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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Marie: Sorry, my countdown clock was unreliable; then it became completely unreliable. I can't keep up with it. Maybe I'll try another one later.

 

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.

 

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Friday
Jan142011

Tucson Shootings -- January 15

Washington Post: "Doctors at Tucson's University Medical Center said [Gabrielle] Giffords (D-Ariz.) remained in critical condition.... A ... tracheotomy was performed Saturday morning, they said. The 'tracheotomy tube was placed in her windpipe, protecting her airway and freeing her from the ventilator....' Surgeons also inserted a feeding tube to provide nutritional support. Doctors said these procedures are common among brain-injured patients."

New York Times: "A victim of the [Tucson] shooting ... was taken into custody on Saturday after the police and witnesses said the man spoke threateningly at a televised forum intended to help this stricken city heal. Eric Fuller, 63, a military veteran who was passionate about liberal causes and who had supported Ms. Giffords, was 'involuntarily committed for mental health evaluation.' ... Mr. Fuller, who was shot in the left knee and the back on Jan. 8, was among several victims, medical personnel and others who attended a special forum televised by ABC and hosted by Christiane Amanpour."

"Fanning the Flames." Peter Kramer, a Brown U. psychiatrist who specializes in treating paranoia -- a/k/a "delusional disorder" -- reflects on the factors that may have influenced Jared Loughner:

The public embrace of implausible beliefs creates a context of credulity.... Journalists and politicians who countenance conspiracy theories ... are enablers. They stand as exemplars of a mode of being that scorns doubt, celebrates grievances, and reframes ordinary disagreements as indicators of sinister intent. In the context of demonization and demagoguery, this embrace of paranoia helps to compose a politics of constant rage. It is convenient and convincing to say that no particular public figure is directly implicated in Loughner's actions. But I wonder whether finally the imputation of some responsibility is so easy to shed. -- Dr. Peter Kramer

      ... Read the whole article. Kramer's rebuke of Speaker John Boehner, et al., is telling. Thanks to a friend, who is a mental health professional, for pointing me to Kramer's article.

Melissa McEwan in AlterNet: "The shooting in Tucson was not an anomaly. It was an inevitability, and as long as we play this foolish game of 'both sides are just as bad,' it will be inevitable again." McEwan cites example after example of violent imagery spewed by leading right-wingers, then concludes,

This culture, this habit, of eliminationist rhetoric is not happening in a vacuum. It's happening in a culture of widely-available guns (thanks to conservative policies), of underfunded and unavailable medical care, especially mental health care (thanks to conservative policies), of a widespread belief that government is the enemy of the people (thanks to conservative rhetoric), and of millions of increasingly desperate people (thanks to an economy totally fucked by conservative governance).

** Denise Grady & Jennifer Medina of the New York Times recount the early efforts to save the victims of the Tucson shootings.

CW: Yesterday I linked to this story by Marc Lacey and other New York Times reporters, but it's been substantially altered to describe Jared Loughner's movements prior to the shooting. AND here's a pdf of the timeline, constructed by police, tracing Loughner's activities in the hours before he shot 20 people. The Washington Post translates the police timeline into a graphic, below. Also, see other helpful WashPo graphics here.

... Here's the Washington Post account by David Nakamura & others of Jared Loughner's movements before the shootings.

Amy Gardner of the Washington Post: "... one public figure has been uncharacteristically silent about one of the worst episodes of violence ever to befall his home state. Sen. John McCain (R) was on a congressional trip to Latin America at the time of the shooting and did not return to Arizona until Wednesday. He has granted no interviews and has not spoken about what happened in Tucson." CW: while I tend to agree with McCain's aide who justifies McCain's continuing his South American schedule, I saw several photos taken at different times during the Tucson memorial service in which McCain appeared to be glaring at President Obama. Here's one:

McCain is to the far left (in the photo, not in his political leanings). The President, First Lady, Mark Kelly & others appear to be praying, while McCain seems to be scowling at President Obama. AP photo.... In a Washington Post op-ed, Sen. McCain commends President Obama for his "comforting, inspiring & encouraging" speech at the Tucson memorial. He also excuses, without naming her, Sarah Palin's "blood libel" video. The overall tone of the piece is positive:

I disagree with many of the president's policies, but I believe he is a patriot sincerely intent on using his time in office to advance our country's cause. I reject accusations that his policies and beliefs make him unworthy to lead America or opposed to its founding ideals.
-- John McCain

Kirk Johnson & Charlie Savage of the New York Times: "As the prosecution phase nears and both federal and state courts pursue the case [against Jared Loughren], complications will inevitably appear — ... magnified by the sometimes sharply different requirements of the two court systems. The complications extend to the rules of evidence. Arizona state and federal rules differ significantly on what defense attorneys are entitled to hear before trial, and the federal and state teams could also head toward very different outcomes as well.... Arizona, unlike federal law, does not allow a finding of not guilty by reason of insanity. A defendant can only be found guilty, not guilty or guilty but insane."

Andrew Martin of the New York Times: "In the 25 years or so since the Glock company, based in Austria, began aggressively marketing firearms in this country, Glocks have become one of the best-selling pistols in America.... The guns are popular with law enforcement, consumers and, apparently, some young men intent on massacre. Seung-Hui Cho, who killed 32 at Virginia Tech University in 2007, and Steven Kazmierczak, who killed five at Northern Illinois University in 2008, were armed with Glocks.... Glock has also benefited from changes in the American gun market. As the number of hunters has declined, so have sales of guns traditionally used for hunting. Sales of military-style rifles have increased and so have sales of handguns, in part, some gun experts say, because more states have passed concealed-weapons laws. The Glock 33, for instance, is a subcompact pistol marketed as a 'pocket rocket.'”

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