CNBC: “Job growth proved better than expected in June, as the labor market showed surprising resilience and likely taking a July interest rate cut off the table. Nonfarm payrolls increased a seasonally adjusted 147,000 for the month, higher than the estimate for 110,000 and just above the upwardly revised 144,000 in May, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Thursday. April’s tally also saw a small upward revision, now at 158,000 following an 11,000 increase.... Though the jobless rates fell [to 4.1%], it was due largely to a decrease in those working or looking for jobs.”
Washington Post: “A warehouse storing fireworks in Northern California exploded on Tuesday,leaving seven people missing and two injured as explosions continued intoWednesday evening, officials said. Dramatic video footage captured by KCRA 3 News, a Sacramento broadcaster, showed smoke pouring from the building’s roof before a massive explosion created a fireball that seemed to engulf much of the warehouse, accompanied by an echoing boom. Hundreds of fireworks appeared to be going off and were sparkling within the smoke. Photos of the aftermath showed multiple destroyed buildings and a large area covered in gray ash.” ~~~
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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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.
Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.
Success is not final, failure is not fatal; it is the courage to continue that counts. — Anonymous
A nation of sheep will beget a government of wolves. — Edward R. Murrow
Publisher & Editor: Marie Burns
I have a Bluesky account now. The URL ishttps://bsky.app/profile/marie-burns.bsky.social . When Reality Chex goes down, check my Bluesky page for whatever info I am able to report on the status of Reality Chex. If you can't access the URL, I found that I could Google Bluesky and ask for Marie Burns. Google will include links to accounts for people whose names are, at least in part, Maria Burns, so you'll have to tell Google you looking only for Marie.
CW: I'm not even watching this! Once you get past the ad, you can supersize the video -- click on "Options."
Update: it isn't live anymore, but gluttons for punishment can watch the replay.
... Here's the New York Times liveblog, which is probably more palatable, especially around breakfast time. ...
... Update. Jim Rutenberg & Jeff Zeleny write the New York Times' post-debate story: "The five major Republican presidential candidates who are not named Mitt Romneyferociously attacked him during a debate here Sunday morning, questioning his conservative credentials, his authenticity and even his honesty just two days before the first-in-the-nation primary here." Karen Tumulty & Amy Gardner of the Washington Post make the same point -- everybody was Mean to Mitt. CW: gee, maybe I shoulda listened.... Nah.
My column in today's New York Times eXaminer is on Ross Douthat's "Sin of Omission," his sneaky skirting of Rick Santorum's exploitation of his wife's terminated pregnancy. The NYTX front page is here. You can contribute here.
There is an Open Thread on Off Times Square this weekend. I am shutting down Off Times Square after this weekend. I am not certain how long I will continue to maintain Reality Chex, but I will definitely stick with it till Willard -- or somebody -- clinches the GOP presidential nomination. I doubt I'll continue all the way to November as that would require me to make an additional financial investment in Reality Chex. In any event, I'm moving in a direction away from public service. I've done my bit.
** Lakhdar Boumediene, a Red Crescent (like the Red Cross) worker whom the U.S. (that's "us," or more properly here, "we") imprisoned in Guantánamo for seven years, without charges, writes a New York Times op-ed about his ordeal and about the continuing imprisonment of 171 men, some 90 of whom have been cleared for transfer but have no place to go (& the U.S. won't have them). ...
... Murat Kurnaz, a German national we held for at Guantánamo for five years, is more forthcoming in his New York Times op-ed about the torture to which we subjected him. According to his account, the U.S. had no evidence whatsoever against him. The German government secured his release.
Thanks to reader Haley S. for directing me to this:
Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "The Supreme Court led by Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr., the conventional wisdom goes, is exceptionally supportive of free speech. Leading scholars and practitioners have called the Roberts court the most pro-First Amendment court in American history. A recent study ... says that a comprehensive look at data from 1953 to 2011 tells a different story, one showing that the court is hearing fewer First Amendment cases and is ruling in favor of free speech at a lower rate than any of the courts led by the three previous chief justices. The study arrives as the Supreme Court prepares to consider two major First Amendment cases. On Tuesday, the court will hear arguments in Federal Communications Commission v. Fox Television Stations.... Next month, the court will consider United States v. Alvarez...."
Motoko Rich of the New York Times: "Caterpillar is one of dozens of companies, many with growing profits and large cash reserves, that have come to expect ... largess from states in return for creating jobs.... Although the sums spent on training are usually small compared with the tax breaks and other credits doled out by states, some critics question the tactic.... Critics suggest the programs may not even be in the best interest of workers if the resulting jobs pay low wages or simply disappear after a few years, leaving employees with narrow skills that do not help them land new positions.... Various studies have long questioned whether states get their money’s worth from incentives for companies that build facilities or expand existing ones. In a report last month, Good Jobs First, a nonprofit research organization that tracks such spending, found that states often attract companies that create few jobs, pay low wages or scrimp on health insurance."
Scott Wilson & Greg Jaffe of the Washington Post: "For a president denounced by Republican rivals as a weak and irresponsible commander in chief, the show of military support [during his announcement of national defense priorities last week] represented a political windfall for [President] Obama as he begins campaigning in earnest for a second term. But it also marked an evolution in Obama’s practice of Washington politics, evidence that after being outmaneuvered by congressional Republicans several times, he does not intend to make the same mistakes in an election year. By enlisting the military’s help in defining its strategic priorities, Obama has sought to ensure that he has the military’s support when his defense budget goes before Congress.... Military leaders, in turn, now have reason to believe that Obama will not agree to further cuts."
Eric Schmitt of the New York Times: "A nearly two-month lull in American drone strikes in Pakistan has helped embolden Al Qaeda and several Pakistani militant factions to regroup, increase attacks against Pakistani security forces and threaten intensified strikes against allied forces in Afghanistan, American and Pakistani officials say."
Right Wing World
Jeff Zeleny & Jim Rutenberg of the New York Times: "A relaxed and self-assured Mitt Romney sailed above the fray at a crucial debate on Saturday night as his Republican rivals engaged in a spirited fight to determine which of them would emerge as his most formidable opponent when the party’s nominating contest moves past New Hampshire." ...
... Jonathan Bernstein in the Washington Post: 'Short version: nothing happened to derailMitt Romney tonight, and Republican debates are a lot more entertaining (albeit even less reality-based) with Herman Cain and Michele Bachmann around." ...
... Roger Simon of Politico: "The press, which gives away its insights every day for free, predicted a brawl. Four of the five would attack Romney verbally, while Newt Gingrich might actually sink his teeth into Romney’s leg. But if there is one thing that marks the press, it is our unquenchable optimism. And, once again, our hopes were dashed. The debate seemed old and tired within minutes of its start.... The debate was notable for one thing, however: It was the first time Romney demonstrated he was shockingly uninformed on a serious subject: ABC moderator George Stephanopoulos asked Romney whether he believed states ought to be able to outlaw the sale of contraceptives. It was not a whacky question: Santorum believes each state should have that power to decide for itself. But Romney" had no idea about the issue and was evidently unaware of the landmark 1965 case Griswold v. Connecticut, which went against the state.
... ABC News fact-checks 10 assertions candidates made during Saturday's debate. No, Willard, you did not create 100,000 jobs at Bain Capital, and no, Rick [Perry, that is], President Obama is not "waging a war on religion." ...
... AND the righty-right New Hampshire Union Leaderis still behind the Newt. In a front-page editorial, publisher Joe McQuaid writes, "Romney is a nice, rich man with a tin ear...."
... Rosalind Helderman of the Washington Post: "At a campaign stop Thursday, [Rick Santorum] got into a verbal sparring match with a college student about same-sex marriage, after suggesting an equivalence between same-sex relationships and polygamy. Ever since, Santorum has faced a series of confrontations — and some heckling — over his opposition to same-sex relationships and abortion. And there are some signs this reception in a state where same-sex marriage is legal is taking some of the spring out of the momentum Santorum picked up by nearly winning the Iowa caucuses Tuesday. A new Suffolk University/7News tracking poll of voters likely to take part in Tuesday’s New Hampshire primary showed that following the widely televised exchange with the college student, Santorum’s support, which had been rising, had appeared to plateau."
Jim Rutenberg of the New York Times: "An early favorite of the pundit classes in Washington and New York — invited for cameos on 'The Colbert Report' and 'Saturday Night Live' — [former Utah Gov. Jon] Huntsman, Jr., out of other options, has bet it all on New Hampshire."
Local News
Tom Tolan of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: "A judge ruled Thursday that the state Government Accountability Board needs to take more aggressive action to vet recall signatures that are expected to be submitted in two weeks against Gov. Scott Walker and other Republican office holders. The ruling by Waukesha County Circuit Judge J. Mac Davis came in a case filed Dec. 15 by Walker's campaign committee and Stephan Thompson, executive director of the state Republican Party, asking Davis to order the accountability board to seek out and eliminate duplicate and fictitious signatures and illegible addresses in recall petitions." ...
... CW: a friend told me Judge Davis was a bit of a partisan. There's this from Eric Kleefeld of TPM: "Judge J. Mac Davis. As for his own background, Davis was a Republican state Senator over 20 years ago, and during the final years of the Bush administration, he was nominated for a federal circuit judgeship, but the nomination was never taken up by the Democratic-controlled Senate."
News Ledes
Reuters: "Global regulators vowed on Sunday to press ahead with tough new liquidity rules for banks from 2015, but in a move to head off opposition from industry, also said lenders can tap into safety buffers in times of stress."
Reuters: "Defense Secretary Leon Panetta cautioned global rivals on Sunday not to misjudge U.S. plans to slash military spending over the next decade, saying America would still field the world's strongest military and nobody should 'mess with that.' Panetta, speaking on CBS's 'Face the Nation,' also reiterated the tough U.S. stance toward Iran's threat to close the Strait of Hormuz, which is vital for oil shipping in the Gulf, saying the United States would not 'tolerate' it."
New York Times: "Here come the scathing attacks on Mitt Romney by Newt Gingrich and his outside supporters. A flier that Mr. Gingrich’s campaign created called 'Not Romney!' hammers the message that 'Romney is not a conservative' and 'Romney is not electable.' Meanwhile a super PAC supporting Mr. Gingrich has acquired a blistering 30-minute film about Mr. Romney’s career at Bain Capital, which it portrays as fabulously enriching for him but devastating for hundreds of workers who lost jobs at companies he shrank and resold."
Politico: "Center stage on this Sunday’s television talk shows is a special edition of NBC’s 'Meet the Press,' which is joining Facebook to host the last Republican presidential debate before Tuesday’s New Hampshire primary. It will be the second encounter for the six contenders in 12 hours, following an ABC News/Yahoo/WMUR-TV debate Saturday night. Both are originating from New Hampshire." CW: And you can watch it here, too! Ugh!
Washington Post: "Advocates for unfettered access to the 'morning-after pill' Plan B One-Step took their case to President Obama’s chief science adviser [John Holdren] Friday, asking him to find out the basis for the administration’s controversial decision last month to continue requiring that young teens get the drug only by prescription. In brief presentations wedged into a meeting of the President’s Council of Advisers on Science and Technology, five experts decried Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius’s rejection of the Food and Drug Administration’s move to make Plan B available over the counter."
Reuters: "Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffordsmade a surprise return to the Tucson grocery store where she was wounded in a deadly mass shooting on January 8 last year, as the city braced on Saturday for the event's somber anniversary.... In another unannounced visit earlier in the day, Giffords hiked outside Tucson on a desert trail named for her slain aide Gabe Zimmerman, her office said, stopping briefly to talk to hikers." The Tucson Arizona Daily Starlists activities planned for today to commemorate the lives of the shooting victims. ...
... The transcript is here. Caren Bohan & Jeff Mason of Reuters: "President Barack Obama kicked off an effort to encourage businesses to keep jobs at home instead of outsourcing them overseas, as he rolled out a new election-year theme on Saturday aimed at courting middle-class voters."
Ian Millhiser of Think Progress: "Today ... DOJ filed its brief defending the Affordable Care Act’s insurance coverage requirement, and with one sentence the Justice Department takes the plaintiff’s silliest and most successful argument off the table." You can read the brief here.
Citizens United Redux? As a follow-up to an item we linked several days ago, here's David Sirota in Salon: "Last week ... a major ruling out of Montana paved the way for a likely U.S. Supreme Court showdown over the role of corporate money in politics. In the case, which was spearheaded by the state’s Democratic Attorney General Steve Bullock, Montana’s top court restored Big Sky country’s century-old law banning corporations from directly spending on political candidates or committees. Legal experts believe that upon appeal, this case will come before the nation’s highest court. While there, it could serve as the first test of the precedents in the infamous Citizens United decision." Sirota spoke to Bullock about the case, and includes an edited transcript of the interview in the post. Audio of the full audio podcast is here.
Elizabeth Warren speaks in Franklin, Massachusetts. Warren begins speaking about 3 min. in. Thanks to reader Trish R. for the heads-up:
Right Wing World
"Willard Must Be Destroyed" -- Charles Pierce
Charles Pierce gives you the lowdown on what to expect during the two -- yes, two -- GOP unpresidential debates AND the Sunday morning talkshows. He makes it fun!
Here's your drinking game for your Sunday morning mimosa: Take a sip every time [that twit David] Gregory begins a question with the phrase, 'Last night, you said....' Drink the whole thing down every time he prefaces matters with the phrase, 'Do you stand by...?' I promise you, if you play this game, you will be utterly sockless long before Pittsburgh and Tebow tee it up Saturday afternoon. ...
... Edward Mason in Salon: "Money may not be buying Mitt Romney much Republican love, but it’s going a long way toward helping him buy the next best thing: endorsements in the GOP primaries. Romney’s Free and Strong America PAC and its affiliates states have lavished close to $1.3 million in campaign donations to federal, state and local GOP politicians, almost all since 2010. His recipients include officials in the major upcoming primary states of New Hampshire and South Carolina, and in three southern Super Tuesday states where he was trounced four years ago."
... Randy Johnson, one of the thousands of people Willard laid off, speaks out:
Live Free or Die if You're a One Percenter. Center for Tax Justice: "Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney’s $6.6 trillion tax plan would give the richest one percent of New Hampshire residents an average tax cut of $125,900 which would be over 90 times as large as the average tax cut of $1,400 that the middle fifth of the state’s residents would receive. Former Senator Rick Santorum’s $9.4 trillion tax plan would give the richest one percent of New Hampshire residents an average tax cut of $219,570, which would be over 90 times as large as the average tax cut of $2,390 that the middle fifth of the state’s residents would receive." (File is a pdf.)
Gene Robinson on why progressives should not be rooting forRick Santorum on the theory that President Obama could easily beat him. (1) Santorum is a good campaigner who connects with working people. (2) "With the exception of Ron Paul, the Republican candidates have competed to see who can be most hawkish on Iran’s nuclear program. Santorum wins, hands down.... It’s quite difficult for a president to change the nation’s culture. It’s quite easy for a president to start a war. Yes, the GOP’s clown-car nomination battle is a source of amusement. The prospect of a Santorum presidency, though, is a source of alarm."
Dana Milbank on Newt Gingrich's Ego Bus Trip: "Me! Largest! First! Best! Gingrich talks often on the stump about 'American exceptionalism,' but his campaign seems to be based on the theory of Newtonian exceptionalism...."
Elections Have Consequences. Reader Haley S. points us to an article by Thomas Mann & Norm Ornstein in the Washington Monthly, which presents an entirely plausible -- in fact, likely -- path to how the GOP, if they hold the House & take back the Senate & presidency, would complete dismantle the social safety net in 2013.
** You Thought I Was Kidding When I Said The GOP Wants to Take Us Back to the Dark Ages. They're already back to 1215. That's close. The following would be local news, except for the fact that the same people who elected these guys are about to have an outsized impact on deciding who the Republican presidential nominee, and possibly the next POTUS, will be:
Karen Langley & Matthew Spolar of the Concord Monitor: Republicans in the New Hampshire state legislature plan to introduce a bill requiring all civil rights legislation to derive from the Magna Carta. You can't make this stuff up. Here's their whole bill:
All members of the general court proposing bills and resolutions addressing individual rights or liberties shall include a direct quote from the Magna Carta which sets forth the article from which the individual right or liberty is derived.
The bill doesn't specify which version of the Magna Carta must be cited, so I guess there's some leeway. Here's the model -- directly from the Magna Carta, mind you, that women's rights legislation would have to follow: "No-one is to be taken or imprisoned on the appeal of a woman for the death of anyone save for the death of that woman’s husband." Bankers & the Anti-Defamation League will love this one from the 1297 (and more important) version of the charter: "If anyone who has borrowed a sum of money from Jews dies before the debt has been repaid, his heir shall pay no interest on the debt for so long as he remains under age." BTW, -- much as they cherished it -- the Brits repealed most of the Magna Carta in the 19th century. In New Hampshire, the GOP is bringing it back!
Local News
Chris Bowers of Daily Kos: "Thirty-seven Indiana Democrats are on their third day of denying Republicans the 67-member quorum necessary to proceed with union-busting 'right to work' legislation in the Indiana House of Representatives. The Democrats continue to not show up to the chamber despite now facing fines of $1,000 a day.... Democrats and unions are within striking distance of stopping the bill."
News Ledes
ABC News: "The [GOP presidential] debate ... will air from 9-11 p.m. ET [tonight] from Saint Anselm College, where it will be moderated by ABC News’ Diane Sawyer and George Stephanopoulos, as well as WMUR-TV anchor Josh McElveen." CW: Be sure to check if the candidates are wearing flag pins, George. ...
... New York TimesUpdate: "Mitt Romney and his rivals for the Republican nomination appealed to voters across [New Hampshire] Saturday, while also bracing for a weekend of debates that could reshape the contest just before Tuesday’s primary."
... Los Angeles TimesUpdate: "An unusually sunny Newt Gingrichpledged to be a happy warrior at tonight’s debate, contrasting Mitt Romney’s record with his own but not attacking him."
... The New York Times has a pretty good live update of the debate, including some fact-checking. Here are the Washington Postupdates on the debate.
New York Times: "In a naval action that mixed diplomacy, drama and Middle Eastern politics, the aircraft carrier John C. Stennis broke up a high-seas pirate attack on a cargo ship in the Gulf of Oman, then sailors from an American destroyer boarded the pirates’ mother ship and freed 13 Iranian hostages who had been held captive there for more than a month." ...
AP: "Defending President Barack Obama's signature health care overhaul, the administration is urging the Supreme Court to uphold the contentious heart of the law, the requirement that individuals buy insurance or pay a penalty. The administration filed a written submission with the court Friday describing the 2010 law as an appropriate response to a 'crisis in the national health care market.'" See also today's Commentariat.
Reuters: "A wrongful death lawsuit linked to a defining moment of the Iraq war has ended with the company formerly known as Blackwater agreeing to settle with the families of four security contractors killed in a gruesome 2004 ambush. The victims' survivors reached a confidential settlement with the company's successor, Academi, agreeing to dismiss the case before the Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit."
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