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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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.

 

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Sunday
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December 5, 2022

Afternoon Update:

** Only Straight White Christians Need Apply. Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "The Supreme Court's conservative majority seemed prepared on Monday to rule that a graphic designer in Colorado has a First Amendment right to refuse to create websites celebrating same-sex weddings based on her Christian faith despite a state law that forbids discrimination based on sexual orientation. But several justices leaning in that direction appeared to be searching for limiting principles so as not to upend all sorts of anti-discrimination laws." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: So if you're a white Christian nationalist, you don't have to design Websites for, say, Jewish couples or for interracial couples or for immigrant couples??? ~~~

     ~~~ Nasty, Cruel "Justice" Thinks It's a Laughing Matter. Summer Concepcion of NBC News: "Justice Samuel Alito joked about Black Santa, children in Klan robes and dating websites as the Supreme Court heard arguments Monday in a case weighing a web designer's bid to avoid working on same-sex weddings because she is a conservative evangelical Christian." MB: Not surprisingly, Alito's "jokes" are not even vaguely funny.

Are You Going to Believe Me or Me? Olivia Olander of Politico: "... Donald Trump on Monday denied he wanted to '"terminate" the Constitution,' two days after suggesting 'the termination of all rules ... even those found in the Constitution.' 'The Fake News is actually trying to convince the American People that I said I wanted to "terminate" the Constitution. This is simply more DISINFORMATION & LIES,' Trump said on Monday on his own social media platform, Truth Social. The post seemed to be a complete denial of his post from Saturday, which remained online as of Monday afternoon...."

Jonah Bromwich of the New York Times: "The Manhattan district attorney, Alvin L. Bragg, is hiring a former senior Justice Department official with a history of taking on Donald J. Trump and his family business as the office seeks to ramp up its investigation into the former president. The official, Matthew Colangelo, who before he became a top official at the Justice Department led the New York attorney general's civil inquiry into Mr. Trump, is likely to become one of the leaders of the district attorney's criminal inquiry into the former president. The hire marks the latest turn in a long-running investigation that has proceeded in fits and starts in recent years."

Tierney Sneed of CNN: "Facing possible professional sanctions, Rudy Giuliani described on Monday the Trump campaign's legal strategy for challenging the 2020 election results and how the former New York mayor had hoped to frame up an eventual case for the US Supreme Court. Giuliani is outlining his involvement in orchestrating the post-election legal strategy for ... Donald Trump's 2020 campaign as he testifies off in attorney disciplinary proceedings that the DC Bar has brought against him. Giuliani said that he had planned to consolidate an infamous Trump campaign lawsuit he brought seeking to throw out hundreds of thousands of 2020 votes in Pennsylvania with similar legal actions in other states to serve as a case that would go before the Supreme Court."

Eugene Scott of the Washington Post: "Paul Pelosi, the husband of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), made his first public appearance Sunday, at the Kennedy Center Honors, since being violently attacked at the couple's San Francisco home in October. The 82-year-old business executive was welcomed with a thunderous standing ovation as he accompanied his wife to the storied event in the Kennedy Center's Opera House."

Devan Cole of CNN: "Disgraced attorney Michael Avenatti was sentenced Monday to 14 years in prison and ordered to pay nearly $11 million in restitution for embezzling millions of dollars from four of his clients and obstruction. Avenatti pleaded guilty earlier this year to four counts of wire fraud for each client he stole from and one count of endeavoring to obstruct the administration of the Internal Revenue Code. Prosecutors said he obstructed the IRS' effort to collect $5 million in unpaid payroll taxes for Tully's Coffee. The sentence handed down by federal district Judge James Selna will begin after Avenatti completes a five-year prison term he's currently serving after being convicted in two separate trials in New York."

Arizona. Alexandra Berzon of the New York Times: "Arizona's top officials signed papers to certify the results of the state's midterm election on Monday, completing a normally routine task that had become troubled in a state where Republican activists and candidates have claimed without evidence that the election results were irredeemably marred by widespread problems. Two heavily Republican counties in Arizona initially delayed certifying their results but ultimately did so. In one case, in Cochise County, certification came only under order from a judge. Finally, at an event on Monday that was closed to the public but broadcast live, the secretary of state, Katie Hobbs, a Democrat who won this year's race for governor, signed documents to certify the results in all 15 counties. Also signing the certifications were Gov. Doug Ducey and Arizona's attorney general, Mark Brnovich, both Republicans, along with Robert Brutinel, the chief justice of the State Supreme Court.... Ms. Hobbs's opponent for governor, Kari Lake, who lost by more than 17,000 votes..., and her allies have vowed to continue fighting the outcome, sowing doubts about the results with public statements and social media posts."

~~~~~~~~~~

Travis Andrews of the Washington Post: "... President Biden and first lady Jill Biden were back for a second year [at the Kennedy Center Honors] after four 'first couple'-less years thanks to a presidential boycott during the Trump years and the ensuing pandemic, which led to a mostly virtual show for the 2020 awards (held in May 2021). Joining them were Vice President Harris and her husband, Douglas Emhoff. Saturday's medallion ceremony was back in its proper place at the State Department after being held at the Library of Congress last year.... The ceremony -- held in the arts center's 2,364-seat Opera House theater and honoring actor, filmmaker and philanthropist George Clooney; contemporary Christian music sensation-turned-pop-star Amy Grant; the 'Empress of Soul,' singer Gladys Knight; Irish rock band U2 (Bono, the Edge, Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen Jr.); and Cuban American composer-conductor Tania León...."

The Party of Sedition. Amy Wang of the Washington Post: "Donald Trump's suggestion this weekend that the U.S. Constitution should be terminated in response to his baseless claims that the 2020 election was stolen drew a largely muted response from Republicans.... Only a handful of Republican lawmakers have joined the White House and Democrats in condemning Trump's assertions. Representatives for House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) did not respond on Sunday to requests for comment.... Some GOP lawmakers who were asked on Sunday political shows about Trump's latest missive said they disagreed with the former president. However, most still hesitated to say that they would oppose Trump if he becomes the GOP's 2024 presidential nominee." An NBC News story is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Ruth Marcus of the Washington Post: "... the mere willingness to entertain and encourage extra-constitutional action is alarming coming from a man who is seeking to return to office.... This is insurrectionism by social media. Nothing -- and certainly not imaginary 'Fraud,' capitalized or not -- 'allows for the termination' of constitutional guarantees. Trump is laying the groundwork for a coup.... We do not want to give him oxygen, yet there are times we dare not ignore him. This is one. It should be neither excused nor forgotten."

Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "A Colorado graphic designer says she has a First Amendment right to refuse to create websites for same-sex weddings despite a state anti-discrimination law.... The basic arguments in the case, which will be made before the Supreme Court on Monday, are as familiar as they are polarizing. On one side are people who say the government should not force them to violate their principles to make a living. On the other are same-sex couples and others who say they are entitled to equal treatment from businesses open to the public.... Supporters of gay rights fear that a ruling for [plaintiff Lorie] Smith [-- a Colorado graphic designer --] will undermine that right, marking the marriages of same-sex couples as second-class unions unworthy of legal protection."

Marie: I must confess that I did not realize, until I read unwashed's comment yesterday afternoon that Elon Musk & Matt Taibbi's big Twitter "suppression" "exposé" was pretty much all about dick pix on Hunter Biden's stolen laptop (or possibly his lap). The WashPo story I cited yesterday was, to say the least, not forthcoming. (A New York Times story, published later, is no more specific as to the nature of Taibbi's, uh, bi reveal.) Unwashed links to a post by Marcy Wheeler, which -- as usual -- is not easy reading, but at least gives a flavor of the nonsense Elon & Matt tweeted out over the weekend. Nonetheless, it turns out that to some patriotic Americans, the Twitterstorm is a Big Deal! ~~~

     ~~~ Tim Miller, whom Wheeler cites in her blogpost, writes in the Bulwark: "... among Republican members of Congress, leading conservative media commentators, contrarian substackers, conservative tech bros, and friends of Donald Trump, the ability to post Hunter Biden's cock shots on Twitter is the number-one issue in America this weekend. They believe that if they are not allowed to post porno, our constitutional republic may be in jeopardy.... Taibbi and Musk are trying to turn this mundane moderation matter into the story of the century by emphasizing a few misconceptions about how platforms work with political campaigns and what First Amendment obligations they do or do not have.... To sum up what we learned: Big penis, little news, First Amendment not under threat." As you may guess, Miller does an excellent job of summarizing & mocking the whole brouhaha.

Beyond the Beltway

North Carolina. April Rubin, et al., of the New York Times: "A county in central North Carolina where about 45,000 people were without electricity declared a state of emergency and was under curfew on Sunday night, after two electric substations were damaged by gunfire the night before in what officials called an 'intentional' attack. The outages across Moore County, roughly 90 miles east of Charlotte, began just after 7 p.m. on Saturday, the Moore County Sheriff's Office said. Officials said the power could be out until as late as Thursday. It was not clear if the curfew, which started at 9 p.m. on Sunday and was to last until 5 a.m. on Monday, would be extended." ~~~

     ~~~ Nicole Grether, et al., of CNN: "Authorities have announced a mandatory curfew in a North Carolina county where around 40,000 customers lost power after two power substations were damaged by gunfire Saturday night. The county will implement a mandatory curfew from 9 p.m. until 5 a.m., starting Sunday night, Moore County Sheriff Ronnie Fields said at a news conference Sunday."

Way Beyond

Ethiopia. Katharine Houreld of the Washington Post: Ethiopian guards massacred "around 83 prisoners ... and another score missing, according to six survivors. Some were shot by their guards, others hacked to death by villagers who taunted the soldiers about their Tigrayan ethnicity, prisoners said. Bodies were dumped in a mass grave by the prison gate, according to seven witnesses.... The massacre at the camp near Mirab Abaya, which was covered up and has not been previously reported, was the deadliest killing of imprisoned soldiers since the war started, but not the only one. Guards have killed imprisoned soldiers in at least seven other locations, according to witnesses.... [The w]ar broke out in 2020 after [ethnic] Tigrayan soldiers in the Ethiopian army and other Tigrayan forces seized military bases across the Tigray region."

Iran. Vivian Yee & Farnaz Fassihi of the New York Times: "A senior Iranian official said this weekend that Iran had abolished the morality police, the state media reported, after months of protests set off by the death of a young woman who was detained by the force for supposedly violating the country's strict Islamic dress laws. The morality police 'was abolished by the same authorities who installed it,' Attorney General Mohammad Javad Montazeri said on Saturday during a meeting at which officials were discussing the unrest, according to state media reports. It was unclear whether the statement amounted to a final decision by the theocratic government, which has neither announced the abolition of the morality police nor denied it. But if the force is abolished, the change will be unlikely to appease protesters who are still clashing with other security forces and have become so emboldened that some are calling for an end of the Islamic Republic." A UPI report is here.

Ukraine, et al. The Washington Post's live briefings of developments Monday in Russia's war on Ukraine are here: "The European Union's embargo on seaborne Russian crude and the Group of Seven's oil price cap go into effect Monday, sending oil markets into uncharted territory as the West seeks to hit Russia's oil revenue without creating price spikes.... The Kremlin will still sell oil to countries that 'will work with us on market conditions,' Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak told the Russian news agency Tass.... China suggested it may still work with Russia to secure oil." ~~~

     ~~~ The Guardian's live updates for Monday are here. The Guardian's summary report is here.

News Lede

Washington Post: "Kirstie Alley, a two-time Emmy winner whose roles on the TV megahit 'Cheers' and in the "Look Who's Talking' films made her one of the biggest stars in American comedy in the late 1980s and early 1990s, died Monday. She was 71." Alley's New York Times obituary is here.

Comments Off

Reader Comments (4)

Republicans through the years

1940’s: America digging out from the Great Depression begun under a Republican administration, fighting a world war.

Republican solutions: Blame everything on the poor, support Hitler.

1980’s: Americans dealing with an energy crisis, high unemployment, skyrocketing inflation.

Republican solutions: Blame everything on the poor, help the wealthy.

2020’s: Worldwide pandemic, domestic terrorism, attacks on democracy, rampant economic inequality.

Republican solutions: Pretend pandemic doesn’t exist, blame everything on the poor, help the wealthy, support Hitler lovers, investigate Hunter Biden’s laptop.

Their leadership is legendary.

December 5, 2022 | Unregistered CommenterAkhilleus

Hearing the losers who have been faking concern about kids being groomed now whining about their constitutional right to post dick pics to public websites that kids have access to is so annoying and disgusting on a number of levels. It's also par for the course on the Right. And they will just claim it's a joke (many times retroactively) and there should be no consequences.

December 5, 2022 | Unregistered CommenterRAS

Just waiting on tomorrow and wondering if Walker will concede if he loses. If the results come in bad for him I expect TFG to start screaming "FRAUD" in all caps.

December 5, 2022 | Unregistered CommenterBobby Lee

WWWD, what would werewolves do?

December 5, 2022 | Unregistered CommenterRAS
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