Francis Ford Coppola put one of his film’s stars under the spotlight when noting their “different politics” after the director raised the alarm about what he sees as a growing trend toward the “neo-right” and fascism.

During a Thursday panel at the Cannes Film Festival discussing his self-financed epic Megalopolis, Coppola was asked if he fears a second Donald Trump term in the White House.

“Men like Donald Trump are not at the moment in charge, but there is a trend happening in the world … there is a trend happening toward the more neo-right, even fascist tradition, which is frightening because anyone who was alive during World War II saw the horrors that took place, and we don’t want a repeat of that,” the Godfather director said. “Again, I think it’s the role of the artist, of films to shine a light on what’s happening in the world.”

Coppola then pointed to Jon Voight, one of the many actors of Megalopolis who joined Coppola on the panel.

“Jon, you have different political opinions,” Coppola said.

“How did you find that out?” Voight asked, earning laughter from his co-stars.

Voight remains a prolific actor, but he’s received arguably equal attention in recent years for his vehement support of Trump. In social media videos, the Oscar-winning actor has compared Trump to Jesus and blasted his critics. Trump awarded Voight the National Medal of Arts in 2019.

At Cannes, Coppola said his cast represented a variety of political thought, though he only singled out Voight.

“One of the things about our wonderful cast is that they reflect all sorts of political ideas. This is not just one notion,” the director said.

He then turned to Voight and asked how people can come together and “make a beautiful world for the children.”

“Your longing to contribute to that has created this film,” Voight said.

The actor kept his thoughts to the film and did not go into specific politics. He called Coppola’s Megalopolis “very moving” and said its message is relevant in that it shows human beings can solve every problem they are facing. The movie follows an architect played by Adam Driver who intends to rebuild New York City as a utopia after a disaster. Coppola self-financed the project for approximately $100 million.

All-new teaser trailer for Francis Ford Coppola’s #Megalopolis. pic.twitter.com/FqCgDLtGVl

— Rotten Tomatoes (@RottenTomatoes) May 14, 2024

“Where are we going? I think we’re all at this moment asking that question of ourselves. Where are we going and what can we do? I’m a little older now –some of you may have noticed that — and, of course, I have a limited amount of time, and I think to myself, what can I do to encourage us toward a better world to protect these kids?” Voight said. “That’s exactly what I’m doing, it’s in my head every second of the day to see what can we do to make this world better, and I know it’s possible. I agree with this film.”

Watch above via Variety.

The post Loyal Trumpster Jon Voight Put on the Spot at Cannes After Francis Ford Coppola Sounds Alarm on Rising ‘Fascist’ Trend first appeared on Mediaite.

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The File Explorer in Windows 11 has been having a rough time. The initial redesign from Windows 10 displaced familiar features and the right-click menu was truncated, as were the options in the ribbons menu.

A couple of updates later, things have improved somewhat, and Windows 11 finally added tab support in File Explorer. But if you’re annoyed by the lack of consistency in File Explorer, there’s a free, open-source, community-supported alternative that's a lot more customizable. It's simply called the Files app.

How to download the Files app for free

You can buy the Files app from the official Microsoft Store for $8, but it's also available completely free of cost from the developer's website, though it's a bit hidden: After opening the link, click the Classic installer button at the bottom of the page to start the free download.

But before you do that, I suggest you create a backup of your computer and all your important files just to be safe, given this is an app with permissions to directly edit all files on your computer.

The Files app wins with its design

There's no shortage of File Explorer alternatives (XYPlorer being a popular choice), and this was the case even before Windows 11. But none of them feature as modern or polished a design as the Files app. It takes its cues from Microsoft's Fluent design system, and looks even better on Windows 11 than Microsoft's own File Explorer, which feels like a cheaply re-skinned version of the Windows 10 File Explorer.

This emphasis on design continues with its customization options, of which there are plenty. You can choose from a couple of default themes, or have fun choosing color and transparency effects that work for you. And the dark mode is divine.

If you're looking for a form factor closer to macOS, you can switch to the Column view. Like Finder on Mac, this app also has a quick preview feature that allows you to peek into photos and PDFs by pressing the Space bar (doing this in the File Explorer requires a third-party app.)

My favorite part though, is the fact that you can make the icons and previews extra, extra large, so you can see what's in an image, or a PDF without even going through the quick look menu —something that's just not possible with the native File Explorer app.

The Files app is a great file manager

The intuitive UI in Files app also translates to the functionality. The tabbed browsing is fast and easy to navigate, and it has Dual Pane support (you can add a pane to a tab from the Menu button). This feature splits every single window into two. The second pane shows quick shortcuts, and allows you to browse to any folder. From there, simply drag and drop files, rearrange, or edit however you like.

The dual-pane layout makes transferring files a breeze, and you won't need to worry about window management either. The Details button is yet another nice touch. The sidebar can show a preview, and details of the selected file.

As mentioned above, the Column view is another useful way to navigate deeper into a complex folder structure without losing context, as you can see the parent folder to the left.

Another macOS Finder feature that works well in the Files app is Tagging support. Tags can be created from the sidebar, and multiple tags can be assigned to an single file. When you open a tag from the sidebar, it will show all the files related to the tag. This is a great way to pool in files from different folders, without actually moving them.

The Files app works with OneDrive and Google Drive by default, you can see all the files stored in your cloud storage account, and it can preview and unzip files. You can add support for other services like iCloud Drive and Dropbox.

Added functionality comes at a cost

From the Advanced settings, you can make the Files app your default file management app if you like. It can be used to open folders from Search, and even when downloading files. (Because of a Windows limitation, it can't be used when you're uploading files in the browser, but it can be the default file manager all everywhere else.)

But the question is, should you use Files as the default app? That will depend on your computer. The Files app is modern, and feature-rich, but it can also be a drag on your resources. It's slow to boot up the first time, and it can be really slow when you're batch-renaming files. But if you have a fast enough desktop PC, you won't feel the pinch.

Overall, its intuitive design, added navigation features, and the fact that it's available for free (competitive apps in the space usually cost $25), makes it well worth trying out—and a lot better than the Windows 11 standard.

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Twitter changed its name to "X" back in July of 2023. But while the site has taken the past 10 months to slowly adjust to its new name and logo, two things have remained constant: All of us still call it "Twitter," and the site's URL is still twitter.com.

It seems the times really are a-changin' though: As of today, twitter.com is officially x.com. Elon Musk confirmed the transition in a post (formerly known as a "tweet") on X (formerly known as Twitter):

Tweet may have been deleted

But while Musk says "All core systems are now on X.com," it doesn't appear to be the case for everyone. For example, when I fire up twitter.com out of pure, unwavering habit, the site loads right up without redirecting. For me, it's still Twitter, even if in URL only. (The X logo is still very much fixed to the top of the page, which I suppose is at least better than Doge.)

On the flip side, if I type in the new x.com domain, it loads up just fine as well. It even makes a big deal about me visiting x.com itself, with a banner thanking me for checking out the new URL. It seems like the site really wants to encourage me to continue visiting x.com rather than twitter.com, even though the latter should automatically redirect to the former.

I'm sure once X's skeleton crew figures out how to force Twitter URLs to be X URLs, that will be that, until the site runs out of money and folds. I, for one, think typing x.com is not only stupid, it feels like I'm about to visit a very different kind of site—which, at this point, might be true, considering the types of bots that plague X as of late.

If you're about as sick of X's shit as I am, there are plenty of X-alternatives to check out. Maybe I'll see you there, but I'll probably still be here, too, helplessly typing twitter.com into my browser until the end of time.

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CNN’s Anderson Cooper admitted he would “absolutely” have doubts in Michael Cohen as a witness after witnessing an “extraordinary cross-examination” by Donald Trump’s lawyer at his Manhattan hush money trial.

After attending the trial, Cooper joined CNN to recall the “dramatic” moment where Trump’s lawyer “appeared” to catch Cohen in a lie.

Cohen alleges he fronted hush money payments to adult film actress Stormy Daniels with the knowledge and endorsement of Trump. The payments were to conceal an alleged affair that the former president has denied. He’s also denied any knowledge of hush money payments as he faces more than 30 felony counts for falsifying business records.

Cooper called Trump lawyer Todd Blanche’s cross-examination of Cohen on Thursday “devastating,” saying Blanche appeared to save the juiciest bits in the 20 minutes before he asked for a lunch break.

At issue is a phone call made on Oct. 24, 2016. Cohen testified on Tuesday that this call was where he directly told Trump he was moving ahead with the alleged plan to pay off Daniels. Cooper said on Thursday Cohen was “cornered in what appeared to be a lie.”

Blanche referred to text messages from the prosecution’s phone log that Cohen said he had not seen when reviewing information they’d given him. The text messages were between Cohen and Trump ally Keith Schiller and they regarded a 14-year-old who was prank-calling Cohen. Schiller told Cohen to call him right before the call allegedly involving Trump took place.

“There had been this series of, I guess, crank calls that Michael Cohen had received. It turned out to be some 14-year-old. There was an exchange of messages between the alleged 14 year old and Michael Cohen, and then Michael Cohen texted Keith Schiller at like 7:50-something or or 7:48 p.m., saying, hey, I’ve got some dope who has been harassing me,'” Cooper explained.

The reporter said Cohen had to “adjust” his story and he then claimed the phone call was about both topics.

“You could tell the import of the moment and everyone in the courtroom could tell and if you were unaware of it, the clicking of every of every reporters’ in the room typewriters, it was like a crescendo because the drama of the moment was so clear to everybody in the room,” Cooper said about the cross-examination.

CNN legal analyst Elie Honig later asked Cooper if he would have doubts in Cohen’s testimony if he were in the jury box.

“Absolutely. Absolutely. I think it’s devastating for Michael Cohen’s credibility on this one particular topic,” he said.

Cooper added if he were a juror, he would be thinking Cohen is at least lying about this one detail.

“If I was a juror in this case watching that, I would think, this guy’s making this up as he’s going along or he’s making this particular story up,” he said.

Watch above via CNN.

The post ‘This Guy’s Making This Up’: Anderson Cooper Says He’d ‘Absolutely’ Doubt Michael Cohen’s Testimony If He We Were a Juror first appeared on Mediaite.

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Fox News host and close Trump pal and confidant Sean Hannity ranted at CNN anchor and Biden-Trump debate moderator Jake Tapper for heinous crimes like — calling out former President Donald Trump’s Nazi-echoing speech?

On Wednesday morning, President Joe Biden took to his campaign Twitter account to answer Trump’s recent declarations he’ll debate Biden “anytime, anywhere” in a video that included a reference to the Stormy Daniels hush money-election interference trial, telling Trump “I hear you’re free on Wednesdays.”

Things quickly escalated from there, with Biden offering a June debate on CNN, Trump accepting, and CNN announcing a June 27 date. Not long after that, an ABC News debate for September was agreed upon.

While the selection was widely praised — Tapper was one of my picks in a column that just missed CNN’s debate announcement — not everyone was happy. On Wednesday night’s edition of Fox News Channel’s Hannity, the host derided the selection of Tapper — and presented as evidence a collection of clips in which Tapper levels criticism at Trump:

Make no mistake, fake Jake Tapper might be a lot of things. He’s no journalist, and like everyone else in the media mob, Tapper spent the last several years obsessively hating all things Donald Trump, even retweeting a comment from a notorious Trump-hater calling Trump, quote, “100% insane.”.

Tapper said the tweet is noteworthy, but that’s not all. You decide.

JAKE TAPPER: As we watch Donald Trump attempt to turn his arrest and indictment into some sort of campaign commercial. The folks in the control room who, I don’t need to see any more of that, this he’s trying to turn this, and he’s trying to turn it into a spectacle, into a campaign ad. That’s enough of that. We’ve seen it already.

Here he is right now, under under my voice. You hear him repeating his anti-immigrant rhetoric.

President Trump, now in quarantine, has become a symbol of his own failures.

He is running the single most negative, sleazy campaign in American history for a major party candidate.

If you were to open up a copy of Hitler’s Mein Kampf, you would find the Nazi leader describing the mixing of non Germans with Germans as poisoning. There’s really no other way to say it. Donald Trump’s language mirrors this directly.

He pushes the government of the United States to use its power and credibility to justify his lies.

SEAN HANNITY: Does that sound like a journalist, or a talk show host with very liberal leanings?

Before we break that down, let’s take a second to consider who we are talking about here.

On the one hand, you have Tapper, an award-winning journalist about whom words like “renowned” and respected” are bandied with the relative frequency of a “Breaking News” banner on cable news. He cut his teeth being a pain in the ass to then-President Barack Obama on the White House beat for ABC News, and pissing off liberals like me.

But among his peers, Tapper’s reputation for fairness has always been ironclad.

When Tapper joined CNN in 2013, he quickly earned a reputation as a dogged interviewer who could be counted on not to take it easy on anyone. Before Trump came along, he was regarded by conservatives as tough but fair, and despite liberal annoyance with Tapper over the years, criticism of him is scant from liberal media watchdog Media Matters.

In fact, Tapper even earned praise from a certain Fox News host back in 2012 when he was interviewed about — presidential debates:

So what happened?

That brings us to Hannity, who is not just an open cheerleader for Trump but a close confidant who, to his mild credit, was texting the White House during the January 6 riot pleading for help dispersing the Trump mob.

Less to his credit, he also sought guidance from Trump’s White House in the aftermath of the riot. The guy is basically an unpaid Trump campaign advisor with privileges, working for a network that settled a 3/4 of a billion-dollar lawsuit related to Trump’s election lies that Hannity helped spread.

Let’s just say that when it comes to critiquing journalism and objectivity, Hannity has what lawyers might call a deficit of standing. Add to that the fact that Trump hasn’t been interviewed by Tapper since the anchor confronted him over his racist attack on Judge Gonzalo Curiel.

Hannity’s likely defense — that he doesn’t pretend to be a journalist — doesn’t change his utter lack of qualification to make these judgments or his obvious incentives to make them poorly.

Having said all of that, let’s look at the crimes Hannity accuses Tapper of. Here’s the context for the lines Hannity singled out:

As we watch Donald Trump attempt to turn his arrest and indictment into some sort of campaign commercial. The folks in the control room who, I don’t need to see any more of that, this he’s trying to turn this, and he’s trying to turn it into a spectacle, into a campaign ad. That’s enough of that. We’ve seen it already.

Tapper directed the control room to dump out of live non-newsworthy B-roll of Trump mingling with fans at a restaurant after his felony arrest and arraignment — for which Trump literally produced campaign merch.

Here he is right now, under under my voice. You hear him repeating his anti-immigrant rhetoric.

This was Tapper dumping out of Trump’s Iowa victory speech during the “invasion” chunk — after having carried the first ten minutes of the speech, roughly the same as Fox. 

President Trump, now in quarantine, has become a symbol of his own failures.

This was part of a segment on Trump exposing people to Covid like it was his job at the height of the pandemic — and that was before we knew he was infected during his debate with the president. I guess he didn’t have access to any bleach.

He is running the single most negative, sleazy campaign in American history for a major party candidate.

Here’s what Tapper singled out that Hannity cut out: “Trump and his allies in the media and the members of his family and the Trump allied websites and such are leveling with charges so heinous I’m not going to say them, just nonsense, crap, tied into QAnon, tied into pizzagate, tied into the worst things you could say about a person.”

If you were to open up a copy of Hitler’s Mein Kampf, you would find the Nazi leader describing the mixing of non-Germans with Germans as poisoning. There’s really no other way to say it. Donald Trump’s language mirrors this directly.

Trump’s repeated Hitler-echoing comments have earned him Hitler-echoing headlines for months — and that was before the news that he literally praised Hitler to his chief of staff.

He pushes the government of the United States to use its power and credibility to justify his lies.

Here’s the rest of the sentence about Trump’s “long record of prevarication”: “he pushes the government of the United States to use its power and credibility to justify his lies about crowd sizes, or hurricane paths, or fake crimes by his political opponents.”

As the kids say, where is the lie? What is “liberal” and “partisan” about calling out Hitler stuff and pedophile lies and hatred for immigrants and using a Sharpie to alter hurricane maps and turning your felony arrest into a campaign stop.

Here’s the thing: I know a lot of people are not going to want to hear this, but I think Sean Hannity is actually a pretty good guy at heart. I’ve met him several times (he says he’s a big fan — I’m not sure I believe that).

He gives off a vibe, like a lot of conservative figures do in person, of someone putting on a pro wrestling kayfabe performance. That’s not just from my personal interactions, but from his unease in those text messages with the January 6 riot. You could extend that to all the other Fox News personalities who privately derided Trump’s election even as they promoted them on the air.

I think Sean Hannity is blinded by a misplaced sense of loyalty to Trump, which has become the litmus test for Republicanism. I don’t think Sean Hannity would defend anyone else in the world who praised Hitler or echoed his vile speech.

It’s time for Hannity to take a good look at himself and ask why he’s doing it now. He’s better than that.

The post Trump Pal Hannity Attacks CNN Anchor Jake Tapper — For Crimes Like Calling Out Trump’s Nazi Stuff first appeared on Mediaite.

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Hitting the road for Memorial Day weekend? According to the American Automobile Association (AAA), you won't be alone: The organization estimates that 43.8 million Americans will travel at least 50 miles from home this Memorial Day weekend (Thursday, May 23 through Monday, May 27)—up 4% from last year.

“We haven’t seen Memorial Day weekend travel numbers like these in almost 20 years,” Paula Twidale, senior vice President of AAA Travel said in a recent news release. The current record was set in 2005, when 44 million people celebrated the unofficial start of summer by getting out of town.

This year, AAA predicts that roughly 3.51 million Memorial Day weekend travelers will fly to their destination—up 4.8% from 2023—while around 1.9 million will take trains, buses, and cruises, an increase of 5.6% over last year.

Road trips are proving to be the most popular way to kick off the summer of 2024. According to AAA's projections, 38.4 million people will travel by car over Memorial Day weekend, more than any other year since the organization started keeping track of this figure in 2000.

While that will likely increase your chances of hitting traffic—whether you're traveling locally or long-distance—certain days will be busier than others. To help you plan your trip, AAA has predicted the best and worst times to drive this Memorial Day weekend. Here's what to know.

The best and worst times to drive during Memorial Day weekend 2024

Using data from INRIX, a firm providing transportation insights, experts at AAA have determined that these are the best and worst times to hit the road this Memorial Day weekend. The times listed below are all applicable in your local time zone. 

Thursday, May 23

• Worst time: 12—6 p.m.

• Best time: Before 11 a.m. / After 7 p.m.

Friday, May 24

• Worst time: 12—7 p.m.

• Best time: Before 11 a.m., after 8 p.m.

Saturday, May 25

• Worst time: 2—5 p.m.

• Best time: Before 1 p.m. / After 6 p.m.

Sunday, May 26

• Worst time: 3—7 p.m.

• Best time: Before 1 p.m.

Monday, May 27

• Worst time: 3—7 p.m.

• Best time: After 7 p.m.

Other things to note:

Gas prices should be similar to last year's national average of roughly $3.57 per gallon, though AAA experts indicate that fuel costs could increase once the summer driving season is in full swing.

Also, if your road trip takes you anywhere near one or more of the country’s major metropolitan areas, AAA has additional information available on when traffic will be the worst, broken down by the city and route.

The bottom line: A lot of people will be traveling over Memorial Day weekend, so give yourself plenty of time to get to your destination.

“Travel times are expected to be up to 90% longer than normal," Bob Pishue, transportation analyst at INRIX said in the AAA news release. "Travelers should stay up to date on traffic apps, 511 services, and local news stations to avoid sitting in traffic longer than necessary."

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In an era when employer-sponsored retirement plans like 401(k)s have become the norm, pensions are becoming an endangered species. A pension is a retirement plan that guarantees a steady income stream to retirees for life, with the employer bearing the investment risk. In contrast, 401(k) and 403(b) plans are defined contribution plans where employees shoulder the investment risk and must carefully manage their retirement savings.

While pensions were once prevalent across industries, economic pressures and accounting rule changes have led many private companies to freeze or terminate their pension plans. However, there are still a few bastions where traditional pensions survive. Here are some of the jobs that still offer this coveted retirement benefit.

Government jobs

If pensions are your priority, government jobs are the way to go. Many government jobs at the federal, state, and local levels still provide pension plans for their employees. This includes roles like public school teachers, police officers, firefighters, and other civil servants. The retirement benefits are usually part of the compensation package negotiated by public employee unions.

Utilities

Utility companies like electric, gas, and water providers frequently still have pension plans. The regulated nature of utilities has allowed some to maintain their defined benefit pension plans.

Unions

Jobs covered by union labor agreements, particularly in industries like transportation, manufacturing, or construction, are more likely to include a pension as a hard-won benefit.

Military

After serving for 20 years or more, members of the armed forces are eligible for a military pension that pays lifetime retired pay.

Some corporate giants

While rarer than in previous decades, a small number of large corporations still offer pension plans. These include some automotive companies, airlines, and other legacy companies with a heavily unionized workforce.

The appeal of pensions is obvious—they provide retirees with a dependable income stream not tethered to market returns. But the costs and risks associated with paying pension benefits have led to their decline. For most workers today, a 401(k), IRA, or similar defined contribution plan is their primary employer-sponsored retirement vessel, putting investment responsibility on their shoulders. Pensions, while fading, do still exist for certain professions, particularly in the public sector.

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Houseplants spark joy. They add a splash of life and color to any indoor space, and if properly chosen and cared for, they can thrive just about anywhere. Anyone who’s ever started an indoor garden knows that tending to houseplants can quickly become a way of life, if not an addiction. Caring for living things is meditative and therapeutic, and the design aspect they bring to your living space drives you to keep growing your plant collection.

There are a lot of apps and gadgets that can help you care for your plants, but eventually, you’ll probably want to go full mad scientist and make your own plant babies. Propagating plants is not only cost-effective, it’s also a lot of fun—and will help you steps up your indoor gardening game significantly. While it might seem intimidating at first, growing new plants from cuttings, buds, or roots is a lot easier than you think, especially if you choose the right plants to work with. Here are 15 of the easiest houseplants to propagate.

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President Joe Biden’s campaign accused former President Donald Trump of “playing games” after he went rogue and independently announced a third debate with Biden following the candidates agreeing to two debates.

Biden took to social media on Wednesday morning to challenge Trump to two debates, which the former president quickly accepted. Debates are set for June 27 on CNN and September on ABC. After these events were agreed to, Trump appeared to go rogue, announcing a third debate in October on Fox News — without any word from Biden’s camp.

Jen O’Malley Dillon, Biden-Harris 2024 Chair, released a statement accusing Trump of “playing games” and casting doubt on whether he’ll actually show up to the first debate.

“Donald Trump has a long history of playing games with debates: complaining about the rules, breaking those rules, pulling out at the last minute, or not showing up at all – which he’s done repeatedly in all three cycles he’s run for president. He said he would debate President Biden anytime, anywhere, anyplace,” Dillon wrote. “In fact, he’s said and posted it dozens of times with varying degrees of comprehension and basic grammar. President Biden made his terms clear for two one-on-one debates, and Donald Trump accepted those terms. No more games. No more chaos, no more debate about debates. We’ll see Donald Trump on June 27th in Atlanta – if he shows up.”

The former president had earlier taken to Truth Social to say he would “hereby accept” a debate offer from Fox News. The event, according to him, was to be moderated by Martha MacCallum and Bret Baier. Unlike the other quickly-announced debates, there was no immediate announcement from Biden’s team.

“Please let this TRUTH serve to represent that I hereby accept debating Crooked Joe Biden on FoxNews. The date will be Wednesday, October 2nd,” Trump wrote. “The Hosts will be Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum. Thank you, DJT!”

The post Biden Camp Hits Back at Trump ‘Playing Games’ With Debates After He ‘Hereby Accepts’ Third Fox News Debate first appeared on Mediaite.

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You can get this open-box Magic Keyboard Folio for iPad (10th Gen) on sale for $94.97 right now (reg. $249) with free shipping through May 22. The folio’s two-piece design is detachable, so you can use the keyboard wirelessly while the back panel holds up your tablet. You can use the keyboard’s click-anywhere trackpad for scrolling, a 14-key function row with loads of shortcut options, and an adjustable stand to make your tablet setup feel more like a laptop. Both pieces attach magnetically, and you can adjust the stand to different viewing angles. It’s an open-box item—excess inventory from store shelves or customer returns—but it’s been repackaged and is verified to be in new condition. 

You can get this open-box Apple Magic Keyboard Folio for iPad (10th Gen) on sale for $94.97 right now (reg. $249) with free shipping through May 22 at 11:59 p.m. PT, though prices can change at any time.

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Howard Stern revealed that friend and comedian Jerry Seinfeld called him and wanted to come on the air to personally apologize for insulting the longtime radio host’s comedy chops.

On the Fly on the Wall podcast hosted by ex-Saturday Night Live castmembers David Spade and Dana Carvey last week, Seinfeld claimed the podcast had “outflanked” Stern’s SiriusXM show and that his comedy skills may be lacking with comedians regularly hosting their own shows.

“Howard Stern invented this, right?” Seinfeld said. “But we’re better than him now. Howard is interesting. Howard is a great interviewer, but comedy chops, I mean, can we speak candidly?”

He then praised Spade and Carvey’s show as better than Stern’s radio show, which recently had on President Joe Biden for an hour-long interview.

In a statement, Seinfeld quickly apologized for his comments, explaining he felt “bad” and that it came off as more insulting to Stern than he had intended.

“I really feel bad for what I said about my friend Howard Stern in a conversation with David Spade and Dana Carvey, talking about the glut of comedy podcasts,” he said.

Stern responded on his radio show on Monday to Seinfeld by calling the comments “weird” and revealing Seinfeld had even wanted to come on the show to apologize personally.

“Jerry had said that basically I’m an interviewer and that I’m not a comedian, and that now comedians have podcasts and comedians are, you know, funnier or something than me. I read it, and I went, ‘Oh, that’s weird,’ because Jerry is a personal friend of ours,” Stern said.

The radio host said Seinfeld called him immediately to apologize and Stern completely forgave him, saying he did not take any of it personally.

“I said ‘Jerry, you don’t even have to — please. This is embarrassing. I’m the king of going on the air and having millions of regrets afterward.’ Apology accepted, I don’t care,” he said. “And you know what? If I’m not a comedian, I’m an interviewer. I don’t know what I am. I always considered myself a bit of a comedian, but whatever it is, don’t worry about it.”

Stern said he turned down Seinfeld coming on the show because it wasn’t necessary and it’d just be “awkward.”

“I said, ‘Not necessary, I don’t wanna get into it. It’s awkward, it’s fine.’ I said, ‘I’ve had to apologize to you for shit I’ve said,'” Stern explained. “I’ve had to call up people and apologize for shit I’ve done on the air when I’m a huge fan of these people.”

The post Howard Stern Reveals Jerry Seinfeld Called Him to Apologize For Insulting His Comedy Chops first appeared on Mediaite.

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Governor Jared Polis (D-CO) took aim at President Joe Biden on Tuesday after the president announced a new series of tariffs on China.

Biden tweeted, “I just imposed a series of tariffs on goods made in China.” He added:

25% on steel and aluminum,
50% on semiconductors,
100% on EVs,
And 50% on solar panels.

China is determined to dominate these industries.

I’m determined to ensure America leads the world in them.

https://twitter.com/jaredpolis/status/1790407603727585657

Polis, a successful businessman who sold his internet start-up for almost $800 million in the 90s, shared Biden’s announcement and poured cold water all over it.

“This is horrible news for American consumers and a major setback for clean energy. Tariffs are a direct, regressive tax on Americans and this tax increase will hit every family,” Polis wrote of Biden’s tariff policy.

Polis also shared his own plan for how the Biden administration could immediately take action to bring down the persistent inflation in the U.S.:

How to successfully reduce inflation:
1) Drop tariffs
2) Repeal Jones Act
3) Create bipartisan fiscal commission (the signal alone will help reduce inflation)

https://twitter.com/jaredpolis/status/1790116567419646417

The Jones Act is a 100-year-old provision of the Merchant Marine Act of 1920 that regulates the shipments of goods to the U.S. The libertarian-leaning CATO Institute also called for the repeal of the Jones Act in 2018, writing, “For nearly 100 years, a federal law known as the Jones Act has restricted water transportation of cargo between U.S. ports to ships that are U.S.-owned, U.S.-crewed, U.S.-registered, and U.S.-built. Justified on national security grounds as a means to bolster the U.S. maritime industry, the unsurprising result of this law has been to impose significant costs on the U.S. economy while providing few of the promised benefits.”

Polis, the first openly gay man elected to statewide office in the U.S., was overwhelmingly reelected in 2022 and is term-limited in 2026. Polis, however, has vowed he has no interest in running for president.

Watch below a recent  Mediaite interview with Polis:

The post ‘This is Horrible News’: Democratic Governor Slams Biden On Economics, Offers Own Plan to Crush Inflation first appeared on Mediaite.

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When you think of farming or gardening for food, you think of the great outdoors. If you want to squeeze a fresh orange or lemon in the morning, you’ll need a certain amount of outdoor space for those trees, after all.

Except sometimes you don’t. In addition to the houseplants you're familiar with (and the more unusual plants, like wasabi, that you probably aren't) a wide variety of fruit trees also grow well inside. This means you can combine the decorative beauty of indoor plants with the practical benefit of being able to reach over from wherever you’re sitting and grab a delicious, healthy snack.

There are two things to keep in mind if this sounds like your next indoor gardening project: One, in almost every case you should be looking for the “dwarf” varieties of the fruits plants you’re targeting, as they don’t require the space their full-size cousins need. Two, buying a mature tree and transplanting it to your home will always increase your odds of actually getting viable fruit. Planting from seed can work, but it will usually take longer to produce less.

That all said, here are your best choices when it comes to growing fruit trees inside.

Fig Tree

The ficus carica “Petite Negra” fig tree will start producing fruit relatively quickly (usually when it’s still less than a foot tall). As a dwarf plant, it only gets to about 4-6 feet tall at most (the size of the pot you put it in will determine how large it eventually grows), and the figs it produces will be a rich purple color, and delicious. It’s an easy plant to care for, as it’s naturally pest-resistant and drought-tolerant, so forgetting to water it for a few days won’t kill it. An alternative variant is the “Brown Turkey” fig tree, though you may have to aggressively prune to keep it from taking over your space. Misting either variety regularly is a good idea, as figs typically thrive in humid climates.

Citrus (lemons, limes, oranges)

Dwarf versions of most citrus plants will grow well indoors—the challenge isn’t getting them to grow, but rather to produce fruit. You’ll have your best luck with calamondin oranges (citrofortunella mitis), Meyer lemons, and Key Limes, all dwarf varieties that tolerate the indoors really well. Keep in mind that while calamondin oranges grow best indoors, they’re not particularly sweet fruits—though they can be used in a wide variety of recipes. Citrus in general like humid conditions, so mist them regularly unless you want to turn your house into a moldy jungle. They also need a lot of sunlight, so position their pots someplace where they’ll get exposure all day long.

Apricots

Dwarf Moorpark apricots are easy to grow indoors. Like a lot of “pit” or “stone” fruit trees, you can grow one from the pit, but if you do, you can expect to wait a few years to get actual fruit from it. A better idea is to buy a young tree and simply transplant it to a pot. Moorparks need to be pruned regularly or they will get too big—but even when pruned, they will reach about six feet in height, so make sure you have the room before you commit. Keep the soil damp and make sure it gets a lot of sunlight; a tree that’s two years or older should begin fruiting within the first year.

Bananas

Be careful when selecting a banana tree variety, as many will grow well indoors, but not all of them produce fruit you can eat. If a sweet snack is your endgame, choose the dwarf Cavendish variety. These banana trees are easy to grow and will produce bananas within a year or two if grown from seed, and buying a mature plant will skip that part. Banana trees like a lot of water—like, a lot—so you need to water regularly and thoroughly. But you also need to let the soil dry out between waterings, so don’t overdo it. They also like a bit of misting since they’re tropical plants, and you’ll want to place your tree in a spot that gets a lot of sun.

Mulberries

Dwarf Mulberry trees can be “trained” to be more like bushes or hedges, making them a good choice for indoor growing. Look for dwarf varieties; the Everbearing Mulberry and the Issai Mulberry are good choices that won’t get too large. Both require aggressive pruning, however—left to its own devices, for example, the Everbearing variety can grow to be 15 feet tall. Make sure they get a lot of sun, and water them regularly at first. When they’re established, you can slack off on the watering and they won’t mind a bit.

Olives

Yes, olives are a fruit. The sweet/savory divide has muddied the waters on the fruit versus vegetable debate, but olives are a stone fruit, just like a cherry. Many olive tree varieties won’t fruit at all, however, so if you want to harvest your own olives, you’ll need to look for the right sort. The French Picholine is a great choice: They are easy to care for and produce a lot of fruit. And the great thing about olive trees is that they are virtually unkillable. They don’t need much water, and as long as they get a few hours of sun every day, they will be fine (they tend to “rest” during the winter months, so don’t be alarmed if your tree seems to droop a bit during the cold weather).

Coffee

Yes, coffee is a fruit too—the beans we roast and grind to make our life-saving Go Go Juice is the stone of the coffee cherry, actually. And you can grow coffee indoors and even make coffee from it—assuming you are able to go through the process of skinning, soaking, drying, roasting, and grinding your beans once harvested (there’s a reason most people just stumble to the local coffee shop or Keurig machine). The coffea arabica plant is easy to grow (just avoid direct sunlight, which can burn the leaves) and will produce fruit within the first year, along with pretty white flowers and a beautiful fragrance.

Pomegranate

Beautiful red pomegranates are a great choice for an indoor fruit tree. The dwarf variety, called punica granatum Nana, is the ideal choice here. It’s basically a miniature pomegranate tree that produces tiny, somewhat sour pomegranates. These fruits aren’t ideal for eating—though they are edible—but they’re beautiful to look at, and easy to grow as long as you give them full sunlight and regular watering until well-established. Another dwarf variety to consider is the “Wonderful” cultivar, which produces sweet, delicious, nearly full-size fruit. This variant grows quite large outside (15-20 feet tall), but can be kept compact indoors with a bit of effort and pruning.

Kumquat

Kumquats are citrus plants, but they’re generally easier to grow than lemons or oranges, and several varieties are more or less designed for container living. If you want a kumquat similar to what you find in the grocery store, grow a “Nagami” variant, which will give you small, olive-sized fruits. If you want larger fruit, choose a “Meiwa” variety. But you won’t go far wrong with any kumquat tree—when grown in a container they won’t get too large, and all they need is a lot of sunlight and moderate watering.

Ground cherries

These are sometimes called Cape Gooseberries, and they aren’t at all like the standard cherries you think of when you hear the name—they’re more closely related to peppers. The taste is actually kind of hard to describe; it's not bad at all, but...unique. Ground cherries actually do well when started from seeds, for a change: Give them full sunlight and moderate watering and you’ll soon have a large-leafed plant that will gift you plenty of delicious fruit. These plants are annuals, so you’ll need to replant every year if you want more.

Miracle berry

If you want an indoor fruit tree that doubles as a party trick, grow synsepalum dulcificum, aka Miracle Berries. The party trick is that after you eat some Miracle Berries, anything you eat afterward will taste sweet, no matter how sour or bitter the food actually is. The effects last anywhere from a few minutes to a few hours, so be careful, as mistiming your snack could ruin your next meal. They grow easily indoors; all they need is lots of indirect sunlight and plenty of misting, as they thrive in humidity. If your plant looks a bit wan, you can wrap it in clear plastic for a bit to raise its humidity levels.

Avocados

Avocados will sprout from their pits if you follow the famous “toothpick in a glass” technique, but there’s a caveat: Avocado plants grown from pits will almost never fruit. In other words, you’ll get a nice, healthy plant, but you will die of old age before it gives you a single avocado. Your best bet is to get a starter plant. The “Day” variety is the easiest type of avocado to fruit in a pot, so look for one of those in your local nursery or garden section. It still may take some time before you get an avocado or two, but it will happen a lot faster than never, which is how long it will likely take if you start from the pit.

from LifeHacker https://ift.tt/SzUAFM0

Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) took aim at the media coverage of pro-Palestinian protestors during graduation ceremonies over the weekend, which he called a “fringe” element being fueled by disproportionate media attention.

Fetterman shared a headline from Axios that read “Students walk out ahead of Jerry Seinfeld’s Duke University graduation speech” and added:

30 out of 7,000 students walked out.
That’s 0.0043%.
Why does the media habitually platform this fringe?
Guaranteed coverage is the nicotine to the pup tent campus intifada and Hamas salutes them all.

Fetterman has become known in recent months for his staunch support of Israel in its war against Hamas in Gaza and has pulled no punches in criticizing those on the left protesting the war.

Axios later updated its story to add more details about protests during Pomona College’s graduation and changed the headline to, “Commencements marked by moments of pro-Palestinian protest.”

The Associated Press ran a headline more in line with Fetterman’s criticism on Sunday night that read “Pro-Palestinian protests dwindle on campuses as some US college graduations marked by defiant acts.”

“A tiny contingent of Duke University graduates opposed pro-Israel comedian Jerry Seinfeld speaking at their commencement in North Carolina Sunday, with about 30 of the 7,000 students leaving their seats and chanting “free Palestine” amid a mix of boos and cheers,” read the lede to AP’s report by education reporter Moriah Balingit.

The post Fetterman Rips Media For Covering ‘Fringe’ Pro-Palestinian Protests at Graduation: ‘Hamas Salutes Them All’ first appeared on Mediaite.

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Apple is currently behind on the generative AI game, but that could all change soon if recent reports are to be believed. According to insider sources who spoke with The New York Times, Apple is working hard to add generative AI to Siri, which it could debut as soon as its WWDC developer conference in June.

Originally introduced way back in 2011, Siri really hasn’t seen many changes over the years. The digital assistant still struggles in a lot of areas, often misunderstanding questions entirely, and AI presents a way to move forward.

But Apple has a lot of catching up to do to match the likes of ChatGPT and Google Gemini. The company appears to be working overtime, with sources saying the competition's quick progress in overtaking Siri has led to one of the largest reorganizations Apple has seen in over a decade. Now, Apple is supposedly deep in its own AI plans and developments.

Of course, all these insider sources remain anonymous. But if they are to be trusted, Apple will add its own generative AI to Siri soon. Apple has reportedly also even been in talks to license some competing AI models, including Google's and OpenAI's.

More “proof” that Apple is going all-in on AI also comes with the fairly recent news that it had canceled work on the Apple Car, freeing up the company to pursue other projects. These sources also told The New York Times that Apple plans to push the improved Siri as a more private way to use generative AI, as it will process everything directly on the iPhone instead of sending it off to massive data centers for processing.

This, of course, would also save money in the long run, as cloud computing costs for ChatGPT and other models can ramp up significantly depending on the amount of content generated. There is a trade-off here, though, as smaller systems have reportedly been shown to be more likely to hallucinate and return false information—a longstanding problem with generative AI. Whether or not Siri will face that problem is completely up to how Apple approaches development.

Either way, it’s an interesting time for Apple fans. ChatGPT is already gearing up to possibly take on Google by rolling out its own search engine, but we shouldn’t expect Apple to come right out the gate with something so big. Apple doesn’t even have to have the best generative AI yet. It just has to finally get its foot in the door, so it can expand on it as time goes on.

from LifeHacker https://ift.tt/GCd2QAR

An estimated tens of thousands of people packed the Jersey Shore Saturday for Trump’s biggest rally of the year, referred to by the campaign as the “MEGA” rally. Trump used the considerable forum to push conservative talking points about the border, protests on college campuses, and inflation, among other things.

At one point Trump promised, “Instead of a Biden tax hike, I’ll give you a Trump middle class, upper class, lower class, business class big tax cut. You’re going to have the biggest tax cut.”

But the event featured some truly bizarre moments. Here’s a look at some of the wildest:

1. Trump Praises Hannibal Lecter as a ‘Wonderful Man’

In past rallies, Trump has invoked the criminally insane cannibal from The Silence of the Lambs who eats body parts for breakfast when talking about the scary migrants being led into the United States through Joe Biden’s “open border.”

At CPAC this past February, Trump said migrants coming over the southern border, “came from mental institutions and insane asylums. No, they’re not the same. An insane asylum is a mental institution on steroids, OK? It’s Silence of the Lambs, OK? You know that. Hannibal Lecter! They’re all being deposited into our country.”

Trump repeated the “insane asylum” claims Saturday, but was much more magnanimous when talking about his favorite villain.

“Silence of the Lambs. Has anyone ever seen The Silence of the Lambs?” Trump asked the crowd. “The late, great Hannibal Lecter is a wonderful man. He oftentimes would have a friend for dinner. Remember the last scene? ‘Excuse me. I’m about to have a friend for dinner,’ as this poor doctor walked by. ‘I’m about to have a friend for dinner.’ But Hannibal Lecter. Congratulations. The late, great Hannibal Lecter.”

After heaping praise on the fictitious serial killer, famously played by actor Anthony Hopkins , Trump went right back to his scary talk about migrants, without missing a beat.

2. Trump Calls On Biden To Return Donations Made By ‘Anti-Semites’ and ‘American-haters’

Trump told the New Jersey crowd Saturday that Biden has been taking campaign donations from people funding the college campus uprisings, specifically, the “anarchists, jihadist, freaks, and anti-American extremists who are trying to tear down our American flag. They want to tear down every single place they go. They want to rip down our flag. The chaos and violence happening on our college campuses right now is all because Crooked Joe Biden doesn’t know what the hell he’s doing.”

Trump then claimed, “The very same people who are funding the violent campus uprisings are also funding Joe Biden’s campaign. Do you believe this?”

He added, “Tonight, I’m officially calling on Joe Biden and the Democrat National Committee to return the donations of all anti-Semites, American-haters, and financiers of chaos who have funded the chaos on our campuses. Return the money, Joe.”

3. Crowd Devolves Into Chorus of ‘Bullshit! Bullshit! Bullshit!’ aimed at Joe Biden

Trump claimed that Joe Biden was behind the DOJ’s indicting him on so many charges and “bullshit” cases.

“They rigged the whole thing with the Department of Justice, and every time they indict — I’ve been indicted more than the great Alphonse Capone, Scarface. Al Capone was so mean that if you went to dinner with anybody didn’t like you, you’d be dead the next morning. And I got indicted more than him! On bullshit too! Just bullshit!”

At that prompt, the crowd echoed back, “Bullshit! Bullshit! Bullshit!”

Trump continued, “My father’s looking down at his father’s grave. My mother was great they had a great marriage. Married for many years. That’s one thing. I can’t beat him on that one. He was married for a long time. But they’re looking down now. They’re up there in heaven, definitely in heaven. And he’s looking down. And he said, how the hell did my son be placed in that kind of company? But it’s okay, because the people of this country know that we’re doing great. We’ve never done better. People understand that the people normally that would be a negative, but for us it’s a positive because people, they get it. They need to do that in order to win because they’ve done nothing else. They have a bad everything, everything about them. Think of one thing that’s better. You look at the Afghanistan disaster. You look at the border. You look at the economy, the real economy, not the fake economy. Everything they touch turns to what?”

“Shit!” the crowd screamed.

“You shouldn’t use that look kind of language. Look, you can’t use the word shit, okay?” Trump said.

4.Trump Welcomes Registered Sex Offender Lawrence Taylor To The Stage

Trump, who was found liable of sexual assault in the E. Jean Carroll case,  invited registered sex offender Lawrence Taylor to speak at Saturday’s rally.

Trump invited Taylor and Ottis Anderson — both former New York Giants — up to the stage, saying, “You know, they’re my golfing buddies, too!”

Taylor pleaded guilty to lesser charges in a 2011 rape case in order to avoid jail time. He admitted to misdemeanor charges of sexual misconduct and patronizing a prostitute, who was 16-years-old at the time. Taylor said in court that he thought the girl was 19 and legally able to consent. Taylor served six years probation and was required to register as a sex offender.

At the rally, Trump pulled Taylor in for a hug and led him to the microphone.

“I just wanted to say, I grew up a Democrat. And I’ve always been a Democrat. Until I met this man right here,” Taylor said, pointing to Trump. “I tell you what, he won’t have to worry about nobody in my family ever vote for a Democrat again.”

5. Drunken Trump Fan Curses Out Biden in Live Interview

RSBN’s Brian Glenn was caught by surprise during a live street interview when two young men came up and railed against President Joe Biden.

One young man yelled “Trump, baby, 24!” into the mic.

” Let me ask you a question. What is the one thing that the Biden administration has hurt you the most?” said Glenn. “Is it tuition. Or is it rent, is it gas, is it food?”

“He’s just a sleepy fuck,” the Trump supporter suddenly blurted.

“Okay, well…” the noticeably uncomfortable Glenn said.

“As a 17 year old? I, like I can’t afford gas anymore. He’s a he’s a gyp. I mean, come on,” the youth said, slurring his words somewhat.

Watch above.

 

The post ‘The Late, Great Hannibal Lecter!’ Here are the 5 Wildest Moments from Trump’s Bizarre Rally in New Jersey first appeared on Mediaite.

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Senators Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and JD Vance (R-OH) both gave carefully worded answers when asked if they will accept the results of the 2024 election.

In separate interviews on NBC’s Meet the Press and CNN’s State of the Union Sunday, the two senators both heavily qualified their answers about whether they will accept the results.

“Will you accept the results of the 2024 election no matter who wins?” NBC’s Kristen Welker asked Graham.

“Yeah I’ll accept it,” Graham said. “If I think there’s no massive cheating.”

The senator did not cite a past election he believes was impacted by widespread cheating, nor any reason why the 2024 election would be impacted.

Meanwhile on CNN, when asked if he plans to accept the 2024 results, Vance said this:

“I totally plan to accept the results of 2024. I think that Donald Trump will be the victory (sic). And if it’s a free and fair election, Dana, I think every Republican will enthusiastically accept the results. And again, I think those results will show that Donald Trump has been elected president — reelected president. I think that this question, though, it’s interesting, Dana, because we have to be willing, as Democrats did in 2000, as Democrats have done in the past, and certainly as Republicans did in 2020 … if you think there were problems, you have to be willing to pursue those problems and try to prosecute that case. And certainly if we have a free and fair election, I’ll accept the results.”

“Even if Joe Biden wins?” Dana Bash asked.

“Sure,” Vance replied. “If it’s a free and fair election, I will accept the results, Dana, whoever wins.”

The question has become a popular one in recent weeks on the Sunday morning shows. Last week. Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) went viral for refusing to commit to the results of the 2024 election in a heated clash with Welker.

Watch above, via NBC and CNN.

The post WATCH: Lindsey Graham and JD Vance Both Give Cagey Answers When Asked if They’ll Accept 2024 Election Results first appeared on Mediaite.

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After increasingly attacking both sides in recent years on his show Real Time, HBO’s Bill Maher is now positioning himself as a spokesperson for the “vast middle.”

Speaking with Robert Costa on CBS’ Sunday Morning, Maher discussed how the process of compiling his old editorials for his upcoming book helped him figure out that it’s the country which has changed, not him.

“I speak for the normies,” Maher said. “I speak for that vast middle that is tired of the partisanship. I don’t want to hate half the country, and I don’t hate half the country.”

Later, Costa pressed Maher on why he chooses to go after the Left and Right — even though he sees the latter as “more alarming.”

COSTA: You write a lot of throughout this book that the left irritates you, frustrates you at times, but the right often alarms you.

MAHER: Yes. They’re very alarming. They’re extremely alarming. More alarming.

COSTA: What do you say to your critics, though, who say that you should just focus on them, Bill, if they’re more alarming to you than the left. And why not shine the spotlight on them only?

MAHER: The truth isn’t one sided like that. The Democrats constantly are,running against Trump with the idea ‘You people out there couldn’t possibly vote for this guy.’ And people are saying, ‘Watch me. Hold my beer. Watch me vote for him again.’

Watch above, via CBS.

The post ‘I Speak for the Normies’: Bill Maher Calls Himself a Spokesman for the ‘Vast Middle’ in CBS Interview first appeared on Mediaite.

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Prosecutors with the Department of Justice are seeking a 40-year sentence for the man found guilty of attacking former Democratic Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi’s husband Paul Pelosi with a hammer inside his San Francisco home.

Back in October 2022, Paul, Mr. Pelosi was attacked by David DePape with a hammer. DePape was convicted back in November on one count of assault on the immediate family member of a federal official and a second count of attempted kidnapping of a federal official.

In a

20-page memo filed on Friday, prosecutors argued that a heavy sentence on DePape could discourage other individuals from enforcing political violence.

“The defendant planned a violent hostage-taking of the Speaker Emerita, and then nearly killed her husband,” prosecutors wrote in the memo. “The defendant planned and unleashed violence and has stayed true to his belief that his actions were necessary.”

During testimony at the trial, Paul Pelosi stated that he awoke to DePape standing in his home with a hammer before asking him where his wife was. Later on, Pelosi awoke in a pool of his own blood after DePape had struck him in the head with the weapon.

“At a time when extremism has led to attacks on public and elected officials, this case presents a moment to speak to others harboring ideologically motivated violent dreams and plans,” the DOJ prosecutors added.

Federal sentencing for DePape is set to begin on May 17th in California. However, he also faces separate state charges including attempted murder, burglary, and assault, all of which he pleaded not guilty to.

During the trial, DePape’s lawyer Jodi Linker admitted that her client did attack Pelosi but that his motivations were not political.

“This case here is about the why — the why matters,” Linker had argued to the jury. “This case is about whether David acted because of, on account of, Nancy Pelosi’s duties as a member of Congress. He didn’t, and he only struck Paul Pelosi in a quick moment of despair because the police arrived and his larger plan was thwarted.”

The post DOJ Seeking 40-Year Sentence For Man Who Attacked Paul Pelosi With A Hammer first appeared on Mediaite.

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Rudy Giuliani came unhinged Friday night after his radio show on WABC was canceled because he refused to stop falsely claiming that Donald Trump was cheated out of the presidency in 2020.

Giuliani announced his firing on X, then immediately went on the offensive, going on multiple wild rants over several hours as he streaming his “America’s Mayor” podcast live on X.

Giuliani repeatedly blamed President Joe Biden for his firing, and hurled a slew of insults and threats at him and his son Hunter Biden.

In one moment that went viral in clips on X, Giuliani waved his arms wildly as he seemed to act out fearfulness of newspapers and reporters to initially cover the news of Hunter Biden’s laptop.

“I mean, you were,” said Giuliani before gesturing with flailing arms.

“And, and The Wall Street Journal,” he said, wrapping his arms across his head as if in terror of the story.

“The Bidens don’t realize who’s doing the — who can really inflict atomic destruction to them?” he said. “They were going along just fine until Giuliani found the people in Ukraine.”

GIULIANI: I’m not even sure I knew what I was going to say yesterday. I just want to be free to tell people the truth. And you want to stop me! Don’t ya? Yeah. The Democrat thing has something to do with it. And the fact that the Bidens are really zeroing in now on interference with the 2024 election.

[. . . ]

GIULIANI: I’m the one who revealed the hard drive. I spoke to the Post today and, I, it did – nice, young lady. I said to her, you didn’t find the hard drive, I did. And I gave it to you. And I pretty much had to force you to do it, except for Miranda Devine and Levine and a few other people who had the guts to. I mean, you were… [gestures]

And, and The Wall Street Journal. [gestures].

Unidentified: [inaudible]

GIULIANI: The Bidens don’t realize who’s doing the — who can really inflict atomic destruction to them? They were going along just fine until Giuliani found the people in Ukraine.

[. . . ]

GIULIANI: He was shaking them down like he’s shaking Israel down right now. That’s what gangsters do. And he’s a gangster. It’s 35 years of taking money. He began as a trailer trash little creep, taking little bits with his scummy little brothers. And now he’s a world class thief. Somehow, strangely, president of the United States, even though his family got $21 to $31 million from our biggest enemy, China.

[. . . ]

GIULIANI: The hard drive. Remember that one, Joe? The one that hopefully will sink your little creep son. But you’re the one that really should go down, not your son. You’re the reason your son is like that. And we could go into a big psychological explanation for it. But if for the choice of you or your son going to jail, you’re the guy that should go to jail. You’re such a creepy father you used him as a man. Well, some of the biggest criminals in the world.

Giuliani also used X to declare war on WABC, urging his listeners to call the switchboard and demand “free speech.” MAGA comrade Steve Bannon, who heads to jail soon for refusing to talk to Congress about Jan. 6, denounced WABC as “cowards” and said he’ll no longer appear as a guest.

Giuliani served as Trump’s personal attorney and was instrumental in pushing the “rigged election” lie. He has been criminally charged in Georgia and Arizona for his efforts to overturn the election in those states, and was ordered to pay two Georgia election workers $148 million in damages for defaming them.

Watch the clip above via Rudy Giuliani on X.

The post Giuliani Goes On Unhinged Rant About ‘Atomic Destruction’ of Biden After WABC Cancels His Radio Show first appeared on Mediaite.

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Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas bemoaned “the nastiness and the lies” that he said have plagued him and his wife, Ginni, over the past several years.

Thomas unleashed on his critics as he was interviewed on stage during the 11th US Circuit Court of Appeals conference in Alabama this week.

“Being in Washington, you have to get used to particularly people who are reckless,” said Thomas according to reports. “They don’t bomb you, necessarily, but they bomb your reputation or your good name or your honor. And that’s not a crime, but they can do as much harm that way.”

Thomas has been the target of ethics concerns over failing to disclose lavish trips and expensive gifts from conservative megadonor Harlan Crow, as first reported by ProPublica. Thomas’ wife, Ginny, has faced her own scrutiny for ties to the effort to overturn the 2020 presidential election.

The New York Times called Justice Thomas’ statements “among the few public remarks” he has made since the ethics concerns came to light.

Thomas continued, “My wife and I, the last two or three years, it’s been – just the nastiness and the lies – it’s just incredible. There’s certainly been a lot of negativity in our lives, my wife and I, over the last few years, but we choose not to focus on it.”

Thomas added, “You don’t get to prevent people from doing horrible things or saying horrible things. But one, you have to understand and accept the fact that they don’t, they can’t change you unless you permit that.”

When speaking about Washington, D.C., Thomas said, “I think what you’re gonna find, and especially in Washington, [is] people pride themselves in being awful. It is a hideous place, as far as I’m concerned.”

Read the article from The New York Times here.

The post Clarence Thomas Slams ‘Nastiness and Lies’ Of Critics, Calls D.C. ‘Hideous’ At Judicial Conference first appeared on Mediaite.

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