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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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Tuesday
Dec262023

The Conversation -- December 26, 2023

Colleen Slevin of the AP: "Police said Tuesday they are investigating incidents directed at Colorado Supreme Court justices and providing extra patrols around their homes in Denver following the court's decision to remove ... Donald Trump from the state's presidential primary ballot.... The FBI said it is working with local law enforcement on the matter."

~~~~~~~~~~~

Several entries posted late this morning.

Helene Cooper of the New York Times: "The United States conducted a new round of airstrikes early on Tuesday in Iraq, most likely killing militants and destroying three facilities used by Iranian proxies that had been targeting American and coalition troops, U.S. officials said. The American strikes were in retaliation for a series of assaults, including a drone attack hours earlier by members of Kataib Hezbollah and affiliated groups on Erbil air base in Iraq, according to Adrienne Watson, a National Security Council spokeswoman. The drone attack injured three American service members, one of them critically, she said." ~~~

     ~~~ ABC News: "Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said the strikes were carried out at the direction of President Joe Biden and in response to attacks carried out by the groups against coalition forces in the region."

THEY SPIED ON MY CAMPAIGN, LIED TO CONGRESS, CHEATED ON FISA, RIGGED A PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION, ALLOWED MILLIONS OF PEOPLE, MANY FROM PRISONS & MENTAL INSTITUTIONS, TO INVADE OUR COUNTRY, SCREWED UP IN AFGHANISTAN, & JOE BIDEN'S MISFITS & THUGS, LIKE DERANGED JACK SMITH, ARE COMING AFTER ME, AT LEVELS OF PERSECUTION NEVER SEEN BEFORE IN OUR COUNTRY??? IT'S CALLED ELECTION INTERFERENCE. MERRY CHRISTMAS! -- Donald Trump's Christmas Eve message ~~~

So forget that "peace on earth, goodwill to men" crap. -- Marie ~~~

~~~ Still Crazy. Stephen Collinson of CNN: Donald Trump "unleashed an online torrent of fury and bitterness, largely over his legal plights, spanning Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, previewing the discord and personal obsessions he will inflict on the nation in a pivotal election year in 2024. Trump raged at President Joe Biden and special counsel Jack Smith, making expansive and false claims that his attempts to stay in power after losing the 2020 election represented a vital defense of American democracy and were thus perfectly legal. In a tide of invective in block capitals on his Truth Social network, Trump escalated extreme rhetoric on immigration that has drawn comparisons to Nazi demagoguery in the 1940s and reprised his view of unlimited presidential power that has critics fearing autocracy if he wins the next election.... And his tirades, at a time when Americans who celebrate Christmas gathered with loved ones and sought a moment of peace, hint at a furious state of mind and extreme denialism."

Presidential Race 2024. Jonathan Swan, et al., of the New York Times: "Since beginning his 2024 presidential campaign, Donald J. Trump has said the 'termination; of the Constitution would have been justified to overturn the 2020 election, told followers 'I am your retribution' and vowed to use the Justice Department to prosecute his adversaries -- starting with President Biden and his family. Beneath these public threats is a series of plans by Mr. Trump and his allies that would upend core elements of American governance, democracy, foreign policy and the rule of law if he regains the White House."

~~~~~~~~~~

Israel/Palestine. The Washington Post's live updates of developments Tuesday in the Israel/Hamas war are here: "The World Health Organization said it is concerned about 'unbearable' strain on the few hospitals that remain open in Gaza as Israel steps up strikes on Hamas. At least three areas in central Gaza were hit this weekend, including the Maghazi refugee camp, where at least 80 people were killed on a residential block, the director of a nearby hospital said.... An airstrike killed an Iranian commander in Syria on Monday, according to the state-run Islamic Republic News Agency. Brig. Gen. Seyed Razi Mousavi, a senior adviser to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, was killed outside Damascus. The Revolutionary Guard Corps attributed the strike to the Israeli military, which declined to comment." ~~~

     ~~~ The New York Times' live updates for Tuesday are here. CNN's live updates are here.

Russia. Ivan Nechepurenko & Anton Troianovski of the New York Times: "The Russian opposition leader Aleksei A. Navalny has been moved to a remote Arctic prison and 'is doing well,' his spokeswoman said on Monday, ending a 20-day mystery over his whereabouts that had many supporters fearing the worst. 'We have found Aleksei,' the spokeswoman, Kira Yarmysh, said on social media. 'His lawyer saw him today.' Ms. Yarmysh's announcement marked the end of a frantic search through Russia's vast prison system for Mr. Navalny, who disappeared on Dec. 5. Mr. Navalny's exiled allies said that they had found him in the remote penal colony in the Arctic after sending more than 600 requests to prisons and other government agencies." ~~~

     ~~~ Update. Ivan Nechepurenko of the New York Times: "Aleksei A. Navalny, Russia's most prominent opposition leader, published a letter on Tuesday describing an arduous transfer to his new penal colony in the Arctic.... Mr. Navalny's comments, posted on his social network accounts and written with a heavy dose of irony and humor, highlighted his good spirits and seemed intended to assuage concerns among allies who had grown anxious about his health and status since his sudden disappearance from the public eye on Dec. 5."

Ukraine, et al.

Constant Méheut of the New York Times: "The Ukrainian military said on Monday that it had shot down five Russian fighter jets in three days, one of the biggest weekly losses for the Russian air force since the war began and a rare bright spot for Ukraine, whose forces have faced setbacks since its failed monthslong counteroffensive this year. But the news could be offset if Russia's claim that it had seized full control of the eastern town of Marinka is true. Russian forces have gradually advanced over months of battle against Ukrainian troops there, but Ukraine denied that the town was entirely under Russian control.... Early Tuesday morning, Ukraine's Air Force claimed another victory, saying it had destroyed a Russian ship, the Novocherkassk. The account could not be independently verified. Sergey Aksyonov, the Russia-installed head of Crimea, said that Ukrainian forces had attacked the Crimean Black Sea town of Feodosia, starting a fire in its port." A related CNN story is here.

Andrew Kramer of the New York Times: "Of Ukraine's many Western-oriented changes, put in place bit by bit since independence and accelerated during the war, one brought special joy this year: Christmas came early. After centuries of marking the holiday on Jan. 7 under the Julian church calendar, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church this year formally switched to celebrating on Dec. 25 with most of the rest of Europe -- and pointedly not with Russia." MB: Now all they need are weeks of Christmas special sales beginning in November and some tinsel trees.

U.K. Karla Adam of the Washington Post: "King Charles III's annual festive address saw the British monarch posing next to a replantable tree festooned with dried oranges while delivering a message that acknowledged the 'growing awareness' of the need to protect the planet. The monarch's Christmas message has long been a fixture in Britain -- like wearing silly Christmas sweaters or colored paper hats. The speeches are uncontentious -- and this year's was no exception. But it's also one of the few times the monarch delivers a speech they write themselves, without government guidance, meaning royal watchers pay close attention. The address is normally viewed by millions in Britain and Commonwealth countries." ~~~

~~~ Stephen Fry's Alternative Christmas Message: "I am a Jew":

Vatican. Nicole Winfield of the AP: "Pope Francis on Monday blasted the weapons industry and its 'instruments of death' that fuel wars as he made a Christmas Day appeal for peace in the world and in particular between Israel and the Palestinians. Speaking from the loggia of St. Peter's Basilica to the throngs of people below, Francis said he grieved the 'abominable attack' of Hamas against southern Israel on Oct. 7 and called for the release of hostages. And he begged for an end to Israel's military campaign in Gaza and the 'appalling harvest of innocent civilians' as he called for humanitarian aid to reach those in need. Francis devoted his Christmas Day blessing to a call for peace in the world, noting that the biblical story of the birth of Christ in Bethlehem sent a message of peace. But he said that Bethlehem 'is a place of sorrow and silence' this year."

Joe & Jill Biden read "A Visit from St. Nicholas":

Some excellent comments in yesterday's thread. As I read them, my droll little mouth was drawn up like a bow. Ho ho ho.

News Lede

New York Times:"Despite lingering inflation, Americans increased their spending this holiday season, early data shows.... Retail sales increased 3.1 percent from Nov. 1 to Dec. 24 compared with the same period a year earlier, according to data from Mastercard SpendingPulse...."

Comments Off

Reader Comments (6)

Happy Boxing Day to all. As I understand it, today is when the
rich and powerful box up all those Christmas gifts that they don't
like and hand them down to the slaves, or peons, or workers.

Wonder what I'll be getting today.

December 26, 2023 | Unregistered CommenterForrestMorris

Just read the Christmas message that the former president* posted
on his Truth Social networky thing.
He hopes that all supporters of "electric car lunacy" would "ROT IN
HELL." Lots of other wishes thrown in, none positive.
Guess I'm one of those lunatics since I own a Hybrid, part gas and
part electric. Maybe I'm only half lunatic then.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/trump-wishes-electric-car-supporters-
215004894.html

December 26, 2023 | Unregistered CommenterForrestMorris

A glass more than half empty take on Ukraine.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/12/26/orban-ukraine-europe-threat-west-hungary/

Thought some of the comments interesting, particularly as they veered into the tribal interests that energize the European Right--and our own.

December 26, 2023 | Unregistered CommenterKen Winkes

Michael Cohen must follow RC.

December 26, 2023 | Unregistered Commenterunwashed

@unwashed: Thanks. I had no idea Chrismahanukwanzakah was a thing! I think those Christians & Jews & African Americans are trying to co-opt Festivus, not to mention Saturnalia & Yule. Oh, why can't they be more inclusive?

December 26, 2023 | Registered CommenterMarie Burns

Just read all comments December 24-26 and enjoyed them. Just had a Dump-free three days. I wish the same to all you lovely folk near and far! I treasure you all! Love and peace to this community. And thousands of thanks to our Queen, Marie. You’re the best.

December 26, 2023 | Unregistered CommenterJeanne
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