Chris Fralic

The Rolling Stones on the morning of June 4, 1964, when their manager Andrew Loog Oldham took them clothes shopping at Beau Gentry on North Vine Street in Hollywood. It was their first trip to America. The day before, they'd taped Dean Martin's Hollywood Palace, where he cracked jokes about their hair and only 45 seconds of their set made it on air. The next day they played their first US show in San Bernardino. Six days after this, they cut "It's All Over Now" at Chess Studios in Chicago, and it became their first No. 1 in the UK.

🎸 "It's All Over Now" was the Stones' first UK No. 1. What's your favorite early Stones song? 🎸 👇️

Today, Russia expressed its thanks for the lifting of sanctions on diesel exports by dropping five glide bombs on residential buildings in Zaporizhzhia. As of now, sadly, twelve people have been confirmed killed, including three children. My condolences to all their families and loved ones. Another fourteen people have been injured, and two of them are in critical condition – the doctors are fighting to save their lives. The status of twelve more people who may have been there is still being verified. All emergency services are at the scene, and search-and-rescue operations are underway. Overnight, thirteen of our regions came under attack. Residential buildings, infrastructure, and railway facilities have been damaged.

Last night confirmed once again that in Russia, they take any easing of pressure to mean they can keep fighting, to mean they can keep dropping bombs on cities. Different signals are needed. Russia must understand that it needs to stop the war, and for that to happen, Russia must feel its losses. Right now, it is our long-range capabilities that are ensuring this. And we will respond to Russian strikes. I thank everyone who is helping.

Scott Bessent, at his confirmation hearing in Jan/2025 to be Treasury Secretary: "the tragedy going on in Ukraine is one of the greatest tragedies of my adult life ... I believe that the sanctions [on Russia] were not fulsome enough. I believe that the previous administration was worried about raising US energy prices during an election season... if I'm confirmed and if President Trump requests ...I will be 100% on board for taking sanctions up."
Mark Warner (D-VA): "I very much appreciate your willingness and I hope you will be an advocate for keeping those sanctions on and actually advancing them even further."
rev.com/transcripts/sc…

This isn’t a massive amount of oil. It’s 15 hours worth of monthly diesel supply. But this accomplishes three very ugly things:

1) Trump can threaten Ukraine if they bomb any more of Putin’s oil refineries.

2) This can be used as a pretext for why Trump insiders can do dirty business deals with Russia.

3) This can open the door for more sanctions relief for Putin.

US officials stepped up pressure on Ukraine to stop striking Russian oil refineries and threatened to cut off vital intelligence sharing as Donald Trump announced a deal with Moscow to release diesel on to the world market.
ft.com/content/7fd4df… via @FT

In 2022, the Congress overwhelmingly passed a bill to block any import of Russian oil and gas. The Senate vote was 100-0. The House vote was 413-9. (The 'No' votes included Gaetz FL, Greene GA, Massie KY, Omar MN, Roy TX.)

Need a videographer in Nashville for next Thursday.

DMs are open

Today, at President Trump’s direction, the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) is immediately issuing a temporary general license to allow the supply of Russian diesel to the global market.

Anthropic’s artificial intelligence gave a false homicide tip to Philly police, triggering a meeting with the company ebx.sh/w3HZrK

More amazing FBI reporting from @S_Fitzpatrick

Patel wants to go to Russia. Even his own people in the FBI and DOJ are wondering why and hoping that he won't.

theatlantic.com/national-secur…

trump signed a bill allowing up to 100% tariffs on countries that purchase Russian oil and gas then announce US is purchasing Russian oil.

So we passed the Russian sanctions bill and Trump responded by lifting sanctions and the GOP will be silent

An Anthropic model in testing submitted a false tip to Philadelphia police's murder hotline. Philly police say Anthropic are planning to release a report on this and other types of "unintended model behavior" today

In a new type of philanthropy, billionaire SpaceX president Gwynne Shotwell has pledged to give more than 2 million American kids a piece of her company through Trump Accounts. bit.ly/47GxKL4

The Gateway Tunnel is taking shape.

The first tunnel boring machine is officially digging through the rock beneath North Bergen, with a second launching in the coming weeks.

This project will help deliver more reliable commutes for hundreds of thousands of rail passengers, create nearly 100,000 jobs, and generate $20 billion in economic activity.

It's a critical investment in the infrastructure that keeps New Jersey and our region moving.

NEW from me: The National Association of Evangelicals (along with several other religious groups) are now joining the USCCB in condemning Defense Sec. Pete Hegseth’s plans to publicly execute Nidal Malik Hasan, also saying doing so promotes a “culture of death.”

BREAKING: Newport Beach Flooding @Stu_Mundel @FOXLA with incredible aerial footage.

Three weeks ago Trump signed the Lindsey Graham Russia Sanctions bill as a testament to Graham's commitment to put an economic stranglehold on Putin. Today Trump announces we're importing massive fuel from Russia

A stunning move amid Russia’s ongoing war against Ukraine- which is what motivated the sanctions to begin with.

Peace never comes through weakness. Today, representatives of the U.S. Congress were in Kyiv – a bipartisan delegation – and I am grateful to them for visiting Ukraine at such a difficult time. They asked: what is needed to end the war? The answer must be strong. There must be sanctions under the Lindsey Graham bill, there must be support for Ukraine in protecting lives, and there must be pressure on Russia for its war. And today, there was a conversation between the leaders of America and Russia. A conversation that leads to something different.

Recently, there was a European decision to lift sanctions on Russian oligarchs. Since then, Russian strikes and the torment of people have only increased. This past week alone, there was a brutal Russian missile strike on a residential building in Pryluky, aerial bombs were dropped on Kramatorsk – on ordinary city buses – and there have been constant attacks on Kyiv’s energy infrastructure and on the life-sustaining infrastructure in Dnipro, Kharkiv, Odesa, and our other cities. Dozens of people have been killed and hundreds wounded.

The Russians are compensating for their inability to achieve their objectives on the battlefield with this kind of terror. This year, Russia is weaker on the battlefield than at any other point in the war. That is why Putin is relying on terror. That is why he is relying on attempts to strike backroom deals to secure some form of pressure relief for Russia, in order to buy more time and more opportunities for war.

Any easing of sanctions against Russia without a clear and lasting de-escalation agreement with Russia is an obvious weakness. It plays into Russia’s hands – allowing it to kill more, wage war for longer, have even less respect for America, and inflict even greater losses and damage on the world.

Ukraine is ready to take symmetrical de-escalatory steps, and the American team knows our position. Our strikes on Russian oil refineries and other oil facilities are a response to Russia’s years-long campaign of terror against Ukraine’s energy sector. Ukraine will not set Russian oil refineries on fire if Russia does not destroy our energy infrastructure. This is the kind of agreement we are proposing to America, and we believe the United States has enough power to achieve such a compromise.

Gifts to Putin will not bring peace or any benefit to the civilized world. Russia will “repay” the diesel with further terror and perfidy. Allowing Russia to sell petroleum products is an investment in a war that must be ended, not prolonged. What is needed is real de-escalation with Russia on a reciprocal basis.

We count on America’s fair support for our defense of life, for our defense of people in Ukraine – and on the United States having a correspondingly strong conversation with Russia. A strong one, not a weak one.