November 21, 2023

Tuesday, November 21, 2023. Annette’s News Roundup.

I think the Roundup makes people feel not so alone.

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Joe is always busy.

Saturday.

Monday.

Biden pardons two Thanksgiving turkeys while marking his 81st birthday with jokes about his age.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Turkeys Liberty and Bell have new appreciation for the phrase, “Let freedom ring.”

The Thanksgiving birds played their part Monday in annual White House tradition that this year coincided with President Joe Biden ‘s 81st birthday: a president issuing a pardon and sparing them from becoming someone’s holiday dinner.

First, Biden — the oldest president in U.S. history — wanted to make light of his age.

“By the way, it’s my birthday today,” the president said, noting that guests with him in the Oval Office before the event sang “Happy Birthday.” “I just want you to know, it’s difficult turning 60. Difficult.”

He also noted that the presentation of a National Thanksgiving Turkey to the White House has been a tradition for more than seven decades.

“This is the 76th anniversary of this event, and I want you to know I wasn’t there .. for the first one,” Biden said.

The Democrat’s age has become an issue as he seeks reelection next year.

Before issuing the pardons, Biden said that although Liberty and Bell are Minnesota natives, they were named for the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia.

“These birds have a new appreciation of the word, ‘let freedom ring,’” he said, adding that they love Honeycrisp apples, ice hockey, a thousand lakes and the Mall of America — all things the Midwest state is famous for.

They overcame “some tough odds” to make it to the White House, Biden continued, saying “they had to work hard to show patience and be willing to travel over a thousand miles.” He suggested their feat probably was harder than getting a ticket to Beyonce’s Renaissance Tour or “Britney’s tour, she’s down in, it’s kind of warm in Brazil right now.” He apparently mixed up his female pop stars; Taylor Swift was in Brazil over the weekend for her Eras Tour; Britney Spears currently is not on tour.

“Look folks, based on their commitment to being productive members of society as they head to their new home at the University of Minnesota ... I hereby pardon Liberty and Bell. Congratulations, birds!” Biden declared.

Hundreds of guests, including Cabinet secretaries and White House staff who brought children, watched from the South Lawn as Biden kicked off the unofficial start of Washington’s holiday season. His granddaughter Maisy Biden watched from the sidelines with her half-brother Beau Biden. After the ceremony, Beau was led over to pet one of the turkeys.

Later Monday, military families joined Biden’s wife, first lady Jill Biden, as she accepted delivery of an 18.5-foot (5.6-meter) Fraser fir from the Cline Church Nursery in Fleetwood, North Carolina. It will go on display in the Blue Room as the official White House Christmas tree.

Steve Lykken, chairman of the National Turkey Federation and president of the Jennie-O Turkey Store, told The Associated Press in an interview last week that the pardons are a “great way to kick off the holiday season and really, really a fun honor.”

Lykken introduced Liberty and Bell on Sunday at the Willard Intercontinental, a luxury hotel near the White House. The gobblers checked into a suite there on Saturday following their red-carpet arrival in the U.S. capital after a dayslong road trip from Minnesota in a black Cadillac Escalade.

“They were raised like all of our turkeys, protected, of course, from weather extremes and predators, free to walk about with constant access to water and feed,” Lykken said Sunday as Liberty and Bell strutted around the Willard’s newly renovated Crystal Room on plastic sheeting laid over the carpet.

The male turkeys, both about 20 weeks old and about 42 pounds (19 kilograms), were hatched in July in Willmar, Minnesota — Jennie-O is headquartered there — as part of the “presidential flock,” Lykken said. They listened to music and other sounds to prepare them for Monday’s hoopla at the White House.

“They listened to all kinds of music to get ready for the crowds and people along the way. I can confirm they are, in fact, Swifties, and they do enjoy some Prince,” Lykken said, meaning Liberty and Bell are fans of Swift. “I think they’re absolutely ready for prime time.”

The tradition dates to 1947 when the National Turkey Federation, which represents turkey farmers and producers, first presented a National Thanksgiving Turkey to President Harry Truman.

Back then, and even earlier, the gobbler was given for the first family’s holiday consumption. But by the late 1980s, the tradition had evolved into an often humorous ceremony in which the birds are given a second chance at life.

In 1989, as animal rights activists picketed nearby, President George H.W. Bush offered a public assurance, saying, “this fine tom turkey, that he will not end up on anyone’s dinner table.”

Now spared from Thanksgiving dinner, Liberty and Bell will be cared for by the University of Minnesota’s College of Food, Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences. (Associated Press).

Tuesday.

President Joe Biden to spend Thanksgiving on Nantucket with family - CBS Boston.

President Biden, First Lady due in Nantucket before storm hits on Tuesday.

BOSTON – President Joe Biden will continue a Thanksgiving family tradition this week in Massachusetts.

Biden will eat his Thanksgiving turkey with family on Nantucket, as he has in years past. 

During the Biden family trip to Nantucket last Thanksgiving, the president and first lady shopped at local stores for Small Business Saturday, attended a Christmas tree lighting, and brought pies to local firefighters.

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Kamala is always busy.

Sunday.

Monday.

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Trump.

Saturday.

In a gymnasium in Iowa.

You may have heard that Trump was discussing “golden showers” in Iowa over the weekend. Really. Touch to watch and listen. 👇

Same day. Same gym. Same craziness.

Same day. Even crazier.

To review his tweet (Truth Social) above. 👆

For Trump, an Election is a battle, and those who are not his supporters are not opponents or rivals, but the enemy to be “demolish[ed],”driven out,” “evicted”, and he will “FINISH THE JOB ONCE AND FOR ALL.”

That is not how Democracy and Democratic Elections work.

Never forget who Trump is.

As Philip Bump of the Washington Post points out, Trump used the phrase “Final Battle” many times this year..

“He used it at the Conservative Political Action Conference. He used it at his first campaign rally in Waco, Tex. — an event that came during the 30th anniversary of the deadly standoff between government agents and a religious cult in that city. He used it again when speaking to Turning Point Action this summer. Over and over, the same framing: The final battle is nigh.”

“If your immediate point of reference for that phrase wasn’t to the Book of Revelation’s depiction of the apocalypse, you are probably not a Trump supporter.”

Bump concludes - “Might just be rhetoric aimed at turnout. You’ll forgive me if I take it more seriously than that.”

Philip Bump and I. And you too, I hope.

Yesterday.

What kind of Gag Order will be applied against Trump? How will the Judges protect the witness?

Court Signals It Could Keep but Narrow Trump Election Case Gag Order.

A federal appeals court panel is weighing how to balance the former president’s free-speech rights against insulating prosecutors, court personnel and potential witnesses from intimidation.

A federal appeals court in Washington appeared to signal at a hearing on Monday that it would keep in place at least some version of the gag order placed on former President Donald J. Trump in the criminal case accusing him of plotting to overturn the 2020 election.

But a three-judge panel of the court left open the possibility of adjusting the terms of the order or even narrowing the scope of the people covered by it, including by potentially freeing Mr. Trump to attack Jack Smith, the special counsel overseeing the federal cases against him.

The trial judge, Tanya S. Chutkan, imposed the gag order in October in Federal District Court in Washington. It forbade Mr. Trump to publicly malign any prosecutors, potential witnesses or court employees involved in the case.

But Judge Chutkan explicitly permitted Mr. Trump to criticize the Justice Department, President Biden and herself. She also allowed him to maintain that the prosecution itself was a partisan retaliation against him. (New York Times. The full article is available through the link that heads this post.)

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The 8th Circuit may have dealt the final blow to the Voting Rights Act. Very sad indeed.

All that’s left is for the Supreme Court to second it.

Federal appeals court ruling Voting Rights Act Section 2 enforcement.

The 8th Circuit has ruled that individuals and organizations like the NAACP cannot sue under the terms of the Voting Rights Act.

A federal appeals court issued a ruling Monday that could gut the Voting Rights Act, saying only the federal government — not private citizens or civil rights groups — is allowed to sue under a key section of the landmark civil rights law.

The decision out of the 8th Circuit will almost certainly be appealed and is likely headed to the Supreme Court. Should it stand, it would mark a dramatic rollback of the enforcement of the law that led to increased minority power and representation in American politics.

That, in practice, would severely limit the scope of the protections of Section 2. On paper, those protections are themselves unchanged by the ruling. But for decades, private parties — including civil rights groups, individual voters and political parties — have brought Section 2 challenges on everything from redistricting to voter ID requirements.

“After reviewing the text, history, and structure of the Voting Rights Act, the district court concluded that private parties cannot enforce Section 2,” the judges wrote. “The enforcement power belonged solely to the Attorney General of the United States.”

The majority opinion from the three-judge panel of the St. Louis-based 8th Circuit was authored by Judge David Stras — an appointee of Donald Trump — and joined by Judge Raymond Gruender, a George W. Bush appointee. Chief Judge Lavenski Smith, another Bush appointee, dissented.

“The ruling has put the Voting Rights Act in jeopardy, and is very cavalierly tossing aside critical protections that voters have very much fought and died for,” said Sophia Lin Lakin, the director of the ACLU’s Voting Rights Project, who argued the case in front of the appellate court.

The decision originates in a racial gerrymandering case out of Arkansas, where the state chapter of the NAACP and others alleged that the state’s legislative districts violated the Voting Rights Act by diluting the voting power of Black voters. A lower-court judge, also a Trump appointee, ruled in early 2022 that he couldn’t decide the case on its merits because he found there was no private right of action — that, effectively, they had no right to bring the lawsuit. On Monday, the circuit court affirmed that finding. (Politico).

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Israel-Hamas War update.

President Biden has said we are getting closer to a deal on some of the hostages taken by Hamas but who can blame family and friends of those in captivity who feel desperate.

The articles that follow 👇 should remind you to remember the barbarism of Hamas, even if you despise Netanyahu and your heart breaks over the magnitude of the deaths and destruction in Gaza.

The first article is a very moving and painful Washington Post op-ed by a woman whose children are held by Hamas.

Opinion | My children are being held hostage by Hamas. Take me to Gaza to see them. - The Washington Post.

Dafna Elyakim, now 15, and Ela Elyakim, now 8, with their mother, Maayan Zin. Dafna and Ela were taken hostage by Hamas on Oct. 7. (Maayan Zin)

Rebbe Simcha Bunem, the 18th-century Hasidic sage, was known for carrying a slip of paper in each pocket. On the first he wrote, “For my sake the world was created,” while the other read, “I am but dust and ashes.”

On Oct. 7, my daughters, Dafna, 15, and Ela, 8, were kidnapped by Hamas, and since then I have been carrying around my own versions of Rebbe Bunem’s slips of paper. On the first I wrote, “For their sake the world was created,” while the other reads, “Take me to Gaza.”

I spend every day switching between these two mantras — between hope and dread.

On one hand, I have seen that for my daughters’ sake the world truly was created. Our entire country has mobilized to rescue Dafna and Ela, foreign leaders know their names and are trying to secure their freedom, and thousands of miles away from here, strangers hold vigils and put up posters showing their faces. The heroism and support of others give me the strength to believe that my girls will be brought home to me, and every passing hour feels like an hour closer to reunion.

At the same time, I can see that the ideology of hatred that drove Hamas to kidnap my daughters continues to grow stronger around the world. The soldiers fighting their way to Dafna and Ela face people who would rather die than let my girls go free. Thousands of miles away from here, strangers scream into the sky for more violence, another intifada, another war to push us into the sea. The posters of my girls are torn down, their dignity as victims denied. Every passing hour feels like an hour closer to the phone call telling me that they have not survived, that this world is too cruel to let them live. I am but dust and ashes, and if I must be, then I want to meet my fate together with Dafna and Ela.

I have nothing left to ask of this world but this: Take me to my girls. Take me to Gaza.

I am requesting assistance from the Israeli government, the U.S. government, the International Committee of the Red Cross and any other organization trying to help the hostages. I cannot wait for more news of hostage deals to come and go. You have failed to free my girls, so take me to Gaza.

This second article is about a moral man. May others follow this leader. 👇

Bahrain crown prince becomes 1st Arab leader to personally, unequivocally ‘condemn’ Hamas, call Oct. 7 slaughter ‘barbaric and horrific.’

It took 43 days.

But yesterday – finally – an Arab leader summoned the moral and political courage to publicly denounce the Hamas terrorist organization and demand the immediate and unconditional return of all 239 hostages to Israel.

At the 19th annual “Manama Dialogue” conference – widely known as the Middle East’s premier security and defense summit, held in Bahrain’s capital of Manama – Bahraini Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa made a bold address, becoming the first Arab leader to speak this clearly, personally, and publicly.

“I condemn Hamas unequivocally,” said the crown prince – who also serves as the Gulf kingdom’s prime minister – before a room full of Arab, U.S., and European security officials.

“I stand on the side of civilians and innocents, and not on the side of political posturing,” he added.

“The October 7th attacks [by Hamas] were barbaric and horrific.”

The crown prince insisted that Hamas release every hostage and return them safely back to Israel, telling his fellow Arab leaders, “We must do everything in our power to solve this.”

“I don’t think any Arab leader has called on Hamas to do this,” he noted, according to a report in The National, a newspapers based in the United Arab Emirates. “So it is a time for straight talking.”

That said, His Royal Highness also had sharp criticism of Israel, issuing a “condemnation of Israel’s retaliation, which has resulted in the death of 11,000 Gazans and left many more living in an intolerable situation without access to basic necessities such as electricity, running water, and medical care.”

“Let me be extremely clear on what matters to the Kingdom of Bahrain – there must be no forced displacement of Palestinians in Gaza, now or ever,” he said.

“There must be no reoccupation of Gaza” and “there must be no reduction in Gaza’s territory.”

“On the other side, there must be no terrorism directed from Gaza against the Israeli public.”

“Those are the red lines.”

“To ensure lasting peace, His Royal Highness also stressed that in the aftermath of conflict, elections must be delivered to offer the Palestinian people a strong and unified leadership,” noted a report on the crown prince’s official website.

“This process must be led by an interlocutor and partner who can broker an end to violence and deliver the prospect of a viable and independent Palestinian state that will also guarantee security and stability for its neighbour, Israel.” (allarab.news).

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Tonight, PBS airs what promises to be an uplifting show, Groundbreakers.

About the Show Groundbreakers.

In June 1972, Title IX, a small 37-word provision in the 1972 Education Amendments, was designed to ensure that all people – regardless of gender – have equal opportunity to federally funded programs. This historic bill opened the floodgates for young girls to participate in sanctioned sports activities nationwide.

More About the Show

Through the eyes of women athletes who changed the system, the new two-hour documentary Groundbreakers celebrates 50 years of female excellence in sports.

Hosted by sports icon and champion of equality Billie Jean King, the film weaves together the first-hand stories of eight icons to discuss how Title IX and their own achievements forever changed the course of women’s sports.

The interviews pair an athlete at the top of her game today with an athlete whose achievements helped pave the way for those who followed. The pairings include Billie Jean King and flag football star Diana Flores; basketball legend Nancy Lieberman and Olympic gold medalist Chloe Kim; soccer star and World Cup winner Julie Foudy and Olympic gold medalist Suni Lee; and track and field world-record holder Jackie Joyner-Kersee with four-time tennis Grand Slam winner Naomi Osaka.

These far-reaching and dynamic conversations showcase the perseverance, pain, and progress of women who dared to challenge the system, defy conventional norms and change the games we love forever. Groundbreakers celebrates the advancements of women in sports and society, while also revealing the generational mentorship and community building that has fueled the progress made alongside the ongoing pursuit of equality for women everywhere.

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