REALITYCHEX.COM - Constant Comments - The Commentariat -- July 13, 2014

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.”

The Wires

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To keep the Conversation going, please help me by linking news articles, opinion pieces and other political content in today's Comments section.

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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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The Commentariat -- July 13, 2014

Internal links, photo removed.

Everything Is Obama's Fault. Steve Peoples of the AP: "Partly blaming unrest in the Middle East on President Barack Obama, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie said Saturday that Obama has not spoken firmly and forcefully on Israel's behalf and that the country no longer trusts it has the full support of the United States because of him." CW: He added that Obama is also responsible for the Peloponnesian Wars, MSG in Chinese food & Bridgegate. ...

... Christie also said ObamaCare is "a failure on a whole number of levels" and should be repealed.

Maureen Dowd is still pissed off that Chelsea Clinton makes so much money: "With her 1 percenter mother under fire for disingenuously calling herself 'dead broke' when she left the White House, why would Chelsea want to open herself up to criticism that she is gobbling whopping paychecks not commensurate with her skills, experience or role in life?" ...

... CW: According to the report Dowd cites, by Amy Chozick of the Times, "... unlike her parents' talks, Ms. Clinton's speeches 'are on behalf of the Clinton Foundation, and 100 percent of the fees are remitted directly to the foundation,' said her spokesman, Kamyl Bazbaz, adding that 'the majority of Chelsea's speeches are unpaid.'" So I'm not sure why Dowd accuses Clinton of "wanton acquisitiveness."

Miranda Blue of Right Wing Watch: "In response to the influx of Central American children fleeing to the southern border of the U.S., the American Family Association's Bryan Fischer is repeating his belief that all national borders were determined by God and therefore anybody who crosses them without permission is directly offending the Creator." Via Steve Benen. CW: Apparently God wrote the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo & negotiated the Gadsden Purchase. It was a long, sloppy piece of work, I might add.

Here's the New York Times article, by Jason Horowitz, on Jewish Congressional Republicans, to which Citizen 625 refers in today's Comments.

Beyond the Beltway

I do not believe that human activity is causing these dramatic changes to our climate the way these scientists are portraying it. -- Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), May 2014

Marco Rubio is an idiot. -- Mayor Philip Stoddard of South Miami, who is also a biology profressor ...

... ** Robin McKie of the Guardian: "Low-lying south Florida, at the front line of climate change in the US, will be swallowed as sea levels rise. Astonishingly, the population is growing, house prices are rising and building goes on. The problem is the city is run by climate change deniers." ...

... Let's See if Marco is a Good Catholic Boy. Tara Burton of the Atlantic: "In a talk at the Italian university of Molise, [Pope] Francis characterized concerns about the environment as 'one of the greatest challenges of our time' -- a challenge that is theological, as well as political, in nature. 'When I look at ... so many forests, all cut, that have become land ... that can [no] longer give life,' he reflected, citing South American forests in particular. 'This is our sin, exploiting the Earth.... This is one of the greatest challenges of our time: to convert ourselves to a type of development that knows how to respect creation.' And the pontiff isn't stopping there; he's reportedly planning to issue an encyclical, or papal letter, about man's relationship with the environment." Via Steve Benen. CW: This is your sin, Marco. Get right with Jesus. You, too, John I-Am-Not-a-Scientist Boehner. Et al.

Michael Wines of the New York Times: "... Alabamians who vote in Tuesday's runoff election will be able to pack heat openly and with confidence in many of the state's polling places."

Hunter Schwartz of the Washington Post: "Eight state constitutions include restrictions on people who don't believe in a supreme being. However, the Supreme Court ruled in a 1961 case that a Maryland man appointed as a notary public didn't have to declare his belief in a supreme being to hold office, arguing it violated his rights under the First and Fourteenth Amendments. Since then, these restrictions haven't been enforced, said Dave Muscato, a spokesman for American Atheists."

News Ledes

Washington Post: In a 1-0 match, Germany bested Argentina at the end of a 23-minute extra time to win the World Cup.

Reuters: "Thousands fled their homes in a Gaza town on Sunday after Israel warned them to leave ahead of threatened attacks on rocket-launching sites, on the sixth day of an offensive that Palestinian officials said has killed at least 160 people."

Reuters: "Heavy fighting broke out between rival militias near the airport of the Libyan capital Tripoli on Sunday, residents and officials said, reporting explosions and gunfire that forced the suspension of all flights."

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"So I'm not sure why Dowd accuses Clinton of 'wanton acquisitiveness.'"

Because she's Dowd and it's still the 7th grade playground.

July 12, 2014 |

James Singer

My apologies for no citation, but yesterday (I think) the NYT had an interesting article about how there may soon be zero Jews in Congress as Republicans. God Damn the people interviewed sound so bigoted and provincial I can't stand it. And, of course, the NYT just lets all that stuff pass. They really might as well be apartheid era South African whites, or Shia in Sadr city, or Sunnis in ISIS or Baptist rednecks. Who exactly is to blame for no Republican Jews in Congress? Not themselves and their party, certainly not. Do they seriously think the Rednecks, racists and Dick Cheneys wouldn't throw them under a bus once they got their money and votes?

Marie wrote about a week ago: Speaking of: "possible to criticize President Obama". Has anyone ever heard of the Obama administration suppression of the Freedom of Info Act called the "Craig Memo"? http://www.foodsafetynews.com/2014/07/letter-from-the-editor-craig-memo-neuters-48-year-old-foia/#.U7r-3dxUNjE.
Troubling, if true.

July 13, 2014 |

Citizen625

@Citizen 625: I answered that last week. Here's what I wrote:

Yesterday a commenter asked, "Has anyone ever heard of the Obama administration suppression of the Freedom of Info Act called the 'Craig Memo'?"

I replied,

"If you follow the money, you'll find that the recent disclosure of this so-called 'Craig memo' (it's not the only so-called 'Craig memo') was made by a Koch-funded group.

"The supposed memo itself has been 'reproduced' in a pdf that has no letterhead. I'm not saying it's a fake or that the White House doesn't try to control release of info; I'm saying I wouldn't take it seriously. If I see a report in a major news outlet, I'll revisit it. So far the only 'major news outlet' I've seen report on it is Glenn Beck's the Blaze."

James S. also responded to the query. Thanks.

Please bear in mind that I'm no better at Googling than the next person. In this case, it only took me 10 minutes to get some background. Other times, the question is harder -- & more time-consuming -- to answer.

As I've asked before, if you wonder about something you've read, rather than ask other readers to do your homework, do a little research yourself. If you come up with something interesting, whether or not your initial reading was worth your time, we welcome your sharing what you learned.

Thank you.

Marie

July 13, 2014 |

Marie Burns

Bill Maher has a good take on what he calls the "Zombie Lies" that Republicans (and Fox) perpetuate. The "everything is Obama's fault" is beginning to be so outlandish that it's ripe fodder for the comics. And by the way, Christi has lost purchase some time ago–-he needs to keep his trap shut and tend to his cover-up.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dgiiZP4Rnac

@Marie: from yesterday: got such a kick out of you delving into the Godfrey (three sticks) Cheshire's family: Sis & Buddy, Sprague and Sugar––Southern Gothic characters fer sure.

July 13, 2014 |

PD Pepe

Maybe I've been conditioned by AK and that's why what follows looks pretty tame to me, but once again one of my comments has been not included on the Times web site. Mebbe "courtesan"? Other ideas? ...

Today's politicians, even the well-heeled, have to become courtesans to get elected and to stay in office. Sometimes their family members join the family business, although the alternative can be Billy Beer and photo ops with Mo Quadaffi.

I don't particularly like Hillary Clinton. I wish that she were not the first female candidate for President who has had at least an even-money chance. Because she is, unless Elizabeth Warren can be persuaded, I will support Clinton because the alternative is to elect the party of Dick Cheney, who apparently still believes in a fictional place called Iraq that was crammed to the gills with weapons of mass destruction and where we were greeted as liberators.

And no one in his party says, Hey Gramps, lay off the Sangria.

They don't because they themselves are too busy spinning tales about how poor people crashed Wall Street because poor people not only rule America but also have the requisite free time to plan how to enslave us further.

Oh, and immigrants. In America we treat a 16-year-old who commits murder as a child and mix compassion with justice. At our border fully grown (and then some) Americans scream bile into the faces of children who have escaped from places like Tegucigalpa, which has been overrun with drug gangs and violence.

So, perhaps Bill and Hillary and maybe even Chelsea have gone from employees to bordello owners. If Hillary is the nominee in 16, she's got my vote. Better an honest courtesan than a crazy church lady."

July 13, 2014 |

Jack Mahoney

Re: the US Mexico border: so God caused the United States to start the Mexican War which US Grant called [One] "of the most unjust ever waged by a stronger against a weaker nation."

Hm. That seems to apply to many of our wars, doesn't it?

July 13, 2014 |

Barbarossa

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