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Donald Trump testifies for less than 3 minutes in defamation trial and is rebuked by judge
1:09
https://apnews.com/article/trump-carroll-defamation-lawsuit-trial-0f2618e7fa839ace26de76e1a6ce274f
Former President Donald Trump was on and off the witness stand at a jury trial Thursday in less than 3 minutes but not before breaking a judge’s rules on what he could say by claiming that a writer’s sexual assault allegations were a “false accusation.” (Jan 25) (AP video by Ted Shaffrey)
By JENNIFER PELTZ and JAKE OFFENHARTZ
Updated 5:12 PM CST, January 25, 2024
NEW YORK (AP) — He testified for under three minutes. But former President Donald Trump still broke a judge’s rules on what he could tell a jury about writer E. Jean Carroll’s sexual assault and defamation allegations, and he left the courtroom Thursday bristling to the spectators: “This is not America.”
Testifying in his own defense in the defamation trial, Trump didn’t look at the jury during his short, heavily negotiated stint on the witness stand. Because of the complex legal context of the case, the judge limited his lawyers to asking a handful of short questions, each of which could be answered yes or no — such as whether he’d made his negative statements in response to an accusation and didn’t intend anyone to harm Carroll.
But Trump nudged past those limits.
“She said something that I considered to be a false accusation,” he said, later adding: “I just wanted to defend myself, my family and, frankly, the presidency.”
After Judge Lewis A. Kaplan told jurors to disregard those remarks, Trump rolled his eyes as he stepped down from the witness stand. The former president and current Republican front-runner left the courtroom during a break soon after, shaking his head and declaring to spectators — three times — that “this is not America.”
Carroll looked on throughout from the plaintiff’s table. The longtime advice columnist alleges that Trump attacked her in 1996, then defamed her by calling her a liar when she went public with her story in a 2019 memoir.
While Trump has said a lot about her to the court of public opinion, Thursday marked the first time he has directly addressed a jury about her claims.
But jurors also heard parts of a 2022 deposition — a term for out-of-court questioning under oath — in which Trump vehemently denied Carroll’s allegations, calling her “sick” and a “whack job.” Trump told jurors Thursday that he stood by that deposition, “100%.”
Trump didn’t attend a related trial last spring, when a different jury found that he did sexually abuse Carroll and that some of his comments were defamatory, awarding her $5 million.
This trial concerns only how much more he may have to pay her for certain remarks he made in 2019, while president. She’s seeking at least $10 million.
Because of the prior jury’s findings, Kaplan said Trump now couldn’t offer any testimony “disputing or attempting to undermine” the sexual abuse allegations. The law doesn’t allow for “do-overs by disappointed litigants,” the judge said.
Even before taking the stand, Trump chafed at those limitations as the judge and lawyers for both sides discussed what he could be asked.
“I never met the woman. I don’t know who the woman is. I wasn’t at the trial,” he cut in from his seat at the defense table without jurors in the room. Kaplan told Trump he wasn’t allowed to interrupt the proceedings.
Trump was the last witness, and closing arguments are set for Friday.
Carroll, 80, claims Trump, 77, ruined her reputation after she publicly aired her account of a chance meeting that spiraled into a sexual assault in spring 1996. At the time, he was a prominent real estate developer, and she was an Elle magazine advice columnist who’d had a TV show.
She says they ran into each other at Bergdorf Goodman, a luxury department store close to Trump Tower, bantered and ended up in a dressing room, teasing each other about trying on lingerie. She has testified that she thought it would just be a funny story to tell but then he roughly forced himself on her before she eventually fought him off and fled.
The earlier jury found that she was sexually abused but rejected her allegation that she was raped.
Besides Trump, his defense called only one other witness, a friend of Carroll’s. The friend, retired TV journalist Carol Martin, was among two people the writer told about her encounter with Trump shortly after it happened, according to testimony at the first trial.
Trump lawyer Alina Habba confronted Martin on Tuesday with text messages in which she called Carroll a “narcissist” who seemed to be reveling in the attention she got from accusing and suing Trump. Martin said she regretted her word choices and doesn’t believe that Carroll loved the attention she has been getting.
Carroll has testified that she has gotten death threats that worried her enough to buy bullets for a gun she inherited from her father, install an electronic fence, warn her neighbors and unleash her pit bull to roam freely on the property of her small cabin in the mountains of upstate New York.
Trump’s attorneys have tried to show the jury through their cross-examination of various witnesses that by taking on Trump, Carroll has gained a measure of fame and financial rewards that outweigh the threats and other venom slung at her through social media.
After Carroll’s lawyers rested Thursday, Habba asked for a directed verdict in Trump’s favor, saying Carroll’s side hadn’t proven its case. Kaplan denied the request.
Even before testifying, Trump had already tested the judge’s patience. After he complained to his lawyers last week about a “witch hunt” and a “con job” within earshot of jurors, Kaplan threatened to eject him from the courtroom if it happened again. “I would love it,” Trump said. Later that day, Trump told a news conference Kaplan was a “nasty judge” and that Carroll’s allegation was “a made-up, fabricated story.”
While attending the trial last week, Trump made it clear — through muttered comments and gestures like shaking his head — that he was disgusted with the case. When a video clip from a Trump campaign rally last week was shown in court Thursday, he appeared to lip-synch himself saying the trial was rigged.
The trial had been suspended since early Monday because of a juror’s illness. When it resumed Thursday, the judge said two jurors were being “socially distanced” from the others.
Trump attended the trial fresh off big victories in the New Hampshire primary on Tuesday and the Iowa caucuses last week. Meanwhile, he also faces four criminal cases. He has been juggling court and campaign appearances, using both to argue that he’s being persecuted by Democrats terrified of his possible election.
The Associated Press typically does not name people who say they have been sexually assaulted unless they come forward publicly, as Carroll has done.
United Auto Workers endorse Biden; union president calls Trump a 'scab'
"Who do we want in that office to give us the best shot of winning?"
ByAlexandra Hutzler
January 24, 2024, 2:50 PM
08:51
https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/biden-notches-key-2024-endorsement-united-auto-workers/story?id=106642558
President Joe Biden is greeted by Shawn Fain, President of the United Auto Workers, as he arrives to speak to a United Auto Workers' political convention in in Washington D.C., Jan. 24, 2024.
President Joe Biden received a key 2024 endorsement on Wednesday from the United Auto Workers, with the union's president using the occasion to savage Biden's likely general election opponent, Donald Trump.
Shawn Fain announced UAW's support for Biden's reelection bid at their biannual conference in Washington, D.C.
"I know there's some people that want to ignore this election," Fain said. "They don't want to have anything to do with politics. Other people want to argue endlessly about the latest headline or scandal or stupid quote. Elections aren't about just taking your best friend for the job or the candidate who makes you feel good. Elections are about power."
The backing of the Michigan-based UAW, with more than 400,000 members, could give Biden an edge in a key battleground state that has helped determine the last two political elections. He won Michigan by about 150,000 votes in 2020; Trump won it by about 10,000 votes four years earlier.
Biden also won the group’s endorsement in 2020, and it backed Hillary Clinton over Trump in 2016.
But Trump was successful in battlegrounds like Michigan and Ohio in that election cycle in part because of his ability to attract more union support than past GOP candidates: The UAW said at the time it believed one in four of its members likely voted for Trump based on surveys.
"The question is, who do we want in that office to give us the best shot of winning?" Fain said on Wednesday. "Who gives us the best shot of organizing? Who gives us the best shot of negotiating strong contracts? Who gives us the best shot of uniting the working class and winning our fair share once again?"
Biden, who has increasingly been gearing in public to face Trump in the general election, also delivered remarks. He thanked the union for its support and praised members for inspiring the labor movement with its strike last year against the Big Three auto makers.
"Let me just say, I'm honored to have your back and you have mine, that's the deal," Biden said. "It comes down to seeing the world the same way, it's not complicated."
Fain cast the 2024 race as a choice between Biden and Trump and didn't mince words in his criticism of the former president. He specifically took issue with Trump's handling of the union's 2019 strike, arguing that Trump didn't do a "damn thing" while UAW members confronted General Motors at plants across the U.S.
"Donald Trump is a scab," Fain said. "Donald Trump is a billionaire, and that's who he represents.
If Donald Trump ever worked in auto plant, he wouldn't be a UAW member -- he'd be a company man trying to squeeze the American worker."
Trump's campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Fain's remarks, though Trump has previously dismissed Biden's record on unions.
[...]
https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/biden-notches-key-2024-endorsement-united-auto-workers/story?id=106642558
================================
'Honored to have your back, and you have mine:' Biden endorsed by United Auto Workers in election
President Joe Biden has picked up the endorsement of the United Auto Workers
By TOM KRISHER Associated Press, FATIMA HUSSEIN Associated Press,
and DARLENE SUPERVILLE Associated Press
January 23, 2024, 11:02 PM
https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/biden-speak-united-auto-workers-conference-woos-blue-106626046
Audie Murphy honors and awards
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This article is about the military and civilian honors of Audie Murphy.
For details on his life and military career, see Audie Murphy.
Murphy wearing the U.S. Army khaki "Class A" (tropical service) uniform with full-size medals, 1948
Murphy's award for the Chevalier of the Legion of Honor
Audie Murphy (20 June 1925 – 28 May 1971) was one of the most decorated United States Army combat soldiers of World War II, serving from 1942 to 1945. He received every American combat award for valor available at the time of his service,[ALM 1] including the Medal of Honor. He also received recognitions from France and Belgium. With his 1945 military discharge at the end of the war, Murphy became an advocate of treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder in veterans.[3] The Audie L. Murphy Memorial VA Hospital in San Antonio and the Sergeant Audie Murphy Clubs (SAMC) on military bases honor his contributions. He joined the Texas National Guard in 1950, transferring to reserve status in 1956 and remaining in the Guard until 1969. He also had a civilian career as a film actor and songwriter. Recognitions he received both during his lifetime and posthumously are listed below.
Murphy participated in campaigns in North Africa, Sicily, Italy, France and Germany, as denoted by his European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal with one silver battle star (denoting five campaigns), four bronze battle stars, plus a bronze arrowhead representing his two amphibious assault landings at Sicily and southern France.[4] On 25 February 1945 and 3 March 1945, he received two Silver Stars for further heroic actions.[5] The French government awarded Murphy its Chevalier of the Legion of Honor[6] and two Croix de guerre medals.[7][8] He received the Croix de guerre 1940 Palm from Belgium.[8] The military assisted him with replacement medals after he gave away the originals.[ALM 2] Duplicates of his Medal of Honor and other medals can be viewed at Dallas Scottish Rite Temple museum.
Audie Murphy (20 June 1925 – 28 May 1971) was one of the most decorated United States Army combat soldiers of World War II, serving from 1942 to 1945. He received every American combat award for valor available at the time of his service, including the Medal of Honor.
He also received recognitions from France …
Murphy wearing the U.S. Army khaki "Class A" (tropical service) uniform with full-size medals, 1948
[...]
See more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Audie_Murphy_honors_and_awards
GRAPHICS
U.S. medals, awards, decorations and badges
U.S. military personal decorations
[...]
Almost 80 Years Later, Audie Murphy's Medal of Honor Action Is Still Like Something Out of a Movie
Military.com | By Blake Stilwell
Published January 19, 2024
Listen to this article
https://www.military.com/history/almost-80-years-later-audie-murphys-medal-of-honor-action-still-something-out-of-movie.html?ESRC=mr_240122.nl&utm_medium=email&utm_source=mr&utm_campaign=20240122
Moviegoers have seen it all by now. We've seen tornadoes full of sharks, trucks fighting jets and Nic Cage swap faces with John Travolta after landing a helicopter on an airplane. Such outlandish mayhem gets a little ridiculous after a while, but the real world is full of its own unbelievable stories.
Audie Murphy's one-man fight against the Nazis in Europe might seem like something straight out of a modern action movie, but his movie was actually made a decade after the battle ended -- and it still stands up today.
In January 1945, Allied victory in Europe was anything but assured. The German military launched a major offensive in December 1944 that had pushed Allied lines back into Belgium and France, but the resulting Battle of the Bulge forced the Nazis into a retreat. They were far from finished, however: on New Year's Eve, Nazi Germany launched what would be its last major offensive on the Western Front. Operation Northwind was an attempt to bolster its forces in the Bulge and destroy two Allied armies.
American and French forces would fight for more than a month to not only prevent a German advance, but to push the Nazi Wehrmacht back into Germany. Though they finally succeeded, a powerful force of some 30,000 or more Germans were centered around the city of Colmar, forming a pocket of resistance in Eastern France that American troops would have to retake. Not only was it the last major Nazi foothold on French soil, but control of Colmar also allowed freedom of movement into Germany itself.
An American map showing the reduction of the Colmar Pocket in 1945.
One day late that January, near the village of Holtzwihr, northeast of Colmar, German forces struck out at advancing American infantry. This is where Lt. Murphy would single-handedly hold the strategically important forest outside the town, despite being outmanned and outgunned by a veteran German Army.
It's safe to say Murphy knew his way around a battlefield and had a pretty reliable intuition when it came to taking risks. By the time the U.S. Army advanced on the Colmar Pocket, Audie Leon Murphy had already received the Distinguished Service Cross, two Silver Stars and two Bronze Stars.
He had enlisted at the tender age of 16, joining the Army in 1942 because it was the only branch that would accept his underweight frame. He was first sent to North Africa, then landed at Sicily, mainland Italy and eventually southern France. He then fought his way across Europe, earning a battlefield commission in October 1944.
To hell and back
https://youtu.be/Z-7m6ejqfm8
The danger the Colmar Pocket posed to the Allied advance into Germany was real. If the Nazis broke out, they could have routed the overstretched Seventh Army and then hit the advancing Third Army in the rear, potentially destroying it, too. From there, the Wehrmacht could have retaken the port of Antwerp and pushed the Allies back into the English Channel. That was the reason the Allies couldn't just hole up such a powerful pocket of enemy troops and armor. Something had to be done.
On Jan. 23, 1945, the U.S. 3rd Infantry Division's 30th Infantry Regiment advanced through the Bois de Riedwihr, a forest near Holtzwihr, when it was suddenly attacked by a large force of enemy tanks, tank destroyers and infantry. The 30th was caught in an open ground and was unable to dig into the frozen earth, ending up mangled by the attacking Germans and ordered to withdraw. To fill the gap, the Americans ordered the 15th Infantry to take its place.
The very next day, on the southern edge of the woods, German tanks and infantry hit the regiment's Company B hard, wounding 102 of its 120 enlisted men and killing all of its officers except one: Lt. Audie Murphy.
That same day, Murphy led what was left of his company into the woods, where they, too, were unable to dig any kind of foxhole. They worked through the night but couldn't make any progress in the snow and cold. The next morning, Murphy was reinforced with two tank destroyers from the 601st Tank Destroyer Battalion and used them, along with five armored vehicles, to form a defensive position. It was better but it was still weak, and they could see the heavily defended village of Holtzwihr from this spot.
It was now Jan. 26, 1945. Murphy had made the most of what was available, but was informed that his reinforcements had not yet arrived -- and they wouldn't make it that day. At 2 p.m. that day, six tanks and 250 elite German mountain troops moved out of the village toward their position. Murphy only had time to get to a phone and call for artillery before the shooting started. It turns out the road to a German victory in the Colmar Pocket ran right through the road his company was holding.
The American tank destroyers opened up on the oncoming German tanks immediately, but their fire was ineffective. They were taken out almost, either by enemy tank rounds or poor maneuvering, which scattered surviving anti-tank troops into the forest. The only silver lining was the M10 tank destroyers' mounted guns, which tore into the German infantry, but even that didn't last long. Company B's machine gun crew was hit next. Murphy knew his unit couldn't hold this vital stretch and ordered his men to fall back into the forest. He would cover their retreat while directing artillery fire.
With the Germans advancing and his carbine out of ammunition, Murphy spied a burning tank destroyer and its remaining .50-caliber gun. Instead of going back into the forest, he climbed aboard the turret and began pouring fire into the oncoming enemy advance. He believed the tanks could not advance without infantry, so he began mowing them down. Murphy was right; as he cut down enemy troops, the German tanks were forced to fall back to their own treeline. He fought on as enemy tank shells and artillery exploded around him.
Murphy killed an estimate 50 German troops from atop the tank destroyer on Jan. 26, 1945. (Universal Pictures)
For an hour, Murphy was obscured by smoke and firing the machine gun, stopping only to reload, call in artillery fire or recover from the exploding 88-millimeter shells. After what must have seemed like days, the clouds parted and he was able to get close-air support from Allied air power. In the face of all that firepower, the Germans finally began a retreat toward the village. It was great timing for Murphy, because his phone to Allied artillery suddenly went dead. He left the tank destroyer and rejoined his men in the relative safety of the forest. After he reached the treeline, the turret on which he stood for that entire hour blew up, tossing it sky high.
Refusing to be evacuated or deterred, Murphy then began to plan a counterattack, retaking their original position from the remaining Germans. Company B held its ground throughout that night and the reinforced 30th Infantry Regiment captured the village the next day. Had Murphy not made his stand atop the burning armored vehicle, it's likely the entire company, undermanned and demoralized, would have been annihilated.
Murphy was promoted to first lieutenant and received the Legion of Merit for his leadership during the Colmar Pocket operation. On June 2, 1945, Lt. Gen. Alexander Patch, commander of the Seventh Army, presented the 19-year-old Murphy with the Medal of Honor for his actions outside of Holtzwihr.
By the war's end, he would famously receive every medal for valor the United States offered, along with three Purple Hearts for his trouble.
Lt. Gen. Alexander Patch awards the Legion of Merit and Medal of Honor to Lt. Audie Murphy. (Audie Murphy Research Foundation)
After the war, Murphy went off to Hollywood, where he began a slow but lucrative film career, landing his first leading role in 1949's "Bad Boy." That film led to a contract with Universal Pictures, where he was particularly known for his war movies (whether they were his story or not) and for his westerns. He later parlayed his success in western film into making country music and western television series.
As the most decorated soldier of World War II, he not only wrote his popular autobiography "To Hell and Back," but also played himself in the 1955 movie of the same name, along with some 40 other films, including "The Unforgiven," "The Quiet American" and "A Time for Dying."
His performance in "To Hell and Back" was so solid that the movie made him a massive star, one of Universal's "Big Four" leading men alongside Tony Curtis, Rock Hudson and Jeff Chandler.
Murphy would go on to join the Texas National Guard and Army Reserve while being an outspoken advocate of post-traumatic stress disorder research and treatment, from which he personally suffered for the rest of his life.
He died at age 45 in 1971, a passenger on a private plane that crashed into a mountain near Roanoke, Virginia, and was interred at Arlington National Cemetery.
https://www.military.com/history/almost-80-years-later-audie-murphys-medal-of-honor-action-still-something-out-of-movie.html?ESRC=mr_240122.nl&utm_medium=email&utm_source=mr&utm_campaign=20240122
Audie Murphy honors and awards
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This article is about the military and civilian honors of Audie Murphy. For details on his life and military career, see Audie Murphy.
Audie Murphy (20 June 1925 – 28 May 1971) was one of the most decorated United States Army combat soldiers of World War II, serving from 1942 to 1945. He received every American combat award for valor available at the time of his service, including the Medal of Honor. He also received recognitions from France …
See more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Audie_Murphy_honors_and_awards
Murphy wearing the U.S. Army khaki "Class A" (tropical service) uniform with full-size medals, 1948
[...]
GRAPHICS
U.S. medals, awards, decorations and badges
U.S. military personal decorations
[...]
Almost 80 Years Later, Audie Murphy's Medal of Honor Action Is Still Like Something Out of a Movie
Military.com | By Blake Stilwell
Published January 19, 2024
Listen to this article
https://www.military.com/history/almost-80-years-later-audie-murphys-medal-of-honor-action-still-something-out-of-movie.html?ESRC=mr_240122.nl&utm_medium=email&utm_source=mr&utm_campaign=20240122
Moviegoers have seen it all by now. We've seen tornadoes full of sharks, trucks fighting jets and Nic Cage swap faces with John Travolta after landing a helicopter on an airplane. Such outlandish mayhem gets a little ridiculous after a while, but the real world is full of its own unbelievable stories.
Audie Murphy's one-man fight against the Nazis in Europe might seem like something straight out of a modern action movie, but his movie was actually made a decade after the battle ended -- and it still stands up today.
In January 1945, Allied victory in Europe was anything but assured. The German military launched a major offensive in December 1944 that had pushed Allied lines back into Belgium and France, but the resulting Battle of the Bulge forced the Nazis into a retreat. They were far from finished, however: on New Year's Eve, Nazi Germany launched what would be its last major offensive on the Western Front. Operation Northwind was an attempt to bolster its forces in the Bulge and destroy two Allied armies.
American and French forces would fight for more than a month to not only prevent a German advance, but to push the Nazi Wehrmacht back into Germany. Though they finally succeeded, a powerful force of some 30,000 or more Germans were centered around the city of Colmar, forming a pocket of resistance in Eastern France that American troops would have to retake. Not only was it the last major Nazi foothold on French soil, but control of Colmar also allowed freedom of movement into Germany itself.
An American map showing the reduction of the Colmar Pocket in 1945.
One day late that January, near the village of Holtzwihr, northeast of Colmar, German forces struck out at advancing American infantry. This is where Lt. Murphy would single-handedly hold the strategically important forest outside the town, despite being outmanned and outgunned by a veteran German Army.
It's safe to say Murphy knew his way around a battlefield and had a pretty reliable intuition when it came to taking risks. By the time the U.S. Army advanced on the Colmar Pocket, Audie Leon Murphy had already received the Distinguished Service Cross, two Silver Stars and two Bronze Stars.
He had enlisted at the tender age of 16, joining the Army in 1942 because it was the only branch that would accept his underweight frame. He was first sent to North Africa, then landed at Sicily, mainland Italy and eventually southern France. He then fought his way across Europe, earning a battlefield commission in October 1944.
To hell and back
https://youtu.be/Z-7m6ejqfm8
The danger the Colmar Pocket posed to the Allied advance into Germany was real. If the Nazis broke out, they could have routed the overstretched Seventh Army and then hit the advancing Third Army in the rear, potentially destroying it, too. From there, the Wehrmacht could have retaken the port of Antwerp and pushed the Allies back into the English Channel. That was the reason the Allies couldn't just hole up such a powerful pocket of enemy troops and armor. Something had to be done.
On Jan. 23, 1945, the U.S. 3rd Infantry Division's 30th Infantry Regiment advanced through the Bois de Riedwihr, a forest near Holtzwihr, when it was suddenly attacked by a large force of enemy tanks, tank destroyers and infantry. The 30th was caught in an open ground and was unable to dig into the frozen earth, ending up mangled by the attacking Germans and ordered to withdraw. To fill the gap, the Americans ordered the 15th Infantry to take its place.
The very next day, on the southern edge of the woods, German tanks and infantry hit the regiment's Company B hard, wounding 102 of its 120 enlisted men and killing all of its officers except one: Lt. Audie Murphy.
That same day, Murphy led what was left of his company into the woods, where they, too, were unable to dig any kind of foxhole. They worked through the night but couldn't make any progress in the snow and cold. The next morning, Murphy was reinforced with two tank destroyers from the 601st Tank Destroyer Battalion and used them, along with five armored vehicles, to form a defensive position. It was better but it was still weak, and they could see the heavily defended village of Holtzwihr from this spot.
It was now Jan. 26, 1945. Murphy had made the most of what was available, but was informed that his reinforcements had not yet arrived -- and they wouldn't make it that day. At 2 p.m. that day, six tanks and 250 elite German mountain troops moved out of the village toward their position. Murphy only had time to get to a phone and call for artillery before the shooting started. It turns out the road to a German victory in the Colmar Pocket ran right through the road his company was holding.
The American tank destroyers opened up on the oncoming German tanks immediately, but their fire was ineffective. They were taken out almost, either by enemy tank rounds or poor maneuvering, which scattered surviving anti-tank troops into the forest. The only silver lining was the M10 tank destroyers' mounted guns, which tore into the German infantry, but even that didn't last long. Company B's machine gun crew was hit next. Murphy knew his unit couldn't hold this vital stretch and ordered his men to fall back into the forest. He would cover their retreat while directing artillery fire.
With the Germans advancing and his carbine out of ammunition, Murphy spied a burning tank destroyer and its remaining .50-caliber gun. Instead of going back into the forest, he climbed aboard the turret and began pouring fire into the oncoming enemy advance. He believed the tanks could not advance without infantry, so he began mowing them down. Murphy was right; as he cut down enemy troops, the German tanks were forced to fall back to their own treeline. He fought on as enemy tank shells and artillery exploded around him.
Murphy killed an estimate 50 German troops from atop the tank destroyer on Jan. 26, 1945. (Universal Pictures)
For an hour, Murphy was obscured by smoke and firing the machine gun, stopping only to reload, call in artillery fire or recover from the exploding 88-millimeter shells. After what must have seemed like days, the clouds parted and he was able to get close-air support from Allied air power. In the face of all that firepower, the Germans finally began a retreat toward the village. It was great timing for Murphy, because his phone to Allied artillery suddenly went dead. He left the tank destroyer and rejoined his men in the relative safety of the forest. After he reached the treeline, the turret on which he stood for that entire hour blew up, tossing it sky high.
Refusing to be evacuated or deterred, Murphy then began to plan a counterattack, retaking their original position from the remaining Germans. Company B held its ground throughout that night and the reinforced 30th Infantry Regiment captured the village the next day. Had Murphy not made his stand atop the burning armored vehicle, it's likely the entire company, undermanned and demoralized, would have been annihilated.
Murphy was promoted to first lieutenant and received the Legion of Merit for his leadership during the Colmar Pocket operation. On June 2, 1945, Lt. Gen. Alexander Patch, commander of the Seventh Army, presented the 19-year-old Murphy with the Medal of Honor for his actions outside of Holtzwihr.
By the war's end, he would famously receive every medal for valor the United States offered, along with three Purple Hearts for his trouble.
Lt. Gen. Alexander Patch awards the Legion of Merit and Medal of Honor to Lt. Audie Murphy. (Audie Murphy Research Foundation)
After the war, Murphy went off to Hollywood, where he began a slow but lucrative film career, landing his first leading role in 1949's "Bad Boy." That film led to a contract with Universal Pictures, where he was particularly known for his war movies (whether they were his story or not) and for his westerns. He later parlayed his success in western film into making country music and western television series.
As the most decorated soldier of World War II, he not only wrote his popular autobiography "To Hell and Back," but also played himself in the 1955 movie of the same name, along with some 40 other films, including "The Unforgiven," "The Quiet American" and "A Time for Dying." His performance in "To Hell and Back" was so solid that the movie made him a massive star, one of Universal's "Big Four" leading men alongside Tony Curtis, Rock Hudson and Jeff Chandler.
Murphy would go on to join the Texas National Guard and Army Reserve while being an outspoken advocate of post-traumatic stress disorder research and treatment, from which he personally suffered for the rest of his life.
He died at age 45 in 1971, a passenger on a private plane that crashed into a mountain near Roanoke, Virginia, and was interred at Arlington National Cemetery.
https://www.military.com/history/almost-80-years-later-audie-murphys-medal-of-honor-action-still-something-out-of-movie.html?ESRC=mr_240122.nl&utm_medium=email&utm_source=mr&utm_campaign=20240122
Ocean Art 2023 Winning Images (Large Images)
Welcome to the Underwater Photography Guide.
This online book and magazine is a complete underwater photography tutorial full of u/w photography tips and techniques.
Our idea is simple - learn, shoot, explore. We hope you enjoy and come back often -
Scott Gietler, Owner of UWPG and Bluewater Photo & Travel.
Quick Links:
Wide Angle Macro Marine Life Behavior Portrait Coldwater
"Pygmy Poser" - "Pygmy Poser" - 2nd Place - Byron Conroy
Shot in Lembeh Strait, Indonesia
Story of the Shot
"Aquatic Primate" - Best in Show - Suliman Alatiqi
Shot in Phi Phi Islands, Thailand
Story of the Shot
"After the Wedding" - 1st Place - Peter Pogany
Shot in Anilao, Batangas, Philippines
Story of the Shot
"Ms Elegant" - Honorable Mention - Cédric Péneau
Shot in Reunion Island
Story of the Shot
[...]
https://www.uwphotographyguide.com/ocean-art-winning-images-2023-desktop-1
More than 60 million people under winter weather alerts as snow and ice still blanket much of the U.S.
Dangerously cold and icy conditions continue to pose risks, including in Portland, Oregon, where three people were killed by a power line downed by the weather.
03:31
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/60-million-americans-winter-weather-alerts-snow-ice-still-blanket-much-rcna134476
Jan. 18, 2024, 10:17 AM CST / Updated Jan. 18, 2024, 6:36 PM CST
By Erin McGarry and David K. Li
At least 66 million people were under winter weather alerts Thursday, as dangerous icy conditions continued to pose risks — including in Oregon, where three people were killed by a falling power line.
While temperatures won't be as frigid Thursday as in recent days in much of the United States, snow and ice posed challenges for millions who are stepping outside.
Chicagoans could see up to 4 inches of snow when it starts falling Thursday afternoon and into Friday morning's rush hour.
Freezing rain could make for treacherous driving conditions in Memphis and Nashville in Tennessee.
Light to moderate snowfall could begin in much of the mid-Atlantic on Thursday with as much as 5 inches hitting Philadelphia, perhaps 4 inches coming down on New York City and 2 inches hitting Boston by the end of Saturday.
At least 14 people have died in Tennessee in recent days due to the snow and plummeting temperatures, officials said.
Since Sunday, more than 9 inches of snow have fallen on Nashville where public schools remained closed on Thursday and will be again on Friday.
The continuing snow in western New York forced Tops Friendly Markets to close its Erie County stores at 4 p.m. Wednesday. The area’s major supermarket chain reopened at 6 a.m. Thursday.
“It’s our priority to ensure a safe environment for our associates and customers, and we thank the community for their support and understanding,” the company said in a statement Thursday.
In Kansas, Interstate 70 westbound at Hays was closed Thursday due to the weather.
"High winds and blowing snow is creating black ice making it extremely dangerous to drive, and we are getting overwhelmed with crashes and slide offs," a spokesman for the Kansas Highway Patrol said on X.
A look at I-70 in Trego County. Very dangerous driving conditions!
Freezing rain and snow slammed the Pacific Northwest on Wednesday and public schools in Portland, Oregon, remained closed Thursday.
Portland firefighters urged residents to pay special attention to trees and power lines where accumulation of snow and ice threaten to bring them down — and potentially lead to tragedy.
A power line fell Wednesday on a SUV Wednesday, killing three people when they got out of the vehicle and touched the ground, Portland firefighters said. A baby was rescued by a bystander and unharmed.
"If you do go outside in the next few days, including to a park or natural area, please be aware of your surroundings, and check around you for any downed power lines or hanging branches," the city told residents.
A power line fell Wednesday on a SUV Wednesday, killing three people when they got out of the vehicle and touched the ground, Portland firefighters said. A baby was rescued by a bystander and unharmed.
"If you do go outside in the next few days, including to a park or natural area, please be aware of your surroundings, and check around you for any downed power lines or hanging branches," the city told residents.
GRAPHICS Wintry weather
This map shows the relative severity and potential disruptive impact of winter weather in the next 24 hours.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/60-million-americans-winter-weather-alerts-snow-ice-still-blanket-much-rcna134476
Notes: Data current as of Jan. 18, 7:20 p.m. ET. This map updates every two hours.
Source: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
https://www.wpc.ncep.noaa.gov/wwd/wssi/wssi.php
More than 60 million people under winter weather alerts as snow and ice still blanket much of the U.S.
Dangerously cold and icy conditions continue to pose risks, including in Portland, Oregon, where three people were killed by a power line downed by the weather.
03:31
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/60-million-americans-winter-weather-alerts-snow-ice-still-blanket-much-rcna134476
Jan. 18, 2024, 10:17 AM CST / Updated Jan. 18, 2024, 6:36 PM CST
By Erin McGarry and David K. Li
At least 66 million people were under winter weather alerts Thursday, as dangerous icy conditions continued to pose risks — including in Oregon, where three people were killed by a falling power line.
While temperatures won't be as frigid Thursday as in recent days in much of the United States, snow and ice posed challenges for millions who are stepping outside.
Chicagoans could see up to 4 inches of snow when it starts falling Thursday afternoon and into Friday morning's rush hour.
Freezing rain could make for treacherous driving conditions in Memphis and Nashville in Tennessee.
Light to moderate snowfall could begin in much of the mid-Atlantic on Thursday with as much as 5 inches hitting Philadelphia, perhaps 4 inches coming down on New York City and 2 inches hitting Boston by the end of Saturday.
At least 14 people have died in Tennessee in recent days due to the snow and plummeting temperatures, officials said.
Since Sunday, more than 9 inches of snow have fallen on Nashville where public schools remained closed on Thursday and will be again on Friday.
The continuing snow in western New York forced Tops Friendly Markets to close its Erie County stores at 4 p.m. Wednesday. The area’s major supermarket chain reopened at 6 a.m. Thursday.
“It’s our priority to ensure a safe environment for our associates and customers, and we thank the community for their support and understanding,” the company said in a statement Thursday.
In Kansas, Interstate 70 westbound at Hays was closed Thursday due to the weather.
"High winds and blowing snow is creating black ice making it extremely dangerous to drive, and we are getting overwhelmed with crashes and slide offs," a spokesman for the Kansas Highway Patrol said on X.
A look at I-70 in Trego County. Very dangerous driving conditions!
Freezing rain and snow slammed the Pacific Northwest on Wednesday and public schools in Portland, Oregon, remained closed Thursday.
Portland firefighters urged residents to pay special attention to trees and power lines where accumulation of snow and ice threaten to bring them down — and potentially lead to tragedy.
A power line fell Wednesday on a SUV Wednesday, killing three people when they got out of the vehicle and touched the ground, Portland firefighters said. A baby was rescued by a bystander and unharmed.
"If you do go outside in the next few days, including to a park or natural area, please be aware of your surroundings, and check around you for any downed power lines or hanging branches," the city told residents.
A power line fell Wednesday on a SUV Wednesday, killing three people when they got out of the vehicle and touched the ground, Portland firefighters said. A baby was rescued by a bystander and unharmed.
"If you do go outside in the next few days, including to a park or natural area, please be aware of your surroundings, and check around you for any downed power lines or hanging branches," the city told residents.
GRAPHICS Wintry weather
This map shows the relative severity and potential disruptive impact of winter weather in the next 24 hours.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/60-million-americans-winter-weather-alerts-snow-ice-still-blanket-much-rcna134476
Notes: Data current as of Jan. 18, 7:20 p.m. ET. This map updates every two hours.
Source: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
https://www.wpc.ncep.noaa.gov/wwd/wssi/wssi.php
AP Photos: This is what it looks like as winter blasts the US into a deep freeze
BY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Updated 3:31 PM CST, January 17, 2024
Winter turned its icy glare on the U.S. this week, blanketing cities and states from east to west with snow and sending temperatures into an Arctic spiral.
In Buffalo, New York, residents trekked through at least 18 inches of new snow that fell on top of the three feet that had arrived over the weekend. Heavy lake-effect snow shut down city hall, canceled school in several districts and led to travel bans across multiple suburbs.
Footprints appear on a residential street after at least 18 inches of new snow fell overnight - on top of the three feet that arrived over the weekend in Buffalo, N.Y., Wednesday, Jan. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Carolyn Thompson)
An elderly man warms his hands by the fire he created across the street from a homeless encampment under a major interstate freeway Tuesday, Jan. 16, 2024, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)
A motorist is pushed through the snow Tuesday, Jan. 16, 2024, in Nashville, Tenn. A snowstorm blanketed the area with up to eight inches of snow and frigid temperatures. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)
Ken Whitehead clears the sidewalk outside Blues City Cafe as snow falls on Monday, Jan. 15, 2024 in Memphis, Tenn. (Mark Weber/Daily Memphian via AP)
Graphic designer Emily Brewer shovels out her driveway in order to drive to work in Sioux City, Iowa, early on Friday, Jan. 12, 2024. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
Ice forms on a truck's wheel as temperatures dropped below freezing, Monday, Jan. 15, 2024, in Conroe, Texas. (Brett Coomer/Houston Chronicle via AP)
Silvestre, 6, of Washington, sleds over a snow bump on the hill at the U.S. Capitol, as schools are closed due to a winter storm, Tuesday, Jan. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
[...]
https://apnews.com/article/united-states-winter-weather-photo-gallery-cfcf2bc41af9e55fc5ea75baf5269a5b
AP Photos: This is what it looks like as winter blasts the US into a deep freeze
BY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Updated 3:31 PM CST, January 17, 2024
Winter turned its icy glare on the U.S. this week, blanketing cities and states from east to west with snow and sending temperatures into an Arctic spiral.
In Buffalo, New York, residents trekked through at least 18 inches of new snow that fell on top of the three feet that had arrived over the weekend. Heavy lake-effect snow shut down city hall, canceled school in several districts and led to travel bans across multiple suburbs.
Footprints appear on a residential street after at least 18 inches of new snow fell overnight - on top of the three feet that arrived over the weekend in Buffalo, N.Y., Wednesday, Jan. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Carolyn Thompson)
An elderly man warms his hands by the fire he created across the street from a homeless encampment under a major interstate freeway Tuesday, Jan. 16, 2024, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)
A motorist is pushed through the snow Tuesday, Jan. 16, 2024, in Nashville, Tenn. A snowstorm blanketed the area with up to eight inches of snow and frigid temperatures. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)
Ken Whitehead clears the sidewalk outside Blues City Cafe as snow falls on Monday, Jan. 15, 2024 in Memphis, Tenn. (Mark Weber/Daily Memphian via AP)
Graphic designer Emily Brewer shovels out her driveway in order to drive to work in Sioux City, Iowa, early on Friday, Jan. 12, 2024. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
Ice forms on a truck's wheel as temperatures dropped below freezing, Monday, Jan. 15, 2024, in Conroe, Texas. (Brett Coomer/Houston Chronicle via AP)
Silvestre, 6, of Washington, sleds over a snow bump on the hill at the U.S. Capitol, as schools are closed due to a winter storm, Tuesday, Jan. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
[...]
https://apnews.com/article/united-states-winter-weather-photo-gallery-cfcf2bc41af9e55fc5ea75baf5269a5b
Mitt Romney: Some Trump Supporters Are 'Out Of Touch With Reality'
The senator said he has "a hard time understanding" why Trump's legal issues don't "seem to be moving the needle" with more voters.
By Taiyler S. Mitchell
Jan 17, 2024, 06:35 PM EST
Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) called out the majority of Iowa Republican caucus voters who baselessly believe that President Joe Biden did not win the 2020 election legitimately.
“I think a lot of people in this country are out of touch with reality and will accept anything Donald Trump tells them,” Romney, who announced in September that he is not seeking reelection, told CNN journalist Manu Raju on Wednesday.
About 65% of Iowa caucusgoers said they believe former President Donald Trump’s lie that the 2020 election was “stolen” from him, according to entrance poll data.
[...]
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/mitt-romney-trump-supporters-reality_n_65a84785e4b041f1ce648b6f
AP sports photos of the year 2023 capture unforgettable snippets in time from the games we love
By PAUL NEWBERRY
Updated 11:01 PM CST, December 25, 2023
They are snippets in time, unforgettable snapshots that gloriously capture the soaring euphoria and gut-wrenching agony of the games we love, not to mention the randomness of a moment that might’ve gone unnoticed otherwise.
There are the Kansas City Chiefs, dunking head coach Andy Reid with a jug-full of frigid drink after their stirring Super Bowl triumph over the Philadelphia Eagles, fulfilling what has become a rite of passage in all gridiron celebrations.
And the Vegas Golden Knights, gathered in a giant group hug behind the net after capturing the NHL’s Stanley Cup championship, the glittering ice beneath their skates littered with discarded gloves.
Toni Eggert and Sascha Benecken of Germany celebrate winning the men’s doubles race at the Luge World Championships in Oberhof, Germany, Saturday, Jan. 28, 2023. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader)
Rory McIlroy reacts after his shot from the rough on the 14th hole during the third round of the U.S. Open golf tournament at Los Angeles Country Club on Saturday, June 17, 2023, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)
Players from Bourton Rovers compete during the annual traditional River Windrush soccer match, which has been taking place for over 100 years, in the Cotswolds village of Bourton-on-the-Water, England, Monday, Aug. 28, 2023. The event sees two teams of six from Bourton Rovers Football Club play a 30 minute soccer match in the usually calm river water. Goalposts are set up in the river and players attempt to score as many goals as possible, whilst getting all spectators as wet as possible in the process. (AP Photo/Frank Augstein)
Fans known as “The Richies” cheer as Australia’s Usman Khawaja celebrates with making 100 runs against South Africa during the second day of their cricket test match at the Sydney Cricket Ground in Sydney, Thursday, Jan. 5, 2023. “The Richies” are an homage to former Australian cricket player and broadcasting legend Richie Benaud. (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft)
Racers in T-Rex costumes participate in the first set of heats during the “T-Rex World Championship Races” at Emerald Downs, Sunday, Aug. 20, 2023, in Auburn, Wash. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)
[...]
https://apnews.com/article/ap-sports-pictures-2023-ee23619fc5ae905ddaaa185dcec180e1
The Trump Trials: One Angry Man
Story by Devlin Barrett, Perry Stein • 1h
Welcome back to The Trump Trials, our weekly update on the hectic pace of the 45th president’s many criminal and civil cases. Last week saw Donald Trump enter not one but two courtrooms, as he tried to raise his voice above the drumbeat of judicial decision-making.
Have questions on the upcoming trials? Email us at perry.stein@washpost.com and devlin.barrett@washpost.com and check for answers in future newsletters.
Okay, let’s get started.
Sign up to get The Trump Trials newsletter in your email inbox every Sunday
https://www.washingtonpost.com/newsletters/the-trump-trials/
What’s ahead
Try, try again: Trump is scheduled to face his second defamation trial from writer E. Jean Carroll. That trial, in Manhattan federal court, may last about a week and is limited to deciding what additional damages Trump should pay.
In May, a jury concluded that Trump sexually abused Carroll in a luxury department store in 1996 and defamed her in 2022. It awarded $5 million in damages. The question to be decided now is how much more he should have to pay for a separate instance of defamation.
We are also waiting for the federal court of appeals in D.C. to rule on Trump’s claims that he cannot be prosecuted over events related to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol because he is shielded by presidential immunity and his Senate acquittal when he was impeached. More on that below.
Here’s a recap of last week’s action in all four criminal cases (and updates in the civil cases where relevant).
1. D.C.: Federal case on 2020 election
The details: Four counts related to conspiring to obstruct the 2020 election results.
Planned trial date: March 4.
What happened: Trump’s first court appearance of the week came in Washington, when he attended the appeals hearing over his claims of presidential immunity. The hearing produced a memorable exchange in which Judge Florence Y. Pan said Trump’s view of the law would make him immune from prosecution even if he ordered Navy SEALs to execute a political riva
It is unusual for defendants to attend their own appeals court argument (partly because they are often in prison). In this instance, the former president appeared to be trying to have the last word, even with judges deciding his fate.
He sat stone-faced through the hearing but spoke to reporters afterward, predicting “bedlam” if the cases against him derail his bid for president. And he’d be back in court again before the week was over.
Visual story: How Trump makes his court appearances seem like campaign stops
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/01/13/trump-campaign-trail-trial-iowa/
2. Georgia: State case on 2020 election
The details: Trump faces 13 state charges for allegedly trying to undo the election results in that state. Eighteen people were charged alongside Trump. Four of them have pleaded guilty.
Planned trial date: None yet.
What happened last week: A lawyer for one of Trump’s co-defendants alleged in a court filing that District Attorney Fani T. Willis had an improper relationship with a private practice lawyer she hired to prosecute the Trump case. Willis has yet to file her response to the claims but is expected to do so soon.
The allegations apparently stem from a sealed divorce case, and it’s not yet clear what the facts are, or whether the specifics of any such conduct would amount to an ethical problem, rather than a public embarrassment, for a prosecutor and her employee. Stay tuned, because the judge signaled Friday he is likely to hold a hearing on the issue next month.
3. Florida: Federal classified documents case
The details: Trump faces 40 federal charges over accusations that he kept top-secret documents at Mar-a-Lago — his home and private club — and thwarted government demands to return them.
Planned trial date: May 20.
What happened: Prosecutors filed notices saying which FBI agents they plan to call as expert witnesses to describe evidence found on the phones of Trump’s co-defendants, Waltine “Walt” Nauta and Carlos De Oliveira. That evidence includes not just what was on the phones, but where those phones were at key moments. This week, we should see a motion from Trump’s side about what types of evidence they still want prosecutors to hand over to them for review.
4. New York: State hush money case
The details: 34 charges connected to a 2016 hush money payment.
Planned trial date: March 25.
Last week: The criminal case was quiet, as usual. But down the street, the months-long civil trial brought by the New York attorney general finally reached closing arguments, which were overshadowed by Trump denouncing the entire proceeding from the defense table.
“What’s happened here, sir, is a fraud on me,” Trump angrily told Judge Arthur Engoron, claiming that Engoron had an “agenda” against him.
“Please control your client,” Engoron urged Trump’s lawyer, to no avail.
As a legal strategy, Trump’s speech did him few favors. But in both this and the D.C. appeals court argument, the former president appears to have made the calculation that he should be where the news is, and do his best to shout down his critics, if only in the court of public opinion.
Question Time
Q. In the New York civil case over his business valuations, Trump has claimed he was denied a jury trial. Is that true?
A. Engoron has said New York law doesn’t allow Trump to have a jury trial for the types of claims at issue in the trial. Trump’s legal team could have challenged that in court but did not pursue that path. Our colleague Shayna Jacobs reports that Engoron repeated again last week his view that the relief sought in the case was “all equitable” and therefore not properly subject to a jury trial.
Nerd word of the week:
Bench trial: A trial without a jury in which the verdict is delivered by a judge from the bench. The law says some types of legal claims should only be reviewed by a judge, but there are also a number of reasons a defendant might want to face a judge rather than a jury: Police officers accused of wrongdoing sometimes prefer to take their chances with a judge; white-collar defendants may think they have better odds with a judge reviewing complex financial statements; or their trial strategy may hinge on a nuanced legal argument.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/the-trump-trials-one-angry-man/ar-AA1mXFJ9?ocid=msedgdhp&pc=LCTS&cvid=b45a35be242c45ee97afa46a8d031fae&ei=33
https://www.washingtonpost.com/newsletters/the-trump-trials/
Normandy American Cemetery
Overview
For questions regarding the commemoration of the 80th anniversary of D-Day, June 6, 2024, please contact us at dday80@abmc.gov.
The Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial in France is located in Colleville-sur-Mer, on the site of the temporary American St. Laurent Cemetery, established by the U.S. First Army on June 8, 1944 as the first American cemetery on European soil in World War II.
The cemetery site, at the north end of its half mile access road, covers 172.5 acres and contains the graves of 9,387 of our military dead, most of whom lost their lives in the D-Day landings and ensuing operations. On the Walls of the Missing, in a semicircular garden on the east side of the memorial, are inscribed 1,557 names. Rosettes mark the names of those since recovered and identified.
The memorial consists of a semicircular colonnade with a loggia at each end containing large maps and narratives of the military operations; at the center is the bronze statue, “Spirit of American Youth Rising from the Waves.” An orientation table overlooking the beach depicts the landings in Normandy. Facing west at the memorial, one sees in the foreground the reflecting pool; beyond is the burial area with a circular chapel and, at the far end, granite statues representing the United States and France.
In 2007, the Normandy Visitor Center opened. The $30 million visitor center was dedicated by the American Battle Monuments Commission (ABMC) on June 6, 2007 during the commemoration of the 63rd Anniversary of D-Day. The center is sited in a wooded area of the cemetery approximately 100 meters east of the Garden of the Missing.
Learn more about the architecture, exhibits, inscriptions, and the project team.
Normandy is ABMC's most visited cemetery, receiving more than one million visitors each year.
To plan a site visit, a visit to a relative's grave, request a group visit, special tour, or wreath laying ceremony, please contact NormandyVisits@abmc.gov.
Due to security concerns, the pathway from Normandy American Cemetery to the beach was closed to the public in 2016. However, public beach access is available nearby.
The flag lowering ceremony is held one hour before the cemetery closes to the public.
For questions, please contact us at NormandyVisits@abmc.gov.
British D-Day veteran celebrates turning 100
By Danica Kirka, The Associated Press
D-Day veteran Bill Gladden speaking at his home in Haverhill, England, Friday, Jan. 12, 2024. (Alastair Grant/AP)
LONDON — British D-Day veteran Bill Gladden turned 100 on Saturday, a day after his niece threw a surprise birthday party for him. It was a big fuss he didn’t really expect, though the old soldier had tears in his eyes long before he caught sight of a cake decorated with a replica of his uniform and the medals he earned.
But Gladden isn’t focused on his birthday this year, big as it is. He’s looking six months down the road.
That’s because the event he really wants to attend is the 80th anniversary of the D-Day landings on June 6.
It may be the last of the big events marking the beginning of the end of World War II in Europe because so few of the 850,000 troops who took part remain. Gladden wants to be there to honor those who are gone — to remind people that victory did not come cheap.
“If I could do that this year, I should be happy,’’ he told The Associated Press from his home in Haverhill, eastern England, where he still lives on his own. “Well, I am happy now, but I should be more happy.”
D-Day veteran Bill Gladden show off a painting, of they type of glider he was in when he landed in Normandy and a snap of parachute which he later embroidered, at his home in Haverhill, England, Friday, Jan. 12, 2024. (Alastair Grant/AP)
A dispatch rider with the 6th Airborne Reconnaissance Regiment, Gladden landed behind the front lines on D-Day, June 6, 1944, in a wooden glider loaded with six motorcycles and a 17,000-pound (7,700-kilogram) tank. The unit was part of an operation charged with securing bridges over the River Orne and Caen Canal so they could be used by Allied forces moving inland from the Normandy beaches.
Based in an orchard outside the village of Ranville, Gladden spent 12 days making forays into the surrounding countryside to check out reports of enemy activity.
On June 16, he carried two injured soldiers into a barn that was being used as a makeshift field hospital. Two days later, he found himself at the same barn, his right ankle shattered by machine gun fire.
Lying on the grass outside the hospital, he read the treatment label pinned to his tunic:
“Amputation considered. Large deep wound in right ankle. Compound fracture of both tibia and fibula. All extension tendons destroyed. Evacuate.”
Gladden didn’t lose his leg, but he spent the next three years in the hospital as doctors performed a series of surgeries, including tendon transplants, skin and bone grafts.
After the war, Gladden married Marie Warne, an army driver he met in 1943, and spent 40 years working for Siemens and Pearl Insurance. They had a daughter.
These days he’s more likely to talk about how proud he is of his family than he is to reminisce about D-Day. But his wartime story is preserved in a scrapbook that includes a newspaper clipping about “the tanks that were built to fly,” his drawings and other memorabilia.
There’s also a scrap of parachute left behind by one of the paratroopers who landed in the orchard at Ranville. As he lay in the hospital recovering from his wounds, Gladden painstakingly stitched his unit’s shoulder insignia into the fabric.
The edges are frayed and discolored after eight decades, but “Royal Armoured Corps” still stands out in an arc of red lettering on a yellow background. Underneath is a silhouette of Pegasus, the flying horse, over the word “Airborne.”
“These are the flashes we wore on our battledress blouses,” says the caption in neat block letters.
Nothing has faded from memory though. At his party, people celebrated his service and offered a booming happy birthday chorus.
“I just think he’s a legend, what he’s been through, what he’s seen, what he’s done,’’ said his niece, Kaye Thorpe. “He’s just amazing, and he’s still bright as a button on top.’
A birthday cake specially designed and made for D-Day veteran Bill Gladden surprises birthday party in Haverhill, England, Friday, Jan. 12, 2024. (Alastair Grant/AP)
For men like Bill Gladden, though, there was no I in D-Day. Even as he celebrated his 100th birthday, somehow it wasn’t just about him. Instead, he echoed the words of many who survived the invasion.
“When you think of all those young lives that lay in those cemeteries abroad, the Allies and us won the war but (victory) was a very expensive one, life-wise,’’ he said. “Because so many youngsters died.’’
Associated Press writers Mayuko Ono and Alastair Grant contributed
https://www.militarytimes.com/veterans/2024/01/14/british-d-day-veteran-celebrates-turning-100/
https://apnews.com/article/dday-veteran-birthday-100-28523e59141702a391d990aadb0f71da
Biden’s kicking off 2024 by delving into some of the country’s darkest moments
By WILL WEISSERT and ZEKE MILLER
Updated 6:43 PM CST, January 3, 2024
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden is starting the campaign year by evoking the Revolutionary War to mark the third anniversary of the deadly insurrection at the U.S. Capitol and visiting the South Carolina church where a white gunman massacred Black parishioners — seeking to present in the starkest possible terms an election he argues could determine the fate of American democracy.
On Friday, Biden will travel to near Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, where George Washington and the Continental Army spent a bleak winter nearly 250 years ago. There, he’ll decry former President Donald Trump for the riot by a mob of his supporters who overran the Capitol in an attempt to overturn the 2020 presidential election.
Three days later, the president will visit Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, where nine people were shot and killed in a June 2015 white supremacist attack.
Biden’s kicking off 2024 by delving into some of the country’s darkest moments rather than an upbeat affirmation of his record is meant to clarify for voters what his team sees as the stakes of November’s election. During both events, he will characterize his predecessor as a serious threat to the nation’s founding principles, arguing that Trump — who has built a commanding early lead in the Republican presidential primary — will seek to undermine U.S. democracy should he win a second term.
[...]
https://apnews.com/article/biden-trump-2024-democracy-threat-national-traumas-66167f70a167592c23067180fbe55910
Of course there were 'innocent' bystanders....but at a safe distance of course.
Let's not any more entertain too much the thought that most at the Capitol, on that fateful day, were innocent bystanders
Are you suggesting these are a few of those innocent bystanders??
Three Years Since the Jan. 6 Attack on the Capitol
https://www.justice.gov/usao-dc/36-months-jan-6-attack-capitol-0
Correct link for: A timeline of the Jan. 6 Capitol attack — including when and how Trump responded
https://www.npr.org/2022/01/05/1069977469/a-timeline-of-how-the-jan-6-attack-unfolded-including-who-said-what-and-when
A timeline of the Jan. 6 Capitol attack — including when and how Trump responded
UPDATED JANUARY 5, 20244:25 PM ET
By Kat Lonsdorf, Courtney Dorning, Amy Isackson, Mary Louise Kelly, Ailsa Chang
Left to right: President Donald Trump speaks at the Stop the Steal rally. A member of a pro-Trump mob shatters a window with his fist from inside the U.S. Capitol building after breaking in. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi presides over a joint session of Congress to certify the 2020 Electoral College vote count.
Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images; Jon Cherry/Getty Images; Erin Schaff-Pool/Getty Images
January 6, 2021, was a Wednesday. A joint session of Congress was set to convene in the U.S. Capitol to certify Joe Biden's electoral vote win. Meanwhile, thousands of Donald Trump supporters gathered near the White House to hear him speak at noon ET.
Tensions were high on Capitol Hill. Protesters swarmed lawmakers outside.
Sen. Todd Young, R-Ind., was exasperated as protesters surrounded him on the steps of the Russell Senate Office Building at around 11:30 a.m.
Republican senators are being swarmed by Trump protesters on the Hill. Here’s an exasperated @SenToddYoung saying he won’t vote against certifying the election.
— Rebecca Tan (@rebtanhs) January 6, 2021
“I took oath under God... does that still matter in this country?” pic.twitter.com/9nQEbt9Okl
Hundreds of convictions, but a major mystery is still unsolved 3 years after the Jan. 6 Capitol riot
Matthew Graves, U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia spoke to reporters on Thursday saying “much work has been done to hold members of the mob responsible for the crimes they committed.” Graves gave a sweeping presentation as the third anniversary of the riot at the Capitol will be marked on Saturday. (Jan. 4)
By ALANNA DURKIN RICHER and MICHAEL KUNZELMAN
Updated 12:52 PM CST, January 5, 2024
WASHINGTON (AP) — Members of far-right extremist groups https://apnews.com/article/capitol-siege-proud-boys-donald-trump-congress-government-and-politics-a8baa24af07b20ab792f4ef6f4481fac
Former police officers. https://apnews.com/article/alan-hostetter-police-chief-capitol-riot-trial-a24e4f88d2b01dd750f8a958f55a71b8
An Olympic gold medalist swimmer. https://apnews.com/article/klete-keller-olympic-swimmer-capitol-riot-5d9767e13d2fb15c1d8ae2d04c99a12d
And active duty U.S. Marines. https://apnews.com/article/capitol-riot-active-marines-guilty-abate-hellonen-4abc44bade2e66bd9c04dc143460f7cd
They are among the hundreds of people who have been convicted in the massive prosecution of the Jan 6, 2021, .. https://apnews.com/hub/capitol-siege .. riot in the three years since the stunned nation .. https://apnews.com/article/photos-election-jan6-trump-washington-f69b5f03316eaef2044d520bc7ffe49a .. watched the U.S. Capitol attack unfold on live TV.
" for additional links:
https://apnews.com/article/capitol-riot-jan-6-criminal-cases-anniversary-bf436efe760751b1356f937e55bedaa5 "
Washington’s federal courthouse remains flooded with trials, guilty plea hearings and sentencings stemming from what has become the largest criminal investigation in American history. And the hunt for suspects is far from over.
“We cannot replace votes and deliberation with violence and intimidation,” Matthew Graves, the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, told reporters on Thursday.
What to know:
* What’s happening: It’s been three years since the Jan. 6, 2021, riot when the nation watched the U.S. Capitol attack unfold on live TV.
* Fast forward: Now, President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump are making the anniversary a political rallying cry during two separate political events Saturday ahead of this year’s election.
* Criminal cases: Authorities are working to identify more than 80 people wanted for acts of violence at the Capitol and to find out who placed pipe bombs outside the Republican and Democratic national committees’ offices.
Authorities are still working to identify more than 80 people wanted for acts of violence at the Capitol and to find out who placed pipe bombs outside the Republican and Democratic national committees’ offices the day before the Capitol attack. And they continue to regularly make new arrests, even as some Jan. 6 defendants are being released from prison after completing their sentences.
The cases are playing out at the same courthouse where Donald Trump is scheduled to stand trial in March in the case accusing the former president of conspiring to overturn his 2020 election loss in the run-up to the Capitol attack.
“The Justice Department will hold all Jan. 6 perpetrators at any level accountable under the law, whether they were present that day or otherwise criminally responsible for the assault on our democracy,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said Friday. He said the cases filed by Graves and the special counsel in Trump’s federal case, Jack Smith, show the department is “abiding by the long-standing norms to ensure independence and integrity or our investigations.”
A look at where the cases against the Jan. 6 defendants stand:
BY THE NUMBERS
U.S. Attorney for the District of Colombia Matthew Graves speaks about the unfolding of the January 6 attack on the Capitol during a presentation ahead of this year's third anniversary in Washington, Thursday, Jan. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
U.S. Attorney for the District of Colombia Matthew Graves speaks about the unfolding of the January 6 attack on the Capitol during a presentation ahead of this year’s third anniversary in Washington, Thursday, Jan. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
More than 1,230 people have been charged with federal crimes in the riot, ranging from misdemeanor offenses like trespassing to felonies like assaulting police officers and seditious conspiracy. Roughly 730 people have pleaded guilty to charges, while another roughly 170 have been convicted of at least one charge at a trial decided by a judge or a jury, according to an Associated Press database.
Only two defendants have been acquitted of all charges, and those were trials decided by a judge rather than a jury.
About 750 people have been sentenced, with almost two-thirds receiving some time behind bars. Prison sentences have ranged from a few days of intermittent confinement to 22 years in prison. The longest sentence was handed down to Enrique Tarrio, the former Proud Boys national chairman who was convicted of seditious conspiracy for what prosecutors described as a plot to stop the transfer of power from Trump, a Republican, to Joe Biden, a Democrat.
Many rioters are already out of prison after completing their sentences, including some defendants who engaged in violence. Scott Fairlamb — a New Jersey man who punched a police officer during the riot and was the first Jan. 6 defendant to be sentenced for assaulting law enforcement — was released from Bureau of Prisons’ custody in June.
ALL EYES ON THE SUPREME COURT
Defense attorneys and prosecutors are closely watching a case that will soon be heard by the U.S. Supreme Court that could impact hundreds of Jan. 6 defendants. The justices agreed last month to hear one rioter’s challenge to prosecutors’ use of the charge of obstruction of an official proceeding, which refers to the disruption of Congress’ certification of Biden’s 2020 presidential election victory over Trump.
More than 300 Jan. 6 defendants have been charged with the obstruction offense, and so has Trump in the federal case brought by special counsel Jack Smith. Lawyers representing rioters have argued the charge was inappropriately brought against Jan. 6 defendants.
The justices will hear arguments in March or April, with a decision expected by early summer. But their review of the obstruction charge is already having some impact on the Jan. 6 prosecutions. At least two defendants have convinced judges to delay their sentencings until after the Supreme Court rules on the matter.
RIOTERS ON THE LAM
Dozens of people believed to have assaulted law enforcement during the riot have yet to be identified by authorities, according to Graves. And the statute of limitations for the crimes is five years, which means they would have to be charged by Jan. 6, 2026, he said.
Several defendants have also fled after being charged, including a Proud Boys member from Florida who disappeared while he was on house arrest after he was convicted of using pepper spray gel on police officers. Christopher Worrell, who spent weeks on the lam, was sentenced on Thursday to 10 years in prison.
The FBI is still searching for some defendants who have been on the run for months, including a brother-sister pair from Florida. Olivia Pollock disappeared shortly before her trial was supposed to begin in March. Her brother, Jonathan Pollock, is also missing. The FBI has offered a reward of up to $30,000 for information leading to the arrest of Jonathan Pollock, who is accused of thrusting a riot shield into an officer’s face and throat, pulling an officer down steps and punching others.
Another defendant, Evan Neumann, fled the U.S. two months after his December 2021 indictment and is believed to be living in Belarus.
WHAT ABOUT THE PIPE BOMBER?
One of the biggest remaining mysteries surrounding the riot is the identity of the person who placed two pipe bombs outside the offices of the Republican and Democratic national committees the day before the Capitol attack. Last year, authorities increased the reward to up to $500,000 for information leading to the person’s arrest. It remains unclear whether there was a connection between the pipe bombs and the riot.
Investigators have spent thousands of hours over the last three years doing interviews and combing through evidence and tips from the public, said David Sundberg, assistant director in charge of the FBI Washington Field Office.
“We urge anyone who may have previously hesitated to come forward or who may not have realized they had important information to contact us and share anything relevant,” he said in an emailed statement on Thursday.
The explosive devices were placed outside the two buildings between 7:30 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. on Jan. 5, 2021, but officers didn’t find them until the next day. Authorities were called to the Republican National Committee’s office around 12:45 p.m. on Jan. 6. Shortly after, a call came in for a similar explosive device found at the Democratic National Committee headquarters. The bombs were rendered safe, and no one was hurt.
Video released by the FBI shows a person in a gray hooded sweatshirt, a face mask and gloves appearing to place one of the explosives under a bench outside the DNC and separately shows the person walking in an alley near the RNC before the bomb was placed there. The person wore black and light gray Nike Air Max Speed Turf sneakers with a yellow logo.
___
This story has been corrected to show that the Supreme Court justices will hear arguments in March or April, not that they won’t.
U.S. Attorney for the District of Colombia Matthew Graves speaks about the unfolding of the January 6 attack on the Capitol during a presentation ahead of this year's third anniversary in Washington, Thursday, Jan. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
🔗 https://apnews.com/article/capitol-riot-jan-6-criminal-cases-anniversary-bf436efe760751b1356f937e55bedaa5
President Joe Biden lambastes Trump for Jan. 6 Capitol riot, a day ‘we nearly lost America’
President Joe Biden warns that Donald Trump’s efforts to retake the White House in 2024 pose a grave threat.
Speaking before the 3rd anniversary of the Jan. 6 riots, Biden said that was the day “we nearly lost America — lost it all.” (Jan. 5)
Published 4:28 PM CST, January 5, 2024
02:42
Biden lambastes Trump
https://apnews.com/video/donald-trump-2021-united-states-capitol-riot-united-states-government-riots-democracy-a4b5c270298b457da8b9fde3eea8c925
2023 -- THE YEAR IN PHOTOS
AP’s most memorable photos of 2023
In 2023, AP photographers captured images of conflict, ambition, the quest for excellence and the struggle to survive. These are the top photos of the year.
AP photos reveal intensity, insecurity and inequality in 2023 as world altered by climate change
Punishing heat that hovered and hung on much longer than usual. Flash floods that washed away large swaths of land and life. And wildfires that burned much of the year, leaving a wake of smoke and charred earth.
The toll of disasters propelled by climate change in 2023 can be tallied with numbers — thousands of people dead, millions of others who lost jobs, homes and hope, and tens of billions of dollars sheared off economies.
But numbers can’t reflect the way climate change is experienced — the intensity, the insecurity and the inequality that people on Earth are living.
Associated Press photographers around the world captured moments in 2023 that collectively tell that story, one of a changing world.
'View the photos by selecting the link:'
https://projects.apnews.com/features/2023/climate-photos-2023/index.html
INTENSITY
In so many skies, there was smoke, seen in the distance and breathed up close. From Canada to Greece to Hawaii, wildfires raged, consuming land while the flames fanned a thick haze that traveled around the globe. So intense were the wildfires in Canada that they released several times more air pollution than the entire country usually does in a year, working against world efforts to reduce greenhouse emissions, which fuel climate change.
There was also intense heat and desperate efforts to find relief — during a year on track to be the warmest in recorded history. In China, two little girls held small fans in front of their faces, while in Romania a father and daughter delighted in the mist of a public fountain. In Switzerland, a man walked toward the Rhone Glacier, which is melting like so many other glaciers worldwide.
And there was rain, that caused destruction. After Storm Daniel unleashed a torrent from the sky, floods in Libya killed more than 11,000 people, with several thousand others missing. In India, a woman wailed after a landslide washed away houses, leaving family members trapped under rubble. In the U.S., two people waded through water in a laundry mat after major flooding.
[...]
INSECURITY
In so many places, floods, powerful storms and heat waves wiped out supplies of food. That led to hunger, forced people to migrate in search of sustenance and increased pressure on governments to respond.
In India, a woman cooked in her flooded home while her husband prayed, a scene of both devastation and resilience. In neighboring Pakistan, people waited in the rain to receive food distributed by volunteers outside a camp for internally displaced migrants — as Cyclone Biparjoy ominously approached. In Zimbabwe, a woman worked a field of millet, a cereal that is more resistant than other crops to changes in temperature.
In Argentina, men fished amid many floating carcasses of fish killed by drought and multiple heat waves that jacked up river temperatures and dried out landscapes across areas of South America. A hemisphere away, seemingly endless heat imperiled sheep herding, central to the culture of Navajo in the U.S. Farther west, in Alaska, men worked fishing boats with the knowledge that this year’s catch could be much less than last year’s, as climate change is upending their livelihood.
[...]
INEQUALITY
In every place that climate change made its mark, inequality was made worse. Desperation could be seen in the eyes of Pakistani children, standing in the mud and looking through a window while it rained at a camp set up for internally displaced people. It gripped people in Kenya who must go deeper and deeper to access groundwater, as periodic drought has plagued East Africa.
On the other side of the African continent, in a coastal community in Senegal, desperation was felt by women who say they have had to turn to prostitution, thanks to depleted fish populations from climate change and fallout from an offshore gas drilling project.
In Malawi, coffins with people killed during heavy rains from Cyclone Freddy lay in the mud while family and friends, standing under a large tent, said goodbye.
In India, where floods frequently forced evacuations, a displaced farmworker, squatting over dirt, washed her face. In Sri Lanka, a man stood in debris from his home, destroyed by erosion. On this day, the seas were calm, but as the planet continues to warm, more storms are ahead.
[...]
https://projects.apnews.com/features/2023/climate-photos-2023/index.html
A look at the more than 100 influential figures who died in 2023
By BERNARD McGHEE
Updated 5:30 PM CST, December 31, 2023
https://apnews.com/article/deaths-2023-d87db779f2b68d310774c558302b7a8c
HAPPY NEAR YEAR..and..Watch New Year's 2024 celebrations from around the world
Dec. 31, 2023
As they rang in 2024, revelers and spectators from Sydney to Paris to Times Square marveled at the fireworks shows and light displays that lit up the skies across the globe.
https://www.nbcnews.com/video/watch-new-year-s-2024-celebrations-from-around-the-world-201176645934
Exclusive: Recordings, emails show how Trump team flew fake elector ballots to DC in final push to overturn 2020 election
Marshall Cohen, Zachary Cohen, Jeremy Herb and Katelyn Polantz, CNN
Updated 4:47 PM EST, Thu December 28, 2023
03:51
Hear audio of pro-Trump attorney describing fake electors plan
https://www.cnn.com/2023/12/28/politics/recordings-trump-team-fake-elector-ballots/index.html
Two days before the January 6 insurrection, the Trump campaign’s plan to use fake electors to block President-elect Joe Biden from taking office faced a potentially crippling hiccup: The fake elector certificates from two critical battleground states were stuck in the mail.
So, Trump campaign operatives scrambled to fly copies of the phony certificates from Michigan and Wisconsin to the nation’s capital, relying on a haphazard chain of couriers, as well as help from two Republicans in Congress, to try to get the documents to then-Vice President Mike Pence while he presided over the Electoral College certification.
The operatives even considered chartering a jet to ensure the files reached Washington, DC, in time for the January 6, 2021, proceeding, according to emails and recordings obtained by CNN.
The new details provide a behind-the-scenes glimpse of the chaotic last-minute effort to keep Donald Trump in office. The fake electors scheme features prominently in special counsel Jack Smith’s criminal indictment against the former president, and some of the officials who were involved have spoken to Smith’s investigators.
The emails and recordings also indicate that a top Trump campaign lawyer was part of 11th-hour discussions about delivering the fake elector certificates to Pence, potentially undercutting his testimony to the House select committee that investigated January 6 that he had passed off responsibility and didn’t want to put the former vice president in a difficult spot.
These details largely come from pro-Trump attorney Kenneth Chesebro, who was an architect of the fake electors plot and is now a key cooperator in several state probes into the scheme. Chesebro pleaded guilty in October to a felony conspiracy charge in Georgia in connection with the electors’ plan, and has met with prosecutors in Michigan, Nevada and Wisconsin, who are investigating the sham GOP electors in their own states.
[...]
https://www.cnn.com/2023/12/28/politics/recordings-trump-team-fake-elector-ballots/index.html
The worst 10 things Trump has said in 2023
Story by Adam Nichols • 11h
In a year dominated by Donald Trump's assorted outbursts, it can be hard to keep up with what’s been said.
The Guardian, in an attempt to “keep track of all the racist, unhinged, authoritarian comments by the former president,” on Wednesday published a rundown of the top 10 outrageous things he said in 2023.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/dec/27/worst-things-that-trump-has-said
On the list:
POLL: Should Trump be allowed to run for office?
Vermin
“We pledge to you that we will root out the communists, Marxists, fascists and the radical left thugs that live like vermin within the confines of our country,” he said during a speech in November.
Links to Adolf Hitler’s tactic of dehumanizing his opponents followed immediately.
Poison
"Nobody has ever seen anything like we’re witnessing right now … It’s poisoning the blood of our country,” he told the National Pulse in September. He repeated the phrase in December. Critics said the phrase was straight out of Hitler’s Mein Kampf.
Dictator
In December, Trump was asked by Fox News’ Sean Hannity if he would promise not to “abuse power as retribution?” He responded, “Except for day one”, then added: “I love this guy. He says, ‘You’re not gonna be a dictator, are you?’ I say, ‘No, no, no – other than day one.’
Retribution
The dictator and retribution theme wasn’t new. In March, he told CPAC: “In 2016, I declared: I am your voice. Today, I add: I am your warrior. I am your justice. And for those who have been wronged and betrayed: I am your retribution.”
Death
In September, Trump lost his temper at then-chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley over comments he made to China suggesting he’d guard against attack by Trump, the former president called it, “An act so egregious that, in times gone by, the punishment would have been DEATH!
Courts
2023 was the year of the courts for Trump, with 91 criminal charges in four jurisdictions. He ominously warned his prosecutors, "If you go after me, I’m coming after you!"
Indict
Despite him claiming his criminal charges were targeted against him by his enemies, Trump has said he would use exactly that tactic. He told Univision in November, “Of course … yes: If I happen to be president and I see somebody who’s doing well and beating me very badly, I say go down and indict them, mostly they would be out of business. They’d be out. They’d be out of the election.”
Animal
It’s an attack that was aimed at Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, who in April filed 34 charges over Trump’s 2016 payments to Stormy Daniels. “He is a Soros-backed animal who just doesn’t care about right or wrong,” Trump said.
Whack job
“She’s a whack job,” Trump said about E.Jean Carroll hours after she won a defamation claim against him. She sued him again.
All-out war
Throughout 2023, in fact since the 2020 election, Trump has been complaining about his opponents’ war on democracy.
In December, in Iowa, he said: “That’s why it was one of the great presidencies, they say. Even the opponents sometimes say he did very well … but we’ve been waging an all-out war on American democracy."
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/the-worst-10-things-trump-has-said-in-2023/ar-AA1m66Yq?ocid=msedgdhp&pc=LCTS&cvid=a8fd2bcd0c3c4fccc5479976c61f3331&ei=15
The Worst President in History
Three particular failures secure Trump’s status as the worst chief executive ever to hold the office.
By Tim Naftali
President Donald Trump has long exulted in superlatives. The first. The best. The most. The greatest. “No president has ever done what I’ve done,” he boasts. “No president has ever even come close,” he says.
But as his four years in office draw to an end, there’s only one title to which he can lay claim:
Donald Trump is the worst president America has ever had.
In December 2019, he became the third president to be impeached. Last week, Trump entered a category all his own, becoming the first president to be impeached twice. But impeachment, which depends in part on the makeup of Congress, is not the most objective standard. What does being the worst president actually mean? And is there even any value, at the bitter end of a bad presidency, in spending energy on judging a pageant of failed presidencies?
[...]
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/01/trump-worst-president-history/617730/
MORE. Report On The Investigation Into Russian Interference In The 2016 Presidential Election
"hap0206
Re: fuagf post# 457277
Saturday, December 23, 2023 11:58:41 AM
Post# of 457311
Got a link for that ??"
"newmedman
Re: hap0206 post# 457292
Saturday, December 23, 2023 12:07:42 PM
Post# of 457311
👇️here, try this one.🖕"
https://www.justice.gov/archives/sco/file/1373816/download
Report On The Investigation Into Russian Interference In The 2016 Presidential Election
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Volume I of II
Special Counsel Robert S. Mueller, III
Submitted Pursuant to 28 C.F.R. § 600.8(c)
Washington, D.C.
March 2019
[...]
U.S. Department of Justice
INTRODUCTION TO VOLUME I
This report is submitted to the Attorney General pursuant to 28 C.F.R. § 600.8(c), which
states that, “[a]t the conclusion of the Special Counsel’s work, he . . . shall provide the Attorney
General a confidential report explaining the prosecution or declination decisions [the Special
Counsel] reached.”
The Russian government interfered in the 2016 presidential election in sweeping and
systematic fashion. Evidence of Russian government operations began to surface in mid-2016.
In
June, the Democratic National Committee and its cyber response team publicly announced that
Russian hackers had compromised its computer network. Releases of hacked materials—hacks
that public reporting soon attributed to the Russian government—began that same month.
Additional releases followed in July through the organization WikiLeaks, with further releases in
October and November.
In late July 2016, soon after WikiLeaks’s first release of stolen documents, a foreign
government contacted the FBI about a May 2016 encounter with Trump Campaign foreign policy
advisor George Papadopoulos. Papadopoulos had suggested to a representative of that foreign
government that the Trump Campaign had received indications from the Russian government that
it could assist the Campaign through the anonymous release of information damaging to
Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. That information prompted the FBI on July
31, 2016, to open an investigation into whether individuals associated with the Trump Campaign
were coordinating with the Russian government in its interference activities.
That fall, two federal agencies jointly announced that the Russian government “directed
recent compromises of e-mails from US persons and institutions, including US political
organizations,” and, “[t]hese thefts and disclosures are intended to interfere with the US election
process.” After the election, in late December 2016, the United States imposed sanctions on Russia
for having interfered in the election. By early 2017, several congressional committees were
examining Russia’s interference in the election.
Within the Executive Branch, these investigatory efforts ultimately led to the May 2017
appointment of Special Counsel Robert S. Mueller, III. The order appointing the Special Counsel
authorized him to investigate “the Russian government’s efforts to interfere in the 2016
presidential election,” including any links or coordination between the Russian government and
individuals associated with the Trump Campaign.
As set forth in detail in this report, the Special Counsel’s investigation established that Russia interfered in the 2016 presidential election principally through two operations.
First, a Russian entity carried out a social media campaign that favored presidential candidate Donald J. Trump and disparaged presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.
Second, a Russian intelligence service conducted computer-intrusion operations against entities, employees, and volunteers working on the Clinton Campaign and then released stolen documents.
The investigation also identified numerous links between the Russian government and the Trump Campaign.
Although the investigation established that the Russian government perceived it would benefit from a Trump
presidency and worked to secure that outcome, and that the Campaign expected it would benefit
electorally from information stolen and released through Russian efforts, the investigation did not establish that members of the Trump Campaign conspired or coordinated with the Russian government in its election interference activities.
Below we describe the evidentiary considerations underpinning statements about the
results of our investigation and the Special Counsel’s charging decisions, and we then provide an overview of the two volumes of our report.
The report describes actions and events that the Special Counsel’s Office found to be
supported by the evidence collected in our investigation. In some instances, the report points out the absence of evidence or conflicts in the evidence about a particular fact or event. In other instances, when substantial, credible evidence enabled the Office to reach a conclusion with
confidence, the report states that the investigation established that certain actions or events
occurred. A statement that the investigation did not establish particular facts does not mean there was no evidence of those facts.
In evaluating whether evidence about collective action of multiple individuals constituted
a crime, we applied the framework of conspiracy law, not the concept of “collusion.” In so doing,
the Office recognized that the word “collud[e]” was used in communications with the Acting
Attorney General confirming certain aspects of the investigation’s scope and that the term has
frequently been invoked in public reporting about the investigation. But collusion is not a specific
offense or theory of liability found in the United States Code, nor is it a term of art in federal
criminal law. For those reasons, the Office’s focus in analyzing questions of joint criminal liability
was on conspiracy as defined in federal law. In connection with that analysis, we addressed the
factual question whether members of the Trump Campaign “coordinat[ed]”—a term that appears
in the appointment order—with Russian election interference activities. Like collusion,
“coordination” does not have a settled definition in federal criminal law. We understood
coordination to require an agreement—tacit or express—between the Trump Campaign and the
Russian government on election interference. That requires more than the two parties taking
actions that were informed by or responsive to the other’s actions or interests. We applied the term
coordination in that sense when stating in the report that the investigation did not establish that the
Trump Campaign coordinated with the Russian government in its election interference activities.
* * *
The report on our investigation consists of two volumes
[...]
https://www.justice.gov/archives/sco/file/1373816/download
AP PHOTOS: Rivers and fountains of red-gold volcanic lava light up the dark skies in Icelandic town
By The Associated Press
Updated 11:28 AM CST, December 19, 2023
Rivers of lava spewed from a fissure in the mountainside, snaking downwards and erupting in fountains of red and gold molten rock when the Fagradalsfjall volcano erupted this week in a fishing town in southwestern Iceland.
The fiery liquid illuminates the smoke-filled sky in Grindavik, a small fishing town just 50 kilometers (30 miles) from the capital, Reykjavik.
The eruption began Monday night, but it was no surprise: The area has been active for two years, with thousands of small earthquakes heralding the near-certain awakening of the volcano.
1/10
3/10
[...]
https://apnews.com/article/iceland-volcano-photos-e86eb9f25ed1c3182b2c55881f76433a
Will the eruption of the volcano in Iceland affect flights and how serious is it?
Iceland volcano eruption live: Watch as it erupts near Grindavik
10:08:40
‘He’s becoming crazier’: Christie blasts Trump for remarks on Putin, immigrants
Trump gets “worse and worse by the day,” Chris Christie said.
'Putin denounces ‘persecution’ of Trump and calls Musk ‘outstanding’
It wasn’t just Trump who former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie criticized Sunday. | Win McNamee/Getty Images
By Kelly Garrity
12/17/2023 11:11 AM EST
Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie laid into Donald Trump on Sunday, after the former president quoted Russian President Vladimir Putin and also claimed immigrants were “poisoning the blood of our country” during a New Hampshire rally Saturday.
Trump gets “worse and worse by the day,” Christie said during an interview on CNN’s “State of the Union.”
“He’s becoming crazier. And now he’s citing Vladimir Putin as a character witness, a guy who is a murderous thug all around the world,” the Republican presidential hopeful said Sunday.
Trump pulled inspiration from Putin during a rally in Durham, New Hampshire, on Saturday, quoting the Russian leader saying that the indictments against Trump undercut the United States’ position on the world stage as an exemplar of democracy. The former president also told the crowd that immigrants are “poisoning the blood of our country,” as a deal over border security hangs in the balance in Congress.
“He’s disgusting,” Christie said. “And what he’s doing is dog-whistling to Americans who feel absolutely under stress and strain from the economy and from the conflicts around the world.”
It wasn’t just Trump who Christie criticized Sunday. He also slammed the members of Congress who have endorsed Trump in his attempt to retake the White House, and he knocked former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley for saying that Trump is still fit to serve.
“You’re telling me that someone who says that immigrants are poisoning the blood of this country, someone who says Vladimir Putin is a character witness is fit to be president of the United States, was the right president at the right time? Nikki Haley should be ashamed of herself,” Christie said.
https://www.politico.com/news/2023/12/17/crazier-christie-blasts-trump-remarks-putin-immigrants-00132177
All of Trump’s Russia Ties, in 7 Charts
POLITICO MAGAZINE
By MICHAEL CROWLEY
March/April 2017
What is the real story of Donald Trump and Russia? The answer is still unclear, and Democrats in Congress want to get to the bottom of it with an investigation. But there’s no doubt that a spider web of connections—some public, some private, some clear, some murky—exists between Trump, his associates and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
These charts illustrate dozens of those links, including meetings between Russian officials and members of Trump’s campaign and administration; his daughter’s ties to Putin’s friends; Trump’s 2013 visit to Moscow for the Miss Universe pageant; and his short-lived mixed martial arts venture with one of Putin’s favorite athletes. The solid lines mark established facts, while dotted ones represent speculative or unproven connections.
There’s nothing inherently damning about most of the ties illustrated below. But they do reveal the vast and mysteriously complex web behind a story that has vexed Trump’s young presidency from its start—and is certain to shake the White House for months to come.
'Select the link for the graphics':
https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/03/connections-trump-putin-russia-ties-chart-flynn-page-manafort-sessions-214868/
1. Trump and Putin, via Administration Officials
...
2. Trump and Putin, via Michael Flynn
...
3. Trump and Putin, via Campaign Advisers
...
4. Trump and Putin, via Paul Manafort
...
5. Trump and Putin, via Business Ties
...
6. Trump and Putin, via Felix Sater
...
7. Trump and Putin, via Trump Family Members
.