The Ledes

Thursday, July 10, 2025

New York Times: “Twenty-seven workers made an improbable escape from a collapsed tunnel in Los Angeles on Wednesday night by climbing over a large mound of loose soil and emerging at the only entrance five miles away without major injury, officials said. Four other tunnel workers went inside the industrial tunnel after the collapse to help in the rescue efforts. All 31 workers emerged safely and without significant injuries, said Michael Chee, the spokesman for the Los Angeles County Sanitation Districts. The Los Angeles Fire Department said that no one was missing after it had dispatched more than 100 rescue workers to the site in the city’s Wilmington neighborhood, about 20 miles south of downtown Los Angeles.” 

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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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Feb182024

The Conversation -- February 19, 2024

Mad Dog Jim Comer should hire contributor RAS to his investigative staff. Comer has spent more than a year trying to link Joe Biden to Hunter Biden's various international business schemes. One after another of Comer's claims of sensational evidence has collapsed. But today, RAS finally found a real Biden family scandal, one involving attempted murder, a knife fight & a suspect presidential pardon by historians' favorite president: ~~~

~~~ CBS/AFP: "Abraham Lincoln pardoned President Biden's great-great-grandfather after a late-night Civil War-era brawl, documents reportedly show.... The court-martial records in the U.S. National Archives ... detail the trial of Moses J. Robinette after a fight with fellow Union Army civilian employee John J. Alexander on March 21, 1864. Robinette was charged with attempted murder after the tussle in the Army of the Potomac's winter camp in Virginia, when Alexander overheard him saying something about him to a cook, and rushed at him. The two men scuffled, and Robinette drew his pocketknife, leaving Alexander with several cuts before others intervened.... The 42-year-old, who had been hired by the Army as a veterinary surgeon, insisted that Alexander 'possibly might have injured me seriously had I not resorted to the means I did.' But military judges convicted him and sentenced him to two years' hard labor. Three Army officers petitioned Lincoln to overturn his conviction, claiming the sentence was unduly harsh and that Robinette had been defending himself against someone 'much his superior in strength and size.' Lincoln agreed, and signed the pardon on Sept. 1 that same year." ~~~

      ~~~ The Washington Post story, by historian David Gerleman, is here and includes more details.

Mad Dog Comer Will Not Let Go of Imaginary Bone. Glenn Kessler of the Washington Post: Rep. Jim "Comer (R- Ky.) has suggested that two Ukraine-related documents referenced in special counsel Robert K. Hur's report concerning Joe Biden's handling of classified documents might have ended up informing or been part of emails found on the laptop that the president's son Hunter left at a computer repair shop in Delaware.... Notwithstanding Comer's hyperbolic statements on television, it would be incorrect to suggest that the Ukraine documents in the Hur report indicate Hunter Biden had access to classified information or distributed classified information to 'our enemies' in exchange for cash. These documents simply are on the same subject -- Ukraine. But as we have shown, the Hur report says they are not especially secret or important. As Emily Litella would say: 'Never mind.'" MB: Comer's new claim, of course, comes after the FBI charged his supposed star witness last week with lying to investigators about having information that would compromise President Biden.

Ramon Vargas of the Guardian: "The late-night talkshow host John Oliver has offered to pay Clarence Thomas $1m annually -- as well as give him a $2m tour bus -- if the Republican judge resigns from the US supreme court. Oliver made the proposal on Sunday's episode of his HBO show Last Week Tonight, saying the supreme court justice had 30 days to accept or it would expire.... 'Lot on your plate right now, from stripping away women's rights to hearing January 6 cases .. and you deserve a break, you know, away from the meanness of Washington. So you can be surrounded by the regular folks whose lives you made demonstrably worse for decades.'"

~~~~~~~~~~

Historians Agree: Trump Is the Worse Ever. Peter Baker of the New York Times: "A new poll of historians coming out on Presidents' Day weekend ranks Mr. Biden as the 14th-best president in American history, just ahead of Woodrow Wilson, Ronald Reagan and Ulysses S. Grant. While that may not get Mr. Biden a spot on Mount Rushmore, it certainly puts him well ahead of Mr. Trump, who places dead last as the worst president ever." Emphasis added. MB: Ha ha. The Fox "News" headline is, "New Presidential Rankings Place Obama in Top 10, Reagan and Trump Below Biden." No, that's Trump below everybody, including James Buchanan & Andrew Johnson.

Mariana Alfaro of the Washington Post: "... Donald Trump, who earlier this month set off worries among allies after he said he would encourage Russia to invade a NATO country that wasn't spending enough on defense, has remained largely silent on the death of Alexei Navalny, only appearing to suggest baselessly that he is being persecuted in the way Russian President Vladimir Putin's most potent political opponent was.... [Trump] has made multiple public appearances since Russia announced Navalny's death in a faraway Arctic penal colony on Friday. But he has not publicly condemned the dissident's shocking death.... Unlike many other U.S. and international leaders, Trump has not criticized Putin's jailing of Navalny or mourned his untimely death. Instead..., on a post [he] shared Sunday afternoon on Truth Social, his social media site, [he wrote]: 'Biden:Trump::Putin:Navalny.'" MB: This is a sickening insult not only to Navalny but to every political prisoner & victim of politically-inspired torture and assassination around the world. ~~~

~~~ Jack Forrest of CNN: "GOP former Rep. Liz Cheney on Sunday warned of a Republican Party 'Putin-wing' after ... Donald Trump responded to the death of outspoken Kremlin critic Alexey Navalny without actually mentioning him or Russian President Vladimir Putin. 'We have to take seriously the extent to which you've now got a Putin-wing of the Republican Party. I believe the issue this election cycle is making sure that the Putin-wing of the Republican Party does not take over the West Wing of the White House,' Cheney told CNN's Jake Tapper on 'State of the Union.'... Trump ... said nothing directly about Navalny in a post that his campaign said was his official response to the opposition leader's death -- instead posting more than 20 times about a variety of topics including his criminal cases and his political opponents.... 'He's basically made clear that under a Trump administration, the United States is unlikely to keep its NATO commitments,' Cheney said. She called Trump's comments 'dangerous' and said they show 'a complete lack of understanding of America's role in the world.'"

The Trials of Trump & the Trump Gang

Individual-I Goes to Court. David Corn of Mother Jones: "Since the beginning of Donald Trump's indictment-o-rama, the politerati have considered the criminal case filed in New York City against the former president by District Attorney Alvin Bragg to be a sideshow. Though this case has key elements of a bona fide scandal -- porn star! hush money! alleged extramarital affair! -- pundits and politicos have struck a dismissive attitude toward Trump's Stormy Daniels mess and the legal peril it poses him.... But this prosecution ought not to be diminished. It also involves alleged criminal actions taken to influence an election -- or prevent an election from being influenced by Daniels' claim that Trump had a tryst with her.... The Justice Department and a federal court have already declared that a crime occurred in the commission of this $130,000 payoff.... Of his many alleged crimes, it may not be the greatest. But it may be the Trumpiest." Read the whole report. Corn gives details of how the case came about, including some highly-suspect meddling by then-AG Bill Barr.

Sarah Fortinsky of the Hill: "Michael Cohen -- who long served as former President Trump's personal lawyer and fixer -- warned Sunday of the potential risk of sending Trump back to the White House with mounting legal fees and financial liabilities. 'We need to be very careful about him as a potential president because he is for sale,' Cohen, now an outspoken critic of the former president, said in an interview on MSNBC's 'The Weekend' on Sunday.” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: That's why it is so hilarious that Trump is accusing Fulton County, Georgia DA Fani Willis of corruption because she took some dutch-treat vacations with her lover, whom she hired as a prosecutor in the RICO case against Trump and his co-conspirators. ~~~

     ~~~ MEANWHILE, if you were hoping to snag a pair of those tacky shiny-gold hightop Trump sneakers the Greatest Grifter hawked over the weekend for the low-low price of $399, you're too late. The first run of 1,000 has sold out. Sad! (WashPo link) ~~~

     ~~~ Paul Campos of LG&$: "As for commentary, I defer to P.T. Barnum and H.L. Mencken."

Presidential Race

Alexandra Marquez of NBC News: “Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., is urging Democrats in Dearborn, Michigan, to vote against President Joe Biden in the state's upcoming Democratic primary. 'If you want us to be louder, then come here and vote uncommitted,' Tlaib said in a new video posted to social media on Saturday while standing outside an early voting location. She joined growing calls from progressive activists in Michigan to vote 'uncommitted' in the state's Democratic presidential primary on Feb. 27 instead of voting for Biden." MB: I have tried to be supportive of Tlaib, even though she's expressed some fairly radical ideas in the past. I'm done with her now. Only a nitwit would think it was a good idea to weaken the one guy who can keep Donald Trump out of the White House.


Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. If It Bleeds, It Leads. Sarah Ellison of the Washington Post: "... on Sinclair [Broadcasting]'s growing nationwide roster of stations, the editorial focus reflects [CEO David] Smith's conservative views and plays on its audience's fears that America's cities are falling apart.... Sinclair's local network of 185 stations across the country makes it an influential player in shaping the views of millions of Americans, especially at a time when local newspapers are rapidly being gutted -- or closed altogether.... Sinclair stations deliver messages that appeal to older, White, suburban audiences, and they play up crime stories in a way that is disproportionate to their statistical presence,' said [journalist] Anne Nelson...."

~~~~~~~~~~

Israel/Palestine, et al. The Washington Post's live updates Monday of developments in the Israel/Hamas war are here: "The top U.N. court is set to begin public hearings Monday into the legality of Israel's occupation of Palestinian territory.... The U.N. Security Council is expected to vote this week on a resolution drafted by Algeria that calls for an immediate cease-fire in Gaza. Washington ... has said it won't support the measure.... Israel's government approved a declaration Sunday that says the country won't recognize a Palestinian state.... Nasser Hospital, the largest medical facility in southern Gaza, 'is not functional anymore,' the head of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said Sunday, after days of Israeli raids."

Russia. Valerie Hopkins of the New York Times: "For the second day in a row, mourners walked purposefully along Moscow's snow-heaped Garden Ring on Saturday carrying bouquets to lay at one of the improvised memorials to Aleksei A. Navalny, the Russian opposition figure who perished in a prison colony the day before. The flowers, wrapped in paper to shield them from the icy wind, were not only a symbol of mourning. They also served as a form of protest in a country where even the mildest dissent can risk detention.... At least 400 people have been detained across Russia since Mr. Navalny's death was announced on Friday, according to the human rights group OVD-Info. Among them was a priest, Father Grigory Mikhnov-Vaitenko, who had been scheduled to hold a memorial service for Mr. Navalny in St. Petersburg."

Ukraine, et al. Mike Johnson, Putin's Puppet's Puppet, at Fault. Samya Kullab of the AP: "Dwindling ammunition threatens Ukraine's hold on the 1,000-kilometer (620-mile) front line under withering assault by Russian artillery. Defensive lines are in jeopardy. Ukrainian forces withdrew from the city of Avdiivka in the Donetsk region on Saturday after daily Russian onslaughts from three directions for the last four months.... The Associated Press interviewed over a dozen commanders, including heads of artillery units, in the war's most intense combat zones in the weeks ahead of Avdiivka's fall. They said shortages, which have always plagued Ukrainian forces since the full-scale invasion, grew acute last autumn.... The Biden administration linked the loss of Avdiivka to Congressional inaction on $60 billion in military aid for Ukraine.... When reporters asked if he was confident a deal could be struck before Ukraine loses more territory, [President] Biden responded: 'I'm not.'"

News Lede

New York Times: Two men “were charged with murder for the death of a bystander [at the Kansas City, Mo., Super Bowl celebration], prosecutors announced on Tuesday. Ballistics tests revealed that a bullet from Mr. Miller's gun killed Elizabeth Galvan, 43, a D.J. and radio host known as Lisa, who was at the parade on Wednesday with her family, prosecutors said. Two dozen people were wounded by gunfire, including nine children.... Surveillance video from the area, as described in charging documents from prosecutors, showed one group of people staring at one man, and a verbal argument ensuing. More people nearby joined the argument, and as it continued, the people who were involved began to produce firearms. The authorities said that [one of the men charged, Dominic] Miller, was seen in the video appearing to fire shots, then was struck by a bullet in his lower back, causing him to fall to the ground. He then ran away, the charging documents say, shouting 'I'm shot, I'm shot.' A bystander saw that Mr. Miller was carrying a black firearm near his waistband, and tackled and disarmed him, the authorities said.... Ballistics tests revealed that a bullet from Mr. Miller's gun killed Elizabeth Galvan...." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: This shooting spree started, according to the report, "with one man accusing another of staring at him." Staring. You may be shot dead if you happen to be in the vicinity of a person who is perceived as looking askance at another person. Do not tell me it is safe to live in Missouri. Or where I live. But, hey, Second Fucking Amendment.

Comments Off

Reader Comments (9)

There has to be a category lower than 'worst president.'

Worstest, most worst, worstpathetic, worstanus.

And lower than Reagan is really low.

February 19, 2024 | Unregistered CommenterForrestMorris

I herr trump is able to sell all those shoes for $399.00 per pair, he
should be thanking President Biden for the excellent job he's doing
on the economy so his MAGAs can now afford his overpriced
sneakers, even the ones on welfare.

February 19, 2024 | Unregistered CommenterForrestMorris

Alabama supreme court has ruled that frozen embryos are children
after someone in a hospital dropped some on the floor and they
were then no longer viable.
Does this mean that if I buy some frozen embryos I can take a tax
deduction for child dependents?
Will Embryos Inc. end up on the New York Stock Exchange?

https://www.al.com/news/mobile/2024/02/frozen-embryos-are-children-alabama-supreme-court-rules-in-reviving-couples-wrongful-
death-suits.html

February 19, 2024 | Unregistered CommenterForrestMorris

Forrest,

What will the Supreme Alabamans rule next?

February 19, 2024 | Unregistered CommenterD in MD

@Forrest Morris: According to the theory of the case, the person who dropped the embryos was not a hospital staffer but a patient who "eloped" from his/her room.

It seems to me the hospital was likely negligent in not keeping the cryogenic facility locked. This looks like a case that will settle.

February 19, 2024 | Registered CommenterMarie Burns

@Marie: I was being facetious (again). I do realize it is serious,
especially to the couple involved.

February 19, 2024 | Unregistered CommenterForrestMorris

But… but… if a frozen embryo is a child, then isn’t keeping them locked up forever a case of false imprisonment? Not to mention child abuse?

February 19, 2024 | Unregistered CommenterD in DC

Biden Pardon Scandal

"Abraham Lincoln pardoned President Biden's great-great-grandfather after a late-night Civil War-era brawl, documents reportedly show, linking the two presidents across the centuries. The court-martial records in the U.S. National Archives, reported on by the Washington Post on Monday, detail the trial of Moses J. Robinette after a fight with fellow Union Army civilian employee John J. Alexander on March 21, 1864."

February 19, 2024 | Unregistered CommenterRAS

Wait…so Biden can be bashed for an altercation that happened 160 odd years ago, but how dare anyone point to slave owning, and slavery supporting predecessors of current racist members of Congress. I mean, isn’t this why the Party of Racist Traitors insist that history they deem uncomfortable be disallowed? Oh…unless they can use history to fuck those they hate.

Got it.

February 19, 2024 | Unregistered CommenterAkhilleus
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