April 1, 2023

Saturday, April 1, 2023. Annette’s News Roundup.

To read an article excerpted in this Roundup, click on its blue title. Each “blue” article is hyperlinked so you can read the whole article.

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Joe is always busy.

White House Honors Transgender Day of Visibility | The White House.

Yesterday.

Today, in honor of Transgender Day of Visibility, the Biden-Harris Administration is uplifting transgender communities—and especially transgender kids and their families—by celebrating their resilience in the face of hateful anti-transgender laws being advanced across the country. Since President Biden’s first day in office, the Administration has taken historic steps to advance equality, dignity, and safety for transgender Americans, and he is the first President in history to discuss the importance of expanding equality and combating attacks on the rights of transgender Americans in every State of the Union or joint session of Congress address. While transgender Americans have an unwavering champion in the President, conservative politicians have advanced hundreds of anti-transgender laws in states across the country so far this year, putting the fundamental rights and freedoms of trans Americans at risk. As President Biden has said, transgender Americans are some of the bravest people he knows, but nobody should have to be brave to be themselves.

Over half of transgender youth say they have seriously considered suicide in the last year because of the discrimination and rejection they face. In the face of these challenges, research shows that, when transgender youth are affirmed and supported, they thrive. Today, to hear directly about the joys, hopes, and challenges that transgender children are experiencing, the White House will host a Roundtable on Affirming Transgender Kids. Transgender kids and their parents shared their experiences living in states that have attacked their rights, discussed how these laws have impacted their mental health, and highlighted how parents are protecting their children.
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Kamala is always busy.

Touch to watch.👇 Tanzania.

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Interesting articles on the Trump indictment.

I Worry About a Failed Prosecution of Trump, but I Worry More About No Prosecution, by Nicholas Kristof.

In 1872, President Ulysses S. Grant was arrested by a police officer for speeding in his horse-drawn coach in Washington. The officer stuck out his hand to signal a stop, and Grant obeyed and then accompanied the officer to the police station.

Did that demean the presidency?

No, I’d say it was a beautiful tribute to democracy. What was unthinkable for the French Sun King, Louis XIV —“L’état, c’est moi” (“I am the state”) — is appropriate in a system of equality before the law.

The Times reports that a grand jury has voted to indict Donald Trump for hush-money payments to a porn star but that the indictment, for now, is under seal. There are legitimate questions about this particular prosecution, and while we don’t know details of the charges, after educated guesses, we wonder:

Should the first indictment of an ex-president be under a novel legal theory that could be rejected by a judge or a jury? What do we make of the doubts about this case even among those who have zero sympathy for Trump? Does District Attorney Alvin Bragg know what he’s doing?

None of us can be sure of the answer to these questions until we’ve seen the evidence presented at trial, and I worry that a failed prosecution might strengthen Trump. Yet I’d also worry — even more — about the message of impunity that would be sent if prosecutors averted their eyes because the suspect was a former president.

The former president’s fixer, Michael Cohen, was sentenced to three years in prison for doing Trump’s bidding, and a fundamental principle of justice is that if an agent is punished, then the principal should be as well. That is not always feasible, and it may be difficult to replicate what a federal prosecution achieved in Cohen’s case. But the aim should be justice, and this indictment honors that aim.

That’s particularly true because this is clearly a higher-stakes crime than a typical case of falsifying business records; the aim apparently was to affect the outcome of a presidential election, and that may have happened.

When Trump is arrested, he reportedly will be fingerprinted, photographed and possibly handcuffed. The question arises: Is it degrading for a democracy to prosecute a former leader?

The democracy that is most expert at arresting former leaders is South Korea, which has gone after five former presidents and which I have covered on and off since I was the Times bureau chief in Hong Kong in the 1980s.

One former president was sentenced to death in 1996 for his role in a massacre during the military dictatorship. His successor was sentenced to 17 years in prison for similar offenses.

Another former president killed himself in 2009 while under investigation in a corruption scandal. That president’s successor was sentenced to a total of 17 years in prison for corruption. And the next president, in office from 2013 to 2017, was sentenced to a total of 25 years in prison for crimes including bribery and abuse of power.

There were times when I thought this parade of prosecutions was a sign of political immaturity. Yet maybe I got it backward. Yes, South Korea in the 1990s was an immature democracy with a penchant for corruption — but those prosecutions helped make South Korean democracy more robust.

“It is not easy for Koreans to prosecute our former presidents,” Jie-ae Sohn, a communications professor at Ewha Womans University in Seoul, told me. “It is a painful process and one that we are not happy to show the rest of the world. Nevertheless, this process has made it crystal clear that the rule of law applies to everyone.”

“This process may be ugly,” Sohn added, “but we believe this strengthens our democracy and allows it to be more resilient.”

There is a counterargument that this is America’s moment for prosecutorial discretion to allow the country to recover and move on. As a teenager, I was outraged when President Gerald Ford pre-emptively pardoned former President Richard Nixon, yet over time I came to think that it was the right call and allowed the country to heal. Yet one difference is obvious: Nixon in 1974 was already completely discredited, ostracized and broken, while Trump denies any wrongdoing and is running again for the White House.

South Korea perhaps offers a model for promoting both the rule of law and healing. While former presidents there received tough sentences, they were all pardoned and released within one to four years.

It’s difficult at this stage for me to assess the strength of the Manhattan district attorney’s indictment against Trump, but I find inspiration in the words of William H. West, the police officer who arrested Grant for speeding. According to an account he gave many years later, reported in The Washington Post, he told Grant, “I am very sorry, Mr. President, to have to do it, for you are the chief of the nation, and I am nothing but a policeman, but duty is duty, sir, and I will have to place you under arrest.”

That’s the majesty and dignity of our legal system at its best. And if a police officer in 1872 could hold out his hand and force the president’s speeding carriage to a stop, then we, too, should do what we can to uphold the magnificent principle of equality before the law. (New York Times).

One more thing. Alvin Bragg, the District Attorney who leads the NYC investigation on Trump and Stormy Daniels, graduated from Harvard cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts in government in 1995, and earned his Juris Doctor from Harvard Law School, where he was an editor of the Harvard Civil Rights–Civil Liberties Law Review. I cannot help but wonder if Bragg were a white man, would so many be asking- Does District Attorney Alvin Bragg know what he’s doing?

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Judge refuses to end Fox case. It’s going to a jury.

Delaware jury to decide if Fox is liable for defaming Dominion.

WILMINGTON, Delaware, March 31 - A jury will decide whether Fox Corp (FOXA.O) defamed Dominion Voting Systems with false vote-rigging claims aired by Fox News after the 2020 U.S. election, a Delaware judge ruled on Friday, dealing a setback to the media company that had sought to avoid a trial in the $1.6 billion lawsuit.

Delaware Superior Court Judge Eric Davis denied motions from Fox and partially granted Dominion motions to resolve the issue of defamation liability ahead of the scheduled April 17 trial date. The ruling puts the high-profile case in the hands of a jury that will determine whether Fox acted with actual malice and whether Dominion suffered any damages. (Reuters).

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Fetterman Checks Out of Hospital After Treatment for Depression.

WASHINGTON — Senator John Fetterman, Democrat of Pennsylvania, announced on Friday that he had checked out of Walter Reed Military Medical Center six weeks after having admitted himself to be treated for clinical depression, using the occasion to urge those suffering from mental health challenges to seek help.

Mr. Fetterman is set to return to the Senate on April 17, after a two-week holiday recess, according to his spokesman, who said that the senator planned to spend the time until then in Pennsylvania with his family and constituents. His office said that Dr. David Williamson, the neuropsychiatry chief and medical director at Walter Reed, had determined that Mr. Fetterman’s depression was now in remission.

“I am so happy to be home,” Mr. Fetterman said in a statement. “I’m excited to be the father and husband I want to be, and the senator Pennsylvania deserves.” (NY Times).

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What happens after Trump's indictment? Here are some of the considerations.

The news of former President Donald Trump's historic indictment has elicited strong reactions and raised plenty of questions. Key among them: What happens now?

"Until we read that indictment, we don't know the specific charges Trump will have to defend himself against," he adds. "And that's a good reason to treat headlines and hot takes with a little bit of skepticism."

Still, we do know that the 23-person grand jury heard evidence in the case, including testimony from Daniels and Trump's former personal attorney, Michael Cohen. At least 12 members (a majority) decided there was enough reasonable cause to believe that Trump committed a crime.

District Attorney Alvin Bragg's office confirmed that decision on Thursday, saying it had contacted Trump's attorney "to coordinate his surrender" to authorities.

A spokesperson for the New York Office of Court Administration has since confirmed to NPR that Trump is expected to appear in court on Tuesday at 2:15 p.m. ET.

Trump would have to be arraigned in person

An indictment is typically unsealed on the day of a defendant's arraignment, according to Marritz.

That's when Trump would come in for photographs, fingerprints and paperwork, as well as to enter a plea, a process that typically takes several hours.

Bragg has said repeatedly that the justice system should treat a former president the same way as any other defendant, so Marritz thinks it's likely Trump will have to go through the typical steps of an arraignment.

Even so, his status is expected to pose some unusual logistical challenges.

"It's gonna involve lawyers, cops, the Secret Service, the ex-president himself," Marritz says. "Trump is not known for hiding from cameras, and I'm certain there will be a lot of cameras there."

The processing itself would take place behind closed doors. Typically, defendants then go before a judge to hear the charges against them and enter a plea.

Two of Trump's lawyers, who deny that he committed any crime, told Reuters on Friday that he will not be handcuffed when he arrives, and plans to enter a not guilty plea.

"This is the first time that it really seems likely that the former president of the United States will be having a mugshot, being fingerprinted and having not just this indictment ... but more indictments to come," presidential historian Douglas Brinkley tells Morning Edition. "So we're in for a very rocky spring."

The case could go to trial

That trial might not happen for a while

Galluzzo expects defense attorneys to argue that it won't be fair for Trump to get a fair trial in Manhattan and push to have it moved somewhere else.

And he doesn't think that's the only pretrial motion Trump's team will make.

Most similar cases would probably take a year to get to trial, Galluzzo says. He expects that Trump's strategy will be to delay that process as much as possible.

"If he can push this thing back until after the election then he can effectively win the trial that way," he says.

He says it is theoretically possible to delay a case some two or three years, using motions and appeals.

But the one thing he's not expecting to see is a settlement deal reached by the two parties.

"They're not gonna make him an offer that he would accept," he adds. "And I think more than anything he probably wants that public stage to play the victim, to have an audience." (NPR).

Trump indictment live updates last night: Trump will not be handcuffed or have a mug shot taken, NBC reports.

Sources say former president Donald Trump is expected to fly into New York on Monday ahead of his arraignment on Tuesday. CBS2's Alice Gainer reports.

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Oh, those dear Republicans.

Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, in contrast to some of her Republican colleagues in Congress, did not condemn a Manhattan prosecutor for getting a grand jury to indict Trump.

“I am monitoring Donald Trump’s legal situation as it unfolds,” Murkowski said in a statement.

“No one is above the law in this country, but everyone deserves a fair legal process,” she said.(CNBC).

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What the arts can give.

Joni Mitchell sang Gershwin. I think I heard divine intervention.

The legendary singer-songwriter delivered something utterly profound during her surprise performance after accepting the Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for Popular Song.

Do people still see God’s face in their oatmeal or do we only worship money now? Either way, as corny and impossible as it might be, I wish I could reach out from these keystrokes, set my hands on your shoulders, gaze deep into your retinas and tell you that when Joni Mitchell sang George Gershwin’s “Summertime” at DAR Constitution Hall earlier this month, something like God entered in the room.


The circumstances were strange. Mitchell was in Washington to accept the Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for Popular Song, and in the moment I’m describing, to headline at a tribute concert being filmed by PBS.

Accepting her award in a satiny frock the color of the ocean and a beret the color of gold bullion, the 79-year-old colossus of song seemed a little out of sorts. Was it the implicit awkwardness of a televised exaltation or something worse? Mitchell suffered a brain aneurysm in 2015 that left her unable to speak or walk, and has since made an astonishing recovery, but as she sidled up next to the grand piano, the room held its breath.


Then, clutching a shiny golden microphone in her right hand, she exhaled that opening verse, her phrasing patient and exact, her tone heavy with color and feeling. “Hush little baby,” she sang with a finesse that can only be measured in metric tons. “Don’t cry, don’t cry.”

Do people still see God’s face in their oatmeal or do we only worship money now? Either way, as corny and impossible as it might be, I wish I could reach out from these keystrokes, set my hands on your shoulders, gaze deep into your retinas and tell you that when Joni Mitchell sang George Gershwin’s “Summertime” at DAR Constitution Hall earlier this month, something like God entered in the room.


The circumstances were strange. Mitchell was in Washington to accept the Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for Popular Song, and in the moment I’m describing, to headline at a tribute concert being filmed by PBS. Accepting her award in a satiny frock the color of the ocean and a beret the color of gold bullion, the 79-year-old colossus of song seemed a little out of sorts. Was it the implicit awkwardness of a televised exaltation or something worse?

Mitchell suffered a brain aneurysm in 2015 that left her unable to speak or walk, and has since made an astonishing recovery, but as she sidled up next to the grand piano, the room held its breath.
Then, clutching a shiny golden microphone in her right hand, she exhaled that opening verse, her phrasing patient and exact, her tone heavy with color and feeling. “Hush little baby,” she sang with a finesse that can only be measured in metric tons. “Don’t cry, don’t cry.”



Failing to connect those words to the sopping wetness that had instantaneously materialized on my face, Mitchell was halfway through the song before I noticed that my lungs had also chosen to relocate to my throat, which technically qualifies as an out-of-body experience, which is where the whole God thing comes in.

Cumulatively, this moment felt greater than life, greater than everyone in the room, maybe even greater than Joni Mitchell, unless she’s God, which I suppose is no longer out of the question.


Normally, I’d worry about sounding hyperbolic here (greatness feels cheap in the social media age), or even worse, sentimental (hooray for a fragile older person doing an incredibly powerful thing), but I’ve been too busy spending the past few weeks trying to figure out how a song so delicate managed to collide into my sensorium with such annihilating, tidal force.

Maybe the secret of Mitchell’s entire songbook is tucked away in that paradox — all of those drumless ballads from “Clouds” and “Blue” crashing against our collective consciousness like rogue waves. Maybe we can trace it all back to Mitchell’s lifelong affinity for dancing.

There’s a tremendous amount of movement in her music, even when the gestures feel stark and the mood feels serene.

(Amanda Andrade-Rhoades/AP)
And then there’s all of Mitchell’s unambiguous greatness: Her singular ability as a songwriter to speak to our experiences and imaginations through characters we may or may not know (Carey, Edith and the Kingpin) and settings we may or may not have visited (the autonomous Champs-Élysées, ex-paradise parking lots).

Singing about all of this stuff with the intricacy and insistence of a pen scratching paper, she matches unexpected words with unexpected melodies, simultaneously possessing them in ways that feel deeply inventive and allergic to cliche.


But how all of this felt so abundantly clear as Mitchell gently moved another songwriter’s words around in time, as if placing them into their most perfect position, I’m still not sure about.

Something profound, and complete, and deeply life-affirming had suddenly sprung into reality, and it was hard to understand exactly how or why.


“You had to be there” is a cruel phrase, isn’t it? We’re a storytelling species, and we spend our lives trying to share “there” with those who weren’t. We search for it in novels and “How was your day?” at dinnertime. But on a Joni Mitchell album, “there” feels like “here.”

The visceral experience of hearing her most vivid songs always seems to supersede the detailed stories they’re recounting.


This is all to say that you can watch Mitchell sing “Summertime” in full on television tonight, and while I can’t promise God will visit your living room, try listening with all of your being and see who shows up.
 (Washington Post)

Joni Mitchell: The Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for Popular Song airs Friday at 9 p.m. on PBS stations. (Check local listings.) [If you missed Joni Mitchell last night, look at your PBS listings, or On Demand].

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