THE BEST
Best….Lisa Marie Presley song/video:
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Best….Mark Halperin Lisa Marie Presley story:
In 1994, President Bill Clinton was attending the G7 summit in Naples, Italy. One of my great skills in covering the 42nd president was figuring out what I could shout at him as he passed by the media to compel him to come over and talk to me, something he would always do against the best advice and wishes of his staff. One morning during the summit, I was in the press pool while Clinton was going for a jog. The pool was positioned just close enough outside as he finished his run for me to be able to shout to him and be heard. As we waited for the president to come by, I skimmed the Italian newspapers, one of which was breaking the out-of-nowhere news that Lisa Marie Presley and Michael Jackson had gotten married. Knowing of Clinton’s interest in all things Elvis, I yelled to him as he came by “What is your reaction to Lisa Marie Presley marrying Michael Jackson??!!?” Clinton heard me as he went passed, slowed, did a visual double take, and then circled back to ask me if I was serious. A small but significant victory for the free press. And, for the record, I was even more incredulous about the report than Bill Clinton was.
Best..buzzer beater:
Best….political analysis of the Biden/Trump document situation (tie):
“I don’t think Biden has legal worries here, I don’t think he has political worries,” said Brian Fallon, a former Clinton adviser who worked at the Department of Justice. “The main benefit [for Republicans] is Trump is breathing a sigh of relief because it makes it hard for Merrick Garland to authorize a prosecution of Donald Trump, even if it is merited.”
“I think it takes the whole Trump scandal off the table,” said one Democratic Party operative, granted anonymity to speak freely about the delicate situation unfolding around the president.
“Most polls show that voters don’t give a fuck about this stuff,” they added. “But the media momentum is real.”
Best….pending questions about the Biden/Trump document situation (tie):
From the White House briefing questions to the press secretary (via the Washington Post)
[W]hether Biden would be willing to be interviewed by investigators; how and why the documents were taken to his office and home; who had access to the rooms where classified documents were found; and why the White House did not initially reveal that a second batch of documents had been discovered.
How long will the probes drag on, weighing down the candidates? Will one investigation finish sooner than the other, giving one candidate an advantage? Will one man be exonerated while the other is indicted? How much information will be leaked in each probe, in an attempt at partisan advantage? Will the department end up having altered the future of politics by dissuading Mr. Biden to run?
Best…intriguing analysis of the Biden situation:
So it appears that Biden is not challenging that the documents were classified, that the locations in which he kept them were not authorized, and that he failed to keep track of them. Why have an investigation when all the elements of the offense are established?
Best….artist’s rendering of the casino Saks Fifth Avenue proposes to build on the top three floors of its flagship store in Gotham City:
Best…student assist:
Best….example of how the Dominant Media views House Republicans:
Best….example to understand why Red America and Red DC thinks the Dominant Media tilts the playing field against them:
Best…example of why the White House is going to face more scrutiny:
Veteran law enforcement officials, however, said the Biden team raised questions by how they had acted after finding the first set of documents in November, particularly by notifying the archives but not the Justice Department or F.B.I., which are obligated to enforce laws related to the handling of national secrets.
“They created a situation in which the Justice Department was not directly involved initially,” said Timothy Flanigan, a former deputy White House counsel and Justice Department official under George W. Bush.
“The documents instead were taken out of context and passed through other hands, giving the department no opportunity to review for itself what kind of security controls were around them and what other things they were stored with,” he added.
Chuck Rosenberg, a former senior F.B.I. official, said bringing in the bureau at the beginning would have been wiser. “It is always better for the F.B.I. to know sooner, rather than later,” he said. “These types of investigations tend not to get better with age.”
Best…Taylor Swift live version of “Anti-Hero”:
(It’s the only live version to date!)
Best…analysis of Trump 2024:
From Kellyanne Conway’s absolutely essential reading New York Times op-ed piece:
Mr. Trump has both political assets to carry him forward and political baggage holding him back. For Mr. Trump to succeed, it means fewer insults and more insights; a campaign that centers on the future, not the past, and that channels the people’s grievances and not his own; and a reclamation of the forgotten Americans, who ushered him into the White House the first time and who are suffering economically under Mr. Biden.
A popular sentiment these days is, “I want the Trump policies without the Trump personality.” It is true that limiting the name-calling frees up time and space for persuasion and solutions. Still, it may not be possible to have one without the other. Mr. Trump would remind people, it was a combination of his personality and policies that forced Mexico to help secure our border; structured new trade agreements and renewed manufacturing, mining and energy economies; pushed to get Covid vaccines at warp speed; engaged Kim Jong-un; played hardball with China; routed ISIS and removed Qassim Suleimani, Iran’s most powerful military commander; forced NATO countries to increase their defense spending and stared down Vladimir Putin before he felt free to invade Ukraine.
When it comes to Donald J. Trump, people see what they wish to see. Much like the audio debate a few years ago, “Do you hear ‘Laurel’ or ‘Yanny’?,” what some perceive as an abrasive, scornful man bent on despotism, others see a candid, resolute leader unflinchingly committed to America’s interests…..
The case against Trump 2024 rests in some combination of fatigue with self-inflicted sabotage; fear that he cannot outrun the mountain of legal woes; the call to “move on”; a feeling that he is to blame for underwhelming Republican candidates in 2022; and the perception that other Republicans are less to blame for 2022 and have more recent records as conservative reformers.
Best…NBA double overtime game of the night:
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