REALITYCHEX.COM - Constant Comments - The Commentariat -- October 20

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.”

Page Links

Wednesday

Oct192011

The Commentariat -- October 20

I've posted an Open Thread on today's Off Times Square.

** This past summer, President Obama proved he had no understanding whatsoever about how Lincoln came around to signing the Emancipation Proclamation (Lincoln moved left, not right, as Obama suggests), even tho Obama boasted he had the original hanging in the Oval. BUT E. J. Dionne gets the politics of the 1860s & of the 2010s, & shows how Lincoln's move left (to emancipation) should be a model for Obama.

** Glenn Greenwald: "Two weeks after the U.S. killed American citizen Anwar Awlaki with a drone strike in Yemen — far from any battlefield and with no due process — it did the same to his 16-year-old son, Abdulrahman al-Awlaki, ending the teenager’s life on Friday along with his 17-year-old cousin and seven other people. News reports, based on government sources, originally claimed that Awlaki’s son was 21 years old and an Al Qaeda fighter..., but a birth certificate published by The Washington Post proved that he was born only 16 years ago in Denver."

"Occupy the Classroom." Nicholos Kristof gathers data that show a major cause of perpetual income inequality is that the children of the poor & of the rich get unequal early childhood education.

Linda Greenhouse of the New York Times writes about the right's new-found enthusiasm for judicial activism. Since they've spent decades decrying judicial activism, conservatives had to find a new term for what they're urging sympathetic judges to do. So bad ole "judicial activism" (liberal judges overturning conservative-writ laws) has become good new "judicial engagement" (conservatives judges overturning liberal laws). Watch for it, coming to a conservative court near you. ...

... ** Jamelle Bouie of American Prospect: President "Obama has been far less aggressive in filling judicial vacancies than his predecessors." If he loses his bid for re-election, the worst legacy of his presidency will be his failure to fill those vacancies: "Because of Obama’s neglect, we stand a good chance of giving conservative ideologues the tools they need to dismantle the welfare state, and leave liberals in a losing battle against right-wing legal theories."

Greg Sargent calls this a must-read: Michael Cohen of Democracy Arsenel: Leon Panetta is the first Democrat to be Secretary of Defense in 14 years. He's the wrong one. Cohen presents a pretty devastating analysis of Panetta's very brief tenure -- he's gaffe-prone & so wants the brass to like him that he hasn't seen an expensive military program he doesn't like.

CW: Off Times Square commenters have recommended these PBS "News Hour" videos on income inequality in the U.S. I can't listen to them yet because I'm writing from my local McDonalds, but based on the comments, I'm betting they're pretty worthwhile. The first segment aired August 16; the transcript is here:

... The second segment, which aired September 28, is on the health consequences of great income disparity. The transcript is here:

Okay, we've got every continent covered! Via Occupy Fort Myers.

BUT. Times Are Tough on Wall Street, Too. Susanne Craig of the New York Times: "Banks, required by regulators to discontinue high-profit businesses like proprietary trading, reduce borrowings and hold more capital, may no longer be able to produce the supercharged earnings that were common before the financial crisis. Although Wall Street has not changed in some significant ways — top executives are still receiving huge pay packages and its lobbyists continue to have sway in Washington — the industry is facing forces of change unlike anything since the Great Depression.... Last week, JPMorgan Chase reported that earnings dropped by 4 percent in the latest period. Both Bank of America and Citigroup booked banner profits. But much of those results were attributed to one-time accounting gains.... Goldman [Sachs] ... lost nearly $3 billion on its investments in stocks and bonds...." CW: my heart is breaking for these guys.

Severn Suzuki, a 12-year-old Canadian, explains to bankers & politicians what kind of future they are leaving her generation & future generations "Are we even on your list of priorities?" she asks. Thanks to reader Bonnie for the link:

Lori Montgomery & Paul Kane of the Washington Post: "With a Thanksgiving deadline fast approaching..., [the debt reduction supercommittee] is running in rhetorical circles, unable to break the impasse over taxes that has long blocked aggressive action to tame the national debt. Though the committee’s 12 members have been meeting for nearly two months in closed-door sessions, lawmakers, aides and others involved in the process say they have yet to reach consensus on the most basic elements of a plan to restrain government borrowing."

James Grimaldi & Robert O'Harrow of the Washington Post: "Beginning two decades ago, the United States government bankrolled an Egyptian think tank dedicated to economic reform." The money, it turns out, was spent to promote crony capitalism & reward high government officials like Gamal Mubarak. "The privatization saga is a cautionary tale about the power and perils of U.S. foreign aid — most notably the nearly $8 billion that the United States has provided to Egypt since the 1990s to push the country toward economic reforms."

Bearing in mind that Joseph Napolitano, an attorney & a former (I think) judge, is kind of a nut, what he says here is worth considering because numerous reputable news organizations have produced evidence that his assertions are at least partly true:

In a blind taste test, panelists agree: Godfather's pizza is the worst.

Right Wing World

Glenn Kessler: "Senate Republicans, including Rand Paul (Ky.), John McCain (Ariz.) and Rob Portman (Ohio), last week unveiled what they labeled as their alternative to Obama’s plan. Their plan was mostly a mish-mash of previous offered bills, such as that hardy perennial -- a balanced budget amendment to the constitution. (Some experts would argue that such a requirement could hurt employment if government spending dropped too quickly.) ... Paul claimed the GOP plan would create 5 million jobs.... The 5 million figure ... is ludicrous. Even if one accepts the studies that came up with the figures, in most cases they indicate the GOP proposals would do little to create jobs in the near future."

Dana Milbank: "First came Herman Cain ... arguing for an electric fence at the border that would be powerful enough to kill people. Next..., Mitt Romney and Rick Perry devoted a large portion of Tuesday night’s Republican debate to a so’s-your-mama argument, complete with physical contact, about which was softer on illegal immigrants. Then, Wednesday morning..., Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee put Homeland Security Secretary [Janet Napolitano] through a hazing ritual that stopped just short of making her climb an electrified fence." ...

... Which brings to mind Karen Garcia's comment on Gail Collins' column today:

When it comes to undocumented workers laboring for pennies on their zillion dollar estates, the policy of rich white guys like Mitt has always been 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell.' They don't want to know and they will never know, mainly because they can't be bothered to actually interact with these wage slaves or offer them so much as a glass of water.... That would be the job of the undocumented housekeeper. The moderators of these debates should ask these anti-immigration indignados just who they they think picks the blueberries for their breakfast cereal, or washes the priceless china at their five-star restaurants. ...

... Trip Gabriel of the New York Times: All of which is an object lesson in how to lose the Latino vote. ...

... AND the New York Times editors eviscerate Alabama for its draconian immigration law, a primary purpose of which is to drive out undocumented immigrants via a strategy advocates call "attrition through enforcement." Read the editorial for an analysis of the side effects of that bright idea.

... More shocking & destined to kill as many American women as Herman Cain's electrocuting fence would kill Hispanic men is this, reported by Thomas of Blog for Choice: "Anti-choice Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) just filed an anti-choice amendment to a bill related to agriculture, transportation, housing, and other programs. The DeMint amendment could bar discussion of abortion over the Internet and through videoconferencing, even if a woman's health is at risk and if this kind of communication with her doctor is her best option to receive care. Under this amendment, women would need a separate, segregated Internet just for talking about abortion care with their doctors. Via Marie Diamond of Think Progress. CW: Herman Cain is not going to be president; Jim DeMint is a sitting U.S. senator & Tea Party leader with clout. ...

... BUT Wait, There's More. Alex Alvarez of Mediaite: as of last night (and who knows if today he'll say he was just joking), Herman Cain is PRO-CHOICE. Not a typo. In his conversation with CNN's Piers Morgan on the subject of abortion, Cain said that he personally opposed abortion but "The government shouldn’t be trying to tell people everything to do, especially when it comes to a social decision that they need to make." With video. That makes Cain more libertarian than Ron Paul, who is a libertarian except when he isn't -- like his vehement opposition to abortion, a subject on which Paul has expert creds -- he is an obstetrician.

Michael Shear & Jeff Zeleny of the New York Times: "... the animosities [between Rick Perry & Mitt Romney] began long ago, set off by a series of political encounters that began when the two men were governors."

Paul Kane of the Washington Post: "Texas Gov. Rick Perry and Rep. Ron Paul (Tex.), both of whom "have spoken out against federal subsidies for energy projects tried to obtain such benefits three years ago.... [They] pressed the energy secretary in 2008 to approve a federal loan guarantee to help an energy company hoping to expand a nuclear facility in Texas.... In recent candidates debates, the two have criticized federal energy loan programs."

Adam Serwer: "Knowing nothing about foreign policy has finally caught up with Herman Cain." No, Mr. Cain, everything Bibi Netanyahu does would not be just as awesome if a U.S. president did it.

One of the things I will talk about, that no president has talked about before, is I think the dangers of contraception in this country. It’s not okay. It’s a license to do things in a sexual realm that is counter to how things are supposed to be.... [Sex] is supposed to be within marriage. -- Rick Santorum, GOP presidential candidate (in case you forgot) ...

... Quit Having Sex! Just Stop It! -- Rick Santorum. Igor Volsky of Think Progress: "Rick Santorum pledged to repeal all federal funding for contraception, arguing that birth control devalues the act of procreation." With video, in case you just can't believe it.

Rand Paul Running for Most Despised Senator. Lyndsey Layton of the Washington Post: "A Senate committee debate on a bipartisan bill to overhaul a key education law came to an abrupt halt Wednesday after Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) invoked a little-used procedural rule that forced a temporary adjournment. Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), chairman of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, who had worked for more than a year with the ranking Republican, Mike Enzi of Wyoming, to revamp the No Child Left Behind law, was visibly irritated.... Paul, who offered 74 of the 144 amendments that have been proposed for the Harkin-Enzi bill, told the Senate that the bill was being rushed." CW: because what's a year? Oh, it's longer than education expert Li'l Randy has been in the Senate.

Local News

Denver University Clarion: "The tent community set up by the Occupy Denver protesters outside the Capitol [in Denver, Colorado] was dismantled by police under the order of Governor John Hickenlooper, [a Democrat,] at 3 a.m. on Friday, prompting massive turnout and more aggressive protesting during the weekly Saturday rally. After indicating that he could not allow the unlawful accumulation of people camping out in the Civic Center Park, where Occupy Denver had about 70 tents set up, Hickenlooper sent in a police force dressed in riot gear to dismantle the community. Twenty-three protesters were arrested.... 'A lot of the people camping out there were veterans,' said Scott Green, a protester who spent Friday night in jail.... 'Two words should never go together: veteran and homeless. That's who most of the people camping out in that park were. They lost everything.'"

News Ledes

New York Times: "The Senate voted 74-26 on Thursday to confirm the nomination of John Bryson to be the next commerce secretary, ending a months-long struggle over President Obama’s choice. Mr. Obama nominated Mr.. Bryson to replace the outgoing secretary, Gary Locke, in May. Mr. Locke succeeded Jon M. Huntsman Jr. as U.S. ambassador to China."

President Obama welcomed the recipients of the 2011 Presidential Citizens Medal this afternoon.

President Obama's statement on the death of Muammar Gaddafi:

** Reuters: "Former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi died of wounds suffered in his capture near his hometown of Sirte on Thursday, a senior NTC military official said. National Transitional Council official Abdel Majid Mlegta told Reuters earlier that Gaddafi was captured and wounded in both legs at dawn on Thursday as he tried to flee in a convoy which NATO warplanes attacked." Al Jazeera story here. ...

... Updated New York Times story here.

AP: "Libyan fighters drove the last holdouts of Moammar Gadhafi out of his hometown of Sirte in a few hours of fierce gunbattles Thursday, then declared victory over the last major resistance two months after the fall of Tripoli." New York Times story here.

AP: "U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on Thursday pushed Pakistan's leaders to fight harder against terrorists within their own borders...." The New York Times story, which includes more analysis, is here.

AFP: "The United States called on China to explain why it appeared to be blocking websites of US firms, as Washington took the first steps to bring the case to the World Trade Organization.... The request was made under world trade rules which require members to provide information about potential barriers to trade."

AP: "Amid expressions of horror and revulsion at the killing of dozens of wild animals in Ohio — and photographs of their bloody carcasses — animal rights advocates agreed there was little local authorities could have done to save the dangerous creatures once they began roaming the countryside after their owner released them before taking his own life. Sheriff's deputies shot 48 animals — including 18 rare Bengal tigers and 17 lions — after Terry Thompson, owner of the private Muskingum County Animal Farm near Zanesville, threw their cages open Tuesday and then committed suicide." The Washington Post story is here.

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