I think we all sense that Mr. Brooks claiming he paid $78 for a burger and fries meal at Newark Airport is quite misleading, but how can we prove it?

I had the time this early Thursday morning and decided to investigate.

Here's what I found.

(thread)


There are 61 restaurants listed on the website for the Newark Liberty International Airport, from the Abruzzo Italian Steakhouse (Gate C70) to Zaro's Bakeshop (B Food Court). I began by trying to match the table, chairs, and floor to likely suspects w/ bar + burgers.


This proved to be tedious because none of the available Yelp or TripAdvisor online images of any of the burger and bar restaurants that were listed had close matches. But I focused on one restaurant in particular and did a deep search: the Budweiser Brewhouse (B1 Pre-Security).


I found an image bank of the restaurant via the Untapped social drinking app (https://untappd.com/v/budweiser-brewhouse/11494574/photos…). There were rough matches for the table, chairs, and floor in Mr. Brooks' photo. The red chairs temporarily threw me off, but it appears there are several chair types here.


Finally, as best as I could determine, there is only one restaurant in all of Newark Airport that uses the tray-and-paper deal for serving food. Short of traveling to the Budweiser Brewhouse for definitive confirmation, I feel it's pretty likely this is where Mr. Brooks ate.


There's a PDF menu available for the Budweiser Brewhouse on http://newarkterminalb.com

There are three types of burgers offered + with sub fries added to any of them, the cost for the food, before tax and tip, is no more than $22.18.

NJ sales tax (6.625%) + tip (20%) = $28.09


I did not find a drink menu for the Budweiser Brewhouse online, but maybe one of you more resourceful folks can do that.

But if we look at the price before tip ($23.64) and subtract from Mr. Brooks' stated total cost, assuming before tip, it comes out to about $54 on drinks.


If this is after tipping at 20% (I'm assuming Mr. Brooks is decent enough to tip at that rate), the amount spent on food and alcohol, inc. tax, is $60.80. Minus the cost of food ($23.64), he spent about $37 on alcohol.


Anyway, I'm happy to be wrong here. If Mr. Brooks wants to post his receipt, given that this was important enough for him to talk about in the first place, I'd welcome the correction.

What say you,
@nytdavidbrooks
?

/thread

Hollywood writers and studios are reportedly near an agreement to end one of the months-long strikes that have brought production of TV shows and movies to a halt.

Citing sources close to the negotiations, CNBC reported Wednesday night that the two sides were close to a deal following a face-to-face meeting earlier in the day. The sides are reportedly optimistic that an agreement can be finalized Thursday. However, the report also said the strike could drag on through the end of the year if a deal is not reached.

Germany’s benchmark borrowing costs moved near to their highest in more than 12 years early Tuesday after a European Central Bank official stressed interest rates would remain at record levels for an extended period in order to damp inflation.

Francois Villeroy de Galhau, ECB member and Governor of the Bank of France, said in an interview with BFM TV, a French news channel: “Inflation is a disease and rates are the medicine. The medicine is starting to work…. We think 4% is a good level. We need to maintain the rates at 4% a sufficiently long time.”

The ECB last week raised its deposit rate by 25 basis points to 4%, its highest ever level as it seeks to bring inflation back down to its 2% target. Data released Tuesday by Eurostat said inflation in the eurozone was 0.5% month-on-month in August and 5.2% year-on-year.

Ten-year German bund yields BX:TMBMKDE-10Y, the continent’s longer-term benchmark, early in the session rose above 2.72%, just a few basis points shy of their highest since July 2011. They later eased back to trade at 2.705%, off less than 1 basis point on the day.

UCF Athletics said in a statement that Terry Mohajir, its vice president and director of athletics, apologized to Kent State for the school’s “unfortunate” post, which was made following the Knights’ 56-6 win over the Golden Flashes.

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The since-deleted post was made with the intention to reference a famous moment from 1996 during an NFL game between the Denver Broncos and the New England Patriots, the UCF statement said. In the sideline clip — with the final score 34-8 in Denver’s favor — Broncos tight end Shannon Sharpe pretends to call the president, saying in part, “President, we need the National Guard (...) call the dogs off, send the National Guard.”

On May 2, 1970, the National Guard was called to Kent, Ohio, to disperse anti-war protests being led in large part by Kent State University students. As classes resumed May 4, a day after much of the protesting had been broken up, thousands of demonstrators returned to the university’s campus. National Guardsmen opened fire into a crowd of protesters there, killing four students and wounding nine, one of whom was left paralyzed.

The bare bones of Ramaswamy's new biotech venture, Axovant ($AXON), are much discussed these days. The former hedge fund manager grabbed an abandoned GlaxoSmithKline drug for Alzheimer's for $5 million. He gathered a team together and without recruiting a single patient for a pivotal study of a marginal drug designed to treat symptoms of the disease, just raised $315 million in an upsized IPO that came in at the top of the range and promptly gyrated much higher today as investors bought in.

Axovant, with no track record, no experience and one questionable product, leaped onto the market worth much more than $1 billion.

Given the fact that GlaxoSmithKline had a chance to take a look at this drug in the clinic, and concluded that they couldn't do better than selling it for lunch money, the IPO terms illustrate the kind of overnight riches a select few can find on Wall Street, provided you have the right kind of friends with money.

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (KPEL News) -The University of North Carolina is under lockdown after a suspect opened fire on campus. The person of interest, according to media reports, is a current graduate student at the university but has ties to Louisiana.

Tailei Qi, the UNC graduate student, was identified as a person of interest by UNC police. According to WRAL in Raliegh, he is also listed on a UNC website as having previously attended Louisiana State University and Wuhan University.

On August 14, 2023, a Fulton County, Georgia grand jury returned a 41-count indictment against former President Donald Trump and eighteen other individuals for a conspiracy to overturn the legitimate 2020 presidential election results in that state. Five of the defendants have filed notices of removal to have the case transferred from Georgia state court to federal court.[1] Defendants bear the burden to show they are federal officers (three of the five do not appear to have been), that the conduct was plausibly official and that they have a plausible defense based in federal law. The bar is a low one and the background law is favorable to true federal officers but removal is by no means automatic and is often denied. Among the results of a successful removal to federal court is a different jury pool, a different judge, and different procedural rules such as the absence of video cameras in federal trials.

This article provides detailed information about all that and other general and specific questions involving removal.

We welcome readers’ feedback and additional information

Table of Contents

GENERAL QUESTIONS ABOUT REMOVAL
What is the basis for removing a state prosecution to federal court?
What is the reason behind removal?
What is the legal standard for removal?
ANALYZING THE LEGAL STANDARD
Who counts as an officer of the United States?
What constitutes “for or relating to any act under color of such office”?
What constitutes a “colorable federal defense?”
What’s the difference between the legal standard to establish removal and immunity?
Does the fact that a defendant was involved in political activity using campaign funds affect the analysis?
Can a defendant have a removable colorable defense when accused of obstruction of justice or perjury?
REMOVAL PROCEDURE
What is the process for removal?
Which court hears the removal case and under what procedures?
What is the evidentiary standard in a removal hearing?
What evidentiary rules apply in a removal hearing?
What is the difference between the standard for removing a case based on the Supremacy Clause immunity and succeeding at asserting the immunity?
HOW DOES A DEFENDANT ESTABLISH REMOVAL IS WARRANTED?
Must a defendant admit the conduct in question to establish an immunity defense?
How does a defendant establish a colorable defense?
Practically speaking, how does a defendant meet their burden of proof? Must they testify?
If a defendant invokes their Fifth Amendment right, is the court able to draw any adverse inference?
WHAT HAPPENS IF THE CASE IS REMOVED?
What happens if the case is removed based on Supremacy Clause immunity?
If one defendant is removed to federal court, are the other defendants also removed?
What happens to DA Willis and her team if the case is removed?
What rules and laws apply for a case that has been removed?
Can the decision to grant removal or grant remand be appealed?
If the case is removed, which Speedy Trial Act would govern–state or federal?