May 21, 2023

Sunday,May 21,2023. Annette’s News Roundup.

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Joe is always busy.

Statement from White House Communications Director Ben LaBolt on a Reasonable Bipartisan Budget Agreement.

President Biden has made clear for weeks that Congress must act to prevent default. Earlier this week, the President met with the four Congressional leaders at the White House, where they agreed to move forward on a bipartisan budget framework. Following that meeting, the President assigned an experienced negotiating team and directed them to act in good faith to reach an agreement. But now, Republicans are taking the economy hostage and pushing us to the brink of default, which could cost millions of jobs and tip the country into recession after two years of steady job and wage growth.

Republicans are recycling a barely watered down version of their extreme budget proposal that would eliminate 100,000 jobs for teachers and support staff, cut 2,000 law enforcement positions and could put the health care coverage for millions of Americans at risk at the same time as Republicans would extend tax breaks for the wealthiest and corporations. The Republican position is especially galling given that the debt increased by 40% under President Trump and those same tax breaks cost taxpayers $2 trillion. And Republicans are even trying once again to reward tax cheats by gutting funding for the IRS.

Any serious budget negotiation must include discussion both of spending and of revenues, but Republicans have refused to discuss revenue. President Biden has lowered the deficit by $1.7 trillion in his first two years in office with this balanced approach and proposed a budget that would cut the deficit by an additional $3 trillion. Republicans, however, are focused on pulling the rug out from under hardworking Americans instead of considering the President’s proposal to cut wasteful spending and cut the deficit by eliminating subsidies for oil and gas companies and pharma and asking the wealthiest to pay their fair share.

There remains a path forward to arrive at a reasonable bipartisan agreement if Republicans come back to the table to negotiate in good faith. But President Biden will not accept a wish list of extreme MAGA priorities that would punish the middle class and neediest Americans and set our economic progress back.

Statement from White House Communications Director Ben LaBolt on a Reasonable Bipartisan Budget Agreement | The White House

President Biden has made clear for weeks that Congress must act to prevent default. Earlier this week, the President met with the four Congressional leaders at the White House, where they agreed to move forward on a bipartisan budget framework. Following that meeting, the President assigned an experienced negotiating team and directed them to act…

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Kamala is always busy.

Friday night.

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If you haven’t read letters sent to Brittney Griner when she was imprisoned in Russia, here is your chance. 👇

I cried.

‘You’re not forgotten’: The letters that sustained Brittney Griner in prison.

The letters poured in from every corner of the world, from all ages and genders, written by folks who knew her well and strangers alike. A young girl in Seattle who affixed a “Bring BG home” sign to her bedroom window. A 66-year-old UConn alum. A woman in Idaho who just wanted to tell her about the snowfall that morning.

From the time Russian authorities arrested Brittney Griner on drug charges in February 2022 through the 10 months she was wrongfully detained, these letters, delivered by her Russian attorneys, were the WNBA star’s lifeline to the world outside her holding cell, and later, a penal colony.

In the United States, those close to Griner asked for a groundswell of support in a letter-writing campaign. Booths were set up across the country, at WNBA games and elsewhere, as the efforts built to collect 10,000 letters for Griner.

Many wrote how they admired her as a player, as a Black woman, as a gay woman and as a person who has an ability to connect with people. Other letters were malicious, written by people who believed the two-time Olympic gold medalist deserved her nine-year sentence for carrying vape cartridges with hashish oil into the country. But the majority were written to uplift Griner’s spirits.

Sometimes her attorneys weren’t permitted to bring letters at all, but when they were, reading them shined a ray of light into an otherwise dark place.

“You don’t understand how good it felt to get a letter from your family, from just random people that I have never even met. It just lets you know that you’re not forgotten,” Griner said in late April after her release from custody in a prisoner exchange. “And it’s so easy to feel forgotten. To feel like no one’s thinking of you. … It just gives you like a spark of life, to keep holding on, keep fighting, not to give in.”

The letters tell stories, but so too does the array of people who took the time to write Griner, who opens the season with the Phoenix Mercury on Friday night against the Sparks in Los Angeles. The Athletic asked Griner’s camp to review some of the submissions. Here’s a sample of what the letters said — and why those authors felt compelled to write them. Click on this link. (The Athletic).

Griner receives raucous 'welcome back' to WNBA, then nets 18.

LOS ANGELES -- With Vice President Kamala Harris and 10,396 fans in attendance, Phoenix Mercury center Brittney Griner was officially welcomed back to the WNBA on Friday night at Crypto.com Arena.

Griner played in her first official game since returning to the United States after being detained for 10 months in Russia last year. As the WNBA started its 27th season Friday, Griner smiled broadly, acknowledging the fans who gave her a standing ovation, the Sparks and her Mercury teammates, as she made her much-anticipated return in Phoenix's 94-71 loss to Los Angeles. She finished with 18 points, six rebounds and four blocked shots in 25 minutes.

Griner said she tried to take in the emotion of the night, especially when her name was announced to cheers, while also trying to stay focused for the game. And she was thrilled the vice president was there.

"It was amazing," Griner said of Harris. "It was nice to be able to see her face-to-face, talk to her, thank her for everything. And then the team really enjoyed it, too, when she came in."

Harris met with both teams in their locker rooms before the game.

"Thank you for all that you did in supporting Brittney," the vice president told the Mercury. "I know that was rough and so difficult."

Harris also talked about how "team is family" and how important it was that the Mercury kept Griner's "story alive" while she was in Russia.

Nneka Ogwumike, the Los Angeles star and WNBA players' union executive committee president, presented Harris with a Sparks jersey and thanked her.

"Tonight is a game, but we're also celebrating the return of one of our own, and what the Biden administration did to make that happen is really important," Ogwumike said. "We know that wasn't easy. But we want to say thank you so much for us to be able to play against BG tonight."

Tennis legend Billie Jean King, Lakers coach Darvin Ham, South Carolina Gamecocks coach Dawn Staley and WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert were all on hand. (ESPN).

Legendary South Carolina coach Dawn Staley in LA to see her girl, BG!
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Sneakers in the Oval Office. Even the great Jane Mayer weighs in.

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Celestino Garcia rolls 25,000 bagels by hand each week.

Watch the videos in here. 👇 You will meet an amazing man.

How One of New York’s Last Bagel Masters Rolls Thousands by Hand.

Without Celestino García, New Yorkers might go without some of their most beloved bagels. At well-known shops like Court Street Bagels and Tompkins Square Bagels, you can see long lines out the door most mornings — but Mr. García’s work there is less visible. From 2 a.m. until late in the afternoon, he’s in the kitchen, mixing and hand-rolling dough in all kinds of flavors. Bagels can now be made by machine, so there aren’t many masters of the form left who can roll them by hand. But many bagel enthusiasts swear by the handmade approach, insisting that it produces a fluffier, chewier bite.

I spent a day with Mr. García as he went from shop to shop, casually rolling thousands of bagels at a time. And I learned how he became one of the most sought-after people in the New York City bagel business. (New York Times).

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Looking for something to do?

Yesterday in NYC. 7:30 tomorrow night at Howard, in DC. Joyce Vance. Barb McQuade. Jill Wine Banks. KimberlyEAtkins

Pricing starts at $22.

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Couldn’t resist ending the day with this.

Jim Brown and Muhammad Ali jog in the London morning fog, May 1966.

Even though we lost them and miss them, every day, we will see their like again. Amazing world. There are good people.

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