January 25, 2023

Wednesday,January 25,2023. Annette’s News Roundup.

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Joe is always busy.

Offshore wind to create thousands of new jobs in the U.S.

The United States is trying to reduce its reliance on fossil fuels in order to meet its climate goals under the Paris climate agreement. A major contributor to U.S. greenhouse gas emissions is the energy sector, which accounts for about 25% of total emissions.

The Biden administration wants to significantly reduce this figure and is pushing the development on offshore wind along America's coasts. Its goal is to have 30 gigawatts of offshore wind online by 2030 and that will require thousands of new jobs, especially in the construction sector.

It's one of the reasons why President Biden often brings up the idea of new economic opportunities when he talks about tackling climate change.

Kamala is always busy.

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You may have heard. Another former Vice President offered to return classified documents. Another guy who held national office claimed everything he had belonged to him. Oh.

Aides to former Vice President Mike Pence found a small number of documents with classified markings at his home in Indiana during a search last week, according to an adviser to Mr. Pence.

The documents were “inadvertently boxed and transported” to Mr. Pence’s home at the end of President Donald J. Trump’s administration, Greg Jacob, Mr. Pence’s representative for dealing with records related to the presidency, wrote in a letter to the National Archives.

The letter, dated Jan. 18, 2023, said that the former vice president was unaware of the existence of the documents and reiterated that he took seriously the handling of classified materials and wanted to help.

Mr. Jacob wrote that Mr. Pence relied on an outside lawyer after classified documents were found in recent days at the residence and former private office of President Biden. Mr. Jacob also said the lawyer could not specify anything more about the documents because the lawyer had stopped looking once it was clear the documents had classified markings. (New York Times).

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Trump Campaign Manager Paul Manafort was on Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska‘s payroll. So was Charles McGonigal, FBI’s former top spy hunter in New York.

As Andrew Ross Sorkin said in yesterday’s New York Times Deal Book, “It’s a rare accusation against a senior F.B.I. official.” Below 👇, through multiple tweets connected to this arrest, I have tried to hint at some implications of this arrest and McGonigal’s connection to Russia and the Trump campaign in 2016.

Former Senior F.B.I. Official in New York Charged With Aiding Oligarch.

A former senior F.B.I. official in New York who oversaw some of the agency’s most secret and sensitivecounterintelligence investigations was accused on Monday of taking money from a former Albanian intelligence employee and from a representative of Oleg V. Deripaska, a Russian oligarch.

The charges against the former official, Charles F. McGonigal, came in separate indictments unsealed in New York and Washington, D.C., after an investigation by his own agency and federal prosecutors. In the New York case, he was charged with violating economic sanctions that the United States has imposed on Russia because of its aggression in Ukraine.

Before he retired in 2018, Mr. McGonigal had been the special agent in charge of the F.B.I.’s counterintelligence division in New York. In that post, he supervised investigations of Russian oligarchs, including Mr. Deripaska, whom the U.S. attorney’s office in Manhattan charged him with aiding. Mr. Deripaska is an aluminum magnate with ties to President Vladimir V. Putin. (Source. New York Times).

The FBI’s New York Office Really Hated Hillary Clinton.

There’s very little evidence that the FBI was biased in any way against President Donald Trump during the 2016 campaign. The sole piece of evidence that Trump relies on for this allegation is a series of private texts between Peter Strzok and Lisa Page, but there’s no evidence at all that their private views ever affected any of their actions.

Just the opposite is true for the FBI’s New York office, which obviously harbored considerable animus toward Hillary Clinton and just as obviously took concrete steps to help Trump. Here’s a short version of the evidence:

1. The Nunes Revelation

A few days ago, Rep. Devin Nunes admitted something he had never acknowledged before: In late September 2016, New York FBI agents told him about the existence of Anthony Weiner’s laptop, which eventually led to the Comey letter of October 28.

2. The Giuliani Whisper Campaign

On October 26, Rudy Giuliani boasted to Fox News’ Martha MacCallumthat Trump had “a surprise or two that you’re going to hear about in the next two days. I’m talking about some pretty big surprise.” He later backtracked, but it’s pretty clear that agents in the New York office had told Giuliani what was going on.

3. The Inspector General’s Report

The recent inspector general’s report confirms what we’ve long known: One of the reasons Comey wrote his October 28 letter was his fear that the New York office would leak about the Weiner laptop if he didn’t. (source. Mother Jones).

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Former U.S. Senator Harry Reid’s (D-NV) letter to former FBI Director James Comey:

“…You possess explosive information about close ties between Donald Trump and the Russian government…”

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More on the Monterey Park massacre.

A mourner near the site where 11 people were shot and killed over the weekend in Monterey Park. 👆

Touch tweet below 👇 to watch 26-year-old Brandon Tsay wrestle a gun away from the Monterey Park shooter. Courage at its best.

In case you want to keep up with Gun Violence in America so far in 2023, click on this link.

There was the mass shooting near a youth center in Allentown, Pa., and the one at a Subway restaurant in Durham, N.C. Another took place behind a beer hall in Oklahoma City, and another at a strip club outside Columbus, Ohio. Two mass shootings ended parties in different Florida cities.

And that was just on New Year’s Day.

By the start of the fourth week in January, the tally had grown to include at least 39 separate shootings in which four or more people were injured or killed, according to the Gun Violence Archive, outlining a striking explosion of violence across a range of sites in nearly every corner of the nation that killed at least 69 people. (Source. New York Times).

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There’s No Quick Fix for Social Media.

Suzanne Nossel, President of PEN America, is also on the Meta’s Oversight Board, a 22-person expert body charged with reviewing content decisions for Facebook and Instagram. This 👇 is her op-ed in the Wall Street Journal.

There’s No Quick Fix for Social Media.

But the challenge of reining in what’s bad about social media has everything to do with what’s good about it. The platforms are an undeniable boon for free expression, public discourse, information sharing and human connection.

Nearly three billion people use Meta’s platforms daily. The overwhelming majority log in to look at pictures and reels, to discover a news item that is generating buzz or to stay connected to more friends than they could possibly talk to regularly in real life. Human rights activists, journalists, dissidents and engaged citizens have found social media indispensable for documenting and exposing world-shaking events, mobilizing movements and holding governments accountable.

The great aim of reformers and regulators has been to figure out a way to separate what is enriching about social media from what is dangerous or destructive. Despite years of bill-drafting by legislatures, code-writing in Silicon Valley and hand-wringing at tech conferences, no one has figured out quite how to do it. (Wall Street Journal).

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Mikaela Schiffrin may soon be the greatest skier, male or female, of all time.

Mikaela Shiffrin breaks record for all-time wins with 83rd victory.

U.S. skier Mikaela Shiffrin now stands alone atop women's alpine skiing, after claiming World Cup win no. 83 on the Kronplatz mountain in northern Italy on Tuesday. Shiffrin shattered the record she shared with fellow American Lindsey Vonn after tying Vonn's 82 wins earlier this month.

While her latest win makes history, it's also a testament to Shiffrin's resilience. Three years ago, she acknowledged being "devastated"after her father, Jeff, died in an accident in his home.

The victory leaves only one name ahead of Shiffrin's: Ingemar Stenmark, the legendary Swedish racer whose 86 World Cup wins are the most ever — by a man or woman.

Stenmark is among those expecting even more greatness from Shiffrin.

"Shiffrin will win more than 100 [races]," he predicted in an interview with Olympics.com, "and it doesn't make me sad at all." (NPR).

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Update on the Oscar Nominations.

Oscar Nominations 2023: Full List of Nominees - Variety.

“Everything Everywhere All at Once,” a twisty sci-fi adventure, led the nominations for the 95th Academy Awards on Tuesday morning, picking up 11 nods. It was followed closely behind by “All Quiet on the Western Front,” a World War I epic, and “The Banshees of Inisherin,” a darkly comic look at friendship that unfolds against the backdrop of the Irish civil war, both of which scored nine nominations.

All three films will vie for best picture, in what is shaping up to be a much more commercially-successful collection of honorees than recent years. The best picture race contains the two highest-grossing films of the year, “Avatar: The Way of Water” and “Top Gun: Maverick,” along with “Elvis,” a musical biopic that scored with audiences last summer. Other contenders include Steven Spielberg’s semi-autobiographical “The Fabelmans”;”Tár,” a drama about an abusive conductor; “Women Talking,” a look at the residents of a repressive religious community; and “Triangle of Sadness,” a send-up of the 1% that unfolds partly on a mega-yacht.

Jimmy Kimmel will return to host the Oscars, marking the late night comic’s third stint as emcee. He previously led the awards show in 2017 and 2018. Last year, the Oscars returned to a host format with Amy Schumer, Wanda Sykes and Regina Hall, after going host-less the previous two years. The 95th Oscars will be held on Sunday, March 12, 2023, at the Dolby Theatre at Ovation Hollywood and will be televised live on ABC.

See the Oscar nominations below.

Best Picture

“All Quiet on the Western Front,” Malte Grunert, Producer

“Avatar: The Way of Water,” James Cameron and Jon Landau, Producers

“The Banshees of Inisherin,” Graham Broadbent, Pete Czernin and Martin McDonagh, Producers

“Elvis,” Baz Luhrmann, Catherine Martin, Gail Berman, Patrick McCormick and Schuyler Weiss, Producers

“Everything Everywhere All at Once,” Daniel Kwan, Daniel Scheinert and Jonathan Wang, Producers

“The Fabelmans,” Kristie Macosko Krieger, Steven Spielberg and Tony Kushner, Producers

“Tár,” Todd Field, Alexandra Milchan and Scott Lambert, Producers

“Top Gun: Maverick,” Tom Cruise, Christopher McQuarrie, David Ellison and Jerry Bruckheimer, Producers

“Triangle of Sadness,” Erik Hemmendorff and Philippe Bober, Producers

“Women Talking,” Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner and Frances McDormand, Producers

Best Director 

Martin McDonagh (“The Banshees of Inisherin”) 

Daniel Kwan, Daniel Scheinert (“Everything Everywhere All at Once”) 

Steven Spielberg (“The Fabelmans”) 

Todd Field (“Tár”) 

Ruben Östlund (“Triangle of Sadness”)

Best Lead Actor

Austin Butler (“Elvis”) 

Colin Farrell (“The Banshees of Inisherin”) 

Brendan Fraser (“The Whale”) 

Paul Mescal (“Aftersun”) 

Bill Nighy (“Living”) 

Best Lead Actress

Cate Blanchett (“Tár”) 

Ana de Armas (“Blonde”) 

Andrea Riseborough (“To Leslie”)

Michelle Williams (“The Fabelmans”) 

Michelle Yeoh (“Everything Everywhere All at Once”)

Best Supporting Actor

Brendan Gleeson (“The Banshees of Inisherin”) 

Brian Tyree Henry (“Causeway”) 

Judd Hirsch (“The Fabelmans”)

Barry Keoghan (“The Banshees of Inisherin”) 

Ke Huy Quan (“Everything Everywhere All at Once”) 

Best Supporting Actress

Angela Bassett (“Black Panther: Wakanda Forever”) 

Hong Chau (“The Whale”) 

Kerry Condon (“The Banshees of Inisherin”) 

Jamie Lee Curtis (“Everything Everywhere All at Once”) 

Stephanie Hsu (“Everything Everywhere All at Once”)

Best Adapted Screenplay

“All Quiet on the Western Front,” Screenplay by Edward Berger, Lesley Paterson & Ian Stokell

“Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery,” Written by Rian Johnson

“Living,” Written by Kazuo Ishiguro

“Top Gun: Maverick,” Screenplay by Ehren Kruger and Eric Warren Singer and Christopher McQuarrie; Story by Peter Craig and Justin Marks

“Women Talking,” Screenplay by Sarah Polley

Best Original Screenplay

“The Banshees of Inisherin,” Written by Martin McDonagh

“Everything Everywhere All at Once,” Written by Daniel Kwan & Daniel Scheinert

“The Fabelmans,” Written by Steven Spielberg & Tony Kushner

“Tár,” Written by Todd Field

“Triangle of Sadness,” Written by Ruben Östlund

Best Cinematography 

“All Quiet on the Western Front”, James Friend

“Bardo, False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths,” Darius Khondji

“Elvis,” Mandy Walker

“Empire of Light,” Roger Deakins

“Tár,” Florian Hoffmeister

Best Documentary Feature Film 

“All That Breathes,” Shaunak Sen, Aman Mann and Teddy Leifer

“All the Beauty and the Bloodshed,” Laura Poitras, Howard Gertler, John Lyons, Nan Goldin and Yoni Golijov

“Fire of Love,” Sara Dosa, Shane Boris and Ina Fichman

“A House Made of Splinters,” Simon Lereng Wilmont and Monica Hellström

“Navalny,” Daniel Roher, Odessa Rae, Diane Becker, Melanie Miller and Shane Boris

Best Documentary Short Film 

“The Elephant Whisperers,” Kartiki Gonsalves and Guneet Monga

“Haulout,” Evgenia Arbugaeva and Maxim Arbugaev

“How Do You Measure a Year?” Jay Rosenblatt

“The Martha Mitchell Effect,” Anne Alvergue and Beth Levison

“Stranger at the Gate,” Joshua Seftel and Conall Jones

Best Film Editing

“The Banshees of Inisherin,” Mikkel E.G. Nielsen

“Elvis,” Matt Villa and Jonathan Redmond

“Everything Everywhere All at Once,” Paul Rogers

“Tár,” Monika Willi

“Top Gun: Maverick,” Eddie Hamilton

Best International Feature Film 

“All Quiet on the Western Front” (Germany) 

“Argentina, 1985” (Argentina) 

“Close” (Belgium)

“EO” (Poland) 

“The Quiet Girl” (Ireland) 

Best Original Song 

“Applause” from “Tell It Like a Woman,” Music and Lyric by Diane Warren

“Hold My Hand” from “Top Gun: Maverick,” Music and Lyric by Lady Gaga and BloodPop

“Lift Me Up” from “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever,” Music by Tems, Rihanna, Ryan Coogler and Ludwig Goransson; Lyric by Tems and Ryan Coogler

“Naatu Naatu” from “RRR,” Music by M.M. Keeravaani; Lyric by Chandrabose  

“This Is a Life” from “Everything Everywhere All at Once,” Music by Ryan Lott, David Byrne and Mitski; Lyric by Ryan Lott and David Byrne 

Best Production Design 

“All Quiet on the Western Front,” Production Design: Christian M. Goldbeck; Set Decoration: Ernestine Hipper

“Avatar: The Way of Water,” Production Design: Dylan Cole and Ben Procter; Set Decoration: Vanessa Cole

“Babylon,” Production Design: Florencia Martin; Set Decoration: Anthony Carlino

“Elvis,” Production Design: Catherine Martin and Karen Murphy; Set Decoration: Bev Dunn

“The Fabelmans,” Production Design: Rick Carter; Set Decoration: Karen O’Hara

Best Visual Effects

“All Quiet on the Western Front,” Frank Petzold, Viktor Müller, Markus Frank and Kamil Jafar

“Avatar: The Way of Water,” Joe Letteri, Richard Baneham, Eric Saindon and Daniel Barrett

“The Batman,” Dan Lemmon, Russell Earl, Anders Langlands and Dominic Tuohy

“Black Panther: Wakanda Forever,” Geoffrey Baumann, Craig Hammack, R. Christopher White and Dan Sudick

“Top Gun: Maverick,” Ryan Tudhope, Seth Hill, Bryan Litson and Scott R. Fisher

Best Animated Feature Film 

“Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio,” Guillermo del Toro, Mark Gustafson, Gary Ungar and Alex Bulkley

“Marcel the Shell With Shoes On,” Dean Fleischer Camp, Elisabeth Holm, Andrew Goldman, Caroline Kaplan and Paul Mezey

“Puss in Boots: The Last Wish,” Joel Crawford and Mark Swift

“The Sea Beast,” Chris Williams and Jed Schlanger

“Turning Red,” Domee Shi and Lindsey Collins

Best Animated Short Film

“The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse,” Charlie Mackesy and Matthew Freud

“The Flying Sailor,” Amanda Forbis and Wendy Tilby

“Ice Merchants,” João Gonzalez and Bruno Caetano

“My Year of Dicks,” Sara Gunnarsdóttir and Pamela Ribon

“An Ostrich Told Me the World Is Fake and I Think I Believe It,” Lachlan Pendragon

Best Costume Design 

“Babylon,” Mary Zophres

“Black Panther: Wakanda Forever,” Ruth Carter

“Elvis,” Catherine Martin

“Everything Everywhere All at Once,” Shirley Kurata

“Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris,” Jenny Beavan

Best Live Action Short

“An Irish Goodbye,” Tom Berkeley and Ross White

“Ivalu,” Anders Walter and Rebecca Pruzan

“Le Pupille,” Alice Rohrwacher and Alfonso Cuarón

“Night Ride,” Eirik Tveiten and Gaute Lid Larssen

“The Red Suitcase,” Cyrus Neshvad

Best Makeup and Hairstyling 

“All Quiet on the Western Front,” Heike Merker and Linda Eisenhamerová

“The Batman,” Naomi Donne, Mike Marino and Mike Fontaine

“Black Panther: Wakanda Forever,” Camille Friend and Joel Harlow

“Elvis,” Mark Coulier, Jason Baird and Aldo Signoretti

“The Whale,” Adrien Morot, Judy Chin and Anne Marie Bradley

Best Original Score 

“All Quiet on the Western Front,” Volker Bertelmann

“Babylon,” Justin Hurwitz

“The Banshees of Inisherin,” Carter Burwell

“Everything Everywhere All at Once,” Son Lux

“The Fabelmans,” John Williams

Best Sound

“All Quiet on the Western Front,” Viktor Prášil, Frank Kruse, Markus Stemler, Lars Ginzel and Stefan Korte

“Avatar: The Way of Water,” Julian Howarth, Gwendolyn Yates Whittle, Dick Bernstein, Christopher Boyes, Gary Summers and Michael Hedges

“The Batman,” Stuart Wilson, William Files, Douglas Murray and Andy Nelson

“Elvis,” David Lee, Wayne Pashley, Andy Nelson and Michael Keller

“Top Gun: Maverick,” Mark Weingarten, James H. Mather, Al Nelson, Chris Burdon and Mark Taylor

Oscars 2023 Diversity Report: Asian Actors Make History in Nominations

“The 2023 Oscar nominations were a mixed bag in terms of diversity — with no Black actors nominated in the lead acting categories and women shut out for best director .”

The 2023 Oscar nominations were a mixed bag in terms of diversity — with no Black actors nominated in the lead acting categories and women shut out for best director — but there was one particular milestone worth applauding. With nods for Michelle Yeoh, Ke Huy Quan, Stephanie Hsu (all for “Everything Everywhere All at Once”) and Hong Chau (“The Whale”), the roster of Asian acting nominees reached the most recognized in a single year ever at four nominations.

This figure surpasses the lineup from 2004, which included Indian and Iranian actors Ben Kingsley and Shohreh Aghdashloo (both for “House of Sand and Fog”) and Japanese star Ken Watanabe (“The Last Samurai”). (Source. Variety).

Jan 24, 2023 10:19am PT

Michelle Yeoh, Angela Bassett and More React to 2023 Oscar Nominations.

Angela Bassett (‘Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’)

Best Supporting Actress

What has nominations morning been like for you? Did you wake up early to watch or did you zen out?  

I wish I could tell you that I zen-ed out. I tried to zen out, but I woke up at 3:45. Just popped up, which was a couple of hours earlier than I planned to. But I couldn’t get back to sleep. I don’t know, I guess I just knew it was coming. 

Your first Oscar nomination was nearly 30 years ago. What do you remember about that morning?

I remember being up all night. I did not go to sleep. I laid down 11 o’clock last night, but 29 years ago, well, I could stay up all night. I didn’t have to go to work the next day. I have to go to work today. 29 years ago, I remember the phone started to ring, but I couldn’t believe it. I remember being just struck dumb. I lost my voice. I began to whisper, “Oh my gosh.” I couldn’t believe it.

How did you react when you heard your name called for “Wakanda Forever”?

Well, I was nervous because it was the first nomination. Like, give me a moment to wake up! Well, no. I was already awake for two hours, just tossing and turning. But I was shocked that it was the first nomination, so that made me nervous.  

And when your last name starts with B, you know it’s coming fast.

I realized that this morning that it’s alphabetical. So it was the first name up. I was just glad that Courntey [B. Vance] was there to share that moment with me. I wasn’t just up alone doing it. 

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