The Ledes

Tuesday, October 1, 2024

Washington Post: “ John Amos, a running back turned actor who appeared in scores of TV shows — including groundbreaking 1970s programs such as the sitcom 'Good Times' and the epic miniseries 'Roots' — and risked his career to protest demeaning portrayals of Black characters, died Aug. 21 in Los Angeles. He was 84.”

New York Times: “Pete Rose, one of baseball’s greatest players and most confounding characters, who earned glory as the game’s hit king and shame as a gambler and dissembler, died on Monday. He was 83.”

The Ledes

Monday, September 30, 2024

New York Times: “Kris Kristofferson, the singer and songwriter whose literary yet plain-spoken compositions infused country music with rarely heard candor and depth, and who later had a successful second career in movies, died at his home on Maui, Hawaii, on Saturday. He was 88.”

~~~ The New York Times highlights “twelve essential Kristofferson songs.”

The Wires
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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 -- June 10, 2012

My column in today's New York Times eXaminer is titled "What Ever Happened to Bradley Manning?" The NYTX front page is here.

New York Times Editors: "If you wanted to reproduce the conditions that led to the Great Recession in 2007, the easiest way would be the plan unveiled last week by House Republicans: gut the regulators who are supposed to keep the worst business practices in check." Read the entire editorial. CW: The nicest thing I can say about House Republicans is that they are corrupt, devious fuckers. And that would be my polite mode.

Get off the Dime, Ben! Christina Romer in the New York Times: "By law, the Fed is supposed to aim for maximum employment and stable prices.... The Fed is the only plausible source of immediate help for the American economy. It was set up as an independent body precisely so that somebody can do what's right when politicians can't or won't.... The academic literature shows that monetary policy can be very effective at reducing unemployment in situations like ours.

Peter Wallsten of the Washington Post has a long piece on President Obama's tense relationships with Hispanic & gay civil rights leaders.

One More Reason to Love Joe Biden. The Vice President invites the press and their families to his home at the Naval Observatory every year. My son's excuse for dousing David Brooks: 'Biden told me to!' -- Ben Smith of BuzzFeed

Robert Reich: "The public’s growing disdain of the Supreme Court increases the odds that a majority will uphold the constitutionality of Obamacare." CW: I happen to think Reich is being a cockeyed optimist here, but read his rationale & see what you think. Also, bear this in mind: the public likes the individual mandate even less than they like the Court. So, if Reich is correct, that John Roberts is concerned about the Court's unpopularity, wouldn't Roberts want to do the popular thing & squish the individual mandate?

Missed this story which Steve Benen highlights in "This Week in God": Laurie Goodstein of the New York Times: "... a group of Roman Catholic nuns is planning a bus trip across nine states this month, stopping at homeless shelters, food pantries, schools and health care facilities run by nuns to highlight their work with the nation's poor and disenfranchised. The bus tour is a response to a blistering critique of American nuns released in April by the Vatican's doctrinal office.... The bus tour is to begin on June 18 in Iowa and end on July 2 in Virginia. The dates overlap with the 'Fortnight for Freedom,' events announced by Catholic bishops to rally opposition to what they see as the Obama administration's violations of religious freedom."

Rosalind Helderman of the Washington Post: Senate Majority Leader Harry "Reid [D-Nevada] is now activating the vaunted Nevada Democratic machine he has helped build on behalf [of] Rep. Shelley Berkley. The seven-term Las Vegas congresswoman is challenging Reid's junior partner, Republican Sen. Dean Heller, for his job." Nevada offers "a rare opportunity for a Democratic pickup." The state's primaries are this Tuesday; both Berkley & Heller are expected to win easily.

Presidential Race

The Obama campaign runs a new Web ad hitting Romney for advocating the firing of teachers, firefighters & police:

News Ledes

Washington Post: "An increasingly effective Syrian rebel force has been gaining ground in recent weeks, stepping up its attacks on government troops and expanding the area under its control even as world attention has been focused on pressuring Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to comply with a U.N. cease-fire. The loosely organized Free Syrian Army now acknowledges that it is also no longer observing the truce, although rebel commanders insist they are launching attacks only to defend civilians in the wake of concerns generated by two recent massacres in which most of the 186 victims were women and children." ...

... Al Jazeera: "Violence is continuing in Syria, with activists reporting government assaults on the southern city of Deraa and Homs in the centre of the country. At least 52 civilians were killed around the country outside Damascus on Saturday, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, Britain-based activist group."

AFP: "The IMF and US both praised a Eurogroup deal giving Spain a lifeline of up to €100 bn ($125 billion) to save its stricken banks, with International Monetary Fund Managing Director Christine Lagarde calling it a 'credible back stop' for the banking system."

Reuters: "Iran's state finances have come under unprecedented pressure and the resilience of ordinary people is being tested by soaring inflation as oil income plummets due to tightening Western sanctions and sharply falling oil prices. Tough financial measures imposed by Washington and Brussels have made it ever more difficult to pay for and ship oil from Iran. Its oil output has sunk to the lowest in 20 years, cutting revenue that is vital to fund a sprawling state apparatus."

AP: "Hosni Mubarak is slipping in and out of consciousness eight days after the ousted Egyptian leader was sent to prison to begin serving a life sentence, a security official said on Sunday. With rumors of the former president's death spreading rapidly, authorities granted his wife, former first lady Suzanne Mubarak, and the couple's two daughters-in-law special permission to visit him in Cairo's Torah prison early that morning."

AFP: "Queen Elizabeth II's husband Prince Philip celebrates his 91st birthday at home on Sunday, after five days of hospital treatment for a bladder infection sparked concerns about his health. The outspoken Duke of Edinburgh left London's King Edward VII hospital on Saturday, just in time for his birthday."

Comments Off

Reader Comments (12)

Just checked in for my my daily Reality Chex dose, tardily I know, and was taken by a picture of some local scenery. But unless I'm not getting the joke--and it does happen--the technical name for Puget Sound is likely not Salisbury Sea but Salish Sea, unless a Salisbury steak is really a hunk of salmon....

June 10, 2012 | Unregistered CommenterKen Winkes

@Ken Winkes. I think you're right, but I'll let the writer who sent the picture weigh in. Maybe those are actually the Sandwich Islands in the distance. Anyway, sounds good with whiskey rocks. (Or is it "whisky"? )

I checked the Times writer Lizette Alvarez yesterday for claiming there were lots of mosquitoes hereabouts, but I should also have got her on her lede sentence in which she described the "Caloosahatchee River." "Hatchee" means "river" so "Caloosahatchee River" is redundant. We'all call it "the Caloosahatchee." The Caloosa were the native Americans who lived in the area.

June 10, 2012 | Registered CommenterMarie Burns

Darn--I had just read Robert Reich's blog piece and it gave me a nice warm fuzzy feeling. But you are probably right!

June 10, 2012 | Unregistered Commenteralphonsegaston

Just read your reply to my comment yesterday on snakes.... Gawd, I have been feeling brave because the rare sighting of a tiny snake in the mulch in one of the flower beds has not kept me from walking past the area.

But the wonderful birds are almost worth it. For me, that is, been terrified of snakes all my life in spite of family efforts to reason with me. Not spiders or anything else really...just snakes.

June 10, 2012 | Unregistered Commenteralphonsegaston

@alphonsegaston: Your fear of snakes–––I like them a lot, but mostly from a distance––is like my fear of spiders and if I had been the woman Marie described who squashed a spider in her kitchen only to have a multitude of babies burst out running thither and yon, it would do me in. I'd definitely have to go to some spider therapy, but come out crazier than ever.

June 10, 2012 | Unregistered CommenterPD Pepe

Chief Justice Roberts is a loyal Republican with probably an above average intelligence. He is smart enough to know that taking away the parts of the health care act the public likes will cause screams, even from Republicans.
Keeping children on parents coveage until age 26 and relief from pre-existing conditions rules and the end of the donut hole are popular and expensive. They will cause huge increases in premiums if kept by the Republicans.
If Obama's care program is defeated by the Court, The Republican party will take possession of a disaster.
Chief Justice Roberts will save the Republicans from themselves.

June 10, 2012 | Unregistered CommenterCarlyle

@Carlyle: I hope you're right. However, you haven't said anything to refute my idea that the Court has an incentive to knock down the individual mandate. The Court has proved to be fond of severability -- that is, declaring parts, but not all, of a law unconstitutional, as they did, ferinstance, in Citizens United. I have no idea what Roberts & Kennedy will do/have done, but it seems entirely possible that they will rule against the unpopular individual mandate & leave the rest, or most of the rest, of the ACA intact, including of course those popular bits you mention.

That would gut the core cost-savings feature of the ACA, as premiums would necessarily skyrocket if Americans are allowed to do as they do now & self-insure when they think/hope they won't need substantial healthcare at the same time insurers are forced to accept customers with genuine pre-existing conditions & others who buy insurance because they're pretty sure they're going to need extensive medical care.

Marie

June 10, 2012 | Unregistered CommenterThe Constant Weader

And with my conspiracy cap firmly in place for the moment, I'd suggest declaring the individual mandate of the AHC unconstitutional would be in line with all the tax cuts, the unfunded wars, the conspicuously absent oversight that led to the massive bailouts for all those TBTF--all designed to impoverish government and further empower the private profiteers. With no check on health care costs and insurance costs, those public parts of our creaky system--Medicare and Medicaid, the Veterans hospitals, etc--will find themselves increasingly isolated and under financial attack. More surround the beast, lay siege to it, sap it and starve it and then blame it for being weak, render it TSTS, too small to succeed. Must be the beast's moral or systemic failure. Sure.

Of course, we know who the real Beast is.

June 10, 2012 | Unregistered CommenterKen Winkes

Referring to Tony Perkins of the "Family Research Council," at what point do the "cafeteria" religious among us stop pretending that religious a**holes aren't a**holes just because they're religious "too"? I am truly dismayed at how we quail in this country whenever one of these scoundrels opens his or her mouth. Just wondering. Please discuss. Thanks.

June 10, 2012 | Unregistered CommenterJack Mahoney

Odds & Ends.

@Jack. Because we are a nation of sheep. We have long had a public education system dedicated to teaching students how to bolt fenders on Buicks, not ask why Buicks needed fenders.

@Marie. When I lived in your neighborhood, I made peace with as many critters as I could. My plantation was home to hundreds of anoles and gray tree frogs, a couple of black snakes, and a hog snake. As a result, I never had a mosquito or cockroach or rat (or mouse). Even gave the anoles free rein of the house--of course that drove the cats nuts, but it was up to them to work out.

June 10, 2012 | Unregistered CommenterJames Singer

@Ken Winkes:

Update re: Salisbury/Salish: blame Apple's Word Complete.

June 10, 2012 | Unregistered CommenterMarie Burns

In the Obama ad featured today when Romney says we need to cut back and help the "American People" who the hell does he think teachers, police, and firefighters are?

And Jack, yes, the Tony Perkins of our world are, indeed, scoundrels of the first degree, but they embrace the WORD which has that veil of purity and goodness that so many cover themselves up in while harboring their devious intentions. Years ago a feminist, can't remember her name, was giving a talk to a group of women and wondered whether the Virgin Mary had been "knocked up?" Bill Buckley's sister, Pat, who was in the audience jumped out of her seat, ran up to the podium and physically attacked this speaker. Passions run high in dem dere circles of come to Jesus movements.

June 10, 2012 | Unregistered CommenterPD Pepe
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