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The Ledes

Thursday, March 28, 2024

The Washington Post's liveblog of developments in the Francis Scott Key bridge collapse is here: “Divers recovered the bodies of two construction workers who died when a massive cargo ship struck and collapsed a Baltimore bridge, as investigators revealed Wednesday that hazardous material was leaking from breached containers on the stranded vessel and state and federal lawmakers rushed to begin the recovery from the disaster that crippled the Port of Baltimore. Rescue crews found the victims shortly before 10 a.m. trapped in a red pickup truck in about 25 feet of water in the Patapsco River near the mid-span of the hulking wreck of the Francis Scott Key Bridge, Maryland State Police Secretary Roland L. Butler Jr. said at a news conference. The conditions were treacherous for the divers, so Butler said they were suspending the search for the bodies of four other construction workers who plunged to their deaths when the container ship in distress struck the bridge shortly before 1:30 a.m. Tuesday, causing it to fall.

“The workers are believed to be the only victims in the disaster.... The victims recovered were identified as Alejandro Hernandez Fuentes, 35, of Baltimore, and Dorlian Ronial Castillo Cabrera, 26, of Dundalk, Md. Other victims identified Wednesday were Maynor Suazo Sandoval, 38, from Honduras, and Miguel Luna, from El Salvador, who was the father of three. The names of the remaining two victims have not been released.” ~~~

~~~ CNN's live updates are here.

The Wires
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The Ledes

Wednesday, March 27, 2024

Washington Post: “As a cargo ship the size of a skyscraper drifted dangerously close to a major Baltimore bridge that carried more than 30,000 cars a day, the crew of the Dali issued an urgent 'mayday,' hoping to avert disaster Tuesday. First responders sprang into action, shutting down most traffic on the four-lane Francis Scott Key Bridge just before the 95,000 gross-ton vessel plowed into a bridge piling at about 1:30 a.m., causing multiple sections of the span to bow and snap in a harrowing scene captured on video.... Maryland Gov. Wes Moore (D) hailed those who carried out the quick work as 'heroes' and said they saved lives, but the scale of the destruction was catastrophic and will probably have far-reaching impacts for the economy and travel on the East Coast for months to come.” ~~~

     ~~~ The New York Times' live updates are here. CNN's live updates are here. ~~~

     ~~~ A Washington Post liveblog of developments is here: “Six people [-- bridge construction workers --] were presumed dead Tuesday evening, authorities announced as they shifted from a search and rescue operation to a recovery effort.... The governor declared a state of emergency, and Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott (D) announced that the city has deployed its emergency operations plan. Vessel traffic into and out of the Port of Baltimore was 'suspended until further notice.'”

Public Service Announcement

The Washington Post offers tips on how to keep your EV battery running in frigid temperatures. The link at the end of this graf is supposed to be a "gift link" (from me, Marie Burns, the giftor!), meaning that non-subscribers can read the article. Hope it works: https://wapo.st/3u8Z705

The Hollywood Reporter has the full list of 2024 Oscar winners here.

Ryan Gosling performs "I'm Just Ken" at the Academy Awards: ~~~

Marie: If you don't like birthing stories, don't watch this video. But I thought it was pretty sweet -- and funny:

If you like Larry David, you may find this interview enjoyable:


Tracy Chapman & Luke Combs at the 2024 Grammy Awards. Allison Hope comments in a CNN opinion piece:

~~~ Here's Chapman singing "Fast Car" at the Oakland Coliseum in December 1988. ~~~

~~~ Here's the full 2024 Grammy winner's list, via CBS.

He Shot the Messenger. Washington Post: “The Messenger is shutting down immediately, the news site’s founder told employees in an email Wednesday, marking the abrupt demise of one of the stranger and more expensive recent experiments in digital media. In his email, Jimmy Finkelstein said he was 'personally devastated' to announce that he had failed in a last-ditch effort to raise more money for the site, saying that he had been fundraising as recently as the night before. Finkelstein said the site, which launched last year with outsize ambitions and a mammoth $50 million budget, would close 'effective immediately.' The New York Times first reported the site’s closure late Wednesday afternoon, appearing to catch many staffers off-guard, including editor in chief Dan Wakeford. As employees read the news story, the internal work chat service Slack erupted in what one employee called 'pandemonium.'... Minutes later, as staffers read Finkelstein’s email, its message was underscored as they were forcibly logged out of their Slack accounts. Former Messenger reporter Jim LaPorta posted on social media that employees would not receive health care or severance.”

Washington Post: “The last known location of 'Portrait of Fräulein Lieser' by world-renowned Austrian artist Gustav Klimt was in Vienna in the mid-1920s. The vivid painting featuring a young woman was listed as property of a 'Mrs Lieser' — believed to be Henriette Lieser, who was deported and killed by the Nazis. The only remaining record of the work was a black and white photograph from 1925, around the time it was last exhibited, which was kept in the archives of the Austrian National Library. Now, almost 100 years later, this painting by one of the world’s most famous modernist artists is on display and up for sale — having been rediscovered in what the auction house has hailed as a sensational find.... It is unclear which member of the Lieser family is depicted in the piece[.]”

CNN: “Jon Stewart is heading back to 'The Daily Show.' The comedian, who during his 16-year run as host of the Comedy Central program established it as an entertainment and cultural force, will return to host the show each week on Mondays starting February 12, Showtime and MTV Entertainment Studios announced Wednesday. Stewart, who returns as the 2024 presidential election season heats up, will also executive produce the show and work with a rotating line-up of comedians who will helm the program the rest of the week, Tuesdays through Thursdays.”

~~~ Marie: I don't know if this podcast will update automatically, or if I have to do it manually. In any event, both you and I can find the latest update of the published episodes here. The episodes begin with ads, but you can fast-forward through them.

Contact Marie

Click on this link to e-mail Marie.

Sunday
Jul282013

The Commentariat -- July 29, 2013

Hope Yen of the AP: "Four out of 5 U.S. adults struggle with joblessness, near poverty or reliance on welfare for at least parts of their lives, a sign of deteriorating economic security and an elusive American dream. Survey data exclusive to The Associated Press points to an increasingly globalized U.S. economy, the widening gap between rich and poor and loss of good-paying manufacturing jobs as reasons for the trend. The findings come as President Barack Obama tries to renew his administration's emphasis on the economy, saying in recent speeches that his highest priority is to 'rebuild ladders of opportunity' and reverse income inequality." James S. mentioned this in yesterday's Commentariat.

"Detroit Looks to Health Law to Ease Costs." Monica Davey & Abby Goodnough of the New York Times: "As Detroit enters the federal bankruptcy process, the city is proposing a controversial plan for paring some of the $5.7 billion it owes in retiree health costs: pushing many of those too young to qualify for Medicare out of city-run coverage and into the new insurance markets that will soon be operating under the Obama health care law.... But if large numbers of localities follow that course, it could amount to a significant cost shift to the federal government."

Kate Pickert of Time: "Earlier this month, the Washington Post published a blockbuster front-page story about a secretive committee that determines what Medicare pays physicians for their work. Part of the American Medical Association (AMA), the committee estimates the time and intensity of various doctor tasks, and the recommendations are plugged into a formula that sets Medicare reimbursements. The committee overestimates the time it takes to perform myriad medical procedures, which thereby increases the amount doctors can earn from Medicare.... What's surprising about this AMA committee's influence is ... that the federal government relies on the committee so heavily -- almost blindly at times." The Affordable Care Act's Independent Payment Advisory Board may reduce the power of this group.

Kari Rea of ABC News: "Today on 'This Week,' Glenn Greenwald ... claimed that those NSA programs allowed even low-level analysts to search the private emails and phone calls of Americans":

... Digby: Meanwhile, we had David Gregory fluffing the NSA's pool boy, Congressman Mike Rogers, on Meet the Press. Rogers explained at length, without any follow-up, that the vote this week that came just 6 votes short of dismantling the NSA programs was a result of the public being upset about the administration's abusive Big Brother IRS and Obamacare which they confused with the benign NSA that's doing God's work. That is no joke, it's what he said. And then he lied repeatedly about other details we already know while the petty little Villager David Gregory (who, like so many others, obviously can't see past his personal animosity toward Greenwald to the underlying issues) asked him to go on at length about how Edward Snowden is killing people." ...

... Ed Pilkington of the Guardian: "Pressure is building within the US Senate for an overhaul of the secret court that is supposed to act as a check on the National Security Agency's executive power, with one prominent senator, [Ron Wyden {D-Oregon}] describing the judicial panel as 'anachronistic' and outdated.... Sunday, the prominent Democratic senator for Illinois, Dick Durbin, added his voice to the mounting criticism of the Fisa court, telling ABC's This Week: 'There should be a real court proceeding. In this case, it's fixed in a way, it's loaded. There's only one case coming before the Fisa, the government's case. Let's have an advocate for someone standing up for civil liberties to speak up about the privacy of Americans.'" ...

... Ditto from Jonathan Weisman of the New York Times, with a few different examples of the shift. ...

... David Fahrenthold of the Washington Post: Sen. Ron "Wyden [D-Oregon] finally has the audience he sought. All it took was Snowden. This is an awkward fact of Wyden's success: To get anyone's attention, the senator needed somebody else to break the laws that he would not. 'This debate should have started long, long, long ago. And it should have been started by elected officials and not by a government contractor,' Wyden said Friday." ...

... Missed this report by Peter Wallsten of the Post, published July 26: "The Obama administration's top intelligence official acknowledged Friday that there have been 'a number of compliance problems' in the government program that has collected phone data on millions of Americans. James Clapper, director of national intelligence, also said the government had not collected any other bulk data on Americans using its authority under the USA Patriot Act beyond the phone information and Internet data gathered under a separate program that was canceled in 2011." You can get to Clapper's letter from Wyden's site. If the task box doesn't load automatically, click "please click here." When the task box opens, click on "Open with Adobe reader."

Paul Krugman: urban sprawl inhibits social mobility.

John Broder of the New York Times: "Mr. Obama's decision to nominate [Gina] McCarthy, 59, [to head the EPA] was an act of defiance to Congressional and industry opponents of meaningful action on climate change. It was also a sign of his determination to at least begin to put in place rules to reduce carbon pollution."

Sam Roudman in the New Republic: the Bank of America building, touted when it opened in 2010 as an "environmentally-responsible high-rise building," in fact "produces more greenhouse gases and uses more energy per square foot than any comparably sized office building in Manhattan." Roudman explains how that came about, mostly because of the way BoA uses the building & because faulty standards gave BoA the green rating in the first place.

** E. J. Dionne: "Yes, let's mess with Texas." Eric "Holder's move shows is an utter contempt for efforts to deprive our fellow Americans of their right to cast a meaningful ballot. It is a contempt that all of us should feel."

Bill Keller: "People may no longer give [President] Obama suspicious glares in department stores or clutch their purses when he enters an elevator, but they have typecast him according to their own fears and expectations of a black man in the White House. They are still profiling Barack Obama."

Garrett Epps, in a Salon republication, takes to the Second Amendment with textual analysis and concludes that it "is in equipoise." Interesting anyway.

Nicole Winfield of the AP: "Pope Francis is reaching out to gays, saying he won't judge priests for their sexual orientation, in a remarkably open and wide-ranging news conference as he returns from his first foreign trip. Francis says: 'If someone is gay and he searches for the Lord and has good will, who am I to judge?' His predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI, authored a document that said men with deep-rooted homosexual tendencies should not be priests. Francis is being much more conciliatory, saying gay clergymen should be forgiven and their sins forgotten."

Andrew Kaczynski of BuzzFeed wonders, "Is This The Most Embarrassing Interview Fox News Has Ever Done?":

... CW: for what it's worth, there is plenty of evidence that some of the models for Jesus were Zealots, & some "sayings of Jesus" written in the Gospels are consistent with Zealotry. No serious scholar would disagree with this, though some weigh other attributes more heavily than radical aspects that the Gospel writers included to define Jesus; e.g., his Pharisaic sayings are perhaps more prevalent than the political sayings attributed to him. But there is not much evidence that Jesus was an actual person. I'd have to read Aslan's book to see if he acknowledges the scholarship that pretty much debunks the Jesus biography.

Local News

** Yesterday, Treasury Secretary Jack Lew said the federal government would not be bailing out Detroit (see yesterday's Commentariat for link), but John Cassidy of the New Yorker writes, "President Obama should stress the necessity of shared sacrifice, and push the state of Michigan to take on more of the city's fiscal responsibilities, perhaps by offering it more federal aid. Once all the parties come to an agreement, the federal government could also help with the tasks of downsizing and of rebuilding roads and schools, and taking other measures to attract businesses and families." As for the country's collapsing infrastructure, "Where better to start than in Detroit?" Leaving Detroit's fate in the hands of a Republican governor & his backers is handing conservatives the opportunity "for showdowns with public-sector unions across the country."

Make that magnifying glass a mirror. Daily News artwork.Greg Smith of the New York Daily News: "Serial sexter Anthony Weiner paid a private eye nearly $45,000 in campaign cash to investigate his lie that a hacker posted a crotch shot on his Twitter feed, campaign spending records show. Weiner's brazen attempt to cover his tracks occurred shortly after Memorial Day weekend in 2011, when his first sexting scandal erupted and he went into furious spin control trying to save his career in Congress. He maintained that he had been victimized -- and promised an investigation to get to the bottom of how it happened."

Adam Martin of New York: Maureen Dowd & Rush Limbaugh agree about Huma Abedin's reason for sticking with der Weinerschnitzel.

News Lede

Washington Post: "A wave of vandalism continued to mar some of Washington's more popular landmarks Monday with at least three more attractions spattered with green paint, and authorities announced the arrest of a woman near one of the incidents at Washington National Cathedral. The latest crimes occurred three days after the Lincoln Memorial was hit in similar fashion. On Monday, the light-green paint was discovered on an organ in the cathedral's Bethlehem Chapel, in the cathedral's Children's Chapel and on the granite base of a statue next to the Smithsonian Castle on the Mall. D.C. police said Monday evening that they had charged Tian Jiamel, 58, whom they believe to be homeless, with one count of defacing property."

Reader Comments (6)

The interview conducted on Fox "News" with religious scholar Reza Aslan typifies the blinkered, predetermined world of right-wing media.

It looks like someone being interviewed by a robot who will accept only one answer ("This does not compute..."). I lost count of how many times Aslan had to stop the Fox reader and correct her built-in misconception that no Muslim could possibly write anything about Christianity that wasn't, at an epistemological level, not just false, but willfully so. When that table was turned and she was asked whether it would be possible for a Christian scholar to write about Islam ( that is, whether a Christian would be able to objectively consider the life of Mohamed, for instance) the pre-programmed host knee-jerked "Of course".

Okay.

When we look around at pathological wingnuts like Steve King and wonder how in the hell anyone like that could get elected, we can largely thank the right-wing media of which Fox is the flagship. Between Fox and the dominant echo chamber of right-wing drool radio, even the most outrageous mountebanks are supported by people like the Fox religion correspondent, Lauren Green who are pre-programmed to spout conservative talking points: no Democrat could ever write about Reagan, no Muslim could (or should) ever write about Jesus. Of course the reverse is always true. Republicans can write about Obama, Christians can write about Islam.

Why? Because we (the right) are always right. No matter what. Even when we're wrong we're right. Because we have to be. "Romney will win big!", "No one likes Obamacare", "Trees cause acid rain", "Mission accomplished."

The fact that Fox viewers are unable or unwilling to spot the blatant hypocrisy is proof of the efficacy of right-wing propaganda. The with us or against us, Real American stuff is what fuels morons like King with a base desensitized to reason, to logic, and to truth, not to mention fairness and balance.

Ultimately, however, this support for truly dangerous points of view has inculcated a zero -sum approach, a desire to win at any cost, to beat the infidels (anyone not subscribing to Right-Wing World dogma) even at the expense of our economy, our ability to fashion real world solutions, to come together to make vital decisions on jobs, defense, education, how we're governed.

It's win at all costs and damn the consequences. You can see the exasperation on the face of Professor Aslan as he tries reason and logic on the Fox-bot. To no avail. She looks stupid and completely unmoored from reality then again, so are most of her viewers.

Way to go Roger!

July 29, 2013 | Unregistered CommenterAkhilleus

While I'm beating that horse (hey, it isn't dead yet...I saw it move), I have to point out the hilarity of calling a show on Fox "Spirited Debate". There ARE no debates on Fox.

In this case it's just an uninformed person, who hasn't read the book being discussed and knows nothing about the author beyond his religion, ignoring everything her guest has to say and returning ad nauseum to the de rigueur Fox incredulity that a Muslim, no matter how qualified, no matter how well educated and trained in the craft of historical research and writing, dares to venture an opinion about Jesus, something as unthinkable and foundation shaking, apparently, as a Democrat writing a book about Saint Ronnie.

Also, someone needs to clue her in about when and how to correctly employ the phrase "begs the question". It does not mean "raise the question."

Duh.

One would think that a show purporting to discuss religious topics would have someone with experience beyond "Jesus loves me, this I know, 'cause the Bible tells me so." But hey, this is Fox.

I told you that horse is still moving. Where's my cudgel?

July 29, 2013 | Unregistered CommenterAkhilleus

@Akhilleus: re: "begs the question." You're right. And you have about as much chance of winning that war as Ms. Green does of figuring out that a Christian theologian & a Christian minister -- who were the only "authorities" she cited to counter Aslan -- are more biased, & therefore less likely to be trustworthy, than is a university-trained scholar when it comes to interpreting Christian documents.

Marie

July 29, 2013 | Unregistered CommenterMarie Burns

The Green-Aslan "debate" reminded me of the sad faces I often see on the many older men and women I visit in a local rest home. Aside from their burden of physical disability and inevitable decline, they are often overwhelmed by their equally inevitable irrelevancy and their faces express that deep and disturbing knowledge. While admirable in my view, their occasional cranky protests don't alter the reality of their situation. Their time is almost done.

The difference in the way I feel about the aged, whose advancing years are no more their fault than was their birth, and the bilious denials of reality the Right expresses in so many concentrated and purified forms on Faux News, is that the old are simply biological expressions of the human tragedy that none of us can avoid. The Right, on the other hand, while making a business of protesting its fated irrelevancy, has freely chosen its plight and is hence deserving of no pity at all.

I would say to Ms. Green and her cohorts, pathetic certainly, but hardly pitiable.

July 29, 2013 | Unregistered CommenterKen Winkes

Adam Martin writes the more professional journalist version of the usual petty sour grapes Dowd sleaze. I have to say the Wonkette is in the much more satisfying mud which befits Dowd - nuff said.

"Reading Maureen Dowd is like paying one of the Mean Girls to write columns for you forever and ever. At this point Dowd’s tone is pretty much only good for writing notes and passing them down the row in first period math: haha huma her husband cheats on her prolly because she’s a furriner also she pads her bra and has her period. Now remember that she probably got paid more to write this than you made this month and bathe the earth with your tears of rage."
http://wonkette.com/523886/sunday-bloody-nyt-sunday-maureen-dowd-is-eternally-terrible-edition

@Akhilleus. In right wing circles if you don't understand something its the work of the Satan. The only truths come through visions, a kind of God generated orgasm of TRUTH or just "knowing" because you're damn near divine your ownself. Its quite mysterious and never never involves reading a book, let alone any research or scholarly articles. Christ we all know that scholarship is a gateway crime for the fires of Hell.

Have you ever seen a Fox spokesmodel, male or female, that busted the doubles on the IQ scale. Me neither.

July 29, 2013 | Unregistered CommenterDiane

Diane,

Speaking of room temperature IQs at Fox, isn't it Bill O'Reilly who has no idea how the tides work?

July 29, 2013 | Unregistered CommenterAkhilleus
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