The Ledes

Thursday, July 3, 2025

CNBC: “Job growth proved better than expected in June, as the labor market showed surprising resilience and likely taking a July interest rate cut off the table. Nonfarm payrolls increased a seasonally adjusted 147,000 for the month, higher than the estimate for 110,000 and just above the upwardly revised 144,000 in May, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Thursday. April’s tally also saw a small upward revision, now at 158,000 following an 11,000 increase.... Though the jobless rates fell [to 4.1%], it was due largely to a decrease in those working or looking for jobs.”

Washington Post: “A warehouse storing fireworks in Northern California exploded on Tuesday, leaving seven people missing and two injured as explosions continued into Wednesday evening, officials said. Dramatic video footage captured by KCRA 3 News, a Sacramento broadcaster, showed smoke pouring from the building’s roof before a massive explosion created a fireball that seemed to engulf much of the warehouse, accompanied by an echoing boom. Hundreds of fireworks appeared to be going off and were sparkling within the smoke. Photos of the aftermath showed multiple destroyed buildings and a large area covered in gray ash.” ~~~

The Wires
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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.

INAUGURATION 2029

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.

 

Contact Marie

Email Marie at constantweader@gmail.com

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Sunday
Mar182012

The Commentariat -- March 19, 2012

My column in today's New York Times eXaminer is titled "A Useful Idiot" and discusses Bill Keller's advice to the president on how to decide whether or not to go to war. The NYTX front page, which is full of new stuff, is here. You can contribute here.

** Jeff Toobin of the New Yorker on the Supreme Court, healthcare derangement syndrome & Judge Brett Kavanaugh. Just read it. It is a horror story masked as news commentary and a smack-you-down cautionary tale to all It-Doesn't-Matter-Who's-President lefties.

In a review of Noam Scheiber's new book The Escape Artists, John Cassidy runs a replay of President Obama's middle-of-the-road economic moves. CW: will Second-Term Obama be any bolder? Not likely.

Matthew Rosenberg of the New York Times: "Sometime before midnight Saturday, a pair of rights groups — one Afghan, the other American — quietly posted online a report on how American authorities have continued to send detainees to Afghan prisons even though coalition forces ordered a halt to such transfers last year because of concerns about torture. The report ... added important new details about what goes on in prisons run by Afghanistan’s police and intelligence service, and about how some American agencies may be abetting torture."

James Dao of the New York Times profiles Robert Bales, the soldier accused of the unprovoked, coldblooded murders of 16 Afghans.

CW: I think this article by Sarah Hepola of the New York Times, the gist of which is -- Why is there no nw Gloria Steinem? -- is inherently stupid (it's in the Style section, so that's not surprising), but if you forget about Hepola's central thesis, she does get in some interesting history.

Paul Krugman: Republicans continue to make up lies about the Affordable Care Act. CW: I think we should recognize that they do this out of cruelty to those who will benefit or are benefiting now from provisions of the act. There is simply no good policy or political excuse for it.

Rosalind Helderman of the Washington Post: "Congress is preparing to renew its bitter fight over government spending, as both parties eagerly await the arrival Tuesday of a new budget plan authored by Republican Rep. Paul Ryan (Wis.)."

Ed O'Keefe of the Washington Post: "The House plans to vote Tuesday on a bill that would repeal the Independent Payment Advisory Board, a 15-member panel established as part of the health-care law that would convene in 2014 and make recommendations to Congress on how to change Medicare." Republicans call the panel "an 'unelected rationing board.' ... (Despite the GOP jab, the 2010 law explicitly bans the board from making any recommendation 'to ration health care.') The repeal legislation enjoyed notable Democratic support until last week, when GOP leaders announced plans to link it to another proposal to limit certain medical malpractice awards." CW: the board is supposed to save costs; I don't think ConservaDems know what they're doing here.

N. C. Aizenman of the Washington Post: "When the Supreme Court holds three days of hearings on the constitutionality of the law next week, supporters and opponents will be reaching for broader political targets. Backers see a moment to educate and sell Americans on a law that continues to confuse and divide them, and that has become a key issue in the presidential campaign. Opponents will direct their energy toward Congress, the potential next front in the fight if the court upholds the law."

Right Wing World

Way Before There Was Santorum.com -- Santorum? Is that Latin for asshole? -- Then Senator Bob Kerrey overheard asking another senator. Read this & 13 more "memories" about Santorum that Ryan Lizza of the New Yorker has collected

Public Policy Polling: "Mitt Romney is headed for a blowout victory in Illinois on Tuesday. He leads with 45% to 30% for Rick Santorum, 12% for Newt Gingrich, and 10% for Ron Paul."

Sarah Wheaton & Richard Oppel of the New York Times: In an us-agin-them speech, Rick Santorum told rural voters that Mitt Romney appeals to GOP voters in urban areas -- the same areas that favor Democrats.

Local News

Miriam Raftery of the East (San Diego) County Magazine: "Michael John Kobulnicky, 50, a leader in the San Diego Tea Party and former regional director of the Southern California Conservative Party, is under arrest for allegedly kidnapping and raping a local woman.... According to police, Kobulnicky offered a ride to a woman walking on Linda Vista Road around 7 p.m. on February 25. But instead of taking her home, he drove to Fiesta Island. There, the 205-pound, 6 ft. 3-inch tall suspect is accused of pulling the victim out of the vehicle and sexually assaulted the 56-year-old woman, then leaving her on the island.... According to his website, Kobulnicky  supports Christian values...." ...

... More from Lauren Steussy of NBC San Diego. "Surveillance footage of the area near the assault gave police evidence to pursue a suspect. They released a picture of the suspect to the public, and many identified the suspect as Kobulnicky." Here's part of the Tea Party statement, which should reassure you that the brutal sexual assault of women is not a Tea Party policy:

One of the things each volunteer of the Tea Party stands for is that each person is responsible for his or her own actions. This is individual responsibility.... This horrendous act of violence was perpetrated by an individual. It did not take place at a Tea party function nor would any Tea Party member or volunteer condone this act.... These allegations should never have become political in nature.

News Ledes 

New York Times: "Fred Wilpon and Saul Katz, the owners of the Mets, on Monday settled the lawsuit brought against them by Irving H. Picard, the trustee for the victims of Bernard L. Madoff’s Ponzi scheme, for $162 million. The agreement is binding. Picard had accused Wilpon and Katz of ignoring warnings that Madoff was running a fraud during their many years of investing with him. They had said they were unaware of any 'red flags' and had charged that Picard fabricated and distorted evidence against them."

New York Times: "Heavy fighting erupted early Monday between armed defectors and the Syrian Army in a wealthy and well-protected area of Damascus, according to anti-government activists and residents who described the clashes as the most intense in such a strategic area of the capital since the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad began a year ago." Al Jazeera story here. Al Jazeera's liveblog on Syria is here.

Guardian: "Charges against an American soldier accused of killing 16 Afghan civilians are expected to be filed within a week, and any trial would be held in the United States, according to a legal expert with the US military."

New York Times: A man opened fire outside a Jewish school in southwest France on Monday morning, killing four people, three of them children, and wounding another.... Witnesses said that a man fled the scene in Toulouse on a motorbike."

AP: "President Barack Obama raised $45 million for his re-election bid in February, bringing his total to about $300 million for this election cycle, his campaign said Monday."

As a follow-up to yesterday's Ledes, CNN reports that Mitt Romney won all 20 GOP delegates from Puerto Rico. "With about 83% of total ballots accounted for early Monday in Puerto Rico, Romney had garnered more than 98,000 votes -- or 83% of the total -- based on unofficial results obtained from local party and election officials. Rick Santorum was a distant second, at 8% with slightly more than 9,500 votes." CW: evidently telling Spanish-speaking people they have to learn English if they want to become a state (even though there's no such Constitutional requirement) is not a winning strategy.

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