Midair Collision Kills Three People Colorado Authorities Say
Midair Collision Kills Three People, Colorado Authorities Say https://digitalalabamanews.com/midair-collision-kills-three-people-colorado-authorities-say/
Two planes crashed midair in Colorado on Saturday, killing three people, authorities say.
Joshua Bonafede, a Boulder County sheriff’s deputy, said two planes collided on Saturday morning. One plane was found about 30 miles northwest of downtown Denver. According to NBC affiliate 9 News, the other plane was found a few blocks away.
At about 8:50 a.m. local time, a single-engine Cessna 172 and a second aircraft collided and crashed near Vance Brand Airport in Longmont, a spokesperson with the Federal Aviation Administration told The Washington Post in an email.
Two people were aboard the Cessna 172, the FAA spokesperson said. The National Transportation Safety Board said on Twitter that it is investigating a Cessna 172 collision with a plane it identified as a Sonex Xenos in Longmont, Colo.
“The FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board will investigate,” the FAA spokesperson said. “The NTSB will be in charge of the investigation and will provide additional updates.”
The Cessna 172, also known as a Skyhawk, is one of the most popular airplanes in the world. It can seat four and is commonly used in flight instruction.
Midair collisions are rare, with fewer than 30 occurring in the United States in a typical year. They almost always involve small private planes or military craft, not commercial jets, and are usually the result of human error such as miscommunication or navigation issues.
Under federal aviation regulations, private pilots are required to “see and avoid” other aircraft flying in the space near them, and they must follow takeoff and landing procedures closely. Collisions are more likely in populous, heavily trafficked areas.
Mountain View Fire Rescue, which serves the area, confirmed the three deaths and asked people to avoid the Niwot area, northeast of Boulder.
Police had closed some roads in the area, Bonafede told The Washington Post.
“It’s still very early in the investigation,” Bonafede said, adding that federal investigators were “on their way.”
Praveena Somasundaram contributed to this report.
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Voter Challenges Records Requests Swamp Election Offices
Voter Challenges, Records Requests Swamp Election Offices https://digitalalabamanews.com/voter-challenges-records-requests-swamp-election-offices-2/
Spurred by conspiracy theories about the 2020 presidential election, activists around the country are using laws that allow people to challenge a voter’s right to cast a ballot to contest the registrations of thousands of voters at a time.
In Iowa, Linn County Auditor Joel Miller had handled three voter challenges over the previous 15 years. He received 119 over just two days after Doug Frank, an Ohio educator who is touring the country spreading doubts about the 2020 election, swung through the state.
In Nassau County in northern Florida, two residents challenged the registrations of nearly 2,000 voters just six days before last month’s primary. In Georgia, activists are dropping off boxloads of challenges in the diverse and Democratic-leaning counties comprising the Atlanta metro area, including more than 35,000 in one county late last month.
Election officials say the vast majority of the challenges will be irrelevant because they contest the presence on voting rolls of people who already are in the process of being removed after they moved out of the region. Still, they create potentially hundreds of hours of extra work as the offices scramble to prepare for November’s election.
“They at best overburden election officials in the run-up to an election, and at worse they lead to people being removed from the rolls when they shouldn’t be,” said Sean Morales-Doyle of The Brennan Center for Justice, which has tracked an upswing in voter challenges.
The voter challenges come as activists who believe in the election lies of former President Donald Trump also have flooded election offices across the country with public records requests and threats of litigation, piling even more work on them as they ready for November.
“It’s time-consuming for us, because we have to consult with our county attorneys about what the proper response is going to be,” said Rachel Rodriguez, an elections supervisor in Dane County, Wisconsin, which includes Madison, the state capital.
She received duplicate emails demanding records about two weeks ago: “It’s taking up valuable time that we don’t necessarily have as election officials when we’re trying to prepare for a November election.”
Michael Henrici, the Democratic commissioner of elections in New York’s Otsego County, received a single-line email last week warning of unspecified “election integrity” litigation, then a follow-up complaining he hadn’t responded.
“These aren’t people with specific grievances,” Henrici said. “They’re getting a form letter from someone’s podcast and sometimes filling in the blanks.”
Multiple investigations and reviews, including one by Trump’s own Department of Justice, found no significant fraud i n the 2020 presidential election, and courts rejected dozens of lawsuits brought by Trump and his allies. But Trump has continued to insist that widespread fraud cost him re-election. That has inspired legions of activists to become do-it-yourself election sleuths around the country, challenging local voting officials at every turn.
In Linn County, Iowa, which includes the city of Cedar Rapids, Miller said he and the auditors who run elections in the state’s other 98 counties have been deluged with both records requests and voter challenges.
“The whole barrage came in a two-week period,” Miller said, following the tour by Frank, who uses mathematical projections to make claims of a vast conspiracy to steal the election from Trump, “and it’s happening to auditors across the state.”
Election offices routinely go through their voter rolls and remove those who have moved or died. Federal law constrains how quickly they can drop voters, and conservative activists have long complained that election officials do not move swiftly enough to clean up their rolls.
The recent challenges stem from activists comparing postal change-of-address and other databases to voter rolls. Election officials say this is redundant, because they already take the same steps.
Sometimes the challenges come after election conspiracists go door-to-door, often in heavily minority neighborhoods, seeking evidence that votes were cast improperly in 2020.
Texas’ heavily Democratic Harris County, which includes Houston, received nearly 5,000 challenges from a conservative group that went door-to-door checking voter addresses. The election office said it dismissed the challenges it legally had to review before the election and will finish the remainder after Nov. 8.
Activists in Gwinnett County, which stretches across the increasingly Democratic northern Atlanta suburbs, spent 10 months comparing change-of-address and other databases with the county’s voter rolls. They submitted eight boxes of challenges last month. About 15,000, they said, were complaints that specific voters improperly received mail ballots in 2020. Another 22,000 were for voters they contend are no longer at their registered address.
There are so many challenges that election officials have yet to even count them all. But Zach Manifold, Gwinnett’s election supervisor, said that, in every single mail ballot complaint the office has sampled, the voter properly received a mailed ballot.
But if any of the address-challenged voters do try to cast a ballot in November, the county’s elections board will need to decide whether that vote should count. They’ll only have six days to make a decision, as they have to certify their vote total by the Monday after Election Day under Georgia law.
Manifold estimated his office has a month to log and research the challenges, before mail ballots go out for the November elections: “It is a tight window to get everything done,” he said.
Many of the large counties facing voter roll challenges are places where President Joe Biden beat Trump in 2020, including Gwinnett and Harris. Yet those behind the effort dispute the notion that they are targeting Democratic-leaning counties and say they’re working on behalf of all voters. In Florida’s Nassau County, for example, Trump won with more than 72% of the vote.
“They should be glad that the voter rolls are being cleaned up so they can make sure their votes count,” said Garland Favorito, a conservative activist who has teamed up with supporters of Trump’s election lies and is helping with voter challenges in Georgia.
Favorito said more challenges are coming in other Georgia counties.
Under legislation passed last year by the Republican-controlled Legislature, there are no limits on the number of voter challenges that can be filed in Georgia. Most states implicitly set restraints on challenges, said Morales-Doyle of the Brennan Center. They require a complainant to have specific, personal information about the voters they target and establish penalties for making frivolous challenges.
Florida is an example. Its voter challenge law only permits the filing of challenges 30 days before an election, requiring election officials to contact each voter challenged before Election Day. It is a misdemeanor to file a “frivolous” challenge. But voter challenges almost derailed Florida’s primary last month in heavily-Republican Nassau County, in the northeastern part of the state.
Two women who belonged to a conservative group, County Citizens Defending Freedom, dropped off the nearly 2,000 challenges at the county elections office six days before the Aug. 23 primary.
Luckily for the office, the challenges were filed in an incorrect format. Elections Supervisor Janet Adkins told the activists they would review them, anyway — after the primary.
“To take away a person’s right to vote is a very serious thing,” Adkins said.
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Look These Are Our Boys: Ukrainian Troops Drive Russian Tanks On New Front Line
‘Look, These Are Our Boys’: Ukrainian Troops Drive Russian Tanks On New Front Line https://digitalalabamanews.com/look-these-are-our-boys-ukrainian-troops-drive-russian-tanks-on-new-front-line/
September 17, 2022 at 4:28 p.m. EDT
Vehicles are seen on and around a damaged bridge in Kupyansk. (Heidi Levine for The Washington Post)
KUPIANSK, Ukraine – The front line is now a river, the Oskil, that runs through the middle of the eastern Ukrainian town of Kupiansk. On one side are the charging Ukrainian forces who have pushed their Russian enemies almost entirely out of the northeastern Kharkiv region during a sweeping counteroffensive this month.
From her bedroom window, Liza Udovik, 26, has a view of the other side, to where the Russians have retreated. The sound of outgoing fire from the Ukrainians rocked her apartment these past few days, when the Ukrainian military moved into Kupiansk and the town became a battleground. Russian tanks and armored vehicles still patrol the streets, but it’s the Ukrainians driving them, using the Russians’ own abandoned weapons against them.
Udovik started counting the seconds between hearing the deafening boom of artillery launched and the appearance of smoke in the distance. From just Tuesday to Wednesday, the gap got longer, stretching from 9 seconds to 13.
“They’re getting pushed back,” she said with a smile.
The Oskil became a shield for the Russians on Sept. 9. As the Ukrainians closed in, the invading forces crossed the bridge and blew it up behind them to slow Kyiv’s advance. And Kupiansk was suddenly cut off from its second half. The next morning, 55-year-old Lena Danilova stared in confusion at the Ukrainian vehicles driving down the town’s streets. A man next to her tugged on her sleeve, pointing out the different uniforms on the soldiers now patrolling the area.
“Look, these are our boys,” he whispered to her. Danilova said she wiped away tears of joy.
“Finally,” she said. But then she had a sick realization. Two of her children were stuck on the other side of the river. They had gone to attend a school there just days before. Now it’s where the line where the Russians are desperate to stop Ukraine’s hard-charging advance further south, into the occupied Donetsk and Luhansk regions.
After Kupiansk was captured without a fight just three days into the war, the town was at least spared Russian bombardment. Now people here are confronting some of the horrors of war that other Ukrainians lived through months ago. They waited and hoped for Ukrainian liberation, many said, but they didn’t imagine it would be like this: the threat of Russian shelling, no power in the city and no way to get basic medicines. Locals packed their most essential belongings quickly and evacuated in a rush with volunteers this week, evoking images of the first days of the war.
Valya, 58, left behind her cats. Bowls with water with them lined the floor of her apartment, and she left a key with her friend to feed them.
With only Russian state television channels, a Kremlin propaganda tool, available in Kupiansk for the past six months, people were cut off from independent news about what was happening in Ukraine. The Russian government prohibits media from even naming this a war, preferring to call it a “special military operation” and information is tightly controlled.
While evacuating with her mother, Udovik was asked if she knew about the atrocities Russian soldiers committed against civilians in Bucha, including torture and killings – what had been major international news in April. Udovik shook her head.
“Bucha?” Udovik said. “I think I heard something about it, but I’m not sure.” The Russian channels she sometimes watched focused instead on how Europe might be facing an energy crisis this winter with Russian natural gas flows cut, she said.
People spoke in hushed voices about what transpired during occupation because they say a portion of the population is sympathetic to Moscow, and if the Russian soldiers return, then neighbors could inform on neighbors. Udovik’s own family was torn apart by it. Her grandmother stopped speaking to her sister after she hung a Russian flag outside her home.
On Feb. 27, just three days after Russia launched its unprovoked full-scale invasion, Kupiansk’s mayor, Gennady Matsegora, posted a video on Facebook admitting that he surrendered the city over to the Russian military. Matsegora was a member of Ukraine’s pro-Russian party.
“Today at 7:30 a.m. the commander of a Russian battalion called to propose negotiations,” he said. “If declined, the city would be stormed ‘with all the consequences.’ I decided to take part in the talks to avoid casualties and destruction in the city.”
Udovik, who considers herself a Ukrainian patriot, acknowledged that Matsegora will almost certainly be considered a traitor. But her own feelings are complicated.
“For citizens of course, that decision probably did save lives,” she said. “We didn’t hear these explosions we hear now. In the beginning it was quiet, but we knew that eventually, this would all start.”
The Russians used Kupiansk as the seat of their occupation government. A propaganda radio station, called “Kharkiv-Z” – the letter “Z” has become a symbol of the Russian military – blared through local shops. Residents could only make calls to Russia. Even without formal annexation, the town became so integrated into Russia that Udovik even had a relative visit from Vladivostok, the Far East Russian city near the North Korean border. The Moscow-established authorities advertised that people could receive Russian passports.
Danilova said she was forced to send her children to school, even though she knew Russian curriculum would be taught. People were threatened that if they didn’t, their parental rights could be revoked. Others said they feared the strict 8 p.m. curfew because there were rumors of people disappearing if they were caught outside past time.
The Russians had used Kupiansk as a transport hub, moving hundreds of tanks and armored personnel vehicles through it and toward what was then the front line. Some of those same vehicles are back – trophies of the Ukrainian military using the equipment Russians left behind during their retreat.
On Thursday, as the sounds of outgoing fire reverberated through the town, shells crashing on the liberated side of the river were scarcely heard – a sign that Russians’ ammunition depots could be depleted after Ukrainian strikes and a quick withdrawal that forced them to abandon or destroy much of it.
On the road into Kupiansk, the Ukrainians were transporting pontoon bridges, preparing to cross the river and continue their advance. The sign announcing the town, painted white, red and blue — the colors of the Russian flag — was torn down and in ruins.
War in Ukraine: What you need to know
The latest: Grain shipments from Ukraine are gathering pace under the agreement hammered out by Ukraine, Russia, Turkey and the United Nations in July. Russia’s blockade of Ukrainian Black Sea ports had sent food prices soaring and raised fears of more hunger in the Middle East and Africa. At least 18 ships, including loads of wheat, corn and sunflower oil, have departed.
The fight: The conflict on the ground grinds on as Russia uses its advantage in heavy artillery to pummel Ukrainian forces, which have sometimes been able to put up stiff resistance. In the south, Ukrainian hopes rest on liberating the Russia-occupied Kherson region, and ultimately Crimea, seized by Russia in 2014. Fears of a disaster at the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Station remain as both sides accuse each other of shelling it.
The weapons: Western supplies of weapons are helping Ukraine slow Russian advances. U.S.-supplied High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) allow Ukrainian forces to strike farther behind Russian lines against Russian artillery. Russia has used an array of weapons against Ukraine, some of which have drawn the attention and concern of analysts.
Photos: Washington Post photographers have been on the ground from the very beginning of the war — here’s some of their most powerful work.
How you can help: Here are ways those in the U.S. can help support the Ukrainian people as well as what people around the world have been donating.
Read our full coverage of the Russia-Ukraine crisis. Are you on Telegram? Subscribe to our channel for updates and exclusive video.
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Phony Document Lands On Court Docket In Trump Search Case
Phony Document Lands On Court Docket In Trump Search Case https://digitalalabamanews.com/phony-document-lands-on-court-docket-in-trump-search-case-2/
WASHINGTON (AP)
When a government document mysteriously appeared earlier this week in the highest profile case in the federal court system, it had the hallmarks of another explosive storyline in the Justice Department’s investigation into classified records stored at former President Donald Trump’s Florida estate.
The document purported to be from the U.S. Treasury Department, claimed that the agency had seized sensitive documents related to last month’s search at Mar-a-Lago and included a warrant ordering CNN to preserve “leaked tax records.”
The document remained late Thursday on the court docket, but it is a clear fabrication. A review of dozens of court records and interviews by The Associated Press suggest the document originated with a serial forger behind bars at a federal prison complex in North Carolina.
The incident also suggests that the court clerk was easily tricked into believing it was real, landing the document on the public docket in the Mar-a-Lago search warrant case. It also highlights the vulnerability of the U.S. court system and raises questions about the court’s vetting of documents that purport to be official records.
The document first appeared on the court’s docket late Monday afternoon and was marked as a “MOTION to Intervene by U.S. Department of the Treasury.”
The document, sprinkled with spelling and syntax errors, read, “The U.S. Department of Treasury through the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Marshals Service have arrested Seized Federal Securities containing sensitive documents which are subject to the Defendant Sealed Search Warrant by the F.B.I. arrest.”
It cited a federal statute for collecting financial records in federal investigations. The document also included the two supposed warrants, one that claimed to be sent to CNN in Atlanta and another to a towing company in Michigan.
Those supposed warrants, though, are identical to paperwork filed in another case in federal court in Georgia brought by an inmate at the prison medical center in Butner, North Carolina. The case was thrown out, as were the array of other frivolous lawsuits the man has filed from his prison cell.
The man has been in custody for several years since he was found not competent to stand trial after an arrest for planting a fake explosive outside the Guardian Building, a skyscraper in Detroit. Since his incarceration, he has filed a range of lawsuits and has impersonated the Treasury Department, claimed to be a federal trustee and claimed to be a lawyer for the Justice Department, a review of court records shows.
In the Georgia case, the man alleged that Trump and others had “acquired ‘millions of un- redacted classified tax returns and other sensitive financial data, bank records and accounts of banking and tax transactions of several million’ Americans and federal government agencies,” court documents say.
The judge in that case called his suit “fanatic” and “delusional,” saying there was no way to “discern any cognizable claim” from the incoherent filings.
The man has repeatedly impersonated federal officials in court records and has placed tax liens on judges using his false paperwork, two people familiar with the matter told the AP. Because of his history as a forger, his mail is supposed to be subjected to additional scrutiny from the Bureau of Prisons.
It’s unclear how the documents — the fake motion and the phony warrants — ended up at the court clerk’s office at the courthouse in West Palm Beach, Florida.
A photocopy of an envelope, included in the filing, shows it was sent to the court with a printed return address of the Treasury Department’s headquarters in Washington. But a postmark shows a Michigan ZIP code, and a tracking number on the envelope shows it was mailed Sept. 9 from Clinton Township, Michigan, the inmate’s hometown.
The AP is not identifying the inmate by name because he has a documented history of mental illness and has not been charged with a crime related to the filing.
“There is simply nothing indicating that he has any authorization to act on behalf of the United States,” the judge in the Georgia case wrote.
But despite the clear warning signs — including a stamp noting the Georgia case number on the phony warrants — the filing still made its way onto the docket.
Spokespeople for the Justice Department and the Treasury Department would not comment. They declined to answer on the record when asked if the document was false and why the government had not addressed it.
Representatives in the court clerk’s office and the magistrate judge overseeing the search warrant case did not respond to requests for comment.
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Irans President Raeisi: No Meeting With US President On Sidelines Of UN General Assembly Session
Iran’s President Raeisi: No Meeting With US President On Sidelines Of UN General Assembly Session https://digitalalabamanews.com/irans-president-raeisi-no-meeting-with-us-president-on-sidelines-of-un-general-assembly-session/
President Ebrahim Raeisi says he has no plans for either meeting or talking with his American counterpart, Joe Biden, during his upcoming trip to New York, where the Iranian chief executive is slated to address the 77th Session of the United Nations General Assembly.
“I do not think that such a meeting is going to take place,” Raeisi told CBS News’ 60 Minutes program during an interview conducted Tuesday, which the channel is going to broadcast in full on Sunday.
Iran’s president made the comment when he as asked, “Are you open to a meeting with President Biden? A face-to-face?” adding, “I don’t believe having a meeting or a talk with him will be beneficial.”
The Iranian president was also asked whether he could see any differences between the Biden administration and the administration of his predecessor Donald Trump.
“The new administration in the US, they claim that they are different from the Trump administration,” Raeisi said, adding, “They have said it in their messages to us. But we haven’t witnessed any changes in reality.”
Under Trump, the United Sates left a 2015 nuclear agreement between Iran and world powers, reinstating the sanctions that the deal had lifted.
On his campaign trail, Biden alleged that he intended to return Washington to the deal, which is officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).
He has, however, stopped short of taking any such measure, and has even imposed more sanctions on the Islamic Republic.
The Austrian capital of Vienna has been hosting many rounds of negotiations between Iran and the JCPOA’s remaining members since last year to examine the potential of the deal’s revival and fresh removal of the sanctions.
The talks have, however, failed to bring about either amid, what Tehran has denounced as, Washington’s continual foot-dragging and inflexibility.
Speaking to Qatar’s Al Jazeera television network on Thursday, Raeisi likewise said direct talks with the US over the nuclear agreement were “of no avail.”
The final decision for restoration of the JCPOA rested with the US, he said, adding, “The US has to take trust-building measures” towards the Iranian side.
Raesi also told the Doha-based network that any potential removal of the American sanctions had to be accompanied with relevant “guarantees” that Washington would not return the bans again.
The Iranian president censured a raft of new sanctions that Washington had imposed most recently on Iran, asking, “If Washington is after an agreement, why does it apply new sanctions during the course of the nuclear talks?”
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On The Trail: Bolduc Makes U-Turn On Key Issues https://digitalalabamanews.com/on-the-trail-bolduc-makes-u-turn-on-key-issues/
Republican Senate nominee Don Bolduc headed to Georgia on Friday – in search of fundraising dollars to compete against incumbent Democrat Maggie Hassan – to attend and speak at a retreat organized by the National Republican Senatorial Committee for major donors.
But the former Army general who narrowly edged longtime state Senate President Chuck Morse on Tuesday left behind a brewing controversy following his backtracking on comments he made during his primary campaign supporting former President Donald Trump’s repeated unproven claims that the 2020 election was “stolen.”
Bolduc, who struck a populist theme as he ran as an outsider and MAGA-style Republican amid a crowded primary field of contenders for the GOP nomination, embraced Trump’s constant bemoaning of his 2020 election loss. Bolduc, who served 10 tours of duty in the Afghanistan War, was part of a group of retired generals who signed a letter questioning the legitimacy of the election due to what they charged was “a tremendous amount of fraud.”
“I signed a letter with 120 other generals and admirals saying Trump won the election, and damn it, I stand by [it],” Bolduc proclaimed, during a primary debate last month.
But on Thursday, Bolduc shifted gears during a TV interview on Fox News.
“We live and learn, right?” he said. “And I’ve done a lot of research on this.”
His research included speaking with Granite State voters, he said.
“I have come to the conclusion, and I want to be definitive on this, the election was not stolen,” Bolduc emphasized.
He added that while he still believes there was fraud in the 2020 contest, “elections have consequences and, unfortunately, President Biden is the legitimate president of this country.”
State Rep. Al Baldasaro of Londonderry, a top Trump supporter and surrogate in New Hampshire, was not impressed.
“It’s a shame that he changed his mind,” Baldasaro said. “I disagree with him.”
Hassan’s campaign on Friday put out a statement spotlighting Bolduc’s change of stance that was headlined “Bolduc fails in his attempt to run away from his very, very long record of election denial.”
Bolduc also appears to be moderating his stance on the issue of legalized abortion.
Following the blockbuster move in June by the conservative majority on the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn the landmark Roe v. Wade ruling, sending the combustible issue of legalized abortion back to the states, Bolduc called the decision a necessary correction.
Bolduc, who repeatedly highlighted that he’s “pro-life,” said at a primary debate this summer that he would “always default for a system that protects lives from beginning to end.”
But Bolduc says that he would not support a proposal, unveiled on Tuesday by Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, to implement a federal abortion ban after 15 weeks of pregnancy.
“No, I’m not going to support it because it makes no sense,” Bolduc said on Fox News after declaring his primary victory. “The Supreme Court has already decided that this is a state issue. The states have it. That’s where it needs to be. Women on both sides of the issue will get a better voice at the state level.”
Hassan told reporters on Wednesday that Bolduc’s statements are “inconsistent with what he’s been saying for years. He has said he would vote for anti-choice legislation in Washington.”
Bolduc’s new comments opposing a federal abortion ban do call in to question a television commercial from the Hassan campaign launched on Wednesday that charged that “if Don Bolduc and Congressional Republicans take control of the U.S. Senate they would push for a nationwide ban on abortion — a ban with no exceptions.”
While Bolduc gave New Hampshire conservatives plenty of red meat during the primaries, there were concerns from some Republicans in the state and nationally that a nomination victory by the retired general, who has severely struggled with fundraising, would allow Hassan to win re-election.
A couple of weeks ago a newly formed super PAC named the White Mountain PAC, which had loose links to longtime Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell’s political orbit, dished out roughly $4 million to run TV commercials in New Hampshire boosting Morse and blasting Bolduc for his “crazy ideas.”
Now, post-primary, Bolduc appears to be doing what some other MAGA-style GOP nominees have done as they shifted to the general election, and that’s moderate their stance on some key issues.
New Hampshire’s competitive Republican primaries for the past six months often pitted conservative candidates supported by mainstream Republicans against far-right contenders often aligned with Trump and his legions of MAGA loyalists.
The patching up of primary differences is a work in progress, but one top Republican says is essential to secure victory in November.
“Now is the time for us to unite and come together as a party in New Hampshire, come together as a party all across this country and do what needs to be done,” former Vice President Mike Pence emphasized on Wednesday night, as he headlined a fundraiser for Bolduc in Wilton.
The next morning, the New Hampshire GOP held their post-primary unity breakfast at the Grappone Conference Center in Concord.
NHGOP chair Steve Stepanek warned the audience to not “take anything for granted between now and November,” and urged that “as passionately as you worked for your candidate in the primary, whether they won or lost, everyone has to work as passionately for the Republican ticket going forward.”
Seeking some unity, Bolduc walked over to Republican Gov. Chris Sununu and gave him a big hug during the breakfast.
After stressing at the end of his speech that “we do not win without this team coming together,” Bolduc stepped down from the podium and approached Sununu, who was next in line to speak, and embraced the governor, who remains the most popular politician among Granite State Republicans.
The hug by Bolduc appeared to be an attempt to erase a recent history of bad blood between the two men, who now share the top of the GOP ticket on November’s ballot in New Hampshire.
National Republican leaders spent a year trying to recruit Sununu to take on Hassan, viewed as vulnerable as she seeks a second term in the Senate. However, the governor announced last November that he would instead run for re-election.
Bolduc claimed last year that Sununu was a “communist Chinese sympathizer” and that the Sununu family’s business “supports terrorism.” While Bolduc has walked back those attacks, he has continued to criticize Sununu’s policies during the coronavirus pandemic as “executive overreach.”
A few weeks ago, Sununu said on a popular statewide talk-radio program that Bolduc was “not a serious candidate, he’s really not, and if he were the GOP nominee, I have no doubt we would have a much harder time… He’s kind of a conspiracy theorist-type candidate.”
While Sununu tempered those criticisms in recent days, he endorsed Morse ahead of the primary.
On the eve of the unity breakfast, Bolduc appeared to try and make amends with some of his past rhetoric on the campaign trial.
“A campaign is tough. It’s tough on everybody. We say things in the heat of conversation that we regret later. We hope that we can say we’re sorry for it and people forgive, but that’s not always the case. And I’m no different,” he lamented during the Pence-headlined fundraiser. “I’m a man who’s fallible. A man who errs. A man who says things that perhaps should be left unsaid.”
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Photo Gallery: Pregame Sights Ahead Of Auburn Vs. Penn State
Photo Gallery: Pregame Sights Ahead Of Auburn Vs. Penn State https://digitalalabamanews.com/photo-gallery-pregame-sights-ahead-of-auburn-vs-penn-state/
September 17, 2022 2:29 pm CT
Campus has been buzzing all week in anticipation of this massive matchup between Auburn and Penn State. Today, the meeting finally takes place.
Auburn’s uniform of choice has been discussed all week after rumors of the team playing the game in orange jerseys to go along with the “All Auburn, All Orange” theme that encourages fans in attendance to wear orange to the game.
Buy Tigers Tickets
However, judging by early photos, the Tigers will play in their traditional navy jerseys over white pants. They will incorporate more orange into their look, however, as the orange facemasks that first appeared in last season’s game against Ole Miss will be worn with the usual white helmets.
Tiger Walk was electric, and the early scene inside Jordan-Hare Stadium is already invigorating. Here is a look at the pregame scene ahead of Saturday’s game between Auburn and Penn State on the Plains.
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17 09, 2022; Auburn, AL, USA; Tiger Walk during Auburn vs Penn State Mandatory Credit: Elaina…
17 09, 2022; Auburn, AL, USA; Tiger Walk during Auburn vs Penn State Mandatory Credit: Elaina Eichorn
FTBL: FOOTBALL
Sep 17, 2022; Auburn, Al, USA; Coach Bryan Harsin at Tiger Walk before the game between…
Sep 17, 2022; Auburn, Al, USA; Coach Bryan Harsin at Tiger Walk before the game between Auburn and Penn State at Jordan Hare Stadium .Austin Perryman/AU Athletics
FTBL: FOOTBALL
Sep 17, 2022; Auburn, Al, USA; Coach Bryan Harsin high fives fans at tiger walk before…
Sep 17, 2022; Auburn, Al, USA; Coach Bryan Harsin high fives fans at tiger walk before the gamebetween Auburn and Penn State at Jordan Hare Stadium. Todd Van Emst/AU Athletics
NCAA Football: Penn State at Auburn
Sep 17, 2022; Auburn, Alabama, USA; Auburn Tigers head coach Bryan Harsin goes through Tiger Walk…
Sep 17, 2022; Auburn, Alabama, USA; Auburn Tigers head coach Bryan Harsin goes through Tiger Walk before the game against the Penn State Nittany Lions at Jordan-Hare Stadium. Mandatory Credit: John Reed-USA TODAY Sports
FTBL: FOOTBALL
Sep 17, 2022; Auburn, Al, USA; Brenden Coffey (55) gets crowd pumped up before the game…
Sep 17, 2022; Auburn, Al, USA; Brenden Coffey (55) gets crowd pumped up before the game between Auburn and Penn State at Jordan Hare Stadium. Todd Van Emst/AU Athletics
NCAA Football: Penn State at Auburn
Sep 17, 2022; Auburn, Alabama, USA; Auburn Tigers quarterback T.J. Finley (1) goes through Tiger Walk…
Sep 17, 2022; Auburn, Alabama, USA; Auburn Tigers quarterback T.J. Finley (1) goes through Tiger Walk before the game against the Penn State Nittany Lions at Jordan-Hare Stadium. Mandatory Credit: John Reed-USA TODAY Sports
NCAA Football: Penn State at Auburn
Sep 17, 2022; Auburn, Alabama, USA; Auburn Tigers offensive lineman Brenden Coffey (55) goes through Tiger…
Sep 17, 2022; Auburn, Alabama, USA; Auburn Tigers offensive lineman Brenden Coffey (55) goes through Tiger Walk before the game against the Penn State Nittany Lions at Jordan-Hare Stadium. Mandatory Credit: John Reed-USA TODAY Sports
FTBL: FOOTBALL
Sep 17, 2022; Auburn, Al, USA; T.J. Finley (1) at the Tiger Walk before the game…
Sep 17, 2022; Auburn, Al, USA; T.J. Finley (1) at the Tiger Walk before the game between Auburn and Penn State at Jordan Hare Stadium . Austin Perryman/AU Athletics
AU vs Penn State
17 09, 2022; Auburn, AL, USA; Bo Jackson during Auburn vs Penn State Mandatory Credit: Todd…
17 09, 2022; Auburn, AL, USA; Bo Jackson during Auburn vs Penn State Mandatory Credit: Todd Van Emst
17 auburn 7
17 09, 2022; Auburn, AL, USA; Derrick Hall Sledge Hammer during Auburn vs Penn State Mandatory…
17 09, 2022; Auburn, AL, USA; Derrick Hall Sledge Hammer during Auburn vs Penn State Mandatory Credit: Austin Perryman
Penn State v Auburn
AUBURN, ALABAMA – SEPTEMBER 17: Head coach Bryan Harsin of the Auburn Tigers prior to their…
AUBURN, ALABAMA – SEPTEMBER 17: Head coach Bryan Harsin of the Auburn Tigers prior to their game against the Penn State Nittany Lions at Jordan-Hare Stadium on September 17, 2022 in Auburn, Alabama. (Photo by Michael Chang/Getty Images)
NCAA Football: Penn State at Auburn
Sep 17, 2022; Auburn, Alabama, USA; Auburn Tigers quarterback Robby Ashford (9) warms up before the…
Sep 17, 2022; Auburn, Alabama, USA; Auburn Tigers quarterback Robby Ashford (9) warms up before the game against the Penn State Nittany Lions at Jordan-Hare Stadium. Mandatory Credit: John Reed-USA TODAY Sports
NCAA Football: Penn State at Auburn
Sep 17, 2022; Auburn, Alabama, USA; Auburn Tigers quarterback T.J. Finley (1) warms up before the…
Sep 17, 2022; Auburn, Alabama, USA; Auburn Tigers quarterback T.J. Finley (1) warms up before the game against the Penn State Nittany Lions at Jordan-Hare Stadium. Mandatory Credit: John Reed-USA TODAY Sports
NCAA Football: Penn State at Auburn
Sep 17, 2022; Auburn, Alabama, USA; Penn State Nittany Lions quarterback Sean Clifford (14) goes through…
Sep 17, 2022; Auburn, Alabama, USA; Penn State Nittany Lions quarterback Sean Clifford (14) goes through warm ups before the game against the Auburn Tigers at Jordan-Hare Stadium. Mandatory Credit: John Reed-USA TODAY Sports
NCAA Football: Penn State at Auburn
Sep 17, 2022; Auburn, Alabama, USA; Penn State Nittany Lions quarterback Sean Clifford (14) talks to…
Sep 17, 2022; Auburn, Alabama, USA; Penn State Nittany Lions quarterback Sean Clifford (14) talks to his teammates before the game against the Auburn Tigers at Jordan-Hare Stadium. Mandatory Credit: John Reed-USA TODAY Sports
Derick Hall
Auburn linebacker Derick Hall before the start of an NCAA college football game against Penn State…
Auburn linebacker Derick Hall before the start of an NCAA college football game against Penn State Saturday, Sept. 17, 2022, in Auburn, Ala. (AP Photo/Butch Dill)
Penn St Auburn Football
Auburn head coach Bryan Harsin, left, talks with Penn State head coach James Franklin, right, before…
Auburn head coach Bryan Harsin, left, talks with Penn State head coach James Franklin, right, before an NCAA college football game Saturday, Sept. 17, 2022, in Auburn, Ala. (AP Photo/Butch Dill)
Penn St Auburn Football
Auburn quarterback Robby Ashford warms up before an NCAA college football game against Penn State, Saturday,…
Auburn quarterback Robby Ashford warms up before an NCAA college football game against Penn State, Saturday, Sept. 17, 2022, in Auburn, Ala. (AP Photo/Butch Dill)
Penn St Auburn Football
Auburn quarterback T.J. Finley warms up before an NCAA college football game against Penn State, Saturday,…
Auburn quarterback T.J. Finley warms up before an NCAA college football game against Penn State, Saturday, Sept. 17, 2022, in Auburn, Ala. (AP Photo/Butch Dill)
Sean Clifford
Penn State quarterback Sean Clifford warms up before the start of an NCAA college football game…
Penn State quarterback Sean Clifford warms up before the start of an NCAA college football game against Auburn Saturday, Sept. 17, 2022, in Auburn, Ala. (AP Photo/Butch Dill)
Penn St Auburn Football
Penn State quarterback Sean Clifford warms up before an NCAA college football game against Auburn, Saturday,…
Penn State quarterback Sean Clifford warms up before an NCAA college football game against Auburn, Saturday, Sept. 17, 2022, in Auburn, Ala. (AP Photo/Butch Dill)
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On The Colorado River Growing Concern For Trout And Chub
On The Colorado River, Growing Concern For Trout And Chub https://digitalalabamanews.com/on-the-colorado-river-growing-concern-for-trout-and-chub/
In this photo provided by Terry Gunn, Lehman Beardsley, left, and Gunn, who guides fishing trips, pose with a rainbow trout at Lees Ferry near Marble Canyon, Ariz., Nov 7, 1987. As Lake Powell reservoir just upstream declines, it sends warmer water with less oxygen into the river below the dam. Should that water reach 73 degrees, Gunn said his family’s guide service may start calling off afternoon trips. (Courtesy of Terry Gunn via AP) The Associated Press
By BRITTANY PETERSON, Associated Press
DENVER (AP) — To guide fishing trips for a year or two, that’s what brought Terry Gunn to the red canyons of northern Arizona. The chance to hike, raft and fly fish drew Wendy Hanvold, a retired ski bum, who took a job there waiting tables at an anglers lodge. She heard rumors of the intrepid fishing guide who had just returned from an Alaska trip, and one day when he came in approached his table to take his order.
“You fly fish, right?” she said. “I’ve always wanted to learn.”
It was a match made in Marble Canyon.
Since then, the couple opened an anglers shop, guide service, purchased a lodge, and raised their son. They take pride in showing tourists the best spots to catch and release prized rainbow trout beneath craggy cliffs carved by the Colorado River.
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But it could all soon change as warmer water temperatures threaten fish survival and the Gunn’s livelihood.
Key Colorado River reservoirs Lake Powell and Lake Mead are both only about one-quarter full. The continued drop, due to overuse and an increasingly arid climate, is threatening the fish and the economies built around them.
“We’re in totally uncharted territory,” said Gunn, who began guiding in Marble Canyon in 1983. That year, Glen Canyon Dam began to release water on an emergency basis after record snowmelt produced a powerful spring runoff, resulting in near failure of the dam. In all these years, the river has usually been cold, with typical summer temperatures in the 50s.
But since late August, the water temperature at Lees Ferry — the site of a world-famous trout fishery — has risen above 70 degrees seven times. That might be idyllic for a summer dip under the blazing Arizona summer sun, Gunn said, but approaches peril for the beloved sport fish. A few degrees higher can be lethal.
To make matters worse, when temperatures rise, the amount of oxygen dissolved in the water falls, making it tough for fish to even breathe.
As the reservoir drops, it sends warmer water with less oxygen into the river below the dam. Should that water reach 73 degrees, Gunn said his family’s guide service could start calling off afternoon trips.
Recently, a small reprieve of cooler temperatures has taken the edge off the fear at Lees Ferry, but uncertainty still taints the air.
“Mother Nature holds a handful of trump cards and if she decides to play one, there’s not a damn thing you can do about it,” Gunn said.
Seven states, Mexico, and tribal nations depend on the stressed Colorado River. They have undergone voluntary and mandatory cuts and are grappling with how to further reduce their reliance on the river by about 15 to 30 percent, per a recent mandate by the Department of the Interior.
Struggling aquatic life further complicates the already delicate river management and increases the cost.
Just a few miles north of Lees Ferry and its trout fishery there’s another threat — nonnative predatory smallmouth bass. They’re supposed to be contained in Lake Powell. But this summer they were found in the river below the dam. Smallmouth bass already wreaked havoc on native fish way upriver where the government spends millions of dollars each year to control the predators. They were held at bay in Lake Powell because Glen Canyon Dam has served as a barrier for them for years — until now. The reservoir’s recent sharp decline is enabling these introduced fish to shoot through the dam and edge closer to the Grand Canyon, where the biggest groups of humpback chub, an ancient, threatened, native fish, remain.
The National Park Service is going so far as to apply chemicals Saturday to kill these predatory fish. The infested area is sealed off from the river with a vinyl barrier, desirable fish are moved to the main channel, and the substance is applied to just that area, said National Park Service fisheries biologist Jeff Arnold. A second treatment is likely later this fall. The Bureau of Reclamation has said it will contribute $30,000 for the second treatment, and is exploring additional funding from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Inflation Reduction Act for longer-term solutions such as barriers that would prevent fish from even approaching the dam.
A mid-term solution could involve a technique that lets cold water from deeper in the lake flow into the river below. Although this would mean forgoing hydropower, the cool water would disrupt spawning of predatory fish. It’s been successful in other rivers and could help protect both native fish and rainbow trout.
Several hundred miles downstream, at the site of another fish threat, one hatchery has completely shut down. Lake Mead Fish Hatchery, which used to breed endangered razorback sucker and bonytail chub, ceased operations earlier this year when the lake dipped below the point where the hatchery drew its water.
Last month, the state of Nevada and the Bureau of Reclamation announced they’re kicking in nearly $12 million on a project to pull water from deeper in the lake into the hatchery. The new line will source water from a third straw that the Southern Nevada Water Authority built following a severe drop in lake levels in the early 2000s. As Lake Mead plummeted this year, the agency had to begin using it to rescue Las Vegas, and soon, the hatchery.
Walking into a silent hatchery, normally abuzz with flowing water and air compressors, is a challenge, said Nevada Department of Wildlife supervising fish biologist Brandon Singer.
“At first you feel kind of lost, your purpose is gone,” Singer said. But it’s been an opportunity for repair work and for his team to work on species in other parts of the state while they await their return to fish-rearing.
Maintaining native fish populations is a legal obligation the bureau has under the Endangered Species Act. It could face a lawsuit if it fails to meet that obligation, even as it juggles other pressing demands on the river.
Back upstream near Lake Powell, the introduced rainbow trout don’t have the same protection. Losing them would be heartbreaking but feels inevitable, said Terry Gunn, who checks water temperature religiously. “It’s like watching a family member grow old or die — it’s gonna happen.”
Wendy Gunn says if the trout fishery is lost and smallmouth bass take over, she could imagine Lees Ferry transitioning to a haven for warm water fish. It would be tragic in many ways, with the beloved rainbow trout gone and the likelihood that native fish downstream could be next, she said, but people would still come to cast lines.
“Everybody’s just gonna have to adapt,” Wendy said. “You either roll with it and change or you go away.”
The Associated Press receives support from the Walton Family Foundation for coverage of water and environmental policy. The AP is solely responsible for all content. For all of AP’s environmental coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/climate-and-environment
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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American Taxpayers Paying Over $20 Billion More For Bidens Immigration Policies: FAIR Analysis
American Taxpayers Paying Over $20 Billion More For Biden’s Immigration Policies: FAIR Analysis https://digitalalabamanews.com/american-taxpayers-paying-over-20-billion-more-for-bidens-immigration-policies-fair-analysis/
RJ Hauman, director of Government Relations and Communications at the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), said the illegal immigrants that have crossed over the southern border since President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris took office are costing U.S. taxpayers an additional $20.4 billion each year.
“The American taxpayer is really bearing the brunt of this,” Hauman told NTD’s Capitol Report during a Sept. 15 interview.
Customs and Border Protection estimates land “encounters” with illegal immigrants to be about 2 million so far in 2022. FAIR estimates that with “got-aways,” the total is closer to 2.3 million for 2022.
FAIR conducted a study in 2017 and found that the cost to American taxpayers each year for all the illegal immigrants living in the United States was close to $116 billion, but with the additional 2.3 million people, it makes the total burden closer to $140 billion annually.
The FAIR study then did comparisons and found that amount could “provide every homeless veteran $50,000 a year for a decade, … you could do 315,000 police officers, 330,000 teachers, but instead, the Biden administration is giving all that money to illegal aliens,” said Hauman.
“Based on the most recent comprehensive cost study, FAIR conservatively estimates that each illegal alien costs American taxpayers $9,232 per year,” a recent FAIR press statement states.
Meanwhile, Harris recently told reporters that the border is secure and the administration is doing much more to secure the border than the former president, Donald Trump.
Piggy-backing on what Harris said, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters at the Sept. 15 press briefing, “We agree that the border is secure, but there is still more work to be done.”
“We’ll say this: Rebuilding the immigration system, especially one that was decimated under the previous administration, won’t happen overnight. We’re not going to flip a switch and get that done,” added Jean-Pierre.
“They are in absolute la-la-land. They do not care about addressing the crisis,” said Hauman. “They want to keep the border open and give amnesty to every illegal alien in the country.”
The Epoch Times reached out to the White House and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for comment.
Border states are bearing the brunt of the cost to house the nearly 2.3 million illegal immingrants including Texas, Florida, California, and Arizona.
Customs and Border Protection officers conduct a training exercise on the halfway point of the international bridge between the United States and Mexico, in Eagle Pass, Texas, on April 19, 2022. (Charlotte Cuthbertson/The Epoch Times)
“If we use the minimum estimated costs for services Texas provides to unlawfully present and undocumented aliens, taxpayers are shelling out an estimated $855 million every year,” said Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton in a March 2021 statement.
In a 2017 study, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NAS) found that “the total fiscal drain for the entire illegal population is estimated at $746.3 billion,” the Center for Immigration Studies reported.
Hauman said if the Republicans take back the House, they should secure the border and take immediate steps to reform the immigration system.
He recommends that the GOP immediately pass legislation to secure the southern border, use the committees to conduct thorough oversight of the DHS, potentially impeach Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, and strictly control where the money to DHS is being spent.
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Steve Lance is the host of Capitol Report, a political news show based in Washington aimed at providing a direct channel to the voices and people who shape policy in America. Capitol Report features all of the political news of the day with expert interviews and analysis.
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Masooma Haq began reporting for The Epoch Times from Pakistan in 2008. She currently covers a variety of topics including U.S. government, culture, and entertainment.
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What Republicans Must Do To Win In November https://digitalalabamanews.com/what-republicans-must-do-to-win-in-november/
OPINION:
Republicans are still painting in pastels instead of bold colors.
Even the profoundly dangerous and oxymoronically named “Respect for Marriage Act” has failed to draw concerted GOP opposition. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has been playing coy, saying he needs to see the final draft. Really? Haven’t the Democrats, including Sen. Joe Manchin III, already rolled him enough?
The Elephant Party seems to be counting on President Biden’s awful performance and a reeling economy to generate a congressional reset.
Maybe. But experience has taught us that you can’t beat something with nothing, even if that something is flat-out horrific, like Mr. Biden’s “Mein Kampf” moment in Philadelphia.
In 1994, New Gingrich engineered the Contract with America, nationalizing the elections midway through Bill Clinton’s first term. The GOP gained 54 House seats and eight in the Senate, giving the party control over Congress for the first time in 40 years. Democrats had held the House for 58 of the preceding 62 years and the Senate for 34 of 40 years before 1994.
Consisting of 10 promised bills that the new Congress would pass (all did except term limits), the Contract was key to the political upheaval. But there were other powerful factors.
Like Mr. Biden, Mr. Clinton had campaigned as a moderate. And like Mr. Biden, he lurched to the left upon taking office. He and the Democratic Congress rammed through a tax increase and an assault weapons ban and forced the armed forces to accept homosexuals. A poll in the Wall Street Journal after the election indicated that the most powerful issue working against Democrats was putting “gays in the military,” a finding now absent from most accounts.
There was also Hillary Care, which was Mrs. Clinton’s scheme to impose socialized medicine. I still think the most effective opposition message was from the Family Research Council. The full-page ad featured Dr. Joycelyn Elders, Bill Clinton’s inexplicable pick for surgeon general. Her photo was surrounded by her bizarre statements with the message: “Bill Clinton chose this doctor. Now he wants to choose yours.”
Sixteen years later, pushing Obamacare, President Obama resorted to his famous lie, “if you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor.”
The Contract with America was signed by more than 300 Republican candidates and unveiled six weeks before the election. Tax cuts, crime, welfare reform and a balanced budget amendment were highlights.
After the dust settled, the GOP not only had Congress but also had added 12 governors and regained control of 20 state legislatures.
I’ve been noodling with a number of conservatives about what might make a compelling Contract with America in the upcoming election. We are seven weeks out, so perhaps the GOP will have unveiled something by now. In any case, here are 12 ideas.
1. Secure the border and build the wall. Even Democrats are fearful of this issue as millions of illegal immigrants pour over the border and are shipped all over America.
2. Defund the 87,000 new IRS agents. How many Americans want the IRS to become even more powerful?
3. Restore American energy independence. Mr. Biden’s attack on fossil fuels is costing everyone dearly and putting America at the mercy of hostile regimes.
4. Repeal the student loan giveaway. Forcing working Americans to bail out students in “woke” universities that teach them to hate America is not popular except for lucky recipients.
5. Cut spending and taxes. The Democrats’ multi-trillion-dollar spending has caused ruinous inflation and destroyed thousands of small businesses. Families suffering from ridiculous prices need relief, not higher taxes.
6. Rein in the FBI; stop politically motivated searches. From the Mar-a-Lago raid to goon squads seizing phones and abusing Trump supporters, we are fast losing our self-governing republic.
7. Legislate more religious liberty and speech protection. In the face of Big Tech censorship, LGBTQ activists and fake “rights” groups like the Southern Poverty Law Center, the First Amendment is hanging by a thread.
8. Stop all COVID-19 mandates; investigate Dr. Anthony Fauci, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug Administration. This is not just about bad health practices that almost certainly cost lives. The Wuhan pandemic is a trial run for a totalitarian future fashioned by those who know “what’s best for us.”
9. Halt all federal coercion involving transgender and critical race theory agendas. Not only don’t they “follow the science” or honest history but they also spread insanity and racial animus to children.
10. Defund Planned Parenthood. This one is long overdue. Taxpayers should not be forced to be complicit in ending innocent human lives.
11. Repeal unconstitutional laws abridging the right to bear arms. Democrats are serious about their incremental war on gun ownership.
12. Require proof of U.S. citizenship to vote in national elections. Also, enact other election integrity reforms, such as voter ID and fining jurisdictions that won’t clean up their registration rolls.
Other items could be educational tax credits, a brutal crackdown on fentanyl dealers (and their sources), and ending “woke” policies in the military.
If someone at the Republican brain trust has already come up with something more effective than this brief list, good on them.
Otherwise, I hope it will at least be grounds for discussion. Thanks to all who offered ideas.
• Robert Knight is a columnist for The Washington Times. His new book “Crooked: What Really Happened in the 2020 Election and How to Stop the Fraud” (D. James Kennedy Ministries, September 2022) is available at his website roberthknight.com.
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Robert Kent Wangsgard https://digitalalabamanews.com/robert-kent-wangsgard-2/
June 2, 1940 — September 11, 2022
Kent Wangsgard passed away at home in Ogden, Utah. Born June 2, 1940 in Boston, Massachusetts to Robert and Patricia Wallace Wangsgard, Kent grew up in Ogden with his parents and sisters Lynne, Jo Ann, and Ruth.
He loved being on the Louis and Ione Wangsgard Huntsville farm with his dad and grandfather, spending many wonderful days on the range ground and family property. He graduated from Ogden High in 1958 and from Utah State in 1962, with a major in Business Administration.
Kent married Carole Kay Wood on January 12, 1963. They met while she was working at one of the few original fast-food places in Ogden Valley, the Ski Inn. Carole and Kent were married for 58 years before her passing in February 2021.
Kent joined the U.S. Army Adjutant General Corps, and was stationed throughout the US including, Indiana, Oklahoma, and Fort Dix, New Jersey. He enjoyed his time in the army.
Kent and Carole came back to Ogden where he worked for a time at the Bon Marche as a manager and then with his father at Stimson’s Markets. He built and operated six Kar Kwik convenience stores throughout Ogden, coming up with many innovative ideas that became standard in the convenience store industry.
Kent and Carole were the proud parents of Ben and Karlyn. Kent was always up for a family adventure to out of the way places, especially in the deserts of Utah and the West.
A Scout master for many years, he took scouts from the 77th Ward on many well-planned adventures, canoeing down the Snake River, hiking Coyote Gulch and exploring the high Uintahs, among other places. He brought them all back home safe as well!
An active member in the Ogden community, he belonged to the Kiwanis Club, Ogden Executives Club, and Lake Bonneville Boy Scout Council, and was an extraordinary leader on the Huntsville Irrigation Board for 30 years. He was a Wildcat fan and Wildcat Club member, picking out his tickets at the Dee Event Center before it was built. He didn’t miss a game and traveled to many out of state games. Kent verified many thousands of items of map data for the USGS and enjoyed meeting interesting people online or over the phone in out of the way places.
Having been taught by his machinist grandfather Jack Wallace of Rock Springs, Kent set up his own machine shop and always had several projects going. He was also a master at needlepoint and filled his and Carole’s home with beautiful works of art.
He planned and organized “Breakfast in the Park” for many years with the help of hundreds of volunteers and his good friend Phil Halverson. Together they made several portable grills to feed the thousands of visitors to Huntsville for the 4th of July celebrations. He especially enjoyed taking the grills to various rest stops in Utah and Wyoming providing complimentary hamburgers, hot dogs and hot chocolate chip cookies to travelers.
He planned and organized many motorcycle trips across the dirt roads and trails of Utah with family and friends. People were amazed at the level of detail and organization he put into these trips. He was an expert map-reader and coordinator long before cell phones and GPS.
He loved to hear and especially to tell stories. He had so many. He had an amazing memory and amazing experiences. His family and friends looked to him for advice and help on almost everything.
Kent cared for his wife Carole for many years. He made sure she had a wonderful life and took her many places that would have seemed difficult for others. He loved her and was lost when she passed. They were a great team.
Kent is survived by his son, Ben Wangsgard (Laura); daughter, Karlyn Mosier (Stephen); grandchildren, Mistie, Morgan, Sara, Amanda, Samantha, Eli, Sammi, and Alyssa; six great-grandchildren; sisters, Lynne Sadler (Richard); Jo Crane (Al), Ruth Nielsen (Art); and in-laws, Suzie Ferre (Max), Becky Wood, Willow Buttars (Alan); and Ruth Bourne (Kirk).
The family expresses deep gratitude to Dad’s caregiver Chantel Lyman. She has been a wonderful friend and caregiver to both of our parents for many years. We appreciate his medical providers and Symbii Hospice; he was especially fond of Rileigh. We are grateful for the many extended family, friends and neighbors who have been a great support throughout his life.
Funeral services will be held on Tuesday, September 20, 2022, at 11 a.m. at Lindquist’s Ogden Mortuary, 3408 Washington Blvd. Friends may visit with family on Tuesday from 9:30 to 10:30 a.m. at the mortuary. Interment, Huntsville Cemetery.
In lieu of flowers, please consider a contribution to the YCC Family Crisis Center, Ogden.
Services will be live-streamed and available the day of the services by scrolling to the bottom of Kent’s obituary page at: www.lindquistmortuary.com, where condolences may also be shared.
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Montgomery Advertiser Obituaries In Montgomery AL | Montgomery Advertiser
Montgomery Advertiser Obituaries In Montgomery, AL | Montgomery Advertiser https://digitalalabamanews.com/montgomery-advertiser-obituaries-in-montgomery-al-montgomery-advertiser-2/
Brenda Cheatham Morton, 78, died September 13, 2022, at her home after battling ovarian cancer. There will be a family burial of ashes at Magnolia Cemetery, Samuel Houston Cheatham lot, Greenville, Alabama on Tuesday, September 20, 2022, at 9:30 a.m. with Carter Rice & West Funeral Home directing, followed by a memorial service at St. Thomas Episcopal Church at 11 a.m. with The Reverend Linda-Suzanne Borgen officiating. The family will receive friends in the Parish Hall from 10:00 a.m. until the beginning of the service. Brenda was preceded in death by her father, Robert Houston Cheatham, her stepfather, Kenneth Platt Solomons, Jr., and an infant brother. She is survived by her mother, Ada Claire Hobbie Cheatham Solomons, of Greenville; daughter, Caroline Morton Huffman and her husband Daniel Russell Huffman of Raleigh, NC; son, Anselm Herbert Morton IV of Marietta, GA; granddaughter, Anne Houston Crenshaw Huffman of Raleigh, NC; grandson, Cameron Russell Huffman of Raleigh, NC; two sisters, Laura Cheatham Sweetman of Litchfield, CT and Deborah Cheatham Houston of Greenville, AL; two step-sisters, Marion Solomons Norman and Priscilla Solomons of Greenville; one step-brother, Kenneth (Cathy) Solomons of Greenville, three nieces and dozens of cousins. Brenda was born in Greenville, Alabama in the middle of World War II, while her father was a prisoner of war in a German camp. She was educated in Greenville and attended Auburn University, where she was a member of Alpha Omicron Pi sorority. Brenda worked for many years as a medical technologist at hospitals in Greenville and Andalusia; she then enjoyed a second career as a real estate agent at First Realty in Greenville. Most of all, she was known for her exceptional devotion to her children and grandchildren. The family would like to thank the exceptional staff of Enhabit Hospice for helping make Brenda’s last months as happy and comfortable as possible, recognizing especially nurse extraordinaire, Cynthia Allen. We are very grateful. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to St. Thomas Episcopal Church Capital Fund, 210 Church Street, Greenville, AL, 36037.
Posted online on September 17, 2022
Published in Montgomery Advertiser
Service Information
Memorial Service
St. Thomas Episcopal Church
September 20, 2022
at
11:00 AM
Burial
Magnolia Cemetery, Greenville, Alabama
September 20, 2022
at
9:30 AM
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Margaret Ward Morland Obituary (2022) The Birmingham News
Margaret Ward Morland Obituary (2022) The Birmingham News https://digitalalabamanews.com/margaret-ward-morland-obituary-2022-the-birmingham-news/
Margaret Ward Morland 04/28/1923-09/08/2022 Margaret Ward Morland, beloved mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother, poet and teacher, passed away September 8, 2022. She was born on April 28, 1923 in Birmingham, Alabama to James Alto Ward Sr and Linda Belle Heacock Ward. Graduating with highest honors from Samford University, she pursued graduate studies at Northwestern University and received an MA in English from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. While she made her home in Lynchburg, Virginia, she saw much of the world with her sociologist/anthropologist husband, traveling extensively in Europe and Asia and living in Hong Kong and Taiwan. Margaret Morland served as Poet Laureate of Virginia from 1996 to 1998. Her poems have appeared in numerous periodicals and anthologies, and they were gathered into two published volumes, It Happens Thus (1983) and Gift of Jade (1998). More than sixty of her poems were set to music and have been performed by choirs from Bruton Parish Church in Williamsburg, to the quadricentennial celebration of Jamestown, to the University of Alaska in Fairbanks. Her poems inspired visual artists, being paired with paintings at exhibitions in Lynchburg and New York, and have also been reimagined through dance. Morland’s poetry received numerous awards, including recognition by the National League of American Pen Women, the Arts Award of the Academy of Women, Cecil Hackney Award from Birmingham-Southern College, Conrad Aiken Prize from the Poetry Society of Georgia, National Lutheran Hymn Prize, The Nancy Byrd Turner Prize from The Poetry Society of Virginia, and Distinguished Alumna Award of Samford University. Two of her poems were selected by the Virginia Metrorail Public Arts Program and are etched into the work of a leading architectural glass artist’s rendering at the McLean, Virginia metro station. She shared her love of poetry with others, giving numerous readings and workshops for children and adults, both in this country and abroad, and as a teacher of English literature and creative writing at Samford and Lynchburg University. Morland and family were an integral part of the Randolph-Macon Woman’s College community for many decades after her husband joined the faculty in 1953. In addition, she held leadership roles in such groups as the League of Women Voters, the Women’s Club, and the Poetry Society of Virginia. She also was appointed by the Virginia General Assembly to the state’s original study committee to review entries for a new Virginia state song. Margaret Morland had many gifts: She had the gift of wonder, immersing herself in the beauties and mysteries of the world. The gift of adventure, diving into life in York, South Carolina; a cabin in the mountains of New York (part of NYU and where she and her husband were badminton champions!); Hong Kong in the 1960s; treks through Poland in the 1960s and ’70s; and gatherings in China and Japan in the 1980s and ’90s. She had the gift of heart: She loved her family fiercely, providing unconditional support for all her children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren to shine and fully develop into who they truly are. And she had the gift of words, through which she transformed her keen sensitivity to the world, both near and far, into poetry that spoke to so many. She was predeceased by her husband of more than fifty years J. Kenneth Morland, by her son-in-law Michael Meserve of Arlington, Virginia, and by her brothers James Alto Ward Jr (Audrey) and William Joseph Ward of Birmingham. She will be greatly missed by her daughters Carol Morland, Kathy Morland Hammitt (Harry) and Lyn Morland (Mark Preslan), by her grandchildren Kelsey Hammitt (Greg Brochon), Kenneth Hammitt, Anna Meserve Fraser (Kevin) and Leah Meserve, by her great-grandchildren Lily Brochon and Max Brochon, by her sister-in-law Caroline Ward and her many Ward and Morland nieces and nephews, and by all the friends whose lives she touched. The family expresses its deep gratitude to the staff of Westminster Canterbury, who provided loving and expert care. A memorial service will be held at a later date. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Peakland Baptist Church of Lynchburg or the Poetry Society of Virginia. Tharp Funeral Home, Lynchburg is assisting the family. To send condolences, please visit www.tharpfuneralhome.com.
Published by The Birmingham News from Sep. 17 to Sep. 18, 2022.
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Mix Of Migrants Vagrants And Sex Offenders Push NYCs Largest Mens Shelter To The Brink
Mix Of Migrants, Vagrants And Sex Offenders Push NYC’s Largest Men’s Shelter To The Brink https://digitalalabamanews.com/mix-of-migrants-vagrants-and-sex-offenders-push-nycs-largest-mens-shelter-to-the-brink/
It’s a ticking time bomb.
The city’s Bellevue Men’s Shelter at 30th Street and First Avenue in Kips Bay has become a tinder box of newly arrived migrants, unhinged vagrants, and sex offenders – an explosive amalgam that’s wreaking havoc on the streets of the once-quiet residential neighborhood.
“In the last six months, it’s gotten really, really scary,” according to one terrified resident of the block who said police recently contacted him about an armed robbery and a carjacking in front of his house. “The situation appears to be reaching a tipping point.”
At the 1,000-bed shelter — the city’s largest for single men — residents told The Post about overcrowding, fights, and tensions with the newly arrived asylum seekers. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott began flooding the Big Apple with busloads of migrants in early August. Six more buses arrived Saturday.
“We don’t want them here because, to be honest with you, to me they’re getting treated better than we do, and this is supposed to be ours,” said Darrell Pankey, a homeless resident for six months.
“It’s gonna blow up any day now,” he added.
Conditions have become increasingly chaotic at the shelter.
There have been 1,196 calls this year to 911 regarding the shelter (through Sunday), up a staggering 607% from the 169 calls received for the same period in 2021.
Of this year’s calls, 908 were ambulance cases. Emergency operators logged 26 calls for disputes (up from seven); five for assaults in progress (up from two); and 12 for other crimes (up from one).
Residents of NYC’s largest men’s shelter told The Post about overcrowding, fights, and tensions since new arrivals arrived.
J.C.Rice
The FDNY responded to the building Friday morning on a report of people stuck in an elevator that turned out to be a “malicious false alarm,” the department said.
The building, a former psychiatric hospital that dates to 1929, is sandwiched between the Bellevue and NYU Langone hospital campuses, and also serves as an intake center for the city’s shelter system.
Another homeless local, Jeffery Harris, contends the migrants have been stealing phones to try to reach their families back home.
“This place is full to capacity. There ain’t no beds and they’re still sending them. They can’t fix this place fast enough to accommodate them,” Harris said.
Meanwhile, the migrants claim it’s the homegrown hobos who are the real threat.
“There are dangerous people here,” said Elias, a new arrival from Venezuela who said unattended belongings are routinely stolen. He’s seen residents doing drugs and one fight so far, he said.
Another man from Venezuela said the New Yorkers were “aggressive; always yelling and pushing people around and creating problems.”
Gabriel García, 18, also from Venezuela, said he was awakened a week ago by his roommate yelling at him in English and he didn’t understand what he was saying.
“I was scared and I felt like my life was being threatened,” Garcia said.
Venezuelan Ernesto Jose Cortez, 25, said he saw a local standing close to a group of newly arrived migrants outside the shelter Thursday night “in a way like he wanted to fight … he wanted to hit them.” He said he notified a security guard who intervened.
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“There’s a feeling of racism against immigrants, and danger here,” said Ángel Pereira, 25, a Venezuelan bused here from Texas who has been at the shelter for a week.
The massive building has an east and west wing with rooms that house anywhere from two people up to 10, one resident said. Several people said the air conditioning barely worked.
There are also tensions between workers and residents.
Kenneth Martin, a New Yorker who’s been at the shelter for a month, called the staff uncaring. He got into a beef on Sept. 6 with a guard operating an elevator over who should push the buttons. The guard yelled, “This is why you’re homeless.”
Martin, who took a video of the incident, called the guard the N-word and said the worker tried to grab his phone. He said security guards took him to the hospital after the incident but he declined treatment.
One resident, who said he was recently released from prison and didn’t want to give his name, said workers seem to be prioritizing helping migrants.
Ex-convicts on parole from state prison are sometimes housed at the shelter under an arrangement between the city and state, according to the state Department of Corrections and Community Supervision, which said it doesn’t directly transport them there.
Yet 26 sex offenders, including a dozen designated as the most dangerous — Level 3 — list the shelter as their home, according to the state’s registry.
A shelter resident was arrested in 2015 for the rape of a woman at a nearby bar. The city claimed to have cleared out the sex fiends after that and claimed at the time the state registry is not always accurate.
Another shelter resident, Elijah Kelly, was busted in the December 2020 New Year’s Eve strangulation rape of a neighborhood resident.
A worker at an apartment building across from the shelter said residents often use the plant beds there to stash their knives, needles, and other contraband.
Meanwhile, migrants claim that the NYC native homeless men are the real threats.
J.C.Rice
“This is where they hide their weapons, screwdrivers, blade,” said Costas Stamatiou who then pulled out a foldable pocket knife from the hedges. “They’re always hiding something.”
Major crime in the 13th Precinct, which includes the shelter, is up 28% this year – led by a 36% rise in grand larcenies; a 35% increase in burglaries; a 14% percent increase in felony assaults: and a 7% rise in robberies.
On Monday, the shelter and others were so packed that the city failed to find beds for 60 men, most of them migrants, a breach of the court-ordered right to shelter rule.
Mayor Eric Adams has said the city’s shelter system is at a “breaking point” as 11,000 migrants have come to the Big Apple.
Ronald Francois, 55, a shelter resident since June, said he was finally leaving for a Veteran Affairs facility and that the flood of migrants seemed like the final straw.
“This system is failing,” he said. “The homeless system is a failure system so I’m trying to get out as quick as I can.”
City officials said they provide beds to those in need according to the right-to-shelter law, including sex offenders, noting not all offenders have residency restrictions.
Officials said the city and its shelter operators provide around-the-clock security, including cameras throughout its buildings.
“We are working around the clock to ensure that we are welcoming recently-arrived asylum seekers in need of shelter services with open arms,” a city Department of Social Services spokeswoman said.
“We have already opened various emergency sites citywide to address the unprecedented need for shelter services, and our teams continue to work at an extraordinary speed to identify additional capacity across the five boroughs while comprehensively addressing the unique needs of asylum seekers who are coming to us in their greatest hour of need,” the spokeswoman added.
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Anthony Schwartz Rebounds After Difficult Preseason
Anthony Schwartz Rebounds After Difficult Preseason https://digitalalabamanews.com/anthony-schwartz-rebounds-after-difficult-preseason/
Cleveland wide receiver Anthony Schwartz had a preseason that prompted Browns coach Kevin Stefanski to be asked if the second-year wide receiver was going to be cut.
Stefanski dismissed that notion after the Auburn alumnus had three receptions for 28 yards while being targeted 12 times during the preseason games, and in Cleveland’s season-opening contest on Sunday, Schwartz contributed to the Browns’ 26-24 victory over the Carolina Panthers.
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Schwartz had only three touches in the game, but each came on a Cleveland scoring drive.
Browns quarterback Jacoby Brissett threw to Schwartz in the second quarter, but Carolina linebacker Cory Littleton broke up the connection.
Later in the period, Schwartz gained 5 yards on an end-around, and running back Kareem Hunt ran for a touchdown on the next play as Cleveland took a 14-0 lead with 4:46 left in the first half.
On Cleveland’s first possession of the second half, Schwartz ran 15 yards to the Carolina 35-yard line on another reserve on a field-goal drive that put the Browns up 20-7 with 7:42 left in the third quarter.
Brissett and Schwartz connected for a 19-yard gain on third down to start another field-goal drive that gave Cleveland a 23-14 lead with 6:13 left in the game.
“Some big, big plays there on third down in the second half,” Stefanski said after the game. “I think none bigger than the one where (Brissett) hit Schwartz on the scramble drill.”
Schwartz played 23 of Cleveland’s 80 offensive snaps, third-most among the Browns’ wide receivers, as well as two special-teams plays.
“It was definitely good, just because mainly kind of getting all that pressure off, getting all the jitters out,” Schwartz told Chris Easterling of the Akron Beacon Journal. “Just letting the game come to you naturally, letting the game come to me naturally, so for some plays, like the first ball, I dropped it — ‘Oh, next play. Go to the next play.’ It’s a great feeling to kind of get all that extra baggage off. …
“I had two good runs and then a big third down. You never know who’s going to get the ball on third down. Never know who’s going to get the ball in that moment. Just knowing what to do, getting open and Jacoby having trust in me that, seeing me open, knowing I’m going to catch the ball and then just catching the ball. Just doing whatever you need to do to win.”
Stefanski said Cleveland’s coaches never lost their confidence in Schwartz.
“We trust Anthony,” Stefanski said. “We got a lot of faith in him.”
RELATED: NFL WEEK 2: SCHEDULE, TV, ODDS
Schwartz joined the Browns in the third round of the 2021 NFL Draft. He started his NFL career with three receptions for 69 yards with a 17-yard rushing attempt in Cleveland’s opening game last season. But hampered by injuries, Schwartz had seven receptions for 66 yards and five carries for 22 yards in the rest of the season.
The Browns lost Schwartz’s debut 33-29 to the Kansas City Chiefs for their 17th consecutive season-opening game without a win.
With its first 1-0 record since 2004, Cleveland will try to get to 2-0 for the first time since 1993 – seven years before Schwartz was born – when the Browns square off against the New York Jets at noon CDT Sunday at FirstEnergy Stadium in Cleveland.
FOR MORE OF AL.COM’S COVERAGE OF THE NFL, GO TO OUR NFL PAGE
Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at @AMarkG1.
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Trump Documents Case: Judge Dearie's Appointment As Special Master Welcomed Across Board
Trump Documents Case: Judge Dearie's Appointment As Special Master Welcomed Across Board https://digitalalabamanews.com/trump-documents-case-judge-dearies-appointment-as-special-master-welcomed-across-board/
WASHINGTON: When Florida Judge Aileen Cannon appointed Raymond J. Dearie, a former Chief Federal Judge in New York, to sort through more than 11, 000 documents – including classified materials – that FBI agents seized from former president Donald Trump’s Florida residence last month, jurists across both the Republican and Democrats side hailed the move.
The 78-year-old Dearie, a former Chief Federal Judge in New York and the then President Ronald Reagan appointee, was described by his peer group lawyers and colleagues as an exemplary jurist who is well suited to the job of special master, having previously served on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISA), which oversees sensitive national security cases.
The Department of Justice also said he was acceptable to them after Judge Cannon rejected two candidates proposed by them.
In 2015, Dearie took the unusual step of reducing the prison sentences of three convicted Canadian terrorists, saying he had been “haunted” by the case and his growing sense that their sentences were unfair. Under federal law, Dearie had been required to sentence the men to 25-year terms for conspiring to acquire missiles on behalf of the Tamil Tigers, a rebel group fighting the government of Sri Lanka. He later cut those sentences to 15 years.
While the DOJ has been hit by Florida Judge Cannon’s ruling to slow down investigation into Trump’s classified documents case until Dearie reviews the documents in public interest to prevent reputational harm with a possible indictment of the former President, the DOJ has continued to maintain that a special master is legally unnecessary and should not be charged with reviewing any of the 100 or so seized documents marked as classified.
Appointing a special master to review these documents, prosecutors argued in numerous court filings, would slow down a criminal investigation into the potential mishandling of classified information and could pose a national security risk, according to multiple reports in the media outlets.
Here’s everything you need to know about Dearie and what he will be doing in this high-profile and unusual investigation.
What is a special master? A special master is an impartial outside expert who can essentially be viewed as a judge’s helper, said David R. Cohen, an attorney and longtime special master. In theory, the special master can help with whatever a judge needs.
In this case, Cannon appointed a special master to sort through the documents seized from Mar-a-Lago on August 8 to see if any should be shielded from criminal investigators because of attorney-client or executive privileges.
How did Judge Cannon choose Dearie? When Cannon granted Trump’s request to appoint a special master earlier this month, she asked the Justice Department and Trump’s legal team to jointly submit a list of potential candidates. In a subsequent joint filing, the Justice Department named two judges as candidates. Trump’s side proposed a lawyer who is not a judge, and Dearie. Trump’s lawyers then told the judge they did not believe any of the Justice Department’s candidates would be suitable special masters. The Justice Department said they thought Dearie would be acceptable. Days later, Cannon named Dearie for the high-profile job.
Is Dearie still working as a judge? Yes, Dearie still serves as a judge in Brooklyn federal court, albeit on senior status, which means he can take a reduced caseload if he chooses. He has also recently signalled that he plans to leave the bench. It is not immediately clear if the appointment will speed his departure from Brooklyn federal court or if court administrators will work out some other accommodation for the unusual dynamic of a judge appointing another judge a special master.
What will he do as a special master in this case? The Justice Department and Trump’s lawyers have held drastically different positions on what the special master should do in this case. Trump wants the special master to search through all the seized documents – including the classified ones – to see if any are protected by attorney-client or executive privileges and should not be used in the investigation.
On the other side, the Justice Department has questioned whether Trump, who is no longer President, can even invoke executive privilege – a power that Presidents can assert to shield communications from courts, Congress, or the public.
Either way, the Justice Department did not want classified documents to be part of the special master review, saying that privilege would not apply to them or to the unclassified documents, and that delaying investigators’ access to those sensitive documents could pose national security risks.
Ultimately, Cannon ruled in Trump’s favour. She also denied a bid by prosecutors to allow them to use the seized material in their ongoing criminal investigation before Dearie conducts his review.
How long does Dearie have to complete the job? Cannon ordered Dearie to complete his review by November 30. She said he should prioritise sorting through the classified documents, though she did not provide a timeline as to when that portion must be completed.
The Justice Department had asked in a previous court filing for the review to be completed by October 17. And Trump’s lawyers had said a special master would need 90 days to complete a review.
Does Dearie have the necessary clearance to sift through these highly classified materials? Because Dearie previously served on the FISA court, it will probably not take much time or effort to get him authorised to review the classified material, and he may not have to travel far to look at them. New York City has a number of federal facilities in which Dearie could review highly classified material, which is important since the storage and safekeeping of such documents is the crux of the case.
Can Dearie get help for his review? In theory, yes. Special masters typically have others help them review documents. But in this case, staff assistance could be complicated by the 100 classified documents, and whether any potential assistants have the necessary security clearances. It is possible that Dearie could end up reviewing that material on his own, and hiring others to help him with the non-classified documents.
Now what? The Justice Department is expected to file an appeal to the US Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit in Atlanta. Depending on what part of Cannon’s decision the government challenges, the appeal may or may not interfere with the special master’s review.
Once Dearie completes his review, he would deliver his recommendations to Cannon on what documents should be shielded from investigators. It’s up to Cannon to decide whether she will follow those recommendations.
Trump documents case: Judge Dearie’s appointment as special master welcomed across board
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EXPLAINER: What To Know About The U.N. General Assembly
EXPLAINER: What To Know About The U.N. General Assembly https://digitalalabamanews.com/explainer-what-to-know-about-the-u-n-general-assembly/
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Visitors to the United Nations headquarters take photos at the General Assembly speaker’s podium ahead of the General Assembly, Friday, Sept. 16, 2022.
Visitors to the United Nations headquarters take photos at the General Assembly speaker’s podium ahead of the General Assembly, Friday, Sept. 16, 2022.
A mural by Brazilian artist Eduardo Kobra, focusing attention on climate change and stewardship of the planet is displayed outside the United Nations headquarters ahead of the General Assembly, Friday, Sept. 16, 2022.
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Visitors to the United Nations headquarters take photos at the General Assembly speaker’s podium ahead of the General Assembly, Friday, Sept. 16, 2022.
Visitors to the United Nations headquarters take photos at the General Assembly speaker’s podium ahead of the General Assembly, Friday, Sept. 16, 2022.
A mural by Brazilian artist Eduardo Kobra, focusing attention on climate change and stewardship of the planet is displayed outside the United Nations headquarters ahead of the General Assembly, Friday, Sept. 16, 2022.
UNITED NATIONS (AP) — After two years of virtual and hybrid summits, the world’s leaders will reconvene on the river’s edge in New York this coming week at the U.N. General Assembly, an exercise in multilateralism born from the hope for lasting peace that followed World War II.
The opening of the 77th session comes as the planet is beset with crises on nearly every front. Russia’s war in Ukraine, inflation and economic instability, terrorism and ideological extremism, environmental degradation and devastating floods, droughts and fires and the ongoing pandemic are just a few of the rampant perils.
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
After two years of virtual and hybrid summits, the world will once again convene in New York this week for the U.N. General Assembly. The opening of the 77th session comes as the world — two years into the pandemic — is beset with crises on nearly every front. Among them: Russia’s war in Ukraine, inflation and economic instability, terrorism and ideological extremism, environmental degradation and devastating floods, droughts and fires. The high-level meeting opens Monday with a summit on education. Speeches from the scores of attending leaders will begin Tuesday and run through Monday, Sept. 26.
Former White House press secretary and Arkansas GOP gubernatorial candidate Sarah Sanders has been released from a hospital following surgery for thyroid cancer. Sanders spokesperson Judd Deere said Sanders was released Saturday and will recover at home. Sanders announced Friday that she underwent surgery to remove her thyroid and surrounding lymph nodes and planned to return to the campaign trail soon. Sanders served as former President Donald Trump’s chief spokeswoman until 2019. She faces Democratic nominee Chris Jones for governor in the solidly Republican state. Her father is former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee.
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Tropical Storm Fiona is expected to generate hurricane conditions in portions of Puerto Rico on Sunday, and possibly across the U.S. Virgin Islands.
MADRID (AP) – Results from Spanish football:
The World Health Organization is raising the alarm about a “second disaster” in the wake of the deadly floods in Pakistan this summer, as doctors and medical workers on the ground race to battle outbreaks of waterborne and other diseases. The floodwaters started receding in the worst-hit provinces but many of the displaced now living in tents and makeshift camps face the threat of illness, including gastrointestinal infections, dengue fever and malaria, which are on the rise. The stagnant waters have become breeding grounds for mosquitos. WHO’s director-general said in a statement on Saturday that he was “deeply concerned” about the “wave of disease and death following this catastrophe.”
Stillman College’s first female president, Cynthia Warrick, has announced plans to retire after leading the Tuscaloosa, Alabama-based historically Black college for five years. Stillman’s Board of Trustees has launched a national search for Warrick’s replacement and hopes to find her successor by the June 30, 2023, end of Warrick’s contract. The Tuscaloosa News reports Warrick was named Stillman’s seventh president in April 2017. Warrick was originally appointed as an interim president, but said the role began to feel like a mission she was called to fulfill. According to a news release, Warrick is leaving Stillman debt-free after $40 million in debt has been either paid off or forgiven. She says she’s choosing to retire because she wants to spend more time with family.
Robert Lewandowski has shaken off his disappointing return to Bayern Munich by scoring twice to lead Barcelona to a 4-0 victory at home over 10-man Elche in the Spanish league. They were Lewandowski’s seventh and eighth goals in a five-round scoring streak and took his overall tally to 11 in eight games since he transferred to Barcelona from Bayern this summer. Elche defender Gonzalo Verdu earned a red card in the 15th minute for fouling Lewandowski with only the goalkeeper to beat. The easy win came after Xavi Hernández’s side suffered its only loss of the season when it fell at Bayern 2-0 in the Champions League this week.
LONDON (AP) – Results from English football:
Saturday Summaries from English football (home teams listed first):
FAYETTEVILLE, W.Va. (AP) — Holly Fussell’s face lights up when she talks about outdoor adventures available in and around Fayetteville and the New River Gorge.
Real Madrid forward Vinícius Júnior has called out the haters of his goal celebrations as racist and insists he will keep on dancing. Spanish sports talk shows have been discussing the appropriateness of his celebrations, and a commentator on television said he should stop “doing the monkey.” The Brazilian says in a video reply that dancing is part of his cultural expression and has cited other soccer players, Black and white, who enjoy doing so after scoring. It also comes after an Atlético Madrid player said “there will be trouble” if Vinícius dances after scoring in Sunday’s Madrid derby. Vinícius says, “I am not going to stop dancing.”
Alexander Isak rescued a point for Newcastle with his first goal at St. James’ Park. Isak converted a penalty in a 1-1 draw with Bournemouth in the English Premier League. The Sweden striker sent Brazilian goalkeeper Neto the wrong way from the spot in the 67th minute. Philip Billing gave Bournemouth the lead against the run of play five minutes earlier. Isak has two goals in three games since joining from Real Sociedad for a club-record fee of $70 million in the final week of the transfer window. Bournemouth has two draws and a win at Nottingham Forest since firing Scott Parker after a 9-0 loss at Liverpool.
The Oregon Supreme Court has declined to hear an appeal from 13 counties in a long-running $1 billion timber revenue lawsuit. The denial ends a six-year legal battle over forest management on 700,000 acres and is a victory for the state Department of Forestry and environmental groups. The counties gave forestland to the state decades ago and Oregon manages the land and funnels timber revenue to the counties. But 13 counties took Oregon to court, alleging the state was not maximizing logging on the forests. An appeals court this year overturned a $1.1 billion jury verdict against the state.
Clemson defensive tackle Bryan Bresee will miss Saturday night’s game vs. Louisiana Tech after his sister Ella’s death this past Thursday. Ella Bresee, 15, died of brain cancer. Bryan Bresee left after last Saturday’s 35-12 win over Furman to be with his family and will remain with them at least through Ella’s funeral service Tuesday in Maryland. Clemson’s players wore T-shirts with the phrase, “Ella Strong” last week. Ella was to be honored at the game, but a setback in her condition led to her going to a hospital near her family’s Maryland home.
Augsburg has stunned defending champion Bayern Munich in their Bavarian derby 1-0 in the Bundesliga. Bayern ended its three-game run without a win by losing for the first time this season. Borussia Dortmund’s 1-0 Ruhr derby win over Schalke has been overshadowed by a serious-looking injury to captain Marco Reus. Reus was taken off on a stretcher in tears after sustaining what looks like a bad ankle injury two months before the World Cup begins in Qatar. Bayer Leverkusen’s frustrating start to the season continued as Werder Bremen fought back to draw 1-1. Eintracht Frankfurt enjoyed a 3-1 win at Stuttgart with Japan midfielder Daichi Kamada setting up all three goals.
A riverboat casino in Louisiana’s capital city has been given approval to move onto land. News outlets report the Louisiana Gaming Control Board this week unanimously approved the casino’s request to move off of its aging gambling boat and into the casino’s atrium. There will be a 16,500-square-foot gaming floor in the atrium along the riverfront in downtown Baton Rouge as well as an oyster bar/bistro that will feature a pizza station, wine bar and bowling lanes. There will also be a 2,500-square-foot sportsbook and lounge. The $35 million project will create 200 new jobs. It is expected to start construction in April and be finished by May 2024.
Bills defensive tackles Ed Oliver and Tim Settle missed their third consecutive practice, leaving Buffalo potentially thin in the middle against running back Derrick Henry and the Tennessee Titans on Monday night. Coach Sean McDermott didn’t rule out either of the players. Oliver hurt his ankle in a season-opening 31-10 win over the Los Angeles Rams on Sept. 8. Settle hasn’t practiced this week due to a calf injury. Starting corner...
Gaetz Sought Pardon Related To Justice Department Sex Trafficking Probe
Gaetz Sought Pardon Related To Justice Department Sex Trafficking Probe https://digitalalabamanews.com/gaetz-sought-pardon-related-to-justice-department-sex-trafficking-probe/
Congressman Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) told a former White House aide that he was seeking a preemptive pardon from President Donald Trump regarding an investigation in which he is a target, according to testimony given to the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.
Johnny McEntee, according to people familiar with his testimony, told investigators that Gaetz told him during a brief meeting “that they are launching an investigation into him or that there’s an investigation into him,” without specifying who was investigating Gaetz.
McEntee added that Gaetz told him “he did not do anything wrong but they are trying to make his life hell, and you know, if the president could give him a pardon, that would be great.” Gaetz told McEntee that he had asked White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows for a pardon.
Asked by investigators if Gaetz’s ask for a pardon was in the context of the Justice Department investigation into whether Gaetz violated federal sex trafficking laws, McEntee replied, “I think that was the context, yes,” according to people familiar with the testimony who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive matters.
The testimony is the first indication that Gaetz was specifically seeking a pardon for his own exposure related to the Justice Department inquiry into whether he violated sex trafficking laws. His public posture in the final months of the Trump administration was much less specific, repeatedly calling for broad preemptive pardons to fend off possible Democratic investigations.
McEntee testified that Gaetz met him briefly one evening and discussed the issue of a pardon but McEntee could not recall whether their conversation happened before or after the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection, according to people familiar with the testimony.
The Justice Department investigation into whether Gaetz paid for sex, paid for women to travel across state lines to have sex, and had a sexual relationship with a 17-year-old, was opened in the final months of the Trump administration with approval from Attorney General William P. Barr. The probe stemmed from a federal investigation of Gaetz’s friend who is now a convicted sex trafficker. Gaetz has denied paying for sex or having sex with a minor as an adult.
McEntee did not respond to repeated requests for comment. Neither Meadows nor his lawyer immediately responded to requests for comment. A spokesperson for Gaetz declined to address the testimony or whether Gaetz discussed a pardon with McEntee or Meadows and instead responded that Gaetz never directly asked Trump for a pardon.
“Congressman Matt Gaetz discussed pardons for many other people publicly and privately at the end of President Donald Trump’s first term,” the spokesperson wrote in an email. “As for himself, President Trump addressed this malicious rumor more than a year ago stating, ‘Congressman Matt Gaetz has never asked me for a pardon.’ Rep. Gaetz continues to stand by President Trump’s statement.”
The House select committee also declined to comment.
Gaetz has not been charged with any crimes but Joel Greenberg, a Gaetz associate and former tax collector for Seminole County, Fla., pleaded guilty last spring to six criminal charges, including sex trafficking of a minor. Greenberg agreed to cooperate fully with prosecutors and testify in court, and has been providing investigators with information about Gaetz since 2020, The Washington Post previously reported.
“The last time I had a sexual relationship with a 17-year-old, I was 17,” Gaetz has previously said. On Nov. 25, 2020, weeks after Trump lost the presidential election, Gaetz told Fox News that Trump “should pardon everyone from himself to his administration officials to Joe Exotic if he has to.”
Cassidy Hutchinson, a top White House aide to Meadows, told the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack that she recalled Gaetz and Rep. Mo Brooks (R-Ala.) both advocating for a “blanket pardon” for lawmakers who attended a Dec. 21, 2020, meeting at the White House to discuss efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election. In the previously aired testimony, she said they also advocated for pardons for “a handful of other members that were not at the December 21st meeting.”
Hutchinson added that Gaetz, however, “was personally pushing” for a pardon “since early December.” But the focus of that pardon request was not clear from Hutchinson’s testimony. “I’m not sure why Mr. Gaetz would reach out to me to ask if he could have a meeting with Mr. Meadows about receiving a presidential pardon,” she added.
Brooks, who put a request for a pardon in an email to a White House aide at the time, defended his actions in a statement after Hutchinson’s testimony saying, “There was a concern Democrats would abuse the judicial system by prosecuting and jailing Republicans” for objecting in Congress to the certification of the election.
Eric Herschmann, a former Trump White House lawyer, told investigators that he also believed that Gaetz was seeking a pardon, according to an excerpt of the deposition played during one of the committee’s public hearings.
“The general tone was, we may get prosecuted because we were defensive of, you know, the president’s positions on these things,” Herschmann recalled. “The pardon that he was discussing requesting was as broad as you can describe, from the beginning — I remember he is — from the beginning of time up until today for any and all things. Then he mentioned Nixon. And I said Nixon’s pardon was never nearly that broad.”
Gaetz ultimately did not receive a pardon from the former president.
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William And Harry Lead Historic Coffin Vigil https://digitalalabamanews.com/william-and-harry-lead-historic-coffin-vigil/
By Malu Cursino & James Gregory
BBC News
Media caption,
Watch: The Queen’s grandchildren take part in the historic vigil
The Queen’s eight grandchildren, including the Prince of Wales and the Duke of Sussex, have stood vigil around her coffin as she lies in state at Westminster Hall.
At King Charles’ request, Prince Harry wore military uniform, for the first time since 2020.
Prince Harry has worn civilian clothes at public events since the Queen died.
It is the first time in history that the grandchildren of a monarch have taken part in the ceremony.
The King’s sons William and Harry were joined by Peter Phillips and Zara Tindall, the children of Princess Anne, as well as Prince Andrew’s daughters, Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie, and Lady Louise Windsor and James, Viscount Severn, who are Prince Edward’s children.
At 44, Peter Philips is the oldest of the Queen’s grandchildren, while the youngest, James, Viscount Severn, is 14.
In silence and with their heads bowed, the eight cousins stood at different points around the coffin as crowds continue to file past.
Prince William stood at the head of the Queen’s coffin with his brother at the opposite end. The Earl and Countess of Wessex were also in attendance.
The grandchildren’s vigil started at 18:01 BST and lasted for just under 15 minutes.
On Friday evening, the Queen’s children, including the King, took part in a similar vigil, standing guard for about 10 minutes.
Our matriarch, our guide
Ahead of the vigil, Beatrice and Eugenie paid tribute to their “dear Grannie”, saying: “It has been the honour of our lives to have been your granddaughters and we’re so very proud of you.”
In a joint statement, Prince Andrew’s daughters said the Queen was “our matriarch, our guide, our loving hand on our backs leading us through this world” and that they already miss her “terribly”.
They went on: “Thank you for making us laugh, for including us, for picking heather and raspberries, for marching soldiers, for our teas, for comfort, for joy.
“You, being you, will never know the impact you have had on our family and so many people around the world.
“The world mourns you and the tributes would really make you smile. They are all too true of the remarkable leader you are.”
The pair told the Queen they were “so happy you’re back with Grandpa” and added that “our dear Uncle Charles, the King, will continue to lead in your example as he too has dedicated his life to service”.
This was another poignant image, mixing the grandeur of a public ceremony with the intimacy of personal family memories. The Queen’s grandchildren were standing vigil around her coffin, with the queue of people flowing either side of them.
The people who had queued for many hours, bringing their own memories, shared the big silence of Westminster Hall with the royal grandchildren.
Prince Harry wore a Blues and Royals uniform and wearing the same uniform, on the other side of the coffin, was his brother Prince William.
Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie took their place in the vigil. In a tribute this afternoon they’d talked of the loss of “our dearest grannie”.
With the tap-tap-tap of a soldier’s sword on the stone, time was up. They finished their vigil and followed Prince William back out of the hall.
The vigil on Saturday is the first time Prince Harry has been seen in military uniform since stepping back as a working royal in 2020.
He served two tours in Afghanistan as part of the Army. He now lives in California with his wife Meghan and their two children.
Image source, Getty Images
Image caption,
Prince Harry wore a morning suit to walk behind the Queen’s coffin as it transported to the Palace of Westminster
Prince Andrew was also allowed to wear his military uniform as he stood guard on Friday. The 62-year-old stepped down as a working royal in 2019, after a Newsnight interview about his relationship with the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Media caption,
Watch: Queen’s children hold silent vigil beside her coffin
Earlier on Saturday, Prince William and his father King Charles went to Lambeth, south London to shake hands and greet people queuing to view the Queen lying in state.
The Queen will lie in state at Westminster Hall until her funeral on Monday. The queue to see the coffin stretches as far as Southwark Park. Officials have said if the park reaches capacity, entry will be paused.
The funeral is set to be one of the biggest diplomatic events of recent years, with some 500 heads of state and other dignitaries expected to attend.
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Less trash In The Splash After 35th Annual Alabama Coastal Cleanup
Less ‘trash In The Splash’ After 35th Annual Alabama Coastal Cleanup https://digitalalabamanews.com/less-trash-in-the-splash-after-35th-annual-alabama-coastal-cleanup/
FAIRHOPE, Ala. (WKRG) — More than two dozen public spaces in Mobile and Baldwin Counties are a bit cleaner. Hundreds of volunteers started their day with the Alabama Coastal Cleanup.
It starts with a short line of people, getting needed supplies, then volunteers fan out across the Fairhope pier and the nearby beach along Mobile Bay. The day started just after dawn on Saturday morning, when a lot of families may just want to sleep in.
“It’s the community involvement, how often do you get people up early, out together, doing something good?” said volunteer Danielle Gaston.
Some volunteers like to think of it as a chance to put a small dent in a very big problem.
“Because our kids live here, they play here we have a lot of people from all around the country who enjoy our beaches and it’s just something we choose to give back,” said volunteer Jody Marsh. “Laughing with my friends and doing something fun.”
Fairhope is just one of more than two dozen sites around Mobile and Baldwin Counties targeted for litter removal, getting the trash out of the splash as the Coastal Cleanup folks said.
“I think people just want to be good stewards of our environment, anytime they get a chance to participate, volunteer, and contribute to making our community better and keeping in tidy I think they want to do that,” said Fairhope Mayor Sherry Sullivan.
A number of the volunteers WKRG spoke with like Shelia Jennings and her family, came from areas outside of Fairhope to lend a hand on the eastern shore.
“It’s a beautiful area and it feels good to pick things up while we’re here,” said Jennings.
It’s a sprawling response to what’s dubbed the largest volunteer event in Alabama.
Stay ahead of the biggest stories, breaking news and weather in Mobile, Pensacola and across the Gulf Coast and Alabama. Download the WKRG News 5 news app and be sure to turn on push alerts.
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Obituary: Dorothy Westbrook Couch (November 16 1924 September 15 2022)
Obituary: Dorothy Westbrook Couch (November 16, 1924 ~ September 15, 2022) https://digitalalabamanews.com/obituary-dorothy-westbrook-couch-november-16-1924-september-15-2022/
Dorothy Westbrook Couch, 97, was called home to be with the Lord on September 15, 2022.
Dorothy Westbrook Couch
Dorothy was born on November 16, 1924, in Winfield, Alabama, to the late Hester Ward Westbrook and the late Lether Greene Westbrook. Dorothy attended elementary, junior high, and high school in Winfield. She actually met her future husband Robert in third grade on the school bus. It was love at first sight for him. It took a while for her. After graduating from Winfield High School, Dorothy relocated to Birmingham to begin a career, first in retail and later in business administration at Bechtel-McCone Aircraft Modification Center as World War II began.
Dorothy and Robert married in 1943, just prior to his shipping out to the Pacific Theater for two years. After the war, Dorothy and Robert raised three boys to adulthood, moving from Birmingham to Jasper, Montgomery, and Northport, Alabama, for Robert’s career.
Dorothy was an accomplished homemaker, loving wife, and harried mother of three boys, and still found time for music, art, ceramics, and flower gardening. Travels in the American West, especially New Mexico and Arizona, inspired her artistic creativity. Many of her landscape and still life paintings reflect the special feel of those places.
Dorothy was a Charter Member of Eastern Hills Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama, a member of First Baptist Church in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, and a long-time member of Huffman Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama. She was active in Sunday school, senior choirs, and many projects with her church friends. Dorothy was also a long-time “Candy Stripe Girl,” a volunteer group of seamstresses at what is now Saint Vincent’s Hospital East that made comfort pillows for heart surgery patients.
Dorothy had a long life full of love for her family, her friends, her community, and her Lord.
Dorothy is survived by her three sons, Robert L. Couch, Jr. (Kay); Michael A. Couch (Karen); Kenneth W. Couch (Carol); by her four grandchildren Leigh K. Kennedy (Patrick); Noel B. Couch (Ashley); Amiee Couch; Kimberly Chance (Jim); and by her ten great-grandchildren Mackenzie, Leila, Audrey, Quinn and Nora Couch; Blue and Jordan Kennedy; Harlee, Shiloh and Rhys Chance.
Dorothy was preceded in death by her parents, her loving husband Robert L. Couch Sr., her sister Lynn W. Bell, and her brother Howard W. Westbrook.
The family will receive friends on Saturday, September 24, 2022, from 9 a.m. to 10 a.m. at Jefferson Memorial Funeral Home. Services will follow at 10 a.m. in the chapel. The interment will be at 3:30 p.m. at Winfield City Cemetery in Winfield, AL.
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Robert A. Drakey Obituary (2022) The Blade https://digitalalabamanews.com/robert-a-drakey-obituary-2022-the-blade/
Robert A. Drakey
On Sunday September 11, 2022, Robert Andrew Drakey, a long time resident of Huntsville Alabama, loving husband, uncle and friend to many passed away at the age of 88.
Robert was born on May 12, 1934 in Harvey Illinois to Andrew and Angeline Drakey. He was educated High School through college in Toledo Ohio. After spending two years in the United States Army he attended the University of Toledo where he obtained a degree in Physics. Upon graduation he started a career with Boeing Aerospace in Seattle Washington. In 1964 Robert transferred with Boeing from California to Huntsville Alabama to work on the Saturn V and Lunar Rover. Upon the completion of these projects Robert worked for Systems Development Corporation, Northrop Services; rejoined Boeing to complete his career and retire in 1992. In his spare time he loved to work on cars. He also loves attending to each minute detail of restoration in his and Mary’s historical homes.
Robert is survived by his loving wife, Mary Nell Lawler Drakey; brother, George Drakey, and several nieces and nephews.
Visitation will be at Laughlin Funeral Home 2320 Bob Wallace Ave, Huntsville Al on Wednesday September 21, 2022 from 5:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. Funeral service to be held September 24, 2022 at 11:00 a.m., at Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Cathedral, 740 N. Superior St, Toledo Ohio 43604. Rev. Larry Legaikis Officiant. The burial will follow in Toledo Memorial Park Cemetery. Professional arrangements in Toledo are being handled by the Ansberg-West Funeral Directors, 419-472-7633. www.ansberg-west.com.
www.ansberg-west.com
Published by The Blade on Sep. 18, 2022.
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8 Southern College Football Cheers That Are One-Of-A-Kind
8 Southern College Football Cheers That Are One-Of-A-Kind https://digitalalabamanews.com/8-southern-college-football-cheers-that-are-one-of-a-kind/
Fall is here, which means college football fans at stadiums across the South are spending their Saturdays watching their favorite teams take the field.
While watching a game at any stadium is an exciting experience, many fandoms for teams in the South have unique, original cheers and chants that have withstood the test of time and become part of the school’s traditions. Sure, they might not all feature actual words, but that doesn’t seem to really matter when thousands of people are yelling them.
While there’s plenty more where these came from, that’s why we decided to take a look at some of the most unique cheers at universities across the South. So get your shakers (or cowbell, if that’s your thing) ready, y’all!
‘Bodda Getta’ at Auburn University
When it comes to unique cheers that have become a favorite, against the odds, of a fandom, “Bodda Getta” at Auburn University immediately comes to mind. After all, the majority of its lyrics — which AL.com reports were written by the trumpet section of Robert E. Lee High School’s marching band in the 1960s — aren’t actual words. That, of course, doesn’t start the crowd from yelling ’em at the top of their lungs before every game.
Cheer:
“Bodda Getta
Bodda Getta
Bodda Getta Bah
Rah Rah Rah
Sis Boom Bah
Weagle, weagle, War Damn Eagle
Kick ’em in the butt, Big Blue! Hey!”
‘Rammer Jammer’ at University of Alabama
“Rammer Jammer” is a stadium cheer beloved by fans of the University of Alabama’s Crimson Tide…and not many else. Created by the football team’s cheerleaders in the 1980s, according to AL.com, the cheer has been banned a few times thanks to its taunting lyrics and repeated use of the word we’ll describe as “h-e-double hockey sticks.” Of course, this only seems to have made Alabama fans love it more.
Cheer:
“Hey [team]!
Hey [team]!
Hey [team]!
We’re gonna beat the hell outta’ you!
Rammer Jammer Yellow Hammer
Give ’em hell, Alabama!”
‘Hotty Toddy’ at University of Mississippi
When it comes to stadium chants with a long history, “Hotty Toddy” at the University of Mississippi certainly makes the list. Its beginnings can be traced all the way back to 1926, according to Fansided.com, although its original version didn’t actually include the words “Hotty” or “Toddy”. Why “Hotty Toddy” was later added to the cheer isn’t clear, but the phrase, thanks to the beloved chant, has become synonymous with Ole Miss and its fans.
Cheer: “Hotty! Toddy! Gosh A Mighty! Who in the hell are we? Rim! Ram! Flim! Flam! Ole Miss, by Damn!”
‘We Are the Boys’ at the University of Florida
Another popular cheer that has withstood the test of time is “We Are The Boys” at the University of Florida. While its exact origins are up for debate, the iconic cheer first appeared at the college in the 1920s, according to FanBuzz.com. Meanwhile, the tradition of students and fans locking arms and swaying in unison while shouting out the words to the iconic cheer at the end of the third quarter of home football games began in the 1970s, and it will likely continue on for many more decades.
Cheer:
“We are the boys from old Florida,
F-L-O-R-I-D-A.
Where the girls are the fairest,
The boys are the squarest
Of any old state down our way.
We are all strong for old Florida
Down where the old Gators play.
In all kinds of weather
We’ll all stick together
For F-L-O-R-I-D-A.”
‘Hot Boudin’ at Louisiana State University
Louisiana State University has plenty of notable chants that have become beloved in Death Valley, but the one that stands out to us is the “Hot Boudin” cheer. It might be short and sweet, but it’s also so classically Cajun we can’t help but include it on this list. Considering LSU always does things a little differently, no one should be surprised to hear one of their popular cheers includes a reference to sausage.
Cheer:
“Hot boudin, cold couscous, couscous, come on tigers, push-push-push!”
‘Horse Laugh’ at Texas A&M University
Texas A&M University has plenty of unique and popular cheers that are paired with their very own hand gestures — “Gig ’em,” for example. However, it’s the “Horse Laugh” cheer that stands out to us because it calls for Aggie fans in the stands, known as the 12th man, to literally hiss when there’s a bad call rather than boo, and that’s a one-of-a-kind sound that isn’t easy to forget.
Cheer:
“Riffety, riffety, riff-raff!
Chiffity, chiffity, chiff-chaff!
Riff-raff! Chiff-chaff!
Let’s give ‘em a horse laugh:
Sssssss!”
‘Hog Call’ at University of Arkansas
Another unique cheer featuring a one-of-a-kind sound you’re unlikely to hear anywhere else? It’s the popular “Hog Call” at the University of Arkansas. While its exact origins are unknown, the iconic chant has been traced all the way back to a group of farmers using it during a game in the 1920s. For decades since, it has been the inspiration for a stadium full of Razorbacks fans “calling the hogs” with a “Wooooooooo. Pig. Sooie!”
Cheer:
Wooooooooo. Pig. Sooie!
Wooooooooo. Pig. Sooie!
Wooooooooo. Pig. Sooie! Razorbacks!
‘Hail State Fight Song’ at Mississippi State University
Considering thousands of Mississippi State University’s fans come armed with cowbells to home games, you could say the instrument’s clanking sound is Hail State’s most well-known cheer. However, their “Fight Song” is also pretty popular among the bulldog fandom. Sure, they keep time with it using the aforementioned cowbells so it’s a little hard to hear the words, but we can’t really blame ’em.
Cheer:
“Hail dear ol’ State! Fight for that victory today. Hit that line and tote that ball, Cross the goal before you fall! And then we’ll yell, yell, yell, yell! For dear ol’ State we’ll yell like H-E-L-L! Fight for Mis-sis-sip-pi State, Win that game today!”
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Ron DeSantis Is Getting exactly What He Wanted | CNN Politics
Ron DeSantis Is Getting *exactly* What He Wanted | CNN Politics https://digitalalabamanews.com/ron-desantis-is-getting-exactly-what-he-wanted-cnn-politics/
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US Asks Appeals Court To Lift Judge's Mar-A-Lago Probe Hold
US Asks Appeals Court To Lift Judge's Mar-A-Lago Probe Hold https://digitalalabamanews.com/us-asks-appeals-court-to-lift-judges-mar-a-lago-probe-hold/
By: By ERIC TUCKER Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Justice Department asked a federal appeals court Friday to lift a judge’s order that temporarily barred it from reviewing a batch of classified documents seized during an FBI search of former President Donald Trump’s Florida home last month.
The department told the 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in Atlanta that the judge’s hold, imposed last week, had impeded the “government’s efforts to protect the nation’s security” and interfered with its investigation into the presence of top-secret information at Mar-a-Lago. It asked the court to remove that order so work could resume, and to halt a judge’s directive forcing the department to provide the seized classified documents to an independent arbiter for his review.
“The government and the public would suffer irreparable harm absent a stay” of the order, department lawyers wrote in their brief to the appeals court.
U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon’s appointment of a so-called special master to review the documents, and the resulting legal tussle it has caused, appear certain to slow by weeks the department’s investigation into the holding of classified documents at the Florida property after Trump left office. The Justice Department has been investigating possible violations of multiple statutes, including under the Espionage Act, but it remains unclear whether Trump — who has been laying the groundwork for a potential presidential run — or anyone else might be charged.
The FBI says it took about 11,000 documents, including roughly 100 with classification markings found in a storage room and an office, while serving a court-authorized search warrant at the home on Aug. 8. Weeks after the search, Trump lawyers asked a judge to appoint a special master to conduct an independent review of the records.
Cannon granted the request last week, assigning a special master to review the records and weed out any that may be covered by claims of attorney-client or executive privilege. She directed the department to halt its use of the classified documents for investigative purposes until further court order, or until the completion of the special master’s work.
On Thursday night, she assigned Raymond Dearie, the former chief judge of the federal court based in Brooklyn, to serve in the role. She also declined to lift her earlier order, citing ongoing disputes about the nature of the documents that she said merited a neutral review by an outside arbiter.
“The Court does not find it appropriate to accept the Government’s conclusions on these important and disputed issues without further review by a neutral third party in an expedited and orderly fashion,” she wrote.
The Justice Department on Friday night told the appeals court that Cannon’s injunction “unduly interferes with the criminal investigation,” prohibiting investigators from “accessing the seized records to evaluate whether charges are appropriate.” It also prevents the FBI from using the seized records in its criminal investigation to determine which documents, if any, were disclosed and to whom, the department said.
Though Cannon has said investigators are free to do other investigative work that did not involve a review of the documents, the department said Friday that that was largely impractical. Noting the discovery of dozens of empty folders at Mar-a-Lago marked classified, it said the judge’s hold appeared to bar it from “further reviewing the records to discern any patterns in the types of records that were retained, which could lead to identification of other records still missing.”
The department also asked the appeals court to reject Cannon’s order that it provide the newly appointed special master with the classified documents, suggesting there was no reason for the arbiter to review highly sensitive records that did not involve questions of legal privilege.
“Plaintiff has no claim for the return of those records, which belong to the government and were seized in a court-authorized search,” department lawyers wrote. “The records are not subject to any possible claim of personal attorney-client privilege. And neither Plaintiff nor the court has cited any authority suggesting that a former President could successfully invoke executive privilege to prevent the Executive Branch from reviewing its own records.”
Cannon has directed Dearie to complete his work by Nov. 30 and to prioritize the review of the classified documents. She directed the Justice Department to permit the Trump legal team to inspect the seized classified records with “controlled access conditions” — something government lawyers said Friday was needless and harmful.
On Friday, Dearie, a former federal prosecutor, scheduled a preliminary conference with Trump lawyers and Justice Department lawyers for Tuesday afternoon.
_____
Associated Press writer Jill Colvin in New York contributed to this report.
Follow Eric Tucker on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/etuckerAP
Copyright 2022 Scripps Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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Former President Donald Trump (Finally) Gets Invite To Queen Elizabeth IIs Memorial Service
Former President Donald Trump (Finally) Gets Invite To Queen Elizabeth II’s Memorial Service https://digitalalabamanews.com/former-president-donald-trump-finally-gets-invite-to-queen-elizabeth-iis-memorial-service/
After not receiving an invitation to the Queen’s funeral at Westminster Abbey, former President Donald Trump was invited to a memorial service for the late monarch in Washington, D.C.
Only President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden were sent invitations to the funeral in London on Monday. According to The Independent, Trump, as well as all other living former U.S. presidents, received invitations to the service, which will be held on Wednesday, September 21, at the Washington National Cathedral.
As of Saturday morning, none of the former presidents, Trump, Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, George Bush, nor Jimmy Carter, have confirmed their attendance at the Washington memorial service.
The Bidens are flying to the United Kingdom on Saturday. On Sunday, President Biden plans to meet the U.K.’s new prime minister, Liz Truss, before attending the Queen’s funeral.
The invitations to the Queen’s funeral sparked controversy overseas since her death, as it was unclear if only the sitting president would receive an invite, or whether the invitation would also extend to former presidents—including one involved in numerous investigations.
There was some speculation that President Biden would have to make the call to invite his predecessor. Jake Tapper said on “The Lead,” that he thought it was “fascinating” that “it’s going to basically be left up to President Biden as to whether or not he brings other presidents with him to the Queen’s funeral.”
Earlier this week, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre put an end to such speculation: “The invitation was extended to the US government for the President and the First Lady only.”
On top of this royal drama, transportation to the Queen’s funeral has come under scrutiny, as foreign dignitaries have been asked to travel by commercial planes and share buses to travel to the service; helicopters and private state cars have been banned. Biden is one of a few exceptions, who is allowed to travel in his protected limo, known as “The Beast.”
“Can you imagine Joe Biden on the bus?” one foreign ambassador said in a WhatsApp message last weekend. Other foreign leaders are now requesting the Biden treatment.
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