The Ledes

Wednesday, May 14, 2025

New York Times: “Richard L. Garwin, an architect of America’s hydrogen bomb, who shaped defense policies for postwar governments and laid the groundwork for insights into the structure of the universe as well as for medical and computer marvels , died on Tuesday at his home in Scarsdale, N.Y. He was 97.... A polymathic physicist and geopolitical thinker, Dr. Garwin was only 23 when he built the world’s first fusion bomb. He later became a science adviser to many presidents, designed Pentagon weapons and satellite reconnaissance systems, argued for a Soviet-American balance of nuclear terror as the best bet for surviving the Cold War, and championed verifiable nuclear arms control agreements.”

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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.

 

Public Service Announcement

Zoë Schlanger in the Atlantic: "Throw out your black plastic spatula. In a world of plastic consumer goods, avoiding the material entirely requires the fervor of a religious conversion. But getting rid of black plastic kitchen utensils is a low-stakes move, and worth it. Cooking with any plastic is a dubious enterprise, because heat encourages potentially harmful plastic compounds to migrate out of the polymers and potentially into the food. But, as Andrew Turner, a biochemist at the University of Plymouth recently told me, black plastic is particularly crucial to avoid." This is a gift link from laura h.

Mashable: "Following the 2024 presidential election results and [Elon] Musk's support for ... Donald Trump, users have been deactivating en masse. And this time, it appears most everyone has settled on one particular X alternative: Bluesky.... Bluesky has gained more than 100,000 new sign ups per day since the U.S. election on Nov. 5. It now has over 15 million users. It's enjoyed a prolonged stay on the very top of Apple's App Store charts as well. Ready to join? Here's how to get started on Bluesky[.]"

Washington Post: "Americans can again order free rapid coronavirus tests by mail, the Biden administration announced Thursday. People can request four free at-home tests per household through covidtests.gov. They will begin shipping Monday. The move comes ahead of an expected winter wave of coronavirus cases. The September revival of the free testing program is in line with the Biden administration’s strategy to respond to the coronavirus as part of a broader public health campaign to protect Americans from respiratory viruses, including influenza and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), that surge every fall and winter. But free tests were not mailed during the summer wave, which wastewater surveillance data shows is now receding."

NPR lists all of the 2025 Pulitzer Prize winners. Poynter lists the prizes awarded in journalism as well as the finalists in these categories.

Wherein Michael McIntyre explains how Americans adapted English to their needs. With examples:

Beat the Buzzer. Some amazing young athletes:

     ~~~ Here's the WashPo story (March 23).

Back when the Washington Post had an owner/publisher who dared to stand up to a president:

Prime video is carrying the documentary. If you watch it, I suggest watching the Spielberg film "The Post" afterwards. There is currently a free copy (type "the post full movie" in the YouTube search box) on YouTube (or you can rent it on YouTube, on Prime & [I think] on Hulu). Near the end, Daniel Ellsberg (played by Matthew Rhys), says "I was struck in fact by the way President Johnson's reaction to these revelations was [that they were] 'close to treason,' because it reflected to me the sense that what was damaging to the reputation of a particular administration or a particular individual was in itself treason, which is very close to saying, 'I am the state.'" Sound familiar?

Out with the Black. In with the White. New York Times: “Lester Holt, the veteran NBC newscaster and anchor of the 'NBC Nightly News' over the last decade, announced on Monday that he will step down from the flagship evening newscast in the coming months. Mr. Holt told colleagues that he would remain at NBC, expanding his duties at 'Dateline,' where he serves as the show’s anchor.... He said that he would continue anchoring the evening news until 'the start of summer.' The network did not immediately name a successor.” ~~~

~~~ New York Times: “MSNBC said on Monday that Jen Psaki, the former White House press secretary who has become one of the most prominent hosts at the network, would anchor a nightly weekday show in prime time. Ms. Psaki, 46, will host a show at 9 p.m. Tuesday through Friday, replacing Alex Wagner, a longtime political journalist who has anchored that hour since 2022, according to a memo to staff from Rebecca Kutler, MSNBC’s president. Ms. Wagner will remain at MSNBC as an on-air correspondent. Rachel Maddow, MSNBC’s biggest star, has been anchoring the 9 p.m. hour on weeknights for the early days of ... [Donald] Trump’s administration but will return to hosting one night a week at the end of April.”

 

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Wednesday
Jun292011

The Commentariat -- June 30

I've added an Open Thread for today's Off Times Square.

On the President's Press Conference

Now is the time to go ahead and make the tough choices. That’s why they’re called leaders…. They’re in one week, they’re out one week. And then they’re saying, ‘Obama has got to step in.’ You need to be here. I’ve been here. I’ve been doing Afghanistan and bin Laden and the Greek crisis. You stay here. Let’s get it done. And so, this thing, which is just not on the level, where we have meetings and discussions, and we’re working through process, and when they decide they’re not happy with the fact that at some point you’ve got to make a choice, they just all step back and say, ‘Well, you know, the president needs to get this done.’ They need to do their job.
-- Barack Obama

Bravo! This is the fight House Democrats have been making for the last six months under the Republican Majority as they move to end Medicare and continue tax breaks for Big Oil. -- House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi

This was Obama as he ought to be. -- Dana Milbank (good column by Milbank)

Ron Fournier of the National Journal: "In Obama's world, Democrats are for kids and Republicans are for corporate jets. That is a sharp distinction that could help put the GOP on defensive, but it may not be enough to persuade Republicans to change their posture on the debt-ceiling talks."

Greg Sargent: "President Obama ... mounted a surprisingly aggressive moral case for ending high end tax cuts, casting it as a test of our society’s priorities, and argued — crucially — that anyone who fails to support ending them is fundamentally unserious about the deficit."

Ezra Klein sees the President's sharp language today as evidence that negotiations with Republicans have failed.

Jed Lewison of Daily Kos: "If you don't ask the wealthy to pay their share, the money is going to come from children and the elderly. And that's not morally defensible."

E. J. Dionne: "... President Obama put a question to congressional Republicans that should be asked over and over and over until they blink: Are they really willing to risk the nation’s credit and economic turmoil in order to preserve tax breaks for corporate jets, outlandishly low tax rates for hedge fund managers and loopholes for the oil companies?

The Weather Service Matters. Stephen Stromberg of the Washington Post: "The biggest danger on debt is that our leaders don't do enough to balance America's books. The next biggest is that, whether guided by ideology, ignorance or desperation, our leaders decide to shortchange the cost-effective investments that will sustain my generation's standard of living, relegating us to crumbling infrastructure, poor education, pathetic government services — and, perhaps, sloppy weather reports."

CW: Andrew Sullivan could be right here: "By staying ever so slightly above on this issue, Obama is doing the right presidential thing -- while presiding over what may well be the most seismic period for gay equality in history." Still, I find it more than a little dismaying that gay Americans are denied many rights the rest of us enjoy, and I would like to see the POTUS speak out against such nonsensical discrimination.

Dear Jim, You are unbelivably ignorant, but I will try to set you straight for the umpteenth time. Love, Tim. Or words to that effect. The Wall Street Journal publishes an epistolary exchange on the debt limit between Sen. Jim DeMint (Radical Right-Wing Tea Party R-S.C.) and Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner (Just Plain R).


CW: Okay, now I get why Washington doesn't care about jobs. In a post about on-line headhunters TheLadders.com, Annie Lowrey of Slate cites a February 2010 Northwestern U. study that found

The recession hit all workers, but it did not hit them equally . According to the study, the unemployment rate topped 30 percent in the lowest income decile. For workers in the second-highest decile, those making about $100,000 a year, the unemployment rate was only 4 percent. And those in the highest-income bracket, making more than $138,700 a year, the jobless rate was just 3 percent. In short, unemployment was 10 times worse for those in the bottom rung of the income ladder than for those at the top of the ladder....

Steve Benen: "... as frustrated as Americans are, they’re not blaming Obama for the mess."

The New Harold Koh. Glenn Greenwald on how low a respected law school dean will go when corrupted by power. Oh, yeah: pay no attention to what Barack Obama says.

Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) speaks on the Senate floor on Monday:

     ... Full transcript of his remarks here. Thanks to Karen Garcia for posting this link on Sardonicky.

Adam Serwer of American Prospect on the significance of the 6th Circuit's ruling for the Affordable Care Act. Although one of the three judges disagreed that the individual mandate was consititutional, they all agreed that the right's "activity/inactivity" distinction was ridiculous. Serwer also notes that this is the first case in which a Republican-appointed judge decided the individual mandate was constitutional. CW: It was also the first appelate-level decision on the ACA.

One of Ezra Klein's readers highlights a way anti-abortion Congressional jerks are likely to effect an increase health inequality, "possibly eradicating these diseases [detected in fetuses] among the affluent and concentrating them among the poorest of society." CW: the test that is the subject of this post has not been administered yet, but the writer's point is well-taken & should make you even sicker about being governed by stupid, sexist bigots.

"Memoirs of Torturers." David Swanson: President Obama's decision not to prosecute Americans involved in torture allowed for a boomlet of books by those advocating for & committing torture. Swanson reviews The Interrogator: an Education by former CIA agent Glenn Carle. "This is the story of how a none-too-bright, self-centered, insecure, careerist bureaucrat with weak principles, a fragile ego, a troubled marriage, and no interrogation experience, but the ability to actually speak Arabic, was chosen to lead the interrogating (or 'interviewing') of an innocent man the CIA boneheadedly believed to be a 'top al Qaeda terrorist' when they kidnapped him off a street and flew him to an undisclosed location outside any rule of law."

Right Wing World *

Sarah Bufkin for Think Progress: Rep. Michele Bachmann's husband Marcus Bachmann calls gays "barbarians" who "need to be educated" and "disciplined."

The People's Encyclopedia. Matthew Desmond of Addicting Info finds that Bachmann's supporters -- in a futile & hilarious effort to make one of her latest gaffes seem less loony (see yesterday's Commentariat) -- altered the Wikipedia entry for John Quincy Adams to designate him "a founding father." With screengrab of the altered page. CW: The Wiki page has since been corrected.

* Is downright disgusting.

News Ledes

Stephen Colbert's victory speech:

The FEC's decision on ColbertPAC:

Washington Post: "In a meeting devoid of anything beyond a gentle chuckle, the FEC decided that [Stephen] Colbert could go ahead with his plans to form a self-titled 'super PAC' that could raise and spend unlimited money on the 2012 elections. But the panel also concluded that the television host’s employer, Viacom Corp., would have to report any help it gives to Colbert for political activities outside the 'Colbert Report' show. The FEC’s 5-1 decision came as something of a relief to campaign-finance reformers, who feared the panel might go further by allowing Viacom — and thus any other media company — to spend unlimited resources in elections without having to disclose the spending." The Hill story here.

Washington Post: "A federal prosecutor has expanded his inquiry into harsh CIA interrogation practices during the Bush administration and is conducting a full criminal investigation into the deaths of two detainees, U.S. officials said Thursday. At the same time, Assistant U.S. Attorney John Durham has concluded that no charges will be filed in the interrogations of 99 other detainees who were in U.S. custody after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. said. At Holder’s request, Durham has been examining the actions of CIA interrogators and contractors at 'black site' prisons for nearly two years."

The Hill: "Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) announced Thursday morning that he will cancel the July 4 recess so that lawmakers can continue to focus on deficit-reduction negotiations. Reid will schedule a vote on Tuesday, July 5, forcing senators to cancel their plans and show up to the Senate floor. Reid said lawmakers will also work on legislation to create more jobs...."

     ... Washington Post: "President Obama surprised Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates on Thursday with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, paying tribute to his four decades of public service at a regal farewell ceremony outside the Pentagon. The honor came on Gates’s last day as defense secretary after four and a half years in the job. The citation for the medal — the highest civilian honor the commander in chief can bestow — said that Gates had 'selflessly dedicated his life to ensuring the security of the American people.'”

New York Times: "Hundreds of thousands of teachers and public-sector workers across Britain walked off their jobs on Thursday to protest the government’s proposed changes to their pension plans. Union officials warned that this could be the beginning of a wave of strikes this summer and fall over pensions and public-sector budget cuts."

** New York Times: "In a decision that could have far-reaching effects on immigration cases involving same-sex couples, federal officials have canceled the deportation of a Venezuelan man in New Jersey who is married to an American man, the couple’s lawyer said Wednesday. The announcement comes as immigration officials put into effect new, more flexible guidelines governing the deferral and cancellation of deportations, particularly for immigrants with no serious criminal records." CW: one reason to have a Democratic president.

Washington Post: "The Federal Election Commission ... finds itself the target of a very public joke by television comedian and provocateur Stephen Colbert, who is set to testify Thursday on his tongue-in-cheek bid to form an eponymous 'super PAC' for the 2012 election season."

Reuters: "The United States would immediately have its top-notch credit rating slashed to 'selective default' if it misses a debt payment on August 4, Standard & Poor's managing director John Chambers told Reuters. Chambers, who is also the chairman of S&P's sovereign ratings committee, said on Tuesday that U.S. Treasury bills maturing on August 4 would be rated 'D' if the government fails to honor them. Unaffected Treasuries would be downgraded as well, but not as sharply, he said."

Reuters: "President Barack Obama's plan for pulling U.S. troops from Afghanistan will intensify risks in the thick of next year's fighting season, but Obama was right to factor in waning support at home for the war, outgoing Defense Secretary Robert Gates told Reuters."

Reuters: "Greece's parliament is expected to pass a second austerity bill on Thursday to enable the country to avert bankruptcy by securing a 12 billion euro ($17 billion) loan tranche from the EU and IMF. After two days of violent protests just meters (yards) from where deputies passed initial austerity legislation on Wednesday, they began debating detailed measures to implement 28 billion euros in spending cuts, tax hikes and privatizations." ...

     ... New York Times Update: "Greek lawmakers on Thursday passed legislation allowing for the rapid implementation of new austerity measures, a day after voting to sharply reduce government spending and sell off an array of national assets, staving off default on the country’s debt and easing, for the moment, a crisis among countries that use the euro."

New York Times: "Afghan officials said on Thursday that they have arrested two former executives involved in the collapse of Kabul Bank. According to Rahmatullah Nazari, the deputy attorney general, authorities arrested Sherkhan Farnood, the former chairman of Kabul Bank, and Khalilulah Frozi, its former chief executive officer, on Wednesday in connection with what he said was hundreds of millions of dollars in fraudulent loans to bank officers and insiders."

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