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Thank you to everyone who has been contributing links to articles & other content in the Comments section of each day's "Conversation." If you're missing the comments, you're missing some vital links.

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
Sep022023

The Conversation -- September 2, 2023

** Shania Shelton of CNN: "Former New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, a longtime fixture of Democratic politics with turns as Energy Secretary and United Nations ambassador under the Clinton administration, died on Friday, the Richardson Center for Global Engagement said in a statement. He was 75." Richardson's New York Times obituary is here.

Alex Gangitano of the Hill: "President Biden on Saturday praised Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) while visiting Florida in the aftermath of Hurricane Idalia after he was snubbed by Gov. Ron DeSantis. 'I'm very pleased, the guy who we don't agree very much at all, the distinguished former governor and senior senator, he came, talked about to me and to you all [about] what an incredible job the federal government was doing and I found that reassuring,' Biden said in remarks in Live Oak, Fla. 'And, so, I think we can pull all of this together....'... Biden told reporters he wasn't disappointed that DeSantis didn't join the visit. 'No, I'm not disappointed. He may have had other reasons,' the president said. 'But he did help us plan this, he sat with FEMA and decided where we should go, where it would be the least disruptive.'" MB: IOW, President Biden could not have been more gracious, and Ron DeSantis has proved himself to be a bigger jerk than Rick Scott, which is quite a feat. ~~~

~~~ Nick Robertson of the Hill: "Former Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) criticized Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) for not meeting with President Biden while he visited the state Friday to survey hurricane damage, calling the decision 'absolutely outrageous.' 'There's a 1 percent to 2 percent chance it's logistics. There's a 98 percent to 99 percent chance it's the optics,' Kinzinger said in a CNN interview Saturday. 'Ron DeSantis, at the cost of the benefit to Florida, has decided his political campaign cannot have him meet with Joe Biden, the President of the United States, who ultimately will be signing the checks that Florida is going to be begging for,' he continued."

Maureen Dowd of the New York Times writes about anxiety among girls and young women; it's worth a read.

~~~~~~~~~~

Nicholas Nehamas, et al., of the New York Times: "President Biden said on Friday that he would meet with Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida on Saturday during a visit to tour the aftermath of Hurricane Idalia, the Category 3 storm that hit the state's Gulf Coast and swept across the Southeast this week. But Mr. DeSantis's office said Friday that the governor had no such plans.... Asked on Friday night about the statement from the governor's office, a White House official, who was not authorized to discuss private conversations between the president and the governor, said: 'The president informed the governor yesterday before his visit to FEMA. The governor did not express concerns at that time. The visit was closely coordinated with FEMA, state and local officials to ensure there is no impact to ongoing response operations.'... 'We have to deal with supporting the needs of the people who are in harm's way or have difficulties,' Mr. DeSantis said earlier this week when asked about Mr. Biden. 'And that has got to triumph over any type of short-term political calculation or any type of positioning. This is the real deal. You have people's lives that have been at risk.'" Politico's story is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Let us put aside childish things, and accept that Ron DeSantis is a genuine wimp, afraid to stand beside the leader of the free world, lest he look as small and smarmy as he is. Oh, wait, DeSantis isn't just afraid of the President; he's also afraid of 15-year-old kids: ~~~

~~~ Travis Gettys of the Raw Story: "A New Hampshire teenager says he was manhandled by Ron DeSantis' security guards at a campaign event earlier this summer after he asked a question.... 'Do you believe that Trump violated the peaceful transfer of power,' the teenager asked the GOP presidential candidate [at a June event], 'a key principle of American democracy that we must uphold?' DeSantis tried to sidestep the question by saying Americans shouldn't remain stuck in the past..., and the exchange went viral.... Mitchell told The Daily Beast that members of the governor's team grabbed and physically intimidated him at two later campaign stops, on the Fourth of July and on Aug. 19.... Seven other sources confirmed Mitchell's accounts...." MB: But, hey, it takes a real leader to send out a goon squad to bully a teenager.

Martin Pengelly of the Guardian: "The White House condemned the 'extreme' and 'hardcore fringe' of the Republican party after one high-profile, hardcore extremist, Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, said she would not vote to fund the government this month without an impeachment inquiry against Joe Biden. Without a new spending measure, government funding will run out on 30 September, with federal workers furloughed and agencies shuttered.... Nodding to the May deal to raise the debt ceiling, [White House spokesman Andrew] Bates said House Republicans 'already made a promise to the American public about government funding, and it would be a shame for them to break their word and fail the country because they caved to the hardcore fringe of their party'." (Also linked yesterday.)

Karoun Demirjian of the New York Times: "Hard-right House Republicans are threatening to block a stopgap bill to keep the government funded unless it includes a security crackdown along the U.S.-Mexico border, escalating fears of a shutdown within weeks and injecting the supercharged politics of immigration into an already fraught stalemate over federal spending. Members of the ultraconservative House Freedom Caucus, whose demands for deep cuts have already stymied agreement on a spending package for the coming year, now say they are unwilling to support even a temporary measure to prevent a lapse in federal funding without a sweeping border measure that has little chance of making it through Congress.... It is the latest complication for House Speaker Kevin McCarthy as he seeks to bridge the considerable rifts within his party over spending and prevent a shutdown that is all but certain to tarnish Republicans politically.... The situation could prompt the largest mutiny Mr. McCarthy has faced from the far right since he struck a deal with President Biden to suspend the debt ceiling and avoid a disastrous federal default. Behind the scenes, Mr. McCarthy is toiling to persuade far-right lawmakers to abandon the tactic." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: In fairness to McCarthy, he made a deal with the devils before he made the deal with President Biden. McCarthy was always ridiculous to think these loons would put country before destructive "principles."

Benjamin Mueller of the New York Times: "A four-line letter, signed by the attending physician of Congress and released by Senator Mitch McConnell on Thursday, suggested that his recent spells of speechlessness were linked to 'occasional lightheadedness' perhaps brought on by his recovery from a concussion last winter or 'dehydration.' But seven neurologists, relying on what they described as unusually revealing video of Mr. McConnell freezing up in public twice recently, said in interviews Thursday and Friday that the episodes captured in real time likely pointed to more serious medical problems.... The neurologists ... caution[ed] that they could not diagnose the minority leader from afar.... [But] while several possibilities were suggested, including mini-strokes, doctors said that the spells appeared most consistent with focal seizures, which are electrical surges in one region of the brain.... Whether caused by seizures or mini-strokes or something else, spells like Mr. McConnell's would not preclude most patients from working or socializing normally, doctors said. Still, experts said that seizures carried some elevated risk of cognitive or behavioral problems and could affect older patients differently." (Also linked yesterday.)


Richard Fausset & Danny Hakim of the New York Times: "Donald J. Trump and a number of his co-defendants pleaded not guilty this week in a sprawling racketeering case charging the former president and 18 of his allies with conspiring to overturn his narrow election loss in Georgia in 2020.... As of Friday, more than half of the defendants, including [Rudy] Giuliani and [John] Eastman, had pleaded not guilty and waived their right to a formal arraignment.

Rudy, Rudy, Rudy. Dan Friedman & David Corn of Mother Jones: "An FBI whistleblower filed a statement asserting that [Rudy] Giuliani 'may have been compromised' by Russian intelligence while working as a lawyer and adviser to Trump during the 2020 campaign. That contention is among a host of explosive assertions from Johnathan Buma, an FBI agent who also says that an investigation involving Giuliani's activities was stymied within the bureau.... According to Buma's account, Giuliani was used as an asset by a Ukrainian oligarch tied to Russian intelligence and other Russian operatives for a disinformation operation that aimed to discredit Joe Biden and boost Trump in the 2020 presidential race. Moreover, Buma says he was the target of retaliation within the bureau for digging into this.... As Republicans keep trying to gin up a controversy over the Bidens, Burisma, and other matters, Buma's statement reinforces the case that this supposed Biden-Ukraine scandal was egged on or orchestrated by Russian intelligence. And it contradicts the narrative pushed by Trump and his defenders that the FBI and Justice Department have been in cahoots with Democrats." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ According to the reporters, other FBI whistleblowers may be preparing to release statements backing up Buma's 22-page statement, which he sent to the Senate Judiciary Committee in July. ~~~

     ~~~ Josh Marshall of TPM: "It's important to remember, just as it was with those IRS agents and Hunter Biden, that it's in the nature of line agents to get a kind of tunnel vision about what they're investigating and what they think is out there.... The other part of the story is that Giuliani being fed garbage by Russian intelligence agents wouldn't be a surprise.... Giuliani acting as the conduit for Russian intelligence to sabotage the 2020 presidential election is hardly a controversial proposition. It's basically a given. Indeed, it's the predicate of the actions that got Donald Trump impeached back in 2019.... [The story of Hunter Biden's laptop] has simply never been plausible.... My best guess is that the likely theft of the data if not the laptop itself was part of the Ukrainian/Russian shenanigans Giuliani was part of in 2019.... Someone (take your pick from the usual suspects) knew about Hunter's life on the skids and got these into the hands of people who could advance Republican interests with them. It's worth finding out who that was. And it's almost certainly part of the Giuliani story." It's worth reading Marshall's full essay.

Alan Feuer & Zach Montague of the New York Times: "Two more members of the Proud Boys were sentenced to prison on Friday for their roles in the attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, with a ground commander in the far-right group, Ethan Nordean, given 18 years, and Dominic Pezzola, the man who set off the initial breach of the building by smashing a window with a riot shield, getting 10 years. The sentences imposed on Mr. Nordean and Mr. Pezzola were the third and fourth to have been handed down this week to five members of the far-right group who were tried in May for seditious conspiracy and other crimes in one of the most significant prosecutions to have emerged from the Capitol attack.... Mr. Nordean rocketed to fame within the Proud Boys in June 2018 when a video of him knocking out a left-wing protester in Portland, Ore., with a single punch the year before went viral. Mr. Pezzola, a flooring contractor from Rochester, N.Y., is best known for having appeared in video clips from Jan. 6 with a scraggly beard and a wild mane of hair, hammering on a window at the Capitol with a stolen police riot shield. The videos were prominently featured not only at the Proud Boys' landmark trial in Federal District Court in Washington, but also at public hearings held by the House committee that investigated Jan. 6." The AP's report is here. ~~~


Here is ProPublica's report on Clarence Thomas' financial disclosure, released Thursday. Also, here is the outlet's link to the statement by Thomas' attorney Elliot Berke, which accompanied the disclosure. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Berke wrote (in what I think was a 5- or 6-page statement), "The attacks on Justice Thomas are nothing less than ridiculous and dangerous, and they set a terrible precedent for political blood sport through federal ethics filings." Yeah, well, as several teevee commentators pointed out last night, Thomas' disclosure, such as it was, was consistent with ProPublica's findings. The disclosure did not refute any of ProPublica's reporting, and it did not address some of the findings of ProPublica and other outlets, principally the New York Times story about Thomas' dodgy financing of his fancy Walmart RV/bus. What sets "a terrible precedent" is not dogged investigative reporting of gross abuses but Thomas' arrogant refusal to adhere to minimal ethical standards, even to the point of failing -- for decades -- to make required disclosures. ~~~

~~~ Scott Lemieux in LG&$ extensively site a Slate article (don't know the author) on Thomas' belated, partial disclosure. Lemieux: "... if you know Thomas's body of work involving criminal defendants, these assertions that he cannot possibly be expected to conform to the strict letter of the law when disclosing the many expensive gifts bestowed on him by his many close personal friends who happen to be billionaires will be particularly infuriating[.]" The gist is that it's A-Okay by Thomas to condemn a person to death even if there is ample evidence he received inadequate counsel -- at the same time everyone should overlook as inconsequential his own gross errors of omission. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ "Clean-up on Aisle Three." Nick Robertson of the Hill: "Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) went after Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas over his delayed disclosure of gifts and luxury vacations from a conservative donor Thursday, pledging to fully investigate the justice.... 'This late-come effort at "Clean-up on Aisle Three" won't deter us from fully investigating the massive, secret, right-wing billionaire influence in which this Court is enmired,' Whitehouse said Thursday, an apparent reference to Article Three of the Constitution, which regulates the Supreme Court.... He pushed back on claims from Thomas attorneys' that previous disclosure form omissions were simply mistakes, and that the trips only needed to be disclosed because of recent rule changes. 'These are highly contestable and significant, but largely unsupported, assertions. They matter,' he said." (Also linked yesterday.)

Presidential Race 2024. Erica Orden of Politico: "If Donald Trump wants to be on the ballot next year in all 50 states, he might first have to win an unprecedented courtroom battle over the 'insurrection clause' of the 14th Amendment. Under a legal theory that's gaining traction among Democrats and anti-Trump Republicans, that seldom-used clause arguably disqualifies Trump from ever holding office again due to his attempts to undermine the 2020 election and his role in stoking the attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. There are two ways the theory might be tested. One strategy is for politicians, advocacy groups or even ordinary voters to file lawsuits seeking judicial declarations that Trump is ineligible to run. This strategy is already in its infant stages, with two obscure plaintiffs filing lawsuits in New Hampshire and Florida in recent days. The other, more politically perilous option would be for one or more states to embrace the theory outright and simply refuse to list Trump on their ballots. That might force Trump to file his own lawsuits asking courts to order his candidacy restored in those states. Either scenario could thrust the courts, and likely the Supreme Court, into an unsettled debate over the meaning of the insurrection clause...." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: The other day, Ron Fein of Free Speech for People asserted on MSNBC that the Fourteenth Amendment provision is similar to but perhaps even more important than some other Constitutional limitations on presidential qualifications. He has a point. Would you rather have a president* who tried to retain power by overturning a free and fair election OR someone who (1) wasn't yet 35 years old, or (2) wasn't born in the U.S. or (3) had already served two terms as president? (1) Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) will be 34 years old on January 20, 2025. (2) Secretary of Energy & former Gov. Jennifer Granholm (D-Mich.) was born in Canada. (3) Barack Obama. I rest my case.

Weird News. Brad Reed of the Raw Story: "Multiple sources have told The Daily Beast that scandal-plagued CPAC Chairman Matt Schlapp held an 'exorcism' in his office to rid it of potential 'evil spirits' left behind by staff members who quit their jobs after their requests for raises were denied. The publication writes that both Schlapp and his wife, Mercedes Schlapp, decided that the exorcism ritual would be the best way to cleanse the office from the negative energies left behind by the staffers." The Schlapps called the Daily Beast "Satin's publication." MB: Look, how many human resources departments do you think have thought of using exorcisms as part of their program to improve staffing efforts? It's, like, innovative! But speaking of a place rife with evil spirits, Mercedes, who worked in the Trump White House, should have done the collegial thing & advised the Bidens to conduct an exorcism when they got to the White House. (Also linked yesterday.)

** Marie: Yesterday, a contributor posted a couple of videos which suggest that Covid-19 vaccinations can kill you, and you're much better off to somehow build up natural immunity. I expressed my skepticism, but I based my skepticism on nothing but intuition. However, late in the day, contributor Julia posted a couple of comments that suggest the videos posted are serious bull. Julia points out that the presenter in the first video, who bills himself as Dr. John Campbell, is a retired U.K. nurse educator who has repeated false and provided misleading commentary about the safety of COVID-19 vaccines, according to Wikipedia. So it looks as if my intuitive skepticism was warranted, and I'll be getting that booster this fall (which I would have done anyway). And a big thank-you to Julia.

News Lede

New York Times: "Jimmy Buffett, the singer, songwriter, author, sailor and entrepreneur whose roguish brand of island escapism on hits like 'Margaritaville' and 'Fins made him something of a latter-day folk hero, especially among his devoted following of so-called Parrot Heads, died Saturday at 76." ~~~

     ~~~ President Biden's statement on Buffett's passing.

Comments Off

Reader Comments (6)

Anyone out there who has a car, golf cart, scooter or bicycle with
lithium-ion batteries should not leave it in their garage after being
soaked with salt water from a hurricane, even after it dries out, since
even the salt residue can spark a fire, and there goes your garage, or
garage and house up in flames.
https://democraticunderground.com/10143124213

And thanks Julia for the vaccine info. I had planned to get it ASAP.
I think it's probably difficult for us oldsters to build up natural
immunity.

September 2, 2023 | Unregistered CommenterForrestMorris

@Marie

Tried twice to send some Covid epidemiological info--that might or might not be copyrighted--to you directly so you could decide what to do with it, but failed through both the Constant Weader (remember her?) address and the gmail linked on the right...Should I worry myself over it?

September 2, 2023 | Unregistered CommenterKen Winkes

@Ken Winkes: Very strange. I've been getting emails all day on both accounts and haven't experienced any breaks in service for quite a while.

September 2, 2023 | Registered CommenterMarie Burns

Covid vaccinations are killing people??? Where have these people been the last three years?
The only people who build up "natural immunity" are those whom covid did not kill outright, and they are outnumbered by the dead. And don't forget "long covid."
We are in Austria and got our sixth shot before we left, and will be looking for the newest as soon as we return at the end of the month.

September 2, 2023 | Unregistered Commenterpat

Interesting and informative article from Canada. It also touches on
U.S. and England.
https://globalnews.ca/news/9931177/covid-boosters-canada-fall-
2023-rollout/

September 2, 2023 | Unregistered CommenterForrestMorris

I guess I was totally misunderstood.
In the first video, Dr. Campbell is summarizing a very large population study from Israel. No conspiracy at all. A population Study. Numbers. Consider the source, you say. Yes, Dr. Campbell did go all conspiracy theory about cardiac myopathy, but the study cited was from ISRAEL.
In the second study, the video, from Australia, cited BRITISH NATIONAL death statistics directly from their site. Just numbers, folks. Right there on the page, put into graph form.
Go and read the source material.

September 3, 2023 | Unregistered CommenterVictoria
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