Tropical Storm Karl Hangs On To TS Status Hurricane Center Sets Eyes On East Atlantic Threat
Tropical Storm Karl Hangs On To TS Status, Hurricane Center Sets Eyes On East Atlantic Threat https://digitalalabamanews.com/tropical-storm-karl-hangs-on-to-ts-status-hurricane-center-sets-eyes-on-east-atlantic-threat/
Tropical Storm Karl is inching toward Mexico’s coast Friday morning and could lose its tropical storm status before landfall. Meanwhile, the National Hurricane Center is monitoring a new threat in the eastern Atlantic.
As of the NHC’s 11 a.m. update, Karl was located about 80 miles north-northwest of Ciudad del Carmen, Mexico, moving south-southeast at 7 mph with maximum sustained winds at 45 mph, up from 40 mph just three hours prior.
The storm, which will not impact Florida, is not expected to strengthen significantly before it reaches the Tabasco or Veracruz states of Mexico late Friday night or early Saturday. It will weaken once it makes landfall. The NHC is confident that Karl’s strength will likely not change before landfall but hasn’t ruled out the possibility of the storm becoming a depression before arriving on the coast.
Tropical Storm Karl 8 a.m. Friday 10/14/22 (The National Hurricaen)
Vertical wind shear is diminishing Karl Friday morning, but Karl is expected to hang onto its tropical storm status for the next day as it crawls toward Mexico. Karl is expected to produce 3 to 7 inches of rain, with up to 10 inches in some areas, across portions of Veracruz and Tabasco states in Mexico from Friday into Saturday night, according to the NHC.
A tropical storm warning is in effect for the coast of Mexico from Alvarado to Sabancuy.
Meanwhile, the NHC is watching a tropical wave located several hundred miles south of the Cabo Verde Islands and is producing a broad area of showers and thunderstorms. The wave is in an ideal environment for slow tropical growth as it moves west at about 10 mph. The wave has a 20% chance of developing in the next five days and a 10% chance of developing in the next two days.
Although, the wave will likely face upper-level winds by next week diminishing its chances of becoming the next tropical storm.
If it does develop, the tropical storm would receive the name, Lisa.
Jpedersen@orlandosentinel.com
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Liz Truss Ditches Another Big Tax Cut And Fires Her Finance Minister | CNN Business
Liz Truss Ditches Another Big Tax Cut And Fires Her Finance Minister | CNN Business https://digitalalabamanews.com/liz-truss-ditches-another-big-tax-cut-and-fires-her-finance-minister-cnn-business/
London CNN Business —
UK Prime Minister Liz Truss has fired finance minister Kwasi Kwarteng and ditched a big part of her discredited economic strategy in a desperate bid to rescue her month-old premiership.
At a Downing Street news conference, Truss said she was scrapping plans to reverse a rise in business taxes, a move that will save £18 billion ($20 billion), after a revolt by investors and members of her own Conservative Party worried about the impact of soaring government borrowing at a time of decades-high inflation.
It was the second climbdown on a key policy this month: On Oct. 3 the government ditched its plan to slash the top rate of income tax, just over a week after it was announced.
“It was right, in the face of the issues we had, that I acted decisively to ensure that we had economic stability,” Truss said Friday.
In a letter posted on Twitter, Kwarteng said he had agreed to stand aside at the request of Truss, adding he believed her vision of “optimism, growth and change” was the right one and pledging support.
Truss appointed former foreign minister Jeremy Hunt as Kwarteng’s replacement. He’ll be Britain’s fourth finance minister in just over three months.
Kwarteng presented a “mini budget” just three weeks ago, promising tax cuts worth £45 billion ($50 billion) and increased borrowing with the hope of boosting UK economic growth. But the pound and government bonds crashed on fears that the plans would further juice inflation at a time when prices are already rising at their fastest rate in about 40 years. Mortgage rates soared.
That prompted the Bank of England to warn of a serious risk to UK financial stability and announce three separate interventions to calm a bond market meltdown that put some UK pension funds on the brink of default.
“It is clear that parts of our mini budget went further and faster than markets were expecting, so the way we are delivering our mission right now has to change,” Truss told reporters. “We need to act now to reassure the markets of our fiscal discipline.”
Kier Starmer, leader of the opposition Labour Party, said it was time for a change of government.
“Liz Truss’ reckless approach has crashed the economy, causing mortgages to skyrocket, and has undermined Britain’s standing on the world stage,” he said.
The unfunded tax cuts have been roundly criticized by investors, the International Monetary Fund, credit ratings agencies and members of Truss’ own party, some of whom are now reportedly talking about removing her just five weeks into her premiership.
Kwarteng had flown back from the IMF meeting in Washington, D.C., overnight for discussions with Truss. His dismissal Friday means he held the job of UK Chancellor of the Exchequer for just 38 days, the second-shortest tenure on record.
Markets had welcomed signs of a rethink by the government. Bond prices rose earlier Friday, sending the yield on 30-year UK government debt back to 4.3%, down from a peak of more than 5% in recent days. The pound was also steadier, trading around $1.12, compared with a record low near $1.03 on Sept. 26.
But confirmation of the second screeching government U-turn in two weeks didn’t inject any further momentum into UK assets. Bond prices and the pound both dipped again in the immediate aftermath of Truss’s announcement.
An emergency £65 billion ($73.3 billion) bond-buying program launched by the Bank of England on Sept. 28 is due to expire Friday, leaving market participants worried that bonds could slump again — driving mortgage rates and other borrowing costs even higher — if the government doesn’t rapidly explain how it plans to pay for the remaining £25 billion in tax cuts.
Former deputy governor of the Bank of England, Charlie Bean, told CNN that Kwarteng’s removal was “probably a necessary step” but Truss would now have to unveil a new plan to tackle government debt over the next three to five years. Otherwise, the British pound and UK government bonds could experience another sell-off.
“What the markets want to see is a coherent picture, how it all fits together,” Bean said. “In the absence of that, you’re going to see sterling and gilts coming under pressure again.”
Kwarteng had already brought forward his full budget statement to Oct. 31, more than three weeks earlier than planned. But investors may not be prepared to wait that long for reassurance about the state of Britain’s public finances.
— Richard Quest, Zahid Mahmood and Xiaofei Xu contributed to this article
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Birmingham Greek Festival: 10 Dishes You Must Try https://digitalalabamanews.com/birmingham-greek-festival-10-dishes-you-must-try/
The 49th Birmingham Greek Food Festival is underway, and you’ve got a lot to try. The open-air festival provides outside tented seating for folks who want “a taste of Greece without the airfare,” as the fest puts it.
Happening through Saturday, Oct. 15, the festival located at 307 19th Street South in Birmingham offers drive-thru, walk-up and takeout if you can’t stick around to enjoy the fun.
The Greek Festival is one of the city’s oldest and most anticipated cultural events that offers an abundance of delicious Greek cuisine, a tradition described as “an act of love from Birmingham’s Greek community to the city going back four generations.” The authentic Greek cuisine is prepared by the parishioners of the community and served by them during the Greek Food Festival weekend.
“All entrees and desserts are homemade and they have been for 48 years when the festival began and are comprised of only the freshest and finest ingredients available,” the festival website says. Menu offerings include souvlakia pastichio, Greek chicken, spanokopeta, dolmathes, veggie plates, Greek salad, gyros and more! There will also be a choice of homemade Greek pastries including baklava, kourambethes, melomakarana, koulourakia and many more.
In addition to the delicious food, you can enjoy Greek music and dancing (all ages will perform).
The festival offers free admission, plus outside tented seating for dining. Food plates are individually priced and the Greek pastries will be pre-packaged and sold in the food lines. Coca-Cola products will available along with Greek beer and wines. You can also walk through the Greek Market Place which has Mediterranean and Orthodox Christian souvenirs. Free parking is located in the former Liberty National parking building located one block away on 20th Street (Richard Arrington Blvd) between 3rd and 4th Avenue.
The drive-thru is available each day from 10:30 a.m. until 8 p.m. They also say there’s no need to call ahead and place your order. Their servers will greet you, take your big or small order, and deliver right to your vehicle.
Per the website, since 1972, the Greek Food Festival has impacted charitable organizations by donating a portion of the festival proceeds to local and national charities. “With your help the 2022 Greek Festival will give a portion of the proceeds to Children’s of Alabama and The Ronald McDonald House Charities of Alabama.”
For more information, call (205) 716-3088 or visit birminghamgreekfestival.net.
As for what to eat, try one (or all) of these 10 items at this year’s festival:
Deluxe Plate ($24)
“Delicious Greek style chicken served with pastichio, rice pilaf, spanakopita, tiropita, Greek Salad and pita bread.”
Souvlakia ($19)
“Marinated lamb skewered and grilled on an open fire served with rice pilaf, spanakopita, tiropita, Greek salad and pita bread.”
Pastichio ($18)
“A wonderful combination with layers of macaroni, ground beef in a Greek tomato sauce, topped with a layer of delicious cream bechamel sauce. Served with spanakopita, tiropita, Greek style green beans, Greek salad and pita bread.” You can also buy frozen pastichio for $50 (feeds 9-12).
Veggie Plate ($15)
“A meatless plate with our delicious rice pilaf, Greek style green beans, Greek dinner salad, 2 spanakopitas, 2 tiropitas and pita bread.” (Disclaimer: Rice is cooked in chicken broth).
Gyro Sandwich ($10)
“Grilled slices of seasoned beef and lamb topped with lettuce and Greek Tzatziki sauce and rolled in warm pita bread.”
Baklava (2 for $7)
“Layer upon layer of buttered filo and ground pecans bathed in a honey syrup.” Also, try the chocolate baklava, classic baklava with chocolate chips and drizzled with chocolate (same price).
Melomakarona (2 for $7)
“Honey and nut cookie topped with chopped pecans.”
Kourambiethes (2 for $7)
“Greek wedding cookie sprinkled with powdered sugar.”
Koulourakia (2 for $7)
“Butter cookies with a hint of cinnamon, perfect for coffee dunking.”
Loukoumathes (small $6, large $12; sold only at booth)
“Six or 12 Greek donuts, fried while you watch, dipped in warm honey and sprinkled with cinnamon.”
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Mini Me Watermelon Is A Magical New Coleus For 2023
Mini Me Watermelon Is A Magical New Coleus For 2023 https://digitalalabamanews.com/mini-me-watermelon-is-a-magical-new-coleus-for-2023/
Just when you thought the gardening world would be content and that we didn’t need another new coleus, Mini Me Watermelon is rocking scorecards in university trials.
Mini Me Watermelon is part of the ColorBlaze series. It will be making its debut in 2023 and is climbing the must-have plants chart.
Photos of trial plants at Mississippi State University’s Truck Crops Branch Experiment in Crystal Springs, Miss., and the University of Tennessee Gardens at the West Tennessee AgResearch and Education Center in Jackson, Tenn., show incredible plants in full sun that, to be honest, may exceed mini.
At the Young’s Plant Farm Spring Trials in Auburn AL, ColorBlaze Mini Mi Watermelon was partnered with Luscious Lemon Tart lantana and Illusion Emerald Lace sweet potato for a dazzling partnership. (Norman Winter/TNS)
Limelight Prime panicle hydrangea intermingles with ColorBlaze Mini Me Watermelon coleus which will make its debut in 2023. (Norman Winter/TNS)
ColorBlaze Mini Me Watermelon coleus will make its debut in 2023. The leaves are small but packed with riveting color. (Norman Winter/TNS)
This photo shows the beauty and toughness in full sun trials at the UT Gardens, West Tennessee AgResearch and Education Center in Jackson TN. (Photo courtesy of University of Tennessee/TNS)
Now perhaps mini describes the size of their leaves, and that would be just perfect. The small colorful leaves, described as watermelon to coral-colored with chartreuse accents, are absolutely stunning. I would add that as the sun shifts during the day and light gets filtered, the color looks even a royal burgundy with the chartreuse. But as soon as the sun returns, it’s flaming again.
The mini might have been directed to the height, which is tagged at 20 inches with an 18-inch spread. Now, I did not go out and measure those in Mississippi and Tennessee. I did measure my plants, and they were 34 inches on Sept. 12. This doesn’t bother me in the slightest. My ColorBlaze Lime Time coleus out front, which is supposed to reach 34 inches, is now at 42, and I have been pinching all summer. I am deliriously happy about that, too!
This has been the year in West Georgia where everything has flourished. In July we thought we would perish with the nonstop triple-digit heat index numbers. Then in August and September, it has been like, “Lord, we thank you for our daily rain.” Everything is much larger than usual. Consequently, plant partnerships or combinations have an exaggerated look.
Everyone thinks coleus combinations in containers and ColorBlaze Mini Me Watermelon already have their shares of prized recipes on the Proven Winners website. They deserve great partnerships in the landscape, too! At the Young’s Plant Farm spring trials, they had ColorBlaze Mini Me Watermelon combined with Luscious Lemon Tart lantana and Illusion Emerald Lace sweet potato, both of which echoed the coleus accent colors.
The Garden Guy’s combinations were a little lucky. I partnered mine in part with Limelight Prime hydrangea. I admit I always underestimate the summer growth they will put on. Hence, I have the glorious white panicle flowers intermingling with the coleus foliage.
In the overall design I have also included Rockin’ Playin’ the Blues salvia and Color Coded ‘One in a Melon’ coneflower, which will also be making its debut in 2023.
Eighteen selections will be available in the ColorBlaze series in 2023. They are among the most carefree plants you can grow, and they’re worth every penny for your garden dollar. The maintenance I have already mentioned: Pinch to maintain bushiness and structure. I am also one who will pinch off flowers if they develop before I would like.
Although I grow coleus for foliage, the flowers do have some added value. In my area, the first two weeks of October are usually the last days of hummingbird activity. I will usually let a few coleus blooms develop in late September to offer any extra nectar that might be needed for the hummingbirds before they head to the tropics.
Norman Winter, horticulturist, garden speaker and author of “Tough-as-Nails Flowers for the South” and “Captivating Combinations: Color and Style in the Garden.” Follow him on Facebook @NormanWinterTheGardenGuy.
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Jan. 6 Takeaways: Subpoena For Trump Warnings For Democracy
Jan. 6 Takeaways: Subpoena For Trump, Warnings For Democracy https://digitalalabamanews.com/jan-6-takeaways-subpoena-for-trump-warnings-for-democracy/
WASHINGTON — The House Jan. 6 committee took the extraordinary action of subpoenaing former President Donald Trump on Thursday as it issued a stark warning in its final public hearing before the midterm election: The future of the nation’s democracy is at stake.
The panel’s October hearing, just weeks ahead of the midterm election, focused on Trump’s state of mind on Jan. 6, 2021, as he egged on his supporters with false claims of election fraud, pushed to accompany them to the Capitol while lawmakers were counting the votes, and then stood by for hours as the mob violently breached the building.
The committee is set to shut down at the beginning of next year, and was making its final public arguments ahead of a report expected in December.
“We are obligated to seek answers directly from the man who set this all in motion,” said Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney, the panel’s vice chairwoman and one of two Republicans on the nine-member committee. “And every American is entitled to those answers. So we can act now to protect our republic.”
A subpoena for Trump — but not Pence
The subpoena for Trump is a major escalation in the probe. After signaling for months that they may leave the former president alone, the unanimous 9-0 vote “for relevant documents and testimony, under oath” was definitive.
The committee had long debated whether to seek testimony from or subpoena Trump or former Vice President Mike Pence. Neither has spoken directly to the committee. While Trump has been hostile to the probe both in court and in public, Pence’s lawyers had engaged with the panel for several months with no clear resolution.
Pence could still be called or subpoenaed. But several of his closest aides have complied with the investigation, with several of them providing great detail about his movements and state of mind as he resisted Trump’s pleas to object to the certification of electoral votes that day and try to overturn their defeat.
In contrast, the committee showed several clips of Trump allies refusing to answer questions before the panel.
Maryland Rep. Jamie Raskin, a Democrat, said the committee was “able to nail down every salient detail in pretty much every element of the offense” except for certain details about what Trump was doing and saying as the insurrection unfolded.
Pelosi and Schumer, in hiding
New video aired by the panel showed House Speaker Nancy Pelosi reacting emotionally to the news that her colleagues were donning gas masks in the House chamber as rioters neared. She quickly went to work trying to secure and reopen the Capitol.
Pelosi and Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer were seen in unidentified secure locations and talking to security officials. The footage included a conversation between Pelosi and Pence, who was also in a secure location, discussing their return to the session to finish certifying Biden’s victory.
The footage was filmed by Pelosi’s daughter, Alexandra Pelosi, according to two people familiar with the video who requested anonymity to discuss it.
The two leaders are seen working to bring the National Guard to the Capitol amid an hourslong delay. At one point, Schumer said he was going to “call up the ‘effing secretary of DOD,” referring to the Defense Department.
“We have some senators who are still in their hideaways,” Schumer told defense officials on the phone. “They need massive personnel now.”
‘Consider whether we can survive’
The lesson of the committee’s investigation is that institutions only hold when people of good faith protect them without regard to political cost, Cheney said during the hearing.
“Why would Americans assume that our Constitution and our institutions in our Republic are invulnerable to another attack? Why would we assume that those institutions will not falter next time?” Cheney asked.
The warnings come as Trump is still refusing to acknowledge that he lost his reelection to Joe Biden and is considering another run in 2024 — and as many Republicans who deny Biden’s win are running in the midterm elections at all levels of government. Many states have replaced election officials who resisted Trump’s pressure campaign.
“Any future president inclined to attempt what Donald Trump did in 2020 has now learned not to install people who could stand in the way,” said Cheney, who lost her own Republican primary this August. “Consider whether we can survive for another 246 years.”
Secret Service revelations
The committee has obtained more than 1.5 million pages of documents from the Secret Service in recent weeks. They revealed some of that information in the hearing, including an email from within the agency on Dec. 11, 2020, the day the Supreme Court rejected one of Trump’s attempts to undermine the vote.
“Just fyi. POTUS is p—-d — breaking news —- Supreme Court denied his law suit. He is livid now,” one anonymous Secret Service email said.
Multiple emails showed that the agency had ample warnings of violence in the weeks and days ahead of the insurrection.
An alert received by the agency on Dec. 24 said multiple online users were targeting members of Congress and “instructing others to march into the chambers,” said California Rep. Adam Schiff, a Democratic member of the panel.
California Rep. Pete Aguilar, another Democratic member, said the committee “will be recalling witnesses and conducting further investigative depositions” based on the Secret Service material. The agency has not turned over text messages it said were deleted.
Aguilar also warned that the committee is reviewing testimony regarding potential obstruction of some witnesses. The committee has said in the past that some witnesses were intimidated against speaking.
Cabinet officials
The committee showed prerecorded interviews with Cabinet members, including former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao, Attorney General William Barr and Labor Secretary Eugene Scalia, who said they believed that once the legal avenues had been exhausted, that should have been the end of Trump’s effort to remain in power.
Pompeo, who was interviewed by the panel since its last hearing in July, said in his videotaped testimony that he believed that once the Electoral College certified the vote, that was the end of the process for contesting the election. “We should all comply with the law at all times, to the best of our ability — every one of us,” Pompeo said.
Chao, who is married to Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnel, said she decided to resign after the insurrection because it was “impossible for me to continue given my personal values and my philosophy.”
At the same time, Trump continued to push the false claims of fraud to his millions of supporters.
“President Trump knew the truth. He heard what all his experts and senior staff was telling him,” said Illinois Rep. Adam Kinzinger, the committee’s other Republican. “His intent was plain: ignore the rule of law and stay in power.”
Criminal referrals
Cheney addressed one of the committee’s remaining questions at the beginning of the meeting, saying the panel “may ultimately decide to make a series of criminal referrals to the Department of Justice.” At the end of the hearing, she mentioned the possibility again, saying it has “sufficient information to consider criminal referrals for multiple individuals.”
Members of the committee have long suggested they may suggest charges for Trump or others based on their own evidence. While such a referral would not force any action, it would place political pressure on Attorney General Merrick Garland as the department has pursued its own investigations surrounding Jan. 6. And the committee has yet to share any transcripts from its more than 1,000 interviews.
Still, “we recognize that our role is not to make decisions regarding prosecution,” Cheney said.
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Trial: Trump Tweet About ‘wild’ Protest Energized Extremists – Wilmington News Journal https://digitalalabamanews.com/trial-trump-tweet-about-wild-protest-energized-extremists-wilmington-news-journal/
WASHINGTON (AP) — Members of the far-right Oath Keepers were ecstatic when then-President Donald Trump invited supporters to a “wild” protest in Washington on Jan. 6, 2021, when Congress would be certifying the results of the 2020 election, according to messages shown Thursday during the seditious conspiracy trial for the militia group’s founder and four associates.
During an FBI agent’s testimony, jurors saw a string of online posts that Oath Keepers members in Florida exchanged after Trump’s tweet on Dec. 19, 2020, about a “big protest” at the upcoming joint session of Congress on Jan. 6. “Be there, will be wild!” Trump said.
“He wants us to make it WILD,” Kelly Meggs, an Oath Keepers leader from Dunnellon, Florida, wrote in a message to other group members. “He called us all to the Capitol and wants us to make it wild!!! Sir Yes Sir!!!”
Trump’s words appeared to energize Oath Keepers members. They used an encrypted messaging app to discuss their plans to be in the nation’s capital on Jan. 6, when, after a Trump rally near the White House, a mob stormed the Capitol and disrupted Congress from certifying Democrat Joe Biden’s victory over the Republican incumbent.
“These will be flying Jan. 6 in front of the Capitol,” Meggs wrote in a post that included the image of an Oath Keepers flag.
Graydon Young, an Oath Keepers member from Florida who has pleaded guilty to a conspiracy charge, said he was going to Washington even though it “feels like a fool’s errand.” Oath Keepers founder and national leader Stewart Rhodes responded on Dec. 25, 2020, that he disagreed with that assessment.
“Trump needs to know we support him in using the Insurrection Act,” Rhodes wrote. “And he needs to know that if he fails to act, then we will.”
Rhodes added that he believed the Secret Service would be “happy to have us out there” if Trump “calls us up as militia.”
A key argument for Rhodes’ lawyers is that the Oath Keepers founder believed Trump was going to invoke the Insurrection Act, which gives the president broad authority to call up the military and decide what shape that force will take. Trump did float that kind of action at other points in his presidency.
Meggs and Rhodes, who’s from Granbury, Texas, are on trial with Thomas Caldwell of Berryville, Virginia; Kenneth Harrelson of Titusville, Florida; and Jessica Watkins of Woodstock, Ohio.
They are the first Capitol riot defendants to be tried on seditious conspiracy charges for what prosecutors said was a plot to stop the lawful transfer of presidential power. The Civil War-era charge carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.
As testimony continued Thursday, the House Jan. 6 committee played a recording at its public hearing of Watkins saying, “It has spread like wildfire that (Vice President Mike) Pence has betrayed us” and “100 percent” of the crowd would be going to the Capitol right after a Trump tweet that had criticized Pence, as the Senate’s presiding officer, for not delaying or rejecting the certification of the Electoral College vote by Congress.
Defense lawyers have accused prosecutors of cherry-picking messages and have said there is no evidence the Oath Keepers had a plan to attack the Capitol.
The trial started last Monday and is expected to last more than a month.
Trump’s Dec. 19 tweet also was a focus of a July hearing by the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection.
One committee member, Rep. Stephanie Murphy, D-Fla., said the tweet “served as a call to action and in some cases as a call to arms.” A second, Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., said it “electrified and galvanized” Trump supporters, including the Oath Keepers, the Proud Boys and other far-right extremists.
Several members of the Proud Boys, including former national chairman Henry “Enrique” Tarrio, also are charged with seditious conspiracy for their alleged roles in the Jan. 6 attack and await a trial in December.
Thursday’s testimony for the Oath Keepers trial focused on members of the group’s Florida contingent and their communications in the days leading up to the riot.
In a chat for Oath Keepers members in Florida on the Signal messaging app, Rhodes said they should adopt the QAnon slogan “WWG1WGA,” which stands for “Where we go one, we go all.” QAnon is a conspiracy theory that has centered on the baseless belief that Trump was secretly fighting a cabal of Satan-worshipping “deep state” enemies, Hollywood elites and prominent Democrats.
“They come for one of us, they come for all of us,” Rhodes posted on Dec. 21, 2020. “When they come for us, we go for them.”
Kelly Meggs responded: “It’s easy to chat. The real question is who’s willing to DIE.”
Three days before the Capitol attack, Meggs sent a message to an associate that said, “1776 we are going to make history.”
“What happened in 1776?” Justice Department prosecutor Louis Manzo asked FBI Special Agent Kelsey Harris.
“The American revolution,” the agent replied.
___
For full coverage of the Capitol riot, go to https://www.apnews.com/capitol-siege
FILE – Members of the Oath Keepers on the East Front of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, in Washington. A member of the Oath Keepers who traveled to Washington before the Jan. 6 attack at the U.S. Capitol testified during the seditious conspiracy case against Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes and four associates on Wednesday, Oct. 12, 2022, about a massive cache of weapons the far-right extremist group stashed in a Virginia hotel room. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
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Sweater Weather Warning For Alabama Next Week https://digitalalabamanews.com/sweater-weather-warning-for-alabama-next-week/
News
Published: Oct. 14, 2022, 8:50 a.m.
It’s going to get cold next week. Look for below-average temperatures across Alabama from Tuesday through Thursday. Above are the forecast lows for Wednesday night into Thursday morning.
Been eager for sweater weather? Fall will be in full force next week across Alabama.
A blast of cold air is expected to arrive behind a cold front early next week, and it will send low temperatures into the 30s (maybe even the 20s) in some areas on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday mornings, according to the National Weather Service.
The front is expected to begin to move through Alabama on Sunday night into Monday morning, reaching the coast by Monday night, according to the weather service. It will bring another chance for rain, but rainfall amounts look to be much lighter than this week.
However, the weather service in Mobile warned that stronger storm or two won’t be out of the question for south Alabama overnight Sunday into Monday.
Colder air will spill into Alabama starting on Monday, and the weather service in Birmingham said temperatures on Tuesday will be more like winter than fall for those in north and central Alabama.
Look for cool temperatures to persist through at least part of the week. The weather service said Wednesday night into Thursday morning currently looks like the coldest night for some areas, so look for frost or freeze warnings to be possible since the growing season is technically still ongoing.
Here are the lows expected by early Tuesday morning:
Cold air will be in the process of invading Alabama by Tuesday morning. Here are the forecast lows.
Highs on Tuesday will also be on the chilly side and may not make it into the 60s in some parts of the state:
Forecast highs for Tuesday.
Wednesday and Thursday mornings will be the coldest. Places in north and central Alabama could drop below freezing, and temperatures statewide — even into south Alabama — will be in the 30s or right at 40, according to forecasters.
Thursday morning’s low temperature forecast is at the top of this post. And here are the forecast lows for Tuesday night into Wednesday morning:
Here are the forecast lows for Tuesday night into Wednesday morning.
Temperatures are expected to begin to warm up a little after Thursday morning.
What’s on the horizon? There’s a good chance that cooler-than-average temperatures could persist for a few more days. Here’s the 6- to 10-day temperature outlook from NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center, and it shows a higher probability of below normal temperatures for the state through Oct 23.
The six- to 10-day outlook shows a high probability of below-average temperatures for Alabama.
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Huntsville Wont implement Squads Seeking Abortion Law Violations
Huntsville Won’t ‘implement Squads’ Seeking Abortion Law Violations https://digitalalabamanews.com/huntsville-wont-implement-squads-seeking-abortion-law-violations/
Huntsville police will not take extraordinary steps to investigate pregnant women or their doctors under Alabama’s abortion ban, two city administration officials said Thursday.
“Simply put, we’re not going to implement squads running out and looking into all this stuff and creating an issue,” City Attorney Trey Riley told the city council. “That’s just not how we operate. And that’s not what we’re going to do and the general public needs to be assured of that.”
Related: Huntsville to debate making abortion investigations ‘lowest priority’
Related: How will Alabama prosecutors handle abortion cases in wake of Roe v. Wade ruling?
During a presentation to the council, City Administrator John Hamilton said police will enforce the law on abortion just as they do every other law. But he said they won’t go out looking for violations.
The presentation came as the council considered, then passed, a resolution by Councilwoman Frances Akridge aiming to provide “assurance” to doctors and patients concerned about enforcement of abortion laws that police do not have their eyes fixed on potential crimes related to abortions.
Police typically open investigations after someone brings them an allegation of a crime, Hamilton said. He told the city council that the police would first consult with the Madison County District Attorney’s Office before moving forward or bringing criminal charges against a doctor.
“I have certainly seen people that have a perception that (Huntsville) law enforcement … is potentially just going around looking for a crime like this,” Hamilton told the council. “And that’s just not the way they do business. This type of allegation is something that would come to them and they would receive it and then have to determine whether or not there’s probable cause to even pursue it further.”
Hamilton emphasized that there would be “significant collaboration” between police and prosecutors in such an investigation.
The council passed an amended version of Akridge’s resolution in a 4-1 vote. Councilwoman Jennie Robinson cast the dissenting vote.
Akridge said she has heard from constituents afraid that they could be investigated or prosecuted should a pregnancy end before a child is born. She brought a poster to the council meeting signed by dozens of people supporting her resolution. Two women spoke at the council meeting in favor of the resolution.
Under Alabama law, doctors can be charged with a felony if they perform an abortion. The resolution, Akridge said, was intended to calm those fears while also attempting to separate Huntsville from the stigma she said Alabama has. The new law forbidding most abortions is considered to be among the nation’s strictest.
The law, originally passed in 2019, took effect after the U.S. Supreme Court earlier this year overturned Roe v. Wade, allowing states to make their own laws on abortion. Alabama’s abortion law permits terminating a pregnancy only in the mother’s life is in danger. The law said no woman who has received an abortion or an attempted abortion is criminally or civilly liable.
Hamilton said police will enforce the law on abortion just as they do every other law. But the language of the original resolution, which called for police to make abortion investigations its “lowest priority” was not appropriate, Hamilton said.
“That doesn’t have meaning inside of HPD because it’s just not the way the criminal investigation division works,” Hamilton said.
The “lowest priority” language was removed from the amended resolution. The amended resolution was reduced from a full page of text to about a half page.
As it relates to abortions, the resolution said, “Whereas, healthcare providers must be free to carry out the medical procedures most appropriately indicated for any given patient scenario without fear of prosecution and so that women and girls do not experience unnecessary pain, suffering and risk of serious illness or death.
“Now, therefore, let it be resolved, that it is the policy of the city of Huntsville that, as it relates to Alabama House Bill 314, municipal resources shall only be used in accordance with the provisions of the subject law and the enumerated rights and restrictions defined therein.”
Akridge said she was satisfied with the new resolution and that it achieved her objective.
“Some might say their fears were unfounded or irrational,” Akridge said after the meeting. “I refuse to put a label on that.”
Part of her motivation, Akridge said, was workforce development and recruitment – a critical issue as Huntsville has grown into the state’s largest city.
“What I was trying to accomplish was a message that we are not the 1920s or even the 1960s Alabama that people think about,” Akridge said. “I don’t know that we’re progressive but (Huntsville is) not like that. I wanted to baby step to separate ourselves (from Alabama’s reputation) because it’s time we do something to separate ourselves, not just talk about the challenge and the liability of our last name — because it’s real. This was a baby step. And because we’re on a competition of a world stage.”
Hamilton said he met with Akridge, Riley and his staff for about two hours Thursday going through the resolution and weeding out “unintended consequences” for law enforcement investigations in the original language. That included text about not maintaining any information related to a pregnancy’s outcome unless it is used to defend the patient or healthcare provider.
Hamilton said that language could inhibit the police department’s investigations of statutory rape or the death of a newborn, for example.
In voting against the resolution, Robinson said the better alternative might be to ask the state legislature to provide protections for healthcare providers in state law rather than in a municipal resolution.
“This is a resolution that doesn’t have the force of law,” Robinson said. “I mean, it’s a resolution. It’s a feel-good kind of thing. But it really doesn’t change anything. I’m saying there just may be better ways to do what you’re trying to do.”
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House Jan. 6 Committee Votes To Subpoena Trump, https://digitalalabamanews.com/house-jan-6-committee-votes-to-subpoena-trump/
1:56 AM
Trump calls panel “giant Scam”
Former President Donald Trump harsh words for the committee on his Truth Social platform late Thursday night.
He said, “The Unselect Committee is a giant Scam, presided over by a group of Radical Left losers, and two failed Republicans, the likes of which our Country has rarely seen before. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”
Trump also promised a more detailed reaction, saying he’d be “putting out my response to the Unselect Committee of political Hacks & Thugs” Friday morning.
In a post earlier on Thursday, Trump questioned why the panel didn’t seek his testimony months ago.
8:06 PM
Stone says it’s categorically false” that he knew about any Jan. 6 plans after committee says he had “extensive direct connections” with Oath Keepers, Proud Boys
Roger Stone issued a statement after the hearing saying it is “categorically false” that he “knew about, either in advance or contemporaneously with, participated in or condoned any act — by any person or group — at or anywhere near the United States Capitol
or anywhere in the District of Columbia, the United States, or Planet Earth — on January 6th, or any other date, that was either unlawful, illegal, or otherwise intended in any way to cause damage or disrupt any proceedings of Congress, or any other governmental body.”
Lofgren said Stone had “extensive direct connections” with two of the violent groups on Jan. 6: the Oath Keepers and the Proud Boys. “Individuals from both of these organizations have been charged with the crime of seditious conspiracy,” Lofgren noted.
The committee on Thursday also showed clips from a documentary of Stone saying “I suspect it will still be up in the air. When that happens the key thing to do is claim victory. Possession is nine-tenths of the law. We won. F** you. Sorry. Over. We won. You’re wrong. F** you.”
In another clip from the documentary, Stone is seen riding in a car and says “f*** the voting, go right to the violence.”
Lofgren said the committee has called Stone as a witness but he has invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination. She then played clips of Stone taking the Fifth.
7:37 PM / October 13, 2022
Secret Service says it “continues to cooperate with the Jan. 6 select committee”
U.S. Secret Service spokesman Steve Kopek said in a statement Thursday night that the agency “continues to cooperate with the Jan. 6. select committee and has had no communication from the committee regarding any allegation of witness misconduct.”
During Thursday’s hearing, Schiff noted that “Secret Service text messages from this period were erased in the days and months following the attack on the Capitol—even though documents and materials related to Jan. 6 had already been requested by the Department of Justice and Congress.”
U.S. Secret Service deputy director Faron K. Paramore said in the statement to CBS News that “the U.S. Secret Service is not a member of the Intelligence Community (IC). We are a consumer of information from the IC and we routinely receive pertinent information from the appropriate agencies within the IC with intelligence gathering authority.”
“In the weeks leading up to Jan. 6, Secret Service was in constant communication and sharing information with our law enforcement partners in the Washington, D.C. area regarding available protective intelligence and open-source information concerning potential violence,” Paramore said. “During this time, information was not only received by the U.S. Secret Service, but was also received / shared with other local and federal law enforcement agencies in Washington D.C.; evident by the exhibits displayed today. The majority of these exhibits were provided by agencies outside of the U.S. Secret Service.”
Schiff noted in the hearing that the committee has obtained nearly 1 million emails, recordings and other electronic materials from the Secret Service.
“Over the month of August, the Select Committee began its review of hundreds of thousands of pages and multiple hours of that material, providing substantial new evidence about what happened on January 6th and the days leading up to it,” Schiff said. “That review continues.”
— Nicole Sganga and Caroline Linton
5:00 PM / October 13, 2022
Trump’s response to subpoena: “Why didn’t the Unselect Committee ask me to testify months ago?”
Trump posted on Truth Social about the subpoena, writing, “why didn’t the Unselect Committee ask me to testify months ago?”
“Because the Committee is a total “BUST” that has only served to further divide our Country which, by the way, is doing very badly — A laughing stock all over the World?” Trump wrote.
4:24 PM / October 13, 2022
Thompson says committee won’t subpoena Pence
When reporters asked Thompson if the committee will subpoena Pence, Thompson answered “no.”
Reporters also asked if they hoped Trump would appear in person, to which Thompson nodded his head.
Jan. 6 committee chair Bennie Thompson tells reporters no subpoena for former VP Mike Pence pic.twitter.com/X9L4CofDLs
— Ellis Kim (@elliskkim) October 13, 2022
3:43 PM / October 13, 2022
Committee unanimously votes to issue subpoena “for relevant documents and testimony under oath from Donald John Trump”
At the end of the hearing, the committee voted unanimously to subpoena Trump for documents and testimony related to the Capitol assault.
Thompson said it is “our obligation” to seek Trump’s testimony.
“Our committee now has sufficient information to answer many of the critical questions posed by Congress at the outset,” Cheney said in introducing the resolution to issue the subpoena. “We have sufficient information to consider criminal referrals for multiple individuals, and to recommend a range of legislative proposals to ward against another Jan. 6. But a key task remains: we must seek the testimony under oath of Jan. 6’s central player.”
The committee then played video of the testimony of those believed to be close to Trump and the efforts to overturn the election — all of whom invoked the Fifth Amendment in their depositions by the committee.
After the unanimous approval of the resolution, Thompson adjourned the hearing.
3:20 PM / October 13, 2022
Elaine Chao describes why she resigned on Jan. 6
For the first time, Elaine Chao, former transportation secretary and the wife of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, explained why she felt compelled to resign on Jan. 6.
“I think the events at the Capitol, however they occurred, were shocking, and it was something that, as I mentioned in my statement, that I could not put aside,” she said in recorded testimony.
“And at a particular point, the events were such that it was impossible for me to continue, given my personal values and my philosophy,” she continued. “I came as an immigrant to this country. I believe in this country. I believe in a peaceful transfer of power. I believe in democracy. And so I was—it was a decision that I made on my own.”
3:13 PM / October 13, 2022
Committee plays never-before-seen video of top congressional officials requesting assistance
Pelosi, Schumer and others “stepped into the giant leadership void” on Jan. 6 14:07
The committee played never-before-seen video of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer and other top officials in Congress on the phone with leaders including Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam and Vice President Mike Pence.
Schumer urged former acting Attorney General Jeff Rosen to do something to stop the violence at the Capitol.
Pelosi urged Northam to bring in the Virginia National Guard, and said she was reaching out to the mayor of Washington, D.C., too.
On the phone with Pence, Pelosi expressed a desire to move forward with the process of affirming the electoral college results.
“What we are being told very directly is it’s gonna take days for the Capitol to be OK again,” Pelosi told Pence on the phone.
3:08 PM / October 13, 2022
Trump declined to intervene and tell his supporters to go home for hours, Raskin says
Committee member Rep. Jamie Raskin noted the president was still encouraging his supporters at the Ellipse to “fight like hell” at 12:50 p.m.
He was told about the violence at the Capitol at approximately 1:20 p.m, Raskin noted.
Raskin explained that, from about 1:20 p.m. to about 4 p.m., Trump remained in the Oval Office dining room and watched the violence unfold on television.
According to testimony from former White House staff, the then-president ignored pleas from his top advisers and family members to tell his supporters to back down.
Hutchinson’s recorded testimony described something she heard from Meadows, Trump’s chief of staff.
“[H]e had something to the effect of, you know, ‘You heard him, Pat. He doesn’t want to do anything more. He doesn’t think they’re doing anything wrong,” Hutchinson said in her recorded testimony.
3:00 PM / October 13, 2022
Secret Service agents were concerned about Trump wanting to visit the Capitol
New information the committee obtained shows the Secret Service was concerned about Trump’s desired movement to the Capitol on the afternoon of Jan. 6. The committee has already described Trump’s desire to take his motorcade to the Capitol.
A former White House security official, in recorded testimony that distorted the individuals’ voice, said they were all in “shock” and “alarmed” that the president wanted to lead thousands of people to the Capitol.
Former White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany, in recorded testimony, recalled that he wanted to be a part of the march and ride in the presidential limo if he needed to.
A Secret Service email at 1:19 p.m. on Jan. 6 – the one minute Trump got out of the motorcade back at the White House after his speech – describes...
Britains Finance Minister Fired After His Policies Shocked The Economy
Britain’s Finance Minister Fired After His Policies Shocked The Economy https://digitalalabamanews.com/britains-finance-minister-fired-after-his-policies-shocked-the-economy/
LONDON — British Prime Minister Liz Truss was propelled into high office by her bold promises to supercharge the country’s flagging economy with big tax cuts for corporations, investors and high earners.
It is not going well. Her premiership and government are reeling, as markets — and members of her own party — wonder how she can simultaneously slash taxes and maintain social programs without deep borrowing.
On Friday, the architect of her growth plan, Kwasi Kwarteng, announced he had been asked to resign as chancellor of the exchequer, Britain’s title for the finance minster.
Kwarteng was fired after his policies caused the currency to tank and the central bank to step in to calm markets. Jeremy Hunt, a former cabinet minister, was appointed as the new chancellor.
In a letter posted on Twitter, Kwarteng wrote that Truss had asked him to quit. “You have asked me to stand aside as your Chancellor. I have accepted,” he wrote. “It is important now as we move forward to emphasise your government’s commitment to fiscal discipline.”
Kwarteng, a free-marketeer and zealous Brexiteer, lasted just a month in the top economic job. He flew home to London from Washington earlier on Friday, as British newspapers tracked his flight. He had been attending a meeting of the International Monetary Fund, his first appearance as chancellor at a major economic summit.
Truss is scheduled to give a news conference on Friday afternoon, during which she is expected to announce she will scrap parts of her unfunded package of tax cuts.
In her letter to Kwarteng, Truss wrote “I deeply respect the decision you have taken today.” This language struck many as slightly bizarre, since she asked him to resign.
It was just three weeks ago, accompanied by bold headlines, that the chancellor announced the government’s new “Growth Plan,” which would be propelled by the “biggest package of tax cuts in generations.”
Those proposed cuts are quickly being cut.
Last week, Kwarteng said the government would ax its plan to lower the top income-tax rates paid by high-earning Britons.
Well-to-do Brits pay a top rate of 45 percent on annual income over £150,000 ($168,000). Truss wanted to cut the top rate to 40 percent starting in April 2023.
Kwarteng argued that reducing the top rate, which was higher than countries like Norway, Italy and the United States, would “attract the best and the brightest to the U.K. workforce, helping businesses innovate and grow.”
There was a howl of protest — and Kwarteng caved. Truss may also announce on Friday whether she will reverse promises to cut taxes for corporations and for investors.
The calamity played out quickly.
A source at the prime minister’s office at Downing Street told the BBC on Friday that Truss thought the chancellor was “doing an excellent job” and that the two were in “lockstep.”
The chancellor had told reporters Thursday that he was “not going anywhere,” despite the market turbulence he conceded was caused in part by the government’s announcement of its fiscal plan.
Asked if he and his boss, the prime minister, would have their jobs in a month’s time, the chancellor replied, “Absolutely, 100 percent.”
Truss was creamed in the weekly prime minister’s questions on Wednesday, and then gave a disastrous performance later in the day in a private meeting with lawmakers serving on backbenches, some of whom gave briefings to journalists after that made it sound pretty dire.
One lawmaker told the Financial Times “the mood was honestly funereal, horrendous. I was shocked at how brutal it was.”
Mujtaba Rahman, an analyst at Eurasia Group, said in a briefing note on Friday that it was more likely than not that Truss would be ousted before the next election, which has to occur by January 2025 at the latest.
He said that a group of Conservative Party lawmakers were plotting to remove her from office by Christmas, with some floating the idea of a “moderate dream ticket” of Rishi Sunak and Penny Mordaunt, two aspirants in the last party leadership contest.
“Although some MPs say the plan to remove Truss would make the Conservatives look even more ridiculous than they are at the moment, a growing number believe it may be the only way to prevent a Labour landslide in 2024,” he wrote.
Under the current rules of the Conservative Party, there can’t be a further leadership contest for a year. But those rules could be changed.
The Bank of England on Friday was scheduled to end a highly unusual intervention that saw it buying government bonds with the aim of stabilizing the markets, which were spooked following the Sept. 23 new policy announcement. The bank was particularly worried about some pension funds.
Britain will soon have its fourth chancellor in under four months. Kwarteng lasted just 38 days in the job. The only chancellor to serve less time in the post, Iain Macleod, died of a heart attack after 30 days in 1970.
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Post Politics Now: Warnock And Walker To Square Off In Highly Anticipated Debate In Georgia
Post Politics Now: Warnock And Walker To Square Off In Highly Anticipated Debate In Georgia https://digitalalabamanews.com/post-politics-now-warnock-and-walker-to-square-off-in-highly-anticipated-debate-in-georgia-2/
Today, Sen. Raphael G. Warnock (D-Ga.) and Republican challenger Herschel Walker, the former football star, face off in one of the most anticipated debates in the midterm elections — a race that could tip the balance of party control in the U.S. Senate. The evening encounter in Savannah, Ga., is the latest in a string of debates in marquee Senate races, including one Thursday night in Wisconsin that quickly turned personal between Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) and Democratic challenger Mandela Barnes.
Meanwhile, former president Donald Trump on Friday lambasted the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol but was silent in a letter to its chairman about whether he would comply with a subpoena to testify. President Biden is in California, where he will hold an event focused on prescription drug prices.
Your daily dashboard
6:10 p.m. Eastern (3:10 p.m. Pacific): Biden delivers remarks on lowering costs for American families. Watch live here.
7:20 p.m. Eastern (4:20 p.m. Pacific): Biden travels to Portland, Ore. White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre briefs reporters on board Air Force One. Listen live here.
10:10 p.m. Eastern (7:10 p.m. Pacific): Biden participates in a grass-roots volunteer event with the Oregon Democrats.
Got a question about politics? Submit it here. After 3 p.m. weekdays, return to this space and we’ll address what’s on the mind of readers.
Noted: Sen. Leahy hospitalized overnight for observation
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Sen. Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.) was hospitalized overnight for observation after not feeling well on Thursday, his office said.
The Senate is not scheduled to take votes until after the midterm elections, but the episode is a reminder of how fragile the Democratic majority is in the 50-50 chamber, where Vice President Harris possesses a tiebreaking vote.
In a statement Thursday night, Leahy’s office said he was taken to a Washington-area hospital for tests “as a precaution.”
“He had been at their residence in McLean, Virginia, at the time,” the statement said. “At the recommendation of his doctors, he is expected to remain overnight for observation. As is our practice, we will offer updates as warranted.”
The latest: Trump lambastes Jan. 6 committee but is silent on subpoena
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Former president Donald Trump on Friday lambasted the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol but was silent on whether he would comply with a subpoena for testimony and documents in a 14-page letter sent to its chairman.
“Despite very poor television ratings, the Unselect Committee has perpetuated a Show Trial the likes of which this Country has never seen before,” Trump claimed in the letter to Rep. Bennie G. Thompson (D-Miss.). “There is no Due Process, no Cross-Examination, no ‘real’ Republican members, and no legitimacy since you do not talk about Election Fraud or not calling up the troops. It is a Witch Hunt of the highest level, a continuation of what has been going on for years.”
Noted: Oz says Biden’s decision on marijuana possession is ‘rational’
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Republican Senate hopeful Mehmet Oz said in an interview that aired Friday that he considers a move by President Biden to issue mass pardons for anyone convicted of a federal crime for simply possessing marijuana to be “rational.”
Most Republicans have been silent on Biden’s announcement last week while Oz’s opponent, Democrat John Fetterman, a longtime advocate of decriminalizing marijuana, has applauded the move.
Asked by NBC if he supported Biden’s decision, Oz, a celebrity physician, said, “Going to jail for marijuana is not a wise move for the country.”
Noted: Pelosi said she wanted to punch Trump as Jan. 6 riot began, video shows
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On Oct. 13, the Jan. 6 Committee played a video of House Speaker Pelosi (D-Calif.), Senate leader Schumer (D-N.Y.) and GOP leaders during the Capitol attack. (Video: The Washington Post, Photo: Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post)
Video from Jan. 6, 2021, shows a frustrated House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) telling aides that she wanted to punch President Donald Trump, and lawmakers pleading for the National Guard to be deployed as supporters of the former president forced their way into the Capitol.
The Post’s Kelly Kasulis Cho reports that the videos of congressional leaders immediately before and during the Capitol riot, aired for the first time by CNN on Thursday evening, were taken by Pelosi’s daughter, Alexandra Pelosi, a documentary filmmaker working with HBO. Other parts of the footage were played earlier Thursday at a Jan. 6 House Committee hearing, which ended in a unanimous vote to subpoena Trump.
On our radar: Biden’s internet promises in limbo amid FCC nominee battle
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The nation’s telecommunications regulator has been without a Democratic majority for the entirety of President Biden’s 21-month tenure, hamstringing efforts to restore open internet protections and close the digital divide.
The Post’s Cat Zakrzewski and Cristiano Lima report that breaking the deadlock at the Federal Communications Commission hinges on confirming Gigi Sohn, a longtime public interest advocate and former Democratic FCC official who was first nominated by the White House nearly a year ago. Per our colleagues:
Noted: ‘There are no editors anymore,’ Biden says in critique of press
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President Biden and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) headlined a fundraiser for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee on Thursday night in the Brentwood neighborhood of Los Angeles.
Among his comments to donors, according to our colleague Tyler Pager: a lament about the technological changes fracturing society and making it harder to discern what’s true and what isn’t.
“There are no editors anymore,” Biden said. “The ability of newspapers to have much impact is de minimis.”
Spotted at the fundraiser, per Tyler: DCCC Chairman Sean Patrick Maloney (D-N.Y.) and Democratic Reps. Steven Horsford (Nev.), Ted Lieu (Calif.), Brad Sherman (Calif.) and Dina Titus (Nev.), plus Tom Ford “milling about outside.”
Analysis: Jan. 6 hearing shows Trump knew he lost, while claiming otherwise
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Former president Donald Trump’s communications director recounted popping into the Oval Office roughly a week after the 2020 election to find a morose Trump watching TV: “Can you believe I lost to this f—ing guy?” Trump lamented, referring to then-President-elect Joe Biden.
The Post’s Ashley Parker writes that the likely final hearing of the Jan. 6 panel painted a portrait of an American president who, with help from a cabal of right-wing allies, embarked on a premeditated plan to refuse to cede power regardless of the election results and who — despite privately acknowledging that he had lost to Biden — ultimately executed that plan to deadly effect on Jan. 6, 2021. Per Ashley:
The latest: Biden to sign executive order on drug prices during California swing
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President Biden will sign an executive order Friday, instructing the Department of Health and Human Services to explore actions it could take to lower prescription drug prices.
The order is part of an effort by Biden to highlight his administration’s efforts to strengthen Medicare and Social Security and reduce costs amid soaring inflation. During an ongoing visit to California, the president will also tout the provisions in the Inflation Reduction Act to lower prescription drug costs for seniors.
On our radar: It’s debate night in Georgia
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The political world will focus on Savannah, Ga., on Friday night when Sen. Raphael G. Warnock (D-Ga.) shares a stage with Republican challenger Herschel Walker for one of the most anticipated debates of the midterm election season.
It will be the first meeting of the two candidates since stories surfaced that Walker, who opposes abortions in all cases, allegedly paid for a woman to undergo the procedure in 2009 and subsequently pushed for the same woman to have another one two years later. The story was first reported by the Daily Beast.
On our radar: Trump says he’ll respond to Jan. 6 committee this morning
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The Jan. 6 committee unanimously voted to subpoena testimony from former president Donald Trump on Oct. 13. (Video: The Washington Post)
Former president Donald Trump is pledging to respond Friday morning to a subpoena from the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol.
“I will be putting out my response to the Unselect Committee of political Hacks & Thugs tomorrow morning at 8:00. Thank you!” Trump said in a late-night posting Thursday on Truth Social, his social media network.
Earlier Thursday, the committee issued a subpoena seeking testimony and documents from Trump, a challenge with little historical precedent that members said was a necessary final act before the panel concludes its work.
Insight: The Senate debate in Wisconsin turns personal
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A debate Thursday in Wisconsin quickly turned to personal attacks between the two Senate candidates, with Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) starting off the hour-long session by characterizing his Democratic opponent as offering “hollow left-wing rhetoric” and questioning whether he has accomplished anything at all.
Mandela Barnes, the Democratic nominee for Senate and Wisconsin’s first Black lieutenant governor, minimized Johnson’s success in the private sector.
Johnson’s “biggest achievement in business was … saying ‘I do.’ He married into his business,” Barnes said. (Johnson spent much of his career working at a company founded by his wife’s brother and eventually became the firm’s chief executive.)
Noted: Secret S...
Advice | Get Inflation-Proof Bonds Paying 9.62 Percent While There Is Still Time
Advice | Get Inflation-Proof Bonds Paying 9.62 Percent While There Is Still Time https://digitalalabamanews.com/advice-get-inflation-proof-bonds-paying-9-62-percent-while-there-is-still-time/
With another painful inflation report showing rapidly increasing prices for rent, food, medical care, electricity and heating fuel in September, people are searching for a safe place for their savings.
If you have money to spare — parked in a low-paying savings account — the Treasury Department’s Series I savings bond is paying 9.62 percent right now, the highest yield since the bond debut in 1998.
But you only have a short window, until the end of October, to take advantage of the rate. Savers who want to lock in that rate for an additional six months have until Friday, Oct. 28 to make their I bond purchase to ensure that it will be issued by the Oct. 31 deadline.
Here’s why that cutoff period is important.
There are two components to the return for an I bond: a fixed rate and an inflation-adjusted rate. The fixed rate of return and the semiannual inflation rate are announced by the Treasury Department at the start of May and November every year.
While the fixed rate stays the same for the life of the 30-year bond (and is zero right now), the inflation rate adjusts every six months based on changes in the consumer price Index for all Urban Consumers.
Although inflation is still at historically high levels, the latest numbers show a slight slowdown, according to newly released data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Some indexes declined in September, including those for used cars and trucks and apparel. Consumer price increases were partly offset by a 4.9 percent decline in the gasoline index. So, it is likely that the inflation index part of the I bond could see a rate drop in November.
However, investors who buy I bonds before Nov. 1 will still get the 9.62 percent rate for the first six months they hold the bonds. But you have to get your confirmation email for the purchase of your I bond by 11:59:59 p.m. Eastern time on Oct. 28 to ensure you lock in the rate.
Here are some things you need to know about purchasing an I bond.
— To buy an electronic I bond, you must first set up an account at TreasuryDirect.gov.
— Individuals can purchase up to $10,000 in I bonds in a calendar year. For married couples, each spouse can purchase up to the $10,000 limit.
— Don’t buy an I bond with money you think you’ll need soon. This is not the place to put funds you need to access in case of an emergency expense such as a major car repair. Those funds should stay in your savings account. You have to hold an I bond for 12 months from the issue date before it can be redeemed.
— If you cash in the bond in less than five years, you lose the last three months of interest. Once your I bond is five years old, there is no interest penalty if you cash it in.
— If you have never set up a TreasuryDirect account before, take the guided tour on the website and be sure to read the directions carefully to minimize any issues. People who encounter problems will find it hard to reach a live person to help. Wait times for assistance at 844-284-2676 can be long. (Calls are accepted from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Eastern time, Monday through Friday).
— Given the problems some people have had setting up a TreasuryDirect account, don’t procrastinate. Get it done now. Don’t wait until Oct. 28. Savers searching for information or help to resolve an issue about I bonds have flooded TreasuryDirect, causing much longer waits than usual.
— If you have trouble setting up an online account, you’ll need to get paperwork signed by your bank. If that happens, it’s not likely you’ll make the Oct. 28 deadline.
I initially tried to buy an I bond in June. TreasuryDirect said it had difficulty verifying the information I provided. I wasn’t told why there was an issue.
“We are not provided with any information related to issues with the account verification,” an automatic email from TreasuryDirect said.
Because of the problems verifying my information, I had to complete an account authorization form and mail it to a Treasury site in Minneapolis. The first email from TreasuryDirect said “the average approval takes 10-15 days but may be longer based on the volume of forms we receive.”
A few weeks after I mailed in the form, I received an email acknowledging Treasury had received my form and that the approval process could take up to 13 weeks for review and processing. It was good they managed my expectations. Two weeks later, I received yet another email from TreasuryDirect saying the hold on my account was removed, and I could make my I bond purchase.
If you have trouble setting up a TreasuryDirect account on your first try, you are unlikely to be able to meet the Oct. 28 deadline to take advantage of the 9.62 percent rate. There’s just not enough time to navigate the verification process.
But with inflation still high, I bonds will continue paying significantly more than a savings account or certificate of deposit even after the rate resets in November. So don’t give up if you hit a snag in the process.
Read More…
Tuscaloosa Accepting Applications For Zoning Board Of Adjustments
Tuscaloosa Accepting Applications For Zoning Board Of Adjustments https://digitalalabamanews.com/tuscaloosa-accepting-applications-for-zoning-board-of-adjustments/
TUSCALOOSA, AL – The City of Tuscaloosa is currently accepting applications for three positions on the city’s Zoning Board of Adjustments Commission.
Find out what’s happening in Tuscaloosawith free, real-time updates from Patch.
The city explained that two of the open positions are regular, while one is a supernumerary position that serves at the call of the chairman in the absence of regular members.
The commission is tasked with hearing and deciding appeals where it is alleged by the appellant that there is error made by a zoning officer.
Find out what’s happening in Tuscaloosawith free, real-time updates from Patch.
The city said in a press release on Wednesday that candidates will be reviewed and recommended by the City Council.
Requirements include:
Residency in the City of Tuscaloosa
Training or experience with zoning ordinances or in a related field
Available to attend monthly meetings
Click here to submit an application. The application window will be open until Oct. 27.
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Post Politics Now: Warnock And Walker To Square Off In Highly Anticipated Debate In Georgia
Post Politics Now: Warnock And Walker To Square Off In Highly Anticipated Debate In Georgia https://digitalalabamanews.com/post-politics-now-warnock-and-walker-to-square-off-in-highly-anticipated-debate-in-georgia/
Sen. Raphael G. Warnock (D-Ga.) and Republican challenger Herschel Walker. (Photographer: Megan Varner/Getty)
Updated October 14, 2022 at 8:54 a.m. EDT|Published
October 14, 2022 at 6:59 a.m. EDT
Today, Sen. Raphael G. Warnock (D-Ga.) and Republican challenger Herschel Walker, the former football star, face off in one of the most anticipated debates in the midterm elections — a race that could tip the balance of party control in the U.S. Senate. The evening encounter in Savannah, Ga., is the latest in a string of debates in marquee Senate races, including one Thursday night in Wisconsin that quickly turned personal between Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) and Democratic challenger Mandela Barnes.
Meanwhile, former president Donald Trump is promising to respond Friday morning to the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol. The panel voted Thursday to subpoena him. President Biden is in California, where he will hold an event focused on prescription drug prices.
Your daily dashboard
6:10 p.m. Eastern (3:10 p.m. Pacific): Biden delivers remarks on lowering costs for American families. Watch live here.
7:20 p.m. Eastern (4:20 p.m. Pacific): Biden travels to Portland, Ore. White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre briefs reporters on board Air Force One. Listen live here.
10:10 p.m. Eastern (7:10 p.m. Pacific): Biden participates in a grass-roots volunteer event with the Oregon Democrats.
Got a question about politics? Submit it here. After 3 p.m. weekdays, return to this space and we’ll address what’s on the mind of readers.
Noted: Oz says Biden’s decision on marijuana possession is ‘rational’
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Republican Senate hopeful Mehmet Oz said in an interview that aired Friday that he considers a move by President Biden to issue mass pardons for anyone convicted of a federal crime for simply possessing marijuana to be “rational.”
Most Republicans have been silent on Biden’s announcement last week while Oz’s opponent, Democrat John Fetterman, a longtime advocate of decriminalizing marijuana, has applauded the move.
Asked by NBC if he supported Biden’s decision, Oz, a celebrity physician, said, “Going to jail for marijuana is not a wise move for the country.”
Noted: Pelosi said she wanted to punch Trump as Jan. 6 riot began, video shows
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On Oct. 13, the Jan. 6 Committee played a video of House Speaker Pelosi (D-Calif.), Senate leader Schumer (D-N.Y.) and GOP leaders during the Capitol attack. (Video: The Washington Post, Photo: Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post)
Video from Jan. 6, 2021, shows a frustrated House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) telling aides that she wanted to punch President Donald Trump, and lawmakers pleading for the National Guard to be deployed as supporters of the former president forced their way into the Capitol.
The Post’s Kelly Kasulis Cho reports that the videos of congressional leaders immediately before and during the Capitol riot, aired for the first time by CNN on Thursday evening, were taken by Pelosi’s daughter, Alexandra Pelosi, a documentary filmmaker working with HBO. Other parts of the footage were played earlier Thursday at a Jan. 6 House Committee hearing, which ended in a unanimous vote to subpoena Trump.
On our radar: Biden’s internet promises in limbo amid FCC nominee battle
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The nation’s telecommunications regulator has been without a Democratic majority for the entirety of President Biden’s 21-month tenure, hamstringing efforts to restore open internet protections and close the digital divide.
The Post’s Cat Zakrzewski and Cristiano Lima report that breaking the deadlock at the Federal Communications Commission hinges on confirming Gigi Sohn, a longtime public interest advocate and former Democratic FCC official who was first nominated by the White House nearly a year ago. Per our colleagues:
Noted: ‘There are no editors anymore,’ Biden says in critique of press
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President Biden and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) headlined a fundraiser for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee on Thursday night in the Brentwood neighborhood of Los Angeles.
Among his comments to donors, according to our colleague Tyler Pager: a lament about the technological changes fracturing society and making it harder to discern what’s true and what isn’t.
“There are no editors anymore,” Biden said. “The ability of newspapers to have much impact is de minimis.”
Spotted at the fundraiser, per Tyler: DCCC Chairman Sean Patrick Maloney (D-N.Y.) and Democratic Reps. Steven Horsford (Nev.), Ted Lieu (Calif.), Brad Sherman (Calif.) and Dina Titus (Nev.), plus Tom Ford “milling about outside.”
Analysis: Jan. 6 hearing shows Trump knew he lost, while claiming otherwise
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Former president Donald Trump’s communications director recounted popping into the Oval Office roughly a week after the 2020 election to find a morose Trump watching TV: “Can you believe I lost to this f—ing guy?” Trump lamented, referring to then-President-elect Joe Biden.
The Post’s Ashley Parker writes that the likely final hearing of the Jan. 6 panel painted a portrait of an American president who, with help from a cabal of right-wing allies, embarked on a premeditated plan to refuse to cede power regardless of the election results and who — despite privately acknowledging that he had lost to Biden — ultimately executed that plan to deadly effect on Jan. 6, 2021. Per Ashley:
The latest: Biden to sign executive order on drug prices during California swing
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President Biden will sign an executive order Friday, instructing the Department of Health and Human Services to explore actions it could take to lower prescription drug prices.
The order is part of an effort by Biden to highlight his administration’s efforts to strengthen Medicare and Social Security and reduce costs amid soaring inflation. During an ongoing visit to California, the president will also tout the provisions in the Inflation Reduction Act to lower prescription drug costs for seniors.
On our radar: It’s debate night in Georgia
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The political world will focus on Savannah, Ga., on Friday night when Sen. Raphael G. Warnock (D-Ga.) shares a stage with Republican challenger Herschel Walker for one of the most anticipated debates of the midterm election season.
It will be the first meeting of the two candidates since stories surfaced that Walker, who opposes abortions in all cases, allegedly paid for a woman to undergo the procedure in 2009 and subsequently pushed for the same woman to have another one two years later. The story was first reported by the Daily Beast.
On our radar: Trump says he’ll respond to Jan. 6 committee this morning
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The Jan. 6 committee unanimously voted to subpoena testimony from former president Donald Trump on Oct. 13. (Video: The Washington Post)
Former president Donald Trump is pledging to respond Friday morning to a subpoena from the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol.
“I will be putting out my response to the Unselect Committee of political Hacks & Thugs tomorrow morning at 8:00. Thank you!” Trump said in a late-night posting Thursday on Truth Social, his social media network.
Earlier Thursday, the committee issued a subpoena seeking testimony and documents from Trump, a challenge with little historical precedent that members said was a necessary final act before the panel concludes its work.
Insight: The Senate debate in Wisconsin turns personal
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A debate Thursday in Wisconsin quickly turned to personal attacks between the two Senate candidates, with Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) starting off the hour-long session by characterizing his Democratic opponent as offering “hollow left-wing rhetoric” and questioning whether he has accomplished anything at all.
Mandela Barnes, the Democratic nominee for Senate and Wisconsin’s first Black lieutenant governor, minimized Johnson’s success in the private sector.
Johnson’s “biggest achievement in business was … saying ‘I do.’ He married into his business,” Barnes said. (Johnson spent much of his career working at a company founded by his wife’s brother and eventually became the firm’s chief executive.)
Noted: Secret Service knew of Capitol threat more than a week before Jan. 6
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The House select committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol attack presented new evidence on Oct. 13, showing the Secret Service was aware of threats. (Video: The Washington Post, Photo: Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post)
The Secret Service had warnings earlier than previously known that supporters of President Donald Trump were plotting an armed attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, according to records revealed in a congressional hearing Thursday.
The Post’s Carol D. Leonnig reports that Secret Service agents in charge of assessing the risks around the protests had been tracking online chats on pro-Trump websites and noted that rallygoers were vowing to bring firearms, target the Capitol for a siege and even kill Vice President Mike Pence. Per Carol:
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House Jan. 6 Committee Votes Unanimously To Subpoena Trump American Press
House Jan. 6 Committee Votes Unanimously To Subpoena Trump – American Press https://digitalalabamanews.com/house-jan-6-committee-votes-unanimously-to-subpoena-trump-american-press/
Published 7:44 am Friday, October 14, 2022
federal judge has granted a request by former President Donald Trump’s legal team to appoint a special master to review documents seized by the FBI during a search of his Florida home last month. (Associated Press)
The House Jan. 6 committee voted unanimously to subpoena former President Donald Trump, demanding his personal testimony as it unveiled startling new video and described his multi–part plan to overturn his 2020 election loss, which led to his supporters’ fierce assault on the U.S. Capitol.
With alarming messages from the U.S. Secret Service warning of violence and vivid new video of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other congressional leaders pleading for help, the panel on Thursday showed the raw desperation at the Capitol. Using language frequently seen in criminal indictments, the panel said Trump had acted in a “premeditated” way before Jan. 6, 2021, despite countless aides and officials telling him he had lost.
Trump is almost certain to fight the subpoena and decline to testify. On his social media outlet he blasted members for not asking him earlier — though he didn’t say he would have complied — and called the panel “a total BUST.”
“We must seek the testimony under oath of January 6’s central player,” said Republican Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming, the committee’s vice chair, ahead of the vote.
In the committee’s 10th public session, just weeks before the congressional midterm elections, the panel summed up Trump’s “staggering betrayal” of his oath of office, as Chairman Bennie Thompson put it, describing the then–president’s unprecedented attempt to stop Congress from certifying Democrat Joe Biden’s victory.
While the effort to subpoena Trump may languish, more a nod to history than an effective summons, the committee has made clear it is considering whether to send its findings in a criminal referral to the Justice Department.
In one of its most riveting exhibits, the panel showed previously unseen footage of congressional leaders phoning for help during the assault as Trump refused to call off the mob.
Pelosi can be seen on a call with the governor of neighboring Virginia, explaining as she shelters with Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer and others that the governor of Maryland has also been contacted. Later, the video shows Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell and other GOP leaders as the group asks the Defense Department for help.
“They’re breaking the law in many different ways,” Pelosi says at one point. “And quite frankly, much of it at the instigation of the president of the United States.”
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Official: Court Will Hear More Details Of Rockford Students Encounter With Officer
Official: Court Will Hear More Details Of Rockford Student’s Encounter With Officer https://digitalalabamanews.com/official-court-will-hear-more-details-of-rockford-students-encounter-with-officer/
ROCKFORD, Ill. (WTVO) — One day after a lawsuit was filed against the Rockford Public Schools over a student being injured by a police officer at Auburn High School, a school board member is denying a cover-up.
The family of 14-year-old Parris Moore said they were initially told Moore slipped and fell in a scuffle with the school’s former resource officer.
But, surveillance video shows Moore being tackled to the ground by Officer Bradley Lauer.
The video shows Moore walking through the halls prior to the incident. The family’s attorney admitted he was skipping class.
Former Assistant Principal Scott Dimke can be seen attempting to stop Moore from getting past him as Moore refuses to stop.
He then pulls Moore into the office. What happened inside is not seen on camera.
Moments later, Lauer enters the office. He is then seen pulling Moore back out into the hallway and appears to slam him to the ground.
He suffered a four-inch skull fracture, resulting in permanent brain damage and losses in memory, language, and fine motor control.
The family says they believe the school tried to cover up the incident.
“We have not gotten an incident report from the school district or their attorney is telling us that there is no incident report for this incident on September 21st of 2021,” said attorney Al Hofeld, in a press conference held in Chicago on Wednesday.
Hofeld’s law firm first released information about the investigation to Chicago station WBBM, which ran a report last week. The suit was filed yesterday.
Tim Rollins, the vice president of the RPS 205 School Board, denied the incident was covered up and said the board was informed of the incident shortly after it happened.
“The information that is coming out, right now, is coming from one side,” Rollins said. “There is, usually, more than one side to a story. The matter is now in court. That’s why we have courts. It is the role of the court to sort through what happened and determine what the facts are and what actually did happen.”
Rollins said further details of what led up to the confrontation between Moore and the officer will eventually be revealed when the case goes to trial.
“We, as a society, are rushing to judgment now, based on partial information. Across the country, not just in this case, but across the country. It’s a bad trend. So, let’s let the court do its job and the court will sort it out,” he said.
Lauer is no longer a school resource officer at Auburn. The Rockford Police Department declined to comment when asked what his current role is.
On Wednesday, Rockford Mayor Tom McNamara said that he supports the officers and the long-standing relationship they have with the schools to provide a safe learning environment.
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Stock Futures Are Higher Ahead Of Big Bank Earnings
Stock Futures Are Higher Ahead Of Big Bank Earnings https://digitalalabamanews.com/stock-futures-are-higher-ahead-of-big-bank-earnings/
Stock futures ticked up Friday as investors turned their attention to big bank earnings after the major averages staged a historic turnaround rally.
Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 110 points, or 0.37%. S&P 500 futures gained 0.3%, and Nasdaq 100 futures advanced 0.2%.
JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo, Morgan Stanley and Citigroup are all scheduled to report before the bell.
Dow member UnitedHealth posted quarterly results Friday as well, with earnings and revenue coming in above expectations. UnitedHealth shares ticked higher by 0.8%.
The reports come a day after the market staged a massive comeback. The Dow ended Thursday’s session up 827 points after being down more than 500 points to start the day. The S&P 500 rose 2.6% to break a six-day losing streak, and the Nasdaq Composite jumped 2.2%.
The moves followed the release of the consumer price index, a key U.S. inflation reading that came in hotter than expected for the month of September. Initially, this weighed on markets as investors braced themselves for the Federal Reserve to continue with its aggressive rate-hiking plan. Later, however, they shrugged off those worries.
“The best excuse for today’s bounce is ‘sell the news’ paired with highly negative sentiment/positioning,” said Ross Mayfield, investment strategy analyst at Baird. “The market had already fallen six straight days, de-risking the report a bit, and September CPI likely doesn’t change the near-term path of the Fed (which was already quite hawkish).”
Still, persistent inflation remains a problem for the Fed and for investors’ worries around the central bank’s policy tightening.
“The turnaround is a welcome respite for investors, but the market still requires greater clarity on the extent of tightening still ahead,” said Brian Levitt, global market strategist at Invesco. “The focus remains on the pace of inflation and the underlying strength in the jobs market. A market rally will likely commence when the market believes that a Fed tightening pause is in the offing.”
There’s still more economic data this week, too. September’s retail sales will come out at 8:30 a.m. ET. Later in the morning, investors are looking forward to the latest consumer sentiment figures from the University of Michigan.
UnitedHealth earnings and revenue beat, shares rise
Shares of UnitedHealth rose nearly 1% in the premarket after the health insurance giant posted earnings and revenue that beat expectations.
UnitedHealth earned $5.79 per share on revenue of $80.89 billion. Analysts expected earnings of $5.42 per share on revenue of $80.5 billion.
— Fred Imbert
European markets rise on UK fiscal U-turn hopes
European markets jumped on Friday as speculation abounded that the U.K. government could be about to U-turn on its controversial fiscal policies.
The pan-European Stoxx 600 was up 0.8% in early trade, having more than halved its opening gains. Utilities added 2% while tech stocks were the only sector in the red, shedding 0.7%.
U.K. Finance Minister Kwasi Kwarteng flew home early from the International Monetary Fund in Washington on Thursday night as ministers convened to address the nation’s economic chaos.
– Elliot Smith
U.S. unemployment will overshoot on continued rate hikes, economist
With the Federal Reserve expected to undertake more aggressive interest rate hikes, unemployment in the U.S. will rise higher than forecast, RBC Capital Markets chief U.S. economist Tom Porcelli says.
Porcelli expects three more 75 basis-point hikes and predicts the Fed will get to a terminal rate of 4.75%.
“But I do not believe that, you know, putting three additional 75 basis point hikes in the system is going to sort of quell near term inflationary dynamics,” he said on CNBC’s Squawk Box Asia on Friday.
“What it will do is raise the unemployment rate meaningfully higher than what they’re forecasting for next year, which is to say, 4.4%,” he said. “There’s no way you will have a 4.4% unemployment rate with a Fed that aggressive.”
At 4.75%, unemployment would be at 5% which equates to about 2 million job losses, Porcelli adds. The current U.S. unemployment rate is 3.5%.
— Su-Lin Tan
China’s September consumer price index grows at fastest pace since April 2020
China’s September consumer price index grew annually at 2.8%, the fastest pace since April 2020, pushed higher by food costs. Food prices rose by 8.8% annually.
The nation’s CPI rose by 0.3% in September from August, missing estimates of 0.4% in a Reuters poll.
The producer price index for the month grew 0.9% compared to a year ago, also missing expectations of 1% that economists surveyed by Reuters predicted.
— Jihye Lee
CNBC Pro: Stocks in this key market are outperforming the S&P 500 — and it’s not where you might expect
The S&P 500 has lost 25% of its value so far this year, but could still fall by “another easy 20%,” JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon predicted on Monday.
Its sharp decline is a familiar story around the world, as investors flee stocks. But one “surprising” index is bucking the trend and beating the S&P 500 this year.
Pro subscribers can read more here.
— Zavier Ong
Economically-sensitive areas of the market are performing well, says Truist’s Lerner
Truist predicts a recession over the next six to 12 months but maintains its view that it’s not a time to be short-term negative, according to analyst Keith Lerner.
“Indeed, the markets are the most oversold, or stretched to the downside, since mid-June prior to that rally and sentiment suggests any good news could go a long way on short-term basis,” he said. “Thus, we do not view this as a time to press a negative view after such a sharp selloff, at least not short term.”
“It is also notable that we are starting to see some better action from some of the more economically-sensitive areas of the market, such as industrials and financials, alongside energy and health care, which are clear market leaders,” he added.
— Tanaya Macheel
Hit to corporate earnings could be ‘mild,’ says Baird’s Mayfield
While the economy has shown early signs of cooling, it’s nowhere near what the Federal Reserve needs to reach 2% to 3% inflation, says Ross Mayfield, investment strategy analyst at Baird.
“The Fed is likely skittish about pausing too early and repeating the mistakes of 1970s, but in being so, risks overtightening and inducing a recession sometime in 2023,” he said. “The good news is that the consumer and labor market have plenty of cushion that past slowdowns have not been afforded. We’d expect a milder recession by historical standards and think the hit to corporate earnings could be equally mild.”
— Tanaya Macheel
Stock futures open flat
Stock futures were little changed Thursday night as investors turned their attention to big bank earnings. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures added 20 points, or 0.07%. S&P 500 futures inched higher by 0.08%. Nasdaq 100 futures were lower by 0.04%.
In regular trading, the Dow ended up 827 points after being down more than 500 points earlier in the day. The S&P 500 rose 2.6% to break a six-day losing streak. The Nasdaq Composite jumped 2.2%.
— Tanaya Macheel
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Trump's Stolen Election Story Premeditated He Knew Of Capitol Attack: House Committee
Trump's Stolen Election Story Premeditated, He Knew Of Capitol Attack: House Committee https://digitalalabamanews.com/trumps-stolen-election-story-premeditated-he-knew-of-capitol-attack-house-committee/
By Kenneth Tiven
The 9th and final public hearing of the US Congressional Committee probing the January 6, 2020 insurrection at the nation’s capitol produced compelling information about the culpability of former US President Donald Trump.
This was an echo of the Watergate hearings into President Nixon’s role in the Watergate Burglary 50 years ago: What did the president know and when did he know it.
The story arc wove together testimony and video clips shown in the first eight hearings demonstrating that Trump’s complaint of a “stolen election” was premeditated, concocted before the first votes were counted. House Investigating Committee chairman Bennie Thompson and co-chair Liz Cheney said in opening statements that Trump’s criminal behaviour rested on testimony primarily from multiple Republicans working for Trump. They rejected Trump’s complaint that this is a partisan witch-hunt.
Lacking prosecutorial power, the committee probably will provide its evidence to the Department of Justice which has its own parallel probe underway as part of criminal prosecution of those arrested for the Capitol Hill riot.
The committee voted 9-0 to subpoena Trump for testimony under oath. Trump has used his Fifth Amendment right to refuse to answer in state courts and is likely to do the same if he ever sits before any congressional committee.
As the hearing was underway, the US Supreme Court issued a stinging one sentence denial of Trump’s request to intervene in the case resulting from the FBI seizing classified documents that Trump took to Mar-a-Lago after leaving office. “The application to vacate the (pro-government) stay entered by the United States Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit on Sept. 21, 2022, presented to Justice Thomas and by him referred to the court is denied.”
The underlying critical point in today’s hearing was that documents finally obtained from the Secret Service revealed agency knowledge of right-wing militia actions intended for the rally in Washington. However, for apparent political considerations, top levels of the protection service declined to take strong action to shut down both the Trump rally and any ensuing attack on the Capitol building.
The Committee suggested it would invite various Secret Service and Trump officials back to discuss if they lied to the committee about what they knew. Missing documents included voice and text messages. The agency had insisted the erasure was routine because the service had given new phones to agents, losing everything from the first weeks of January 2020.
Congressman Adam Kinzinger, a Republican on the committee not running for re-election, described Trump as the central commanding figure from start to finish of the Big Lie. Others pointed out that Roger Stone, a longtime Republican operative, played an outsized role in convincing Trump that he could use the rigged election gambit to stay in office. Stone’s intimate connection to the most violent elements of January 6 was also established. This will be the last committee meeting if Democrats lose control of the House of Representatives in the November election.
Any charges resulting from events of January 6 are independent of Trump’s growing legal problems with the federal document case or criminal and civil suit in state courts in Georgia and New York
This was the first hearing which the committee formally accused Trump of committing crimes. His special place in US history is guaranteed for having been impeached twice (and acquitted twice by the Senate), and accused of a crime or crimes by Congress. He would be the first US president charged with a crime associated with his presidency. Keep in mind that deciding whether something is a crime is not black and white. Different parts of the government use different standards. Congress can issue a criminal referral when it thinks a crime may have been committed. Federal prosecutors, though, are supposed to only charge cases they think they can successfully argue to the jury standard of “beyond a reasonable doubt.” This hearing played out with these possible charges in mind:
Obstruction of an official proceeding of Congress
On January 6, 2021, Congress convened officially proceeding to certify the tally of electoral votes from the states, making Joe Biden president.
Many of the Jan. 6 attackers have been charged with this. Former federal prosecutor Barbara McQuade says Trump broke this federal law by trying to stop lawmakers from certifying Biden’s win. But to prove that, prosecutors will, need to prove intent. The committee has testimony that Trump knew he lost but pushed lies about it anyway.
Video after video showed Trump campaign aides and even former attorney general William P. Barr telling Trump he lost. “I made it clear I did not agree with the idea of saying the election was stolen and putting out this stuff, which I told the president was bullshit,” Barr said in testimony taped earlier this year. Though doing nothing is not a crime, the president’s inaction in this period might be evidence of his intent.
Conspiracy to defraud the United States
Proving this crime requires showing that “at least two people entered into an agreement to obstruct a lawful function of the government, by deceitful or dishonest means.” Trump’s meetings with lawyer John Eastman regarding swapping Trump state electors to replace Biden’s seems to meet this requirement.
Seditious conspiracy
This is the most serious crime the Department Justice could charge Trump with and conviction would bar him from ever holding elective offices. It would require connecting Trump directly to the leaders of the mob that attacked the Capitol. Leaders of the far-right militia groups Oath Keepers and Proud Boys have been charged and convicted for this crime. Seditious conspiracy is a rare and serious charge, alleging a forcefully effort to overthrow the peaceful transfer of presidential power.
Wire fraud
Trump may have committed fraud by fundraising on the false basis that the election was stolen compounded by the fact he faked having an “Official Election Defense Fund. He raised more than $250,000,000 for something that did not exist. Trump aides testified most money donated went to Trump’s Save America PAC. “If Trump solicited funds for one purpose and knowingly used the funds for another, he could be guilty of wire fraud,” said a former federal prosecutor. The committee made it abundantly clear they believe he knew exactly what he was doing, with an ends justify the means logic he feels entitled to use.
“One of the weird things about all of this,” said Berkley Law Professor Orin Kerr, “is that Trump was doing things which any normal person would have realized was unlawful or would have realized there was no evidence for. So, how do you assess the psychology of Donald J. Trump in terms of what he was thinking?”
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The New Kris Kobach Pushes On In The Race For Kansas Attorney General Newstalk KZRG
The New Kris Kobach Pushes On In The Race For Kansas Attorney General – Newstalk KZRG https://digitalalabamanews.com/the-new-kris-kobach-pushes-on-in-the-race-for-kansas-attorney-general-newstalk-kzrg/
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kris Kobach, the Kansan with a national reputation as a hardline provocateur on immigration and voter ID laws, is trying to rebrand himself as a calmer, steadier voice in his comeback bid for elective office.
Republicans hope the candidate for Kansas attorney general is a “new” Kobach. Many of them say he’s staying more on message with a better organized campaign after losing the 2018 race for Kansas governor and a 2020 U.S. Senate primary. Both of those losses were chalked up to disorganized campaigns and Kobach being too abrasive even for very Republican Kansas voters.
The former Kansas secretary of state built a national profile — and created lasting political foes — as the go-to adviser for state and local officials wanting to crack down on illegal immigration. But his platform this year doesn’t mention immigration. The signature prop of his campaign for governor four years ago was a jeep painted with a U.S. flag design and equipped with a replica machine gun, and it’s nowhere to be seen this year.
“There’s been some learning, trial and error, over time, and I think Kobach as a candidate has grown and become more disciplined,” said Moriah Day, a Republican and gun-rights activist who once worked for Kobach in the secretary of state’s office. “There are certainly advisers and others who have pushed hard for that discipline, and some of them have been together for a few cycles now.”
Kobach’s Democratic opponent in the Nov. 8 election is Chris Mann, who is making his first run for elective office. While Republicans have won 80% of statewide down-ballot races over the past 50 years, both parties see the Kobach-Mann contest as a toss-up because of Kobach’s political baggage.
Some of the baggage comes from Kobach advocating strict immigration laws years before Donald Trump ran for president in 2016 and upsetting not only immigrant rights advocates but GOP-leaning business and agricultural groups.
Kobach also pushed the idea that droves of people could be voting illegally and championed a tough prove-your-citizenship rule for new Kansas voters, only to see the federal courts strike it down and order the state to pay voting rights attorneys $1.4 million.
Then there was his brand in his 2018 and 2020 races, the fighter who was even willing to take on GOP leaders. While Republicans across the U.S. have embraced a combative persona in Trump and other candidates, and Trump carried Kansas twice by wide margins, the state’s voters more often have favored candidates with an aw-shucks demeanor.
The jeep with the machine gun became a symbol of how Kobach seemed not to care that he annoyed or angered some voters. He mocked what he called the “snowflake meltdown” the first time he rode it in a parade in 2018.
2018, Kris Kobach, then Kansas secretary of state and the Republican nominee for Kansas governor, rides in a parade in a jeep with a replica machine gun in Baldwin City, Kan. (AP Photo/John Hanna)
Some are skeptical that Kobach has changed in any substantive way, and say he is not always on message. For example, his comments during campaign appearances sometimes veer into his plan to slowly and quietly maneuver to ban abortion.
Kansas voters in August rejected a proposed amendment to the state constitution that would have cleared the way for the Republican Legislature to tighten abortion restrictions or ban the procedure. Kobach backed the measure, which was GOP lawmakers’ response to a 2019 Kansas Supreme Court decision declaring access to abortion a “fundamental” right under the state’s Bill of Rights.
Kobach advocates amending the state constitution to elect Supreme Court justices rather than have governors appoint them. Eventually new, more conservative justices would overturn the 2019 ruling, he argues.
Backers argue that Kobach’s views on abortion are well-known enough that he can’t backpedal now.
But he’s pitching a proposal that faces big political hurdles, and some Republicans fear that talking about abortion will keep moderate Republicans and independents riled and boost Democratic turnout. Kobach has said he’ll defend existing abortion restrictions as attorney general, but his critics worry that he’ll hunt for new ways to curb access if he’s elected.
“I thought we had a representative form of government, but it looks like Kris Kobach will certainly be willing to subvert the wishes of the voters when he has a chance,” said former Kansas House Majority Leader Don Hineman, a moderate Republican and western Kansas farmer.
Democrat Mann, 46, was a police officer in his early 20s in the northeastern Kansas city of Lawrence, where he now lives. An on-duty accident involving a drunken driver ended his career in uniform and he then served as a prosecutor in nearby Kansas City, Kansas, as a state securities regulator and on the board of Mothers Against Drunk Driving.
“I’m not in this to chase the spotlight or to grab attention like my opponent, and that’s all he’s going to do,” Mann said during an interview.
Kobach, 56, said he’s learned from past campaigns and is delegating more tasks. For this year’s race, he hired Axiom Strategies, a prominent Kansas City-area GOP firm, and his chief consultant is a conservative state senator, J.R. Claeys, in good standing with top Kansas Republicans.
And that jeep with the replica machine gun from four years ago?
“That was a different time,” Kobach said, chuckling, noting that four years ago was “right in the middle” of Trump’s high-drama administration.
Kobach’s lower-key campaign appeals to William Hendrix, a 21-year-old Topeka resident who is treasurer for a local Young Republicans group. He predicted that as attorney general, Kobach would “cool down on the campaign-trail rhetoric.”
“He’ll see the limitations of the office and also at the same time, what he can do with what he has,” Hendrix said.
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The Closing Argument For The Mid-TermsStick To those Stubborn Things
The Closing Argument For The Mid-Terms–Stick To “those Stubborn Things”… https://digitalalabamanews.com/the-closing-argument-for-the-mid-terms-stick-to-those-stubborn-things/
Donald Trump may well take credit for it, but he is not the author of “The Big Lie.” There have been bigger lies, far worse ones, but perhaps, none as brazen. As the DOJ circles the wagons around the shenanigans that have been taking place at Mar-a-Lago, it is becoming clearer that the effort required to maintain the lies increases as evidence is discovered— necessitating more lying which in turn produces further disclosure of facts and evidence. The fever Trump has spread to the Republican Party has now enveloped it and birthed a Kooks’ network of conspiracy theorists. What Trump and the Republican Party may lay claim to is the bald-faced lie— the distinction being the infusion of shamelessness in the distortion of the truth. The upcoming campaign for control of Congress should be an uphill climb for the party supporting an insurrection, the Doctor from NJ running for Senator in PA, and Hershel Walker. Yet the races in key battleground states are tightening due to an influx of dark money. Anonymous donors who support the anti-democratic policies are the stitch and fabric of the support shoring up candidates who offer to sell access for a monetary downpayment.
This midterm is a battle about freedom and democracy. The Dobbs decision decided by SCOTUS in June gave Dems a framing issue for the midterms. A woman’s right to choose is all about freedom and a denial of a long-held right that was recognized for over fifty years. Republicans should lose that battle decisively and have determined that they can win by convincing enough voters that neither matters. They prefer a battleground composed of the usual suspects-— crime, the economy, and assorted playlists of culture war favorites. The problem, however, is that to trot out their campaign arguments they have to distort the truth.
The tuberville doctrine
Lately, candidates have adopted a stance that Donald Trump advocated in his disgraceful inaugural address, “American Carnage.” Their ploy is to convince voters that Democrats invite crime, and Democratic adherents actually prosper with its growth. Tommy Tuberville (R AL) trotted out his version of the hideous lie in a rally rant last week:
“They are not soft on crime. They’re pro-crime. They want crime. They want crime because they want to take over what you got. They want to control what you have. They want reparations because they think the people that do the crime are owed that.”
— Senator Tommy Tuberville (R, AL)
Tuberville managed to reveal the truth about what lies at the heart of Republican fascism. Big lies are built from the little ones they tell without facts and/or shame. As John Adams once said, “Facts are stubborn things…” The Tuberville lie is even more shameful given its racist underpinnings and stubborn facts. Crime has been in steady decline in the U.S. for the past 25 years, and where crime is rising does not accommodate the argument Republicans are trying to make:
The overall crime rate in the United States is 47.70. The violent crime rate in the United States has decreased sharply over the past 25 years. Crimes rates vary significantly between the states, with states with such as Alaska, New Mexico, and Tennessee experiencing much higher crime rates than states such as Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont. Some of the world’s lowest crime rates are seen in Switzerland, Denmark, Norway, Japan, and New Zealand. Each of these countries has very effective law enforcement, and Denmark, Norway, and Japan have some of the most restrictive gun laws in the world.
— World Population Reviw, Crime Rates by Country 2022
The statistics on crime are even more devastating and turns their lie on themselves. According to the same study, eight of the ten states with the highest violent crime rates are red states (Michigan and New Mexico are the “Purple” outliers). The Republican narrative likes to cite blue states like New York and California in their crime rants, yet statistics show that they are not awash in crime and, in fact, bright blue San Francisco, a particular right-wing target because it is represented in Congress by Nancy Pelosi, has a crime rate that is far less than smaller red state cities like St. Louis and Jackson, Mississippi, numbers one and two on the list :
St. Louis, Missouri
Jackson, Mississippi
Detroit, Michigan
New Orleans, Louisiana
Baltimore, Maryland
Memphis, Tennessee
Cleveland, Ohio
Baton Rouge, Louisiana
Kansas City, Missouri
Shreveport, Louisiana — Forbes, Crime In America: Study Reveals The 10 Most Unsafe Cities (It’s Not Where You Think), by Laura Begley Bloom, Feb. 2022
The truth is that Begley notes in her article that homicides and gun violence, crimes directly attributable to the Republican obstructionism in attempts to rein in the gun lobby, are up significantly by about 7%. Criminals, in fact-— racists, bigots, and neo-Nazis-— form the very core of the Republican base.
dare we mention the economy?
Another Republican fallacy is to blame Dems for the economy, ignoring the fact that historically the economy fares far better under Democratic control. Economic figures are overshadowed by the after-effects of the pandemic, which devastated the economy. The Russian assault on Ukraine made matters worse, restricting gas supplies to European NATO nations, and joining with the Saudis in reducing oil production and contributing to gas price increases. With that as a backdrop, it is important to note that inflation is a real threat and that the overall economy is in a perilous state because of inflationary pressures and falling markets. On the other hand, the dollar is strong, unemployment is at historic lows, wages are rising, and the job market has made a strong recovery from the pandemic which decimated all aspects of the economy, but especially job creation.
In fairness, then, the economy is fair game in November, but Democrats still have a case to make that the economy is remarkably strong considering:
There is no universally accepted definition of a “good” number of jobs or rate of wage growth, which means the exact placement of the various measures is somewhat subjective… meaning most of the economy is doing well, but slowing down.Even in the best of times, it can be hard to get a handle on what’s happening in an economy with 150 million workers and $20 trillion worth of annual output. And these are far from the best of times. The pandemic and its ripple effects are continuing to disrupt global supply chains and keeping millions of Americans out of work. The war in Ukraine has pushed up gas and food prices, and added a new source of uncertainty. The Federal Reserve is trying to beat back the fastest inflation in decades — and threatening to cause a recession in the process.
— NYTimes, How Is the Economy Doing? By Ben Casselman and Lauren Leather, Sept. 13, 2022
The economy as it stands now is better than what would be expected despite the threat of an economic slowdown that many economists would consider a controlled recession. The effects of the Fed raising interest rates has cooled off what was a red-hot market just months ago. Marketwatch has described the housing market even as it is cooling off:
After two years of red-hot sales, economic data paints a tale of a market that’s seeing weaker sales, plunging sentiment among homebuilders, and rising mortgage rates.
But economists are divided over whether the U.S. housing sector is in a recession.
Some economists say it is.
Given that the decline in housing activity is across the economy and has lasted for more than a few months, “many housing indicators do point to a recession in the U.S. housing market,” Selma Hepp, deputy economist at CoreLogic, told MarketWatch.
— MarketWatch, Is the housing market in a recession? Here’s what economists are saying, July 31, 2022
The Business Journal of the Wharton School offers insight:
The construction industry is in a recession. But if you own your home or are looking to buy a home, it’s not in a recession for you. Housing prices are not falling, rents are not falling. Rents are rising at a 10% rate, and this is by no means what a recession looks like. The median house price is down, but that’s down in part because of the composition of sales. It’s down over the month, but over the year it’s still up nearly 7%, 8%. It’s a very unusual, confusing combination of different forces going on right now. This will change if we’re in a recession in the overall economy — then housing prices will decline, but we’re not there yet.
Taking into consideration all the hurdles that Biden and the Democrats have faced over the past 2 years, a Bloomberg analysis has concluded:
Measured by real GDP alone, growth under Biden is 0.6 percentage points slower than by the GDP/GDI average — and 1.3 points below the 4% growth rate for GDI. It’s still the best since the Clinton years. For Donald Trump, the growth hit is smaller but puts him in last place among the presidents listed here. Quarterly GDP data is only available back to 1947, which is why this chart starts with Eisenhower, but annual data show that GDP growth under Trump was the slowest since Herbert Hoover’s less-than-successful presidency.
— Bloomberg, Biden’s Economy Has the Best Growth Record Since Clinton, by Justin Fox, August 31, 2022
I fear that Democratic voters are going into the midterms in a defensive mode. The talk of crime and the economy is framed by Republicans as a weapon. And it should be— for Democrats. It is time that Democrats stop the handwringing and mumbling about our “loss of enthusiasm” for the Biden Administration and begin to realize its accomplishments in the face of enormous odds. Bi...
Russia's War In Ukraine | CNN https://digitalalabamanews.com/russias-war-in-ukraine-cnn-2/
See new ‘kamikaze’ drones used by Russia in attacks on Ukraine
02:41 – Source: CNN
A Russian rocket hit the southern city of Zaporizhzhia on Friday following a week of deadly strikes on civilian targets in Ukraine. Meanwhile, Russian officials said their air defenses had shot down rockets in the Belgorod region, which borders Ukraine.
Russia’s Rostov region is to receive residents of Ukraine’s occupied Kherson region on Friday, according to Russian authorities, after Moscow announced evacuations in the face of a Ukrainian counteroffensive.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky reiterated his plea for more air defense capacities Thursday as NATO defense ministers meet in Brussels, saying Kyiv has only about 10% of what it needs to combat Moscow’s blitz.
Satellite images show some traffic has resumed on a key bridge in annexed Crimea after Russian state media said eight people had been arrested in connection with the massive explosion that damaged the structure.
Marianna Vishegirskaya walks down stairs in a maternity hospital damaged by shelling in Mariupol, Ukraine, on March 9.
(Evgeniy Maloletka/AP)
There have been 620 attacks on health services in Ukraine since Russian launched its military invasion in February, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
The agency’s top priorities are continuing support for the 150 health partners on the ground and responding urgently to the 620 attacks on health care since the beginning of the war, the agency’s Europe director Hans Kluge said Friday.
Other concerns for WHO include the health needs of those in Ukraine and “anticipating and preparing for challenges winter will bring,” he said at a press conference on the health impacts of the escalating conflict in Ukraine.
The winter season poses challenges specifically for those “living precariously” and unable to heat their homes, Kluge added.
“Wintertime challenges, and the recent escalation in fighting, could add to significant internal displacement with an anticipated two to three million people on the move in Ukraine itself as well as another exodus of refugees to surrounding countries,” he said.
“Consequently, there will be an even greater strain on health services both in Ukraine and refugee receiving countries,” he continued.
Mental health issues, another priority for WHO, will likely be “exacerbated,” said Kluge.
“Ten million people… are potentially at risk of mental disorders, including acute stress, anxiety, depression, substance abuse and post-traumatic stress disorder,” he said, adding that this estimate was made before the recent escalation in Ukraine.
Russia’s Rostov region will on Friday receive residents from Kherson in south Ukraine, according to a Russian governor.
The head of the Russian-backed administration in the southern Ukrainian region of Kherson has appealed to the Kremlin to organize an evacuation of civilians in the face of a Ukrainian offensive.
“The Rostov region will receive and accommodate everyone who wants to come to us from the Kherson region,” Vasily Golubev, governor of the Rostov region, told state news agency TASS Thursday.
“We have already prepared to receive the first people arriving. We will create all the conditions for them. We are accepting the first group tomorrow,” Golubev added.
“The civilian population should be at a safe distance from the hostilities,” the deputy head of the Russian-backed administration in Kherson, Kirill Stremousov, said on Telegram Friday.
“Already now, on the right bank of the Kherson region, our Russian army is courageously and professionally holding back the daily attempts of the militants of the Kyiv regime to break through the defenses and launch an offensive against the settlements of the region, including, of course, the city of Kherson.”
Golubev’s announcement came after Moscow said it would help evacuate residents of occupied Kherson to other areas, as Kyiv continued to make gains in its offensive to retake the southern Ukrainian region.
Russian President Vladimir Putin, flanked by Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, attend the summit of leaders of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) in Astana, Kazakhstan, on October 14,
(Turar Kazangapov/Reuters)
Russian President Vladimir Putin has urged the use of “goodwill” to settle conflicts around the world, without making a reference to the war in Ukraine.
“Everyone has goodwill, and we need to use this goodwill to the maximum” in resolving any conflicts, Putin said while speaking to the leaders at the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) summit.
“We must strive to find ways out of the current situation, wherever it arises,” he added.
Putin also said that Russia “welcomes the mediation efforts of anyone, as long as they are directed at calming the situation, to the benefit all participants in the conflicts.”
“This also applies to our partners from the US and Europe,” he added.
The event in the Kazakh capital of Astana is being attended by the leaders of Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.
Since launching its invasion of Ukraine in February, the Kremlin has ruptured diplomatic ties with Kyiv and its Western allies.
Earlier this month, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky signed a decree formally ruling out potential negotiations with Putin. It came in response to Putin’s announcement that he would illegally annex four regions in Ukraine, in a move widely condemned by international leaders.
President Volodymyr Zelensky honors the memory of the dead
(President of Ukraine)
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has laid a wreath at a memorial for the thousands of servicemembers killed fighting Russian and Russian-backed forces between 2014 and the full-scale invasion in February.
The wreath was laid in honor of the Day of Defenders of Ukraine, which was first celebrated in 2015.
“On Mykhailivska Square in Kyiv, in the presence of an honor guard and to the sound of surma, a wreath with flowers from the Ukrainian people was placed at the Wall of Remembrance of the Fallen Defenders of Ukraine in the Russian-Ukrainian War,” the president’s office said in a statement.
The ceremony comes after the bodies of 62 Ukrainian soldiers were “returned home” earlier this week following “difficult negotiations,” according to the country’s Ministry for Reintegration of the Temporary Occupied Territories.
“62 fallen heroes were returned home,” the ministry’s statement said, adding that the bodies included those of soldiers who had been held at a prison in Olenivka in the eastern Donetsk region.
Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Valerii Zaluzhnyi in Kyiv, Ukraine, on October 19.
(Gleb Garanich/Reuters)
The battlefield is “complicated but controlled” as Ukrainian forces push ahead with their counteroffensive to take back parts of the country seized by Russia in the early days of Moscow’s invasion, Commander-in-Chief of Ukraine’s Armed Forces Valerii Zaluzhnyi said Thursday.
“In fierce battles, under the steel rain of Russian shells, we held on to every piece of our land. We stopped the enemy onslaught and buried the myth about the invincibility of the Russian army. And now we’re getting ours back. No one and nothing will stop us,” Zaluzhnyi said in a Twitter post.
Zaluzhnyi said last winter “is already part of world history.”
“We withstood a powerful enemy’s attack. We showed what it means to be Ukrainian, to have the courage to fight for your freedom,” he said.
In the latest indication that Russian troops are struggling in the face of Ukrainian advances,Moscow said Thursday its forces would help evacuate residents of the occupied southern Kherson region to other areas.
The Ukrainian military has been carrying out a counteroffensive in Kherson and eastern parts of the country, taking back territory that had been occupied by Russia as well as striking critical infrastructure such as bridges and railways.
Weapons aid: On Thursday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky reiterated his plea for more air defense capacities as NATO defense ministers met in Brussels, saying Kyiv has only about 10% of what it needs to combat deadly Russian strikes.
And according to Zaluzhnyi, Russia’s superior artillery means “the issue of increasing the fire capabilities of the Armed Forces is still relevant.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is seen on screen as he remotely addresses a speech to the members of the political delegations of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, in Strasbourg, France, on October 13.
(Frederick Florin/AFP/Getty Images)
An assembly of representatives drawn from 46 national parliaments across Europe voted overwhelmingly in favor on Thursday for a resolution calling on European countries to “declare the current Russian regime as a terrorist one.”
A total of 99 out of 100 members of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) voted in support of the resolution. Only a Turkish MP from the Republican People’s Party abstained.
“The continued use of long-range artillery by the Russian military to hit towns and cities across Ukraine has caused massive destruction and death,” the resolution said. “With these indiscriminate attacks, Russia aims to advance its terrorist policy to suppress the will of Ukrainians to resist and defend their country and provoke maximum harm to civilians.”
The resolution called on Russia to “completely and unconditionally withdraw its occupying forces.”
PACE is a parliamentary body of the Council of Europe, an international organization separate from the European Union. It has a broader membership, including countries like Turkey, Ukraine and the United Kingdom, as well as transcontinental countries such as Azerbaijan. PACE consists of national parliamentarians drawn from...
Israeli Army Kills Palestinian Militant In West Bank Raid
Israeli Army Kills Palestinian Militant In West Bank Raid https://digitalalabamanews.com/israeli-army-kills-palestinian-militant-in-west-bank-raid/
JENIN REFUGEE CAMP, West Bank (AP) — The Israeli military shot and killed a Palestinian militant during an arrest raid into a refugee camp in the occupied West Bank on Friday, according to Palestinian reports. It was the latest bloodshed in what has become the deadliest year in the territory since 2015.
Gun battles between Israeli security forces and Palestinian militants erupted during the incursion into the Jenin refugee camp in the northern West Bank, a frequent flash point for confrontations, the Palestinian Health Ministry said. Six people were wounded, including a doctor at the government hospital who was in critical condition after being shot in the head, the official Palestinian news agency, Wafa, reported. Photos showed smoke billowing from the camp after militants apparently detonated explosives.
The Al-Quds Brigades of Islamic Jihad, a Palestinian Islamist group that rivals the secular Fatah party, claimed the slain man, Matin Dababa, was a field commander.
The Israeli army said it had entered Jenin on Friday to arrest a wanted Hamas militant who had carried out recent attacks against Israeli security forces. Diaa Muhammad Yusef Salama, 24, was armed with an M-16 assault rifle as Israeli security forces apprehended him and two other suspects, it added.
The raid set off a gunfight between soldiers and armed Palestinians. The army said it opened fire on the armed men and warned uninvolved residents that they were risking their lives by being in the area.
At one point, a firefight erupted outside the local hospital, witnesses said. The doctor was struck in the head by a bullet as he left the building to tend to a wounded man in the hospital yard, Wafa reported, adding that two paramedics had also been wounded as an ambulance was caught in the crossfire.
Video showed an ambulance trapped in a narrow alley of the camp trying to retrieve a dead body as gunshots rang out and Israeli troops moved to arrest Salama.
More than 120 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli-Palestinian fighting in the West Bank and east Jerusalem this year, making 2022 the deadliest year since 2015. The fighting has surged since a series of Palestinian attacks in the spring killed 19 people in Israel.
Israel says most of the Palestinians killed have been militants. But stone-throwing youths protesting the incursions and others not involved in confrontations have also been killed.
Israel says the raids are needed to dismantle militant networks at a time when Palestinian security forces are unable or unwilling to do so.
The Palestinians say the raids undermine their security forces and are aimed at cementing Israel’s open-ended 55-year-old occupation of lands they want for their hoped-for state. Hundreds of Palestinians have been rounded up in such raids, with many placed in so-called administrative detention, which allows Israel to hold them without trial or charge.
The tensions spilled over into east Jerusalem this week, as Israeli police fired live rounds, tear gas and stun grenades on Palestinians throwing stones and fireworks across several neighborhoods in the contested city. Two Israelis were hurt in the confrontations, Israeli police said on Friday, adding that security forces arrested 18 suspects on charges of disturbing public order.
The police said they scaled up their presence at flashpoint areas across the city.
Israel captured the West Bank in the 1967 Mideast war, along with east Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip. The Palestinians seek those territories for their hoped-for independent state.
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
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Ramsay Routs Hayden To Take Class 5A Region 5 Title
Ramsay Routs Hayden To Take Class 5A, Region 5 Title https://digitalalabamanews.com/ramsay-routs-hayden-to-take-class-5a-region-5-title/
Ramsay scored in all three phases in the first half and quarterback Tremell Washington threw three touchdown passes to lead the fifth-ranked Rams to a 49-0 victory over Hayden on Thursday in a Class 5A, Region 5 showdown at Birmingham’s Legion Field.
Ramsay (7-2, 7-0) clinches the region title with the win and will host a first-round playoff game.
The Rams marched into the red zone on their opening possession of the game, but a bobbled snap resulted in Will Vines recovering for Hayden. The Wildcats went three-and-out on the ensuing drive and Ashton Ashford put Ramsay up 7-0 on a 7-yard touchdown run, capping a seven-play, 64-yard drive.
Ramsay forced two more three-and-outs and Washington connected with Kristian Stinson for 12- and 20-yard touchdown passes following each defensive stand. Hayden fumbled on its next possession as James Jones ripped the ball from the hands of Taylor McAdams and returned the turnover 44 yards to give the Rams a 28-0 lead early in the second quarter.
The Wildcats were able to drive into Ramsay territory on its next possession, but they turned the ball over on downs after a holding penalty pushed Hayden back behind the red zone. Jalen Jones extended the lead to 35-0 on the ensuing play with a 74-yard touchdown reception and Zedrick Powell capped the first-half scoring with a 45-yard punt return with 35 seconds remaining in the half.
Caleb Patterson, for the second week in a row, stripped a ball carrier and returned the fumble for a touchdown, extending Ramsay’s final advantage to 49-0 in the second half.
“Caleb always finds a way to make plays,” Ramsay coach Ronnie Jackson said. “He works his tail off on the field. He’s a hard worker, a real hard worker.”
A running clock was initiated to open the final two quarters with Hayden (4-4, 3-3) producing only 33 yards of offense for a total of 94 yards in the game. The visitors managed four first downs and a 2-for-8 performance on third-down conversions.
With the shutout, the Rams have won their past three games after a loss at 7A No. 1 Auburn by a combined 146-13. Ramsay topped Wenonah 41-6 and John Carroll 56-7 before Thursday’s win.
Star of the game: Washington. The sophomore quarterback has played at an elite level since taking over for an injured Kameron Kennan and improved his record to 3-0 with the Rams. He finished 6-of-8 passing for 129 yards and three touchdowns, adding 18 yards on three rushing attempts.
“It all goes back to practice. We treat it like a game. Being in practice and working hard and playing hard translates to the game,” he said.
Keenan entered the game on the final series, taking eight snaps, and finished 2-of-2 for 25 yards and a single rushing attempt for 4 yards.
“It’s still going to be a competition, depends on who’s playing well,” Jackson said. “Kam is our guy so it’s going to be a quarterback battle, but the good news is we have both of them. We can do multiple things with both of them.”
By the numbers: 7, the number of tackles for a loss by the Ramsay defense, compared to only one by Hayden. … 3, the number of consecutive games in which Ramsay exploded out of the gates to prompt a running clock in the second half. … 1, Hayden’s initial first down resulted in Ramsay’s James Jones returning a fumble 44 yards for a touchdown.
Stat sheet: Ramsay – Ashford led the rushing attack to 207 total yards on the ground, logging 121 yards and a score on 10 carries, and Dakoriae Foster had two rushing attempts for 53 yards. Stinson finished with two receptions for 32 yards and two touchdowns and Jalen Jones had three catches for 89 yards and a score. Hayden – Vines was 4-of-8 passing for 21 yards and recovered a fumble on Ramsay’s initial drive of the game. McAdams finished with 12 rushing attempts for 53 yards and Ashton Hicks had six carries for 20 yards.
Coachspeak: “I’m excited for my guys, (they’re) region champs. They deserve it because we put the work in. Now it’s time to get ready for Carver next week and then a bye before getting ready for playoffs.” – Ramsay’s Ronnie Jackson
They said it: “That’s my brother. If I start, I love him. If he starts, I love him. Our connection from me being a wide receiver and running back is better than any other connection on the team.” – Washington on Keenan
“We practice that every day so it’s routine. Coaches tell us to have a dog mentality all game. When you see ball, you get ball.” – James Jones on Ramsay’s two fumble returns
What’s next? The Rams travel to Carver-Birmingham for the season finale while Hayden hits the road to Fairfield.
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Jan. 6 Panel Subpoenas Trump Shows Startling New Video
Jan. 6 Panel Subpoenas Trump, Shows Startling New Video https://digitalalabamanews.com/jan-6-panel-subpoenas-trump-shows-startling-new-video/
By LISA MASCARO, FARNOUSH AMIRI, ERIC TUCKER
Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — The House Jan. 6 committee voted unanimously Thursday to subpoena former President Donald Trump, demanding his personal testimony as it unveiled startling new video and described his multi-part plan to overturn his 2020 election loss, which led to his supporters’ fierce assault on the U.S. Capitol.
With alarming messages from the U.S. Secret Service warning of violence and vivid new video of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other congressional leaders pleading for help, the panel showed the raw desperation at the Capitol. Using language frequently seen in criminal indictments, the panel said Trump had acted in a “premeditated” way ahead of Jan. 6, 2021, despite countless aides and officials telling him he had lost.
Trump is almost certain to fight the subpoena and decline to testify. On his social media outlet he blasted members for not asking him earlier — though he didn’t say he would have complied — and called the panel “a total BUST.”
“We must seek the testimony under oath of January 6’s central player,” said Republican Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming, the committee’s vice chair, ahead of the vote.
In the committee’s 10th public session, just weeks before the congressional midterm elections, the panel summed up Trump’s “staggering betrayal” of his oath of office, as Chairman Bennie Thompson put it, describing the then-president’s unprecedented attempt to stop Congress from certifying Democrat Joe Biden’s victory.
While the effort to subpoena Trump may languish, more a nod to history than an effective summons, the committee has made clear it is considering whether to send its findings in a criminal referral to the Justice Department.
In one of its most riveting exhibits, the panel showed previously unseen footage of congressional leaders phoning for help during the assault as Trump refused to call off the mob.
Pelosi can be seen on a call with the governor of neighboring Virginia, explaining as she shelters with Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer and others that the governor of Maryland has also been contacted. Later, the video shows Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell and other GOP leaders as the group asks the Defense Department for help.
“They’re breaking the law in many different ways,” Pelosi says at one point. “And quite frankly, much of it at the instigation of the president of the United States.”
The footage also portrays Vice President Mike Pence — not Trump — stepping in to help calm the violence, telling Pelosi and the others he has spoken with Capitol Police, as Congress plans to resume its session that night to certify Biden’s election.
The video was from Pelosi’s daughter, Alexandra, a documentary filmmaker.
In never-before-seen Secret Service messages, the panel produced evidence that extremist groups provided the muscle in the fight for Trump’s presidency, planning weeks before the attack to send a violent force to Washington.
The Secret Service warned in a Dec. 26, 2020, email of a tip that members of the right-wing Proud Boys planned to outnumber the police in a march in Washington on Jan. 6.
“It felt like the calm before the storm,” one Secret Service agent wrote in a group chat.
To describe the president’s mindset, the committee presented new and previously seen material, including interviews with Trump’s top aides and Cabinet officials — including Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Attorney General William Barr and Labor Secretary Eugene Scalia — in which some described the president acknowledging he had lost.
Ex-White House official Alyssa Farah Griffin said Trump once looked up at a television and said, “Can you believe I lost to this (expletive) guy?”
Cabinet members also said in interviews shown at the hearing that they believed that once legal avenues had been exhausted, that should have been the end of Trump’s efforts to remain in power.
“In my view, that was the end of the matter,” Barr said of the Dec. 14 vote of the Electoral College.
But rather than the end of Trump’s efforts, it was only the beginning — as the president summoned the crowd to Washington on Jan. 6.
The panel showed clips of Trump at his rally near the White House that day saying the opposite of what he had been told. He then tells supporters he will march with them to the Capitol. That never happened.
“There is no defense that Donald Trump was duped or irrational,” said Cheney. “No president can defy the rule of law and act this way in our constitutional republic, period.”
Thursday’s hearing opened at a mostly empty Capitol complex, with most lawmakers at home campaigning. Several people who were among the thousands around the Capitol on Jan. 6 are now running for congressional office, some with Trump’s backing. Police officers who fought the mob filled the hearing room’s front row.
The House panel said the insurrection at the Capitol was not an isolated incident but a warning of the fragility of the nation’s democracy in the post-Trump era.
“None of this is normal,” Cheney said.
Along with interviews, the committee is drawing on the trove of 1.5 million pages of documents it received from the Secret Service, including an email from Dec. 11, 2020, the day the Supreme Court rejected one of the main lawsuits Trump’s team had brought against the election results.
“Just fyi. POTUS is pissed,” the Secret Service message said.
White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson, a top aide to then-chief of staff Mark Meadows, recalled Trump being “fired up” about the court’s ruling.
Trump told Meadows “something to the effect of: ‘I don’t want people to know we lost, Mark. This is embarrassing. Figure it out,’” Hutchinson told the panel in a recorded interview.
Thursday’s session served as a closing argument for the panel’s two Republican lawmakers, Cheney of Wyoming and Adam Kinzinger of Illinois, who have essentially been shunned by Trump and their party and will not be returning in the new Congress. Cheney lost her primary election, and Kinzinger decided not to run.
The committee, having conducted more than 1,000 interviews and obtained countless documents, has produced a sweeping probe of Trump’s activities from his defeat in the November election to the Capitol attack.
Under committee rules, the Jan. 6 panel is to produce a report of its findings, likely in December. The committee will dissolve 30 days after publication of that report, and with the new Congress in January.
At least five people died in the Jan. 6 attack and its aftermath, including a Trump supporter shot and killed by Capitol Police.
More than 850 people have been charged by the Justice Department, some receiving lengthy prison sentences for their roles. Several leaders and associates of the extremist Oath Keepers and Proud Boys have been charged with sedition.
Trump faces various state and federal investigations over his actions in the election and its aftermath.
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Associated Press writers Mary Clare Jalonick, Jill Colvin, Kevin Freking and Michael Balsamo contributed to this report.
More on Donald Trump-related investigations: https://apnews.com/hub/donald-trump
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
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The Nation In Brief: Pfizer: New Booster Is More Effective
The Nation In Brief: Pfizer: New Booster Is More Effective https://digitalalabamanews.com/the-nation-in-brief-pfizer-new-booster-is-more-effective/
FILE – This image provided by the Philadelphia Police Department shows Antonio LaMotta. LaMotta and Joshua Macias, two supporters of former President Donald Trump arrested after driving a Hummer with guns and ammunition to a Philadelphia site where votes were being counted in November 2020, were convicted of weapons charges Wednesday, Oct. 12, 2022, but acquitted of election interference. (Philadelphia Police Department via AP, File)
Pfizer: New booster is more effective
Pfizer and its German vaccine partner said their booster tailored to the latest omicron variants raised more antibodies against the dominant strains of covid-19 compared with the original shot.
Blood from 80 volunteers collected seven days after the booster shot showed an increase in neutralizing antibodies against the BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants in a study, Pfizer and BioNTech said Thursday.
The vaccines were authorized without data showing their performance in humans. Pfizer and BioNTech plan to release additional data in coming weeks measuring immune responses one month following administration of the new bivalent booster. They have not shared data on the shot’s efficacy, which would offer a better measure of protection against widely circulating variants.
“While we expect more mature immune-response data from the clinical trial of our omicron BA.4/BA.5-adapted bivalent vaccine in the coming weeks, we are pleased to see encouraging responses just one week after vaccination in younger and older adults,” Pfizer Chief Executive Albert Bourla said.
“These early data suggest that our bivalent vaccine is anticipated to provide better protection against currently circulating variants than the original vaccine, and potentially help to curb future surges in cases this winter,” Bourla said.
The U.S. fall booster campaign has thus far faltered. Only 11.5 million Americans have been administered a newly modified vaccine, a fraction compared with previous booster campaigns.
On Wednesday, U.S. regulators expanded access to the new bivalent booster shots to include children 5 and older.
Covid health crisis forecast into ’23
WASHINGTON — The Biden administration said Thursday that the covid-19 public health emergency will continue through Jan. 11 as officials brace for a spike in cases this winter.
The decision comes as the pandemic has faded from the forefront of many people’s minds, with daily deaths and infections dropping.
The public health emergency, first declared in January 2020 and renewed every 90 days since, has dramatically changed how health services are delivered.
The declaration enabled the emergency authorization of covid vaccines, testing and treatments for free. It expanded Medicaid coverage to millions of people, many of whom who will risk losing that coverage once the emergency ends. It temporarily opened up telehealth access for Medicare recipients, enabling doctors to collect the same rates for those visits and encouraging health networks to adopt telehealth technology.
Since the beginning of this year, Republicans have pressed the administration to end the emergency. President Joe Biden, meanwhile, has urged Congress to provide billions more in aid to pay for vaccines and testing. The government ceased sending free covid-19 tests in the mail last month, saying it had run out of money.
Florida expands voting access after Ian
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Thursday issued an executive order expanding voting access for the midterm elections in three counties where Hurricane Ian destroyed polling places and displaced thousands of people.
The move, which followed requests from Lee, Charlotte and Sarasota counties as well as voting rights groups, comes as Florida undertakes recovery from the Category 4 hurricane that hit Sept. 28 and leveled parts of the state.
The order extends the number of early voting days in the three counties and authorizes election supervisors to designate additional early voting locations, steps that allow voters to cast ballots at any polling place in their registered county from Oct. 24 through Election Day. Election supervisors can also relocate or consolidate polling places if necessary.
It also waives training requirements for poll workers and suspends a signature requirement for voters requesting to have a mail ballot sent to an address different from the one election officials have on file.
Gun-toters acquitted of vote meddling
PHILADELPHIA — Two supporters of former President Donald Trump arrested after driving a Hummer with guns and ammunition to a Philadelphia site where votes were being counted in November 2020 were convicted of weapons charges but acquitted of election interference.
Prosecutors argued that Vets for Trump co-founder Joshua Macias and co-defendant Antonio LaMotta, both of Virginia, planned a mass shooting as the outcome of the election remained uncertain.
However, Common Pleas Court Judge Lucretia Clemons rejected that theory Wednesday, finding the men guilty only of bringing weapons to the city without a permit on Nov. 5, 2020.
LaMotta is separately charged with federal misdemeanor offenses stemming from his alleged illegal entry of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
Both men remain free on bail pending sentencing in December, when they face a possible sentence of probation to 18 months in jail, defense lawyer William Brennan said.
FILE – This image provided by the Philadelphia Police Department shows Joshua Macias. Macias and Antonio LaMotta, two supporters of former President Donald Trump arrested after driving a Hummer with guns and ammunition to a Philadelphia site where votes were being counted in November 2020, were convicted of weapons charges Wednesday, Oct. 12, 2022, but acquitted of election interference. (Philadelphia Police Department via AP, File)
Print Headline: Pfizer: New booster is more effective Covid health crisis forecast into ’23 Florida expands voting access after Ian Gun-toting Trump supporters acquitted Gun-toters acquitted of vote meddling
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AP News Summary At 4:42 A.m. EDT https://digitalalabamanews.com/ap-news-summary-at-442-a-m-edt/
Jan. 6 panel subpoenas Trump, shows startling new video
WASHINGTON (AP) — The House Jan. 6 committee has subpoenaed Donald Trump for his testimony about the 2021 Capitol attack. The panel voted unanimously Thursday to compel the former president to appear. Republican Rep. Liz Cheney, the panel’s vice-chair, says, “We must seek the testimony under oath of January 6th’s central player … the man who set this all in motion.” Earlier in Thursday’s hearing, the last before next month’s congressional elections, the panel presented vivid new video of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other congressional leaders pleading for help. And it outlined Trump’s multi-part plan to overturn his 2020 election loss.
Russia to evacuate Kherson residents as Ukraine advances
KYIV, UKRAINE (AP) — In a sign that continuing and sustained Ukrainian military gains along the southern front are worrying the Kremlin, Russia is promising free accommodation to residents of the partially occupied Kherson region who want to evacuate to Russia. Russian Deputy Prime Minister Marat Khusnullin made the announcement shortly after the Russia-backed leader of Kherson, one of four Ukrainian regions illegally annexed by Moscow last month, asked the Kremlin to organize evacuation from four cities in the region. Early Friday, Russia continued its targeted attacks on critical infrastructure across Ukraine. Multiple Russian missile strikes shook the Zaphorizhzhia region capital overnight as the city continued to be a focal point while Ukraine pushed its counteroffensive on the southern front.
Police: 5 killed, including officer, in N. Carolina shooting
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Police in North Carolina say that the suspect who killed five people in a shooting was a juvenile male. Raleigh Police Lt. Jason Borneo said that the suspect was taken into custody around 9:37 p.m. Thursday, hours after the shooting. His identity and age weren’t released. Authorities have said that he opened fire along a walking trail in a residential area northeast of downtown. Authorities say an off-duty police officer was among those slain. Two other people, including another police officer, were taken to hospitals. The officer was later released, but the other survivor remained in critical condition.
Xi’s power in China grows after unforeseen rise to dominance
BEIJING (AP) — When Xi Jinping came to power in 2012, it wasn’t clear what kind of leader he would be. His low-key persona during a steady rise through the ranks of the Communist Party gave no hint that he would evolve into one of modern China’s most dominant leaders, or that he would put the economically and militarily ascendant country on a collision course with the U.S.-led international order. Xi is all but certain to be given a third five-year term as party leader at the end of a major party congress that opens Sunday. What’s not clear is how long he will remain in power, and what that means for China and the world.
US migrant policy ‘bucket of cold water’ to some Venezuelans
NECOCLI, Colombia (AP) — Venezuelan Gilbert Fernández still plans to cross the dangerous Darién jungle into Panama headed over land toward the U.S. despite Washington’s announcement that it will grant conditional humanitarian permits only to 24,000 Venezuelan migrants arriving by air. Fernández says that “the news hit us like a bucket of cold water.” The announcement also said that Venezuelans arriving by land at the Mexico-U.S. border would be returned to Mexico. Fernández spoke on a beach in Necoclí, a coastal town in Colombia where some 9,000 people, mostly Venezuelans, wait to board a boat to take them to the entrance of the Darién Gap.
Ohio Dems press party to invest in high stakes Senate seat
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Democrats across Ohio are pleading for help in the state’s high-stakes Senate contest. They’re afraid they may lose a winnable election if national party leaders don’t make major investments in the coming days. So far, the most powerful groups in Democratic politics have prioritized Senate pickup opportunities in North Carolina, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania over Ohio. Democratic Senate contender Tim Ryan, a longtime congressman, says party leaders who don’t believe he can win “have no idea what’s going on out here.” Republican JD Vance has benefited from more than $30 million from outside Republican groups. By contrast, Ryan has benefited from roughly $2.5 million in outside spending.
Orphan watched dad die, now awaits future in Ukraine shelter
IZIUM, Ukraine (AP) — A young Ukrainian boy with disabilities is now an orphan after his father was taken by cancer in the devastated eastern city of Izium. Spending their last days together in a care facility for the elderly and injured, Mykola Svyryd and his 13-year-old son Bohdan often spent tender moments as the bedridden father withered. Now, with no other family alive, Bohdan, like so many other Ukrainian children, has become an orphan. Ultimately he will go up for adoption. In the meantime, he spends his days among the elderly and infirm in the cold hallways of the shelter, which reeks of unwashed sheets and unbathed skin. Sometimes, he still asks where his father is.
NKorea fires missile and shells, further inflaming tensions
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea says North Korea has launched a ballistic missile toward its eastern waters. South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff says the launch happened early Friday but gave no further details. It’s the latest in a spate of missile launches by North Korea in recent days. South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff says North Korea also flew warplanes near the rivals’ border late Thursday and early Friday, prompting South Korea to scramble fighter jets. There have been no reports of clashes between the two Koreas. North Korea’s military also issued a statement accusing South Korea of carrying out artillery fire for about 10 hours near the border Thursday.
Parkland school shooter spared from execution for killing 17
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — Florida school shooter Nikolas Cruz will be sentenced to life without parole for the 2018 massacre of 17 people at Parkland’s Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. That sentence comes after the jury announced Thursday that it could not unanimously agree that Cruz should be executed. The decision ends a three-month trial that included graphic videos and photos, and heart-wrenching testimony from victims’ family members. Many family members shook their heads, looked angry or covered their eyes as the jury’s decision was read. Some parents sobbed as they left court. A judge will formally sentence Cruz on Nov. 1.
Black leaders rebuke Tuberville stance on reparations, crime
As far as Jeremy Ellis is concerned, Republican Tommy Tuberville should know or learn more about the long history and struggles of the Black Alabama residents he represents in the U.S. Senate. Tuberville told people Saturday at an election rally in Nevada that Democrats support reparations for the descendants of enslaved people because “they think the people that do the crime are owed that.” His remarks — seen by many as racist and stereotyping Black Americans as people committing crimes — cut deeply for some, especially in and around Africatown, a community in Mobile, Alabama, that was founded by descendants of Africans smuggled in 1860 to the United States aboard a schooner called the Clotilda.
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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Top 10 Best Tall Anime Characters, Ranked https://digitalalabamanews.com/top-10-best-tall-anime-characters-ranked/
Tall anime characters generally aren’t overly popular when it comes to most series, but there are a few instances where taller characters have made a significant impact and played an important role as a main or supporting character.
This is more commonly seen in popular sports anime shows, such as Haikyuu!! or Kuroko No Basket. In these anime, taller characters are much more likely to be seen throughout the story and use their advantage of height alongside their sports skills.
However, a few key tall characters are memorable and well-received by fans in a number of anime titles across different genres. These characters may use their height to enhance the special powers, skills or abilities they hold, or sometimes height can simply be a matter of character design. Either way, these characters have made a strong impact in their roles, which has led them to stand out from the others as the 10 best tall characters in anime.
10. Rem (Death Note)
Image Source: Madhouse
Rem is a Shinigami who accompanies Misa Amane throughout the storyline of Death Note. Rem is exceptionally tall, as Ryuk is considered tall for a Shinigami, at 7’5″ – and she stands even taller again, at 8’0″. Just as Ryuk is tied to Light through his Death Note, Rem is tied to Misa through the Death Note that she gifts her.
Unlike Ryuk, who is fascinated with humans, but holds real concern for Light beyond his fascination with the experiment, Rem appears to despise humans, but to have developed genuine concern for Misa. Rem actively works alongside Misa in Light’s grand scheme, despite her dislike of the latter – and was willing to die to ensure Misa’s safety, as seen in her vow to break Shinigami rules and kill Light if he harmed Misa. Many fans have a strong attachment to Rem, as despite her role as Shinigami, she still seemed to be a good person at heart.
9. Mt. Lady (My Hero Academia)
Image Source: Studio Bones
Yu Takeyama, also known as Mt. Lady, is a much-loved character in My Hero Academia. She is well-known for her role as the pro hero ranked at number 23, and the use of her quirk, Gigantification. As the name of her quirk suggests, Mt. Lady’s quirk enables her to ‘gigantify’ herself and grow up to the incredible height of 67’7″!
Mt. Lady makes the most of this height, and it is key to her role as a pro hero, allowing her to use her size to gain the upper hand over her opponents. She is also extremely cautious of the city she protects, and takes care not to cause damage and destruction with her size. Mt. Lady also has a confident and somewhat vain personality, which makes her stand out from other characters in the Pro Hero role. Despite this, she is a brave and loyal individual who dedicates herself to protecting society, earning herself admiration from many My Hero Academia fans.
8. Alphonse Elric (Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood)
Image Source: Studio Bones
Alphonse Elric is one of the main characters in Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, known as the younger brother to main protagonist, Edward Elric. During an attempted resurrection of Alphonse and Edward’s dead mother using alchemy, Alphonse suffered the unfortunate fate of losing his physical body. Fortunately, Edward was able to sacrifice one of his arms to bind Alphonse’s soul to a suit of armor. This created Alphonse’s metal form, standing at an impressive 7’3″.
Though Alphonse’s metal form gives him a hulking and somewhat intimidating appearance, his personality remains kind and compassionate towards others. Alphonse is often the one pulling Edward back into line and talking sense into him before he makes any irrational actions or decisions. He sometimes uses his physical size to intervene in difficult situations without inflicting further harm to the parties involved. This made Al known as a gentle giant throughout the story, and fans couldn’t help but adore him for that reason.
7. All Might (My Hero Academia)
Image Source: Studio Bones
Toshinori Yagi, better known as All Might, is one of the main characters and focuses of the show My Hero Academia. Standing at 7’3″, All Might plays the important role of number one Pro Hero, and idol of series protagonist Izuku Midoriya “Deku”. It’s easy to understand why he makes such an influence in society of the MHA world, with his brave and courageous hero persona, wearing a bright smile in even the toughest of situations.
All Might’s height and physical appearance play an important factor in keeping up with his role as the ‘Symbol of Peace’, with everyone looking up to the number one hero as the always smiling, tall and muscular man who will protect them from danger with ease. Though All Might struggles with an injury and decline of his quirk, One For All, he never gives up on Midoriya or the students of U.A High. All Might takes the time to truly get to know each student he works with, enabling them to be the best possible future generation of Pro Heroes, and continue his legacy. Even if his loud and overly-cheery nature isn’t to your liking, it’s almost impossible to deny he’s a great character that brings a lot of positive impact to Deku and his friends, and acts like a true hero at all times, no matter the cost.
6. Atsushi Murasakibara (Kuroko No Basket)
Image Source: Production I.G
Atsushi Murasakibara is one of the main characters and rivals in the basketball anime, Kuroko No Basket. Murasakibara is an established ex-member of the famous Teiko Junior High basketball team’s ‘Generation of Miracles’. At an impressive height of 6’10”, Murasakibara is now the star player of Yosen High, and is known for his powerful moves under the basket, such as his effortless blocks and explosive dunks.
Murasakibara has an interesting character arc in which his height plays a vital role. Beginning as an arrogant rival of Kuroko’s, Murasakibara has lost his offensive power and enjoyment for the game. This is due to boredom from holding himself back and not wanting to bother going all-out, for concerns of injuring anyone with his size. With a spark lit by his match against Kuroko and Seirin High, Murasakibara learns to find his love for the game again. From this moment onward, he is a much more passionate teammate, bringing back a competitive intensity in his games and appealing to viewers as a much more likable character.
5. Lev Haiba (Haikyuu!!)
Image Source: Production IG
Lev Haiba is a recurring side character of the immensely popular volleyball anime, Haikyuu!! Standing at 6’5″, Lev is both the tallest player and self-proclaimed ace of Nekoma High, who uses his height in his position as a middle blocker. Nekoma is the rival team to the main high school and focus of the series, Karasuno High. This means Lev is frequently seen throughout the anime and given time to progress both his skills on-court and his characteristics and traits.
Lev is tall and confident, but his large frame and focused gaze often leaves others thinking he’s much more intimidating than he actually is. While there may be times when Lev acts out or is inconsiderate about the heights of shorter players, Lev is playful and cheerful, as well as enthusiastic and competitive playing volleyball. Fans can’t help but want to see Lev achieve his goals – and there is something about him that keeps you cheering for him, no matter what.
4. Korosensei (Assassination Classroom)
Image Source: Lerche
Korosensei is the iconic main antagonist of Assassination Classroom, appearing as a supernatural, yellow Octopus-like creature, and standing at approximately 9’8″. Korosensei is a fascinating character, and while he is ultimately an antagonist, there are many moments throughout the anime that viewers find easy to forget, as Kurosensei’s caring and considerate side is often showcased.
Korosensei is set to destroy the world if nobody succeeds in assassinating him by his desired set date. Set to fulfill a promise he once made before he destroys Earth, he offers a school principal the bizarre deal of being assigned to their Class E, a secluded off-campus classroom filled with the ‘worst’ students in school, to teach them in the art of assassination. While educating the students on how to best assassinate him, Korosensei also teaches regular subjects, and gives many important life lessons – as well as hilarious impressions of pop culture. He shows genuine care for his students, and makes a significant impact on their lives, changing them for the better. There’s absolutely no denying Korosensei is incredibly important and well-loved by all, as seen by both characters in the show, and fans of Assassination Classroom!
3. Ryuk (Death Note)
Image Source: Madhouse
Ryuk is a main character in the iconic Death Note anime, known for his role as the Shinigami tied to Light Yagami, aka Kira. Bored with his role of Shinigami, Ryuk lets his Death Note fall into the human world, and it ends up in the hands of Light. From here, Ryuk decides to participate in an experiment to see how much Light could accomplish with ownership of the Death Note. Ryuk’s height often causes him to slouch around Light, as even for a Shinigami, he is considered tall at 7’5″.
Though Ryuk is the one responsible for initiating Light’s ideals and persona of Kira, he simply observes Light as he finds him fascinating – it is Light’s own actions that make him such an antagonist, not Ryuk. Watching Ryuk take a back seat and pass his time in the human world by obsessing over apples is entertaining to watch, and his apathy and curiosity for humans makes fans that much fonder of him.
2. Ban (The Seven Deadly Sins)
Image Source: Studio Bones
Ban is a main character in The Seven Deadly Sins, known for his title as the Fox Sin of Greed. Standing at 6’8″, Ban is selfish, and for obvious reasons, a greedy person. However, it is this ounce of mischievous and rebellious bad boy energy that instantly made fans fa...
