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.

 

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Email Marie at constantweader@gmail.com

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The Commentariat -- January 6, 2015

Internal links, photo removed.

David Goodman & Al Baker of the New York Times: "For a second straight week, New York City police officers sharply cut back on their actions in the street, arresting less than half as many people and writing more than 90 percent fewer summonses than in the same period a year ago. The slowdown built on a drastic drop in activity that began shortly after the murder of two uniformed patrol officers in Brooklyn on Dec. 20, and continued across all 77 precincts in the city." ...

... Hunter of Daily Kos: "You can arrest only half as many people and still not sacrifice public safety? You can curtail other enforcement actions by 90 percent to no detrimental effect, save to the city's coffers? This sounds like excellent news.... Is this merely an extended period of unofficial pouting by New York City Police officers, or is there a specific something being requested? The closest we've come to an explanation of demands comes not from New York but from the Baltimore police union, which used the December murder of two New York officers to demand law enforcement receive the 'unequivocal support' of national leaders.... If members of the police departments demanding 'unambiguous' fealty ... want to explain how this required cult-like devotion to police authority squares with a national law enforcement framework that is not by definition a police state, they ought to pipe up with that." ...

... Here's One Thing. Liz Goodwin of Yahoo! News: "In the wake of the murder of two New York City police officers and a national debate about policing, the National Fraternal Order of Police is asking for the Congressional hate crimes statute to be expanded to include crimes against police officers.... Asked about the push today, White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said ... the task force on policing convened by President Barack Obama would consider the hate crimes idea."

** Matt Pearce of the Los Angeles Times: "A member of the grand jury that declined to indict Ferguson, Mo., police Officer Darren Wilson has filed a federal lawsuit against the prosecutor handling the case, saying the public has been misled about the grand jury's deliberations. Represented by the Missouri chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, the anonymous grand juror – identified only as 'grand juror Doe' -- sued St. Louis County prosecutor Robert McCulloch on Monday for the right to speak publicly about the case.... The grand juror hints that he or she may have voted to criminally indict Wilson and wants to advocate for reform as Missouri legislators consider whether to change the state’s grand jury process." ...

... Tom Boggioni of the Raw Story: "McCulloch has been under increasing fire since admitting that he allowed witnesses he knew were lying to testify before the grand jury." ...

... The complaint is here.

Ashley Parker of the New York Times: "Speaker John A. Boehner is all but assured of re-election to the top House leadership post when his colleagues vote on Tuesday, but the new term also could serve up the embarrassment of a potentially record number of his own Republican conference voting against him as speaker." ...

... Speaker Gohmert! David Edwards of the Raw Story: "Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX) warned on Monday that there could be dire consequences for the entire country if Republicans in Congress did not oust John Boehner as Speaker of the House and elect him instead." With video. ...

... CW: I hope the Gohmert effort succeeds. As I said two years ago when there were similar rumblings among the nativists, Nancy Pelosi could make a co-governing deal with Boehner if he needs Democratic votes to retain his speakership. There is no way, BTW, that Gohmert (or Yoho!) would be elected speaker, but they can gum up the works. ...

... Aaron Blake of the Washington Post: Boehner has "more room for error this time around (as opposed to 2012 when the effort to unseat him lost by six votes), after Republicans gained double digits seats in the 2014 election. At least 29 House Republicans would have to desert Boehner in order for him to lose another term as speaker. But it's also becoming evident that he'll probably lose more votes this time around." Blake rounds up the names of Republican MoCs who have said, at one time or another, that they would vote against Boehner: "So, the likely/possible votes against Boehner currently stand at 15, with 29 being the magic number." ...

... Zeke Miller of Time: "A day before the new Congress is to be sworn in, White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said that [Rep. Steve] Scalise's fate lies with his Republican colleagues after he admitted to speaking to a group linked to Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke. Scalise maintained that he did not realize it was a hate group at the time and apologized for his mistake. 'Who they choose to serve in their leadership says a lot about who they are and what their values should be,' Earnest said Monday.... Twice repeating Scalise's quote that he is 'David Duke without the baggage,' Earnest said that President Barack Obama believes that 'it's ultimately [House Republicans' decision to make,' whether Scalise serves as whip." ...

... The "Scary" Party. Jamelle Bouie of Slate assesses the GOP Congress's chances of "govern[ing] like a sensible party." See Speaker Gohmert! above.

Justin Sink of the Hill: "The White House isn't yet threatening to veto a Republican bill to authorize construction of the Keystone XL oil pipeline.... But the administration is playing coy on whether the president plans to veto the package or urge Democrats to vote against the legislation. 'We'll see what the legislation actually includes before we start urging people to vote one way or the other,' White House press secretary Josh Earnest said Monday, adding that he wanted to 'reserve judgment' until the administration could 'actually see what language is included in that specific piece of legislation.'"

Justin Volz & Kaveh Waddell of the National Journal: "Senate Intelligence Chairwoman Dianne Feinstein is calling on President Obama to help 'prevent the use future use of torture' by the U.S. government, a move that comes on the heels of her panel's release of its investigation into the CIA's now-defunct "enhanced interrogation" program.... Along with urging a series of executive actions from the president, Feinstein said she will introduce four of her recommendations as legislation at the start of the 114th Congress. Such a bill would largely serve to codify an executive order President Obama issued upon taking office in 2009 that outlawed certain interrogation methods, including waterboarding."

Robert Pear of the New York Times: "For years, Harvard’s experts on health economics and policy have advised presidents and Congress on how to provide health benefits to the nation at a reasonable cost. But those remedies will now be applied to the Harvard faculty, and the professors are in an uproar." ...

     ... CW: I thought this was sort of a "meh" story & didn't link it, but it's hit a chord here on Reality Chex (and elsewhere), so here it is.

... Jonathan Chait with the Elsewhere: "The most recent grist for the machinery of [conservative] doomsaying is a New York Times report that Harvard faculty are up in arms over changes to their health insurance, loosely related to reforms in the Affordable Care Act. The schadenfreude is flowing, from the to Jonathan Adler to Red State to Hot Air.... What makes this response funny, if not unusual, is that the reforms ... show that in some ways, Obamacare has pushed the health-care system moderately in the direction conservatives favor, by encouraging employers to shift more of the cost of care onto employees.... The Harvard story demonstrates two things. First, Obamacare is implementing some versions of conservative ideas. Second, even moderate versions of this reform tend to upset consumers. But neither of these interpretations are capable of penetrating a conservative media apparatus that relentlessly turns all news stories into either non-stories or confirmation of their increasingly discredited hysteria." ...

... Paul Campos in LGM: "According to the AAUP, the average salary for Harvard full professors is currently $207,100, and their average total compensation (including the lousy health care plan) is $262,300.... The school offers some protection against high co-insurance costs to lower-paid employees...." CW: The salaries for assistant & associate professors, especially in the liberal arts, are likely to be considerably less than $200K.

Josh Gerstein of Politico: "The Obama administration's plan to defuse a First Amendment showdown with a New York Times reporter over his confidential sources was nearly derailed at a court hearing Monday when the journalist rebuffed a series of questions concerning his reporting. But he eventually agreed to answer some of the queries, allowing the at-times tense session to get back on track and avoiding for now a major confrontation over press freedom. Times national security writer James Risen testified for about 45 minutes in a federal courtroom in Alexandria, Virginia, where ex-CIA officer Jeffrey Sterling is set to go on trial next week on charges of leaking top-secret information that Risen published in his 2006 book 'State of War.'" ...

... Here's the New York Times story, by Matt Apuzzo, who sometimes collaborates with Risen on stories. ...

... CW: I'm of the impression Risen is kind of a dick, but a dick can make a damned good reporter. Or not.

Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. Reporter Sues Obama over Stuck Backspace Key. J. K. Trotter of Gawker: "Sharyl Attkisson is the investigative reporter who believes the Obama administration hacked her personal computers because she reported on the 2012 attacks in Benghazi. Today she announced her family's $35 million lawsuit against the federal government for the alleged hacking.... There is zero evidence that federal agents placed Attkisson's family under illegal and retaliatory surveillance, and Attkisson's new complaint does not offer any actual proof that any state-sponsored surveillance took place."

Matt Zapotosky & Rosalind Helderman of the Washington Post: "A federal judge in Richmond will decide on Tuesday what punishment former Virginia governor Robert F. McDonnell deserves for trading the influence of his office to a smooth-talking businessman in exchange for sweetheart loans, lavish vacations and a variety of other loot." ...

    ... UPDATE: The Post is liveblogging the sentencing hearing.

Michael Specter of the New Yorker:"One of science's most famous quotes is false ." CW: I generally think it's safe to accept as true stories I read in reputable publications by reputable journalists or scientists or historians (I'm talking facts here, not opinions). Most of the time, I'm right to do so. However, a teeny red flag does go up if a story seems outlandish for some reason. The false quote Specter himself cited numerous times does seem, if not outlandish, at least surprising. Someone shoulda checked it out. And at long last, someone did.

Maybe Obama Isn't Such a Lousy President. Scott Keyes of Think Progress: "In the lead-up to the 2012 presidential election, David Siegel, billionaire chief of Florida timeshare company Westgate Resorts, sent an email to all employees" warning them that "re-electing Obama would 'threaten your job' and result in 'less [sic.] benefits and certainly less opportunity for everyone.' Just over two years after penning that company-wide email, Siegel informed Westgate employees that instead of layoffs, he would boost their minimum wage to $10 per hour beginning in 2015."

Paul Glastris in the Washington Monthly: The current Gilded Age gives progressives a chance to reform government -- and society -- but their inattention to the big picture may cause them to blow it.

This Can't Wait for Our Regular Weekly God News. Ruth Eglash of the Washington Post: Archaeologists working in Jerusalem's Old City "uncovered something extraordinary: the suspected remains of the palace where one of the more famous scenes of the New Testament may have taken place -- the trial of Jesus." ...

     ... CW: Just so you don't get too excited, it's quite possible the archaeologists have discovered an ancient palace or administrative building, one which certainly could have been built by & for Herod the Great. However, the trial of Jesus is almost certainly fictious -- part of a good story to explain to Diaspora Jews why the expected Jewish messiah did not come to lead the his people in victory over their Roman oppressors.

Patricia Mazzei & Steve Rothaus of the Miami Herald: "Crying tears of joy and relief, men and women who had challenged the ban leaped to their feet and shrieked with joy inside downtown Miami's historic courthouse Monday morning when a judge ruled with little fanfare that the couples could marry right away. They would have otherwise had to wait until after midnight Tuesday, when another judge's ruling took effect statewide." See also Presidential Election below. ...

... Robert Barnes of the Washington Post: "Gay couples began marrying in Miami on Monday, kicking off a pivotal week when the Supreme Court will have a chance to consider whether same-sex couples have a constitutional right to marry or whether states may limit marriage to a man and a woman."

AP: "Two women accusing Bill Cosby of sexual offences decades ago have joined a defamation lawsuit, contending the comedian publicly branded them as liars through statements by his representatives. The amended complaint was filed on Monday in the US district court in Springfield, in western Massachusetts, where Cosby has a home in Shelburne Falls."

The Hazard of Rearing a Ne'er-Do-Well. Jessica Roy of New York: "Man kills wealthy father for reducing allowance. Seems a little extreme." (Quoted from the front-page blurb.) ...

... Taylor Berman of Gawker has more on the story.

Presidential Election

Margaret Hartmann of New York: The long & (very) short of Jeb Bush's evolution on gay marriage. ...

... Andrew Kaczynski & Ruby Cramer of BuzzFeed have the full text of Jeb's 1994 "sodomy" op-ed here. Their entire post is worth reading. Here's a gem: "Bush long used the language of victimization to describe LGBT activism. In his 1995 book, Profiles in Character, Bush described the 'gay rights movement,' 'feminist movement,' and 'black empowerment movement' as part of a so-called 'modern victim movements.' These activists, he wrote, 'have attempted to get people to view themselves as part of a smaller group deserving of something from society.'" ...

... CW: Jeb wrote that book 20 years ago, but you can bet his views haven't changed. Unless you're a straight, white man, Jeb Bush doesn't think you should be a fully-recognized person. Three-fifths, maybe. This is the GOP's definition of "moderate."

 

Matt Lewis of the Daily Beast: "Images are important and memes matter -- which is why the viral screen capture of New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie hugging Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones is worth noting today [Monday]. In case you missed it [CW: you can bet I did], cameras captured Christie (an admitted longtime Cowboys fan) celebrating the Cowboys come-from-behind victory over the Detroit Lions in the owner's box on Sunday night. GIFs were created. Tweets were sent. Jokes were made.... I think Bill Kristol hit the nail on the head with this Tweet: 'Next week, Scott Walker will go to the Packers' game, root for his state's team, & sit in the cheap seats & freeze with the common people.'" Read the whole post. It's entertaining & a good example of the superficiality of politics -- and of Chris Christie. CW BTW: Last time I looked Lewis was a reporter for winger Tucker Carlson's Daily Caller. ...

... Steve M.: "Yes, as we prepare to choose a new president in 22 months here in The Greatest Country on Earth, we're actually having a serious debate about this (which, shamefully, I'm participating in): 'Will Chris Christie Regret His Cowboy Hug?'" ...

... Matt Arco of New Jersey Advance Media: "Gov. Chris Christie's trips to NFL games to root for the Dallas Cowboys were paid for by the team's owner, Jerry Jones, according to the governor's office.... Christie has now attended three games at the invitation of Jones.... Jones paid for Christie and his family to attend the games, including footing the bill for the private jet that shuttled the Christies to Sunday night's game, Roberts said. As is always the case, New Jersey taxpayers paid for the governor's security detail provided by the New Jersey State Police."

Another Headache for Hillary. Smoking Gun: "Now that [Britain's] Prince Andrew has found himself ensnared in the sleazy sex slave story of wealthy degenerate Jeffrey Epstein, Bill Clinton can't be too far behind.... According to court records, [Bill] Clinton 'frequently flew' with Epstein aboard the investor's private jet from 2002 to 2005, the year news of the police investigation of Epstein was first reported.... While Clinton was never deposed, lawyers obtained Epstein's computerized phone directory which included 'e-mail addresses for [Bill] Clinton along with 21 phone numbers for him, including those for his assistant (Doug Band),' according to a court filing." ...

... CW: Must I really vote to give this guy, with time on his hands, access to a bevy of nubile young White House interns? Isn't this a little more serious than Chris Christie's hugging a rich sports team owner? (BTW, Jones, who is from Little Rock, was a prominent Clinton foe, who once boasted that he had put private detectives on Clinton, who had discovered one of Clinton's extramarital relationships.)

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By the by, in case you're interested, here's that Jeff Beck song with the gut busting guitar riffs:

You Shook Me (Truth, 1968)

The singer is Rod Stewart before he became ROD STEWART, and the piano playing is courtesy of the great Nicky Hopkins who played with just about everybody back in the day. Guitar, of course, is the inimitable (truly) Jeff Beck.

January 8, 2015 | Unregistered CommenterAkhilleus
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