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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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Jan142011

Tucson Shootings -- January 15

Washington Post: "Doctors at Tucson's University Medical Center said [Gabrielle] Giffords (D-Ariz.) remained in critical condition.... A ... tracheotomy was performed Saturday morning, they said. The 'tracheotomy tube was placed in her windpipe, protecting her airway and freeing her from the ventilator....' Surgeons also inserted a feeding tube to provide nutritional support. Doctors said these procedures are common among brain-injured patients."

New York Times: "A victim of the [Tucson] shooting ... was taken into custody on Saturday after the police and witnesses said the man spoke threateningly at a televised forum intended to help this stricken city heal. Eric Fuller, 63, a military veteran who was passionate about liberal causes and who had supported Ms. Giffords, was 'involuntarily committed for mental health evaluation.' ... Mr. Fuller, who was shot in the left knee and the back on Jan. 8, was among several victims, medical personnel and others who attended a special forum televised by ABC and hosted by Christiane Amanpour."

"Fanning the Flames." Peter Kramer, a Brown U. psychiatrist who specializes in treating paranoia -- a/k/a "delusional disorder" -- reflects on the factors that may have influenced Jared Loughner:

The public embrace of implausible beliefs creates a context of credulity.... Journalists and politicians who countenance conspiracy theories ... are enablers. They stand as exemplars of a mode of being that scorns doubt, celebrates grievances, and reframes ordinary disagreements as indicators of sinister intent. In the context of demonization and demagoguery, this embrace of paranoia helps to compose a politics of constant rage. It is convenient and convincing to say that no particular public figure is directly implicated in Loughner's actions. But I wonder whether finally the imputation of some responsibility is so easy to shed. -- Dr. Peter Kramer

      ... Read the whole article. Kramer's rebuke of Speaker John Boehner, et al., is telling. Thanks to a friend, who is a mental health professional, for pointing me to Kramer's article.

Melissa McEwan in AlterNet: "The shooting in Tucson was not an anomaly. It was an inevitability, and as long as we play this foolish game of 'both sides are just as bad,' it will be inevitable again." McEwan cites example after example of violent imagery spewed by leading right-wingers, then concludes,

This culture, this habit, of eliminationist rhetoric is not happening in a vacuum. It's happening in a culture of widely-available guns (thanks to conservative policies), of underfunded and unavailable medical care, especially mental health care (thanks to conservative policies), of a widespread belief that government is the enemy of the people (thanks to conservative rhetoric), and of millions of increasingly desperate people (thanks to an economy totally fucked by conservative governance).

** Denise Grady & Jennifer Medina of the New York Times recount the early efforts to save the victims of the Tucson shootings.

CW: Yesterday I linked to this story by Marc Lacey and other New York Times reporters, but it's been substantially altered to describe Jared Loughner's movements prior to the shooting. AND here's a pdf of the timeline, constructed by police, tracing Loughner's activities in the hours before he shot 20 people. The Washington Post translates the police timeline into a graphic, below. Also, see other helpful WashPo graphics here.

... Here's the Washington Post account by David Nakamura & others of Jared Loughner's movements before the shootings.

Amy Gardner of the Washington Post: "... one public figure has been uncharacteristically silent about one of the worst episodes of violence ever to befall his home state. Sen. John McCain (R) was on a congressional trip to Latin America at the time of the shooting and did not return to Arizona until Wednesday. He has granted no interviews and has not spoken about what happened in Tucson." CW: while I tend to agree with McCain's aide who justifies McCain's continuing his South American schedule, I saw several photos taken at different times during the Tucson memorial service in which McCain appeared to be glaring at President Obama. Here's one:

McCain is to the far left (in the photo, not in his political leanings). The President, First Lady, Mark Kelly & others appear to be praying, while McCain seems to be scowling at President Obama. AP photo.... In a Washington Post op-ed, Sen. McCain commends President Obama for his "comforting, inspiring & encouraging" speech at the Tucson memorial. He also excuses, without naming her, Sarah Palin's "blood libel" video. The overall tone of the piece is positive:

I disagree with many of the president's policies, but I believe he is a patriot sincerely intent on using his time in office to advance our country's cause. I reject accusations that his policies and beliefs make him unworthy to lead America or opposed to its founding ideals.
-- John McCain

Kirk Johnson & Charlie Savage of the New York Times: "As the prosecution phase nears and both federal and state courts pursue the case [against Jared Loughren], complications will inevitably appear — ... magnified by the sometimes sharply different requirements of the two court systems. The complications extend to the rules of evidence. Arizona state and federal rules differ significantly on what defense attorneys are entitled to hear before trial, and the federal and state teams could also head toward very different outcomes as well.... Arizona, unlike federal law, does not allow a finding of not guilty by reason of insanity. A defendant can only be found guilty, not guilty or guilty but insane."

Andrew Martin of the New York Times: "In the 25 years or so since the Glock company, based in Austria, began aggressively marketing firearms in this country, Glocks have become one of the best-selling pistols in America.... The guns are popular with law enforcement, consumers and, apparently, some young men intent on massacre. Seung-Hui Cho, who killed 32 at Virginia Tech University in 2007, and Steven Kazmierczak, who killed five at Northern Illinois University in 2008, were armed with Glocks.... Glock has also benefited from changes in the American gun market. As the number of hunters has declined, so have sales of guns traditionally used for hunting. Sales of military-style rifles have increased and so have sales of handguns, in part, some gun experts say, because more states have passed concealed-weapons laws. The Glock 33, for instance, is a subcompact pistol marketed as a 'pocket rocket.'”

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