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 -- June 27, 2016

Early/Afternoon Update:

Art by MAG. Nasty mouths by the usual suspects.

... Maybe they're so mad because .... Fredreka Schouten & Christopher Schnaars of USA Today: "Thousands of wealthy donors who helped fuel Republicans' presidential ambitions in the last two election cycles have not donated to Donald Trump's campaign or to other committees supporting his bid, underscoring the challenge the real-estate magnate faces in securing the hundreds of millions he needs to finance his general-election campaign." ...

     ... CW: This appears to me to be a place where Hillary has a real advantage over Bernie. Establishment Republicans are not afraid of President Hillary MOR Clinton; they might be digging deep if the alternative was President Bernie Socialist Sanders.

The good thing is, we have a candidate who doesn't need to figure out what's going on in order to say what he wants to do. -- Trump campaign chair Paul Manafort, Sunday on "Meet the Press"

Tim Mak of the Daily Beast: "After releasing fundraising reports that were anemic at best, Donald Trump's campaign announced in one single email blast he had raised at least $3.3 million. If that figure seems impossible, that's because it is.... Digital marketing experts are viewing Trump's current claims with deep skepticism." -- CW

Alex Isenstadt of Politico: "A slot at the Republican National Convention used to be a career-maker.... In the year of Trump: Not so much.... Politico contacted more than 50 prominent governors, senators and House members to gauge their interest in speaking. Only a few said they were open to it, and everyone else said they weren't planning on it, didn't want to, or weren't going to Cleveland at all -- or simply didn't respond." -- CW

** Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "The Supreme Court on Monday struck down parts of a restrictive Texas law that could have reduced the number of abortion clinics in the state to about 10 from what was once a high of roughly 40. The 5-to-3 decision was the court's most sweeping statement on abortion rights since Planned Parenthood v. Casey in 1992. It applied a skeptical and exacting version of that decision's 'undue burden' standard to find that the restrictions in Texas must fall. Monday's decision means that similar restrictions in other states are most likely also unconstitutional, and it imperils many other kinds of restrictions. Justice Stephen G. Breyer wrote the majority opinion, joined by Justices Anthony M. Kennedy, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan. Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. and Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel A. Alito Jr. dissented." -- CW ...

... Tara Culp-Ressler of Think Progress: "The high court reversed two major provisions in Texas' law -- first, a requirement that abortion doctors obtain 'admitting privileges' from local hospitals; second, a requirement that abortion clinics bring their standards in line with 'ambulatory surgical centers' -- siding with the plaintiffs' argument that these policies do nothing to improve patient health and safety. In the majority opinion, Justice Stephen Breyer wrote that these 'unnecessary health regulations' ultimately pose an 'undue burden' on women's right to abortion.... Monday's decision doesn't mean that those state laws will automatically be rolled back.... But it is clear that TRAP laws are now on much, much shakier ground than they were before the high court waded into this issue." -- CW ...

... Kevin Drum: "This means that probably the most important thing we've learned today is just how far Kennedy can be pushed. He's voted in favor of several abortion restrictions over the past decade, but this one went too far. In practical terms, that means abortion opponents have tested the limits of what they can get away with, and the Texas law represents the outer boundary." -- CW

Robert Barnes of the Washington Post: "The Supreme Court on Monday unanimously overturned former Virginia governor Robert F. McDonnell's public corruption conviction, and made it harder to prosecute public officials for alleged wrongdoing. The court said it had no opinion on whether McDonnell should be retried under the stricter standards the decision imposes, but Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. described the former governor's actions as 'tawdry' in announcing the decision from the bench." CW: So we know what about Bob. But what about Maureen? I'm not sure what this means for Maureen McDonnell, who also was convicted & sentenced to jail. ...

... Rick Hasen: "The Supreme Court's unanimous ruling throwing out the conviction of Gov. McDonnell (while leaving open the possibility of a retrial on a narrower theory of the case) is sensible and courageous, and shows the continuing important influence of Justice Scalia in this area of the law. It is hard to write an opinion letting off the hook someone whose actions were as odious as Gov. McDonnell.... But it was the right thing to do. In an earlier case, Sun-Diamond, Justice Scalia wrote a majority opinion (involving the conviction of Agriculture Secretary Mike Espy on illegal gratuity charges) in which Justice Scalia warned about the criminalization of ordinary politics." -- CW

AP Brief: "The Supreme Court is upholding the broad reach of a federal law that bans people convicted of domestic violence from owning guns. The justices on Monday rejected arguments that the law covers only intentional acts of abuse and not those committed in the heat of an argument." -- CW

The Guardian is liveblogging developments relating to Brexit. At 11:45 am ET, PM Cameron is speaking before the Parliament. He says he's not planning a Brexit vote redux. -- CW ...

... Simon Denyer & Renae Merle of the Washington Post: "U.S. and European stock markets stumbled again Monday as investors digested the implications of Britain's historic vote to leave the European Union." -- CW ...

... Hortense Goulard of Politico: "Brussels should avoid the temptation to embrace 'revengeful premises' after British voters chose to leave the European Union in last week's referendum, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said Monday. EU leaders need to ensure that during the exit negotiation with the U.K., 'nobody loses their head, nobody goes off half-cocked, people don't start ginning up scattered-brained or revengeful premises,' Kerry said, after a meeting with European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and High Representative for Foreign Affairs Federica Mogherini in Brussels." -- CW ...

*****

... Steve Erlanger of the New York Times: "Britain's political crisis intensified on Sunday after its decision to leave the European Union, with the opposition Labour Party splitting into warring camps, Scotland's leader suggesting that its local Parliament might try to block the departure and many Britons wondering if there was a plausible way for the nation to reconsider its drastic choice." -- CW ...

... Dan Balz, et al., of the Washington Post: "The political fallout from Britain's stunning decision to leave the European Union sharply escalated Sunday, with debate growing inside the governing Conservative Party over choosing a successor to Prime Minister David Cameron and a coup attempt emerging against the leader of the opposition Labour Party.... The turmoil here underscored the degree to which the decision to break with Europe -- an action seen widely here as the most significant event in the postwar history of Britain has left the country politically divided, deeply unsettled and in uncharted territory on multiple fronts." -- CW ...

... Rick Noack of the Washington Post: "Tilbury [-- a southeastern port town --] is one of England's poorest places -- and one of its most Euroskeptic. More than 72 percent of voters here and in surrounding Thurrock voted for Britain to leave the European Union in Thursday's referendum. Few places voted more decisively. But by Sunday, the initial excitement among some pro-Brexit voters had already started to disappear, making room for worries about what's next for an increasingly divided Britain. Some in this town of 12,000 have also begun to wonder whether they had been misled by politicians advocating to leave the E.U...." -- CW ...

... Max Bearak of the Washington Post: "... one of the biggest reasons for regret may end up being that promises made to 'leave' voters by leading Brexit proponents are being walked back by those very leaders. On talk shows over the weekend, three of them in particular were confronted by flabbergasted hosts over their playing down of integral elements of the Brexit campaign." -- CW ...

... Max Bearak: "After Thursday's referendum on a 'Brexit,' a wave of racist incidents have been reported to British police and documented in widely shared social media posts. Through the weekend, #Postrefracism has been trending, and its contents provide a disheartening view of how Britain's vote to leave the European Union may be emboldening those who harbor virulent racist sentiments." -- CW ...

... Max Bearak: "Sometimes, amid the I-told-you-so editorials and breathless think pieces that follow a major political event, the best take is actually in the comments section. Such is the case with a comment left by a user of the Guardian's website under the name Teebs (as shown above), written in the aftermath of Britain's Thursday vote to exit the European Union. The commenter has left many around the world, especially anxious 'remain' voters, hopeful...." The comment is reproduced in full at the top of the story. CW: I think you'll enjoy reading it. ...

... Gabriel Roth of Slate, in a pithy post on the British character(s) & how this all led to Brexit: "... for another term as prime minister, [David Cameron] gambled with his country's future, and with the future of Europe -- with the whole historic struggle to transcend nationalism and ethnic grievance. As it happens, he lost." -- CW ...

... E.J. Dionne: "History is unlikely to be kind to British Prime Minister David Cameron.... [He] called [last week's election] to solve a short-term political problem and get through an election. His Conservative Party was split on Europe and feared hemorrhaging votes to the right-wing, anti-Europe, anti-immigrant U.K. Independence Party.... He turned a normal electoral challenge into a profound crisis.... The devastating complaint of Martin Schulz, the president of the European Parliament: 'A whole continent is taken hostage because of an internal fight in the Tory party.'... Across Europe and in the United States, politicians can either respond to these cries of protest or face something worse than Brexit." -- CW ...

... Emily Badger of the Washington Post on why the types of decisions normally made by legislatures should not be left to popular votes. -- CW ...

... Alison Smale, et al., of the New York Times: "As Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany, President François Hollande of France and Prime Minister Matteo Renzi of Italy meet on Monday in Berlin, and again with the heads of all 28 European Union members in Brussels on Tuesday and Wednesday, they will have to decide whether to continue pressing for immediate negotiations on the terms of Britain's withdrawal or to let passions cool in the hopes that some kind of deal might be worked out to keep Britain in the bloc." -- CW ...

... Damian Carrington of the New Republic on the many ways Brexit will be bad for the environment. It seems the EU forced Great Britain to clean up a lot of its polluting ways. -- CW

Obama Has Had Enough of Trey Gowdy. Rachel Bade of Politico: The White House and the House Select Committee on Benghazi are at a standoff over whether President Barack Obama should answer a series of questions about the 2012 terrorist attack in Libya that left four Americans dead. Neil Eggleston, counsel to the president, blasted the committee for sending the president a list of questions about the attack -- an inquiry the administration deemed inappropriate and a partisan attempt to frame the White House as uncooperative." -- CW

When the Cure Is Worse than the Disease. Matthew Goldstein, et al., of the New York Times: After the banking system failed homeowners to the extent it triggered a global recession in 2008, private equity firms stepped in, "promising to do better. But some of these new investors are repeating the mistakes that banks committed throughout the housing crisis.... Private equity firms, and the mortgage companies they own, face less oversight than the banks." Also, unlike banks, they are under no obligation to lend to poorer communities. And they're crooks: "If foreclosing on a homeowner is the most profitable option, Lone Star [one of the private equity entities] is likely to foreclose." ...

     ... CW: We can thank that little shit Tim Geithner for getting homeowners into this mess: "The Obama administration supported private investment in foreclosed homes, with Timothy F. Geithner, then the Treasury secretary, remarking in 2011 that it would 'support neighborhood and home price stability.'" There's a real danger Hillary Clinton will put Geithner-like boneheads in key administration posts.

A Healthcare Plan for the Rich, the Young & the Healthy. Washington Post Editors: "House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) ... released an Obamacare alternative that is less detailed in a variety of crucial ways than previous conservative health reform proposals. The outlines that the speaker did provide suggest that it would be hard on the poor, old and sick." -- CW

Alicia Parlapiano of the New York Times: According to analyses, the eight-member Supreme Court has leaned left in its decisions. -- CW

Mark Mazzetti & Ali Younes of the New York Times: "Weapons shipped into Jordan by the Central Intelligence Agency and Saudi Arabia intended for Syrian rebels have been systematically stolen by Jordanian intelligence operatives and sold to arms merchants on the black market, according to American and Jordanian officials.Some of the stolen weapons were used in a shooting in November that killed two Americans and three others at a police training facility in Amman, F.B.I. officials believe.... The existence of the weapons theft, which ended only months ago after complaints by the American and Saudi governments, is being reported for the first time after a joint investigation by The New York Times and Al Jazeera." -- CW

Verena Dobnik & Jennifer Peltz of the AP: "Rainbow flags were held high along with portraits of the dead as thousands of people marched Sunday in gay pride parades tempered by this month's massacre at a Florida gay nightclub. Crowds of onlookers stood a dozen deep along Fifth Avenue for New York City's parade. Some spectators held up orange 'We are Orlando' signs, and indications of increased security were everywhere, with armed officers standing by." -- CW ...

... Jennifer Epstein of Bloomberg: "Hillary Clinton ... on Sunday marched the final few blocks of New York's annual gay pride parade through throngs of cheering supporters packed along iconic Christopher Street. 'Hillary! Hillary!' crowds chanted as she walked slowly to shake hands and pose for photos, flanked by New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio. An entourage of dozens, including other elected officials, campaign aides and Secret Service agents, surrounded her...." -- CW

Presidential Race

Jill LePore of the New Yorker offers a fine, short history of how U.S presidential candidates have been selected. -- CW

Our Very Occasional Poll Report. Jeremy Peters of the New York Times: "Weeks of provocative and outlandish behavior have hurt Donald J. Trump's standing in two new national polls of registered voters, which showed the presumptive Republican presidential nominee falling further behind Hillary Clinton. A Washington Post-ABC News survey had Mrs. Clinton with a double-digit lead: 51 percent to 39 percent. A Wall Street Journal-NBC News poll had Mrs. Clinton with a smaller advantage of five percentage points." -- CW ...

... James Downie of the Washington Post: "Just about everything that could have gone right for [Hillary] Clinton in the past month has.... Sixty-four percent call Trump 'not qualified' for the presidency, up six points from May.... Only 77 percent of Republicans now support Trump, down eight points from a month ago.... In other good news for Clinton, Sanders voters are already coming around to supporting her.... Finally, Trump will have to deal with a newly popular president on the campaign trail.... Hillary Clinton hasn't even had to go out of her way to hurt Trump. He has already self-destructed." -- CW ...

... Elena Schneider of Politico: "Sen. Mitch McConnell hedged on whether he considers Donald Trump as qualified for the job, saying he would 'leave that to the American people to decide.'... McConnell added that he doesn't believe Trump can win the presidency with so little money in the bank. According to recent filings, Trump has $1.3 million in cash on hand to Clinton's $42.5 million." -- CW

Jeremy Peters: "The Trump campaign and the Republican National Committee are moving quickly and aggressively to head off the fledgling effort to stage a revolt at their convention next month in Cleveland, hoping to spare the party an embarrassing spectacle that could deeply wound the presumptive nominee. They are employing hard-nosed tactics, warning delegates that attempting to undermine Donald J. Trump's claim to the nomination violates party rules, and threatening to deny speaking slots to Republicans they deem disloyal.... 'If there's no endorsement, then I would not invite them to speak,' Mr. Trump said in an interview, adding that former rivals like Senator Ted Cruz of Texas and Gov. John Kasich of Ohio should not expect to address the convention if they continue to withhold their support." -- CW ...

... MEANWHILE. Kyle Cheney of Politico: "Anti-Trump forces will be sending an 'advance team' to Cleveland this week to begin preparing their effort to strip the Republican presidential nomination from Donald Trump." -- CW

Andrew Kaczynski of BuzzFeed: "Donald Trump reacted to the news that former Bush administration Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson has endorsed Hillary Clinton with a familiar retort. 'Don't know anything about him,' Trump told reporters in Scotland, where he is visiting his golf properties in an overseas trip. Convenient memory lapses are a common dodge for Trump over the years. When confronted with unpleasant remarks made by prominent people, Trump often says he has never heard of such person (despite usually having commented them directly in the past by name).... In the case of Paulson..., [Trump] actively praised him at length in an appearance on CNN in October 2008." -- CW ...

Trump Forgets He Has the World's Greatest Memory. Seth Millstein of Bustle: "... Donald Trump claimed in December to have 'the world's greatest memory.' But according to newly released documents, Trump doesn't remember saying that.... This claim came up again weeks later when Trump testifying in the Trump University lawsuit.... In a deposition..., [when] Trump claimed he couldn't remember certain aspects of the case ... the plaintiff's attorney [said.] 'You've stated, though, that you have one of the best memories in the world.'... Trump eventually admitted that 'I don't remember saying that.'" Includes excerpt of deposition transcript. -- CW

"Jan Brewer Goes Berserk on CNN." David Edwards of the Raw Story: "During an explosive CNN segment on Sunday, former Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer (R) lashed out at President Barack Obama because she said she was tired of being called a 'bigot' for supporting ... Donald Trump. At a fundraiser for Gov. Jay Inslee (D-WA) on Friday, Obama took a shot at Trump. 'We don't have time for charlatans and we don't have time for hatred and we don't have time for bigotry and we don't have time for film-flam,' the president said.... The comments appeared to hit a nerve with Brewer when she was asked about them during a panel segment on CNN." Includes video. -- CW

Daniel Strauss of Politico: "Sen. Bernie Sanders' national press secretary has decided to leave the campaign, she confirmed on Sunday night. Symone D. Sanders (no relation to the senator) said she was departing the campaign amicably." -- CW

Beyond the Beltway

Jazmine Ulloa, et al., of the Los Angeles Times: "Seven people were stabbed, with some injured critically, during clashes between rallying neo-Nazis and counter-protesters Sunday at the state Capitol, authorities said.... The Traditionalist Worker Party had a permit to hold a rally at noon.... Hours before the scheduled rally, more than 400 counter-protesters began showing up.... Around 11:45 a.m., when word spread that about 30 people showed up for the rally, the counter-protesters swarmed towards them and a brawl immediately broke out, [George] Granada [of the California Highway Patrol] said. 'I don't think there was any verbal exchange, just full on fight,' he said.... No arrests have been made. The Capitol was placed on lockdown...." -- CW

Jessica Contrera of the Washington Post: "Tyriece Travon Watson, better known as [rapper] Lor Scoota, had just finished hosting a charity basketball game. The fliers advertising the event had said, 'Pray for peace in these streets.'... Lor Scoota was about a mile away from the arena when he was shot and killed.... Homicide detectives are investigating the shooting as a targeted attack." -- CW

Desiree Stennett of the Orlando Sentinel: "Sanford[, Florida] Mayor Jeff Triplett was standing outside a friend's home ... Saturday when he was forced to the ground by 18-year-old Jermine Horne and a 17-year-old accomplice, who then threatened to kill him.... Police say Horne and the 17-year-old were both armed. The duo is accused of stealing the mayor's wallet.... The suspects are also accused of stealing the keys to Triplett's 2012 Mercedes-Benz ML350 and using the vehicle as a getaway car.... [The] two suspects ... have been arrested.... [A] third suspect escaped." -- CW

Laurie Goodstein of the New York Times: "In the beginning, Ken Ham made the Creation Museum in northern Kentucky. And he saw that it was good at spreading his belief that the Bible is a book of history, the universe is only 6,000 years old, and evolution is wrong and is leading to our moral downfall. And Mr. Ham said, let us build a gargantuan Noah’s ark only 45 minutes away to draw millions more visitors. And let it be constructed by Amish woodworkers, and financed with donations, junk bonds and tax rebates from the state of Kentucky. And let it hold an animatronic Noah and lifelike models of some of the creatures that came on board two-by-two, such as bears, short-necked giraffes -- and juvenile Tyrannosaurus rexes." -- CW

Way Beyond

Steven Mufson of the Washington Post: "A mammoth [Chinese] ship bearing 9,472 containers ... began the first official voyage through the new expanded Panama Canal, a $5.25 billion project designed to modernize a 102-year-old landmark of human ambition, determination and engineering prowess.... Officials say the larger locks and new lane will double the waterway's cargo capacity.... The Boston Consulting Group and C.H. Robinson, a transportation logistics company, estimated last year that as much as 10 percent of the container traffic from East Asia to the United States could shift to East Coast ports instead of landing on the West Coast and finishing the journey by truck or rail." -- CW

Sinan Salaheddin & Susannah George of the AP: "Five weeks after a military operation began, a senior Iraqi commander declared Sunday that the city of Fallujah was 'fully liberated' from the Islamic State group, giving a major boost to the country's security and political leadership in its fight against the extremists. Recapturing Fallujah, the first city to fall to the Islamic State group more than two years ago, means that authorities can now set their sights on militant-held Mosul, Iraq's second-largest city." -- CW

AP: "Dozens of activists assembled on Istanbul's main pedestrian street to publicly read a statement marking the end of the gay, lesbian and transgender pride week and to denounce the ban. Several of them were detained however, before they could speak. Turkish police later used tear gas and rubber pellets to chase activists from side streets." -- CW

Nicole Winfield of the AP: "Pope Francis says gays -- and all the other people the church has marginalized..., -- deserve an apology.... 'I think the church must not only apologize ... to a gay person it offended, but we must apologize to the poor, to women who have been exploited, to children forced into labor, apologize for having blessed so many weapons' and for having failed to accompany families who faced divorces or experienced other problems." -- CW

Comments Off

Reader Comments (8)

EASY TARGETS: Taken in by the Trump brand are the voices by people who have been snookered. But digest the last sentence of this piece whose message corresponds to those that cling on to the belief that there is a positive in the negative.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/26/us/politics/cambridge-whos-who-trump-brand.html?emc=eta1

As there are for people across England's fair land that voted to leave and are now wondering what all that meant––really––"what exactly is the EU?" asked one voter and another who asked, " I didn't realize the negative ramifications."

Years ago when I was rattling on about Bush and his henchmen, my listener, a female of certain questionable intelligence, said: "Oh, I don't pay any attention to politics." But you vote? I asked. "of course." she replied.

June 27, 2016 | Unregistered CommenterPD Pepe

I would say that my faith in the Supreme Court is reassured, but the fact that three of them think that the Texas abortion law was constitutional is scary.

June 27, 2016 | Unregistered CommenterCakers

PD,

Reminds me of an irate commenter to a story a few years back about the problem of potholes in her city. She was irate at the idea that her tax dollars were being used to fill the holes. "Why doesn't government pay for that?" she demanded.

And I'm sure she never misses a chance to vote.

June 27, 2016 | Unregistered CommenterAkhilleus

Cakers,

If Scalia were still around, it would have been four. In case anyone is wondering, the reference is to this morning's stunning SCOTUS decision to nix a Texas law designed to effectively end a legal medical procedure its supporters disagree with.

"In a dramatic ruling, the Supreme Court on Monday threw out a Texas abortion access law in a victory to supporters of abortion rights who argued it would have shuttered all but a handful of clinics in the state. The 5-3 ruling is the most significant decision from the Supreme Court on abortion in two decades and could serve to deter other states from passing so-called 'clinic shutdown' laws."

Closing these clinics would also have deprived women of access to any and all additional healthcare, something clearly not of interest to the law's creators and supporters.

In a democracy, if people don't like a law, they should get it changed. But since Republicans are unable to get this particular law changed, they find other ways of depriving citizens of their rights.

Clarence Thomas, weirdly but predictably, ripped off a dissent in which he declares that upholding a constitutionally protected right somehow "erodes" the Constitution.

June 27, 2016 | Unregistered CommenterAkhilleus

Find it interesting that the Canada-EU free trade agreement has been mentioned in UK Parliament in light of the Article 50 plus 24 months timeframe facing them. Negotiations between Canada and the EU commenced in May 2006 and concluded in October 2014, 101 months. Of course the incentives are higher today but it raises questions about the quality to be expected of a Brexit agreement.

June 27, 2016 | Unregistered CommenterCowichan's Opinion

Interesting but also predictable, as well as pathetic, is all the walking back, bordering on out and out retractions, of the promises and assurances made by big-mouth leaders of the Brexit movement.

Oh yeah, we said that, but, er, we didn't really mean it quite that way.

Oh, okay. So basically, you lied to get your way.

Several lessons here for Americans. First, it's incumbent on the adults in a society to step up and make the case for rationality as opposed to accommodating fear mongering, lying, and obfuscation of the facts. Allowing bullies with bullhorns to shout down reason is not acceptable (although it happens).

There appears to be lots of blame to go around in Britain, with David Cameron up front, as well as the right-wing media moguls who pushed the bigotry buttons faster than kids playing a video game in the run up to the referendum.

But America is not far behind. For too long in this country we have allowed idiots to have their way, largely unchallenged. Granted, gerrymandering almost guarantees the return of dangerous simpletons like Louie Gohmert, as well as cynical manipulators like Paul Ryan, but simply throwing up one's hands is no answer. Finally, Democrats (see last week's gun control sit-in) have grown some balls and have decided to face down the bought and paid for cowards in the House. More of that, please. Lot's more.

But the biggest lesson is what happens at the voting booth. And that is, if you don't show up, the other side, no matter how silly, stupid, or stupendously moronic, will win. Reports are that a much larger group of Brexit supporters showed up to vote than those who nominally supported remaining in the EU, especially younger voters. Had they shown up, rationality would have prevailed.

If you don't vote, you can't complain when crazy shit happens.

Yesterday I read a piece in the WaPo stating that Trump supporters are primed to show up in droves, but there is no way of predicting whether Clinton will get the necessary support she needs. In past years, many registered voters, especially younger ones, have made the nihilistic declaration that it doesn't matter if one votes or not, they (the candidates) are all the same.

Well, they're not. Actually, they rarely are. But this year, they most definitely are not. And any Sanders hold outs who stay home because they're miffed at Clinton will be voting, by their absence, for a know-nothing narcissist; a lamebrain peacock with the morals of a rock and an indifference to facts and real world concerns that make Dubya look like FDR.

So we can learn from the Brexit disaster, or we can all learn to live in Trump World. Because if you think the Brexit leaders are climbing over each other to retract all the big shot promises they made, wait until you see Trump walk back all the make America great bullshit. It'll look like a movie reel running in reverse, until the film gets caught in the projector gate and catches on fire.

June 27, 2016 | Unregistered CommenterAkhilleus

Interesting to see that the Teebs comment on Brexit linked in the articles today made the Washington Post. Certainly a well thought out comment from someone connected to the process. Hopefully there is a handle in there.

June 27, 2016 | Unregistered CommenterBobbyLee

Teebs comment was thoughtful, but I didn't agree with it at all. Apart from the points I made in an earlier comment on the referendum, I can't agree with Teeb's main point of ignoring the result. This would be such a slap in the face for democracy, and would justifiably enrage the Leavers as another example of their voices being silenced, and their rights being denied. I believe that they deserve to heard on the problems of globalisation and automation that have been ignored for a generation by politicians and businesses only touting the benefits, and scooping up a disproportionate share of the profits. I have long thought that we are not globalised enough, and that is the cause of many of the detrimental effects of open economies. Globalisation and automation are going to happen whether we like it, want it, are ready for it, or not. It started when the first amoeba crawled out of the slime six thousand years ago, and it's going to continue. We need to be more globalised in our approach to labour and environmental issues, taxation, product health and safety regulations, criminal law, and much more. The benefits of both open economies and automation have accrued to far too few, and the disadvantages to way too many. If governments and voters removed heads from sand, planning for the changes that are coming, ready or not, could spread the benefits and ameliorate the drawbacks.
People don't want to be part of inefficient, corrupt, obfuscatory bureaucracies, neither government nor business. The cure is not to shut down the people, but to open up the bureaucracies.

June 27, 2016 | Unregistered CommenterGloria
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