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Considering all the problems with previous Olympics,
'bigger is better' seemed to be a major issue.
Hopefully the 2024 Olympics will have better results
thanks for the ABC links
Countdown to Paris 2024
Latest news and updates on the Paris Olympics.
The Olympics are nearly here. For a weary world, they can't come soon enough.
https://www.nbcnews.com/olympics
Thanks for the great Olympics 2024 Update.
And...there's more:
Countdown to Paris 2024
Latest news and updates on the Paris Olympics.
The Olympics are nearly here. For a weary world, they can't come soon enough.
https://www.nbcnews.com/olympics
This 236-yard missile at the CJ Cup Byron Nelson might be the purest ace you see all year
Story by Coleman Bentley • 5h
All hole-in-ones are special, but not every ace is created equal. There’s various factors at play. Distance, wind and pin position are big ones. Then there’s the course, the tees and, of course, lady luck—a big kick or a fortuitous ricochet count the same on the scorecard but are worth less in social currency.
None of this was of concern to Raul Pereda at the CJ Cup Byron Nelson on Thursday, however, where the Mexico-born tour pro holed one of the most immaculate aces you will ever see. Sound the air raid sirens, because this thing is a missile.
TPC Craig Ranch’s gargantuan 236-yard par-3 7th hole isn't a pitch n’ putt cupcake with a feeder pin hoovering up Joe Schmo's Kirklands. This is a full-grown beast and Pereda put it on a leash and told it to sit with one perfect swing. When all is said and done, Pereda's ace will go down as one of the shots of the year, rivaled partly by his other mind-boggling eagle, which he logged at the Mexico Open back in February.
¡Águila desde 249 yardas! 🤯
— PGATOUResp (@pgatouresp) February 20, 2024
El año pasado en el @MexicoOpenGolf, y su debut en el TOUR, @RaulP96 se llevó un recuerdo para toda la vida.#TOURVault pic.twitter.com/KUzg3Yd2Cd
Alaska’s Indigenous teens emulate ancestors’ Arctic survival skills at the Native Youth Olympics
0:50
https://apnews.com/article/alaska-native-youth-olympics-2220b3402c8d782400eb16748e81c508
This weekend youth from across Alaska are participating in The Native Youth Olympics, a three-day celebration of Indigenous culture in the form of games that mimic hunting and survival techniques that Alaska Natives in the Arctic region have relied on for thousands of years. (AP Video by Mark Thiessen)
By MARK THIESSEN
Updated 6:40 PM CDT, April 27, 2024
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — The athletes filling a huge gym in Anchorage were ready to compete, cheering and stomping and high-fiving each other as they lined up for the chance to claim the state’s top prize in their events.
But these teenagers were at the Native Youth Olympics, a statewide competition that attracts hundreds of Alaska Native athletes each year and pays tribute to the skills and techniques used by their ancestors to survive in the harsh polar climate.
Events at the competition that wraps up Saturday include a stick pull, meant to mimic holding onto a slippery seal as it fights to return to the water, and a modified, four-step broad jump that approximates leaping across ice floes on the frozen ocean.
For generations, Alaska Natives played these games to develop the skills they needed to become successful hunters — and survive — in an unforgiving climate.
Now, today’s youth play “to help preserve our culture, our heritage, and to teach our youth how difficult life used to be and to share our culture with everyone around us who wants to know more about our people,” said Nicole Johnson, the head official for the event and one of Alaska’s most decorated Native athletes.
Johnson herself has won over 100 medals at Native Olympic competitions and for 29 years held the world record in the two-foot high kick, an event where athletes jump with both feet, kick a ball while keeping both feet even, and then land on both feet. Her record of 6-feet, 6-inches was broken in 2014.
For the “seal hop,” a popular event on Saturday, athletes get into a push-up or plank position and shuffle across the floor on their knuckles — the same stealthy crawl their ancestors used during a hunt to sneak up on unsuspecting seals napping on the ice.
“And when they got close enough to the seal, they would grab their harpoon and get the seal,” said Johnson, an Inupiaq originally from Nome.
Colton Paul had the crowd clapping and stomping their feet. Last year, he set a world record in the scissors broad jump with a mark of 38 feet, 7 inches when competing for Mount Edgecumbe High School, a boarding school in Sitka. The jump requires power and balance, and includes four specific stylized leaps that mimic hop-scotching across floating ice chunks to navigate a frozen river or ocean.
The Yupik athlete from the western Alaska village of Kipnuk can no longer compete because he’s graduated, but he performed for the crowd on Friday, and jumped 38 feet, 9 inches.
He said Native Youth Olympics is the only sport for which he’s had a passion.
“Doing the sports has really made me had a sense of ‘My ancestors did this’ and I’m doing what they did for survival,” said Paul, who is now 19. “It’s just something fun to do.”
Awaluk Nichols has been taking part in Native Youth Olympics for most of her childhood. The events give her a chance to explore her Inupiaq heritage, something she feels is slowly fading away from Nome, a Bering Sea coastal community.
“It helps me a lot to just connect with my friends and my culture, and it just means a lot to me that we still have it,” said the high school junior, who listed her best event as the one-foot high kick.
Some events are as much of a mental test as a physical one. In one competition called the “wrist carry,” two teammates hold a stick at each end, while a third person hangs from the dowel by their wrist, legs curled up like a sloth, as their teammates run around an oval track.
The goal is to see who can hang onto the stick the longest without falling or touching the ground. The event builds strength, endurance and teamwork, and emulates the traits people of the north needed when they lived a nomadic lifestyle and had to carry heavy loads, organizers said.
Nichols said her family and some others still participate in some Native traditions, like hunting and subsisting off the land like their ancestors, but competing in the youth games “makes you feel really connected with them,” she said.
“Just knowing that I’m part of what used to be — it makes me happy,” she said.
MARK THIESSEN
Thiessen is an Associated Press all-formats reporter based in Anchorage, Alaska. He covers Alaska Native issues and other general assignments.
How to Watch Joe Biden's 2024 White House Correspondents' Dinner Speech
Story by Maura Zurick
U.S. President Joe Biden delivers remarks at the North American Building Trades Unions 2024 Legislative Conference on April 24, 2024 in Washington, DC. Biden will address the crowd at the annual White House Correspondents’ Dinner.
© Anna Moneymaker/Getty
President Joe Biden is slated to deliver remarks at the White House Correspondents' Association (WHCA) dinner on Saturday before a crowd of journalists, celebrities and politicians as protesters have vowed to gather outside the event.
...
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/other/how-to-watch-joe-biden-s-2024-white-house-correspondents-dinner-speech/ar-AA1nMl85
Is Donald Trump on Drugs? If Not, He Should Be.
His true addiction explains the president’s doziness.
Jeet Heer
April 22, 2024
Cameras are not allowed in the Manhattan courtroom where Donald Trump, for the first time, is facing evaluation on a criminal case from a jury of his peers. But we have some accounts from observers that present almost as vivid an image as a good photo. The most memorable of these accounts focus on the former president’s seeming to float off into slumberland. Last Monday, Maggie Haberman, a preternaturally sensitive barometer of Trump’s emotional weather, observed in The New York Times: “Even as a judge was hearing arguments on last-minute issues in a criminal case that centers on salacious allegations and threatens to upend his bid for the presidency, Mr. Trump appeared to nod off a few times, his mouth going slack and his head drooping onto his chest.”
The following day, another reporter, Frank G. Runyeon of Law360, provided a vivid battlefield account of the mortal combat between the forces of alertness and drowsiness inside Trump’s brain:
Trump’s head slowly dropped, his eyes closed. It jerked back upward. He adjusts himself. Then, his head droops again. He straightens up, leaning back. His head doops for a third time, he shakes his shoulders. Eyes closed still. His head drops. Finally, he pops his eyes open.
I confess that, reading these accounts, I immediately started speculating on a pharmaceutical explanation. Not that I think Trump is doing illicit drugs such as heroin or morphine—but perhaps something perfectly legal such as Xanax, which helps with anxiety and has side effects perfectly congruent with Trump’s languidness in the face of the law.
One reason my mind went in that direction is that Trump has repeatedly accused rival presidential candidates of using “performance-enhancing drugs,” as if the election were a professional sports competition that you can cheat at by juicing. He made this indictment against Hillary Clinton in 2016 and against Joe Biden in both 2020 and 2024.
Trump is almost a textbook embodiment of the psychological process of projection. He rarely hurls an accusation that is not also a confession, as when he accuses his foes of being corrupt, dishonest or racist. Given this pattern, Trump’s habit of making up allegations of substance abuse is worth flagging as, at the very least, suspicious.
Further raising suspicion was Trump’s closeness to Republican Representative Ronnie Jackson, who served as his personal doctor in 2017 and ’18. In January of this year, the Department of Defense released a scathing report on Jackson’s tenure running the White House Medical Unit. According to the report, “We found that the White House Medical Unit provided a wide range of health care and pharmaceutical services to ineligible White House staff in violation of Federal law and regulation and DoD policy. Additionally, the White House Medical Unit dispensed prescription medications, including controlled substances, to ineligible White House staff.”
All of this is circumstantial, of course, but troubling. The core problem is that the psychological and medical condition of presidents and presidential candidates is often opaque. After the fact, historians can tell us about John F. Kennedy’s extensive use of painkillers or Richard Nixon’s alcoholism (which became so bad during Watergate that the Pentagon created a system whereby control of the nuclear weapons was temporarily transferred to powerful cabinet members such as Secretary of State Henry Kissinger).
The American presidency is in reality an elected monarchy. Since 1945, it has been a thermonuclear monarchy, where terrifying decisions concerning the survival of humanity are put in the hands of one frail, all-too-human commander in chief. Given these realities, the public has a right to know about any medications Biden or Trump might be taking.
Having said that, Xanax is only one possible explanation for Trump’s courtroom sleepiness. Democrats have jumped on this story as proof that age is wearing Trump down. This allows them to flip Trump’s “Sleepy Joe” gibe and promote the idea of “Sleepy Don.” It’s unfortunate that there are no photos of Trump’s judicial naps, because they would make a strong counterargument in the dispiriting dispute over which presidential candidate is the most decrepit.
While the “Trump is old” argument is true, there’s an additional factor to consider. Trump’s true addiction is not to any sedative—but to his own ego. He is used to being the star of the show and getting his own way. In the courtroom, Trump is forced to be subservient to an imposing legal process where a judge presides and a jury of ordinary citizens are the ultimate arbiters.
In such an environment, Trump is surely suffering from wounded narcissistic pride. No wonder his mind, horrified at the prospect of being treated as just another citizen, flees into the safety of dreamland.
As Alex Shepherd noted in The New Republic, it was immensely satisfying that Trump, during the jury selection process, had to listen to mean social media posts about him from run-of-the mill New Yorkers:
As a president and postpresident, however, Trump has rarely had to face criticism in person. He carefully curates his public events so as to almost never encounter critics of any stripe. His life is spent at a private club or on a golf course. He skipped every White House Correspondents Dinner as president. His rallies are filled with gushing supporters. He lives in a fantasy world in which Hollywood, the media, and political elites despise him—but the people love him.
Being in a criminal trial has forced Trump to leave that fantasy world. A man who has a desperate need to see himself as a domineering winner is forced to live in brutal reality where he is in the precarious position of being a potential felon.
Writing on Sunday in The New York Times, Maggie Haberman made parallel observations: “Everything about the circumstances in which the former president comes to court every day to sit as the defendant in the People v. Donald J. Trump at 100 Centre Street is repellent to him.”
Haberman added:
Trials are by nature mundane, with strict routines and long periods of inactivity. Mr. Trump has always steered clear of this type of officialism, whether by eschewing strict schedules or anyone else’s practices or structures, from the time he was in his 20s through his time in the Oval Office.
The mundanity of the courtroom has all but swallowed Mr. Trump, who for decades has sought to project an image of bigness, one he rode from a reality-television studio set to the White House.
Trump’s foes have every reason to relish the current moment. Both the outcome of the court case and the election are up in the air. It is entirely possible that he could win court cases even where his guilt is manifest (the example of O.J. Simpson, recently dead, should remind us of that). Trump could also win the presidency again, which would render almost all the court cases moot. (Even the ones that are in state courts—such as current Manhattan trial or the Georgia case involving Trump’s efforts to overturn the election—would fall into political difficulty, since it’s almost inconceivable that a Republican Supreme Court would allow a duly elected Republican president to be jailed in office.) So Trump’s current misery should be mined for every ounce of schadenfreude it currently provides.
However, the pathos of the scene before us shouldn’t escape notice. Because Trump’s true addiction is to his self-regard—and because his ego is a black hole that devours everything around him—there is no reason to hope for improvement. You can always kick a drug addiction. But there is no 12-step program that will cure the true sickness that ails Trump’s soul.
https://www.thenation.com/article/politics/sleepy-trump-trial-drugs/
2024 Paris Olympic Games -- Latest News
https://olympics.com/ioc/paris-2024
PHOTOS -- 2024 Paris Olympic Games
Photos: See how Paris has evolved from the 1924 Summer Olympics to today
https://www.nbcnews.com/sports/olympics/paris-olympics-photos-a-visual-journey-rcna145839
The Parade of Nations during the opening ceremony of the Summer Olympics in the Stade Olympique Yves-du Manoir in Paris on July 5, 1924. Topical Press Agency / Hulton Archive
Cyclists about to begin the 1924 biking individual time trials. Alamy Stock Photo
The first leg of the women's triathlon test event for the 2024 Olympics Games, on the Avenue des Champs-Élysées on Aug. 17, 2023.
Michel Euler / AP
Swiss rider Alphonse Gemuseus, and his horse Lucette, won the 1924 gold medal in the equestrian event.Split Seconds / Alamy Stock Photo
The front of Hotel de Ville Paris City Hall, the starting point for the Olympic Marathon in the 2024 Games. Elena Dijour / Alamy Stock Photo[/img]
MORE: 2024 Paris Olympic Games
The Parade of Nations during the opening ceremony of the Summer Olympics in the Stade Olympique Yves-du Manoir in Paris on July 5, 1924. Topical Press Agency / Hulton Archive
Cyclists about to begin the 1924 biking individual time trials. Alamy Stock Photo
The first leg of the women's triathlon test event for the 2024 Olympics Games, on the Avenue des Champs-Élysées on Aug. 17, 2023.
Michel Euler / AP
Swiss rider Alphonse Gemuseus, and his horse Lucette, won the 1924 gold medal in the equestrian event.Split Seconds / Alamy Stock Photo
The front of Hotel de Ville Paris City Hall, the starting point for the Olympic Marathon in the 2024 Games. Elena Dijour / Alamy Stock Photo[/img]
fuagf (I was able to copy and paste the text OK, as it was highlighted very light)
Photos: See how Paris has evolved from the 1924 Summer Olympics to today
In these photos, the Summer Games held in the City of Lights almost 100 years ago come to life.
April 17, 2024, 4:00 AM CDT
By Daniel Arkin and Kelsea Petersen
In the summer of 1924, more than 600,000 spectators descended on Paris for the Olympic Games. The competitions were broadcast on the radio for the first time, allowing listeners around the world to vicariously experience the “Flying Finns” of track and field and other elite athletes. The British stars Harold Abrahams and Eric Liddell triumphed on the track, inspiring the 1981 Oscar-winning film “Chariots of Fire” and a soaring electronic theme by Vangelis.
In the century since, Paris and its surrounding cities have been utterly transformed by political upheaval, technological revolution and demographic shifts. But when the City of Lights hosts the Games for a third time this July, spectators and television audiences will be reminded how much has remained the same, from the towering landmarks of metropolitan Paris to the pageantry of the opening ceremony.
https://www.nbcnews.com/sports/olympics/paris-olympics-photos-a-visual-journey-rcna145839
Photos: See how Paris has evolved from the 1924 Summer Olympics to today
In these photos, the Summer Games held in the City of Lights almost 100 years ago come to life.
April 17, 2024, 4:00 AM CDT
By Daniel Arkin and Kelsea Petersen
In the summer of 1924, more than 600,000 spectators descended on Paris for the Olympic Games. The competitions were broadcast on the radio for the first time, allowing listeners around the world to vicariously experience the “Flying Finns” of track and field and other elite athletes. The British stars Harold Abrahams and Eric Liddell triumphed on the track, inspiring the 1981 Oscar-winning film “Chariots of Fire” and a soaring electronic theme by Vangelis.
In the century since, Paris and its surrounding cities have been utterly transformed by political upheaval, technological revolution and demographic shifts. But when the City of Lights hosts the Games for a third time this July, spectators and television audiences will be reminded how much has remained the same, from the towering landmarks of metropolitan Paris to the pageantry of the opening ceremony.
https://www.nbcnews.com/sports/olympics/paris-olympics-photos-a-visual-journey-rcna145839
2024 Paris Olympic Games, July 26-August 11
Despite weather glitch, the Paris Olympics flame is lit at the Greek cradle of ancient games
By NICHOLAS PAPHITIS
Updated 7:06 AM CDT, April 16, 2024
The Olympic torch was lit on Tuesday at the site of the ancient games in Greece, ahead of the Paris Olympics this summer.
00:49
https://apnews.com/article/olympics-flame-lighting-greece-6ba355b34a5c6c8e4d037fa00f3b1321
20 Photos
ANCIENT OLYMPIA, Greece (AP) — Even without the help of Apollo, the flame that is to burn at the Paris Olympics was kindled Tuesday at the site of the ancient games in southern Greece.
Cloudy skies prevented the traditional lighting. .. https://apnews.com/article/olympics-flame-lighting-greece-ceremony-ancient-olympia-f68de04bd8871d08f06c5c6c724c3bdc , when an actress dressed as an ancient Greek priestess uses the sun to ignite a silver torch — after offering up a symbolic prayer to Apollo, the ancient Greek sun god.
Instead, she used a backup flame that had been lit on the same spot Monday, during the final rehearsal.
Normally, the foremost of a group of priestesses in long, pleated dresses dips the fuel-filled torch into a parabolic mirror which focuses the sun’s rays on it, and fire spurts forth.
But this time she didn’t even try, going straight for the backup flame, kept in a copy of an ancient Greek pot. Ironically, a few minutes later the sun shone forth.
From the ancient stadium in Olympia, a relay of torchbearers will carry the flame along a 5,000-kilometer (3,100-mile) route through Greece, including several islands, until the handover to Paris Games organizers in Athens on April 26.
International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach said the flame lighting combined “a pilgrimage to our past in ancient Olympia, and an act of faith in our future.”
“In these difficult times ... with wars and conflicts on the rise, people are fed up with all the hate, the aggression and negative news,” he said. “We are longing for something which brings us together; something that is unifying; something that gives us hope.”
Thousands of spectators from all over the world packed Olympia for Tuesday’s event amid the ruined temples and sports grounds where the ancient games were held from 776 B.C.-393 A.D.
The sprawling site, in a lush valley by the confluence of two rivers, is at its prettiest in the spring, teeming with pink-flowering Judas trees, small blue irises and the occasional red anemone.
Greek authorities maintained high security around Olympia on Tuesday, after protests by rights activists disrupted the lighting ceremonies for the Beijing summer and winter games. Armed police stopped incoming vehicles and checked for explosives, while sniffer dogs combed the grounds.
The first torchbearer was Greek rower Stefanos Douskos, a gold medalist in 2021 in Tokyo. He ran to a nearby monument that contains the heart of French Baron Pierre de Coubertin, the driving force behind the modern revival of the games.
The next runner was Laure Manaudou, a French swimmer who won three medals at Athens in 2004. She handed over to senior European Union official Margaritis Schinas, a Greek.
The IOC’s Bach praised Paris organizers for doing “an outstanding job” with preparations for the July 26-August 11 games.
He also highlighted their environmental impact, saying that cleanup efforts will make it possible to swim in the River Seine, which traverses Paris, “for the first time in a hundred years.”
IOC politics briefly reared their head in Olympia as well, with the heads of two sports federations criticizing track and field leader Sebastian Coe for breaking with Olympic tradition last week by promising prize money of $50,000 to each of its gold medalists in Paris. The money will be paid from the share of Olympic games revenues that the IOC pays governing bodies of Olympic sports.
International Cycling Union President David Lappartient complained that Coe did not consult with other sports before announcing his move.
“We really believe that that’s not the Olympic spirit,” Lappartient said. “If we concentrate the money ... on only top athletes, only gold, then of course a lot of opportunities will disappear for athletes all over the world.”
Coe has been widely expected to run for the IOC presidency, which should become vacant in 2025. Lappartient is close to Bach and is increasingly seen as a potential successor.
From Greece, the Olympic flame will travel from Athens’ port of Piraeus on the Belem, a French three-masted sailing ship built in 1896 — the year of the first modern games in Athens.
According to Captain Aymeric Gibet, it’s due on May 8 in the southern French port of Marseille, a city founded by Greek colonists some 2,600 years ago.
The Belem arrived in Katakolo, near Olympia, on Monday. Lookers-on included a small, enthusiastic group of tourists from the northwestern French region of Brittany, where the ship’s homeport of Nantes is, waving French and Breton flags.
“We thought it would be a unique opportunity to see the flame lighting at the historic site of Olympia,” said Jean-Michel Pasquet from Lorient, near Nantes. “And when we also learnt the Belem would carry the flame ... we said we must do this.”
But Pasquet said he’d have to watch the Paris Games from home.
“For us, it would be really very expensive, unaffordable,” to go to the venues, he said. “So we’ll watch them on television ... from our armchairs.”
Graham Dunbar in Geneva, Switzerland, and Theodora Tongas in Ancient Olympia contributed.
A performer holds a ceramic pot with the flame during the official ceremony of the flame lighting for the Paris Olympics, at the Ancient Olympia site, Greece, Tuesday, April 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis)
___
AP Olympics https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games
https://apnews.com/article/olympics-flame-lighting-greece-6ba355b34a5c6c8e4d037fa00f3b1321
2024 Paris Olympic Games, July 26-August 11
Despite weather glitch, the Paris Olympics flame is lit at the Greek cradle of ancient games
By NICHOLAS PAPHITIS
Updated 7:06 AM CDT, April 16, 2024
The Olympic torch was lit on Tuesday at the site of the ancient games in Greece, ahead of the Paris Olympics this summer.
00:49
https://apnews.com/article/olympics-flame-lighting-greece-6ba355b34a5c6c8e4d037fa00f3b1321
20 Photos
ANCIENT OLYMPIA, Greece (AP) — Even without the help of Apollo, the flame that is to burn at the Paris Olympics was kindled Tuesday at the site of the ancient games in southern Greece.
Cloudy skies prevented the traditional lighting. .. https://apnews.com/article/olympics-flame-lighting-greece-ceremony-ancient-olympia-f68de04bd8871d08f06c5c6c724c3bdc , when an actress dressed as an ancient Greek priestess uses the sun to ignite a silver torch — after offering up a symbolic prayer to Apollo, the ancient Greek sun god.
Instead, she used a backup flame that had been lit on the same spot Monday, during the final rehearsal.
Normally, the foremost of a group of priestesses in long, pleated dresses dips the fuel-filled torch into a parabolic mirror which focuses the sun’s rays on it, and fire spurts forth.
But this time she didn’t even try, going straight for the backup flame, kept in a copy of an ancient Greek pot. Ironically, a few minutes later the sun shone forth.
From the ancient stadium in Olympia, a relay of torchbearers will carry the flame along a 5,000-kilometer (3,100-mile) route through Greece, including several islands, until the handover to Paris Games organizers in Athens on April 26.
International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach said the flame lighting combined “a pilgrimage to our past in ancient Olympia, and an act of faith in our future.”
“In these difficult times ... with wars and conflicts on the rise, people are fed up with all the hate, the aggression and negative news,” he said. “We are longing for something which brings us together; something that is unifying; something that gives us hope.”
Thousands of spectators from all over the world packed Olympia for Tuesday’s event amid the ruined temples and sports grounds where the ancient games were held from 776 B.C.-393 A.D.
The sprawling site, in a lush valley by the confluence of two rivers, is at its prettiest in the spring, teeming with pink-flowering Judas trees, small blue irises and the occasional red anemone.
Greek authorities maintained high security around Olympia on Tuesday, after protests by rights activists disrupted the lighting ceremonies for the Beijing summer and winter games. Armed police stopped incoming vehicles and checked for explosives, while sniffer dogs combed the grounds.
The first torchbearer was Greek rower Stefanos Douskos, a gold medalist in 2021 in Tokyo. He ran to a nearby monument that contains the heart of French Baron Pierre de Coubertin, the driving force behind the modern revival of the games.
The next runner was Laure Manaudou, a French swimmer who won three medals at Athens in 2004. She handed over to senior European Union official Margaritis Schinas, a Greek.
The IOC’s Bach praised Paris organizers for doing “an outstanding job” with preparations for the July 26-August 11 games.
He also highlighted their environmental impact, saying that cleanup efforts will make it possible to swim in the River Seine, which traverses Paris, “for the first time in a hundred years.”
IOC politics briefly reared their head in Olympia as well, with the heads of two sports federations criticizing track and field leader Sebastian Coe for breaking with Olympic tradition last week by promising prize money of $50,000 to each of its gold medalists in Paris. The money will be paid from the share of Olympic games revenues that the IOC pays governing bodies of Olympic sports.
International Cycling Union President David Lappartient complained that Coe did not consult with other sports before announcing his move.
“We really believe that that’s not the Olympic spirit,” Lappartient said. “If we concentrate the money ... on only top athletes, only gold, then of course a lot of opportunities will disappear for athletes all over the world.”
Coe has been widely expected to run for the IOC presidency, which should become vacant in 2025. Lappartient is close to Bach and is increasingly seen as a potential successor.
From Greece, the Olympic flame will travel from Athens’ port of Piraeus on the Belem, a French three-masted sailing ship built in 1896 — the year of the first modern games in Athens.
According to Captain Aymeric Gibet, it’s due on May 8 in the southern French port of Marseille, a city founded by Greek colonists some 2,600 years ago.
The Belem arrived in Katakolo, near Olympia, on Monday. Lookers-on included a small, enthusiastic group of tourists from the northwestern French region of Brittany, where the ship’s homeport of Nantes is, waving French and Breton flags.
“We thought it would be a unique opportunity to see the flame lighting at the historic site of Olympia,” said Jean-Michel Pasquet from Lorient, near Nantes. “And when we also learnt the Belem would carry the flame ... we said we must do this.”
But Pasquet said he’d have to watch the Paris Games from home.
“For us, it would be really very expensive, unaffordable,” to go to the venues, he said. “So we’ll watch them on television ... from our armchairs.”
Graham Dunbar in Geneva, Switzerland, and Theodora Tongas in Ancient Olympia contributed.
A performer holds a ceramic pot with the flame during the official ceremony of the flame lighting for the Paris Olympics, at the Ancient Olympia site, Greece, Tuesday, April 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis)
___
AP Olympics https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games
https://apnews.com/article/olympics-flame-lighting-greece-6ba355b34a5c6c8e4d037fa00f3b1321
You have a great record in the "Avg per event (minimum 10)"
and you'll probably continue doing so.
I seemed to get off to a slow start... better days ahead.
Congrats to joenatural for 1st Place.
I never made it to 1st this year in the Masters, but was the closest I've ever been with 3rd.
Trump, THE COWARD, under fire for alleged comments about veterans, has a long history of disparaging military service
[...]
Long before Trump’s views of the military would emerge as a flash point in his 2020 reelection campaign — before he would shock the political world with the more widely seen 2015 attack on McCain, in which he said the senator was “not a war hero” and declared, “I like people who weren’t captured” — Trump had a long track record of incendiary and disparaging remarks about veterans and military service.
[...]
By the time Trump graduated in 1964, some of his peers were volunteering for service in Vietnam, but Trump used a series of deferments to attend college.
Upon graduation from the University of Pennsylvania in 1968, Trump faced the prospect of being subject to the draft lottery, which began in 1969.
Trump then received a medical deferment for what his campaign called “bone spurs on both heels of his feet.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/26/us/politics/trump-vietnam-draft-exemption.html
[...]
Trump’s aversion to service reportedly filtered into his own family. In her book, Mary L. Trump wrote that when Trump’s son, Don Jr., said he might join the military, Trump and his then-wife Ivana, “told him if he did, they’d disown him in a second.”
[...]
https://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=158153640&txt2find=TRUMP%2BVETERANS
Fact Checker Analysis
In four years, President Trump made 30,573 false or misleading claims
The Fact Checker’s database of the false or misleading claims made by President Trump while in office.
Updated Jan. 20, 2021
https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/politics/trump-claims-database/?itid=lk_inline_manual_11
Which Trump lies stick?
Republicans believe some falsehoods more than they did six years ago, our poll finds.
Analysis by Glenn Kessler
Scott Clement andEmily Guskin
April 9, 2024 at 6:00 a.m. EDT
Complete article... with links and graphics
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/04/09/some-trump-falsehoods-stick-more-than-others-fact-checker-poll-finds/
(Illustration by Natalie Vineberg/The Washington Post; AP Photo)
Fictions, misleading claims, wild exaggerations, lies — former president Donald Trump dispenses untruths of one variant or another relentlessly. The falsehoods range from the inconsequential, like the crowd size at his inauguration, to the democracy-shaking, like the “stolen” 2020 election.
With Trump barreling toward November, when Americans will have a chance to choose him to lead the nation again, The Washington Post Fact Checker sought to get a sense of the staying power of his lies — whether people are more or less likely to believe them over time and which lies prove the stickiest — as well as measure the value Americans place in a president’s honesty, however they define it.
Midway through Trump’s presidency, in 2018, we documented through a poll that most Americans, including Republicans, did not believe many of his most repeated claims.
A fresh Washington Post-Schar School poll shows that remains largely the case, with an average of 28 percent of Americans believing Trump’s false claims tested in the poll.
But Trump has made significant inroads in convincing Republicans that his lies are the truth. That applies to election integrity especially — the basis of Trump’s “big lie.”
Even more significant, Americans appear to have diverged on the meaning of honesty itself. Among Republicans, fewer now say that Trump regularly makes misleading statements. Slightly more view him as more honest than they did in 2018, despite an extraordinarily large amount of evidence that Trump often does not tell the truth. During Trump’s presidency, The Fact Checker documented more than 30,000 misleading or outright false claims, and since he began his second campaign for the White House against Joe Biden, he’s introduced new falsehoods to his catalogue: Inflation is “almost 50 percent” under President Biden; “nearly 1 million jobs held by native-born Americans” have been lost to immigrants. In a single December interview with Fox News host Sean Hannity, Trump made 24 false or misleading claims in five minutes — one every 12.5 seconds.
The Post-Schar School Fact Checker survey included 10 pairs of opposing statements — one true, one false — without identifying who made the statement. Seven questions gauging belief in false claims by Trump, including four measured in 2018, were mixed among a false claim by Biden and two other factual questions.
Six years ago, just about 1 in 4 Republicans (26 percent) agreed that millions of fraudulent votes were cast in the 2016 election. Now, 38 percent of Republicans — and 47 percent of strong Trump supporters — believe that is the case. Among all Americans, belief in this false claim hardly changed because Democrats moved sharply in the opposite direction from Republicans. Trump often made this claim to justify his loss of the popular vote to Hillary Clinton in 2016, when the electoral college propelled him to the Oval Office.
Relatedly, in 2018, a little more than a quarter of Republicans, 27 percent, said they believed Trump’s claim that Russia did not interfere in the 2016 election, benefiting Trump, despite substantial evidence assembled by intelligence agencies that it did interfere. Today, more Republicans, 37 percent, say they believe the false claim, despite the addition of a bipartisan Senate report concluding that Russia interfered, and criminal indictments of a dozen Russians. Overall, just about 1 in 5 Americans believe this.
Trump has convinced 70 percent of Republicans — and 81 percent of his strong supporters — that Biden won the 2020 election because of voter fraud, though not a single allegation has been proven. Slightly more than one-third of Americans overall believe this.
He has even convinced 51 percent of Republicans — and 58 percent of his most fervent supporters — that some cities tallied more votes than registered voters. This ludicrous claim is disproven simply by checking the statistics. Yet Trump has repeated it in rally after rally, often identifying Democratic strongholds like Detroit and Philadelphia.
False claims about election integrity are not the only ones that have taken hold.
While Biden has pushed forward with significant investment in green energy to combat climate change, the poll finds that Trump’s argument that global temperatures are rising mainly because of natural causes has gained traction with Republicans. Whereas one-third believed this in 2018, now nearly half (46 percent) think this is the case. As a result, the share of Americans overall saying human activity had little to do with climate change has climbed to 26 percent, from 19 percent in 2018.
Only one Trump false claim tested showed some slippage in support among Republicans — that the United States funds a majority of the NATO budget. (The United States provides 15.9 percent of the NATO budget for military-related operations, maintenance and headquarters activity — the same percentage as Germany.) More than half of Republicans believed this in 2018 (53 percent); now the percentage ticked down to 46 percent. Just over one-third of Americans overall believe this. Trump’s rhetoric has had to contend with news reports of NATO allies rushing to send weapons to Ukraine as it fends off a Russian invasion, focusing new attention on the share of the load they shoulder for NATO.
As for that Russian invasion, Trump’s claim — without evidence — that Russian President Vladimir Putin would not have invaded if Trump had remained president has resonated with Republicans. Over 6 in 10 Republicans (63 percent) and 74 percent of strong Trump approvers say Putin wouldn’t have invaded if Trump was president; majorities of independents (51 percent) and Democrats (78 percent) say Putin would have invaded Ukraine regardless of whether Trump or Biden was president.
One of the more striking findings in 2018 was that Republicans appeared to have grown less concerned about presidents being honest than they were a decade earlier. In 2007, an Associated Press-Yahoo poll found 71 percent of Republicans saying it was “extremely important” for presidential candidates to be honest, similar to 70 percent of Democrats and 66 percent of independents. The 2018 Post poll showed nearly identical shares of Democrats and independents prioritizing honesty in presidential candidates, but the share of Republicans who said honesty was extremely important had fallen to 49 percent, 22 points lower than what the AP-Yahoo poll showed.
The new survey finds that Republicans now align more closely with the 2007 result, with 63 percent of them saying being honest is extremely important. (Democrats are essentially unchanged.) Having a Democrat in the White House — especially one who often mangles facts and repeats dubious stories — might account for the return to the 2007 finding, but there may be a more startling reason, too.
In one of the clearest measures of how deeply Trump’s lies have pierced the public consciousness, slightly more Republicans now view Trump as more honest than they did in 2018. Asked whether Trump regularly makes misleading statements, the share of Republicans who say he does dipped by 10 percentage points, to 38 percent. The percentage of Republicans who say Trump usually makes flat-out false claims ticked down to 8 percent from 14 percent; he also made small inroads with independents, with the percentage saying he made flat-out false statements slipping by seven points, to 41 percent.
Perceptions of Biden’s honesty weren’t measured in 2018, but the survey found that 56 percent of Americans said that Democrats in Congress regularly made misleading statements — and in 2024, an identical share say the same of Biden. Overall, 66 percent of U.S. adults say Trump regularly makes misleading statements, down slightly from 71 percent in 2018 because of the shift among Republicans.
Both in 2018 and this year, respondents were asked whether unemployment was near a 50-year low. This was a true statement by Trump in 2018, when he was president — and it is true today, when Biden is president. The unemployment rate, as measured by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, reached a low of 3.5 percent in 2019 under Trump and 3.4 percent in 2023 under Biden — levels not seen since 1969. The unemployment rate just before the 2018 poll was 3.8 percent; it was 3.9 percent just before the 2024 poll — both near 50-year lows at the time.
Similar percentages — about 1 in 4 — rejected this fact in both surveys, but perceptions have splintered by partisanship. The share of Democrats rejecting the claim dropped from 33 percent in 2018 to 20 percent today, while the share of Republicans rejecting it grew from 19 percent to 37 percent. Among strong Trump approvers, rejection of the claim more than doubled, from 19 percent to 45 percent.
Biden has frequently argued that Trump is a threat to democracy, citing his refusal to accept the results of the 2020 election and his open admiration of autocrats. Trump has tried to turn the tables, claiming that Biden is the real threat to democracy. Without evidence, Trump claims Biden is responsible for the myriad criminal cases brought against the former president. About half of Americans say they are “extremely” or “very” worried about threats to democracy in the United States (52 percent), including majorities of Democrats (58 percent) and independents (54 percent) and almost half of Republicans (47 percent). Nearly 6 in 10 of those who strongly approve of Trump (57 percent) are at least very worried about democracy.
Americans who say Fox News is one of their main news sources are 13 percentage points more likely to believe the average false Trump claim than the public overall (41 percent versus 28 percent of Americans overall). People who rely on Fox News as a main source of news also are more likely to say Biden won the election because of voter fraud (58 percent to 36 percent among the public overall), whereas a majority of people who rely on all other news sources with sufficient sample sizes, including social media, say Biden won fair and square.
Meanwhile, college graduates are eight percentage points less likely to believe Trump’s false claims than those without college degrees, 23 percent versus 31 percent.
[...]
MORE
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/04/09/some-trump-falsehoods-stick-more-than-others-fact-checker-poll-finds/
Thank You
Scheffler, Koepka, Matsuyama, Young, Aberg 276
AP PHOTOS: Total solar eclipse sweeps across North America
By ADITHI RAMAKRISHNAN
Updated 3:55 PM CDT, April 8, 2024
DALLAS (AP) — Millions across North America witnessed the moon block out the sun during a total solar eclipse Monday.
The eclipse’s path of totality stretched from Mazatlán, Mexico to Newfoundland, an area that crosses 15 U.S. states and is home to 44 million people. Revelers were engulfed in darkness at state parks, on city rooftops and in small towns.
Most of those in North America, but not in the direct path, still witnessed a partial eclipse, with the moon transforming the sun into a fiery crescent.
Totality’s first stop on land cast Mazatlán’s sparkling beaches into darkness before continuing northeast toward Eagle Pass, Texas, one its first stops in the U.S.
Total solar eclipses happen somewhere around the world every 11 to 18 months, but they don’t often cross paths with millions of people. The U.S. last got a taste in 2017, and won’t again see a coast-to-coast spectacle until 2045.
[...]
https://apnews.com/article/2024-total-solar-eclipse-photos-us-0a07725f59906849b00949e43177e6d9
AP PHOTOS: Total solar eclipse sweeps across North America
By ADITHI RAMAKRISHNAN
Updated 3:55 PM CDT, April 8, 2024
DALLAS (AP) — Millions across North America witnessed the moon block out the sun during a total solar eclipse Monday.
The eclipse’s path of totality stretched from Mazatlán, Mexico to Newfoundland, an area that crosses 15 U.S. states and is home to 44 million people. Revelers were engulfed in darkness at state parks, on city rooftops and in small towns.
Most of those in North America, but not in the direct path, still witnessed a partial eclipse, with the moon transforming the sun into a fiery crescent.
Totality’s first stop on land cast Mazatlán’s sparkling beaches into darkness before continuing northeast toward Eagle Pass, Texas, one its first stops in the U.S.
Total solar eclipses happen somewhere around the world every 11 to 18 months, but they don’t often cross paths with millions of people. The U.S. last got a taste in 2017, and won’t again see a coast-to-coast spectacle until 2045.
[...]
https://apnews.com/article/2024-total-solar-eclipse-photos-us-0a07725f59906849b00949e43177e6d9
Former Trump officials are among the most vocal opponents of returning him to the White House
By MICHELLE L. PRICE
Updated 9:00 AM CDT, April 5, 2024
NEW YORK (AP) — Former Defense Secretary Mark Esper has called him a “threat to democracy.”
Former national security adviser John Bolton has declared him “unfit to be president.”
And former Vice President Mike Pence has declined to endorse him, citing “profound differences.”
As Donald Trump seeks the presidency for a third time, he is being vigorously opposed by a vocal contingent of former officials who are stridently warning against his return to power and offering dire predictions for the country and the rule of law if his campaign succeeds.
It’s a striking chorus of detractors, one without precedent in the modern era, coming from those who witnessed first-hand his conduct in office and the turmoil that followed.
Sarah Matthews, a former Trump aide who testified before the House Jan. 6 committee and is among those warning about the threat he poses, said it’s “mind-boggling” how many members of his senior staff have denounced him.
“These are folks who saw him up close and personal and saw his leadership style,” Matthews said.
“The American people should listen to what these folks are saying because it should be alarming that the people that Trump hired to work for him a first term are saying that he’s unfit to serve for a second term.”
Yet the critics remain a distinct minority. Republican lawmakers and officials across the party have endorsed Trump’s bid — some begrudgingly, others with fervor and enthusiasm. Many aides and Cabinet officials who served under Trump are onboard for another term, something Trump’s campaign is quick to highlight.
“The majority of the people who served in President Trump’s cabinet and in his administration, like the majority of Americans, have overwhelmingly endorsed his candidacy to beat Crooked Joe Biden and take back the White House,” said Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung.
Still, the Biden campaign has trumpeted the criticism of former Trump officials in statements and social media posts, hoping to convince at least some Republican voters — including those who backed other candidates during the GOP primary — that they cannot support his candidacy.
“Those who worked with Donald Trump at the most senior levels of his administration believe he is too dangerous, too selfish and too extreme to ever lead our country again — we agree,” said Biden campaign spokesman Ammar Moussa.
In many ways, the schism among former Trump officials is an extension of his time in the White House. Friction was constant as Trump’s demands ran into resistance from some officials and aides who refused requests that they found misguided, unrealistic and, at times, flatly illegal. Firings were frequent. Many quit.
Staff upheaval was particularly intense in the chaotic weeks after the 2020 election as Trump worked to overturn his election loss to Biden. Trump summoned supporters to Washington on Jan. 6, 2021, as his falsehoods about a stolen election became the rallying cry for supporters who violently breached the U.S. Capitol. Many people serving in the administration quit in protest, including Matthews.
Trump’s attempt to remain in office included a bitter pressure campaign against Pence, who as vice president was tasked with presiding over the count of the Electoral College ballots on Jan. 6. Trump was adamant that Pence should prevent Biden from becoming president, something he had no power to do. Pence had to flee the Senate chamber on Jan. 6 as rioters stormed the building to chants of “Hang Mike Pence!”
Pence recently said he “cannot in good conscience” endorse Trump because of Jan. 6 and other issues, despite being proud of what they achieved together.
And Pence is not alone.
Esper, who was fired by Trump days after the 2020 election, clashed with the then-president over several issues, including Trump’s push to deploy military troops to respond to civil unrest after the killing of George Floyd by police in 2020.
In a recent interview with HBO’s “Real Time With Bill Maher,” Esper repeated a warning that Trump is “a threat to democracy” and added, “I think there’s a lot to be concerned about.”
“There’s no way I’ll vote for Trump, but every day that Trump does something crazy, the door to voting for Biden opens a little bit more, and that’s where I’m at,” Esper said.
Among Trump’s most vocal critics are former aides who worked closely with him in the White House, particularly a trio who gained prominence testifying about the Jan. 6 attack and Trump’s push to overturn the election.
The group includes Matthews, former Trump White House communications director Alyssa Farah Griffin and Cassidy Hutchinson, a former top aide to Trump chief of staff Mark Meadows. They have given a series of interviews in recent months opposing their former boss.
“Fundamentally, a second Trump term could mean the end of American democracy as we know it, and I don’t say that lightly,” Griffin told ABC in December.
John Kelly, Trump’s former chief of staff, had his own long falling-out with Trump.
Kelly, in a lengthy October statement to CNN, described Trump as “a person who admires autocrats and murderous dictators” and “has nothing but contempt for our democratic institutions, our Constitution, and the rule of law.”
Olivia Troye, a former Pence adviser who left the White House in 2020, and former press secretary Stephanie Grisham, who resigned Jan. 6, are both outspoken critics who said they didn’t vote for Trump in 2020.
Even Bill Barr, Trump’s former attorney general who has not ruled out voting for him again, has referred to Trump as “a consummate narcissist” who “constantly engages in reckless conduct that puts his political followers at risk and the conservative and Republican agenda at risk.”
Still, the ranks of former Trump officials opposing his bid are greatly outnumbered by those who are supportive.
Linda McMahon, who headed the Small Business Administration under Trump, is co-chairing a major fundraiser for the former president on Saturday in Florida, along with former Trump Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross.
McMahon is also chair of the board of The America First Policy Institute, which is packed with supportive former Trump officials and has been described as an “administration in waiting” for a second Trump term.
The institute is headed by Brooke Rollins, Trump’s former domestic policy chief, and counts Pence’s national security adviser and retired Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg among its chairs, along with former Energy Secretary Rick Perry, Trump’s U.S. trade representative Robert Lighthizer, and former National Economic Council director Larry Kudlow.
Former acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker has campaigned for Trump, as has former Housing Secretary Ben Carson, who called him “a friend of America.”
Trump’s also got the backing of former acting Director of National Intelligence Richard Grenell, former Interior Secretary and Montana Rep. Ryan Zinke, and Russell Vought, who ran Trump’s Office of Management and Budget.
Vought said in a post on X that Trump is “the only person I trust to take a wrecking ball to the Deep State.”
Trump supporters are also quick to dismiss critics in the party.
Carmen McVane, who attended Trump’s rally Tuesday in Green Bay, Wisconsin, said those who speak negatively against Trump or refuse to endorse are RINOs, or Republicans In Name Only, and will only help Biden and Democrats.
“There’s a lot of RINOs who don’t do what they’re supposed to do,” McVane said. “It’s time for everyone to back who we have and go full force ahead.”
___
Associated Press writer Adriana Gomez Licon in Green Bay, Wisconsin, contributed to this report.
https://apnews.com/article/former-trump-officials-criticize-2024-e202861911ab37cadfcf058b5b163fb9
Judge rejects Trump request to dismiss classified documents prosecution
By ERIC TUCKER
Updated 5:47 PM CDT, April 4, 2024
WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge refused Thursday to throw out the classified documents prosecution of Donald Trump, .. https://apnews.com/article/trump-classified-documents-delay-trial-election-83be6fb5362e7bb2b7aaf6371a9acabf .. turning aside defense arguments that a decades-old law permitted the former president to retain the sensitive records after he left office.
Lawyers for Trump had cited a 1978 statute known as the Presidential Records Act in demanding that the case, one of four against the presumptive Republican nominee, be tossed out before trial. That law requires presidents upon leaving office to turn over presidential records to the federal government but permits them to retain purely personal papers. Trump’s lawyers have said he designated the records as personal, making them his own property, and that that decision can not be second-guessed in court.
Donald Trump is facing four criminal indictments, and a civil lawsuit.
You can track all of the cases here.
https://projects.apnews.com/features/2023/trump-investigations-civil-criminal-tracker/index.html
Prosecutors on special counsel Jack Smith’s team countered that the law had no relevance to a case concerning the mishandling of classified documents and said the files Trump is alleged to have hoarded at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida were unquestionably presidential records, not personal ones, and therefore had to be returned to the government when Trump left the White House.
[...[
https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-jack-smith-classified-documents-b862ec627ac0070e5353ac324d8d333f
3 presidents, celebrity performances and protester interruptions at Biden campaign's $26M fundraiser
The Biden campaign said a sold-out crowd of more than 5,000 supporters at Radio City Music Hall helped raise a record amount for a single event.
March 28, 2024, 7:41 PM CDT / Updated March 28, 2024, 10:52 PM CDT
By Mike Memoli and Megan Lebowitz
President Joe Biden was joined Thursday by two of his Democratic predecessors for a star-studded fundraiser at Radio City Music Hall that his campaign said brought in more than $26 million.
Former Presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton participated in the event in New York with more than 5,000 supporters in attendance — including several protesters who interrupted the program when the three presidents were speaking.
Actor and comedian Mindy Kaling hosted the program, which ended at around 10 p.m., and late night host Stephen Colbert moderated a conversation with Biden, Clinton and Obama. Special guests include celebrities like Queen Latifah, Lizzo, Ben Platt, Cynthia Erivo and Lea Michele.
During the nearly hourlong moderated conversation, Colbert joked that the moment was historic because “three presidents have come to New York, and not one of them to appear in court,” taking a jab at former President Donald Trump’s criminal indictments and civil trials.
Clinton also took a swipe at Trump, the presumptive GOP nominee, arguing that he "had a good couple of years because he stole them from Barack Obama.”
But the discussion was interrupted at least five times by protesters. Colbert acknowledged one protester and asked Biden about the U.S. role in ensuring a peaceful and prosperous future for both Israelis and Palestinians.
Biden said more needed to be done to get relief into Gaza but added that Israel's very existence was at stake.
"There has to be a train for a two-state solution," Biden said. "It doesn’t have to carry today. There has to be a progression. And I think we can do that."
His response was met with a standing ovation and chants of "four more years."
Obama sternly addressed a protester when he was interrupted, saying, "You can’t just talk and not listen."
"That’s part of democracy," Obama added. "Part of democracy is not just talking. It’s listening. That’s what the other side does, and it is important for us to understand that it is possible to have moral clarity and have deeply held beliefs but still recognize that the world is complicated and it is hard to solve these problems."
The crowd erupted in applause.
Biden’s team has taken steps to minimize disruptions, including making events smaller and withholding exact locations longer than usual, after a speech in January when pro-Palestinian protesters interrupted him about a dozen times.
Outside the New York venue Thursday, more than 100 pro-Palestinian protesters chanted slogans like “Biden, Biden, you’re a liar,” and waved Palestinian flags and signs with anti-war messages.
The group Abandon Biden encouraged people to protest the president during his visit over the White House’s handling of the Israel-Hamas war.
“We cannot idly sit by as our president aides and abets genocide in Gaza,” the group’s New York co-chair Mosaab Sadia said in a statement. “The movement to Abandon Biden is only just beginning.
Pro-Palestinian protesters gather outside Radio City Music Hall ahead of a fundraiser for President Joe Biden in New York on Thursday.Leonardo Munoz / AFP - Getty Images
Inside Radio City Music Hall, the novelty of having three presidents in the same room was not lost on attendees.
Earlier in the program, Kaling joked about having Biden, Obama and Clinton in the same room, saying that when someone shouts “Mr. President,” three people turn around.
Ticket prices started at $250, but the largest contributions shot up to half a million dollars. Some of the biggest donors were to have their pictures taken with all three presidents by photographer Annie Leibovitz.
First lady Jill Biden called the program “the fundraiser to end all fundraisers.”
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., also delivered remarks.
For the three presidents, the fundraiser capped off a day of mobilization efforts that included sitting for an interview with the podcast "SmartLess," which the White House said would be available at a later, unspecified date.
President Joe Biden participates in the "SmartLess" podcast Thursday.Courtesy Biden for President NCX
They also sat for a discussion with Biden's campaign manager, Julie Chavez Rodriguez, which was streamed to grassroots donors. The presidents talked about re-election efforts — both Clinton and Obama served two terms — as well as lighter topics, like favorite ice cream favors.
"You're all part of an incredible team we're building, and we're just getting started," Biden said in his closing message during the discussion. "So let's keep going. Let's win this November."
The trio arrived at Radio City Music Hall together in "The Beast" — the president’s car in the motorcade.
Biden also invited Obama to ride in The Beast after he landed at John F. Kennedy International Airport, where they enjoyed catching up on their personal and professional lives, an aide to Obama told NBC News.
The show of unity among Biden, Clinton and Obama stands in stark contrast to Trump, who faces opposition from members of his own administration, including former Vice President Mike Pence, as he seeks a return to the White House in November.
Former President George W. Bush — the only other Republican former president — declined to support Trump in 2020.
The Trump campaign has not held a major event since March 16. Earlier Thursday, Trump attended the wake for a New York police officer who was shot and killed in Queens on Monday.
Biden and Trump are polling neck-and-neck, with 46% of voters supporting Trump and 45% supporting Biden, according to a March poll by CNBC. That poll, however, had Trump leading Biden by 30 percentage points when respondents were asked which candidate was the best on economic issues.
During Thursday's moderated discussion, Colbert asked Clinton what he would say to voters who do not feel like the economy is strong. Clinton answered that the 2008 recession and Covid are still affecting voters and that Trump did not sustain economic growth spurred by Obama. Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris have methodically "put Humpty Dumpty back together again," Clinton said.
"We should not make 2016's mistake again," he added, referring to when Trump defeated his wife, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2024-election/biden-rakes-25-million-new-york-fundraiser-obama-clinton-rcna145534
MORE: President Barack Obama, Vice President Joe Biden, and former President Bill Clinton
3 of 5 | FILE - President Barack Obama, Vice President Joe Biden, and former President Bill Clinton attend at a memorial service for Sen. Robert Byrd, July 2, 2010, at the Capitol in Charleston, W.Va.
Former Presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton are teaming up with President Joe Biden for a glitzy reelection fundraiser Thursday night at Radio City Music Hall in New York City.
The event brings together more than three decades of Democratic leadership.
(AP Photo/Charles Dharapak, File)
. . .
Biden Campaign Hits 'Feeble' and 'Confused' Donald Trump in Gloves-Off Statement
" They see the signs of Trump’s cognitive decline through the eyes of years of training and experience "
Story by Johnny Palmadessa
President Biden's campaign issued a statement denouncing Donald Trump's recent behavior, declaring, "Trump is weak and desperate — both as a man and as a candidate for President."
The statement continued to lambast Trump for spending his days golfing, likening himself to Jesus, and dishonestly claiming to possess wealth he clearly lacks.
President Biden's campaign issued a statement denouncing Donald Trump's recent behavior, declaring, "Trump is weak and desperate — both as a man and as a candidate for President." The statement continued to lambast Trump for spending his days golfing, likening himself to Jesus, and dishonestly claiming to possess wealth he clearly lacks.
The Biden campaign directly remarked, "His campaign can’t raise money, he is uninterested in campaigning outside his country club, and every time he opens his mouth, he pushes moderate and suburban voters away with his dangerous agenda." The statement underscored the campaign's criticisms of Trump's fundraising, lack of effort, and rhetoric, suggesting a pattern of behavior that is detrimental to those Trump is seeking to represent as President.
This pattern is further reflected in the onslaught of insults delivered by Donald Trump to Nikki Haley's supporters after she had suspended her presidential campaign following Super Tuesday. In contrast, President Biden embraced Haley's supporters, expressing a welcoming attitude by stating, "Donald Trump made it clear he doesn’t want Nikki Haley’s supporters. I want to be clear: There is a place for them in my campaign."
The Biden campaign's statement emphasized a stark contrast between Trump and their vision for America, declaring, "America deserves better than a feeble, confused, and tired Donald Trump."
This statement highlights President Biden's view of Trump as unfit for the presidency, further emphasizing his campaign's inclusive approach compared to Trump's divisive rhetoric.
Critics have raised concerns about Donald Trump possibly experiencing cognitive decline, citing incidents like when he stared directly into a solar eclipse, which they view as a symbol of his inability to discern clearly. Additionally, Trump's comparisons of himself to Jesus and Elvis Presley have been seen as indications of a detachment from reality and a tendency towards delusion.
It's clear that President Biden's campaign is taking an fierce and strong approach as they head towards the general election.
They are not holding back in their criticisms of Trump. They are prepared to confront him head-on in the upcoming general election.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/biden-campaign-hits-feeble-and-confused-donald-trump-in-gloves-off-statement/ar-BB1kw7rY?ocid=msedgdhp&pc=LCTS&cvid=23c213eae47d4ee6af88e6aed3bf80fe&ei=25
MORE:
ArmyTimes
Ghost Army, masters of WWII deception, awarded Congressional Gold Medal
By Jamie Stengle, The Associated Press
Mar 21, 04:02 PM
https://www.armytimes.com/news/your-army/2024/03/21/ghost-army-masters-of-wwii-deception-awarded-congressional-gold-medal/?utm_source=sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=army-dnr
Ghost Army members who deceived Nazis with battlefield ruses in WWII given Congressional Gold Medal
02:25
https://apnews.com/article/ghost-army-congressional-gold-medal-ceremony-world-war-ii-7a2deaf1686bca3194d46c77fa0bccb9
Three U.S. veterans who served during World War II in a secret unit known as the Ghost Army that used inflated tanks and sound effects to fool their enemies were awarded the Congressional Gold Medal on Thursday, 80 years after they saw combat.
Photo 2 of 16
Ghost Army members John Christman, of Leesburg, N.J., second from left standing, Seymour Nussenbaum, of Monroe Township, N.J, in wheelchair at left, and Bernard Bluestein, of Hoffman Estates, Ill., in wheelchair at right, join military and congressional officials as members of their secretive WWII-era unit were presented with the Congressional Gold Medal during a ceremony on Capitol Hill, March 21, 2024, in Washington. (Mark Schiefelbein/AP)
By JAMIE STENGLE
Updated 6:51 PM CDT, March 21, 2024
DALLAS (AP) — With inflatable tanks, radio trickery, costume uniforms and acting, the American military units that became known as the Ghost Army outwitted the enemy during World War II.
Their mission was kept secret for decades, but on Thursday the group stepped out of the shadows as they were awarded the Congressional Gold Medal at a ceremony in Washington.
“The actions of the Ghost Army helped change the course of the war for thousands of American and Allied troops and contributed to the liberation of a continent from a terrible evil,” Secretary of the Army Christine Wormuth said during the ceremony at the U.S. Capitol.
She said that many of the techniques the Ghost Army pioneered are still used on the battlefield. “Even though technology has changed quite a bit since 1944, our modern techniques build on a lot of what the Ghost Army did and we are still learning from your legacy,” she said.
Three of the seven known surviving members attended the ceremony: Bernard Bluestein, 100, of Hoffman Estates, Illinois; John Christman, 99, of Leesburg, New Jersey; and Seymour Nussenbaum, 100, of Monroe Township, New Jersey.
Their work during the war “was like putting on a big production,” Nussenbaum said in an interview before the ceremony.
“We have had in some cases people impersonating generals, putting on a general’s uniform and walking around the streets,” he said.
Nussenbaum, who grew up in New York City, was studying art at the Pratt Institute before he joined the Army. Eventually, he joined a unit specializing in camouflage that was part of the 23rd Headquarters Special Troops.
“Our mission was to fool the enemy, to put on a big act,” said Nussenbaum, a painter who went on to a career in commercial art.
Sen. Edward Markey of Massachusetts said during the ceremony that the Ghost Army members were “creative, original thinkers, who used engineering, art, architecture and advertising to wage battle with the enemy.”
“Their weapons were unconventional but their patriotism was unquestionable,” he said.
House Speaker Mike Johnson said during the ceremony that it’s estimated that between 15,000 to 30,000 lives were saved because of the Ghost Army’s work.
The legislation to honor the military units with the Congressional Gold Medal — Congress’ highest honor — was signed into law by President Joe Biden in 2022. That came after almost a decade of work by family members of the soldiers and Rick Beyer, a filmmaker and author who has who helped bring their story to light after their mission was declassified in 1996. Beyer, president of the Ghost Army Legacy Project, produced and directed the 2013 documentary “The Ghost Army” and co-authored the 2015 book “The Ghost Army of World War II.”
“They put themselves in harm’s way wielding imagination, bravado and creativity in order that other soldiers might be able to fight and live,” Beyer told those gathered Thursday.
“This is a day that has been a long time coming but it has been well worth the wait,” Beyer said.
The Ghost Army included about 1,100 soldiers in the 23rd Headquarters Special Troops, which carried out about 20 battlefield deceptions in France, Luxembourg, Belgium and Germany, and around 200 soldiers in the 3133rd Signal Company Special, which carried out two deceptions in Italy.
Ghost Army members who deceived Nazis with battlefield ruses in WWII given Congressional Gold Medal
02:25
https://apnews.com/article/ghost-army-congressional-gold-medal-ceremony-world-war-ii-7a2deaf1686bca3194d46c77fa0bccb9
Three U.S. veterans who served during World War II in a secret unit known as the Ghost Army that used inflated tanks and sound effects to fool their enemies were awarded the Congressional Gold Medal on Thursday, 80 years after they saw combat.
Photo 2 of 16
By JAMIE STENGLE
Updated 6:51 PM CDT, March 21, 2024
DALLAS (AP) — With inflatable tanks, radio trickery, costume uniforms and acting, the American military units that became known as the Ghost Army outwitted the enemy during World War II.
Their mission was kept secret for decades, but on Thursday the group stepped out of the shadows as they were awarded the Congressional Gold Medal at a ceremony in Washington.
“The actions of the Ghost Army helped change the course of the war for thousands of American and Allied troops and contributed to the liberation of a continent from a terrible evil,” Secretary of the Army Christine Wormuth said during the ceremony at the U.S. Capitol.
She said that many of the techniques the Ghost Army pioneered are still used on the battlefield. “Even though technology has changed quite a bit since 1944, our modern techniques build on a lot of what the Ghost Army did and we are still learning from your legacy,” she said.
Three of the seven known surviving members attended the ceremony: Bernard Bluestein, 100, of Hoffman Estates, Illinois; John Christman, 99, of Leesburg, New Jersey; and Seymour Nussenbaum, 100, of Monroe Township, New Jersey.
Their work during the war “was like putting on a big production,” Nussenbaum said in an interview before the ceremony.
“We have had in some cases people impersonating generals, putting on a general’s uniform and walking around the streets,” he said.
Nussenbaum, who grew up in New York City, was studying art at the Pratt Institute before he joined the Army. Eventually, he joined a unit specializing in camouflage that was part of the 23rd Headquarters Special Troops.
“Our mission was to fool the enemy, to put on a big act,” said Nussenbaum, a painter who went on to a career in commercial art.
Sen. Edward Markey of Massachusetts said during the ceremony that the Ghost Army members were “creative, original thinkers, who used engineering, art, architecture and advertising to wage battle with the enemy.”
“Their weapons were unconventional but their patriotism was unquestionable,” he said.
House Speaker Mike Johnson said during the ceremony that it’s estimated that between 15,000 to 30,000 lives were saved because of the Ghost Army’s work.
The legislation to honor the military units with the Congressional Gold Medal — Congress’ highest honor — was signed into law by President Joe Biden in 2022. That came after almost a decade of work by family members of the soldiers and Rick Beyer, a filmmaker and author who has who helped bring their story to light after their mission was declassified in 1996. Beyer, president of the Ghost Army Legacy Project, produced and directed the 2013 documentary “The Ghost Army” and co-authored the 2015 book “The Ghost Army of World War II.”
“They put themselves in harm’s way wielding imagination, bravado and creativity in order that other soldiers might be able to fight and live,” Beyer told those gathered Thursday.
“This is a day that has been a long time coming but it has been well worth the wait,” Beyer said.
The Ghost Army included about 1,100 soldiers in the 23rd Headquarters Special Troops, which carried out about 20 battlefield deceptions in France, Luxembourg, Belgium and Germany, and around 200 soldiers in the 3133rd Signal Company Special, which carried out two deceptions in Italy.
HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY
Is St. Patrick’s Day Celebrated in Ireland?
The holiday was traditionally a more solemn occasion on the Emerald Isle—until Americans got involved.
By: Elizabeth Nix
Updated: March 14, 2024 | Original: March 17, 2014
In America, St. Patrick’s Day, on March 17, has long been commemorated with rollicking festivities, but until recent decades, the holiday, which honors Ireland’s patron saint, was traditionally a more solemn occasion on the Emerald Isle.
The man for whom St. Patrick’s Day is named was born into an aristocratic family in Roman Britain around the end of the fourth century. As a teenager, he was kidnapped by Irish pirates and taken to Ireland, where he was held as a slave for a number of years. He eventually escaped the island, only to return later as a missionary and convert part of the population to Christianity. Centuries after his death, which some sources cite as March 17, 461, although the exact date is unknown, Patrick became the patron saint of Ireland, and March 17 became a holy day of obligation for the nation’s Catholics.
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https://www.history.com/news/is-st-patricks-day-celebrated-in-ireland
Former Vice President Mike Pence says he’s not endorsing Trump
"--Trump’s GOP is already dying-- "
By JILL COLVIN
Updated 5:44 PM CDT, March 15, 2024
NEW YORK (AP) — Former Vice President Mike Pence says he will not be backing Donald Trump in the 2024 election.
“It should come as no surprise that I will not be endorsing Donald Trump this year,” Pence said in an interview with Fox News Channel Friday, weighing in for the first time since the former president became the presumptive GOP nominee. Pence ran against Trump for their party’s nomination but dropped his bid before voting began last year.
The decision makes Pence the latest in a series of senior Trump administration officials who have declined to endorse their former boss’s bid to return to the Oval Office. While Republican members of Congress and other GOP officials have largely rallied behind Trump, a vocal minority has continued to oppose his bid.
It also marks the end of a metamorphosis for Pence, who had long been seen as one of Trump’s most loyal defenders but broke with his two-time running mate by refusing to go along with Trump’s unconstitutional scheme to try to remain in power after losing the 2020 election.
When Trump’s supporters stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, trying to disrupt the certification of Joe Biden’s win, Pence was forced to flee to a Senate loading dock as rioters chanted, “Hang Mike Pence!” outside.
[...]
https://apnews.com/article/pence-trump-endorsement-c05ffad1e20381fed3cfc87b7071ba4c