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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Saturday
Mar122011

The Commentariat -- March 12

Gen. Wesley Clark, in a Washington Post op-ed: "... the basic requirements for successful intervention [in Libya] simply don't exist, at least not yet: We don't have a clearly stated objective, legal authority, committed international support or adequate on-the-scene military capabilities, and Libya's politics hardly foreshadow a clear outcome. We should have learned these lessons from our long history of intervention. We don't need Libya to offer us a refresher course in past mistakes." ...

... BUT. Lloyd Grove in the Daily Beast or Newsweek or whatever: former president Bill Clinton favors imposing a no-fly zone over Libya. Clinton said Thursday, "'We have the planes to make an appropriate contribution to this.' ... Clinton ... argued that Gaddafi himself has already internationalized the conflict by hiring foreign mercenaries 'at $2,000 a day,' to kill Libyans. 'It’s not a fair fight,' the former president said, under questioning by Newsweek and Daily Beast Editor in Chief Tina Brown. 'They’re being killed by mercenaries. I think we should support them.'”

The Sphinx Strategy. Jim Kuhnhenn of the AP: "... the White House sees no upside in outspokenness." White House communications director Dan Pfeiffer says the public wants President Obama to lead; "they don't want him serving as a cable commentator for the issue of the day."

CW: in his news conference yesterday, President Obama defended the exteme treatment WikiLeaks suspect Bradley Manning is receiving at Quantico. Not everyone in his Administration is on the same page. Philippa Thomas reports that in a public meeting held earlier this week about the news media's role in foreign policy, State Department spokesman P. J. Crowley said , "What’s being done to Bradley Manning by my colleagues at the Department of Defense is ridiculous and counterproductive and stupid.'” Josh Rogin of Foreign Policy writes that Crowley has since confirmed he made those remarks but that they were his "personal opinion." He also said, "I defer to the Department of Defense regarding the treatment of Bradley Manning."

Suzy Khimm of Mother Jones: "A killer tsunami has devastated Japan and is now threatening Hawaii and the Pacific Coast of the US. But just last month, Republicans voted to gut funding for the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center — a cut that would cripple the National Weather Service's ability to issue warnings about such disasters." Yeah, because who cares if we lose some of those elite West Coast libruls?

Killing Him Softly. Republican Joe Scarborough clearly is not a Mitt Romney fan. David Axelrod, on the other hand, says he loves Romneycare. All in all, a fine double-team schtick against Mitt:

Right Wing World

CW: I hadn't intended to link to Gail Collins' column because it's all about the Newt. It's a very fine column, of course, but I urge you also to read Gemli's comment (#1) on her column. Here's his closing graph -- a classic!:

These hypocrites always seem to find God just when it’s politically convenient to do so, and claim that He has embraced them. Personally, I wouldn’t embrace Gingrich if I were wearing a hazmat suit and a respirator. And it’s us humans who will have to vote for him and live with the embarrassing consequences, not some deity who is clearly undiscriminating about the company He keeps. Let's all say a prayer that we don't make a mistake we will certainly live to regret.

Andrew DeMillo of the AP: maybe those apparent gaffes of Mike Huckabee's -- about President Obama & actor Natalie Portman -- weren't gaffes at all. CW: the premises of all of them (several about Obama & two about Portman, if you consider it a gaffe to call a respected actor a "starlet" -- I do) would resonate with much of Huckabee's base. The attention Huckabee's remarks have drawn, though derisive, comes from the main stream and left; could be a campaign moneymaker for the Huckster.

In an interview with Robert Costa of the National Review, Rick Santorum explains why Newt Gingrich really isn't a hypocrite. Santorum likens his own smoking pot in college with Gingrich's multiple, long-lasting infidelities & his (Gingrich's) unceremonious dumping of his wives. Another example of why "santorum" should remain a generic noun. ...

... Speaking of santorum, James O'Keefe -- wait for this -- did a great deal of creative editing of his little sting operation against NPR. Ben Smith remarks, "It's either depressing or sort of wonderful that Glenn Beck's The Blaze was the one to catch some really serious, dishonest lily-gilding in the NPR sting; to-wit: 

      ... ** Scott Baker of The Blaze describes one edit of the O'Keefe tape: "the clip in the edited video implies [NPR exec Ron] Schiller is giving simply his own analysis of the Tea Party. He does do that in part, but the raw video reveals that he is largely recounting the views expressed to him by two top Republicans, one a former ambassador, who admitted to him that they voted for Obama." Baker's piece picks up on several other egregious edits that completely or partially change the meaning of Schiller's remarks. In one case, he appears to endorse extremist Islamic views; he's actually responding to a remark about the group's restaurant reservations. Schiller lost his job over this; so did the NPR CEO Vivian Schiller (no relation). When are real people ever going to learn that the Brietbart-O'Keefe-Tucker Carlson crowd are the santorum of Right Wing World and their breathless, game-changing "exposés" are never what they appear to be. (Think Shirley Sherrod here; think ACORN.)

Local News

Iowa Open Mic. Steve Benen: a couple of top Iowa Republicans are caught discussing a proposed carry law. One of the bill's supporters, the state House Speaker Pro Tem, describes the bill as "The crazy, give-a-handgun-to-a-schizophrenic bill." Includes video. CW: they know what they're doing; they just don't care about the consequences they foresee. P.S. Family-values legislators sure do swear a lot.

Casey Grove of the Anchorage Daily News: "Five people in the Fairbanks area were arrested Thursday by state and federal law enforcement on charges connected with an alleged plot to kidnap or kill state troopers and a Fairbanks judge, according to the Alaska State Troopers." Note to Peter King: as far as I know, these homegrown terrorists are not "radicalized" Muslims. How about conducting a hearing on "radicalized Second Amendment/sovereign citizen" groups.

News Ledes

Wisconsin State Journal: "For a fourth straight Saturday, tens of thousands of protesters opposed to the controversial budget repair bill Gov. Scott Walker signed into law Friday descended on the state Capitol calling for Walker's ouster, while some are calling for a general strike. The crowd swelled as the 3 p.m. rally started and a bitter wind picked up. Protesters from neighboring states joined locals in the slow march around the Capitol."

** New York Times: "An explosion at a nuclear power plant in northern Japan on Saturday blew the roof off one building, brought down walls and caused a radiation leak of unspecified proportions, Japanese officials said, after Friday’s huge earthquake caused critical failures in the plant’s cooling system." The Washington Post story is here: four other reactors are in peril. Los Angeles Times story here: as many as 1,700 may have perished in the quake & tsunami.

... New York Times: "The death toll from the tsunami and earthquake, the strongest ever recorded in Japan, was in the hundreds, but Japanese news media quoted government officials as saying that it could rise to more than 1,300, most of them drowned. About 200 to 300 bodies were found along the waterline in Sendai, a port city in northeastern Japan and the closest major city to the epicenter." ...

... AP Update: "Cooling systems failed at another nuclear reactor on Japan's devastated coast Sunday, hours after an explosion at a nearby unit made leaking radiation, or even outright meltdown, the central threat to the country following a catastrophic earthquake and tsunami. The Japanese government said radiation emanating from the plant appeared to have decreased after Saturday's blast, which produced a cloud of white smoke that obscured the complex. But the danger was grave enough that officials pumped seawater into the reactor to avoid disaster and moved 170,000 people from the area." ...

... Kyodo News Update: "The loss of life and destruction caused by Friday's catastrophic earthquake in Japan grew Saturday, with the combined number of people who have died or remain unaccounted for expected to exceed 1,800, while an explosion occurred at a nuclear power plant injuring four workers."

Washington Post: President "Obama's cautious commitment to the [Libyan] rebel movement, which he said is 'just getting organized' in its fight to end Gaddafi's 41-year rule, mirrored the stance taken Friday by European leaders, who until now had been speaking more boldly than Obama on how best to assist Libya's opposition. At an emergency European Union summit, leaders declared that Gaddafi can no longer be considered Libya's leader and must step down immediately. But they stopped short of formally recognizing the rebel movement or endorsing military action to support its armed struggle."

Los Angeles Times: "Rep. Gabrielle Giffords ... 'is making leaps and bounds in terms of neurological progress,' doctors said Friday, and there is 'a good possibility' she will be able to attend the final launch of the space shuttle Endeavour, which her husband, astronaut Mark Kelly, will command in April. Giffords' speech 'is getting very good' and she 'is starting to walk with assistance,' said Dr. Dong Kim, director of Memorial Hermann-Texas Medical Center...." Arizona Republic story here.

Politico: "Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska has come out in opposition to the House’s attempts to defund Planned Parenthood, making her the first Republican senator to specifically support the beleaguered organization."

New York Times: "The Justice Department is investigating allegations that a mortgage subsidiary of Morgan Stanley foreclosed on almost two dozen military families from 2006 to 2008 in violation of a longstanding law aimed at preventing such action."

Washington Post: "National Football League team owners locked out the league's players Saturday, shutting down professional football for the first time in 24 years and plunging the nation's most popular and prosperous sport into a time of uncertainty."

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