Tuesday,September 19, 2023. Annette’s News Roundup.
I think the Roundup makes people feel not so alone.
To read an article excerpted in this Roundup, click on its blue title. Each “blue” article is hyperlinked so you can read the whole article.
Please feel free to share.
Invite at least one other person to subscribe today! buttondown.email/AnnettesNewsRoundup
________________________________
Joe is always busy.
At Il Cantori in NYC on Sunday.
BREAKING: President Biden gets a standing ovation from patrons of a New York City restaurant after he randomly showed up for dinner with his family.
— Occupy Democrats (@OccupyDemocrats) September 18, 2023
As soon as Biden, First Lady Dr. Jill Biden, and daughter Ashley got up to leave, the restaurant’s patrons got up out of their… pic.twitter.com/WgEYMz9AU9
BREAKING: President Biden gets a standing ovation from patrons of a New York City restaurant after he randomly showed up for dinner with his family.
As soon as Biden, First Lady Dr. Jill Biden, and daughter Ashley got up to leave, the restaurant’s patrons got up out of their seats and gave them a roaring standing ovation. The ovation even spilled out to the outside of the restaurant, where “a few people even cheered from apartment buildings,” according to reporters.
It’s worth remembering that Donald Trump is from New York City — and now can’t even step foot in it without a mob of angry New Yorkers hounding him everywhere he goes.
The people of New York have spoken!💙
One of the questions I'm always asked is “If you could do anything at all, what would you do?”
— President Biden (@POTUS) September 17, 2023
My answer: I’d cure cancer.
It’s not just personal – it’s about what’s possible.
That’s why we’re investing $240 million to accelerate new ways to prevent and treat cancer.
Statement from President Joe Biden on the Return of American Detainees from Iran | The White House.
Today, five innocent Americans who were imprisoned in Iran are finally coming home.
Siamak Namazi, Morad Tahbaz, Emad Sharghi, and two citizens who wish to remain private will soon be reunited with their loved ones—after enduring years of agony, uncertainty, and suffering. I am grateful to our partners at home and abroad for their tireless efforts to help us achieve this outcome, including the Governments of Qatar, Oman, Switzerland, and South Korea.
I give special thanks to the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad, and to the Sultan of Oman, Haitham bin Tariq, both of whom helped facilitate this agreement over many months of difficult and principled American diplomacy.
As we celebrate the return of these Americans, we also remember those who did not return. I call on the Iranian regime to give a full account of what happened to Bob Levinson. The Levinson family deserves answers. Today, we are sanctioning former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and the Iranian Ministry of Intelligence under the Levinson Act for their involvement in wrongful detentions. And, we will continue to impose costs on Iran for their provocative actions in the region.
And as we welcome home our fellow citizens, I once more remind all Americans of the serious risks of traveling to Iran. American passport holders should not travel there.
The U.S. State Department has a longstanding travel warning that states: “Do not travel to Iran due to the risk of kidnapping and the arbitrary arrest and detention of U.S. citizens.” All Americans should heed those words and have no expectation that their release can be secured if they do not.
Reuniting wrongfully detained Americans with their loved ones has been a priority for my Administration since day one. We have now brought home dozens of our fellow citizens, including from Afghanistan, Burma, Haiti, Russia, Rwanda, Venezuela, West Africa, and more locations globally. Still, too many remain unjustly held in Russia, Venezuela, Syria, and elsewhere around the world. We remain unflinching in our efforts to keep faith with them and their families—and we will not stop working until we bring home every American held hostage or wrongfully detained.
Biden is meeting leaders from Israel, Brazil, Ukraine and the 'Stans.’
President Biden will be the first U.S. president to meet together with leaders from five Central Asian nations sometimes called the "Stans" — Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan — when he gathers with them next week on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly.
The meeting with the former Soviet states on Tuesday is likely to be closely watched by Russia and China. Biden plans to discuss regional security issues with the leaders, as well as trade, climate and governance issues, said Jake Sullivan, Biden's national security adviser.
It's part of a busy agenda at the U.N., where Biden will emphasize U.S. leadership around the world in his annual address.
On Wednesday, Biden plans to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in New York. While the two leaders have met many times during the course of their long political careers, this is the first time they will have met since Netanyahu won his election last fall.
There have been months of tensions between the U.S. and Israel over Netanyahu's far-right proposals to overhaul the country's judicial system.
Biden plans another meeting with Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. Sullivan said they will be joined by labor leaders.
Zelenskyy will be in Washington on Thursday
Then on Thursday, Biden will host Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the White House — a meeting that comes as the White House asks Congress for $24 billion more in funding to help Ukraine in its fight against Russia's invasion. (NPR).
________________________________
Kamala is always busy.
Touch 👇 to see whether Kamala is loved or not. This is from Day Two of her nationwide college tour… North Carolina State.
https://twitter.com/victorshi2020/status/1702738787107827900?s=61&t=I_Od53CbnPTsbLcD0baXPg
Regina Spektor at the Vice President’s House for Rosh Hashanah.
Amazing to see the most fabulous @respektor playing at @VP house last night with @vp and @SecondGentleman to celebrate the Jewish high holidays. Regina crushed it. pic.twitter.com/qfG37jIfsX
— Neal Katyal (@neal_katyal) September 13, 2023
The GOP Candidate for POTUS says of Joe Biden “we would be in World War II if we were relying on this man.” I swear.
“We would be in World War II.” Trump has lost it, he’s demonstrating how cognitively impaired he is. Watch him ramble, stumble on his words, blank out, then turn to reading the teleprompter to save himself, reading it intently. And he still misspeaks. (Video: Newsmax) pic.twitter.com/cS1GLrPHL3
— Mike Sington (@MikeSington) September 16, 2023
Today we celebrate 76 years of the United States Air Force. To members of @usairforce: Each and every day we thank you for your tremendous dedication, skill, and discipline.
— Vice President Kamala Harris (@VP) September 18, 2023
Our nation is stronger because of your service and sacrifice. pic.twitter.com/89pAr2rb77
________________________________
What a vocal Republican opposing the GOP empty impeachment of President Biden has to say.
My fellow Republicans: One disgraceful impeachment doesn’t deserve another by Representative Ken Buck.
The House is back in session, and Americans are getting an up-close look at Washington’s dysfunction. We are barreling toward a government shutdown without making progress on cutting our out-of-control spending. Yet Republican leadership has decided to divert attention to an impeachment inquiry into President Biden. The GOP’s charge against Biden is that he personally benefited from his son’s deplorable business exploits around the globe. Without doubt, Hunter Biden’s shady business deals undermined America’s image and our anti-corruption goals, and his conduct was thoroughly reprehensible. What’s missing, despite years of investigation, is the smoking gun that connects Joe Biden to his ne’er-do-well son’s corruption.
My fellow Republicans leading the House inquiry believe the connection comes through the 2016 firing of Ukrainian prosecutor Viktor Shokin, which then-Vice President Biden helped facilitate. The dominant narrative in right-wing media is that Shokin was an anti-corruption zealot with an active investigation into Burisma, the company where Hunter Biden held a seat on the board of directors, and from which he reportedly received large monthly payments.
The truth about Shokin is much more complicated and runs counter to the GOP’s “gotcha” narrative. In reality, Shokin was deeply enmeshed in Ukraine’s culture of corruption and, far from being a beacon of transparency, was viewed by many in the West — including some conservative Republican senators — as an obstacle to anti-corruption reforms. There is, in fact, no evidence that Shokin was engaged in an investigation of Burisma, or that Joe Biden’s role in his firing was in any way connected to Burisma.
Much attention has been focused on a speech Biden delivered in December 2015 before Ukraine’s parliament, in which he explicitly called for change at the prosecutor general’s office. Far from being out of line with U.S. policy, Biden’s remarks were entirely within the U.S. government’s paradigm of helping Ukraine break free from its lawless Soviet past. Other senior officials, including U.S. Ambassador Geoffrey Pyatt, made the case during the same period for firing Shokin. The European Union, which necessarily pays a great deal of attention to the politics and policies of neighboring Ukraine, was also of the opinion that Shokin should be sacked. Shokin had been the biggest barrier to the E.U.’s years-long efforts to encourage rule-of-law reforms in Ukraine.
These facts — like all facts — are stubborn things. [Marc A. Thiessen: The Biden impeachment inqRepublicans in the House who are itching for an impeachment are relying on an imagined history. Their inquiry, formally announced by Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) on Tuesday, rests heavily on a fictitious version of Shokin’s career, with the alleged investigation of Burisma at the center. It’s a neat story, and one that performs well in certain media circles. But impeachment is a serious matter and should have a foundation of rock-solid facts. To read the whole op-ed, click here.(Washington Post).
________________________________
Republican Representative Lauren Boebert, her boyfriend,and her breasts.
Stephen King remarks on Boebert.
Gosh, that Lauren Boebert knows how to have fun, doesn't she? A fine example of the new Republican Party.
— Stephen King (@StephenKing) September 16, 2023
It wasn’t just the vaping.
— Tristan Snell (@TristanSnell) September 15, 2023
The REAL reason Lauren Boebert was kicked out? She was groping her date’s genitals while he groped her breast.
In a theater. At a show where kids were allowed.
pic.twitter.com/31J3OMI2T4
Man groped by Lauren Boebert during frisky ‘Beetlejuice’ date owns gay-friendly bar that hosts drag shows
— Republicans against Trump (@RpsAgainstTrump) September 16, 2023
https://t.co/Vemt2e3ys8
________________________________
Some musings on Trump.
Last Sunday’s interview on NBC’s Meet the Press should not have happened.
The Press should not provide opportunities for Trump to lie, or feed his ego by agreeing to call him “Mr. President.”
But this happened too. Trump destroyed his own defense about January 6. He said he didn’t follow his lawyers’ advice about trying to overthrow the election but made up his own mind on how to behave. Watch! Listen!
Watch this: when asked whether he was following his lawyers' advice when he tried to overturn the 2020 election, Donald Trump makes it clear, "It was my decision."pic.twitter.com/RhfEkgTf4c
— Citizens for Ethics (@CREWcrew) September 17, 2023
Trump just threw his whole “following my lawyers’ advice” defense under the bus.
— Laurence Tribe 🇺🇦 ⚖️ (@tribelaw) September 17, 2023
No, let me correct that:
— not just under the bus but under a roaring, speeding, ginormous freight train . . . .
🚂🚆 🚊 🚂 https://t.co/FmHKgz6qIr
—
Trump’s “Wake up, Sheep” message to liberal Jews for Rosh Hashanah. Really.
Donald Trump tells "liberal Jews" to "make better choices moving forward" in his Rosh Hashanah message to them. And it's for real. "Wake up sheep." pic.twitter.com/7ItIyVUCh1
— Joyce Alene (@JoyceWhiteVance) September 18, 2023
________________________________
Trump wrote to-do lists for assistant on White House documents marked classified: Sources.
Molly Michael told investigators about the documents, according to sources.
One of former President Donald Trump's long-time assistants told federal investigators that Trump repeatedly wrote to-do lists for her on documents from the White House that were marked classified, according to sources familiar with her statements.
As described to ABC News, the aide, Molly Michael, told investigators that -- more than once -- she received requests or taskings from Trump that were written on the back of notecards, and she later recognized those notecards as sensitive White House materials -- with visible classification markings -- used to brief Trump while he was still in office about phone calls with foreign leaders or other international-related matters.
The notecards with classification markings were at Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate when FBI agents searched the property on Aug. 8, 2022 -- but the materials were not taken by the FBI, according to sources familiar with what Michael told investigators.
When Michael, who was not present for the search, returned to Mar-a-Lago the next day to clean up her office space, she found the documents underneath a drawer organizer and helped transfer them to the FBI that same day, sources told ABC News. (ABC News).
________________________________
Pete Triathlon.
Local source: Pete Buttigieg, the U.S. Transportation Secretary and new Michigan resident, competed in today's IRONMAN race in Frankfort. pic.twitter.com/mKj9ZkZMxn
— Jonathan Oosting (@jonathanoosting) September 17, 2023
________________________________
U.S.surpasses 500 mass shootings in 2023.
There have now been 501 mass shootings in the U.S. this year.
Driving the news: A shooting that wounded four people in Denver, Colorado, on Saturday night marked the country's 500th mass shooting in 2023, according to the Gun Violence Archive.
Hours later, that increased to 501 mass shootings after one person died and five others were wounded in El Paso, Texas, early Sunday.
By the numbers: Just five years ago, the country had never experienced 500 mass shootings in one year:
2018: 335 mass shootings
2019: 414 mass shootings
2020: 610 mass shootings
2021: 689 mass shootings
2022: 645 mass shootings
Flashback: The 500 mass shootings threshold was crossed in September in the past two years, according to the archive.
In 2020, it occurred in October.
Between the lines: The FBI does not define or quantify what constitutes a mass shooting.
Gun Violence Archive, an independent research and data collection organization, defines a mass shooting as a shooting in which four or more people were shot or killed, not including the shooter. This makes its numbers higher than some other sources with varying definitions.
Of note: A January shooting on the eve of Lunar New Year in Monterey Park, California, a largely Asian American area, has caused the most deaths so far in 2023. Eleven people were killed and nine others injured in the massacre.
The most injuries related to gun violence occurred in April at a birthday party shooting in Dadeville, Ala., that left four people de and 32 others injured.
The big picture: With increasing personal experiences, more Americans view gun violence as a public health concern.
One in six Americans have personally witnessed someone being shot, according to survey data from earlier this year.
Zoom in: Gun violence has greatly affected children. Firearms are the top killer of kids in the country.
Gun deaths among children hit a record high in 2021, per data released in August.
There were 305 school shootings in 2022 and 230 by Sept. 5 in 2023, according to the K-12 School Shooting Database.
Go deeper: Gun deaths among U.S. children hit a new record high.
(Axios).
________________________________