Sunrise — 6:58, 7:02, 7:16.

"Tonight was wild…. no hard feelings, Extinction Rebellion Crew. Michael is on your side, but Mayor Stockmann is not. Much love."

Wrote Michael Imperioli, quoted in "Michael Imperioli responds to climate protestors who crashed his and Jeremy Strong's Broadway show: 'Wild'/'No hard feelings,' the Emmy winner wrote after helping physically escort one protester from the theater" (Entertainment Weekly).

Mayor Stockmann is Imperioli's character in the play — "An Enemy of the People" — that was disrupted by the climate protesters, Extinction Rebellion Crew.

"Actors were called to leave the stage while the protestors were removed, but many remained in character throughout the disruption, with [Jeremy] Strong and Imperioli reacting to Extinction Rebellion as if the interruption were part of the script...."

Lucid.

I'm reading "Without Senators in Sight, Christine Blasey Ford Retells Her Story/Her lucid memoir, 'One Way Back,' describes life before, during and after she testified that Brett Kavanaugh had sexually assaulted her in high school" (NYT). Excerpt:

Published more than five years after her 2018 congressional testimony, Blasey Ford’s new memoir, “One Way Back,” is an important entry into the public record — a lucid if belated retort to Senator Chuck Grassley’s 414-page, maddening memo on the investigation — but a prosaic one.

 The book is important, lucid, belated, and prosaic, we're told.

Why should we trust the purchaser of TikTok to keep it going? Remember when NBC bought and then killed Television Without Pity?

Here's the Wikipedia page for Television Without Pity, in case you don't remember that wonderful website.

Here's my post from 2014:

Paul Simon loathes feeling groovy.

I'd seen that clip yesterday, and then this morning, when I was out on my sunrise run, the song came up in a "Daily Mix" Spotify had made for me, which I was listening to shuffled:

Sunrise — 7:03.

"New York prosecutors said Friday that they expect to get an additional 15,000 pages of potential evidence in Donald Trump’s hush money case...."

"[F]ederal prosecutors previously investigated much of the same conduct that became the basis for Bragg’s office to charge Trump last year with violating state laws on business records. Trump is accused of scheming to cover up his payment of hush money in 2016 to hide from the public an alleged sexual liaison years earlier with an adult-film actress. Lawyers for Trump... have accused prosecutors of deliberately withholding reams of such documents until the last minute before the scheduled March 25 trial. In recent days, federal prosecutors turned over more than 100,000 pages of documents...."

WaPo reports.

For one reason or another, every one of these criminal cases against Trump is getting delayed:

"[Michael] Imperioli... shouted at another, 'Go back to drama school!' But [Jeremy] Strong, remaining in character, said, 'Let them speak.'"

From "Climate activists halt Jeremy Strong, Michael Imperioli Broadway play ‘An Enemy of the People’ mid-show" (NY Post).

Because the second half of Henrik Ibsen’s play begins at a raucous town meeting, concerns poisoned water and, in this production, already involves audience participation, many in the theater believed the shouters were a part of the show.

One audience member, Ashley Wolfgang, wrote on X, “You know you’ve seen too much experimental theatre when you immediately assume climate protestors in the middle of ‘Enemy of the People’ is part of it.”

Yeah, I've seen plays where someone sitting in the audience starts talking, seemingly interrupting the actors, and it's part of the show. 

You can see video of the disruption, here, at Reddit.

I usually decline to blog about these protests that leverage art to get attention. I'm blogging this because of the way the actors — 2 actors I greatly respect — rose to the occasion and stayed in character and used their own brute strength to oust the asshole. Michael Imperioli (Christopher from "The Sopranos") is 57 years old. Good for him! He took the lead. Jeremy Strong (Kendall from "Succession") is 45. Look how vulnerable they are to random jerks. Where was security?!

"Small clips of his craziness can be too easily dismissed as the background noise of our times."

"The condemnation of his critics, up to and including the current President, can sound shrill or simply partisan. The fact checks, while appalling, never stop the demagogue for whom the 'bottomless Pinocchio' was invented... In the next few months, the Biden campaign and its allies plan to spend close to a billion dollars attempting to persuade Americans not to make the historic mistake of electing Trump twice. My thought is a simpler and definitely cheaper one: watch his speeches. Share them widely. Don’t look away."

Writes Susan B. Glasser, in "I Listened to Trump’s Rambling, Unhinged, Vituperative Georgia Rally—and So Should You/The ex-President is building a whole new edifice of lies for 2024" (The New Yorker).

Below is the speech Glasser watched in full. I've watched it. It's a standard Trump rally speech. Is Trump "vituperative"? Why not "fiery" or "feisty" (the words used to describe Biden's loud, angry SOTU)? Is he "rambling" and "unhinged" or a marvel of stamina and spontaneity? But Glasser is convinced — or poses as convinced — that watching the whole 2 hours will persuade voters who might vote for Trump that he's as awful at Trump haters insist he is:

"Judge Says Fani Willis Can Stay on Trump Case, but Only if Former Romantic Partner Leaves."

The NYT reports. 

The ruling by Judge Scott McAfee of Fulton Superior Court cut a middle path between removing Ms. Willis for a conflict of interest, which defense lawyers had sought, and her full vindication, with the judge sharply criticizing her behavior....

Judge McAfee said that no “disqualification of a constitutional officer necessary when a less drastic and sufficiently remedial option is available.”... Either “the District Attorney may choose to step aside, along with the whole of her office” or “Wade can withdraw” allowing the case to proceed without further distraction....

Mr. Trump and his co-defendants could appeal the judge’s ruling, as could Ms. Willis, further delaying the proceedings and leaving the matter unresolved indefinitely. ...

ADDED: Here's the text of the opinion.

"Every right that the government has ever taken away from citizens was removed under the pretense of national security."

"My father's favorite philosopher, Albert Camus, wrote that the welfare of the people is always the alibi of tyrants and it provides further advantage of giving the servants of tyranny a clear conscience.... People love TikTok. It's the digital public square. If there are security concerns in the tech backend, let's address them there, but let's never reduce Americans' ability to freely exchange ideas. TikTok has become an avenue for young Americans to grow businesses, to express themselves, and to join the political discourse.... President Biden enjoys censoring and silencing those who dare question him. I know that because I just won a case in the court of appeals on that issue against him. So it's no surprise that he supports banning TikTok. The First Amendment should not be disregarded for any reason...."

Says RFK Jr., on TikTok:

"Every young person deserves to have the fundamental right and freedom to be who they are, and feel safe and supported at school and in their communities."

That's from "Statement from President Joe Biden on Nex Benedict" at the White House website.

A young person committed suicide, and the President has responded. 

I just want to add that if something is a right, you have it. You don't just "deserve to have" it. Your rights may be violated and you may choose not to exercise your rights, but you still have those rights.

Here's the one other post on this blog that's about Nex Benedict, a teenager who got into a fight at school and who many people believed had died as a result of that fight. 

At the Controlled Burn Café...

... you can write about whatever you want.

A reason — other than the sunrise — to take a walk in the woods at sunrise.

Golden hour photograph (7:22 a.m. (sunrise time was 7:13)):

Midday photograph (12:46 p.m.):

"These attacks against an individual’s right to make decisions about their own body are outrageous and, in many instances, just plain old immoral."

"How dare these elected leaders believe they are in a better position to tell women what they need, to tell women what is in their best interest. We have to be a nation that trusts women."

Said Kamala Harris, quoted in "At abortion clinic visit, Kamala Harris says the nation is confronting a 'health care crisis'" (NYT).

Too early to call the election?

In the CNN electoral map, Donald Trump already has enough votes to win.

This map is 272 Trump, 225 Biden. pic.twitter.com/QuB8ieUpTl

— Chris Cillizza (@ChrisCillizza) March 14, 2024