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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.

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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.”

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Friday

Apr082016

CaptRuss Says

Not Good at All. All candidates, by definition, say that they're more qualified than their opponent. Various things Clinton said can be reasonably interpreted as questioning whether Sanders is up to the job of the presidency.... But it is incumbent on both candidates to fight hard and yet not say things that can't be unsaid.... -- Josh Marshall of TPM

OH, please!! Josh Marshall’s nostalgic “simple realities of political campaigns” – that Clinton and Sanders should refrain from questioning each other’s qualifications to be president - is so 20th Century. This presidential campaign, with the Republican mudslingers leading the way, is such a free-for-all that civility gets no traction, while bombast gets all the headlines. While there are differences in policy issues, Clinton’s leanings toward Wall Street and big money vs. Sander’s focus on inequality and the little guy, neither can break through the Republican noise machine to get coverage without sharp elbows. As Les Moonves has said - appropriately in the Hollywood Reporter - "It may not be good for America, but it's damn good for CBS." Moonves and Roger Ailes at Faux News have been at the forefront of flushing our democracy down the toilet.

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Capt. Russ, I totally agree. You can bet that whoever wins the Democratic nomination will have to face a lot worse criticism in the general election. What Sanders said is exactly what many progressives believe, that Clinton's past actions do not represent progressive values, so to many progressives she does not meet their qualifications for the ideal Democratic candidate. Sanders is making points that his supporters feel need to be said. Sanders was very clear to explain what he felt disqualified her, but as usual people are focusing on his word choice rather than the issues.

April 8, 2016 |

I missed the Cap't Russ attribution but I couldn't disagree more. The Republicans are appealing to the information challenged. If that is your view of America then maybe I'm wrong but I think politicians should appeal to the electorate that wants to reach that city on the hill. Not return to some mythical past.
I watched Hillary and Secretary Gates appear on an interview program. Asked a question Gates fumbled and uhmmed and ahhd whereupon Hillary stepped in. Here's where we are. Here's where we need to be. Here's how we are going to get there. Bang Bang Bang. Next question.
Yesterday I heard a Republican mouthpiece, pointing out that Cruz has appeared before the Supreme court 5 times Unprecedented!! Cruz will dismember Hillary in the debates he concluded. Remembering the Hillary/Gates interview I could only think "When bullshit baffles brains"
Yesterday I saw Hillary in the middle of one of those "Move your lips, We'll provide the words" media scrums, refusing time after time to say that Sanders was not qualified to be president. Turn to Sanders responding to the MSM shouting and screaming why he considers Hillary unqualified. I know who I think will be dismembered by Cruz in debate.
Hillary has spent a normal lifespan subject to the Conservative manure spreader. Sanders not so much. I Know who will be reelig from the Conservative shitstorm.
Finally, Hillary is running for president of the USA. Bernie is running to be Prime Minister of some mythical country.

April 8, 2016 |

Cowichan's Opinion

@Cowichan's Opinion - You miss my point, completely: "This presidential campaign...is such a free-for-all that civility gets no traction, while bombast gets all the headlines."

If you follow the link to the Hollywood Reporter story, you will find that Les Moonves also "[C]alled the campaign for president a 'circus' full of 'bomb throwing,' and he hopes it continues...'Man, who would have expected the ride we're all having right now? ... The money's rolling in and this is fun,' he said...'I've never seen anything like this, and this going to be a very good year for us. Sorry. It's a terrible thing to say. But, bring it on, Donald. Keep going,' said Moonves."

The media are businesses, they care only that ratings = profits. With a few exceptions, they don't give a damn about the future of the country, or the world for that matter.

April 10, 2016 |

CaptRuss

@CaptRuss: Quite right. In fact, the worse things are, or the worse the media can make things appear, as Moonves says, the better it is for the media. Moonves's remark is of course a riff on what Charles Wilson, the CEO of GM, was supposed to have said (but didn't): "What's good for General Motors is good for the country."

Indeed, it's reasonable to argue that a WashPo headline writer is largely responsible for Bernie's rant that Hillary was "unqualified to be president." Altho that's what Hillary implied about Bernie, that's not what she said: in her customary coy manner, she refused to say outright, "Sanders is not qualified to be president," tho repeatedly goaded by Joe Scarborough to say just that. Rather, when asked the question several times, she merely cited a litany of complaints about Sanders & said "Let the voters decide" (or words to that effect). Nonetheless, the WashPo headline writer, whose job is more to increase clicks than to report accurately, wrote, "Clinton questions whether Sanders is qualified to be president." While the headline is not entirely inaccurate, it not-so-subtly exaggerates Clinton's remarks in the back-and-forth with Scarborough. According to Sanders (who also cited a CNN headline), the headline is what inspired him to say during a campaign rally that Clinton was unqualified.

As I've written before, Sanders should not have taken the bait, because it was exactly what Clinton wanted him to do. And the Washington Post -- which is anti-Bernie -- served as her able enabler.

Marie

April 10, 2016 |

Marie Burns

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