The Ledes

Thursday, September 19, 2024

New York Times: “A body believed to be of the suspect in a Kentucky highway shooting that left five people seriously injured this month was found on Wednesday, the authorities said, ending a manhunt that stretched into a second week and set the local community on edge. The Kentucky State Police commissioner, Phillip Burnett Jr., said in a Wednesday night news conference that at approximately 3:30 p.m., two troopers and two civilians found an unidentified body in the brush behind the highway exit where the shooting occurred.... The police have identified the suspect of the shooting as Joseph A. Couch, 32. They said that on Sept. 7, Mr. Couch perched on a cliff overlooking Interstate 75 about eight miles north of London, Ky., and opened fire. One of the wounded was shot in the face, and another was shot in the chest. A dozen vehicles were riddled with gunfire.”

The Wires
powered by Surfing Waves
Help!

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

Link Code:   <a href="URL">text</a>

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Click on photo to enlarge.

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

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

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

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

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

Contact Marie

Click on this link to e-mail Marie.

Page Links
Friday
May202016

The Commentariat -- May 21, 2016

Peter Hermann, et al., of the Washington Post: "A uniformed Secret Service officer shot and critically wounded a man who brandished a gun outside the White House Friday afternoon, authorities said.... In [a] statement, the agency said the man refused numerous orders to drop the weapon and was shot. Two law enforcement officials said he was shot once in the chest and rushed to a hospital in critical condition. Authorities said a firearm was recovered.... The shooting ... prompted a massive police response near the executive mansion, where hundreds of tourists and bystanders were milling about. The Secret Service placed the White House on lockdown and rushed to secure Vice President Biden 'within the complex.'..." -- CW ...

... The New York Times story, by Julie Davis & Michael Schmidt, is here.

Sabrina Tavernise of the New York Times: "Major changes to nutrition labels on food packages became final on Friday, with calorie counts now shown in large type and portion sizes that reflect how much Americans actually eat. It was the first significant redrawing of the nutrition information on food labels since the federal government started requiring them in the early 1990s." Michelle Obama announced the final rule. -- CW

Presidential Race

Hillary Clinton, in a Washington Post op-ed: "In every state in the country, child care for two kids now costs more than the average rent." Clinton proposes a series of measures to ease the burdens on working parents. ...

     ... CW PS: If you're interested in knowing Donald Drumpf's childcare plan, here it is in a nutshell: "It's not expensive for a company to do it. You need one person or two people, and you need some blocks and you need some swings and some toys."

Amie Parnes of the Hill: "In public, Hillary Clinton's aides and allies have kept their anger checked, decrying the rowdy outbursts at Nevada's state convention last weekend but saying they believe [Bernie] Sanders will ultimately do the right thing by helping to unite the Democratic Party. Behind the scenes, however, they are seething that statements by the Vermont senator are just making matters worse by further alienating his supporters from Clinton.... The continued combat on the left is also complicating Clinton's efforts to fully turn her attention to presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump, who is reveling in the Democratic feuding. 'This is the worst-case scenario and the one people feared the most,' said one Clinton ally and former Clinton aide." -- CW ...

... Here's Sahil Kapur of Bloomberg on the same topic in a post titled, "Sanders, Defiant on the Stump, Quietly Reassures Democrats on Unity." -- CW ...

... Jonathan Chait: "... it is at least possible that Sanders is getting carried away in a messianic fervor that he will not walk away from readily. A recent New York Times story described numerous Sanders staffers as 'disheartened' by the campaigns 'near-obsession with perceived conspiracies on the part of Mrs. Clinton's allies.'... Sanders has a longstanding habit of attributing any disagreement with his policies as the result of corruption...." -- CW ...

... Mark Hensch of the Hill: "Bernie Sanders's supporters have secured permits for four demonstrations near July's Democratic National Convention, according to a new report. The events will rally support for Sanders's message while Democrats select their presidential nominee in Philadelphia, according to The Wall Street Journal." -- CW

Sahil Kapur: "Hillary Clinton believes a 2008 Supreme Court ruling that is the linchpin of an individual's right to own a gun was 'wrongly decided,' her policy adviser told Bloomberg Politics on Friday. 'Clinton believes Heller was wrongly decided in that cities and states should have the power to craft common sense laws to keep their residents safe, like safe storage laws to prevent toddlers from accessing guns,' Maya Harris, a policy adviser to Clinton, said in an e-mailed statement." ...

... Ashley Parker of the New York Times: "Donald J. Trump called on Friday for an end to gun-free zones in the United States and accused Hillary Clinton of seeking to let violent criminals out of prison, putting law-abiding citizens at risk, as he accepted the endorsement of the National Rifle Association at its annual convention.... 'Crooked Hillary Clinton is the most anti-gun, anti-Second Amendment candidate ever to run for office,' he said at the N.R.A.'s convention here. 'She wants to abolish the Second Amendment. She wants to take away your guns.' Although Mrs. Clinton has called for tightening restrictions on guns, she has not called for overturning the Second Amendment." -- CW ...

... Here's Trump's subtle way of reminding you that Hillary Clinton doesn't have a penis; ergo, she doesn't have the "equipment" to be president:

... Hunter of Daily Kos: "But perhaps the bigger news of the day was Trump's insistence, during the speech, that as president he would 'get rid of' gun-free zones: boom, blam, done. This always goes down very well, even at the National Rifle Association's leadership forum, which is itself a ... gun-free zone. And Trump's own properties are 'gun-free zones' as well, because even racist ex-butlers aren't stupid enough to want yahoos with loaded rifles tromping through the lobby." CW: In case you haven't noticed, it turns out there is no #RealDonaldTrump. Every fucking thing he says is phony. ...

... CW: After reading Gail Collins' column about Deadeye Donald, you may want to switch your vote to Trump. Not only is he going to Make America Great Again, he will keep us safe by personally shooting all the terrorists just as they are about to attack. Donald's system seems a lot more efficient than all that Homeland Security stuff. Also, too, why waste money on Secret Service agents when Deadeye can foil every assassination attempt with one shot? For a guy who says he doesn't drink, Donald sure sounds like the drunk at the end of the bar. ...

     ... One thing is clear: your choice in November will be between a candidate who believes in sensible gun legislation & one who thinks citizen-on-citizen shootouts are the sensible means to keep the peace. So please don't go all Ralph Nader & tell us there's no difference between the major-party candidates. (See also the candidates' competing childcare plans -- if you can call urging private companies to buy "some swings & some toys" a "plan.")

** Drew Harwell of the Washington Post: "The last time information from Donald Trump's income-tax returns was made public, the bottom line was striking: He had paid the federal government $0 in income taxes. The disclosure, in a 1981 report by New Jersey gambling regulators, revealed that the wealthy Manhattan investor had for at least two years in the late 1970s taken advantage of a tax-code provision popular with developers that allowed him to report negative income. Today ... Trump regularly denounces corporate executives for using loopholes and 'false deductions['] to 'get away with murder' when it comes to avoiding taxes.... Trump's personal taxes are a mystery. He has refused to release any recent returns, meaning the public cannot see how much money he makes, how much he gives to charity and how aggressively he uses deductions, shelters and other tactics to shrink his tax bill." -- CW

Unemployed Former High Executioner Looking for Work. Jeremy Diamond of CNN: "Former Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who once called Donald Trump 'a cancer on conservatism,' said Friday he would be willing to serve as the presumptive Republican nominee's vice president." -- CW

Jayne Mayer of the New Yorker: "Amateurish spies like James O'Keefe III attempt to sway the 2016 campaign." CW: "Amateurish?" Your 12-year-old would be more polished spy than O'Keefe. In the LOL "sting of myself" Mayer highlights, O'Keefe "forgot to hang up the phone" & revealed in a recorded voicemail to a George Soros-funded organization a part of his inchoate, hairbrained plot to infiltrate the Soros operation. O'Keefe would be hilarious if he weren't occasionally dangerous. He provides plenty of material for budding screenwriters in the vein of "Get Smart" meets "Dumb & Dumber."

Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. He Was For It Before He Was Against It. Aaron Rupar of Think Progress: Joe Scarborough praises Call-in Guy D. Drumpf for being "consistent" on Libya even though Trump has done a 180 on Libya. "Later in the show, however, Scarborough attempted to correct the record...," but only after the Clinton campaign "reminded" Scarborough of Trump's urging the U.S. to "... immediately go into Libya, knock this guy [Gaddafi] out very quickly, very surgically...." -- CW

Beyond the Beltway

OK. OK Governor Not Completely Stupid. Mark Berman of the Washington Post: "Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin vetoed a controversial bill Friday that would have made it a felony for doctors to perform abortions, saying she felt the bill was too vague and unable to withstand a legal challenge. Fallin's decision came a day after lawmakers in the state approved the unprecedented bill, well before a deadline for her to sign the measure, veto it or allow it to become law without her signature." - CW

Ultimate "Today in Responsible Gun Ownership" Story. Maxine Bernstein of the Oregonian: "Portland Police Chief Larry O'Dea is under state investigation for accidentally shooting a friend in the back during an eastern Oregon hunting trip last month. O'Dea was on vacation April 21 in Harney County when he fired his .22-caliber rifle, striking a friend once in the lower left side of his back, according to police and Harney County dispatch records. O'Dea on Friday called it a 'negligent discharge.' He was off-duty at the time. Retired Portland police Sgt. Steve Buchtel, a former head of firearms training at the Police Bureau, was with O'Dea and called 911 at 4:37 p.m. that day." -- CW

Michael Schmidt: Georgia sheriff's deputies repeatedly Tasered a man, handcuffed in the back seat of a car, until he died. The man's family had called 911 for medical assistance after his behavior became erratic & violent. The Times has video footage, obtained from the offiders' bodycams. -- CW

Way Beyond

William Booth of the Washington Post: "Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's attempts to remake his governing coalition have set heads spinning -- dumping his well-regarded defense minister to possibly bring aboard a polarizing maverick with few friends in Washington. Definitely out: Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon, who resigned his post on Friday. On the way to the door, Yaalon blasted Netanyahu, saying he has lost confidence in the prime minister's decision-making and morals. Maybe in: Avigdor Lieberman. He's a former foreign minister and current leader of an ultranationalist political party built around the 1 million Russian-speaking immigrants to Israel." -- CW ...

... Lieberman's In. Juan Cole: "Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu bolstered his majority and rid himself of a troublesome voice of conscience Thursday by appointing the extremist Avigdor Lieberman minister of defense. This move strengthened Netanyahu's hand politically, removing a critic in the form of Moshe Yaalon, the previous minister of defense. But it also sent a signal to Israel's officer corps, which has been showing distinct unease at Netanyahu's march of the country into Mussolini territory." -- CW

News Ledes

Washington Post: "The U.S. military has conducted an air strike against Taliban leader Mullah Akhtar Mohammad Mansour, the Pentagon said on Saturday. In a statement, Pentagon press secretary Peter Cook said that the attack on Mansour took place on Saturday 'in a remote area of the Afghanistan-Pakistan border region.' A U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity..., said that President Obama had authorized the operation.... The official said that Mansour, who emerged as the Taliban leader in 2015, was 'likely killed.'"

AP: "A small fire shut down a generating tower Thursday at the world's largest solar power plant, leaving the sprawling facility on the California-Nevada border operating at only a third of its capacity, authorities said. Firefighters had to climb some 300 feet up a boiler tower at the Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System in California after fire was reported on an upper level around 9:30 a.m., fire officials said. The plant works by using mirrors to focus sunlight on boilers at the top of three 459-foot towers.... But some misaligned mirrors instead focused sunbeams on a different level..., causing electrical cables to catch fire, San Bernardino County, California fire Capt. Mike McClintock said."

Comments Off

Reader Comments (6)

...and channeling his inner Dick Cheney "we'll be welcomed as liberators..." Trump's "quickly, and surgically..." 2011 remark that CW noted above, was followed by ""...After it’s all done, we’ll go to the protesters who end up running the country, they’re going to end up liking us a lot better than if we don’t do it."

Let's see...surgery didn't work so well in Iraq! Libya, not so much. Next country scheduled for pre-op, Syria maybe?

It's past due for someone in media to create an ongoing graphic posted prominently online with the ever-changing postures of Trump on every subject, who by this time has worn out more than a dozen pairs of flip-flops. Include, please...the list and date of all those that Trump has insulted, later sorta semi-apologized to, then re-insulted ...and especially highlight those saintly forgiver/hypocrites (McCain) who end up saying they'll still support the nominee!

Yeh! Trump's an A.H., but he's our A.H.

May 21, 2016 | Unregistered CommenterMAG

Trump fully displayed the right wing politics of fear at the NRA convention, with "Hillary will take away your guns" and "Hillary will free violent felons". Considering the audience I'm surprised he didn't call for nationwide open carry and nationwide stand your ground laws, or did I miss something?

May 21, 2016 | Unregistered CommenterBobbyLee

BobbyLee,

Sure. Open carry except at the NRA and Republican National conventions. Why? Because the wrong people might get shot, that's why! But kindergartens, establishments where liquor flows freely, airports, college classrooms, and Taco Bells are all great places for unhinged Confederate loonies with loaded weapons and a chip on their shoulders.

May 21, 2016 | Unregistered CommenterAkhilleus

Not to prompt a dispute over the meaning of "ultimate" in reference to responsible gun ownership, but this one should at least be in the running.

http://time.com/4342861/teen-dad-shoots-stepson-texas

According to what I'm guessing would be the NRA's analysis, the problem was that because the three year old was not also armed the poor kid didn't stand a chance.

May 21, 2016 | Unregistered CommenterKen Winkes

Ken, I'm going with Marie's concept of "ultimate", given that all the parties were professionally trained law enforcement folks, and one of them in the party was the Portland police gun training (and therefore safety) guy.

The saving grace was that the weapon was a .22, still not a wound to sneeze at.

This one was not a tragedy, like so many others, and these guys will be the subject of jokes from fellow cops for the rest of their lives, which could still be long ones.

May 21, 2016 | Unregistered CommenterPatrick

Point taken, Patrick.

The often lethal combination of too many guns and too little judgment offers so many choices, from tragic, as you say, to mildly amusing, I have trouble sorting it all out.

May 21, 2016 | Unregistered CommenterKen Winkes
Comments for this entry have been disabled. Additional comments may not be added to this entry at this time.