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Commencement ceremonies are joyous occasions, and Steve Carell made sure that was true this past weekend (mid-June) at Northwestern's commencement:
~~~ Carell's entire commencement speech was hilarious. The audio and video here isn't great, but I laughed till I cried.
CNN did a live telecast Saturday night (June 7) of the Broadway play "Good Night, and Good Luck," written by George Clooney and Grant Heslov, about legendary newsman Edward R. Murrow's effort to hold to account Sen. Joe McCarthy, "the junior senator from Wisconsin." Clooney plays Murrow. Here's Murrow himself with his famous take on McCarthy & McCarthyism, brief remarks that especially resonate today: ~~~
~~~ This article lists ways you still can watch the play.
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.”
NPR lists all of the 2025 Pulitzer Prize winners. Poynter lists the prizes awarded in journalism as well as the finalists in these categories.
Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.
Success is not final, failure is not fatal; it is the courage to continue that counts. — Anonymous
A nation of sheep will beget a government of wolves. — Edward R. Murrow
Publisher & Editor: Marie Burns
I have a Bluesky account now. The URL ishttps://bsky.app/profile/marie-burns.bsky.social . When Reality Chex goes down, check my Bluesky page for whatever info I am able to report on the status of Reality Chex. If you can't access the URL, I found that I could Google Bluesky and ask for Marie Burns. Google will include links to accounts for people whose names are, at least in part, Maria Burns, so you'll have to tell Google you looking only for Marie.
Sunday
Dec262010
The Government We Deserve
Frank Rich, in noting the passing of amateur filmmaker Robbins Barstow, writes a Requiem for the American Dream. Barstow's New York Times obituary is here. And here is Barstow's home movie, "Disneyland Dream":
The Constant Weader Comments:
Thank you, Frank, for once again laying out the big picture and putting our newfound smallness in historical perspective. The fact is that we Americans are busy making ourselves small. Who killed the Disneyland dream? We did.
The main problem is that we have become a small-minded, selfish people. Instead of pulling together for progress, we have all becomes members of narrow special interest groups: greedy geezers, anti-choice, pro-choice, immigration reformers, border defenders, gay rights advocates, defenders of "traditional" marriage, militarists, corporatists, unions, anti-unionists, corn farmers, environmentalists, mountain-top strippers, loggers, home-schoolers, religious fundamentalists, non-theists, "real" Americans, intelligentsia. We are now defined by niche greed.
None of us wants to pay for anybody else's niche. Too bad if you're poor. Sorry you're sick. Out of work? Losing your job? Want better schools? Well, those aren't MY problems.
The tax-reduction mantra, and the tax-cut law the President so proudly rammed through Congress, are symptomatic of a great American pathology. Any half-sensible person can see that tax cuts are a sure path to the defeat of the American dream. In the halcyon days of the 1950s, when the Barstow family believed (with good reason) that anything was possible, federal tax rates were nearly twice what they are now, although they were decidedly more progressive; that is, the rich paid a larger share. And the rich were not as rich. Income inequality was exponentially smaller than it is today. The Barstows' dreams were not delusional; they were possible. Not any more.
In the last election, we voted out the only hope for a better American future. Admittedly, it was mostly hope, and not a lot of change. The cartoonist Darrin Bell perhaps put it best: "We're angry nothing's changed so we vote for those who've spent two years blocking change. Is America the only country that votes sarcastically?" Bell asks.
CLICK CARTOON TO SEE LARGER IMAGE.We have a President and Congress who revel in & depend upon the status quo. I don't care what they say they believe in; I've been watching what they do. Not much. We have a large percentage of the populace who likes it that way, too. Every social or public program that doesn't directly benefit ME is "socialism." Like the politicians, the American people say they want change, but the change many want is to return, not to the hopeful 1950s, but to the oppressive 1780s. These voters are not merely catatonic; they are regressive.
Because of the intense interest over the past two years in a Congress that was proposing grand things but doing almost nothing to change the status quo, Americans saw Washington -- and the Max Baucus/Mitch McConnell Senate in particular -- for what it is: a body that is broken, a legislative body that purposely does not legislate.
Now we are about to watch a new Congress that will be even more dysfunctional. However the Senate tinkers with the filibuster rules, it still won't do much. Besides, with a small Democratic majority in the upper chamber and a solid Republican majority in the House, it would be foolhearty to expect any progress. At all.
We are doomed by the choices we have made. Congress is abominable. The President is either a fool or a charlatan. But we narrow-minded, greedy, shortsighted citizens got the government most of us deserve.
Virginia O'Hanlon, 1890s. New York Times photo.Manny Fernandez of the New York Times: the descendants of Virginia O'Hanlon, who wrote to the New York Sun in 1897, asking if there was a Santa Claus, "have quietly become ambassadors of the Christmas spirit, crossing the country to appear at events honoring her, and reading the letter and the response to children in schools and to their own children at home." Here's O'Hanlon's letter, and the famous response, printed in the Sun, and later attributed to newsman Francis P. Church.
One of the New Yorker's most popular articles of the year was "What Did Jesus Do?" by Adam Gopnik. I linked to this story earlier, & my recollection is that Gopnik gets it mostly right in this review of recent literature. If you want the title question answered, however, you will be disappointed.
Perry Bacon of the Washington Post: "... while the president will be working while he is on vacation, it's not a 'working vacation.' Administration aides emphasized that the president wanted real down time after an intense two-month period after Election Day, and Obama started his 11-day trip with several hours of golf Thursday. He spent much of Friday afternoon at the beach with his daughters, Sasha and Malia."
Sheryl Gay Stolberg of the New York Times: "Gov. Neil Abercrombie of Hawaii, who befriended President Obama’s parents when they were university students here, has been in office for less than three weeks. But he is so incensed over 'birthers' — the conspiracy theorists who assert that Mr. Obama was born in Kenya and was thus not eligible to become president — that he is seeking ways to change state policy to allow him to release additional proof that the president was born in Honolulu in 1961."
A Realistic Christmas Story. Alison Leigh Cowan of the New York Times: "... for patients in state-run mental hospitals [in New York] — people too ill to live on their own and too poor to pay for their care — the state can drain court-awarded damages, effectively deducting the cost of their stays in the very hospitals that failed or abused them."
The View from the White House of the Week that Was:
Stephen Ohlemacher of the AP: "The massive new tax bill signed into law by President Barack Obama is filled with all kinds of holiday stocking stuffers for businesses: tax breaks for producing TV shows, grants for putting up windmills, rum subsidies for Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. There is even a tax break for people who buy race horses."
Jeff Zeleny of the New York Times: "President Obamais planning the first major reorganization of his administration, preparing to shuffle several positions in the West Wing as he tries to fortify his political team for the realities of divided government and his own re-election."
Philip Rucker & Paul Kane of the Washington Post on Nancy Pelosi's last full day as Speaker of the House.
This (I think) is Speaker Pelosi's last floor speech:
It is heartbreaking.... That can't be who we are. To have our kids, classmates of our children, who are suddenly under this shadow of fear through no fault of their own. They didn't break the law -- they were kids. -- Barack Obama, on the defeat of the DREAM bill ...
... Yes, Virginia, There Is a Scrooge, Part 1. Shankar Vedantam of the Washington Post: "Congressional Republicans are pronouncing President Obama's proposal that the next Congress overhaul the country's immigration laws as dead before arrival.... Both House and Senate GOP leaders said they would fight any attempt to legalize any of the 11 million undocumented immigrants in the country before the administration secured the nation's southern border with Mexico." ...
... Yes, Virginia, There Is a Scrooge, Part 2. David S. Hilzenrath of the Washington Post: "Since the meltdown in the housing market began more than three years ago, Maryland and the District have changed their foreclosure laws to give borrowers greater protection. Virginia has moved in the opposite direction.... Virginia ... homeowners can receive less than two weeks' notice that their house is about to be sold on the courthouse steps."
Greg Sargent: "... Harry Reid is in active discussions with his caucus about moving forward with [filibuster] reform in the new year, and is currently devising a plan to do just that...." ...
... Ezra Klein creates this graph from data compiled by Senate.gov on the history of the number of cloture filings, cloture votes & clotures. Klein explains that even this shocking number does not come close to reflecting the number of filibuster threats:
Larry Margasak of the AP: "If you are a college student, teacher or resident of a state that has sales taxes but no income tax, the bipartisan tax agreement this month could mean significant benefits next year."
Sewell Chan of the New York Times: "Economists in universities and on Wall Street have raised their growth projections for next year. Retail sales, industrial production and factory orders are on the upswing, and new claims for unemployment benefits are trending downward."
Bah! Humbug! Paul Krugman: "... there’s a well-developed right-wing media infrastructure in place to catapult the propaganda, as former President George W. Bush put it, to rapidly disseminate bogus analysis to a wide audience where it becomes part of what 'everyone knows.' (There’s nothing comparable on the left, which has fallen far behind in the humbug race.)"
George Warren of News 10 Sacramento: "An airline pilot is being disciplined by the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) for posting video on YouTube pointing out what he believes are serious flaws in airport security. The 50-year-old pilot, who lives outside Sacramento, asked that neither he nor his airline be identified. He has worked for the airline for more than a decade and was deputized by the TSA to carry a gun in the cockpit. He is also a helicopter test pilot in the Army Reserve and flew missions for the United Nations in Macedonia." CW: do read the whole story of how federal agents came down on the pilot & watch the News 10 video. Thanks to Bob P. for sending the link.
... AP Update: "A pilot who posted videos on YouTube that were critical of security at San Francisco International Airport is now the subject of an investigation, the pilot's attorney says. The pilot placed several videos on YouTube in late November or early December that showed how ground crew members can enter secure areas by swiping security cards and without undergoing further screening."
Humanitarian Cigarettes & Gum. Jo Becker of the New York Times: "Despite sanctions and trade embargoes, over the past decade the United States government has allowed American companies to do billions of dollars in business with Iran and other countries blacklisted as state sponsors of terrorism.... A little-known office of the Treasury Department has granted nearly 10,000 licenses for deals involving [embargoed] countries.... Most of the licenses were approved under a decade-old law mandating that agricultural and medical humanitarian aid be exempted from sanctions. But the law ... was written so broadly that allowable humanitarian aid has included cigarettes, Wrigley’s gum, Louisiana hot sauce, weight-loss remedies, body-building supplements and sports rehabilitation equipment...." With links to lists of licensees.
David House, writing in Firedoglake, reports on the conditions under which Bradley Manning, suspected of passing U.S. government documents to WikiLeaks, is being held at the Quantico brig. House includes links to several reports on Manning's detention, including those of Manning's attorney David Coombs. ...
... Glenn Greenwaldhas much more, including Jonathan Capehart's interview of David House:
Dan Eggen of the Washington Post: "The companies that build futuristic airport scanners take a more old-fashioned approach when it comes to pushing their business interests in Washington: hiring dozens of former lawmakers, congressional aides and federal employees as their lobbyists. About eight of every 10 registered lobbyists who work for scanner-technology companies previously held positions in the government or Congress.... On K Street as a whole, by contrast, only about one in three lobbyists has previously worked in government."
New York Times: "The Interior Departmentreversed a Bush-era policy on wilderness on Thursday, restoring the authority of its Bureau of Land Management to identify and recommend new areas for protection. Since 2003, the department has excluded wilderness as a criterion it applies in managing federal lands for the public benefit.... Environmentalists welcomed the decision but questioned why it had taken nearly two years for the Obama administration to reverse the policy. They also expressed worry that the new policy could prove weaker than the wilderness designation formulas in place before President George W. Bush took office in 2001."
Washington Post: "The Environmental Protection Agency announced Thursday that it will regulate greenhouse gas emissions from power plants and oil refineries next year in an attempt to curb global warming. The move, coming on the same day the Interior Department unveiled a plan to protect a broader swath of the nation's wilderness, demonstrated that the Obama administration is prepared to push its environmental agenda through regulation where it has failed on Capitol Hill, potentially setting up a battle next year with congressional Republicans."
National Journal: "A day after President Obama signed legislation repealing the 'don't ask, don't tell' ban on openly gay troops, Defense Secretary Robert Gates had a different message for senior Pentagon officials: The restrictions remain in effect, and service members who violate the 17-year-old law could still face 'adverse consequences.'"
;)
CLICK CARTOON TO SEE LARGER IMAGE.We have a President and Congress who revel in & depend upon the status quo. I don't care what they say they believe in; I've been watching what they do. Not much. We have a large percentage of the populace who likes it that way, too. Every social or public program that doesn't directly benefit ME is "socialism." Like the politicians, the American people say they want change, but the change many want is to return, not to the hopeful 1950s, but to the oppressive 1780s. These voters are not merely catatonic; they are regressive. 
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