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brooklynite's JournalBREAKING: Senate invokes Cloture on Ukraine aid
https://twitter.com/craigcaplan/status/1782844851916013836Testimony of David Pecker in the Trump Trial
Source: Meidas Touch
Pecker resumed his testimony on Tuesday morning after Trump's gag order hearing. He said that he has known Trump since the 1980s and they had a "great relationship." He said that when Trump was doing The Apprentice, he would let him know ahead of time who was about to be fired so he could have the story first. He said they typically spoke about once a month, but that changed in 2015 and he spoke to him more often when Trump ran for president.
Pecker said that he visited Trump at Trump Tower on multiple occasions, and that he observed him at work reviewing invoices and signing checks. He said he was "detail oriented ... almost a micro-manager" about his business affairs. Pecker said he first met Michael Cohen at bar mitzvah.
He said that Trump introduced him to Cohen in 2007 and told him in 2015 that if anything came across his desk that pertained to him including any rumors about him that he should call Michael Cohen and let him know about it. He said that is when things started to get busy on the Trump front and he was contacted Cohen "almost daily" during the 2016 campaign.
Pecker said he was invited by Trump to his campaign announcement in June 2015 where he came down the golden escalator. In an email to Pecker, Michael Cohen wrote, "No one deserves to be there more than you."
Read more: https://www.meidastouch.com/news/testimony-of-david-pecker-in-the-trump-trial
The rise of the remote husband
The EconomistThis is hardly a gender-swapped 1950s revival. The men are still working, after all, not predominantly cooking, cleaning and caring for children. But it does reflect an underappreciated effect of the rise of remote work: the rise of the remote husband.
Men and women still specialise in different kinds of work. Jobs in industries like computer science and engineering are disproportionately performed by men. Teaching and nursing jobs are dominated by women. Professions like law and medicine may still employ more men than women, but the scales are tipping: more women than men are enrolled in law school and medical school. As such, among young couples, she is probably more likely to be going to be a lawyer or a doctor than he is.
Different occupations have also had to take different approaches to remote working. A minority of medical professionals may be able to work remotely, by taking telehealth jobs, but the vast majority have to treat their patients in person. Lawyers may be tied to a specific state or area by their licence and speciality. Meanwhile, the industries which reported the highest level of remote-work flexibility are coding and technology, architecture, engineering and business jobs. About half of people working in computer or mathematical jobs work remotely full-time.
The upshot is that, in aggregate, it is easier for men to work from wherever they please. A survey carried out by McKinsey, a consultancy, found that 38% of working men had the option to work remotely full-time, compared with 30% of women. Roughly half of women report being unable to work remotely at all, compared with 39% of men.
NYU pro-Palestinian protesters cleared out by NYPD, several arrests made. See the school's response.
Source: CBS News
NEW YORK -- A pro-Palestinian encampment at NYU was cleared out by police Monday night, resulting in several arrests.
The NYPD moved in on the demonstration at Gould Plaza near the Stern School of Business just after 8:15 p.m. and started taking down tents and making arrests.
CBS New York's Dan Rice reported at least two dozen demonstrators being taken to four police buses. While that was happening, protesters started throwing objects in the direction of police officers.
"We stand with Palestine and we stand with the liberation of all people," one protester said.
Read more: https://www.cbsnews.com/newyork/news/pro-palestinian-protests-erupt-outside-nyus-stern-school-of-business/
A NY POST article says that Faculty members attempted to block the police movement. When I was an NYC Faculty member, I would not have joined them.
Gag order Contempt hearing has begun.
https://twitter.com/innercitypress/status/1782762598464680437Politico: Dems to Biden: Go big on IVF
Currently, the insurance program that covers more than 8 million federal employees and their families across the country has limited coverage for IVF. That has forced many federal employees to assume tens of thousands of dollars in out-of-pocket medical bills should they choose to pursue the treatment.
More than 175 House and Senate Democrats are now calling on the Office of Personnel Management to require IVF coverage in all Federal Employee Health Benefit insurance policies.
In the wake of the Supreme Court’s Dobbs ruling — and the Alabama court decision which declared that embryos created by IVF should be considered children — Democrats are looking for ways to expand and protect IVF access.
https://www.politico.com/newsletters/west-wing-playbook/2024/04/22/dems-urge-biden-to-go-big-on-ivf-00153720
Politico: The Pennsylvania House race testing the fallout from the Israel-Hamas war
The first high-profile progressive House member to face a contested primary this year, her Pittsburgh-based district is home to a tight-knit Jewish community that is grappling with the effects of the war. Last month, dozens of Jewish leaders signed an open letter to the Pennsylvania representative blistering her for her criticism of Israel’s government and “divisive rhetoric, which, at times, we have perceived as openly antisemitic.”
And in a district still stricken by the massacre of Jews at the Tree of Life synagogue by an antisemitic gunman, signs for her primary opponent Bhavini Patel, a small-town city council member, stand in many yards beside ones that read, “We stand with Israel.”
Yet for as much as the Israel-Hamas war has inflamed intraparty divisions on the left, the April 23 primary here is poised to test the limits of the conflict as an electoral issue.
https://www.politico.com/news/2024/04/23/pennsylvania-house-race-israel-hamas-war-00153456
Politico: Xavier Becerra plots political future after Biden administration
Not only has Becerra had conversations over the past weeks about making the move, he or emissaries have approached political firms about standing up a gubernatorial campaign to succeed Gov. Gavin Newsom in 2026, two people briefed on those discussions told POLITICO.
Becerra, a former longtime member of Congress from Los Angeles and California attorney general, also has spent more than $130,000 over the last year for “campaign consultants,” activity that has not previously been reported in the media. The political outreach and payments have occurred even as Becerra has continued to state publicly that he’s solely focused on his Cabinet job in Washington.
Becerra sidestepped questions about plotting for a gubernatorial run in his home state when initially approached by POLITICO. But he did acknowledge the strict legal parameters he’s under in his current role.
https://www.politico.com/news/2024/04/23/xavier-becerra-biden-administration-future-00153737
Trump hush money trial transcripts to be made public
Source: New York Daily News
Each day’s transcripts will be posted online and publicly available before the end of the following business day, “to ensure broad and continuous public access to this extraordinarily high-profile case,” according to a release.
Trial proceedings are not broadcast and space inside the courtroom for members of the public is extremely limited, making the transcripts the best, most direct way for the public to follow along the first criminal trial of a U.S. president, Chief Administrative Judge Joseph Zayas said in the release.
“This measure is in the interest of the public good and aligns with the court system’s commitment to judicial transparency and its ongoing efforts to enhance public access to, and understanding of the courts and justice system,” Zayas said.
Read more: https://www.nydailynews.com/2024/04/22/trump-hush-money-trial-transcripts-to-be-made-public/?lctg=14E3C49284619533D5F45429F5&utm_email=14E3C49284619533D5F45429F5&utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_term=https%3a%2f%2fwww.nydailynews.com%2f2024%2f04%2f22%2ftrump-hush-money-trial-transcripts-to-be-made-public%2f&utm_campaign=Dont-miss&utm_content=%23Listrak%5cDateTimeStampNumeric%23
Transcripts at: https://ww2.nycourts.gov/press/index.shtml
New York judge sets new conditions on Trump's civil fraud bond
Source: Axios
New York Judge Arthur Engoron on Monday accepted the $175 million bond former President Trump posted to appeal his civil fraud case, but the judge imposed several new conditions to ensure sufficient cash funds remain available.
Why it matters: Approving the bond for the appeal will prevent New York Attorney General Letitia James from seizing Trump's assets or freezing his bank accounts while he fights the judgment.
…snip…
The big picture: While Engoron allowed the bond to stand, Trump and Knight Specialty Insurance Company agreed to meet several new requirements, per a spokesperson from the New York State Attorney General's office.
These include that Knight Specialty Insurance Company will retain "exclusive control" of the $175 million account, and the company and Trump will provide a monthly account statement certifying that there are sufficient cash funds for the bond.
Read more: https://www.axios.com/2024/04/22/trump-bond-hearing-new-york-civil-fraud
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Name: Chris BastianGender: Male
Hometown: Brooklyn, NY
Home country: USA
Member since: 2002
Number of posts: 94,548
