4.30 The Boston Bruins, who won more games this season than any team in NHL history, were eliminated by the Florida Panthers with an Overtime Game 7 defeat in the first round of the playoffs. The Bruins lost at home, after holding a 3-1 games advantage in the series, and a 3-2 lead with a minute left in Game 7.
4.28 From the cross examination of E. Jean Carroll by attorney Joe Tacopina in her sexual assault lawsuit against Donald Trump:
Tacopina: Even though you understood you were in the middle of this supposed battle, you never screamed at Donald Trump or screamed for help?
Jean: I’m not a screamer. Here is the thing. I was too much in a panic to scream. I was fighting.
Tacopina: When you’re fighting and being sexually assaulted and raped, because you are not a screamer, as you describe it, you wouldn’t scream?
Jean: I’m not a screamer. You can’t beat up on me for not screaming.
Tacopina: I’m not beating up on you. I’m asking you questions, Ms. Carroll.
Jean: No. Women who come forward, one of the reasons they don’t come forward is because they are always asked why didn’t you scream. Some women scream. Some women don’t … Why didn’t you scream, E. Jean? Why didn’t you scream? … You better have a good excuse why you didn’t scream. Because if you didn’t scream, you weren’t raped. I’m telling you, he raped me, whether I screamed or not!
4.27 Tom Nichols in The Atlantic: “Carlson is emblematic of the entire conservative movement now, and especially the media millionaires who serve as its chief propagandists. The conservative world has become a kind of needle skyscraper with a tiny number of wealthy, superbly educated right-wing media and political elites in the penthouses, looking down at an expanse of angry Americans whose rage they themselves helped create. As one Fox staffer said in a text to the former CNN host Brian Stelter shortly after the January 6 insurrection, “What have we done?” If only Carlson and others were capable of asking themselves the same question.’’
4.27 David Brooks in the Times: “ American capitalism is dominant and accelerating. Back in 1990, for example, America’s gross domestic product per capita was nearly neck and neck with that of Europe and Japan. But by 2022 the U.S. had raced ahead. In 1990, the U.S. economy accounted for 40 percent of the nominal G.D.P. of the G7 nations. By 2022 the U.S. accounted for 58 percent. In 1990, American income per person was 24 percent higher than the income per person in Western Europe. Today, it is about 30 percent higher. . . . . America spends roughly 37 percent more per student on schooling than the average for the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, a collection of mostly rich peer nations. ChatGPT and mRNA vaccines are not the only signs of American technical prowess. The United States accounts for 22 percent of the patents in force abroad, up from 19 percent in 2004. That’s more than any other nation. The level of education is one reason American labor productivity increased by 67 percent between 1990 and 2022, compared with a 55 percent increase in Europe and 51 percent in Japan. American companies continue to generate amazing value. If in 1990 you had invested $100 in the S&P 500, an index of American companies, you would have about $2,300 today, according to The Economist. If you had invested that $100 in an index of non-American rich-world stocks, you would have about $510 today.”
4.27 David Frum in The Atlantic: “Republicans are doing everything wrong. They are talking to their voters about Trump’s personal grievances and about boutique culture-war issues that their own base does not much care about, such as the state of Florida’s “war on Disney.” At the same time, Republican leaders are confronting Democratic voters with extremist threats on issues they care intensely about: bans on abortion medication by mail, restrictions on the freedom of young women to travel across state lines, attacks on student voting rights, proposed big cuts to Medicaid and food stamps in the GOP debt-ceiling ransom demand. Republicans offer no economic message and no affirming vision, even as they make new moves to police women’s bodies and start a land war in Mexico. They are well on their way to earning a deep, nasty defeat—and the smell of that defeat may be an additional draw to the polls for the Democratic-leaning constituencies that will inflict it.’’
4.26 Testifying in Manhattan, E. Jean Carroll said that former President Donald J. Trump raped her in a department store. She was trying to get her “life back” and grew emotional as she spoke nearly 30 years after the events she described. Carroll broke down in tears toward the end of the day, amid continued discussion of the personal cost of going public with her accusations. “To be able to get my day in court, finally, is everything to me,” she said, her shaky voice rising. “I’m crying because I’m happy I got to tell my story in court.”
4.25 Harry Belafonte dies at 96.
4.24 The Packers trade Aaron Rodgers to the Jets.
4.24 Tucker Carlson is dumped by Fox. Zeeshan Aleem on msnbc.com: “Consider also how Fox News hosts who have quit or been kicked off the network have never regained their influence. After Bill O’Reilly was forced out of the company in 2017 because of sexual harassment allegations, he set up his own website, where he broadcasts an independent version of the show he had at Fox News, and he kept writing books. He’s making a living — but when’s the last time you heard about anything he said? Likewise, after Fox News decided in 2011 that Glenn Beck was too outlandish even for it, he founded his own media outfit. Beck has been able to maintain a position as a commentator on the right, but he has always been a much smaller deal. . . . It’s hard to imagine how Carlson could go anywhere but down in his influence as a pundit.’’
4.23 Air. Pretty good.
4.20 Ryan Goodman and Andrew Weissmann in The Atlantic: “Two of the top news stories in recent weeks—the Manhattan district attorney’s criminal indictment in People of the State of New York v. Donald Trump and the three-quarter-billion-dollar settlement in Dominion Voting Systems v. Fox News Network—may seem like independent affairs, but they are parts of one bigger story. That story is how former President Trump has been able to control what information is available to the public, as he has repeatedly done in an effort to aggrandize and cling to his own power. His willing helpers were media companies, but they were not acting as news organizations. The National Enquirer deliberately generated false information and hid true information from the public as part of a scheme to secure Trump’s grip on political power. Fox aired false claims and questioned true ones as it sought to placate Trump’s supporters. Together they have succeeded in polluting the marketplace of ideas in which democratic politics is supposed to thrive.’’
4.18 Fox and Dominion settle their case; Fox pays $787.5 million. Eric Wemple in the Post: “In its statement, Fox News demonstrated that not even a court record bulging with evidence of perfidy is enough to shame the organization into genuine contrition. “We are pleased to have reached a settlement of our dispute with Dominion Voting Systems. We acknowledge the Court’s rulings finding certain claims about Dominion to be false. This settlement reflects FOX’s continued commitment to the highest journalistic standards.” (Boldface added to highlight the network’s minimization of the fact that the discovery materials exposed not just falsehoods but lies. Boldface italics added to highlight an unthinkable proposition — firm evidence that the network refuses to learn from any experience.) , , , ,[R]eporters asked whether the settlement required Fox News to publish any retractions or apologies. The lawyers turned and left without answering those questions. The Post’s Jeremy Barr reported that the network will not have to air any retractions or apologies pursuant to the settlement agreement. Which is to say, the resolution requires a great deal of something that Fox News has in wheelbarrows (money) and very little of something it has in teaspoons (editorial integrity).’’
4.17 Sarah Bakewell on humanists in “Humanly Possible’’: “They always try to see the other side of any question. When dealing with murderous fanaticism, that is not necessarily helpful.”
4.17 Rep. Brendan Boyd: “I hereby formally endorse George Santos to win the GOP nomination for Congress from his district. Frankly, I can think of no better representative of the modern day GOP’s stance on honesty and integrity than George Santos.”
4.17 Trump on Truth Social: “Slovenly and pathetic Bill Barr, our COWARD former A.G., was on ABC FAKE NEWS this weekend making statements that he knows nothing about (he was long since gone from the White House, I wanted him out!) concerning the BOXES HOAX, a continuation of RUSSIA, RUSSIA, RUSSIA, UKRAINE, UKRAINE, UKRAINE, the Mueller Witch Hunt, & more. While he correctly puts down the N.Y.D.A. case, he plays up the equally ridiculous BOXES HOAX, where Biden should have the problem, not me. Barr is a weak & angry RINO!”
4.15 Robert Reich in The Guardian: “We are witnessing the logical culmination of win-at-any-cost Trump Republican politics – scorched-earth tactics used by Republicans to entrench their power, with no justification other than that they can. Democracy is about means. Under it, citizens don’t have to agree on ends (abortion, healthcare, guns or whatever else we disagree about) as long as we agree on democratic means for handling our disagreements. But for Trump Republicans, the ends justify whatever means they choose – including expelling lawmakers, rigging elections through gerrymandering, refusing to raise the debt ceiling and denying the outcome of a legitimate presidential election.”
4.14 Lawrence Summers on Bloomberg: “There’s a growing acceptance of fragmentation, and — maybe even more troubling — I think there’s a growing sense that ours may not be the best fragment to be associated with. . . .Somebody from a developing country said to me, ‘what we get from China is an airport. What we get from the United States is a lecture. . . .We are on the right side of history — with our commitment to democracy, with our resistance to aggression in Russia. But it’s looking a bit lonely on the right side of history, as those who seem much less on the right side of history are increasingly banding together in a whole range of structures.”
4.14 Speaking at an NRA event in Indiana on Friday, South Dakota governor Kristi Noem told an audience that her 2-year-old granddaughter “already has a shotgun and she already has a rifle, and she’s got a little pony named Sparkles too. So the girl is set up.” Call me a knee jerk liberal, but I don’t think anybody should have guns until she can go potty by herself like a big girl.
4.13 Mary Quant dies at 93
4.12 Ousted TN lawmaker Justin Peterson reinstated.
4.10 Ousted TN lawmaker Justin Jones reinstated.
4.14 Ivy at the library: “NO NO NO NO NO! Thank you so much.’’
4.9 Ivy at the egg hunt: “It’s ANOTHER egg! What’s inside?’’
4.8 IVY Week begins
4.6 Tennessee lawmakers voted to expel two members (both young black men) from the state legislature after they and a third member — all Democrats — took part in a protest against gun violence from the floor of the chamber.
4.4 Jennifer Rubin in the Post: “In a state so evenly divided that a 1- or 2-point margin is a resounding victory, Wisconsin voters turned out in droves on Tuesday to deliver an unmistakable blow to right-wing judges and politicians pushing forced-birth laws, hyper-gerrymandering, voter suppression and union-busting. Progressive Judge Janet Protasiewicz clobbered former right-wing state court justice Dan Kelly by 11 points.”
4.4 Marjorie Taylor Greene: “Trump is joining some of the most incredible people in history [in] being arrested. . . Nelson Mandela was arrested, served time in prison. Jesus was arrested and murdered by the Roman government.”
4.4 Trump arraigned in Manhattan on 34 counts of fraud. Trump on Truthsocial: “Heading to Lower Manhattan, the Courthouse. Seems so SURREAL — WOW, they are going to ARREST ME. Can’t believe this is happening in America,”
4.3 UConn wins its fifth national basketball championship, with a 76–59 win over San Diego State. UConn is the first men’s team to ever win an NCAA championship by winning six games by at least 13 points. (Indiana won every game by at least that margin in 1981, but played only five games.)