New York Times: “Walker Buehlerspread his arms wide and waited for his teammates to engulf him, the most fitting symbol of a season defined by persistent resilience. Called into emergency relief, Buehler closed out the World Series and shut the door on the New York Yankees as the Los Angeles Dodgers captured a 7-6 victory in a heart-stopping Game 5.... [Buehler's] scoreless frame stunned the crowd at Yankee Stadium and incited a mid-field jubilee from the Dodgers.”
New York Times: “At least 95 people have died and others were missing after devastating flash floods hit eastern Spain, according to the local authorities, in one of the worst natural disasters to hit the country in recent years. The catastrophic floods, fueled by an unrelenting deluge that began on Monday, washed away cars, inundated homes and knocked out power across eastern Spain. Rescuers waded through neck-high waters to reach some residents.”
New York Times: “Teri Garr, the alternately shy and sassy blond actress whose little-girl voice, deadpan comic timing, expressive eyes and cinematic bravery in the face of seemingly crazy male characters made her a star of 1970s and ’80s movies and earned her an Oscar nomination for her role in 'Tootsie,' died on Tuesday at her home in Los Angeles. She was 79.”
Help!
To keep the Conversation going, please help me by linking news articles, opinion pieces and other political content in today's Comments section.
Link Code: <a href="URL">text</a>
OR here's a link generator. The one I had posted died, then Akhilleus found one, but it too bit the dust. He found yet another, which I've linked here, and as of September 23, 2024, it's working.
OR you can always just block, copy and paste to your comment the URL (Web address) of the page you want to link.
Note for Readers. It is not possible for commenters to "throw" their highlighted links to another window. But you can do that yourself. Right-click on the link and a drop-down box will give you choices as to where you want to open the link: in a new tab, new window or new private window.
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.
Public Service Announcement
Washington Post: "Americans can again order free rapid coronavirus tests by mail, the Biden administration announced Thursday. People can request four free at-home tests per household through covidtests.gov. They will begin shipping Monday. The move comes ahead of an expected winter wave of coronavirus cases. The September revival of the free testing program is in line with the Biden administration’s strategy to respond to the coronavirus as part of a broader public health campaign to protect Americans from respiratory viruses, including influenza and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), that surge every fall and winter. But free tests were not mailed during the summer wave, which wastewater surveillance data shows is now receding."
New York Times: In a collection of memorabilia filed at New York City's Morgan Library, curator Robinson McClellandiscovered the manuscript of a previously unknown waltz by Frédéric Chopin. Jeffrey Kallberg, a Chopin scholar at the University of Pennsylvania as well as other experts authenticated the manuscript. Includes video of Lang Lang performing the short waltz. ~~~
~~~ Marie: The Times article goes into some of Chopin's life in Paris at the time he wrote the waltz, but it doesn't mention that he helped make ends meet by giving piano lessons. I know this because my great grandmother was one of his students. If her musical talent were anything like mine, those particular lessons would have been painful hours for Chopin.
New York Times: “Improbably, [the political/celebrity magazine] George[, originally a project by John F. Kennedy, Jr.] is back, with the same logo and the same catchy slogan: 'Not just politics as usual.' This time, though, a QAnon conspiracy theorist and passionate Trump fan is its editor in chief.... It is a reanimation story bizarre enough for a zombie movie, made possible by the fact that the original George trademark lapsed, only to be secured by a little-known conservative lawyer named Thomas D. Foster.”
Washington Post: “Comedy news outlet the Onion —reinvigorated by new ownership over this year — is bringing back its once-popular video parodies of cable news. But this time, there’s someone with real news anchor experience in the chair. When the first episodes appear online Monday, former WAMU and MSNBC host Joshua Johnson will be the face of the resurrected 'Onion News Network.' Playing an ONN anchor character named Dwight Richmond, Johnson says he’s bringing a real anchor’s sense of clarity — and self-importance — to the job. 'If ONN is anything, it’s a news organization that is so unaware of its own ridiculousness that it has the confidence of a serial killer,' says Johnson, 44.” ~~~
~~~ Marie: I'll be darned if I can figured out how to watch ONN. If anybody knows, do tell. Thanks.
Washington Post: “First came the surprising discovery that Earth’s atmosphere is leaking. But for roughly 60 years, the reason remained a mystery. Since the late 1960s, satellites over the poles detected an extremely fast flow of particles escaping into space — at speeds of 20 kilometers per second. Scientists suspected that gravity and the magnetic field alone could not fully explain the stream. There had to be another source creating this leaky faucet. It turns out the mysterious force is a previously undiscovered global electric field, a recent study found. The field is only about the strength of a watch battery — but it’s enough to thrust lighter ions from our atmosphere into space. It’s also generated unlike other electric fields on Earth. This newly discovered aspect of our planet provides clues about the evolution of our atmosphere, perhaps explaining why Earth is habitable. The electric field is 'an agent of chaos,' said Glyn Collinson, a NASA rocket scientist and lead author of the study. 'It undoes gravity.... Without it, Earth would be very different.'”
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."
New York Times: "The Republican National Committee selected a new chairman on Friday, with Reince Priebus of Wisconsin surviving seven contentious rounds of balloting to succeed Michael Steele as party officials expressed a desire for new leadership to prepare for the 2012 presidential election. Mr. Priebus, who broke away from Mr. Steele’s inner circle to run against him, pledged to pay off the committee’s $21 million debt and strengthen state parties across the country...." CW: he also pledged not be nearly as fun.
Anthony Shadid of the New York Times: "The reported departure of Tunisian President Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali, after popular protests in his North African country, electrified an Arab world whose residents have increasingly complained of governments that seem incapable of meeting their citizens’ demands and bereft of ideology save a motivation to perpetuate themselves in power.... Since their beginning, the protests have been closely followed by Arabic-language networks, as well as social networking sites, like Facebook and Twitter."
Poppycock. -- Col. T. V. Johnson, a Quantico spokesperson, in response to the assertion that Bradley Manning, the accused WikeLeaker, is being mistreated (other expletives Col. Johnson commonly uses: "Egad!" "Horsefeathers!" and "Upon my word!") ...
... Scott Shane of the New York TimescontrastsManning's living conditions with those of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.
Former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, in a Washington Post op-ed, has advice for Presidents Obama & Hu on how to avoid a U.S.-China cold war. "The aim should be to create a tradition of respect and cooperation so that the successors of leaders meeting now continue to see it in their interest to build an emerging world order as a joint enterprise."
Steven Pearlstein of the Washington Post: the Obama administration has made significant concessions to the business community over the past few months. "By the unwritten rules of political reconciliation, they demand and deserve a similar response. The most obvious and effective would be a clear statement from the business lobby that it will not support Republicans in their effort to repeal last year's health reform legislation." ...
Richard Dunham of the Houston Chronicle on Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, Texas' senior statewide officeholder, announcement that she will not seek re-election in 2012.
Bryan Walsh of Time has a good article, with lots o' links, on the EPA's decision to veto "the largest single mountaintop mining removal permit in West Virginia history." West Virginia Democrats Sens. Joe Manchin & Jay Rockefeller & Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin were among those who harshly criticized the EPA for canceling the permit. Here'sAndrew Restuccia of The Hill on Rockefeller's letter of protest to President Obama. Ken Ward, Jr. of the Charleston Gazette reports on Tomblin's reaction.
Alex Pareene of Salon: "For a bunch of people who worship the Founders and like to play dress-up American Revolutionary War, Tea Partyers sure hate knowing anything remotely reality-based about the Founding Fathers. Tennessee Tea Party groups have introduced a proposal to take what few minorities there are in American history textbooks out of American history textbooks, along with any negative portrayals of the wealthy white men who led this young nation in its infancy."
Andrew Downie of Time on the Brazilian floods: "The devastation of the flooding will be made more bitter for its victims by the fact the deluge was so desperately predictable. Brazil is a tropical nation with a heavy rainy season that often bursts the banks of rivers, and yet each year's flooding brings death and destruction that could have been avoided with adequate planning and management."
President Obama speaks at a memorial service at the University of Arizona:
... Here's the prepared text of the President's speech. He added during his speech that Rep. Giffords opened her eyes for the first time just after he had visited her this afternoon. New York Times story here. ...
... Michael Crowley of Time has a thoughtful, slightly mixed, review of the speech. The speech -- and the review -- end on a high note. Says Crowley: "These calls to our better angels -- directed less at the secondary issue of public discourse and more at the first principles of what we value as a society and the nobility of public service -- perfectly matched the heartbreaking occasion. All the better that Obama delivered these words with both lyrical eloquence and moral authority. It was certainly the finest rhetorical moment of his presidency--and perhaps of his life." ...
... Amy Sullivan of Time highlights Crowley's misgiving: "I suspect I was not the only one who squirmed uncomfortably at the implicit message: These victims did not die in vain; they died in part so that we might have a reason to call on Republicans and Democrats to cut it out and start acting like adults." ...
... Amy Davidson of the New Yorker: "Obama’s speech was one of his best in a long time; it wasn’t so much a rallying cry as a call to sustain an embrace." ...
... Politico's headline: "Obama Takes Opportunity Palin Missed." Jonathan Martin: "At sunrise..., Sarah Palin demonstrated that she has little interest — or capacity — in moving beyond her brand of grievance-based politics. And at sundown in the west, Barack Obama reminded even his critics of his ability to rally disparate Americans around a message of reconciliation."
New York Times: the funeral of 9-year-old Christina-Taylor Greentook place in Tucson today. ...
... ABC News: "Arizona lawmakers successfully curbed members of the Westboro Baptist church from picketing the funeral of the Tucson massacre's youngest victim, Christina-Taylor Green. On Tuesday afternoon, Gov. Jan Brewersigned a new law that requires protesters to remain 300 feet from a funeral site. The law, which took effect immediately after it was signed, took only 90 minutes to pass in Arizona's legislature. Triggered by Westboro's plans to picket the funeral of 9-year-old Christina-Taylor Thursday, the law passed by a unanimous vote."
Washington Post: "NASA has named a backup commander for the Space Shuttle Endeavour's forthcoming mission to the International Space Station, a trip scheduled to be led by Mark Kelly, husband of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, (D-Ariz.) wounded in the Tucson shooting.... Astronaut Rick Sturckow will serve as Kelly's backup commander; ... Kelly remains commander of the mission." ...
... Arizona Republic reporters: "Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffordsis continuing to exhibit progress, from opening her eyes spontaneously and tracking people and objects to moving all her limbs, her doctors said Thursday morning.The physicians at University Medical Center described the steps as 'a major leap, a major milestone for her.'" ...
... Helene Cooper of the New York Times: "Nancy Pelosi ... was in Gabrielle Giffords‘ hospital room when she [Giffords] opened her eyes for the first time since being shot in the head last Saturday.... Mrs. Pelosi, along with two other Democrats, Senator Kirsten Gillibrand of New York and Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Florida, were in the room, shortly after President Obamaand First Lady Michelle Obama finished their visit to the hospital...." ...
... Anne Kornblut of the Washington Post: "Giffords opened her eyes a total of five times and reached for her husband's hand, according to the people in the room." ...
... Update: here's a bit more from Robert Gibbs' press gaggle aboard AF1 on the return trip to Washington. ...
... Update 2. The Women: this is terrific. A White House stenographer recorded a press gaggle by Sen. Gillibrand & Rep. Wasserman Schultz aboard AF1. ...
... Rep. Wasserman Schultz & Sen. Gillibrand tell of their hospital visit to Rep. Giffords:
Jennifer Medina of the New York Timesprofiles Dr. Peter Rhee, chief of trauma at Tucson's University Medical Center.
Joe Klein of Time has a smart, brief column in which he asks -- and implicitly answers -- two questions: "Given the flood tide of massacres perpetrated by crazy people, have we made a grievous error in our policies regarding the confinement of the mentally ill? ... Are there any limits at all to our gun fetishism?" Klein notes that "Even such a conservative stalwart as Judge Robert Bork said, in 1989, that the Constitution's Second Amendment guaranteed 'the right of states to form militias, not for individuals to bear arms.'" ...
... Gail Collins: "Congress should have an actual debate about Representative Carolyn McCarthy’s bill to reduce gun violence." ...
... Nicholas Kristof suggests reframing the gun debate (what gun debate?) as a public health issue. We don't regulate guns as seriously as we do toys. ...
... Then there's this: There is a rash of legislation further infringing on Second Amendment rights that has been unwisely proffered in the wake of events in Tucson. If members of Congress wishes to carry a weapon in the federal District of Columbia, it should be permissible. Accordingly, we are in the process of drafting a bill that will allow members of Congress to do that. -- Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Texas)
Dana Milbank: "... a day that was originally supposed to see a fiery clash over repealing the health-care law turned out to be the most uplifting day in Congress at least since the Sept. 11 attacks. Breaking only for a prayer service, the members spent eight hours exchanging vows to do better by each other." ...
... BUT John Bresnahan of Politico: "Senior Democrats - who to date had been impressed with [Speaker John] Boehner’s response to the Arizona tragedy - expressed surprise at what they saw as an unmistakable misstep by the new speaker: appearing at a partisan political event on the same night as the the president, first lady Michelle Obama, Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and the Arizona congressional delegation come together at the memorial service....
The left had this all planned out even before the incident occurred. -- Sen. Rand Paul, on the Tucson shootings (no link, but an unimpeachable source)
Washington Post: "The black bag that alleged Tucson gunman Jared Loughner is said to have had with him in the hours before last weekend's shootings turned up Thursday in a dry stream bed near his neighborhood. It was a diaper bag ... and it contained ammunition that matched the type used in the attack." ...
... Here are copies of reports Pima Community College wrote & collected on Jared Loughren's problems at the school. ...
... A. G. Sulzberger & Trip Gabriel of the New York Times: "After the release of detailed reports on Mr. Loughner’s bizarre outbursts and violent Internet fantasies that [Pima Community College] had kept, the focus has turned to whether it did all it could to prevent his apparent descent into explosive violence last weekend." CW: my answer: hell, no. And I still fault the parents, too. ...
... Amy Gardner, et al., of the Washington Post: "A picture of [Jaren] Loughner gleaned from interviews with more than two dozen friends, classmates, teachers and neighbors, as well as from his own writing in online forums, shows no evidence that politics or government were among his defining or enduring obsessions. Rather, his deepest, most disturbing questions were about the very nature of reality: He appeared to have lost any clear sense of the line between real life and dreams or fantasy." ...
... Marc Lacey & Serge Kovaleski of the New York Times: "Officials at Pima Community College, where Jared L. Loughner was a student, believed that he might be mentally ill or under the influence of drugs after a series of bizarre classroom disruptions.... In 51 pages of confidential police documents released by the college on Wednesday, various instructors, students and others described Mr.Loughner as 'creepy,' 'very hostile,' 'suspicious' and someone who had a 'dark personality.' He sang to himself in the library. He spoke out of turn. And in an act the college finally decided merited his suspension, he made a bizarre posting on YouTube linking the college to genocide and the torture of students."
Was this juxtaposition of two stories on the front page of yesterday's New York Times Web edition a editorial goof? Or -- maybe it's really all the same story. Via Jim Fallows of The Atlantic.Jeff Zeleny & Michael Shear of the New York Times: Sarah Palin's video speech "... stirred an emotional response from some Democratic lawmakers, Jewish groups and even some fellow Republicans, who said it was in poor taste for Ms. Palin to deliver her statement on a day that was devoted to remembering victims of last weekend’s shooting.... The video ... seemed to be aimed at appealing to her committed supporters rather than winning over her critics...." ...
... Karen Tumulty & Peter Wallsten of the Washington Post: Sarah Palin's attempt to diffuse controversy about her blunt language & crosshairs chart backfired -- because of the blunt language she used in her presidenty speech. ...
... You have to look at it and see, what are they like when they’re tested, what are they like when they’re not scripted, what are they like when they’re pushed. And I would contend to you that if Governor Palin never does any of those things, she’ll never be president, because people in America won’t countenance that. They just won’t. -- Gov. Chris Christie (R-NJ)
If democratic legitimacy is the measure of a sound constitutional interpretive practice, then Justice Scalia needs to give an account of why and how rote obedience to the commitments of voters two centuries distant and wildly different in racial, ethnic, sexual, and cultural composition can be justified on democratic grounds. -- Prof. Jamal Greene ...
... ** Jill Lepore of the New Yorker writes a very fine, easy-to-understand article on the history of the U.S. Constitution, both the document itself & its interpretations. ...
Paul Krugman has a long essay in the upcoming New York Times Magazine: on the state of Europe's economy/economies. "Europe’s woes have all the aspects of a classical Greek tragedy, in which a man of noble character is undone by the fatal flaw of hubris." CW: haven't read it yet, but I shall.
This Could Be a Breakthrough. Dan Froomkin: Grover Norquist "a prominent conservative thinker, is calling on Republicans to begin a serious debate about the war in Afghanistan, its costs and what Ronald Reagan would do in the same circumstances":
His reaction to the Lebanon bombing was not to stay, it was to leave Ronald Reagan didn't decide to fix Lebanon. I think that's helpful in getting the conversation going on the right. -- Grover Norquist
Marisa Taylor & Dion Nissenbaum of McClatchy News: "In the rush to rebuild Afghanistan, the U.S. government has charged ahead with ever-expanding development programs despite questions about their impact, cost and value to America's multi-billion-dollar campaign to shore up the pro-Western Afghan president and prevent Taliban insurgents from seizing control.... An approach that experts denounce as ad hoc and politicized has led to programs with mixed, if not poor, results and has soured many Afghans on the U.S. military's presence in their country...."
The Hammer Faces the Slammer. Nora O'Donnell reports & Matt Lauer of NBC News interviews Tom DeLay: