The Impact Of A Trump Visit On Michigan Politics 9 & 10 News
The Impact Of A Trump Visit On Michigan Politics – 9 & 10 News https://digitalalabamanews.com/the-impact-of-a-trump-visit-on-michigan-politics-9-10-news/
Former President Donald Trump was in Michigan this weekend rallying for the Republican ticket. Will his influence be enough to get the GOP some big wins?
Trump had already endorsed the top of the ticket, Tudor Dixon for governor, Matt DePerno for attorney general and Kristina Karamo for secretary of state, but polling shows not all his supporters are following him to line up behind Dixon.
A rally and in-person show of support may help.
The clock is ticking. There’s less than 40 days to go until Election Day and absentee ballots have already been sent out. Trump visited Michigan this weekend in full support of the Republican ticket. It remains to be seen if his supporters also support that ticket
Thousands of supporters made their way to Warren Saturday to see the former president. He was there to give a boost to candidates, specifically Dixon, who’s trailing Governor Gretchen Whitmer in all polls.
“She’s part of a crew across the country that’s struggling despite the fact that they have the Trump endorsement,” said John Sellek, founder of Harbor Strategic, “So what they’ve decided to do is make sure they take advantage of every single bit of it that they can and see if that’s enough to pull some voters across.”
Trump’s supporters are mainly grassroots Republicans, patriots they call themselves, and many don’t align with Dixon’s more establishment backing. It showed in some messaging.
“I want you to give an applause for Donald Trump,” said DePerno at the rally, “Who helped overturn Roe v Wade.”
“They’re cozying up to President Trump,” said Sellek, “He gave the endorsement. They want to show that they are loyal and continue to have his support no matter they win or lose.”
Abortion being an issue Republicans seem to be losing, some still tout strong opposition while Dixon tries to soften her stance.
“It’s on the ballot, it shouldn’t be an issue for the gubernatorial race,” Dixon said at the rally.
Most of Trump’s speech was about his work and teasing towards another run in 2024 and the possible impact that decision would have this November.
“We might just have to do it again,” said Trump, “I think you’re going to be really happy.”
“I think most of the GOPers were hoping he would delay that issue, until after Election Day,” said Sellek, “Him entering the race officially, would certainly put him right at the top of the feeding frenzy.”
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Frontline Workers To Begin Receiving Hundreds In https://digitalalabamanews.com/frontline-workers-to-begin-receiving-hundreds-in/
7m ago
Reps from both sides of aisle speak out on payments
The Senate DFL faction released a statement on the impending “hero pay” set to be distributed to Minnesotans soon, saying they were “long overdue and will help more than 1 million Minnesotans whose sacrifices were crucial to getting Minnesota through more than two years of the deadly COVID-19 pandemic.”
“This is a good day for all Minnesotans who understand that we owe our state’s frontline workers our thanks for all they did during the darkest days of the pandemic. They had to go to work without the option of staying home, and they got Minnesotans through a very tough time. Without their sacrifices, the health and economic crisis caused by the pandemic would have been much worse. These bonus checks -while not as large as we would have supported – recognize those sacrifices and will help many of them in a significant way. While we’ve taken this step to help our frontline workers, DFLers also know that our work to help Minnesota working families will never be done, and we will continue that important work into the future.”
Meanwhile, Senate Majority Leader Jeremy Miller, a Republican, issued the following statement:
“I applaud our frontline workers who took great risks during the pandemic. They deserve our appreciation and respect for everything they have done and continue to do to keep us safe. While 1 million Minnesotans are getting a small thank you for their work during the pandemic right now, Senate Republicans will continue to fight for permanent tax cuts so every working Minnesotan will see a ‘bonus payment’ in every paycheck – week after week, month after month, year after year.”
And both Democratic Gov. Tim Walz and his Republican challenger in this year’s elections, Dr. Scott Jensen, issued their own statements.
“I’m grateful for the work Minnesotans did to help people across our state stay healthy and safe through the COVID-19 pandemic,” Walz said. “Frontline workers are an important part of the fabric of our state and helped us continue functioning during the pandemic. Now, I’m proud to say these workers will receive $487.45 in recognition from the State of Minnesota.”
“For those Minnesotans disappointed in either being one of the 200,000 who were denied, or those whose checks are now smaller than expected, remember that if Walz’s waste, fraud, and abuse were rooted out, you could possibly have an extra $1,000 in your bank account to fight crushing inflation at the grocery store or gas pump,” Jensen said. “When I’m elected in November, we will aggressively tackle government incompetence and put in place safeguards that aim to eliminate fraud and waste within our state government.”
10:02 AM
How frontline workers will get their “hero pay”
If you were approved to receive “hero pay,” your $487.45 will come in one of two ways.
If you chose to receive it via direct deposit, you should see those funds deposited within seven to 10 business days, Gov. Tim Walz’s office said.
Those who chose to receive a debit card will receive it in the mail in three to four weeks.
Walz’s office said the state will begin sending payments on Wednesday.
WCCO Staff
The WCCO Staff is a group of experienced journalists who bring you the content on WCCO.com.
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A Trump Lawyer Refused Trumps Request To Say All Documents Returned
A Trump Lawyer Refused Trump’s Request To Say All Documents Returned https://digitalalabamanews.com/a-trump-lawyer-refused-trumps-request-to-say-all-documents-returned/
Former president Donald Trump asked one of his lawyers to tell the National Archives and Records Administration in early 2022 that Trump had returned all materials requested by the agency, but the lawyer declined because he was not sure the statement was true, according to people familiar with the matter.
As it turned out, thousands more government documents — including some highly classified secrets — remained at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence and private club. The later discovery of those documents, through a May grand jury subpoena and the Aug. 8 FBI search of the Florida property, are at the heart of a criminal investigation into the potential mishandling of classified material and the possible hiding, tampering or destruction of government records.
Alex Cannon, an attorney for Trump, had facilitated the January transfer of 15 boxes of presidential records from Mar-a-Lago to the National Archives, after archives officials agitated for more than a year to get “all original presidential records” back, as they are required by law to do. Following months of stonewalling by Trump’s representatives, archives officials threatened to get the Justice Department or Congress involved.
Trump himself eventually packed the boxes that were returned in January, people familiar with the matter said. The former president seemed determined in February to declare that “everything” sought by the archives had been handed over, said the people, who like others interviewed for this article spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal conversations.
Around the same time The Washington Post reported that the archives had retrieved documents from Mar-a-Lago, the people said, Trump asked his team to release a statement he had dictated. The statement said Trump had returned “everything” the archives had requested. Trump also asked Cannon to send a similar message to archives officials, the people said. In addition, the former president told his aides that the documents in the boxes were “newspaper clippings” and not relevant to the archives, two of these people said, and complained that the agency charged with tracking government records was being so persnickety about securing the materials from his Florida club.
But Cannon, a former Trump Organization lawyer who worked for the campaign and for Trump after the presidency, told Trump he could not tell the archives all the requested material had been returned. He told others he was not sure if other documents were still at the club and would be uncomfortable making such a claim, the people familiar with the matter said. Other Trump advisers also encouraged Cannon not to make such a definitive statement, people familiar with the matter said.
The lengthy Feb. 7 statement was dictated by Trump but never released over concerns by some of his team that it was not accurate, people familiar with the matter said. A different statement issued three days later said Trump had given boxes of materials to the archives in a “friendly” manner. It did not say that all of the materials were handed over.
“The papers were given easily and without conflict and on a very friendly basis, which is different from the accounts being drawn up by the Fake News Media,” he said in the Feb. 10 statement, which came on the same day The Washington Post reported that classified material was found in the 15 boxes.
A Trump spokesman did not respond to specific questions for this article, instead issuing a statement that said the Justice Department “has no greater ally than the Bezos-subsidized Washington Post, which seems to only serve as the partisan microphone of leakers and liars buried deep within the bowels of America’s government. President Trump remains committed to defending the Constitution and the Office of the Presidency, ensuring the integrity of America for generations to come.” (Amazon founder Jeff Bezos owns The Washington Post.)
Cannon did not respond to a detailed email seeking comment about his interactions with Trump and the archives.
The question of whether Trump — or anyone else — knew that there was additional government material at Mar-a-Lago after the return of the 15 boxes has become a central issue in the Justice Department investigation.
Attempts to get Trump’s representatives to falsely state he had no presidential records in his possession could serve as evidence that he was intentionally and knowingly withholding documents. And if Trump continued to pressure aides to make false statements even after learning the Justice Department was involved in retrieving the documents, authorities could see those efforts as an attempt to obstruct their investigation.
Even as Trump was seeking to convey that he had complied fully with the archives’s request, Cannon appears to have been communicating a different message to officials at the agency.
On Feb. 8, according to people familiar with the matter, archives lawyer Gary Stern told colleagues at the agency that he had spoken with Cannon and that Cannon said he did not know if there were more relevant documents in Trump’s possession. Stern had been asking the Trump team to attest that all relevant documents had been returned, and privately feared they had not, these people said.
Months earlier, in late 2021, when the archives was seeking the return of certain missing presidential documents, Cannon had told Stern there could be more documents in Trump’s possession than what he was transmitting to the agency, but that he did not know one way or the other. Cannon also told Stern in conversations that he was not sure where all the documents were located, or what the documents were, according to people familiar with the conversations.
According to an account given to Stern’s colleagues, Stern also asked Trump lawyer Pat Philbin whether there were more documents, the people said. Philbin declined through a spokesman to comment for this article.
Cannon’s refusal to declare everything had been returned soured his relationship with Trump, people familiar with the matter said. Cannon, who had worked for the Trump Organization since 2015, was soon cut out of the documents-related discussions, some of the people familiar with the matter said, as Trump relied on more pugilistic advisers.
A separate issue of concern to Cannon and others was whether any of the material in the returned boxes might be classified, people familiar with the matter said. Cannon did not have a security clearance and had not reviewed the boxes himself, one of the people said. He had told other aides not to review the boxes either, saying that doing so could get them in trouble, these people said.
A total of 184 classified documents were found in the returned boxes, officials have said.
Trump’s team later returned 38 additional classified documents to the Justice Department in June in response to the May 11 grand jury subpoena, which sought any documents still at Mar-a-Lago that bore classified markings.
In August, believing there was still more classified material at Mar-a-Lago, the Federal Bureau of Investigation obtained a warrant to search the property and confiscated more than 27 additional boxes of material. Agents retrieved 11 sets of classified material in their search — totaling about 100 documents. Some of them contained closely held secrets of the U.S. government, people familiar with the matter have said, including information about a foreign nation’s nuclear capabilities.
In responding to the May subpoena, other aides to Trump agreed to assert all documents being sought had been returned. Evan Corcoran, who replaced Cannon, told the Justice Department he was handing over all the relevant materials, people familiar with the matter have said. Christina Bobb, another Trump lawyer, signed a document saying she had been advised that Trump’s team had given over all relevant documents after a diligent search.
The National Archives preserves all presidential records under the Presidential Records Act, “which states that any records created or received by the President as part of his constitutional, statutory, or ceremonial duties are the property of the United States government and will be managed by NARA at the end of the administration.”
Rosalind S. Helderman and Carol D. Leonnig contributed to this report.
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Stock Futures Rise Slightly Following Relief Rally To Begin October
Stock Futures Rise Slightly Following Relief Rally To Begin October https://digitalalabamanews.com/stock-futures-rise-slightly-following-relief-rally-to-begin-october/
Stock futures went up slightly following a broad rally on the first trading day of October – a sharp turn from September, which brought the worst month since March 2020 for the the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500.
Futures tied to the S&P 500 increased 0.12%. Nasdaq 100 futures were up 0.21%. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average were up 23 points, or 0.08%.
Monday brought a respite from slides seen throughout September and the prior quarter. The Dow jumped nearly 2.7%, or about 765 points, to close at 29,490.89. This was its best day since June 24. The S&P 500 advanced about 2.6% to 3,678.43 in its best day since July 27. The Nasdaq Composite increased roughly 2.3% to end at 10,815.43.
Meanwhile, the yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury note fell to about 3.65%, down from more than 4% at one point last week.
“There was a relief rally,” said Jon Maier, chief investment officer at Global X ETFs. But he also warned against calling on a trend based on one day of trading. “I don’t think one day of relief changes the story.”
Maier said the rally likely came from optimism in the U.S. over the state of foreign markets, as the dollar continued to surge. But within the U.S., he said broader market trends will likely be tied to future decisions from the Federal Reserve as it aims to continue lowering inflation.
Investors will watch for new data Tuesday from the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey administered by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Watch fourth quarter earnings guidance more than third quarter actual numbers, S&P Global says
Fourth quarter earnings forecasts companies give when reporting third quarter results will be far more important to the market’s future direction than the actual third quarter numbers themselves, S&P Global believes.
“October brings earnings, with Q3 estimates already declining 7%, and the whisper numbers a bit more than that,” Howard Silverblatt, senior index analyst wrote over the weekend. “The larger concern (than the actual numbers for Q3, when consumers were still spending) is the guidance for Q4, as consumers have pulled back, inflation continues and the Fed’s `adjustments’ will have a more substantial impact.”
Third quarter earnings for the S&P 500 are projected by analysts to grow 6.1% compared with the same quarter a year ago, and almost 18% over the second quarter of 2022, S&P Global said.
Next year’s estimates call for a 14.3% earnings growth over 2022, and a corresponding forward P/E ratio of 15.0.
Silverblatt also looked at typical performance for the S&P 500 in the month of October. “Historically, the index posts gains 57.4% of the time, with an average gain of 4.18% for the up months, a 4.67% average decrease for the down months and an overall average decrease of 0.46%,” he wrote.
— Scott Schnipper
Stocks moving after hours: Rivian, Dynatrace and more
Some stocks were moving after hours on news, including:
Rivian — The electric vehicle maker went up 2.7% after announcing after the bell that production met expectations in its quarter ending Sept. 30.
Dynatrace — The software intelligence company increased 4.6% after being upgraded to a buy from JPMorgan. The stock rose 3% during regular trading.
See the full list here.
— Alex Harring
Futures open up slightly
The three major indexes for after-hour trading opened up slightly Monday.
Nasdaq 100 futures saw the biggest gain at open, up 0.26%.
Futures tied to the S&P 500 increased 0.17%. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average were up 31 points, or 0.10%.
— Alex Harring
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It Was An Accident. That Poor Babys Family Man On Trial In Kamille Cupcake McKinneys Kidnapping Texted
‘It Was An Accident. That Poor Baby’s Family,’ Man On Trial In Kamille ‘Cupcake’ McKinney’s Kidnapping Texted https://digitalalabamanews.com/it-was-an-accident-that-poor-babys-family-man-on-trial-in-kamille-cupcake-mckinneys-kidnapping-texted/
A text message sent by Patrick Stallworth just 10 days after the body of 3-year-old Kamille “Cupcake” McKinney’s body was found in a Jefferson County landfill read, “I’m sorry I did this. It was an accident. That poor baby’s family.’’
Prosecutors in the federal kidnapping case against Stallworth on Monday said that text message, sent by Stallworth to one of his family member’s while he was locked up in the Jefferson County Jail, is just one piece of evidence they will use to prove that the suspect and girlfriend, Derick Irisha Brown, carried out the 2019 abduction that left Kamille dead.
Another piece of evidence, said First Assistant U.S. Attorney Lloyd Peeples, will be a statement Stallworth made to a nurse.
There will be data from Google and T-Mobile, as well as evidence taken from surveillance cameras, license plate readers and multiple witnesses, Peeples said.
“What’s this case about? Unfortunately, this case is not about 3-year-old Cupcake McKinney’s short but sweet life,’’ Peeples said in opening statements in the trial against Stallworth.
“This case is about finding justice for Kamille McKinney.”
Stallworth’s attorney, Derrick Collins, said his client is innocent and blamed the entire ordeal on Brown.
“She’s the author behind all of this,’’ Collins said in his opening remarks. “He’s professed to the world his innocence.”
Stallworth, 42, and Brown are both charged federally with kidnapping and conspiracy to kidnap a minor.
Brown’s trial is set for Nov. 14 in federal court in Tuscaloosa. The U.S. Department of Justice previously ruled it will not seek the death penalty in the federal charges.
Both still are charged with capital murder in state court. No state trial dates have yet been set.
Patrick Stallworth, left, and Derick Irisha Brown, right, have been arrested in connection with the disappearance and subsequent death of Kamille “Cupcake” McKinney.
The trial began Monday with jury selection.
A panel of 13 women and three men were seated to hear the case against Stallworth. Of those 16 jurors, four will serve as alternates.
Peeples delivered the opening statements on behalf of the six federal prosecutors on the case. Chief U.S. District Judge L. Scott Coogler is presiding over the trial.
Peeples started by telling the jury about Kamille, who he described as a loving little girl who enjoyed playing with her brother and cousin, watching Peppa Pig and playing with bubbles.
“All the things that you would expect from an innocent and sweet 3-year-old girl,’’ Peeples said.
“Unfortunately, we will not spend much time in this trial talking about Cupcake and the happy moments she shared with her family and friends,’’ the prosecutor said.
“We won’t do that because the United States has the burden of telling you the story about Cupcake’s worst day, her last day. We will have to tell you about the final hours of Cupcake’s life.”
An Amber Alert has been issued for 3-year-old Kamille “Cupcake” McKinney who was abducted while attending a birthday party at Birmingham’s Tom Brown Village public housing community in North Avondale. Kamille was believed to have been taken about 8;30 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 12, 2019.
Peeples talked about the massive law enforcement search for Kamille that ended when her body was found in a construction dumpster at the landfill.
That dumpster had been taken from an apartment complex next to Stallworth’s apartment building.
“Investigators at that landfill found the body of Kamille McKinney, which had been discarded in one of those dumpsters,’’ Peeples said. “Thrown away in the trash and left alone for 10 days.”
Peeples said the evidence will show that a search of Stallworth’s apartment turned up a mattress with a plastic cover on it. That mattress, he said, contained DNA from Stallworth, Brown and Kamille.
“We will also show you pictures from when Kamille’s body was found and of the autopsy on her body, pictures that no person should have to look at, pictures that Kamille’s mom still hasn’t even seen,’’ he said.
The prosecutor said they will also present evidence that when Kamille died, she had methamphetamine, Trazadone and Benadryl in her system.
And, Peeples said, the jury will hear statements made by Stallworth, who he said gave conflicting information during his five interviews with police.
After Kamille’s body was recovered, he said, Stallworth “admits to knowing things that only Cupcake’s kidnapper would know.”
In the defense’s opening statement, Collins told jurors that prosecutors have to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Stallworth was involved in Kamille’s kidnapping.
“They can’t,’’ Collins said. “The government’s case has doubt all through it.”
“This man didn’t do what they’re alleging,’’ he said.
Collins said the blame for Kamille’s kidnapping falls on Brown, a mother of six who lost all of her children to the custody of DHR.
“She had gone without her children over a year,’’ he said, adding that Brown had begun to use drugs and had become violent.
Stallworth’s only mistakes, he said, were in loving Brown and lying to police.
“He lied to the police about seeing the child at the apartment,’’ Collins said.
He did so, he said, because he loved Brown.
Kamille’s mother was the first and only witness to take the stand Monday.
She described for the jury their activities that day at the football field, and later at her cousin’s house at Tom Brown Village.
She said she discovered Kamille was missing when she told her son – Amari – to get Kamille because it was time to leave.
“He came in panicky and said he couldn’t find her,’’ Thomas testified. “I found her shoes. I knew something was wrong.”
Thomas’s cousin called 911 while Thomas continued to look for Kamille.
“I felt sick to my stomach,’’ Thomas said. “Confused. Frustrated. I was just sick to my stomach.”
Testimony will resume Tuesday.
The trial is the latest chapter in an ordeal that began when Kamille was abducted Oct. 12, 2019, while at a birthday party in Tom Brown Village.
Kamille’s disappearance gripped the city for 10 days until her remains were found the night of Oct. 22 in a trash dumpster at a Jefferson County landfill.
An autopsy conducted by the Jefferson County Coroner’s Office showed Kamille had died of asphyxiation by suffocation.
The exam also turned up toxic levels of methamphetamine and antidepressant Trazodone. The levels of the drugs indicated Kamille had ingested the drugs, and not just been exposed to them.
Testimony from previous hearings showed investigators removed a plastic covering from a mattress that was in the living room where the couple lived in Center Point.
That covering showed blood in several places and testing of that blood showed a mixture of DNA belonging to Stallworth, Brown and Kamille.
Stallworth and Brown, who were in a dating relationship for about a year before their arrests, have since blamed each other for Kamille’s death.
On that Saturday, Kamille and her mother had spent the day at Kamille’s brother’s football game. Afterward, they went to Tom Brown Village to visit family.
There was a birthday party taking place there, and Kamille and brother joined in the festivities.
While the party was taking place, Peeples said, Stallworth and Brown drove their Toyota Sequoia to Tom Brown Village, where Stallworth gout out of the SUV, spoke to several children and offered them candy.
A short time later, Stallworth and Brown drove away, taking Kamille with them back to the couple’s apartment on Shadowood Circle.
Only Kamille’s shoes were left behind at Tom Brown Village which the girl’s mother would later find.
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Russian Journalist Who Protested Ukraine War On Air Escapes House Arrest
Russian Journalist Who Protested Ukraine War On Air Escapes House Arrest https://digitalalabamanews.com/russian-journalist-who-protested-ukraine-war-on-air-escapes-house-arrest/
RIGA, Latvia — Marina Ovsyannikova — the Russian journalist who made international headlines after protesting the war in Ukraine live on state television in March — has escaped house arrest and fled with her 11-year-old daughter, according to Russia’s Interior Ministry.
Ovsyannikova’s whereabouts are not known, nor is it clear exactly how she escaped her pretrial house arrest. The Interior Ministry put the 44-year-old on its wanted list Monday.
Ovsyannikova, a former senior editor at Channel One, the Russian state-controlled television channel, staged an astonishing protest live on air in March. She shouted, “No to war!” and held up a placard condemning the invasion of Ukraine and telling people not to believe government lies.
She has since been fined twice for the offense of discrediting Russia’s military and was placed under a two-month house arrest in August on charges of spreading fake news about the military, which carries a sentence of up to 10 years.
The latter related to a protest in July when she stood on the river embankment opposite the Kremlin in central Moscow and held up a poster calling the Russian president and his soldiers fascists.
“How many more children must die before you will stop?” the poster read.
Her ex-husband first reported her absence to authorities on Saturday, Russian media reported. Igor Ovsyannikov, in an interview with the pro-Kremlin RT network, said he did not know where his ex-wife was, but that his daughter did not have a passport.
Since April, Ovsyannikova and her husband have been in a custody battle over their two children. Their 17-year-old son has already declared that he wants to live with his father, Russian media reported.
“After my daughter went missing, I applied to the authorities, but I still haven’t received any official answers from them about the progress of the investigation,” Ovsyannikov said. “When I called my daughter, she was confused and answered my questions weirdly.”
Several other prominent figures, including activists Lucy Shtein and Maria Alyokhina of the band Pussy Riot, previously fled Russia despite restrictions on their movement.
Ovsyannikova’s escape is the latest embarrassment for Russia, which has faced stunning battlefield losses in Ukraine and rising criticism of the war at home, even among some key Kremlin supporters. At the same time, the Kremlin has cracked down on displays of dissent as it works to conscript thousands of new soldiers for the fighting in Ukraine.
Ovsyannikova did not respond to calls and text messages from The Washington Post on Sunday and Monday.
Born in Ukraine, Ovsyannikova had been a senior editor for Channel One. But when she went to the office the day after Russia invaded Ukraine in late February, she said, she realized she could no longer work there.
“Unfortunately, I have been working at Channel One during recent years, working on Kremlin propaganda,” Ovsyannikova said in a video message she aired after the March protest. “And now I am very ashamed. I am ashamed that I’ve allowed the lies to be said on the TV screens. I am ashamed that I let the Russian people be zombified.”
“It is only in our power to stop this madness,” she said, alluding to the high price of dissent in Russia. “Take to the streets. Do not be afraid. They can’t jail us all.”
War in Ukraine: What you need to know
The latest: Russian President Vladimir Putin signed decrees Friday to annex four occupied regions of Ukraine, following staged referendums that were widely denounced as illegal. Follow our live updates here.
The response: The Biden administration on Friday announced a new round of sanctions on Russia, in response to the annexations, targeting government officials and family members, Russian and Belarusian military officials and defense procurement networks. President Volodymyr Zelensky also said Friday that Ukraine is applying for “accelerated ascension” into NATO, in an apparent answer to the annexations.
In Russia: Putin declared a military mobilization on Sept. 21 to call up as many as 300,000 reservists in a dramatic bid to reverse setbacks in his war on Ukraine. The announcement led to an exodus of more than 180,000 people, mostly men who were subject to service, and renewed protests and other acts of defiance against the war.
The fight: Ukraine mounted a successful counteroffensive that forced a major Russian retreat in the northeastern Kharkiv region in early September, as troops fled cities and villages they had occupied since the early days of the war and abandoned large amounts of military equipment.
Photos: Washington Post photographers have been on the ground from the beginning of the war — here’s some of their most powerful work.
How you can help: Here are ways those in the U.S. can support the Ukrainian people as well as what people around the world have been donating.
Read our full coverage of the Russia-Ukraine war. Are you on Telegram? Subscribe to our channel for updates and exclusive video.
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More Info About The Machete Assault In Downtown Missoula
More Info About The Machete Assault In Downtown Missoula https://digitalalabamanews.com/more-info-about-the-machete-assault-in-downtown-missoula/
Missoula, MT (KGVO-AM News) – On September 30th, 2022, at approximately 11:36 a.m., multiple Missoula Police Department officers were dispatched to the area of 221 Ryman Street for a report of a male attacking people with a machete.
Just a few minutes later, multiple officers arrived on the scene and positioned themselves at the intersection of West Broadway Street and Higgins Avenue. Officers’ initial observations were one male pointing a firearm at another male who was later identified as Todd Devney. Devney had his hands in the air as if he were surrendering.
Officers gave the male with the firearm verbal commands to place the gun on the ground. The male followed all law enforcement commands, placed his hands behind his head, and began walking backwards. Devney was also provided verbal commands to get down onto the ground and he complied as well. Both individuals were placed into custody and an investigation ensued. Police Public Information Officer Lydia Arnold picks up the story.
“A preliminary investigation indicated that a 41-year-old male identified as Todd Deveny was involved in an argument with several persons when he produced a machete and began chasing one of the victims down the street,” Arnold said. “A legally armed citizen intervened, holding Deveny at gunpoint until the arrival of officers. Deveny is currently being held on several felony charges involving several victims and the investigation is ongoing. The citizen who intervened is cooperating fully with law enforcement and is not in custody.”
Victims Explain What Happened
According to court documents, one victim told officers that he and two others were standing in front of a local bar looking over a vehicle that one of them had just purchased. The victim stated that while the three were talking about the vehicle, Deveny, who was unknown to them, came charging after them with a machete in one hand and a knife in the other.
The victim said Deveny stabbed a nearby tree with his knife, paused, then began chasing after them. The victim immediately fled southbound on Ryman Street, weaved behind several vehicles, and eventually ended up on the north side of the street. It was at this point that officers arrived on the scene and contained the situation. The two other victims were also interviewed and provided corroborating statements.
Officers Interview Man With the Gun
Another officer interviewed the male who was initially observed holding Deveny at gunpoint. The male said that he was stopped in traffic facing west on Broadway Street. He observed what appeared to be a male being chased by Deveny who was armed with a machete and was holding it above his head in a striking position.
The male further stated that both males entered a store on Broadway Street. The male decided to park his vehicle and began walking toward the store. As he approached the store, Deveny came out and started to advance toward him with the machete. The male said Deveny had the machete over his head in the striking position.
In response, the male drew his concealed weapon and began to order Deveny to drop the machete and get on the ground. Deveny lowered the machete but was still advancing toward him. The male continued to point his handgun at Deveny while attempting to call 911. That is when officers showed up and began to take control of the situation.
Official Charges are Filed
Deveny is currently being charged with three counts of felony assault with a weapon. According to Arnold, Deveny was previously arrested by the Missoula Police Department for misdemeanor criminal mischief on September 27, 2022, and assault with a weapon and assault on a peace officer on June 20, 2022.
The information in this article was obtained from sources that are publicly viewable.
20 Impressive Features at the New and Improved Missoula Airport
Missoula’s new airport will include large windows for loved ones to watch planes depart and arrive, and the only escalator on this side of Montana! Plus, a keggerator system for the Coldsmoke Tavern.
14 Destinations to Visit With Direct Flights From Missoula
Here’s a list of places to visit (and things to do while you’re there) with nonstop flights out of the Missoula Montana Airport.
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When Will It Rain Again In Alabama? https://digitalalabamanews.com/when-will-it-rain-again-in-alabama/
Alabama Weather: When will it rain again?
PRECIPITATION. THERE IS WE NEED A LITTLE BIT NOW AND THEN, OF COURSE, OCTOBER TYPICALLY ONE OF THE DRIER MONTHS OF THE YEAR. AND THAT’S GOOD NEWS FOR SOME IN AGRICULTURE AND GOOD NEWS IF YOU WANT TO KEEP YOUR CAR WASHED. BUT IT’S NOT REALLY GREAT NEWS WHEN IT COMES TO WILDFIRES. I MEAN, THIS IS ONE FROM SHELBY COUNTY THAT HAPPENED LAST WEEK. ONE OF THE REASONS THAT WE’RE HAVING SO MANY GRASS FIRES THESE DAYS IS SIMPLY BECAUSE IT HAS BEEN SO DRY RECENTLY IN THE LAST THREE WEEKS. BIRMINGHAM HAS ONLY HAD 3/100 OF AN INCH OF RAIN, WHICH IS BASICALLY SAYING WE’VE HAD NO RAIN IN THE LAST THREE WEEKS. AND WHEN WE LOOK AT THE WHOLE STATE OF ALABAMA COVERED UP IN RED BASED ON THE STATE CLIMATOLOGIST REPORT, THAT MEANS WE ALL NEED ABOUT TWO INCHES OF RAIN JUST TO GET BACK TO WHAT WOULD BE CONSIDERED NORMAL SOIL MOISTURE TO GET LAWNS AND GARDENS OPERATING THAT THE WAY THAT THEY SHOULD WITHOUT HAVING TO ADD IRRIGATION TO THEM. ON THE YEAR WE HAVE A SURPLUS OF RAIN. REMEMBER HOW WET IT WAS BACK IN THE SPRING? WE’RE OVER SEVEN INCHES IN THE POSITIVE FOR 2022, BUT THE WAY OUR CLIMATE REALLY WORKS, WE’RE A WHAT HAVE YOU DONE FOR ME LATELY? KIND OF RAIN CLIMATE AND WE ARE NEGATIVE TWO INCHES SINCE SEPTEMBER 1ST AND IT DOES NOT LOOK LIKE WE’VE GOT A WHOLE LOT COMING AROUND HERE ANY TIME SOON. THERE’S CERTAINLY NOTHING SHOWING UP RIGHT NOW. WVTM 13 LIVE DOPPLER RADAR. AND WHEN YOU LOOK AT THE AMOUNT OF RAIN THAT WE’RE EXPECTING HERE OVER THE NEXT SEVEN DAYS, IT’S PRACTICALLY ZERO AND IT DOESN’T LOOK LIKE WE’RE GOING TO GET ALL THAT MUCH, ALL THE WAY THROUGH THE MIDDLE PART OF THE MONTH. AND THAT’S GOING TO HAVE A LOT TO DO AFFECTING HOW TEMPERATURES WORK DOWN THE ROAD. LET’S GO OVER TO METEOROLOGIST JERRY TRACEY WITH THE LATEST ON THE FORECAST. I TELL YOU, JASON, YOU’RE EXACTLY RIGHT. AND OF COURSE, THAT IS PART OF THIS WEATHER STORY. IT IS TOO DRY OUTSIDE AND EVENTUALLY WE MAY PAY QUITE THE PRICE FOR THAT. IN THE MEANTIME, IT DOES MAKE IT SO EASY TO BE OUTDOORS, DOING PRETTY MUCH ANYTHING YOU WANT TO. BLUE SKIES, JUST A FEW SCATTERED CLOUDS THROUGHOUT. EVEN PUFFY CLOUDS TODAY, JUST FLAT CLOUDS FOR THE MOST PART ACROSS THE AREA. AND THAT WILL CONTINUE YOUR WEATHER HEADLINES. WARMER DRY DAYS AHEAD THIS WEEK. TEMPERATURES FOR NOW GOING UPWARD. NO SIGNIFICANT RAINFALL COMING. IT WILL TURN COOLER, THOUGH, BEHIND A WEAK COLD FRONT GOING KIND OF CHILLY FOR THE NIGHTTIME HOURS LATE THIS WEEK, AS JASON WAS SAYING, NOTHING SHOWING UP ON THE WVTM 13 LIVE DOPPLER. THAT’S NOT GOING TO CHANGE. 75 AND HALEYVILLE. IN COLEMAN 80. EVEN IN TUSCALOOSA, 79 ALABASTER, 78 BIRMINGHAM AND 78 IN ANNISTON. IT’S GOING TO BE ANOTHER TERRIFIC EVENING OUTSIDE THE DEW POINTS CONTINUE TO BE LOW, NOT MU
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Alabama Weather: When will it rain again?
You know you’re in a dry spell when you have to look 16 days in advance for any sign of rain! October is typically one of Alabama’s driest months, but the state may not see rain again for the next two weeks. Watch the video above to hear what WVTM 13 meteorologists Jerry Tracey and Jason Simpson said about the rain-free weather pattern.Since early September, the rainfall total in Birmingham is 0.03, and there is not much hope of substantial rainfall in sight. Thankfully, Alabama recorded a lot of rain in March (10.98 inches) and June (9.38 inches), leaving the state more than seven inches above average for rainfall in 2022. “The problem is, Alabama’s water cycle runs on what-have-you-done-for-me-lately terms,” Simpson said. “In other words, we already used that spring/summer rain and need more to keep lawns healthy, rivers flowing and lakes filled.”What little rain shows up in the first couple of weeks of October will have little impact. Last week, the Alabama Forest Commission issued wildfire advisories for much of the state. Firefighters battled several large wildfires including two in Shelby County.Click here for the latest central Alabama weather forecast.Get the free WVTM 13 app and turn on the alerts for the latest weather updates.
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. —
You know you’re in a dry spell when you have to look 16 days in advance for any sign of rain! October is typically one of Alabama’s driest months, but the state may not see rain again for the next two weeks. Watch the video above to hear what WVTM 13 meteorologists Jerry Tracey and Jason Simpson said about the rain-free weather pattern.
Since early September, the rainfall total in Birmingham is 0.03, and there is not much hope of substantial rainfall in sight.
Thankfully, Alabama recorded a lot of rain in March (10.98 inches) and June (9.38 inches), leaving the state more than seven inches above average for rainfall in 2022.
“The problem is, Alabama’s water cycle runs on what-have-you-done-for-me-lately terms,” Simpson said. “In other words, we already used that spring/summer rain and need more to keep lawns healthy, rivers flowing and lakes filled.”
What little rain shows up in the first couple of weeks of October will have little impact.
Last week, the Alabama Forest Commission issued wildfire advisories for much of the state. Firefighters battled several large wildfires including two in Shelby County.
Click here for the latest central Alabama weather forecast.
Get the free WVTM 13 app and turn on the alerts for the latest weather updates.
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Auburn Edge Eku Leota Out For Season With Pectoral Injury
Auburn Edge Eku Leota Out For Season With Pectoral Injury https://digitalalabamanews.com/auburn-edge-eku-leota-out-for-season-with-pectoral-injury/
Auburn will be without one of its top pass-rushers for the remainder of the year.
Eku Leota was ruled out for the rest of the season after sustaining a pec injury during Auburn’s loss to LSU last weekend, coach Bryan Harsin confirmed Monday. Leota will undergo surgery Tuesday.
Read more Auburn football: Statistically speaking: Auburn committing turnovers at alarming rate
Auburn opens as four-touchdown underdog on road against rival Georgia
Trying to make sense of Auburn’s ill-fated trick play against LSU
“Eku’s a big loss, and this has nothing to do with anybody behind him; it’s just he’s an emotional leader, he’s one of the smartest football players we have,” Harsin said. “I mean, he is a guy that you want on your team — how he prepares, all the things he does, the respect he has of his team.”
Leota sustained the injury late in the first quarter of Auburn’s 21-17 loss at Jordan-Hare Stadium and did not return to the field. Upon exiting the game, he retreated to the locker room with team trainers, and when he emerged from the tunnel early in the second quarter, he was in street clothes and had his right arm in a sling. He spent the remainder of the game sitting on the training table on Auburn’s sideline.
The 6-foot-4, 257-pound senior has been Auburn’s second-most productive pass rusher this season. He’s tied with Colby Wooden for second on the team in sacks, with two, to go along with 17 total tackles, five for a loss and three quarterback hurries.
A former transfer from Northwestern, Leota is in his second season on the Plains. He was one of the team’s most productive edge rushers last season, when he finished with 23 total tackles, but 10 for a loss and seven sacks, to go along with eight quarterback hurries and a forced fumble.
With Leota out, Auburn adjusted the personnel on its official two-deep depth chart to now reflect a 4-2-5 base defense. The Tigers now list just one edge position, with Derick Hall on the top line followed by redshirt freshman Dylan Brooks, who has played just 19 snaps this season. Marcus Bragg, who stepped in for Leota against LSU and finished with four tackles and a sack, is now listed at defensive end behind Wooden, while the team added a nickelback to its depth chart — with Keionte Scott starting and freshman Austin Ausberry behind him.
“(We’re) getting that ironed out on what we want to do with that edge position,” Harsin said. “That’s what we have to work through this week. We’ll see what that looks like as we put the packages in and who we have to utilize, but we still want to get the best front seven we have out on the field, especially against what Georgia does — they run the ball effectively, alright, they obviously can throw it; you got to get pressure on the quarterback. If you give him too much time, those guys create out in the open space. We’re still working through some of that, but I thought overall, I thought Bragg played well (against LSU).”
Tom Green is an Auburn beat reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @Tomas_Verde.
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Election Officials Brace For Confrontational Poll Watchers
Election Officials Brace For Confrontational Poll Watchers https://digitalalabamanews.com/election-officials-brace-for-confrontational-poll-watchers-6/
The situation with the poll watcher had gotten so bad that Anne Risku, the election director in North Carolina’s Wayne County, had to intervene via speakerphone.
“You need to back off!” Risku recalled hollering after the woman wedged herself between a voter and the machine where the voter was trying to cast his ballot at a precinct about 60 miles southeast of Raleigh.
The man eventually was able to vote, but the incident was one of several Risku cited from the May primary that made her worry about a wave of newly aggressive poll watchers. Many have spent the past two years steeped in lies about the accuracy of the 2020 election.
Those fears led the North Carolina State Board of Elections in August to tighten rules governing poll watchers. But the state’s rules review board, appointed by the Republican-controlled Legislature, blocked the new poll watcher regulations in late September, leaving election officials such as Risku without additional tools to control behavior on Election Day, Nov. 8.
“It becomes complete babysitting,” Risku said in an interview. “The back and forth for the precinct officials, having somebody constantly on you for every little thing that you do — not because you’re doing it wrong, but because they don’t agree with what you’re doing.”
Poll watchers have traditionally been an essential element of electoral transparency, the eyes and ears for the two major political parties who help ensure that the actual mechanics of voting are administered fairly and accurately. But election officials fear that a surge of conspiracy believers are signing up for those positions this year and are being trained by others who have propagated the lie spread by former President Donald Trump and his allies that the 2020 presidential election was riddled with fraud.
In Michigan, groups that have spread falsehoods about that race are recruiting poll watchers. In Nevada, the Republican Party’s nominee for secretary of state, Jim Marchant, denies President Joe Biden’s 2020 victory and was a featured speaker at a party poll watcher training.
Cleta Mitchell, a prominent conservative lawyer and North Carolina resident, is running a group recruiting poll watchers and workers in eight swing states. Mitchell was on the phone with Trump when the then-president called Georgia’s secretary of state in January 2021 and asked that official to “find” enough votes for Trump to be declared the state’s winner.
Chris Harvey, who was Georgia’s election director in 2020 when Trump claimed the election was being stolen from him, recalled how swarms of Trump backers came as self-appointed poll watchers to observe the state’s manual recounts, harassing election workers and disrupting the process. Harvey fears a repeat this year.
“The whole tension that we’re expecting to see at polling places is something we’re talking to election officials about, something we’re talking to law enforcement about,” said Harvey, who is advising a group of election officials and law enforcement before November.
The laws governing poll watchers vary from state to state. Their role is generally to observe, question any deviations from required procedure and, in some states, lodge formal complaints or provide testimony for objections filed in court.
The worries this year are similar to those during the 2020 election, when Trump began railing against mail voting and the Republican National Committee launched its first national operation in decades. It had recently been freed from a consent decree that limited its poll-watching operation after it previously was found to have targeted Black and Latino voters. But voting went smoothly that November.
Mitchell said her organization, the Election Integrity Network, is just trying to ensure that everyone follows the law.
“We are not a threat,” she told The Associated Press during a text message exchange. “Unless you think elections that are conducted according to the rule of law are a threat. We train people to follow the law.”
Risku said there were issues with poll watchers from both parties during the primary in May. But of the 13 incidents she reported to the North Carolina board from Wayne County, all involved Republicans.
In addition to the poll watcher who had to be ejected, Risku said another Republican poll watcher in her district waited after hours in the parking lot of the Mount Olive Train Depot early voting site until Chief Judge Susan Wiley began carrying boxes of marked ballots to her car.
On two occasions, the man tried to follow her back to the elections office in Goldsboro, about a 20-minute drive.
Recognizing that the job has become “a scary ordeal” in the last year, Risku said she has stepped up security before November and offered raises to entice precinct officials to stay. She expects many won’t return after this year.
The North Carolina GOP chairman, Michael Whatley, said that’s not what the party is teaching its poll watchers.
“What we saw in terms of some of the activities that were at play may have been coming from Republicans but were not things that we have been teaching people in our training sessions,” Whatley said. “What we want to do is make sure that we have people that are in the room that are going to be very respectful of the election officials at all times, be very respectful of the voters at all times and, if they see issues, then report them in.”
He has declined to allow reporters to attend the training sessions, which he said have trained 7,000 potential poll watchers so far this year.
As in many states, poll watchers are only permitted in North Carolina if they have been designated by the major parties. But in Michigan, organizations that register with local election offices also can provide poll watchers. A coalition of groups that have questioned the 2020 election is scrambling to get as many of their members in place as possible in the politically critical state.
“The best I can do is put a whole bunch of eyeballs on it to make sure that anything that doesn’t look right gets a further look,” said Sandy Kiesel, executive director of the Michigan Election Integrity Fund and Force, part of a coalition that recruited 5,000 poll watchers for the state’s August primary.
Kiesel said several of her coalition’s poll watchers and poll challengers — Michigan law allows one person to observe and another person to formally lodge challenges at precincts — were prevented from observing or escorted out of polling places in August.
Michigan election officials are bracing for more confrontations in November. Patrick Colbeck, a former Republican state senator and prominent election conspiracy theorist who is part of Kiesel’s coalition, announced this past week that a comprehensive fall push to scrutinize every aspect of voting would be called “Operation Overwatch.”
“They are talking about intimidating people who have the right to vote,” said Barb Byrum, clerk of Michigan’s Ingham County, which includes Lansing, the state capital.
In a sign of the importance the state’s Republicans place on poll watchers, the GOP-controlled Legislature last week agreed to let election offices throughout Michigan start processing mailed ballots two days before Election Day — something most states with mail voting allow long before then — but only if they allow poll watchers to observe. The ballots are not actually counted until Election Day.
In Texas, a new law allows every candidate to assign up to two poll watchers, raising the potential that observers could pack polling locations, particularly around big cities such as Dallas and Houston where ballots are the longest.
According to records from the secretary of state’s office, more than 900 people in Texas already had received poll watching certification in the three weeks after the state opened required training on Sept. 1.
___
Riccardi reported from Denver. Associated Press writers Joey Cappelletti in Lansing, Michigan, Gabe Stern in Reno, Nevada, and Paul Weber in Austin, Texas, contributed to this report.
Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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Cheney Rips Trump death Wish Comments Against McConnell: Absolutely Despicable Racist Attack
Cheney Rips Trump ‘death Wish’ Comments Against McConnell: ‘Absolutely Despicable, Racist Attack’ https://digitalalabamanews.com/cheney-rips-trump-death-wish-comments-against-mcconnell-absolutely-despicable-racist-attack/
Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) on Monday ripped former President Trump’s recent remarks saying that Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has a “death wish,” calling the comments against McConnell and his wife, former Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao “absolutely despicable, racist attack.”
Cheney, the vice chair of the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol, warned that Trump’s remarks could incite further violence.
“When you see former President Trump just in the last 24 hours suggesting in a pretty thinly veiled way, using words that that could well cause violence against the Republican leader of the Senate, saying he has a death wish and then, you know, launching a absolutely despicable, racist attack against Secretary Chao, leader McConnell’s wife, and then you watch the fact that nobody in my party will say that’s unacceptable,” Cheney said during an event at Syracuse University.
“And everybody ought to be asked whether or not that’s acceptable, and everybody ought to be able to say no, that is not acceptable. They ought to be required to say that,” she added.
Chao headed the Transportation Department under Trump before resigning one day after the Jan. 6 attack. Prior to the Trump administration, she served as Labor Secretary for eight years under former President George W. Bush.
Trump continued his longtime feud with McConnell on Friday, criticizing the Senate GOP leader in a statement on Truth Social.
“Is McConnell approving all of these Trillions of Dollars worth of Democrat sponsored Bills, without even the slightest bit of negotiation, because he hates Donald J. Trump, and he knows I am strongly opposed to them, or is he doing it because he believes in the Fake and Highly Destructive Green New Deal, and is willing to take the Country down with him? In any event, either reason is unacceptable. He has a DEATH WISH,” Trump wrote.
“Must immediately seek help and advise from his China loving wife, Coco Chow!” he added.
The comments came soon after Congress approved a continuing resolution to fund the government through Dec. 16 and avert a shutdown. The stopgap bill passed with bipartisan support in the House and Senate, including a “yes” vote from McConnell.
In the House, however, GOP leadership urged Republican members to oppose the measure.
Cheney has become a leading GOP critic of Trump in the aftermath of the 2020 presidential election, frequently taking on the former president and his claims that the election was stolen.
Her work on the Jan. 6 select committee has elevated that role, giving the Wyoming Republican a platform to oppose the ex-president.
After losing her Republican primary this year, she will be leaving Congress in January.
But Cheney is not the only one to speak out against Trump’s latest comments against McConnell and Chao.
Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), the chair of both the House Homeland Security Committee and the Jan. 6 select committee, called Trump’s rhetoric “inflammatory and racist,” and argued that it could spark violence.
“Former President Trump’s inflammatory and racist attacks directed at Senator McConnell aren’t helpful to the nation or our democracy. Worse yet, they could incite political violence, and the former President knows full well that extremists often view his words as marching orders,” Thompson wrote in a statement.
The Wall Street Journal’s editorial board called Trump’s latest crusade against McConnell “reckless.”
“We live in a polarized political age when rabid partisans don’t need provocation to resort to violence. This makes Donald Trump’s latest verbal assault against Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell all the more reckless,” the board wrote.
“The ‘death wish’ rhetoric is ugly even by Mr. Trump’s standards and deserves to be condemned,” the board added.
Asked about the comments on Sunday, Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.), the chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, told CNN, “I don’t condone violence, and I hope no one else condones violence.”
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Review | Trumps Origins In A New York World Of Con Men Mobsters And Hustlers
Review | Trump’s Origins In A New York World Of Con Men, Mobsters And Hustlers https://digitalalabamanews.com/review-trumps-origins-in-a-new-york-world-of-con-men-mobsters-and-hustlers/
Maggie Haberman hails from a New York City very different from Donald Trump’s dominion of glitz and criminality, but she knows that dominion well. Raised in the household of a traditional shoe-leather New York Times reporter and a well-connected publicist, and now herself ensconced at the digitized Times, Haberman’s earliest assignments involved covering City Hall and its satellite ethical sinkholes for the New York Post and the Daily News. That singular education in New York corruption has stuck with her and sets her apart from her peers reporting on the Trump presidency and its seditious aftermath. It now distinguishes “Confidence Man: The Making of Donald Trump and the Breaking of America” as a uniquely illuminating portrait of our would-be maximum leader.
With a sharp eye for the backstory, Haberman places special emphasis on Trump’s ascent in a late 1970s and 1980s New York demimonde of hustlers, mobsters, political bosses, compliant prosecutors and tabloid scandalmongers. This bygone Manhattan that Tom Wolfe could only satirize in “The Bonfire of the Vanities” is the fundament to any understanding of what makes Trump tick. “The dynamics that defined New York City in the 1980s,” Haberman observes, “stayed with Trump for decades; he often seemed frozen there.” Zombielike, he swaggers and struts and cons on the world’s largest stage, much as he did when gossip columnists fawned over him as The Donald; and he will continue his night of the living dead, with menacing success, until someone finally drives a metaphorical stake through his metaphorical heart.
The rote rap on Trump is that he was a bumptious, hyper-ambitious real estate developer from Queens who never earned the respect of the Manhattan society pooh-bahs and who vowed to beat them at their own game — a vow that eventually led him to the Oval Office, astonishing even Trump. That storyline appears in “Confidence Man,” but Haberman knows it is superficial.
For one thing, there were countless other outer-borough operators on the make in 1980s New York, one of whom Haberman astutely calls Trump’s “mirror image” despite their obvious differences: the Rev. Al Sharpton of Brooklyn, both men shameless headline grabbers who smeared opponents and basked in newfound glamour; they were slightly clownish intruders who refused, she writes, “to be thrown out of their new ring” by a disdainful city establishment.
Inside that cauldron of fakery, Trump, no rugged individualist, and padded with his father’s millions, gravitated to a specific milieu of arrivistes whom he equated with supreme power, class and ruthlessness. He held in especially high regard the bully George Steinbrenner, from the outer outer borough of Cleveland, and became a constant presence in the Boss’s Yankee Stadium box. (I’d not known until reading Haberman that Trump, a wimp when it came to sacking underlings, found his tag line for “The Apprentice” by impersonating Steinbrenner barking “You’re fired,” over and over, not least at the Yankees’ oft-discharged manager Billy Martin.)
Off to one side there was the raffish schemer Roger Stone, a well-digger’s son from Norwalk, Conn., who got his start as one of the political saboteurs for Richard Nixon’s 1972 reelection campaign, and whose Washington lobbying mega-firm (with Paul Manafort as one of his co-partners) came to represent the Trump Organization’s interests. From the outermost borough of Adelaide, Australia, there was the unscrupulous media mogul Rupert Murdoch, who had already turned the liberal tabloid New York Post into a right-wing scandal sheet and who in 1985 completed the acquisition of 20th Century Fox that would eventually give the world Fox News, commanded by another member of the New York gang, Roger Ailes. There was also the high-profile, media-savvy U.S. Attorney Rudy Giuliani, from Brooklyn like Sharpton, and he and Trump would circle each other until they seriously hooked up some years later.
Trump’s chief mentor, and a consigliere to most of the big shots named above, was the legendary underworld and overworld fixer Roy Cohn. The pampered son of a kingpin in Bronx Democratic politics, long notorious for his McCarthyite Red Scare grandstanding, Cohn, as Haberman details, connected Trump with Stone as well as with organized crime while giving him master classes in high-stakes con-man strategy and tactics. Whenever Trump today intimidates the press with threats of retaliation, whenever he defends his aggressions by claiming to be the victim, whenever he calls his accusers (especially if they represent the federal government) life-destroying, treasonous “scum,” he is channeling his mentor, Cohn.
Haberman offers plenty of material about how these men did it all with virtual impunity. Of course, there would be the occasional fines and sealed judgments — and Cohn was disbarred weeks before he died of AIDS, abandoned by Trump, who knew the score on being heartless. But as Haberman describes, Trump went to great lengths to square himself with a paragon of the city’s power elite, the longtime Manhattan district attorney Robert Morgenthau, including making generous donations to Morgenthau’s pet charity, the New York Police Athletic League, the one charity commitment, Morgenthau would joke warmly, that Trump could be counted on honoring. Not until Cyrus Vance Jr., who had a fine pedigree but was no crusader, succeeded Morgenthau in 2010 did Trump and his properties, after Vance backed off for years, finally face serious investigation by the D.A.’s office — and even then, prosecutors on the case quit in protest when Vance’s successor suddenly seemed to drop it.
“Confidence Man” likewise enlightens about the massive oversights by the press and the broader world of publishing, especially in New York, not simply in failing to expose the corruption that Haberman catalogues but in creating and then abetting Trump’s celebrity. There were certainly exceptional naysaying reporters, notably Jack Newfield’s protege at the Village Voice, Wayne Barrett, who, at Newfield’s urging, dug deep into Trump’s shady dealings. Barrett’s and the Voice’s condemnations sparked a brief aborted federal investigation, but they weren’t about to shake the inertia at the most influential outlets, topped by the New York Times. Neither did the late lamented Spy magazine’s bull’s eye satirical shots at the “short-fingered vulgarian” provoke inquiries, although they did provoke Trump to threaten lawsuits and are said to anger him to this day.
Indeed, the higher- as well as the lower-end media became Trump’s vehicles, sometimes absurdly. Haberman relates, for example, how in 1984 Cohn, the grand wizard of press manipulation, placed a profile story in The Washington Post’s Style section, followed up independently by another piece in a magazine called Manhattan, Inc., that — though skeptical and even arch about Trump — fed impressions that the brash young dealmaker might seriously serve President Ronald Reagan in top-level arms-control negotiations. Much later, in 1997, when Trump had fallen into one of his disastrous business troughs, a New Yorker profile, though as unguarded as any such piece was likely to be, helped advance his latest comeback. More famously, the queens of tabloid gossip, Cindy Adams and Liz Smith, aided by the New York Post’s garish Page Six, rendered Trump an epic figure. Long before “The Apprentice” completed his makeover as America’s fantasy mogul, driving the phony image to the credulous beyond the Hudson, the publishers, editors and scribes of the Manhattan press, forgoing the facts, had crowned him the king of New York.
Some of the episodes in Haberman’s later chapters on Trump’s presidency have already stirred controversy. Beneath the buzz, though, many of the richest storylines from the Trump White House, as reported in “Confidence Man” and elsewhere, have a distinctly New York ring. “Where’s my Roy Cohn?” Trump snapped in 2018, in anger at his attorney general, Jeff Sessions, the very conservative former senator from Alabama, who had recused himself from the Justice Department’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election and whom Trump eventually ousted.
Before he was twice impeached, Trump found his man, yet another New York mouthpiece, William Barr, who as attorney general happily did Trump’s bidding in, among other things, lying about the damning Mueller report on the Russian interference — until Trump lost reelection and Barr, well-schooled in transactional loyalty and with his reputation as a supposed “institutionalist” tarnished, declined recruitment into Trump’s coup and at the last minute jumped from the sinking ship. The manic and often antic crimes of Stone, pardoned and unpardoned, add another layer of continuity, a louche link with the old Cohn-centered netherworld.
Haberman’s contribution in “Confidence Man,” though, is much larger than its arresting anecdotes. Later generations of historians will puzzle over Trump’s rise to national power. The best of them will have learned from Haberman’s book that none of it would have been possible but for a social, cultural, political, media and moral breakdown that overtook New York beginning in the 1970s, a fiasco of trusted institutions that, having allowed the Trumpian virus to grow, failed at every step to contain its spread, then profited from, aided and even cheered its devastation.
“It’s up to you, New York, New York,” runs the song that became a city anthem in these years, and so it truly was up to sophisticated, cosmopolitan New York with respect to checking Trump. But New York blew it on every level — and alas, even with “Confidence Man” in hand as a guidebook to that failure, it may be too late to start spreadin’ the news, with American democracy now at stake.
Sea...
Alabama Prison Strike: Most Inmates Back To Work https://digitalalabamanews.com/alabama-prison-strike-most-inmates-back-to-work/
Montgomery Real-Time News
Updated: Oct. 03, 2022, 3:52 p.m.|
Published: Oct. 03, 2022, 3:43 p.m.
After a week of inmates at Alabama prisons refusing to work during a strike for prison reform, most are back at work.
Five of the 15 major Alabama Department of Corrections facilities are still experiencing total inmate worker stoppages, according to ADOC spokesperson Kelly Betts. Most facilities have seen the partial return of inmate workers and have had regular meal services restored, she said.
“All facilities remain operational and critical services have been maintained. However, these work stoppages have affected food services the most given that inmate workers make up a large part of the facility support workforce,” Betts said.
The work stoppages began Sept. 26 as part of a protest at the Criminal Justice Center in Montgomery. The organization Both Sides of the Wall called for the strike as a protest of conditions in the state’s overcrowded and understaffed prisons– prisons with conditions that the Department of Justice has said violate the constitution. Speakers at the event also called for reforms to Alabama’s sentencing and parole laws and for improvements to inmates’ medical care. The group included former inmates and several family members of those still incarcerated.
Inmate workers provide food service, laundry, and other tasks that keep the state’s prisons functional. One of the biggest complaints from prison advocates and inmates who weren’t involved with the work stoppage was that prisoners were not receiving proper meals during the strike. Many posted on social media about only having one or two food deliveries a day, which consisted of bologna sandwiches or single slices of cheese instead of full meals.
The DOJ has alleged that conditions in Alabama’s prisons violate the constitutional rights of the incarcerated men because of inmate-on-inmate violence and sexual abuse, excessive use of force by staff, and a failure to provide safe physical conditions. The state has acknowledged problems in its prisons, but disputes the allegation that conditions violate the constitutional prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment.
“The position of the ADOC is in full alignment with Governor Kay Ivey. Most of the protestor demands would require legislation, not unilateral action by the ADOC,” Betts said.
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UAH And 18 Local Organizations Launch WillPower: A Collaborative Effort Encouraging Charitable Giving Through Will And Estate Planning
UAH And 18 Local Organizations Launch WillPower: A Collaborative Effort Encouraging Charitable Giving Through Will And Estate Planning https://digitalalabamanews.com/uah-and-18-local-organizations-launch-willpower-a-collaborative-effort-encouraging-charitable-giving-through-will-and-estate-planning/
Credit: WillPower
The University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH), a part of the UA System, and 18 local nonprofit organizations collaborate to boost awareness about charitable estate planning for National Estate Planning Awareness Week.
Huntsville’s nonprofit community launches WillPower, an educational campaign to boost awareness of charitable estate planning. While 63% of Americans make charitable donations during their lifetimes, only 8% of Americans include a gift to charity in their estate plans. WillPower is a collaborative effort to build brighter futures by encouraging local donors to leave a portion of their estate to charity.
The goal of planned giving is to create a legacy that benefits the donor, their heirs, and charitable organizations. WillPower educates donors on how to collaborate with their financial advisor or attorney to donate even a small portion of their estate to charity through a will or bequest, a beneficiary designation, or a life insurance policy.
A planned gift allows a donor to create a meaningful legacy that provides for their loved ones while funding the mission of their favorite nonprofit organizations or causes forever.
Donors can ensure that these organizations remain strong for years to come by simply including a gift to charity in their estate plan. This simple action will positively impact the Huntsville, Alabama region and help nonprofits continue their work for the next generation.
WillPower will launch its campaign in October to boost awareness about charitable estate planning for National Estate Planning Awareness Week.
For more information about making a planned gift to UAH, or to discover the power in planning, visit www.UAHLegacy.org.
ABOUT WILLPOWER
WillPower is a Huntsville, Alabama nonprofit collaborative effort designed to encourage charitable giving through will and estate planning. www.WillPowerHSV.org
ABOUT THE UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA IN HUNTSVILLE
UAH is located in Huntsville, AL, which has been named one of the best places to live by U.S. News & World Report. UAH offers 89 degree programs of study at the undergraduate and graduate level, with colleges in Engineering; Education; Honors; Nursing; Science; Business; Arts, Humanities, & Social Sciences; Graduate School; and Professional Studies. The university’s 500-acre campus includes 17 high-tech research centers and labs responsible for nearly $149.8 million in annual research expenditures and serves as the anchor tenant for the second-largest research park in the nation. UAH is regularly ranked the best return on investment among all schools in Alabama, and has been named by the Brookings Institution as the best public university in the state based on the economic outcomes of its graduates.
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Takeaways From The Dramatic First Day And Opening Statements Of The Oath Keepers Trial | CNN Politics
Takeaways From The Dramatic First Day And Opening Statements Of The Oath Keepers Trial | CNN Politics https://digitalalabamanews.com/takeaways-from-the-dramatic-first-day-and-opening-statements-of-the-oath-keepers-trial-cnn-politics/
CNN —
With the historic case that they had brought against Oath Keepers accused of plotting to attack the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, prosecutors framed up how the jury should think about the allegations with an hour-plus opening statement that kicked off the trial in earnest.
Five alleged members of the far-right militia, including its leader Stewart Rhodes, are on trial in Washington DC’s federal courthouse. They have pleaded not guilty to the charge of seditious conspiracy, a charge rarely brought by the Justice Department, and other charges.
The Justice Department’s opening statement featured messages and other communications among the defendants that prosecutors say show the Oath Keepers’ unlawful plotting to disrupt Congress’ certification of President Joe Biden’s electoral win. As the prosecutors sought to use the words of the defendants against them, they also played video capturing the Oath Keepers’ actions in the Capitol and displayed maps and charts to help the jury follow along. Each juror has their own screen to see evidence.
“They said out loud and in writing what they planned to do,” Jeffrey Nestler, an assistant US Attorney, told the jury. “When the opportunity finally presented itself … they sprang into action.”
A lawyer for Rhodes, the first defense attorney to deliver an opening statement told the jurors that they will see evidence that will show that the defendants “had no part in the bulk” of the violence that occurred on January 6.
“You may not like what you see and hear our defendants did,” attorney Phillip Linder said, “but the evidence will show that they didn’t do anything illegal that day.”
Here are takeaways from Monday’s trial so far:
The Justice Department began its opening statement with the accusation that the defendants sought to “stop by any means necessary” the lawful transfer of presidential power, “including taking up arms against the United States government.”
Nestler started with a reference to the “core democratic custom of the routine” transfer of power, which Nestler said stretched back to the time of George Washington.
“These defendants tried to change that history. They concocted a plan for armed rebellion to shatter a bedrock of American democracy,” Nestler said.
The defendants got their opportunity two weeks before the Inauguration, Nestler said.
“If Congress could not meet it could not declare the winner of the election. and that was their goal – to stop by any means necessary the lawful transfer of power, including taking up arms against the United States government,” he said.
He said the defendants descended on DC to attack “not just the Capitol, not just our government, not just DC, but our country itself.”
During the Justice Department’s opening, the jury was presented with video footage, maps and other audio-visual tools that prosecutors used to give an overview of their case.
Nestler’s presentation included iPhone footage from the attack that the prosecutor used to identify the defendants and other alleged co-conspirators. When video showing defendant Kelly Meggs was presented, Nestler noted the patch he wore, which said, according to Nestler: “I don’t believe in anything, I’m just here for the violence.”
As the video clips played, the jury also saw a map of the Capitol that Nestler used to situate the action that was recorded by video. Nestler also had a physical chart, perched on an easel in the courtroom, listing out the alleged co-conspirators.
Jurors were also presented with the messages that the defendants allegedly sent in the weeks after the election, including their calls for a violent response to former President Donald Trump’s loss.
“Its easy to chat here. The real question is who’s willing to DIE” Meggs wrote in one message shown by prosecutors.
The DOJ also showed video and photographs of the Oath Keepers participating in tactical training sessions. A map of the Washington Mall – showing the site of the rally that preceded the Capitol attack and its distance from the Capitol – was presented while Nestler ticked through communications, including on the walkie talk app Zello, between the defendants that allegedly occurred that day.
Nestler used the opening arguments to also preview how the Justice Department will respond to defenses the Oath Keepers’ attorneys are expected to put forward.
“There is evidence that you will hear that they had more than one reason to be here in DC, in addition to attacking Congress,” the prosecutor said. The defendants may have been planning to attend the rally near the White House earlier in the day, Nestler noted, but so did thousands of others. Nestler also referenced to potential attempts by the defense to argue the Oath Keepers were preparing to come to DC to serve as security, noting that the defendants weren’t licensed, trained or paid for their security work.
“Even being bad security guards isn’t itself illegal.” Nestler said. However, according to the prosecutor, the goal they were actually preparing for was “unlawful.”
Additionally, Nestler alluded to the belief that Trump was going to invoke the Insurrection Act; the defense has signaled it plans to argue that the Oath Keepers were preparing to respond to such an invocation.
“President Trump did not invoke the Insurrection Act,” Nestler said. “These defendants needed to take matters into their own hands. They needed to activate the plan they had agreed on.”
The Justice Department also emphasized the backgrounds of some of the defendants and how that fit into the department’s theory of the case. Rhodes, as Nestler repeatedly noted, is a graduate of Yale Law school. He knew to be careful with his words and told his co-conspirators to be careful with theirs, Nestler said.
Thomas Caldwell, another defendant, served in the military, Nestler said. “Based on that water experience, he planned to use boats to get across the Potomac.”
The Justice Department detailed the preparations the Oath Keepers allegedly undertook before January 6 as well as what they’re accusing the defendants of doing during the Capitol breach.
In December 2020, Rhodes told others that January 6 presented a “hard constitutional deadline,” according to prosecutors, and that they would need to “do it ourselves” if Trump didn’t stop the certification of the election.
“With time, as their options dwindled and it became more and more likely that power would be transferred,” Nestler said Monday, “these defendants became more and more desperate and more and more focused on that date that Rhodes referred to as a constitutional deadline.”
According to Nestler, the group organized a caravan of Florida members to drive up to Washington for January 6, and made preparations for where the organization could store firearms in Virginia, just outside DC. Some members of the group, according to prosecutors, brought weapons into DC that day, including chemical spray, thick pieces of wood, dressed in paramilitary gear.
Nestler’s opening described the “stack” formations the defendants allegedly used to enter the Capitol. He played a video of defendant Jessica Watkins, who allegedly led the first group, pushing against a crowd outside the House chamber shouting “push, push, push! Get in there, they can’t hold us.”
The second group positioned themselves outside of a suite of offices belonging to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Nestler said. Nestler said that Meggs had a “keen interest in Speaker Pelosi,” and later told associates that “we looked for her.”
At first, the defendants saw the breach as a success, Nestler said, describing them as “elated,” “boastful” and “proud.” But, according to DOJ’s account, the defendants quickly realized they were in legal jeopardy, and instructed one another to flee town, delete messages and keep quiet.
“Let me put it in infantry speak: SHUT THE F**K UP,” Rhodes said in one Signal message, as presented by prosecutors.
Even with their criminal exposure, Nestler said, Rhodes continued to plot. On January 10, Rhodes met with someone in Texas to try and get a message to former President Trump. The meeting, which had not previously been reported, was secretly recorded by an attendee.
“My only regret is that they should have brought rifles… we could have fixed it right then and there.” Rhodes said of January 6, according to the Justice Department’s opening.
Rhodes attorney Linder told the jurors that they will see evidence that will show that defendants “had no part in the bulk” of the violence that occurred on January 6.
He suggested that there will be gaps in the evidence, such as video, that the Justice Department will show the jury. He said that, once the prosecutors put on their case, the defense will fill in those gaps.
“You may not like what you see and hear our defendants did, but the evidence will show that they didn’t do anything illegal that day,” Linder said.
As the defense attorney delivered his opening, he was told by the judge to avoid topics that had been deemed out of bounds for the trial – with at one point, Judge Amit Mehta bringing him up to the bench for a private discussion.
Among the off-limits topics brought up by Linder that prompted the interventions were comments about the amount prison time the charges bring, the congressional narrative around January 6, remarks about defendants sitting in jail, and certain details about the Insurrection Act.
Mehta told Linder to keep his opening within the parameters of the relevant subject matter that has been established before the trial.
Linder went on to preview other aspects of the Oath Keepers’ defense.
“The real evidence is going to show you that our clients were there to do security for events for the 5th and the 6th,” Linder said, while c...
Commanders Start Clock For Brian Robinson Jr.s Return
Commanders Start Clock For Brian Robinson Jr.’s Return https://digitalalabamanews.com/commanders-start-clock-for-brian-robinson-jr-s-return/
Former Alabama running back Brian Robinson Jr. will rejoin his Washington teammates on Wednesday as a full practice participant for the first time since being shot during a carjacking attempt, Commanders coach Ron Rivera said on Monday.
Robinson was shot twice in a robbery attempt on Aug. 29, and Washington placed him on injured reserve on Sept. 1. Once Robinson starts practice, the Commanders will have three weeks to return him to their active roster.
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“Because he is on the short-term IR, we have a 21-day window, and we’ll start that officially on Wednesday, if everything continues to go in the right direction,” Rivera said. “He was cleared by the doctors and given the all-good.”
Robinson was shot in the hip and knee when he was accosted by two armed teens seeking to steal his Dodge Challenger Hellcat in Washington, according to District of Columbia police, which reported Robinson wrested a gun away from one of the boys before being shot by the other.
Law-enforcement authorities said two boys thought to be from 15 through 17 years old were the suspects in the incident, but no arrests have been made.
Washington plays the Tennessee Titans on Sunday, and Rivera did not rule out Robinson being ready for that game.
“We’ll see how that goes,” Rivera said. “I’m optimistic about it just in listening to everything I’ve heard. It’s very promising. But again, as I said, the plan is to start his clock on Wednesday and see how he does, and if he continues to progress, there’s a very good chance he’ll be able to play on Sunday.”
Under the injured-reserve rules, Wednesday was the earliest that Robinson could have returned to practice.
Robinson’s first practice should provide a good test, Rivera said.
“We will have a padded practice on Wednesday,” Rivera said. “He’ll get to bump around a little bit and see how he handles that, and then we’ll go from there.”
Washington ranks 21st in the NFL with 402 rushing yards this season. A 1,000-yard rusher last season, Antonio Gibson has 173 yards and two touchdowns on 53 rushing attempts to lead the Commanders four games into the 2022 schedule. Former Central-Phenix City star J.D. McKissic is second with 65 yards on 17 carries and ranks second on the team with 19 receptions.
“It’s hopefully going to be a nice shot in the arm,” Rivera said. “Hopefully, we get what we were expecting to get, and that was the other quality running back that we’re looking for.”
A prep star at Hillcrest-Tuscaloosa, Robinson joined the Commanders in the third round of the NFL Draft on April 29 after running for 1,343 yards and 14 touchdowns and catching 35 passes for 296 yards for Alabama during the 2021 season.
FOR MORE OF AL.COM’S COVERAGE OF THE NFL, GO TO OUR NFL PAGE
Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at @AMarkG1.
If you purchase a product or register for an account through one of the links on our site, we may receive compensation.
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Donald Trump Will Be https://digitalalabamanews.com/donald-trump-will-be/
Conservative lawyer George Conway is predicting former President Donald Trump will be slapped with a felony conviction for various crimes by the end of the year.
“I think he could go to prison, but it is more likely that he will serve home confinement,” Conway told Salon in a wide-ranging interview published Monday.
“In all likelihood, he will be convicted of multiple felonies.”
In the past few months, Trump, who has not been formally charged with any crime, has faced mounting legal woes from various agencies and private litigants while remaining the most popular political figure in the Republican Party.
The FBI searched his Mar-a-Lago home in Palm Beach, Florida, in August as part of an investigation into mishandled classified documents.
Trump is a target of the committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, which could refer him to the Justice Department for possible criminal prosecution. And he faces civil suit filed by the New York attorney general over fraudulent business practices.
Mar-a-Lago case: Judge gives Trump more time to challenge Mar-a-Lago documents
Conway, the husband of former White House counselor Kellyanne Conway, said Trump has a history of settling civil cases, but that doesn’t believe the former president will take a plea deal if he is hit with more serious criminal cases.
Trump’s NY lawsuit: Running for president, fighting in court? How fraud lawsuit could complicate Trump’s plans
In 2016, Conway voted for Trump, but he has been converted into one of the former president’s chief critics. That is in sharp contrast to his wife, who ran Trump’s presidential campaign six years ago and was one of his top aides during his presidency.
“Reflecting on my own behavior, I thoroughly own up to the fact that I voted for Donald Trump and supported him in 2016,” he told Salon. “That was a grave moral error on my part, and I own it. I’m happy — well, not happy, but willing — to admit my error. But the fact is, that some people can’t do it that easily.”
The former president, Conway speculated, has a good chance of ending with a felony conviction sometime after the 2022 midterm elections but before the new year starts. If so, he said, the country should prepare for Trump to “incite violence on his behalf” much in the same way he did after losing the 2020 presidential election.
“This all goes so much to the core of Trump’s identity that he will try to tear the country apart before he settles one of these criminal cases,” Conway said.
But Trump has survived various legal allegations and court litigation during his decades as a real estate mogul.
Those suits and investigations also haven’t pierced his political popularity with the GOP base, which rallied behind Trump when the FBI searched his Florida estate and created a backlash against the federal agency among some conservative activists.
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Transcript: The Beat With Ari Melber, 9/23/22 https://digitalalabamanews.com/transcript-the-beat-with-ari-melber-9-23-22/
Summary
Donald Trump`s legal heat rising as document scandal, January 6th probe, DOJ criminal probe, and New York City lawsuit piled up. Former Trump Aide on the former president`s legal heat. Alex Jones shows no remorse in a second defamation suit over Sandy Hook lies. WQHT Hot 97 radio host Ebro Darden joins THE BEAT with Ari Melber to talk about the January 6 Committee gearing up for the next hearing.
Transcript
ARI MELBER, MSNBC ANCHOR: Welcome to THE BEAT. I`m Ari Melber. And we begin with the legal heat.
Classified documents are a scandal. January 6th congressional probe picks back up next week. We have news on that. And then something that really upended Donald Trump`s entire business prospects in New York. And as I`ve mentioned to you, you might say, well, I feel like I`ve heard about this before, what is the deal? Well, never like this before. We are talking about something that is now an active New York case that could end the Trump Organization as it`s known along with a quarter billion in fines and penalties or more.
And then you have the federal criminal insurrection probe intensifying. I have a very special guest on that later in the hour. Coming up I have Neal Katyal to start us off. But look at this report from CNN. Trump lawyers waging what is basically a secret court fight to try to halt or stop a grand jury from getting information from his inner circle, basically blocking testimony that otherwise would be relevant, meaning the prosecutors at least want to introduce it.
And we know the context for this, those 40 new subpoenas. You have a former prosecutor on the Letitia James side saying that the business probe is basically a dealt penalty for Trump Org. So you have the insurrection and the business probe both going at Trump hard, and then that`s not the only thing going on. These are circling Trump while he has no presidential powers left. And we`ve seen that in the special master case where basically they thought it would help to have more court review, and if he were president that might be true because courts do in many ways defer to the powers of the presidency, especially in process.
If the president says, hey, national security, hey, classified, hey, I need more time, but he ain`t president anymore. Here is how the Associated Press reported it, a non-partisan wire service. Quote, “The bravado that served Trump well in the political arena is less handy in a legal realm dominated by verifiable evidence.” So in that special master case, you have the very person that Trump`s legal team said they wanted now pressing him on exactly that issue of what`s verifiable. So Trump was talking about basically, you know, slandering, libeling the FBI, and saying maybe they planted evidence or something, and if they did that would be a big deal.
But in court as in real journalism you have to have some evidence for that. It can`t just be words. And so this special master that Trump wanted says, back it up. Do you have evidence for your claims that the FBI lied? Because you`re going to have to prove that in court. There`s no evidence they provided. And as you know if you watch THE BEAT, if there were evidence that law enforcement abused power, planted something or otherwise was unfair, that would be a big story. You would get it here. If it redounded to Donald Trump`s benefit, so be it.
But it`s not a story because at this point they haven`t substantiated it. Then you have what some are calling the power of positive thinking, the idea that Donald Trump or any president can secretly think something and make it true, which is one of his claims in the classification scandal, and the late-night hosts are having a field day.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SETH MEYERS, LATE-NIGHT HOST: It`s officially declassified as long as you believe it`s declassified. That`s according to Trump`s newest legal adviser, Tinker Bell.
JIMMY KIMMEL, LATE-NIGHT HOST: And if Trump actually had the power to change things just by thinking about them, Don Jr. would have turned into a Big Mac 30 years ago.
TREVOR NOAH, LATE-NIGHT HOST: He couldn`t even read documents with his brain. How does this happen? Your honor, the defendant pleas jedi.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MELBER: I`m joined by U.S. acting solicitor general Neal Katyal. There are serious parts of this but some of it is funny, Neal. Obviously these are not the droids you`re looking for and shout out to Tinker Bell. Can you make sense of this for us?
NEAL KATYAL, FORMER ACTING SOLICITOR GENERAL: Well, I think, Ari, we`re entering what I think historians will refer to as the scaredy cat post presidential phase. Donald Trump is facing many, many different criminal investigations and he`s running scared from all of them so he`s invoking Fifth Amendment privilege, presidential records privilege, executive privilege, attorney-client privilege, work product privilege, former presidential privilege.
I mean check your privilege, Ari. It takes on a whole new meaning with this guy. And I think one of the key lessons we can take from all of these different investigations is not just that Donald Trump breaks the law quite often, it`s just that he`s simply not very good at hiding it. And I think the lesson of this whole week, the whole thing start to finish is this is a terrible week for Donald Trump.
[18:05:01]
And it looks like the days of him receiving preferential treatment from the U.S. government, from the prosecutors, from the state governments, and, most importantly, from the courts are now appears to be over. I mean the loss in the court of appeals for the 11th Circuit, our nation`s second highest court, on this whole classified information special master thing is so telling. They destroyed them. They destroyed his arguments and they made fun of Judge Cannon`s, you know, decision. So very powerful holding for the rule of law.
MELBER: Yes, all makes sense. With regard to evidence, there`s a discussion of what else Trump might bring to the table in the special master case or that, I should say, part of the wider documents case that involves the special master review. Here is some of the videotaped conversation that Trump had with Sean Hannity.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT: The problem that you have is they go into rooms, they won`t let anybody near — they wouldn`t even let them in the same building. Did they drop anything into those piles or did they do it later? There`s no chain of custody here with them.
SEAN HANNITY, FOX NEWS HOST: Wouldn`t that be to videotape potentially?
TRUMP: No, I don`t think so. I mean they`re in a room.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MELBER: Neal.
KATYAL: I can`t even begin to make sense of that, but the one thing I`m sure of, Ari, is that his lawyers have never said any of that, just like his lawyers have never in court said, oh, Trump declassified the documents with his mind or any other way. And that`s because these lawyers are under an oath to tell the truth or lose their license otherwise.
MELBER: Let`s pause on that because sometimes you move so quickly, right. That`s what the justices of the Supreme Court would sometimes do to you, they just have a lot more power than THE BEAT but pause on the point you`re making before you continue. You`re saying that there`s this gap between Trump saying or potentially lying about what`s declassified in public and his lawyers have never mentioned that in court. They`ve never said what their client is saying and you`re telling us why. Please unpack that a little more.
KATYAL: Yes. So Donald Trump has articulated as the defense, hey, I declassified these documents. Now that`s not a defense anyway because he`s not being charged or investigated for just classified documents. It`s taking national security documents. But even more telling, Ari, and this is what both the special master in the case, Judge Dearie, and the 11th Circuit said, is there`s this powerful gap, Trump, between what he`s saying out of court, and what his lawyers are saying in court.
In court they`ve never said, and they`ve had five different filings and they`ve never once said, oh, Trump declassified the documents. They just said oh, he has the power to do so. Nobody doubts if you`re the former — at the time you`re president you have the power to do so. The relevant question is, were these documents that you brought to Mar-a-Lago declassified and now not national security information? And that`s what his lawyers are afraid to say. And that`s where I think Trump is in so much trouble right now. He can`t even get a lawyer to say what he is claiming his defense is.
MELBER: So let`s do a little bit of the so-called devil`s advocate on the New York case. I have shown viewers why there`s a lot of evidence in there, and he is free to respond or deny, but a lot of evidence that this was not a one-off fraud, mistake, incident, exaggeration. I do think it`s fair to say that in real estate markets around the world and especially in New York, sometimes people are exaggerating and aggressive with certain numbers.
But the James` evidence, over 200 pages, seems to suggest that this was the pattern, this was the go-to, this was how they created the false, fraudulent, to use a legal term, perception of profits they didn`t even always have. What do you say to the devil`s advocate claim, Neal, that this is old, it`s been around New York and now it`s finally just coming up one more time because Donald Trump is more of a target than he used to be, which is something that I want to be fair is not just coming from him.
There are others who may be a little bit sympathetic to him, Republicans, people who are critical of maybe the Democratic leadership of New York over the history, not obviously beyond criticism. What do you say to that view of this week`s case?
KATYAL: So two things. First of all, that New York investigation, A...
Opinion | Make No Mistake: Donald Trump Is On The Ballot
Opinion | Make No Mistake: Donald Trump Is On The Ballot https://digitalalabamanews.com/opinion-make-no-mistake-donald-trump-is-on-the-ballot/
My friends,
Make no mistake: Donald Trump is effectively on the ballot in the midterm elections, five weeks from tomorrow (voting has already begun in several states). Even if he decides not to run, he’s laying the groundwork for authoritarianism.
In the upcoming midterms, 60 percent of us will have an election denier on our ballot, most of them endorsed by Trump.
In the upcoming midterms, 60 percent of us will have an election denier on our ballot, most of them endorsed by Trump. In the key battleground states of Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Minnesota, and Pennsylvania, Republican candidates who embrace Trump’s Big Lie have won almost two-thirds of Republican nominations for offices with authority over elections.
Many are running for secretaries of state—the chief elections officers in 37 states, who will be overseeing voter registration and how elections are conducted. In the 2020 presidential election, people who held these positions were the last line of defense for our fragile democracy, upholding Joe Biden’s win despite heavy pressure from proponents of Trump’s Big Lie.
Which is why Trump and Trump’s lieutenants, including Steve Bannon and Michael Flynn, are trying to fill these positions with Big Liars.
Michigan’s GOP candidate for Secretary of State is Kristina Karamo—who rose to prominence in conservative circles after falsely claiming to have witnessed election fraud as a pollster. Karamo has claimed that Trump won the 2020 election and that Antifa was behind the January 6 insurrection.
Arizona’s Republican candidate for Secretary of State is Mark Finchem, a QAnon-supporting member of the Oath Keepers militia, who participated in the January 6 insurrection. He cruised to victory in the GOP primary by claiming that Trump won the 2020 election.
Nevada’s GOP’s candidate for Secretary of State is Jim Marchant, who won his Republican primary by making Trump’s baseless claims of election fraud a cornerstone of his campaign. He also falsely claims that mail-in voting is rife with fraud, and wants to eliminate it altogether (despite the fact that he has voted by mail many times over the years).
In Wyoming, state representative Chuck Gray, who won last month’s GOP primary for secretary of state, faces no opponent. Gray has repeated Trump’s lies about 2020 being “rigged,” traveled to Arizona to watch a partisan review of ballots that was derided as deeply flawed and proposed additional regular election audits in Wyoming. In Alabama, state Rep. Wes Allen, the nominee for secretary of state, says he would have signed onto a 2020 Texas lawsuit to overturn Biden’s win (that case was swiftly thrown out by the U.S. Supreme Court).
Trump-backed candidates for governor are also on the ballot in key states where governors play a critical role in certifying votes and upholding the will of the people.
Pennsylvania’s Republican gubernatorial nominee is Doug Mastriano. If he wins, Mastriano would appoint Pennsylvania’s top election official. Mastriano was also at the Capitol on January 6, and has even been subpoenaed by the January 6 committee to testify about his involvement. Mastriano also helped lead the push to overturn the state’s 2020 election results.
Arizona’s GOP gubernatorial nominee is Kari Lake—who has said she does not recognize Joe Biden as the nation’s legitimate president, and would not have certified Arizona’s 2020 election results had she been governor.
Wisconsin’s Republican gubernatorial nominee is Tim Michels. Michels still questions the results of the 2020 election and refuses to say whether he will certify the state’s 2024 president election results. Right now, elections in Wisconsin are overseen by the bipartisan Wisconsin Election Commission, but if Michels wins he supports scrapping the Commission in favor of a plan that could shift oversight of the state’s elections to the state’s Republican-dominated legislature.
I don’t know about you, but all these Big Liars terrify me. If any one of them wins in a state that’s likely to be a battleground in 2024, they could tip the balance in a tight presidential election to Trump. What terrifies me even more is they could tip America away from democracy to authoritarianism.
Meanwhile, a third of all state attorney general races currently have an election denying Republican candidate on the ballot—including Alabama’s Steve Marshall, Idaho’s Paul Labrador, Texas’s Ken Paxton, South Carolina’s Alan Wilson, and Maryland’s Michael Peroutka.
Attorneys general also have key roles in election administration—defending state voting laws and election results in court, taking legal action to prevent or address voter intimidation or election misconduct, and investigating and prosecuting illegal attempts to suppress the vote.
I haven’t even talked about all the local and county election officials who are also Big Liars, and also on ballots in many states—and who could play roles in the 2024 election.
How can we fight back?
First: Spread the word about the Trump-GOP’s plans to capture the election process and undermine American democracy.
Inform your friends and family—including young voters who often don’t turn out in large numbers—about what’s at stake in the midterms.
Second: Make sure you and they vote down the entire ballot.
Too many Democrats vote for federal offices but disregard state races. A recent analysis of the last three presidential elections in ten swing states showed that Democrats voted down the ballot far less than Republicans. (Democratic presidential nominees at the top of the ticket received more votes 87 percent of the time than Democratic state legislative candidates, while Republican presidential nominees received more votes just 45 percent of the time than Republican state legislative candidates.)
Control of many state legislatures is often determined by a handful of races that can swing in either direction based on a relatively small number of votes. In the 2020 election, very small margins in a number of battleground races prevented Democrats from gaining control of state legislatures.
Had Democratic candidates received just 4,451 more votes in the two closest races in the Arizona state House, they would have flipped the chamber. In North Carolina, had Democrats received 20,671 more votes (just 0.39 percent of the votes cast) in the ten most competitive legislative districts, they would have flipped the state House—thereby preventing Republicans from gerrymandering the state and federal maps, which Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper has no ability to veto. In Michigan, just 8,611 more votes for state Democratic candidates in the four districts with the closest margins would have flipped this crucial swing state, too.
Third: Familiarize yourself with state and local candidates, and share this information.
You may want to get your ballot early so you have ample time. Some great organizations to help you are Sister District, The States Project, Bolts Magazine, and People’s Action. (I’m linking to them here, but feel free to leave a comment with other local resources you’ve found helpful.)
***
As I said, Trump is effectively on the ballot in the midterms. Which means—regardless of whether he decides to run again for president—our democracy is on the ballot. The midterm elections in five weeks will lay the foundation for all future races.
My friends, I cannot say this with more concern: Trump’s anti-democracy movement has been making astounding progress. We must stop it.
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College Football TV Schedule For Week 6 Of 2022 Season
College Football TV Schedule For Week 6 Of 2022 Season https://digitalalabamanews.com/college-football-tv-schedule-for-week-6-of-2022-season/
Below is the college football TV and live stream schedule for Week 6 of the 2022 season. All times Central:
Wednesday, Oct. 5
SMU at Central Florida, 6 p.m., ESPN2 (ESPN+)
Friday, Oct. 7
Harvard at Cornell, 6 p.m., ESPNU (ESPN+)
Nebraska at Rutgers, 6 p.m., Fox Sports 1 (Fox Sports)
Houston at Memphis, 6:30 p.m., ESPN2 (ESPN+)
Colorado State at Nevada, 9:30 p.m., Fox Sports 1 (Fox Sports)
UNLV at San Jose State, 9:30 p.m., CBS Sports Network (CBS Sports video)
Saturday, Oct. 8
Michigan at Indiana, 11 a.m., ABC (espn3)
Tennessee at LSU, 11 a.m., ESPN (ESPN+)
Arkansas at Mississippi State, 11 a.m., SEC Network (ESPN+)
Louisville at Virginia, 11 a.m., ACC Network (ESPN+)
Purdue at Maryland, 11 a.m., Big Ten Network (Fox Sports)
TCU at Kansas, 11 a.m., Fox Sports 1 (Fox Sports)
Eastern Michigan at Western Michigan, 11 a.m., CBS Sports Network (CBS Sports video)
Auburn at Georgia, 2:30 p.m., CBS (SEC on CBS)
Utah at UCLA, 2:30 p.m., Fox (Fox Sports)
North Carolina at Miami, 2:30 p.m., ESPN2 (ESPN+)
East Carolina at Tulane, 2:30 p.m., ESPNU (ESPN+)
Texas Tech at Oklahoma State, 2:30 p.m., Fox Sports 1 (Fox Sports)
Virginia Tech at Pittsburgh, 2:30 p.m., ACC Network (ESPN+)
Wisconsin at Northwestern, 2:30 p.m., Big Ten Network (Fox Sports)
Tulsa at Navy, 2:30 p.m., CBS Sports Network (CBS Sports video)
Middle Tennessee at UAB, 2:30 p.m., Stadium (Watch Stadium)
Ohio State at Michigan State, 3 p.m., ABC (espn3)
Ole Miss at Vanderbilt, 3 p.m., SEC Network (ESPN+)
Duke at Georgia Tech, 3 p.m., Bally Sports South (Bally Sports+)
Washington at Arizona State, 3 p.m., Pac-12 Network (Pac-12 Network Live)
Air Force at Utah State, 6 p.m., Fox Sports 1 (Fox Sports)
James Madison at Arkansas State, 6 p.m., NFL Network (NFL Network live)
Wyoming at New Mexico, 6 p.m., CBS Sports Network (CBS Sports video)
Southern Miss at Troy, 6 p.m., no TV (ESPN+)
Clemson at Boston College, 6:30 p.m., ABC (espn3)
Washingon State at USC, 6:30 p.m., Fox (Fox Sports)
Notre Dame vs. BYU (at Las Vegas), 6:30 p.m., NBC (Notre Dame on NBC)
Kansas State at Iowa State, 6:30 p.m., ESPNU (ESPN+)
South Carolina at Kentucky, 6:30 p.m., SEC Network (ESPN+)
Iowa at Illinois, 6:30 p.m., Big Ten Network (Fox Sports)
Hawaii at San Diego State, 6:30 p.m., CBS Sports Network (CBS Sports video)
Army at Wake Forest, 6:30 p.m., Bally Sports South (Bally Sports+)
Texas A&M at Alabama, 7 p.m., CBS (SEC on CBS)
Florida State at North Carolina State, 7 p.m., ACC Network (ESPN+)
Oregon at Arizona, 8 p.m., Pac-12 Network (Pac-12 Network Live)
Fresno State at Boise State, 8:45 p.m., Fox Sports 1 (Fox Sports)
Oregon State at Stanford, 10 p.m., ESPN (ESPN+)
Select games are also available via FUBO.tv. Click HERE for subscription information.
If you purchase a product or register for an account through one of the links on our site, we may receive compensation.
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Even The Barking Dogs Were Republican!: Inside Democrats Quest To Turn Out Voters In Wisconsin Trump Country
“Even The Barking Dogs Were Republican!”: Inside Democrats’ Quest To Turn Out Voters In Wisconsin Trump Country https://digitalalabamanews.com/even-the-barking-dogs-were-republican-inside-democrats-quest-to-turn-out-voters-in-wisconsin-trump-country/
For most of the morning, Durning and Rowley had little to show for their effort, other than the 7,500 steps they recorded tramping through the neighborhood—the “silver lining,” said Rowley, who was to run a 5K later that day with her daughter in Milwaukee. Few answered their doors, and when they did, it yielded only brief interactions.
“Can I help you?” asked one man, as he pulled into his driveway. Durning started into his script. “I vote Republican,” the man said, politely, almost apologetically.
Not all the voter-data canvassers like Durning and Rowley are armed with, it turns out, is reliable. In that way, they regard even these kinds of interactions as successful: At the very least, they can clean up the map. But there is a more abstract benefit some of the canvassers see in these contacts: “People see Democrats really care,” Rowley told me. Maybe that won’t make a difference this cycle or the next one. But what about beyond that? Was it possible that this engagement could eventually connect with disillusioned Americans who had fallen for Trump, even at the expense of their own interests?
The last house of the morning sat high above a steep set of steps. Durning rang the bell, setting off a chorus of barking dogs, and a man in a USA T-shirt came to the door. His wife, Carol, was on the list as a Democrat or independent.
“Can I pet your dog?” Rowley called after him, as he went to get his wife.
The woman, Carol, came to the door. She smiled, but seemed uncomfortable: She typically voted Republican, she said. Durning asked her what issues are most important to her, or what she’d say to Governor Evers if he was standing at the door. “I don’t know,” she said. He switched tactics: On a scale of 1 to 10, how likely are you to ever vote for a Democrat? She thought, and instead of offering a number, said she’s a Republican. “So you’re a one?” Durning said. “You wouldn’t vote for a Democrat?”
“There’s a slim chance,” she said. “Thank you for stopping.”
At a post-canvass debriefing in the Main Street office, volunteers recounted their mornings. Some had clearly had more successful outings. One said she’d made a great contact with a woman heading into a bar around 10 in the morning, who was “really fired up” for the Democrats. “She’s like, ‘I’m putting the signs up—yeah!’” the canvasser recalled. But others had as rough a morning as Durning and Rowley. “Even the barking dogs were Republican!” one said.
It remains to be seen what kind of impact such efforts will have in November. For all the work they put in this Saturday morning, volunteers only seemed to get a handful of likely Democrats ready to turn out for Election Day. But months of this kind of thing, and with tight races—who knows?
Eventually, everyone headed for pizza at the home of Leslie Demuth, a leader with the Jefferson County Democrats, whose farm seems like something of a liberal oasis in Trump Country. But Durning seemed to be itching to keep going. Behind any door, there was a potential Democratic vote—but what if he didn’t knock? He went to pizza like the rest, but he told me he would be back next week to canvass more, on his own. His wife was traveling in Portugal—why not?
“While the cat’s away,” he said, “the mice will canvass.”
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Supreme Court Wont Take Up Colorado Voting Machine Companys Defamation Suit Against MyPillow Head
Supreme Court Won’t Take Up Colorado Voting Machine Company’s Defamation Suit Against MyPillow Head https://digitalalabamanews.com/supreme-court-wont-take-up-colorado-voting-machine-companys-defamation-suit-against-mypillow-head/
The Supreme Court says it won’t intervene in a lawsuit in which Dominion Voting Systems accused MyPillow chief executive Mike Lindell of defamation for falsely accusing the company of rigging the 2020 presidential election against former President Donald Trump.
As is typical, the high court did not say anything Monday about the case in rejecting it among a host of others. Monday is the first day the high court is hearing arguments after taking a summer break.
Lindell is part of a case in which Dominion also accused Trump allies Sidney Powell and Rudy Giuliani of defamation for falsely claiming that the election was “stolen.” The Denver-based Dominion has sought $1.3 billion in damages from the trio.
A lower court judge in August of last year declined to dismiss the case and instead said it could go forward. Lindell had appealed that determination, but a federal appeals court said his appeal was premature. The Supreme Court declined to take up that issue.
Powell and Giuliani, both lawyers who filed election challenges on Trump’s behalf, and Lindell, who was one of Trump’s most vocal public supporters, made various unproven claims about the voting machine company during news conferences, election rallies and on social media and television.
There was no widespread fraud in the election, which a range of election officials across the country, including Trump’s attorney general, William Barr, have confirmed. Republican governors in Arizona and Georgia, key battleground states crucial to Biden’s victory, also vouched for the integrity of the elections in their states. Dominion machines tabulated ballots in 28 states.
In September, a judge in Minnesota declined to dismiss a separate defamation lawsuit by a different voting machine maker, Smartmatic, against Lindell. Smartmatic’s machines were used only in Los Angeles County during the 2020 election. MyPillow is based in Minnesota.
You care.
You want to know what is really going on these days, especially in Colorado. We can help you keep up. The Lookout is a free, daily email newsletter with news and happenings from all over Colorado. Sign up here and we will see you in the morning!
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Man Accused Of Killing Mother Dead After Apparent Suicide In Cell
Man Accused Of Killing Mother Dead After Apparent Suicide In Cell https://digitalalabamanews.com/man-accused-of-killing-mother-dead-after-apparent-suicide-in-cell/
in the yard. ***PKG*** (PKG) (NATS) 03: one in custody, can rescue respond to the scene (TRACK) A WOMAN’S BODY IS FOUND BURNING IN THE FRONT YARD OF HER TRURO HOME THE Cape & Islands DA TELLING US HER SON IS NOW FACING A MURDER CHARGE. (SOT) 1:17 they encountered a male outside the house near a fire that was burning in the yard 1:28 as the emergency personnel realized that it was a body that was burning (TRACK) TRURO POLICE CHIEF SAYS THEY RECEIVED A REQUEST FOR A WELL-BEING CHECK AT AROUND 9:30 LAST NIGHTAROUND THAT SAME TIME THEY ALSO RECEIVED A CALL FOR A FIRE. WHEN THEY ARRIVED THEY FOUND ADAM HOWE OUTSIDE THE HOUSE AND HIS MOTHER 69-YEAR-OLD SUSAN HOWE’S BODY ON FIRE. POLICE SAY THE 34-YEAR-OLD THEN RAN AND LOCKED HIMSELF INSIDE THE HOUSE. (SOT) 16: at the moment he is barricaded we have him at gunpoint (TRACK) THE CAPE COD SWAT TEAM WERE ABLE TO GET INTO THE HOUSE AND ARRESTED ADAM. SUSAN HOWE WAS THE PRESIDENT OF THE TRURO HISTORICAL SOCIETY. AUTHORITIES SAY FAMILY MEMBERS WERE DESPERATELY TRYING TO REACH HER (SOT) 2:58 they had made several attempts reach Susan Howe and were unable to do so and called the police to conduct well being call ***PKG*** ***NATHALIE*** Authorities say after speaking to Adam Howe and his family members…they learned of a significant mental healt
Massachusetts man accused of killing mother dead after apparent suicide in cell
A Massachusetts man arrested Friday night and charged with murder in the death of his mother died of an apparent suicide in his cell on Sunday, officials said. Adam Howe, 34, was facing murder charges in the death of Susan Howe, his mother. A source confirmed to 5 Investigates that Adam Howe is believed to have used toilet paper to suffocate himself. Susan Howe was found dead late Friday while making a well-being check at her Truro home. First responders found a body, believed to be the woman’s, set on fire outside the home, Cape & Islands District Attorney Michael O’Keefe and Truro police Chief Jamie Calise said Saturday.According to authorities, when they arrived, they found a man, later identified as Adam Howe, outside the house and a fire on the front lawn. “As the emergency personnel realized that it was a body that was burning, the male subject ran into the house and locked the door,” a joint statement from O’Keefe and Calise released Saturday said. According to the Bristol County Sheriff’s Office, Adam Howe was taken by Massachusetts State Police to Cape Cod Hospital for a psychiatric evaluation. “Medical professionals at Cape Cod Hospital examined Mr. Howe and cleared him to return to custody. He was then transported by Mass. State Police to the Ash Street Jail in New Bedford on Saturday afternoon,” the Sheriff’s Office said. At the jail, officials said they put Adam Howe in clothing specifically designed for at-risk prisoners and on a security watch in which a corrections officer was assigned to check on him visually every 15 minutes. Between those rounds, the sheriff’s office said he caused his own medical emergency. “Correctional officers at the jail found Adam Howe unresponsive to verbal and physical checks at 3:04 p.m. Sunday. New Bedford EMS was immediately contacted, while three correctional officers and two correctional nurses performed CPR on Mr. Howe. Mr. Howe was rushed to St. Luke’s Hospital, where he was pronounced deceased at 3:37 p.m.,” Bristol County District Attorney Thomas M. Quinn’s office said. No foul play is suspected.
TRURO, Mass. —
A Massachusetts man arrested Friday night and charged with murder in the death of his mother died of an apparent suicide in his cell on Sunday, officials said.
Adam Howe, 34, was facing murder charges in the death of Susan Howe, his mother. A source confirmed to 5 Investigates that Adam Howe is believed to have used toilet paper to suffocate himself.
Susan Howe was found dead late Friday while making a well-being check at her Truro home. First responders found a body, believed to be the woman’s, set on fire outside the home, Cape & Islands District Attorney Michael O’Keefe and Truro police Chief Jamie Calise said Saturday.
According to authorities, when they arrived, they found a man, later identified as Adam Howe, outside the house and a fire on the front lawn.
“As the emergency personnel realized that it was a body that was burning, the male subject ran into the house and locked the door,” a joint statement from O’Keefe and Calise released Saturday said.
According to the Bristol County Sheriff’s Office, Adam Howe was taken by Massachusetts State Police to Cape Cod Hospital for a psychiatric evaluation.
“Medical professionals at Cape Cod Hospital examined Mr. Howe and cleared him to return to custody. He was then transported by Mass. State Police to the Ash Street Jail in New Bedford on Saturday afternoon,” the Sheriff’s Office said.
At the jail, officials said they put Adam Howe in clothing specifically designed for at-risk prisoners and on a security watch in which a corrections officer was assigned to check on him visually every 15 minutes. Between those rounds, the sheriff’s office said he caused his own medical emergency.
“Correctional officers at the jail found Adam Howe unresponsive to verbal and physical checks at 3:04 p.m. Sunday. New Bedford EMS was immediately contacted, while three correctional officers and two correctional nurses performed CPR on Mr. Howe. Mr. Howe was rushed to St. Luke’s Hospital, where he was pronounced deceased at 3:37 p.m.,” Bristol County District Attorney Thomas M. Quinn’s office said.
No foul play is suspected.
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Truss Forced Into U-Turn On Tax After Week Of Market Turmoil
Truss Forced Into U-Turn On Tax After Week Of Market Turmoil https://digitalalabamanews.com/truss-forced-into-u-turn-on-tax-after-week-of-market-turmoil/
Truss had defended policy, markets worried about cost
Finance minister Kwarteng now says it was distraction
U-turn made with ‘humility and contrition’ – Kwarteng
Cut in highest tax rate was small part of overall plan
Lawmakers express alarm over government judgement
BIRMINGHAM, England, Oct 3 (Reuters) – British Prime Minister Liz Truss was forced on Monday into a humiliating U-turn after less than a month in power, reversing a cut to the highest rate of income tax that helped spark turmoil in financial markets and a rebellion in her party.
Finance minister Kwasi Kwarteng said the decision was taken with “humility and contrition”, after some lawmakers reacted with fury to suggestions that public and welfare spending could be cut to fund tax cuts for the richest.
Addressing the Conservative Party’s annual conference where lawmakers and supporters had gathered, Kwarteng acknowledged the “little turbulence” of the last week, but argued the government needed to press ahead with a new course to revive growth.
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“What a day,” he said, to muted applause. “It has been tough, but we need to focus on the job in hand, we need to move forward. No more distractions.”
Truss – elected as prime minister by party members but not the broader public – is seeking to jolt the economy out of a decade of stagnant growth with a 1980s-style plan to cut taxes and regulation, all funded by vast government borrowing.
Signalling a break with “Treasury orthodoxy”, she and Kwarteng also fired the most senior official in the government’s finance department and released the tax cut plan without accompanying forecasts on how much it would cost.
Investors, used to Britain being a pillar of the global financial community, were aghast. The pound hit a record low against the dollar and the Bank of England had to intervene to prevent pension funds from collapsing.
“It is astonishing,” one Conservative lawmaker said, declining to be named. “The damage has already been done. We just look incompetent now, too.”
Another party insider said the Conservative government, in power under different leaders for 12 years but with Truss as prime minister only since Sept. 6, was already on “survive a day at a time” mode as confidence and credibility drained away.
‘HAPPY TO OWN IT’
While the removal of the top rate of tax only made up around 2 billion out of the 45 billion pounds of unfunded tax cuts, it was the most divisive element of a package that also stumped up tens of billions of pounds to subsidise energy costs.
Less than a day after Truss went on BBC television to defend the policy, Kwarteng released a statement early on Monday to say he now accepted it had become a distraction.
“We listened to people,” he told BBC Radio. “I’m happy to own it.” He said he had not considered resigning.
The decision to reverse course is likely to put Truss and Kwarteng under even greater pressure, the latest threat to political stability in a country that has had four prime ministers in the last six years.
Polls show the opposition Labour Party now holding commanding leads over the Conservatives. Two surveys on Monday showed Labour with more than 50 percent of support from voters, with the Conservatives languishing some 30 points behind.
Asked if Kwarteng should resign or be fired, one Conservative lawmaker said: “My view is that he is significantly weakened.”
Truss and Kwarteng were elected into government in 2019 when former leader Boris Johnson secured a landslide victory on a very different manifesto, promising to increase government spending, particularly in Britain’s more deprived areas.
British Prime Minister Liz Truss and Chancellor of the Exchequer Kwasi Kwarteng attend the annual Conservative Party conference, in Birmingham, Britain, October 2, 2022. REUTERS/Hannah McKay
Johnson was driven from office after three years by a party rebellion over his conduct.
Truss won the race to replace him after vowing to reignite the economy. But while defending her tax cut policy on Sunday, she was unable to rule out public spending cuts and restrictions on welfare payments to balance the books.
The Institute for Fiscal Studies said public spending would have to be cut unless Kwarteng reversed other unfunded policies too, an unpalatable prospect for many as the country’s health service, schools and judiciary increasingly creak under pressure.
Many Conservatives warned that tax and spending cuts risked taking them back to their “nasty party” image of 20 years ago.
Ben Houchen, the Conservative mayor of Tees Valley in northeast England, said he understood the principle of cutting taxes but said such a move during a cost-of-living crisis for millions had been “very naive”.
“Would I have done it? Absolutely not,” he said.
Britain’s Labour Party said the government had destroyed its economic credibility and damaged the economy.
Showing how unpredictable Britain’s dominant political party has become, one former minister, Nadine Dorries, who backed Truss as prime minister less than a month ago, now said she must call an election because she has no personal mandate to govern.
HISTORIC LOSSES
While the pound has recovered from the depths of last week, government bonds have mostly failed to recoup the historic losses incurred from the “mini-budget” – with the exception of long-dated debt which is subject to Bank of England support.
Investors and economists said the reversal was a step in the right direction but that the government needed to go further.
Kwarteng said he would publish more details “shortly” showing how he planned to bring down public debt as a share of economic output over the medium term, accompanied by full fiscal forecasts. The government had previously given a release date of Nov. 23.
“The issue was not tax changes announced at the mini-budget but the institutional ‘scorched earth policy’ that preceded it,” said Simon French, chief economist of brokerage Panmure Gordon. “UK risk premia will likely only pull back if that is addressed.”
S&P Global said the U-turn did not “materially affect” the economics behind its Friday move to put the UK’s AA credit rating on a downgrade warning.
Jane Foley, head of forex and rates strategy at Rabobank, said it would only become clear whether the government had done enough once the BoE intervention ends on Oct. 14.
“UK assets, the pound and gilts are not out of woods yet,” she said.
($1 = 0.8884 pounds)
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Writing by Kate Holton; Reporting by Elizabeth Piper, Andrew MacAskill and Alistair Smout in Birmingham, Kylie MacLellan, Dhara Ranasinghe, Andy Bruce, Lucy Raitano and Muvija M in London; Editing by Andy Bruce, Gareth Jones, Hugh Lawson, Jan Harvey and Bernadette Baum
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
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Eclectic Cotton Festival Is Oct. 8; Come Out And Support HSEC
Eclectic Cotton Festival Is Oct. 8; Come Out And Support HSEC https://digitalalabamanews.com/eclectic-cotton-festival-is-oct-8-come-out-and-support-hsec/
Humane Society of Elmore County News
Fall is definitely a busy time of the year. This Saturday, 8 October, we will be joining in the fun at the 29th Annual Alabama Cotton Festival in Eclectic starting at 8 am. This is a huge event with over 150 Vendors so we know we will see a lot of our Shelter family and friends there.
The Alabama National Fair also starting this Friday, 7 Oct at 4 pm If you like supporting the area Humane Shelters, then you will have a wonderful opportunity on Friday, 14 October to gain admission for $5 OFF of regular admission if you bring a donation of dry or canned pet food, pet toys, blankets or towels with you. These donations will be shared by the three area shelters – Humane Society of Elmore County, Prattville-Autauga Humane Society and Montgomery Humane Society. We are incredibly grateful to the Kiwanis Club of Montgomery members and Alabama National Fair for their hard work making the Alabama National Fair such a success and for helping our River Region Animal Shelters like this. Thank you all ahead of time so very much!
On Saturday, 15 October, join the fun starting at 4 pm at Lily Pad Place, 4852 Main St, Millbrook. This is an Open House and Customer Appreciation with proceeds being donated to our Shelter and hosted by: LUX Salon, Color Copy Shop, Thirsty Turtle, The Nail Lounge and Abundant Grace Ministries and featuring DJ LULU! There will be food truck(s), bouncy house, ballgames on all the TVs, door prizes and some fun contests. To enter the contests just bring a needs item donation. Raffle tickets will be sold on Saturday for the Booze wagon. Events schedule is below and the ‘after party’ will feature Jones Social Club!
4:30- Cutest Kid Costume: Prize Awarded
5:00- Live Auction
5:30- Cutest Dog: Prize Awarded
6:00- Live Auction
6:30- Booze Cart Drawing
For our members, make sure to mark your calendar for our Humane Society’s Annual Meeting on Tue, 18 October, 6 pm, Wetumpka Civic Center, 410 S. Main St, Wetumpka, AL 36092. We will be reviewing our past year and looking ahead to 2022. Hope to see you there!
For our supporters who work for the Alabama State Government and want to donate financially, no better way than through the 2021 State Combined Campaign (SCC) and our Agency Code is 106803. The SCC is critical to Alabama non-profits and helps make donating to deserving charities easy either one time or via monthly payroll deduction. We want to thank all who so generously donate to help not only our shelter, but non-profit agencies everywhere.
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11 Of The Most Delish Things The Bham Now Team Ate In September | Bham Now
11 Of The Most Delish Things The Bham Now Team Ate In September | Bham Now https://digitalalabamanews.com/11-of-the-most-delish-things-the-bham-now-team-ate-in-september-bham-now/
recently-opened Frothy Monkey downtown. It was loaded with fresh avocado and roasted vegetables. The homemade bread had a perfect texture that was cakey and thick, but crisp on the edges. A fork-and-knife avocado toast situation I will definitely be returning for.”
Lauren Perry, Content Intern
Location: 2320 2nd Ave N, Birmingham, AL 35203
Hours: Daily 7AM-9PM
Website | Facebook | Instagram
2. Pimento cheese + bagel from FILTER Coffee Parlor
Bee Hive toasted bagel is simply mouthwatering. Throw in some veggies—spinach and tomatoes—and top it off with Conecuh sausage and… BOOM! The perfect breakfast or lunch treat.
One last note about FILTER Coffee Parlor—it’s eco-friendly!“
Pat Byington, Content Director
Location: 1927 11th Ave S, Birmingham, AL 35205
Hours: Monday-Friday 7AM-4PM | Saturday-Sunday 8AM-3PM
Website | Facebook | Instagram
3. Zucchini fritters + fries from Tasty Town
best things we ate“—a wonderful sign. (Sharron Swain / Bham Now)
“My husband and I went to Tasty Town on a rare date lunch and enjoyed all the flavors, textures and colors. We started with the chargilled eggplant which is my favorite—creamy, smoky and delicious with pita bread hot from the oven.”
Sharron Swain, Managing Content Producer
Location: 16 14th St S, Birmingham, AL 35233
Hours: Sunday-Thursday 11AM–9PM | Friday-Saturday 11AM–10PM
Website | Facebook | Instagram
4. Macarons from Bandit
anything from Bandit has a place in my heart. The ham and cheese croissant, the peachy hand pie, savory cheese and chive, peaches and cream… I could go on.”
Gabi Hembree-Lee, Business Development Manager, Bham Now
Location: 2215 1st Ave N Suite 201B, Birmingham, AL 35203
Hours: Tuesday-Saturday 7AM-2PM
Website | Facebook | Instagram
5. Gnocchi mac and cheese with prosciutto from Freddy’s Wine Bar
The cheesy goodness topped with crispy prosciutto is a must-try. I recommend sipping on a glass of pinot grigio with it!”
Selah Vetter, Content Producer
Location: 2251 Highland Ave, Birmingham, AL 35205
Hours: Monday-Thursday 4-10PM | Friday-Saturday 2-11PM | Sunday 2-9PM
Website | Facebook | Instagram
6. Juicy kombucha from Harvest Roots
nonalcoholic option at TrimTab. (Jessica Broom / Bham Now)
“Hands down the best thing I tried this month. I have always loved Harvest Roots kombucha, but seem to stick to my faves like Coast and Cosmos. I am SO glad I branched out and tried this while at TrimTab Brewing. It tastes exactly like a watermelon marg minus the alcohol. 10 out of 10 for me!”
Jessica Broom, Account Executive
Location: 4420 4th Ave S Suite B, Birmingham, AL 35222
Hours: Thursday-Saturday Noon-6PM | Sunday Noon-4PM
Website | Facebook | Instagram
7. Street chicken tacos from Chino’s Taco Stop
Chino’s is one of Birmingham’s newest taco spots. (Tira Davis / Bham Now)
“These tacos were amazing and so fresh—I can’t decide if the chicken or the veggies were my favorite part! They’re definitely one of my new top contenders for the best things to eat in Birmingham.”
Tira Davis, TikTok Manager + Content Producer
Location: 3424 6th Ave S. Birmingham, AL 35222
Hours: Monday-Saturday 10AM-2PM
Facebook | Instagram
8. Tortellini with pancetta from De Vinci’s
craving a comfort dish, this tortellini is for you! The pasta was fresh and the pancetta was crispy and delicious. Definitely made for a great lunch the next day!”
Olivia Moses, Instagram Manager + Content Producer
Location: 2707 18th St S, Birmingham, AL 35209
Hours: Daily 11AM-10PM
Website
9. Bananas foster pain perdu from Ruby Sunshine Café
Birmingham’s many delicious brunch spots. (Emma Johnston / Bham Now)
“I am a HUGE brunch person—more specifically, I love French toast. This Bananas Foster French toast was probably the best thing I have eaten since being in Birmingham. It was caramelized so perfectly, and the bananas were a delicious touch. We also had their apple pie beignets which were devoured very quickly.”
Emma Johnston, Content Intern
Location: (Homewood) 1017 Oxmoor Rd Suite 101, Birmingham, AL 35209 | (Brook Highland) 5243 US-280, Birmingham, AL 35242
Hours: 7:30AM-2PM, 7:30AM-3PM
Website | Facebook | Instagram
10. The Fowl Mouth, Waldo’s Chicken & Beer
this sandwich is one of the best things to eat in Birmingham. (Gabby Gervais / Bham Now)
“I’d been excited to try Waldo’s Chicken & Beer since I heard about their opening and I was not disappointed. The Fowl Mouth sandwich packs a punch—it’s very spicy but not overwhelming enough to take away the flavor. Their mac and cheese was the perfect side to pair it with.”
Gabby Gervais, Content Producer
Location: 3009 Pump House Road, Vestavia Hills, AL 35249
Hours: Monday-Friday 11AM-9PM | Saturday-Sunday 10:30AM-9PM
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11. Chocolate cream pie from Pizza Grace
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No Question Roy Wood Jr Should Host Daily Show Randall Woodfin Says
‘No Question’ Roy Wood Jr Should Host ‘Daily Show,’ Randall Woodfin Says https://digitalalabamanews.com/no-question-roy-wood-jr-should-host-daily-show-randall-woodfin-says/
Who should be the next host of “The Daily Show” on Comedy Central? For Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin, the choice is clear.
On Monday, Woodfin tossed his enthusiastic support to Roy Wood Jr., a comedian, actor and “Daily Show” correspondent who grew up in Birmingham.
“There’s no question who should replace Trevor Noah on the Daily Show. Birmingham is riding with @roywoodjr,” Woodfin said via Twitter. “Run him his check!”
Wood, 43, is on the short list of candidates to replace current host Trevor Noah, according to a report by TMZ.
“Sources with direct knowledge tell TMZ that Comedy Central executives view Roy as someone who could potentially become the next face of ‘TDS’,” TMZ said. The report added that Wood’s contract is coming up for renewal and Comedy Central execs consider him “a natural fit” to replace Noah.
Noah, a standup comedian from South Africa who’s been at the helm of “The Daily Show” for seven years, announced on Sept. 29 that he’d be exiting the late-night TV show. His Twitter post gave no date for his departure — and Noah didn’t point to his pick for a successor — but speculation has been running rampant ever since.
Other prospective candidates for the job, according to media buzz, include Amber Ruffin, Samantha Bee, Ronny Chieng and Jordan Klepper.
Wood has been a force on “The Daily Show” since 2015 with his sharp and witty reports on American social issues, politics and more. His potential for a bigger spotlight has been noted before; Wood topped a list for potential replacements for “The Late Late Show” on CBS after James Corden announced he will leave the job in 2023.
Wood shares his views on a popular podcast, “Roy’s Job Fair,” and he appeared in the 2022 movie “Confess, Fletch,” starring “Mad Men” actor Jon Hamm. In 2021, the comedian was featured in the PBS series “Finding Your Roots,” sharing the flood of emotions he experienced as the show documented his ancestors’ history as slaves.
RELATED: ‘Finding Your Roots:’ Roy Wood Jr. hopes painful look at the past will pay off in his son’s future
With Wood’s talent and ever-growing track record, it’s no surprise that Birmingham’s mayor would give the comedian a big thumb’s up.
Wood maintains strong ties to Birmingham — his mother, Joyce Dugan Wood, lives here — and Wood has advocated for local nonprofits such as Start the Adventure in Reading, a literacy organization that focuses on kids in elementary school.
In June 2020, Wood was among the volunteers working on a cleanup in downtown Birmingham, after businesses were damaged and vandalized in the aftermath of a Black Lives Matter protest in Linn Park.
Wood talked about the protest, the cleanup, Birmingham’s response to George Floyd’s death and efforts here to combat racism during an appearance on “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.”
“I just think there’s just a wonderful show of initiative happening here in the city,” Wood said, “and I’ve never been more proud to be from Birmingham than in the past 72 hours.”
RELATED: Roy Wood Jr. to Jimmy Fallon: ‘I’ve never been more proud to be from Birmingham’
Wood has a history in local comedy clubs such as the Comedy Club Stardome in Hoover. He launched a GoFundMe campaign for workers there during early stages of the coronavirus pandemic.
In 2019, Wood announced plans to film a pilot for a TV series, “Jefferson County: Probation,” in the Birmingham metro area. Wood also represented Birmingham when he competed on the NBC series “Last Comic Standing” in 2010.
Although he hasn’t directly addressed his prospects as Noah’s successor on “The Daily Show,” Wood made it clear on Twitter that he’s seen the TMZ report, joking about the photo the gossip site used.
Now y’all now know good and gotdayum well y’all got a better picture than that of me on ya lil laptop
RoyWoodJrAshyFace.jpg https://t.co/kXykbbK1ul
— Roy Wood Jr- Ex Jedi (@roywoodjr) October 1, 2022
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