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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The Conversation -- June 9, 2024

Nadeen Ebrahim of CNN: Israeli war cabinet member Benny Gantz has resigned from Benjamin Netanyahu's government, delivering a blow to the prime minister who has been celebrating the rare rescue of hostages held in Gaza. 'Netanyahu prevents us from moving forward to a real victory [in Gaza],' Gantz said in a televised statement Sunday in which he described leaving the government as a 'complex and painful' decision.... He accused Netanyahu of putting his own personal political considerations ahead of a post-war strategy for the Gaza Strip, claiming that 'fateful strategic decisions are met with hesitancy and procrastination due to political considerations,' and urged the prime minister to hold an election in the coming months."

Notorious Crime Boss Donnie Short-Fingers Has Probation Hearing Monday. Adam Reiss, et al., of NBC News: "Former President Trump is scheduled to sit for a virtual interview on Monday with a New York City probation officer from his home at Mar-a-Lago with his attorney Todd Blanche at his side.... The probation interview is required by the court as part of the former president's pre-sentencing report. Judge Juan Merchan, who is presiding over the hush money case, permitted Blanche to be present for the probation interview after prosecutors did not object.... Martin Horn, former commissioner of the New York City Department of Corrections and Probation..., noted that the typical purpose of a probation interview is to obtain information on Trump's social and criminal history, financial resources, history of mental health, physical or addiction issues as well as to assess his living situation. Trump could also be asked if he is associating with anyone with a criminal record because he cannot associate with them if he is placed on probation, Horn said." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I suppose this will be the first time in history that the answer to, "Do you associate with known criminals?" will be, "Almost everyone I know is a criminal, but then I pardoned them all." Of course there's still Steve Bannon, Peter Navarro, Ken Chesebro, Jenna Ellis, et. al, whose most recent crimes Trump couldn't pardon since he lost his pardoning privileges.

Bad News in France. Roger Cohen & Aurelien Breeden of the New York Times: "President Emmanuel Macron of France, battered by a crushing defeat to the extreme right in European elections, dissolved the lower house of Parliament on Sunday and called for legislative elections beginning on June 30. His decision, announced in a television broadcast to the nation, was a measure of the devastating nature of the European Parliament election result, which gave the National Rally, led by Marine Le Pen and her wildly popular protégé, Jordan Bardella, about 31.5 percent of the vote, to about 15.2 percent for Mr. Macron's Renaissance party. It became the leading party in France by some distance. 'The rise of nationalists and demagogues is a danger for our nation and for Europe,' Mr. Macron said. 'After this day I cannot go on as though nothing has happened.'"Politico's story is here.

Bad News All Over Europe. Matina Stevis-Gridneff of the New York Times: “Elections in 27 countries for the European Parliament ended on Sunday with early projections giving far-right parties a strong showing, a result that, if confirmed, would amount to a powerful gauge of voter dissatisfaction and a stinging rebuke for the political mainstream.... The results are likely to make it harder for the European Parliament to form majorities to pass laws, and would render negotiations over divisive issues even tougher. More broadly, they underscored that the momentum of the far-right forces that have been expanding their challenge to centrists over the past decade had yet to crest." Politico's story is here. ~~~

~~~ CNN's live updates of developments in the European elections are here.

Biden Pays Respects to Soldiers Trump Called "Suckers" & "Losers" Toluse Olorunnipa, et al., of the Washington Post: "President Biden visited an American cemetery in France on Sunday, a somber setting that allowed him to pay his respects to fallen soldiers while reminding voters of one of the most controversial moments of Donald Trump's presidency. Biden's stop at the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery -- a site Trump skipped during a 2018 trip after reportedly calling those buried there 'suckers' and 'losers' -- capped a five-day trip to France in which the president did not say his predecessor's name in public but nonetheless sought to make clear the sharp differences that exist between the two men and their presidencies.... The visit was part of a mounting effort by Biden and his campaign to resurface the worst memories of Trump's turbulent four years in office -- a push that has run squarely into a phenomenon pollsters have branded 'Trump amnesia.'"

~~~~~~~~~~

Marie: The most stunning thing to me about the D-Day memorials this past week was how willing, how eager even, millions of Americans are to give it all away, to reject democratic ideals and to adopt a fascist-type government where only the few have individual rights, and even they could lose those rights at the whim of a dictator.

Roger Cohen of the New York Times: "Beneath the crystal chandeliers of the gilded reception hall of the Élysée Palace..., President Emmanuel Macron of France hosted President Biden on Saturday night at a state dinner intended to celebrate a very old alliance and demonstrate that the bond is greater than its intermittent frictions.... Under ... Macron, 'culinary diplomacy' is back on the menu, with a lavish dinner fortifying an old alliance at a tense historical moment."

Presidential Race

If you're 60 years old, 69.1% of all job growth since your birth occurred under Democratic administrations. If you're 45 years old, that number is 74.7%. If you're under 30 years old, the number is 100%. -- Democratic Coalition

I'm not 100% sure this is true, but the post includes a Bureau of Labor Stats chart that, assuming it has not been altered, sure makes the assertion look true. If I'm wrong, please correct me. -- Marie

Jazmine Ulloa of the New York Times: "In one of her first campaign appearances since ... Donald J. Trump was convicted of falsifying business records, Vice President Kamala Harris sharply criticized him on Saturday.... 'Simply put, Donald Trump thinks he is above the law,' she said [in Detroit]. 'This should be disqualifying for anyone who wants to be president of the United States.'... Ms. Harris, the former top prosecutor of California, accused Mr. Trump of attacking 'the foundations of our justice system.' She said that the former president was convicted by a jury of 12 Americans who were selected in part by his defense team, and that his lawyers had a chance to present their side of the evidence. 'You know why he complains? Because the reality is cheaters don't like getting caught,' she said." The Vice President also addressed the war in Gaza in her remarks. When a protester interrupted her, "Ms. Harris's response was stern: 'I value and respect your voice, but I’m speaking right now.'"

David Smith of the Guardian: "Democrats will target Donald Trump's first full-scale campaign rally since his criminal trial with a billboard that brands him 'a convicted white-collar crook'. The ad, paid for by the Democratic National Committee (DNC), is the latest indication that the party is ready to become more aggressive in capitalising on last month's guilty verdict.... 'Trump was a disaster for Nevada's economy,' says the billboard, which will be displayed in Las Vegas, where Trump is due to speak on Sunday. 'Now he's back. A convicted white-collar crook. Coddling billionaires, leaving workers behind.'" (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Michael Gold of the New York Times: "This week, with ... Donald J. Trump holding campaign events in the Southwest, his team is grappling with an extreme heat wave that has threatened the health of some of his most ardent fans. On Thursday, Mr. Trump went to Phoenix for a campaign event at a megachurch, where hopeful attendees waited for hours to enter as the temperature climbed above 110 degrees. The heat was so scorching that some of those waiting collapsed, and 11 people were taken to hospitals to be treated for heat exhaustion. The Trump campaign is taking steps to avoid similar circumstances on Sunday, when Mr. Trump is scheduled to speak at an outdoor rally at noon at a park in Las Vegas. Forecasts expect the temperature to be around 105 degrees.... Periods of extreme heat have grown more frequent, longer and more intense as climate change has warmed the planet. Mr. Trump has downplayed the threat of climate change...."

American Doomsday Scenario. Charlie Savage, Jonathan Swan & Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "If Trump Wins.... Here are some of his plans for cracking down on immigration, directing the Justice Department to prosecute his adversaries, increasing presidential power, upending America's trade policies, retreating militarily from Europe and unilaterally deploying troops to Democratic-run cities." ~~~

~~~ Trump's Plan to Raise Prices. Charlie Savage, et al., of the New York Times: "... Donald J. Trump routinely blames President Biden for higher prices ... and promises to 'fix it.' But ... several of his policies ... would instead put new upward pressure on prices, according to interviews with half a dozen economists. Mr. Trump says he plans the 'largest domestic deportation in American history,' which would most likely increase the cost of labor. He intends to impose a new tariff on nearly all imported goods, which would probably raise their prices and those of any domestic-made competitors. And he not only wants to make permanent the entire deficit-financed tax cut law he and congressional Republicans enacted in 2017, but also to add some kind of new 'big tax cut' for individuals and businesses, which would stimulate an economy already at full employment."

Beth Reinhard of the Washington Post: "A battle-tested D.C. bureaucrat and self-described Christian nationalist is drawing up detailed plans for a sweeping expansion of presidential power in a second Trump administration. Russ Vought, who served as the former president's budget chief, calls his political strategy for razing long-standing guardrails 'radical constitutionalism.' He has helped craft proposals for Donald Trump to deploy the military to quash civil unrest, seize more control over the Justice Department and assert the power to withhold congressional appropriations -- and that's just on Trump's first day back in office. Vought, 48, is poised to steer this agenda from an influential perch in the White House, potentially as Trump's chief of staff.... Vought aims to harness what he calls the 'woke and weaponized' bureaucracy that stymied the former president by stocking federal agencies with hardcore disciples who would wage culture wars on abortion and immigration." (Also linked yesterday.)


Robert Jimison of the New York Times: 'The House Ethics Committee has begu reviewing Representative Nancy Mace's use of a reimbursement program for lodging and other expenses of Congress members working in Washington.... Following a complaint, lawmakers are being asked to look into whether Ms. Mace, Republican of South Carolina, overcharged the program thousands of dollars for expenses related to her Washington townhouse.... According to the latest report by the Committee on House Administration, Ms. Mace was repaid more than $23,000 in lodging costs in 2023. Documents reviewed by The New York Times showed that amount included expenses for insurance, taxes and other monthly bills related to her townhouse.... But according to the deed of her home and a person familiar with Ms Mace's personal expenses, she is a partial owner of the home with her former fiancé, and would not be permitted to seek repayment for the full costs associated with the shared home."

~~~~~~~~~

Texas. Matthew Choi of the Texas Tribune: "U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar's corruption trial will take place next year after Election Day, according to a court order Friday. The Laredo Democrat was indicted last month on charges of bribery, money laundering and illegally working on behalf of the Azerbaijani government. His trial was scheduled to kick off in July, but now will not begin until spring 2025.... Jury selection is scheduled to begin March 31, 2025. Both federal prosecutors and Cuellar's team asked to delay the trial. Judge Lee Rosenthal, a seasoned judge appointed by President George H.W. Bush, approved their request. The trial will take place in federal court in Houston."

~~~~~~~~~<

Israel/Palestine, et al.

Benjamin Brown, et al., of CNN: "Four hostages have been freed in a special operation in the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza, Israel's military says, as Palestinian officials reported more than 100 people killed in strikes in the same area. Noa Argamani, Almog Meir Jan, Andrey Kozlov, and Shlomi Ziv, were rescued by the Israeli military, intelligence and special forces from two separate locations in Nuseirat, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said Saturday. All four were kidnapped from the Nova music festival on October 7, according to the IDF.” (Also linked yesterday.) The New York Times story is here. MB: Despite the upbeat nature of these stories, this is not a happy hostage rescue story, IMO. As many as 200 Palestinians were killed and many more were wounded. ~~~

~~~ The Washington Post's headline is more realistic: "At least 236 Palestinians killed during Israeli raid to rescue 4 hostages." The Post's live updates of developments Sunday are here: "The death toll from an Israeli raid on the Nuseirat refugee camp has risen to 236 Palestinians, Gazan health officials said Sunday. Israel's Saturday raid, one of the bloodiest in the war, on the central Gazan camp freed four hostages. Visuals from Gaza showed roads strewn with debris and grievously wounded Palestinians, some without limbs.... Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas instructed his U.N. representative to request an emergency meeting of the Security Council over the deadly raid on Nuseirat, the Palestinian U.N. mission said on X, adding that Abbas has been in contact with Arab and international stakeholders." ~~~

     ~~~ Another WashPo headline is more jarring: "For Israel, a rare day of joy among bloodshed."

Comments Off

Reader Comments (7)

Just wondering…

Way out west, where treason lovers wait in line for hours in scorching heat brought on by a phenomenon they don’t believe in, to listen to a doddering idiot rant, rave, and lie about his loserdom and how he’s a-gonna get him some revenge… have local PoT apparatchiks passed laws making it illegal for anyone to bring them water while they wait?

No?

Hmmm…funny how that works.

June 9, 2024 | Unregistered CommenterAkhilleus

Marie wrote:

“The most stunning thing to me about the D-Day memorials this past week was how willing, how eager even, millions of Americans are to give it all away, to reject democratic ideals and to adopt a fascist-type government where only the few have individual rights, and even they could lose those rights at the whim of a dictator”

Somewhere the shade of Hitler is thinking “ Scheiße! I could have conquered America with this dummkopf? And here I went to all that trouble of starting a war!? At least he’s a good Nazi. And I see the best friend of a Supreme Court Justice owns a copy of my book. Wunderbar! Eva, kommen Sie hier! Look. I win after all! And this schwachsinnige Trump did it for me.”

June 9, 2024 | Unregistered CommenterAkhilleus

"How eager millions of Americans are to give it all away (democratic
ideals).
Millions of Americans have never read a book. They have no idea
what went down in Europe over eighty years ago.
I think Hitler's motto should have been "win them over with kindness,
then screw them over with bayonets."

June 9, 2024 | Unregistered CommenterForrestMorris"

Forrest: that is a scary thing to contemplate, that millions have never read a book...but millions have seen war movies-- surely they know SOMETHING...I agree that there are holocaust deniers too-- and that millions are just plain undereducated and simply too stupid to think about ideas and concepts, and they are all relying on the "experts" like this guy bent on destroying democracy.

RAS-- We at RC have been complaining about the MSM headlines now for years. I suspect some of those headline writers are amongst the millions who haven't read a book. English as a language is given no importance anymore. Many publications, including the one I gave 23 years to, are not after truth, education, grammar or ease of providing context and accuracy with regard to the pieces below the clickbait headlines. Proofreaders and editors have very few jobs, really. As a proofer, I started out thinking the clients whose ads we were providing as coupons would want accuracy and understanding of the headlines. As I continued, bit by bit, we were to leave some of the things we read or saw that needed correction, because the clients did not care. Even punctuation, which is a need for understanding a phrase or sentence, fell under the knife. I can't speak to "bothsidesing" of everything these days, but accuracy is still a real blindspot. It's no wonder that linguistic idiots are reading lies-- they really can't read and the publications don't care. UGH.

June 9, 2024 | Unregistered CommenterJeanne

Jeanne,

I don’t think it’s that millions aren’t reading at all. The difference is what they’re reading. For the most part, books, at least those published by reputable publishers (ie, not obviously highly ideological operations whose primary goal is to push propaganda, eg, Regnery and other right-wing shills who publish stuff by people like Dinesh D’Souza and other pro-authoritarian fascists) have to go through (or should) a certain amount of editorial oversight and fact checking. That’s not to say that even reputable publishers will go out of their way to correct bullshit by big name liars…

But internet trolls and people pushing their lies on X and Facebook (or Meta, or whatever it’s called now) and those using other online outlets have zero oversight and less accountability.

If you get your “news” from X or Instagram, it’s likely to be highly edited videos of Biden tripping while walking down a ramp, and heroic imagery of Fatty with all the mistakes and garbled word salad edited out.

If these people are reading anything on corporate media sites, they’re skimming headlines, which makes the bullshit Both Sides ledes so dangerous. Sites like the Times routinely play up perceived Biden gaffes and play down or never even mention the worst Trump crap, like his repeated promises for revenge.

Plus books take time. The best non-fiction books are well written with a base of solid, corroborated research behind their conclusions. But books also require critical thought. An internet headline like “Trump screwed by rigged trial ordered by Biden! Aieee! Revolution! Kill!” does not.

Plenty of idiots read, but this is the sort of stuff they seek out. Thinking not required. Only loaded weapons and overloaded minds.

June 9, 2024 | Unregistered CommenterAkhilleus
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