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.”

The Wires
powered by Surfing Waves
Help!

To keep the Conversation going, please help me by linking news articles, opinion pieces and other political content in today's Comments section.

Link Code:   <a href="URL">text</a>

OR here's a link generator. The one I had posted died, but Akhilleus found this new one that he says is easy to use.

OR you can always just block, copy and paste to your comment the URL (Web address) of the page you want to link.

Note for Readers. It is not possible for commenters to "throw" their highlighted links to another window. But you can do that yourself. Right-click on the link and a drop-down box will give you choices as to where you want to open the link: in a new tab, new window or new private window.

Thank you to everyone who has been contributing links to articles & other content in the Comments section of each day's "Conversation." If you're missing the comments, you're missing some vital links.

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."

Contact Marie

Click on this link to e-mail Marie.

Page Links
Sunday
Jun192016

The Commentariat -- June 19, 2016

Whenever the riffraff of humanity -- e.g., most Republicans -- begins to get me down, along comes some kid like Jack Aiello to remind me that we still have the possibility of a bright future. Thank you, Jack. If you didn't see the clip of his graduation speech, do yourself a favor & watch it. Humor, & even more so, optimism, gives us the space to be better people. -- Constant Weader ...

... AND now, on to today's not-so-uplifting news.

Oliver Milman of the Guardian: "Barack Obama warned on Saturday that climate change could ravage many of America's vaunted national parks, criticizing political opponents who 'pay lip service' to areas of natural beauty while opposing efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions." -- CW

Words from His Father. Rachel Swarns of the New York Times: The Schomburg Center for Research on Black Culture has a small trove of letters written by Barack Obama, Sr. which the President has never seen. Includes some letters. -- CW

Jayme Deerwester of USA Today: "Chelsea Clinton ... announced the arrival of son Aidan Clinton Mezvinsky late Saturday morning on Twitter. Baby Aidan joins big sister Charlotte, who turns 2 on Sept. 26." -- CW

Presidential Race

Sean Sullivan & Jackie Valley of the Washington Post: "Donald Trump voiced annoyance Saturday at continued resistance to his presumptive presidential nomination from some Republicans as he accused former Florida governor Jeb Bush of trying to undermine his candidacy and appeared to take aim at Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.)." -- CW ...

... Kristen East of Politico: "Donald Trump says he isn't worried about delegates organizing against him at the Republican National Convention next month -- but he spent a large part of his rally in Las Vegas on Saturday afternoon insisting that it won't happen. The presumptive Republican nominee, speaking from the Treasure Island hotel and casino, insisted that the story 'is all made up by the press. It's a hoax.'" -- CW

Matt Canham of the Salt Lake Tribune: "Concerned with polls showing Hillary Clinton has a chance to win in one of the most conservative states in the nation, Utah Republican Party Chairman James Evans huddled with Donald Trump in Las Vegas on Saturday. They talked for half an hour shortly before Trump held a packed rally at the Treasure Island casino, and he vowed to campaign in Utah after the national convention in Cleveland in July. 'He's definitely coming back out,' said Evans in an interview after the conversation organized by Trump's son, Don Jr." -- CW

Michael Hiltzik of the Los Angeles Times: Donald Trump initiated to two lawsuits directly related to his campaign: two restaurateurs pulled out of the Trump organization's Washington, D.C., Old Post Office project after Trump opened his campaign by denigrating Mexicans. -- CW

Judging Donald. Peter Stone of the Guardian: "Republican and Democratic legal critics tell the Guardian that Trump on several occasions has seemed woefully ignorant of the law, and dismissive of American social conventions. 'My concern is that he lacks respect for basic norms,' said Robert Smith, a former associate judge on the New York court of appeals who was appointed by ex-governor George Pataki, a Republican. 'He's a totally irresponsible egomaniac, and it should be no surprise he pays no attention to the law and other basic social norms.'" -- CW

Tony Romm of Politico: "Apple has told Republican leaders it will not provide funding or other support for the party's 2016 presidential convention, as it's done in the past, citing Donald Trump's controversial comments about women, immigrants and minorities." -- CW

Hope Springs Eternal. Even Maureen Dowd has discovered, at long last, that "Trump's own behavior is casting serious doubt on whether he's qualified to be president." -- CW

Beyond the Beltway

Arelis Hernandez of the Washington Post: "About 200 people blocked the main street in downtown Orlando to form a human chain to counteract the demonstrators from Westboro Baptist Church. A handful of the church's members raised their now iconic anti-gay signs across the street from St. James Catholic Cathedral, while more two dozen police officers stood between them and the rainbow-adorned assembly." -- CW

News Lede

AP: "A jury has convicted a former Vanderbilt football player on all counts after finding that he encouraged his teammates to rape an unconscious woman he had been dating. It took jurors a little more than four hours of deliberation Saturday before finding Brandon Vandenburg guilty on five counts of aggravated rape and two counts of aggravated sexual battery. In addition, he was convicted of one count of unlawful photography." -- CW

Comments Off

Reader Comments (5)

Nothing remains unpoliticized. Here's a WaPo story on contrasting attitudes between Republican and Democratic dads, on how they are doing the dad job:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2016/06/16/republican-dads-think-theyre-great-fathers-democrats-have-less-self-confidence/?hpid=hp_no-name_opinion-card-f%3Ahomepage%2Fstory

I read the bottom line as: GOP dads generally feel they are doing a good dad-job, Democratic dads don't feel as good about how they are doing. GOP dads tend to let moms do most of the parenting, Democratic dads share more of the parent workload.

So ... "hire" a good mom and let her raise the kids, and then feel that you did a good job!!

Happy Fathers Day.

June 19, 2016 | Unregistered CommenterPatrick

One of my favorite poems about fathers is Robert Hayden's, "Those Winter Sundays" in which he describes how his father would get up early in the blue- black cold and with cracked hands that ached from labor stoke the fires that gave the family warmth in a household that bore the heat of chronic angers. Here is the last stanza:

"...Speaking indifferently to him
who had driven out the cold
and polished my good shoes as well.
What did I know, what did I know
of love's austere and lonely offices?

Here's to all you fathers whose children, I hope, are grateful for your love and continue to tell you so.

June 19, 2016 | Unregistered CommenterPD Pepe

@PD Pepe: Thank you. The full poem, only three stanzas, is here.

Marie

June 19, 2016 | Unregistered CommenterMarie Burns

Stepping back for the endless Trump coverage, all-Trump, all the time one finds there are other far more awful things happening in the world. " Venezuelans Ransack Stores " And they showed that even in a country with the largest oil reserves in the world, it is possible for people to riot because there is not enough food.

Mishandling of resources, ignoring the needs of its people—a story that is becoming more common around the globe. We see this happening with people fleeing their homelands because of: war, religious persecution, famine, water shortages, no jobs, climate change, and this list grows. As populations increase, so will the desperation. Yet, somehow there are those who will make money off of this and be able to gloat inside their walled and guarded compounds.

Geez, I'm beginning to sound like a Socialist. No, simply saddened and frustrated that practical solutions aren't being sought by those in control/power—those who turn away because it's not happening here (wherever that here is)...or isn't it? Hmmm, perhaps read Nick Kristof's column " I Was Wrong About Poverty " from his road trip to Oklahoma. He could have taken that road trip to many other states and found a similar story of people without jobs, on drugs, without hope.


OK. Like Akhilleus, I hate to conclude by writing more about DJT, but in today's Sunday Review, Kevin Baker's piece on " Donald Trump’s Place " fillets the Presumptuous Pretender. (Tip: skip MoDo).

June 19, 2016 | Unregistered CommenterMAG

PD.

Thanks for the poem. Wasn't familiar with it. Liked it and sent it on to my sons.

Now I'm sitting here waiting for those sons to arrive. Make that one son; the other is 60 miles distant, being a father himself, taking care of his own small children while his wife is away.

But according to the statistics, if they were both here I could expect each of them to present me with around $120 of largesse, the average amount each consumer spends on his or her father on Fathers' Day.

I'm girding myself to be disappointed, but not so saddened as I'm sure the boys' mother would have been last month had she known the figure for mothers is a whopping $165. Ignorance, as they say...

Makes me wonder, though, about the relative esteem in which we in our culture hold mothers and fathers. Seems the numbers bear out what most already know. For most, motherhood does forge the stronger attachment, looks like about a third greater than that for fathers.

Many implications here, some obvious in the legal and political realms, some that would take more time to tease out.

But it's Fathers' Day and instead of thinking too much or envying my wife for the greater affection she surely deserves from her children or being disappointed when the loot I'm told I should expect doesn't arrive, today I choose quiet contentment with finishing second in a long and rewarding race.

June 19, 2016 | Unregistered CommenterKen Winkes
Comments for this entry have been disabled. Additional comments may not be added to this entry at this time.