Sunday, February 12, 2023. Annette’s News Roundup.
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Yesterday seemed relatively quiet aside from Trudeau ordering a “unidentified flying object” shot down over Canada.
I ordered the take down of an unidentified object that violated Canadian airspace. @NORADCommand shot down the object over the Yukon. Canadian and U.S. aircraft were scrambled, and a U.S. F-22 successfully fired at the object.
— Justin Trudeau (@JustinTrudeau) February 11, 2023
Next week promises to be a big news week, maybe with more information about these flying objects, certainly with more information about #RedMeatRepublicans.
For now…
Pence vs. Trump? This is how Gerald Ford finally broke with Nixon.
The subpoena issued to Mike Pence this week by the special counsel investigating Donald Trump’s failed bid to overturn the 2020 presidential election could irreparably sever relations between the former president and his onetime loyal vice president, if it causes Pence to testify against his old boss.
A half-century ago, Vice President Gerald Ford also faced a tipping point in his relationship with Richard M. Nixon, and decided to break with the beleaguered president.
Ford, who had loyally defended Nixon throughout the Watergate scandal as both House minority leader and vice president, finally told Nixon on Aug. 6, 1974, in the waning days of Nixon’s presidency, that he could no longer defend him. In his memoir, “A Time to Heal,” Fordrecalled this seminal moment, which took place at a Cabinet meeting. Conscious that everyone in the room was looking at him, he told Nixon, “Mr. President, with your indulgence, I have something to say.”
“Well Jerry, go ahead,” Nixon replied.
“Everyone here recognizes the difficult position I’m in,” Ford said. “No one regrets more than I do this whole tragic episode. I have deep personal sympathy for you, Mr. President, and your fine family. But I wish to emphasize that had I known what has been disclosed in reference to Watergate in the last twenty-four hours, I would not have made a number of the statements I made either as Minority Leader or as Vice President.”
In its 2006 obituary for Ford, the New York Times reported that Ford told Nixon more directly, “I no longer can publicly defend you.” (Washington Post).
Or there is this.👇
Pence Says Mother Will Not Give Him Permission to Testify.
WASHINGTON (The Borowitz Report)—The special counsel investigating January 6th has received a letter from Mike Pence indicating that a person named Mother will not permit him to testify.
Mother, who is believed to be Pence’s wife, Karen, was “hopping mad” when he received a subpoena from the special counsel’s office, the letter revealed.
“When I told her I better go testify, Mother said, ‘Mike, are you some kind of idiot?’ ” the letter read. “ ‘What if you’re interrogated by a woman lawyer, and you’re alone in a room with her? Women are lawyers nowadays.’ ”
Pence recognized that refusing to testify could result in his being imprisoned, but added, “Mother said that as long as there are no women in the prison, she’s fine with that.” (Yes, Borowitz, The New Yorker).
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The fight against antisemitism continues, as it must.
Antisemitic text was projected onto the Anne Frank House.
Antisemitic text implying that Anne Frank's diary was a forgery was projected onto the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam this week, the museum announced in a statement.
"The Anne Frank House organisation has learned of this with shock and revulsion," the museum said.
The projection on the house where the Frank family hid during World War II read, "Ann Frank [sic], inventor of the ballpoint pen."
It alludes to a debunked far-right conspiracy theory that the diary was a forgery because part of it was written in ballpoint pen, which were not yet in use while Anne lived. The theory was meticulously and scientifically disproven by the Dutch government, The New York Times reported in 1989.
This false claim is used to question or deny the Holocaust.
Footage of the projection appeared in a hate video in a private Telegram group from the U.S., the museum's statement says. (NPR).
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Touch 👇 to watch the 2nd Gentleman speak about Antisemitism at the UN on Thursday.
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The fight for Democracy continues in Wisconsin. The elections are on February 21.
We can't ignore Wisconsin anymore: Phone bank to save democracy and abortion rights!
As Joan McCarter wrote recently, the 2024 election starts now in Wisconsin. Two races on the ballot there this year (state Supreme Court and state Senate) can determine the future of democracy and abortion rights nationwide.
So why are these elections so important, and why should you spend your time making calls—even if you don't live in Wisconsin?
The Wisconsin Supreme Court, with its 4-3 conservative majority, has already worked to suppress the vote, ban ballot drop boxes, and will soon determine if the state rockets back to 1849 and bans abortion. One of the seats held by a conservative is up for election this year, and if we win then we will flip the court to a 4-3 progressive majority.
But that's not all. Due to outrageous gerrymandering, Wisconsin Republicans have grabbed a supermajority in the state Senate. That means they could impeach and remove any official in the state, including Democratic Gov. Tony Evers. But because of an open seat, we can erase that supermajority by electing Democrat Jodi Habush Sinykin in an upcoming special election.
The primary is on Feb. 21, and the general election is on April 4. But many Wisconsin voters don't know they need to go vote: We must ensure a healthy Democratic voter turnout in order to win these very under-the-radar, but surprisingly crucial elections.
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What some kids are learning in college.
Dance like a Rockette: College students take unique class.
BOSTON (AP) — Rhapsody Stiggers has been dancing since she was 2, but the 20-year-old college junior has never taken a dance class quite as challenging as the one she’s in now.
She is one of 38 students at the Boston Conservatory at Berklee enrolled in the first for-credit college dance class taught by the Radio City Rockettes, the precision dance team famous for its annual high-kicking “Christmas Spectacular,” seen by more than 69 million people since 1933.
The class, taught by a current Rockette, focuses on their meticulously precise technique, based on tap, ballet and jazz, in which the dancers move and kick in perfect synchronicity. The course also teaches strength training, choreography and lessons that can be applied to pretty much any dance genre.
“What’s unique about this class is the level of technicality,” said Stiggers, originally from St. Paul, Minnesota. She said she’s skilled in ballet, modern, jazz, salsa, West African and improvisation, but “no other style of dance really emphasizes the precision of every single body part.”
“Like the Rockettes, we have to know exactly where our eye is, or where they’re pointing, or where the fingers are pointing, or how extended they are. So in that sense it is more difficult than other styles that I have done in the past,” she said. (AP).
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You can’t swim at Manhattan‘s new public beach, but how glorious it is.
A brand new beach is set to open this year in New York City — but it's not your typical oceanfront destination.
Expected to open to the public in summer 2023, the beach will be located alongside the Hudson River at Gansevoort Peninsula Park in Manhattan and offer a sandy shoreline, picnic tables, sports field and kayaking, according to The Daily Beast.
The only catch: you can't actually go in the water as swimming will be forbidden.
Noreen Doyle, CEO of the Hudson River Trust, told the outlet: "We've been clear from the get-go that this is not a swimming beach. The Hudson River has made a huge amount of progress in terms of its health since the Clean Water Act was passed in the 1970s, but this is not designed as a swimming beach."
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Today is Super Bowl Sunday. Does that matter to you?
Two Black quarterbacks set to face off for the first time in a Super Bowl.
Jalen Hurts of the Philadelphia Eagles (left) and Patrick Mahomes of the Kansas City Chiefs make football history together.
Kansas City Chiefs' Patrick Mahomes and Philadelphia Eagles' Jalen Hurts, two Black quarterbacks, will be making history competing against each other in Super Bowl LVII. NBC's Niala Charles speaks to Doug Williams, the first Black quarterback to win a Super Bowl, about the significance of this game. (NBC).
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More Super Bowl History today!
All-Women Team of Navy Pilots to Make History with Flyover at Super Bowl 2023: 'Humbled and Honored.’
The team of all women will make history when they conduct the pregame flyover at Super Bowl 2023.
Seven women from the U.S. Navy will take part in the historic flight over State Farm Stadium on Sunday ahead of Super Bowl LVII, featuring the Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles, FOX affiliate KSAZ-TV reports.
The Navy says the flyover will honor "50 years of women flying" for the maritime service branch, which began teaching women to fly in 1973.
Lt. Katie Martinez, a Naval Flight Officer assigned to VFA-122, told the Navy that she is thrilled to be part of such a special event.
"It's not a feeling I can even put into words," Martinez explained in a Jan. 27 press release. "It doesn't get bigger than the Super Bowl, and I am humbled and honored to be able to participate with my friends and fellow Naval Aviators as part of this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity."
The all-female team will fly in a diamond formation over State Farm Stadium at a blistering speed of around 345 mph, according to CBS Sports.
The formation will include two F/A-18F Super Hornets, an F-35C Lightning II and an EA-18G Growler, per the Navy's press release.
Super Bowl LVII airs Sunday at 6:30 p.m. ET on CBS and Paramount+ (People).
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Jill Biden - “Philly Girl” - Is Ready to Cheer on the Eagles at the Super Bowl.
WASHINGTON — To hear President Biden tell it, his wife is not merely a Philadelphia Eagles fan.
She is, in Mr. Biden’s own words, “obnoxious” about her fandom and so much of a self-proclaimed “Philly girl” that if he wasn’t an Eagles fan, too, “I’d be sleeping alone.”
“You all think I’m kidding,” he joked with donors at a fund-raiser in — where else? — Philadelphia last week. “No, those are no joke. No, I am not kidding.”
For almost two years, Jill Biden has been the first lady for all Americans. But that changes — at least for a few hours — this Sunday, when she attends the Super Bowl to watch the Eagles battle the Kansas City Chiefs, ditching the red, white and blue in favor of midnight green, silver and black.
“I mean, it’s — it’s really absolutely amazing,” Mr. Biden mused to the donors about his wife’s determined belief that the Eagles will win it all this year. “I mean, the certitude.”
“You heard the president say that Jill didn’t want him to go to the Super Bowl Sunday because he causes too much of a distraction,” Mary Doody, a longtime friend of the first lady’s, said in an interview. “She wants to go enjoy the game.”
“I think it makes her more real,” she said. “I think she’s so authentic anyway. This is not something she is doing because the Eagles are in the Super Bowl. She’s doing it because she’s a Philly girl.” (New York Times).
Like Jill, Eve is a “Philly Girl,” so you know who we are cheering for — in theory.
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Tomorrow is a day off. Have a great Monday.
See you on Tuesday! 💙❤️💙❤️ 🍫 🍫
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