Here are the $5 meals you can get at Del Taco

• April 13, 2023

Del Taco has added four combos called $5 Del’s Deal Value Meals to its lineup for a limited time.

Each meal comes with a small order of crinkle-cut fries and a small drink, according to a news release from the Lake Forest-based chain.

The choices are three Snack Tacos, which are mini versions of Del Taco’s hard-shell tacos; a Grilled Chicken Taco with a Snack Queso Quesadilla; a Crispy Chicken Taco with a Snack Queso Quesadilla; and a bean and cheese burrito with a Snack Queso Quesadilla.

Many of the items are included in Del Taco’s 20 Under $2 menu.

Information: deltaco.com

Related Articles

​ Orange County Register 

OC District Attorney Todd Spitzer receives raise

• April 13, 2023

The Orange County Board of Supervisors has approved a nearly $43,000 pay increase for District Attorney Todd Spitzer, bumping his annual salary to $353,236.

About every three years, the county does a market rate study to ensure directors and elected officials are in alignment with the current marketplace, county spokeswoman Molly Nichelson said. In this case, the pay hike was made to keep pace with Spitzer’s equivalent in San Diego County, Summer Stephan. Officials said Orange County regularly use San Diego as a benchmark.

Spitzer’s overall compensation increases to $531,477, including all benefits. Spitzer has served as district attorney since 2018; he easily won reelection last year.

The board voted 4-0 for the pay increase. Supervisor Vicente Sarmiento abstained, saying he has not been on the board long enough to fairly consider Spitzer’s job performance.

“I have simply not had the time to evaluate his performance,” Sarmiento said. He was elected in November and took his seat in January. “But I don’t want my abstention to be considered a comment on the success or deficiencies in the department. I haven’t had a chance to get to know or evaluate his performance or management of his office.

The City News Service contributed to this report.

Related Articles

​ Orange County Register 

Douglas Schoen: Democratic wins in midwestern elections offer the party a roadmap for 2024

• April 13, 2023

Despite the victories of liberal candidates in Wisconsin and Chicago last week, neither race should be interpreted as a full-throttled endorsement of the progressive agenda.

Rather, the landslide victory of Judge Janet Protasiewicz in her race for Wisconsin’s Supreme Court is best-understood as a rebuke of the Republican Party, whose far-right and anti-choice positions have made the GOP’s brand toxic to a significant share of the electorate.

In the Chicago mayoral race, progressive Brandon Johnson’s narrow victory would not have materialized had Johnson not moderated his stance on crime and policing in the final stretch of the campaign by rejecting the left’s ‘defund the police’ positioning.

In turn, both races offer the Democratic Party a roadmap for a 2024 messaging strategy. By shifting to the center on crime and continuing to draw a contrast with the GOP’s extreme positions on abortion and other issues, Democrats can position themselves as the only party that stands for public health and safety, as opposed to Republicans, who take extreme stances and play politics without offering solutions.

The margin of Protasiewicz’s victory – 11-points – in the swing-state of Wisconsin is remarkable, and suggests that abortion remains a potent issue that plays to Democrats’ advantage, as was the case in the 2022 midterms.

Democratic groups in the state outspent Republicans in what was the most expensive judicial race in U.S. history, and focused most of their messaging on attacking Protasiewicz’s conservative opponent, Dan Kelly, for his anti-choice positions.

A victory for Kelly would have arguably been attainable had he not supported a draconian state abortion ban from 1849. His loss suggests that Republicans will continue to lose winnable races due to their anti-choice stances, as more than 6-in-10 Americans support legal abortion in all or most cases.

While there is evidence that Democrats are less successful in elections where abortion rights are not directly on the ballot, the party has a new opportunity to nationalize the issue to their benefit. Just three days after Democrats proved the strength of their pro-choice positioning in Wisconsin, a Trump-appointed federal judge in Texas suspended the FDA’s approval of the most common abortion drug.

The decision threatens to make abortions less accessible even in states where the procedure is fully legal, and directly negates the common conservative justification for restricting national abortion rights: that the decision should be left up to the states, not the federal government. The Biden Administration released a statement pledging to protect abortion access, and many Democrats facing tough reelections in 2024 have already begun aggressively messaging on the issue.

While clearly important, abortion was not the only issue at play in the Wisconsin race: Donald Trump, Trumpism, and Republican election denialism were on the ballot, as well.

Kelly was hired following the 2020 elections by the Wisconsin GOP to advise on efforts to overturn Joe Biden’s win and declare Donald Trump the victor, which just barely failed. Protasiewicz underscored that Trump’s GOP could try to overturn the election once again next year, which could only be stopped by ensuring that Kelly, a Trump-loyalist, wasn’t on the bench.

The losses of extreme, Trump-backed, anti-choice candidates in last year’s midterms should have facilitated the GOP breaking from Donald Trump and formulating a more moderate social agenda. Instead, the party is doubling-down on this toxic positioning, giving Democrats the opportunity to turn the 2024 election into a referendum on Trump and Trumpism, as the party did successfully in 2018, 2020, and 2022 when they otherwise lacked a more cohesive message.

Unless Republicans listen to voices like Rep. Nancy Mace and moderate their blanket opposition to abortion, they will find it more challenging to regain the presidency, win control of the Senate, and hold onto the House.

But to be sure, Johnson’s narrow victory in Chicago over his moderate opponent, Paul Vallas, suggests that attacking GOP extremism is just one piece of a successful 2024 Democratic message, and should not be the party’s entire strategy.

Crime was a major vulnerability for Democrats in the midterms, and continues to be a top concern for voters across the country. The most significant Democratic losses in 2022 were in blue areas, namely New York’s suburbs, where Republicans tied high crime rates to failed progressive policing and criminal justice policies.

In Chicago, the majority of voters (54%) cited crime as the most important issue to their vote this year, per polling by my firm, Schoen Cooperman Research, for the Manhattan Institute. Chicagoans’ concerns about crime also led to the downfall of progressive Mayor Lori Lightfoot, whose perceived failure to address the issue made her the first incumbent to lose reelection in four decades, after failing to advance out of a primary round.

Related Articles

Although the progressive wing has been emboldened by Johnson’s win, the left must recognize that this come-from-behind victory would not have been possible if Johnson hadn’t moderated his position. Toward the end of the campaign, Johnson walked back previous statements where he had expressed support for cutting police funding. He outwardly made a promise that he was “not going to defund the police.” Johnson also aired ads promising to add 200 new detectives to the Chicago Police Department.

While perceptions that Vallas was a closet Republican likely also aided Johnson’s win – as Vallas was once heard referring to the impeachment of Trump as a “witch hunt” – many polls showed Vallas leading prior to Johnson’s pivot on public safety.

Johnson’s narrow victory suggests that there is a need for national Democrats to formulate a common-sense, holistic public safety platform. It should involve drawing a contrast with the GOP’s extreme guns-everywhere agenda, rejecting defunding the police, and supporting law enforcement as well as public safety programs related to education, job training, and mental health services.

By pairing this moderate public safety positioning with their messaging on abortion rights, the Democratic Party can set itself up for success in 2024.

Douglas Schoen is a longtime Democratic political consultant.

​ Orange County Register 

From King of the Beach to personal struggles, racing icon Al Unser Jr. strives to rise anew

• April 13, 2023

If you ever drive across the country, from west to east, you’ll likely find yourself on Interstate 40, the nation’s modern arterial highway.

But for those with a taste for nostalgia, for a time long gone, for an era when the automobile was the undisputed king of long-distance travel, ditch the I-40 about halfway through New Mexico and rumble along its predecessor:

Historic Route 66.

This iconic slice of Americana overlaps with the I-40 for long stretches. But just west of Albuquerque, father and progeny part ways, separating, at least for a bit, across the desertscape.

Drive eastward on Route 66, officially Central Avenue along this portion, through the beige expanse for about four miles. You’ll pass Unser Boulevard. And then you’ll want to slow down – lest you miss it.

Lest you miss Unserville.

The place where, for one legendary racing clan, it all began. The place where the Unser family seized the American dream, rising from simple gas merchants to rulers of open-wheel racing. The place where the story of Al Unser Jr. started.

Unser Jr. is one of his family’s greatest champions. And its most-puzzling enigma. He twice claimed the Indianapolis 500. He’s been charged with driving under the influence and driving recklessly. He won the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach, which returns Friday, a record six times. He’s struggled with sobriety and faced financial ruin.

RELATED: Grand Prix of Long Beach: Schedule of events for 3 days of racing

He’s risen and he’s fallen – and, at 60 years old, he’s trying to rise again.

His story, and his family’s, is one of triumph and tragedy. Like Route 66, Unser Jr’s life has been expansive; like Route 66, he has been weathered and beaten. But also like Route 66, his and the Unser family’s legacy remains a quintessential part of Americana.

And it all began at Unserville.

As a Long Beach native and a lifelong fan of my local grand prix, I had long been curious about the man nicknamed “King of the Beach.”

Despite his legendary status in the world of professional racing, Unser Jr., in recent years, has been a somewhat obscure figure in the sport he once ruled.

Unser Jr., who now lives in Indianapolis, hasn’t been to the Grand Prix of Long Beach since 2019 and won’t be in town this weekend, though he said he’s hoping to return next year. He rarely grants interviews. And the most-intimate look at his life came by his own hands, when he published an unflinching memoir in 2021, titled “Al Unser Jr.: A Checkered Past.”

But a few weeks ago, with the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach quickly approaching, a friend and I went on a road trip to Albuquerque.

Journeying there, to the city referred to by those in the know as “The Land of Unserville,” was my opportunity to find out more about the racing champion.

Just north of downtown Albuquerque, in Los Ranchos de Albuquerque, is the Unser Racing Museum.

Make no mistake, the Unsers are one of pro racings blue-blood families. They have a record nine Indy 500 wins combined. The most successful racers in the family – brothers Al Unser Sr. and Bobby Unser, and Al Unser Jr. – won a combined 108 open-wheel races. And each is in multiple halls of fame. (Unser Jr., though, is the only one in the Long Beach Motorsports Walk of Fame, having been inducted in 2009.)

Unser Jr.’s father., himself a racing legend – having taken the checkered flag at the Indy 500 four times – opened the family’s museum in 2005, in memory of his parents, Jerry and Mary Unser.

The museum, boasting more than 60 vehicles, is shaped like a wheel, with each spoke representing a different aspect of Unser history. Four generations of the family are represented within its walls.

Bobby Unser is a three-time Indianpolis 500 winner.

Unser Sr. died in 2021, at 89 years old. His widow, Susan Unser, personally supervises the museum’s operations. She responds to website queries, answers fan mail and works to keep the family’s legacy alive in the racing zeitgeist.

She was gracious enough to offer me a private tour of the facility.

“Al put the same passion he had when he was racing into creating the Unser Racing Museum 18 years ago,” Susan Unser said, “as a way to honor the family’s celebrated success in motorsports.

“The Unser collection,” she added, “will live on to tell that story.”

The focal point of the two-building museum is a yellow race car, with the No. 25 adorned on the side; it spins on a turntable and glows beneath a spotlight. The vehicle is a teammate of the car in which Unser Sr. won his fourth Indy 500 in 1987, when he was 47 years old.

An annex is filled with Unser Sr.’s antique car collection. A trophy room overflows with gold, silver and crystal prizes.

The museum houses a library spanning the history of racing, original artwork, championship jackets and race-worn helmets.

Among the displays is a champagne Cadillac Seville that the Championship Auto Racing Teams, which sanctioned American open-wheel racing from 1979 to 2003, gave Unser Jr. when he won the 1992 IndyCar title.

Unser was hoping for a Corvette and viewed the Cadillac as “an old man’s car that a 70-year-old would drive,” said Don Friedberg, a museum docent.

Friedberg had a trove of tales about the Unser family.

Mary Unser, for example, would arrive at whatever track her boys, Al Unser Sr. and Bobby Unser, were racing on and make a huge pot of chili – enough to serve the drivers and teams. It became a tradition at Indy 500 races, Friedberg told me.

The Unsers didn’t always get long, the docent also said, but if you crossed one of them, they would all unite – against you.

That’s not quite surprising, though, for a family with a clear competitive streak and hardscrabble origins.

“I was born and raised on Route 66.”

— Al Unser Jr.

Today, the Unser family is Albuquerque royalty. Dropping the clan’s name will likely earn you a smile from Albuquerque natives, as well as a yarn about the family.

But the family’s early days in New Mexico were prosaic.

Jerry Unser Sr. – the original patriarch, father to four sons, including Al Unser Sr. – built his family’s home and a filling station along Route 66 in 1935.

That was during the depths of the Great Depression and five years into the Dust Bowl. The Dust Bowl turned Midwest prairies into apocalyptic landscapes and forced tenant farmers to migrate west – along Route 66.

Today, Route 66 is not the artery of the nation’s transit like it once was. And the dirt road that, at one time, ran perpendicular to Route 66 and the racing family’s home is now a four-lane highway named Unser Boulevard.

Still, it’s easy to imagine Jerry Unser Sr. and his family interacting with real-life versions of the Joads – John Steinbeck’s protagonists in his great American novel, “The Grapes of Wrath,” which was published in 1939 – during a pit stop on the latter’s journey to California.

Perhaps that itinerant family looked at the Unser compound, encircled by an adobe wall, with a wooden beam hanging over the entrance bearing the name “Unserville,” and longing for their foreclosed-upon homestead.

But while any migrants would have soon moved on, the Unsers stayed – and their success grew.

The Unser family operated a wrecking service near their home in the 1940s. And the original filling station grew into Unser Garage, which boasted a set-up to rebuild engines, a foreign car parts fabrication shop and an automotive service center.

“I was born and raised on Route 66,” Al Unser Jr. said in a recent phone interview from Indianapolis, where he currently lives.

“Aunt Lisa still lives there,” he added, referring to the wife of Bobby Unser, who died in 2021, nine months before Al Unser Sr. joined him. “You would be welcome to knock on the door. She and Uncle Bobby would always be open like that.”

I visited the family home during my trip, but opted not to disturb Unser Jr.’s aunt. Instead, I soaked in the open spaces on which the property sits – its closest neighbor, the Westward Ho! Motor Court, is two minutes down the road – and the relative accessibility of the dwelling owned by racing icons.

The Unser family, though, was never stationary.

Jerry Unser Sr. and two of his brothers competed in road races, particularly the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb, in Colorado, where the family lived before moving to New Mexico.

The patriarch’s sons followed in those racing footsteps.

Al Unser Jr., in particular, got his taste for speed at a young age.

At 9 years old, he began taking to the track at Route 66 Karting in Albuquerque. By 11, he had graduated to sprint-car racing. He entered his first road race before he could legally buy alcohol.

“I was a natural in the kart,” Unser Jr. said. “I became a race car driver – just like my Dad.”

Soon, he joined Championship Auto Racing Teams – and his rise to stardom began.

But while his ascent to racing royalty began early, so did his addictions. And his personal tragedies.

Unser Jr. first smoked marijuana with his cousin Bobby Unser Jr. before he was even a teenager. He was a self-admitted stoner throughout high school.

The future “King of the Beach” was 19-turning-20 in 1982 when his cousin was jailed for driving under the influence and his little sister, Debbie Unser Jr., died in a dune buggy accident; she was the second Unser to perish in a vehicle-related incident after uncle Jerry Unser, who was killed during a practice run at the 1959 Indy 500.

The same year his sister died, Al Unser Jr. also married his first wife and fathered his first of four children.

Yet, none of that deterred him from drugs and alcohol. If anything, his sister’s death fueled his addiction. He smoked weed, snorted cocaine and emptied alcohol bottles throughout the 1980s.

But it took years before he understood the link between his trauma and addiction.

He didn’t deal with his trauma, in fact, until he attended a group therapy session on loss and grief about a decade ago. During that session, he sobbed.

“Nearly 30 years later,” Unser Jr. said, “those unhealed wounds came rushing back to me.”

But the trauma also didn’t stop him from conquering the racing world.

Unser Jr. finished second in the 1985 CART championship point standings – just one point behind his father.

A year later, he won the International Race of Champions, at just 24 years old.

He also won the 24 Hours of Daytona race in 1986 and 1987.

In 1988, he finally nabbed his first CART championship.

That same year, Unser Jr. began his reign as King of the Beach.

Al Unser Jr. waves to the crowd after winning the first of four straight Long beach Grand Prix titles in 1988. He would add two more in 1994 and 1995 and he holds the race records for most wins (six) and podium finishes (nine).

He won the Grand Prix of Long Beach four consecutive years, from 1988 to 1991.

“My predecessor as King of the Beach was Mario Andretti,” Unser Jr. said. “When I dethroned Mario as King of the Beach, it wasn’t the way I wanted it to be done. I accidentally ran into the back of him. I was so upset with myself. I had a lack of patience. I was being too aggressive and I made a huge mistake by running into the back of him.”

Danny Sullivan dethroned Unser Jr. in 1992 – but his first of two Indy 500s was a worthy consolation that year.

And Unser Jr. would go on to reclaim the Long Beach crown in ’94 and ’95.

“I love Long Beach,” Unser Jr. said in an interview before I left on my pilgrimage to Albuquerque. “I have lots of favorite memories from there. No matter what I did in practice to change the car and make it better, we always did the right thing and won.”

But throughout it all, his drinking and his partying – and even a bit of philandering – continued.

In his memoir, Unser Jr. described that period as a “private hell.”

On his 50th birthday, April 19, 1992 – just a week after he finished fourth in the Long Beach Grand Prix, which he led for 54 laps – he contemplated suicide, he wrote.

By 1995, Unser Jr.’s addictions were so severe that his loved ones were planning an intervention.

His record sixth Long Beach Grand Prix title nixed those plans.

And so, his hard-living ways went on.

The intervention-that-wasn’t, in a way, marked the top of the spiral through which Unser Jr. would descend over the next quarter-century.

He kept drinking. His life slowly crumbled.

Unser Jr. divorced his wife in 2001. A month later, at a craps table in Las Vegas, he met the woman who would become his second wife, a coupling that would last 12 years.

He became estranged from his children.

Unser Jr., who announced his retirement in 2004, pleaded no contest to a DUI charge stemming from a car crash in Nevada in January 2007. In 2011, he was charged with drunken and reckless driving, with Albuquerque authorities saying he was traveling at more than 100 mph while drag racing.

This undated Clark County Detention Center booking mug photo released by the Las Vegas Police Department shows Al Unser Jr. Two-time Indianapolis 500 winner Unser was charged with driving under the influence after leaving the scene of a freeway crash in Las Vega. He was arrested after he was identified as the driver of a car that sideswiped another on the Las Vegas Beltway on Thursday, Jan. 25, 2007, Nevada Highway Patrol Trooper Kevin Honea said. Honea said Unser failed several field sobriety tests before being taken into custody. (AP Photo/Las Vegas Police Department, HO)

Unser Jr. also went in and out of rehab centers, with his father paying the $40,000 a month fee for one facility and embarrassing media coverage forcing him into another.

He tried Alcoholics Anonymous as well. But attending meetings proved tough, he said, since fans would recognize him and ask for autographs.

In October 2017, Unser Jr. tried a change to scenery, leaving Albuquerque for Indianapolis to work for the Harding Racing team and live with his mother, who has lived there for 35 years.

But two years later, in 2019, Unser Jr. was arrested again. This incident, though, seemed to be his personal Rubicon on the road to sobriety.

On May 19, 2019, he was arrested in the Indianapolis area on a charge of operating a vehicle while intoxicated. Before he was apprehended, he stumbled down an embankment.

“I’ve had several rock bottoms,” Unser Jr. said. “All my DUIs were famous; the May 19 incident in Indianapolis, that was the end of it.”

He’s been sober ever since, Unser Jr. said.

Unser Jr.’s road to recovery hasn’t been easy.

But he’s had help along the way.

The move to Indianapolis did help his personal life. That’s where he met his third wife, Norma, through church friends. They married in 2021 – a day before his memoir came out.

“Norma is a dynamo,” Unser Jr. said. “She is go, go, go, nonstop –  200 mph.”

His wife has also taught him to not take things so seriously – and that winning isn’t everything.

“She doesn’t take life so seriously,” Unser Jr. said. “When she was on her scooter and she fell over, she wanted to post it on (social media).”

His wife has also had a deep faith all her life.

For Unser Jr., meanwhile, faith is a more recent development.

When he moved to Indianapolis, Unser Jr., being a dutiful son, began accompanying his mother to church.

One day, while standing in the church, he had a revelation.

“I thought, ‘I have not really given this a try – to let Jesus into my life,’” Unser Jr. said. “There it was: Instantly, there was a warm feeling in my stomach. I have not looked back since.”

Becoming a believer in Jesus, he said, was the real reason he’s been able to recover from addiction.

“Jesus Christ became the bridge between me and God,” he said. “God was this all-encompassing entity that was everywhere all at once – yes, he is a power greater than myself but for some reason, in my mind, I couldn’t put it together.”

In July 2020, Unser Jr. was baptized.

“By connecting through Jesus, I could grab onto his right hand,” he added. “Through Jesus, I have had a real relationship with God. For some reason, I just didn’t get it before.”

“You never know when that thought is going to come in your mind, that feeling that a drink would be nice right now. There is no control over the triggers.”

— Al Unser Jr.

There’s a nondescript mountain, not far from where Unser Jr. grew up, from which you can see all of Albuquerque.

Unser Jr. told me that during turbulent times, he would climb the mountain, look out on the city that reveres him and reflect.

A couple of days after visiting the Unser Racing Museum, I found that mountain and climbed it.

Looking out on the desert city, I reflected on what I’d learned about Unser Jr. and his family. I thought about his life’s pit stops and pitfalls. He’s a celebrity, a hall of famer, the King of the Beach.

But he’s also a man who has faced family and personal tragedy. He’s man who has stumbled – and a man who is well aware of that fact.

“The substance use disorder is still there,” he told me. “That’s why it is one day at a time.

“You never know when that thought is going to come in your mind,” Unser Jr. added, “that feeling that a drink would be nice right now. There is no control over the triggers.”

Besides the looming threat of relapsing, however, things are looking good for Unser Jr.

His recovery is going well. His memoir helped him reconnect with his children.

Related links

First time at the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach? Here’s what you need to know
Here are some of the deals business will offer during the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach
Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach, IndyCar Series look to go green
Police shortage won’t impact Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach, officials say
The Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach set to thrill race fans this weekend

And he’s getting ready to return to the world of professional racing – at the head of his own team.

Unser Jr. said he is working with an up-and-coming team that will soon launch on the Indy NXT, a developmental series formerly called Indy Lights.

He’s also, apparently, learned to cope with his trauma and his addiction, with the help of his faith and his wife.

“I think about Jesus Christ and then I call someone,” Unser Jr. said. “Right now, I call Norma, by the time I make the phone call and hear her voice, it’s gone”.

Unser Jr.’s life, to this point, has traveled along a fraught road. There have been potholes and detours. He’s driven in the fast lane and been broken down on the shoulder.

Like Route 66, he has been weathered and beaten.

But like the highway he grew up on, his legacy is secure.

And like the child of Route 66 that he is, Al Unser Jr. will keep motoring down the highway, for as long as he can.

​ Orange County Register 

Air National Guard member arrested in leak of classified military documents

• April 13, 2023

By ERIC TUCKER, TARA COPP and MICHAEL BALSAMO

WASHINGTON — A Massachusetts Air National Guard member who has emerged as a main person of interest in the disclosure of highly classified military documents was taken into custody Thursday by federal agents, Attorney General Merrick Garland announced.

Investigators believe that the guardsman, who specializes in intelligence, led the online chat group where the documents were posted. Garland identified the guardsman as 21-year-old Jack Teixeira, and said he would be charged with the unauthorized removal of classified national defense information.

FBI agents converged Thursday at Teixeira’s Massachusetts home and heavily armed tactical agents took Teixeira, who was wearing a T-shirt and shorts, into custody outside the property, “without incident,” Garland said.

He will have an initial court appearance in federal court in Massachusetts, Garland said.

It was not immediately clear if Teixeira had a lawyer who could speak on his behalf, and a phone message left at a number believed to belong to his mother was not immediately returned.

Law enforcement officials roped off the street near the home. The New York Times, which first identified Teixeira on Thursday, said that a man who had been standing outside the Teixeira home earlier said that “he needs to get an attorney if things are flowing the way they are going right now. The Feds will be around soon, I’m sure.”

The emergence of Teixeira as the apparent primary suspect is bound to raise questions about how the highest-profile intelligence leak in years, one that continues to unfold with almost daily revelations of highly classified documents, could have been caused by such a young, low-ranking service member.

The Biden administration has scrambled for days to contain the fallout from the leaked information, which has publicized potential vulnerabilities in Ukraine’s air defense capabilities and exposed private assessments by allies on an array of intelligence matters.

The National Guard did not confirm his identity but said in a statement that, “We are aware of the investigation into the alleged role a Massachusetts Air National Guardsman may have played in the recent leak of highly-classified documents.”

Air Force Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder, the Pentagon spokesman, referred all questions about the case to the Justice Department. But he said: “We have rules in place. Each of us signs a nondisclosure agreement. This is a criminal act, a willful violation of those.”

The Biden administration has been working to assess the diplomatic and national security consequences of the leaked documents since they were first reported last week. A top Pentagon spokesman told reporters earlier this week that the disclosures present a “very serious risk to national security,” and the Justice Department opened an investigation to identify the person responsible.

“We’re getting close,” President Joe Biden told reporters in Ireland on Thursday. He said that though he was concerned that sensitive government documents had been disclosed, “there’s nothing contemporaneous that I’m aware of that is of great consequence.”

The Justice Department declined to comment Thursday.

It’s possible the leak may have started on a site called Discord, a social media platform popular with people playing online games. The Discord site hosts real-time voice, video and text chats for groups and describes itself as a place “where you can belong to a school club, a gaming group, or a worldwide art community.”

In one of those forums, originally created to talk about a range of topics, members would debate the war in Ukraine. According to one member of the chat, an unidentified poster shared documents that the poster claimed were classified, first typing them out with the poster’s own thoughts, then, as of a few months ago, uploading images of folded papers.

Discord has said it was cooperating with law enforcement.

There are only a few ways the classified information that was leaked could have been accessed, which may provide critical clues as to who is responsible. Typically in classified briefings, as with the slides that were placed on Discord, the information is shared electronically.

That is done either through secure computer terminals where users gain access based on their credentials or through tablets that are distributed for briefings and collected afterward. If the slides need to be printed out instead, they can only be sent to secured printers that are able to handle classified documents — and that keep a digital record of everyone who has requested a printout.

It’s those digital clues like the record of printouts that may help investigators hone in on who took the documents. In most of the photographs of documents posted online the pictures are of paper copies that look like they had been folded into quarters — almost as if they’d been stuffed into someone’s pocket.

In the days since the leaks came to light, the Pentagon has deferred questions on the investigation to the Justice Department, stating that it’s a criminal matter. Even if the person who leaked the files is an active duty member of the U.S. military, the Justice Department would likely still have the lead in the prosecution until it was ready to turn the matter over to the Defense Department, a defense official told the AP on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive matters.

This has been the case in previous criminal cases, such as when two Marines based at Camp Pendleton in California were arrested on drug trafficking charges in 2020, the official said. If the person responsible turns out to be a civilian, the Justice Department will be responsible, the official said.

Associated Press writers Michelle R. Smith in Swansea, Massachusetts, Nomaan Merchant and Zeke Miller in Washington, Alanna Durkin Richer in Boston and Colleen Long and Darlene Superville in Dublin contributed to this report.

Related Articles

​ Orange County Register 

The wrong kind of security guarantee for Ukraine

• April 13, 2023

One of Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s core demands for a political settlement is that his country receive internationally backed security guarantees to resist future Russian aggression. For the most part, this vision largely aligns with the emerging consensus in Western capitals: Ukraine’s partners will support Kyiv’s self-defense capabilities over the long-term without providing a security commitment similar to Article V of the North Atlantic Treaty.

However, some analysts have gone further and suggested that an international military coalition composed of NATO and non-NATO troops be deployed to Ukraine to “act as a tripwire to prevent fresh Russian aggression.” Writing in Foreign Affairs recently, Brookings Institution military strategist Michael O’Hanlon and Georgetown University professor Lise Morj́e Howard argued that such a force would “legitimize the indefinite presence of Western military troops on Ukrainian soil” and “must include U.S. troops.” Despite Russia’s military being continually stonewalled by dogged Ukrainian resistance, O’Hanlon and Howard declared that “[n]othing short of American boots on the ground can ensure Ukraine’s future.”

By any reasonable standard, deploying U.S. troops in Ukraine to serve as a “tripwire” is a nonstarter.

Deploying U.S. forces on Ukrainian soil would significantly increase the chances of a direct NATO-Russia conflict—an outcome President Joe Biden and his advisors have all sought to avoid. O’Hanlon and Howard admit this “would virtually guarantee that the United States and the rest of NATO would enter any future war if Russia were to renew its to attacks on Ukraine or its other neighbors.” For all the clandestine measures the United States and its allies have taken in Ukraine, they have avoided direct involvement in the fighting and sought to minimize the risk of the conflict expanding beyond Ukraine’s borders. It is hard to see Washington discarding this basic risk aversion to support what will be an uneasy post-war settlement.

In Russia’s view, the presence of NATO forces and military infrastructure in Ukraine would cross a long-standing redline that will not be erased as part of a postwar settlement. Absent in O’Hanlon and Howard’s proposal is any discussion of why Russia would peacefully accept these conditions. Given the imbalance of resolve between Russia and the West, it is reasonable to instead assume that Moscow would resort to escalatory measures to deny NATO forces a foothold in Ukraine.

Then there is the question of how the presence of NATO forces in Ukraine would affect the prospects for salvaging the West’s relations with Russia over the long term. O’Hanlon and Howard correctly recognize that “[i]f after the war ends Russia is permanently banished from the international community, it will emerge, furious and humiliated, as a renewed threat.” But they stipulate that readmitting Russia into the international system should only occur “[o]nce [Vladimir] Putin’s regime falls and is replaced by a government committed to peace.” A cursory review of the Russian domestic political scene reveals that this outcome is extremely unlikely. The ministers and officials most well-positioned to take power after Putin are stridently anti-Western, and the Kremlin’s loudest critics are not reform-minded liberals but hardline nationalists aggravated at the Russian military’s failures in Ukraine.

The long-term result would be a Russia even more isolated from the Euro-Atlantic order with no incentive to improve its relations with the West, virtually guaranteeing a prolonged militarized standoff over Ukraine and the continued development of an anti-U.S. Sino-Russian bloc.

Fortunately, there are better options available to Ukraine and its Western partners.

The guiding principle for a post-war security framework should be to ensure that Ukraine can defend the territory under its control without dragging its partners into a direct conflict with Russia. While Zelenskyy has proposed establishing a NATO training and exercise regimen on Ukrainian territory, this should be rejected to keep NATO forces out of what could potentially become an active war zone again. More importantly, Ukraine’s partners should explicitly state that they will not intervene directly on Kyiv’s behalf to defeat renewed Russian aggression. A critical corollary is ruling out the transfer of long-range weapon systems able to strike targets beyond Ukraine’s borders, potentially leading to Russian escalation.

Related Articles

However, the Russo-Ukrainian War has also exposed the limitations of Western defense industrial bases. Although U.S. firms are expanding their production lines following years of reduced demand, European contributions to Ukraine’s post-war defense will be essential. The reality of strategic scarcity means that the United States cannot sustain an indefinite large-scale commitment to Ukraine without greater assistance from its wealthy European allies. The European Union, or self-organized national blocs within it, should ramp up the manufacturing and purchase of armaments and munitions to shoulder far more of a burden that has largely fallen on U.S. taxpayers so far.

Finally, ensuring the viability of a post-war settlement will be a difficult task for the United States and its allies. This difficulty, however, could be alleviated through direct post-war negotiations with Russia to address broader Euro-Atlantic security issues that disincentivize further aggression. In the long run, the stability of Eastern Europe will hinge on reciprocal diplomacy with a wounded Russia as much as it will on the strength of Ukraine’s defensive posture.

Matthew C. Mai is a research associate at Defense Priorities.

​ Orange County Register 

Disneyland will hold first official gay Pride events in June

• April 13, 2023

Disneyland announced Thursday, April 13 that it will hold its first officially sanctioned Pride Nite as an after-hours ticketed event.

This is a departure for Disneyland Anaheim, which has allowed unofficial events such as the annual “Gay Days” celebration, but has never held an official event on its own.

“I’m happy Disney is finally doing something, especially in the wake of what is going on in Florida,” said Eddie Shapiro, organizer of the annual unofficial Gay Days event in Anaheim.

Shapiro was referring to a dispute in Florida between Disney and the governor, over HB 1557, a new law dubbed “Don’t Say Gay” that bans discussion of gay issues in public K-3 classrooms. After then-Disney CEO Bob Chapek criticized the proposed law, Gov. Ron DeSantis moved to assert control over the Reedy Creek Improvement District, which oversees land use and maintenance for Walt Disney World.

The Anaheim Pride events are scheduled for 9 p.m. to 1 a.m. on June 13 and 15 as part of a series of “Disneyland After Dark” parties.

Tickets cost $139 and will go on sale Thursday, April 20. The nights will include dance parties, a cavalcade (sort of like a parade but not exactly), photo opportunities, special food and more. Costumes can be worn, with stipulations.

In 2022, Disneyland Anaheim offered special food and décor for the annual June Pride Month, such as special cookies, pretzels and floral displays, but this is the first official event in the park.

Disneyland hasn’t always welcomed the LGBTQ community. Beginning in 1957, Disneyland banned same-sex dancing and security guards warned and ejected gay couples from the dance floor. However, the policy changed after a series of lawsuits in the 1980s.

In France, Disneyland Paris now holds a well-attended annual Pride event in June.

“Disneyland Resort drew on inspiration from events like Disneyland Paris Pride for the first-ever Disneyland After Dark: Pride Nite event in honor of Pride Month in June,” Disneyland officials said in a statement. This will be one of the specially ticketed events this year that patrons can purchase in advance and attend.

Based on the immediate response to the Disneyland Anaheim announcement on Twitter, it seems likely to sell out.

However, Shapiro predicted a backlash to the decision.

Not everyone was thrilled about Wednesday’s announcement.

“No Thanks! Would keep my kids away from this,” @kaliwada wrote on Twitter.

“Perverts!” tweeted Random_Woman @Paused_Thoughts.

In 2022, Focus on the Family spokesman Paul Batura wrote in an essay entitled “The Sad Collapse and Corruption of Disney’s (Woke) World” that Disney’s disagreement with the Florida law banning discussion of gays in classrooms show the company “is anything but wonderful today.”

Batura added that he believes Disney has a “desire to embrace an agenda that deliberately and blatantly rejects a Christian worldview of the family, as well as God’s view of human sexuality.”

Disney officials declined to say whether this new Anaheim Pride event is a response to issues in Florida.

Related Articles

Shapiro said the unofficial Gay Days celebration at Disneyland is about to celebrate its 25th anniversary. Many supporters wear red T-shirts to identify their affiliation.

While it is now a familiar annual event, Shapiro said that in the early days, Disneyland would post signs at the park entrance “warning” guests about Gay Days and also offered white T-shirts on request to people who didn’t want to be identified with the event by wearing red.

Immediately after Thursday’s announcement, one Twitter follower said she was in favor of the event, but expressed cynicism.

“Remember when Disney wanted to make it abundantly clear that they were not associated with ‘Gay Days’ and gave us a script to answer guests asking why everyone was wearing red shirts?” she wrote. “Then they realized they could make money and started selling pins and rainbow cake slices?”

​ Orange County Register 

Festival Pass:🎡🏜️🎉Who to see, what to eat and where to go at Coachella

• April 13, 2023

Festival Pass is a newsletter that lands in your inbox weekly. But during prime festival season you get bonus editions, too! Subscribe now.

Happy Thursday!

Welcome to the all Coachella edition of the Festival Pass Newsletter!

We’ve talked about it for months and it’s finally here. Our fearless crew will be heading out to the desert to bring you extensive coverage of both weekends of the annual Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival (April 14-16 and April 21-23) at the Empire Polo Club in Indio.

No one on our team has been to every single Coachella, but several of us have been to over well over a dozen of the festival weekends.

With all of our experience combined, we wanted to share a few non-music options to explore on-site, our favorite festival eats, survival tips and call out which artists we believe are worth seeing this year for anyone attending the festival in-person or tuning into the livestream on YouTube.

Let’s meet the team!

The Ferris wheel is a staple at Coachella and it has become tradition for a lot of fans to pose for selfies or group photos in front of it or make a point hop on for a ride at some point during the three-day fest. (File photo by Jennifer Cappuccio Maher, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)

Kelli Skye Fadroski, editor. Follow her @kelliskye.

Top 5 2023 Coachella acts: Gabriels, Blondie, Blackpink, boygenius, and Remi Wolf.

Pro tip: Bring hand sanitizer and/or baby wipes because you are bound to touch things that are sticky all day long.

Favorite non-music Coachella adventure: Grabbing a cold agua fesca just before sunset and cruising around the venue to take a peek inside all of the branded activations. Last year, I just happened upon a pop-up nail bar and got my nails done by Harry Styles’ personal nail technician for free.

Richard Guzman, reporter. Follow him @richworld.

Top 5 2023 Coachella acts: Chemical Brothers, Los Fabulosos Cadillacs, Cannons, The Linda Lindas and Los Bitchos.

Pro tip: Drink water, a lot, a lot of water. And don’t start drinking alcohol too early; nothing worse than passing out on the dirt in the middle of the day.

Favorite non-music Coachella adventure: The hidden bars are always fun and you feel like you’ve accomplished something when you find one.

The Do Lab is one of the places the SCNG festival crew recommends stopping by during Coachella. Located inside the festival grounds under a brightly colored tent, Do Lab offers a variety of activities, shade and misters to cool off, special guest artists and DJs and aerial and acrobatic performers. (File photo by Watchara Phomicinda, San Gabriel Valley Tribune/SCNG)

Watchara Phomicinda, photographer. Follow him @watcharaphotog.

Top 5 2023 Coachella acts:  Björk, Frank Ocean, FKJ, Blakpink and Kaytranada.

Pro tip: Sun protection: Bring sunscreen, SPF lip balm, a hat or shading device. To stay cool, try dipping a bandana in ice water, adding a few drops of peppermint oil, then wrap it around your neck or on the top of your head.

Favorite non-music Coachella adventure: The branded activations at Coachella have been the hidden gems of the festival. They always offer delightful surprises and free swag, which is a real treat. For the ultimate hangout spot at Coachella, you can’t go wrong with the Do Lab.

Peter Larsen, reporter. Follow him @PeterLarsenBSF.

Top 5 2023 Coachella acts: Björk, Gorillaz, Jai Paul, The Comet Is Coming, Domi & JD Beck.

Pro tip: Good shoes. And a roll of gaffer’s tape if your shoes aren’t good. Seriously, you’re going to be on your feet a lot.

Favorite non-music Coachella adventure: Don’t miss the all-night Del Taco in Palm Desert where the only thing you ever need to eat at 1:30 a.m. every night is a large vanilla milkshake and a single chicken soft taco. Trust me, you’ll sleep like a baby after this.

Charlie Vargas, reporter. Follow him @CharlieVargas19.

Top 5 2023 Coachella acts: Angèle, Bratty, Eladio Carrión, SG Lewis and Sunset Rollercoaster.

Must-pack festival items: The pandemic may be slowing down, but you should still bring a mask and bandana to cover your face because that Coachella dust is no joke.

Spanish singer-songwriter Rosalía (left) performed at Coachella in 2019 and she’s back in 2023 and high up on the roster, set to perform just before Day Two headliner Blackpink on Saturday, April 15 and April 22. (File photo by Drew A. Kelley, Contributing Photographer)

Holly Alvarado, reporter. Follow her @hollytheewriter.

Top 5 2023 Coachella acts: Bad Bunny, Kaytranada, Noname, Porter Robinson and Rosalía.

Pro tip: Make some friends wherever you go. I’ve met some incredible people who are still longtime friends, even if they live in different parts of the world. Greet someone standing next to you!

Favorite non-music Coachella adventure: Grabbing a huge slice of watermelon and sitting over by the Ferris wheel to catch the sunset with friends.

James Williams, reporter. Follow him @JHWreporter.

Top 5 2023 Coachella acts: Bad Bunny, Gorillaz, Latto, Frank Ocean and Rae Sremmurd.

Favorite non-music Coachella adventure: Getting Spicy Pie Pizza at least once or twice is a must for me. I also enjoy walking around the campsite a little bit to see the creative setups folks have.

Across the board, the SCNG festival crew loves Spicy Pie Pizza out at Coachella. It’s quick, portable, tasty and we all grab a slice at some point during the long weekend. (File photo by Watchara Phomicinda, SCNG)

David Brendan Hall, photographer. Follow him @DBrendanHall.

Top 5 2023 Coachella acts: Björk, Metro Boomin, Yves Tumor, Dinner Party and Blackpink.

Must-pack festival items: I recommend packing a light hoodie or long sleeve shirt. The weather can get significantly cooler after sunset. Also my favorite hack: Face wipes. When the sun finally dips behind the mountains, the removal of sunscreen and dust buildup feels almost like taking a quick, rejuvenating shower.

Favorite non-music Coachella adventure: Don’t skimp on the art experiences. They’ve become increasingly immersive over the years and while the inclusion of these sorts of installations have waned at many other fests, they’ve remained integral at Coachella.

Drew A. Kelley, photographer.

Favorite part about Coachella: For me, going to music festivals was always about the lineup and whether or not my favorite bands were playing, but Coachella changed that. Now what I look forward to the most is stumbling into a tent to hear a band that I can’t pronounce the name of and falling in love with them.

 Jessica Shalvoy, reporter. Follow her @Its_Shalvoy.

Top 5 2023 Coachella acts: Wet Leg, 070 Shake, MUNA, Rosalía and Ethen Cain.

Pro tip: Cell service gets dicey within the festival grounds as the day goes on, so pick a meeting spot (and time) if you plan on separating from your group.

Favorite non-music Coachella adventure: Meeting people! There’s something here for everyone and that attracts an array of fans from all walks of life. Don’t be afraid to make new friends, dance with a stranger, or lean into someone’s story over a cold beer. Just don’t take drugs from strangers.

The latest Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival news

Coachella 2023: Where to go for breakfast, lunch or late-night snacks pre-and post-festival

 How Day Club Palm Springs’ poolside parties offer a unique concert experience 

 Desert Gold’s free music event returns to Palm Springs during both Coachella weekends

Coachella 2023: How to livestream performances from all of the festival stages

Coachella 2023: 5 Southern California artists making their festival debut 

What to pack for the 2023 Coachella and Stagecoach fests — and what to know before you get there.

Coachella 2023: The Glitch Mob, Disco Wrek, Mr. Carmack to play the Do Lab

Coachella 2023: Heineken House reveals its hip-hop, R&B and dance music lineup

Coachella 2023: Weekend Two hasn’t sold out yet. Here’s why that’s good for you

See ya again next week!

As always, thanks for reading and keep rockin’.

Get Festival Pass delivered to your inbox weekly.

​ Orange County Register