The Ledes

Saturday, September 28, 2024

Washington Post: “Rescue teams raced to submerged homes, scoured collapsed buildings and steered thousands from overflowing dams as Helene carved a destructive path Friday, knocking out power and flooding a vast arc of communities across the southeastern United States. At least 40 people were confirmed killed in five states since the storm made landfall late Thursday as a Category 4 behemoth, unleashing record-breaking storm surge and tree-snapping gusts. 4 million homes and businesses have lost electricity across Florida, Georgia and the Carolinas, prompting concerns that outages could drag on for weeks. Mudslides closed highways. Water swept over roofs and snapped phone lines. Houses vanished from their foundations. Tornadoes added to the chaos. The mayor of hard-hit Canton, N.C., called the scene 'apocalyptic.'” An AP report is here.

The Wires
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The Ledes

Friday, September 27, 2024

New York Times: “Maggie Smith, one of the finest British stage and screen actors of her generation, whose award-winning roles ranged from a freethinking Scottish schoolteacher in 'The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie' to the acid-tongued dowager countess on 'Downton Abbey,' died on Friday in London. She was 89.”

The Washington Post's live updates of developments related to Hurricane Helene are here: “Hurricane Helene left one person dead in Florida and two in Georgia as it sped north. One of the biggest storms on record to hit the Gulf Coast, Helene slammed into Florida’s Big Bend area on Thursday night as a Category 4 colossus with winds of up to 140 mph before weakening to Category 1. Catastrophic winds and torrential rain from the storm — which the National Hurricane Center forecast would eventually slow over the Tennessee Valley — were expected to continue Friday across the Southeast and southern Appalachians.” ~~~

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

Mediaite: “Fox Weather’s Bob Van Dillen was reporting live on Fox & Friends about flooding in Atlanta from Hurricane Helene when he was interrupted by the screams of a woman trapped in her car. During the 7 a.m. hour, Van Dillen was filing a live report on the massive flooding in the area. Fox News viewers could clearly hear the urgent screams for help emerging from a car stuck on a flooded road in the background of the live shot. Van Dillen ... told Fox & Friends that 911 had been called and that the local Fire Department was on its way. But as he continued to file the report, the screams did not stop, so Van Dillen cut the live shot short.... Some 10 minutes later, Fox & Friends aired live footage of Van Dillen carrying the woman to safety, waking through chest-deep water while the flooding engulfed her car in the background[.]”

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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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Page Links
Thursday
Nov102011

The Commentariat -- November 11

... Mark Thompson of Time: "We have a professional military of volunteers that has been stoically at war for more than a decade. But as the wars have droned on, the troops waging them are increasingly an Army apart." CW: This is a synopsis of Thompson's cover story. It contains a link to the magazine story, which you can access if you're a subscriber (I am, but I've never bothered to hook up. I'll try to do so in the next week or so to see if my posting a link to a firewalled article allows Reality Chex readers to link through.)

The New York Times eXaminer picked up my post "New York Times to You: 'Drop Dead.'" They included a copy of the letter that the Times sent to those exemplary "Trusted Commenters." If you'd like to see the invitation you didn't get, click here. Oh, and leave a comment. Plus, I'm happy to say NYTX even gave me a byline on the front page (look now; it won't be there long), right alongside Glenn Greenwald & Matt Taibbi. Wowza!

Chris Spannos of the New York Times eXaminer interviews Prof. Henry Giroux, who held an endowed chair at Penn State, about the culture of corporatism and militarism at Penn State. Giroux mirrors my own sense of what has happened to American universities and the larger ramifications for our so-called culture. Audio only. Highly recommended. ...

... The Washington Post has the grand jury report on Sandusky here. If you can't stand to read the whole report, the section on Victim 2, which begins on page 6, is enough. Paterno knew. He knew specifically that a graduate student (identified elsewhere as now Assistant Coach Mike McQueary) saw Sandusky having anal sex with a 10-year-old in the Penn State locker room. Paterno covered it up. It would appear Paterno lied in his grand jury testimony, too. President Spanier, ironically an expert on family counselling, is implicated, too. The grand jury charged Sandusky as well as the two officials Curley & Schultz. ...

... Nancy Armour of the AP: "The school said Thursday night that there had been 'multiple threats' against McQueary, now the team's receivers coach, and he would not attend Saturday's home finale against Nebraska 'in the best interest of all.'" CW: so, this young man reported Sandusky for sodomizing a child, about which university officials did next to nothing, and people are threatening him?? This has to be the first time in history that thousands of students have stood up for the aiding & abetting of a child molester, & some have threatened the life of his accuser. There's something wrong with Pennslyvania. ...

... Andrew Sullivan is one of a few pundits who gets it right, comparing Paterno to the Pope -- two Papas who covered up child sex abuse. ...

... ** Tod Kelly in the League or Ordinary Gentlemen on the Penn State riot: "When you see these kinds of reactions in the face of such a horrific crime, it’s easy to see how this tribalism-based denial can lead to the circumstances that allowed the crimes to occur in the first place." ...

... Valerie Strauss of the Washington Post: "The U.S. Department of Education is launching an investigation into the scandal at Penn State University to see if officials there failed to comply with a law that requires institutions of higher education to disclose criminal offenses that occur on campus each year." ...

... AND Joe Paterno has lawyered up. He'd better.

Ron Brownstein of the National Journal: "... the scale of the union-led victory Tuesday in the drive to repeal Republican Gov. John Kasich's anti-collective bargaining legislation in Ohio is bound to encourage Democrats who want President Obama to pursue a class-conscious populist appeal in 2012." Brownstein analyzes the numbers that show "the repeal vote reached well into the groups that powered the Republican surge in 2010."

Paul Krugman: "With Italy following Greece off a cliff, it’s hard to see how the euro can survive.... Beware of ideologues who are trying to hijack the European crisis on behalf of their agendas." Krugman debunks the anti-socialism agenday and the austerity agenda.

Elizabeth Warren Responds to Rove Attack. (See more in Right Wing World below; also in yesterday's Commentariat.) In an interview on Boston's WCVB. The interviewers try again & again to box Warren into bad spots. They fail:

I’m a free market person. I just don’t believe in casino capitalism. -- Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) ...

... "Ascent of a Woman." Tim Egan: Sen. Maria Cantwell "has been after the lords of big finance for almost a decade, and is furious now that reforms intended to rein in the kind of car-bomb speculation that brought down the global economy have been seriously diluted.... Cantwell voted against the bank bailouts — 'turning the keys of the Treasury over to Wall Street,' she called it.

Joe Stephens & Carol Leonnig of the Washington Post: "At a number of points in its troubled history, the solar company Solyndra faced dire financial problems that threatened its survival. Yet at each crisis, Energy Secretary Steven Chu and officials at his agency failed to take steps that critics say could have limited taxpayer losses when the company collapsed last summer. Instead, Energy Department officials monitoring the solar panel manufacturer and its $535 million federal loan stepped in with financial assistance, or worked to dispel concerns raised by industry analysts and other Obama administration staffers...."...

     ... CW: this story fits neatly into the conservative agenda of the WashPo, but I have no reason to doubt the reporting. Do bear this in mind: any taxpayer money that DOE "wasted" on Solyndra, that stayed in the U.S. via employee compensation or equipment purchase (for instance) was stimulus money, akin to food stamps or unemployment insurance. I'm not advocating for government waste; I'm just saying that in a recession, any government spending helps stimulate the economy. Ask those gung-ho GOP military enthusiasts about that.

Right Wing World

Amy Sullivan of Time on why religious conservatives, ostensibly such a powerful force within the GOP, can't find a viable presidential candidate to represent them. It turns out this group isn't really a group -- it's a melange of factions who disagree on politics and religion.

More Fake Concern for the Little Guy. Suzy Khimm of the Washington Post: though Republican presidential candidates are usually vague about what they hate the Dodd-Frank Act, "... one concrete criticism that they bring up, time and again [is] that Dodd-Frank is “a killer for the small banks.... But ... the country’s biggest lobbying group for community banks praises Dodd-Frank for helping to level the playing field by reining in big banks, while also criticizing specific provisions of the legislation.... The community banking industry isn’t pushing to repeal Dodd-Frank. Instead, it’s lobbying to change parts of the law...."

Steve Kornacki of Salon on Karl Rove's Crossroads GPS “independent advocacy” against Occupy Wall Street & Elizabeth Warren. Kornacki looks at the ad reader Julie L. pointed us to yesterday (see the November 10 Commentariat) that is running in Massachusetts "to fan the culture war flames." Kornacki writes, "voters seem to be sending a mixed message about OWS. The actual protests themselves may be losing favor, thanks to the right’s campaign and to the recent increase in reports of violence. But the issues that the protests have forced into the political debate — about Wall Street accountability, income inequality, and the decline of the middle class — all play to Warren’s advantage; she is where most voters are on these topics, and Brown isn’t." ...

... Greg Sargent, in a post titled, "Rove-founded group again blanketing airwaves with falsehoods, distortions, and sleaze," writes, "the right has responded to the protests by exploiting a cultural fault line that’s been key to our politics since the 1960s. Conservatives have elevated the protesters’ outsized tactics and violence to push the cultural buttons of blue collar whites and independents — who will be central to the Massachusetts race — in an effort to distract them from the populist message embodied by the protests and Warren’s candidacy. The new Crossroads ad — which is backed up by a buy of nearly $600,000 — takes this to an almost comical level." Read the whole post. ...

... Ari Berman of The Nation takes apart the Rove ad. AND, he writes, "... the Rove-directed campaign against her could actually boost the Warren campaign. If the Massachusetts Senate race becomes a debate between the ideology of Rove versus the ideology of Warren, Elizabeth’s got to like her chances." ...

... AND Digby gets to what went on in the "brain" behind the ad: "Karl Rove has always had a good sense of the right wing id so I'm guessing he senses this is a good line of attack.... This isn't ideological. It's sheer lizard brain tribalism." CW: Nicely put.

Herman Cain & the Politics of Race. Karen Bigsby Bates of NPR reports:

     ... A partial transcript is here. Thanks to a friend for the link. Here's he video ad by Americans for Cain, which Bates cites:

... Tabbasum Zakaria of Reuters: "[Herman Cain's] two public accusers -- [Sharon] Bialek and Karen Kraushaar -- had planned to hold a joint press conference, but on Thursday Kraushaar decided against it. ...

News Ledes

President Obama speak aboard the USS Carl Vinson docked in San Diego this evening. Following remarks, he attended the Carrier Classic.

Reuters: "MF Global fired all 1,066 of its brokerage employees on Friday, triggering anger and resentment about the firm's collapse after bad bets on European debt under former CEO Jon Corzine's leadership. How the final blow was delivered upset many staff -- with some learning by email and others through news on the television."

Washington Post: "The Securities and Exchange Commission, which failed to stop Bernard Madoff’s long-running investment fraud despite repeated warnings, has disciplined eight agency employees over their handling of the matter but did not fire anyone...."

AP: "Penn State assistant coach Mike McQueary, a key witness in the child sex abuse scandal that has engulfed the school, has been placed on administrative leave. School president Rod Erickson announced the move Friday, a day after the school said McQueary would not be present when the Nittany Lions play Nebraska on Saturday because he has received threats. McQueary testified in a grand jury investigation that eventually led to child sex-abuse charges being filed against former Penn State defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky."

President Obama participated in a wreath-laying ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery this morning:

AP: "Police are investigating a fatal shooting just outside the Occupy Oakland encampment in Northern California and the apparent suicide of a military veteran at an Occupy encampment in Vermont's largest city.... A preliminary investigation into the gunfire Thursday that left a man dead suggests it resulted from a fight between two groups of men at or near the camp on a plaza in front of Oakland's City Hall, police Chief Howard Jordan said." ...

     ... San Francisco Chronicle Update: "Oakland police say they have no reason to believe that a man shot and killed outside the Occupy Oakland encampment had ever spent a night there, despite the claims of a camp resident who said he was her cousin and had slept in her tent. The victim, who appeared to be in his 20s, was shot in the head about 5 p.m. Thursday outside a BART station exit in Frank Ogawa Plaza, at 14th Street and Broadway. He was taken to Highland Hospital, where he was pronounced dead. No arrests have been made."

     ... Reuters Update: "The man who shot himself at an Occupy protest camp in downtown Burlington, Vermont, this week was 35 years old, homeless and had briefly trained to be in the Army, police said on Friday. Joshua Pfenning apparently shot himself in the head inside a tent at the encampment in City Hall Park on Thursday afternoon and later died at a city hospital.... After the shooting, police banned camping at the park because of safety concerns."

NEW. Oakland Tribune: "A day after dozens of protesters were arrested at UC Berkeley, police defended their crackdown on Occupy Cal and vowed to react the same way if demonstrators pitched tents again. The campus was relatively quiet for much of the day Thursday, but protesters were debating whether to set up their camp in front of Sproul Hall again. Previous attempts on Wednesday brought immediate responses from police in riot gear. Campus police, aided by Alameda County sheriff's deputies, had arrested 40 people by Thursday afternoon...."

Washington Post: "Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta on Thursday ordered the Air Force to review whether it had been tough enough in disciplining — but not firing — three supervisors at the Dover Air Force Base mortuary.... Panetta also said he had faith in Air Force Secretary Michael B. Donley, despite harsh criticism from lawmakers and an independent federal agency about the credibility of the Air Force’s 18-month investigation into missing body parts and mishandled remains at the Dover mortuary, which handles the remains of American troops killed overseas."

AP: "Italy's Senate has approved economic reforms demanded by the European Union, paving the way for Premier Silvio Berlusconi to resign as early as this weekend and a new government to be formed. The Senate voted 156-12 Friday to pass the budget bill, which contained the reform measures. The lower Chamber of Deputies is expected to approve the legislation by Saturday. Berlusconi has promised to resign as soon as parliament passes the reforms." New York Times story here.

AP: "Greece's incoming prime minister is due to name his cabinet Friday, a day after being appointed to head an interim coalition government that will push through a new European debt deal and secure continued bailout funding to prevent a catastrophic default."

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