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The Ledes

Friday, March 29, 2024

CNBC: “Inflation rose in line with expectations in February, likely keeping the Federal Reserve on hold before it can start considering interest rate cuts, according to a measure the central bank considers its more important barometer. The personal consumption expenditures price index excluding food and energy increased 2.8% on a 12-month basis and was up 0.3% from a month ago, the Commerce Department reported Friday. Both numbers matched the Dow Jones estimates.... Along with the inflation increase, consumer spending shot up 0.8% on the month, well ahead of the 0.5% estimate, possibly indicating additional inflation pressures. Personal income increased 0.3%, slightly softer than the 0.4% estimate.”

The Wires
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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.

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
Jun232019

The Commentariat -- June 24, 2019

Michael Shear of the New York Times: "President Trump on Sunday shrugged off the brutal dismembering of Jamal Khashoggi, a Washington Post columnist, just days after a United Nations report described how a team of Saudi assassins called Mr. Khashoggi a 'sacrificial animal' before his murder. The U.N. report urged an F.B.I. investigation into the slaying. But in an interview with NBC's 'Meet the Press,' Mr. Trump said the episode had already been thoroughly investigated. He said the Middle East is 'a vicious, hostile place' and noted that Saudi Arabia is an important trading partner with the United States.... Mr. Trump also said he was 'not looking for war [with Iran],' but added that if the United States went to war with Iran, 'it'll be obliteration like you've never seen before.'... Mr. Trump also falsely blamed former President Barack Obama for his policy of separating families at the border, lashed out at his Federal Reserve chairman and said the biggest mistake of his presidency was selecting Jeff Sessions to be his attorney general." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Here's the full, unedited interview via NBC News. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Dan De Luce of NBC News: "Long before Trump was elected, advocates of the nuclear agreement -- including then-President Barack Obama, French President Emmanuel Macron and others -- had argued that abandoning the accord carried grave risks that could lead to an armed conflict. 'So let's not mince words. The choice we face is ultimately between diplomacy or some form of war -- maybe not tomorrow, maybe not three months from now, but soon,' Obama said in a speech in 2015 defending the deal before a congressional vote.... Obama said that without an agreement limiting Iran's nuclear program in return for sanctions relief, any U.S. administration would be left with only one option to prevent Iran from getting a nuclear weapon -- 'another war in the Middle East.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

David Boddiger of Splinter: "A day after Donald Trump announced via Twitter that he was postponing nationwide raids by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to deport thousands of families, senior administration officials are furious, blaming acting Homeland Security Secretary Kevin McAleenan for leaking details of the raids to the press. It was no secret that McAleenan opposed the massive operation, which was supposed to target 10 major U.S. cities on Sunday morning, and he had commented to The Washington Post that such raids could risk separating more children from their parents. He also warned that ICE did not have the resources to carry out such sweeping deportation raids.... On Saturday, former ICE acting director and recently named 'border czar' Tom Homan criticized McAleenan during an appearance on Fox & Friends, claiming to know the source of the leak." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

The Trump Scandals, Ctd.

Jonathan Swan, et al., of Axios: "Nearly 100 internal Trump transition vetting documents leaked to 'Axios on HBO' identify a host of 'red flags' about officials who went on to get some of the most powerful jobs in the U.S. government.... The massive trove, and the story behind it, sheds light on the slap-dash way President Trump filled his cabinet and administration, and foreshadowed future scandals that beset his government.... In the chaotic weeks after Trump's surprise election victory, Trump fired Chris Christie as the head of his transition. The team that took over -- which V.P. Mike Pence helmed -- outsourced the political vetting of would-be top officials to the Republican National Committee.... Traditionally, any would-be top official faces three types of vetting: an FBI background check, a scrub for financial conflicts of interest from the Office of Government Ethics, and a deep dive from the president-elect's political team, which veteran Washington lawyers often handle.... But in many cases -- for example the misguided choice of Andrew Puzder as Labor Secretary -- this RNC 'scrub' of public sources was the only substantial vetting in Trump's possession when he announced his picks." ...

... Jonathan Swan talks to Chris Christie about the Trump transition. Most of what Christie says isn't news, but it's worth hearing it again:

Andrew Desiderio of Politico: "The White House is expected to move to block former top aide Annie Donaldson from answering the House Judiciary Committee]s written questions about her tenure as White House deputy counsel, according to sources familiar with the matter. Donaldson, who was a central witness in special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation, struck a deal with the committee that would allow her to submit written responses instead of showing up for her scheduled public testimony on Monday. Donaldson is pregnant and lives in Alabama, her attorney Sandra Moser said, adding that it's difficult for her to travel to Washington at this time."

Andrew Desiderio: "The House Oversight and Reform Committee will vote to authorize a subpoena for White House counselor Kellyanne Conway on Wednesday if she does not show up for the panel's hearing on her alleged violations of the Hatch Act, according to a memo sent to lawmakers. The U.S. Office of Special Counsel has cited Conway for multiple violations of the Hatch Act, and earlier this month, Special Counsel Henry J. Kerner recommended that President Donald Trump terminate her White House employment. Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.), the chairman of the committee, invited both Kerner and Conway to attend Wednesday's hearing."


Serena Marshall, et al., of ABC News: "From sleeping on concrete floors with the lights on 24 hours a day to no access to soap or basic hygiene, migrant children in at least two U.S. Customs and Border Protection facilities face conditions one doctor described as comparable to 'torture facilities.' The disturbing, first-hand account of the conditions were observed by lawyers and a board-certified physician in visits last week to border patrol holding facilities in Clint, Texas, and McAllen, a city in the southern part of the state. The descriptions paint a bleak image of horrific conditions for children, the youngest of whom is 2 1/2 months old.... [Dr. Dolly Lucio Sevier] compared it to being 'tantamount to intentionally causing the spread of disease.' In an interview with ABC News, Lucio Sevier said the facility 'felt worse than jail.'" ...

... ** Salt Lake Tribune Editors: "... the places into which we are herding tens of thousands of migrants, refugees and asylum-seekers are ... properly called concentration camps. Because that is precisely what they are. When some in the public eye dare to tell that truth, as the media-savvy Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez did the other day, enablers of the administration's cruel policies cry foul.... [The Nazi Holocaust] worked its way up, from nasty political speeches (check) to politicians seeking and gaining power with promises to protect the purity of the nation from foreign invasion (check) to denying basic human rights and decency to people of an unfavored class (check)." Mrs. McC: A powerful piece by a conservative editorial board. Read it all. ...

... Ben Fenwick of the New York Times (June 22): "... more than 200 demonstrators arrived at Fort Sill on Saturday to protest the government's latest plan for the base: to house 1,400 undocumented children who arrived in the United States without a parent or a legal guardian. The protesters called the plan, which was announced this month, a return to one of the nation's great shames.... The Obama administration held several thousand immigrant children at Fort Sill in 2014.... Satsuki Ina, who was born in a Japanese-American internment camp during World War II ... protested then, too.... In the 19th century, the Army held hundreds of Chiricahua Apache warriors who surrendered in the conflicts between Native Americans and the United States; Geronimo was one of them and is buried at the base. During World War II, a distraught Japanese detainee, Kanesaburo Oshima, was fatally shot there as he tried to climb the barb-wire fence, becoming a symbol of a mass exclusion program that the United States has formally apologized for in 1988." ...

... Adam Serwer of The Atlantic: "The [Trump immigration] policy's cruelty is its purpose.... The barbarism of deliberately inflicting suffering on children as coercion, though, has forced the Trump administration and its allies in the conservative press to offer three contradictory defenses. First, there's the denial that the policy exists.... The policy is both real and delightful. The conservative radio host Laura Ingraham called the uproar 'hilarious'.... Others in the administration -- such as [former] Attorney General Jeff Sessions and his former aide, the White House adviser Stephen Miller -- offer a third defense. The policy exists, they say, and it's necessary to uphold the rule of law.... It is not an accident that these three defenses -- the policy does not exist, the children are better off under the policy, and the policy is required by law -- are contradictory. The heart of Trumpism is both cruelty and denial. The administration and its supporters valorize cruelty against outsiders even while denying that such cruelty is taking place."

Helena Evich of Politico: "The Trump administration has refused to publicize dozens of government-funded studies that carry warnings about the effects of climate change, defying a longstanding practice of touting such findings by the Agriculture Department's acclaimed in-house scientists.... All of these studies were peer-reviewed by scientists and cleared through the non-partisan Agricultural Research Service, one of the world's leading sources of scientific information for farmers and consumers. None of the studies were focused on the causes of global warming -- an often politically charged issue. Rather, the research examined the wide-ranging effects of rising carbon dioxide, increasing temperatures and volatile weather."

NOPEStephanie Covery of the Guardian: "One of the biggest knitting websites in the world, which claims to have more than 8 million members, has announced that it will ban users from expressing support for Donald Trump, saying that to do so constitutes 'white supremacy'. On Sunday, administrators for Ravelry, a site for knitters, crocheters, designers and anyone dabbling in the fibre arts, said that they were making any expression of support for Trump and his administration in forum posts, patterns, on their personal profile pages or elsewhere permanently off limits.... The policy drew on a similar statement made last year by roleplaying game site RPG.net, which banned advocacy of Trump from its forums on the grounds that the Trump administration was an 'elected hate group'.... The knitting and crochet community has played a prominent role in the anti-Trump movement in the past, with women wearing homemade pink 'pussy' hats to demonstrations around his election and inauguration becoming a distinctive symbol of protest against his presidency."

Presidential Race 2020

Dan Merica & Donald Judd of CNN: "Presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg faced the raw and unvarnished emotion of his community at a town hall in South Bend, Indiana, on Sunday as the mayor attempted to soothe the pain caused by the recent killing of a black man by a police officer. The shooting of Eric Jack Logan, who police alleged was breaking into cars and wielding a knife when he was shot by officer Ryan O'Neill last Sunday, has roiled the Indiana community, putting the spotlight on years of racial tension between the South Bend Police Department and the city's African American residents.... The free-wheeling town hall -- which included a mix of questions, storytelling and protesting from attendees who spoke to the mayor -- focused on how the police department has interacted with the community for years, long before the shooting.... Under Buttigieg, the South Bend Police Department has slowly -- but consistently -- become less diverse."

Bianca Quilantan of Politico: "Joe Sestak, a retired three-star Navy admiral and former two-term congressman from Pennsylvania, on Sunday became the latest Democratic contender to announce a bid for the presidency. Sestak, in a video released on his campaign website, drew heavily on his naval career, saying he 'wore the cloth of the nation for over 31 years in peace and war, from the Vietnam and Cold War eras, to Afghanistan and Iraq and the emergence of China.'" Mrs. McC: Time for the Ghost of Pat Paulsen to announce his candidacy:

Murtaza Hussain of The Intercept: "For over 17 years, Moath al-Alwi ha been held at Guantánamo Bay without charge. A Yemeni citizen, al-Alwi is one of Guantánamo's 'forever prisoners,' those whom the U.S. government has not charged with a crime but is unwilling to release. On June 10, the Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal in his case, the latest setback in al-Alwi's long effort to obtain due process rights. The Supreme Court rejection ... briefly brought al-Alwi's case back to national attention. Little noted, however, were the eyebrow-raising assertions that the government has made in this case about its powers to indefinitely detain not just al-Alwi, but anyone -- including U.S. citizens." --s

Joe Drape of the New York Times: "Another horse died at Santa Anita Park in Southern California on Saturday -- the 30th since Dec. 26 and the fourth this month -- prompting the owners of what has become one of the deadliest racetracks in America to bar Jerry Hollendorfer, the horse's Hall of Fame trainer. American Currency died after a training session Saturday. The horse was the fourth trained by Hollendorfer to die at Santa Anita Park since the meeting opened on Dec. 26. The spike in fatalities at the landmark racetrack has put a bull's-eye on the very existence of one of America's oldest sports. The deaths have prompted an investigation by the Los Angeles County district attorney's office and earned public rebukes from Gov. Gavin Newsom of California and Senator Dianne Feinstein, Democrat of California.... The Stronach Group, which owns Santa Anita and six other American racetracks, has blamed corrupt trainers and owners for the deaths...." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: I suppose when we have a POTUS* who "shrugs off" the assassination of a political journalist, the suspicious deaths of dozens of racehorses may seem less significant. But just because we have a president* who sees murder as an excusable cultural phenomenon and the criminal abuse of children & asylum-seekers as an acceptable "deterrent" to immigration doesn't mean the rest of us should become desensitized.

Way Beyond the Beltway

Carlotta Gall of the New York Times: "President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey was confronting recriminations within his governing party and the wider circle of his supporters on Monday as the scale of the defeat of his candidate in the Istanbul mayoral race became clear. The opposition candidate, Ekrem Imamoglu, emerged as the landslide winner of the mayoral election redo against Mr. Erdogan's candidate, Binali Yildirim, according to preliminary results announced on Monday by Sadi Guven, the head of the High Election Council, confirming a significant defeat for the governing party."

Reader Comments (6)

I don't know what we are getting exercised about-- it's only a few thousand children being abused...s/ Where is great humanitarian Ivanka while all this is happening? More and more I think it IS deliberate-- if you treat people worse than prisoners of war in the 19th century, they just won't try to come anymore. Like that works...Pence says it is Congress's fault for not providing more money. If they got more, Fatso could fix it in 15 minutes...

On another note: the Turkish names are interesting-- when I see them, I keep thinking they are anagrams and hunt for the "hidden" English names...

June 24, 2019 | Unregistered CommenterJeanne

There’s a simple test for supporters of the Trump policy of shoving children into filthy, dangerously unhealthy, and blatantly inhumane conditions for the crime of being brought here by parents hoping for a better life: send their own children or grandchildren to spend a week in one of these cells.

Back when Bush and Cheney lied to start their wars of choice (which are still going on and which spawned legions of terrorist movements, including ISIS) the generally liberal writer Christopher Hitchens surprised (and pissed off) many on the left by coming out and supporting those wars. But as it became clear that institutional torture was a major policy of that period, he decided to test for himself Darth Cheney’s claim that waterboarding was not torture. He had himself waterboarded and pronounced it “absolutely, definitely torture”. Of course Bush and Cheney and the congressional torture mongers who supported this inhuman practice would never have taken this test, but they should have.

And so, today, the inhuman Trumpbots praising the torture (that’s what it is) of small children should have no problem sending their own kids and grandkids to test their contention that it’s perfectly fine to sleep with dozens of other kids on concrete floors with no soap, no clean clothes, open toilets used by sick children, and lights on 24 hours a day. Conditions described as far worse than prison.

Barron? You’re first, pal. Then the Javanka kids. Then the pence grandkids. Let’s see how long that lasts.

June 24, 2019 | Unregistered CommenterAkhilleus

@Akhilleus: I wish a reporter would ask Trump exactly that: "Will you send your son & your grandchildren to one of the 'summer camps' for migrants? When? July?"

June 24, 2019 | Registered CommenterMarie Burns

As the Atlantic article linked above points out, one of the prime excuses for the Trump Torture of Innocent Children policy is the maintenance of the “rule of law”. Rule of law, eh? This on behalf of the single most lawless administration and law defying president in US history. It’s like a Mafia don sniffing that a society without laws is sure to descend into chaos, even as he confirms hits on rivals.

But then again, as far as Trump and Miller and McTurtle are concerned, laws are for the little people. Not titans like themselves, whose mere whims can thrust thousands into imprisonment, despair, and hopelessness. Just to show them who’s boss and teach those uppity brown babies about the “Rule of Law” in Trump’s Amerika.

June 24, 2019 | Unregistered CommenterAkhilleus

Food for thought. If the treasonweasel had pulled out of Ivana as
fast as he did Iran, we would have fewer greedygrifters in D.C.

June 24, 2019 | Unregistered Commenterforrest.morris

And still, Democrats aren’t sure what to do. Indecision is the best friend to criminals and lawless authoritarians.

June 24, 2019 | Unregistered CommenterAkhilleus
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