REALITYCHEX.COM - Constant Comments - The Commentariat -- Nov. 30, 2014

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.”

The Wires

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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 -- Nov. 30, 2014

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The Case Against Poor People. Robert Pear of the New York Times: "In mounting the latest court challenge to the Affordable Care Act, House Republicans are focusing on a little-noticed provision of the law that offers financial assistance to low- and moderate-income people. Under this part of the law, insurance companies must reduce co-payments, deductibles and other out-of-pocket costs for some people in health plans purchased through the new public insurance exchanges. The federal government reimburses insurers.... In their lawsuit, House Republicans say the Obama administration needed, but never received, an appropriation to make these payments to insurance companies. As a result, they contend, the spending violates the Constitution, which says, 'No money shall be drawn from the Treasury, but in consequence of appropriations made by law.'"

According to Brian Faler & Rachel Bade of Politico, here's what happened to that horrible tax deal Harry Reid "negotiated": "The immigration executive order soured the GOP on the tax cuts for the working poor and middle class sought by Democrats. Republicans worried undocumented immigrants targeted by the order would begin claiming the credits in droves. They found a friend in Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, who reluctantly agreed to drop his party's demands to extend expiring parts of the earned income tax credit and its companion, the child tax credit. The decision infuriated Reid's colleagues. 'Everyone felt that Reid had suddenly given the store to Republicans and not gotten much in return,' said a Democratic House aide. The president, with liberal Democratic backing on the Hill, issued the veto threat and the plan imploded, making the tax deal the first major collateral damage of the White House's immigration action."

Tina Nguyen of Mediate: According to the New York Times, "Over all, about 140 million people are expected to shop in stores or online this weekend. That is more people than voted in the midterms earlier this month." Nguyen calls this a "depressing statistic." CW: Evidently, it got too depressing for the New York Times, because as the story stands now, that second sentence is gone. Apprently the Times editors decided that pointing out that Americans are more interested in buying cheap teevees than in voting is not "fit to print."

Niels Lesniewski of Roll Call: "A senator who voted against keeping Harry Reid as the Democratic leader is getting a seat at the leadership table. Democratic Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia is taking on the role of policy development advisor at the Democratic Policy and Communications Center. He joins a leadership team that previously expanded in number with the addition of progressive heroine Elizabeth Warren, a Democrat from Massachusetts."

CBS San Francisco: "Walmart employees, in the Bay Area and across the nation, are on strike this Black Friday in what may be the largest Black Friday strike ever. They are calling on the retail giant to raise pay to a minimum of $15 an hour and provide consistent full-time work."

God News

Tim Egan: "Considering that it took the Mormon Church more than a century to acknowledge what scholars have long known to be true, it may take another hundred years for the elders in Salt Lake City to proclaim that the prophet, seer, revelator and founder of their religion was the kind of guy who would have to register with the police today before moving into a neighborhood."

God convinces GOP staffer that suggesting the President's daughters look like bar-hopping sluts is "hurtful." Missy Ryan of the Washington Post: Criticizing Malia & Sasha Obama's appearance at the annual Turkey pardoning, "Elizabeth Lauten, communications director for Rep. Stephen Lee Fincher (Tenn.), wrote Friday in a Facebook posting addressed to Sasha, 13, and Malia, 16..., 'Rise to the occasion. Dress like you deserve respect, not a spot at the bar,' Lauten wrote.... 'After many hours of prayer, talking to my parents, and re-reading my words online I can see more clearly just how hurtful my words were.... I pledge to learn and grow (and I assure you I have) from this experience.'" Thank you, God. See also remarks under yesterday's Non-Commentariat by P. D. Pepe & James S.

Beyond the Beltway

"Deep South Justice in Ferguson." Colbert King of the Washington Post: A white-on-black murder his grandmother told King about "gave meaning to the assertion of Chief Justice Roger B. Taney in Dred Scott that the black man has 'no rights which the white man was bound to respect.' The slaying in Ferguson, Mo., of an unarmed, 18-year-old African American, Michael Brown, by a white cop, Darren Wilson, who in turn gets away with it, strikes a raw nerve. It reminds many of the way in which authority is exercised, especially in communities where the central relationship between blacks and whites is the police." ,,,

... Monica Davey, et al., of the New York Times: Competing witness accounts suggest that the public will never know what really happened in the last seconds of Michael Brown's life. ...

... AFP: "The Missouri police officer who killed an unarmed black teen sparking months of protests in the city of Ferguson will never return to policing, his lawyer said. Darren Wilson is currently in discussions with the Ferguson, Missouri police department on the terms and conditions of his departure, attorney Neil Bruntrager said this week." ...

... Update. Christine Byers of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch: "Citing threats of violence, Darren Wilson, who fatally shot Michael Brown Aug. 9, resigned from the Ferguson Police Department on Saturday. Wilson, 28, whom a St. Louis County grand jury declined to indict in connection with the shooting, had worked for the city's police department for six years.... He said resigning was 'the hardest thing I've ever had to do.'" CW: Shooting at a teenager 12 times: piece of cake. ...

... Smoking Gun: "A police report detailing a fight last month between members of Michael Brown's family over the sale of commemorative t-shirts identifies the late teenager's mother as one of the 'attackers' who beat and robbed vendors selling the merchandise from a tent in a Ferguson, Missouri parking lot. A copy of the Ferguson Police Department report was provided yesterday by city attorney Stephanie Karr. When TSG requested the document two weeks ago, Karr noted that Brown's mother, Lesley McSpadden, was 'described in the report' and had 'specifically requested that the report be withheld from the media.'" ...

... CW: A couple of days ago. I linked a Smoking Gun report that after the announcement that Darren Wilson would not face charges, Brown's stepfather had repeatedly urged a crowd of protesters to "Burn this bitch down!" Assuming the reports are quasi-accurate, with parents like this, that poor kid had a tough row to hoe.

... Brendan James of TPM: "Red State editor Ben Howe jumped on Twitter the day before Thanksgiving to share his take on a grand jury's decision not to indict Ferguson, Mo. police officer Darren Wilson in the killing of unarmed teenager Michael Brown. The conservative editor's takeaway on Wednesday was brief but clear: He tweeted that, if he were in Wilson's position, he would have "shot Mike Brown right in his face.'" CW: These jerks really know how to set an appropriate tone, don't they? ...

... Digby: "What you're talking about are the rules of combat where a soldier in a war zone is charged with killing the enemy and the enemy is charged with killing him. It's kill or be killed. Policing in the streets of America is supposed to be different. Or it used to be anyway, with the police having a very strong obligation to de-escalate situations with unarmed citizens, not shoot them down in the street. 'Kill or be killed' is a very dangerous credo for the authorities to have in a so-called free society." ...

<... KTVI St. Louis: "Demonstrators boycotting Black Friday targeted several malls in the St. Louis area Friday afternoon. The movement was organized on social media...." ...

NBC 5 Seattle & AP: "Black Friday turned into a day of protests at malls across the country after a grand jury decision not to indict Officer Darren Wilson earlier this week. Protesters in a St. Louis mall blocked shoppers and forced some stores to close. In Seattle, demonstrators forced Westlake Mall to close early on the busiest shopping day of the year and tried to disrupt the city's traditional tree lighting ceremony."

Best Holiday Headline. TPM: "Masturbating Passenger Causes Premature Landing For Virgin Flight."

Reader Comments (6)

The Mormon Church represents the reality of the delusional state of religion. They still manage to justify a story about someone who would be a registered sex offender today.

November 29, 2014 |

Marvin Schwalb

I'll bet Ben Howe struted around his cubicle for 10 or 15 minutes after he wrote that, too. Whatta guy!

November 29, 2014 |

James Singer

The New York Times recently had a run down of Thanksgiving dishes popular, or at least most Google searched, in various states. Apparently Mormons are big on something called frog eye salad, which makes their doctrinal beliefs look sensible by comparison: "The top-ranked dish in Colorado was “Frog Eye Salad,” which turns out to be something of a regional phenomenon, also appearing in the top 10 in Idaho, Nevada and Utah. It is especially popular among members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The New York Times Stylebook warns against overusing the word “unique,” so we’ll just tell you that we’re not aware of any other salad that combines pasta, fruit, eggs, whipped cream and marshmallows."
Hope everyone had a delightful Thanksgiving!

November 29, 2014 |

Victoria D.

From Digby: "...the police having a very strong obligation to de-escalate situations with unarmed citizens, not shoot them down in the street."

To the HuffPost headline: "Off-Duty Cop Allegedly Shoots Woman In Head During Road Rage Incident"

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/11/29/cop-shoots-woman-in-head-road-rage_n_6237910.html

Where'd it happen? TEXAS. Go figure!

November 30, 2014 |

MAG

Marie's Thanksgiving meal ranks up there as the escalating popularity of Hummus spreads (pun intended):

According to a headline story on today's www.boston.com "Hilary Clinton will Lecture at Your University for $300,000 and a Plate of Hummus"

November 30, 2014 |

MAG

Re: One's plenty, thanks; Read Jon Krakauer's "Under The Banner of Heaven". Marrying a herd of women is nothing compared to mass murder.

November 30, 2014 |

JJG

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