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.”

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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.

Thank you to everyone who has been contributing links to articles & other content in the Comments section of each day's "Conversation." If you're missing the comments, you're missing some vital links.

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.

 

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."

Democrats' Weekly Address

Marie (Feb 23): As far as I can tell, there isn't any. I hope I'm wrong, but it looks like Democrats are so screwed up, they can't even put together a couple of minutes of video to tell us how screwed we are.

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."

As we watch in horror the rapid destruction of our democratic form of government, it is comforting to remember there is life outside politics. I took a break a while ago to enjoy a brief lesson in the history of the moonwalk: ~~~

But it may go back even further:

And this chronological account is helpful:

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....”

 

Contact Marie

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The Commentariat -- January 3

Steven Davidoff of the New York Times: "Goldman Sach’s investment in Facebook once again raises the issue of whether the Securities and Exchange Commission will force the social networking company into an initial public offering. In particular, this issue arises because of the special purpose vehicle that Goldman plans to create in order to allow its clients to invest up to $1.5 billion in Facebook." ...

... Evelyn Rusli of the New York Times: "Goldman Sachs may have found a new friend in Facebook, but the financial firm isn’t finding much love from members of the social network." ...

... Related News Stories: "New York Times: "Facebook, the popular social networking site, has raised $500 million from Goldman Sachs and a Russian investor in a deal that values the company at $50 billion, according to people involved in the transaction. The deal makes Facebook now worth more than companies like eBay, Yahoo and Time Warner." AND "As part of a deal that values Facebook at $50 billion, Goldman Sachs is offering wealthy clients a chance to invest in the company without its going public." CW: so fucking egalitarian.

New Yorker art."Oh, Shut Up." Rick Hertzberg: "In the absence of the filibuster, the health-care law would offer a public alternative to private insurance, the financial reform would be strong enough to close off the likelihood of another meltdown, and the very rich (and their heirs) would pay something closer to their fair share of taxes. Nearly two hundred qualified nominees for executive and judicial offices would be on the job instead of in limbo. And a climate-and-energy bill, a bill to require corporations to be open about their political spending, the DREAM Act, and dozens of other worthy measures — all of which passed the House and had majority support in the Senate — would now be the law of the land."

Steve Kornacki of Salon takes the MSM approach to the Obama presidency & declares that 2010 wasn't a bad year for Obama after all. CW: I don't really agree with Kornacki, but his POV is worth considering.

Paul Krugman: "... what we’re looking at over the next few years, even with pretty good growth, are unemployment rates that not long ago would have been considered catastrophic — because they are. Behind those dry statistics lies a vast landscape of suffering and broken dreams. And the arithmetic says that the suffering will continue as far as the eye can see." ...

... Emily Kaiser of Reuters: "U.S. private employers have recorded 11 consecutive months of job gains, yet the number of people who are so discouraged that they have given up searching for work stands at an all-time high."

"Chewing Gum for Terrorists." Law Prof. David Cole in a New York Times op-ed: "Under current law, it seems, the right to make profits is more sacrosanct than the right to petition for peace, and the need to placate American businesses more compelling than the need to provide food and shelter to earthquake victims and war refugees." ...

... Glenn Greenwald has a different take on the Paris meeting, which David Cole references, in which "Rudy Giuliani and former Bush officials Michael Mukasey, Tom Ridge, and Fran Townsend ... appeared at a forum organized by supporters of the Mujaheddin-e Khalq (MEK) -- a group declared by the U.S. since 1997 to be [a] 'terrorist organization' -- and expressed wholesale support for that group." Greenwald writes that, "The reason there isn't more uproar over these Bush officials' overt foreign-soil advocacy on behalf of a Terrorist group is because they want to use that group's Terrorism to advance U.S. aims." ...

... John Cook gives the story a Gawker flavor: "Rudy Giuliani & John Bolton Are Terrorists Now."

NEW. Katharine Seelye of the New York Times: Pennsylvanian "Patrick J. Toomey was elected to the Senate in November as part of the Republican revolution, with a big assist from Tea Party activists, an endorsement from Sarah Palin and the expectation that he would join with other antiestablishment conservatives to remake Washington. But as he prepared to take office this week, Mr. Toomey hardly sounded like a partisan rabble-rouser." ...

... "Lindsey Graham Joins the Loonies." Jonathan Cohn of The New Republic: "... Graham seems to grasp ... that default could be catastrophic. But that's not stopping him from making his demands." ...

... BECAUSE, as David Dayan of Firedoglake argues, "... the Democrats and the White House are talking about insanity, while the Republicans are banking on the responsibility of their opponents."

Former National Security Advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski in a New York Times op-ed: during the state visit of Chinese President Hu Jintao, Presidents Obama & Hu should establish "a joint charter ... [which would], in effect, provide the framework not only for avoiding what under some circumstances could become a hostile rivalry but also for expanding a realistic collaboration between the United States and China."

Justin Elliott of Salon on the neo-imperialism of Sen. Lindsey Graham & amigos. With video.

Joe Klein of Time: President "Obama -- or his advisors -- undercut [Special Envoy Richard] Holbrooke from the very outset, which crippled our ability to push the Afghan government toward legitimacy and made Holbrooke's mission near-impossible." Here's Leslie Gelb's tribute to Holbrooke, which is the basis for Klein's post.

At the Diplomats' Bazaar. Eric Lipton, et al., of the New York Times: "United States diplomats were acting like marketing agents [for Boeing], offering deals to heads of state and airline executives.... This is the high-stakes, international bazaar for large commercial jets, where tens of billions of dollars are on the line, along with hundreds of thousands of high-paying jobs.... To a greater degree than previously known, diplomats are a big part of the sales force, according to hundreds of cables released by WikiLeaks, which describe politicking and cajoling at the highest levels." With links to related documents.

Nelson Schwartz of the New York Times: in anticipation of a WikiLeaks document dump, the Bank of America does some forensic sleuthing of its own transactions.

Jake Sherman of Politico: "Rep. Darrell Issa is aiming to launch investigations on everything from WikiLeaks to Fannie Mae to corruption in Afghanistan in the first few months of what promises to be a high profile chairmanship of the top oversight committee in Congress.... The House Oversight and Government Reform is also planning to investigate how regulation impacts job creation, the role of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in the foreclosure crisis; recalls at the Food and Drug Administration and the failure of the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission to agree on the causes of the market meltdown." ...

... Nicole Belle of Crooks & Liars has a terrific reprise of Darrell Issa's appearance yesterday on CNN's "State of the Union." Issa's interrogator -- Republican-friendly Ed Henry, of all people. As Belle writes, "It's amazing how ridiculous these GOP talking points are rendered when the media does their job even a little bit." With video. ...

... AND Some Big-Mouth Republicans Retreat. Alan Zibel of the Wall Street Journal: "Earlier this year, leading House Republicans proposed to privatize mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac or place them in receivership starting in two years. Now, as Republicans prepare to assume control of the House next week, they aren't in as big a rush, cautioning that withdrawing government support in the housing market should be gradual." ...

... AND Carrie Johnson of NPR: the Justice Department gets ready for Republican attacks. Plus audio.

Rep. Alan Grayson (D-Fla.). New York Times photo.More Reasons to Miss Alan Grayson. Michael Barbaro of the New York Times: "He has zero faith in the incoming speaker of the House, John A. Boehner, whom he calls a 'tool of special interest.' He derides the Tea Party’s successes as 'bought and paid for by the enormously rich and the selfish.' And he can barely contain distaste for his Republican successor, whose views he sums up as 'bizarre fundamentalist.' Representative Alan Grayson ... is leaving office on Wednesday much as he entered it two years ago — as the pugnaciously partisan, verbal-bomb-tossing, liberal folk hero of the 111th Congress.... While surveying the wreckage of the November elections that cost him his seat and looking to the Congressional term ahead, Mr. Grayson posits that many Democrats have not been acting Democratic enough." Read the whole article.

Two Essays I've Been Meaning to Link:

(1) "According to most scientists, the sun rises in the east, although critics say...." Garrett Epps of The Atlantic on why lawsuits against the Affordable Care are crap & the judges who buy into the plaintiffs' arguments are dumb as posts. And journalists are not doing their jobs in explaining the crap cases, either.

(2) Sam Harris in the Huff Post: "... throughout the 1950's -- a decade for which American conservatives pretend to feel a harrowing sense of nostalgia -- the marginal tax rate for the wealthy was over 90 percent." Harris goes on to skewer just about every conservative economic myth. He then proposes a 21st-century American Renaissance, brought to you by our wealthiest countrymen.

Prisoners Go High-Tech. Kim Severson & Robbie Brown of the New York Times: "A smartphone hidden under a mattress is the modern-day file inside a cake."

Do give yourself a treat & read the blog post of Steven Lee Myers, et al., of the New York Times on the antiquities of Iraq. Update: a related story is here. Here's one of the videos incorporated into the post:

... Ernesto Londoño of the Washington Post reports on a $5 billion U.S.-funded program that has done nothing but build new ruins: "investments under the plan -- known as the Commander's Emergency Response Program, have created no more than a temporary illusion of progress. They have also shown a lack of U.S. foresight and highlighted the shortcomings of an Iraqi government the Americans were trying to boost."

XO Movie Night. Anahad O'Connor of the New York Times: Navy "Capt. Owen Honors reportedly not only orchestrated the making of ... raunchy videos, but also starred in them and filmed them aboard the [U.S.S.] Enterprise with government equipment while the carrier was deployed during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The videos were splashed across the Internet over the weekend, and are now at the center of a Navy investigation. According to The Virginian-Pilot in Norfolk..., Captain Honors made the videos in 2006 and 2007 to entertain and boost the morale of sailors aboard the carrier. The videos were filmed with cameras and equipment from the carrier’s public affairs office, and were shown at least once a week on closed-circuit television throughout the ship. Captain Honors at the time was the carrier’s executive officer..., but he later became its commanding officer." Here's the Virginia-Pilot story & video.

Local News

Noah Kristula-Green of the Frum Forum: Christine O’Donnell is responsible "for destroying and cannibalizing the Republican Party in Delaware. Despite the media’s continuing fascination with O’Donnell ... less attention has been paid to O’Donnell’s negative effect on the down-ticket races in Delaware, or to the fact that the damage she did will last for several election cycles. There has also been no attempt to hold accountable the conservative media figures who endorsed O’Donnell." Kristula-Green bashes Rush Limbaugh, Sarah Palin & Jim DeMint.

David Catanese of Politico reports that my Republican Congressman Connie Mack the Umpteenth, who is the son & grandson of senators of the same name,  husband of Mary Bono & otherwise a dimwitted cipher who seldom gets near Southwest Florida, will run for Sen. Bill Nelson's seat. I'm not that big a fan of Nelson's, but Mack isn't qualified to wipe Nelson's boots. Still, he could win. Here's an uncritical (Fort Myers) News-Press story about him.

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