March 25, 2023

Saturday, March 25, 2023. Annette’s News Roundup.

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Joe is always busy.

Touch 👇 to watch the President address the Canadian Parliament. (33 minutes).

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Kamala is always busy.

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More violence threatened by Trump.

Trump, Escalating Attacks, Raises Specter of Violence if He Is Charged.

In an overnight post, the former president stepped up his attacks on the Manhattan district attorney, Alvin Bragg, and warned of “potential death and destruction” if he is indicted.

In an overnight social media post, former President Donald J. Trump predicted that “potential death and destruction” may result if, as expected, he is charged by the Manhattan district attorney in connection with hush-money payments to a porn star made during the 2016 presidential campaign.

The comments from Mr. Trump, made between 1 a.m. and 2 a.m. on his social media site, Truth Social, were a stark escalation in his rhetorical attacks on the Manhattan district attorney, Alvin L. Bragg, ahead of a likely indictment on charges that Mr. Trump said would be unfounded.

“What kind of person,” Mr. Trump wrote of Mr. Bragg, “can charge another person, in this case a former president of the United States, who got more votes than any sitting president in history, and leading candidate (by far!) for the Republican Party nomination, with a crime, when it is known by all that NO crime has been committed, & also that potential death & destruction in such a false charge could be catastrophic for our country?”

“Why & who would do such a thing? Only a degenerate psychopath that truely hates the USA!” the former president wrote.

In a post early Saturday morning, Mr. Trump erroneously claimed that he was to be arrested three days later and urged people to protest and “take our nation back.”

Since then, he has called Mr. Bragg, the first Black district attorney in Manhattan, an “animal” and appeared to mock calls from some of his own allies for people to protest peacefully, or not at all.

“Our country is being destroyed as they tell us to be peaceful,” Mr. Trump said in a post on Thursday. (New York Times).

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Trump violence escalates.

His racism and antisemitism reveals itself too.

Yes, he is also delusional.

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Executive Privilege disappears for more Trump staffers.

Ex-Trump aides like Mark Meadows must testify before Jan. 6 grand jury, judge rules.

A federal judge has ruled that some of former President Donald Trump's closest aides, including ex-chief of staff Mark Meadows, must testify before the grand jury investigating his involvement in efforts to overturn the 2020 election, sources familiar with the matter told NBC News.

U.S. District Court Judge Beryl Howell rejected Trump's argument that executive privilege allowed him to block testimony from former advisers like Dan Scavino and Stephen Miller, former director of national intelligence John Ratcliffe and ex-national security adviser Robert O'Brien, the sources said.

Others ordered to testify in the Jan. 6 investigation were Ken Cucinelli, a former DHS official, former White House aides Nick Luna and John McEntee, the sources said.

A Trump spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment on the judge's order.

Trump is expected to appeal the sealed ruling. Legal experts say a criminal investigation usually overcomes executive privilege, as it did when the Supreme Court forced President Richard Nixon to hand over tapes his Oval Office conversations.

Howell, whose ruling was first reported by ABC News, had been overseeing legal challenges to special counsel Jack Smith's dual probes into Trump's involvement in the Jan. 6 riot and his handling of documents with classification markings found at Mar-a-Lago until last week when her term as chief judge ended. The case in Washington is now being overseen by her successor, Chief Judge James “Jeb” Boasberg. (NBC News).

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Michigan moves forward, ending anti-Union law.

Michigan 1st state in decades to repeal 'right-to-work' law.

LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Michigan, long known as a mainstay of organized labor, on Friday became the first state in decades to repeal a union-restricting law known as “right-to-work” that was passed over a decade ago by a Republican-controlled Legislature.

The state’s “right-to-work” law had allowed those in unionized workplaces to opt out of paying union dues and fees. Its repeal is seen as a major victory for organized labor with union membership reaching an all-time low last year.

“Today, we are coming together to restore workers’ rights, protect Michiganders on the job, and grow Michigan’s middle class,” Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said in a statement Friday after signing the legislation.

The second-term governor also signed legislation restoring a prevailing wage law that had been repealed by Republicans in 2018. It requires contractors hired for state projects to pay union-level wages.

Repealing the “right-to-work” law, enacted in 2012, had long been listed as a top priority for Democrats, who took control of the full state government this year for the first time in 40 years.

Supporters of the repeal poured into the state Capitol in Lansing earlier this month as the House and Senate took up the legislation before approving it along party lines after limited deliberations. (Associated Press).

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Transgender Update.

Transgender track athletes can't compete with women: World Athletics Council.

World Athletics Council, the governing body for international track and field, will bar transgender women athletes from elite competitions for women.

The council's policy, which will be in effect starting March 31, largely targets athletes who transitioned from male to female after going through puberty as a male. It will also tighten rules for athletes with disorders of sexual development, cutting in half the level of testosterone athletes can have in order to compete in women's events.

The council said they ultimately decided to prioritize "fairness and the integrity" of the female competition over inclusion. Though the council says there are no transgender athletes currently in international track and field competition, the ruling could hinder several people who've won Olympic medals in the past.

"Decisions are always difficult when they involve conflicting needs and rights between different groups, but we continue to take the view that we must maintain fairness for female athletes above all other considerations," Sebastian Coe, the council's president, wrote in a press statement on Thursday. (NPR).

Democratic Governor of Kentucky Andy Beshear vetos GOP transgender rampage.

Kentucky governor vetoes sweeping GOP transgender measures.

FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — Kentucky’s Democratic governor issued an election-year veto Friday of a sweeping Republican bill aimed at regulating the lives of transgender youths that includes banning access to gender-affirming health care and restricting the bathrooms they can use.

The bill also bans discussion of sexual orientation and gender identity in schools and allows teachers to refuse to refer to transgender students by the pronouns they use. It easily passed the GOP-dominated legislature with veto-proof margins, and lawmakers will reconvene next week for the final two days of this year’s session, when they could vote to override the veto.

Gov. Andy Beshear said in a written veto message that the bill allows “too much government interference in personal healthcare issues and rips away the freedom of parents to make medical decisions for their children.”

In his one-page message, he warned that the bill’s repercussions would include an increase in youth suicides. The governor said, “My faith teaches me that all children are children of God and Senate Bill 150 will endanger the children of Kentucky.” (ABCNews).

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Last night, the 2022 increase in Antisemitism in America was top of mind. Today, it’s banning books.

Attempts to Ban Books Doubled in 2022 - The New York

A new report from the American Library Association showed a spike in censorship efforts, with 1,269 attempts.

Efforts to ban books nearly doubled in 2022 over the previous year, according to a report published Thursday by the American Library Association. The organization tracked 1,269 attempts to ban books and other resources in libraries and schools, the highest number of complaints since the association began studying censorship efforts more than 20 years ago.

The analysis offers a snapshot of the spike in censorship, but most likely fails to capture the magnitude of bans. The report is compiled from book challenges that library professionals reported to the association’s Office for Intellectual Freedom, and it also relies on information gathered from news reports. (New York Times).
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Want to have a wonderful weekend? Watch the NCAA’s countdown to the women’s championship, or you can watch the men.

if you watch the Iowa game, you will see something you have never seen before.

They’re Desperation Heaves for Most Players. For Caitlin Clark, They’re Money.

Clark, the Iowa guard whose long-range shots have made a stir online, perfected her form in her driveway. But even when she abandons that form, she can hit game-winners from nearly halfcourt.

Lisa Bluder, the women’s basketball coach at Iowa, had developed a concrete definition of a good shot attempt during her four decades of coaching experience. A player needs to be in range, in rhythm and uncontested.

And then, in 2020, a 6-foot point guard named Caitlin Clark arrived on campus — and that definition fell apart.

Clark, who has led Division I in made 3-pointers in two of her three seasons at Iowa, regularly shoots from mere steps inside the midcourt line, sometimes off-balance, and often over the outstretched arms of defenders, defying Bluder’s three pillars.

The 3-point arc is just over 22 feet from the rim at the top of the key, and most defenders start hounding Clark from there, forcing her to take shots farther and farther back. But Clark is even more effective on attempts from 25 to 30 feet away from the rim than she is on 3-pointers within 25 feet. On the deeper attempts, she is shooting 43.8 percent, almost 14 percentage points higher than the Division I average of 30.1 percent, according to CBB Analytics, a website that tracks player stats. She has attempted 20 more 3-pointers from the deeper zone than she has closer to the line. 

“Sometimes, for her, a 25- or 27-footer is a lot more open than a 24-footer,” Bluder said. “So, you know, why not, right?”

CBB Analytics treats shots from farther than 30 feet as heaves, typically shots taken at the ends of quarters or games that otherwise wouldn’t happen. But for Clark, shots from that far out have become somewhat routine. She is shooting 30 percent this season from over 30 feet, making 10 of her 33 attempts — six more scores than the next closest player.

(Yes, Iowa beat Colorado Friday Night 87-77. Caitlin Clark scored 31 points). They play again Sunday night.

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