Category: Uncategorized

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Golden State Warriors Vote Unanimously To Skip White House Visit

President Obama with Golden State Warriors at White House in 2015

Via The Independent:

The 2017 NBA Champions Golden State Warriors unanimously decided as a team not to meet Donald Trump in the White House, as is custom for winning teams. The Warriors beat the Cleveland Cavaliers 129-120 to seal the hard-fought series 4-1.

It is the second championship for the California team in three years, and the third consecutive NBA finals series between the two teams. The Warriors attended the White House ceremony in their honour when they won the championship in 2015 while former President Barack Obama was in office. The Cavaliers did the same last year.

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Reporters Informed No More Hallway Interviews At U.S. Senate

Reporters have been informed today that they will no longer be allowed to conduct interviews in the hallways of the Senate without filing for permission for each interview in advance.

Trying to shut down press coverage of the Senate’s meetings on upcoming healthcare legislation, I’d imagine.

At least one Senator, Chris Murphy of Connecticut, said he can handle himself:

UPDATE – Whiplash, anybody?

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President Trump Blocks Veterans Group On Twitter

This is pretty messed up.

The president’s Twitter account has blocked a veteran’s group from reading his tweets.

VoteVets, a progressive veteran’s group founded in 2006, shared today that they had been blocked by the Donald along with this message:

“The Commander in Chief can block @VoteVets, the voice of 500k military veterans and families, but we will NOT be silenced.”

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President “Considering Perhaps Terminating” Special Counsel Leading Trump/Russia Investigation

Chris Ruddy, longtime friend of Donald Trump and CEO of right-leaning news outlet Newsmax, told PBS’ Judy Woodruff today that Trump is “considering perhaps terminating” special counsel Robert Mueller, who is currently leading the Trump-Russia investigation.

Rep. Adam Schiff has spelled out how this could play out:

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9th Circuit Court Of Appeals Rules Against Trump’s Travel Ban

The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has agreed with the 4th Circuit Court that President Trump’s travel ban is unconstitutional.

The unanimous ruling by a three-judge panel basically affirmed a March decision by Judge Derrick K. Watson, of the Federal District Court in Hawaii.

From the New York Times:

Like the Fourth Circuit, Judge Watson blocked major parts of the revised order on the ground that they violated the Constitution’s ban on a government establishment of religion. Judge Watson wrote that the statements of Mr. Trump and his advisers made clear that his executive order amounted to an attempt to disfavor Muslims.

“A reasonable, objective observer — enlightened by the specific historical context, contemporaneous public statements and specific sequence of events leading to its issuance — would conclude that the executive order was issued with a purpose to disfavor a particular religion,” Judge Watson wrote.

The 9th Circuit Court determined that President Trump exceeded the scope of his authority, writing in part, “The Immigration and Nationality Act … gives the President broad powers to control the entry of aliens, and to take actions to protect the American public. But immigration, even for the President, is not a one-person show.”

Additionally, the panel of judges cite Donald Trump’s travel ban tweet, and White House spokesman Sean Spicer’s answer that Trump’s tweets are official statements. Yet another reason the Trumpster should pause before tweeting.

The ban now heads to the U.S. Supreme Court.

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Facing July Deadline Reince Priebus Praises Trump: Thank You For The Blessing To Serve

Ok, this seems a bit odd.

From CNBC:

After a weekend dominated by discussion of whether he had committed obstruction of justice, the president called in reporters for what he billed as his first full Cabinet meeting. He began with an opening statement laced with the sort of wild self-congratulatory boasts that are his trademark.

“Never has there been a president with few exceptions … who has passed more legislation, done more things,” Trump declared, even though Congress, which is controlled by his party, hasn’t passed any major legislation.

He hailed his plan for the “single biggest tax cut in American history,” even though he hasn’t proposed a plan and Congress hasn’t acted on one. He said “no one would have believed” his election could have created so many new jobs over the past seven months (1.1 million), even though more jobs (1.3 million) were created in the previous seven months.

Typically, a president’s initial comments mark the end of on-camera coverage of White House Cabinet meetings, with administration aides then escorting members of the small press “pool” out of the room. But Trump invited reporters to remain as he called on his senior-most advisers to “go around, name your position” and say a few words about the administration’s work.

Vice President Mike Pence told the room serving as Trump’s number two is “the greatest privilege of my life.”

Attorney General Jeff Sessions: “An honor to be here.”

Energy Secretary Rick Perry: “My hat is off to you.”

Chief of Staff Reince Priebus: “We thank you for the opportunity and the blessing to serve your agenda.”

This is where I should probably mention that according to reports, Trump has given Priebus until July 4th to straighten out the problems in the West Wing or he promises to make serious changes.

You think Priebus had that in mind when he lauded the Donald here?

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer didn’t miss a beat trolling Trump’s staff with this video:

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Newt Gingrich Flip Flops On Russian Investigation Special Counsel

Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich went all “flip/flop” on the special counsel appointed to look into the Russian interference in the 2016 election this past Sunday.

Gingrich told Chris Wallace of Fox News that since former FBI Director James Comey admitted that he shared his personal memos with the world regarding conversations with President Trump in hopes that a special counsel would be appointed, the special counsel should be dismissed.

Gingrich also says that the special counsel, Robert Mueller, is one of James Comey’s best friends, and that also is grounds for dismissal.

Except – James Comey didn’t pick the special counsel, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein appointed Mueller to the position. And, at the time, Gingrich was all thumbs up.

Let’s take a trip on the way-back machine less than one month ago:

Watch Gingrich below on Fox News:

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John McCain: American Leadership Was Better Under President Obama

Sen. John McCain

Senator John McCain responding to The Guardian about what message Trump had sent to the United Kingdom last week by criticizing the Mayor of London after three attackers left 8 dead and dozens wounded:

“What do you think the message is? The message is that America doesn’t want to lead,” McCain said, while adding of the rest of the world: “They are not sure of American leadership, whether it be in Siberia or whether it be in Antarctica.”

Asked if America’s standing on the global stage was better under Barack Obama, McCain, a fervent critic of the previous administration’s foreign policy, responded: “As far as American leadership is concerned, yes.”

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My 2017 Tony Awards Recap

I enjoyed last night’s Tony Awards broadcast muchly.

For one thing, rather than one of those year’s where one show dominates heavily (Hamilton, Chicago, The Producers), for the most part the Tony voters seemed happy to share the wealth among several productions. And I like that. The Tonys are, in great part, a marketing tool to help shows run, and when everyone is acknowledged for excellent work, the entire theater community wins.

All in all, I agreed with just about every winner (I hate using that word) in each category.

Other random thoughts:

• It’s ridiculous that the Choreographer category isn’t presented during the telecast. I won’t qualify artistic contributions among team mates, but the choreographer (the most physically demanding position on a creative team) creates highly complex storytelling without the use of spoken language. The number from Andy Blankenbuehler’s Bandstand was easily a standout among all the numbers featured last night. Also, look at the popularity of dance today across the country (So You Think You Can Dance, Dancing With The Stars). There’s intense interest in the art form.

For those who didn’t see Andy’s acceptance speech:

Check out Dr. Jill Biden (huge standing ovation) introducing “Nobody” from Bandstand. This is excellent choreography 🙂

• Whether it was Bette Midler demurring or producer Scott Rudin not wanting to “give away the goods,” it was a shame there was no production number from this year’s biggest hit,  Hello, Dolly!

 • While I miss seeing excerpts from the nominated plays, I did enjoy seeing the playwrights introduced and being allowed to speak about their shows.

• The In Memoriam was handled with taste and grace. Thank you.

• The two most memorable speeches (vastly different in tone) were:

Ben Platt winning “Best Actor in a Musical” for Dear Evan Hansen – “To all young people watching at home, don’t waste any time trying to be like anybody but yourself. The things that make you strange are the things that make you powerful.”

And Bette Midler’s four minute filibuster (“Shut that crap off!”) for “Best Actress in a Musical” for Hello, Dolly!:

• Kevin Spacey did a good job as host. Brilliant? Maybe not, but he was solid and brings aesthetic weight to the stage. I wasn’t a huge fan of the impersonation schtick, but I know there were producers and writers making a lot of those decisions, so… Much is being made about his “in the closet” jokes. On one hand folks seem to be of the opinion he’s basically out to everyone but the masses, so he should be be out; on the other hand, he’s dealt with the rumors for years and if he wants to joke about them, whatever.

Ratings? From BroadwayWorld.com:

According to The Hollywood Reporter, ratings for this year’s telecast were down 31 percent from last year’s show. According to Nielsen overnight returns, the telecast averaged a 4.7 rating among metered market households, almost tying for the Tony broadcast from five years ago. The numbers appear to be strong enough to top NBC’s coverage of the Stanley Cup Finals, although they may fall short of winning in the Adult 18-49 demo.

In comparison, the 2016 TONY AWARDS reached a 15-year viewership high, averaging a 6.8 rating among households in overnight returns, ultimately delivering 8.7 million viewers and a 1.6 rating among adults 18-49.

Click here to see many of the performances and acceptance speeches.

Here’s the full list of the artists who took home awards last night:

Best musical: “Dear Evan Hansen”

Best play: “Oslo”

Best revival of a play: “August Wilson’s Jitney”

Best revival of a musical: “Hello, Dolly!”

Best book of a musical: “Dear Evan Hansen,” Steven Levenson

Best original score (music and/or lyrics) written for the theater: “Dear Evan Hansen,” Music and lyrics: Benj Pasek & Justin Paul

Tony Awards 2017: Highlights, winners and best moments
Best performance by an actor in a leading role in a musical: Ben Platt, “Dear Evan Hansen”

Best performance by an actress in a leading role in a musical: Bette Midler, “Hello, Dolly!”

Best performance by an actor in a leading role in a play: Kevin Kline, “Present Laughter”

Best performance by an actress in a leading role in a play: Laurie Metcalf, “A Doll’s House, Part 2”

Best performance by an actor in a featured role in a play: Michael Aronov, “Oslo”

Best performance by an actress in a featured role in a play: Cynthia Nixon, “Lillian Hellman’s The Little Foxes”

Best performance by an actor in a featured role in a musical: Gavin Creel, “Hello, Dolly!”

Best performance by an actress in a featured role in a musical: Rachel Bay Jones, “Dear Evan Hansen”

Best scenic design of a play: Nigel Hook, “The Play That Goes Wrong”

Best scenic design of a musical: Mimi Lien, “Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812”

Best costume design of a play: Jane Greenwood, “Lillian Hellman’s The Little Foxes”

Best costume design of a musical: Santo Loquasto, “Hello, Dolly!”

Best lighting design of a play: Christopher Akerlind, “Indecent”

Best lighting design of a musical: Bradley King, “Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812”

Best direction of a play: Rebecca Taichman, “Indecent”

Best direction of a musical: Christopher Ashley, “Come From Away”

Best choreography: Andy Blankenbuehler, “Bandstand”

Best orchestrations: Alex Lacamoire, “Dear Evan Hansen”

Special Tony Award for lifetime achievement in the theatre: James Earl Jones

Special Tony Award: Gareth Fry and Pete Malkin, sound designers for “The Encounter”

Regional theatre Tony Award: Dallas Theater Center in Dallas, Texas

Isabelle Stevenson Tony Award: Baayork Lee

Tony honors for excellence in theater: Nina Lannan and Alan Wasser

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Melania Trump & Son Finally Move Into The White House

First Lady Melania Trump and son Barron officially moved into the White House this weekend, five months after the Donald was sworn into office.

Posting on Twitter, Melania wrote, “Looking forward to the memories we’ll make in our new home!”