REALITYCHEX.COM - Constant Comments - The Conversation -- March 24, 2024

The Ledes

Thursday, July 3, 2025

CNBC: “Job growth proved better than expected in June, as the labor market showed surprising resilience and likely taking a July interest rate cut off the table. Nonfarm payrolls increased a seasonally adjusted 147,000 for the month, higher than the estimate for 110,000 and just above the upwardly revised 144,000 in May, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Thursday. April’s tally also saw a small upward revision, now at 158,000 following an 11,000 increase.... Though the jobless rates fell [to 4.1%], it was due largely to a decrease in those working or looking for jobs.”

Washington Post: “A warehouse storing fireworks in Northern California exploded on Tuesday, leaving seven people missing and two injured as explosions continued into Wednesday evening, officials said. Dramatic video footage captured by KCRA 3 News, a Sacramento broadcaster, showed smoke pouring from the building’s roof before a massive explosion created a fireball that seemed to engulf much of the warehouse, accompanied by an echoing boom. Hundreds of fireworks appeared to be going off and were sparkling within the smoke. Photos of the aftermath showed multiple destroyed buildings and a large area covered in gray ash.” ~~~

The Wires

The Ledes

Wednesday, July 2, 2025

New York Times: “The Rev. Jimmy Swaggart, who emerged from the backwoods of Louisiana to become a television evangelist with global reach, preaching about an eternal struggle between good and evil and warning of the temptations of the flesh, a theme that played out in his own life in a sex scandal, died on July 1. He was 90.” ~~~

~~~ For another sort of obituary, see Akhilleus' commentary near the end of yesterday's thread.

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New York Times: “The New York Times Company has agreed to license its editorial content to Amazon for use in the tech giant’s artificial intelligence platforms, the company said on Thursday. The multiyear agreement 'will bring Times editorial content to a variety of Amazon customer experiences,' the news organization said in a statement. Besides news articles, the agreement encompasses material from NYT Cooking, The Times’s food and recipe site, and The Athletic, which focuses on sports. This is The Times’s first licensing arrangement with a focus on generative A.I. technology. In 2023, The Times sued OpenAI and its partner, Microsoft, for copyright infringement, accusing the tech companies of using millions of articles published by The Times to train automated chatbots without any kind of compensation. OpenAI and Microsoft have rejected those accusations.” ~~~

~~~ Marie: I have no idea what this means for "the Amazon customer experience." Does it mean that if I don't have a NYT subscription but do have Amazon Prime I can read NYT content? And where, exactly, would I find that content? I don't know. I don't know.

Washington Post reporters asked three AI image generators what a beautiful woman looks like. "The Post found that they steer users toward a startlingly narrow vision of attractiveness. Prompted to show a 'beautiful woman,' all three tools generated thin women, without exception.... Her body looks like Barbie — slim hips, impossible waist, round breasts.... Just 2 percent of the images showed visible signs of aging. More than a third of the images had medium skin tones. But only nine percent had dark skin tones. Asked to show 'normal women,' the tools produced images that remained overwhelmingly thin.... However bias originates, The Post’s analysis found that popular image tools struggle to render realistic images of women outside the Western ideal." ~~~

~~~ Marie: The reporters seem to think they are calling out the AI programs for being unrealistic. But there's a lot about the "beautiful women" images they miss. I find these omissions remarkably sexist. For one thing, the reporters seem to think AI is a magical "thing" that self-generates. It isn't. It's programmed. It's programmed by boys, many of them incels who have little or no experience or insights beyond comic books and Internet porn of how to gauge female "beauty." As a result, the AI-generated women look like cartoons; that is, a lot like an air-brushed photo of Kristi Noem: globs of every kind of dark eye makeup, Scandinavian nose, Botox lips, slathered-on skin concealer/toner/etc. makeup, long dark hair and the aforementioned impossible Barbie body shape, including huge, round plastic breasts.

New York Times: “George Clooney’s Broadway debut, 'Good Night, and Good Luck,' has been one of the sensations of the 2024-25 theater season, breaking box office records and drawing packed houses of audiences eager to see the popular movie star in a timely drama about the importance of an independent press. Now the play will become much more widely available: CNN is planning a live broadcast of the penultimate performance, on June 7 at 7 p.m. Eastern. The performance will be preceded and followed by coverage of, and discussion about, the show and the state of journalism.”

No free man shall be seized or imprisoned, or stripped of his rights or possessions, or outlawed or exiled, or deprived of his standing in any other way, nor will we proceed with force against him, or send others to do so, except by the lawful judgment of his equals or by the law of the land. -- Magna Carta ~~~

~~~ New York Times: “Bought for $27.50 after World War II, the faint, water stained manuscript in the library of Harvard Law School had attracted relatively little attention since it arrived there in 1946. That is about to change. Two British academics, one of whom happened on the manuscript by chance, have discovered that it is an original 1300 version — not a copy, as long thought — of Magna Carta, the medieval document that helped establish some of the world’s most cherished liberties. It is one of just seven such documents from that date still in existence.... A 710-year-old version of Magna Carta was sold in 2007 for $21.3 million.... First issued in 1215, it put into writing a set of concessions won by rebellious barons from a recalcitrant King John of England — or Bad King John, as he became known in folklore. He later revoked the charter, but his son, Henry III, issued amended versions, the last one in 1225, and Henry’s son, Edward I, in turn confirmed the 1225 version in 1297 and again in 1300.”

Page Links

Saturday

Mar232024

The Conversation -- March 24, 2024

Marie: Not sure how much I'll be doing today. We had five inches of snow Saturday morning, and my power has been out for hours. When I saw a truck go by on my road, I was hoping it was the power company, but it was the snow plow because it had snowed again Saturday evening. Then I saw that there was a live power line draped across the railings on my front steps and all the way across my front yard. So I won't be going anywhere since I'm in veritable prison lockdown; however, my generator may run out of power.

Aishvarya Kavi of the New York Times: "President Bidensigned a $1.2 trillion spending package on Saturday, putting an end to the prospect of a government shutdown after the legislation passed a rushed series of congressional votes with bipartisan support and landed on his desk just after 2 a.m." (Also linked yesterday.)

Michael Shear of the New York Times: "Vice President Kamala Harris on Saturday toured the still-bloody and bullet-pocked classroom building in Parkland, Fla., where a gunman killed 14 students and three staff members in 2018, using the grim backdrop to announce a new federal resource center and to call for stricter enforcement of gun laws.... 'This school is soon going to be torn down,' the vice president [said]. 'But the memory of it will never be erased.' Ms. Harris said the attack, carried out by a former student with a history of mental health and behavior problems, should prompt officials around the country to embrace local red-flag laws.... In her remarks, Ms. Harris announced the creation of the National Extreme Risk Protection Order Resource Center, which White House officials said would provide training and technical assistance to states as they work to implement their red-flag laws."

Marianne Levine, et al., of the Washington Post: Donald Trump has aligned "himself with Jan. 6 rioters, as he intensifies his use of dark, graphic and at times violent language.... Until November, he called the Jan. 6 defendants ... 'political prisoners' before introducing the term 'hostages,' according to a Washington Post analysis of his speeches this campaign cycle.... [A Washington Post] analysis [of his speeches] also showed an uptick in his references to Jan. 6 defendants, as well as the word 'criminals,' which Trump has used to describe prosecutors, political opponents, the press and undocumented immigrants. The escalation overlaps with his own mounting legal jeopardy....' (Also linked yesterday.)

Dareh Gregorian of NBC News: "Donald Trump's social media company could go public as soon as next week, paving the way for a potentially huge windfall for a former president who raked in tens of millions of dollars the last time one of his companies was listed on a stock exchange. That previous, decades-ago experience, however, did not end well for the company or its investors. While a 2016 Washington Post review found that Trump made over $44 million, the company -- Trump Hotels and Casino Resorts -- lost more than $1 billion and ended up in bankruptcy.... Trump, who was the company's chairman and later CEO, continued making millions of dollars a year in salary and bonuses despite the heavy losses [the company was experiencing under his direction]." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Marie: I'm no market guru, but my sense is that if Trump ran into the ground a business that is normally a cash cow, "Truth Social" -- a knockoff social media site in which the only "asset" is Trump tweets -- is worth about 50 cents.

David McAfee of the Raw Story: "MSNBC reportedly has no plans to use Donald Trump's close ally, Ronna McDaniel, on its airwaves.... According to a new exclusive article from The Wall Street Journal, the president of MSNBC [Rashida Jones] isn't interested in ever using her.... 'A number of MSNBC anchors and producers have voiced concern internally about McDaniel's ties to ... Donald Trump and the RNC's role in his efforts to challenge the 2020 election results,' [the Journal reported]."

~~~~~~~~~~

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Reader Comments (7)

Yeah, 5" of heavy, wet snow with some rain in between to coat the branches with ice. Stay safe!

March 24, 2024 |

NiskyGuy

I heard someone on MSNBC refer to Trump's Truth social stock as monopoly money. They one million in revenue last year and spent 26 million. There is no way the company is worth all those billions unless it is being used to launder bribes to Trump.

March 24, 2024 |

RAS

Politico

"What happens when an AG dares to investigate Leonard Leo’s network
Brian Schwalb’s probe followed a complaint that nonprofit groups associated with the judicial activist violated their tax status.

Allies of Leonard Leo have mounted a monthslong offensive against the man investigating the judicial activist’s network: Washington, D.C., Attorney General Brian Schwalb.

Since news of the probe broke last August, the GOP chairs of powerful congressional committees launched their own investigation of Schwalb’s investigation; conservative media wrote articles criticizing Schwalb on unrelated crime issues — based on a social media post from a top Leo lieutenant; and a group of his Republican law enforcement peers sent letters warning Schwalb to stand down.

“Once the dam breaks, we and our successors will be under intense pressure to investigate the inner workings of every abortion advocacy group, every immigration advocacy group, every environmental advocacy group,” the Republican attorneys general warned. “We can only stop it if each of us conscientiously stays in his or her lane.”

In December, the House chairs then threatened to subpoena Schwalb. One day later, Concord Fund [one of the Leo network’s primary nonprofits] made a $250,000 contribution — its first to a federal political action committee in nearly nine years — to a fundraising group allied with House GOP leadership, according to Federal Elections Commission disclosures."

March 24, 2024 |

RAS

If you have 50 minutes, instead of watching a re-run of "Murder She Wrote". catch Congressman Jamie Raskin (D-MD-8) delivering a very entertaining and informative talk debunking NRA/GOP/MAGA claims that the US Constitution (2nd Amendment) confers the right to engage in insurrection, and therefore the right to obtain arms sufficient to prevail in such a revolt.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JIAf0kBE-MY

March 24, 2024 |

Patrick

My best wishes to Marie, too. Hard to picture snow. We've had recent rain, but today only early morning fog and now clouds, some sun, and 49 degrees.

Weather isn't fair either.

Agree that Truth Social ain't worth much. Unless the Pretender starts charging his followers for access to his nutty rants, the network will have to rely on advertisers, and only a few will find his audience, but for his core group of crazies, likely to shell out for their products.

March 24, 2024 |

Ken Winkes

Dear Marie

Thank you for all your continued hard work, you are amazing!

I admire your very calm approach to what must be a very nerve wracking situation. I hope the power company will be there soon.

Maybe you already have and would it help to call your local fire and police stations to alert them to this very dangerous event, maybe they could help you and they might expedite a response or at least put some safety measures in place to keep you safe.

Please stay safe sounds so inadequate, like thoughts and prayers not much but all I have to offer up right now and I do.

March 24, 2024 |

Julia

Marie,

See any MAGA nuts outside your house? They may be responsible for your downed power line. Although maybe not. If a Trumpty Sumphead did it you’d see the body, since they’d try to bite through the cable. Insulation is a deep state conspiracy! Live free or fry.

Anyhoo, hope your ‘lectricity is back soon. We await the powering up of the mother ship.

March 24, 2024 |

Akhilleus

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