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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Email Marie at constantweader@gmail.com

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Wednesday
Mar022011

The Commentariat -- March 3

President Obama’s Press Availability with President Calderón & Statement on Libya:

Neil King & Scott Greenberg of the Wall Street Journal: "Less than a quarter of Americans support making significant cuts to Social Security or Medicare to tackle the country's mounting deficit, according to a new Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll.... In the poll, Americans across all age groups and ideologies said by large margins that it was 'unacceptable'' to make significant cuts in entitlement programs in order to reduce the federal deficit. Even tea party supporters, by a nearly 2-to-1 margin, declared significant cuts to Social Security 'unacceptable.'... Amid the union protests in Wisconsin, the poll found that 62% of Americans oppose efforts to strip unionized government workers of their rights to collectively bargain, even as they want public employees to contribute more money to their retirement and health-care benefits."

Gail Collins: "In honor of Women’s History Month, President Obama ordered up the first report on the status of American women since the one Eleanor Roosevelt prepared for John F. Kennedy. It’s chock full of interesting bits of information." Collins notes that the report findings include the information that women "make an average 80 cents for every $1 that men take home." ...

... That's better than nothing. Karen Garcia takes a look at the Organizing for America internship program -- where interns earn zero & have to pay their own expenses -- & finds that it appears to violate the Department of Labor's "very strict rules about unpaid internships."

Glenn Greenwald. Former Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) pledged last year not be become a lobbyist when he retired from the Senate. So naturally, he has just become the most influential lobbyist of them all: head of the Motion Picture Association of America.

Jack Mirkinson of the Huff Post thinks this clip is interesting because Megyn Kelly of Fox "News" gets in an argument with Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-NY) over Justice Clarence Thomas' obligation -- or not -- to recuse himself from hearing cases involved the Affordable Care Act because of his wife's lobbying efforts against the act & the financial support the couple received from anti-healthcare entities. I think it's interesting for the content:

... AND, speaking of Justice Thomas, Roger Shuler, the Legal Schnauzer, reports that, "U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas should be disbarred for his failure to truthfully complete financial-disclosure forms over a 20-year period, according to a complaint filed by the watchdog group Protect Our Elections (POE). In a bar complaint filed with the Missouri Supreme Court, POE attorney Kevin Zeese says Thomas committed multiple violations of the Missouri Rules of Professional Conduct." The story includes a copy of the complaint. Thanks to Jeanne B. for the link. ...

... What Could Possibly Be Wrong with This? Eric Lipton of the New York Times reports on another Republican husband and wife who are double-teaming to game the system: "Louisiana’s biggest corporate players, many with long agendas before the state government, are restricted in making campaign contributions to Gov. Bobby Jindal. But they can [and do!] give whatever they like to the foundation set up by his wife months after he took office.... [Mrs. Jindal's] foundation has collected nearly $1 million in previously unreported pledges from major oil companies, insurers and other corporations in Louisiana with high-stakes regulatory issues, according to a review by The New York Times.... : A photo of [Gov. Jindal] standing alongside his wife appears on a corporate solicitation page on the foundation Web site, and his chief fund-raiser is listed as the charity’s treasurer on its most recent tax return. A state employee from the governor’s office ... manages the foundation’s books."

Yesterday President Obama presented the 2010 National Medal of Arts & National Humanities Awards. Here's a list of recipients, who include Meryl Streep & Joyce Carol Oates.

Right Wing News

The "Genial" Huck Gets Seriously Racist. Steve Kornacki of Salon: after complaining about the media victimized him for "misspeaking," Huckabee said on a radio show yesterday,

Most of us grew up going to Boy Scout meetings and, you know, our communities were filled with Rotary Clubs, not madrassas.

     (See Right Wing News under yesterday's Commentariat for the backstory.) ...

... In another post, Elliott reports that Huckabee actually wrote about Obama's Mau Mau "connection" in a book titled Simple Government. (Elliott notes that, "Huckabee seems to be throwing around the exotic-sounding term 'Mau Mau' every chance he gets.") After speaking with historian David Anderson about the Brits' brutal suppression of the Mau Maus, Elliott concludes that Huck really has no idea of the history & geography of the Mau Mau Revolution, & the claims in his book about Obama are, in the words of Anderson, "stir-fry crazy."

Constitutional Scholar Sarah Palin attacks the Supreme Court's 8-1 decision in the Westboro Church case. Justin Elliott of Salon parses Palin's understanding of the First Amendment: "... criticism of public figures threatens free speech, but peaceful protests she doesn't like should be banned." ...

... Maybe Palin should have had Adam Serwer of American Prospect explain the ruling to her. He sums up the pages & pages it took Chief Justice Roberts to write the Court's majority opinion:

You don't forfeit your First Amendment rights just by being an asshole. -- Adam Serwer

Local News

This Is a Classic. Brett Dykes of Yahoo News: "A proposed immigration bill in the Texas state House ... would make hiring an 'unauthorized alien' a crime punishable by up to two years in prison and a $10,000 fine, unless that is, they are hired to do household chores...."Rep. Debbie Riddle, a tea party favorite who introduced the bill with its glaring loophole, said through a spokesman "that the exemption was an attempt to avoid 'stifling the economic engine' in Texas, which today is, somewhat ironically, celebrating its declaring independence from Mexico in 1836."

News Ledes

New York Times: "The United States has evidence that a former Federal Bureau of Investigation agent who disappeared in Iran four years ago is alive and being held in the region, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said in a statement on Thursday. The former agent, Robert Levinson, who had worked as a private investigator since leaving the F.B.I., disappeared in March 2007 while on a trip to Kish Island, a Persian Gulf resort that is a smuggling hub."

DOJ Gamble Pays Off. New York Times: Roger Vinson, "a federal judge in Florida, stayed his own ruling against the Obama health care law on Thursday, allowing the act to be carried out as the case progresses through the Courts of Appeal and on to the Supreme Court. The judge, making evident his irritation with the Obama administration, sought to speed the process by conditioning the stay on the Justice Department’s pursuit of an expedited appeal, which he ordered filed within seven days."

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: "Pressure ratcheted up on absent [Wisconsin] Senate Democrats Thursday, as they were found in contempt by GOP senators and Gov. Scott Walker said he will start sending out layoff notices to state unions and workers by the end of Friday if the standoff over his budget-repair bill isn't resolved." ...

... Politico: "The Wisconsin state Senate passed a resolution ordering the 14 Democratic senators who fled the state two weeks ago to return to the Capitol by late Thursday afternoon or face being taken into custody by police."

New York Times: "President Obama demanded Thursday that the embattled Libyan leader, Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi, 'step down and leave' immediately, and said he would consider a full range of options to stem the bloodshed there, though he did not commit the United States to any direct military action. In his most forceful response to the near-civil war in Libya, Mr. Obama said the United States would consider imposing a 'no-fly zone' over the country — a step his defense secretary, Robert M. Gates, warned a day earlier would carry major risks...." ...

... New York Times: "From the feeble cover of sand dunes, under assault from a warplane overhead and heavy artillery from a hill, rebels in this strategic oil city[of Brega]  repelled an attack by hundreds of Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi’s fighters on Wednesday, but air strikes were reported to have resumed on Thursday." ...

... New York Times: "Libyan authorities loyal to Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi have captured three crew members of a Dutch naval helicopter who were rescuing European citizens, last Sunday, the Dutch Defense Ministry said on Thursday, the first report of foreigners being by held in Libya’s bloody and unfolding uprising." ...

... AP: "The prosecutor of the International Criminal Court says he will investigate Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi and his inner circle, including some of his sons, for possible crimes against humanity in the violent crackdown on anti-government protesters."

Washington Post: "A close ally of ousted Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak [-- Ahmed Shafiq --] resigned as the country's prime minister Thursday, an apparent bid to head off demonstrations planned for Friday by activists frustrated with the country's slow pace of reform."

New York Times: "A criminal court agreed on Thursday to delay pressing murder charges against the C.I.A. operative, Raymond L. Davis, ruling that that lawyers for Mr. Davis should have more time to prepare for the case."

New York Times: "Newt Gingrich, the former House speaker, is set to confirm his intention to explore a presidential campaign [today] — the first step toward becoming an official candidate for the Republican nomination."

AP: "Women and children fled en masse from a disputed flashpoint town between north and south Sudan after fighting this week killed more than 100 people, officials said Thursday. Abyei has long been seen as the major sticking point between the north and south, which voted to secede in January and is on course to become the world's newest country in July."

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