The Ledes

Monday, June 30, 2025

It's summer in our hemisphere, and people across Guns America have nothing to do but shoot other people.

New York Times: “A gunman deliberately started a wildfire in a rugged mountain area of Idaho and then shot at the firefighters who responded, killing two and injuring another on Sunday afternoon in what the local sheriff described as a 'total ambush.' Law enforcement officers exchanged fire with the gunman while the wildfire burned, and officials later found the body of the male suspect on the mountain with a firearm nearby, Sheriff Robert Norris of Kootenai County said at a news conference on Sunday night. The authorities said they believed the suspect had acted alone but did not release any information about his identity or motives.” A KHQ-TV (Spokane) report is here.

New York Times: “The New York City police were investigating a shooting in Manhattan on Sunday night that left two people injured steps from the Stonewall Inn, an icon of the L.G.B.T.Q. rights movement. The shooting occurred outside a nearby building in Greenwich Village at 10:15 p.m., Sgt. Matthew Forsythe of the New York Police Department said. The New York City Pride March had been held in Manhattan earlier on Sunday, and Mayor Eric Adams said on social media that the shooting happened as Pride celebrations were ending. One victim who was shot in the head was in critical condition on Monday morning, a spokeswoman for the Police Department said. A second victim was in stable condition after being shot in the leg, she said. No suspect had been identified. The police said it was unclear if the shooting was connected to the Pride march.”

New York Times: “A dangerous heat wave is gripping large swaths of Europe, driving temperatures far above seasonal norms and prompting widespread health and fire alerts. The extreme heat is forecast to persist into next week, with minimal relief expected overnight. France, Spain, Portugal, Italy and Greece are among the nations experiencing the most severe conditions, as meteorologists warn that Europe can expect more and hotter heat waves in the future because of climate change.”

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To keep the Conversation going, please help me by linking news articles, opinion pieces and other political content in today's Comments section.

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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.

Marie: Sorry, my countdown clock was unreliable; then it became completely unreliable. I can't keep up with it. Maybe I'll try another one later.

 

Commencement ceremonies are joyous occasions, and Steve Carell made sure that was true this past weekend (mid-June) at Northwestern's commencement:

~~~ Carell's entire commencement speech was hilarious. The audio and video here isn't great, but I laughed till I cried.

CNN did a live telecast Saturday night (June 7) of the Broadway play "Good Night, and Good Luck," written by George Clooney and Grant Heslov, about legendary newsman Edward R. Murrow's effort to hold to account Sen. Joe McCarthy, "the junior senator from Wisconsin." Clooney plays Murrow. Here's Murrow himself with his famous take on McCarthy & McCarthyism, brief remarks that especially resonate today: ~~~

     ~~~ This article lists ways you still can watch the play. 

New York Times: “The New York Times Company has agreed to license its editorial content to Amazon for use in the tech giant’s artificial intelligence platforms, the company said on Thursday. The multiyear agreement 'will bring Times editorial content to a variety of Amazon customer experiences,' the news organization said in a statement. Besides news articles, the agreement encompasses material from NYT Cooking, The Times’s food and recipe site, and The Athletic, which focuses on sports. This is The Times’s first licensing arrangement with a focus on generative A.I. technology. In 2023, The Times sued OpenAI and its partner, Microsoft, for copyright infringement, accusing the tech companies of using millions of articles published by The Times to train automated chatbots without any kind of compensation. OpenAI and Microsoft have rejected those accusations.” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I have no idea what this means for "the Amazon customer experience." Does it mean that if I don't have a NYT subscription but do have Amazon Prime I can read NYT content? And where, exactly, would I find that content? I don't know. I don't know.

Washington Post reporters asked three AI image generators what a beautiful woman looks like. "The Post found that they steer users toward a startlingly narrow vision of attractiveness. Prompted to show a 'beautiful woman,' all three tools generated thin women, without exception.... Her body looks like Barbie — slim hips, impossible waist, round breasts.... Just 2 percent of the images showed visible signs of aging. More than a third of the images had medium skin tones. But only nine percent had dark skin tones. Asked to show 'normal women,' the tools produced images that remained overwhelmingly thin.... However bias originates, The Post’s analysis found that popular image tools struggle to render realistic images of women outside the Western ideal." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: The reporters seem to think they are calling out the AI programs for being unrealistic. But there's a lot about the "beautiful women" images they miss. I find these omissions remarkably sexist. For one thing, the reporters seem to think AI is a magical "thing" that self-generates. It isn't. It's programmed. It's programmed by boys, many of them incels who have little or no experience or insights beyond comic books and Internet porn of how to gauge female "beauty." As a result, the AI-generated women look like cartoons; that is, a lot like an air-brushed photo of Kristi Noem: globs of every kind of dark eye makeup, Scandinavian nose, Botox lips, slathered-on skin concealer/toner/etc. makeup, long dark hair and the aforementioned impossible Barbie body shape, including huge, round plastic breasts. 

New York Times: “George Clooney’s Broadway debut, 'Good Night, and Good Luck,' has been one of the sensations of the 2024-25 theater season, breaking box office records and drawing packed houses of audiences eager to see the popular movie star in a timely drama about the importance of an independent press. Now the play will become much more widely available: CNN is planning a live broadcast of the penultimate performance, on June 7 at 7 p.m. Eastern. The performance will be preceded and followed by coverage of, and discussion about, the show and the state of journalism.”

No free man shall be seized or imprisoned, or stripped of his rights or possessions, or outlawed or exiled, or deprived of his standing in any other way, nor will we proceed with force against him, or send others to do so, except by the lawful judgment of his equals or by the law of the land. -- Magna Carta ~~~

~~~ New York Times: “Bought for $27.50 after World War II, the faint, water stained manuscript in the library of Harvard Law School had attracted relatively little attention since it arrived there in 1946. That is about to change. Two British academics, one of whom happened on the manuscript by chance, have discovered that it is an original 1300 version — not a copy, as long thought — of Magna Carta, the medieval document that helped establish some of the world’s most cherished liberties. It is one of just seven such documents from that date still in existence.... A 710-year-old version of Magna Carta was sold in 2007 for $21.3 million.... First issued in 1215, it put into writing a set of concessions won by rebellious barons from a recalcitrant King John of England — or Bad King John, as he became known in folklore. He later revoked the charter, but his son, Henry III, issued amended versions, the last one in 1225, and Henry’s son, Edward I, in turn confirmed the 1225 version in 1297 and again in 1300.”

NPR lists all of the 2025 Pulitzer Prize winners. Poynter lists the prizes awarded in journalism as well as the finalists in these categories.

 

Contact Marie

Email Marie at constantweader@gmail.com

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Saturday
Sep112010

A High-Toned Young Christian* Man**

Maureen Dowd's sister Peggy believed that Barack Obama, "the dazzling young newcomer, could change Washington."

The Constant Weader does not share Peggy's concern:

Can we all concede now that no one can "change Washington" as long as K Street is King & the sole project of nearly every elected official is self-aggrandizement, seeded with self-preservation? Let's get over it, people. And that includes you, Mr. President.

The "tone" in Washington may be of concern to your sister Peggy, but it isn't to me or to most other Americans. I don't much care if those smarmy little creeps we call "Senator" & "Congressman" tear at each other in the most vile of terms ever heard under the Capitol dome as long as they'll work together to put the country back to work & get us the heck out of Afghanistan.

Oh, sure, the level of decorum & gentility the late Sen. Robert Byrd demanded would be ever-so-sublime. But how much good does it do? The Justices of the Supreme Court are – or so they claim – supremely cordial to one another, yet cordiality & fellowship haven’t made, for instance, Justice Scalia less of an idiot. Maybe if Justice Stevens had throttled that pompous, thoughtless dope a few decades ago, the Constitution would have been better served.

In the Congress, most Republicans & quite a few Democrats have no plans whatsoever to do what is even close to right for the people who gave them their jobs & pay them their unearned wages. And they have learned to be very, very good at talking the Peggys of the nation into believing that what's good for their K Street benefactors & the Koch brothers is good for Peggy, too. Why, one day she might become super-rich & then she'll appreciate that tidy tax break they're reserving for the rich! And when she's super-rich, the fact that they've whacked the guts out of Social Security & Medicare won't mean so much to her! AND she'll be glad to know she saved us from socialism just in the nick of time.

I'd like to see President Obama, since he's already going down for the count, really take off the gloves, & you can tell Peggy I don't care if he does it on the White House lawn or in Peoria. I'd like to hear him say, "If redistributing the wealth from the super-rich to the middle class makes me a socialist, then -- yes, I am a socialist." He can elaborate: "If trying to see that everybody has affordable health care makes me a socialist, then -- yes, I am a socialist. If ensuring that women have a right to equal pay is socialistic, then you betcha, I’m a socialist. If raising the minimum wage – which does indeed redistribute the wealth – makes me a socialist, then I’m a socialist. And I’m proud of it.”

Then he might add, "Yes, folks, I am black. Take a look at this skin. Take a look at my census form. Right there next to 'race' it says 'black.' Now, get over it." Then, in a fit of super-candor, he might say, "No, I'm not a Muslim. But then I'm not much of a Christian, either. Since I know how to think for myself, organized religion doesn't do all much for me. Oh sure, I tried out Christianity to please the public & look where that got me -- Jeremiah Wright. (Hey, how did I know he was a nut job? I hardly went to church.)"

And then he could say, "You know, when I got this gig I tried getting along with Republicans, but they don't play well with others. Never have. Never will. They are not motivated to help you. They want government to fail. They don't care what happens to you. And they sure don't want me sending you a little more cash & a little better job & a lot better future for your children. Because every time I help you, it hurts their special interests. And that is all they care about it.

"So there you have it, my fellow Americans. I'm a black, halfhearted Christian socialist who believes his job is working for you. Your alternative is some white Christian guys who only work for themselves and want government to fail you. Take your pick."

Honesty may not be the best policy. But pandering has not worked out all that well for the President & real Democrats. Perhaps a shot of truthiness would set them free.


Huh. Frank Rich pretty much agrees with me. Except for the Christian bit.

AND/BUT, as Cenk Uygur notes, the Obama Administration's facile deals with the devil(s) will likely cause many of us "fucking retards" to stay home.


* Or not.

** With apologies to Wallace Stevens, & a hat-tip to my friend Ned.

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