REALITYCHEX.COM - Constant Comments - The Commentariat -- December 22

The Ledes

Friday, February 28, 2025

New York Times: “Boris Spassky, the world chess champion whose career was overshadowed by his loss to Bobby Fischer in the 'Match of the Century' in 1972, died on Thursday in Moscow. He was 88.”

New York Times: “The actor Gene Hackman was found dead in a mud room in his New Mexico home and his wife, Betsy Arakawa, was found dead on the floor of a bathroom on Wednesday, according to a search warrant affidavit. An open prescription bottle and scattered pills were discovered near her body on a counter in the bathroom. A dead German shepherd was found between 10 and 15 feet away from Ms. Arakawa in a closet of the bathroom, the affidavit said. There were no obvious signs of a gas leak in the home, it said, and the Fire Department did not find signs of a carbon monoxide leak. The maintenance workers who found them said they had not been in contact with the couple for two weeks. The Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement on Thursday afternoon that 'there were no apparent signs of foul play.'... The causes of their deaths had not been determined.”

The Wires

The Ledes

Thursday, February 27, 2025

CNBC: “Initial filings for unemployment benefits hit their highest level of the year last week in another potential signs of weakness in the labor market. Jobless claims for the week ended Feb. 22 totaled a seasonally adjusted 242,000, up 22,000 from the previous week’s revised level and higher than the Dow Jones estimate for 225,000, according to a Labor Department report Thursday. The level of claims matched the highest since early October 2024 and comes amid questions over broader economic growth and worrying signs in recent consumer sentiment surveys.”

CNBC: “High mortgage rates and elevated home prices combined to crush home sales in January. Pending sales, which are based on signed contracts for existing homes, dropped 4.6% from December to the lowest level since the National Association of Realtors began tracking this metric in 2001. Sales were down 5.2% from January 2024. These sales are an indicator of future closings.”

New York Times: “Gene Hackman, who never fit the mold of a Hollywood movie star, but who became one all the same, playing seemingly ordinary characters with deceptive subtlety, intensity and often charm in some of the most noted films of the 1970s and ’80s, has died, the authorities in New Mexico said on Thursday. He was 95. Mr. Hackman and his wife were found dead on Wednesday afternoon at a home in Santa Fe., N.M., where they had been living, according to a statement from the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Department. Sheriff’s deputies found the bodies of Mr. Hackman; his wife, Betsy Arakawa, 64; and a dog, according to the statement, which said that foul play was not suspected.” ~~~

~~~ Update. New York Times: “An investigation was underway on Thursday after the prolific actor Gene Hackman and his wife, Betsy Arakawa, were found dead along with their dog at a house in New Mexico, the local authorities said. The bodies of Mr. Hackman, 95, and Ms. Arakawa, 64, were found by sheriff’s deputies in the Hyde Park neighborhood of Santa Fe on Wednesday afternoon, the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement. The couple had lived in the Santa Fe area for years. Sheriff Adan Mendoza of Santa Fe County said in a phone interview that an associate of Mr. Hackman and his family had placed an emergency call on Wednesday afternoon after discovering the bodies of the actor and his wife.”

New York Times: “Michelle Trachtenberg, a touchstone of millennial youth culture who grew up onscreen, rising to fame as a troubled teenager on the supernatural 1990s series 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer' and as a conniving young socialite on 'Gossip Girl,' was found dead on Wednesday in Manhattan. She was 39. The New York Police Department said in a statement that officers, responding to a 911 call just after 8 a.m. on Wednesday, found Ms. Trachtenberg unconscious and unresponsive in a Manhattan apartment. She was pronounced dead by emergency medical workers, who had also responded.”

Help!

To keep the Conversation going, please help me by linking news articles, opinion pieces and other political content in today's Comments section.

Link Code: <a href="URL">text</a>

OR here's a link generator. The one I had posted died, then Akhilleus found one, but it too bit the dust. He found yet another, which I've linked here, and as of September 23, 2024, it's working.

OR you can always just block, copy and paste to your comment the URL (Web address) of the page you want to link.

Note for Readers. It is not possible for commenters to "throw" their highlighted links to another window. But you can do that yourself. Right-click on the link and a drop-down box will give you choices as to where you want to open the link: in a new tab, new window or new private window.

Public Service Announcement

Zoë Schlanger in the Atlantic: "Throw out your black plastic spatula. In a world of plastic consumer goods, avoiding the material entirely requires the fervor of a religious conversion. But getting rid of black plastic kitchen utensils is a low-stakes move, and worth it. Cooking with any plastic is a dubious enterprise, because heat encourages potentially harmful plastic compounds to migrate out of the polymers and potentially into the food. But, as Andrew Turner, a biochemist at the University of Plymouth recently told me, black plastic is particularly crucial to avoid." This is a gift link from laura h.

Mashable: "Following the 2024 presidential election results and [Elon] Musk's support for ... Donald Trump, users have been deactivating en masse. And this time, it appears most everyone has settled on one particular X alternative: Bluesky.... Bluesky has gained more than 100,000 new sign ups per day since the U.S. election on Nov. 5. It now has over 15 million users. It's enjoyed a prolonged stay on the very top of Apple's App Store charts as well. Ready to join? Here's how to get started on Bluesky[.]"

Washington Post: "Americans can again order free rapid coronavirus tests by mail, the Biden administration announced Thursday. People can request four free at-home tests per household through covidtests.gov. They will begin shipping Monday. The move comes ahead of an expected winter wave of coronavirus cases. The September revival of the free testing program is in line with the Biden administration’s strategy to respond to the coronavirus as part of a broader public health campaign to protect Americans from respiratory viruses, including influenza and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), that surge every fall and winter. But free tests were not mailed during the summer wave, which wastewater surveillance data shows is now receding."

Out with the Black. In with the White. New York Times: “Lester Holt, the veteran NBC newscaster and anchor of the 'NBC Nightly News' over the last decade, announced on Monday that he will step down from the flagship evening newscast in the coming months. Mr. Holt told colleagues that he would remain at NBC, expanding his duties at 'Dateline,' where he serves as the show’s anchor.... He said that he would continue anchoring the evening news until 'the start of summer.' The network did not immediately name a successor.” ~~~

~~~ New York Times: “MSNBC said on Monday that Jen Psaki, the former White House press secretary who has become one of the most prominent hosts at the network, would anchor a nightly weekday show in prime time. Ms. Psaki, 46, will host a show at 9 p.m. Tuesday through Friday, replacing Alex Wagner, a longtime political journalist who has anchored that hour since 2022, according to a memo to staff from Rebecca Kutler, MSNBC’s president. Ms. Wagner will remain at MSNBC as an on-air correspondent. Rachel Maddow, MSNBC’s biggest star, has been anchoring the 9 p.m. hour on weeknights for the early days of ... [Donald] Trump’s administration but will return to hosting one night a week at the end of April.”

New York Times: “Joy Reid’s evening news show on MSNBC is being canceled, part of a far-reaching programming overhaul orchestrated by Rebecca Kutler, the network’s new president, two people familiar with the changes said. The final episode of Ms. Reid’s 7 p.m. show, 'The ReidOut,' is planned for sometime this week, according to the people, who were not authorized to speak publicly. The show, which features in-depth interviews with politicians and other newsmakers, has been a fixture of MSNBC’s lineup for the past five years. MSNBC is planning to replace Ms. Reid’s program with a show led by a trio of anchors: Symone Sanders Townsend, a political commentator and former Democratic strategist; Michael Steele, a former chairman of the Republican National Committee; and Alicia Menendez, the TV journalist, the people said. They currently co-host 'The Weekend,' which airs Saturday and Sunday mornings.” MB: In case you've never seen “The Weekend,” let me assure you it's pretty awful. ~~~

~~~ AP Update: "Joy Reid is leaving MSNBC, the network’s new president announced in a memo to staff on Monday, marking an end to the political analyst and anchor’s prime time news show."

Y! Entertainment: "Meanwhile, [Alex] Wagner will also be removed from her 9 pm weeknight slot. Wagner has already been working as a correspondent after Rachel Maddow took over hosting duties during ... Trump’s first 100 days in office. It’s now expected that Wagner will not return as host, but is expected to stay on as a contributor. Jen Psaki, President Biden’s former White House press secretary, is a likely replacement for Wagner, though a decision has not been finalized." MB: In fairness to Psaki, she is really too boring to watch. On the other hand, she is White. ~~~

~~~ RAS: "So MSNBC is getting rid of both of their minority evening hosts. Both women of color who are not afraid to call out the truth. Outspoken minorities don't have a long shelf life in the world of our corporate news media."

New York Times: “Chuck Todd, the former 'Meet the Press' moderator and a longtime fixture of NBC’s political coverage, told colleagues on Friday that he was leaving the network. A nearly two-decade veteran of NBC, Mr. Todd said that Friday would be his last day at NBC.... Mr. Todd, 52, is the latest TV news star to step aside at a moment when salaries are being scrutinized — and slashed — by major media companies. Hoda Kotb exited NBC’s 'Today' show this month, and Neil Cavuto of Fox News and CNN’s Chris Wallace departed their cable news homes late last year.”

CNBC: “ CNN plans to lay off hundreds of employees Thursday [Jan. 23] as it refocuses the business around a global digital audience.... The layoffs come as CNN is rearranging its linear TV lineup and building out digital subscription products. The cuts will help CNN lower production costs and consolidate teams, said the people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss nonpublic changes. Certain shows that are produced in New York or Washington may move to Atlanta, where production can be done more cheaply, said the people. For the most part, the job cuts won’t affect CNN’s most recognizable names, who are under contract, said the people. CNN has about 3,500 employees worldwide.... NBC News is also planning cuts later this week, according to people familiar with the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss nonpublic changes. While the exact number couldn’t be determined, the job losses will be well under 50....”

Page Links

Tuesday

Dec212010

The Commentariat -- December 22

** Historian Rick Perlstein, in a Salon essay, tells how race relations really played out in Haley Barbour's Yazoo City, Mississippi. This is a chilling must-read for anyone who thinks, as Barbour claims, that maybe it wasn't all that bad.

Glenn Greenwald: the New York Times again published classified secrets on their front page yesterday. If Julian Assange & Bradley Manning are going to be prosecuted for some unspecified crimes, then Times personnel & their high-level sources should be prosecuted, too.

Here's the new 2010 Census map that shows gains & losses of Congressional seats. For more detail, click on the map to go to the interactive New York Times map.Sabrina Tavernise & Jeff Zeleny of the New York Times: "The Census Bureau rearranged the country’s political map on Tuesday, giving more Congressional seats to the South and the West at the expense of the Northeast and the Midwest — changes that will have far-reaching implications for elections over the next decade." ...

... Michael Shear of the New York Times: "The conventional political wisdom is that the results of the 2010 census, announced Tuesday, are a big win for Republicans, who are largely dominant in the states where population increased. But Democratic officials in Washington are cautiously optimistic that the population shifts will still give them the opportunity to win new seats in Congress, especially in places where minority populations have exploded." CW: I agree with Shear on this. The more libruls who move to traditionally Republican states, the better the chance to dilute the conservative pools. ...

... Ezra Klein: "A lot of these changes are driven by Hispanic immigrants." This isn't going to help Republicans in the long run, but the redistricting would still hurt Obama in 2010. "If he gets 46 percent of the vote in Texas rather than 43 percent, he still gets exactly none of Texas's electoral votes. In total, this census takes six electoral votes from Barack Obama's 2008 haul." ...

... Shannon Travis of CNN: in the new Census numbers, experts see a short-term downside & long-term upside for Hispanics.

Here's some of Sen. Arlen Specter's spectacular swan song. He lays into both the Supreme Court & right-wing extremists:

... The CNN print story is here.

Legislating "Under the Cover of Christmas." Josh Rogin of Foreign Policy: despite a likelihood that the Senate will ratify the New START Treaty, Republican Senators continue to rail against the treaty & turncoat Republicans who voted in favor of world peace at Christmas-time. ...

... "Playing the Christmas Card." Dana Milbank: "Eight founding fathers of the [new Petulant Party] took the stage Tuesday morning in the Senate TV studio to provide an update on their latest cause: The defeat of the nuclear arms treaty with Russia.... They defied the recommendation of Joint Chiefs Chairman Mike Mullen and Defense Secretary Robert Gates (a Bush administration holdover) in their unsuccessful defense on Saturday of the 'don't ask, don't tell' ban on openly gay service members. And ... the Petulants' efforts to prevent the Sept. 11 bill from coming to the floor earned labels such as 'disgrace' and 'national shame' from the usually friendly hosts at Fox News."

Too many of our high school students are not graduating ready to begin college or a career — and many are not eligible to serve in our armed forces. I am deeply troubled by the national security burden created by America's underperforming education system.
-- Arne Duncan, Secretary of Education ...

... Education Fail. AP: "Nearly one-fourth of the students who try to join the U.S. Army fail its entrance exam, painting a grim picture of an education system that produces graduates who can't answer basic math, science and reading questions, according to a new study released Tuesday. The report by The Education Trust bolsters a growing worry among military and education leaders that the pool of young people qualified for military service will grow too small." Here's a pdf of the overview report by the Education Trust.

Rachel Maddow takes down Sen. Tom Coburn, catching him in a huge lie about the "reason" for his opposition to the 9/11 responders bill:

... Michael Shear: "... Republican lawmakers find themselves the target of ire and scorn from the most unlikely of adversaries: the firefighters and police officers who rushed into the burning twin towers on Sept. 11 nearly a decade ago and worked at the site for months afterward. That predicament crystallized Tuesday when Rudy Giuliani ... condemned his fellow Republicans as being on the wrong side of 'morality' and 'obligation' for failing to support legislation to provide medical benefits for the first responders." Includes video. ...

... Update. Alex Pareene of Salon: "Tom Coburn is finally dropping his threat to single-handedly obstruct the 9/11 first responders healthcare bill in the Senate ... because he won: The bill, which already went from $7.4 to $6.2 billion in benefits and compensation, is now down to $1.5 for benefits and $2.7 for compensation.... Coburn's ... real objection was that rich people were going to have to pay for non-rich people to have their illnesses treated."

Erika Bolstad of the Anchorage Daily News: "As Congress brings to a close its lame-duck session, Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski has emerged from her historic write-in campaign as a key swing vote in the Senate on issues backed by the Obama administration."

David Catanese of Politico: "After embracing him in his 2006 upset win over GOP Sen. Conrad Burns, progressives turned on Montana Sen. Jon Tester in response to his vote against the DREAM Act on Saturday, complicating his prospects for reelection next year."

CW: just in case you think the conservatives on the Supreme Court are not "activist judges," Prof. Pauline Maier in a New York Times op-ed explains the intent of the Second Amendment: James Madison, the author of the Second Amendment, wrote it & other amendments "to 'parry' the call for a second federal convention.... One of his proposed amendments promised that the people would never be subject to federal military rule because their 'right to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed; a well-armed, and well-regulated militia being the best security of a free country.'” In fact, Maier says, the militias are now defunct, but "one thing is clear: to justify such rulings [as District of Columbia v. Heller and McDonald v. Chicago] by citing Madison and the other founders and framers would not honor their 'original intent.' It would be an abuse of history."

Greg Miller of the Washington Post: "The CIA has launched a task force to assess the impact of the exposure of thousands of U.S. diplomatic cables and military files by WikiLeaks. Officially, the panel is called the WikiLeaks Task Force. But at CIA headquarters, it's mainly known by its all-too-apt acronym: W.T.F."

David Sanger of the New York Times: "... while [President] Obama is savoring another major victory..., his own aides acknowledge that the lesson of the battle over the [New START] treaty is that the political divide on national security is widening. The next steps on Mr. Obama’s nuclear agenda now appear harder than ever."

Charlie Savage of the New York Times: "President Obama’s advisers have been drafting an executive order that would set up a system for periodically reviewing the cases of Guantánamo prisoners whom courts have approved for detention without trial, officials said.... In broad strokes, it would establish something like a parole board to evaluate whether each detainee poses a continued threat, or whether he can be safely transferred to another country."

Bankers as Common Thieves. Andrew Martin of the New York Times: "In an era when millions of homes have received foreclosure notices nationwide, lawsuits detailing bank break-ins ... keep surfacing. And in the wake of the scandal involving shoddy, sometimes illegal paperwork that has buffeted the nation’s biggest banks in recent months, critics say these situations reinforce their claims that the foreclosure process is fundamentally flawed."

Comments Off

Permalink

Email Article