REALITYCHEX.COM - Constant Comments - The Commentariat -- May 13

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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Thursday

May122011

The Commentariat -- May 13

I've posted an Open Thread on Off Times Square and have added my comments on Brooks & Krugman. Update: Karen Garcia & Kate Madison have posted their comments, too, and they are fabulous! I love the intros to their comments, too. None of us really expects to make the Times cut on Brooks. Update 2: Garcia & Madison did; I didn't. -- CW

Here's economist Dean Baker, writing in Business Insider, on Brooks: "Did David Brooks' mother tell him that the debt is 'ruinous' or does he just enjoy beating up the elderly?" Brooks tells "readers that he is excited over the possibility that there may be a deal to address the 'nation’s ruinous debt problem.' ... Since there is no evidence in the world that would justify calling the debt problem 'ruinous,' we can assume that this is just the sort of belief that was passed on to Brooks by his parents, in the same way that religious beliefs can be passed on." Thanks to Denis N. for the link.

Why should Carl Levin be the one who needs to do this? Where's the SEC? Where are any of the regulatory bodies? -- Elliot Spitzer ...

** ... Matt Taibbi of Rolling Stone. "Thanks to an extraordinary investigative effort by a Senate subcommittee [headed by Carl Levin {D-Mich.}] that unilaterally decided to take up the burden the criminal justice system has repeatedly refused to shoulder, we now know exactly what Goldman Sachs executives like Lloyd Blankfein and Daniel Sparks lied about. We know exactly how they and other top Goldman executives, including David Viniar and Thomas Montag, defrauded their clients. America has been waiting for a case to bring against Wall Street. Here it is, and the evidence has been gift-wrapped and left at the doorstep of federal prosecutors, evidence that doesn't leave much doubt: Goldman Sachs should stand trial." CW: Where, I'd like to know, is Barack Obama's attorney general, Eric Holder? It seems obvious he has decided not to aggravate super-connected big campaign donors by charging them with multiple counts of fraud and perjury. The fix is in. Thanks to reader Karen S. for the link. ...

... Binyamin Appelbaum of the New York Times: in fully half of the major federal agencies involved in regulatory overhaul, the seat at the top is (or will soon become) empty.

Paul Krugman explains why nothing could be worse than a cap on spending and why Republican/Tea Party Members of Congress are charlatans at best and horrible human beings in all likelihood: "... when people like Mr. Boehner reject out of hand any increase in taxes, they are, in effect, declaring that they won’t preserve programs benefiting older Americans in anything like their current form. It’s just a matter of arithmetic."

Steve Benen on the GOP debt-ceiling strategy: "McConnell and other Republicans are eager, practically desperate, to make major changes to Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security — changes that the public won’t like. What the GOP needs more than anything is bipartisan cover. They want Obama to make it so, to use McConnell’s word, this isn’t 'usable' in the next election, because if Republicans tried to do this on their own, the electoral consequences would be severe."

What's Driving the Deficit, from the Center on Budget & Policy Priorities. Oh, look, it isn't TARP or the Obama stimulus package. despite your claim. Why, it's George Double-U Bush & his big, fat tax cuts along with the deregulation that led to the recession:

The Washington Post has published the Senate Ethics Committee's full report on John Ensign. It's 75 pages long, but schadenfraude is a powerful incentive so I'll at least skim it. Yesterday's WashPo story -- that the Ethics Committee has asked the DOJ to get off its ass -- is here. ...

... Shorter Version. Manu Raju & John Bresnahan of Politico report on the "bombshells" in the Senate report -- AND they say there are "salacious" details. Sounds like a read that will be at least half as fun as Ken Starr's report on the Lewinsky affair. Tidbit: Rick Santorum is worse than santorum.

Wednesday President Obama conducted a townhall-style meeting on CBS. CBS News has lotsa video clips here, including portions that didn't air. AND here's the full transcript. The full event (minus the outtakes):

I was eating souffle at Rise Restaurant with Laura and two buddies. I excused myself and went home to take the call. Obama simply said 'Osama Bin Laden is dead.' ... I told Obama, 'Good call.'
-- George W. Bush, on how he learned of bin Laden's death. More here from ABC News. No mention of whether or not the souffle had fallen by the time he got back to the restaurant. Maybe he just left it for Obama to finish. -- CW

Following up his Washington Post op-ed I linked yesterday, John McCain gives a Senate floor speech against torture. Joan McCarter of the Daily Kos has some background:

wmode="transparent"

... Marcy Wheeler examines the new information McCain presented in his op-ed and floor speech. While she acknowledges the public still doesn't know enough to draw a definitive conclusion, the McCain info provides a window into "why the torture apologists have been so vehement. Because one of their narratives, after all, is that they needed torture to get the key information." But if all the information gleaned to locate Osama bin Laden came from detainees who were not tortured or from detainees when they were not being tortured, the torture advocates lose their one quasi-viable excuse for torture -- they did it "to keep America safe." ...

... Andrew Sullivan: "... the lie that torture had anything to do with the killing of Osama bin Laden is accepted as a premise on the propaganda network [i.e., Fox "News"].

David Sanger & John Markoff of the New York Times: "Almost two years after outlining a broad strategy intended to strengthen the security of the nation’s computers and networks, the Obama administration said Thursday that it was sending proposed legislation to Congress that would strengthen penalties for any invasion of private computer systems. But the White House ... said it had elected not to seek authority for stringent top-down regulations that would require companies to erect specific barriers to computer intrusions — which corporations feared would be enormously costly and soon be outdated.

Mike Littwin of the Denver Post has a boffo column on the Republican presidential field, and specifically on why Newt Gingrich is, "in many ways..., just what so many Republicans insist they want.... In Gingrich-speak, nothing is out of bounds, nothing too far below the belt, nothing too unforgivable to say. If I were like Newt Gingrich, here's what I'd say about him: He's everything that is wrong with America today. Since I'm not, I'll just say this: Newt Gingrich? Seriously?"

Right Wing World *

Big Fat Liar Announces Presidential Run. Glenn Kessler, the Washington Post fact-checker, reviews Newt Gingrich's remarks in his first appearance on Hannity's Fox "News" show since Gingrich announced his presidential candidacy. Kessler includes video of the interview. Newt is so mendacious that Kessler gives him the worst rating possible.

Ezra Klein paraphrases the Newest Mitt Romney: “The plan I passed in Massachusetts was great policy, but as president, I pledge to oppose it and enable the insurance industry to undermine any state that attempts to implement it. I believe in the rights of whichever state wants to give the insurance industry the most sweetheart deal first, and a functioning health-care market second." ...

... Dana Milbank on the Romney Twins. ...

... Hey, newly-minted presidential candidate Newt Gingrich loves loved the individual mandate, too. ...

... Ezra Klein: "A lot of Republicans supported the individual mandate" because it was pretty close to Republican policy. Klein lists some prominent Republicans who signed onto federal bills that featured the mandate. ...

... Right Wing World Corollary: It's only bad/unconstitutional if Democrats do it. -- Constant Weader

* Where facts never intrude.

News Ledes

AP: "Texas Rep. Ron Paul has officially announced that he’s running for president. Paul announced on ABC’s 'Good Morning America' that he will seek the GOP nomination for president in 2012":

Blogger is Back. Blogger Buzz explains why Google's Blogger was down for 20.5 hours.

AP: "People have no right to resist if police officers illegally enter their home, the Indiana Supreme Court ruled in a decision that overturns centuries of common law. The court issued its 3-2 ruling on Thursday, contending that allowing residents to resist officers who enter their homes without any right would increase the risk of violent confrontation. If police enter a home illegally, the courts are the proper place to protest it, Justice Steven David said."

AP: "Two U.S. officials say pornography was among the items seized when U.S. Navy SEALs raided the Pakistani hideout of Osama bin Laden almost two weeks ago. The officials say it was unclear who the material belonged to, or whether Bin Laden viewed it. Bin Laden's son and two other adult male couriers lived at the compound, the officials said...."

New York Times: "President Obama’s chief envoy to the Middle East, former Senator George J. Mitchell Jr., is leaving that post after two mostly futile years pressing Israelis and Palestinians to make peace, administration officials said on Friday.... The news comes ahead of a critical week in which the president is to deliver a much-anticipated speech on policy toward the Middle East in the wake of the killing of Osama bin Laden and revolutions in the Arab world, and then to meet with the prime minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, with whom the White House has had fraught relations."

Talking Points Memo: "Sen. Herb Kohl (D-WI) has officially announced his retirement. Kohl's decision to not seek reelection in 2012 opens up a potential top-tier Senate race, in a swing state that has become the center of a polarizing political debate over labor unions in the wake of Republican Gov. Scott Walker's anti-public employee union legislation.... Kohl told reporters that he believed the divisions in the state, triggered by Walker's legislation, would make it easier for the Democrats to hold the seat. "I think whoever we nominate is going to have a very good chance of winning," said Kohl. "To some extent the Republicans have overreached, and people have recoiled, and the landscape will be more favorable."

President Obama will meet with NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen at 10:00 am ET.

Washington Post: "Twin suicide bombings outside a paramilitary training center in Pakistan’s northwest killed least 80 people early Friday, in what appeared to be militants’ first major retaliatory attack since the death of Osama bin Laden." ...

... New York Times Update: "Senior police officials said on Friday that a suicide attack that killed more than 80 cadets from a government paramilitary force was most likely retaliation for an army offensive in Pakistan’s tribal areas, and not for the death of Osama bin Laden, as the Pakistani Taliban claimed."

Reuters: "Libyan rebels will meet senior White House officials in Washington on Friday to seek cash and diplomatic legitimacy in their battle to topple Muammar Gaddafi. The United States, Britain and France say they will maintain their NATO-led air campaign until Gaddafi is forced from power but the rebels say they also need cash to hold their besieged positions on the ground." ...

... Update. Here's the White House's read-out: "National Security Advisor Tom Donilon met this afternoon with Dr. Mahmoud Gibril, the President of the Libyan Transitional National Council’s Executive Bureau."

CNN: "Three of Osama bin Laden's widows have been interviewed by U.S. intelligence officers under the supervision of Pakistani's intelligence service, according to sources in both governments. The women -- who were all interviewed together this week -- were 'hostile' toward the Americans, according to a senior Pakistani government official ... and two senior U.S. officials.... The eldest of the three widows spoke for the group."

Washington Post: Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell "sought Thursday to clarify his party’s stance on Medicare heading into high-stakes talks with the White House, telling President Obama he wants 'significant' changes to the program in exchange for lifting the legal limit on government borrowing."

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