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.

 

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Sunday
Jun262011

The Commentariat -- June 27

I've posted an Open Thread on Off Times Square & have added my comment on Douthat's column. Update: it came as no surprise to me the Times axed my comment. Read it & you'll see why.

Karen Garcia, who lives in New Paltz, New York, has a fine post on New York's passage of the gay marriage law. She features Republican State Sen. Steven Saland, who is likely to lose a re-election bid because he voted for the bill, and young New Paltz Mayor Jason West, who illegally performed same-sex marriages as an act of civil disobedience in 2004. ...

... Here's Republican New York State Sen. Mark Grisanti, who also changed his vote to "yea." It's a moving speech, delivered on the Senate floor before he registers his vote:

... Where's Barry? New York Times Editors: "After [Barack Obama] took office, it became evident that Republicans intended to portray him as a radical, out-of-touch leftist no matter what he did. Supporting same-sex marriage at this point is hardly going to change that drumbeat, and any voter for whom that is a make-or-break issue will probably not be an Obama supporter anyway." CW: there is a stark contrast in the courage quotient between Obama & those Republican state senators who may lose their seats.

Dexter Filkins of the New Yorker on the Afghanistan endgame: "Over time, the Pentagon’s focus shifted toward Afghanistan itself — toward helping its people rebuild their society, which has been battered by war and upheaval since the late nineteen-seventies. In strategic terms, the U.S. has swung between counter-insurgency and counterterrorism. Or, put another way, between enlightened self-interest and a more naked kind."

Mike Lofgren, a retired Republican Congressional staffer, in a Los Angeles Times op-ed: "The big deficit facing the U.S. is mostly Republican in origin, the Congressional Budget Office says. The Bush tax cuts alone have added $3 trillion in red ink, yet the party wants to double down on its failed policy." Thanks to Jeanne B. for the link.

Lori Montgomery & Paul Kane of the Washington Post: "As President Obama prepares to meet Monday with Senate leaders to try to restart talks about the swollen national debt, some Republicans see a potential path to compromise: significant cuts in military spending."

Nick Timiraos & Maurice Tamman of the Wall Street Journal: "The percentage of mortgage applications rejected by the nation's largest lenders increased last year, spotlighting how banks' cautious lending practices are hampering the nascent housing market recovery."

The real reason House Republicans want to keep the typical worker’s pay secret is that it may embarrass some companies to reveal that they pay their CEO in the range of 400 times what they pay their typical worker. -- Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) ...

... CW: Menendez added a provision of the Dodd-Frank law I didn't know about -- requiring companies to reveal how much more compensation their CEO receives than does their average employee. So Peter Whoriskey of the Washington Post reports that "a group backed by 81 major companies — including McDonald’s, Lowe’s, General Dynamics, American Airlines, IBM and General Mills — is lobbying against new rules that would force disclosure of that comparison." Ever accommodating, "on Wednesday, a House committee approved a bill that would repeal the disclosure requirement.... The committee vote was largely along partisan lines: Twenty-nine Republicans and four Democrats supported repeal; 21 Democrats opposed it."

Jonathan Tilove of the New Orleans Times-Picayune: "The president of the Christian conservative Family Policy Network sent Sen. David Vitter, R-La., a letter Monday calling on him to follow the lead of former Rep. Anthony Weiner, D-N.Y., and resign rather than leave Republicans and conservatives open to charges of hypocrisy." Thanks again to Jeanne B.

Karen Tumulty of the Washington Post profiles Nancy Pelosi. Here's Tumulty talking about her interview with the former Speaker, who aims to get her old job back:

Ian Urbina of the New York Times: "In its annual forecasting reports, the United States Energy Information Administration, a division of the Energy Department, has steadily increased its estimates of domestic supplies of natural gas, and investors and the oil and gas industry have repeated them widely to make their case about a prosperous future. But not everyone in the Energy Information Administration agrees. In scores of internal e-mails and documents, officials within the Energy Information Administration, or E.I.A., voice skepticism about the shale gas industry."

Oh, we haven't had a hard-to-believe TSA story in awhile. This one from the Northwest Florida Daily News should do: "Jean Weber of Destin, [Florida,] filed a complaint with the Department of Homeland Security after her 95-year-old mother was detained and extensively searched last Saturday while trying to board a plane to fly to Michigan to be with family members during the final stages of her battle with leukemia. Her mother, who was in a wheelchair, was asked to remove an adult diaper in order to complete a pat-down search."

Kate Zernike of the New York Times: The Tea Party plans to have its own debt commission, which will meet over the summer & make recommendations to lawmakers. "The commission is being organized by FreedomWorks, [which Zernike describes as] the libertarian advocacy group that helped grow the Tea Party movement." Actually, Freedom Works is Dick Armey's front group, & Dick Armey is a radical social conservative, not a libertarian.

Doctor Shopping. Robert Pear of the New York Times: "Alarmed by a shortage of primary care doctors, Obama administration officials are recruiting a team of 'mystery shoppers' to pose as patients, call doctors’ offices and request appointments to see how difficult it is for people to get care when they need."it.

Massimo Calabresi of Time: "As Texas Republican Governor Rick Perry gets closer to deciding whether to enter the 2012 presidential race, it’s clear his campaign would be about jobs.... Texas is a job-generating wonder.... Perry’s main claim to job-creation fame, though, comes from his high-profile raids on other states.... Beginning in 2003, Perry convinced the Texas legislature to give him control over several massive, largely unsupervised funds that provide subsidies to businesses that move to Texas." Turns out, the job creation didn't go so well, as corporate recipients of Texas taxpayers' largesse failed to produce the promised jobs. CW: as blogger Robert Nagle pointed out to me this weekend, one of the recipients of these funds was the notorious Countrywide Financial. As Nagle wrote in an August 2010 post:

Amazingly, one beneficiary of the Texas Enterprise Fund was Countrywide Financial who received $20 million from the State of Texas before going bankrupt under allegations of fraud. Not only did Perry approve of giving funds to Countrywide, he actually made a point to give a speech touting it as the fund’s 'crowning jewel.' ... Countrywide later became known for being a primary cause of the subprime loan mortgage meltdown....

News Ledes

New York Times: "The White House and Congressional Republicans remained deeply divided on Monday over whether a budget-cutting deal tied to a debt limit increase should contain new federal revenues."

For news on the guilty verdicts of ousted Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich , see Blago -- the Trials(s) under The Soaps! drop-down menu.

Politico, re" Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice David Prosser's alleged chokehold on Justice Ann Walsh Bradley: "State capitol police are investigating and have yet to discuss the incident publicly, though a statement on the matter is expected Monday." ...

     ... Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Update: "The Dane County,  [Wisconsin,] Sheriff's Office is investigating a claim by Supreme Court Justice Ann Walsh Bradley that Justice David Prosser put her in a chokehold earlier this month. 'After consulting with members of the Wisconsin Supreme Court, I have turned over the investigation into an alleged incident in the court's offices on June 13, 2011 to Dane County Sheriff Dave Mahoney,' Capitol Police Chief Charles Tubbs said in a statement."

AP: "The Supreme Court said Monday that California cannot ban the rental or sale of violent video games to children. The high court agreed with a federal court’s decision to throw out California’s ban on the sale or rental of violent video games to minors. The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in Sacramento said the law violated minors’ rights under the First and Fourteenth amendments." The decision was 7-2. ...

     ... Update. The New York Times story is here. Justices Thomas & Breyer filed separate dissents. The decision & other opinions are here.

AP: "Outspoken congresswoman and tea party favorite Michele Bachmann cast herself as the 'bold choice' for the Republican presidential nomination as she formally kicked off her campaign Monday in her Iowa home town. Outside a historic mansion in Waterloo, Bachmann said she is waging her campaign 'not for vanity,' but because voters 'must make a bold choice if we are to secure the promise of the future.'"

Los Angeles Times: "The Dodgers filed for bankruptcy protection Monday in a move that owner Frank McCourt said would stabilize the financial future of the team. The move also could extend the battle for ownership of the Dodgers well beyond this season."

AP: "The International Criminal Court decided Monday to issue an arrest warrant for Libyan leader Moammar Kadafi and two of his relatives. The court ruled that there was enough evidence to grant a request for the warrants by the court's chief prosecutor, who has said he has evidence that links Kadafi and two relatives to "widespread and systematic" attacks on civilians as part of their effort to hold on to power." New York Times story here.

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