The Ledes

Wednesday, October 9, 2024

The Washington Post's live updates of Hurricane Milton developments are here: “Hurricane Milton, which has strengthened to a 'catastrophic' Category 5 storm, is closing in on Florida’s west coast and is expected to make landfall Wednesday night or early Thursday, the National Hurricane Center said. The hurricane, which could bring maximum sustained winds of nearly 160 mph with bigger gusts, poses a dire threat to the densely populated zone that includes Tampa, Sarasota and Fort Myers. As well as 'damaging hurricane-force winds,' coastal communities face a “life-threatening” storm surge, the center said.” ~~~

     ~~~ The New York Times' live updates are here.

Washington Post: “The Nobel Prize in chemistry was awarded to David Baker at the University of Washington and Demis Hassabis and John M. Jumper of Google DeepMind.... The prize was awarded to scientists who cracked the code of proteins. Hassabis and Jumper used artificial intelligence to predict the structure of proteins, one of the toughest problems in biology. Baker created computational tools to design novel proteins with shapes and functions that can be used in drugs, vaccines and sensors.”

Sorry, forgot this yesterday: ~~~

Reuters: “U.S. scientist John Hopfield and British-Canadian Geoffrey Hinton won the 2024 Nobel Prize in Physics on Tuesday for discoveries and inventions in machine learning that paved the way for the artificial intelligence boom. Heralded for its revolutionary potential in areas ranging from cutting-edge scientific discovery to more efficient admin, the emerging technology on which the duo worked has also raised fears humankind may soon be outsmarted and outcompeted by its own creation.”

The Wires
powered by Surfing Waves
The Ledes

Tuesday, October 8, 2024

The New York Times is live-updating developments Tuesday as powerful Hurricane Milton moves through the Gulf of Mexico toward Central Florida.

New York Times: “Cissy Houston, a Grammy Award-winning soul and gospel star who helped shepherd her daughter Whitney Houston to superstardom, died on Monday at her home in Newark. She was 91.”

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, then Akhilleus found one, but it too bit the dust. He found yet another, which I've linked here, and as of September 23, 2024, it's working.

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.

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.”

Contact Marie

Click on this link to e-mail Marie.

Page Links
Saturday
Mar132021

The Commentariat -- March 13, 2021

Late Morning Update:

The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Saturday are here.

I hope everyone remembers when they're getting the COVID-19 (often referred to as the China Virus) Vaccine, that if I wasn't President, you wouldn't be getting that beautiful 'shot' for 5 years, at best, and probably wouldn't be getting it at all. I hope everyone remembers! -- Donald Trump, in a racist statement released Wednesday ~~~

~~~ Conservative Kathleen Parker of the Washington Post has the correct response. Thanks to Ken. W. for the link. Also too, in today's Comments, Akhilleus gets it so right. Marie: I used to compare Trump to Nero's fiddling while Rome burned, but as Akhilleus's analogy makes clear, Trump is way worse than Nero.

Kyle Cheney of Politico: "A U.S. Army reservist who participated in the Jan. 6 Capitol riot was widely known as a white supremacist and regularly discussed his hatred of Jews while working at a New Jersey-based naval facility, according to new evidence revealed by federal prosecutors late Friday. The reservist, Timothy Hale-Cusanelli, who worked as a security contractor at Naval Weapons Station Earle and held a secret-level security clearance, was arrested and charged Jan. 15 for allegedly breaching the Capitol. At the time, prosecutors described him as an 'avowed white supremacist' and Nazi sympathizer, a determination based in part on evidence provided by a confidential source to the Naval Criminal Investigative Service and a YouTube channel in which Hale-Cusanelli expressed those views." MB: Or, as Sen. Ron Johnson would put it, a patriot "that loved this country."

S.V. Date of the Huffington Post: "A dog rescue charity with links to Lara Trump has spent as much as $1.9 million at ... Donald Trump's properties over the last seven years and will drop an additional quarter-million at his Mar-a-Lago country club this weekend. According to a permit filed with the town of Palm Beach, Florida, Big Dog Ranch Rescue estimates it will spend $225,000 at the club where Donald Trump has taken up full-time residence since leaving the White House. All the profit from that spending winds up in his pocket. Internal Revenue Service filings show that the group has spent as much as $1,883,160 on fundraising costs at Mar-a-Lago and Trump's golf course 18 miles north in Jupiter starting in 2014. Lara Trump, the wife of Eric Trump, started being listed as a chairwoman for charity events in 2018, and the group's president, Lauren Simmons, visited the White House in 2019 for the signing of a bill addressing animal cruelty."

New York. Tal Axelrod of the Hill: "A former Albany reporter on Friday became the seventh woman to accuse Andrew Cuomo (D) of sexual harassment, adding to a growing pile of allegations against the embattled New York governor. Jessica Bakeman, who worked as a statehouse reporter, detailed a number of instances in New York Magazine in which she says Cuomo harassed her. Bakeman prefaced her accounts by saying that Cuomo had put his hands 'on my arms, my shoulders, the small of my back, my waist' throughout her time as a reporter in the capital.... She [said] that she did not believe Cuomo was interested in her sexually but was asserting his power as governor." MB: Read the accounts Axelrod repeats & you're apt to agree with Bakeman's assessment.

West Virginia. Ken Ward of the Mountain State Spotlight, published by ProPublica: "The federal government is seeking to collect nearly $3.2 million in fines from coal companies owned by West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice after the firms violated the terms of a major water pollution settlement, according to documents filed Thursday in federal court. U.S. Department of Justice attorneys said in their filing that Southern Coal Corp. and two related companies failed to renew required water pollution permits, leading to unauthorized discharges at three mining sites in Tennessee and one in Alabama. Those permits are required so regulators can limit the runoff of everything from mud to toxic metals from coal operations. The companies' actions triggered fines under the terms of a 2016 settlement with the Environmental Protection Agency.... Justice, a billionaire listed by Forbes as the richest person in the state, owns a vast empire of businesses, including coal mines, resort hotels and agricultural interests, many of them regulated by the state agencies that report to him. While Justice's adult children have day-to-day control over the family's business operations, the governor has continued to guide the empire." Justice was a Democrat. In 2017, he became a Republican. MB: I'm sure that has nothing to do with how mean the EPA is under Democratic presidents.

~~~~~~~~~~

Chloee Weiner & Brandon Carter of NPR: "President Biden and Vice President Harris spoke at the White House Rose Garden Friday afternoon in a ceremony celebrating the passage of the administration's $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package earlier this week. The joint event with congressional Democratic leaders marks the start of a concerted push by the White House to promote the American Rescue Plan around the country.... House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Majority Leader Chuck Schumer attended, alongside a number of Democratic House and Senate committee chairs."

Morgan Chalfant & Brett Samuels of the Hill: "The White House is mounting an all-out push to sell President Biden's newly signed coronavirus relief bill to the public, starting with trips to multiple states in the coming week.... Administration officials say Democrats fell short during the Obama era of selling the 2009 economic recovery bill.... The trips across the country -- many of them targeting swing states -- are the center point of the White House's campaign to highlight the tangible deliverables of the American Rescue Plan Act, including the $1,400 direct payments going to the majority of Americans and funding for vaccine distribution and school reopenings.

Peter Alexander: Biden Should Give Trump More Credit. Tommy Christopher of Mediaite: "NBC News White House correspondent Peter Alexander took the initiative to compose a statement that President Joe Biden could use in order to give ... Donald Trump some credit for the success of the vaccination program that's currently underway. Several news outlets, including ABC News and The New York Times, criticized President Biden's address to the nation on the anniversary of the Covid pandemic shutdown for failing to credit Trump. At Friday's White House daily briefing, Alexander asked Press Secretary Jen Psaki about that aspect of the speech, and went a step further by reading his own version of what Biden could have said to credit Trump." MB: Yeesh!

Anne Gearan of the Washington Post: "The United States, India, Japan and Australia pledged Friday to jointly manufacture and distribute up to 1 billion doses of coronavirus vaccine before the end of next year, as the Biden administration comes under increased pressure to provide more vaccine help to poorer nations. The vaccine would be supplied to Southeast Asian nations and potentially elsewhere as act of charity that represents a workaround for President Biden, who has said he cannot yet divert any U.S. supply despite a projected surplus, given that many Americans are still urgently awaiting their immunizations."

Maria Sacchetti of the Washington Post: "The coronavirus has been running rampant for months through Immigration and Customs Enforcement's network of jails holding civil immigration detainees fighting deportation -- but the agency has no vaccination program and, unlike the Bureau of Prisons, is relying on state and local health departments to procure vaccine doses. Nobody can say how many detainees have been vaccinated. The Biden administration says it wants to make every adult in the United States eligible for vaccination by May -- and immigration agents have said they would not interfere with efforts to vaccinate undocumented immigrants outside of detention. But lawyers for immigrants who are detained say there is no urgency to vaccinate those in federal custody against a deadly pathogen that can spread fast in confined spaces."

California. Capitalism Is Awesome, Ctd., When the Boss Is a Careless Tyrant. Faiz Siddiqui of the Washington Post: "Tesla's Bay Area production plant recorded hundreds of covid-19 cases following CEO Elon Musk's defiant reopening of the plant in May, according to county-level data obtained by a legal transparency website.... The data, covering the months between May and December, showed there were around 450 total reported cases. Roughly 10,000 people work at the plant.... Musk fought vigorously against the county-mandated shutdown, arguing Tesla should be allowed to continue producing cars despite the stay-at-home orders. In late April, he railed against the government mandates, hurling expletives during an earnings call and calling them 'fascist.' By May 11, he said Tesla was reopening, ultimately drawing support from anti-shutdown crowds and ... Donald Trump."

Texas. Wes Wilson of KXAN Austin: "A Texas District Court judge refused to grant the State of Texas an emergency, temporary injunction on Friday, meaning the mask mandate from Austin and Travis County will stay in place for at least two more weeks.... Judge Lora Livingston said she wanted more time for each side to make their case. She set another hearing for March 26. But this means Austin and Travis County will be able to enforce its mask mandate through spring break, which starts this weekend."


Spencer Hsu of the Washington Post: "U.S. prosecutors on Friday sketched out the gargantuan scope of the investigation in the Jan. 6 Capitol breach, asking for courts to delay most cases by at least two months after being pressed by a handful of defendants and some judges to speed up trials and plea offers. 'The investigation and prosecution of the Capitol Attack will likely be one of the largest in American history, both in terms of the number of defendants prosecuted and the nature and volume of the evidence,' the U.S. attorney's office in D.C. wrote in morning court filings in seeking a delay before turning over evidence to defendants.... Charges have been brought against 312 people and are expected against at least 100 more, according to court officials and prosecutors." NPR's story is here.

Ryan Reilly of the Huffington Post: "A New York man arrested Friday for assaulting a D.C. Metropolitan Police Officer during the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol confessed to the FBI that he buried the officer's badge in his backyard after he returned home. Thomas Sibick was arrested Friday in Buffalo, New York, according to court records. Sibick faces five charges, including obstruction of law enforcement during civil disorder, assaulting or impeding officers, and taking a thing of value by force or intimidation. Sibick was caught on video assaulting MPD Officer Mike Fanone, who was tasered and assaulted by rioters, who dragged him into the mob as they tried to get into the Capitol.... Fanone's body camera footage shows his police radio and badge being ripped from his vest by Sibick, according to the affidavit. After the riot, Sibick posted images of himself holding a U.S. Capitol Police shield and attempting to enter the building with the mob." MB: Sibick is one of the people Sen. RonAnon describes as among those who "truly respect law enforcement." ~~~

... mainly because I knew that even though those thousands of people that were marching the Capitol were trying to pressure people like me to vote the way they wanted me to vote, I knew those were people that loved this country, that truly respect law enforcement, would never do anything to break a law, and so I wasn't concerned.... Now had the tables been turned..., and President Trump won the election and those were tens of thousands of Black Lives Matter and Antifa protesters, I might have been a little concerned. -- Sen. RonAnon Johnson (R-Wis.) in a radio interview Friday ~~~

~~~ Stupidest Senator: I'm Afraid of Peaceful Black Protesters, Not Violent White Terrorists. Dartunorro Clark of NBC News (republished in Yahoo! News): “Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wisc., described the pro-Trump rioters who stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6 as people who 'truly respect law enforcement' and 'loved this country' in a radio interview Friday and expressed worry if the mob had been Black Lives Matter protesters or Antifa members. Johnson said he 'never felt threatened' as thousands of rioters broke through barricades, forcing Congress to evacuate parts of the building and abruptly pause a ceremonial event affirming that President-elect Joe Biden won the November election."

Jill Filipovic in a Washington Post op-ed: "Senate Republicans are suddenly social media critics, particularly fussy about what they consider out of bounds for the raucous public square of Twitter. They sank Neera Tanden, President Biden's first choice to run the Office of Management and Budget, over what they deemed to be mean tweets.... Republicans are recycling the mean-tweets attack on Biden nominees whose tweets aren't even mean -- they're just harsh truths.... For example, Sens. Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa) and Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) have criticized Vanita Gupta, Biden's nominee for associate attorney general, for tweeting her reaction to the 2020 GOP convention: 'Don't know if I can take three more nights of racism, xenophobia, and outrageous lies.' But her tweet was right on the merits, and the language appropriate.... Let's face it: Tweets aren't the issue. This is about the mirror being held up to Republican failures." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Dan Lamothe of the Washington Post: "The Defense Department's internal watchdog has concluded a long-delayed investigation into Michael Flynn, defense officials said Friday, sending its findings to the Army in a case that could bring tens of thousands of dollars in financial penalties for ... Donald Trump's first national security adviser. The investigation focuses on Flynn's acceptance of money from Russian and Turkish interests before joining the Trump administration, a potential violation of the Constitution's emoluments clause. With few exceptions, U.S. officials, including retired service members like Flynn, are prohibited from accepting money or gifts from foreign governments.... The inspector general's investigation, opened in April 2017, was put on hold for more than three years amid a broader scandal that included a criminal investigation of Flynn by the Justice Department...."

Remembering the Former Guy. How Not to Show Your Respects. Cnaan Liphshiz of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency: "Donald Trump showed off photos of naked women posing with him on a yacht to mourners at the shiva for an associate's mother, The New Yorker reported. Jennifer Weisselberg, the former daughter-in-law of the Trump organization's chief financial officer, Allen Weisselberg, recalled the incident in a profile of Cyrus Vance Jr., the Manhattan prosecutor who is considering charging the former president and real estate mogul on tax, insurance and banking fraud charges. The incident took place before her 2004 wedding to Barry Weisselberg. Trump arrived at the shiva at a modest Long Island home and declared,'This is where my C.F.O. lives? It's embarrassing!' He then showed the photos of the women. 'After that, he starts hitting on me,' Jennifer Weisselberg said of Trump, and complained that her future father-in-law 'didn't stand up for me.'"

Annals of "Journalism," Ha Ha Ha. TuckerCam! Phil Owen of the the Wrap: "President Joe Biden gave a speech during Tucker Carlson's time slot on Thursday night, and Fox News tried something new, and strange: having a live feed of Tucker's face throughout, so viewers could enjoy watching him stare blankly into the camera while listening to the president. The 'Live Tucker Reaction' inlay may have been improvised on the fly -- the box initially appeared a couple minutes into the speech, and then disappeared after about 30 seconds. A couple minutes after that it came back, and stayed up for seven minutes before disappearing again. It came and went two more times before the speech ended.... Right after Biden said that it's wrong to be racist against Asian Americans, we got one of Tucker's most obvious reactions of the speech: he raised his eyebrows at that moment.... A reminder that Fox News argued in court last year that Tucker Carlson should not to be treated like a credible news person." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: In the still photos I've seen, Tucker was scowling, which I think is his idea of looking pensive. I feel sort of jealous of Joe Biden; I wish I had a TuckerCam following me around & scowling at my every action & word. Maybe my opthalmologist can rig something up in a corner of my glasses.

Beyond the Beltway

Minnesota. Shaquille Brewster & Janelle Griffith of NBC News: "The city of Minneapolis has reached a $27 million settlement with George Floyd's family just weeks before the trial is scheduled to begin for the former officer charged with murder in his death. The City Council unanimously approved the settlement Friday after adding the matter to its agenda for a closed session[.] Floyd's family filed a federal lawsuit in July against the city and the four officers involved in the arrest that led to his death. The lawsuit took issue with neck restraints and police policies and training, among other things." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) The New York Times' story is here.

New York. Luis Ferré-Sadurní & Jesse McKinley of the New York Times: "Facing a deluge of calls to resign from New York's U.S. senators and the majority of its House Democrats, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo made clear on Friday he had no intention of quitting, deriding the mounting pressure from his own party as 'cancel culture' and insisting he would not bow to it." A Politico story is here. ~~~

~~~ Tal Axelrod of the Hill: "Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) late Friday called on New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) to resign amid growing sexual harassment allegations against him. In a joint statement, the two senators, who had come under pressure themselves to call on Cuomo to resign after other state officials and House lawmakers from New York had done so, said it would be difficult for him to continue to govern given the controversies." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

~~~ Brian M. Rosenthal & Luis Ferré-Sadurní of the New York Times: "In interviews over the past week, more than 35 people who have worked in [Gov. Andrew] Cuomo's executive chamber described the office as deeply chaotic, unprofessional and toxic, especially for young women. It is a workplace, the current and former employees said, where tasks are assigned not based on job titles, but on who is liked by Mr. Cuomo and his top aides. Those interviewed described an environment where the senior executive staff regularly deride junior workers, test their dedication to the governor and make them compete to earn his affection and avoid his wrath.... Many said they believed that Mr. Cuomo and other officials seemed to focus on how employees looked and how they dressed. Twelve young women said they felt pressured to wear makeup, dresses and heels, because, it was rumored, that was what the governor liked.... Mr. Cuomo's office denied many of the issues raised by the employees...." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

~~~ Get Out! Luis Ferré-Sadurní and Jesse McKinley of the New York Times: "A raft of powerful Democratic members of New York's congressional delegation, including Representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Jerrold Nadler, called on Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo to resign on Friday, saying Mr. Cuomo had lost the capacity to govern amid a series of multiplying scandals. In a cascade of separate and joint statements, at least 12 House members said Mr. Cuomo should leave office following a string of sexual harassment allegations and controversy over his administration's handling of nursing homes during the pandemic. 'Governor Cuomo has lost the confidence of the people of New York,' said Mr. Nadler, the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee and one of the highest-ranking members of Congress. 'Governor Cuomo must resign.'" A Politico story is here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

~~~ Zoe Richards of TPM: "Aides to New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo called former employees to glean information about potential conversations they had with Lindsey Boylan a former aide who first accused Cuomo of sexual harassment in December, the Wall Street Journal reported Thursday. 'I felt intimidated, and I felt bewildered,' Ana Liss, a former aide to the governor who received one of the calls in December, told WSJ. The governor's office made calls to Liss and at least five other former employees either to find out if they had heard from Boylan or to gather information about her in conversations that some said they saw as attempts to intimidate them, WSJ said.... One said a caller encouraged them to give reporters any information that would discredit the former aide, who worked for the Cuomo administration between 2015 and 2018 and alleged in tweets that he 'sexually harassed me for years,' and that 'many saw it, and watched.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Way Beyond

Russia. Reuters: "Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny has been moved from a jail where he had been held in quarantine for the past several weeks, and the TASS news agency said he was now at the penal colony where he is meant to serve out a two-and-a-half year sentence. One of Navalny's lawyers confirmed that Navalny was no longer being held at the Kolchugino jail in the Vladimir region northeast of Moscow, but said the legal team had not been told where he had been taken." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Comments Off

Reader Comments (10)

CAN CYRUS VANCE, JR., NAIL TRUMP?

Here is the very long piece by Jane Mayer––an extensive portrait of Vance and his history in the field of prosecution. When we get to the Trump bumps we read the words of Jennifer, former wife of Allen Weisselberg's son, Barry. She describes Allen (key witness of Fatty's fuck-ups & buried bodies) as being in Trump's thrall–-"His whole worth is 'Does Donald like me today?' It's his whole life, his core being; he's obsessed".

Asked if Allen would flip under pressure:

"I don't know. For Donald, it's business. But for Allen it's a love affair."

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2021/03/22/can-cyrus-vance-jr-nail-trump

March 13, 2021 | Unregistered CommenterPD Pepe

Rachel ridicules Repubs with a bit of "Animal House" humor.
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/rachel-maddow-gop-donald-trump-safe-word_n_604c6420c5b672fce4ecceee

March 13, 2021 | Unregistered CommenterPD Pepe

PD: I will take your word for it that Jane's piece is worthwhile to read. She is a wonderful writer and I have enjoyed her pieces in the past, but I just want to cleanse my brain as my mind's eye struggles to bring up the sights and sounds of DJT. I don't really think it would change my view of him and reading about people who love him would fry my entire day. There is a whole cadre of people I won't listen to anymore, and I think reading about them fits into that category.

Did you ever in your life hear anything or anyone as stupid as Ron Johnson? People of WI, you have it in your power to rid us of this cockroach.

March 13, 2021 | Unregistered CommenterJeanne

On another note, is Peter Alexander running for office? Why give the Idiot any credit for having anything to do with the pandemic? Anything he had to do with, like the vaccines, HE DID NOT DO, nor did he use his influence to hurry them along. Everything else he did was negative. Everything. A failure unlike any other one can name. Please, Cyrus Vance, clap him in irons now.

March 13, 2021 | Unregistered CommenterJeanne

I’m fine with acknowledging Fatty’s contribution to the Pandemic. They want Biden to give him credit? Okay.

“After setting the house on fire, then pulling up a lawn chair to watch grandpa and grandma and Uncle Billy and mom and dad run out, on fire, he decided that rather than call an ambulance, he’d listen to a far right wing podcast that touted his brilliance.

Grandpa and grandma both died and dad is horribly disfigured. As the fire spread to neighboring homes, Fatty gave an interview on Fox to say that the fire wasn’t even that big, but that he saw a Chinese kid set it. In any event, he said, the fire will be out shortly. No need to call the fire department.

As the neighborhood was engulfed in flames, he called up Fox to say that people should try dousing their roofs with gasoline. “People were saying” that this was a sure fire (!) way to stay safe. He then watched uninterestedly as the entire city turned into an inferno.

Finally, after several hundred thousand people died in the fire he allowed to spread, he announced that he was going to buy everyone a squirt gun to put it out.”

There ya go. There’s his credit.

There is no way in hell that murderer should get credit for the vaccines unless he also is assigned blame for what he did to spread this pathogen, lie about it, announce ridiculously dangerous “treatments”, pretend it would magically disappear, then after hundreds of thousands had died, was forced, kicking and screaming, to announce his dollar short and months late program, which did nothing. Remember, the first available vaccine was developed without a penny from Fatty’s Operation Rocket Ship, or whatever stupid name he gave it,

Credit is fine, as far as it goes, as long as he and his whining jackanapes accept the assignment of blame as well.

Will this Peter Alexander person read that at a press conference?

March 13, 2021 | Unregistered CommenterAkhilleus

Akhilleus,

Who came first? I think all of here did.

Kathleen Parker took a lot longer to figure it out, and while we can expect her to backslide at the earliest opportunity into her favorite fantasyland, this time she got the former pretend president right.

"Thank you?" No thanks.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/donald-trump-wants-credit-for-the-vaccine-as-if/2021/03/12/4f40a492-836e-11eb-81db-b02f0398f49a_story.html

March 13, 2021 | Unregistered CommenterKen Winkes

Last night CBS once again aired the Oprah interview with Harry and Meghan and this time I watched it. It left a profound feeling of these two being trapped in a system that was making them sick. They kept referring to this royal system as "the Firm"––those "nameless" who run the kingdom. How coincidental that Diana experienced what Meghan tells us she went through. After viewing I couldn't help thinking of the film, "The Firm" (clip below) one of my favorite films that deal with finding yourself trapped and struggling to find a way out. And I think of how Trump orchestrated a similar atmosphere of entrapment that his followers find themselves unable to break free.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f_lRMCPHbuY

March 13, 2021 | Unregistered CommenterPD Pepe

PD,

Didn't watch the interview and likely won't, but you prompted a thought or two.

From an early age (beginning with Elizabeth's coronation on the TeeVee in the early 1950's) I remember my mother's fascination with the royal family, and could never understand it. Eventually I even found it mildly repulsive, maybe for reasons vaguely proto-political, I don't know, more likely from an emerging sense that their importance to her and the fascination they invoked was due only to the circumstances of their birth and hence entirely empty of real merit.

A great lesson in the there but for fortune (or lack of it) truism truism I still adhere to.

But the sense that Meghan and Harry report of being trapped in the web of the Firm they were born into does speak to me because that is a fate we all share. In. addtion to the accidents of our own biology we are all born into families and social systems that set many of the parameters of our lives, and mostly we do what these rules tell us to do.

Those constraints are real and as we grow older we come to know some are more comfortable complying with them than are others.

Maybe the fundamental glory of America is its implication that accidents of birth don't always have to be the predominant factor in our lives.

Perhaps it is that the possibility of questioning, even rejecting the givens we are born to is the touchstone of the individual freedom we aspire to, and politically the essence of what liberalism means.

March 13, 2021 | Unregistered CommenterKen Winkes

As the Trump virus was killing thousands here in America, Fatty was singing his favorite song “Me, Me, Me, Me!”. In Europe, 700 children banded together to form a virtual choir to sing Puccini’s wonderful aria of love and hope, “Nessun Dorma” (no one sleeps), from his last great opera, “Turandot”, the aria ends with the word “Vincero!”, I shall conquer, or I shall win. A message of hope in dark times.

So, if you get a chance, give it a listen. It’s only three minutes long, but it will stay with you all day.

But I bring this up because, as you know, if you’ve ever spent time going down the YouTube rabbit hole, all sorts of things pop up to beg for your eyeballs. This clip was no different. I sent it to some friends, and as a comparison, I included a clip of Luciano Pavarotti singing the same aria (“Nessun Dorma” had become his signature piece for many years).

While looking up that clip, I saw a long list of “reaction” clips, of which there apparently hundreds (thousands?) on YouTube. The schtick here is people watch a video (of Pavarotti, in this case) and react to it. Some are pretty funny as young people who have never heard of Pavarotti or heard any opera watch open-mouthed as he takes that high B at the end.

There should be a similar system for idiots like Carlson, who have nothing of use to add to the national conversation, but who can react to Biden, open-mouthed and slack-jawed watching the president and the Democrats actually do useful work.

The Tucker Carlson Reaction Channel. He scowls, he grimaces, he tries to look concerned, he looks confused, and stupid, and dumbfounded. He...REACTS!

Should draw a big audience from the Trumpbot shut ins who live in their own sad, hate-filled little world.

Maybe they can all sing “Nessun Dorma”.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=iY-zWn_3Ho0

March 13, 2021 | Unregistered CommenterAkhilleus

That was wonderful, Ak. I think I remember Marie placing a video of "Nessun" on the infotainment side - the singer holds his young son, and the man sings it out to his neighbors who are also on lockdown. I cried then, as well.

March 13, 2021 | Unregistered CommenterVictoria
Comments for this entry have been disabled. Additional comments may not be added to this entry at this time.