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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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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The Commentariat -- April 6, 2014

Edward-Isaac Dovere of Politico: "Problems getting judges confirmed by the Senate have been a constant complaint for this White House -- but this week, President Barack Obama's aides are celebrating a confirmation count that outpaces President George W. Bush's. They've had that goal on their minds for over a year, ever since chief of staff Denis McDonough and counsel Kathy Ruemmler reprioritized judicial nominations for Obama's second term. John Owens, confirmed Monday to the Ninth Circuit, along with Edward Smith and Gerald McHugh, who confirmed to the district court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania last week, put them over the top." ...

... What's the Matter with Pat Leahy? Ian Millhiser of Think Progress explains the "blue slip" tradition that is forcing President Obama to nominate conservative Republicans to the bench. "As Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) has the unilateral ability to eliminate the blue slip today if he chose to, though he has thus far refused to do so. Indeed, one of Leahy's Republican predecessors, Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT), largely did just that when he was Judiciary Chair and George W. Bush was president."

** David Cole in the New York Review of Books: "One Dollar, One Vote."

Benjamin Goad of the Hill: "Members of the Federal Election Commissioners are lashing back at the Supreme Court's decision this week to strip away a key campaign finance restriction, contending the ruling will only add to the influence of 'megadonors.' In a scathing statement, FEC Vice Chairwoman Ann Ravel and commissioner Ellen Weintraub said they were [troubled' about the high court's decision to do away with overall individual contribution limits. 'This decision will not increase the number of voices able to participate in the political debate,' the Democratic commissioners said. 'Instead, it amplifies the voices of the few to the detriment of the many.'"

** Missed This. You're Hitler; I'm Not. Paul Krugman: "Billionaires really are feeling vulnerable despite their wealth and power, or perhaps because of it. And the apparatchiks serving the .01 percent are deeply insecure, culturally and intellectually, so that ridicule cuts deep.... When great power goes along with fragile egos, seriously bad things can happen."

I think there is a gay mafia. I think if you cross them, you do get whacked. -- Bill Maher, on his show "Real Time" ...

... Mark Stern, in Slate, explains to conservatives (and to Bill Maher, et al.) the First Amendment guarantee of freedom of speech. CW: Sorry, Mark, they're not listening.

You Pay Taxes So Megarich Televangelists Don't Have To. John Burnett of NPR: "Today, television evangelists are larger, more numerous, more complex, richer, with bigger audiences than ever before and yet they are the least transparent of all nonprofits." Also, so they can get away with being crooks & liars. Via Steve Benen. ...

... CW Question: Is the IRS violating the establishment clause when it establishes a teevee network as a religion? Or indeed if it establishes the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster. Or the Roman Catholic Church?

Congressional Races

Jeremy Peters & Carl Hulse of the New York Times: "By drawing public attention to layoffs by subsidiaries of Koch Industries across the country -- a chemical plant in North Carolina, an oil refinery in Alaska, a lumber operation in Arkansas -- Democrats are seeking to make villains of the reclusive billionaires [Charles & David Koch], whose political organizations have spent more than $30 million on ads so far to help Republicans win control of the Senate. The approach should seem familiar. President Obama and his allies ran against Mitt Romney in 2012 by painting a dark picture of Bain Capital ... as a company that cut jobs and prized the bottom line over the well-being of its employees":

Catalina Camia of USA Today: "In a new campaign ad in Georgia's U.S. Senate race, [Rep. Jack Kingston] apparently hired an impersonator who sounds like [President] Obama to give him a fake phone call.

Presidential Race

Not only can Chris Christie not win [the GOP presidential primary], I think he may have trouble finishing out his term [as governor].... There's absolutely no chance that he didn't know this was going on if he didn’t order it or OK it. So I think he's not a factor. -- Former Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell (D)

Beyond the Beltway

And on the Sixth Day, God Created the Wooly Mammoth. Steve Benen on a South Carolina bill to establish a state fossil.

Jim Avila, et al., of ABC News: "The U.S. Attorney in New Jersey has convened a grand jury to investigate the involvement of Governor Chris Christie's office in the George Washington Bridge scandal, ABC News has learned. Twenty-three jurors convened in a federal courthouse in Newark [Friday] to hear testimony from a key staff member, Christie press secretary Mike Drewniak, whose lawyer, Anthony Iacullo, said Drewniak was not a target of the investigation."

John Hanna of the AP: "Kansas legislators gave final approval Saturday to a bill that would nullify city and county gun restrictions and ensure that it's legal across the state to openly carry firearms, a measure the National Rifle Association sees as a nationwide model for stripping local officials of their gun-regulating power. The House approved the legislation, 102-19, a day after the Senate passed it, 37-2. The measure goes next to Republican Gov. Sam Brownback. He hasn't said whether he'll sign it, but he's a strong supporter of gun rights and has signed other measures backed by the NRA and the Kansas State Rifle Association."

Dick Junior

I'm a safety guy. Gosh, I'm as safety as I can be. I was so mad at myself for even thinking about shooting the bird in this direction where I knew he was down in there. -- Oklahoma State Rep. Steve Vaughn, (R), a gun-rights advocate, about shooting a fellow hunter in the head

Rachel Huggins of the Hill: "'I just felt horrible about it. I just was sick,' said Rep. Steve Vaughan, who wounded the man in the head with a 12-gauge shotgun as he was aiming at a pheasant." CW: Apparently "as safety as you can be" is knowingly shooting into a group of hunters & hoping you'll bag a bird.

Missed This, Too. What Goes Up Must Come Down. Michael Van Sickler of the Miami Herald: Unaware that the laws of gravity supersede man-made laws, "the [Florida] state Senate passed a bill Thursday that grants immunity to people with clean criminal records who fire a warning shot or threaten to use deadly force in self-defense. It also seals court records of those charged with firing a weapon but later have those charges dropped. Already passed by the House, the measure next goes to Gov. Rick Scott, who 'supports the 2nd Amendment and Florida's self-defense laws (and) looks forward to reviewing this legislation,' said a spokesman." CW: I can't get out of this state soon enough. Thanks to Barbarossa for the lead.

News Lede

AP: " Crowds of pro-Russian demonstrators stormed government buildings Sunday in several major cities in eastern Ukraine, where secessionist sentiment has sparked frequent protests since Ukraine's Russia-friendly president was ousted in February."

Comments Off

Reader Comments (2)

@CW: I hope you're not "down range" now that the idiots in the Florida Legislature have decided it's OK to fire warning shots in a populated area. They're almost as bad as the Georgia Legislature.

April 6, 2014 | Unregistered CommenterBarbarossa

About that wooly mammoth: Some commentor (I don't remember who or where, sorry) pointed out that since fossils are rocks, wouldn't god have created it on the third day?

April 6, 2014 | Unregistered CommenterJames Singer
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