< 2 hrs after #POTUS Biden made his move Wed to upend the nation’s presidential #debate tradition, 2 of CNN’s top political journos were on the phone w/Trump’s high command.
“We are sending you a proposal for a #debate that will be in your inbox at 10AM,” one told Trump snr leadership, Susie Wiles, Chris LaCivita & Tony Fabrizio…before rattling off the terms of a June 27 meeting in Atlanta….
By 10:14AM, #Biden’s campaign had
announced the president would attend the CNN event. The #Trump campaign agreed mins later. One of the most consequential disruptions to the sequence of American presidential campaigns since the first televised #debate in 1960 had been completed by lunchtime.
The only thing left was for the campaigns & the country to figure out what had happened.
Disagreements about the debate conditions & the agreement’s significance flared even as voters began hearing the news. At 10:56AM, CNN announced terms that largely followed the demands #Biden had announced earlier that morning — a first meeting in June, organized by a network on Biden’s suggested list, w/no live audience [& muted mics when time’s up].
No longer will the #US simply rely on #military satellites to communicate, navigate, track & target terrestrial threats, tools that…have given the #Pentagon a major advantage in conflicts.
Instead, the #DOD is looking to acquire a new generation of ground- & #space-based tools that will allow it to defend its #satellite network from attack &, if necessary, to disrupt or disable enemy #spacecraft in orbit, Pentagon ofcls said in a series of interviews, speeches & statements.
After the 2020 presidential #election, as some #Trump supporters falsely claimed that President #Biden had stolen the office, many of them displayed a startling symbol outside their homes, on their cars & online: an upside-down #AmericanFlag.
One of the homes flying an inverted flag during that time was the residence of #SupremeCourt Justice Samuel A #Alito Jr, in Alexandria, VA, acc/to photographs & interviews w/neighbors.
The upside-down flag was aloft on Jan 17, 2021, images showed. #Trump’s supporters, incl’g some brandishing the same symbol, had rioted at the Capitol a little over a week before. President #Biden’s inauguration was 3 days away. Alarmed neighbors snapped photographs, some…were recently obtained by The NYT. Word of the flag filtered back to the court, people who worked there said in interviews.
While the flag was up, the court was still contending w/whether to hear a #2020election case, w/Justice #Alito on the losing end of that decision. In coming wks, the justices will rule on 2 climactic cases involving the storming of the Capitol on #Jan6, incl’g whether #Trump has #immunity for his actions. Their decisions will shape how accountable he can be held for trying to overturn the last presidential election & his chances for re-election in the upcoming one.
…“I had no involvement whatsoever in the flying of the flag, “Justice #Alito emailed NYT. “It was briefly placed by Mrs. Alito in response to a neighbor’s use of objectionable & personally insulting language on yard signs.”
…Interviews show Alito’s wife, Martha-Ann Alito, had been in a dispute w/another family on the block over an anti-Trump sign on their lawn, given the timing & starkness of the symbol, neighbors interpreted the inverted flag as a #political stmnt by the couple.
70 yrs after #SCOTUS delivered its landmark decision outlawing school segregation, #BrownVBoardOfEducation ranks as perhaps the court’s most venerated decision….
Most everything else related to the decision…is complex.
Nearly 7/10 Americans say more should be done to integrate schools…a figure that has steadily climbed from 30% in 1973….But a deeper look into the views of both Black & White people shows skepticism about the success of #Brown….
In its unanimous decision in #Brown, #SCOTUS ruled segregated schools were #unconstitutional & “inherently unequal,” combining 5 cases in which #Black students & their schools had far fewer resources than their #White peers — longer commutes, lower-quality classes, overcrowding, fewer opportunities & less money. Yet 1/3 Black Americans now say integration has failed to improve the #education of Black students….
Today, about ½ of #Black adults favor letting children attend neighborhood schools, even if it means most students would be of the same race—which, given #housing patterns, is often the case.
…9/10 Whites say they support the #Brown decision, & nearly 2/3 say more needs to be done to integrate schools…. Nonetheless, large segments of the #White pop oppose strategies that…make that a reality. Nearly 8/10 White adults say it is better for children to go to neighborhood #schools over diverse ones.
…The #Brown decision focused on the value of mixing children of different races. But for many #integration activists —then & now— the case is about a path to #fair & #equitable educational #resources. Those legal battles cont. Today’s complex views about #schools & integration come amid persistent #segregation that has risen in recent decades,changes in the #legal landscape & complicated dynamics of #education & #race in #America today.
Because of #Brown, #school ofcls may no longer deliberately separate students by #race —but under more recent #SCOTUS orders, they aren’t allowed to deliberately mix them by race either. #Integration advocates today have stopped looking to the #federal courts for help & are pursuing #state lawsuits instead.…some #Black leaders have concluded that the answer is not integration…but more #money & #opportunity for high #poverty#schools….
The #Republican-led UnitedStates House of
Representatives passed a bill on Thurs that would force President Joe #Biden to send weapons to Israel, seeking to rebuke the Democrat for delaying bomb shipments as he urges Israel to do more to protect #civilians during its war w/ #Hamas.
The #Israel Security Assistance Support Act was approved 224 to 187, largely along party lines. 16 #Democrats joined most Republicans in voting yes, & 3 #Republicans joined most Democrats in opposing the measure.
The act is not expected to become #law, but its passage underscored the deep #US#election-year divide over Israel policy as PM Benjamin #Netanyahu's government seeks to wipe out militants who attacked Israel on #Oct7….
#Republican Gov. Greg Abbott said Thurs he was pardoning #DanielPerry, the fmr Army sergeant convicted in the fatal shooting of a protester during a #BLM march, after a review board recommended he be released from prison.
“#Texas has one of the strongest ‘Stand Your Ground’ laws of self-defense that cannot be nullified by a jury or a progressive District Attorney,” #GregAbbott said in a statement. “I thank the Board for its thorough investigation, & I approve their pardon recommendation.” #GregAbbott has long vowed to #pardon Perry, who was sentenced to 25 yrs in prison last yr.
…Unsealed court records revealed that he regularly shared #racist memes & threatening content in private msgs & social media posts, including descriptions of killing protesters & minorities.
Perry was convicted of murder in the death of 28-year-old #GarrettFoster, who was legally armed w/ an AK-47 rifle, during a 2020 confrontation in downtown Austin at a racial justice demonstration.
Cross-examination of #MichaelCohen resumes, an opportunity for the defense to poke holes in his testimony & perhaps trip up or provoke the state’s key witness. The questioning of Cohen, #Trump’s fmr fixer, is the beginning of the end of Trump’s #criminal trial, which began April 15 & might conclude before Memorial Day weekend at this pace.
Prosecutors now have 3 days to prepare re-direct, when they will seek to build #MichaelCohen back up & refocus the jurors on the most important elements of their case & the actual charges for which they’ve presented mountains of evidence regardless of whether Cohen is a liar or not.