The Ledes

Monday, October 7, 2024

Weather Channel: “H​urricane Milton has rapidly intensified into a Category 3 and hurricane and storm surge watches are now posted along Florida's western Gulf Coast, where the storm poses threats of life-threatening storm surge, destructive winds and flooding rainfall by midweek. 'Milton will be a historic storm for the west coast of Florida,' the National Weather Service in Tampa Bay said in a briefing Monday morning.”

CNN: “This year’s Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine has been awarded to Victor Ambros and Gary Ruvkun for their work on the discovery of microRNA, a fundamental principle governing how gene activity is regulated. Their research revealed how genes give rise to different cells within the human body, a process known as gene regulation. Gene regulation by microRNA – a family of molecules that helps cells control the sort of proteins they make – ... was first revealed by Ambros and Ruvkun. The Nobel Prize committee announced the prestigious honor ... in Sweden on Monday.... Ambros, a professor of natural science at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, conducted the research that earned him the prize at Harvard University. Ruvkun conducted his research at Massachusetts General Hospital, and is a professor of genetics at Harvard Medical School.”

The Wires
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The Ledes

Sunday, October 6, 2024

New York Times: “Two boys have been arrested and charged in a street attack on David A. Paterson, a former governor of New York, and his stepson, the police said. One boy, who is 12, was charged with second-degree gang assault, and the other, a 13-year-old, was charged with third-degree gang assault, the police said on Saturday night. Both boys, accompanied by their parents, turned themselves in to the police, according to Sean Darcy, a spokesman for Mr. Paterson. A third person, also a minor, went to the police but was not charged in the Friday night attack in Manhattan, according to an internal police report.... Two other people, both adults, were involved in the attack, according to the police. They fled on foot and have not been caught, the police said. The former governor was not believed to have been targeted in the assault....”

Weather Channel: “Tropical Storm Milton, which formed in the Gulf of Mexico on Saturday, is expected to become a hurricane late Sunday or early Monday. The storm is expected to pose a major hurricane threat to Florida by midweek, just over a week after Helene pushed through the region. The National Hurricane Center says that 'there is an increasing risk of life-threatening storm surge and wind impacts for portions of the west coast of the Florida Peninsula beginning late Tuesday or Wednesday.'”

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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.”

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Wednesday
May222013

The Commentariat -- May 23, 2013

Charlie Savage & Peter Baker of the New York Times: "President Obama plans to open a new phase in the nation's long struggle with terrorism on Thursday by restricting the use of unmanned drone strikes that have been at the heart of his national security strategy and shifting control of them away from the C.I.A. to the military.... In [a] letter to Congressional leaders, [AG Eric] Holder confirmed that the administration had deliberately killed Anwar al-Awlaki, a radical Muslim cleric who died in a drone strike in September 2011 in Yemen. Mr. Holder also wrote that United States forces had killed three other Americans who 'were not specifically targeted.'"

Thomas Edsall, in the New York Times: "... lobbyists have become a semi-permanent class with ever-expanding reach -- they write legislation, they kill legislation. They have usurped many of the political functions that once belonged to elected officials, in part by adapting to new political ecologies faster than those who seek to counter their influence. Insofar as they are protecting the status quo, lobbyists insulate calcified interest groups from challenge....At a time when sectors of the economy ranging from health care to education to manufacturing are under more or less permanent siege, the tentacles of the lobbying community are choking off open exchange between officeholders and the voters they represent. They have created and now maintain a stifling stasis. It is hard to see how this ends well." AND, corporations get a GREAT return on their investment in lobbyists -- on average, for instance, multinationals get 22,000 percent!

Gail Collins: "The [immigration reform] bill, which would give millions of undocumented residents a path toward eventual citizenship, now goes to the full Senate, where it actually looks as though it's going to pass. Any further progress would require cooperation from the House of Representatives, the circle of hell where the damned are condemned to spend eternity voting to repeal the health care reform law."

Philip Rucker & Juliet Eilperin of the Washington Post: In April (of 2013, I presume,) White House counsel "Kathryn Ruemmler shared the news [of the IRS audit] with White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough and other senior White House aides, who all recognized the danger of the findings. But they agreed that it would be best not to share it with President Obama until the independent audit was completed and made public, in part to protect him from even the appearance of trying to influence an investigation....But Ruemmler and McDonough's careful plan for the IRS was upended on May 10, when Lois Lerner ... broke the news by admitting that the IRS had given extra scrutiny to conservative groups seeking tax-exempt status. Senior White House officials were stunned to see the IRS trying to get ahead of its own story -- and in doing so, creating a monstrous communications disaster.... Many prominent Washington lawyers say Ruemmler made the sensible legal call." ...

... Aaron Blake of the Washington Post: "House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) said in an interview aired late Wednesday that it's 'inconceivable' someone didn't inform President Obama about the IRS's targeting of conservative groups." ...

... Rachael Bade of Politico: Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), chair of the House Oversight & Government Reform Committee, claims that IRS employee Lois Lerner waived her Fifth Amendment rights by making an opening statement, & he may pursue contempt charges. Legal experts, however, say Issa's argument that Lerner has waived her Fifth Amendment rights might not be as strong as he suggests."

One more reason Sheldon Whitehouse is one of my heroes. He is a man for the ages -- one of those few great orators who lend credence to the Senate's usually dubious moniker "the world's greatest deliberative body":

     ... BTW, this wasn't a speech Whitehouse had been honing for years. He delivered it Monday afternoon in response to the tornado that had flattened Moore, Oklahoma, tornado a few hours earlier. ...

     ... CW Oopsie Update. I was wrong about that. Fox "News": "Rhode Island Democratic Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse has apologized for remarks Monday in which he linked Oklahoma 'cyclones' to climate change while berating Republicans for their stance on the issue -- around the time a massive tornado killed dozens in that state. A Whitehouse spokesman said Tuesday the politically charged remarks were pre-written as part of the senator's weekly Senate floor speech on climate change." How humiliating to be corrected by Fox "News." Still, no apology necessary, Senator.

Going Nuclear? Brian Beutler of TPM: "Last week, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said he would hold a vote on Richard Cordray's nomination to head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau before the Senate skipped town for Memorial Day. Plans change. Cordray will now most likely get his chance after immigration reform legislation clears the Senate. And not because Reid is giving up on Cordray's nomination, but because he wants to turn Cordray and a handful of other nominees into a test of the GOP's vows to filibuster top Obama picks, including two designated cabinet secretaries."

Steve Benen: Rep. Paul Gosar (R-Az.) went winger wacko in a Congressional hearing today over the unsubstantiated and untrue rumor that Mitt Romney hadn't paid taxes in 10 years. Harry Reid spread the rumor during the campaign season last year based on what he said an associate of Romney's told him. Gosar told former IRS Commissioner Doug Shulman that this was an "alarming" story which the IRS should have investigated, which happens to make no sense. ...

... Glenn Kessler of the Washington Post: "It was bad enough when Reid made his outlandish charges during the campaign. But now Gosar has compounded the error by treating it as an accepted fact -- long after it has been disproven -- in order to browbeat a witness at a congressional hearing. At the very least, he should have acknowledged that there was no truth to Reid's charge, rather than suggesting that Reid 'obtained' something legitimate from the IRS."

It's All Petraeus's Fault. New York Times Editors: "As Karen DeYoung and Scott Wilson reported in The Washington Post on Wednesday, the e-mails [among the C.I.A., State Department & White House related to the Benghazi talking points] show that Mr. Petraeus was critical to producing talking points 'favorable to his image and his agency.' ... The State Department did a full a public review of its behavior.... Reforms are under way. Congress needs to look closely at the C.I.A.’s role and insist that the agency do the same." CW: Republicans have no incentive to go after Petraeus -- their former hero whom they hoped to make President Petraeus (R) -- so they don't give a flying fuck what the C.I.A. did under his watch. Unless Obama orders a C.I.A. probe -- and he could -- there won't be one.

M. B. Pell, et al., of Reuters: "The fertilizer-plant explosion that killed 14 and injured about 200 others in Texas last month highlights the failings of a U.S. federal law intended to save lives during chemical accidents.... Known as the Emergency Planning and Community Right to Know Act, the law requires companies to tell emergency responders about the hazardous chemicals stored on their properties. But even when companies do so..., it is up to the companies and local firefighters, paramedics and police to plan and train for potential disasters. West Fertilizer Co of West, Texas..., had alerted a local emergency-planning committee in February 2012 that it stored potentially deadly chemicals at the plant. Firefighters and other emergency responders never acted upon that information to train for the kind of devastating explosion that happened 14 months later..., a failing that likely cost lives. It's a scenario that has played out in chemical accidents nationwide...."

Joe Nocera: "On Tuesday, despite the overwhelming evidence presented by the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations that Apple engaged in dubious tax avoidance gimmicks, [Apple CEO Tim] Cook claimed that Apple never resorted to tax gimmickry.... Apple is as much an innovator in tax avoidance as it is in technology.... [Sen. Carl] Levin [D-Mich.] has proposed a bill that would curb the most blatant abuses of the tax code like the Double Irish." ...

... Michael Shear of the New York Times: "One thing became clear this week on Capitol Hill: It is better to be a tax dodger than a tax collector. Armed with a blistering report that said Apple had avoided paying billions of dollars in taxes, senators ... called [Timothy D. Cook] a 'pretty smart guy' and praised the 'incredible legacy' his company had left. They gushed over his products, calling Apple 'a great company' that had managed to 'change the world.' ... It was considerably different for the officials of the Internal Revenue Service.... Wednesday's I.R.S. hearing felt like an inquisition -- unforgiving, angry, prosecutorial." ...

... Howard Schneider of the Washington Post: "A global effort to tighten corporate tax rules is gaining momentum as politicians in Europe and the United States take aim at American tech giants whose savvy use of international tax laws has provoked a public backlash. A day after a U.S. Senate report slammed Apple's use of Irish regulations to minimize payments to the U.S. government, European heads of state said they hoped for quick action from an international effort to change rules that let companies shelter profits." CW: I sure hope European countries' (where perhaps fewer politicians have corporate sponsors) tax reforms help the U.S. because the U.S. Congress isn't going to help the U.S. See Michael Shear's report above.

Stephanie Gaskell of Politico: "The Army is investigating a soldier who helped train cadets at West Point amid allegations that he made secret videos of female cadets, the latest in a rash of cases that have brought heavy political pressure on the Pentagon to crack down on sexually oriented offenses in the ranks. The Army said Sgt. 1st Class Michael McClendon, a 23-year veteran who did two tours in Iraq, was charged with indecency, dereliction of duties, cruelty and maltreatment for being in 'possession of inappropriate images taken without consent.'"

** John Cassidy of the New Yorker has some questions for President Obama on just how far he is willing to go to pursue leak cases. ...

... Dana Milbank: "The Rosen affair is as flagrant an assault on civil liberties as anything done by George W. Bush’s administration, and it uses technology to silence critics in a way Richard Nixon could only have dreamed of. ...

... Oops, missed this: James Goodale in a New York Times debate forum: "The search warrant filed to investigate the Fox News reporter James Rosen proved as many had suspected: President Obama wants to make it a crime for a reporter to talk to a leaker. It is a further example of how President Obama will surely pass President Richard Nixon as the worst president ever on issues of national security and press freedom." Goodale is an attorney; he represented the Times in the Pentagon Papers case. ...

... CW: I agree that at this point the Rosen probe appears to be a "flagrant assault of civil liberties," but going Nixon on this & on the AP probe is premature. So far, there is no evidence that Obama or his top staff directed these investigations of journalists -- with the exception, of course, of Eric Holder, whom the White House likes to claim is "independent" of White House influence. In addition, whether you think they violate the First Amendment or not (I tend to think they do), the FBI had proper warrants for its search of Rosen's records. Nixon, of course, did directly order & encourage suppression of journalists & he didn't ask a judge if it was okay -- because it wasn't. ...

... John Stanton of BuzzFeed: "According to Republicans, at least two [House] committees -- the Judiciary and Government Affairs and Oversight panels -- are currently discussing holding separate hearings into spying on reporters from the Associated Press and Fox News by the DOJ as part of its efforts to root out leaks."

FAIR makes the case that the New York Times is going all Judy Miller on weak evidence that the Assad government has used chemical weapons. (CW: I tried to read the FAIR piece with skepticism, but unless they have omitted NYT articles [or qualifiers in the articles cited] that are more cautious, the FAIR argument seems, well, fair to me.) Just Foreign Policy has a form you can complete asking the Times' public editor Margaret Sullivan to "push the Times to be more skeptical." Thanks to Kate M. for the lead.

Maybe NOW no Sunday morning producer will ever book Peggy Noonan again:

Right Wing World

There Is the Only Trustworthy Person in the Whole U.S.A and He Is Ted Cruz. The senior senator from Arizona urged this body to trust the Republicans. Let me be clear, I don't trust the Republicans. I don't trust the Democrats and I think a whole lot of Americans likewise don't trust the Republicans or the Democrats because it is leadership in both parties that has got us into this mess. -- Ted Cruz, on the Senate floor Wednesday

... Nevertheless, Trustworthy Ted used to be willing to at least camouflage his trusty intransigence -- back in 2000 when he was working for Dubya's campaign. Beth Reinhard of the National Journal: "Cruz helped craft the campaign's immigration policy, which called for speeding up the application process, increasing the number of work visas, and allowing the relatives of permanent residents to visit the U.S. while their applicants were pending.... Tuesday ... Cruz ... called the [immigration reform] bill 'toothless' to enforce border security. His amendments, which failed, would have tripled the number of border-patrol agents and barred illegal immigrants from earning citizenship."

Local News

Jim Nolan of the Richmond Times-Dispatch: "Gov. Bob McDonnell is under investigation over the statements of economic interest he has filed. The investigation was initiated by Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, who sent a letter in early November 2012 to Richmond Commonwealth's Attorney Michael N. Herring, appointing him to review McDonnell's statements. By law, elected officials are required to account for all gifts received in excess of $50.... McDonnell, the titular head of the state Republican Party who has been mentioned as a possible presidential candidate in 2016, is supporting the attorney general [in his race for governor] and helping to raise money for him."

News Ledes

AP: "The United States and Israel raised hopes Thursday for a restart of the Middle East peace process, despite little tangible progress so far from U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry's two-month-old effort to get Israelis and Palestinians back to the negotiating table."

Reuters: "An envoy of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un told a senior Chinese leader on Thursday that North Korea is willing to take China's advice to start talks to resolve tension on the Korean peninsula, China's state television reported."

The Washington Post on Ibragim Todashev, the associate/acquaintance of Tamerlan Tsarnaev, whom an FBI agent shot & killed in Orlando yesterday. "Law enforcement officials said Todashev ... was being interviewed about his possible role in a triple slaying in Waltham, Mass., in September 2011. They said Todashev acknowledged involvement in the killings and also implicated Tsarnaev in what the law enforcement officials described as a drug deal that went bad."

Reuters: "Public defenders representing James Holmes, accused of killing 12 moviegoers in Colorado last summer, will return to court on Thursday to challenge the state's insanity defense law in a bid to try to avoid the death penalty for their client. Lawyers representing Holmes, 25, are challenging Colorado's capital punishment statute on several fronts, and on Thursday are arguing that it unconstitutionally bars him from calling his own mental health experts at sentencing if he refuses to cooperate with court-appointed psychiatrists."

AP: "The nation's record-low teen birth rate stems from robust declines in nearly every state, but most dramatically in several Mountain States and among Hispanics, according to a new government report. All states but West Virginia and North Dakota showed significant drops over five years. But the Mountain States of Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Nevada and Utah saw rates fall by 30 percent or more.... Hispanic women have been part of that trend, possibly due to the economy and to illegal immigration crackdowns in some states that reduce the number of young Hispanic females entering the country from Mexico and other nations, said John Santelli, a Columbia University professor of population and family health."

AP: " A government investigation found that 'extremely' poor quality construction materials and a series of violations caused the collapse of a garment factory building in Bangladesh that has been called the worst garment-industry disaster in history.... The report found that building owner Sohel Rana had permission to build a six-story structure and added two floors illegally.... The report also said the building was not built for industrial use and the weight of the heavy garment factory machinery and their vibrations contributed to the building collapse."

New York Times: "Boy Scout leaders from around the country, engulfed in a culture war over homosexuality, gathered for a vote [in Grapevine, Texas,] Thursday on a landmark proposal that would permit openly gay youths -- but not openly gay adult leaders -- to participate in scouting."

Comments Off

Reader Comments (16)

In case you have not yet read Robert Naiman's article in JustForeignPolicy: "Did NYT go "Judy Miller" On Syria Chemical Weapons?" I strongly suggest you do. And you may want to sign the petition to the Times editor at the end of the article. I, of course, did!

https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/?hl=en&tab=wm#inbox/13ecef574d20e865

May 22, 2013 | Unregistered CommenterKate Madison

@Kate: I can't access that link.

I'm confused. Am I reading this right? The handsome Bob doll who plays a role as governor of VA has been, maybe, supporting and raising money for the Ken doll who plays the role of A.G. but is the one who initiated the investigation to look into the possible illegality that was promoting none other than himself? Huh?

Jon Stewart's "Nooney Tunes" is perfect. Our Lady of the Vapors needs a smack–down and nobody does that better than Jon.

I wholeheartedly agree with Marie re: Sheldon Whitehouse––I only wish this man would occupy it––a double whammy as it were––President Whitehouse in the White House. Wasn't there a film with whatshisname with the beard who played a character named Sheldon Whitehouse? Could it be "Since You Went Away"?

May 23, 2013 | Unregistered CommenterPD Pepe

Yes, Phyllis, the film was indeed "Since You Went Away"–1944 with that marvelous Claudette Colbert and whatshisname with the beard was none other than Monty Wolley. This film, by the way, is one of the best of that era, I think. As I was brushing my teeth I could hear Marie's voice––"Do your own research, for Pete's sake"–––and so I have. Amen.

May 23, 2013 | Unregistered CommenterPD Pepe

@PD Pepe: I'm confused. In the film "Since You Went Away," Monty Woolley played Col. William G. Smollett, "a grumpy old man forced into retirement by his superiors."

Re: Kate's link. No, it doesn't work, but I included a proper link in today's Commentariat.

Marie

May 23, 2013 | Registered CommenterMarie Burns

@Marie––you're absolutely right--Jeeeze, one confusion after another, makes for a wide-awake morning, don't it? The film in question is "The Man Who Came To Dinner" (was a play before a film) and Monty Woolley played the character, Sheridan Whiteside. Bette Davis also starred. And if I recall, another smash hit. Thanks for catching my mistake.

May 23, 2013 | Unregistered CommenterPD Pepe

PD,

Excellent movie, Since You Went Away, largely for the performances of the leads and (at least for me) the cinematography, which, I've never understood why, was created by two of the great Hollywood masters of light, Lee Garmes and Stanley Cortez (Cortez shot one of the great films in American film history, Welles' Magnificent Ambersons, as well as Charles Laughton's masterpiece of stylized noir, Night of the Hunter). The lighting and process shots they use to suggest the emotional depth of the train station leave-taking between Jennifer Jones (wonderful in this role) and Robert Walker is one of the best things in this picture and one of Hollywood's more memorable scenes.

It's one of those movies I'll try to watch anytime it's on, as long as I have three hours to spare.

And as soon as you started down the road of "whatisname in the beard" I knew you meant Monty Woolley, but the name of his other role you were recalling is Sheridan Whiteside, the unbearable (and unbearably funny) Man Who Came to Dinner, in the film version of Kaufman and Hart's theatrical workup on the acerbic Alexander Woolcott (he of the infamous Algonquin Roundtable).

I must have seen Man Who Came to Dinner first because I distinctly recall thinking what a different sort of character Monty Woolley plays in Since You Went Away, much like his avuncular professor in the Cary Grant/Loretta Young picture, The Bishop's Wife. Always a great pleasure to see his work.

SYWA also provides a nice look at the adolescent work of Shirley Temple.

Thinking about that two hanky train station scene (it's not long enough for four hankies--for that you have to watch every frame of Now Voyager) I'm reminded that Robert Walker played another soldier going to war leaving his girl at the station. The picture was The Clock and the girl was Judy Garland. He was still a few years away from his greatest role as the psycho killer in Hitchcock's Strangers on a Train (hmmm...another train movie...what's up with that?)

One other piece of Walker family history. As a kid I saw Robert Walker, Jr. (who looks startlingly like his dad) in one of the original Star Treks as a....psycho killer. What IS up with that?

May 23, 2013 | Unregistered CommenterAkhilleus

PD (and anyone else interested),

If you ever get the chance, watch the updated (updated by returning to the original references) Man Who Came to Dinner with the ineffable Nathan Lane as the title character. It was originally shown on PBS as a filmed version of a stage revival and it's a scream. Jean Smart kills as Lorraine, the actress modeled after Gertrude Lawrence.

If you can't rent it on Netflix, you can see the whole thing on Youtube:

The Man Who Came to Dinner - Nathan Lane version

May 23, 2013 | Unregistered CommenterAkhilleus

PD (and anyone else interested),

If you ever get the chance, watch the updated (updated by returning to the original references) Man Who Came to Dinner with the ineffable Nathan Lane as the title character. It was originally shown on PBS as a filmed version of a stage revival and it's a scream. Jean Smart kills as Lorraine, the actress modeled after Gertrude Lawrence.

If you can't rent it on Netflix, you can see the whole thing on Youtube:

The Man Who Came to Dinner - Nathan Lane version

May 23, 2013 | Unregistered CommenterAkhilleus

I would just like to note that even though the world is definitely going to hell in a handbasket, the invention of IMDB and the blessings of Turner Classic Movies help make the journey much more bearable. You can actually see films that have plot, dialogue and acting; and you can look up "what's his name" to see that yes, that IS Errol Flynn playing the dead man in an early (1935) Perry Mason film directed by Michael Curtiz -- who quickly went on to great things together.

May 23, 2013 | Unregistered CommenterPatrick

The Ibragim Todashev is awfully strange, to put it mildly. I read the WAPO article and this statement in the article resonated with me: "There were conflicting accounts of what happened in the moments before the man was shot." Ah...yeah. The whole thing is just weird. Never heard of a law enforcement agency taking a triple murder confession with a signature in that manner - office /station and video is standard. Just when he goes to sign - he has some sort of a brain fart and either tries to grab an agent's gun or tries to stab an agent. That's the "conflicting account" part.

Dickhead Tsarnaev's involvement in 3 murders seems like a bit random too. I think I'll wait for the results of the Todashev tox screen.

May 23, 2013 | Unregistered CommenterDiane

This is too funny not to share:

http://maddowblog.msnbc.com/_news/2013/05/23/18446557-ohio-gop-oops-on-bill-to-curb-student-voting#comments

and yet more evidence that GOP house types, even in little houses like Ohio's, really don't know jack about how markets work

May 23, 2013 | Unregistered CommenterPatrick

The trogs of Oregon have joined Gen. Jack D. Ripper and defended their precious bodily fluids from fluoridated water. As David Nir (of Daily Kos) observed this morning: "And coming up on the ballot here later this year is a measure to ban cameras because they steal your soul."

May 23, 2013 | Unregistered CommenterJames Singer

In case no one else has mentioned this, it might be time to give John Boehner the moniker "The Sicilian."

May 23, 2013 | Unregistered CommenterJack Mahoney

Sorry you all could not access the link I gave this AM. You can go to www.justforeignpolicy and find it, I hope.

A comment on Orygon voting down fluoridation in the water. We are truly a WEIRD state. First state to champion "Death with Dignity," and turn away John Ashcroft 4 times when he came here to try to over turn it.

And now voting down fluoridation for the 4th time. A strange winning coalition between right wing crazies and far-left space cadets!
They have done this several times before, and they are an effective coalition, I hate to say. Perhaps extremism is more politically successful than we care to admit.
As for me, I am embarrassed at the moment to be an Oregonian. Seems a bit to much like Oklahoma. )-:

May 23, 2013 | Unregistered CommenterKate Madison

@Kate; A toothless bit of regulation. Freedoooooom! What's got six teeth, a lost dog, and twenty ex-spouses? Front row of a Willie Nelson concert.

May 23, 2013 | Unregistered CommenterJJG

To Akhilleus, lover of good films with vast knowledge of same: So much fun to travel with you this morning through the streets of black and white cinema––a kind of a sweet relief or as Patrick said, makes the journey so much more bearable. All the films you mentioned are some of my favorites and "Strangers On A Train" with Walker's characterization of Bruno is chilling and brilliant. The train motif in so many films, especially during the war years of the forties, is perhaps because it represents the leaving and arriving, the awful ache of seeing a loved one off knowing it may be the last time. Heck, trains are rampant in literature, too––Tolstoy's Anna did herself in right there on the tracks. Tony Judt has written reams on his love for trains. Haunting whistle and dreams where it could take you. And then there's the Orient Express where murder and mayhem slither among the well heeled and ill suited. Anyway––thanks for the memories.

May 23, 2013 | Unregistered CommenterPD Pepe
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