The Baylor Lady Bears are national champions for the third time after they defeated the Notre Dame Fighting Irish 82-81 on Sunday in the 2019 NCAA women’s basketball tournament title game.
Chloe Jackson gave Baylor an 82-80 lead with 3.9 seconds remaining.
With 1.9 seconds left, Moon Ursin fouled Arike Ogunbowale to send her to the free-throw line for a shot at tying the game. Ogunbowale missed the first and sank the second. Too little time was left on the clock for the Fighting Irish to foul Baylor and hope for a desperation shot attempt at the buzzer.
This is the second time Baylor beat Notre Dame in the final, with the Lady Bears also getting the better of the Fighting Irish in 2012.
Defense was Baylor’s calling card all season. The Lady Bears allowed the 10th-fewest points per game (55.0) and ranked first in opponent field-goal percentage (31.6 percent). Notre Dame was another victim of that suffocating defense, shooting 38.9 percent as a team.
Ogunbowale was the hero of last year’s Final Four, hitting game-winners in both the national semifinals and national championship. The pair of Juicy Landrum and DiDi Richards couldn’t hold Ogunbowale in check as the senior guard had 31 points in the defeat.
Jackson’s last-second layup capped off a fantastic performance. She had a team-high 26 points, adding two rebounds, five assists and two steals. Kalani Brown was also a force inside for Baylor, scoring 20 points and grabbing 13 rebounds.
The game was something of a Pyrrhic victory for Baylor.
With 1:22 left in the third quarter, Lauren Cox was getting into position for a rebound when Brown inadvertently stepped on her leg. Cox’s left knee bent at an awkward angle, and she immediately fell to the floor clutching her left knee.
The Baylor trainers placed the junior forward in a wheelchair and took her back to the locker room.
Ava Wallace @avarwallace
Lauren Cox is leaving the court in a wheelchair. Kim Mulkey held her close and said a few words, the arena is giving her a standing ovation.
Baylor up 62-50 with 1:22 left in the third.
Beyond the emotional blow Cox’s injury had for her teammates, she was the team’s second-leading scorer (13.2 points per game) and leading rebounder (8.4 per game) entering Sunday night.
The loss of one of Baylor’s best players opened the door for Notre Dame, and Ogunbowale gave the Fighting Irish a much-needed momentum boost when she connected on a three-pointer to end the third quarter.
Notre Dame opened the fourth quarter on a 14-6 run to make it a three-point game, 72-69. As the Fighting Irish were working their way back, Cox’s absence was especially noticeable. Although Brown was still an imposing figure inside, points in the paint became much easier to find.
That set the stage for a breathless final five minutes as Baylor and Notre Dame exchanged the lead three times. Before her game-clinching layup, Jackson hit an even more difficult floater to put the Lady Bears ahead inside the final minute.
Rather than irreparably damaging her team’s national championship hopes, Cox’s injury had a galvanizing effect for Baylor. Perhaps the Lady Bears would’ve pulled away in the fourth quarter with her healthy, but her presence on the bench gave them one more reason to bring the title home.
After the final buzzer, Brown and Cox shared an emotional moment on the court.
Sunday’s win caps off one of the best seasons in Baylor history. The Lady Bears’ 37 wins are their second-most in a single season, only falling short of their perfect 40-0 season in 2012.
Baylor was the best team in the country, earning the No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA tournament. In the semifinals, the Lady Bears successfully neutralized Sabrina Ionescu, then they shut down a Notre Dame team firing on all cylinders and fresh off a hard-fought victory over the Connecticut Huskies.
In time, the focus will shift to the health of Cox because the Lady Bears have the pieces to successfully defend their championship. Although Brown and Jackson will graduate, the trio of Landrum, Cox and Richards all return. Depending on the severity of Cox’s injury, though, her availability for 2019-20 could be in question.
For now, Baylor will savor its place atop the summit of women’s college basketball.
On Friday Netflix released Our Planet, the newest David Attenborough nature documentary from the people who brought you Planet Earth 1 and 2.
It’s stunning. More than any other nature doc of its ilk, Our Planet also makes a point of reminding viewers how interconnected we are. We share this planet, and all rely on a healthy Earth to stay alive. We may be seeing the worst effects of climate change happening to non-human animals right now, but it’s only a matter of time for the rest of us.
But the truly incredible feat of this documentary is just how relatable it makes every animal. In just the first six episodes, there’s an abundance of #BigMoods to be found in their shenanigans.
So courtesy of Netflix, we’ve compiled our own montage of GIFs from the docu-series we’re calling: Animals, They’re Just Like Us!
1. When you nail the landing
2. These male birds doing the absolute most to impress a girl
3. And then anxiously awaiting her approval
4. This male penguin acting like giving his lady a rock to add to her pile of rocks is a huge accomplishment
5. The anxiety of these penguins sneaking by their top predators
5. A baby sea lion peaking out at the world, before saying lol #nope
6. We’ve all been that overconfident polar bear cub who gets stuck in a seal hole
7. When a guy at the bar won’t stop fronting
8. A male bird Marie Kondoing his apartment to impress a lady
9. The adolescent bird of prey who’s really upset her parents don’t visit as much anymore
10. The orangutan mom who has zero time for her baby’s bullshit
11. Eating and binge watching Netflix like
12. This otter in a Pantene Pro V commercial taking self care very seriously because he’s worth it
13. A poor penguin getting his ass dragged by orcas before being eaten alive — like he wrote a bad tweet in 2019
14. All the baby elephants annoying the hell out of their families
15. The catastrophic effects of climate change leading droves of walruses to fall off cliffs to their horrible deaths
Yeah that one’s depressing. But like Our Planet, we think enjoying these nature docs should come with a healthy dose of waking the f*ck up. Because it is completely within our power to reverse the devastation humans have wrought on their habitats.
Go visit the docu-series’ website to learn more about what we can do to ensure these incredibly #relatable animals don’t go extinct.
Thousands of protesters have rallied for a second successive day outside the headquarters of the Sudanese army in the capital, Khartoum, urging the country’s military to back their demands for President Omar al-Bashir to resign.
Chanting “Sudan is rising, the army is rising,” crowds massed on Sunday outside the complex, which also houses Bashir’s official residence and the defence ministry.
Sudanese police fired tear gas at the demonstrators in a bid to disperse the protest, AFP news agency reported, citing a witness at the scene.
The protest movement began as a reaction to a government decision to triple the price of bread in December, but it has since escalated into growing demands for Bashir’s departure after three decades in office.
Many of those protesting at the complex on Sunday had camped at the site overnight following demonstrations at the location on Saturday, which saw one of the largest turnouts in the months-long rallies against the president’s rule.
Protest organisers chose April 6 to begin the rally outside the army headquarters to mark the 1985 uprising that toppled the administration of then-President Jaafar Nimeiri. The military removed Nimeiri before handing over power to an elected government, which in turn was overthrown by al-Bashir in a 1989 coup.
Bashir, meanwhile, has refused to step down, saying that his opponents need to seek power through the ballot box, and on Sunday chaired a meeting of the country’s security council.
“The security council confirms that the protesters are part of the Sudanese community and their vision and demands have to be heard,” the presidency said in a statement afterwards.
“The council will take measures to enhance peace and security across the country.”
Scores killed, HRW says
Sarah Abdel-Jaleel, a spokeswoman for the Sudanese Professionals Association, told The Associated Press news agency earlier on Sunday that four people were killed in Khartoum by security forces.
Another protester was killed at a separate demonstration in Omdurman, Sudan’s second most populous city, Abdel-Jaleel said.
The state-run SUNA news agency on Saturday quoted police spokesman General Hashim Abdel-Rahim as saying that one person was killed “during disturbances in Omdurman”. He called the protests “illegal gatherings”. There was no official comment regarding the alleged killings in Khartoum.
Officials say 32 people have died since the protests erupted.
Human Rights Watch has said at least 51 people have been killed during the demonstrations, however.
Hundreds of protesters, including opposition leaders, activists and journalists have also been jailed by the widely-feared National Intelligence and Security Service.
Critics accuse Bashir of mismanaging the economy, leading to soaring food prices and regular shortages of fuel.
Sunday’s protests coincided with a nationwide blackout that the electricity ministry blamed on a technical glitch.
Bashir has acknowledged that the economic concerns raised by protesters are “legitimate”, though he imposed emergency rule on February 22 after an initial crackdown failed to rein in the protests.
The Sudanese leader’s term ends in 2020 and he has repeatedly promised over the years not to make new runs for the presidency. Without amending the country’s constitution, he can not run for a third term.
Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen oversaw the implementation of the president’s contentious immigration agenda. | Jim Watson/AFP/Getty Images
Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Kevin McAleenan will become acting DHS secretary.
Kirstjen Nielsen will leave her post as secretary of Homeland Security, President Donald Trump tweeted Sunday.
“I am pleased to announce that Kevin McAleenan, the current U.S. Customs and Border Protection Commissioner, will become Acting Secretary,” the president added.
Story Continued Below
Nielsen oversaw the implementation of President Donald Trump’s contentious immigration agenda, including the separation of thousands of families at the U.S.-Mexico border.
She had been in the post since December 2017, succeeding John Kelly when he became White House chief of staff, a position he no longer occupies.
The president was widely expected to dismiss Nielsen after November’s midterm elections and surprised allies by keeping her on board. The two have clashed on their approach to immigration and border security from the outset of her tenure, with Trump complaining that she was too soft and regularly pushing her to take measures that crossed legal boundaries, she told allies.
Trump also blamed Nielsen for the steady rise of apprehensions at the Southern border, which have ticked up steadily since late 2017.
As we prepare for winter to come for Game of Thrones, its stars are preparing for careers after their iconic roles on the massive hit. In particular, Kit Harington seems to be in the throes of a post-Thrones existential crisis.
And we have some #thots for him to consider.
‘Pompeii’ had a million problems, and Kit’s six perfect abs weren’t one of them
Image: Constantin Film and tristar pictures
“I’d like to step away and enjoy the obscurity, cut my hair, make myself less recognizable as the character, and go do and some other things with a completely new look and tone,” Harington recently told Entertainment Weekly. “I’ll need to get rid of Jon Snow.” In Variety, he also said he doesn’t want to be the next Bruce Willis action hero type, preferring the more “fun” stuff.
“I’m not really driven by wanting to play heroes right now,” Harington said in the Chicago Tribune. For a long time on Thrones, he struggled with the role of self-serious, steady, understated male lead. “They’re not your Joffreys; they’re not so showy. And there was a sort of feeling in me, in the middle of when the show was going on: ‘I’d love some sort of character thing.’”
Kit, we hear you. And we want you to have fun. But Kit, for the love of god, don’t leave us stranded in a desert of thirst once you’ve hung up your King in the North furs.
We can all have our beefcake and eat it too!
In his Saturday Night Live monologue, Harington joked about his other most recognizable lead role, in the disastrous Pompeii. Then he used the variety hour to experiment with ways of playing everything but the Hot Protagonist. After briefly appearing in the Game of Thrones skit, he instead stripped down (literally) as an Undercover Boss getting a rectal exam and then again as a burlesque dancer.
And our plea to Kit Harington is: Gurl yaaaas! Use that bod as a canvas for comedy!
Like other lads who left leading male roles in massively popular fantasy stories, Harington sounds like he wants to pull an Elijah Wood or Daniel Radcliffe, with a hard left turn into the weird. But unlike Wood and Radcliffe, Harington is also cursed with Chiseled Leading Man syndrome.
But we can all have our beefcake and eat it too!
In the mold of Channing Tatum’s cameo in This is the End and Chris Hemsworth in Ghostbusters, we’re pitching Hollywood on turning Kit Harington into the next thirst trap with a funny bone. And we’ve already got some good data points to prove he fits the bill.
Arguably, Harington’s most successful roles outside of Game of Thrones so far have been How to Train Your Dragon and the HBO tennis mockumentary 7 Days in Hell. In both, Harington leans into his strengths as the Pretty Boy Who Knows Nothing. But with the added dash of self-awareness and deft comedic timing, he becomes a hilarious subversion of the exact trope he fears becoming.
But in his more serious roles, like in the spy thriller MI-5, Western period piece Brimstone, or Toronto Film Festival flop The Death and Life of John F. Donovan, Harington’s performances are still haunted by the ghost of stony-faced Jon Snow. Well that and one of the worst American (let alone Southern) accents to ever cross the pond.
We understand why Harington is ready to shed his winter furs and leave the sexy silent type behind. Actually, we fully support him never wearing that much clothing in any role ever again.
We don’t need him to play the hero anymore, and it’s a disservice to his under-explored talents to keep him pigeon-holed there. But the solution to Kit Harington reinventing his relationship to his audience after Jon Snow is not taking on “more interesting, darker, more characterful roles,” as he suggests in the Chicago Tribune.
He doesn’t have to go all Christian Bale on us, because we don’t need more attractive men doing the “brave” work of playing “ugly” roles to prove they’re more than a pretty face. We already know Kit is more than just a pair of sad eyes and killer abs.
But he can’t run from his destiny.
So promise us, Kit. If you swear before the old gods and the new to remain shamelessly yummy for the rest of your career, we promise to support you in having all the fun you want.
Kit Harington hosted Saturday Night Live the weekend before HBO’s final season of Game of Thrones kicks off. You think people on the set spent any time bugging him about spoilers?
Look no further than Harington’s opening monologue. In between fans pumping him for information about “Who wins the Game of Thrones?” and what he thinks about Grindelwald and Dumbledore hooking up (yes, really), the Jon Snow actor deal with well-meaning spoiler questions from a number of his fellow HBO cast members.
It’s less of a monologue than it is a Thrones-themed sketch in its own right, but Westeros casts a long shadow. And it ends with Harington trolling the audience in the best way, as he shouts out a would-be mega-spoiler: “Tyrion is the Night King!!”
The incident was instigated by Pittsburgh pitcher Chris Archer, who didn’t appreciate Derek Dietrich enjoying a long stare at a homer he hit. Archer threw behind him during his next at-bat, setting off the scuffle.
Puigin particular may be looking at a suspension after being initially held back by JoeyVottoandMelkyCabrera before re-entering the fray after it had largely calmed down and charging toward several of the Pirates players before the sides were separated.
The culture of retaliation in baseball remains a controversial topic, as many position players don’t like pitchers throwing at them simply because they flip their bats, pause in the batter’s box to admire a moonshot or simply show some emotion in the moment.
While many pitchers contend they don’t like being shown up, the counterargument remains that pitchers shouldn’t give up homers in the first place if they don’t want to see opposing players have a passionate response to the most exciting play in baseball—the home run.
Philadelphia Phillies superstar Bryce Harper brought the growing divide on the topic to light in 2016, tellingTimKeownof ESPN The Magazine that he had no issue with emotion in the game and felt it was important to cultivate, rather than stifle, that passion, using the late Jose Fernandez as an example:
“Jose Fernandez will strike you out and stare you down into the dugout and pump his fist. And if you hit a homer and pimp it? He doesn’t care. Because you got him. That’s part of the game. It’s not the old feeling—hoorah… if you pimp a homer, I’m going to hit you right in the teeth. No. If a guy pimps a homer for a game-winning shot … I mean—sorry.”
“If a guy pumps his fist at me on the mound, I’m going to go, ‘Yeah, you got me. Good for you. Hopefully I get you next time,’” Harper added. “That’s what makes the game fun.”
Major League Baseball even promoted the sport with a “Let the Kids Play” campaign, which highlighted moments of passion and took aim at the game’s antiquated unwritten rules.
But some players aren’t keen to see the unwritten rules go by the wayside. Archer is apparently among them.
NEW … PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP’S WEEK AHEAD — MONDAY: The president will have lunch with VP Mike Pence. He will also meet with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. TUESDAY: The president will have a bilateral meeting with Egypt President El Sisi. WEDNESDAY: Trump will travel to San Antonio and Houston. THURSDAY: The president and First Lady Melania Trump will meet with Korean President Moon Jae-in and his wife Kim Jung-sook. He will also meet with WWII veterans.
SUNDAY BEST — BILL HEMMER spoke with ACTING WHITE HOUSE CHIEF OF STAFF MICK MULVANEY on FOX NEWS’ “FOX NEWS SUNDAY: HEMMER: “[The president] also threatened to cut off aid to Central American countries. Is that still a threat?” MULVANEY: “Absolutely, it’s for the same reason. This is his number one priority. Keep in mind, dealing with healthcare is nice, dealing with the economy is nice. The president’s first responsibility is to protect the integrity and safety of our nation, and we really do believe and I think again, most folks are starting to agree with us now, that the situation on the border is a national security crisis.”
— ON TRUMP’S TAXES: HEMMER: “Do you believe Democrats will ever see the President’s tax returns?” MULVANEY: “Oh no, never, nor should they. Keep in mind that that’s an issue that was already litigated during the election. Voters knew the president could have given his tax returns, they knew that he didn’t, and they elected him anyway, which of course is what drive the Democrats crazy.”
— ON THE MUELLER REPORT: HEMMER: “Do you want to see it?” MULVANEY: “I don’t really have much interest in seeing it. I wasn’t involved in it. I was over at OMB during that process. I don’t really have much interest.”
JAKE TAPPER spoke with HOUSE INTEL CHAIRMAN ADAM SCHIFF (D-CALIF.) on CNN’S “STATE OF THE UNION” about whether parts of the Mueller report should be redacted: SCHIFF: “Well, look, if there are classified portions of the report, if there’s the classified annex, for example, that may need to be close-hold, depending on whether that reveals sources and methods. There may even be some parts of that, though, that can be declassified in the public interest.”
— SCHIFF on collusion: “Yes, there’s ample evidence of collusion in plain sight. But that is not the same thing as proof of a criminal conspiracy beyond a reasonable doubt, and that I would defer to Bob Mueller’s judgment. And I do. But I think what we’re talking about here is the difference between conduct that rises to the level of criminality and conduct that is deeply unethical, unpatriotic and corrupt that may not be criminal.”
— TAPPER also spoke with National Economic Director LARRY KUDLOW about Trump’s possible Federal Reserve picks of Stephen Moore and Herman Cain. KUDLOW: “I mean, first of all, they’re both very smart people. Second of all, let’s take Mr. Herman Cain. Besides being a very successful entrepreneur, businessman, he was a board member of the Kansas City Federal Reserve, and actually was the chairman of the board of the Kansas City Federal Reserve. His time there spans, I think, about a decade.
“He is intimately acquainted with Federal Reserve operations and policy issues. So I think these criticisms are very unfair.”
SCOOP: ALEX ISENSTADT in Las Vegas: “Pro-Trump Republicans plan eight-figure play for the Jewish vote in 2020”: “Republicans are planning a multimillion-dollar offensive aimed at fracturing the Democratic Party’s decades-long stranglehold on the Jewish vote.
“Spearheading the push is the Republican Jewish Coalition, which receives substantial funding from casino mogul and GOP mega-donor Sheldon Adelson. On Friday morning, the group’s board members — many of them prominent Republican Party donors — gathered in a conference room at Adelson’s Venetian resort, where they were briefed on plans for a $10 million-plus blitz geared toward attracting Jewish support for President Donald Trump. The investment, people familiar with the early discussions say, will far surpass what the group has spent in past presidential elections.
“With Democrats embroiled in a wrenching internal debate over anti-Semitism and support for Israel, Republicans are moving to capitalize with an aggressive campaign painting Trump — who himself has at times faced accusations of stoking anti-Semitism — as a fierce and unapologetic defender of the Jewish state.
“‘We’re at the intersection of a very unique moment in time where we have the most pro-Israel president ever in history in Donald Trump, and we also at the same time have the Democratic Party – because of the pressure of the progressive left – moving away from the traditional support for Israel that has existed going back to 1948,’ said Matt Brooks, who has served as RJC executive director for nearly three decades.” POLITICO
Good Sunday morning. THE VIRGINIA CAVALIERS will face the TEXAS TECH RED RAIDERS for the NCAA men’s basketball championship Monday at 9:20 p.m. EDT in Minneapolis. It will be broadcast on CBS. Virginia is an early one-point favorite in Vegas.
MORE SUNDAY BEST …CHUCK TODD spoke with SOUTH BEND MAYOR PETE BUTTIGIEG on NBC NEWS’ “MEET THE PRESS” about what makes him qualified to be president: BUTTIGEIG: “I would stack up my experience against anybody. I know it’s not as traditional I haven’t been marinating in Washington here for a very long time and I know I’m not part of that establishment but I would argue that being the mayor of a city of any size means that you have to deal with the kinds of issues that really hit Americans.”
— BUTTIGIEG on the issues: GUN CONTROL: “We’ve already decided within the framework of the Second Amendment that we’re going to draw a line somewhere, right? ‘Shall not be infringed’ clearly doesn’t mean that you’re entitled to a nuclear weapon. I mean somewhere in between a slingshot and a nuclear weapon we’re going to draw a line about what makes sense.”
… ON ABORTION: “This is a moral question that’s not going to be settled by science and so the best way for it to be settled in practice is by the person that actually faces the choice and when a woman is facing this decision in her life, I think the – in terms of somebody besides her who can most be useful in that, the answer to that would be a doctor. Not a male government official imposing his interpretation of his religion.”
— GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS spoke with JAY SEKULOW on ABC’S “THIS WEEK” — via Matthew Choi: “President Donald Trump’s personal lawyer, Jay Sekulow, on Sunday dismissed House Democrats’ request for the president’s tax returns, charging the probe sets a precedent for using the IRS for political purposes. ‘What stops another party from doing the same thing?’ Sekulow said. …
“Sekulow dismissed any notion the request had any policy value and characterized it as weaponizing the president’s personal finances. He also pointed out that several House Democrats have not made their taxes public and that it’s illegal for Congress to disclose others’ tax returns, including public officials, without their consent. ‘The president has not asked for Nancy Pelosi’s tax returns,’ Sekulow said, referring the Democratic House speaker from California.” POLITICO
BUCKLE UP … THE NEXT TWO YEARS … AP’S LISA MASCARO: “Senate GOP game plan means more Trump nominees, fewer bills”: “Mitch McConnell says the Senate will be in the ‘personnel business’ this year. But the majority leader’s focus on confirming President Donald Trump’s nominees is coming at the expense of any big legislative priorities.
“Nearly 100 days into the new Congress, the drive to confirm is adding more conservatives to the courts and putting more Trump appointees in government offices. But Trump’s promises to replace the Affordable Care Act, invest in infrastructure or cut middle class taxes have been essentially shelved.
“The result is that the GOP-controlled Senate is on a very different path heading into the 2020 election than is the House, where the Democratic majority is churning out a long list of bills on ethics, gun violence and other topics that, while unlikely to become law, show voters their priorities.” AP
PELOSI INTERVIEW … WAPO’S PAUL KANE: “Pelosi outlines a path to victory for House Democrats in 2020 — and guarantees it”: “Barely three months into her second turn in charge, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has already mapped out a plan to overwhelm Republicans in the 2020 elections.
“‘I’m going to have our races won by this November,’ the California Democrat said. Yes, the House speaker predicted that she will have locked down the majority a full year ahead of schedule, leaving the political battlefield to what she considers an intense presidential race all the way up to November 2020.
“It’s a remarkably bold guarantee for Pelosi, who will celebrate this new majority’s 100-day mark at a Democratic retreat next week outside Leesburg. Her caucus has had its share of growing pains in the first quarter of the year, with younger, more-liberal Democrats trying to push Pelosi’s leadership team as far to the left as possible.” WaPo
— PELOSI made similar remarks about being focused on 2020 to us earlier this week at a Playbook Interview. Look for this to be a new rallying cry for the speaker to raise money and to energize the base.
WHAT’S ON PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP’S MIND — @realDonaldTrump at 9:50 a.m.: “Looks like Bob Mueller’s team of 13 Trump Haters & Angry Democrats are illegally leaking information to the press while the Fake News Media make up their own stories with or without sources – sources no longer matter to our corrupt & dishonest Mainstream Media, they are a Joke!”
FROM 30,000 FEET — “Threats From Trump Often Fall Short,” by NYT’s Michael Tackett and Linda Qiu: “For President Trump, a threat is frequently his first impulse. He is forceful, declarative and speaks with unvarnished conviction. He has made the theme of promises made, promises kept the anthem of his re-election effort. But his threats often remain just that. The most recent example was when Mr. Trump backed down from a vow to close the border with Mexico, instead saying he would give one of the United States’ most essential trading partners a year to deal with the migrant crisis. …
“Here is a look at some of Mr. Trump’s more high-profile threats[:] Closing the border with Mexico … A bullhorn to Russia … Telling General Motors to reopen a plant, or else (he would cut subsidies) … Threats against the media … Trying to overturn a constitutional right … California on his mind … A veiled warning to James B. Comey.” NYT
HMM … WAPO’S HEATHER LONG: “Trump administration nearly doubles H-2B guest visa program, which brings many Mexican workers”: “The Homeland Security and Labor departments plan to grant an additional 30,000 H-2B visas this summer on top of the 33,000 they had already planned to give out, the agencies confirmed.
“The H-2B visa allows foreign workers to come to the United States legally and work for several months at companies such as landscapers, amusement parks or hotels. About 80 percent of these visas went to people from Mexico and Central America last year, government data shows.” WaPo
— “U.S. says reuniting separated families laborious process,” by AP’s Elliot Spagat in San Diego: “The Trump administration wants up to two years to find potentially thousands of children who were separated from their families at the border before a judge halted the practice last year, a task that it says is more laborious than previous efforts because the children are no longer in government custody.
“The Justice Department said in a court filing late Friday that it will take at least a year to review about 47,000 cases of unaccompanied children taken into government custody between July 1, 2017 and June 25, 2018 — the day before U.S. District Judge Dana Sabraw halted the general practice of splitting families. The administration would begin by sifting through names for traits most likely to signal separation — for example, children under 5.” AP
ABOUT LAST NIGHT … “Trump to Jewish Republicans: Democrats pushing ‘extreme, anti-Semitic agenda,’” by Gabby Orr in Washington and Alex Isenstadt in Las Vegas: “Speaking before a crowd of influential GOP donors and Jewish Republicans, President Donald Trump on Saturday accused Democrats of mistreating Israel and allowing the ‘scourge of anti-Semitism to take root’ in their party. ‘Democrats are advancing by far the most extreme, anti-Semitic agenda in history,’ Trump said.
“‘If implemented… the Democrats’ radical agenda could very well leave Israel out there all by yourselves.’ In remarks at an annual conference hosted by the Republican Jewish Coalition, which endorsed Trump in 2016 and has spoken glowingly of his administration during his first two years in office, the president riled up the crowd by tearing down his political opponents one-by-one.” POLITICO
TOP TWEETS — WAPO’S FELICIA SONOMEZ (@feliciasonmez): “‘Special thanks to Representative Omar of Minnesota. Oh, I forgot. She doesn’t like Israel. I forgot. I’m so sorry.’ Trump to RJC crowd, singling out Omar one day after a man was arrested for threatening to kill her and calling her a ‘terrorist.’”
… AP’S ZEKE MILLER (@ZekeJMiller): “Trump was greeted at the steps of Air Force One by Steve Wynn, former RNC finance chair who resigned after sexual harassment allegations.”
2020 WATCH — WAPO’S CHELSEA JANE in West Hollywood: “‘It got real gay real quick’: Pete Buttigieg’s rise electrifies the gay community, but he could face a rocky road”: “Pete Buttigieg was sitting in the back of a black SUV with a couple of staffers, sipping a still-steeping cup of tea to ease the fatigue from his suddenly frenetic schedule, when he looked out the window and interrupted himself.
“‘Man,’ said Buttigieg, taking in the rainbow-hued signs and colorfully dressed passersby that signaled he had entered West Hollywood, Los Angeles’s de facto gay neighborhood. ‘It got real gay real quick out there.’
“Few Democratic presidential candidates could assess their surroundings so bluntly without seeming painfully out of line. But Buttigieg is not like any other Democratic presidential candidate — in part, if not exclusively, because he is gay.” WaPo
— ELENA SCHNEIDER and MAGGIE SEVERNS: “Gillibrand leans on female donor groups she built over last decade”: “In her first years in the Senate, Kirsten Gillibrand traveled to major cities across the country to start female-centric donor circles to elevate women in politics, harkening back to her own political awakening as a donor in a male-dominated space.
“Now, the New York Democrat is returning to those groups — some of which now contribute over $1 million to candidates per election — and asking them to help make her the first female president of the United States.” POLITICO
— JAMES ARKIN: “Former Auburn football coach running for Alabama Senate seat”: “Former Auburn University head football coach Tommy Tuberville is running for Senate in Alabama as a Republican, he announced Saturday. … Tuberville is joining the race to run against Democratic Sen. Doug Jones, who won a special election in 2017 and is running for a full term next year.
“Republican Rep. Bradley Byrne is already in the race, and several other Republicans are considering jumping into the primary to challenge Jones, who is viewed as the most vulnerable Democrat on the ballot next year.
“Sean Spicer, President Donald Trump’s former White House communications director, is expected to assist Tuberville with the campaign, according to sources familiar with the budding operation, though a formal role hasn’t been determined yet.” POLITICO
TRUMP’S SUNDAY — There is nothing on the president’s public schedule today.
SNL LAST NIGHT – “Joe Biden Cold Open”: “Joe Biden (Jason Sudeikis) meets with a consultant (Kate McKinnon) and undecided women voters (Aidy Bryant, Leslie Jones) to evaluate if his behavior crosses the line for a presidential run in 2020.” 7-min. video
MEANWHILE IN ISRAEL … “Netanyahu vows to annex West Bank settlements if re-elected,” by AP’s Karin Laub in Jerusalem: “Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pledged Saturday to annex Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank if re-elected, a dramatic policy shift apparently aimed at rallying his nationalist base in the final stretch of the tight race.
“Netanyahu has promoted Jewish settlement expansion in his four terms as prime minister, but until now refrained from presenting a detailed vision for the West Bank, seen by the Palestinians as the heartland of a future state. An Israeli annexation of large parts of the West Bank is bound to snuff out any last flicker of hope for an Israeli-Palestinian deal on the terms of a Palestinian state on lands Israel captured in 1967.” AP
— THIS IS A BIG DEAL: This is essentially throwing the two-state solution in the dustbin.
WHAT WALL STREET IS READING — “How regulators, Republicans and big banks fought for a big increase in lucrative but risky corporate loans,” by WaPo’s Damian Paletta: “Actions by federal regulators and Republicans in Congress over the past two years have paved the way for banks and other financial companies to issue more than $1 trillion in risky corporate loans, sparking fears that Washington and Wall Street are repeating the mistakes made before the financial crisis. The moves undercut policies put in place by banking regulators six years ago that aimed to prevent high-risk lending from once again damaging the economy.
“Now, regulators and even White House officials are struggling to comprehend the scope and potential dangers of the massive pool of credits, known as leveraged loans, they helped create. Goldman Sachs, Wells Fargo, JP Morgan Chase, Bank of America and other financial companies have originated these loans to hundreds of cash-strapped companies, many of which could be unable to repay if the economy slows or interest rates rise.” WaPo
BEYOND THE BELTWAY — “Survivors of Hurricane Michael in the Florida Panhandle fear they have been forgotten,” by WaPo’s Patricia Sullivan and Joel Achenbach in Mexico Beach, Fla.: “The stretch of the Florida Panhandle east of Panama City is known as the Forgotten Coast, because it’s so rural and undeveloped — a remnant of a wild, pre-Disney, pre-air-conditioned Florida. … Government agencies have cleared the roads and utilities have restored power, water and communications, but thousands of people are still desperate for permanent housing, competing not only with one another for the scarce supply of rental units, but with construction workers who have come into the area.
“Many residents are living in damaged homes or trailers unfit for human habitation. Some live in tents. Homeowners are frustrated by stingy insurance companies and bewildering government paperwork, and they’re wary of shady contractors. … Residents here wonder if their fellow Americans understand their ongoing struggle. Charitable donations flowing into the area have been modest. The American Red Cross calculated that designated donations for Hurricane Michael victims totaled $35 million through the end of March.” WaPo
VALLEY TALK — “Scheme to Swap Fake iPhones Adds Up to $900,000 Loss for Apple, Prosecutors Say,” by NYT’s Rick Rojas: “The con was simple: Send a fake iPhone to Apple claiming that the device would not turn on and that it was under warranty, and not long after, a genuine replacement arrived in the mail. It was a scheme that federal prosecutors said two college students in Oregon repeated on such a scale that it amounted to nearly $900,000 in losses for Apple as they sent in hundreds of counterfeit phones. The two students, identified as Quan Jiang and Yangyang Zhou, would then ship the iPhones overseas where they would be sold for hundreds of dollars, and in return, they would get a cut of the profit.” NYT
BONUS GREAT WEEKEND READS, curated by Daniel Lippman, filing from Savannah, Georgia:
— “Death By 1,000 Clicks: Where Electronic Health Records Went Wrong,” by Fred Schulte and Erika Fry in Fortune/Kaiser Health News: “The U.S. government claimed that turning American medical charts into electronic records would make health care better, safer, and cheaper. Ten years and $36 billion later, the system is an unholy mess. Inside a digital revolution that took a bad turn.” KHN
— “Why Beto and Buttigieg Pretend to Be Kennedys,” by Peter Canellos in POLITICO Magazine: “Decades after JFK and RFK were killed, the family’s political style remains the Democratic Party’s only winning path to the White House.” POLITICO Magazine
— “The Rise and Fall of a New York Shock Jock,” by The New Yorker’s Nick Paumgarten: “Craig Carton’s misadventures in gambling and in the ticket-resale game led the on-air personality to risk everything on a pretty flimsy play.” The New Yorker
— “What Was the Washington Post Afraid Of?” by New York Magazine’s Irin Carmon – per Longreads.com’s description: “Irin Carmon and Amy Brittain were on the verge of publishing an investigation looking into sexual misconduct allegations against a powerful executive at CBS. But the Washington Post decided not to run the story. Carmon looks back at how an important story was killed.” NYMag
– “One gun’s path to destruction,” by CNN’s Scott Glover: “They were a farming family, a young hothead, and an aspiring engineer with nothing in common – except a weapon that reached the San Francisco streets through unlicensed gun dealing.” CNN
— “Editing in an age of outrage” – FT – per ALDaily.com’s description: “Ian Buruma on his tenure at the New York Review: ‘Editors should be able to take risks. Denunciation, instead of debate, will result in a kind of fearful conformity.’” FT
— “They Had It Coming,” by Caitlin Flanagan in The Atlantic: “The parents indicted in the college-admissions scandal were responding to a changing America, with rage at being robbed of what they believed was rightfully theirs.” The Atlantic (h/t Longform.org)
— “The Hidden Air Pollution in Our Homes,” by Nicola Twilley in The New Yorker: “Outdoor air has been regulated for decades, but emissions from daily domestic activities may be more dangerous than anyone imagined.” The New Yorker
— “Trump’s Mental Health: Is Pathological Narcissism the Key to Trump’s Behavior?” by Alex Morris in Rolling Stone in April 2017: “Diagnosing the president was off-limits to experts – until a textbook case entered the White House.” Rolling Stone
— “Capitalist Takeover of Higher Education,” by Kevin Carey in HuffPost: “Just a few years ago, universities had a chance to make a quality education affordable for everyone. Here’s the little-known and absolutely infuriating history of what they did instead.” HuffPost (h/t Longform.org)
— “Turning Bystanders Into First Responders,” by Paige Williams in The New Yorker: “In the mass-shooting era, civilians must help one another in a crisis—and keep victims from bleeding to death.” The New Yorker
— “Philip Roth, Landlord,” by Terena Elizabeth Bell in Yale Review – per Longreads.com’s description: “When you rent one of the Pulitzer winning author’s New York apartments, you can listen to his life through the wall. Just don’t ask him about his work.” Yale Review
SPOTTED: Merrick Garland walking on Saturday in Bethesda toward Kenwood on a peak cherry blossom day … Dikembe Mutombo on Saturday at a reception for the new president of the DRC, Felix Tshisekedi, at the Willard InterContinental
WEEKEND WEDDINGS — “Samantha Marpe, Kristofer Sandor” – N.Y. Times: “The bride, 34, is a recruiter with Henkel Search Partners, a company in New York that specializes in recruiting investment professionals for private equity firms. … The groom, 40, was until December 2018, the general manager of Citi Bike, a bike share company based in New York. He previously served nine years on active duty in the Navy as a nuclear submarine officer, having achieved the rank of lieutenant, and was last stationed at the Office of the Secretary of Defense in Washington. He also served as a White House social aide in the Bush and Obama administrations.” With a pic. NYT
— Kim Starfield, senior protocol officer at the Department of State, on Saturday married Alex Kisselburg, deputy director for the Middle East, Africa and South Asia at DHS, at the Carnegie Institution for Science in D.C. “The couple began dating in November 2012 when they were both working for the Department of Homeland Security.” Pic … Another pic
BIRTHDAYS: Daniel Lippman is 29 … Josh Holmes, president and founding partner of Cavalry, is 4-0. He celebrated with a party with close friends, including from Minnesota who flew in for the weekend (hat tip: wife Blair) … Bill McQuillen, EVP and Washington media lead at BCW (h/t Ben Chang) … Hilary Perry (h/ts Dick Keil) … Michael Meehan, CEO of Squared Communications and founding partner of the Potomac West Group … Bob Eitel … former California Gov. Jerry Brown is 81 … former Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels, now president of Purdue University, is 7-0 … POLITICO’s Darren Samuelsohn, Maggie Severns, Jon Otto, and Fernando Rodas … Hodding Carter III is 84 … Paige Lavender, HuffPost’s senior editor of breaking news … Cliff Hackel … Bonnie Levin (h/ts Jon Haber) … Todd Schulte, president of FWD.us … Chimene Okere … Tony Zeng … Eric Walker … Angus Viebranz … Alyssa Hackbarth …
… Kaitlan Collins, CNN White House reporter … Annalise Myre … CNN’s Noah Gray (h/t Jeff Solnet) … Michael Ciamarra … Tom Lehner … Alan Hoffman … Andrew Holt … Sara Croom … Daniel Ellsberg is 88 … Oren Jacobson is 37 … Richard Reyes-Gavilan … Ming Dang … Cara Bowers … Deborah Scranton (h/t Jane Brown) … WJLA alum Dan Patrick … CACI’s Greg Hellman … Ali Swee … Mike Abboud, press secretary at EPA (h/t James Hewitt) … Aleesa Mann … Jessica Chasmar … Eugene Kiely … former Rep. Robert Brady (D-Pa.) is 74 … Sam Brill … Valerie Nelson … former German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder is 75 … Harry Philip … Jimmy Williams … Denis Gray … Collin Hansen … Sam Brill … Curt Grieve … Rene Redwood … Dana Gray … Fabiola Rodriguez-Ciampoli (h/ts Teresa Vilmain)
You really have to respect the folks of Stan Twitter: It only takes a 45-second clip to send them into a frenzy.
On Sunday, Bit Hit Entertainment, which manages the wildly popular Korean boy band BTS, released a teaser for “Boy With Luv,” the group’s upcoming collaboration with Halsey. In the clip, Halsey sits in an empty movie theater ticket window, then abruptly closes shop to saunter outside, where she finds BTS wearing matching pink suits. Most importantly, she has extremely cool sherbet-colored hair.
After the teaser dropped, the tweets really started to roll in. Again, this is for a 45-second teaser. There’s barely even any music in it. The power!
Guys,,,it says tickets at the back so this is a movie theater where people act and show different personas. Personas are often also described as theater masks. They really couldn’t have picked a better backdrop.#BoyWithLuvpic.twitter.com/Wc0RNlhxnr
Luckily, the full video will come out Friday, so fans won’t have to wait long for more. BTS’s new project, Map of the Soul: Persona (yes, the movie theater in the video is also called Persona), is set to be released on the same day.
It will be, I am sure, an incredible day on Twitter.
(@taestychai) 
Daily Trends Hunter 