(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Overnight News Digest April 25, 2023 [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.', 'Backgroundurl Avatar_Large', 'Nickname', 'Joined', 'Created_At', 'Story Count', 'N_Stories', 'Comment Count', 'N_Comments', 'Popular Tags'] Date: 2023-04-25 Chicago Sun-Times: Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx won’t seek reelection by Matthew Hendrickson, Fran Spielman, and Andy Grimm After serving two terms marked by near-constant criticism of her policies and handling of high-profile cases, Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx announced Tuesday she will not seek reelection. “I leave now with my head held high, with my heart full,” Foxx said as she concluded a speech to the City Club of Chicago. Foxx said she informed Mayor-elect Brandon Johnson of her decision Monday and called him “the man of the moment” whose election reminds her of her own first win in 2016. “I told Mayor-elect Johnson as a Black man in leadership that his role would be very difficult,” Foxx said. “You have to keep going. But know what’s coming. His responsibility is to do the work with the full knowledge that it’s not going to be fair … but he has a job to do and elevate the voices of the people who put him there.” Washington Post: Biden’s balance sheet: Weak numbers, but in Donald Trump, a valuable foil by Dan Balz President Biden begins his campaign for a second term in both an enviable and unenviable position. Unenviable because the country remains in a sour mood, his approval ratings are weak, and there is minimal enthusiasm for his candidacy. Enviable because Donald Trump, who at the moment is Biden’s most likely opponent, is an ideal foil to make the election a choice and not a referendum. Biden’s announcement video released Tuesday morning was an echo of his 2020 campaign video, with images and language that put the former president and his followers at the center of a 2024 message. Biden will run in part on his legislative record and his desire to “finish the job,” as he said in the video. But just as much, he will continue to warn voters, as he did in both 2020 and in 2022, of the dangers ahead if Trump wins the White House and of the policies of a Trump-dominated Republican Party. Incumbent presidents generally win reelection, but few presidents — Trump is a recent one — have ratings as weak as Biden’s as he starts his campaign. His approval rating in a new NBC News poll stands at 41 percent. On the economy, it’s 38 percent. In that same poll, 70 percent of Americans said they do not want him to run for reelection, including 45 percent of those who identify as Democrats. New York Times: Head of a Major Law Firm Bought Real Estate From Gorsuch by Charlie Savage NBC News: Proud Boys blame Trump as defendants prepare to find out fate in sedition trial by Ryan J. Reilly WASHINGTON — Attorneys for the Proud Boys placed blame for the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol on Donald Trump in closing arguments in their seditious conspiracy trial Tuesday. An attorney for Enrique Tarrio, the head of the Proud Boys, said federal prosecutors were trying to make him a "scapegoat for Donald J. Trump and for those in power." A lawyer for Joe Biggs said the defendants came to Washington because their "commander-in-chief" told them it would "be wild," referring to Trump's infamous tweet on Dec. 19, 2020, that called on supporters to come to Washington on Jan. 6. “‘Be there, it’s going to be wild,’ the commander-in-chief said. And so they did,” Norm Pattis, an attorney for Biggs, told jurors, adding that “their commander-in-chief sold them a lie.” Tarrio, Biggs and fellow Proud Boys Ethan Nordean, Dominic Pezzola and Zach Rehl each face at least nine counts, including seditious conspiracy, a rarely used Civil War era law. The trial has been underway for more than three months, and jury selection began in December 2020. The government said in closing arguments Monday that the Proud Boys wanted to be "Donald Trump's army" and were "thirsting for violence and organizing for action” ahead of the Jan. 6 attack. BBC News: Taliban kill IS leader behind Kabul airport bombing by Nadine Yousif The Islamic State mastermind believed to have been responsible for the 2021 bombing at Kabul's airport has been killed by the Taliban, US officials have said. The August 2021 bombing killed 170 civilians and 13 US troops as people were trying to flee Taliban-controlled Afghanistan. US officials told BBC's US news partner CBS that the leader died weeks ago, but it took time to confirm his death. His name has not been released. US officials said they determined through intelligence gathering and monitoring of the region that the leader had died, though they did not provide further details on how they learned that he was responsible for the bombing. AlJazeera: Aid groups raise alarm as Sudan fighting eclipses shaky truce Sudanese and foreigners have streamed out of the capital of Khartoum and other battle zones, as fighting shook a new three-day truce brokered by the United States and Saudi Arabia. Aid agencies on Tuesday also raised increasing alarm about the crumbling humanitarian situation in a country reliant on outside help. Al Jazeera’s Hiba Morgan, reporting from Khartoum, said that there are areas throughout the Sudanese capital where the ceasefire has not held. Heavy clashes have been reported in the vicinity of the presidential palace and the general command of the army. “A hospital was hit in the city of Omdurman [north of Khartoum] following an artillery strike; at least a dozen people have been injured and the hospital was closed,” she said, adding that patients and the injured were evacuated to another hospital 3km (1.9 miles) away. Guardian: Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaidó ejected from Colombia by Tom Phillips Venezuela’s best-known opposition leader, Juan Guaidó, has touched down in the United States after being unceremoniously ejected from Colombia while attempting to gatecrash a summit about the political future of his crisis-stricken homeland. Guaidó shot to fame in early 2019 and for a brief moment looked poised to topple Venezuela’s authoritarian leader, Nicolás Maduro, with the support of dozens of foreign governments including the US, UK and Brazil. Maduro has crushed street protests and . Most of the international community has abandoned Guaidó’s parallel “presidency” and “interim government”. But four years later the 39-year-old’s star has waned dramatically as a result of his failure to unseat Hugo Chávez’s political heir.has crushed street protests and consolidated power . Most of the international community has abandoned Guaidó’s parallel “presidency” and “interim government”. And key regional powers such as Colombia and Brazil have elected leftist leaders who have revived ties with Maduro’s administration and condemned Guaidó’s attempt to bring it down by using foreign pressure to spark a military uprising. Hollywood Reporter: Harry Belafonte, Singer, Actor, Producer and Activist, Dies at 96 by Mike Barnes Harry Belafonte, the actor, producer, singer and activist who made calypso music a national phenomenon with “Day-O” (The Banana Boat Song) and used his considerable stardom to draw attention to Martin Luther King Jr., civil rights issues and injustices around the world, has died. He was 96. Belafonte, recipient of the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in 2014, died Tuesday of congestive heart failure at his Manhattan home on the Upper West Side with his wife, Pamela, by his side, longtime spokesman Ken Sunshine told The Hollywood Reporter. A master at blending pop, jazz and traditional West Indian rhythms, the Caribbean-American Belafonte released more than 30 albums during his career and received a Lifetime Achievement Grammy from the Recording Academy in 2000. Calypso, which featured “Day-O” and another hit, “Jamaica Farewell,” topped the Billboard pop album list for an incredible 31 weeks in 1956 and is credited as the first LP to sell 1 million copies. It was one of three albums he had that year that made it into the top 3. On the big screen in the late 1950s, Belafonte was a matinee idol and rarely seen non-white sex symbol. Have the best possible evening, everyone! [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/4/25/2165911/-Overnight-News-Digest-April-25-2023 Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/