May 23, 2024

Thursday, May 23, 2024. Annette’s News Roundup.

I think the Roundup makes people feel not so alone.

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Breakin’ News. 💥💥

Another Provocative Flag Was Flown at Another Alito Home.

The justice’s beach house displayed an “Appeal to Heaven” flag, a symbol carried on Jan. 6 and associated with a push for a more Christian-minded government.

Three photographs obtained by The New York Times, along with accounts from a half-dozen neighbors and passers-by, show that the Appeal to Heaven flag was aloft at the Alito home on Long Beach Island in July and September of 2023. A Google Street View image from late August also shows the flag.

(New York Times)

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Joe is always busy.

President Biden will release more gasoline to cut prices at the pump. His administration plans to tap a million barrels from storage sites in the Northeast ahead of the July 4 holiday. Skeptics said the move appeared to be driven by politics, but others noted that Congress had required the closure of those sites by the end of September. (The Deal Book, New York Times)

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Full speech by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis after her re-election on Tuesday.

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The understandable Brouhaha about Trump’s latest position on contraception.

The truth is 1) we mustn’t allow Trump to be elected 2) we must know Trump lies.

Trump Opens Door to Birth Control Restrictions, Then Tries to Close It.

The former president suggested he might support letting states place restrictions on contraception, then said amid criticism that he didn’t support restrictions. (New York Times).

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Trump’s social media shares a campaign video with a headline about a “unified Reich.”

NEW YORK (AP) — A video posted to Donald Trump’s account on his social media network included references to a “unified Reich” among hypothetical news headlines if he wins the election in November.

The headline appears among messages flashing across the screen such as “Trump wins!!” and “Economy booms!” Other headlines appear to be references to World War I. The word “Reich” is often largely associated with Nazi Germany’s Third Reich, though the references in the video Trump shared appear to be a reference to the formation of the modern pan-German nation, unifying smaller states into a single Reich, or empire, in 1871.

The 30-second video appeared Monday on Trump’s account at a time when the presumptive Republican nominee for president, while seeking to portray President Joe Biden as soft on antisemitism, has himself repeatedly faced criticism for using language and rhetoric associated with Nazi Germany. (Associated Press).

Also remember another promise Trump made.

He promised a “unified reich” on Monday. Yesterday, this happened.👇

Be a @Liz_Cheney 🇺🇸 in a sea of @NikkiHaley's and @marcorubio's.....

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FBI responds to Trump claim about Mar-a-Lago search.

The FBI in a statement on Tuesday said that their search at former President Trump's Mar-a-Lago residence followed standard protocol, which "includes a standard policy statement limiting the use of deadly force."

Why it matters: The statement was a response to a Truth Social post from Trump earlier in the day that inflamed his conservative allies and included misleading claims about President Biden's Justice Department.

• "The FBI followed standard protocol in this search as we do for all search warrants, which includes a standard policy statement limiting the use of deadly force," the FBI said in the Tuesday statement, according to multiple reports.

• "No one ordered additional steps to be taken and there was no departure from the norm in this matter," the FBI said.

Zoom in: Trump posted on his Truth Social account on Tuesday that Biden's Justice Department "authorized the FBI to use deadly (lethal) force."

• Trump's allies seized on his post, with Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) falsely claiming that the DOJ and FBI were "planning to assassinate Pres. Trump and gave the green light."

Trump was indicted last year on charges related to the investigation into his handling of classified documents after he left the White House. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges.

• He has often turned to social media to deride his criminal cases, presenting himself as the victim of politically motivated prosecutors.

The big picture: Court documents unsealed Tuesday provided new details about the FBI's search at Mar-a-Lago.

• In one of Trump's team's filings, they wrote that the FBI was authorized under Justice Department policy to use "deadly force," which is typical department policy, the Washington Post notes.

• "Every FBI operations order contains a reminder of FBI deadly force policy," former assistant director of counterintelligence at the FBI Frank Figliuzzi wroteon the social media platform X.

"Even for a search warrant. Deadly force is always authorized if the required threat presents itself."

Flashback: Former FBI assistant director in charge Steve D'Antuono testified before Congress last year, saying, "it wasn't even a show of force, right, because we were all in agreement."

"We made sure we interacted with the Secret Service to make sure we could get into Mar-a-Lago with no issues," he said.

"We're not banging down any doors. We weren't bringing any like FBI vehicles, everything that was reported about helicopters and a hundred people descending on, like a Die Hard movie, was completely untrue, right. That is not how we played it."

Go deeper: Trump's attorneys found classified docs in his bedroom months after raid. (Axios).

Now Trump invented another completely crazy lie, to stir his followers into a violent frenzy.👇

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Tuesday is Closing Argument Day in Trump’s Criminal Court Trial in NYC.

The Prosecution will surely include this bit of trivia.

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The ‘Free Palestine’ Fallout continues.

From the Crimson.

BREAKING: The Harvard Corporation rejected an effort by the Faculty of Arts and Sciences to confer degrees on 13 seniors facing disciplinary charges for participating in the pro-Palestine encampment.

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Broadway’s Palace Theatre.

New York’s Palace Theater Gets an $80 Million Refresh (and 30 Feet Higher).

Take a look.

The Palace Theater, among the oldest and largest of Broadway’s houses, is a lavishly baroque jewel, built in 1913 for vaudeville but later transformed into a movie house and, since 1966, a presenter of plays and musicals. Seen on its stage over the years: Sarah Bernhardt and Judy Garland, “La Cage aux Folles” and “SpongeBob SquarePants.”

For six years, the theater has been closed for an unusual reason: A developer hoisted the 14-million-pound structure 30 feet, making room for retail below and replacing the hotel above. The developer also paid for an $80 million renovation of the theater, and now the Palace is reopening.

The Palace already has its initial bookings. In October, performances will begin for “Tammy Faye,” a musical about the televangelist, with songs by Elton John and Jake Shears.

But first, on May 28, Ben Platt kicks off an 18-performance concert residency to promote his new album.

“People are going to be coming in wanting to take in the theater, and we want to give them space and a moment to take in where they are,” Platt said. “You can feel the positive ghostliness of everything that’s come before.”

The theater interior in 1913.

How important is the Palace?

Here’s what the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission said in 1987: “If one theater in New York’s Broadway theater district were to be named the most famous, the privilege would fall virtually uncontested to the Palace.”

For over a century, the Palace, like most Broadway theaters, started at street level. Now the theater’s main level is three floors up.

The Palace has always been part of something bigger. It opened in 1913 as part of an 11-story office tower. By the early 1990s, a 43-story hotel had replaced the office tower. And now, for $2.5 billion, that tower has been replaced with TSX Broadway, a 46-story mixed-use development.

Because the theater interior is landmarked, preserving it was a top priority. The project was painstaking — it took nearly four months to lift the theater 30 feet, with careful vibration monitoring.

The Palace was designed by the architectural firm Kirchhoff & Rose of Milwaukee. In 1913, The New York Times reported that “the theatre embraces all the most modern ideas in stage construction,” that smoking was restricted to the balcony, and that “there is also an animal room, in which anything from a trained monkey to an acting lion can be accommodated.”

Architects used historical images to recreate lost elements. Missing plaster faces were replaced using molds of those that survived. “The goal was to make it seem as if the building hadn’t been touched,” said Lesa Rozmarek, a project architect, “so you’re stepping back in time.”

There are all kinds of improvements that are not immediately obvious, including the lighting booth.

By the 1930s, the Palace had to supplement vaudeville with film screenings. One side effect: a projection booth was constructed at the rear of the balcony. Later, that was expanded for theatrical lighting.

The project architects removed the booth, restoring the visual integrity of the balcony, and relocated spotlights into an unused attic space behind decorative grills. They even installed an elevator and a bathroom for the follow-spot operators.

At the back of the orchestra is the “Judy Garland Staircase,” from which she would make a surprise entrance.

The list of performers who have played the Palace is quite long — Bob Hope, Jerry Lewis, Josephine Baker and Diana Ross. But no artist is more closely associated with the theater than Garland, who had extended runs there in 1951, 1956 and 1967.

The upper lobby now features a display of Garland memorabilia as well as other historic Palace artifacts.

Platt said he expects to pay homage to Garland and to her daughter Liza Minnelli (who also played the Palace) during his concerts.

Broadway theaters vary considerably, but they all share one challenge: not enough bathroom capacity.

The challenge is this: Hundreds of people seek relief during a brief intermission. And it’s been hard to address because many of the theaters are landmarked and boxed in by other buildings.

The Palace was able to double its restroom capacity by using non-landmarked areas to add 29 stalls, 21 sinks and 2 urinals.

Among the other changes: a new chandelier.

When the Palace originally opened, The New York Times described a brightly decorated dome with “a chandelier of old ivory bronze fourteen feet across.”

Sometime over the last 111 years, that chandelier disappeared.

In fashioning a central lighting fixture for the building’s new life, the architects combined the shape of the original with the Art Moderne and Art Deco styles favored in subsequent renovations. They also made sure the new chandelier was contoured so as not to obstruct the relocated spotlights.

Previously, theatergoers entered the Palace from Broadway. Now they will arrive on 47th Street.

The Palace Theatre, circa 1920, is above, facing now what is Father Duffy Square.

The Palace, owned by James L. Nederlander and Stewart F. Lane, sits at the corner of Seventh Avenue and 47th Street — a prime location in Times Square but also a congested one. Entering had become an obstacle course. So the theater’s owners ceded their Broadway-facing entryway as part of the development deal.

“The Palace actually, for as stunning as it is, never had the entranceway it deserved — it was basically just a hallway to the street,” said Nick Scandalios, chief operating officer at the Nederlander Organization. He said the move has resulted in “a grander and more gracious entrance.”

The theater’s new color scheme is blue, bronze and ivory, replacing the previous red-and-bronze theme.

The Palace now has 1,648 seats, down from 1,740 in 2018 and 1,800 in 1913. The seats are wider, and there is more legroom. The Palace is also more accessible, with additional wheelchair locations, and an elevator to all floors.

The theater added 10,000 square feet to its front-of-house and backstage areas; improvements include new rigging for lighting and lifts for the orchestra and set pieces.

“Walking in there, I have the same feeling I had when I was 7 and 8 years old,” Nederlander said. “No pun intended, but it’s like I just walked into a palace, and it goes all the way back to vaudeville.”

Showtime!

(New York Times)

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