent of hatred.... Nativist hatred is an implication of moral or even legal superiority that has no constitutional justification in American government... [W]hen the president defies these moral and constitutional norms and tells women of color to 'Go back,' he raises a terrifying specter. The specter is hatred not for ideas he despises but for the people who embrace those ideas. The specter is also a dog whistle to groups around the country that hatred is back in fashion and is acceptable to articulate publicly.... Hatred is so volatile and destructive that, once unleashed, it takes on a life of its own. It is cover for our deepest and darkest instincts." --s

Andrew Kaczynski & Nathan McDermott of CNN: "... Donald Trump's pick for the top spokeswoman job at the Treasury Department repeatedly spread conspiracy theories that suggested then-President Barack Obama was secretly a Muslim who was sympathetic to America's enemies. Monica Crowley, who was appointed by Trump last week as assistant treasury secretary for public affairs, made multiple comments spreading these false claims on her personal blog and in at least one tweet between 2009 and 2015, according to a review by CNN's KFile team. Crowley also endorsed a story claiming Obama was an 'Islamic community organizer' trying to conform the United States to Sharia law and claimed conspiracy theories about Obama's birth certificate were 'legitimate concerns.'... Crowley, formerly a syndicated radio host, columnist and Fox News contributor, was originally chosen by Trump in December 2016 to be the senior director of strategic communications for the National Security Council. She withdrew herself from consideration for that position after CNN's KFile team uncovered extensive plagiarism in her book and doctoral thesis." Mrs. McC: She seems perfect for Team Trump.

Juan Cole: "The House of Representatives on Thursday passed by a 398-17 margin a resolution condemning the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement against Israel. In so doing, they weakened the US First Amendment of the Constitution, which forbids Congress to censor political speech.... Moreover, this attempt to ban or punish boycotts is a stance of the Far Right and has an ugly history in the white nationalist backlash against the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s.... If Congress had its way and could outlaw boycotts of all the causes and businesses dear to their campaign donors, American democracy would be in peril...Economic boycotts have been part and parcel of American political striving for liberty from the beginning. I have three words for you: Boston Tea Party." --s

Tierney Sneed of TPM: "Census Bureau Director Steven Dillingham couldn't say on Wednesday whether the citizenship data his agency is helping to collect will be used to drastically change the way political power is doled out across the country to favor the Republican Party...[Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-MA)]... asked Dillingham several questions related to [President Trump's recent executive order directing the government to assemble citizenship data from existing records.]. Dillingham repeatedly struggled to respond and appeared altogether unprepared to answer basic questions about the Census Bureau's plans in following Trump's directive.... Dillingham agreed to respond in writing within 10 days to Pressley's question about apportionment." --s

Rebecca Beitsch of the Hill: "Former Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke is now working for some of the same oil and mining companies he regulated while at the helm of the Department of Interior, according to Bloomberg.... He has dismissed accusations of corruption and conflict of interest, telling Bloomberg that probes into his actions as secretary are 'BS.'... Federal law blocks government officials from lobbying for a year after they leave their post, and an executive order from President Trump bars such actions for five years after leaving federal service. Zinke said he's abiding by the law because he is advising companies but not lobbying." --s

Tom Porter of Business Insider: "... Donald Trump took to the stage at the Marriott Marquis hotel in Washington, DC, on Tuesday to deliver a speech to thousands of young, cheering supporters at the Turning Point USA conference. But ... no one seemed to notice that there was something subtly different about the presidential seal that was being shown on the screen behind him. Instead of the bald eagle featured in the official seal of the president of the United States, the image featured a double-headed eagle, which bears a striking resemblance to the one on the official coat of arms of the Russian Federation.... And instead of clutching arrows in its left claw, the eagle in the altered image held golf clubs...." Thanks to Ken W. for the link. (Also linked yesterday.) ...

... Betsy Klein of CNN: "An audiovisual aide for conservative student group Turning Point USA was fired this week after ... Donald Trump appeared on a stage in front of a parody image of the presidential seal at its Teen Student Action Summit.... TPUSA had event branding on the screens, but during a run through ahead of Trump's remarks a few hours before the event, the team was told they had to change the branding to a presidential seal...." Mrs. McC: "was told?" By whom? I'd guess it was some crack advance person at the White House. And instead of sending over a high-res image of the seal, the White House guy (I'm guessing) left it to a TPUSA AV aide to punt. He did. And he got fired for his trouble. (Also linked yesterday.)

Congressional Race 2020. This Is Going Well. Jon Swaine of the Guardian: "A pro-Trump Republican candidate for Congress who is aiming to unseat Ilhan Omar in Minnesota has been charged with a felony after allegedly stealing from stores. Danielle Stella was arrested twice this year in Minneapolis suburbs over allegations that she shoplifted items worth more than $2,300 from a Target and goods valued at $40 from a grocery store. She said she denied the allegations. Stella, a 31-year-old special education teacher, was reported this week to be a supporter of the baseless 'QAnon' conspiracy theory about Donald Trump battling a global cabal of elite liberal paedophiles.... In a series of text messages, Stella said:'I am not guilty of these crimes....'"

GOP Embraces Socialism. Reuters: "The US government will pay American farmers hurt by the trade war with China between $15 and $150 per acre in an aid package totaling $16bn with farmers in the South poised to see higher rates than in the midwest.... The assistance, starting in mid-to-late August, follows the president's $12bn package last year that was aimed at making up for lower farm good prices and lost sales." --s

Coral Davenport & Hiroko Tabuchi of the New York Times: "Four of the world's largest automakers have struck a deal with California to reduce automobile emissions, siding with the state in its fight with President Trump over one of his most consequential regulatory rollbacks. In coming weeks, the Trump administration is expected to all but eliminate an Obama-era regulation designed to reduce vehicle emissions that contribute to global warming. California and 13 other states have vowed to keep enforcing the stricter rules, potentially splitting the United States auto market in two. With car companies facing the prospect of having to build two separate lineups of vehicles, they opened secretive talks with California regulators in which the automakers -- Ford Motor Company, Volkswagen of America, Honda and BMW -- won slightly less restrictive rules that they can apply to vehicles sold nationwide."

Way Beyond the Beltway

U.K. Thomas Colson of Business Insider: "Prime Minister Boris Johnson's opponents have accused him of creating a 'Cabinet from hell' after he appointed a home secretary with a history of supporting the death penalty, a deputy who has called feminists 'obnoxious bigots,' and multiple ministers who voted against legislation for same-sex marriage. Johnson, who became prime minister on Wednesday, conducted the most brutal cabinet purge in modern UK political history, as ministers who backed his rival Jeremy Hunt were thrown out of Cabinet.... Pledging to deliver Britain's exit from the European Union by October 31, with 'no ifs or buts,' Johnson fired 17 Cabinet ministers and gave many top jobs to members of Parliament who had been involved in the Vote Leave [pro-Brexit campaign]." ...

... Heather Stewart, et al., of the Guardian: "Brussels has roundly rebuffed Boris Johnson after he laid down tough conditions for the new Brexit deal he hopes to strike over the summer.... The European commission president, Jean-Claude Juncker, signalled the EU27's determination to stick with the deal negotiated with Theresa May's government.... In a speech [before Parliament] that was loudly cheered by many Conservative MPs, [Johnson] said all members of his new cabinet were committed to leaving the EU on 31 October 'whatever the circumstances -- and to do otherwise would cause a catastrophic loss of confidence in our political system'."

News Lede

USA Today: "A large asteroid 'narrowly' missed the Earth overnight Wednesday, astronomers announced. According to NASA, the space rock was an estimated 187 to 427 feet wide. 'The closest it came to Earth was just under 45,000 miles, a safe distance, but still much less than the distance between the Earth and moon,' Astronomy magazine said. The moon is about 239,000 miles from the Earth. The rock was a shock: 'It snuck up on us pretty quickly,' Michael Brown, an associate professor in Australia..., told the Washington Post. 'People are only sort of realizing what happened pretty much after it's already flung past us.'"

Comments Off

Reader Comments (11)

I was very much interested in learning who voted against the B.D.S. (see Juan Cole above) Here is that info. Good for them, I say.
https://forward.com/fast-forward/428179/congress-bds-aoc-tlaib-omar/

July 26, 2019 | Unregistered CommenterPD Pepe

BACK TO THE FUTURE:

America has passed a point of no return by Andrew Bacevich.
https://www.truthdig.com/articles/the-united-states-has-passed-the-point-of-no-return/

July 26, 2019 | Unregistered CommenterPD Pepe

Not as much fun as the "presidential seal" above, but an overall pleasant read. News and analysis, more good than bad.

https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2019/07/trumps-go-back-attacks-white-working-class-women/594805/

July 26, 2019 | Unregistered CommenterKen Winkes

There's a story about Eisenhower, toward the end of his second term. He had had his heart attack and maybe a small stroke by that time. But he was still the guy who knew how to conquer Europe. He developed a technique of mumbling and not being clear in his speech. The press assumed incorrectly that he had become a dodderer. But his comment, after one press scrum had finished, was: "Now that should get rid of them!" indicating (perfectly clearly) that he knew how to get rid of people very well and did so.
I think this is what Mueller did. He said devastating truths which people missed and did precisely what he said he would do, and even used props (his assistant) for effect. And yet, people went away saying he didn't have his moxie any more.
I disagree: he wowed us and nobody noticed.

July 26, 2019 | Unregistered CommenterVictoria

It's simply astounding all the idiots saying things like "Mueller was boring" and "It was a disaster" and "No big deal".

After Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, plenty of "expert" newspaper columnists ripped the speech. And not that Mueller's rather taciturn testimony was the equal of Lincoln's address, but he communicated some vital information to the American public, to the media (many of whom, I'm absolutely certain, have never read the report--Hello, Sean Hannity) and the congress about the criminal inhabiting the Oval Office, the traitor being aided and abetted and comforted by his entire party. A Confederacy of Traitors.

And still the assault on truth and America continues unabated by the Orange Menace and his storm troopers. Meanwhile Chuck Todd yawns and sez, "It's an optics disaster. What's next? I'm bored."

Optics disaster, Chuck? These hearings weren't called for your viewing pleasure, they were called to publicly air the circumstances around the high crimes and misdemeanors of a president and his family and campaign, including those around him in the White House. Does evidence of treason bore you Chuck?

Proof that this idiot is not a reporter. He's a celebrity testicle cozy.

July 26, 2019 | Unregistered CommenterAkhilleus

"...out of commission...."

Don't like the sound of that.

Hope all is/will be well with Bea.

July 26, 2019 | Unregistered CommenterKen Winkes

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/south-dakota-will-require-in-god-we-trust-signs-in-all-public-schools

That oughta fix whatever's broke in South Dakota.

No further need for its legislature to meet, I guess.

July 26, 2019 | Unregistered CommenterKen Winkes

Looks like we are all on the same page re: those that wanted the Mueller hearing to be WHAM, BANG! ENTERTAINMENT TONIGHT kind of spectacle. This afternoon Nadler and many of the Dems that questioned Mueller had a news conference and explained to those Chuck Toddies that the information gathered was clear, concise and damaging. As Jelani Cobb has written:

"The evidence of Trump's unfitness for the presidency whether it is calculated or simply deranged [I say both]–––is inescapable.

@Ken: The "out of commission" might just be an eye procedure that impairs her sight for a time. Or maybe she just took time off for frollicking in the ferns for a day or two––if anyone deserves some time off it's Marie!

Your other bit about the God besotted wanting to make sure all the kiddies know that "in God we trust" make me weep. I have said for many moons how I hope that someday we change that to "In Truth We Trust"–––fat chance that!

July 26, 2019 | Unregistered CommenterPD Pepe

More on the San Francisco school murals, and my comment to one "John," who couldn't see the difference between the murals and confederate statues…

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/26/arts/design/george-washington-san-francisco-murals.html?


"There is something called Whig history, which makes the intellectual and moral mistake that others bere have 'pointed to of applying current values to those who lived in the past.

That far we might agree.

But how about the difference between teaching and remembering the past in its complex totality (including its awfulness)--which I would take to be the purpose of these murals--and celebrating the people who did awful things?

It's a distinction worth making, I think."

July 26, 2019 | Unregistered CommenterKen Winkes

And some not-so-good news from the SCOTUS calling balls and strikes faction:

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/26/us/politics/supreme-court-border-wall-trump.html

July 26, 2019 | Unregistered CommenterKen Winkes
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