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INAUGURATION 2029

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.

 

Contact Marie

Email Marie at constantweader@gmail.com

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Monday
Oct252010

The Commentariat -- October 25

It's the Economy, Stupid. Rick Hertzberg, of course, puts James Carville's dictum more elegantly: "President Obama and the Democrats kept the Great Recession from becoming a second Great Depression. But the presence of pain is more keenly felt than the absence of agony." ...

... HOWEVER, in case you've forgot the serious economic blunders the President made, Paul Krugman gently reminds you: "The real story of this election, then, is that of an economic policy that failed to deliver. Why? Because it was greatly inadequate to the task." ...

... AND when you see what the President has planned -- deficit reduction & foreign trade deals -- you won't feel any better. Sheryl Gay Stolberg of the New York Times: "After two years of operating at loggerheads with Republicans, Mr. Obama and his aides are planning a post-election agenda for a very different political climate." ...

... AND More Evidence of Stupid. Ben Feller of the AP: "Preparing for political life after a bruising election, President Barack Obama will put greater emphasis on fiscal discipline, a nod to a nation sick of spending and to a Congress poised to become more Republican, conservative and determined to stop him."

... BUT Finally Noticing the Price of Tea in China. Mark Landler & Sewell Chan of the New York Times: "The Obama administration, facing a vexed relationship with China on exchange rates, trade, and security issues, is stiffening its approach toward Beijing, seeking allies to confront a newly assertive power that officials now say has little intention of working with the United States.

"Disturbed and Ticked Off." Andy Barr of Politico: "Speaking at a rally for 28-term incumbent Rep. John Dingell (D-Mich.) Sunday, [President Bill] Clinton said argued 'right-wing rhetoric' against government spending does not accurately frame how Democrats have tried to aid a country still reeling from a recession, and showed frustration that the attacks against Democrats seems to have stuck":

I almost gag when I hear these Republicans lambasting the president and the Democrats in Congress, 'Oh, they're such big spenders, they're just crazy, they're quasi-socialist. I have a simple question: Who's the last president to give you a balanced budget? I like all this enthusiasm, but frankly there are a few things about this election that have gotten me somewhere between disturbed and ticked off."
-- President Bill Clinton

T. W. Farnam of the Washington Post: "Companies that received federal bailout money, including some that still owe money to the government, are giving to political candidates with vigor. Among companies with PACs, the 23 that received $1 billion or more in federal money through the Troubled Assets Relief Program gave a total of $1.4 million to candidates in September, up from $466,000 the month before. Most of those donations are going to Republican candidates, although the TARP program was approved primarily with Democratic support. President Obama expanded it to cover GM and other automakers." ...

... Ken Vogel of Politico: the Karl Rove-Ed Gillespie group American Crossroads initially promised to reveal their donors & be completely "transparent," but they did a 180 when they discovered it was way easier to milk secret donors. Their flip-flop resulted in a huge increase in donations. "Late last month, Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.) sent a letter to the IRS requesting an investigation into Crossroads GPS and two other big-spending GOP-allied non-profits with links to GPS, American Action Network and Americans for Job Security." ...

... BUT RNC Chair Michael Steele is "absolutely all for transparency." Of course one of the reasons Rove-Gillespie are in the money-hiding business is because so many Republican donors wanted nothing to do with Transparent Mike.

Profs. Barry Burden & Kenneth Mayer in a New York Times op-ed: early voting depresses turnout by several percentage points.... when early voting is combined with same-day registration — that is, you can register to vote and cast an early ballot on the same day — the depressive effect of early voting disappears."

"Radio Theater." Jesse Walker of Reason on Republican threats to defund National Public Radio over the Juan Williams incident: "These standoffs never end with public broadcasting getting defunded." (italics Walker's) ...

... ** AND Jim Fallows of The Atlantic on why NPR matters & why it is not the "liberal" antidote to Fox "News."

Glenn Greenwald whacks New York Times reporter John Burns & others in the media for their hit jobs on WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange: "The Iraq War is John Burns' war, and for the crime of making that war look bad, Julian Assange must have his character smeared and his psychiatric health maligned.... It's not hard to see why The New York Times, CNN and so many other establishment media outlets are eager to do that. Serving the Government's interests, siding with government and military officials, and attacking government critics is what they do.... That's what makes them the 'establishment media.'"

CW: I don't think I've ever linked to a letter to the editor, so this is a first. Former Rep. Richard Ottinger (D-NY) rebuts David Brooks' stupid assertion that money isn't an important factor in the electoral process. Needless to say, Brooks' column was not one I linked, so here it is, if you want to read stupidspeak.

He can take his endorsement and really shove it as far as I'm concerned. -- Frank Caprio on President Obama. Caprio is Rhode Island's Democratic gubernatorial nominee, but he is running against Obama supporter & former Republican, now Independent, Lincoln Chafee, & the President -- who is in Rhode Island today -- has declined to endorse. You can listen to the audio here.

     ... Pool Report: The White House sort of responds to Caprio's tasteful remark.

Edward Mason of the Boston Herald: Sean Bielat, Barney Frank's Republican opponent, says that gays are just like short people -- neither has a right to serve in the military. Mason observes, "Hmm. ... On the other hand, vertically challenged people are not forced to pretend they’re tall, then drummed out once it’s discovered they’re short in spite of their service record." ...

... CW: you know I couldn't help this:

I don't watch the news. -- Christine O'Donnell

God is the reason I am running. -- Christine O'Donnell

David Brody of the Christian Broadcasting Network interviews Delaware's Republican Senate nominee Christine O'Donnell. The transcript is here. Here's a nauseating clip:

CBS News: "Republican Senate candidate Joe Miller admitted on Sunday that he had been cited for an ethics violation in 2008, just a day after an Alaska judge ordered for the release of personnel records surrounding the incident.... Former Fairbanks North Star Borough mayor Jim Whitaker said earlier this month that Miller was nearly fired from the [Fairbanks North Star] Bureau -- where he worked as a part-time lawyer -- for using the computers in an attempt to oust Randy Ruedrich, head of the Alaska Republican Party, from his position." Miller has previously, & repeatedly, refused to answer questions about his "background."

Peter Wallsten of the Wall Street Journal: potential Republican candidates for President try to position themselves in relation to the tea party movement.

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