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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
Jun012014

The Commentariat -- June 2, 2014

Coral Davenport of the New York Times: "The Obama administration on Monday will announce one of the strongest actions ever taken by the United States government to fight climate change, a proposed Environmental Protection Agency regulation to cut carbon pollution from the nation's power plants 30 percent from 2005 levels by 2030, according to people briefed on the plan."

     ... From Davenport's report: "Coal-fired power plants are the largest source of the greenhouse gas emissions that scientists blame for trapping heat in the atmosphere and dangerously warming the planet." [Emphasis added.] ...

... D. R. Tucker of the Washington Monthly: "The 'scientists blame' phrase is a disgusting, abhorrent hedge.... Somebody please tell the New York Times that the right-wing folks who hate the paper will continue to hate the paper, no matter how much false objectivity appears in the paper. Stop trying to woo the folks who despise you."

How about this: If global warming happens, the flooding may cause some people to lose their guns. -- Virginia, a commenter trying to think up a way to win over climate deniers (via the Brad Blog)

... "A Youthful Dalliance." Alec MacGillis of the New Republic: Back when Barack Obama was King Coal (or at least Prince Coal).

Paul Krugman: “Chris Giles, the economics editor of The Financial Times..., has not gone well for Mr. Giles. The alleged errors were actually the kinds of data adjustments that are normal in any research that relies on a variety of sources. And the crucial assertion that there is no clear trend toward increased concentration of wealth rested on a known fallacy, an apples-to-oranges comparison that experts have long warned about.... Yet inequality denial persists, for pretty much the same reasons that climate change denial persists: there are powerful groups with a strong interest in rejecting the facts, or at least creating a fog of doubt.”

Tom Hamburger & Kevin Sieff of the Washington Post: "Joy about the release of Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl yielded Sunday to questions about Obama administration decision-making in the deal for the American prisoner of war, which included the release of five high-ranking Afghan Taliban detainees. Congressional Republicans and others focused on a series of concerns that are likely to reverberate in coming days: whether the deal breached U.S. policy forbidding negotiations with terrorists, whether sufficient safeguards were in place to ensure that the released Taliban prisoners do no further harm to the United States and whether Congress was informed about the prisoner trade, as required by law. Separately, some inside the military raised questions about the cost associated with rescuing Bergdahl, who drifted away from his unit five years ago under curious circumstances." ...

... Wesley Lowery of the Washington Post: “National security adviser Susan Rice and Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel defended the Obama administration's decision to trade five Taliban-affiliated terrorism suspects for Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, the only known American prisoner of war in Afghanistan, who on Saturday was recovered by U.S. Special Operations forces." ...

... The official White House statement is here. ...

Ambassador Rice basically said to you, 'Yes, U.S. policy has changed. Now we make deals with terrorists,' ... The reason why the U.S. has had the policy for decades of not negotiating with terrorists is because once you start doing it, every other terrorist has an incentive to capture more soldiers. -- Sen. Ted Cruz (RTP-Texas), on This Week

     ... Politifact: "Even though presidents and officials often say 'we do not negotiate with terrorists,' it has not proven to be a hard-and-fast rule. Obama's actions so far do not signal a change in policy, but rather the latest in a long line of exceptions presidents have made throughout recent history. We rate Cruz's statement Mostly False." ...

... Josh Rogin of the Daily Beast: "Now that President Obama has proven Congress can't stop him from releasing terrorists, the administration could be primed to empty out the prison at Guantanamo Bay." ...

... ** Dan Lamothe & Kevin Sieff of the Washington Post: "Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl's recovery after five years in captivity has rekindled anger among some of his military peers over how he came to fall into enemy hands and the price the United States has paid to get him back. Bergdahl, 28, is believed to have slipped away from his platoon's small outpost in Afghanistan's Paktika province on June 30, 2009, after growing disillusioned with the U.S. military's war effort." ...

... Nathan Bethea provides a first-hand account of the search from Bergdahl in the Daily Beast. "For five years, soldiers have been forced to stay silent about the disappearance and search for Bergdahl. Now we can talk about what really happened." ...

... Impeachment! Michael Tomasky thinks Bergdahl is "the new Benghazi."

Manu Raju & Burgess Everett of Politico: "With Eric Shinseki out at the Department of Veterans Affairs, the focus now shifts to Capitol Hill, placing [Bernie Sanders,] Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee chairman, at the center of the growing VA health care controversy. Sanders, who caucuses with Democrats, is assembling a legislative package to help address the issue in the hopes that he can consolidate support within the veterans community and assuage concerns of vulnerable Democrats." ...

... Brian Beutler of the New Republic: How the GOP's turning up the volume on the VA scandal will backfire.

Politico's big piece today is "The Obama Paradox" by Carrie Brown & Jennifer Epstein. CW: It's supposed to be a think piece. But it's Politico. Ergo, I wouldn't look for useful analysis, but the story contains some interesting tidbits. ...

... Margaret Hartmann of New York: "That visit to the Gap.... "'What he cherishes and misses [about New York city] is the serendipity -- you don't know who you're going to bump into or what they're going to say,' senior adviser Valerie Jarrett said following the Gap excursion. 'He hungers for that.' Though, after running into Bill Clinton a few times, he'll probably get over it." ...

... CW: What struck me about the Politico article -- assuming a word of it is true -- is how much Obama wants to be like the Clintons. Not only did he fill top administration posts with Clinton acolytes (not to mention a real-live Clinton); not only does he follow Clinton-type policy prescriptions (international trade deals, faggedaboud serious financial reform, etc.); now Obama even longs for a Clintonesque post-presidency. Weird. And dismaying, especially since this is the guy most of us voted for because he wasn't a Clinton.

Kyle Cheney & Jennifer Haberkorn of Politico: "Right now, 36 states rely on HealthCare.gov, the federal exchange, to enroll people in health coverage. At least two more states are opting in next year, with a few others likely to follow. Only two states are trying to get out.... The federal option was supposed to be a limited and temporary fallback. But a shift to a bigger, more permanent Washington-controlled system is instead underway.... It's coming about because intransigent Republicans shunned state exchanges, and ambitious Democrats bungled them." ...

     ... CW: Not stated in the Politico article (of course) is this: Despite the Healthcare.gov start-up debacle, it turns out that the federal government does a lot of stuff better than do state governments. As long as humans are running things, there always will be screw-ups (see Veterans Administration), but federal government screw-ups are usually no worse than private-sector screw-ups (what's the wait-time to see your doctor for a non-emergency?); the fed goofs just get more attention because the not-responsible/irresponsible party & news media cover them. Nobody cares if your insurance agent is an incompetent jerk or if you have to wait 8 weeks to see your doctor.

Dylan Stableford of Yahoo! News: "Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg is weighing in on the rampage in Santa Barbara, California, calling both for stricter gun laws and for background checks for people with mental illness. 'The real problem here is we have too many guns in the hands of criminals, people with psychiatric problems -- as this guy obviously did -- and minors,' Bloomberg said on 'Meet The Press' on Sunday. "And we've got to find some ways to stop that." ...

... Adam Nagourney, et al., of the New York Times: Elliot Rodger had always had severe psychological problems.

CW: Missed this. Benjamin Wittes, in a New Republic/Lawfare piece, gives his take Ed Snowden's NBC News interview.

Primary Races 2014

Adam Wollner of the National Journal provides a rundown of tomorrow's primary races.

Presidential Election 2016

Maggie Haberman of Politico: "'Hard Choices,' meet 'Failed Choices.' The Republican opposition research group America Rising will release an e-book on Hillary Clinton's tenure at the State Department, describing her own book about her service as 'spin' aimed at a presidential campaign. The e-book, 'Failed Choices: A Critique of the Clinton State Department,' will be available on Amazon just as Clinton's own 'Hard Choices' hits bookstores on June 10."

News Ledes

AP: "President Mahmoud Abbas on Monday swore in a Palestinian unity government, taking a major step toward ending a crippling territorial and political split among the Palestinians but also setting the stage for new friction with Israel."

Guardian: "After nearly 40 years on the throne, King Juan Carlos of Spain is to abdicate in favour of his son Crown Prince Felipe, the prime minister, Mariano Rajoy, announced on Monday." The New York Times story is here.

New York: "One day after video surfaced of V. Stiviano making her own racist remarks in footage filmed for a reality-show pilot, there was another unfortunate development in the Donald Sterling saga. Stiviano's attorney, Mac Nehorary, told Radar Online that she was beaten up by two white men while leaving New York's Gansevoort Hotel on Sunday night."

Reader Comments (12)

Whoa....this Bowe Berghdal story is something else. His release has unleashed the self-righteous screamers from the right. Impeach!!

I guess.

But wait. It could have been a whole lot worse. Let's say the administration sold arms to a sworn enemy in exchange for this hostage. Suppose the whole deal devolved into a straight, off the books, illegal, treasonous sale of arms (TOW anti-tank missiles, hundreds of surface to air missiles) that broke dozens of US laws.

Then suppose they took the proceeds of that money, in direct contravention of even more US laws, and started arming sociopathic death squads in Central America and supported their efforts to rape and murder American nuns and line up tens of thousands of innocent nationals, torture them, kill them, and bury them in mass unmarked graves in the jungles.

And then further suppose that the administration lied about all of this, repeatedly, tried to cover it up by shredding documents, among other things, and when caught red-handed, was handed a list of indictments the length of your arm (some with their very own arms-length indictments), many of whom were convicted, and finally what if most of those found guilty were set scot-free on a pardon handed down by one of the main guys of that conspiracy!

Now THAT would be a treasonous clusterfuck of the first order.

Good thing crazy shit like that didn't happen.

Otherwise Republicans would REALLY have something to complain about.

June 2, 2014 | Unregistered CommenterAkhilleus

It's instructive to recall, as Michael Tomasky does in the article Marie links above, that, when you're playing with the scales and wondering whether one American soldier is worth five Guantanamo-Taliban prisoners, Israel traded over 1,000 Palestinian prisoners for one of their own. 1,027 to be exact. For one guy. Very likely a lot of those Palestinians were jailed in mass sweeps, but it's a given that the PLO would not have released the Israeli kid if they weren't getting some pretty high level guys in return.

This is the nature of these kinds of exchanges. Prisoner exchanges between the US and the Soviet Union were not rare events, even at the height of the cold war.

And, as others have rightly suggested, if this had been a deal made by a Republican president, the wingnuts would be planning a parade for Bergdahl, not talking impeachment.

They had their chance to talk impeachment when Reagan traded arms for hostages and when Dubya lied to start a war.

What did they do then? Waved the flag, of course. And threatened to throw anyone into jail who didn't.

There simply has to be a better word than "hypocrite".

Asshole, maybe?

June 2, 2014 | Unregistered CommenterAkhilleus

Oh yeah, one more thing about the Israeli exchange.

Pretty much the entire state of Israel, the press, the opposition, everyone, supported Bibi in this 1,027 for 1 exchange.

But not here. Not Republicans.

The Right in this country long ago gave up the cover of being the loyal opposition. They're the opposition alright, but loyalty has nothing to do with it. Not loyalty to the president. Loyalty to the country. They have none and they demonstrate it repeatedly.

They're traitors. Every stinking one of them. They routinely, and giddily, trade US national interests, even national security, to score political points.

In my book--in anyone's book--that's treason.

The GOP: the Treasonous Opposition.

June 2, 2014 | Unregistered CommenterAkhilleus

Correction: it was Hamas who had imprisoned, and then released, the Israeli soldier, Gilad Shalit, not the PLO (which, if you think about it, is even worse, from the perspective of any hard line Israeli group who wanted to make something of it).

June 2, 2014 | Unregistered CommenterAkhilleus

@AK re:

"There simply has to be a better word than "hypocrite".

Asshole, maybe?

The answer to that question is over on Charlie Pierce's first blog of the morning. http://www.esquire.com/blogs/politics/john-mccain-obama-prisoner-release-060214

(Spoiler alert) Answer is: John McCain = AH

June 2, 2014 | Unregistered CommenterMAG

Just for the hell of it, given all the routine denials coming from the mouths of wingnuts, I thought I'd try to list all the things they simply don't believe or outright deny. Man, it's a long one.

Things Republicans deny, or try to (not comprehensive, by any means):

Science. The tide goes in, the tied goes out. Who can explain it?

Math. Numbers are just tools to support illegitimate arguments, so ignore them and make up your own.

History.

Healthcare. Except for the wealthy or those in congress.

Facts.

Reality. As the Bushies once sniffed, they create their own reality.

Rape. It's impossible unless the slut wants it, in which case it can't be rape. Right?

Choice. Right-wing fathers know best.

Climate change. Even if it's true, we'll all be dead, so fuck it.

The idea that the tsunami of weapons unleashed in this country (by them and their NRA masters) could possibly cause any problems. The dozens of gun deaths every day in the US have no relation to the number of guns available. That's just silly (see Math, denial of).

Racism. It doesn't exist, except for Democrats because Lincoln freed the slaves and he was a Republican.

Discrimination too. Except for all the discrimination against Christians. You're all goin' to hell.

The actual age of the universe. It's 5,698 years, 6 months, 3 weeks, 2 days, 15 hours, 32 minutes. And counting. Praise Jesus!

The right of Democrats to govern.

The right of a black Democrat to be president.

Government itself. Even though this seems to make no sense since lifelong Republican moochers like Paul Ryan would then be out of a job.

Sense, common or otherwise. (see above)

Income inequality. Poor people are just lazy moochers (but the real kind. Not the Paul Ryan kind).

Support for veterans. More moochers.

Equal opportunity. For jobs, for education, for women, for minorities...

The fact that voter fraud is itself a fraudulent scheme drummed up to deny Americans the right to vote

The Establishment Clause. Jesus wrote the Constitution and he'd never write such a horrible, Satan-y thing.

The Constitution. You can't cherry pick clauses and even words in the same clause and claim to believe in it as the document on which everything else rests.

Rationality. If they believed in that, the Republican party would have no business existing.

Oops.

June 2, 2014 | Unregistered CommenterAkhilleus

I'm kinda monopolizing the show so just one more short one.

If you think the Civil War is over, you should be in Alabama today.

State offices are all closed as Alabamians (some of them, anyway) enjoy a holiday and whoop it up in memory of the birthday of secessionist Jefferson Davis.

Wonder if the NAACP has been invited to join the parades.

June 2, 2014 | Unregistered CommenterAkhilleus

@Ak. I am in Alabama today and the people I asked had no idea that today is JD Day. It must be a holiday for state workers only because the folks I work with down here are working, both wah and blah. Haven't heard of any parades either. But then AL is a "special" place and I can't wait to get back home to NW CT this weekend.

June 2, 2014 | Unregistered CommenterUnwashed

@ Ak

"The right of a black Democrat to be president."

I have to propose a correction: The right of a black MAN to be president.

Party affiliation has nothing to do with this disorder. Never in my wildest dreams could I conceive the party of old white folks nominating an African American for their presidential candidate, even tea party crazy. I don't think Tea Partiers could even handle it personally. They'd have to sit a long moment in front of the mirror and so some serious self-reflecting (pun intended). And the gender criteria is clearly a deal breaker because while not even ignoramus Allen West to get ever get the Republican presidential nominee, a black woman who NEVER have any chance. They only threw out Sarah Shitforbrains as the ultimate cynical ploy to reel in the white women voters who aren't paying attention beyond hearing signs about "grizzly bear soccer moms" and feel some sort of identity affiliation. Sorry girls, the GOP nominating a female for the presidential nominee won't be until all the current GOP voters die off...so don't count on that one either.

June 2, 2014 | Unregistered Commentersafari

Sorry, meant.."a black woman would never have any chance."

Then again, ol' Herman Cain got to share some spotlight with his lighter-skinned brethren, but who really took him seriously? He thought he was still selling pizzas to America..."My 9 9 9 plan, any size, any topping...wait, what the hell am I doing here?"

June 2, 2014 | Unregistered Commentersafari

"Tell the truth and shame the stupid." Gotta love the D. R. Tucker article above.

June 2, 2014 | Unregistered CommenterCitizen625

Ahh, what do you know. I mentioned dimwit Allen West and here he comes crawling from out of the basement.

Apparently the rescued's soldiers father spoke Arabic at the White House and though Allen West has no idea what he said, he was certainly leaving his mark on the White House, like a dog on a firehydrant, proclaiming victory for Muslims across the world or something. Ladies and gentlemen, Benghazi Redux has commenced

http://allenbwest.com/2014/06/bombshell-first-words-bergdahls-father-white-house-arabic/

June 3, 2014 | Unregistered Commentersafari
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