The Jewish high holy days begin at sundown (about now, Denver) with Rosh Hashanah. Temple Emanuel in Denver, like many other temples and synagogues, is streaming its service live. For many congregations, it is the first High Holy Day service inside the sanctuary since 2019 due to COVID-19.

At Temple Emanuel, a Reform congregation, you no longer need a prayerbook to follow along, although they are available. The words are up on the screen, in English (and Hebrew, and Hebrew-alliterative English). It is heavy on music -- there is a cantor, a guitarist, a pianist, a cello, a violin, and a choir. They play some prayers like a folk song, others to a modern beat, and still others alternating with the cantor's classical voice. This is not the service of your grandparents. It's much better. [More...]

DOJ has responded to citizen Donald Trump's request (available here) that a special master review the documents seized from Mar-a-Lago during the execution of the search warrant. Among other reasons, he says this is necessary to determine whether the documents contain matters that are subject to executive privilege.

You can read DOJ's response and view the attached exhibits here.

Don't miss the exhibits, especially Exhibit "F".

I'm still shaking my head at the first paragraph of Trump's motion, link above, which identifies him as "President" and claims he is the "clear frontrunner" for the Republican party nomination in 2024, and should he decide to run, the clear frontrunner in the 2024 general election.

I don't think the Mar-a-Lago search and Trump's withholding of classified documents is Trump's biggest nightmare. I think Georgia's investigation into election fraud is what should keep him up at night.

Has Dick Cheney weighed in on Trump and the classified documents since his daughter lost the primary? (The graphic is from a post about AUSA Patrick Fitzgerald alleging in a pleading in the Scooter Libby case that Cheney, acting with the approval of former President Bush, had authorized Libby to disclose portions of the classified National Intelligence Estimate on Iraq to rebut some of the claims made by Valerie Plame's husband, Joseph Wilson. The government subpoenaed documents from Cheney and included in the response was a copy of Wilson's infamous Op-Ed with Cheney's handwritten notes asking if they had sent Wilson on a junket).

The Wall Street Journal has an "explainer" (free link through my subscription, courtesy of WSJ) on the different categories of classified documents. The Mar-a-Lago Affidavit is here. [More.]

And just like that, she's gone.

Republican Liz Cheney, who has seemed to be the dominant force behind the House committee hearings over the January 6 violent melee by Trump supporters lost by a landslide in the Wyoming Republican primary yesterday and has conceded.

She gets no sympathy from me. That she recently released a campaign commercial starring her father, who in my opinion, was the most horrid and ignoble VP in history, says it all.

Democrats praising her for doing what any rational human being would do remind me of those Democrats who praised the Lincoln Project, overlooking the fact that Steve Schmidt and George Conway were among its founders/leaders. Who is Steve Schmidt? John McCain's former campaign manager who was largely responsible for McCain choosing Sarah Palin as his running mate. George Conway, may be a slightly more familiar name than Schmidt, but he is also comes across to me as a less likable, somewhat shifty human being who happens to be the conservative lawyer-husband of Ms. Most Unimportant Person in the World (the mother of the beleagured teen Claudia Conway who took to Tik-Tok to promote her request for emancipation from what she alleged to be parental abuse).

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I've been reading about the "Coastal Grandmother" trend since April.

You know the Coastal Grandmother. She wakes up early in her white linen-covered bed, seaside sunlight streaming in. “Siri, play ‘The Big Chill’ soundtrack,” she commands, listening to it in her marble bathroom while applying Vintner’s Daughter face oil.

Eager to get to the farmer’s market—it’s peony season, after all—she puts on a crisp light-blue button-up shirt, white jeans and a straw hat. Oversized, the shirt qualifies as a “shent,” .... With a Provençal market basket, Coastal Grandmother is good to go. She hops into her vintage Range Rover and heads out to begin her satisfying, Sancerre-punctuated day.

I haven't played music from "The Big Chill" since the year it was released, But Diane Keaton (and her beach house in the Hamptons) made "Something's Gotta Give" one of my all-time favorite movies.

The New York Times doubles down on the Coastal Grandmother trend today in its review of the new film starring (who else?) Diane Keaton, called Mack and Rita, with a headline proclaiming "Boomers Are All the Rage".

I'm not so sure that's true, but I've definitely been adapting some Coastal Grandmother habits lately. And I can't wait to see Mack and Rita.

This is an open thread, all topics welcome.

The New York Times reports that Robert Costello, one of Rudy Giuliani's attorneys, has told the media that he has been informed that Giuliani is a target (not a witness or a subject) of the grand jury investigation into Trump and his advisors and lawyers attempts to overturn the Georgia election results in 2016.

One of Mr. Giuliani’s lawyers, Robert Costello, said in an interview that he was notified on Monday that his client was a target. Being so identified does not guarantee that a person will be indicted; rather, it usually means that prosecutors believe an indictment is possible, based on evidence they have seen up to that point.

How does Rudy get out of an indictment? He can testify (and risk a perjuryor obstruction of justice charge if they have evidence he lied to the grand jury). It worked for Karl Rove (who had a great lawyer in Robert Luskin). Rove testified four times before the grand jury investigating the leak of the identity of CIA Agent Valerie Plame. [More...]

Attorney General Merrick Garland gave a two minute press conference today on the search warrant that was issued and executed at Mar-a-Lago last week.

The transcript of his remarks is here.

This is not a historic disclosure. DOJ's filing a motion to unseal the warrant (but not the affidavit with the sworn facts supporting it) and the receipt for the property taken, copies of which were left at Mar-a-Lago at the time of the search, are unlikely to disclose anything that hasn't already been in the public arena.

It's the affidavit that bakes the cake (or causes its center to sink). And that's not being released.

Singer and Actress Olivia Newton-John, who has suffered from cancer for 30 years, has died at age 73. She died peacefully at her home in California, surrounded by her family. All the U.S. obituaries I've read focus only her career.

One article, The brave words with which Olivia Newton-John faced death and reassured her family, from InfoBae, google-translated, adds these details from her niece:

"It wasn't just the cancer, but other complications, being in a hospital and having a very sensitive immune system ," Totti Goldsmith told an Australian channel. “ She had secondary infections. She fell apart in the last five or six days.”

The woman shared that Olivia had turned to medical cannabis to cope with the illness before her death, but her pain level continued to escalate and the medication provided little relief by the end. “ It really helped her, but then it wasn't enough ,” she explained. and she added that Olivia " really struggled through a lot of pain."

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This is news I wasn't expecting. The feds got a warrant to search Mar-a-Lago. Donald Trump must be seething.

The search for evidence related to Trump's handling of classified information -- whether he improperly removed classified documents to Mar a Lago. It was not about January 6.

Trump lawyer Christina Bobb, who was present during the FBI search, confirmed federal agents “seized paper.”

Trump was at Trump Tower in New York when news broke of the raid.

Trump and the Republicans are sure to use this search as a rallying cry against the F.B.I. and Democrats in their bid to win the November mid-term elections.

But didn't Trump once want Hillary indicted for allegedly mishandling classified information?

I've been an absent blogger this month. I have been busy at work, not too interested in domestic news, and planning my first international trip since 2008 - well before COVID.

With the whole world my oyster, where did I pick? Istanbul for a week in September. In another post I'll explain why, but I'm ticketed, I have my pre-TSA pass and I am very excited about it.(Also, some friends of mine have provided me their condo to stay at on the Asian side, which is the side I want to stay at).

Has anyone seen the plans for "The Line", (the vertical glass city Saudi Arabia thinks will be the future of the world in 2030? It is 180 degrees
from what Istanbul, London, New York, Shanghai and other large cities offer. I find the homogeneity of the planned city dwellings depressing. Actually, I think the whole concept is depressing, even the mountains they are building.

This is an open thread, all topics welcome.

The New York Times reports Joe Biden wants to run for President again in 2024 but polls show Democrats don't like the idea.

I thought he was too old when he ran in 2020. He'll be ancient in 2024. Can he even make it to 2028 when his term ends?

Maybe if he was an inspiring, engaging, full of life leader who fostered a heightened sense of patriotism in us, I would care a little bit. But he isn't and I don't care for him or his politics or his leadership, so I hope he does the right thing for the country and gracefully exits.

Why have the Democrats avoided having a discussion about Biden's replacement candidate for so long? Republicans like Ditsy Doozy Donald Trump (and his offspring) are chomping at the bit to get back that desk in the oval office so they can make some more millions playing monopoloy with real estate deals from Saudi Arabia to South Florida - and look for new loopholes to avoid paying their fair share of taxes.

Can't anyone think of a Democrat who would be good for progressive issues and under the age of 80? If not, maybe my write-in candidate will be Mick Jagger. (Yes, I know he can't be President because he's a British citizen but at least he acts alive and can stay up past 9:00 at night.)

Three weeks ago, the Stones had to postpone their show in Amsterdam because Mick, at 78, tested positive for COVID-19. Here he is today, three weeks later, dancing and prancing at Hyde Park.

I'll have what Mick's having. [More...]