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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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.

 

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Wednesday
Jul132011

The Commentariat -- July 14

I've posted an Open Thread for today's Off Times Square. I've added my comment on Kristof's column, which the Times rejected, so you'll have to read it here is #34 on page 2 of the Times comments pages. I've also posted a response to a commenter who says default on the federal debt is no big deal.

Greg Sargent: Democrats, including President Obama & Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, are singling out & isolating House Majority Leader Eric Cantor for his intransigence on taxes, but the ploy may not work. "... the harshness of Reid’s attack on Cantor doesn’t bode well for the likelihood of a deal." Sargent has the full transcript of Reid's remarks on the Senate floor. ...

... Nate Silver crunches the numbers & finds what you already knew: "The Republicans in the House of Representatives are extremely conservative on fiscal matters and are significantly out of step with the public as a whole." ...

     ... NEW. Paul Krugman takes a look at Silver's analysis and observes, "What Obama has offered — and Republicans have refused to accept — is a deal in which less than 20 percent of the deficit reduction comes from new revenues. This puts him slightly to the right of the average Republican voter." CW: Yeah, see my comment on Kristof.

... AND Nicholas Kristof  plays "spot the contradictions" in Republican party fiscal policy. ...

... Greg Sargent: "House liberals are launching an organizing drive inside the Democatic caucus, in an effort to line up Democrats and get them to commit to opposing any final deficit deal that contains any cuts to entitlements benefits, according to a letter I’ve obtained." Sargent reports elsewhere that he hears at least 54 House Democrats have signed on to the letter. ...

... Joan McCarter of DailyKos: as both Democratic & Republican members of the House continue to dig into their respective (and opposing) positions, Speaker "Boehner's choices are shrinking by the minute." ...

... Jonathan Bernstein, in the Washington Post, gets into the weeds & explains how Sen. Mitch McConnell's debt-ceiling go-around could pass in the House. Bear in mind that the whole purpose of McConnell's proposal is that Republicans won't have to vote to raise the debt ceiling, or increase either the deficit or taxes. They can just stand by as Democrats do the deeds while they express shock & horror & Democratic perfidy & profligacy.

New York Times Editors: "In three new rulings, federal judges in different states have acted to block immediate enforcement of measures that restrict abortion rights and women’s access to affordable contraception, lifesaving cancer screenings and treatment for sexually transmitted diseases. These rulings are important victories for women’s health and reproductive rights.... While these rulings are preliminary, each is a determination that enforcing the law would cause irreparable harm and that the plaintiffs are likely to prevail at trial. They do not, however, address other threats to women’s health" by governors (Chris Christie [R-N.J.]) state legislatures & the U.S. Congress.

Seung Min Kim of Politico: "New York Republican Pete King is calling on the FBI to investigate whether Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation hacked into the voicemail accounts of Sept. 11 victims, calling the allegations of the scandal 'disgraceful.'” CW: it may be a watershed moment when one of the Republicans' biggest media hogs lays into Murdoch. ...

... "It Smells of Collusion." Nick Davies, the Guardian reporter who tenaciously pursued the News of the World hacking story, comments on Metropolitan police testimony before a committee of Parliament:

... Jeremy Peters & John Burns of the New York Times: "The decision [of News Corporation] to withdraw the bid for BSkyB ... was made as a contentious family drama played out in recent days. James Murdoch, a leading contender to replace his father as chairman and the driving force behind the News Corporation’s bid to take over BSkyB, argued that the company should press for regulatory approval of the deal.... But Rupert Murdoch and the News Corporation’s chief operating officer, Chase Carey, overruled the younger Mr. Murdoch, consulting him only after the decision was all but final."

"Jews Are Abandoning Obama!" More on the meme that won't die. Adam Serwer: "The phrasing in this poll [by John McLaughlin & Pat Caddell] is comically skewed towards eliciting the most negative responses possible. As always, the game is to perpetuate the sad conservative meme that this time, really this time, American Jews are going to abandon their liberalism and vote Republican because Obama is a huge anti-Semite. The only thing this poll reveals is how badly some want to keep this storyline going." ...

     ... Ron Kampeas of JTA calls the poll what it is: a push poll.

Chris Bray photos.Christine Zap of Yahoo! News: "Thirty years ago, the first space shuttle launched into the stratosphere. Chris Bray and his father Kenneth watched -- and took a picture. Then last Friday, the shuttle Atlantis took its final trip. Again, the Bray men were there. And again, the two snapped a photo to capture the moment. The side-by-side photos, which are up on Chris Bray's Flickr photostream, immediately went viral on the Web."

Right Wing World *

"We Must Rewrite the Constitution Because 'Elections' Haven't 'Worked.'" -- Mitch McConnell:

     ... Ian Millhiser of Think Progress has the print story. (Thanks to Bonnie for the link.) The balanced budget proposal which McConnell is advocating for is what Ezra Klein rightly calls "The Worst Idea in Washington." Of course, if you think California state government is working well, you'll love McConnell's proposed amendment to the Constitution. It would effectively end any oppotunity ever to raise revenues. ...

... All 47 Senate Republicans introduced a constitutional amendment to balance the federal b udget.... This is quite possibly the stupidest constitutional amendment I think I have ever seen. It looks like it was drafted by a couple of interns on the back of a napkin. Every senator cosponsoring this POS should be ashamed of themselves. -- Bruce Bartlett, policy advisor to Presidents Ronald Reagan & George H. W. Bush

Dana Milbank: Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.), Steve King (R-Iowa) & Louie Gohmert (R-Texas) say the U.S.'s defaulting on its debt payments is no big deal. Treasury could pay some stuff and forget about everything else.

Sarah Palin cannot stop repeating gun imagery, despite the trouble it has visited on her. Here she talks about "reloading," and the person she is, well, taking aim at is the POTUS. It is irresponsible to puy this woman in front of a microphone:

* Where facts seldom intrude.

News Ledes

President Obama & Vice President Biden met with Congressional leaders late this afternoon. New York Times post-meeting report: "President Obama threw the deadlocked budget negotiations back to Congress on Thursday, telling Republicans and Democrats to try to work out an agreement to avert a government default, and suggesting that more ambitious efforts to cut the deficit had hit a wall.... The president said he might summon the leaders to the White House over the weekend if there was no progress; he has scheduled a news conference for Friday morning to argue his case publicly."

New York Times: "China, the United States’ biggest creditor, urged the United States government on Thursday to act to protect investors’ interests, highlighting rising concerns around the globe about the protracted budget talks taking place in Washington."

This process is confirming what the American people think is the worst about Washington: that everyone is more interested in posturing, political position and protecting their base than solving real problems. -- President Obama, near the end of yesterday's meeting with leaders

Los Angeles Times: "President Obama abruptly left debt negotiations with congressional leaders Wednesday at the White House when a top Republican said there was no longer time to engage in the large-scale deficit reduction discussions.... The flare-up came at the end of the nearly two-hour session during which House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) told the president that Congress should instead consider a series of debt ceiling votes based on spending cuts that already have been identified." ...

... Global Warning. AFP: "President Barack Obama and Republicans prepared for more tough talks Thursday to avert an August debt default, after Moody's held out the threat of downgrading the sterling US credit rating. The credit ratings agency sparked worldwide concern when it placed Washington's triple-A debt rating on a downgrade watch because of rising prospects that bitterly divided US leaders would fail to strike a deal." ...

... Guardian: "America's debt crisis reached a critical stage on Thursday as lawmakers remained deadlocked over whether to raise the US debt ceiling, and Moody's threatened to downgrade the country's credit rating.... The dollar lost ground against most major currencies after Moody's and Chinese ratings agency Dagong both put the US on negative watch."

NEW. DOJ Screws up Again. New York Times: "The federal judge presiding over Roger Clemens’s perjury trial declared a mistrial Thursday, saying the government allowed the jury to hear inadmissible testimony that prejudiced it against Clemens."

Bloomberg News: "The Environmental Protection Agency’s powers to set clean-water standards would be limited under legislation passed by the Republican-led U.S. House over threats of a veto by the Obama administration. The bill blocks the EPA from tightening water pollutant limits without a state’s consent if the agency previously approved the state standard. The measure, which passed 239-184 yesterday, is part of an effort to rein in what Republicans say is an agency’s regulatory overreach threatening the economy. Sixteen Democrats joined Republicans to support the measure."

NEW. Guardian: "MPs have dispatched the deputy serjeant at arms of the House of Commons to Wapping to deliver a summons in person to Rupert Murdoch and his son James to insist they turn up to give evidence to a select committee over the phone- hacking scandal.... Rebekah Brooks, the chief executive of News International, agreed on Thursday morning to attend and face MPs ... Tuesday...." though she warned she wouldn't say much.

     ... CNN Update: "The FBI has launched an investigation into Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. after a report that employees or associates may have attempted to hack into phone conversations and voice mail of September 11 survivors, victims and their families."

AP: "A suicide bomber concealing explosives in his turban blew himself up inside a mosque in southern Afghanistan on Thursday during a memorial service for the president's assassinated half brother, officials said. At least four people were killed."

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