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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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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Thursday
Nov242016

The Bright Side

... Gail Collins: "Murmurs of the dread term 'Rockefeller Republican' are probably wafting at Paul Ryan’s holiday table. Perhaps liberals can take comfort in the fact that the other side is just as freaked out as they are." ...

... CW: I haven't republished (or prepublished) my Times comments in years, largely because I haven't made any. But these are exceptional times. Here's a comment I made late in the morning, so you won't likely be able to find it in the comments on Collins' column:

Since we're looking for silver linings, here's one: Hillary Clinton will not be president. Sure, I voted for Clinton & am still mired in a tight cocoon of existential dread over the prospect of a Trump presidency. But history suggests that Clinton would have been a lousy president. She is not inspirational. Americans like to hear their leaders deliver inspiring words delivered with something approaching conviction. The soaring speech is part of our political DNA.

Emotional orations aside, Clinton has never been able to market her products. Yes, she's had some good-to-middling policy ideas over the years, but other than sort of favoring Dubya's Iraq War, and devising a secret Republicanish healthcare plan, most don't know what those ideas are.

Add to that the GOP's promise to keep several phony impeachment investigations going for the duration of her presidency, and you've got a foolproof recipe for a stuffed turkey of a presidency, one that could set back the progressive agenda even more than Trump will do on purpose.

More good news: Americans aren't as horrible as the Electoral College results suggest. Hillary won the vote by more than 2 million & counting. We still come down on the better side, if just barely.

MEANWHILE, President Obama pardoned a couple of turkeys yesterday. I was hoping he would pardon Clinton:

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Reader Comments (7)

As we travel this morning to our family's Thanksgiving event I will be humming that catchy tune cited above and perhaps add "Everything's Coming Up Roses" as a bonus because I am so looking forward to a Trump presidency and his soaring speeches like the ones I enjoyed from the two Bushes and Nixon's. I will be thinking of the Supreme Court and that all by itself will give me goose pimples. I will also regale my mister with the news that Rick Perry might be picked for the Dept. of Energy and that is so special because it is the one department that he forgot when citing all the departments he would eliminate. Whoops! But the mister and I will chuckle over that as we will about billionaire Betsy who will destroy our educational system. It's all such a gas. But we soldier on singing at the top of our lungs until we get to our destination and hold our grandchildren who remind us what the bright side is really all about.

November 24, 2016 | Unregistered CommenterPD Pepe

Not many comments uploaded on NYTimes re: Gail Collins, et al. Must be a light holiday contingent of moderators on duty while relaxing, enjoying pumpkin eggnog, and casually OK-ing new entries.


@CW: your interesting POV re Hillary...a position that perhaps was part of the reluctance for many of us in the beginning of the campaign cycle—that she was not our preferred candidate—Bernie seemed to speak to our interests! BUT! BUT! underneath it all we realized he was not the likely one to succeed. And, you are right...as the Repubs have been out to 'git' her ever since she proposed that healthcare plan. All these years later, they're still gunning for her. Even had she won via the Electoral College...the stalemate-ing and chauvinistic resistance would only intensify. She certainly improved her "marketable" delivery as the campaign progressed and outshone Donald in every single so-called debate. She showed us she can be good. Would that have been enough for the next four years with roadblocks already announced?

Perhaps, a four-year cryogenic freeze is what liberals need to survive what looks like the scariest time of our lives. At the very least, I'm planning on long naps!

Happy Thanksgiving to one & all!

November 24, 2016 | Unregistered CommenterMAG

If you need a little laugh to calm your nerves so you can pig out today, check out the comments on the MAGA ornament on Amazon. There sure are some witty people out there. Happy Thanksgiving!
https://www.amazon.com/Trump-America-Great-Collectible-Ornament/dp/B01N67D8HO/ref=redir_mobile_desktop?ie=UTF8&ref_=aw_cr_t_toys-and-games

November 24, 2016 | Unregistered CommenterLisa

Hillary's 2 million+ vote lead also gives me hope - we are in fact not the country that I despaired that we were on Nov 9.

Best wishes to all here at RC - I am deeply thankful for your insights and wisdom

November 24, 2016 | Unregistered CommenterRockygirl

Thanks, Lisa. Those Amazon comments were hilarious, especially the one about the internment camps. Good day to you!

November 24, 2016 | Unregistered CommenterNancy

Somewhat puzzled by the solace people find in the fact that HRC has a 2 million-&-growing vote lead. That lead is better described as California liberals voted. The Great American Flyover is still turkey-wattle red, and not likely to change even if Trump starves half of them to death and picks the other half pockets.

November 24, 2016 | Unregistered CommenterJames Singer

There is a line in the original Magnificent Seven movie
delivered by Eli Wallach. "If God did not want them sheared, He would not have made them sheep."
Hillary would not have been able to stop the shearing as she fought the continuing battle with the House and Senate.
Trump has promised to stop the shearing but will not know how and will soon be taken over by those in charge of the shearing.
The continued shearing will create a constituency of sheared and damaged looking for a new champion.
It will take a lot of luck to get an FDR rather than a general.

November 24, 2016 | Unregistered Commentercarlyle
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