The Ledes

Saturday, April 2, 2025

New York Times: “Charlotte Webb, who as a young woman helped code breakers decipher enemy signals at Britain’s top-secret Bletchley Park, died on Monday. She was 101.... Ms. Webb, known as Betty, was 18 when she joined the Auxiliary Territorial Service, the women’s branch of the British Army, and was assigned to work at the base in Buckinghamshire where Bletchley Park was located. From 1941 to 1945, she helped in the decryption of German messages, and also worked on Japanese signals. In 2015, Ms. Webb was appointed as Member of the Order of the British Empire and in 2021 she was awarded the Légion d’Honneur, France’s most prestigious honor. She was one of the last surviving members of the storied Bletchley Park code breaking team.”

New York Times: “Val Kilmer, a homegrown Hollywood actor who tasted leading-man stardom as Jim Morrison and Batman, but whose protean gifts and elusive personality also made him a high-profile supporting player, died on Tuesday in Los Angeles. He was 65.”

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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.

Marie: Sorry, my countdown clock was unreliable; then it became completely unreliable. I can't keep up with it. Maybe I'll try another one later.

 

Public Service Announcement

Zoë Schlanger in the Atlantic: "Throw out your black plastic spatula. In a world of plastic consumer goods, avoiding the material entirely requires the fervor of a religious conversion. But getting rid of black plastic kitchen utensils is a low-stakes move, and worth it. Cooking with any plastic is a dubious enterprise, because heat encourages potentially harmful plastic compounds to migrate out of the polymers and potentially into the food. But, as Andrew Turner, a biochemist at the University of Plymouth recently told me, black plastic is particularly crucial to avoid." This is a gift link from laura h.

Mashable: "Following the 2024 presidential election results and [Elon] Musk's support for ... Donald Trump, users have been deactivating en masse. And this time, it appears most everyone has settled on one particular X alternative: Bluesky.... Bluesky has gained more than 100,000 new sign ups per day since the U.S. election on Nov. 5. It now has over 15 million users. It's enjoyed a prolonged stay on the very top of Apple's App Store charts as well. Ready to join? Here's how to get started on Bluesky[.]"

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."

Wherein Michael McIntyre explains how Americans adapted English to their needs. With examples:

Beat the Buzzer. Some amazing young athletes:

     ~~~ Here's the WashPo story (March 23).

Back when the Washington Post had an owner/publisher who dared to stand up to a president:

Prime video is carrying the documentary. If you watch it, I suggest watching the Spielberg film "The Post" afterwards. There is currently a free copy (type "the post full movie" in the YouTube search box) on YouTube (or you can rent it on YouTube, on Prime & [I think] on Hulu). Near the end, Daniel Ellsberg (played by Matthew Rhys), says "I was struck in fact by the way President Johnson's reaction to these revelations was [that they were] 'close to treason,' because it reflected to me the sense that what was damaging to the reputation of a particular administration or a particular individual was in itself treason, which is very close to saying, 'I am the state.'" Sound familiar?

Out with the Black. In with the White. New York Times: “Lester Holt, the veteran NBC newscaster and anchor of the 'NBC Nightly News' over the last decade, announced on Monday that he will step down from the flagship evening newscast in the coming months. Mr. Holt told colleagues that he would remain at NBC, expanding his duties at 'Dateline,' where he serves as the show’s anchor.... He said that he would continue anchoring the evening news until 'the start of summer.' The network did not immediately name a successor.” ~~~

~~~ New York Times: “MSNBC said on Monday that Jen Psaki, the former White House press secretary who has become one of the most prominent hosts at the network, would anchor a nightly weekday show in prime time. Ms. Psaki, 46, will host a show at 9 p.m. Tuesday through Friday, replacing Alex Wagner, a longtime political journalist who has anchored that hour since 2022, according to a memo to staff from Rebecca Kutler, MSNBC’s president. Ms. Wagner will remain at MSNBC as an on-air correspondent. Rachel Maddow, MSNBC’s biggest star, has been anchoring the 9 p.m. hour on weeknights for the early days of ... [Donald] Trump’s administration but will return to hosting one night a week at the end of April.”

New York Times: “Joy Reid’s evening news show on MSNBC is being canceled, part of a far-reaching programming overhaul orchestrated by Rebecca Kutler, the network’s new president, two people familiar with the changes said. The final episode of Ms. Reid’s 7 p.m. show, 'The ReidOut,' is planned for sometime this week, according to the people, who were not authorized to speak publicly. The show, which features in-depth interviews with politicians and other newsmakers, has been a fixture of MSNBC’s lineup for the past five years. MSNBC is planning to replace Ms. Reid’s program with a show led by a trio of anchors: Symone Sanders Townsend, a political commentator and former Democratic strategist; Michael Steele, a former chairman of the Republican National Committee; and Alicia Menendez, the TV journalist, the people said. They currently co-host 'The Weekend,' which airs Saturday and Sunday mornings.” MB: In case you've never seen “The Weekend,” let me assure you it's pretty awful. ~~~

     ~~~ AP Update: "Joy Reid is leaving MSNBC, the network’s new president announced in a memo to staff on Monday, marking an end to the political analyst and anchor’s prime time news show."

Y! Entertainment: "Meanwhile, [Alex] Wagner will also be removed from her 9 pm weeknight slot. Wagner has already been working as a correspondent after Rachel Maddow took over hosting duties during ... Trump’s first 100 days in office. It’s now expected that Wagner will not return as host, but is expected to stay on as a contributor. Jen Psaki, President Biden’s former White House press secretary, is a likely replacement for Wagner, though a decision has not been finalized." MB: In fairness to Psaki, she is really too boring to watch. On the other hand, she is White. ~~~

     ~~~ RAS: "So MSNBC is getting rid of both of their minority evening hosts. Both women of color who are not afraid to call out the truth. Outspoken minorities don't have a long shelf life in the world of our corporate news media."

 

Contact Marie

Email Marie at constantweader@gmail.com

Page Links
Friday
Oct222010

The Commentariat -- October 23

The New York Times' "War Logs" page with links to stories on the newly-released Iraq documents & to the Afghanistan papers. The other English-language paper to get the new documents was the Guardian. Here's their "Iraq War Logs" page. ...

... Here's an ABC News report:

     ... ABC News' print report is here. ...

... Marc Ambinder of The Atlantic: "The big reveal from the hundreds of thousands of documents posted on Wikileaks today is probably going to be the incredibly awful reports of systematized detainee abuse by Iraqi soldiers and security forces right under the noses of the American-led coalition...."

... John Burns & Ravi Somaiya of the New York Times profile WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, a hunted & perhaps haunted man.

David Hoffman of Foreign Policy: "The former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, retired Gen. Hugh Shelton, says in his just-published memoir, Without Hesitation: the Odyssey of an American Warrior,   that President Bill Clinton’s White House lost the 'presidential authorization codes' for launching a nuclear strike, and they were missing 'for months.' Shelton writes, 'This is a big deal -- a gargantuan deal -- and we dodged a silver bullet.'” But Hoffman says Shelton's story "doesn't add up."

After spending weeks trashing all the loons, Gail Collins finally found a candidate to love -- Sen. Russ Feingold of Wisconsin. 

Ashley Parker of the New York Times interviews Clarence Thomas's former girlfriend Lillian McEwen. McEwen believes Anita Hill was telling the truth about Thomas because the incidents Hill described are consistent with McEwen's experience with Thomas. See related stories in yesterday's Commentariat. ...

... McEwen speaks with ABC News reporter Rebecca Cooper:

... Phone Sex. Josh Gerstein of Politico: "The phone call Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas’s wife placed to Anita Hill earlier this month seeking an apology for Hill’s allegation 19 years ago that Thomas sexually harassed her may go down as a textbook lesson in unintended consequences. ...

... Heather at Crooks & Liars: "Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas' wife Ginni makes a fool out of herself and [Sen. Orrin] Hatch goes on the air and attacks Anita Hill." According to Hatch, Hill is just delusional & the Thomases, Clarence & Ginni are pure as the driven snow. With video & transcript. Hatch warns us,

But don't smear Clarence Thomas and above all don't smear his wife, Ginni. She's a really good person.

... Here's a refresher course on the hearings from PBS. Thomas's likely perjury begins two minutes in:

... Ann Woolner of Bloomberg News: before she called Anita Hill, Ginni Thomas should have called all those witnesses who corroborated Hill's story to see if they would recant. ...

Racism is a lazy man's substitute for using good judgment ... Common sense becomes racism when skin color becomes a formula for figuring out who is a danger to me. -- Juan Williams, 1986, rebutting a racist Richard Cohen column, via Michael Moore

... Paul Farhi of the New York Times reports on the fallout from NPR's firing of Juan Williams. ...

... Michael Moore writes "an open letter to Juan Williams":

Now that you have a new $2 million contract with Fox, let me come on with you for some in-depth discussions about the terrorists' real motivations. We can't let another day go by letting the PC brigade stop us from telling the truth: Terrorists aren't trying to kill us because they hate our freedom. They're killing us because we're in their countries killing them.

Jim Rutenberg of the New York Times: in some races around the country, Democrats are playing dirty, financially supporting third-party candidates of the tea party persuasion whom they hope will siphon off votes from the Republican candidates.

"The Swift Boaters Are Back." Dan Eggen & T. W. Farnam of the Washington Post: "Funders of the stealth campaign against presidential candidate John Kerry have returned in force six years later, giving millions of dollars to independent groups targeting Democrats in the November midterm elections...."

Pat Garofalo of Think Progress: since Americans oppose privitization of Social Security, Republicans are just renaming it. Here's Oregon's senatorial nominee Jim Huffman in a debate with Sen. Ron Wyden simultaneously speaking out of both sides of his mouth:

I have argued for allowing newcomers to the Social Security system to have the option of private accounts. I have not argued for privatizing the Social Security system.

     ... Huffman is a law professor. He knows what he's doing. What "privitization" is is "having the option of private accounts." With video.

Merry Christmas! Chris Johnson of the Washington Blade: Daniel Alter, "a gay New York attorney whose nomination to the federal bench was rejected by the White House over anti-Christian comments he allegedly made, claims that media outlets mischaracterized his views."

Because Charles Murray is a right-wing ideologue, he reads data & draws loony conclusions. But the data he outlines in this Washington Post op-ed are interesting. Murray, who was co-author of the deservedly controversial book The Bell Curve, identifies a "New Elite" (caps his) who "live in a world that doesn't intersect with mainstream America in many important ways." Murray concludes that since the elite don't go to tractor pulls or watch "Dancing with the Stars," they are "ignorant" of & "isolated" from Real America. In fact, he says, "they are not of America."

Washington Post: "With his party's control of Congress hanging in the balance, President Obama touched down [in Las Vegas, Nevada] Friday night to help bail out Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D), an ally now locked in a dead heat with a heroine of the tea party movement." C-SPAN has the video; President Obama begins speaking about 15 min. in.

San Francisco Chronicle: "President Obama starred Friday at the largest political rally of California's 2010 election season [at USC's Alumni Park], imploring a raucous crowd of 32,000 to vote and telling them, 'You have the chance to set the direction of this state, and this country - just like you did in 2008.'" C-SPAN has the video; the President comes on stage about 10:15 min. in.

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