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.”

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

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

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

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

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

Click on photo to enlarge.

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

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

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

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

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

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Monday
Oct252010

The Commentariat -- October 25

It's the Economy, Stupid. Rick Hertzberg, of course, puts James Carville's dictum more elegantly: "President Obama and the Democrats kept the Great Recession from becoming a second Great Depression. But the presence of pain is more keenly felt than the absence of agony." ...

... HOWEVER, in case you've forgot the serious economic blunders the President made, Paul Krugman gently reminds you: "The real story of this election, then, is that of an economic policy that failed to deliver. Why? Because it was greatly inadequate to the task." ...

... AND when you see what the President has planned -- deficit reduction & foreign trade deals -- you won't feel any better. Sheryl Gay Stolberg of the New York Times: "After two years of operating at loggerheads with Republicans, Mr. Obama and his aides are planning a post-election agenda for a very different political climate." ...

... AND More Evidence of Stupid. Ben Feller of the AP: "Preparing for political life after a bruising election, President Barack Obama will put greater emphasis on fiscal discipline, a nod to a nation sick of spending and to a Congress poised to become more Republican, conservative and determined to stop him."

... BUT Finally Noticing the Price of Tea in China. Mark Landler & Sewell Chan of the New York Times: "The Obama administration, facing a vexed relationship with China on exchange rates, trade, and security issues, is stiffening its approach toward Beijing, seeking allies to confront a newly assertive power that officials now say has little intention of working with the United States.

"Disturbed and Ticked Off." Andy Barr of Politico: "Speaking at a rally for 28-term incumbent Rep. John Dingell (D-Mich.) Sunday, [President Bill] Clinton said argued 'right-wing rhetoric' against government spending does not accurately frame how Democrats have tried to aid a country still reeling from a recession, and showed frustration that the attacks against Democrats seems to have stuck":

I almost gag when I hear these Republicans lambasting the president and the Democrats in Congress, 'Oh, they're such big spenders, they're just crazy, they're quasi-socialist. I have a simple question: Who's the last president to give you a balanced budget? I like all this enthusiasm, but frankly there are a few things about this election that have gotten me somewhere between disturbed and ticked off."
-- President Bill Clinton

T. W. Farnam of the Washington Post: "Companies that received federal bailout money, including some that still owe money to the government, are giving to political candidates with vigor. Among companies with PACs, the 23 that received $1 billion or more in federal money through the Troubled Assets Relief Program gave a total of $1.4 million to candidates in September, up from $466,000 the month before. Most of those donations are going to Republican candidates, although the TARP program was approved primarily with Democratic support. President Obama expanded it to cover GM and other automakers." ...

... Ken Vogel of Politico: the Karl Rove-Ed Gillespie group American Crossroads initially promised to reveal their donors & be completely "transparent," but they did a 180 when they discovered it was way easier to milk secret donors. Their flip-flop resulted in a huge increase in donations. "Late last month, Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.) sent a letter to the IRS requesting an investigation into Crossroads GPS and two other big-spending GOP-allied non-profits with links to GPS, American Action Network and Americans for Job Security." ...

... BUT RNC Chair Michael Steele is "absolutely all for transparency." Of course one of the reasons Rove-Gillespie are in the money-hiding business is because so many Republican donors wanted nothing to do with Transparent Mike.

Profs. Barry Burden & Kenneth Mayer in a New York Times op-ed: early voting depresses turnout by several percentage points.... when early voting is combined with same-day registration — that is, you can register to vote and cast an early ballot on the same day — the depressive effect of early voting disappears."

"Radio Theater." Jesse Walker of Reason on Republican threats to defund National Public Radio over the Juan Williams incident: "These standoffs never end with public broadcasting getting defunded." (italics Walker's) ...

... ** AND Jim Fallows of The Atlantic on why NPR matters & why it is not the "liberal" antidote to Fox "News."

Glenn Greenwald whacks New York Times reporter John Burns & others in the media for their hit jobs on WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange: "The Iraq War is John Burns' war, and for the crime of making that war look bad, Julian Assange must have his character smeared and his psychiatric health maligned.... It's not hard to see why The New York Times, CNN and so many other establishment media outlets are eager to do that. Serving the Government's interests, siding with government and military officials, and attacking government critics is what they do.... That's what makes them the 'establishment media.'"

CW: I don't think I've ever linked to a letter to the editor, so this is a first. Former Rep. Richard Ottinger (D-NY) rebuts David Brooks' stupid assertion that money isn't an important factor in the electoral process. Needless to say, Brooks' column was not one I linked, so here it is, if you want to read stupidspeak.

He can take his endorsement and really shove it as far as I'm concerned. -- Frank Caprio on President Obama. Caprio is Rhode Island's Democratic gubernatorial nominee, but he is running against Obama supporter & former Republican, now Independent, Lincoln Chafee, & the President -- who is in Rhode Island today -- has declined to endorse. You can listen to the audio here.

     ... Pool Report: The White House sort of responds to Caprio's tasteful remark.

Edward Mason of the Boston Herald: Sean Bielat, Barney Frank's Republican opponent, says that gays are just like short people -- neither has a right to serve in the military. Mason observes, "Hmm. ... On the other hand, vertically challenged people are not forced to pretend they’re tall, then drummed out once it’s discovered they’re short in spite of their service record." ...

... CW: you know I couldn't help this:

I don't watch the news. -- Christine O'Donnell

God is the reason I am running. -- Christine O'Donnell

David Brody of the Christian Broadcasting Network interviews Delaware's Republican Senate nominee Christine O'Donnell. The transcript is here. Here's a nauseating clip:

CBS News: "Republican Senate candidate Joe Miller admitted on Sunday that he had been cited for an ethics violation in 2008, just a day after an Alaska judge ordered for the release of personnel records surrounding the incident.... Former Fairbanks North Star Borough mayor Jim Whitaker said earlier this month that Miller was nearly fired from the [Fairbanks North Star] Bureau -- where he worked as a part-time lawyer -- for using the computers in an attempt to oust Randy Ruedrich, head of the Alaska Republican Party, from his position." Miller has previously, & repeatedly, refused to answer questions about his "background."

Peter Wallsten of the Wall Street Journal: potential Republican candidates for President try to position themselves in relation to the tea party movement.

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