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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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Saturday
Sep092023

The Conversation -- September 10, 2023

Matt Viser & Meryl Kornfield of the Washington Post: "President Biden gathered with some of the world's top leaders Sunday morning at a memorial site [in New Delhi] for Mohandas K. Gandhi, one of history's foremost independence figures known for espousing nonviolent resistance, at a time when the world's richest nations are consumed by debate over Russia's ongoing invasion of Ukraine.... Afterward, Biden departed for Hanoi for a 24-hour stop aimed at upgrading the diplomatic relationship between Vietnam and the United States in a way that could continue reorienting parts of the Asia-Pacific region as a counterbalance to China. It will be the first time that Biden, who has visited dozens of nations and whose generation was engulfed by the Vietnam War, sets foot in the country."

A Declaration Signifying Nothing (or at Least Not Much). Katie Rogers of the New York Times: "A painstakingly negotiated declaration Saturday evening at the Group of 20 summit in New Delhi omitted any condemnation of Russia's invasion of Ukraine or its brutal conduct of the war, instead lamenting the 'suffering' of the Ukrainian people. It was an eye opening departure from a similar document agreed to less than a year ago in Bali, when leaders acknowledged different views over the invasion but still issued a strong condemnation of the Russian invasion and called on Moscow to withdraw its troops.... [President] Biden and his advisers focused on what the new declaration had achieved: It included new language on the issue of global debt and on overhauling institutions like the World Bank to address the growing strains on poorer countries; an invitation to the African Union to join the G20; and a push for more financing to help vulnerable nations deal with the costs of dealing with climate change. The declaration also underscored the potential of digital technologies to increase inclusion in global economies."

Ben Protess, et al., of the New York Times: "One day in June of last year..., Yuscil Taveras..., who ran Mar-a-Lago's technology department from a cramped work space in the [resort's] basement..., confided in an office mate that another colleague had just asked him, at [Donald] Trump's request, to delete the [security] footage that [federal] investigators were seeking.... Before long, the story had ricocheted around the grounds ... and up the chain of command at Trump Tower in Manhattan, prompting Mr. Taveras's superiors in New York to warn against deleting the tapes.... Looking to steer clear of the investigation..., , when he was summoned before a grand jury this spring, Mr. Taveras did not fully recount the incident. Only after prosecutors subsequently threatened to charge him for failing to tell all that he knew did Mr. Taveras shift course to become a potentially important witness in the case.... This account of Mr. Taveras's turnabout ... reveals new details of the critical ... he played in helping investigators develop evidence that Mr. Trump and two aides allegedly plotted to destroy security footage showing boxes of classified materials being shuttled in and out of a storage room at Mar-a-Lago." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I'm happy to report that this is a Trump mob story in which a character is named Matt the Squids Junior. All Trump Crime Family stories should have more characters with names like that. I mean, "Mark Meadows" and "Jeffrey Clark" are so plain-vanilla borrr-ing. Rudy the Ghoul & Kenny the Cheese are much more in keeping with what I had in mind.

Ryan Reilly of NBC News: "The man who federal authorities say set off a brutal battle with police at the lower west tunnel of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 was arrested Friday, nearly two years after he was identified by online sleuths. Gregory Mijares was identified by online 'Sedition Hunters' in 2021. An FBI affidavit said the bureau received a tip in October 2021, and then interviewed Mijares in March 2023. Mijares was arrested in Crown Point, Indiana, on Friday, according to court records, and charged with felony civil disorder along with two misdemeanor charges. Video footage shows Mijares was the first rioter to enter the Capitol through the lower west terrace doors on Jan. 6, 2021. The lower west terrace was the site of some of the worst violence at the Capitol that day. Several police officers sustained major injuries, and rioter Rosanne Boyland died amid the chaos.... Online sleuths were able to identify Mijares with the help of a photo posted by a journalist that shows him posing near the Capitol after the attack when he was not wearing his mask." MB: There's no indication in the story as to why it took authorities almost two years to arrest a guy who was believed to be such a prominent insurrectionist. P.S. Shouldn't the Sedition Hunters get some kind of award/reward for finding these perps?

A New Wrinkle in the Mystery of the 20th Century. Peter Baker of the New York Times: "Now, 60 years later, Paul Landis, one of the Secret Service agents just feet away from President John F. Kennedy on that fateful day in Dallas, is telling his story in full for the first time. And in at least one key respect, his account differs from the official version in a way that may change the understanding of what happened in Dealey Plaza.... Mr. Landis's account, included in a forthcoming memoir, would rewrite the narrative of one of modern American history's most earth-shattering days in an important way.... It could ... encourage those who have long suspected that there was more than one gunman in Dallas on Nov. 22, 1963, adding new grist to one of the nation's enduring mysteries.... [The single-bullet theory, embraced by the Warren Commission, rests on the assumption that] ... the bullet was found on a stretcher believed to have held [Texas Gov. John] Connally at Parkland Memorial Hospital.... But Mr. Landis, who was never interviewed by the Warren Commission, said that ... he was the one who found the bullet -- and he found it ... in the presidential limousine lodged in the back of the seat behind where Kennedy was sitting."

Elizabeth Spiers of the New York Times: "When Luis Rubiales, the president of Spain's soccer federation, faced global backlash for kissing Jenni Hermoso, a member of the Spanish team that won the Women's World Cup..., he executed a play that has proved to be a winner: He doubled down, insisting that he'd done nothing wrong, that it was mutual and that he was the victim of a 'witch hunt.'... There are ... many species of misogynists..., but Mr. Rubiales -- like Donald Trump, who did a similar maneuver when E. Jean Carroll accused him of rape -- represents a particularly insidious breed. These men cannot be shamed for their behavior..., because they fundamentally believe it is acceptable. They don't seem to understand that their victim is as human and complex as they are and has a will of her own. That's why they find it so hard to understand that anything short of rape can really be assault. 'He wasn't raping her,' Woody Allen recently said in Mr. Rubiales's dubious defense. 'It was just a kiss, and she was a friend. What's wrong with that?'"

Farhad Manjoo of the New York Times: "Wunderkind founders are revered [in Silicon Valley], [link fixed] growing old is considered a disease in need of a cure, and ageism is barely concealed. In 2007, a year before he became, at 23, the world's youngest self-made billionaire, [Mark] Zuckerberg said the quiet part out loud. 'Young people,' he told an audience at Stanford, 'are just smarter.' They arent, actually. The tech industry's hostility to aging 'continues to violate common sense,' Joseph Coughlin, the director of M.I.T.'s AgeLab, told me.... He said that companies in the auto industry, financial services, retail and other sectors are coming around to the emerging opportunities of the 'longevity economy,' the 1.6 billion people around the world who will be 65 or older by the year 2050. Silicon Valley remains a glaring exception." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I'll tell you who else suffers from ageism: whoever picked out the photo that accompanies this opinion piece: a scraggly-haired grizzled old man wearing a flannel shirt while sitting at a dated desktop computer in what looks like a dark & cluttered basement. The photo is insulting.

Maureen Dowd of the New York Times writes about her friendship with Jimmy Buffett. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~~~~~~~~

New Mexico. Morgan Lee of the AP: "New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham on Friday issued an emergency order suspending the right to carry firearms in public across Albuquerque and the surrounding county for at least 30 days in response to a spate of gun violence. The Democratic governor said she expects legal challenges but was compelled to act because of recent shootings, including the death of an 11-year-old boy outside a minor league baseball stadium this week. Lujan Grisham said state police would be responsible for enforcing what amount to civil violations. Albuquerque police Chief Harold Medina said he won't enforce it, and Bernalillo County Sheriff John Allen said he's uneasy about it because it raises too many questions about constitutional rights." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Might be a good idea if somebody told that sheriff-turned-Constitutional-scholar that there is no Second Amendment right to open carry.

Texas. Chuck Lindell of the Texas Tribune summarizes what-all happened this week at the state senate trial of suspended Texas attorney general Ken Paxton. (Also linked yesterday.)

News Lede

New York Times: "Rescuers in Morocco raced to reach remote areas in the mountains outside Marrakesh on Sunday after the worst earthquake to hit the area in a century flattened homes across central and southern parts of the country, killing more than 2,000 people. The extent of the damage and number of casualties after the magnitude-6.8 earthquake late Friday night remained unclear because the hardest-hit communities were in the High Atlas Mountains, where the few roads appeared to be blocked by debris, and where phone service and electricity had been knocked out. Many homes in that area are made of mud bricks, a traditional construction method that is highly vulnerable to earthquakes and heavy rains." This is a liveblog.

Comments Off

Reader Comments (9)

A Sermon:

Peter Navarro, who served in the Trump administration, was recently convicted of contempt of Congress for refusing to comply with a subpoena requiring him to testify about the events surrounding the Jan 6, 2020, insurrection.

Navarro said “executive privilege” barred him from complying. His attorney claimed Congress did not make their requirement clear enough. Navarro might just have misunderstood, he said (nytimes.com).

Unconvinced, a jury convicted Navarro. Whether he will ever serve jail time is uncertain, but the contempt and the disrespect that Navarro manifested toward Congress is not.

Navarro’s behavior was not unique. Contempt, disregard, and disrespect mark the road the Right has chosen to take.

In Wisconsin, senate Republicans are planning to impeach a woman elected to their supreme court by more than 70 percent of the voters just because she was elected. Fearful that their gerrymandered hold on power is threatened by their states' newly constituted supreme court, they are plotting to flatly disregard the will of the voters (apnews.com).

In response to a clear order from the Supreme Court of the United States, Alabama’s Republican legislature thumbed their nose at the Court by submitting a revised congressional district map that still excluded the second majority Black district the Court had required. A federal appeals court recently rejected that map, too (abcnews.com).

The contempt the Right exhibits is not limited to legislative and legal maneuverings to circumvent America’s voters. Its target is democracy itself.

The Heritage Foundation, an influential Republican think tank, has a plan. Its “Project 2025” proposes to destroy much of the federal civil service, staff the government with party loyalists, eliminate environmental and business regulations, and vest more power in the president. In short, make the United States more like Russia (theguardian.com).

No jury is necessary. Republicans so contemptuous of democracy voluntarily convict themselves.

September 10, 2023 | Unregistered CommenterKen Winkes

Lest we forget.

A long but worthwhile read.

https://www.npr.org/2023/09/10/1193755188/chile-coup-50-years-pinochet-kissinger-human-rights-allende

September 10, 2023 | Unregistered CommenterKen Winkes

This phrase from the WaPo story above (Biden's trip to Hanoi) caught my eye:

"... the world’s richest nations are consumed by debate over Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine.... "

I don't recall any "debate". The "richest nations" that oppose Russia's invasion are putting their money where their mouths are (so far); The US and NATO countries are sanctioning those who provide material support to Russia (with some leakage); There is no international discussion/debate about whether or not Russia has the "right" to invade a sovereign neighbor. Russia's allies/clients are sticking with their pal, but no "debate" is raging.

There are, however, dupes in the US who are pushing the Putin line, that Kyiv is the birthplace of the Rus, the Rodina, and so Moscow has a natural right of cultural possession. These are Republicans. See also Alex Jones, copied here in "Digby"..

September 10, 2023 | Unregistered CommenterPatrick

Ken,
You can be assured those new rules will apply only to Republicans. They must feel pretty strongly that once in place, they will never go out of power again.

Didn't we fight a few wars over that, somewhen??

September 10, 2023 | Unregistered CommenterShawn

@Shawn: "Somewhen"! That's the best word I never heard before.

September 10, 2023 | Registered CommenterMarie Burns

@Marie: According to the Urban Dictionary (online)

Somewhen: To maybe meet at an undefined and undisclosed point
in time. Very random and vague response to an unwanted date.

September 10, 2023 | Unregistered CommenterForrestMorris

@Forrest Morris: Well, it's like "somewhere" and "somehow," and most specifically, "sometime," isn't it? Here's more from Grammarphobia.

September 10, 2023 | Registered CommenterMarie Burns

The Grammarphobia definition is very interesting everyhow.

September 10, 2023 | Unregistered CommenterForrestMorris

Groundhog Day: It's 2020 again.

Florida Surgeon General Lapodo With Governor Bootees in close attendance, warns all Floridians to avoid the upcoming covid vaccines.

September 10, 2023 | Unregistered CommenterBobby Lee
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