Hurricane Ian Live Updates: DeSantis Expects Power Outages To Be in The Millions
Hurricane Ian Live Updates: DeSantis Expects Power Outages To Be ‘in The Millions’ https://digitalalabamanews.com/hurricane-ian-live-updates-desantis-expects-power-outages-to-be-in-the-millions/
Live updates will be posted here regarding the impacts of Hurricane Ian on our region.
Check here for our hurricane preparedness stories to get ready for the storm. Get the latest updates on Hurricane Ian here.
At a late night press conference, Gov. Ron DeSantis said Hurricane Ian will have widespread affect throughout Florida with dangerous storm surge, heavy rain and “catastrophic” flooding.
“This is a lot of nasty weather we’re in store for these next couple of days,” he said.
DeSantis also said he expected power outages to be “in the millions” and there were 30,000 utility workers ready to restore electricity once the storm passes.
For those evacuating, there are 176 shelters statewide. He also said hotels are largely relaxing their pet policies for those traveling with pets.
“We think it’s very important that you don’t leave your pets behind,” he said. “Bring your pets with you. They need you during this time.”
At least two tornadoes caused by Hurricane Ian touched down in Broward County on Tuesday night, the National Weather Service Miami said.
The first tornado moved over Weston, Sawgrass Mills in Sunrise and Davie about 7:30 p.m., the weather service said.
“The environment will be favorable for tornado development over the next couple of hours,” the weather service said in a Tweet.
The second tornado moved over a similar path through Pembroke Pines, Davie and Cooper City. The area is under a tornado warning until 8:15 p.m., the weather service said.
Orange County Fire Rescue crews are visiting mobile home parks throughout the county Wednesday to encourage residents to evacuate during the storm, according to a press release.
Peak winds are expected to be as high as 74-80 mph and with 12-18 inches of rain possible.
Officials also announced the closure of Reams Road, from Bay Court to the Disney Parking Lot at 9 a.m. Wednesday until further notice.
Other areas that are prone to flooding, include:
Lakes of Windermere at Peachtree-Reams Road
Oasis-Reams Road
Orla Vista/Westside Manor
Bonny Brooke-Oakridge/John Young
Gov. Ron DeSantis has suspended tolls on Central Florida toll roads until further notice in preparation for Hurricane Ian, the Central Florida Expressway Authority announced Friday evening.
As of 5 p.m. Tuesday, drivers will not have to pay tolls throughout the 125-mile expressway system that stretches across Brevard, Lake, Orange, Osceola and Seminole counties.
The system includes 865 lane miles, 73 interchanges, 14 mainline toll plazas, five mainline gantries, 74 ramp toll plazas and 343 bridges and eight named expressways.
The CFX headquarters in Orlando will be closed effective Wednesday and will resume regular hours on Monday. The E-PASS Customer Service Walk-In Center will also be closed and the E-PASS Call Center will remain open with limited staffing, according to the announcement.
UCF football’s home game vs. SMU, originally scheduled for Saturday afternoon, has been moved to Sunday, the American Athletic Conference announced on Tuesday.
Kickoff inside FBC Mortage Stadium between the Knights and the Mustangs is set for 1 p.m. the conference said.
The broadcast designation, on the ESPN Family of Networks, will be announced at a later date according to the conference.
The last sandbag distribution center in Osceola County at the St. Cloud civic center will continue to fill sandbags until 7 p.m. Tuesday.
The St. Cloud Civic Center has distributed an estimated 15,000 sandbags so far today, according to St. Cloud spokesperson Maryemma Bachelder.
The civic center opened Tuesday at noon and will close at 7 p.m.
Another Osceola County sandbag distribution center at the Osceola County Heritage Center will close at 6 p.m. Tuesday.
The Osceola Heritage Center has filled over 216,000 sandbags over the last three days, according to a news release.
Two new shelters opened in Osceola County at Narcossee Middle School and a pet-friendly shelter at Liberty High School.
Publix stores across the Orlando area will close Wednesday as Hurricane Ian approaches Florida, the Lakeland-based grocer’s website shows.
Customers can check details on their specific store at publix.com, but a check by the Orlando Sentinel Tuesday evening of many stores in the Orlando area show they are listed to close at 6 p.m. Wednesday and reopen on Friday.
Publix updated when exactly stores will close throughout the day Tuesday.
As of Tuesday evening, 448 of Publix’s 1,312 stores were expected to have modified hours.
As Hurricane Ian strengthens over the Gulf of Mexico, the Florida Department of Corrections announced Tuesday it will be canceling visitation hours statewide throughout the weekend.
Effective through Oct. 2, no visitors will be permitted at any of the major institutions, work camps, work release centers or annex facilities.
FDC said it will resume normal visitation “as soon as possible” and encourages loved ones of prisoners who want to receive updates on visitations and closures to text “FDCVISIT” to 888-777.
Walt Disney World theme and water parks will be closed Wednesday and Thursday. Additional information will be shared soon on DisneyWorld.com/weather.
Central Florida hospitals are gathering supplies to ensure they can continue to provide service as Hurricane Ian inches closer to the region.
AdventHealth Central Florida has stockpiled thousands of gallons of water and has generators ready to power its hospitals in the event power is lost, said spokesperson Jeff Grainger.
“We do not anticipate any service interruptions,” he said. “Family members of patients can rest assured that the hospital will be a safe place for their loved ones during the storm. We will be fully staffed and continue to deliver our excellent standard of care.”
Orlando Health is also making preparations to ensure sufficient staffing and medical supplies, said spokesperson Sabrina Childress.
“Orlando Health takes each hurricane event seriously and prepares accordingly. Preparedness measures are underway and will continue to evolve in response to weather changes,” Childress said. “During inclement weather events, our priority remains the safety and care of all patients.”
HCA Florida Healthcare, too, will have adequate staffing, medications, medical supplies, food and water during the storm for its five Central Florida hospitals, as well as backup generator power, said Richard Hammett, president of the HCA Healthcare North Florida Division.
“We continue to monitor Hurricane Ian as it progresses and will be ready for any changes that may take place in the next 24-48 hours. With the support of HCA Healthcare’s National Command Center, HCA Florida Healthcare hospitals have access to information, resources, and support from a network of experts and care sites across the state and nation,” Hammett said in a statement.
Florida residents should only come to hospitals if they need medical attention. They are not equipped to serve as emergency shelters. Seminole County opening emergency shelters Wednesday | 3:36 p.m. Tuesday
Seminole County will open eight emergency shelters at 8 a.m. on Wednesday at area public schools for residents looking for refuge from Hurricane Ian.
The county will then announce an evacuation order for residents who live in flood-prone areas, mobile homes and persons with disabilities.
At the 3 p.m. press conference, however, county emergency officials held off naming the shelters and locations until they have them fully prepared for the influx of residents.
But residents should first try to find shelter in other areas — such as at a family member’s home or friend’s house — before deciding on a county emergency shelter, officials said.
“Shelters are places of last resort,” said Alan Harris, Seminole director of the county’s office for emergency services.
Residents with special needs should call the county’s hurricane hotline at 407-665-0000 if they need to stay at a shelter.
“Seminole County is planning for extremely high winds, heavy rains and possible tornadoes,” Harris said.
Sheriff Dennis Lemma urged residents to stay off the roads during the storm because of the danger of flying debris and flooded roads.
Lemma noted that his office has increased the number of deputies, along with city police officers, who will be patrolling the county.
“Any person committing a crime during a state of emergency will be dealt with appropriately,” Lemma said.
Shoppers looking for last-minute supplies and groceries from Publix in south Lake County as well as west of Kissimmee still have some time, but face a deadline as Hurricane Ian approaches.
While the Lakeland-based grocer hasn’t revealed changed hours for many of its Orlando area stores yet, at least nine stores in Clermont, Groveland, Minneola, and Kissimmee are expected to close at 4 p.m. Wednesday, according to the grocer’s website as of Tuesday afternoon. They are currently set to reopen Friday.
The stores were earlier listed as closing on Tuesday, and Publix has since updated its site with them closing Wednesday. Customers can check for updates on their stores at publix.com.
Even more stores west and southwest of Kissimmee, including in Davenport, are also expected to temporarily shutter.
Universal Orlando Resort, including CityWalk, will close on Wednesday and Thursday, with tentative plans to reopen on Friday as conditions permit.
Universal Orlando said its hotels are currently at full capacity and will remain operational.
The park planned two of its Halloween Horror Nights events on Wednesday and Thursday, both of which will be canceled. For more information and FAQs, visit https://www.universalorlando.com/web/en/us/plan-your-visit/weather-updates/severe-weather.html.
Data from an Air Force Reserve Hurricane Hunter aircraft indi...
ABC News Appoints Marcus Moore To Foreign Reporting Role
ABC News Appoints Marcus Moore To Foreign Reporting Role https://digitalalabamanews.com/abc-news-appoints-marcus-moore-to-foreign-reporting-role/
News Television
Olbermann is a loud voice when it comes to criticizing news media, and he’s set his sights on “Meet the Press” host Chuck Todd.
Published
17 hours ago
on
September 27, 2022
Former MSNBC host and iHeartMedia podcaster Keith Olbermann is a loud voice when it comes to criticizing news channels, and he’s set his sights on “Meet the Press” host Chuck Todd.
There’s been plenty of speculation over the future of Todd as the host of the Sunday program, and Olbermann stated that people who want to see a new person are wasting their time asking MSNBC to move on from Todd.
“I see a lot of tweets asking when @msnbc will fire Chuck Todd,” Olbermann tweeted on Monday. “It’s not their call. The man in charge is @nbcnews president @cesarconde_.”
Additionally, Olbermann took a shot at the NBC News president for not moving on from Todd, noting that Conde has other priorities, such as looking for his next executive position.
“[Conde would] make the change – IF somebody can get his attention,” Olbermann added. “He spends most of his time trying to get a corporate executive position somewhere.”
In late August, The Daily Beast reported that with the show struggling in the ratings department, the network could be ready to replace Todd with NBC White House correspondent Kristen Welker.
Furthermore, Welker is expected to take on more hosting duties as the midterm elections are nearing.
Eduardo Razo is the Assistant Content Editor for BNM, which includes writing daily news stories on the news media industry. He can be found on Twitter @eddierazo_ or you can reach him by email at eddie1991razo@gmail.com.
News Television
“I gave then Donald Trump and then President Trump a fair hearing. If he said things that were demonstrably false, which he did frequently, I called it out because of how it erodes trust and it’s a crisis,” Cuomo added.
Published
1 day ago
on
September 26, 2022
CNN has made strides to become political centrists in their daily news coverage, but one former host is not a fan of the decision. Chris Cuomo appeared Monday on the debut of the On with Kara Swisher podcast, where the host of an upcoming primetime show on NewsNation took issue with his former network’s programming shift.
“I don’t like the idea that they’re saying they’re going to be more middle ground,” Cuomo said. “I think a lot of people in the media like to see CNN go down because it was so powerful. And they tried to make that happen because I believe that that’s what our business is often about, is tearing things down as a negativity as a proxy for insight, but I don’t believe in middle ground.”
CNN is now part of Warner Bros. Discovery, which Cuomo believes was the reason for the channel’s move away from the left and toward neutrality. Swisher observed that Cuomo spent time on his old show criticizing former President Donald Trump, but Cuomo said he called things right down the middle.
“I gave then-President Trump a fair hearing. If he said things that were demonstrably false, which he did frequently, I called it out because of how it erodes trust and it’s a crisis,” Cuomo added.
Cuomo, who was fired by CNN over advising his brother and then-New York Governor Andrew Cuomo in his sexual harassment scandal, also said America’s two-party system is bad.
“I want more parties, I want rank choice voting, I want term limits in Congress, and I want electors apportioned by the states that matter. Is that right or left or is it reasonable? I want more parties. I don’t care about the left and the right. I think it’s killing us.”
Cuomo’s show on NewsNation premieres Monday, October 3 at 8:00 PM ET. On with Kara Swisher is produced by New York Magazine and the Vox Media Podcast Network. New episodes will be released every Monday and Thursday.
Joe Salzone is a news media writer for Barrett News Media. He’s a native of Long Island and has been involved in the radio industry since he was 16 years old. Currently, he serves as the News Director for the Cayuga Radio Group and hosts Ithaca’s Morning News on WHCU. His radio career has included stops at SiriusXM, Galaxy Communications, WGBB, WNYG, and the Finger Lakes Radio Group. He can be found on Twitter @JoeSalzone.
News Television
“What’s been interesting is it’s not just him,” said McEnany of Biden’s put downs. “Some lap dogs have followed the president’s orders in using the same language.”
Published
1 day ago
on
September 26, 2022
Fox News host Kayleigh McEnany had strong criticism for MSNBC host Tiffany Cross.
During her show Outnumbered, McEnany discussed phrasing used by prominent Democrat lawmakers, as well as former Presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, and President Joe Biden himself in regards to Donald Trump supporters.
“What’s been interesting is it’s not just him,” said McEnany of Biden’s put downs. “Some lap dogs have followed the president’s orders in using the same language.”
The program then aired a clip of panelists from The Cross Connection, the show the aforementioned Cross hosts on MSNBC, saying MAGA Republicans are the “biggest threat to democracy”. The most explosive comments were made by Roland Martin, who called Trump supports “evil” and went as far to say “we are at war” with them.
Harris Faulkner called the comments “irresponsible” before saying the language is damaging and could be used to fuel anti-conservative crimes. She also rebuked Clinton for her comparison of Trump supporters to slavery and Hitler.
Cross raised eyebrows earlier this month by saying a Civil War has already begun, after Republican Senator Lindsay Graham said there would be “riots in the streets” if former President Donald Trump was indicted for having classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago residence.
Read More…
Live Updates: Hurricane Ian Strengthens To Category 3 On Course To Hit Florida
Live Updates: Hurricane Ian Strengthens To Category 3 On Course To Hit Florida https://digitalalabamanews.com/live-updates-hurricane-ian-strengthens-to-category-3-on-course-to-hit-florida/
10m ago
Storm surge warning issued for Florida Keys
The National Hurricane Center issued a storm surge warning for the lower Florida Keys, from Big Pine Key to Key West, early Wednesday morning. Water levels had already risen 2 feet above normal high tide in Key West late Tuesday night.
At 12:30 a.m. ET Wednesday, Hurricane Ian was located about 100 miles southwest of Naples, Florida. It was moving north-northeast at 10 mph and had maximum sustained winds of 120 mph.
36m ago
Water levels in Key West rising
Water levels in Key West, Florida, have already risen more than 2 feet above normal high tide, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
11:08 PM
Hurricane position and strength as of 11 p.m. ET
At 11 p.m. ET, Hurricane Ian was located about 110 miles southwest of Naples, Florida, according to the National Hurricane Center. It was moving north-northeast at 10 mph and had maximum sustained winds of 120 mph, making it a Category 3 storm.
10:22 PM
Storm location and strength as of 10 p.m. ET
As of 10 p.m. ET, Hurricane Ian was located about 175 miles south-southwest of Punta Gorda, Florida, and about 5 miles south of The Dry Tortugas. It was moving north-northeast at 10 mph and had maximum sustained winds of 120 mph.
10:00 PM
Hurricane Ian lashes Cuba as it heads for Florida coast
Hurricane Ian tore into western Cuba as a major hurricane Tuesday and left 1 million people without electricity, then churned on a collision course with Florida over warm Gulf waters amid expectations it would strengthen into a catastrophic Category 4 storm.
Ian made landfall in Cuba’s Pinar del Rio province, where officials set up 55 shelters, evacuated 50,000 people, and took steps to protect crops in the nation’s main tobacco-growing region. The U.S. National Hurricane Center said Cuba suffered “significant wind and storm surge impacts” when the hurricane struck with top sustained winds of 125 mph (205 kmh).
A vintage car passes by debris caused by the Hurricane Ian as it passed in Pinar del Rio, Cuba, September 27, 2022. Alexandre Meneghini / REUTERS
Read more here.
9:09 PM
Tampa fire chief discusses Hurricane Ian preparations
8:40 PM
Location and speed of Ian as of 8 p.m. ET
At 8 p.m. ET, Hurricane Ian was located about 180 miles south-southwest of Punta Gorda, Florida, and 20 miles south-southwest of the Dry Tortugas, according to the National Hurricane Center. The storm was moving north-northeast at 10 mph and had maximum sustained winds of 120 mph.
8:14 PM
“You can hide from the wind, but you need to run from that water”: Tampa mayor on Hurricane Ian threat
Tampa mayor discusses dangers posed by Hurricane Ian 01:39
Tampa Mayor Jane Castor urged those who have not evacuated the area as Hurricane Ian approaches to do so, predicting that the city will lose power and could see a tidal surge.
“We used to have the old ‘Well, we can just wait this out and see what happens,'” Castor told “CBS Evening News” anchor and managing editor Norah O’Donnell on Tuesday. “We’re talking 10- to 15-foot tidal surge. Nobody can withstand that. There’s no waiting that out.”
“We always use the adage, you can hide from the wind, but you need to run from that water,” Castor said.
Read more here.
6:20 PM / September 27, 2022
Disney World closing theme and water parks
Disney World announced that it is closing all theme and water parks on Wednesday and Thursday as it braces for Hurricane Ian. ESPN’s Wide World of Sports Complex will also be closed and any Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser “voyages” that were scheduled to begin Tuesday or Thursday have been canceled, the park announced.
Disney hotels and resorts will remain open, however, guests must check in by 3 p.m. Wednesday and will be required to shelter in place “for the duration of the storm.” Cancellation fees will be waived for guests who wish to rebook their stays or cancel outright, the park said.
Disney World also warned that dining options for hotel guests “will vary, and in some cases may be very limited.”
Read more here.
7:57 PM / September 27, 2022
Biden speaks with DeSantis
President Biden spoke with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis “to discuss the steps the federal government is taking to help Florida prepare for Hurricane Ian,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said. Details of the conversation were not released, but both “commited to continued close coordination,” Jean-Pierre said.
President Biden spoke this evening with Governor DeSantis of Florida to discuss the steps the Federal government is taking to help Florida prepare for Hurricane Ian. The President and the Governor committed to continued close coordination.
— Karine Jean-Pierre (@PressSec) September 27, 2022
7:39 PM / September 27, 2022
Tracking Hurricane Ian’s expected landfall
7:11 PM / September 27, 2022
Evacuations underway as Hurricane Ian barrels toward Florida
5:43 PM / September 27, 2022
Piney Point under 24-hour supervision ahead of Hurricane Ian
Piney Point, a former phosphate mining facility in Manatee County, Florida, is undergoing 24-hour surveillance ahead of Hurricane Ian, CBS News has learned. The site made headlines last year when a massive leak was detected in the liner of a gypsum stack. The issue resulted in millions of gallons of wastewater ending up in Tampa Bay and helped contribute to a devastating months-long red tide event.
Florida Agricultural Commissioner Nikki Fried told CBS News on Tuesday that she had spoken with Florida’s Department of Environmental Protection earlier in the day and that they do not foresee Hurricane Ian being “a huge problem,” given its current forecasts.
“Based on the water that is currently in Piney Point, they can sustain about 25 inches of rain. And thinking that we’re supposed to get 12 to 15 inches of rain, they are not seeing this to be a huge problem,” Fried said.
Fried said the department informed her that the water has been partially treated, so that even if there is an overflow, “it won’t be of issue.”
However, the treatment of that water, she told CBS News, is something she “never had full trust and confidence in.”
The site is undergoing 24-hour monitoring, Fried said.
The state’s dedicated site for Piney Point updates last provided information on Friday, saying that preparations also include staging backup pumps and adjusting water management levels. There are roughly 268 million gallons in the site’s reservoir.
According to Manatee County’s evacuation maps, Piney Point is in evacuation zone B, meaning that the area could see a potential surge inundation of 14 feet.
The county issued mandatory evacuations for those in zones A and B on Tuesday. Those in zone C have been recommended to evacuate.
The state is more concerned with construction equipment on site, which the department is in the process of “hunkering down” and moving offsite to avoid heavy winds turning the equioment into projectiles. A deep injection well, approved in December, is under construction to hold the water that is in the reservoir, and the site is currently in the initial process of closing its south compartment, according to the website. Part of the process involves grading and shaping the area so it doesn’t accumulate rainwater.
“The secretary seems to be pretty confident that they should be OK with the amount of rain,” Fried said. “Of course, if it was to be head-on with 140 mph sustained wind, that would be an issue. But with this just potentially being a rain event more than anything else in that Piney point area, he felt confident that they could sustain the rain.”
5:14 PM / September 27, 2022
Hurricane warning extended south
The National Hurricane Center extended a hurricane warning southward along Florida’s west coast. The warning now stretches from the Anclote River down to Chokoloskee.
In addition, the storm surge watch from Marineland to the Flagler/Volusia County Line has been upgraded to a storm surge warning, the NHC said.
5:06 PM / September 27, 2022
Hurricane location as of 5 p.m. ET
As of 5 p.m. ET, Hurricane Ian was located roughly 230 miles south of Sarasota, Florida, and about 50 miles south-southwest of the Dry Tortugas, the National Hurricane Center said. The storm had maximum sustained winds of 120 mph and was moving north at 10 mph.
3:44 PM / September 27, 2022
House Jan. 6 panel postpones hearing due to Ian
The House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol has postponed a hearing scheduled for Wednesday due to Hurricane Ian.
“In light of Hurricane Ian bearing down on parts of Florida, we have decided to postpone tomorrow’s proceedings. We’re praying for the safety of all those in the storm’s path,” the committee said in a statement. “The Select Committee’s investigation goes forward and we will soon announce a date for the postponed proceedings.”
Read more here
3:25 PM / September 27, 2022
College football games moved because of Ian
Florida‘s home football game against Eastern Washington has been moved from Saturday to Sunday because of Hurricane Ian.
The Gators and Eagles will kick off at noon in Gainesville shortly before NFL games around the country.
Also, South Florida and East Carolina, which had been slated to play in Tampa on Saturday night, will instead play in Boca Raton. The game will now kick off at 2:30 p.m. at Florida Atlantic’s stadium.
The University of Florida canceled classes and all student-related activities Wednesday through Friday in anticipation of Ian’s predicted landfall.
Meanwhile, South Carolina‘s home game with South Carolina State has been moved from Saturday to Thursday night due to Ian’s track.
Updated 2:48 PM / September 27, 2022
Warning and watches as of 2 p.m. ET
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Stock Futures Fall After S&P 500 Hits New Low For The Year; 10-Year Treasury Yield Briefly Tops 4%
Stock Futures Fall After S&P 500 Hits New Low For The Year; 10-Year Treasury Yield Briefly Tops 4% https://digitalalabamanews.com/stock-futures-fall-after-s-10-year-treasury-yield-briefly-tops-4/
Stock futures were lower on Wednesday morning after a relief rally failed during regular trading hours and the S&P 500 hit a new intraday low for the year.
Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 173 points, or about 0.59%. S&P 500 futures shed 0.71%, and Nasdaq 100 futures also fell more than 100 points, or about 0.98%.
During Tuesday’s session, stocks gave up a large early gain and the S&P 500 fell below its intraday low from June, which was the previous market bottom. The Dow and S&P 500 closed lower for the sixth straight day, while the Nasdaq Composite ground higher by 0.25%. All three major averages are now in bear market territory.
Several technical metrics show that the stock market may be oversold, but some on Wall Street are worried that investors have not priced in an earnings slowdown and the impact of the Federal Reserve’s rate hikes. The S&P 500 breaking below its previous low is a key indicator for some that stocks still have further to fall.
“I think we’re certainly not at the end of the road in terms of pricing in the full recessionary outcome. … We really need to get to dirt cheap valuations on equities, and we’re not quite there yet,” Anastasia Amoroso, chief investment strategist at iCapital, said on Tuesday’s “Closing Bell.“
On Wednesday, investors will get an updated look at the housing market with pending home sales from August.
CNBC Pro: Credit Suisse says now’s the time to buy two green hydrogen stocks — and gives one over 200% upside
Credit Suisse says it’s time to enter the green hydrogen sector, with a number of catalysts set to drive the clean energy powerhouse.
“Green hydrogen is a growth market — we increase our 2030 market estimates by [over] 4x,” the bank said, forecasting that green hydrogen production will expand by around 40 times by 2030.
It names two stocks to play the boom — giving one upside of more than 200%.
CNBC Pro subscribers can read more here.
— Weizhen Tan
U.S. 10-year Treasury yield breaches 4% for the first time since 2010
–Jihye Lee
CNBC Pro: Asset manager reveals what’s next for stocks — and shares how he’s trading the market
Neil Veitch, investment director at Edinburgh-based SVM Asset Management, says he expects the macro landscape to remain “quite difficult” for the remainder of the year.
Speaking to CNBC Pro Talks last week, Veitch named the key drivers that could help the stock market to turn “more constructive” and shared his take on growth versus value.
CNBC Subscribers can read more here.
— Zavier Ong
Earnings questions, potential recession mean more selling could be ahead
The Dow and S&P 500 have fallen for six straight days, with many of those seeing broad selling typical of so-called “washout” days.
That can sometimes be a contrarian buy signal on Wall Street, but many investment professionals are skeptical that the selling is over. One reason is that earnings expectations for next year still show solid growth, which would be unlikely in the event of a recession.
“We know that if we start seeing a turnaround in the 2-year yields … and if we start seeing a turnaround in the dollar, that gives us the ability to bounce from these extremely oversold conditions,” said Andrew Smith, chief investment strategist of Delos Capital Advisors in Dallas. “But I have a hard time reconciling in my mind that the earnings story is going to be as good as we expect.”
Additionally, the dramatic moves in the bond and currency markets means that “something broke” and it may be smart to wait for that information to shake out, Smith said.
On the positive side, Smith pointed to a strong labor market and signs of continued spending on travel as a sign that the U.S. economy may be able to avoid a major recession.
— Jesse Pound
Futures open higher
Stock futures rose slightly after trading began at 6 p.m. Dow futures rose more than 60 points at one time, though those gains have since shrunk.
Nasdaq 100 futures had the biggest early jump of three, suggesting that tech may continue to outperform on Wednesday.
— Jesse Pound
S&P 500 takes out June low on Tuesday
Though Tuesday’s closing levels showed relatively modest daily moves, the S&P 500 fell below its previous intraday low for the year during the session. That move was seen by many as confirmation that the summer rally for stocks has failed.
The S&P 500 is now 24.3% off of its record high, and the Dow is also in bear market territory, down roughly 21.2%. The Nasdaq Composite, whose decline dates back to last November, is 33.2% below its high-water mark.
The next key metric for investors in the days ahead could come from the bond market, where the 10-year Treasury yield has surged to just below the 4% level.
— Jesse Pound, Christopher Hayes
Read More…
Family Friends Hold Vigil For Victim Of Deadly M&M Food Mart Shooting
Family, Friends Hold Vigil For Victim Of Deadly M&M Food Mart Shooting https://digitalalabamanews.com/family-friends-hold-vigil-for-victim-of-deadly-mm-food-mart-shooting/
MOBILE, Ala. (WKRG) — A vigil was held Tuesday, Sept. 27, for the man shot and killed Saturday night at M&M Food Mart in Theodore.
Family and friends gathered at the very spot Jamarcus Lewis, 27, was shot, to pay their respects as they lit candles and released balloons in his memory.
Lewis’ mother, Jessica Wright said the community referred to her son as “Lip,’” and she describes her son as funny, loving, kind and very respectful.
Wright said she misses a lot about her son, but she misses his daily phone calls the most.
Wright said it used to irritate her that her son would only ask her how she was doing, but now she just wishes she could hear him ask her that again, even if it was just one more time.
“He would call me every day and never said anything but how you doing,” said Wright. “The thing I used to say was that gets on my nerves, but that’s the very thing that I miss about him, not calling me.”
Nina Ford Johnson is a family friend and attended the vigil. Johnson said she just wants the violence to end in our community.
“It just hurts so much that we have to go through this as a community over and over again,” said Johnson. “My wish and my prayer are that we break the silos in this community, and somehow bring us together.”
There have been no arrests in this homicide case. If you have any information you are asked to contact the Mobile Police Department at 251-208-1700.
Read More…
How Donald Trump https://digitalalabamanews.com/how-donald-trump/
The Democrats had the most tenuous control in the Senate, holding exactly half the seats with the vice president serving as the tiebreaker.
The only thing Republicans needed to do was pick up a single seat in November’s midterm election, and they had plenty of good opportunities.
Donald Trump has endorsed a series of fundamentally flawed candidates in the upcoming midterms. (AP)
Democrats had only won their seats in Arizona, Georgia, New Hampshire and Nevada by the narrowest of margins in the previous election.
And the party out of power almost always makes big gains in the first midterm election of a presidency.
But the intervention of one man may not only cost Republicans their chance of winning the Senate, but may actually result in the party losing seats.
In recent months, Trump used his power and influence within the Republican Party to endorse the candidates he preferred in each Senate race.
And his picks are not panning out well.
Donald Trump’s popularity among Republicans has not easily transferred to other candidates. (AP)
Arizona has been the archetypal red state for nearly all its existence, reliably voting for Republicans for years.
But the top Republican Party fundraising body is so unhappy with the performance of candidate Blake Masters that they have cut all advertising in the state.
Masters has no previous political experience but prevailed in a crowded primary thanks to the endorsement of Trump.
Masters has argued that contraception is not a constitutional right and has embraced the white supremacist “Great Replacement Theory”.
The Republican Party has pulled out its advertising dollars from Arizona because Blake Masters is polling so badly. (AP)
In the wake of the Uvalde school massacre, he blamed gun violence on “Black people”.
He also called for every general in the military to be fired and replaced by conservative colonels.
In what is usually a Republican-leaning state, prognosticators now believe Democrat Mark Kelly will be elected reasonably easily.
But Walker had no political background and had not lived in Georgia for decades.
Since entering the race, it has been revealed Walker lied about his business success, his academic record and bizarrely, a non-existent background in law enforcement.
It was also revealed he had three unacknowledged children to several different women.
Donald Trump has been touting Herschel Walker as a candidate for high office for years. (AP)
Ads blanketing the airwaves show his ex-wife recounting the time he allegedly held a gun to her head.
His excuse for not wanting to debate his Democratic opponent, Rev. Raphael Warnock, was not the savviest answer.
“I’m not that smart. And he’s a preacher. He’s a smart man, wears these nice suits,” Walker said.
“So he is going to show up and embarrass me at the debate.”
In 2016, Democratic candidate Maggie Hassan won election by a 0.1 per cent margin.
But this time around, Hassan is looking to cruise to re-election against the ardent Trump fan Don Bolduc.
The former brigadier-general argued the 2020 election was rigged in favour of Joe Biden, and espoused the conspiracy theory that COVID-19 vaccines were actually microchips inserted into people at the behest of Microsoft founder Bill Gates.
Don Bolduc called the popular governor of New Hampshire, a member of his own party, a Chinese communist sympathiser. (AP)
Bolduc also described the popular Republican governor of New Hampshire as a “Chinese communist sympathiser” whose business supports terrorism.
Hassan currently has a double-digit polling lead over Bolduc.
The Republican party would have considered Ohio to be a state they didn’t need to worry about.
But voters have not taken kindly to JD Vance, the Trump-endorsed candidate who narrowly won the primary in the midwestern state.
Vance came to popular attention as the author of ‘Hillbilly Elegy’, a memoir of his time growing up poor.
The venture capitalist has taken on deeply conservative views, criticising women for leaving abusive husbands.
Donald Trump endorsed JD Vance for the Senate in Ohio, in spite of the venture capitalist spending much of his adulthood in San Francisco. (AP)
When asked if he believed abortion should be legal for rape and incest victims, he replied “two wrongs don’t make a right”.
He also said people who hadn’t had children shouldn’t have as much of a voice in democracies.
Even as Trump won the state by eight points, Vance is neck-and-neck with his Democratic opponent Tim Ryan.
The classic swing state of Pennsylvania should have been an easy hold for Republicans thanks to the unpopularity of Biden.
But thanks to Trump’s endorsement, celebrity doctor Mehmet Oz, best known as Dr Oz, eked out a win in the primary.
This is despite most Pennsylvanians coming to view Oz as an out-of-touch rich guy who actually lives in, shock horror, New Jersey.
Mehmet Oz has seen his popularity plummet since he entered politics. (AP)
His Democratic opponent John Fetterman looks like the dude at a bikie bar you would never pick a fight with, and has never been accused of being slick.
Oz has trailed in every poll conducted in months.
Election Day is November 8.
January 6: The day that rattled American democracy
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Trump Wins Ruling In Rape Accuser Carroll's Defamation Lawsuit News Today | First With The News
Trump Wins Ruling In Rape Accuser Carroll's Defamation Lawsuit – News Today | First With The News https://digitalalabamanews.com/trump-wins-ruling-in-rape-accuser-carrolls-defamation-lawsuit-news-today-first-with-the-news/
A federal appeals court set aside a judge’s ruling that Donald Trump could be sued for defamation by E. Jean Carroll after denying he raped her, though it stopped short of declaring the former U.S. president immune from the author’s lawsuit. In a 2-1 decision on Tuesday, the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan asked an appeals court in Washington to weigh in on whether the laws of that district shielded Trump from liability.But the Manhattan court also accepted Trump’s argument that he qualified as a U.S. government “employee” when he allegedly defamed Carroll, a condition underlying his immunity claim. A dissenting judge, Denny Chin, would have let Carroll pursue “at least some” claims, saying “Carroll’s allegations plausibly paint a picture of a man pursuing a personal vendetta against an accuser.”
Carroll sued Trump in November 2019, and had been hoping to go to trial as soon as next February. She had accused Trump in a June 2019 book excerpt of having raped her in late 1995 or early 1996 in a dressing room at the Bergdorf Goodman department store in midtown Manhattan.Trump, then in his third year in the White House, responded to her accusations by telling a reporter he did not know Carroll, that “she’s not my type,” and that she concocted the rape claim to sell her book. Alina Habba, a lawyer for Trump, said in a statement she was “extremely pleased” with Tuesday’s decision, saying it would “protect the ability of all future presidents to effectively govern without hindrance.”Roberta Kaplan, a lawyer for Carroll, said in a statement she was “confident” the District of Columbia court would let the case proceed. On Sept. 20, Kaplan said Carroll planned to sue Trump for battery and inflicting emotional distress even if the defamation claims were thrown out.
She cited a new state law, the Adult Survivors Act, which gives adult accusers a one-year window starting on Nov. 24 to bring civil claims over alleged sexual misconduct occurring long ago. ‘WE DO NOT PASS JUDGMENT’Trump claimed he was shielded from Carroll’s lawsuit by a federal law immunizing government employees from defamation claims. He also said letting the case proceed could unleash a flood of frivolous lawsuits whenever presidents spoke.U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan had found that Trump was not a government employee, and that even if he were, he exceeded the scope of his employment when talking about Carroll. Asking the D.C. Court of Appeals to address the second issue, Circuit Judge Guido Calabresi said the district’s law was “genuinely uncertain” and the matter was “of extreme public importance.”
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LAURA INGRAHAM: Dems Have Been Working Overtime To Sell A Lie To The American People
LAURA INGRAHAM: Dems Have Been Working Overtime To Sell A Lie To The American People https://digitalalabamanews.com/laura-ingraham-dems-have-been-working-overtime-to-sell-a-lie-to-the-american-people/
Angle: The True Extremist Threat
Laura Ingraham highlights how ‘dark and sinister’ the Biden administration is and how they are trying to sell a lie to Americans before midterms on ‘The Ingraham Angle.’
NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!
Laura Ingraham discusses how Democrats have been destroying America’s prosperity and selling a lie that conservative are the most dangerous threat facing the country today on “The Ingraham Angle.“
LAURA INGRAHAM: REGULAR WORKING PEOPLE ARE GROWING INCREASINGLY FED UP WITH ESTABLISHMENT POLITICIANS
LAURA INGRAHAM: The truth about this administration and the Democrat Party in general. It’s not funny at all. In fact, it’s dark and it’s sinister. While they’ve been busy destroying our prosperity, our border and our safety, they’ve also been working overtime to sell a lie to the American people.
Now, this toxic mantra, it’s all silly. It’s drilled into the national conversation day after day, and it pits Americans against Americans solely based on political differences. Now, how sickeningly cynical is that? How transparent? The argument that conservative Republicans are the most dangerous threat facing us today? Not the crippling recession, not fentanyl coming from China, not high energy costs, not skyrocketing murder rates. But those people who supported Trump. They’re the real menace. Now, this is why Biden can’t quit Charlottesville.
President Donald Trump speaks during a press briefing with the coronavirus task force, in the Brady press briefing room at the White House, Monday, March 16, 2020, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci) (AP)
And then there’s the insurrection that wasn’t. Whenever the news gets bad politically for Biden, the Democrats and the media try to save the party by going back to Jan. 6th.
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This article was written by Fox News staff.
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2022 HiFi For Accuracy SMRT Grant Winners – PacBio https://digitalalabamanews.com/2022-hifi-for-accuracy-smrt-grant-winners-pacbio/
PacBio is pleased to present the recipients of this year’s HiFi for accuracy SMRT grant.
At PacBio, we are driven to create the most accurate genomic sequencing technologies so that you can forge new frontiers in genomics. HiFi sequencing technology enables 15 kb reads with Q30 accuracy for generating the most complete, contiguous, and correct assemblies of some of the most complex genomes on the planet.
Through the SMRT Grant program, PacBio awards free HiFi sequencing services to outstanding research proposals that have the potential to advance scientific knowledge across the full spectrum of sequencing applications.
We are grateful for the generous support of the Arizona Genomics Institute, Genomics WA, and the Uppsala Genome Center. Without these exceptional partners, this year’s HiFi for Accuracy SMRT Grant would not have been possible.
The winning investigators of 2022
We are proud to present the three recipients of our 2022 HiFi for Accuracy SMRT Grant and are excited by the promise of their research.
This year’s HiFi for Accuracy SMRT Grant received hundreds of submissions and a wide array of innovative ideas. We selected three outstanding winners from around the world who intend to reveal nature’s secrets, from the mysteries of cancer biology to the evolution of spiders. These are the winning proposals for 2022:
Shiro Fujita, MD, Ph.D.,
Department of Respiratory Medicine
Kobe Central Hospital, Japan
Exploring genetic predisposition in overlapping cases of non-small cell lung cancer and thyroid cancer without a history of smoking
Research has shown us that never-smokers are more likely to have papillary thyroid cancer than those with a history of smoking among women with non-small cell lung cancer, implicating predisposing factors other than tobacco smoke in the onset of these cancers (Fujita S, et al. Intern Med 2015) (Fujita S, et al. Sci Rep 2021). Shiro Fujita’s team applied for this SMRT Grant in order to use PacBio long-read sequencing to explore germline structural variants in genes related to DNA mismatch repair in patients suffering non-small cell lung cancer and papillary thyroid cancer.
Troy LoBue
Auburn University, USA
Studying SVs in African American breast cancer
African American (AA) women have higher breast cancer rates before the age of 40 compared to other ethnicities and are disproportionately diagnosed with triple-negative breast cancer. Inherited genetic risk factors are likely playing a role, yet AA hereditary breast cancer has been understudied. Using PacBio HiFi sequencing, Troy LoBue and team will carry out WGS on AA individuals from the Alabama Hereditary Cancer Cohort and perform case/control association tests to identify variants that increase AA inherited breast cancer risk. HiFi sequencing will be used to provide more precise and efficient variant identification, increasing the potential of discovery of new genetic risk factors associated with cancer.
Yannis Schöneberg
Universität Trier, Germany
Sequencing a living fossil to understand spider evolution
The genus Heptathela represents the most primitive family of extant spiders, having diverged ~400 million years ago. These “living fossils” are unique in that they belong to the only family retaining the plesiomorphic segmented abdomen and all four pairs of spinnerets, which other spiders have lost. A Heptathela genome would offer researchers unprecedented insights into the evolution and origins of important spider genes, including spidroin and venom genes. However, this has been challenging due to its large size and complexity. Yannis Schöneberg hopes that HiFi sequencing will bring this extraordinary and essential genome within our grasp.
These exceptional research proposals beautifully showcase the myriad of ways in which the length and accuracy of HiFi sequencing can be used to answer some of the most challenging and intriguing questions in biology. If you’re interested in obtaining the explanatory power of HiFi sequencing to open new avenues of inquiry in your research program, consider applying for one of multiple SMRT Grants.
Once again, congratulations to all our winners!
About the SMRT grant program
Interested in free sequencing? Learn how to apply for your chance to win.
The SMRT Grant program offers scientific investigators the opportunity to win free HiFi sequencing services for their research projects.
Grants are offered across all areas of the life sciences. Whether you are studying intricate microbiomes, complex plant polyploids, rare and endangered species, or the dark regions of the human genome – there is a grant available for you.
If you would like to apply, simply select an open grant program aligned with your field of study, read the instructions, fill out the application, and succinctly tell us how your research will benefit from HiFi sequencing. Applications are evaluated, and once a winner has been awarded they will be contacted by our experts to coordinate with an approved sequencing service provider to receive free consumables, library prep, HiFi sequencing, and initial bioinformatic analyses.
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AP News Summary At 9:47 P.m. EDT https://digitalalabamanews.com/ap-news-summary-at-947-p-m-edt/
Hurricane Ian strikes Cuba, Florida braces for winds, floods
HAVANA (AP) — Hurricane Ian tore into western Cuba as a major hurricane Tuesday and left 1 million people without electricity. Now it’s on a collision course with Florida over warm Gulf waters and forecasters say it may strengthen into a catastrophic Category 4 storm. Ian made landfall early Tuesday in Cuba’s Pinar del Rio province, where officials set up 55 shelters, evacuated 50,000 people and took steps to protect crops in the nation’s main tobacco-growing region. Ian was expected to get even stronger over the warm Gulf of Mexico. In Florida, 2.5 million people were ordered to evacuate.
Cuba without electricity after hurricane hammers power grid
HAVANA (AP) — Hurricane has Ian knocked out power across all of Cuba and devastated some of the country’s most important tobacco farms when it slammed into the island’s western tip as a major hurricane. Cuba’s Electric Union said work is being done to gradually restore service to the country’s 11 million people between Tuesday night and Wednesday morning. Ian made landfall as a Category 3 hurricane early Tuesday. It devastated Pinar del Río province, where much of the tobacco used to make Cuba’s iconic cigars is grown. Tens of thousands of people were evacuated ahead of the arrival of Ian. Authorities are still assessing the damage, although no fatalities have been reported.
Kremlin announces vote, paves way to annex part of Ukraine
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Pro-Moscow officials say that residents in all four occupied areas of Ukraine voted to join Russia. The Kremlin-orchestrated votes have been dismissed by the U.S. and its Western allies as illegitimate. According to Russia-installed election officials, 93% of the ballots case in the Zaporizhzhia region were in support of annexation, as were 87% of ballots in the southern Kherson region and 98% in Luhansk. The preordained outcome sets the stage for a dangerous new phase in Russia’s seven-month war in Ukraine because it is expected to serve as a pretext for Moscow to annex the four areas. That could happen within days.
Blasts precede Baltic pipeline leaks, sabotage seen likely
WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Denmark believes “deliberate actions” caused big leaks in two natural gas pipelines that run under the Baltic Sea from Russia to Germany, and seismologists said powerful explosions preceded the leaks. European leaders and experts pointed to possible sabotage amid the energy standoff with Russia provoked by the war in Ukraine. Although filled with gas, neither pipeline is currently supplying it to Europe. Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said Tuesday that “it is the authorities’ clear assessment that these are deliberate actions -– not accidents.” The incident overshadowed the inauguration of a long-awaited pipeline that will bring Norwegian gas to Poland to bolster the continent’s energy independence from Moscow.
Millions of Americans will save on Medicare fees next year
WASHINGTON (AP) — For the first time in a decade, Americans will pay less next year on monthly premiums for Medicare’s Part B plan, which covers routine doctors’ visits and other outpatient care. The rare 3% decrease in monthly premiums — a savings of $5.20 for most — comes after millions of Medicare beneficiaries endured a tough year of high inflation and a dramatic increase in those premiums this year. Most people on Medicare will pay $164.90 monthly for Part B coverage starting next year. The decrease in Medicare fees comes as many older people await news about big increases next year to their Social Security checks, which are often used to pay for Medicare premiums.
California murder suspect, teen daughter killed in shootout
LOS ANGELES (AP) — California authorities say an abducted 15-year-old girl and her father — a fugitive wanted in the death of the teen’s mother — were killed in a shootout with law enforcement. San Bernardino County Sheriff Shannon Dicus says the teenager, Savannah Graziano, was wearing tactical gear as she ran toward sheriff’s deputies during the firefight on a highway in the high desert. She was shot and was taken to the hospital, where she was pronounced dead shortly before noon. Her father, 45-year-old Anthony John Graziano, was pronounced dead at the scene in Hesperia. He allegedly killed his estranged wife in a domestic violence incident on Monday in the city of Fontana.
Biden keeps US target for refugee admissions at 125,000
SAN DIEGO (AP) — President Joe Biden is formally keeping the nation’s cap on refugee admissions at 125,000 for the 2023 budget year, despite pressure from advocates to raise it even higher to meet the need after falling far short of that target this year. Refugees advocates had been pushing the Biden administration to do more to restore the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program. The program suffered deep cuts under the Trump administration, which slashed admissions to a record low of 15,000. Biden has raised the cap to four times that amount this year, but so far fewer than 20,000 refugees have been admitted.
Jan. 6 panel delays hearing as Hurricane Ian aims at Florida
WASHINGTON (AP) — The House Jan. 6 committee has postponed a hearing scheduled for Wednesday as a hurricane hurtles toward the Florida coast. The committee had planned to hold what was likely to be its final investigative hearing Wednesday afternoon. But lawmakers decided at the last minute to delay it as it became clear that Hurricane Ian was churning on a collision course toward Florida, where it is expected to strengthen into a catastrophic Category 4 storm. The committee had not yet provided a specific agenda for the Wednesday hearing, but Rep. Adam Schiff said over the weekend it would “tell the story about a key element of Donald Trump’s plot to overturn the election.”
Families testify of confrontations with Sandy Hook deniers
WATERBURY, Conn. (AP) — Nicole Hockley lost one son in the 2012 Sandy Hook massacre. She testified Tuesday that her biggest fear is that people who believe the shooting never happened will harm her other son, who survived the attack at his school. Hockle, her former husband, Ian Hockley, and the sister of another victim were the latest family members of the 26 victims of the school shooting to testify at the defamation trial of Alex Jones, where a jury is deciding how much the conspiracy theorist must pay for spreading the lie that the shooting was a hoax. Defense attorney Norm Pattis is arguing that any damages should be limited and accused the victims’ relatives of exaggerating the harm the lies caused them.
Senators push to reform police’s cellphone tracking tools
NEW YORK (AP) — Civil rights lawyers and Democratic senators are pushing for legislation that would limit U.S. law enforcement agencies’ ability to buy cellphone tracking tools to follow people’s whereabouts, including back years in time, and sometimes without a search warrant. Concerns about police use of the tool known as “Fog Reveal” raised in an investigation by The Associated Press published earlier this month also surfaced in a Federal Trade Commission hearing three weeks ago. Police agencies have been using the platform to search hundreds of billions of records gathered from 250 million mobile devices, and hoover up people’s geolocation data to assemble so-called “patterns of life,” according to thousands of pages of records about the company.
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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Donald Trump Wins Ruling In Rape Accuser Carroll's Defamation Lawsuit
Donald Trump Wins Ruling In Rape Accuser Carroll's Defamation Lawsuit https://digitalalabamanews.com/donald-trump-wins-ruling-in-rape-accuser-carrolls-defamation-lawsuit/
NEW YORK – A federal appeals court set aside a judge’s ruling that Donald Trump could be sued for defamation by E. Jean Carroll after denying he raped her, though it stopped short of declaring the former US president immune from the author’s lawsuit.
In a 2-1 decision on Tuesday, the 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan asked an appeals court in Washington to weigh in on whether the laws of that district shielded Trump from liability.
But the Manhattan court also accepted Trump’s argument that he qualified as a US government “employee” when he allegedly defamed Carroll, a condition underlying his immunity claim.
A dissenting judge, Denny Chin, would have let Carroll pursue “at least some” claims, saying “Carroll’s allegations plausibly paint a picture of a man pursuing a personal vendetta against an accuser.”
Carroll sued Trump in November 2019, and had been hoping to go to trial as soon as next February.
She had accused Trump in a June 2019 book excerpt of having raped her in late 1995 or early 1996 in a dressing room at the Bergdorf Goodman department store in midtown Manhattan.
Trump, then in his third year in the White House, responded to her accusations by telling a reporter he did not know Carroll, that “she’s not my type,” and that she concocted the rape claim to sell her book.
Alina Habba, a lawyer for Trump, said in a statement she was “extremely pleased” with Tuesday’s decision, saying it would “protect the ability of all future presidents to effectively govern without hindrance.”
Roberta Kaplan, a lawyer for Carroll, said in a statement she was “confident” the District of Columbia court would let the case proceed.
On Sept 20, Kaplan said Carroll planned to sue Trump for battery and inflicting emotional distress even if the defamation claims were thrown out.
She cited a new state law, the Adult Survivors Act, which gives adult accusers a one-year window starting on Nov. 24 to bring civil claims over alleged sexual misconduct occurring long ago.
‘We do not pass judgement’
Trump claimed he was shielded from Carroll’s lawsuit by a federal law immunising government employees from defamation claims.
He also said letting the case proceed could unleash a flood of frivolous lawsuits whenever presidents spoke.
US District Judge Lewis Kaplan had found that Trump was not a government employee, and that even if he were, he exceeded the scope of his employment when talking about Carroll.
Asking the D.C. Court of Appeals to address the second issue, Circuit Judge Guido Calabresi said the district’s law was “genuinely uncertain” and the matter was “of extreme public importance.”
“We do not pass judgment or express any view as to whether Trump’s public statements were indeed defamatory or whether the sexual assault allegations had, in fact, occurred,” he wrote.
Chin, in his dissent, said Trump was not serving “any purpose of the federal government” when he discussed Carroll.
“In the context of an accusation of rape, the comment ‘she’s not my type’ surely is not something one would expect the President of the United States to say in the course of his duties,” Chin wrote.
The case became more complex in 2020 when the Department of Justice, acting at the behest of then-Attorney General William Barr, sought to substitute the government as the sole defendant.
That would have ended Carroll’s case, because the United States had not waived its immunity from defamation claims.
In a somewhat surprising move, the Biden administration essentially adopted its predecessor’s argument, while criticising Trump for making “crude and offensive comments” in response to Carroll’s “very serious” accusations.
Summer Zervos, a former contestant on Trump’s reality television show “The Apprentice” who accused him of sexual assault, ended her own defamation lawsuit against Trump last November. Trump had called her claims a “hoax.”
The case is Carroll v Trump et al, 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals, Nos. 20-3977, 20-3978.
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Hurricane Ian On Path To Florida – Live https://digitalalabamanews.com/hurricane-ian-on-path-to-florida-live/
Florida bracing for Hurricane Ian
Hurricane Ian is gathering strength and bearing down on Florida as the state races to finalize storm preparations and evacuate its most at-risk people ahead of expected landfall on Wednesday.
The enormous, Category 3 storm was already bringing impacts to Key West on Tuesday after it lashed Cuba with heavy rain and winds overnight and threatened storm surge, flash flooding and landslides. The hurricane is causing maximum sustained winds of 120 miles per hour, according to the National Hurricane Center.
Governor Ron DeSantis urged Floridians to heed warnings to evacuate to higher ground due to potential for “‘catastrophic flooding and life-threatening storm surge”. As of Tuesday, 2.5 million people in Florida were under evacuation orders.
The most recent weather models have the hurricane projected to make landfall south of Tampa Bay where storm surge could reach up to 12 ft (3.7 metres). Up to 24 inches (61cm) of rain is expected in some areas and wind speeds of 130 miles per hour (209km/h).
Emergency officials were warning that the life-threatening conditions would limit the potential for rescues once the storm arrived.
“You will be on your own,” St Petersburg Mayor Ken Welch warned.
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Mike Pompeo Launches New Campaign To Combat What He Says Is wokeness In The Military
Mike Pompeo Launches New Campaign To Combat What He Says Is ‘wokeness In The Military’ https://digitalalabamanews.com/mike-pompeo-launches-new-campaign-to-combat-what-he-says-is-wokeness-in-the-military/
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EXCLUSIVE: Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo says he has a new mission – to battle what he terms is “a woke military.”
Taking aim at political correctness in the nation’s armed forces, the West Point graduate and Army officer who served in Germany during the Cold War is launching a campaign to target what he calls “woke polices” by President Biden’s administration that are directed towards the military.
The campaign, which includes a new website and two ads released by CAVPAC, a political action committee set up last year by Pompeo, was shared first with Fox News on Tuesday.
“American security, and the safety of our families, rests on the shoulders of our men and women in uniform. Their training must never be corrupted to advance left-wing political goals. This matters. A woke military is a weak military,” Pompeo, who was elected to Congress before serving as CIA director and America’s top diplomat during former President Trump’s administration, argued in a statement.
AIR FORCE ACADEMY DIVERSITY TRAINING GRABS NATIONAL HEADLINES
Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo address the ‘Politics and Eggs’ speaking series at the New Hampshire Institute of Politics, on Sept. 20, 2022 in Goffstown, N.H. (Fox News )
And he charged that “unfortunately, woke and weak are exactly the policies that President Biden is pushing on our troops. That’s why we must do everything we can to stop the spread of wokeness throughout our armed forces.”
The website – which can be found at TroopsSpeakOut.com – allows veterans and active duty service members “to shine a light on Biden’s woke polices”
POMPEO SAYS HE’S PREPARING FOR A POSSIBLE 2024 WHITE HOUSE RUN
Conservative politicians and pundits and opinion leaders on the right have railed since the start of the Biden administration at what they consider overzealous political correctness by U.S. military leaders. Top Pentagon officers have pushed back on such criticism that the military was becoming too “woke,” calling such accusations “offensive.”
Pompeo, in his ad, argues that “our military today is under assault from the radical left” and stresses that “If you’re a young kid sitting in a foxhole, you don’t give a darn about political correctness. If we focus on the wrong priorities, then Americans will be a lot less safe. We’ll use the right pronouns but what we won’t have is the capacity to keep our country safe.”
“I can assure you that there’s no Russian general, no Iranian leader, no Chinese Communist Party admiral, who’s spending one second thinking about gender or woke ideology, or climate change,” Pompeo argues. “They’re thinking about how to kill Americans and the fight is on. We have to walk away from this radical left ideology. We cannot let it penetrate our military.”
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The new ads by Pompeo, a Fox News contributor who’s preparing for a potential campaign for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, will run in Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina – the first three states to vote in the GOP presidential nominating calendar – as well as in Washington D.C., according to a Pompeo adviser.
Earlier this month during a high profile stop in New Hampshire, Pompeo told Fox News “whether we’ll decide to get in the race and run for president, I can’t answer. But we are doing the things that one would do to be ready to make such an announcement and then to engage with the American people on the ideas that we believe matter.”
Paul Steinhauser is a politics reporter based in New Hampshire.
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Sedition Trial Begins For Oath Keepers Leader https://digitalalabamanews.com/sedition-trial-begins-for-oath-keepers-leader/
WASHINGTON — Jury selection began Tuesday in the trial of the founder of the Oath Keepers extremist group and four associates charged with seditious conspiracy, one of the most serious cases to emerge from the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.
Amid complaints by attorneys for Stewart Rhodes and the others that they can’t get a fair jury in Washington, the judge began winnowing the pool of potential jurors who will decide the fate of the first Jan. 6 defendants to stand trial on the rare Civil War-era charge.
The case against Rhodes and his Oath Keeper associates is the biggest test yet for the Justice Department in its massive Jan. 6 prosecution and is being heard in federal court not far from the Capitol. Seditious conspiracy can be difficult to prove, and the last guilty trial verdict was nearly 30 years ago.
Prosecutors have accused Rhodes of leading a weekslong plot to violently stop the transfer of presidential power from election-denier Donald Trump to Joe Biden that culminated with Oath Keepers dressed in battle gear storming the Capitol on Jan. 6.
Jury selection could take several days and the trial is expected to last at least five weeks.
U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta on Tuesday denied defense attorney’s latest bid to move the trial out of Washington. The judge acknowledged that no juries have acquitted Jan. 6 defendants so far, but said that doesn’t tell him about “bias or inherent bias of jurors in the District of Columbia.”
The court already had dismissed more than two dozen potential jurors before Tuesday, including a journalist who had covered the events of Jan. 6. and someone else who described that day “one of the single most treasonous acts in the history of this country.”
The judge disqualified several other people Tuesday based on concerns about their impartiality. One man recalled the fear and “trauma” that he experienced on Jan. 6. Mehta also disqualified a woman who said she used to work as a House staffer on Capitol Hill and still has many friends who work there.
“I was really afraid for their lives that day,” she said.
Others excused from the jury pool include an attorney who questioned why hundreds of people have been charged with Capitol riot offenses when some of them appeared to him to be “just standing around.” Another was a man who said he raised money for Biden’s 2020 presidential campaign and expressed negative impressions of the Oath Keepers
Hundreds of people have already been convicted of joining the mob that overran police barriers, beat officers and smashed windows, sending lawmakers fleeing and halting the certification of Biden’s electoral victory.
In a different court on Tuesday, a judge handed down one of the longest sentences so far in the riot. Kyle Young of Redfield, Iowa, was ordered to serve seven years in prison after he admitted to assaulting then-Metropolitan Police Officer Michael Fanone.
Prosecutors will try to show that an Oath Keepers’ plot to stop Biden from becoming president started well before that, in fact before all the votes in the 2020 race had even been counted.
On trial with Rhodes, of Granbury Texas, are Thomas Caldwell, of Berryville, Virginia; Kenneth Harrelson, of Titusville, Florida; Jessica Watkins of Woodstock, Ohio, and Kelly Meggs of Dunnellon, Florida.
Caldwell, a retired U.S. Navy intelligence officer and the only defendant released from jail ahead of trial, walked with a cane as he slowly entered the courthouse wearing a dark suit.
Authorities say Rhodes, a former U.S. Army paratrooper and a Yale Law School graduate, spent weeks mobilizing his followers to prepare to take up arms to defend Trump. The Oath Keepers repeatedly wrote in chats about the prospect of violence, stockpiled guns and put “quick reaction force” teams on standby outside Washington to get weapons into the city quickly if needed, authorities say.
On Jan. 6, Oath Keepers were captured on camera storming the Capitol in military-style “stack” formation. Rhodes isn’t accused of going inside the Capitol, but phone records show he was communicating with Oath Keepers who did enter around the time of the riot and he was seen with members outside afterward.
Conviction for seditious conspiracy calls for up to 20 years behind bars. The last time prosecutors secured a seditious conspiracy conviction at trial was in 1995 in the case against Islamic militants who plotted to bomb New York City landmarks.
Three of Rhodes’ Oath Keepers followers have pleaded guilty to the charge and are likely to testify against him at trial. Rhodes’ lawyers have claimed those Oath Keepers were pressured into pleading guilty and are lying to get a better sentencing deal from the government.
On Tuesday, Rhodes’ lawyers asked the judge to bar prosecutors and witnesses from using words such as “antigovernment” or “extremists” in describing the Oath Keepers to jurors, saying in court documents that it would “add nothing but prejudice into what already promises to be an emotionally charged trial.”
Rhodes’ attorneys have suggested that his defense will focus on his belief that Trump would invoke the Insurrection Act and call up a militia to support his bid to stay in power. Defense attorneys say Rhodes’ actions in the weeks leading up to Jan. 6 were in preparation for what he believed would have been lawful orders from Trump under the Insurrection Act, but never came.
The defense has said that Oath Keepers were dressed in helmets and goggles to protect themselves from possible attacks from left-wing antifa activists and that the “quick reaction force” outside Washington was meant for defensive purposes if Trump invoked the Insurrection Act.
Nearly 900 people have been charged so far in the Jan. 6 riot and more than 400 have pleaded guilty or been convicted at trial.
Sentences for the rioters so far have ranged from probation for low-level misdemeanor offenses to 10 years in prison for a retired New York City police officer who used a metal flagpole to assault an officer at the Capitol.
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Associated Press journalist Mike Pesoli contributed to this report from Washington.
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Follow the AP’s coverage of the Capitol riot at https://apnews.com/hub/capitol-siege.
More on Donald Trump-related investigations: https://apnews.com/hub/donald-trump
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In-State 2024 WR Daps Alabama's Freddie Roach For Celebration
In-State 2024 WR Daps Alabama's Freddie Roach For Celebration https://digitalalabamanews.com/in-state-2024-wr-daps-alabamas-freddie-roach-for-celebration/
There are some limitations to a high school football touchdown celebration. Sportsmanship usually reigns on Friday nights and flags will fly if otherwise. But there’s nothing wrong with high-fiving a fan, right?
What if that fan was Alabama football’s Freddie Roach, one of the best college recruiters in the country?
On Sept. 23, as one of the best games of the Alabama high school season played out between three-time defending 7A champs Thompson and Clay-Chalkville, 6A’s most recent champion, one of the state’s elite juniors made a moment in the second quarter.
2024 four-star Mario Craver caught a pass near the sideline on a crossing route for Clay. He then slipped a tackle and burned 37 yards across the field for a touchdown. As “soon as (he) stepped in the endzone,” Craver identified Roach’s crimson pullover and dapped him up.
“I told him before the game I was gonna get me one,” Craver told AL.com. “He got a couple DBs on Thompson. He was like, ‘They said they was gonna lock you up.’ … I just gave him a little handshake, let him know what’s up.”
Roach, a Florence-native and of the Tide’s area recruiters, took in most of Thompson’s 17-14 victory next to Clemson’s defensive line coach, formerly of Auburn, Nick Eason.
It was a star-studded field at Warrior Stadium. Five-star Tony Mitchell was the latest blue-chip prospect from Thompson that Roach has earned a commitment from. The other is Tide freshman Jeremiah Alexander, currently third on the depth chart. Clay’s best player was also a Roach recruit, 2024 four-star defensive back Jaylen Mbakwe.
More Tide Recruiting: Alabama football adds top-10 WR to class of 2023, sets up historic class
The lessons Alabama’s No. 5 all-time recruit learned before winning top job
Eason had one commit, the fifth-ranked defensive lineman in the country, on the field: Peter Woods. Though it’s very likely Roach, Alabama’s defensive line coach isn’t letting up the pursuit on that front.
“I kinda shut my recruitment down,” Woods said postgame. “Relationship-wise, Coach Roach is my guy and I definitely continue talking to him. I was on the phone with him the other night. But, you know, go Tigers.”
Clay Chalkville’s Mario Craver (4) carries the ball against Thompson during a game at Wariror Stadium in Alabaster, Ala., Friday, Sept. 23, 2022. (Marvin Gentry | preps@al.com)
For Craver — the wideout finished the game with nine catches, 129 yards and a fumble — an announcement on his future may be coming soon. He hinted on Twitter on Tuesday that “a decision” may loom. His commitment was originally set for late October.
The No. 32 wide receiver in his class, per 247Sports composite, Craver currently has a Crystal Ball prediction in for Tennessee. On3′s recruiting prediction machine has Craver joining Mbakwe in Tuscaloosa, giving the Tide 32.9% odds. The Volunteers currently sit at 12.9%.
In four games, Craver has helped the Cougars to a 5-1 record with 376 yards and six touchdowns on 21 receptions.
Nick Alvarez is a reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @nick_a_alvarez or email him at NAlvarez@al.com.
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McConnell Schumer Back Bill To Prevent Efforts To Subvert Presidential Election Results
McConnell, Schumer Back Bill To Prevent Efforts To Subvert Presidential Election Results https://digitalalabamanews.com/mcconnell-schumer-back-bill-to-prevent-efforts-to-subvert-presidential-election-results-2/
Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) have endorsed a bipartisan electoral count reform bill in the Senate, all but cementing its passage and giving the legislation a boost as Congress seeks to prevent future efforts to subvert presidential election results.
The endorsements followed House passage of a similar bill last week. Both measures aim to stop future presidents from trying to overturn election results through Congress and were driven by the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol by a mob of Donald Trump supporters seeking to stop the certification of Joe Biden’s win.
The Electoral Count Reform and Presidential Transition Improvement Act, sponsored by Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Joe Manchin III (D-W.Va.), would amend the Electoral Count Act of 1887 and reaffirm that the vice president has only a ministerial role at the joint session of Congress to count electoral votes, as well as raise the threshold necessary for members of Congress to object to a state’s electors.
Speaking on the Senate floor Tuesday afternoon, McConnell said there was a need to make “modest” updates to the Electoral Count Act.
“Congress’s process for counting their presidential electors’ votes was written 135 years ago. The chaos that came to a head on January 6th of last year certainly underscored the need for an update,” McConnell said. “The Electoral Count Act ultimately produced the right conclusion … but it’s clear the country needs a more predictable path.”
In a statement, Schumer said, “Make no mistake: as our country continues to face the threat of the anti-democracy MAGA Republican movement — propelled by many GOP leaders who either refused to take a stand or actively stoked the flames of division in our country — reforming the Electoral Count Act ought to be the bare minimum of action the Congress takes.”
The Senate Rules Committee, of which Schumer and McConnell are both members, later voted to advance the bill. Schumer voted yes by proxy, while Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) was the lone no vote. Speaking minutes after McConnell had expressed his support for the legislation in committee, Cruz went against his party leader and blasted the bill as “bad policy and … bad for democracy.”
“I understand why Democrats are supporting this bill,” Cruz said. “What I don’t understand is why Republicans are.”
The bill already enjoyed strong bipartisan support, with 11 Democratic and 11 Republican senators signing on to co-sponsor it before Tuesday.
“We are pleased that bipartisan support continues to grow for these sensible and much-needed reforms to the Electoral Count Act of 1887,” Collins and Manchin said in a joint statement last week. “Our bill is backed by election law experts and organizations across the ideological spectrum. We will keep working to increase bipartisan support for our legislation that would correct the flaws in this archaic and ambiguous law.”
Later Tuesday evening in the Capitol, Collins passed Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.), the ranking member of Rules, in the hallway. She stopped, put her hand on his shoulder and said: “Thank you. Good job. Thank you. Thank you.”
After the 2020 election, Trump had falsely told his supporters that Vice President Mike Pence had the power to reject electoral votes already certified by the states. Pence did not do so — and has repeatedly emphasized that the Constitution provides the vice president with no such authority. But on Jan. 6, many in the mob that overran the Capitol began chanting, “Hang Mike Pence!” on the mistaken belief that the vice president could have stopped Congress from certifying Biden’s victory.
The House last week passed the similar Presidential Election Reform Act, written by Reps. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) and Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.), on a 229-203 vote. Cheney and Lofgren argued that the risk of another effort to steal a presidential election remains high, as Trump continues to spread baseless claims of widespread election fraud, and as pro-Trump candidates in state and local elections around the country have embraced those falsehoods.
The Senate and House bills differ chiefly in how much they would change the threshold necessary for members of both chambers to object to a state’s results. Currently, only one member each from the House and Senate are required to object to a state’s electors. The House electoral reform bill would raise that threshold to at least one-third of the members of both the House and Senate, while the Senate version would raise that threshold to at least one-fifth of the members of both the House and Senate.
Schumer had withheld his support because he preferred Democrats’ sweeping voting bill that also addressed access to the polls. But after that bill failed in the Senate because of a lack of Republican support this year, the bipartisan working group forged ahead on a narrower bill that would implement guardrails and clarifications regarding how presidential electors are appointed, submitted and approved.
Sen. Angus King (I-Maine), a member of the Rules panel who had worked on his own electoral bill, said Monday that it was “critical” they pass legislation as soon as possible.
“This isn’t comprehensive voting rights reforms, but it is important because of the danger that we experienced on January 6th,” King told The Washington Post. “It’s critical we do this before next year when we are in the throes of the presidential election.”
Unlike the Senate bill, the House bill saw little support from GOP lawmakers. Only nine Republicans joined Democrats in supporting the measure, and none of those nine will be members of Congress next year — either because they lost their primaries or chose to retire. Several of the Republicans who opposed the bill, including House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (Calif.), criticized it as unconstitutional.
On Tuesday, McConnell called the House bill a “non-starter” because of its lack of support from GOP lawmakers.
“It’s clear that only a bipartisan compromise originating in the Senate can actually become law,” he said. “One party going it alone would be a non-starter. In my view, the House bill is a non-starter. We have one shot to get this right.”
The Biden administration issued a statement last week in support of the House bill, calling it another step in “critically needed reform of the 135-year-old Electoral Count Act.”
“Americans deserve greater clarity in the process by which their votes will result in the election of a President and Vice President,” the Office of Management and Budget said. “As [the Presidential Election Reform Act] proceeds through the legislative process, the Administration looks forward to working with the Congress to ensure lasting reform consistent with Congress’ constitutional authority to protect voting rights, tally electoral votes, and strengthen our democracy.”
The Senate is widely expected to vote on the measure in a lame-duck session in December.
Leigh Ann Caldwell contributed to this report.
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Wrigley Defends Recount Plan Sent To Trump Team https://digitalalabamanews.com/wrigley-defends-recount-plan-sent-to-trump-team/
NORTH DAKOTA (KXNET) — Axios is reporting that a new book by former Representative Denver Riggleman, a Republican from Virginia, asserts that shortly after the 2020 Presidential election North Dakota Attorney General Drew Wrigley shared a plan with Senator Kevin Cramer for a “last-ditch effort” to demand recounts of absentee ballots in key states.
The message, according to Riggleman’s book, was sent when Wrigley was a U.S. attorney in North Dakota.
Senator Cramer then forwarded Wrigley’s plan to Former President Trump’s Chief-of-Staff Mark Meadows.
The book says Wrigley suggested Trump made a mess of things and that legislators should push for a statewide recount of absentee/mail-in ballots.
Wrigley wrote: “Trump’s legal team has made a joke of this whole thing,” Wrigley went on to say, “Demand state-wide recount of absentee/mail-in ballots in line with pre-existing state law with regard to signature comparisons. If state officials refuse that recount, the legislature would then act under the constitution, selecting the slate of electors.”
Tuesday, Wrigley defended his actions.
“I couldn’t imagine why they weren’t simply calling for recalls that complied with the various state laws, and urge the legislators to carry out their constitutional function,” said North Dakota Attorney General Drew Wrigley.
Senator Cramer said Wrigley was well within his authority to provide legal counsel.
“In my view, Drew wasn’t doing anything unethical at all. In fact, if anything Drew was providing good counsel in the sense that what he did was he just reiterated the constitutional authorities and frankly obligations of state legislatures,” explained Senator Kevin Cramer.
However, critics are claiming Wrigley’s actions were outside of his purview as U.S. District Attorney, and that he was serving his interests over North Dakotans.
DemNPL Chair Patrick Hart is calling on Wrigley and Cramer to produce the entirety of the messages regarding the plan that was sent up the chain of command
“He was providing political advice in a position that he was paid to be nonpolitical. As a matter of fact, his boss at the time, US Attorney Bill Bar had come out against it. But, again we don’t know when this email was sent. There isn’t transparency, so if it was sent on January 5th or November 10th, obviously there is context there, and you know the truth is ultimately again going to set him free,” said DemNPL Chair Patrick Hart.
Wrigley says his actions were well within his purview as the highest-ranking Trump Administration official in the state.
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Prospective Jurors In Oath Keepers Trial Compare Jan. 6 Capitol Attack To 9/11
Prospective Jurors In Oath Keepers Trial Compare Jan. 6 Capitol Attack To 9/11 https://digitalalabamanews.com/prospective-jurors-in-oath-keepers-trial-compare-jan-6-capitol-attack-to-9-11/
Oath Keepers militia founder Stewart Rhodes uses a radio as he departs with volunteers from a rally held by U.S. President Donald Trump in Minneapolis, Minnesota, U.S. October 10, 2019. REUTERS/Jim Urquhart/File Photo
WASHINGTON, Sept 27 (Reuters) – The trial of Oath Keepers founder, Stewart Rhodes, and four associates in connection with the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol on Tuesday heard some prospective jurors express fears that reliving that day would be too traumatic for them to be impartial.
The case against the followers of the far-right militia, whose membership includes current and former U.S. military and law enforcement personnel, marks the most high-profile prosecution so far in the Justice Department’s investigation into the deadly attack.
Supporters of former President Donald Trump, a Republican, stormed the U.S. Capitol in a failed attempt to overturn his 2020 election loss to Democrat Joe Biden after Trump falsely claimed the election had been stolen from him. Five people died during and shortly after the riot, and about 140 police were injured.
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Rhodes and his co-defendants Kelly Meggs, Thomas Caldwell, Jessica Watkins and Kenneth Harrelson are the first people in more than 10 years to face federal charges of seditious conspiracy under a Civil War-era statute that is rarely prosecuted and carries a statutory maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.
Seditious conspiracy is defined as two or more people plotting “to overthrow, put down or to destroy by force the government of the United States.”
Nearly 30 of the more than 130 people in the jury pool were quizzed by Judge Amit Mehta, prosecutors and defense attorneys on Tuesday on their views on guns, Trump supporters and whether they had closely followed news coverage of the Jan. 6 attack.
At least two people compared the trauma of the events of Jan. 6 to the al Qaeda attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, while another man said he was so triggered by television footage of the riot that he would need prescription medication to get through the trial.
Other jurors, meanwhile, told the court they were concerned their strongly held political views could make it too difficult to be impartial.
“I think the Capitol is a sacred space. It is more sacred than a church,” yet another prospective juror told the court.
VIDEO CLIPS, TEXT MESSAGES
In addition to seditious conspiracy, the five accused Oath Keeper defendants also face charges of conspiring to obstruct and of obstructing an official proceeding, which carries a sentence of up to 20 years in prison, and conspiring to prevent an officer from discharging duties.
The defendants who physically entered the Capitol building – Watkins, Meggs and Harrelson – are also charged with property destruction. Watkins separately faces a civil disorder charge, while the other four are each charged with tampering for allegedly trying to destroy evidence.
The indictment against the five alleges they plotted to use force to oppose the peaceful transfer of power from Trump to Biden. Prosecutors have also said the defendants trained and planned for Jan. 6, the day Congress met to certify Biden’s win.
Prosecutors say Rhodes led and coordinated the alleged plot, which involved the defendants setting up a “quick reaction force” and stockpiling weapons at a northern Virginia hotel.
Earlier on Tuesday, Mehta denied a request by the defense to move the trial to a different venue amid concerns they could not find enough impartial jurors in Washington, D.C.
He noted that of the 150 prospective jurors who filled out a questionnaire, 40% indicated they had never heard of the Oath Keepers, while another 45% said they have not watched any of the televised congressional hearings on the Jan. 6 attack.
Mehta ordered all of the prospective jurors on Tuesday to avoid watching or reading any coverage about the congressional hearings, including one scheduled for Wednesday afternoon.
The trial, which is expected to last between six and seven weeks, will feature testimony from dozens of witnesses, as well as video clips from the day of the attack, and both audio and text message exchanges among the defendants.
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Reporting by Sarah N. Lynch and Chris Gallagher, Editing by Ross Colvin, Alistair Bell and Aurora Ellis
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
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Hurricane Ian Bears Down On Florida https://digitalalabamanews.com/hurricane-ian-bears-down-on-florida/
GATHERING STORM — With Hurricane Ian expected to hit Florida’s Gulf Coast by Wednesday evening, the evacuation orders and flight cancellations have already started. So have the preparations by the two politicians most on the line, President Joe Biden and Gov. Ron DeSantis.
Heavy rain is pouring down across the state as officials sound the alarm about the approaching threat. The Category 3 storm slammed into Cuba earlier today, with winds hitting speeds of about 125 miles per hour. The storm is projected to gain strength overnight and into Wednesday as it barrels toward the U.S.
Florida emergency responders are bolstering search-and-rescue efforts to prepare for potential deadly flooding and storm surges. With Ian looming as the first major hurricane to make a direct landfall on Tampa since 1946, government officials in Florida and Washington are scrambling to prepare for the worst.
Biden is receiving regular briefings about the approaching storm and said today the administration is “on alert and in action ready to help.” Biden also held separate calls with three Florida mayors this morning: Jane Castor of Tampa, Ken Welch of St. Petersburg and Frank Kibbard of Clearwater. He has not yet spoken to DeSantis, the White House said today.
At Biden’s request, FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell told reporters she spoke to DeSantis on the phone to discuss his concerns and priorities for the state’s response. Her regional administrator is also on the ground with the governor.
FEMA is working with the Coast Guard, the Department of Defense, the Department of Interior and state officials to coordinate search and rescue efforts in Miami. The agency also has 128,000 gallons of fuel, 3.7 million meals and 3.5 million liters of water ready for use during storm recovery.
On the ground in Florida, DeSantis today urged state residents under evacuation orders to seek higher ground and warned that citizens across much of the state could see power outages, gas shortages and downed cell phone towers. DeSantis also called up 5,000 Florida National Guard troops to help with hurricane preparedness, while 2,000 guardsmen have come in from other states.
DeSantis has thanked the Biden administration for jumping in to “help,” while the White House said this week that any past political scuffles with the Florida Republican have nothing to do with the federal response.
Even as the White House and DeSantis, a top 2024 presidential prospect, took pains to focus on the looming hurricane, the political context was hard to miss. The leadership challenges of natural disasters can make or break politicians. Both DeSantis and Biden will be judged by their response to a potentially catastrophic storm, as well as their ability to put politics aside during a time of peril.
For DeSantis, who is preparing to lead his state through his first major hurricane since taking office, the stakes are particularly high. His meteoric rise within the GOP is a testament to his political talents, but now comes an even tougher challenge, requiring an entirely different set of skills. Other Florida Republican governors — such as Jeb Bush and Rick Scott — burnished their national stature with their performances.
Writing from Tallahassee, Fla., POLITICO’s Matt Dixon explains the backdrop: “DeSantis faces the true test of any Florida governor.”
Welcome to POLITICO Nightly. Reach out with news, tips and ideas at [email protected]. Or contact tonight’s author at [email protected] or on Twitter at @MyahWard.
Welcome to poll watcher, a new section from POLITICO Nightly that — with midterms fast approaching — will keep you locked in on polls that cut through the noise.
— Jan. 6 panel postpones last hearing due to Hurricane Ian: The Jan. 6 select committee’s Wednesday hearing has been postponed as Hurricane Ian bears down on Florida, panel leaders announced today. The hearing was expected to be the last from the select panel, likely highlighting former President Donald Trump’s continued efforts to delegitimize the results of the 2020 election he lost. The committee was expected to feature testimony from members of Trump’s Cabinet it interviewed in August, who told lawmakers about internal discussions to invoke the 25th Amendment — an attempt to remove Trump from power in the final days of his presidency.
— Biden’s student debt relief faces first major legal challenge: A conservative legal group today sued to block the Biden administration from canceling large amounts of outstanding federal student debt for tens of millions of Americans, bringing the first major legal challenge to a policy that’s expected to be litigated extensively. The lawsuit argues the Biden administration lacks the power to enact the sweeping debt relief program on its own without congressional approval. It also argues the 2003 law giving the U.S. Education Department the power to modify the terms of federal student loans during national emergencies is unconstitutional.
— Newsom signs legislation aimed at protecting abortion: Gov. Gavin Newsom today signed roughly a dozen laws aimed at turning California into an abortion sanctuary. With the midterms just weeks away and a number of the state’s congressional races hinging on the issue, the governor approved a sweeping reproductive rights package designed to shield patients and clinicians from criminal investigations, defray the costs of traveling to California for the procedure and expand the number of people who can perform abortions, among other changes. Voters in November will also decide whether to enshrine the right to an abortion in the state’s constitution.
— Senate advances funding bill after Manchin punts his energy plan: The Senate easily advanced a short-term government funding bill today after Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin conceded defeat on his push to combine the funding fix with his energy permitting package. Congress must pass the stopgap bill, which would fund the government through Dec. 16, by Friday in order to avert a shutdown. Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said on the floor that he and Manchin would “continue to have conversations about the best way” to move forward on the permitting effort before the end of the year.
— Federal appeals court punts on writer’s suit against Trump over rape denial: A federal appeals court handed Trump an incremental win today in a libel suit brought by writer E. Jean Carroll over the former president’s denial of her claim that he raped her in a New York department store dressing room in the 1990s. A divided panel of the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that a lower court judge erred when he concluded that Trump, as president, was not covered by a federal law that can be used to shield federal employees from liability over incidents related to their work.
LOOSE CANNON — U.S. and allied intelligence agencies are stepping up efforts to detect any Russian military moves or communications that might signal that Vladimir Putin has ordered the use of nuclear weapons in Ukraine, according to five current and former U.S. officials, writes Bryan Bender.
But any indications that the Russian leader has decided to unleash the unthinkable — in a desperate attempt to re-seize the initiative or bully the international community to meet his demands — could come too late, they warned.
Most of Russia’s aircraft, along with its conventional missile and rocket launchers, can also deliver smaller, tactical nuclear weapons. Those weapons are designed for more targeted use on the battlefield than strategic arms such as intercontinental ballistic missiles, which give off tell-tale signs when their units are put on alert or mustered in training exercises.
That means that unless Putin or his commanders want the world to know in advance, the U.S. might never know when Russian forces have swapped out conventional munitions for atomic bombs.
Putin has made veiled references since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February that he might resort to using nuclear or chemical arms to change the course of the battle or if Russia itself is threatened. However, those threats grew bolder last week when he said he was prepared to “use all the means available to us,” including “various weapons of destruction.”
“I’m not bluffing,” he added.
OFF A CLIFF — For years, much of Europe has gotten cheap energy from oil reserves in Russia. Now, with that prospect more difficult due to ongoing war and sanctions, Europe has plunged into an energy crisis, with prices skyrocketing. Still, it could and very well might get a lot worse as temperatures drop this winter. What’s the worst-case scenario? And how can this be stopped or slowed? Devika Rao writes for The Week.
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Mohammed Bin Salman Named Prime Minister Ahead Of Khashoggi Lawsuit
Mohammed Bin Salman Named Prime Minister Ahead Of Khashoggi Lawsuit https://digitalalabamanews.com/mohammed-bin-salman-named-prime-minister-ahead-of-khashoggi-lawsuit/
Mohammed bin Salman has been named prime minister of Saudi Arabia in a move that experts said would probably shield the crown prince from a potentially damaging lawsuit in the US in connection to his alleged role in the murder of the journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
Saudi Arabia announced on Tuesday that King Salman was making an exception to Saudi law and naming his son as prime minister, formally ceding the dual title of king and prime minister he had personally held until now.
The development is not likely to change the balance of power in Saudi Arabia, where the 37-year-old prince is already seen as the de facto ruler of the kingdom and heir to the throne.
But the timing of the decision was seen by critics of the Saudi government as almost certainly linked to a looming court-ordered deadline next week. The Biden administration had been asked by a US judge to weigh in on whether Prince Mohammed ought to be protected by sovereign immunity in a case brought by the fiancee of Khashoggi, Hatice Cengiz. Such protection is usually granted to a world leader, such as a prime minister or a king.
In July the administration sought a delay in filing its response to the court, which had initially been sought by 1 August. John Bates, a district court judge, agreed to extend the deadline to 3 October. Among other issues, he called on the administration to state whether it believed Prince Mohammed ought to be granted immunity under rules that protect countries’ head of state.
“It seems like [Prince Mohammed] has been advised to take this step before the response of the Biden administration was due on 3 October,” said Abdullah Alaoudh, the Gulf director at Dawn, a pro-democracy group based in Washington, who is a party to the Khashoggi lawsuit. “Practically, [becoming prime minister] makes no difference.”
The White House did not immediately comment. Prince Mohammed has denied he had personal involvement in the Khashoggi murder. A US intelligence assessment found that the future king was likely to have ordered the killing.
The decision to name Prince Mohammed as prime minister would also likely assuage any lingering concerns in Saudi Arabia that the crown prince could be arrested or otherwise face legal challenges while traveling abroad.
The civil complaint against Prince Mohammed, which was filed by Cengiz in the federal district court of Washington DC in October 2020, alleges that he and other Saudi officials acted in a “conspiracy and with premeditation” when Saudi agents kidnapped, bound, drugged, tortured and killed Khashoggi inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in 2018.
Khashoggi, a former Saudi insider who had fled the kingdom and was a resident of Virginia in the south-east US, was a vocal critic of the crown prince and was actively seeking to counter Saudi online propaganda at the time when he was killed.
Cengiz said in a statement to the Guardian: “The fight for justice must succeed – it will not be stopped because MBS bestows another title on himself.”
Critics of the Saudi regime, including activists who are living in exile in the US and Europe, have warned that the crown prince’s crackdown on dissent has intensified in recent months.
The Guardian has learned that the UK government has sought to intervene in at least one high-profile case, involving Salma al-Shehab, a Leeds University PhD student who was arrested, charged, convicted and sentenced to 34 years in prison after she returned home from the UK for a holiday. Her crime, under Saudi law, was using Twitter to follow and sometimes like or retweet tweets by dissidents and activists.
The Guardian was told by a source requesting anonymity that officials in the British embassy in Riyadh have raised concerns about Shehab’s case with Saudi authorities. Tariq Ahmad, a Conservative peer, has also raised the case in a 25 August meeting with the Saudi ambassador to the UK, the source said.
The UK government will face more pressure to act this week with the expected release of a letter by 400 academics, including staff and research students from UK universities and colleges who are seeking urgent action on Shehab’s case.
The letter calls on Liz Truss, the prime minister, and foreign secretary James Cleverly to “publicly condemn Salma al-Shehab’s sentencing and make representations to their Saudi counterparts for her immediate release”. It was sponsored by the pro-democracy group Alqst, which advocates for human rights in Saudi Arabia. The group said: “Salma should be looking forward, like us, to the new academic year, instead of languishing behind bars for the ‘crime’ of tweeting her legitimate opinions.”
The letter notes that Shehab, a 34-year-old mother of two children who worked as a dental hygienist and had received a scholarship to study in the UK, was arrested on 15 January 2021 while on holiday in Saudi Arabia. Court records show she was placed in solitary confinement, questioned and held for 285 days before her trial. She denies the allegations against her.
Truss has so far not indicated that she will be likely to adopt a critical stance toward her new counterpart. The British prime minister had a phone call with Prince Mohammed this week in which her office said she thanked him for helping to get five British detainees released by Russian-backed forces. She also offered the UK’s “continued support and encouragement for progress in Saudi Arabia’s domestic reforms”.
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S&P 500 Falls To Two-Year Low Bear Market Rally Snuffed Out
S&P 500 Falls To Two-Year Low, Bear Market Rally Snuffed Out https://digitalalabamanews.com/sp-500-falls-to-two-year-low-bear-market-rally-snuffed-out/
Sept 27 (Reuters) – The S&P 500 (.SPX) fell to its lowest level in almost two years on Tuesday on worries about super aggressive Federal Reserve policy tightening, trading under its June trough and leaving investors appraising how much further stocks would have to fall before stabilizing.
Stocks have been under pressure since late August after comments and aggressive actions by the U.S. Federal Reserve signaled the central bank’s top priority is to stamp out high inflation even at the risk of putting the economy into a recession.
The S&P 500 touched a session low of 3,623.29, its lowest point on an intraday basis since Nov. 30, 2020. A late rally helped push the index off its worst level of the day, but the index still closed lower for a sixth straight session as it lost 7.75 points, or 0.21%, to 3,647.29 .
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After the benchmark index fell more than 20% from its early January high to a low on June 16, which confirmed that the retreat was indeed a bear market, the S&P then rallied into mid-August before running out of gas.
That bear-market rally is now over.
“As long as the Fed continues to raise rates, and investors don’t anticipate an end of the rate hikes, I think this market is going to continue to be weak,” said Tim Ghriskey, Senior Portfolio Strategist, Ingalls & Snyder, New York.
The big blow for the index that re-ignited selling pressure was Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s speech at Jackson Hole that confirmed the Fed’s resolve to fight inflation, followed by a third straight 75 basis point interest rate hike by the central bank last week. The index has tumbled more than 12% since Powell’s speech and has shown little signs of stabilizing.
Many analysts had looked at 3,900 as a strong technical support level for the index. That gave way 11 days ago under four straight days of selling.
A trader works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York City, U.S., September 27, 2022. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid
“When you have these cascades of selling like we’ve seen since the Fed, really, support doesn’t really matter, you can slice right through it,” said Ryan Detrick, chief market strategist at Carson Group in Omaha, Nebraska.
“Fundamentals and logic are almost thrown out the window because we are all wondering just how hawkish is the Fed, and then you look around this week and all these central banks around the globe hiked rates.” Detrick said that coordinated hikes by multiple central banks left investors wondering how hawkish they all will end up being.
Robert Pavlik, Senior Portfolio Manager at Dakota Wealth in Fairfield, Connecticut said he is looking at a worst case of 3,000 for the S&P as a support level.
“People are concerned about the Federal Reserve, the direction of interest rates, the health of the economy, and also the next couple of weeks with earnings season coming up and companies reporting lower-than-expected earnings.”
Analysts are still looking for signposts of investor capitulation that can show selling pressure is exhausted. But sell-offs this year have not contained all those ingredients — a sharp drop in prices, a day of unusually high volume and a jump in the CBOE Volatility index (.VIX) to 40 or above. So, many investors to conclude that selling has yet to be depleted.
“It goes down, you get some decent volume but you don’t necessarily have the classic signs of capitulation,” said Brian Jacobsen, senior investment strategist at Allspring Global Investments in Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin.
“Maybe enough has changed over the years that some of those indicators aren’t going to be a very good guide for the future.”
That leaves investors looking for the next catalyst to help markets stabilize, or get cheap enough for to start buying again, such as signs the Fed’s actions may be starting to tame inflation, a weakening of the labor market, and what the upcoming corporate earnings season may bring about.
“On (October 7), you get the employment situation report and the following week you get the inflation report so we will be on pins and needles waiting to see what those numbers say, and then you have earnings,” said Jacobsen.
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Reporting by Chuck Mikolajczak; additional reporting by Noel Randewich and Ankika Biswas; Editing by Alden Bentley, Franklin Paul, Nick Zieminski, Chizu Nomiyama and David Gregorio
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
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Three Arrests Made For Car Burglaries In Hoover Sunday
Three Arrests Made For Car Burglaries In Hoover Sunday https://digitalalabamanews.com/three-arrests-made-for-car-burglaries-in-hoover-sunday/
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (WBRC) – The Hoover Police Department has arrested three men on charges of breaking and entering into vehicles. The burglaries happened early Sunday morning in the Bluff Park community.
Hoover PD says dispatch received multiples calls of car break-ins Sunday, Sept. 25. Night shift officers saw a vehicle matching a description provided by callers. During the investigation, officers found property that had been reported as stolen, according to Hoover PD.
Hoover PD also says a stolen SUV was also found in the area by night shift officers.
Those charged for the burglaries are 20-year-old Mario Thomas for Unlawful breaking & entering vehicle x 3 and Theft of property 1st (motor vehicle), 20-year-old Da’Mario Thomas for Unlawful breaking & entering vehicle x 2, and 19-year-old Tavares Nelson for Unlawful breaking & entering vehicle x 2.
Three arrests made in Hoover car burglaries(Hoover Police Department)
These are preliminary charges, and Hoover PD says as more car break-ins are reported, more warrants could be screened.
All three suspects were placed into the Hoover City Jail on Sept. 25 and have since been transferred to the Jefferson County Jail.
Hoover PD says all suspects entered the cars through unlocked doors. They are reminding everyone to take the necessary steps to protect their property:
Remove/secure all valuables, especially guns from vehicle
Have flood lights/video on
Lock the doors
Three arrested for early morning car burglaries
Mario Vontrell THOMAS, 20 Birmingham, AL
$207,500 total bond
Da’Mario Dontrell THOMAS, 20 Birmingham, AL
$200,000 bond
Tavares Tre Von NELSON, 19 Birmingham, AL
$200,000 bond
press release – https://t.co/jS0drbz1F1#hooverpd pic.twitter.com/HNIAUbwWtX
— Hoover Police Dept (@HooverPD) September 27, 2022
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Missoula Man Provides A BAC Of .296 During DUI Arrest
Missoula Man Provides A BAC Of .296 During DUI Arrest https://digitalalabamanews.com/missoula-man-provides-a-bac-of-296-during-dui-arrest/
On September 23, 2022, at approximately 10:52 p.m., a Missoula Police Department officer was patrolling the area of Broadway and Toole Avenue when she observed a brown Toyota Tundra driving westbound on Broadway without its headlights or taillights illuminated.
The officer turned her vehicle around and the Tundra quickly turned on its headlights. As the Tundra continued driving, it had difficulty maintaining its lane of travel. Police Public Information Officer Lydia Arnold explains.
“The officer got behind the vehicle and ran the vehicle’s license plate, which returned expired,” Arnold said. “The officer initiated a traffic stop for the traffic violation. During the initial contact with the driver, the officer could smell a strong odor of an alcoholic beverage coming from his person.”
The officer also noted the driver’s eyes were bloodshot and glossy. The driver was eventually identified as 56-year-old Alan Beckman.
“The officer observed other indicators of impairment,” Arnold said. “The officer went through the standardized field sobriety tests and based on the driving behavior, contact, and observations during the stop, Beckman was arrested and transported to the Missoula County Detention Center.”
According to court documents, Beckman admitted to having a few drinks. Beckman was placed under arrest and read the Implied Consent Advisory. He declined a blood sample, but agreed to provide a breath sample. Beckman provided a breath sample on the Intoxilizer, which reported a BAC of 0.296. That is over three times the legal limit.
Beckman has three prior DUI convictions. As a result, he is currently being charged with felony DUI, which is a fourth or subsequent offense. According to the Missoula County jail roster, Beckman was released at 5:32 p.m. on September 26, 2022.
The information in this article was obtained from sources that are publicly viewable.
20 Impressive Features at the New and Improved Missoula Airport
Missoula’s new airport will include large windows for loved ones to watch planes depart and arrive, and the only escalator on this side of Montana! Plus, a keggerator system for the Coldsmoke Tavern.
14 Destinations to Visit With Direct Flights From Missoula
Here’s a list of places to visit (and things to do while you’re there) with nonstop flights out of the Missoula Montana Airport.
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Mar A Lago: FBI Raid Of Donald Trumps Florida Home Sparks Controversy
Mar A Lago: FBI Raid Of Donald Trump’s Florida Home Sparks Controversy https://digitalalabamanews.com/mar-a-lago-fbi-raid-of-donald-trumps-florida-home-sparks-controversy/
Talk of political polarization has consumed headlines in recent months. The most notable event of late has, undoubtedly, been the reaction to the FBI’s seizure of allegedly classified government documents at Mar-a-Lago (a club and resort owned by former president Donald Trump). Within hours of the search, which was authorized by Attorney General Merrick Garland, Republican outrage was palpable. Tucker Carlson, an anchor at Fox News and host of “Tucker Carlson Tonight”, claimed that the raid gave clear indication that “these were acts of aggression and hostility aimed at Americans … no American president has ever declared war on their own population.” Ben Shapiro, host at “The Daily Wire”, predicted that “if this raid turns out to be nothing … there will be hell to pay … things will get really, really ugly.”
These sentiments are shared among a sizable majority of Republicans. According to a recent poll by the Wall Street Journal, “41 percent [of Americans] said they viewed the FBI search as part of an ‘endless witch hunt’ against the former president” while 64% of Republicans said that the raid made them more likely vote in the 2022 midterm elections. Whether a surge in support for the former president will materialize remains to be seen, but the reaction from many Republicans is yet another indication that the American people are losing faith in our governing institutions.
While President Joe Biden has largely abstained from commenting on the raid, he recently traveled to Independence Hall in Philadelphia, PA to deliver a fiery speech about the threat posed by ‘MAGA’ Republicans. The President claimed that “too much of what’s happening in our country today is not normal. Donald Trump and the MAGA Republicans represent an extremism that threatens the very foundations of our Republic.” Biden would go on to discuss, without much detail, Republican support for election-deniers, their rejection of bodily autonomy, privacy and LGBTQ+ rights; and their willingness to embrace political violence and authoritarian leaders.
What Biden seems to have forgotten, though, is that, in politics, image is everything. Against the backdrop of crimson red lighting and United States Marines, the speech was constructed as if it were a campaign speech — it was far from a direct or factual examination of the philosophies supporting ‘MAGA’ Republicans. The danger in delivering such a speech is that it can easily be perceived as an attack, if not a threat, to Biden’s political opposition (regardless of whether they are so-called ‘MAGA’ Republicans). Indeed, the talking point widely shared among Republican commentators the following day was that “this was the most dangerous Presidential speech in modern history” and that the president “had declared half the country as the enemy.”
The natural question, then, is whether these and other statements made on the left and right are merely rhetorical or symptomatic of a larger decay in American political discourse. I am strongly inclined to believe the latter. It has become increasingly clear that faith in the American government is dwindling. The Pew Research Center, which has tracked American faith in the government since 1958, found that from April to May only nine percent of those who identify as conservatives trusted the federal government. In that same period, support among liberals was higher (averaging out at about 32%) but can be expected to oscillate if the Republicans were to regain power in either the executive or legislative branch. Concerning still is that faith in government has never surpassed 37% among either party since 2008.
More to the point, though, a loss of faith in the federal government has corresponded with a greater willingness to embrace subnational political identities (chiefly, party affiliations). Political discourse has moved away from “macro spaces” (the nation) and into micro spaces (the party). Parties have created insular spaces that cement any ideas that run contrary to what we might consider to be a more nuanced reality. The events of this summer highlight how the embrace of ‘post-truth’ politics tends to undermine the durability of the social contract — the idea that legitimate governance relies on the consent of the governed. “Truth,” in an open and pluralistic society, invites and makes possible the expression of different viewpoints. Post-truth politics detaches political discourse from this factual infrastructure. Possibilities for open debate and careful scrutiny of policies are denied. In its stead, post-truth politics seeks to normalize the outrageous, the absurd, and the obscene. By normalizing ad hominem politics, parties can claim a monopoly on political discourse. Those who oppose or otherwise question the beliefs of a party are deemed malicious and immoral. Post-truth politics breaks apart the common bonds of a nation by fueling mistrust and prejudice. The social contract cannot last long under these conditions.
Gustave Le Bon, author of “The Crowd”, predicted that political parties would capture the worst impulses of the crowd and convert them into a political force. Le Bon wrote in 1895 that as “our ancient beliefs are tottering and disappearing, while the old pillars of society are giving way one by one, the power of the crowd is the only force that nothing menaces, and of which the prestige is continually on the increase.”
He continues: “[the] psychological law of the mental unity of crowds” is that crowds of like-minded people are more likely to disregard careful examination of their beliefs” and that “the masses have never thirsted after truth. Parties — like crowds — turn away from evidence that is not to their taste, “preferring to deify error, if error [seduces] them.” As Le Bon put it, “whoever can supply them with illusions is easily their master. Whoever attempts to destroy their illusions is always their victim.”
Le Bon’s prediction was correct. Post-truth politics — as embraced by both political parties — pose a serious threat to liberal, democratic governance. Liberal societies must, by necessity, operate pluralistically and with due regard for their factual infrastructure. The health of political discourse will decline in proportion to our disregard for these basic norms. We must refuse the embrace of post-truth political behaviors – they are strongly anti-pluralistic. This sort of behavior dramatically flattens the political landscape in its presentation of political reality. Classical liberals and free speech advocates seem to believe that the antidote to anti-pluralistic behavior can be found in the expansion of spaces for free expression. Yet, the existence of a free space does not guarantee the embrace of pluralism — much less a surrender of post-truth political identities. The antidote to post-truth politics is not purely political – it is also sociological. In other words, we should not presuppose that the political nature of man is rational. As we have seen this summer, post-truth politics undermines this assumption. If we ignore the sociological behavior of parties, post-truth politics will subsume the fabric of the Republic and ordinary Americans will reap the consequences.
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