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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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Monday
May092011

The Commentariat -- May 10

The Final Editon. A fabulous parody. Be sure to watch the Last Timescast. CLICK ON THE IMAGE TO GO TO THE SITE. Thanks to David H.

I have opened a comments page on Off Times Square for David Brooks, where you may also comment on other political issues. Karen Garcia & I have read Brooks and have posted our comments on his column. Now I must shower. Update: looks like my comment on Brooks got the axe, so you'll have to read it here. Update 2: Do read today's comments. They are so far superior to Babbling Brooks that there is really no comparison. ...

... AND thanks to commenter Denis Neville for liberally excerpting this article by U.S. labor lawyer Thomas Geoghegan in a July 2010 post to In These Times, which is itself an excerpt from Geoghegan's book Were You Born on the Wrong Continent? The answer to the question is yes, if you're an American worker. You would be better off in Europe. And the U.S. economy would be better off if we followed the example of some European countries.

Peter Wallsten & Perry Bacon, Jr. of the Washington Post: "... in using a speech in El Paso to highlight his enforcement record, [President] Obama will signal that he intends to try turning the immigration debate into a political winner among conservative swing voters who back tougher immigration policies. The president is expected to reel off what his aides say is evidence of an unprecedented focus on border security.... The result, aides say, has been a steep decline in illegal incursions and plummeting crime rates in U.S. border communities from Texas to California." (This story is also linked in today's Ledes.)

Paul Kane & Lori Montgomery of the Washington Post: "House Speaker John A. Boehner defined the GOP’s terms for raising the legal limit on government borrowing Monday, demanding that President Obama reduce spending by more than $2 trillion in exchange for an increase big enough to cover the nation’s bills through the end of next year.... Democrats immediately rejected Boehner’s approach as reckless. Sen. Charles E. Schumer (N.Y.) said Monday that the speaker is 'playing with fire' by not telling the captains of Wall Street that he would definitely approve an increase in the debt ceiling, no matter how far along the fiscal negotiations are. Schumer mocked Boehner’s long-running call for an 'adult conversation' with the American public about the nation’s debt. 'Speaker Boehner needs to have an adult moment right here and now,' the senator told reporters." CW: The New York Times story, which I also linked under yestdays Ledes, is here. And Schumer is right. Boehner is completely irresponsible. ...

... BUT. Jonathan Chait of The New Republic: "John Boehner ... is bluffing.... The obvious bluff is his supposed willingness to permanently hamper the Treasury's ability to borrow money, something he's been privately assuring Wall Street he won't really do.... Boehner says he wants to cut trillions, which would have to entail cutting Social Security and Medicare.... Oh, sure, he wants them to be cut. But he does not want to be the one who cuts them. He wants a bipartisan agreement in which President Obama provides him with cover.... Obama's play here is clear: He needs to ask Boehner to spell out his demands." ...

... Joshua Green of The Atlantic: "The current debt ceiling fracas stems from one thing, and it's not spending. It's the pointless, silly, and potentially very costly, two-step process by which the United States, and no other country, goes about budgeting and spending money. First, Congress passes a budget resolution that determines how much will be spent. Then it raises the debt ceiling to accommodate that spending. The fight now is being driven by Republicans, and some Democrats, who don't want to do the second part, even though the spending decisions have already been made." Years ago, Rep. Dick Gephardt fixed this problem by making the raising of the debt ceiling part of the budget bill, after which Republicans unfixed the fix.

Alexander Bolton of The Hill: "A deep rift is opening wider and wider in the Republican Party over controversial proposals to cut Medicare. Senate Republicans have decided to avoid jeopardizing their chances of capturing the upper chamber in next year’s elections and will not echo the House GOP’s call for a major overhaul of the popular health entitlement for seniors." ...

... Because here's what Democratic ads will look like in 2012. This is an ad running in New York's 26th District special Congressional election. Democrat Kathy Hochul's opponents are a Tea Partier & a Republican:

Eric Schmitt, et al., of the New York Times: "President Obama insisted that the assault force hunting down Osama bin Laden last week be large enough to fight its way out of Pakistan if confronted by hostile local police officers and troops, senior administration and military officials said Monday.... Senior officials also said that two teams of specialists were on standby: One to bury Bin Laden if he was killed, and a second composed of lawyers, interrogators and translators in case he was captured alive."

The Washington Post Editors go all liberal soft-on-defense-y: "Even if waterboarding or extreme sleep deprivation produced some pieces of the bin Laden intelligence puzzle, the program wasn’t justified — and it still did America far more harm than good.... President Obama was right to dismantle the CIA’s enhanced interrogation program."

Right Wing World *

Sheryl Gay Stolberg of the New York Times profiles Callista Gingrich, the "blond bombshell" who had a long affair with the Newt that broke up Newt's second marriage during the Clinton impeachment episode; now Newt plans to use his marriage to Callista as evidence of his "family values." According to Stolberg, Newt will use his wife "as a character witness." CW: apparently Newt is assuming reporters will find it too unseemly to question Mrs. Newt's character.

Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) knows more about economics than some ole MIT Nobel laureate. Victoria McGrane of the Wall Street Journal: "The Senate Banking Committee is slated to vote Thursday on the nomination of Peter Diamond to join the Federal Reserve Board, but his confirmation by the full Senate still remains doubtful.... Sen. ... Shelby..., the top-ranking Republican on the banking panel, continues to lead the fight against the nomination, arguing that Mr. Diamond doesn't have any direct monetary policy experience.... Senate Republican leaders are deferring to Mr. Shelby on the matter, meaning Mr. Diamond's Fed nomination is almost certain to remain frozen in the Senate as long as the Alabama Republican continues to oppose him."

Norm Ornstein in The New Republic: Republicans were all for full disclosure of campaign contributions before they were dead-set against it.

Well, you know, when it comes to racism and racists, I am the least racist person there is.... I’ve had great relationships. In fact, Randal Pinkett won, as you know, on The Apprentice a little while ago, a couple of years ago. And Randal’s been outstanding in every way. So I am the least racist person. -- Donald Trump ...

... Alex Seitz-Ward of Think Progress has the story & video. Randal Pinkett, who is black, won "The Apprentice" contest six years ago. So there's your proof. ...

... BUT. Benjy Sarlin of TPM on Trump's handling of another black contestant, Kevin Allen. "Allen, a Wharton Business School grad, Emory MBA, and University of Chicago law graduate, was 'fired' from the show after Trump criticized his 'unbelievable education,' and numerous degrees from elite universities.... Allen was fired shortly after a controversial episode in which he was ordered to sell chocolate bars outside of New York City subway stops, a job stereotypically associated with African-American high school students. Entertainment Weekly's Mark Harris bluntly labeled Trump's handling of race tone-deaf at the time and said that the show 'humiliated itself in regards to Allen.'" Allen said to TPM recently, when asked about Trump's attacks on President Obama, "Apparently he doesn't like educated African-Americans very much." ...

     ... Update. Oh, dear. The least racist person is also the least popular. According to Frank Newport of Gallup,

Trump ... has the unenviable distinction of receiving a Positive Intensity Score of 0, the lowest for any of the 13 candidates measured.... Last week, when Trump's numbers were first reported, his Positive Intensity Score was 4, suggesting he lost ground after a week in which he was the butt of jokes that comedian Seth Meyers and President Barack Obama delivered at the annual White House Correspondents' Dinner. That same week, Trump's focus on Obama's birthplace was defused by the release of Obama's long-form birth certificate.

     ... AND from Public Policy Polling: "Donald Trump has had one of the quickest rises and falls in the history of Presidential politics. Last month we found him leading the Republican field with 26%. In the space of just four weeks he's dropped all the way down to 8%, putting him in a tie for fifth place with Ron Paul."

* Where facts never intrude & consistency is just a hobgoblin.

News Ledes

President Obama speaks about immigration reform in El Paso, Texas:

ABC News: "Pakistani officials said today they're interested in studying the remains of the U.S.'s secret stealth-modified helicopter abandoned during the Navy SEAL raid of Osama bin Laden's compound, and suggested the Chinese are as well. The U.S. has already asked the Pakistanis for the helicopter wreckage back, but one Pakistani official told ABC News the Chinese were also 'very interested' in seeing the remains. Another official said, 'We might let them [the Chinese] take a look.'" ...

... ABC News: "One of Osama bin Laden's sons went missing in the midst of the Navy SEAL raid that took the life of the al Qaeda leader more than a week ago, Pakistani security officials told ABC News today. The officials said bin Laden's three wives, who are all in Pakistani custody, said that one of bin Laden's sons has not been seen since the raid. The son was not identified, but Pakistani investigators agreed that it appeared someone was missing from the sprawling compound, the officials said. Later, however, one U.S. official said there was no evidence anyone was missing from the compound...."

CNN: "Members of the Senate Armed Services Committee and the Senate Intelligence Committee, as well as those in the equivalent House committees, will be allowed to view the photographs taken of Osama bin Laden after he was killed...."

President Obama spoke at two DNC fundraisers in Austin, Texas, this evening.

President Obama spoke about fixing the immigration system in El Paso, Texas, this afternoon. Washington Post story here. Update: see video above. El Paso Times story here.

New York Times: "Microsoft announced on Tuesday that it would buy Skype Global for $8.5 billion in cash, in its largest acquisition ever. In Skype, Microsoft is buying the leader in Internet voice and video communications, with 107 million users per month connected for more than 100 minutes a month on average."

Washington Post: "The public outing of the CIA station chief here threatened on Monday to deepen the rift between the United States and Pakistan, with U.S. officials saying they believed the disclosure had been made deliberately by Pakistan’s main spy agency."

New York Times: "Rebel fighters made significant gains Monday against forces loyal to Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi in both the western and eastern areas of the country, in the first faint signs that NATO airstrikes may be starting to strain the government forces."

The (Memphis) Commercial Appeal: "As the Mississippi River continued carrying near-record amounts of water past Memphis, draining storm-drenched lands stretching from the Rocky Mountains to the Appalachians, officials combined messages of reassurance and caution.... The river finally crests in Memphis today at about 48 feet -- a full 14 feet above Memphis' flood stage. The pressure will continue for weeks -- the river could stay at or near crest for more than a week and it may be June before it falls below 40 feet, still well above the 34-foot flood stage."

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