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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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Monday
Jan102011

Tucson Shootings -- January 11

Paul Davenport of the AP: "Arizona legislators planned to consider emergency legislation Tuesday to head off picketing by a Topeka, Kan., church at the funeral service for a 9-year-old girl who was among six people killed during Saturday's shooting in Tucson. The proposed law would prohibit protests at or near funeral sites. It would take effect immediately if passed by the Legislature and signed into law by Gov. Jan Brewer," who says she will sign it. "The Westboro Baptist Church said Monday it plans to picket Thursday's funeral for Christina Taylor Green because 'God sent the shooter to deal with idolatrous America.'"

"Armed Giffords Hero Nearly Shot Wrong Man." William Saleton of Slate: "... what do gun advocates propose? More guns.... The new poster boy for this agenda is Joe Zamudio, a hero in the Tucson incident. Zamudio was in a nearby drug store when the shooting began, and he was armed. He ran to the scene and helped subdue the killer.... 'I came out of that store, I clicked the safety off, and I was ready,' [Zamudio] explained on Fox and Friends. 'I had my hand on my gun. I had it in my jacket pocket....' As he rounded the corner, he saw a man holding a gun. 'And that's who I at first thought was the shooter.... I told him to "Drop it, drop it!'" But the man with the gun wasn't the shooter. He had wrested the gun away from the shooter." Saleton elaborates details of the encounter to show "how close [Zamudio] came to killing an innocent man."

The Coalition to Stop Gun Violence posts an "Insurrectionism Timeline": "On June 26, 2008, the U.S. Supreme Court embraced the National Rifle Association's contention that the Second Amendment provides individuals with the right to take violent action against our government should it become 'tyrannical.' The ... timeline catalogues incidents of insurrectionist violence (or the promotion of such violence) that have occurred since that decision was issued."

Jennifer Medina on Suzi Hileman, one of the shooting victims who is recovering in University Medical Center from three bullet wounds. Hileman had taken 9-year-old Christina Green to meet Rep. Giffords.

Today doctors at University Medical Center discuss the status of Rep. Giffords & others:

Arizona Republic: "Doctors caring for U.S. Rep Gabrielle Giffords said this morning she is breathing on her own and is otherwise recovering from a devastating head wound she suffered when a gunman opened fire at point-blank range. In addition to Giffords, five patients remain in the hospital with three listed in serious condition and two in fair condition...." ...

... Tucson Sentinel: "Rep. Gabrielle Giffords is '100 percent' certain to survive, said Dr. Peter Rhee, a surgeon treating her for a gunshot wound to the head. 'As a physician I'm going to get into a lot of trouble for this, but her prognosis for survival is 100 percent, as far as it being short term,' Rhee told Britain's Channel 4 News.... 'Hopefully she'll live to be 95 years old,' said Rhee, the medical director for University Medical Center's trauma center." ...

Last night Dr. Peter Rhee spoke to PBS "News Hours"' Judy Woodruff:

David Fahrenthold, et al., of the Washington Post: "As Loughner appeared in court, acquaintances in Arizona revealed new details about his past few years -- in which an increasingly erratic Loughner distanced himself from family members and friends and made decisions that sabotaged his ambitions." ...

... CBS News: "The parents of the suspect in the shooting rampage that left six people dead in Tucson, Ariz., released a statement Tuesday saying that they don't understand why the shooting happened and that they can't express their feelings in words.... Both parents have been interviewed extensively by the FBI.... Earlier, the parents told federal investigators they knew their son was becoming increasingly troubled but were not aware how much he had drifted and were 'completely surprised' that he actually committed a violent act." ...

... CBS/AP: Jared Loughner "wrote 'Die, bitch' in a note found at his home.... Investigators believe the handwritten message was a reference to Giffords.... The note was found in a safe alongside other ones, including 'I planned ahead,' 'My assassination' and the name 'Giffords.' ... On Saturday morning, Jared Loughner's father saw him take a black bag out of a car trunk.... The father approached Loughner, and he mumbled something and took off running.... The father got in his truck and chased his son as he fled on foot." ...

... Ben Smith links to a conspiracy theory Website which Loughner apparently frequented in November 2010. One of Smith's readers pointed to a conversation between Loughner & another user; the other person tells Loughner that he (Loughner) is "frankly schizophrenic" & urges him to "Seek help before you hurt yourself or others...." 

... Nick Baumann of Mother Jones: a friend of Loughner's, Bryce "Tierney tells Mother Jones ... that Loughner held a years-long grudge against Giffords and had repeatedly derided her as a 'fake.' Loughner's animus toward Giffords intensified after he attended one of her campaign events and she did not, in his view, sufficiently answer a question he had posed, Tierney says."

... Brigid Schulte of the Washington Post: "Under Arizona law, any one of Jared Lee Loughner's classmates or teachers at Pima Community College so concerned about his increasingly bizarre behavior could have contacted local officials and asked that he be evaluated for mental illness and potentially committed for psychiatric treatment. That, according to local mental health and law enforcement officials, never happened." ...

... If Schulte's reporting is correct, our crack Education Secretary doesn't know WTF he's talking about: Valerie Strauss of the Washington Post writes, "Education Secretary Arne Duncan said today that the community college that forced out the suspect in the Arizona shooting rampage because he was disruptive did what it could in handling the young man."

Adam Nagourney, et al., of the New York Times: "Today, the Eighth District stands apart as one of the most emotionally and politically polarized in the nation.... The shootings came after a disconcerting run of episodes in this district..., raising temperatures here in a way that some that some of Ms. Giffords’s friends argue fed an atmosphere that might encourage violence."

Michael Levenson of the Boston Globe: "On the 50th anniversary of one of President Kennedy’s most famous speeches, his great-nephew, Joseph P. Kennedy III, stood in the same spot in the Massachusetts House today and delivered his own address, decrying the vituperative political rhetoric that he said is tearing at the nation's fabric."

Michael Shear of the New York Times: "Former President Bill Clinton on Tuesday waded into the debate about America’s political rhetoric..., saying the tone of the national conversation must change. Speaking from Haiti on the one-year anniversary of the earthquake there, Mr. Clinton suggested that passionate political speech should not be directly blamed for the kind of violence that occurred in Tucson. But he said the angry back-and-forth of modern debate is not healthy." Here's the BBC print story & video. ...

... Jim Rutenberg & Kate Zernike of the New York Times: "... even some Republicans sympathetic to [Sarah] Palin suggested that she needed to find a more substantive and nuanced means of addressing the criticism [related to her targeting Rep. Giffords] to avert any risk to her political standing and to maintain control of her political narrative."

Peter Wallsten of the Washington Post: "Across the ideological spectrum, officials and activists agreed after Saturday's Tucson killings that it was time to soften the harsh edges of America's raucous national dialogue. But by Monday, a bitter debate had erupted over how to do it -- and on whose terms." CW: Newt Gingrich seems crazier than usual -- he brings up "liberals" and "radical Islam".

Jake Tapper & Diane Sawyer of ABC News on vitriolic rhetoric. Sheriff Dupnik lets Rush Limbaugh have it:

Alex Pareene of Salon: "The attempted assassination of a member of Congress seems depressingly like the inevitable conclusion of two years of hysterical revolutionary language suffusing every single domestic political debate." Pareene cites many examples of how the right has "normalized political violence." ...

... Adam Serwer in the Washington Post: "We need to be clear that we're not talking about the mere use of violent imagery -- but political rhetoric that implicitly or explicitly justifies actual violence." ...

Jon Stewart, who has been excoriating the MSM for years about hyperbolic pundits, on the same:

It would be really nice if the ramblings of crazy people didn't in any way resemble how we actually talk to each other on TV. Let's at least make troubled individuals easier to spot. -- Jon Stewart

 

Tim Smith of RobotCeleb explains the screenshot below: "Glenn Beck is trending like crazy after a photo of him holding a gun was randomly generated by his website. The kicker here is that Beck had just published an article stating 'We must stand together against all violence'”:

Joe Davidson of the Washington Post: "Rhetoric against federal workers has escalated from the day Ronald Reagan famously said ;government is the problem' to last week's comment by Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) that 'the enemy is the bureaucracy.'" Davidson recounts recent acts of violence against federal employees.

Helene Cooper of the New York Times: "President Obama is, so far, keeping his distance from the debate over whether vitriolic political discourse contributed to the attack in Arizona... ." ...

... Two Times a Hero. Speaking to Shep Smith of Fox "News," Tucson shootings hero Patricia Maisch calls out right-wing and Republican party rhetoric, which she says she hopes will change in the wake of the shootings:

Eric Lipton, et al., of the New York Times: "House lawmakers are considering adopting an enhanced security system that would ease the way for members of Congress to get more comprehensive protection at public appearances in their home districts. Under the bipartisan proposal, the Capitol Police ... would formalize its relationship with local police and sheriffs’ departments ... and jointly develop more standardized plans to deal with varying threat levels for ... public events.... Lawmakers could then ask the local police to execute the plans for certain events, a step now taken only on an ad hoc basis."

Bob Herbert writes about our really stupid gun laws & our out-of-control murder rate. ...

... Molly Ball & Shira Toeplitz of Politico: Members of Congress "who have brought up gun control in light of the Tucson shooting have largely been the issue’s regular standard-bearers on Capitol Hill. Even gun-control advocates aren’t very optimistic about their chances.... The signal piece of gun legislation to come out of the Arizona shooting looks to be a bill that Rep. Carolyn McCarthy (D-N.Y.) plans to bring up as soon as this week. It would ban the manufacture and sale of high-capacity magazines such as the one Democratic Rep. Gabrielle Giffords’s would-be assassin, Jared Lee Loughner, attached to his Glock 19, allowing him to fire off 33 bullets without reloading, rather than the 10 or so in a typical clip. Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.) ... plans to introduce McCarthy’s legislation in the Senate.... But McCarthy and Lautenberg are up against a political consensus that has only hardened in recent years...."

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