Trending News
Supreme Court justice rips 'potentially corrosive' tactic fueling Trump's 'harmful acts'
Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson tore into her Supreme Court colleagues for repeatedly clearing the way for Trump administration policies through rushed emergency orders.Jackson made the remarks during an annual civil rights and civil liberties lecture at the University of the District of Columbia's law school, The Washington Post and The New York Times reported Thursday.The justice warned the audience there was "a serious concern" that the court's handling of emergency requests was "having an enormously disruptive and potentially corrosive effect" on the federal judiciary, according to The Times."We cannot expect the public to have faith in our judicial system if, without clear explanation, we are consistently green-lighting harmful acts that do real damage to litigating plaintiffs," Jackson said, according to The Post.She pointed to recent emergency rulings that let the Trump administration shrink the Education Department, cancel hundreds of millions of dollars in federal grants and allow immigration agents to weigh race and language when making stops, The Post reported. She also acknowledged cases the Trump administration lost, including the court's blocking of a National Guard deployment to Chicago and of Trump's mail-in ballot restrictions.Jackson argued that the court too often steps in before lower courts have finished their work, and that litigants with enough clout can jump the line."If we're not careful, the emergency docket can and will become an end run around the standard review process, a special avenue that certain privileged litigants can use selectively," she said, according to The Times. "Why is it that one party should get a fast pass to the Supreme Court of the United States when so many other parties are queued up, waiting patiently for the court's attention?"She contrasted the current court with its predecessors, who she said "understood that very little good comes from taking an institution that is supposed to be operating outside of the political realm and routinely steering it into the fray."The present court, she said, "has been noticeably less restrained, especially with respect to pending cases that involve controversial matters."Jackson gave some credit to her colleagues for beginning to explain their emergency decisions in more detail. She called it "a good and positive development," though she said it was "still not the full kind of explanation" the court provides on its regular docket.The Times reported that her speech came roughly two hours after she fielded the administration's latest emergency application, which asks the Supreme Court to let the Trump administration keep rapidly deporting immigrants to countries other than their own. Jackson did not address that case directly.As she spoke, Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Amy Coney Barrett and Brett Kavanaugh had been invited to the White House state dinner for Chinese President Xi Jinping, according to The Times.
Lula says Trump wants to 'colonise' and capture Brazil's resources by meddling in election
A TV spot claims the US president is trying to sway October's presidential vote in favour of Lula's far-right opponentsLuiz Inácio Lula da Silva's presidential campaign has accused Donald Trump of wanting to "colonise" Brazil in order to capture its natural resources by meddling in next month's presidential election.The accusation came in a televised campaign advert that was broadcast on Thursday by Lula's team amid growing fears over the impact alleged US interference could have on the vote. Continue reading...
CNN and MS Now journalists denied access to White House state dinner despite court ruling
Officials deny entry even after federal judge rules Trump administration must grant banned journalists accessJournalists for CNN and MS Now were denied access to the White House state dinner in honor of Xi Jinping, China's president, on Thursday evening, hours after a federal judge ruled the Trump administration must allow them in after imposing a ban last week."About an hour before Xi's arrival was scheduled, the White House said CNN could cover the event, but only with a photojournalist and audio technician, notably excluding the network's editorial team consisting of a reporter and producer," CNN reported. Continue reading...
Report on Tumbler Ridge shooter's ChatGPT conversations shocks B.C. attorney general
British Columbia's attorney general says she's shocked by an article describing alleged interactions between the Tumbler Ridge mass shooter and ChatGPT, in which the AI chatbot vividly describes the effectiveness of a shotgun in a classroom.
Air India bombing investigation hits dead end - CityNews Kitchener
Air India bombing investigation hits dead end  CityNews Kitchener
Trump's state dinner for Xi Jinping will not be televised as White House continues to deny CNN full access – as it happened
This live blog is now closed.CNN and MS Now journalists denied access to White House state dinner despite court rulingSign up for US Breaking News emailsLawyers for the news outlets President Trump banned from the White House have requested an emergency hearing after several journalists were turned away from the building Thursday morning, in apparent defiance of a federal judge's order to restore their access."This morning journalists from each of CNN, MS NOW, and POLITICO attempted to enter the White House and were turned away, and Secret Service agents confiscated the hard pass of journalists whose hard passes had not previously been confiscated," a new court filing read. Continue reading...
Appeals court orders Trump administration to distribute homeless funds
The U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has rebuffed a Trump administration effort to dictate how homeless service organizations in Los Angeles can seek millions of dollars in federal housing funds.
Xi delivers 'humiliating' warning to Trump amid lavish White House welcome: report
President Donald Trump pulled out all the stops for Chinese President Xi Jinping on Thursday — but Xi used the White House visit to deliver a warning about the rivalry between the two countries, according to a new report in The Daily Beast."The Thucydides trap can be overcome," Xi said, urging the United States and China to "coexist in peace" and keep their competition "within bounds." He was referring to the idea that tensions between a rising power and an established one can spiral into war, The Beast reported Thursday."It was a strikingly sober message delivered during a ceremony Trump had gone to extraordinary lengths to make spectacular," the publication said, bluntly telling readers: "Xi humiliates Trump to his face."Trump had called Xi a "truly great friend" and personally greeted him and his wife with a red carpet welcome at Joint Base Andrews the night before. The White House ceremony Thursday featured hundreds of military personnel, a military review and a flyover by a B-2 bomber and fighter jets, according to the report.The contrast was clear: "Donald Trump spent Thursday lavishing praise on Xi, while the Chinese leader used his visit to the White House to deliver a power move with a warning for America to stay in its lane," the publication observed.The visit also drew criticism from Republicans and MAGA influencers. Sen. Roger Wicker (R-AL) called China an adversary, while four GOP senators pressed Trump to release security aid for Taiwan, the Daily Beast reported. "China stole the election from President Trump," Laura Loomer wrote on social media. "So can someone please explain to me why China hasn't been held accountable for this, and why their Communist dictator is being treated like a king on US soil today?"
Trump's 'maddeningly ridiculous' move during meeting with China's Xi floors Jen Psaki
MS NOW's Jen Psaki had some intense opinions on Thursday evening, as President Donald Trump entertained Chinese President Xi Jinping — and openly fawned over his authoritarian powers."What makes all of this so on the nose, so maddeningly ridiculous, is that the event those reporters were denied access to was a greeting ceremony Donald Trump is hosting for the leader of a country with a truly reprehensible record on press freedom and human rights," she said.As a consequence of this, she continued, "We're not showing you images of this state visit because the pool is not covering these events. But for those of you who don't have the imagination to picture what the meeting looked like, we do have this a colorful description of the communist dictator straight from the president. And here's what he said. Quote, 'I met President Xi at the plane ... and he looked strong, vibrant, and fit better than ever.'"But Trump didn't stop there, Psaki noted. When the second press spray happened, she said, Trump "made a joke about how the Chinese had the friendliest press corps again." And it's this moment, in particular, that left her scandalized."I'm going to pause on this for a moment, because Trump praised China's state-run media while he is actively battling to prevent American media from covering his administration," she said.This matters, she said, "because the prism through which you all of you, everybody receives information about what this White House is doing and tries to hold them accountable is through many of the media who are covering them every day." And China, by contrast, "has a long, long history of suppressing independent media outlets and of keeping independent press from other countries out of these kinds of events.""It actually prompted a lot of battles through many presidents, Democrats and Republicans, over the course of the last several decades," she added. "And U.S. presidents are supposed to condemn that behavior. They usually do even when they're conducting delicate diplomacy." - YouTube youtu.be
'What is happening?' Trump-backed Florida map 'backfires' as GOP incumbents left exposed
Florida Republicans' last-minute redistricting push has "backfired" on President Donald Trump and his party as Democrats grow "outwardly optimistic" about the state.Speaking in a Thursday episode of his show, "Scott MacFarlane Reports," MeidasTouch Capitol Hill correspondent Scott MacFarlane pointed to "a series of new race forecasts" that have shifted congressional, governor's, and Senate races "in the direction of Democrats," including several in Florida. The state "has not seen Democratic growth, not much of it at least, in Trump's two terms," MacFarlane pointed out."What is happening in Florida? Why and how are Democrats so outwardly optimistic about Florida of all places in the Trump era?" MacFarlane asked at the top of the episode."There's a word we need to get used to hearing," MacFarlane said. "Dummymandering. When gerrymandering goes wrong. When gerrymandering goes south, you can call it dummymandering."MacFarlane noted that Florida under Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) "gerrymandered in the 11th hour." District lines were redrawn "to make them more favorable for Republican incumbents and Republican challengers," MacFarlane said."Now, if they're not done right, they can make some Republicans more vulnerable by diluting Republican votes," he said. "And it leaves Republicans vulnerable if there's going to be a wave election."Florida Democratic Party Chair Nikki Fried told MacFarlane the state's "Alligator Alcatraz" detention center has hurt Republicans, citing its $1.6 billion price tag and "the damning report that came out last week that there were small cages that they actually put human beings in for punishment purposes."Fried said, "It has backfired tremendously, and I think that you're going to continue hearing reports of the amount of money that was used to build this facility out of our taxpayer dollars."According to MacFarlane, Fried counts more than 40 local races that have flipped "from red to blue in recent months," including seats on the Orlando City Commission, state legislative contests, and school board races. He said Fried argues Democrats are "convincing some voters, some independents, that it's worth turning away from Trump's party, even in proximity to Mar-a-Lago."MacFarlane singled out Florida's 7th Congressional District, a Central Florida seat being vacated by Rep. Cory Mills (R-FL), who has been "dogged almost from the jump with ethics questions" that he "has denied unequivocally." Trump won the district "by about a half dozen points," MacFarlane said.Democrat Bale Dalton, a Navy veteran, told MacFarlane that analyses show the open-seat race is "50-50 at this point."MacFarlane added that he is watching Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-FL), who was "pushed out of his district through the redistricting" into more Trump-friendly territory. Forecasts show Moskowitz as "distinctively competitive, if not the favorite to win that terrain," MacFarlane said.
On TV
Outlander: Blood of My Blood — 2x2: "The Veil of Time" (STARZ)
Brian and Ellen help their clans prepare for the coming rebellion, with varying levels of success. Julia and Henry learn more about the stones at Craigh na Dun from unexpected sources.
New Music

Leon Bridges — "Happiness Anytime" (Columbia)

M83 — "I Wrote You a Letter" (Other Suns)

Tom Morello — "Everyone Gets Everything They Want" (Mom+Pop)

Linkin Park — "Unshatter Film Soundtrack (Live in São Paulo)" (Warner Records)

Olivia Dean — "The Art of Loving" (Polydor)

deadmau5 — "Science - The Remixes" (mau5trap)

deadmau5 — "Science - The Remixes (extended)" (mau5trap)

Chelsea Cutler — "IS THIS THE END?" (Mercury Records)

In theaters
NAZA (80 minutes)
In secret conversations on the rooftops of Tel Aviv at night, the systems behind Israel's calculated mass killing of Palestinian civilians in Gaza are revealed by the people who designed and operated them.
Launching today

Nothing launching today. Every rocket is staying grounded and behaving.

Useless Fact

There are 336 dimples on a regulation US golf ball. In the UK its 330.

The loonie
CAD → USD
0.7074
▼ 0.0020
CAD → EUR
0.6220
▼ 0.0007
Today In History
2016 — Arnold Palmer, Legendary Golfer, Dies at 87
American golfer Arnold Palmer, who used an unorthodox swing and an aggressive approach to become one of golf's most successful and well-liked stars, died at age 87
2011 — Kenyan Nobel Laureate Wangari Maathai Dies at 71
Kenyan politician and environmental activist Wangari Maathai—who was the first Black African woman to win a Nobel Prize (the 2004 Nobel Prize for Peace)—died at age 71
1970 — End of Black September Conflict in Jordan
Hostilities came to an end during Black September, the brief but violent civil war between the Palestine Liberation Organization and Jordan
1962 — Sonny Liston Wins World Heavyweight Boxing Title
Sonny Liston became world heavyweight boxing champion with a first-round knockout of Floyd Patterson in Chicago. How much do you know about boxing? Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc
1929 — Barbara Walters, pioneering TV journalist, born
American journalist Barbara Walters, who was especially known for her highly effective technique in television interviews of world-renowned figures, was born
1799 — French General Masséna Defeats Russian Forces in Second Battle of Zürich
In 1799, French general André Masséna, a prominent commander under Napoleon, led French forces to victory over Russian troops in the Second Battle of Zürich. This decisive battle was an important event in the French Revolutionary Wars.
1777 — British Occupation of Philadelphia in 1777
Philadelphia, then the American capital, was occupied by British forces during the American Revolution
1711 — Birth of Emperor Qianlong
Emperor Qianlong, whose six-decade reign (1735–96) during the Qing (Manchu) dynasty was one of the longest in Chinese history, was born
1513 — Pacific Ocean sighted by Balboa
On this day (or two days later) in 1513, Spanish conquistador and explorer Vasco Núñez de Balboa, standing "silent, upon a peak in Darién," on the Isthmus of Panama, became the first European to sight the Pacific Ocean
1066 — Battle of Stamford Bridge
Tostig, earl of Northumbria, and Harald III, king of Norway, were killed in an attempt to depose Tostig's brother, King Harold II of England. kings and emperors quiz

This is today, boiled down to the essentials. The full stash lives at logicalchaos.ca. Go get lost in it.