NATIONAL PEANUT BUTTER COOKIE DAY UPDATES
When It Comes To Cookies, Always Chunky - Never Smooth
-First, THANK YOU to FOUR new subscribers for this here Substack! It is appreciated, and it will be rewarded with EXCLUSIVE CONTENT a-coming soon! Now, today’s news …
-As Ex-President Trump leaves his Bedminster golf club to face arraignment on 37 felony counts connected to mishandling of classified documents (ALLEGEDLY, right now) tomorrow afternoon, there are some who continue to express concern about security around the Miami court house where it will take place. Ultra-right wing social media has been deep in threats of violence in response to the charges ("MAGA will make Waco look like a tea party!", "Just buying more ammo!" "I want fking blood!"), particularly after Friday's release of the indictment, and QAnon has announced a day-long "rally" around the building. Trump himself has posted "SEE YOU IN MIAMI!" on social media, in a disturbing echo of the January 6, 2021 admonition ("WILL BE WILD!"). All of that comes as actual Nazis can now be seen in front of Walt Disney World in support of Trump (and theoretical opposition in some warped way to Ron DeSantis).
-Although ... THIS JUST IN: Arraignment may be delayed because Trump is having difficulty securing legal counsel. Two more attorneys quit shortly after charges were announced, and Axios reports attorneys simply do not want to represent him because of Trump being a "nightmare" to work with and his propensity to not pay anyone who works for him. Word is any trial would take place as normal, and whether Trump may need to have a public defender assigned to him remains to be seen.
-Further, one of Trump's former Attorneys General, Bill Barr, has come under extensive attack from Trump allies after Barr went on Fox News to call the charges "serious" and assess that Trump is "toast" from a legal perspective. Fox ally Maria Bartiromo brought on another ex-Trump-AG, large-penis-toilet-designer Matthew Whitaker and Jeffrey Epstein massage-receiver Alan "I Wore Underwear!" Dershowitz, to attack Barr's assessment and attempt to attack Special Counsel Jack Smith. They were joined this morning by another attorney famous for his underwear and younger would-be conquests, Rudy Giuliani, appearing on Steve Bannon's podcast as Bannon bellowed that Trump supporters will take Smith's case and "shove it up (Barr's) ASS!" (though how remains to be seen).
-Nonetheless, observers note that even Trump's most vociferous 'defenders' are not really going after the charges themselves - only defending Trump and his continuing 2024 Presidential nomination, which is still strong even as independents are polling as strongly rejecting Trump's ideas (and perhaps negating other polling that reportedly claims independents are leery of President Biden running for re-election, though that does not account for what happens if Biden and Trump are, in fact, the nominees, as no poll sees any would-be voters flocking to Robert F. Kennedy Jr. or Joe Manchin).
-Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Zelenskyy has confirmed (with, among others, Canadian Prime Minister Trudeau in a visit with him) that the Ukrainian counteroffensive has begun, with reports of steady if not spectacular gains being made by Ukraine in areas in the South of Ukraine. It appears one goal is to cut off Russian-occupied Crimea, an action that if successful would likely mean a final confirmation of a historic defeat of an invading force who provoked a war with enormous hubris and miscalculation of their enemy.
-There are also reports within Ukraine that two more dams within areas of battle and Ukrainian advances have been attacked and breached, raising at least circumstantial evidence that Russia may be trying to 'flood the fields' to buy them time and/or destroy a land they once wanted for themselves (and further creating the impression it was Russia that breached the Nova Kakhovka dam which supplies Crimea with drinking water - though there is no clear evidence of that yet).
-The combination are fueling reports from Russia military observers that they believe a full-out internal war is taking place among Russian military leadership, both to see who will bear the blame for defeat in Ukraine and whether the internecine warfare will lead to an attempt (if it hasn't already - some believe the drone attacks in Moscow may be the product of such forces!) on Vladimir Putin and his leadership (or worse). As seemingly always, Wagner Group CEO Yevgeny Prigozhin is front and center of all of these discussions, and depending on the offensive and its progress, these will likely be the central focus of the world , at least in the short term.
-SLAVA UKRAINI!
-And last night, while expressing solidarity to striking film and television writers, the Tony Awards took place last night, making history with two non-binary performers winning Tonys (Alex Newell for Featured Actor in a Musical for SHUCKED, J. Harrison Ghee for Best Actor in Lead Role in a Musical for SOME LIKE IT HOT) and for 85-year old playwriting legend (and personal playwriting role model) Tom Stoppard winning his fifth Best Play Tony for his semi-autobiographical play about Nazis destroying a Jewish family (his?) in Austria, LEOPOLDSTADT. Best Musical went to KIMBERLY AKIMBO, a show about a teenage girl with a rare condition that makes her age rapidly.
-On this date in 1880, the first perfect game in MLB history was pitched by Worchester Ruby Legs hurler Lee Richmond. On this date in 1939, the first members of the Baseball Hall of Fame were inducted. On this date in 1967, the Supreme Court legalized interracial marriage in the LOVING V. VIRGINIA case. On this date in 1981, RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK was released. On this date in 1987, Ronald Reagan demanded that Mikhail Gorbachev "Tear down this wall!" while speaking in front of the Berlin Wall. On this date in 1991, Boris Yeltsin became President of the Russian Republic. On this date in 1994, Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman were murdered at Brown's home in Los Angeles, likely by Brown's former husband O.J. Simpson (though he was acquitted in one of the most sensational criminal trials in American history). And on this date in 2016, 49 were killed and 50 injured by an LGBTQI terrorist bigot in the largest mass shooting to date at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, FL.
-Happy Birthday to Irwin Allen, Ivan Tors, Samuel Z. Arkoff, Uta Hagen, George H.W. Bush, Richard Sherman, Vic Damone, Anne Frank (who got a gift of a diary on her 13th birthday), Jim Nabors, Chick Corea, Marv Albert, Brad Delp, Bun E. Carlos, Pete Farndon, Timothy Busfield, John Linnell, Scott Thompson, Jordan Peterson, Hideki Matsui, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Robyn, and Phillippe Coutinho.
-Rest in Peace/Rest in Power to Medgar Evers, Norma Shearer, Leo Buscaglia, Bill Blass, Gregory Peck, Don Herbert, George Voinovich, Sylvia Miles, and Jim "Mudcat" Grant.
-Feed the Worms: "Goodfella" Henry Hill bought it on this date.