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demmiblue's JournalBarack Obama and Bruce Springsteen Announce Co-Authored Book 'Renegades: Born in the U.S.A.'
Source: Rolling Stone
President Barack Obama and Bruce Springsteen will release a joint book, Renegades: Born in the U.S.A., on October 26th globally via Higher Ground/Penguin Random House.
The tome is described as “a collection of candid, intimate, and entertaining conversations,” which began in Spotify’s co-produced podcast of the same name. Published in an oversized, fully-illustrated format, the book will also feature rare and exclusive photographs from the authors’ personal collections and never-before-seen archival material, including Springsteen’s handwritten lyrics and Obama’s annotated speeches.
“Over the years, what we’ve found is that we’ve got a shared sensibility,” Obama writes in the book’s opening pages. “About work, about family, and about America. In our own ways, Bruce and I have been on parallel journeys trying to understand this country that’s given us both so much. Trying to chronicle the stories of its people. Looking for a way to connect our own individual searches for meaning and truth and community with the larger story of America.”
Springsteen adds, in the book’s introduction, “There were serious conversations about the fate of the country, the fortune of its citizens, and the destructive, ugly, corrupt forces at play that would like to take it all down. This is a time of vigilance when who we are is being seriously tested. Hard conversations about who we are and who we want to become can perhaps serve as a small guiding map for some of our fellow citizens.”
Read more: https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/barack-obama-bruce-springsteen-renegades-book-1200575/
Melania Trump agreed with her husband that 'John McCain isn't a war hero,' a former aide says
She agreed with then-candidate Donald Trump when he said during a 2016 GOP primary event in Iowa that the Arizona senator was "not a war hero," according to Trump's former campaign manager Cory Lewandowski.
Lewandowski, who spoke to Insider as part of an oral history project on Trump's takeover of the GOP, said he and Trump met up with Melania Trump in New Jersey as political pundits and conservative talk-show hosts were saying Trump had to apologize. He thought the comment would end Trump's campaign.
"As we walked in the door, Mrs. Trump was waiting for us," Lewandowski said. "She said: 'You're right. John McCain isn't a war hero. What he has done for the veterans has been shameful.'"
https://www.businessinsider.com/melania-donald-trump-john-mccain-war-hero-lewandowski-2021-7
Statement of U.S. Capitol Police Officer Harry Dunn (re: Fucker Carlson):
https://twitter.com/MarkSZaidEsq/status/1418038183531581440
Eric Clapton Will Not Play Shows Where Proof of Vaccine Is Required
Eric Clapton said he will not perform at any venues that require attendees to prove that they’ve been vaccinated against Covid-19.
Clapton issued his statement in response to Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s announcement on Monday, July 19th, that vaccine passes would be required to enter nightclubs and venues. Clapton’s statement was shared via the Telegram account of film producer and architect Robin Monotti, who has also been skeptical of the Covid-19 vaccine and expressed other doubts about the U.K. government’s response to the pandemic. (Clapton previously shared a message about his “disastrous” health experience after receiving the Covid-19 vaccine on Monotti’s Telegram page.)
The message was accompanied by a link to Clapton’s anti-lockdown song with Van Morrison, “Stand and Deliver.” Representatives for Clapton did not immediately return Rolling Stone’s request for comment.
In a statement to Rolling Stone in May, a spokesperson for the MHRA, the UK governmental body overseeing the vaccine, reiterated that “over 56 million doses of vaccines against COVID-19 have now been administered in the UK, saving thousands of lives through the biggest vaccination programme that has ever taken place in this country.
https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/eric-clapton-not-play-vaccine-shows-1200257/
Rep. Jim Jordan after selection to Jan. 6 committee:
https://twitter.com/thehill/status/1417471381793615876
Justice Department seeks 50-year bar to release of grand jury material
Source: WaPo
The Justice Department is pushing for rule changes that would put a 50-year delay on when courts can consider releasing material from federal grand juries, according to documents and interviews, and would separately allow gag orders to be applied more broadly to witnesses.
While the recommendations were made during the Trump administration, President Biden’s Justice Department is still seeking the changes, even as critics oppose what they say would be a significant expansion of secrecy around federal courts and investigations.
Grand jury secrecy is a cornerstone of American criminal justice. Much of what is said in grand juries — where citizens, guided by a prosecutor, consider whether to indict someone for alleged crimes — is never made public.
But judges occasionally rule that some other interest merits the release of grand jury information.
Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/grand-jury-secrecy-gag-orders/2021/07/19/22585580-e898-11eb-8950-d73b3e93ff7f_story.html
Disney has offered a first look at President Joe Biden being added to The Hall of Presidents...
https://twitter.com/ScottGustin/status/1417233804847157250
NEWS: @heatherscope and I are told that McCarthy will name Reps. Jim Banks (as ranking member), Jim
https://twitter.com/Olivia_Beavers/status/1417243636949995522
Pentagon to House Afghan Interpreters at Virginia Military Base
Source: WSJ
The Pentagon will temporarily house thousands of Afghan interpreters and others at a military base in eastern Virginia, the first part of a White House plan to evacuate individuals who face retribution from the Taliban for working with the U.S.
Initially, about 2,500 Afghans—700 interpreters and family members—will be flown from Afghanistan to Fort Lee, Va., for short-term housing while awaiting final processing for Special Immigrant Visas allowing them to remain in the U.S., according to Ned Price, spokesman for the State Department.
“These are brave Afghans and their families, as we have said, who have served the United States and who have completed thorough SIV security vetting processes,” Mr. Price said. “They will be provided temporary housing and services as they complete the final steps in the special immigrant process.”
An additional 4,000 interpreters, along with family members, are under consideration to be part of the next group of special visa applicants who could be flown out of Afghanistan, potentially to a location outside of the U.S., Mr. Price said.
Read more: https://www.wsj.com/articles/pentagon-to-house-afghan-interpreters-at-virginia-military-base-11626719470
Excerpt: "I'm Getting the Word Out": Inside the Feverish Mind of Donald Trump Two Months...
Seventy days had passed since Donald Trump left Washington against his will. On March 31, 2021, we ventured to Mar-a-Lago, where he still reigned as king of Republican politics. We arrived late that afternoon for our audience with the man who used to be president and were ushered into an ornate sixty-foot-long room that functioned as a kind of lobby leading to the club’s patio. A model of Air Force One painted in Trump’s proposed redesign—a flat red stripe across the middle, a navy belly, a white top, and a giant American flag on the tail—was proudly displayed on the coffee table facing the entrance. It was a prop disconnected from reality. Trump’s vision never came to be; the fleet now in use by President Biden still bears the iconic baby blue-and-white livery designed by Jacqueline Kennedy.
“Used to be” is not a phrase anyone dares use to describe the president inside his Palm Beach castle. Here, beneath the gold-leaf ceiling of winged griffins and crystal chandeliers, Trump still rules, surrounded day and night by applauding fans, obsequious courtiers, and dutiful servants. At the perfectly manicured Mar-a-Lago, none of the disgrace that marked the end of his presidency pierces Trump’s reality. Here, he and his aides work to maintain the gospel according to Trump, with the most important revelations being that Donald Trump was the greatest president of all time and was unjustly denied a second term.
Trump had invited us to Mar-a-Lago to interview him for this book. He had declined an interview for our first book about his presidency, and when A Very Stable Genius was published in January 2020, attacked us personally and branded our reporting a work of fiction. But Trump was quick to agree to our request this time. He sought to curate history.
As we sat for the interview, the former president’s press secretary presented us copies of a bound volume: 1,000 Accomplishments of President Donald J. Trump: Highlights of the First Term. On the back cover is an American flag, the presidential seal, and Trump’s thick, jagged signature. The book totals 92 pages and is organized with chapters dedicated to the economy, tax cuts, deregulation, trade, and so on.
https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2021/07/the-feverish-mind-of-trump-after-leaving-the-white-house
https://twitter.com/JonLemire/status/1417224375867256833
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