Are there even handcuffs for such small hands?
Today is the day Donald Trump predicted he'd be arrested in NYC. Plus: Good news for Martina Navratilova, who is cancer-free but still a transphobe. And: Which nation on Earth is the happiest? Not us
Thanks for rising up on this Tuesday, March 21, 2023. It’s the first full day of Spring, the start of Nowruz, the Persian New Year, and the actual day marking the explosive start of the War in Iraq with “shock and awe,” in 2003.
This is also the day in 1965 that Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. started the first successful march from Selma to Montgomery, escorted by Army troops and FBI agents after two prior foiled attempts to reach Alabama’s capital.
And, if you’re old enough to have watched TV on this night in 1980, then you’ll recall the phrase, “Who Shot J.R.?” That was from the cliffhanger, season-ending episode of Dallas, a whodunnit not resolved until Nov. 21, 1980!
Here Now the Trump News:
BARRICADES ARE IN PLACE, AND NOW WE WAIT: The New York Times
NYPD AND SECRET SERVICE PLAN FOR EVERYTHING: ABC News
GRAND JURY WITNESS SLAMS PROSECUTORS’ STAR WITNESS: Robert Costello, the former legal advisor to former Trump fixer Michael Cohen, told reporters he testified for two hours before the grand jury investigating former President Donald Trump in connection with hush money payments allegedly made to adult film actress Stephanie Clifford, aka Stormy Daniels, in 2016. Costello described Cohen, who says he paid Clifford $130K on behalf of Trump and claims he was directed to note the expenditure as “legal expenses,” as “a serial liar.” —Fox News
RON DeSANTIS BREAKS SILENCE: “I don’t know what goes into paying hush money to a porn star to secure silence over some type of alleged affair,” snarked the GOP governor and potential 2024 Trump rival, in response to a reporter’s question at an event Monday in Panama City, Fla.
Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-Fla.) in Panama City on Monday DeSantis added, “I just, I can’t speak to that. But what I can speak to is that if you have a prosecutor who is ignoring crimes happening every single day in his jurisdiction, and he chooses to go back many, many years ago, to try to use something about porn star hush-money payments, you know, that’s an example of pursuing a political agenda and weaponizing the office. And I think that that’s fundamentally wrong.” —NYT
TRUMP RESPONDS TO DeSANTIS: “Ron DeSanctimonious will probably find out about FALSE ACCUSATIONS & FAKE STORIES sometime in the future, as he gets older, wiser, and better known, when he’s unfairly and illegally attacked by a woman, even classmates that are ‘underage’ (or possibly a man!). I’m sure he will want to fight these misfits just like I do!”
WHAT IF TRUMP DOESN’T SURRENDER? WILL DeSANTIS SIGN-OFF ON EXTRADITION? Slate speculates, in part based on a report in the NYT
INVESTIGATING THE INVESTIGATOR: Three Republican chairmen of three House committees sent the Manhattan D.A. a letter requesting Alvin Bragg testify “about what plainly appears to be a politically-motivated prosecutorial decision” to consider an indictment of the former president. They are House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio); House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.); and House Administration Committee Chairman Bryan Steil (R-Wis.). Note: It’s a request, not a subpoena. —NBC News
RESPONSE FROM THE D.A.: "We will not be intimidated by attempts to undermine the justice process, nor will we let baseless accusations deter us from fairly applying the law. In every prosecution, we follow the law without fear or favor to uncover the truth. Our skilled, honest and dedicated lawyers remain hard at work," a D.A. spokesperson told NBC.
THE HISTORY BEHIND “TRUMP HAS SMALL HANDS” MEME: ABC News
A reminder: If you’re not already a paid subscriber, you can get 50% off a one year subscription if you subscribe before this Saturday, March 25!
There is other, actual news…
OATH KEEPERS CONVICTED IN JAN. 6 INSURRECTION CASE AS PROSECUTORS REST IN PROUD BOYS CASE: CNN
CLIMATE CHANGE COULD FORCE NEW ECOMOMIC DECISIONS, WARNS BIDEN ADMINISTRATION: NYT
PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN ISSUES FIRST VETO: GOP BILL ON “WOKE CAPITALISM —Vox
SCOTUS GETS SCOLDED IN DISSENT WRITTEN BY JUSTICE KETANJI BROWN JACKSON, REGARDING DECISION ON A MINOR’S ABORTION: Politico
XI MEETS PUTIN IN MOSCOW AND OTHER WAR NEWS: USA Today
UKRAINE SAYS CHINA PEACE PLAN FORMULA MUST INCLUDE RUSSIAN TROOPS’ WITHDRAWAL
UKRAINE SAYS POLITICO CASUALTY FIGURE OF 100,000 INACCURATE
RUSSIA INVESTIGATING INTERNATIONAL COURT RESPONSIBLE FOR ARREST WARRANT ISSUED FOR PUTIN
PUTIN THREATENS TO END GRAIN DEAL THAT ENDED A HUNGER CRISIS IN AFRICA
USA SENDING ANOTHER $350M IN MILITARY AID
EU AGREES TO GIVE UKRAINE 1,000,000 ARTILLERY SHELLS
USA INCHES UP TO #15 ON LIST OF “HAPPIEST COUNTRIES” —The Hill
HOW RESEARCHERS RANKED 150 NATIONS: They looked at residents’ evaluations from a three-year average, from 2020 to 2022, based on six factors: social support, income, health, freedom, generosity and absence of corruption
THE BOTTOM 3: Afghanistan, Lebanon and Sierra Leone
WHO’S #1? Finland landed the top spot as the world’s happiest country for the sixth year in a row. It was followed by Denmark. Iceland is #3
USA IS BETTER THAN… This year the United States bumped Germany down to 16th. Germany ranked 14th last year
WHO’S BETTER THAN USA? Finishing ahead of the U.S. this year is Ireland at #14 and Canada at #13
OUT OF FAVOR: Luxembourg fell from 6th to 9th place, while France, which ranked 20th last year, fell out of the top 20 this year. Switzerland dropped from 4th to 8th place. —World Happiness Report
BizNewz
AMAZON PLANS TO LAYOFF 9.000 EMPLOYEES: Wall Street Journal
DISNEY INCLUDING ABC AND ESPN TO CUT 4,000 JOBS NEXT MONTH: Business Insider via Fox Business News
FOOT LOCKER CLOSING 400 STORES BY 2026: CNN
THE DAMNING POST-ELECTION TEXTS FROM INSIDE FOX NEWS: NYT
FOX NEWS TRIES TO SILENCE TUCKER CARLSON PRODUCER WHO’S THREATENING TO EXPOSE INTERNAL CONVERSATIONS: The Daily Beast
Celebrity Spotlight
MARTINA TELLS FELLOW TRANSPHOBE PIERS MORGAN SHE IS ONCE AGAIN CANCER FREE: People Magazine
MARTINA AND WIFE NO LONGER PURSUING ADOPTION: Page Six
UFC FIGHTER JEFF MOLINA COMES OUT AS BI AFTER BEING OUTED: My story in the Los Angeles Blade
AMANDA BYNES IN PSYCHIATRIC WARD AFTER SHE’S SPOTTED WALKING NAKED THROUGH DOWNTOWN L.A.: KTTV
OMG News
SHE’S 29, AND SAYS SHE PRETENDED TO BE A NEW JERSEY HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT BECAUSE HER DIVORCE LEFT HER DEPRESSED: Hyejeong Shin, formerly of South Korea, pleaded not guilty yesterday to charges she falsified documents, which carry a five year sentence if convicted. Police said she posed no harm to actual students. —NYT
DEADLY FUNGUS SPREADING THROUGH U.S. HEALTHCARE: NBC News
TransWorld
IOWA’S HORRIBLE ANTI-TRANS BILL AND OTHER REASONS IT’S NOW “FLORIDA OF THE NORTH:” Washington Post
FLORIDA MOM OF TRANS CHILD ASKS: “WHAT ABOUT MY PARENTAL RIGHTS?” —Read her moving op-ed in the Talahassee Democrat
12-YEAR-OLD TRANS ATHLETE IN WEST VIRGINIA CASE ASKS SUPREME COURT TO CONSIDER HER RIGHT TO PLAY SPORTS: CNN
Star Trek Corner
STRANGE NEW WORLDS SEASON 2 PREMIERE DATE TO BE ANNOUNCED: Perhaps on Frontier Day, April 5? P.S. I realized today, that’s the first night of Passover. Grrr! —TrekMovie
A REVIEW OF STAR TREK PICARD, PART FIVE: IMPOSTERS —TrekCentral
PREVIEW OF PART SIX: THE BOUNTY —TrekMovie
HOW TO VIEW THE ENTIRE SEASON AND PAST STAR TREK EPISODES: Click here to subscribe to Paramount+
That’s all for today. I’ll be back tomorrow morning with another look at the news you need to rise up and start your day. Until then… May your news be good news!
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