Extra, Extra
Saving Grace: “Grace Fischer survived the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School by staying quiet and huddled, as her first grade teacher softly read ‘The Nutcracker.’ Then she spent the rest of her childhood watching mostly from the sidelines as dozens of similar shootings shattered other schools across the country.” The first graders who survived Sandy Hook will vote in their first presidential election.
+ Demo-lition: “Last year had the worst decline in credible elections and parliamentary oversight in almost a half-century, driven by government intimidation, foreign interference, disinformation and the misuse of artificial intelligence in campaigns.” Democracy declined for 8th straight year around the globe.
+ Playing Through: “Soon after Donald Trump became president, authorities tried to warn him about the risks posed by golfing at his own courses because of their proximity to public roads. Secret Service agents came armed with unusual evidence: not suspect profiles or spent bullet casings, but simple photographs taken by news crews of him golfing at his private club in Sterling, Va. They reasoned that if photographers with long-range lenses could get the president in their sights while he golfed, so, too, could potential gunmen.” WaPo (Gift Article): Trump’s golf outings have long concerned Secret Service.
+ Putin’s Bodycount: “The number of Ukrainians and Russians killed or wounded in the grinding 2½-year war has reached roughly one million, a staggering toll that two countries struggling with shrinking prewar populations will pay far into the future.” WSJ (Gift Article): One Million Are Now Dead or Injured in the Russia-Ukraine War.
+ Shot and Bothered: Drugs like Ozempic that are being used for weight loss are all the rage these days. But a lot of people don’t like the idea of giving themselves a shot. Well, GLP-1 pills are coming, and they could revolutionize weight-loss treatment.
+ OK Loomer: “Republican politicians do not like her proximity to the ex-president and have said so. ‘Laura Loomer is a crazy conspiracy theorist who regularly utters disgusting garbage intended to divide Republicans,’ and stands to ‘hurt President Trump’s chances of winning re-election. Enough,’ Republican Senator Thom Tillis tweeted on Friday. Other Republicans, including Lindsey Graham and even Marjorie Taylor Greene, who has espoused her own racist and conspiratorial ideas, made the rare move of implicitly challenging Trump in public.” The Atlantic (Gift Article): Laura Loomer Is Where Republicans Draw the Line. (Maybe they should draw the line with the other person in this duo?)
+ News Quiz: Try to guess which of our presidential candidates made this statement during a high stakes meeting: “I’m confident I’m going to win this … I want your endorsement, but if I don’t get it, I will treat you exactly as if I had gotten your endorsement.” NYT: Tense Teamsters Meeting With Harris Ends With an Endorsement Still Dangling.
+ Bad Chair Day: A Brazilian mayoral candidate attacked his opponent with a chair mid-debate. (He still performed better than Trump in Philly.)
