REALITYCHEX.COM - Constant Comments - The Commentariat -- March 31, 2013

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

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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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.”

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The Commentariat -- March 31, 2013

Ashley Parker & Steven Greenhouse of the New York Times: "The nation’s top business and labor groups have reached an agreement on a guest worker program for low-skilled immigrants, a person with knowledge of the negotiations said on Saturday. The deal clears the path for broad immigration legislation to be introduced when Congress returns from its two-week recess in mid-April." ...

... Mike Allen of Politico: "Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) issued an Easter morning statement saying he is 'encouraged' by progress in talks on immigration reform, but added: 'Reports that the bipartisan group of eight senators have agreed on a legislative proposal are premature.' The headline of his statement, timed for release just before the Sunday talk shows: "Rubio: No final agreement on immigration legislation yet.'" CW: wherein "premature" means "failed to give me, Marco, a photo-op."

So David Stockman, the boy wonder who brought us "trickle-down economics" & grew up to regret it, has an op-ed in today's New York Times with an extraordinary doom-and-gloom prophecy: within a few years, I predict -- this latest Wall Street bubble, inflated by an egregious flood of phony money from the Federal Reserve rather than real economic gains, will explode, too.... These policies have brought America to an end-stage metastasis." CW: I hope Krugman responds, because otherwise I won't know what to make of Stockman's piece. ...

... Some of Stockman's "villains" and "heroes." ...

... Oh, Stockman has a book on the self-same subject. Marcus Brauchli, a vice president of The Washington Post Co., reviews it in the Post.

Maureen Dowd: "On Wednesday, Chief Justice John Roberts played Karl Rove, musing not about moral imperatives but political momentum.... Congress has passed no federal protections for gays on employment, housing and education. In 29 states, it is perfectly legal to fire someone because of his or her sexual orientation. The F.B.I. says the only uptick in hate crimes involves attacks on gays. Thirty-one states have enacted Constitutional amendments banning same-sex marriage.... The Supreme Court should know that civil rights are not supposed to be determined on the whims of the people."

Jonathan Bernstein argues in Salon that Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg should retire now if she wants to be replaced by a liberal. With it likely that Republicans will pick up seats -- if not control -- the Senate in the 2014 election, & "most Republicans will support a filibuster against any [Democratic] Supreme Court nominee." CW: Harry Reid should announce next week that filibustering all judicial nominees is over.

After reading Charlotte & Harriet Childress's WashPo op-ed (linked yesterday) on white male mass murderers, Steve M. of No More Mr. Nice Blog writes, "White suburban males are led to believe that the world is their oyster. Maybe it's falling short of these high cultural expectations that attracts a certain percentage of socially struggling white males to fantasies of violent revenge. They want to kill because they're expected to dominate, and this is the only way they know how."

Kate M. proposes strategic U.S. war plan: "North Korean officers could be easily defeated with a giant magnet." Sorry, Kate, a practical idea, but not enough in it for military contractors.Right Wing War on Easter Outrage. Twitchy (which is a Michelle Malkin production) reports: "While two billion Christians around the world celebrate Easter Sunday on this 31st day of March, Google is using its famous 'Doodle' search logo art to mark the birth of left-wing labor leader Cesar Chavez." AND much of Right Wing World is aghast. CW: because commemorating the life of a real, home-grown defender of the poor is so much worse than celebrating one who is apt to be entirely mythical. Also, the mythical dude just doesn't get enough attention.

Your 2013 Easter Miracle. Lizzy Davies of the Guardian: "The shroud of Turin is to be shown on television for the first time in 40 years on Easter Saturday as a new claim [is made] that the four-metre-long linen cloth dates from ancient times.... As what the Vatican described as his parting gift to the Roman Catholic church before he resigned, Benedict XVI signed off on a special 90-minute broadcast of the shroud that will take place from Turin Cathedral and be introduced in a brief preamble by his successor, Pope Francis.... Giulio Fanti ... [of] Padua University claims tests had shown that the cloth, which bears the image of a man's face and body, dates from between 280BC and 220AD."

Looks lie Pope Francis is planning to undo all of Benedict's "reforms." The AP reports, "Virtually everything he has done since being elected pope, every gesture, every decision, has rankled traditionalists in one way or another." Too bad.

Local News

Happy Easter! Steve Benen: the Kentucky legislature overrode Gov. Steve Beshear's (D) veto of a bill that will allow "Kentuckians with 'sincerely held' religious beliefs to disregard state laws and regulations." What could possibly go wrong?

Rosalind Helderman & Laura Vozzella of the Washington Post have a long report on Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell's cozy, symbiotic relationship with a shaky Virginia company that makes some kind of (likely fake) dietary supplement made from tobacco. AND here's a shocking surprise: Kate M.'s ward Little Kenny Cuccinelli is tagging along on the back of the huckster's bandwagon. Politics makes perfectly predictable bedfellows.

GOP Outreach in North Carolina, Part 1. Laura Leslie of WRAL, Raleigh: "Two bills filed by Republican lawmakers seek to cut back early voting and eliminate same-day registration in North Carolina.... Democrats say such bills are intended to make it harder to vote and will disproportionately affect low-income, working and minority voters -- groups that traditionally favor Democrats. The Sunday ban, in particular, would affect popular 'Souls to the Polls' voting drives at African-American churches." ...

... GOP Outreach in North Carolina, Part 2. Michael Biesecker of TPM: "A Confederate battle flag hung inside the old North Carolina State Capitol last week to mark the sesquicentennial of the Civil War is being taken down after civil rights leaders raised concerns. The decision was announced ... hours after the Associated Press published a story about the flag, which officials said was part of an historical display intended to replicate how the antebellum building appeared in 1863. The flag had been planned to hang in the House chamber until April 2015, the 150th anniversary of the arrival of federal troops in Raleigh.... The decision was a quick about-face for the McCrory [R] administration, which initially defended the display." CW: even in ending it, Gov. Pat McCrory's office made a fake excuse about needing the venue for office space. ...

... CW: to be fair to the Republican National Committee, I don't think they said much about reaching out to blah people.

News Ledes

New York Times: "Paul Williams, a writer and critic who founded the alternative pop music magazine Crawdaddy, one of the first outlets for serious writing about rock music, and whose critical support helped rescue the science fiction author Philip K. Dick from obscurity, died on Wednesday in a nursing residence near his home in Encinitas, Calif. He was 64."

AP: "A Texas prosecutor and his wife were found killed in their house two months after one of his assistants was gunned down near their office.... Investigators found the bodies of Kaufman County District Attorney Mike McLelland and his wife, Cynthia, on Saturday, said Kaufman County sheriff's Lt. Justin Lewis.... Assistant district attorney Mark Hasse was shot to death in a parking lot a block from his office on Jan. 31." ...

... Reuters: investigators are looking into the possibility that the murders of the McLellands & Hasse are tied to the white supremacist killing of Colorado prisons chief Tom Clements.

Reuters: "Kenyan police clashed on Sunday with a few dozen protesters angry at a court's confirmation of Uhuru Kenyatta as president-elect, but the unrest was minor compared with the nationwide bloodshed after the last disputed election."

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http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/03/30/1196520/-Green-Diary-Rescue-Earth-s-oceans-acidifying-in-that-way-we-keep-hearing-faster-than-predicted

Marie: Looks as if Florida is in for a rough summer. (See map in link)

Maybe the state legislature should pass a law agaist the drought.

March 30, 2013 |

Barbarossa

Where have I been? As someone who certainly does not have her head in the sand I had not realized that the Ku Klux Klan is still operating. I thought that the term "white supremacist" groups just meant groups of angry nut jobs causing unrest here and there. But no, the Klan is still with us, hoods and all:

"MEMPHIS — The Ku Klux Klan rallied in Memphis on Saturday to protest the City Council’s decision last month to rename three city parks that honored Confederate troops."

The article in the Times caught me up short. Seems the old names for the parks were confederate heroes––the old rebel yell kinds of names and damn, if the Klan, still living in the good old Civil War days when slaves were singing in the cotton fields don't want that to change, symbolically speaking. So––lesson for the day–– keep up with what's happening, baby, realize some things will never change.

And no Easter eggs for me this year. Sigh~~~~~~~~~

March 31, 2013 |

PD Pepe

@PD Pepe
I felt the same re KKK. Still in business? Have they no shame?Unbelievable.

And where is the Southern Poverty Law Center? I thought they tracked all hate groups?
Loved the google doodle of Cesar Chavez.

CW, Thank you for this site, and your posters.
mae finch

March 31, 2013 |

mae finch

@PD Pepe mae finch

On September 11, 2010 about 40 members of the KKK came to our little town up in redneck country to stage a rally protesting the President and illegal immigration. The were abou 30 cops surrounding them. Most of the crowd of 200 or so were just rubbernecking, with very few supporters and about as many protesters. The local merchants were not amused, as many people stayed away for fear of violence. After about two hours, the KKK left. If they had hoped to get a large crowd of supporters, they were diaappointed.

The local chicken processing plant couldn't run without Hispanic workers. Pictures in the local paper of school sports teams aways seem to contain a Gomez or Rodriguez, especially soccer. To quote Bob Dylan, "The times are a' changin'."

March 31, 2013 |

Barbarossa

@Barbarossa: quite a story. The Anti-Defamation League has a report here. It says, in part,

"The Ku Klux Klan, which just a few years ago seemed static or even moribund compared to other white supremacist movements such as neo-Nazis, has experienced a surprising and troubling resurgence due to the successful exploitation of hot-button issues including immigration, gay marriage and urban crime. Klan groups have witnessed a surprising and troubling resurgence by exploiting fears of an immigration explosion....

"Although some Klansmen may still hold cross-burnings dressed in robes and hoods, today’s young Klansmen are more likely to look virtually indistinguishable from racist skinheads or neo-Nazis."

Watch the little kid in the right-hand column discussing the meaning of life & take heart.

Marie

March 31, 2013 |

Marie Burns

I listened to the little kid, the nine year old discussing life's mysteries, and not only took heart, but felt assured that the future generation might just produce the kind of human beings that will think like this wonderful child who looks at ants and makes the connection. I thank you for giving us this, Marie.

March 31, 2013 |

PD Pepe

Looks as though Krugman has answered Marie's "with what will he have to say about David Stockman?" It's on his blog...wouldn't be surprised if we get the fuller version for tomorrow's NYT commentary. Actually Krugman held back a tad, so that's why I think tomorrow will be the takedown.

My, my! Stockman goes back to blaming FDR! Let's see, (here my short term memory fails me) who was that other blame game jerk just a few weeks back who proclaimed the reasons for U.S. financial & economic distresses could be laid at the feet of JFK. In Stockman's chart of the "good guys vs. bad"... some calls he got right (he had me with Milton Friedman), the others, meh!

More shady financial doings. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/01/business/as-market-heats-up-trading-slips-into-shadows.html?hp Do you know where your money is?
Poor small investors. Yeah, and tell us again, why privatizing Social Security is a good thing. Yeah, and vouchers for healthcare, schooling, etc. Why you people just need to save more of your paltry minimum wage for a glorious retirement!
Let the markets help!

March 31, 2013 |

MAG

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