The Ledes

Thursday, September 26, 2024

The New York Times:' live updates of Hurricane Helene developments today are here. “Hurricane Helene was barreling through the Gulf of Mexico on Thursday en route to Florida, where residents were bracing for extreme rain, destructive winds and deadly storm surge ahead of the storm’s expected landfall. The storm could intensify to a Category 4, if not higher, before making landfall late Thursday, and forecasters warned Helene’s anticipated large size could make its impacts felt across an extensive area. Areas as distant as Atlanta and the Appalachians are at risk for heavy rains.... Many forecast models show the storm making landfall late Thursday near Florida’s Big Bend Coast, a sparsely populated stretch....” ~~~

     ~~~ The Washington Post has forecasts for some cites in Florida, Georgia, North Carolina & Tennessee that are in or near the probable path of Helene. ~~~

     ~~~ This morning, an MSNBC weatherperson said Tallahassee (which is inland) would experience wind gusts of up to 120 m.p.h. and that the National Weather Service said expected 20-foot storm surges near the coast would be “unsurvivable.”

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The Ledes

Wednesday, September 25, 2024

The New York Times is live-updating developments in the progress of Hurricane Helene. “Helene continued to power north in the Caribbean Sea, strengthening into a hurricane Wednesday morning, on a path that forecasters expect will bring heavy amounts of rain to Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula and western Cuba before it begins to move toward Florida’s Gulf Coast.” ~~~

~~~ CNN: “Helene rapidly intensified into a hurricane Wednesday as it plows toward a Florida landfall as the strongest hurricane to hit the United States in over a year. The storm will also grow into a massive, sprawling monster as it continues to intensify, one that won’t just slam Florida, but also much of the Southeast.... Thousands of Florida residents have already been forced to evacuate and nearly the entire state is under alerts as the storm threatens to unleash flooding rainfall, damaging winds and life-threatening storm surge.... The hurricane unleashed its fury on parts of Mexico’s Yucátan Peninsula and Cuba Wednesday.“

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The New York Times lists Emmy winners. The AP has an overview story here.

New York Times: “Hvaldimir, a beluga whale who had captured the public’s imagination since 2019 after he was spotted wearing a harness seemingly designed for a camera, was found dead on Saturday in Norway, according to a nonprofit that worked to protect the whale.... [Hvaldimir] was wearing a harness that identified it as “equipment” from St. Petersburg. There also appeared to be a camera mount. Some wondered if the whale was on a Russian reconnaissance mission. Russia has never claimed ownership of the whale. If Hvaldimir was a spy, he was an exceptionally friendly one. The whale showed signs of domestication, and was comfortable around people. He remained in busier waters than are typical for belugas....” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Oh, Lord, do not let Bobby Kennedy, Jr., near that carcass. ~~~

     ~~~ AP Update: “There’s no evidence that a well-known beluga whale that lived off Norway’s coast and whose harness ignited speculation it was a Russian spy was shot to death last month as claimed by animal rights groups, Norwegian police said Monday.... Police said that the Norwegian Veterinary Institute conducted a preliminary autopsy on the animal, which was become known as 'Hvaldimir,' combining the Norwegian word for whale — hval — and the first name of Russian President Vladimir Putin. 'There are no findings from the autopsy that indicate that Hvaldimir has been shot,' police said in a statement.”

New York Times: Botswana's “President Mokgweetsi Masisi grinned as he lifted the diamond, a 2,492-carat stone that is the biggest diamond unearthed in more than a century and the second-largest ever found, according to the Vancouver-based mining operator Lucara, which owns the mine where it was found. This exceptional discovery could bring back the luster of the natural diamond mining industry, mining companies and experts say. The diamond was discovered in the same relatively small mine in northeastern Botswana that has produced several of the largest such stones in living memory. Such gemstones typically surface as a result of volcanic activity.... The diamond will likely sell in the range of tens of millions of dollars....”

Click on photo to enlarge.

~~~ Guardian: "On a distant reef 16,000km from Paris, surfer Gabriel Medina has given Olympic viewers one of the most memorable images of the Games yet, with an airborne celebration so well poised it looked too good to be true. The Brazilian took off a thundering wave at Teahupo’o in Tahiti on Monday, emerging from a barrelling section before soaring into the air and appearing to settle on a Pacific cloud, pointing to the sky with biblical serenity, his movements mirrored precisely by his surfboard. The shot was taken by Agence France-Presse photographer Jérôme Brouillet, who said “the conditions were perfect, the waves were taller than we expected”. He took the photo while aboard a boat nearby, capturing the surreal image with such accuracy that at first some suspected Photoshop or AI." 

Washington Post: “'Mary Cassatt at Work' is a large and mostly satisfying exhibition devoted to the career of the great American artist beloved for her sensitive and often sentimental views of family life. The 'at work' in the title of the Philadelphia Museum of Art show references the curators’ interest in Cassatt’s pioneering effort to establish herself as a professional artist within a male-dominated field. Throughout the show, which includes some 130 paintings, pastels, prints and drawings, the wall text and the art on view stresses Cassatt’s fixation on art as a career rather than a pastime.... Mary Cassatt at Work is on view at the Philadelphia Museum of Art through Sept. 8. philamuseum.org”

New York Times: “Bob Newhart, who died on Thursday at the age of 94, has been such a beloved giant of popular culture for so long that it’s easy to forget how unlikely it was that he became one of the founding fathers of stand-up comedy. Before basically inventing the hit stand-up special, with the 1960 Grammy-winning album 'The Button-Down Mind of Bob Newhart' — that doesn’t even count his pay-per-view event broadcast on Canadian television that some cite as the first filmed special — he was a soft-spoken accountant who had never done a set in a nightclub. That he made a classic with so little preparation is one of the great miracles in the history of comedy.... Bob Newhart holds up. In fact, it’s hard to think of a stand-up from that era who is a better argument against the commonplace idea that comedy does not age well.”

Washington Post: “An early Titian masterpiece — once looted by Napolean’s troops and a part of royal collections for centuries — caused a stir when it was stolen from the home of a British marquess in 1995. Seven years later, it was found inside an unassuming white and blue plastic bag at a bus stop in southwest London by an art detective, and returned. This week, the oil painting 'The Rest on the Flight into Egypt' sold for more than $22 million at Christie’s. It was a record for the Renaissance artist, whom museums describe as the greatest painter of 16th-century Venice. Ahead of the sale in April, the auction house billed it as 'the most important work by Titian to come to the auction market in more than a generation.'”

Washington Post: The Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, D.C., which houses the world's largest collection of Shakespeare material, has undergone a major renovation. "The change to the building is pervasive, both subtle and transformational."

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The Commentariat -- June 22

I've added an Open Thread page for today on Off Times Square. Kate Madison & I have posted our comments on Tom Friedman's column. Update: Madison's & my comments have been squelched so far, so this is the place to read them. Update Update: My comment is now on page 2 (#39), but Madison's is nowhere to be found now on page 4 at #100.

"Climate of Denial." In a 7,000-word essay in Rolling Stone, former Vice President & popularly-elected President Al Gore calls out the Charlie Sheen-Donald-Trump-obsessed media & President Obama for failing to give proper attention to climate change. "... President Obama has thus far failed to use the bully pulpit to make the case for bold action on climate change." ...

     ... John Broder of the New York Times writes an overview article on Gore's essay.

Keith Bradsher of the New York Times on China's high-speed rail system which, despite problems, has "very real economic benefits ... and [poses] competitive challenges ... for the United States and Europe."

"Hostilities v. Torture." Adam Serwer has a great post on how the press is hammering Obama for his stupid definition of "hostilities" but largely gave Bush a pass on his tortured definition of "torture." "Indeed, media outlets mostly acquiesced to Bush’s argument — recall the New York Times’ decision to deploy euphemisms for 'torture' because Bush and his supporters had simply redefined the term.... President Obama faces what you might call a 'hack deficit.' ... Unlike with Bush, Obama doesn’t have a large stable of liberal legal scholars and commenters who are willing to pretend they don’t speak English in order to defend his policies."

Helene Cooper of the New York Times: "As Mr. Obama begins trying to untangle the country from its military and civilian promises in Afghanistan, his critics and allies alike are drawing a direct line between what is not being spent to bolster the sagging economy in America to what is being spent in Afghanistan — $120 billion this year alone. On Monday, the United States Conference of Mayors made that connection explicitly, saying that American taxes should be paying for bridges in Baltimore and Kansas City, not in Baghdad and Kandahar."

** Why Wal-Mart Discriminates against Women. Prof. Nelson Lichtenstein, in a New York Times op-ed, writes a fascinating takedown of Wal-Mart's "authoritarian corporate culture" and its history of "managerial bias," which invite, among other ills, discrimination against women.

Binyamin Appelbaum of the New York Times: the Fed, not doing much to help the economy, has no intention to do more. Fed Chair Ben Benanke will answer reporters' questions this afternoon.

Like other misinformed people, I get all my news from "The Daily Show." Seriously, I did not know the details of this story till Jon Stewart brought it to my attention:

... Here's an update from CNN: "Kenneth Melson, acting director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, is expected to resign under pressure, perhaps in the next day or two, in the wake of the controversy over Operation Fast and Furious, two senior federal law enforcement sources said Monday." ...

... AND, oh yeah, why does the ATF have an acting director who does such boneheaded stuff? Because President Obama nominated long-time ATF agent & head of the Chicago ATF office Andrew Traver last November, and the NRA opposes him. The Senate, quavering in their jackboots, has stalled Traver's confirmation. Here's a Washington Post story dated June 20 on how that's going. Obama may appoint Traver as acting director upon Melson's expected resignation. The ATF "has been without a director since 2006."

Greg Sargent: the Democrats lost the deficit argument because they never presented their side. "... Americans only got to hear one side of this argument, so it’s only natural if they agree with it."

Dana Milbank: "I wish [Republican presidential candidate Jon] Huntsman luck in this noble pursuit, but the high road almost always leads to political oblivion. ...

... Stephen Colbert comments on Huntsman's candidacy, but likes Generic Republican better:

... FINALLY, Huntsman figures out how not to get caught telling lies in his announcement speech (as his rival, self-proclaimed "truth-teller" Tiim Pawlenty did) -- don't say anything. Glenn Kessler, the Washington Post's fact-checker, could not find any facts in Huntsman's speech to check.

Right Wing World

Art by Victor Juhasz for Rolling Stone.The Messenger of God. Matt Taibbi of Rolling Stone has a terrific biographical piece on Michele Bachmann, and he has a message, too: don't laugh, because the loonier Bachmann seems and the more the "elite media" dismiss her incredible antics, the more her following of wacky true believers grows. This is a great read. Don't miss it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sen. Bernie Sanders on the Koch Brothers Social Security Liars Club:

In case you've been living on another planet (such as Right Wing World), here's all you need to know about Fox "News":

Million-Dollar Baby. Callista Gingrich sports a Tiffany's necklace.A Million Here. Chris Cillizza of the Washington Post: "Former House speaker Newt Gingrich had a second line of credit at ... Tiffany and Co. for as much as $1 million dollars, his presidential campaign acknowledged Tuesday. Joe DeSantis, a spokesman for Gingrich, said that the candidate’s personal financial disclosure filing, which is due within 30 days of his formal entrance into the presidential race, will 'show that the Gingriches had a $500,000 to $1 million line of credit at Tiffany’s, that it has a zero balance, and it has been closed.'” ...

... A Million There. Shannon McCaffrey of the AP: "Newt Gingrich's top two fundraising advisers resigned on Tuesday, and officials said the Republican candidate's hobbling presidential campaign carried more than $1 million in debt." CW: Too bad he cancelled his Tiffany's line of credit; he could have used it to pay off his debt.

News Ledes

** President Obama will address the nation at 8:00 pm ET. Christian Science Monitor: "President Obama’s Wednesday speech on his promised July drawdown of the 100,000 US troops in Afghanistan is drafted. But on circulating copies, there are still blank spaces where the final troop figures will go." ...

     ... Washington Post: "President Obama will face a stiff political challenge Wednesday in presenting his plan for a gradual end to the U.S. military involvement in Afghanistan. His prime-time address must remind a skeptical electorate and a concerned Congress that the country’s longest war remains worth fighting — and funding — for several more years." ...

     ... New York Times Update: "President Obama plans to announce Wednesday evening that he will order the withdrawal of 10,000 American troops from Afghanistan this year, and another 20,000 troops, the remainder of the 2009 'surge,' by the end of next summer, according to administration officials and diplomats briefed on the decision. These troop reductions are both deeper and faster than the recommendations made by Mr. Obama’s military commanders, and they reflect mounting political and economic pressures at home, as the president faces relentless budget pressures and an increasingly restive Congress and American public." ...

     ... Update: here is the prepared text of President Obama's speech. See video under June 23 Commentariat.

Washington Post: "In a statement..., at the end of a two-day policy session, the Fed acknowledged that the economic recovery has lost momentum. But, as widely expected, it said that it would allow a program of Treasury bond purchases — a move to pump $600 billion into the economy known as quantitative easing — to expire at the end of the month. The agency also said that it would keep interest rates near zero to try to stimulate growth." CW translation: "Tough luck, folks."

New York Times: "Republican leaders in the House of Representatives are moving to address head-on the escalating tensions over President Obama’s authority to continue the military mission in Libya, unveiling two proposals about the conflict late Tuesday that the chamber may vote on as soon as Thursday."

AP: "President Barack Obama has signed executive orders that lay out how far military commanders around the globe can go in using cyberattacks and other computer-based operations against enemies and as part of routine espionage in other countries. The orders detail when the military must seek presidential approval for a specific cyber assault on an enemy and weave cyber capabilities into U.S. war fighting strategy, defense officials and cyber security experts told The Associated Press."

NEW. Bloomberg: "JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM)’s deal to settle a U.S. regulator’s claims that the bank misled buyers of mortgage-linked securities before the housing market collapsed echoed a case brought last year against Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) JPMorgan agreed to pay $153.6 million to end a Securities and Exchange Commission suit. The SEC alleged that the New York- based bank failed to tell investors in 2007 that a hedge fund helped pick, and bet against, underlying securities in the collateralized debt obligation they purchased. In July, Goldman Sachs paid a record $550 million for failing to inform clients in 2007 that it allowed a hedge fund that also bet against housing to help formulate the CDOs." CW: And nobody goes to jail.

Los Angeles Times: "John Bryson, the former Southern California utility executive nominated to be Commerce secretary, promised senators that he would have a 'relentless focus' on job creation as he tried to ease concerns that his environmental views were too liberal. Bryson, 67, faced some tough criticism during his confirmation hearing Tuesday for favorable comments he made in 2009 about legislation to limit carbon emissions. The concerns were largely from Republicans but also came from Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John D. Rockefeller IV (D-W.Va.)." CW: must not have Commerce Secretary who cares about environment. Must not be "too liberal."

New York Times: "The F.B.I. seized Web servers in a raid on a data center early Tuesday, causing several Web sites, including those run by the New York publisher Curbed Network, to go offline. The raid happened at 1:15 a.m. at a hosting facility in Reston, Va., used by DigitalOne, which is based in Switzerland, the company said. The F.B.I. did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the raid.... A government official who declined to be named said earlier in the day that the F.B.I. was actively investigating the Lulz Security group and any affiliated hackers."

Reuters: "Texas executed on Tuesday a man convicted of fatally shooting two people and paralyzing a third near Houston in 1998, despite evidence that he was mentally disabled. Milton Mathis, 32, was sentenced in 1999, before the U.S. Supreme Court ruled it unconstitutional to execute inmates with mental disabilities.... On Tuesday, a final plea to the Supreme Court to hear evidence of his mental disability was denied, and he was executed by lethal injection."

Los Angeles Times: "Speaking at a Soweto church thrust onto the front lines of the fight against apartheid, First Lady Michelle Obama on Wednesday urged young South Africans to conquer hunger and AIDS and to end violence against women. Addressing a crowded Regina Mundi Church, she singled out 76 young women from across Africa who were here for a U.S.-sponsored leadership forum. A White House official put the crowd count at 2,000." See video above.

Our Friends in Bahrain. AP: "A security court sentenced eight Shiite activists to life in prison Wednesday and issued long jail terms for 13 others in the latest blow by authorities waging a crackdown against protesters seeking greater rights in the Gulf kingdom.... The Ireland-based rights group Front Line condemned the verdicts and the use of military prosecutors." CW: no word from our State Department, I guess. See my comment on MoDo today.

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