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The Ledes

Thursday, July 3, 2025

CNBC: “Job growth proved better than expected in June, as the labor market showed surprising resilience and likely taking a July interest rate cut off the table. Nonfarm payrolls increased a seasonally adjusted 147,000 for the month, higher than the estimate for 110,000 and just above the upwardly revised 144,000 in May, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Thursday. April’s tally also saw a small upward revision, now at 158,000 following an 11,000 increase.... Though the jobless rates fell [to 4.1%], it was due largely to a decrease in those working or looking for jobs.”

Washington Post: “A warehouse storing fireworks in Northern California exploded on Tuesday, leaving seven people missing and two injured as explosions continued into Wednesday evening, officials said. Dramatic video footage captured by KCRA 3 News, a Sacramento broadcaster, showed smoke pouring from the building’s roof before a massive explosion created a fireball that seemed to engulf much of the warehouse, accompanied by an echoing boom. Hundreds of fireworks appeared to be going off and were sparkling within the smoke. Photos of the aftermath showed multiple destroyed buildings and a large area covered in gray ash.” ~~~

The Wires

The Ledes

Wednesday, July 2, 2025

New York Times: “The Rev. Jimmy Swaggart, who emerged from the backwoods of Louisiana to become a television evangelist with global reach, preaching about an eternal struggle between good and evil and warning of the temptations of the flesh, a theme that played out in his own life in a sex scandal, died on July 1. He was 90.” ~~~

~~~ For another sort of obituary, see Akhilleus' commentary near the end of yesterday's thread.

Help!

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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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.”

Page Links

Saturday

Mar242012

Bonus Post – “The Feminist”

My Website is down for maintenance this morning, so – good girl that I am – I have chosen to use my downtime wisely by commenting on Julie Hollar's critique of a New York Times article by Sarah Hepola. Hepola wrote a tour-de-force in the Times Style section “pondering why no one has taken Gloria Steinem’s place as ubiquitous spokesperson for women’s rights.” Good question. To which Hollar responds, rhetorically, “Why would anyone (besides lazy journalists) want there to be just one (white, straight, white-collar) woman speaking to the media about all things woman-related?”

Obviously, Hollar has a 'tude. She's got it all wrong. We girls do need an iconic spokeswoman to make herself available for brief, controlled interviews on those rare occasions when so-called “women's issues” arise. The ideal spokeswoman should be conversant with matters as diverse as abstinence (an excellent choice), contraception (not the way things are supposed to be the sexual realm) and abortion (debatable in case of rape or incest).

Unlike Hollar, Hepola recognizes the core problem: “It’s rare to find the introversion and intelligence required to be an author and thinker fused with the charisma and good looks to knock it out of the park on the Tonight show.” The question then is – how to find such a woman? Fortunately, our male-dominated media have already pointed to a solution. To identify a perfect spokeswoman, what we ladies need is a talent contest, one that harkens back to traditional values – “Miss America” – but also incorporates today's zeitgeist – “America's Got Talent.”

An annual contest titled “The Feminist” would be perfect. The contest would be multifaceted, like “Miss America,” because, as Hepola explained, the winner will have to look good and know stuff. For the know-stuff part, that quiz show where contestants had to answer questions like, “Who was president during the Eisenhower administration?” is a perfect model. The show, called “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?” had a great hook: when the contestant was stumped, he could ask for a “lifeline” – a friend or family member who told him the right answer. To make “The Feminist” really different, the helpful friend – get ready – would have to be a woman! Oh, girlfriend! (I'm sure readers are warming to this whole concept already.)

“The Feminist,” as Hepola has preordained, will have to incorporate a beauty contest. Since the winner will have to go on the teevee and appeal to men, naturally we'll include male judges on “The Feminist” panel. But I would keep it classy. No Limbaugh. I'm thinking more like Piers Morgan, Simon Cowell and for diversity, Donald Trump. Cowell could make inappropriate tits-and-ass remarks of a tasteful nature. Sexist putdowns sound so much more acceptable when spoken with a British accent. Cowell is also excellent at rolling his eyes and grimacing in disgust.

The women who becomes “The Feminist” should be well-rounded. I am not referring only to her aforementioned body parts here. I mean the “America's Got Talent” kind of well-rounded. “The Feminist” must demonstrate some performance talent, and that panel I've suggested will be the perfect judges here, too. When I say “talent,” I'm not talking emotive re-enactments of Sojourner Truth speeches. I'm talking singing, dancing, playing the accordian! Naomi Wolf belting out “I Am Woman!” Debbie Wasserman Schultz boogying to “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun.” Condi Rice tickling the ivories.

Whether or not a swimsuit contest should be part of the contest is a conundrum. I was thinking the contestants could actually include some older women. Oh, not as old as Nancy Pelosi, but Susan Faludi could maybe make the cut. Kirsten Gillibrand for sure. That said, we don't want to gross out male viewers. So maybe tankinis.

Ultimately, viewers would choose “The Feminist” via call-ins, but not before Trump shouts “You're fired!” at a bunch of losers, followed by close-ups of feminist wanna-bees crying. Humiliation will be just as important an element of “The Feminist” as it is on all the other popular shows. Who better as humiliator-in-chief than a serially-bankrupt former presidential candidate, birther, casino operator and mega-corporate-welfare recipient who keeps dumping his wives for newer models? Is America great or what?

Really, “The Feminist” will be a sensation. And a public service. I must read the New York Times Style section more often.

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Reader Comments (2)

Marie: This is a serious matter and needs your attention, May I point out that Rachel Maddow already has the position of outstanding female liberal commentator. Besides she has a lovely neck and I have been fantizing for months of puttng a hickey on it. They tell me she is gay but that does not matter as I am eighty three and would never have a shot at her anyway.
With a gay lady as leader of women's rights protection, most female bases are covered. Rachel is good looking, intelligent, a bit of a bully when necessary and enjoys verbal combat.
Congressmen would run and hide before they would do battle with Maddow in public, they all know she is smarter than they are.
Put Rachel Maddow on the white horse.

March 24, 2012 |

Carlyle

Absolutely––Rachel for consideration in the role of FEMINIST PERSONIFIED––the female who represents the Everywoman and who knows just about everything. Gosh, how we (women) have longed for a spokesperson for our causes because darn it, we can't speak up for ourselves and need a head honcho to do it for us. The process of choosing this person as outlined in the Burn's Rules will have to take on the ubiquitous humiliation of all these "winner" type shows and I'm afraid Rachel would tell them straightaway to go "flick" themselves (she'd never say fuck). And as an aside, I'm wondering what all these aforementioned shows signify––what do they say about us now? Why do people enjoy watching this kind of thing? Anybody?

March 25, 2012 |

PD Pepe

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