The Ledes

Thursday, February 27, 2025

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.”

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.”

The Wires
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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....”

 

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Saturday
Nov272010

The Commentariat -- November 28

Illustration by David G. Klein for the New York Times.It's All Relative. In a New York Times essay, economics Prof. Robert Frank explains why the rich & near-rich won't suffer if their taxes go up. We know why the rich won't suffer -- they've got way more money than they'll ever spend. But the merely well-to-do won't hurt much either, even if they have to cut back a bit, because "recent psychological research suggests that if all in that group spent less in unison, their perceptions of their standard of living would remain essentially unchanged."

** Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "In a detailed, candid and critical essay to be published this week in The New York Review of Books, [Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens, ret.] wrote that personnel changes on the court, coupled with 'regrettable judicial activism,' had created a system of capital punishment that is shot through with racism, skewed toward conviction, infected with politics and tinged with hysteria.... He will be on “60 Minutes” on Sunday night."

Glenn Greenwald on the Portland, Oregon accused terrorist kid Mohamed Osman Mohamud: "... it may ... be the case that the FBI -- as they've done many times in the past -- found some very young, impressionable, disaffected, hapless, aimless, inept loner; created a plot it then persuaded/manipulated/entrapped him to join, essentially turning him into a Terrorist; and then patted itself on the back once it arrested him for having thwarted a 'Terrorist plot' which, from start to finish, was entirely the FBI's own concoction." CW: I've been waiting for someone to make this point, & Greenwald does a fine job. In the accounts I've read, the only thing Mohamud did was try to detonate the dud; federal agents, by their own account, seem to have done everything else.

White House photo.Elizabeth Drew in the New York Review of Books: President "Obama’s biggest failure was not to be the leader that so many expected him to be. The jubilation that surrounded his swearing-in may have gone to his head.... Obama was, apparently in his own estimation, so smart and so adored that he seems to have felt no need to explain — and explain again — to the country what he was doing and to take the country along with him."

"Still the Best Congress Money Can Buy." Frank Rich: "America needs ... a leader or two or three — to restore not just honor or sanity to its citizens but governance that’s not auctioned off to the highest bidder." ...

... Read Karen Garcia's comment on Rich's column -- a tiny masterpiece that, even though it was buried near the bottom of Page 2 (#45), is one of the most recommended comments. Add your recommendation. ...

... Kim Geiger & Matea Gold in the Los Angeles Times: "Anti-incumbent anger and 'tea party' conservatives may have set the tone for this year's midterm elections, but it was mostly experienced political operatives — not fervent newcomers — who managed the money.... An analysis of campaign finance records and data compiled by the Center for Responsive Politics found that 15 firms raked in more than $400 million just from the candidates, party committees and outside groups that advertised in federal elections."

Ezra Klein: "... in our efforts to solve our deficit and economic problems, we must be careful not to make our retirement problem worse."

Banksters Beware. Gretchen Morgenson of the New York Times: "... one question at the heart of the foreclosure mess refuses to go away: whether institutions trying to take back a property can prove they even have the right to foreclose at all.... The United States Trustee Program, the unit of the Justice Department charged with overseeing the integrity of the nation’s bankruptcy courts..., is stepping up its scrutiny of the veracity of banks’ claims against borrowers." ...

... Brady Dennis of the Washington Post: "Assistant Treasury Secretary Michael Barr told members of the Financial Stability Oversight Council ... that federal investigators looking into problems with mortgage foreclosures throughout the country have found widespread and 'inexcusable' breakdowns in basic controls in the foreclosure process."

If Dick Lugar, having served five terms in the U.S. Senate and being the most respected person in the Senate and the leading authority on foreign policy, is seriously challenged by anybody in the Republican Party, we have gone so far overboard that we are beyond redemption. I’m glad Lugar’s there [in the Senate] and I’m not. -- John Danforth, former Missouri Republican Senator ...

... Jennifer Steinhauer of the New York Times profiles Indiana Sen. Richard Lugar who is going it alone among his Republican colleagues in supporting the no-brainer New START treaty. ...

... Walter Pincus & Mary Beth Sheridan of the Washington Post: "While trying to satisfy a lawmaker's concerns, the Obama administration is working around Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) in an attempt to gather the nine Republican votes needed to pass the ratification resolution for the strategic arms treaty with Russia this year."

Sandhya Somashekhar of the Washington Post: "Much of America may have moved on, but Joe Miller has not. More than a week after the last vote was counted in Alaska's closely watched U.S. Senate race, the Republican nominee continues to press his case in court in hopes of grabbing back a victory that once seemed inevitable."

Ron Moreau of Newsweek: the Taliban are tuckered out.

Donald McNeil in the New York Times: "Last week, a clinical trial showed that taking Truvada, a pill combining two drugs, once a day would greatly reduce a gay man’s chances of getting infected with [AIDS].... Although confirmatory studies are still needed, the practice — called 'pre-exposure prophylaxis' or 'prep' — will, in theory, also protect ... anyone else at risk.... Truvada has been sold since 2004." McNeil explains why it has taken so long for it to be tested as a "prep."

The (Toronto) Star: "... Former British prime minister Tony Blair and author, skeptic and professional oppositionist Christopher Hitchens debated the question: is religion a force for good in the world? Blair, who wrote in his recent memoir that he has always been more interested in religion than politics, took the view that it is a force for good. Hitchens, who has advanced esophageal cancer and scheduled his chemotherapy around Friday’s debate, not surprisingly, argued otherwise." The Guardian story here. The New Statesman has the full transcript of the debate. Here's a short clip:

     ... To watch the whole debate, go to this Daily Hitchens YouTube page & call up Part 2/9. The debate begins about 4:55 min. into Part 2. (Part 1 is some other guys talking). The following segments do not load automatically, so you'll have to click on them. The debate goes on through Part 9. (Or, for $2.99, you can download the whole thing at the Munk Debates site.)

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