NATIONAL PEACH ICE CREAM DAY UPDATES
Haagen-Dass Once Made an Elberta Peach Ice Cream That Was THE BEST ...
-For the second time since Russia invaded Ukraine, the Kerch Bridge - the lone bridge that connects Ukraine with the occupied territory of Crimea - was severely damaged in what appears to be a Ukrainian drone attack. Video shows at least one section of the automobile lanes gone amid twisted wreckage, and only trains are crossing the rest of the bridge. The bridge serves as both one of the main supply lines to Russian forces and the lone method of civilians on the island to leave it should Ukraine attempt to retake the island, which has been under Russian control since 2014. The report comes amid videos that appear to show trenches being dug and parapets being built along the Crimean coastline to try to repel Ukrainian forces from attacking via the sea.
-Amid those reports, news services also report Vladimir Putin will no longer abide by an agreement to allow grain shipments to continue from Ukraine - a potential escalation given the importance of Ukrainian crops to Europe's food supply, though one that Russia may no longer be able to fully carry out given the erosion of their armed forces since their attempt to occupy Ukraine as a whole as the Ukrainian counteroffensive continues, slowly but steadily.
-SLAVA UKRAINI!
-With a hearing scheduled for tomorrow that will determine how quickly Twice-Indicted (so far) Ex-President (TIsfEP) Trump will go to trial in the classified document removal case, Trump went to Fox News talking head Maria Bartiromo to try to make the case to a judge he appointed that already tried to help him out, Federal Judge Aileen Cannon. "I know it's a very highly respected judge. A very smart judge, and a very strong judge" Trump slobbered in an attempt to sound like he was cooing at Carroll. Team Trump has made a motion to have the entire trial postponed until after the 2024 Presidential election because of how busy an Ex-President running for President will be - a motion that in a normal courtroom would be thrown out with peals of laughter from the bench. However, this is the judge whose first order to allow Trump to see every bit of evidence Special Prosecutor Jack Smith had on him while the investigation was continuing was so egregious she was reprimanded (possibly with laughter as well - who can say?). Should Cannon attempt to tip the scale, Smith has several options including trying to move the case from Cannon's docket (she got it through a lottery) to also indicting Trump in New Jersey (where many of the actions in the FL case took place).
-And on that Trump presidential thing, the New York Times reports that Team Trump is plotting a series of moves that, should he actually become President in 2025, could be ... problematic. Essentially, the story reports Trump and his team would move to centralize as much power in the Executive branch as possible. That would include bringing agencies like the Federal Communications Commission and Federal Trade Commission under "direct presidential control," purging any perceived anti-Trump members of the Department of Justice and FBI, ending the practice of allowing non-political civil service workers to stay at their jobs without pledging pursuing the Trump agenda, and giving the President the ability to stop funds from flowing to any appropriations Trump does not like.
-In case anyone out there is contemplating joining some kind of third party or not voting in 2024 or anything like that ...
-On the labor front, the ongoing Hollywood strikes (#WGAStrong, #SAGAFTRAStrong) are just the tip of the iceberg in what is shaping up to be a busy season on the labor front. Heading into the summer, universities across the country called strikes for better wages and working conditions for instructors (four in northern IL alone), and ongoing organizing and actions continue in Starbucks locations nationally.
-And one of the biggest may soon begin, with an August 1 deadline looming in negotiations between the Teamsters and UPS drivers that CNN reports could ultimately be the costliest strike in American history if negotiations are unsuccessful and a strike went 10 days. Teamsters President Sean O'Brien has asked the White House not to intervene should a strike be called as negotiations continue. Watch THAT one, folks!
-And, #UnionStrong!
-On this date in 1936, the Spanish Civil War began. On this date in 1941, Joe DiMaggio's 56-game hitting streak ended in Cleveland. On this date in 1955, Disneyland opened in CA. On this date in 1959, NORTH BY NORTHWEST premiered. On this date in 1975, American and Soviet astronauts met in space as part of a joint Apollo/Soyuz mission. And on this date in 2014, New York City police officers ignored the pleas of "I Can't Breathe" from Eric Garner, killing him in a chokehold for selling cigarettes on a sidewalk.
-Happy Birthday to John Jacob Astor, Erle Stanley Gardner, James Cagney, Art Linkletter, Lou Boudreau, Phyllis Diller, Juan Antonio Samaranch, Vince Guaraldi, Hal Riney, Johnny 'Red' Kerr, Diahann Carroll, Donald Sutherland, PDQ Bach, Elmer Fudd, Spencer Davis, Daryle Lamonica, Connie Hawkins, Don Kessinger, Camilla Parker Bowles, Geezer Butler, Charlie Steiner, Phoebe Snow, David Hasselhoff, Angela Merkel, J. Michael Straczynski, Bryan Trottier, John Ventimiglia, and Luke Bryan.
-Rest in Peace/Rest in Power to Adam Smith, Dorothea Dix, Raoul Wallenberg, Billie Holiday, John Coltrane, Dizzy Dean, Chas Chandler, Katharine Graham, Geraldine Fitzgerald, Mickey Spillane, Walter Cronkite, Elaine Stritch, and John Lewis.
-Feed the Worms: the family of Tsar Nicholas were executed by Bolsheviks on this date. Punk-ass racist baseball great Ty Cobb bought it on this date.
-Mark Burnett, producer of SHARK TANK and THE APPRENTICE, was born on this date. You decide if he gets a Happy Birthday or if he Feeds the Worms.
-The Number One Album in America on this date ... in 2023, PINK TAPE by Lil Uzi Vert ... in 2013, THE GIFTED by Wale ... in 2003, CHAPTER II by Ashanti ... in 1993, BACK TO BROADWAY by Barbara Streisand ... in 1983, THRILLER by Michael Jackson ... and in 1973, LIVING IN THE MATERIAL WORLD by George Harrison.