Los Angeles Times: “Although multiple City Council members said they do not support the former president and would like to see his star removed, nobody knows exactly how to make that happen. Several groups with varying levels of jurisdiction have a hand in operating the Walk of Fame, including the City Council, the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce and the Hollywood Historic Trust.”
“The removal of a star is unprecedented, and a process for doing so has never been established.”
“The rapper Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, issued an apology in Hebrew to the Jewish community on Tuesday for his past antisemitic remarks, saying he sought forgiveness and regretted any pain that his words had caused,” Reuters reports.
Ex-Dukes of Hazzard star and country music artist John Schneider said that Joe Biden and his son, Hunter Biden, should be “publicly hung.”
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Semafor: “The former congressman was expelled last Friday for a variety of sins and alleged crimes, including overcharging the credit card of a colleague’s mother. He has, in the intervening four days, stumbled across a path to making a living that dwarfs the $174,000 salary he earned as a member of Congress.”
“In fact, Santos said — and screenshots and the CEO of Cameo confirmed — that he has lined up more than that sum in his first 48 hours on the platform. People pay between $200 and $300 to Santos for various flavors of communication.”
Mark Cuban told Axios that he never plans to run for any elective office, cooling off speculation that began after he struck a deal earlier this week to sell his majority stake in the Dallas Mavericks.
“In towns across the nation, there is that person – the kid who made it big, starred in some movies, became an action hero, maybe even won some awards,” The Messenger reports.
“What if that person told you about an upcoming local election? Or a candidate who you should consider supporting? They are famous, sure, but they are more than that: They are your town’s famous person, someone with local credibility because they know what it’s like to grow up where you did.”
“That’s the theory behind The Hometown Project, an progressive effort that looks to pair celebrities with candidates for state legislature, school board, or other local offices from the areas they grew up in.”
“Mark Cuban, fresh off the news that he is selling a majority stake in the Dallas Mavericks to the mega-Republican donor Adelson family, reiterated Wednesday that he has ‘no plans’ to run for president in 2024,” CNBC reports.
“Fans who attend Pink’s shows this week in Florida will get more than just a performance. The ‘So What‘ singer plans to give out 2,000 books that have been banned from the state’s public schools and libraries,” The Messenger reports.
“Donald Trump hung up on Kim Kardashian when she called for help with a clemency case — because he assumed she voted for President Biden,” Jonathan Karl writes in Tired of Winning, Axios reports.
“The B-52s will not perform at the state dinner for Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese as planned, with military musicians playing for the guests instead, first lady Jill Biden said on Tuesday,” Bloomberg reports.
“The decision to have the US Marine Band and the Air Force Strolling Strings perform instead of the American rock band behind hits such as ‘Love Shack’ was made in the wake of the Hamas assault against Israel on Oct. 7 and the war that resulted.”
“Is Herschel Walker punting on Georgia? Less than a year after he lost a scandal-plagued run for the U.S. Senate, the house owned by his wife Julie Blanchard is posted for sale on real estate sites for $1.45 million,” the Atlanta Journal Constitution reports.
“The house was also the subject of much political controversy. A longtime Dallas Cowboys star, Walker lived in Texas for decades before registering to vote in Georgia in August 2021 shortly before he declared his candidacy. Even as he campaigned for office in Georgia, he listed a $3 million estate in the Dallas suburbs as his primary residence in tax documents.”
“The real Slim Shady has stood up – and has told 2024 Republican presidential hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy to stand down, and stop rapping to his tunes on the campaign trail,” the Daily Mail reports.
Disgraced former football player O.J. Simpson endorsed Vivek Ramaswamy in the presidential race and suggested he pick Nikki Haley as his running mate.
Oliver Anthony criticized the use of his viral folk song at the Republican debate this week, in a new video statement.
Said Anthony: “I wrote that song about those people… It’s aggravating seeing people on conservative news trying to identify with me like I’m one of them.”
Donald Trump threw his support behind country music star Jason Aldean, after his music video — filmed at the site of the 1927 lynching of a Black teenager — was pulled from CMT, Insider reports.
Said Trump: “Jason Aldean is a fantastic guy who just came out with a great new song. Support Jason all the way. MAGA!!!”
From the song’s lyrics: “Well, try that in a small town. See how far ya make it down the road. Around here, we take care of our own. You cross that line, it won’t take long. For you to find out, I recommend you don’t.”
“Mark Cuban, the billionaire businessman and owner of the Dallas Mavericks, said Thursday that he will not run for president in 2024 as No Labels pushes for a bipartisan, third-party presidential ticket on next year’s ballot,” NBC News reports.
Said Cuban: “No. My family would disown me.”
Time: “Hill Harper is best known for playing a medical examiner on CSI: NY and a surgeon on The Good Doctor. Those hit shows have given him fortune and fame, but he is determined to not let them define him in the coming weeks, as the 57-year-old auditions for a different role, that of Michigan’s next Senator.”
“In jumping into an open race, Harper is testing whether the state’s Black and progressive voters can overpower the preferred pick of national Democrats and many of the state’s most powerful figures.”
Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites. He also runs Political Job Hunt, Electoral Vote Map and the Political Dictionary.
Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.
Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country.
Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.
Goddard is the owner of Goddard Media LLC.
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