May 2, 2023

Tuesday, May 2, 2023. Annette’s News Roundup.

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Joe is always busy.

May is Jewish American Heritage Month.

A Proclamation on Jewish American Heritage Month, 2023 - The White House.

This month, we celebrate the enduring heritage of Jewish Americans, whose values, culture, and contributions have shaped our character as a Nation.  For generations, the story of the Jewish people — one of resilience, faith, and hope in the face of adversity, prejudice and persecution — has been woven into the fabric of our Nation’s story.  It has driven us forward in our ongoing march for justice, equality, and freedom as we recommit to upholding the principles of our Nation’s founding and realizing the promise of America for all Americans.

     For centuries, Jewish refugees fleeing oppression and discrimination abroad have sailed to our shores in search of sanctuary.  Early on, they fought for religious freedom, helping define one of the bedrock principles upon which America was built.  Union soldiers celebrated Passover in the midst of the Civil War.  Jewish suffragists fought to expand freedom and justice.  And Jewish faith leaders linked arms with giants of the Civil Rights Movement to demand equal rights for all. 

     Jewish Americans continue to enrich every part of American life as educators and entrepreneurs, athletes and artists, scientists and entertainers, public officials and activists, labor and community leaders, diplomats and military service members, public health heroes, and more.  Last year, I was proud to host the White House’s first-ever Jewish New Year reception.  During our Hanukkah celebration, I was also proud to unveil the first-ever permanent menorah at the White House — reinforcing the permanency of Jewish culture in America.  In my own life, the Jewish community has been a tremendous source of friendship, guidance, and strength through seasons of pain and seasons of joy.

     But there is also a dark side to the celebrated history of the Jewish people — a history marked by genocide, pogrom, and persecution — with a through line that continues in the record rise of antisemitism today.  We have witnessed violent attacks on synagogues, bricks thrown through windows of Jewish businesses, swastikas defacing cars and cemeteries, Jewish students harassed on college campuses, and Jews wearing religious attire beaten and shot on streets.  Antisemitic conspiracy theories are rampant online, and celebrities are spouting antisemitic hate.

     These acts are unconscionable and despicable.  They carry with them terrifying echoes of the worst chapters in human history.  Not only are they a strike against Jews, but they are also a threat to other minority communities and a stain on the soul of our Nation.  I decided to run for President after I saw this hatred on display during the rally in Charlottesville, when neo-Nazis marched from the shadows spewing the same antisemitic bile that was heard in Germany in the 1930s.  These incidents remind us that hate never truly goes away — it only hides until it is given just a little oxygen.  It is our obligation to ensure that hate can have no safe harbor in America and to protect the sacred ideals enshrined in our Constitution:  religious freedom, equality, dignity, and respect.  That is the promise of America.

     I have made clear that I will not remain silent in the face of this antisemitic venom, vitriol, and violence.  During my first year in office, I signed the bipartisan COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act to help State and local law enforcement better identify and respond to hate crimes.  I appointed Deborah Lipstadt, a historian of the Holocaust, as the first Ambassador-level Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Antisemitism.  And my Administration also secured the largest increase in funding ever for the physical security of nonprofits, including synagogues, Jewish Community Centers, and Jewish day schools.  

     At my direction, we are also developing the first national strategy to counter antisemitism that outlines comprehensive actions the Federal Government will undertake and that reflects input from over a thousand Jewish community stakeholders, faith and civil rights leaders, State and local officials, and more.  This strategy will help combat antisemitism online and offline, including in schools and on campuses; improve security to prevent antisemitic incidents and attacks; and build cross-community solidarity against antisemitism and other forms of hate. 

     But governance alone cannot root out antisemitism and hate.  All Americans — including business and community leaders, educators, students, athletes, entertainers, and influencers — must help confront bigotry in all its forms.  We must each do our part to put an end to antisemitism and hatred and create a culture of respect in our workplaces, schools, and homes and across social media.

     This Jewish American Heritage Month, let us join hands across faiths, races, and backgrounds to make clear that evil, hate, and antisemitism will not prevail.  Let us honor the timeless values, contributions, and culture of Jewish Americans, who carry our Nation forward each and every day.  And let us rededicate ourselves to the sacred work of creating a more inclusive tomorrow, protecting the diversity that defines who we are as a Nation, and preserving the dignity of every human being — here at home and around the world.  

     NOW, THEREFORE, I, JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR., President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim May 2023 as Jewish American Heritage Month.  I call upon all Americans to learn more about the heritage and contributions of Jewish Americans and to observe this month with appropriate programs, activities, and ceremonies.

     IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this twenty-eighth day of April, in the year two thousand twenty‑three, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and forty-seventh.

                             JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR.

Sunday, Dark Brandon called the GOP out for this.

Yesterday, he called them out again.

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Republican Speaker McCarthy violates the Executive- Legislative divide, invites Netanyahu to ignore our President.

Article I of the Constitution clarifies several of Congress’s foreign affairs powers, including those to “regulate commerce with foreign nations,” “declare war,” “raise and support armies,” “provide and maintain a navy,” and “make rules for the government and regulation of the land and naval forces.” The Constitution also makes two of the president’s foreign affairs powers — making treaties and appointing diplomats —dependent on Senate approval.

But that is the Senate, not the House.

As per the Constitution, the U.S. House of Representatives makes and passes federal laws.

United States v. Curtiss-Wright Export Corp., 299 U.S. 304 (1936), was a decision of the United States Supreme Court concerning the foreign affairs powers of the President of the United States. It held that the President, as the nation's "sole organ" in international relations, was therefore innately vested with significant powers over foreign affairs, far exceeding those permitted in domestic matters or accorded to the U.S. Congress.

The Court's majority reasoned that although the U.S. Constitution does not explicitly provide for such authority, the powers are implicit in the President's constitutional role as commander-in-chief and head of the executive branch.

Curtiss-Wright was the first decision to establish that the President's plenary power is independent of congressional permission. (Wikipedia).

A Conservative Republican Justice George Sutherland from Utah wrote the majority opinion for the Court - The president is “the sole organ of the federal government in the field of international relations,” he wrote. “He, not Congress, has the better opportunity of knowing conditions which prevail in foreign countries and especially is this true in time of war,” he wrote.

According to the Wilson Center, “Congress does not pay close attention to foreign affairs; its oversight of the foreign policy establishment is sporadic and haphazard; and, when it does get involved, its decisions are usually driven more by politics than careful deliberation. That was the consensus of a panel convened at the Wilson Center Oct. 17 on the topic, “Congress’ Influence on Foreign Policy: For Better or Worse?”

The Logan Act, codified at 18 U.S.C. § 953min 1799, states:

Any citizen of the United States, wherever he may be, who, without authority of the United States, directly or indirectly commences or carries on any correspondence or intercourse with any foreign government or any officer or agent thereof, in relation to any disputes or controversies with the United States, or to defeat the measures of the United States, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than three years, or both.

The Logan Act was intended to prohibit United States citizens without authority from interfering in relations between the United States and foreign governments. (There have been no prosecutions under the act in its more than 200-year history.)

My immediate reaction to McCarthy’s actions was shock. To meet his political needs, he is willing to overstep his bounds as Speaker, embarrass our President and country, and cause chaos, internationally as well as domestically.

McCarthy invites Netanyahu to visit Congress, skip the White House.

JERUSALEM — House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, on a visit to Israel, has placed himself in the middle of a widening rift between President Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, criticizing the White House for not hosting the premier and suggesting he come address the Congress instead.


McCarthy (R-Calif.), who arrived over the weekend with a bipartisan delegation of House members at a time of tense political standoffs in both countries, sought to make common cause with Netanyahu over their shared frustrations with the president.


“It’s been too long,” McCarthy said in an interview with the daily Israel Hayom. “If that doesn’t happen, I’ll invite the prime minister to come meet with the House. He’s a dear friend.”

Netanyahu’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on McCarthy’s suggestion.

Biden has said he had no immediate plans to offer the traditional visit of a new Israeli prime minister to the Oval Office — Netanyahu returned to power four months ago — a seeming rebuke for his new government’s controversial push to gain greater control over the country’s Supreme Court. (Washington Post).

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Lawsuits, they are a-happening.

Yes, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg has indicted Trump on 36 felony counts. Fani Willis, District Attorney of Fulton County in Georgia, will start indictments in the summer. Jack Smith, Special Prosecutor for the Justice Department, hasn’t let on what his timetable for actions is.

Disney is suing Florida’s bullying Governor DeSantis and his cronies, and they are counter-suing.

But there are many other lawsuits too.👇

New York.

Montana.

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If you thought no Texas Politician was more vile than Ted Cruz, think again.

#RedmeatRepublican Ted Cruz (right) and the Texas Governor Bid Abbott seem to be vying for the title- “most vile Texas Politician.”

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Police still searching for Texas man accused of killing five neighbors.

April 30 (Reuters) - Over 200 law enforcement officers in Texas searched on Sunday for a man accused of shooting to death five neighbors after being asked to stop firing a semiautomatic rifle in Cleveland, Texas.

Francisco Oropesa, 38, is accused of opening fire on neighbors after being asked to stop shooting an AR-15-style rifle late Friday because it was keeping a baby awake. The victims include an 8-year-old boy.

"Right now, we have zero leads," FBI Houston Special Agent in Charge James Smith told reporters on Sunday. (Reuters).

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One piece of the Trump legacy.

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You may have heard. Trump is in Scotland.

Why is a man charged with 36 felonies and rape, allowed to leave our country?

Trump is forth from the left, breaking ground for a new golf course in Scotland.

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Women as a group and individually have made so many advances that we may forget how bad so many women’s lives still are.

Here is an older survey by the CDC. 2014. Do we think it is outdated?

Nearly a third of U.S. women have experienced domestic violence. CDC 2014.

The abuse portrayed in the video that led to [the football player] Ray Rice’s contract termination shows Rice striking his then-fiancee, Janay Palmer, hitting her against an elevator wall, and dragging her out. The violent act has been widely condemned. It’s also all too common: More than 31 percent of women in the United States have been physically abused by an intimate partner at some point in their lives, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

That troubling statistic comes from the agency’s National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey, released just last week. Researchers conducted more than 12,000 phone interviews in 2011, and also found that 19.3 percent of women (almost one in five) had been raped.

Intimate partner violence covers “physical, sexual or psychological harm” by a current or former partner, according to the CDC. In addition to experiencing physical abuse by a partner, an estimated 22.3 percent of women (and 14 percent of men) have experienced severe physical violence at the hands of an intimate partner.

Of course, all of these studies are the result of women actually telling researchers that they were abused. While the response rate for the 2011 survey wasn’t all that high (about 33 percent), CDC researchers conclude that the results likely underestimate how common such violence is in the United States.


“Victims who are involved in violent relationships or who have recently experienced severe forms of violence might be less likely to participate in surveys or might not be willing to disclose their experiences because of unresolved emotional trauma or concern for their safety,” researchers note.(Washington Post).

Then there is this question. 👇

Why do women stay with their abusers? Here’s one overlooked reason.

Control over money is a form of power and, in many cases, an integral part of the abusive dynamic. It must also be an integral part of the solution.

(Washington Post).
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A Pro-Democracy Legislator in Nebraska.

Nebraska Lawmaker Has Filibustered for Nine Weeks—and She’s Not Done.

Machaela Cavanaugh has filibustered the Nebraska state legislature for nine weeks straight, all to make sure a bill banning gender-affirming care for minors never makes it to a final vote.

Cavanaugh made waves when she first began her filibuster in February for saying she would “burn the session to the ground over this bill.”

“If this legislature collectively decides that legislating hate against children is our priority, then I am going to make it painful, painful for everyone,” she said. “I have nothing, nothing but time, and I am going to use all of it.”

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One more state to fight in to keep the Senate Blue in 2024.

Ben Cardin to retire: No Senate run for Maryland Democrat in 2024.

U.S. Sen. Benjamin L. Cardin will not seek re-election to the U.S. Senate after three terms, ending a career in public service that spanned more than half a century and opening up a potential scramble among politicians to replace him.

Cardin’s first electoral win was in 1966, when he joined the Maryland House of Delegates representing Baltimore at age 23. He rose to become the youngest speaker of the House, serving from 1979 until 1986. His portrait hangs in the House chamber in the State House in Annapolis.

The names of several Democratic politicians have been floated as potential candidates, including Prince George’s County Executive Angela Alsobrooks, U.S. Rep. Jamie Raskin, U.S. Rep. David Trone, Montgomery County Councilman Will Jawando and Baltimore County Executive Johnny Olszewski Jr.

Republicans are likely to have their eye on a chance to win the seat, especially given that the party hasn’t held a U.S. Senate seat from Maryland since the late Charles “Mac” Mathias Jr.retired in 1987.

Former Gov. Larry Hogan has been lobbied to run, but has publicly said he’s not interested in serving on Capitol Hill. (The Baltimore Banner).

And one state where there will not be a fight.

AOC is ‘not planning’ to run for Senate in 2024.

For months, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand faced nagging questions about whether she’d be primaried from her left when she was up for reelection next year. The chatter grew so loud that party insiders wondered if she’d run at all.

But since the New York Democrat formally announced her reelection bid in January, she appears to be clearing the field.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), one of Gillibrand’s strongest possible challengers, is all but closing the door on a possible run.

“She is not planning to run for Senate in 2024. She is not planning to primary Gillibrand,” Lauren Hitt, Ocasio-Cortez’s spokesperson, told POLITICO.

Other possible challengers have already opted out of the race. Former New York Rep. Mondaire Jones, a progressive, has decided he won’t run for Gillibrand’s seat next year after privately considering a bid, according to a person familiar with his plans who was granted anonymity to speak frankly about internal deliberations. Reps. Jamaal Bowman (D-N.Y.) and Ritchie Torres (D-N.Y.) also told POLITICO they are not interested in the race.

“Sen. Gillibrand has represented our state incredibly well,” said Isaac Goldberg, a Democratic consultant based in New York. “There’s no energy right now to go after someone who spends her time protecting the right to choose, fighting for paid leave, family leave, workers’ rights and a green economy and everything else Democrats in this state value.” (Politico).

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Princeton's Toni Morrison exhibition marks the 30th anniversary of her Nobel win.

Walking into Toni Morrison: Sites of Memory, a new exhibition curated from the late author's archives at Princeton University, is an emotional experience for anyone who loves literature. Dozens of pages are on display, most of them waterlogged and brown from burning.

"These are the fire-singed pieces from the house fire," explains curator Autumn Womack. "I wanted visitors to think about the archive as something that is both fragile but also endures."

Morrison's house accidentally burned down in 1993, the same year she won the Nobel Prize in Literature. A team of archivists saved Morrison's work. They wrapped every surviving page in Mylar. This exhibition includes diary entries, unreleased recordings and drafts of novels, such as Sula, Song of Solomon and Beloved, as well as letters and lists dating back to when the author was a girl in Lorain, Ohio, named Chloe Ardelia Wofford.

"There's material where you can see her playing around with her name," Womack points out. "There's Chloe Wofford, Toni Wofford; then we get Toni Morrison."

CURRENT: Toni Morrison: Sites of Memory

Date: Wednesday, 22 February 2023 - 12:00pm to Sunday, 4 June 2023 - 6:00pm.

Location: Ellen and Leonard Milberg Gallery, Firestone Library.

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