Veteran NY Judge Named As Arbiter In Trump Mar-A-Lago Probe
Veteran NY Judge Named As Arbiter In Trump Mar-A-Lago Probe https://digitalalaskanews.com/veteran-ny-judge-named-as-arbiter-in-trump-mar-a-lago-probe/
This photo shows an aerial view of former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Fla., Wednesday, Aug. 31, 2022. The Justice Department says classified documents were “likely concealed and removed” from former President Donald Trump’s Florida estate as part of an effort to obstruct the federal investigation into the discovery of the government records. (AP Photo/Steve Helber)[ASSOCIATED PRESS/Steve Helber]
WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge has appointed a veteran New York jurist to serve as an independent arbiter and review records seized during an FBI search of former President Donald Trump’s home last month.
The selection of Raymond Dearie, a former federal prosecutor who for years served as the chief judge of the federal court based in Brooklyn, came after both the Justice Department and Trump’s lawyers made clear that they would be satisfied with his appointment as a so-called special master.
In that role, Dearie will be responsible for reviewing the documents taken during the Aug. 8 search of Mar-a-Lago and segregating out any that may be covered by claims of privilege. It is not clear how long the work will take but the special master process has already delayed the investigation, with a judge in Florida directing the Justice Department to temporarily pause core aspects of its probe.
The Justice Department is investigating the hoarding of top-secret materials and other classified documents at the Florida property after Trump left office. The FBI says it recovered more than 11,000 documents from the home during its Aug. 8 search, including over 100 with classification markings.
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
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Race For Harris County Judge Heats Up As Lina Hidalgo Connects Alex Mealer To Trump
Race For Harris County Judge Heats Up As Lina Hidalgo Connects Alex Mealer To Trump https://digitalalaskanews.com/race-for-harris-county-judge-heats-up-as-lina-hidalgo-connects-alex-mealer-to-trump/
The race for Harris County Judge is one of the most closely watched races this cycle. The race pins current Democratic County Judge Lina Hidalgo against Alex Mealer.
Author: khou.com
Published: 6:13 PM CDT September 15, 2022
Updated: 6:13 PM CDT September 15, 2022
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Longtime New York Judge Named As Independent Arbiter To Review Documents Seized In FBI Search Of Trump's Florida Home
Longtime New York Judge Named As Independent Arbiter To Review Documents Seized In FBI Search Of Trump's Florida Home https://digitalalaskanews.com/longtime-new-york-judge-named-as-independent-arbiter-to-review-documents-seized-in-fbi-search-of-trumps-florida-home/
WASHINGTON (AP) — Longtime New York judge named as independent arbiter to review documents seized in FBI search of Trump’s Florida home.
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
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Book: Trump Wanted To Trade Puerto Rico For Greenland
Book: Trump Wanted To Trade Puerto Rico For Greenland https://digitalalaskanews.com/book-trump-wanted-to-trade-puerto-rico-for-greenland/
Book: Trump Wanted to Trade Puerto Rico for Greenland TDS-Net
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L https://digitalalaskanews.com/l-2/
Letter to the editor:
My Response to Becky Rom:
In the last few months, Becky Rom, has penned numerous letters to the Ely Echo that, at first blush, use questionable data and accusations. Based on her reoccurring playlist of talking points, I have comments and questions for Becky. Change your strategy, you’ve become too predictable.
You fixate on the phrase “sulfide-ore mining.” Literally, you mention it everywhere. Are you actually telegraphing your consent that “oxide-ore mining” is an acceptable method of mining?
Here’s a fact that never rolls off your pen or your lips; that TMM has less than 2% sulfide in its porphyry, and that PolyMet has only .8 of 1% sulphide. Truthfully, the sulfur issue regarding these two mines shouldn’t even be getting an honorable mention.
Of course, all of this is made to matter since sulfur, when exposed to oxygen (air and water) morphs into sulfuric acid and a sulphide or sulfate in volume can be the end result. A few years ago, Bobby Tamman, an anti-mining voice on the Range, used a calibrated instrument called a Siemens meter, an instrument that measures the electrical conductance of water; contaminated mine drainage for example. Tamman tested the creek that flows out of the former LTV Dunca pit; a pit that is being used as a storage basin for a large tonnage of porphyry ore that contained the desired minerals that TMM would like to extract today. Tamman posted his results from the creek that indicated a reading of 1,000, an ominous sounding number. But is it really that bad? The average conductivity of tap water in the United States is about 100 units. However, the conductivity of tap water can range as low as 0.5 in some areas to over 1,000 in others. Even with unhampered waste water, it registered near the high side of tap water. The storage pile leaching into Birch Lake has been doing so for over 50 years when the ore was taken from a deep shaft near the Kawishiwi River. The ore was excavated for testing (I presume crushing and smelting) with the remainder being the substantial storage pile which should contain some level of sulfur. Of importance, the ore had been sitting and leaching into Bob’s bay on Birch Lake. And yet today, the creek would pass for tap water. It’s a shame that Tamman didn’t take readings from 100, 200, and 500 meters out from the creek mouth as it emptied into Birch Lake. I suspect the 1000 unit reading on the meter would drop quickly due to dilution of constantly moving lake water; key word being dilution.
You fixate on the phrase “Toxic-Tailings” even when we know that the TMM mine is considered a dry mine since no water has been discovered during the core drilling process (during core drilling is my assumption).
The TMM waste material will be dry stacked, any waste that even hints of sulfide will go back into the depths of the mine and encased in cement till the end of time. And that which will be left on the ground will be sold as a washed and crushed commodity and sold to companies that use copious amounts in asphalt and concrete projects. (NOTE: here in Brazil, two zinc mines I worked at sell all their dry tails to the cement industry). Any surface-stored gangue will eventually be sculpted to follow the surrounding terrain, covered with top soil and planted with native flora and vegetation. Prudent reclamation. Again, anything with a trace of sulfur goes back in the mine to be encased in concrete for all eternity.
The assumed corruption of Ivanka Trump and the Luksic family over a house rental: Contrary to your continuous attempts to vilify the Trump/Luksic families, the rental property in the Kalorama neighborhood near Georgetown is a non-issue. An agency for Luksic was looking to purchase a house in this area for one of the Luksic corporations. They found one that was built in 1923 and paid $5.5 million for the little fixer-upper. The house was gutted to the studs and remodeled. Upon completion, a second agency went looking for a house to rent for their client, the Trump/Kushner team.
A mandatory requirement was that it must be close to the US Capitol. Both Trump and Kushner now had offices in the east wing. The house the agency located was actually a few minute walk to work. Both agencies feel that the owner/renter did not know each other at the time of the contract signing by their respective agencies. The house was rented for $15,000 a month- the neighborhood was perfect.
The Obama’s purchased a home across the street and at the other end of the block. Jeff Bezos (Amazon) purchased a home a few blocks away as did former Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson. This neighborhood was a bastion of the most elite pols in government. This neighborhood was perfect.
This house was strictly a business deal for Luksic; nothing more/nothing less. Today the house is valued at nearly $7 million and people would fight to have it. It is currently rented for $18,000 a month. As for the Trump/Kushner family, they followed the president to Florida. If they didn’t need to be close to the President in the first place, they would still be in New York. The Kushner’s purchased a lot on a private island and are waiting for their new house to be completed. Can’t wait to see the house since the lot cost $32 million. Really Becky, there is no story here and to make one up is petty.
The assumed corruption between Luksic and his Paraguayan partner, Horacio Cortes: Cortes is a former Paraguayan President. This one took some work, and it’s a spider web of global connections, most of which are not good.
Luksic has a company that deals in Paraguay with gas stations, fuel distribution, beer brewery’s and sports drink companies and tobacco products. Cartes was the partner in tobacco products, fuel and distribution of both. The US has been investigating Cartes on terrorism connections since he uses a Venezuelan owned Boeing 747 freight hauler with stops in numerous Central American countries. The crew consists of 14 Venezuelan and 5 Iranian men. The pilot is a guy named Ghasemi, an active member of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard. And this is where the terrorism concerns come from and why the US has been investigating this operation. Street gossip says he may have been dropping off terrorists in these countries to cross our open border, but again, this is only gossip. Regardless, the 747 is being held in Buenos Aires by the Argentinean government.
Luksic’s partner, Horacio Cartes was a walking example of greed and stupidity. The good news is that Luksic’s skirts are clean. In June, Luksic flew to Asuncion with four of his directors and met with Cartes. Three hours later, they were headed home to Chile, the partnership was in shambles and Luksic kept the beer and fuel business. Luksic was not getting dragged into the spider web that he didn’t even know existed.
Regarding your legal deposition and knowledge of the law. I know nothing of the law and you’re the lawyer so I have to assume your legalese is laid out in a path that you can justify. For us mining guys, we can only hope that our side gets a fair shake in the courts and that our lawyers prove to be every bit as clever as you.
You’re a Ranger Becky. Like it or not, your roots and your blood run deep where you live. If you wanted to destroy an industry, fine.
But you will also kill the Arrowhead and our 150 year old Ranger culture. Do you really want that as your legacy?
We can do this. It can be done surgically. We can do it now, or the Chinese can do it later, but it’s getting extracted. Our lives are temporary, our legacies are forever.
Bob Colombo
Ouro Preto, MG, Brazil
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New York City Councilmembers Increase Pressure For City To End Contract With Trump Golf Course
New York City Councilmembers Increase Pressure For City To End Contract With Trump Golf Course https://digitalalaskanews.com/new-york-city-councilmembers-increase-pressure-for-city-to-end-contract-with-trump-golf-course/
Trump Golf Links in Ferry Point is operated by the Trump Organization on public land owned by the city.
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Trump Golf Links in Ferry Point is operated by the Trump Organization on public land owned by the city.
Drew Angerer/Getty Images
Members of the City Council called on Mayor Eric Adams to end the city’s contract with the Trump Organization on Thursday.
The current arrangement allows former President Donald Trump’s company to manage a public golf course in the Bronx. But councilmembers said this agreement should be voided in light of Trump’s legal troubles.
“Public parkland should not be in the hands of Donald Trump or his criminal enterprise,” said Councilmember Shekar Krishnan at a press conference before a public hearing on Thursday.
The Council was joined in its efforts by several people who lost loved ones in the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks. They expressed anger at the golf course’s plans to host the upcoming Aramco Team Series women’s golf tournament, which is sponsored by the government of Saudi Arabia.
Trump Golf Links in Ferry Point is operated by the Trump Organization on public land owned by the city. For years, the contract between the Trump Organization and the city has attracted criticism for its ties to the former president as well as the generous tax breaks that the city offered the organization. This summer, the golf course sparked new controversy over its connections to Saudi Arabia.
Councilmembers said hosting an event sponsored by Saudi political leadership was “offensive” to families of 9/11 victims because of that country’s role in the attacks. They said scrapping the contract by this Saturday would cancel the tournament.
“If the American golfers and the former president don’t want to stand up for the 9/11 families in their fight for justice and accountability, I wish they would at least stand up for their fellow citizens that had to decide whether they should jump from the 100th floor or burn alive,” said Dennis McGinley, who was overcome with emotion as he read aloud an opinion piece he authored that ran in the USA TODAY Network. McGinley lost his older brother Danny in the attacks.
Mayor Eric Adams has said in statements that the golf course should not be hosting the upcoming tournament, citing the “deep anger” felt by families whose lives were upended by the 9/11 attacks. But his administration said it cannot legally block the tournament.
In January 2021, then-Mayor Bill de Blasio announced he was ending the city’s contract with the Trump Organization over management of the golf course, saying he had authority to do so because of Trump’s “criminal” role in the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection. However, a Manhattan Supreme Court judge ruled in April that the city had wrongfully terminated the 20-year contract.
That clash was reinvigorated last week via a letter from Krishnan and Council Speaker Adrienne Adams, who urged Mayor Eric Adams and his parks commissioner, Sue Donoghue, to strip the organization of its license.
Councilmembers argued that the permitting issue should be revived due to a series of legal troubles facing the Trump Organization. They claim that the guilty plea from Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg in August to a litany of charges — from tax fraud to falsifying business records — means that the contract should be reconsidered. They also point to other lawsuits against the former president himself.
“In addition to the long history of the Trump Organization’s problematic practices and fraudulent operations, the recently announced plans for the Aramco Team Series women’s golf tournament to be held at Ferry Point Park are an affront to the values of New York City,” the Sept. 7 letter from Councilmember Krishnan and Speaker Adams reads.
Speaker Adams, appearing at the press conference on Thursday, said the Trump Organization’s hosting of the tournament shortly after another 9/11 anniversary “is insensitive to say the least.”
Mayor Adams’ administration has been resistant to strip the Trump Organization of its control over Ferry Point, pointing to the costs the city would potentially incur to terminate the license in question.
Max Young, Mayor Adams’ communications director, said the mayor had been advised against appearing at the hearing “because of ongoing litigation risk.”
“As we’ve told Chair Krishnan and his colleagues in the City Council, ending the contract we inherited would require the city to pay up to tens of millions of dollars to the Trump Organization, an outcome no one wants. If the chairman would in fact prefer to continue down the route he has advocated and pay the Trump administration, he should publicly share the amount he’d like the city to turn over,” Young said in a statement.
The golf course has long had a contentious relationship with the city, stemming from its expensive development when the project was first announced in 1998 under then-Mayor Rudy Guiliani.
In 2011, the city struck a deal with Donald Trump to run the course. That arrangement has faced pushback because the Trump Organization received significant tax breaks that did not trickle down to taxpayers.
“Given the city’s budget situation, termination at will — as you are suggesting — would be irresponsible at this time,” said written testimony from Parks Commissioner Sue Donoghue for today’s hearing. “It would embroil the City in litigation and require a termination payment to Trump Ferry that Trump Ferry has claimed could amount to $30 million.”
The Trump Organization’s contract with the city over the management of the golf course is set to expire in April 2032. Its spokespeople did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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Trump Warns Of big Problems If Indicted Says Hed Still Run For Office
Trump Warns Of ‘big Problems’ If Indicted, Says He’d Still Run For Office https://digitalalaskanews.com/trump-warns-of-big-problems-if-indicted-says-hed-still-run-for-office/
Former president Donald Trump warned that if he were indicted on a charge of mishandling classified documents after leaving the White House, there would be “problems in this country the likes of which perhaps we’ve never seen before.”
Trump, speaking Thursday to conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt, added, “I don’t think the people of the United States would stand for it.”
Hewitt, who is also a contributing columnist for The Washington Post, then noted that critics would describe the comment as inciting violence, and he asked Trump to respond to the claim. “That’s not inciting — I’m just saying what my opinion is. I don’t think the people of this country would stand for it,” Trump said.
When pressed by Hewitt, Trump said he thought there would be “big problems, big problems.”
Federal agents conducted a court-authorized search of Trump’s club and residence Aug. 8, as part of a long-running investigation into whether government documents — some of which are classified — were being stored at Mar-a-Lago instead of returned to the National Archives.
The FBI probe is the latest legal pressure on Trump, who now faces growing scrutiny as the criminal probe intensifies. The investigation is looking into whether he or his former aides took classified government documents and improperly stored or never returned them. Trump’s lawyer has argued that the former president cooperated with federal authorities and that many of the documents were covered by executive privilege.
In January 2021, the House impeached Trump on a single charge of “incitement of insurrection” for his role in whipping up a crowd of his supporters to stop Congress from the counting of electoral college votes for Joe Biden. A mob of pro-Trump supporters stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, to stop the count, an attack that resulted in five deaths and injuries to dozens of members of law enforcement.
Trump’s comments Thursday came hours before officials from the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security briefed Republicans and Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee about threats against federal officials. After the briefing, Sen. Richard J. Durbin (D-Ill.), the committee’s chairman, described Trump’s rhetoric as dangerous.
“Inviting the mob to return to the streets is exactly what happened here on January 6th, 2021,” Durbin told reporters. After noting that five people died as a result of the attack and 149 law enforcement agents were injured that day, the senator said Trump’s “careless and inflammatory rhetoric has its consequences.”
In the interview with Hewitt, Trump also said he “would have no prohibition against running” for office if he were indicted. “It would not take you out of the arena,” Hewitt said, trying to clarify the former president’s position. Trump replied, “It would not.”
Trump repeatedly has hinted at another run for the presidency in 2024.
In 1920, socialist Eugene V. Debs ran for president from prison, where he was serving time in the Atlanta Federal Penitentiary for speaking out against the draft during World War I. Debs and his running mate, Emil Seidel, garnered 913,693 votes, but — as in his previous campaigns — no electoral votes.
Trump’s warning of problems echoes Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.), who told Fox News last month that there would be “riots in the street” if Trump is prosecuted. Trump appeared to endorse the notion, sharing a link to a video of Graham’s comments on his Truth Social platform.
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Research From Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center Provide New Insights Into Cardiovascular Diseases And Conditions (Association Between Medicare Program Type And Health Care Access Acute Care Utilization And Affordability Among Adults With ): Cardiovascular Diseases And Conditions
Research From Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center Provide New Insights Into Cardiovascular Diseases And Conditions (Association Between Medicare Program Type And Health Care Access, Acute Care Utilization, And Affordability Among Adults With …): Cardiovascular Diseases And Conditions https://digitalalaskanews.com/research-from-beth-israel-deaconess-medical-center-provide-new-insights-into-cardiovascular-diseases-and-conditions-association-between-medicare-program-type-and-health-care-access-acute-care-utiliz/
2022 SEP 15 (NewsRx) — By a Editor at — Investigators discuss new findings in cardiovascular diseases and conditions. According to news reporting originating from the by NewsRx correspondents, research stated, “Medicare Advantage plans now provide health insurance coverage to 24 million older adults in , and enrollment is increasing among individuals with cardiovascular disease (CVD). Whether Medicare Advantage enrollment is associated with similar health care access, acute care utilization, and financial strain for adults with CVD compared with traditional Medicare is unknown.”
The news journalists obtained a quote from the research from : “We performed a cross-sectional study of Medicare beneficiaries 65 years or older with CVD using the 2019 . We fit multivariable logistic regression models to examine the association of Medicare program type (Medicare Advantage versus traditional Medicare) with measures of health care access, acute care utilization, and affordability. The weighted population included 11 013 437 Medicare beneficiaries, of whom 3 922 104 (35.6%) were enrolled in Medicare Advantage, and 7 091 334 (64.4%) were enrolled in traditional Medicare. Medicare Advantage and traditional Medicare enrollees were similar with respect to age, sex, racial/ethnic distribution, and household income; however, Medicare Advantage beneficiaries were more likely to live in an urban setting (82.7% versus 76.0%; P =0.01) and to be college educated (24.2% versus 19.0%; P =0.01). Medicare Advantage beneficiaries were more likely to have a usual source of care (93.5% versus 88.9%; OR, 1.99 [95% CI, 1.33-2.98)]; however, there were no other differences in health care access or utilization. Medicare Advantage beneficiaries were more likely to have problems paying medical bills (16.5% versus 11.6%; OR, 1.68 [1.17-2.40]) and to worry about paying medical bills (40.1% versus 33.8%; OR, 1.37 [1.07-1.76]) compared with those enrolled in traditional Medicare.”
According to the news reporters, the research concluded: “Adults with CVD in Medicare Advantage were more likely to experience financial strain related to their medical bills compared with those in traditional Medicare. As enrollment in Medicare Advantage grows, policy efforts should focus on ensuring care is affordable for patients with CVD.”
For more information on this research see: Association Between Medicare Program Type and Health Care Access, Acute Care Utilization, and Affordability Among Adults With Cardiovascular Disease. Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes, 2022. The publisher for Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes is Ovid Technologies ().
A free version of this journal article is available at https://doi.org/10.1161/circoutcomes.121.008762.
Our news editors report that additional information may be obtained by contacting , Richard A. and , , (A.S.O., R.A., A.K., R.W.Y., R.K.W.). Additional authors for this research include , , Ashley Kyalwazi, , .
ORCID is an identifier for authors and includes bibliographic information. The following is ORCID information for the authors of this research: (http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5810-5927), (http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3996-1381), (http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0564-4468), (http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1089-3896).
(Our reports deliver fact-based news of research and discoveries from around the world.)
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Stock Market Today: Dow Loses Over 150 Points As U.S. Stocks Extend Losses; Oil And Gas Prices Fall
Stock Market Today: Dow Loses Over 150 Points As U.S. Stocks Extend Losses; Oil And Gas Prices Fall https://digitalalaskanews.com/stock-market-today-dow-loses-over-150-points-as-u-s-stocks-extend-losses-oil-and-gas-prices-fall/
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Last Updated: Sep 15, 2022 at 5:20 pm ET
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Russias Vladimir Putin Says Chinas Xi Jinping Raised Concerns On Ukraine War
Russia’s Vladimir Putin Says China’s Xi Jinping Raised Concerns On Ukraine War https://digitalalaskanews.com/russias-vladimir-putin-says-chinas-xi-jinping-raised-concerns-on-ukraine-war/
Amid challenges at home, Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russia’s Vladimir Putin are looking to deepen ties and showcase a united front to the West. Photo: Alexander Demianchuk/TASS via ZUMA Press
Updated Sept. 15, 2022 4:29 pm ET
Russian President Vladimir Putin said he sought to address Beijing’s concerns Thursday about the Ukraine war in his first meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping since the start of the conflict, which has recently brought major battlefield setbacks for Moscow.
Mr. Putin told his Chinese counterpart that Moscow highly values what he called Beijing’s balanced position regarding the Ukraine crisis. He added that the Kremlin would clarify its position on Ukraine, without explaining further.
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Despite periods Of Hysteria Truman Found Cause For Hope In The National Character Virginia Mercury
Despite “periods Of Hysteria,” Truman Found Cause For Hope In The National Character – Virginia Mercury https://digitalalaskanews.com/despite-periods-of-hysteria-truman-found-cause-for-hope-in-the-national-character-virginia-mercury/
By William Walker
Historians have an unfortunate reputation for delivering bad news. That indictment was recently bolstered by a group of the nation’s leading scholars who warned President Joe Biden that they foresaw unrest, violence and perhaps even civil war approaching the United States.
To counter those grim prospects, I am pleased to report the discovery of an historical interpretation that portends a brighter future, despite the fierce convolutions of the MAGA-minded, the persistent lies of their leaders and the violent threats of its supporters.
The optimistic tale has an unusual setting: a 1954 visit by the distinguished historian Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr. to former President Harry Truman, whose Democrats were being shellacked by the GOP.
At the time, the Republicans were bewitched by another cult-meister — Sen. Joe McCarthy and his conspiracy theories of communists infiltrating the federal government. Beating the loud drums of xenophobia, nationalism and hatred, the GOP was undermining Truman’s legacy by charging former Secretary of State George Marshall with treason, claiming that spy rings riddled the armed forces and decrying the perils of creeping socialism, the GOP’s perennial anthem.
It sounds depressingly familiar, a mirror image of the future that historians predicted for President Biden. But during Schlesinger’s visit with Truman, the discussion took a more optimistic turn.
The historian expected to find the former president in the dumps, bemoaning evil times boding national disaster. But Truman had a surprisingly different attitude.
The former chief executive had been musing about “the incidence of periods of hysteria in American history,” Schlesinger recorded in his journals. “As he figures it, the periodicity is about 8-10 years; thus, from the Alien and Sedition Acts to the trial of Aaron Burr; the Know-Nothings and anti-abolition sentiment of the fifties; Reconstruction through the election of 1876; from A. Mitchell Palmer to the campaign of 1928.”
Truman’s analysis of periods of civic madness is accurate, but the former chief executive was not content to stop with a dissection of the problem. He went on to predict better days.
“[Truman] guesses that it will take McCarthyism 8-10 years to burn itself out — which means anywhere from 1956 to 1960 before it is over. But he affirmed, both touchingly and impressively, his faith in the decency of the American people and their capacity to recover from these binges of fear and panic.”
Given all that we have seen from the time that Donald Trump declared his candidacy for the presidency in 2015 to the present — collusion with foreign forces and dark money to win the election, insistence that white supremacists are good people, separation of mothers and babies at the border, attempts to undermine NATO, admiration for international dictators, slashes to safety nets for the poor and elderly, persistent lies about the outcome of the election, an attempted coup fostered and fueled by the president, and the theft of top-secret documents — considering all of this, can we retain Truman’s optimism for the future?
If Truman’s analysis is accurate, we should be witnessing the first signs of a return to national sanity now — seven years after Trump’s descent from his grand tower. Indeed, there are hopeful signs in the work of the Jan. 6 committee and Merrick Garland’s dogged pursuit of the truth; people are beginning to listen, to understand, to believe. These are vastly important initiatives, but we must remind ourselves that Truman rested his faith in a different place: “The decency of the American people and their capacity to recover from these binges of fear and panic.”
Ultimately, this is where we must place our faith as well. John Adams wisely noted that the first American revolution “was in the minds and hearts of the people.” And according to historian Truman, Americans have repeatedly shaken off self-imposed mental chains to overcome periods of instability like the one we are suffering. The fruits of those awakenings were a stronger national union, freedom for slaves, extension of the right to vote, broader civil rights and other inestimable blessings of liberty.
In these difficult days, a national appeal to the “better angels of our nature” may seem fatuous. But as American history has shown, “the decency of the American people” is a real force that has asserted itself at least four times in our history and proved sufficient even to heal our bloody Civil War. May it ever be.
William Walker is the author of Betrayal at Little Gibraltar (Scribner, 2016), a book about the Great War’s Meuse-Argonne Offensive, and he focuses his scholarship on World War I history. Before retirement, he served as associate vice president for public affairs at Virginia Tech and the College of William and Mary.
Our stories may be republished online or in print under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. We ask that you edit only for style or to shorten, provide proper attribution and link to our web site. Please see our republishing guidelines for use of photos and graphics.
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Rumble SPAC CFVI Falls As Holders Approve Deal To Go Public (NASDAQ:CFVI)
Rumble SPAC CFVI Falls As Holders Approve Deal To Go Public (NASDAQ:CFVI) https://digitalalaskanews.com/rumble-spac-cfvi-falls-as-holders-approve-deal-to-go-public-nasdaqcfvi/
Sagar Gore/iStock via Getty Images
SPAC CF Acquisition VI (NASDAQ:CFVI) dropped 16% as shareholders approved at a vote on Thursday its combination with YouTube competitor Rumble. The share plunge erased this week’s 16% gain for the stock.
Only 0.1% of the 30 million CFVI public shares are being redeemed in connection with the meeting, according to a statement. Assuming the transaction is completed on Friday, Rumble will start trading under the new ticker “RUM” on Nasdaq on Monday.
Rumble and SPAC CFVI (CFVI) have gained attention this year after the alternative YouTube platform announced a deal with former President Donald Trump’s social media company and his platform Truth Social. Trump’s media company is also going public through a deal with SPAC Digital World Acquisition (DWAC).
The deal to take Rumble public was valued at about $2.1 billion when it was announced in early December. In a recent S-4 filing, Rumble and CFVI said that Rumble’s U.S. advertising business is now valued at between $7.6 billion – $9.7 billion. Rumble’s video platform has become increasingly popular with conservative content makers.
Also see SA contributor Wyco Researcher’s piece from earlier Thursday entitled “CF Acquisition Shareholders Approve Rumble SPAC Merger After Shares Soared.”
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Biden Nominates US Attorney For Florida Mar-A-Lago District
Biden Nominates US Attorney For Florida Mar-A-Lago District https://digitalalaskanews.com/biden-nominates-us-attorney-for-florida-mar-a-lago-district/
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden has nominated a Miami litigator and longtime government lawyer to serve as U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Florida, the office currently involved in the Justice Department’s investigation of classified records at former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate.
Markenzy Lapointe would replace Juan Antonio “Tony” Gonzalez, who has been a top prosecutor in Southern Florida involved in the investigation of the classified records and the debate over whether a judge should appoint a special master to review the documents taken by FBI in the search.
It was unclear why the Biden administration chose to announce the nomination for the position now, as the government’s case winds its way through the court system. Gonzalez, who had previously served as a senior prosecutor in the office, had been appointed to the position by Attorney General Merrick Garland. He was never formally nominated for the position.
Gonzalez has served as a federal prosecutor in southern Florida since 1998 and served as the first assistant U.S. attorney and the acting U.S. attorney. He succeeded Ariana Fajardo Orshan, who had been nominated by Trump.
Lapointe will likely be in the spotlight for months to come as the investigation continues. He is currently with Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman, and before that he worked at Boies Schiller & Flexner. He worked in the Southern District of Florida as an assistant U.S. attorney from 2002 to 2006.
Biden also formally nominated Roger Handberg to be the United States attorney for the Middle District of Florida, which is handling a federal investigation into Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz. Handberg was appointed by Garland and has been serving in the role since 2021.
The president also nominated McLain Schneider to the District of North Dakota. He was in private practice and served in the North Dakota state Senate from 2008 to 2016.
All three nominees must be confirmed by the Senate.
The White House said the lawyers were chosen for their devotion to enforcing the law, “their professionalism, their experience and credentials, their dedication to pursuing equal justice for all, and their commitment to the independence of the Department of Justice.”
___
More on Donald Trump-related investigations: https://apnews.com/hub/donald-trump
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
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Georgia 2020 Election Inquiry May Lead To Prison Sentences Prosecutor Says
Georgia 2020 Election Inquiry May Lead To Prison Sentences, Prosecutor Says https://digitalalaskanews.com/georgia-2020-election-inquiry-may-lead-to-prison-sentences-prosecutor-says/
ATLANTA — The prosecutor investigating efforts by Donald Trump and his allies to challenge the 2020 election results in Georgia said this week that her team has heard credible allegations that serious crimes have been committed and that she believes some individuals may see jail time.
“The allegations are very serious. If indicted and convicted, people are facing prison sentences,” Fulton County District Attorney Fani T. Willis told The Washington Post.
No decision will be made for months on whether there will be indictments — and, most notably, if Trump himself will face charges. At least 17 people have been notified they are targets of the criminal investigation, meaning they could eventually face charges. And more targets will be added to the list soon, Willis said in an interview Tuesday in her Atlanta office.
Willis would not discuss any of the targets by name and has not said if she’s willing to charge the former president. Trump could be called to appear as a witness before the special grand jury that was convened this spring as part of the investigation, Willis said Tuesday.
“A decision is going to have to be made,” she said on whether to seek Trump’s testimony, “and I imagine it’s going to be made late this fall.”
So far, the group of known targets includes former Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani and the state’s 16 would-be Trump electors who created unofficial documents proclaiming Trump as the winner of Georgia’s electoral votes, even though he lost the state. Lawyers for Giuliani and the electors have denied any wrongdoing. Lawyers for the electors say their clients followed the law and made clear they met as a contingency measure as they waited for a court to rule on a challenge to the Georgia vote.
Trump said during a Thursday interview with conservative commentator Hugh Hewitt that he hasn’t received any target letters “at all” in ongoing criminal investigations. He denied involvement in the multistate plan by Republicans to send the names of Trump electors to Washington, but said such alternate elector slates were “very common.”
The Fulton County investigation is far from the only inquiry into Trump’s conduct around the 2020 election. The House select committee investigating Jan. 6 has looked extensively at the electors scheme and other matters. The Justice Department is investigating Trump’s actions related to the election as part of a federal grand jury probe.
In addition to investigating the Trump electors’ actions, Willis is looking at potential criminal wrongdoing in calls Trump and his allies made to Georgia officials, false statements made to lawmakers, harassment of election officials and the tampering of election systems in one county in southern Georgia.
Willis said she anticipates wrapping up the fact-finding stage of the inquiry before the end of the year, even as she continues to expand its reach. She said the probe will stop public activities, such as calling witnesses, for the month leading to the general election. When the special grand jury has finished hearing from witnesses, it is expected to provide Willis with a report that could include recommendations for indictments. She will then decide which individuals, if any, to charge.
Willis’s open and frank assessment is unusual for a prosecutor, as such high-profile investigations are often shrouded in secrecy. Her approach in this inquiry has drawn criticism from some in the legal community, but she said such transparency is a requirement of her job.
Her latest comments come as Republicans in Georgia — including the state’s governor — have complained that her investigation is politically motivated, a claim Willis, a Democrat, denies.
She noted that there was no grand jury activity during the period of the state’s primary election this spring and that she plans a similar quiet period starting Oct. 7 in advance of the November midterms.
“I didn’t want people to claim that this was some political stunt that we were doing to impact the election,” she said.
Willis said that the special grand jury has interviewed about 65 percent of the dozens of witnesses whose testimony has been sought by prosecutors.
“I’m pleased with where it is. I think we’re moving along at a really good speed,” Willis said, adding she was not concerned that some witnesses, including Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.), have resisted appearing before the grand jury.
“We are going to be done calling witnesses by the end of this year. Period,” she said.
The probe has already seen appearances from many high-profile witnesses, including Giuliani, who was informed last month that he is a target.
Giuliani’s lawyer, Robert Costello, declined to comment on Willis’s latest remarks.
In addition to Giuliani, Willis has notified 16 would-be Trump electors from Georgia that they, too, are targets of the probe. In the past, lawyers for some of the electors suggested their clients would have cooperated with the inquiry had Willis not identified them as targets. The lawyers declined to comment on Willis’s latest remarks.
In the interview, Willis said she fleetingly hoped she would not have to open the 2020 election inquiry at all. She had been in office only a couple of days in early January 2021 when news reports from The Post and others described Trump’s call to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger (R) urging him to “find” additional votes to overcome Joe Biden’s lead in Georgia.
Willis said she quickly realized she would have to investigate the alleged election interference. “I understood that if this occurred in Fulton County, it is serious enough that it needed to be looked at,” she said.
Since then, Willis’s probe has grown and represents — along with a ramped up federal inquiry — a serious threat that criminal charges could be brought against Trump and his allies.
Trump has criticized Willis on social media as a “young, ambitious, Radical Left Democrat … who is presiding over one of the most Crime Ridden and Corrupt places in the USA.”
Willis says she is undeterred by such criticism and by the regular threats directed against her.
Court filings and interviews indicate her team continues to examine several key themes. First, they are pursuing whether there were violations of Georgia law prohibiting false statements to government officials. Those statutes could apply to Giuliani and other Trump campaign advisers who cited evidence — later debunked — of widespread election fraud when speaking to Georgia legislative committees.
Second, Willis is examining the calls made by Trump and others to Georgia officials after the election. In court filings, Willis has cited a Georgia statute prohibiting the solicitation of election fraud.
Third, prosecutors have been pursuing the effort to send the names of would-be Trump electors from Georgia to Washington. Prosecutors are interested in whether sending official Trump electors from battleground states was part of an organized effort to give Vice President Mike Pence a reason to declare that the outcome of the election was in doubt when he presided over the congressional counting of electoral votes on Jan. 6, 2021.
Two weeks ago, Willis filed a petition seeking testimony from Boris Epshteyn, a lawyer who worked closely with Giuliani during the post- election period. The petition said Epshteyn “possesses unique knowledge” of “efforts by the Trump Campaign to submit false certificates of vote to former vice president Michael Pence and others.”
Last week, Epshteyn and Giuliani were among those named in a federal subpoena seeking information about the plan to submit slates of would-be Trump electors from Georgia and other states.
Willis in recent weeks has added new items to her investigative agenda, including seeking detailed information about threats made to an election worker.
In December 2020, according to her court filings, Trump allies pressured and threatened Ruby Freeman, a Fulton County elections worker. Willis declined to comment on recent filings related to pressure on Freeman except to say: “I hate a bully. Obviously, I think we would find it offensive to bully an election official to influence an election.”
Finally, Willis has expanded her probe to investigate whether election systems were improperly breached in Coffee County, Ga. That interest was initially disclosed in documents seeking testimony from Sidney Powell, a lawyer who worked for the Trump campaign after the 2020 election.
The Post was the first to report on the effort by Powell and other Trump allies to copy Coffee County’s restricted election systems data. The effort occurred as Trump allies focused publicly on voting machines, making the case that they were part of a plot to rig the election for Biden.
Willis’s petition for an appearance by Powell noted that, in addition to Coffee County, there is evidence indicating that Powell was “involved in similar efforts in Michigan and Nevada” during the same time that the Coffee County elections systems were supposedly breached. Powell did not respond to a request for comment.
Willis has suggested that this complex of activity — from organizing Trump electors to making false statements to applying pressure on local election officials could be prosecuted under Georgia’s conspiracy and anti-racketeering laws.
State anti-racketeering laws, known as Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act or RICO, were enacted decades ago as a legal tool to fight organized crime. Georgia’s RICO statute has been used by Willis and others to prosecute an array of high-profile cases. In 2014, Willis was one of the lead prosecutors securing convictions and guilty pleas from 30 Atlanta public school teachers and administrators implicated in a scandal to cheat on student tests.
“The RICO statute allows you to tell j...
The Complete Post Guide To Fort Wainwright https://digitalalaskanews.com/the-complete-post-guide-to-fort-wainwright/
Snowbirds and cold weather fans – rejoice in your new duty assignment to Fort Wainwright. This northern Army post is located adjacent to Fairbanks, Alaska, which is one of the top growing cities in the country. Alaska is home to the Northern Warfare Training Center and the Cold Regions Test Center. Wainwright’s strategic location makes it a significant national asset and global power projection platform. The post’s senior command is the 11th Airborne Division.
Overview
A PCS to Alaska counts as an OCONUS duty move, so your PCS pattern will be different from previous moves. Ensure you attend all out-processing briefs at your losing installation so you know what to expect. The cost of living in Alaska is high. Financial readiness will be key to having a successful experience in this northern state. Family members need to be listed on official orders to accompany Soldiers to Alaska. Additionally, all family members have to complete an EFMP screening.
Weather at Ft. Wainwright varies wildly. In fact, this post has the largest weather swing in the world. Summers can reach up to 90F and winters can see temps 65 degrees below zero! Don’t skimp on bringing both your cold weather and your warm weather gear. Speaking of cold weather training, check out this cold-weather ops course.
It’s also a good idea to invest in high-quality blackout curtains to help you sleep during the endless sunlight days of summer.
Ft. Wainwright Location
Fort Wainwright is located in Interior Alaska, between the Alaska Range in the south and the Brooks Range in the north. Fairbanks is the second-largest city in Alaska and is about 350 miles from the state capital, Anchorage.
More than 3,500 Soldiers from various units stationed at Fort Wainwright, Alaska, ran in the post’s celebration run for the U.S. Army’s 239th birthday Wednesday morning, June 11, 2014.
Directions
The most efficient and convenient way to reach post is by plane. Plan to arrive at the Fairbanks Airport. Your sponsor should meet you at the airport to help you get back to post. You could also arrive at the Anchorage airport.
From Fairbanks International Airport – Take the ramp to S Fairbanks and then merge onto AK-3 N/Robert Mitchell Expy. Keep left at the fork, follow signs for AK-2 N/Fort Wainwright and merge onto AK-2 W. Next, turn right onto Airport Way/Gaffney Rd. At the traffic circle, continue straight to stay on Airport Way/Gaffney Rd.
From Anchorage – Head north on I St toward W 4th Ave. Then, turn right at the 1st cross street onto W 4th Ave. Next, turn right at the 1st cross street onto H St. Turn left onto W 6th Ave and continue onto AK-1 N/E 5th Ave. Then continue straight onto AK-3 N. Keep left at the fork, follow signs for AK-2 N/Fort Wainwright and merge onto AK-2 W.
Alaska Marine Highway System
If you’re considering taking the Alaska Marine Highway System, please contact the Transportation Office for more information. The ferry boards in Bellingham, Washington and departs in Haines, Alaska. The drive to post from Haines is long – it’s about 660 miles away. You’ll need to travel from Alaska into Canada and back again to make the journey this way. Plan ahead for gas stops, rest stops, and lodging. Be prepared for minor vehicle repairs, too. There can be long stretches of road with no stops along the way. Passports will be required, so plan ahead accordingly.
Transportation
Armed Services YMCA (ASYMCA) offers a free shuttle service on post. The service is for Soldiers and families.
If you plan to ship your vehicle and you’re on a summer PCS cycle, ship it very early! If the vehicle is going to arrive between October and April, it must have anti-freeze protection up to -60F. You’ll also want to switch out any old batteries. Call the Relocation Office for more information.
The Fort Wainwright Fire Department was joined by the Steese Volunteer FD and the Chena Goldstream VFD, both part of the Fairbanks North Star Borough Fire Department system, on June 6, 2015, to conduct medical evacuation hoist training with C Company, 1st Battalion, 52nd Aviation Regiment (Air Ambulance).
Gates and Hours
Main Gate/Gaffney Road: Open 24/7
Badger gate/Badger Road: Monday-Sunday 0500-2000
Richardson Gate/Richardson Highway: Closed to everyone except special traffic requests.
Trainer Gate/Trainor Road: Monday-Friday 0530-2000 and Saturday-Sunday 0700-2000
Adult Education Centers (907) 353-7486
ASYMCA (907) 353-FREE
Child Development Center (907) 356-1550
CYS (Child and Youth Services) (907) 353-7713
DEERS Fort Wainwright (907) 353-2195
Emergency Relief Services/Army Emergency Relief (907) 353-7453
Exceptional Family Member Program (907) 353-4243
FAP (Family Advocacy Program/0 (907) 353-7317
Family Center (907) 353-4227
Finance Office (907) 353-1307
Hospital/Medical Treatment Facility (907) 353-4000
Household Goods/Transportation Office (907) 353-1150
Housing Services Office (907) 353-1190
ID/CAC Card Processing (907) 353-2243
Information and Referral Services (907) 353-4227
Legal Office (907) 353-6534
Library (907) 353-2642
Loan Closet (907) 353-4333
MWR (Morale Welfare and Recreation) (907) 353-6349/6350
New Parent Support Program 353-7515
Northern Lights Inn (Building 3402) (907) 353-3800
Personal Financial Management Services 353-7438
Personnel Support Office (907) 353-2273
Post Office (907) 356-7602
Relocation Office (907) 353-7908.
School Liaison Office/Community Schools (907) 353-YESS (9377)
Spouse Education, Training and Careers Employment Readiness Program (907) 353-4327
Temporary Lodging (907) 353-3800
Transition Assistance Program (907) 353-2113
Travel Office (907) 353-1166
Unaccompanied Housing (907) 361-4537
Veterinary Services (907) 353-2910
Visitor Center (907) 361-6144
Youth Center (907) 353-7488
Mission and Units
Like many DoD installations, Ft. Wainwright’s mission is simple. Deploy combat-ready forces to support joint military operations worldwide. The post also serves as the Joint Force Land Component Command. This helps support Joint Task Force Alaska.
Units at Ft. Wainwright include US Army Alaska (USARAK), the 1-25 Stryker Brigade Combat Team, the USARAK Aviation Task Force and the Northern Warfare Training Center (NWTC). ; Cold Regions Test Center (CRTC) and the 3rd Air Support Operations Squadron (USAF) are also on post. In addition, there are several tenant units as well.
Northern Warfare Training Center Commander Maj. William Prayner explains the unit’s history and how it came to be known as the NWTC to Gen. Tetsuro Yamanoue, chief, Training and Education, Japan Ground Self-Defense Force, during a tour of Fort Wainwright’s training sites and resources as part of a budding partnership between U.S. Army Alaska and the Japanese, Sept. 6, 2013. (U.S. Army Alaska photo by Staff Sgt. Trish McMurphy, USARAK Public Affairs)
Ft. Wainwright History
In 1939, the War Department established Ladd Field as a cold weather station to test aircraft under arctic conditions. Then, in 1961, ownership was given to the Army. It was redesignated as Wainwright in honor of WWII Gen. Jonathan M. Wainwright. Gen. Wainwright earned a Medal of Honor for his leadership during the fall of the Philippines in WWII.
For nearly ten years, it was home to the 171st Infantry Brigade. The 172nd Infantry Brigade was at Ft. Richardson in nearby Anchorage.
From 1986 until 1994, Ft. Wainwright was the home of the 6th Infantry Division (Light) and served as the division’s headquarters.
As part of the Army’s program to create six Stryker Brigade Combat Teams, the 172nd Infantry Brigade was reorganized to be a SBCT. Then in 2006, the 172nd was re-flagged as the 1st brigade of the 25th Infantry Division. That same year, the 4/123 Aviation Battalion was deactivated and re-flagged as the Task Force 49 Aviation Brigade.
These days, Ft. Wainwright is home to the Northern Warfare Training Center.
Things to Do Around Ft. Wainwright
It’s not all cold weather activities when you PCS to Alaska. In fact, there’s a ton to do during the warmer months!
Hotels
Hotels are hard to come by and they’re usually booked far in advance. Plan to call ahead if you’re interested in staying in a hotel.
Bridgewater Hotel, (907) 452-6661
Candlewood Suites Fairbanks, (907) 328-3200
Clarion Hotel & Suites Fairbanks, (907) 891-7231
Hampton Inn & Suites Fairbanks, (907) 451-1502
Fort Wainwright officers serve soldiers Thanksgiving Dinner at the North Star Dining Facility.
Food Scene
The Last Frontier doesn’t disappoint foodies and picky eaters alike. From incredibly fresh seafood to locally caught game, there’s something for everyone. Of course you’ll want to try moose and bear and Alaska is known for its salmon and halibut, too. You’ll also want to test reindeer sausage. It’s a summertime staple in the state and no picnic is complete without it! Definitely give muktuk a try. It’s made from whale blubber and tastes similar to coconut. Aside from that, don’t miss out on Eskimo ice cream. Called akutaq, it’s made from whipped fat, snow, and berries.
Activities
On post, you’ll find the usual activities – bowling, fitness centers, golf, and movie theaters. But when it’s time to stretch your wings and venture out, nearby Fairbanks has plenty to offer. In town, be sure to check out Fairbank’s amazing parks. Growden even has a skate park! If you’re looking for something more touristy, check out the Seward Military Resort. The Information, Tickets, and Travel office can help you plan your trip. Of course, you don’t want to miss out on history and culture, too. So be sure to check out any of the great museums Fairbanks has to offer.
Ft. Wainwright Housing
Housing costs are high and wait times for housing on-post are long. Call the Housing Office as soon as you receive your orders. Because temporary lodging is usually booked...
Queen Elizabeth Funeral 2022 | King Charles Joins Queen Elizabeths Coffin Procession
Queen Elizabeth Funeral 2022 | King Charles Joins Queen Elizabeth’s Coffin Procession https://digitalalaskanews.com/queen-elizabeth-funeral-2022-king-charles-joins-queen-elizabeths-coffin-procession/
Queen Elizabeth Funeral 2022 | King Charles Joins Queen Elizabeth’s Coffin Procession India Today
Queen’s funeral service to end with two-minute nationwide silence CNN
Guard Collapses Next To Queen’s Coffin During Livestream Of Lying In State HuffPost
Queen’s cousin Lady Gabriella Windsor ‘collapsed’ as coffin arrived at Westminster Express
Scotland’s papers: A nation ‘united in grief’ and soaring food costs BBC
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New York AG Rejects Trump Settlement Considers Civil Suit Against Trump Children
New York AG Rejects Trump Settlement, Considers Civil Suit Against Trump Children https://digitalalaskanews.com/new-york-ag-rejects-trump-settlement-considers-civil-suit-against-trump-children/
New York Attorney General Letitia James Thursday rejected a settlement offer from former President Donald Trump’s legal team to end James’ civil investigation into Trump, according to an exclusive report by the NYT. James is now considering suing at least one of Trump’s children—Ivanka, Eric, Donald Jr.— in a separate civil suit.
People familiar with the civil investigation told the NYT that James rejected at least one settlement offer from Trump’s legal team. Neither James’ office nor Trump’s representatives have issued any statement on the matter.
James’ potential civil suit would most likely be against any of the Trump children in their capacity as executives for the Trump Organization. In June, New York’s highest state court ruled that Trump and his children Ivanka and Donald Jr. had to sit for testimony under a subpoena issued in the civil investigation. While Trump did sit for a questioning with James, he refused to answer any questions, citing his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination.
James’ investigation began in 2019 and centers around a claim from former Trump attorney Michael Cohen that Trump and his organization used inaccurate evaluations of assets to obtain loans and tax breaks.
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On Day Of Democracy Boebert Opponent Frisch: 'Conspiracies And Lies Corrosive To Our Democracy' Real Vail
On Day Of Democracy, Boebert Opponent Frisch: 'Conspiracies And Lies Corrosive To Our Democracy' – Real Vail https://digitalalaskanews.com/on-day-of-democracy-boebert-opponent-frisch-conspiracies-and-lies-corrosive-to-our-democracy-real-vail/
Republican U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert during an online Natural Resources Committee meeting.
Today is the 2022 International Day of Democracy. The morning of Jan. 6, 2021, Republican U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert, whose Colorado 3rd Congressional District includes part of Eagle County, declared on Twitter, “Today is 1776”.
“Madame Speaker, I have constituents outside this building right now and I promised to be their voice,” Boebert said on the House floor moments before a deadly pro-Trump mob stormed the building seeking, in part, to hang Trump’s vice president.
Boebert, a Silt resident who is running for reelection on Nov. 8, has a long history of working with violent, white-nationalist extremists.
Boebert also still falsely contends the 2020 election of President Joe Biden was stolen; voted against certifying Biden’s Electoral College victory in other states; and now will not say if she’ll accept 2022 election results if she loses (Colorado went for Biden by a large margin in 2020, and there have never been credible claims of widespread voter fraud here or nationally).
“A recent poll found that 69 percent of both Democrats and Republicans think democracy in the United States is in danger of collapse,” according to a story Thursday in Colorado Newsline.
The Denver Post on Wednesday reported that, “As of Monday, Boebert’s representatives would not say whether the congresswoman would accept the results of the upcoming election even if she loses. Instead, they assert that the congresswoman will be reelected ‘and her first act will be to fire [Democratic Speaker of the House] Nancy Pelosi.’”
Boebert’s Democratic opponent in the Nov. 8 election, Adam Frisch of Aspen, on Wednesday issued the following statement in response:
Adam Frisch
“I am extremely concerned that Rep. Boebert is refusing to say whether she would accept the election results if the voters of Colorado’s 3rd Congressional District decide to send me to Congress. I call on Boebert to commit to accepting the results of the November election regardless of the outcome. Let me be clear: Our elections are secure and every Coloradan can rest assured that their vote will be counted and that the results will reflect the will of the voters. I have full faith in the ability of Colorado’s election officials to run a safe and secure election. Colorado had the second highest voter turnout rate in the country in the 2020 election, something we should all be proud of. The growing distrust in our electoral process based on conspiracies and lies is corrosive to our democracy, and it is essential that politicians from both parties reaffirm trust in our elections.”
Boebert is a fierce loyalist to twice-impeached former President Donald Trump, whom the U.S. House convicted on a single charge of incitement of insurrection for his role in stoking an angry mob of his supporters to attack the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6.
Trump on Thursday said there would be “problems in this country the likes of which perhaps we’ve never seen before” if he is indicted for stashing highly classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago country club in Florida. He also said his indictment would not keep him for running for president again in 2024.
In Colorado, backers of Trump’s big lie about the 2020 election, stand accused of everything from hacking voting machines to pushing fraudulent claims to raise money.
And Trump’s thinly veiled statements about “big problems” if he’s not found to be above the law echo those of some congressional candidates in Colorado.
Erik Aadland, a Republican 2020 election denier who is running for Colorado’s 7th Congressional District against Democrat Brittany Pettersen, has said he’s running to help avert a coming civil war.
Trump loyalist Lindsey Graham of South Carolina said there will be “riots in the streets” if Trump is charged in any of the numerous investigations targeting the ex-president.
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David O. Williams is the editor and co-founder of RealVail.com and has had his awarding-winning work (see About Us) published in more than 75 newspapers and magazines around the world, including 5280 Magazine, American Way Magazine (American Airlines), the Anchorage Daily News (Alaska), the Anchorage Daily Press (Alaska), Aspen Daily News, Aspen Journalism, the Aspen Times, Beaver Creek Magazine, the Boulder Daily Camera, the Casper Star Tribune (Wyoming), the Chicago Tribune, Colorado Central Magazine, the Colorado Independent (formerly Colorado Confidential), Colorado Newsline, Colorado Politics (formerly the Colorado Statesman), Colorado Public News, the Colorado Springs Gazette, the Colorado Springs Independent, the Colorado Statesman (now Colorado Politics), the Colorado Times Recorder, the Cortez Journal, the Craig Daily Press, the Curry Coastal Pilot (Oregon), the Daily Trail (Vail), the Del Norte Triplicate (California), the Denver Daily News, the Denver Gazette, the Denver Post, the Durango Herald, the Eagle Valley Enterprise, the Eastside Journal (Bellevue, Washington), ESPN.com, Explore Big Sky (Mont.), the Fort Morgan Times (Colorado), the Glenwood Springs Post-Independent, the Grand Junction Daily Sentinel, the Greeley Tribune, the Huffington Post, the King County Journal (Seattle, Washington), the Kingman Daily Miner (Arizona), KUNC.org (northern Colorado), LA Weekly, the Las Vegas Sun, the Leadville Herald-Democrat, the London Daily Mirror, the Moab Times Independent (Utah), the Montgomery Journal (Maryland), the Montrose Daily Press, The New York Times, the Parent’s Handbook, Peaks Magazine (now Epic Life), People Magazine, Powder Magazine, the Pueblo Chieftain, PT Magazine, the Rio Blanco Herald Times (Colorado), Rocky Mountain Golf Magazine, the Rocky Mountain News, RouteFifty.com (formerly Government Executive State and Local), the Salt Lake Tribune, SKI Magazine, Ski Area Management, SKIING Magazine, the Sky-Hi News, the Steamboat Pilot & Today, the Sterling Journal Advocate (Colorado), the Summit Daily News, United Hemispheres (United Airlines), Vail/Beaver Creek Magazine, Vail en Español, Vail Health Magazine, Vail Valley Magazine, the Vail Daily, the Vail Trail, Westword (Denver), Writers on the Range and the Wyoming Tribune Eagle. Williams is also the founder, publisher and editor of RealVail.com and RockyMountainPost.com.
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Oz Fetterman Both Target Suburbs In Key Pa. Senate Race
Oz, Fetterman Both Target Suburbs In Key Pa. Senate Race https://digitalalaskanews.com/oz-fetterman-both-target-suburbs-in-key-pa-senate-race/
Marc Levy | Associated Press
Blue Bell, Pa. – In a community college gymnasium in an affluent Philadelphia suburb, John Fetterman strode on to a makeshift stage to cheers and stood at a podium beneath a massive “Women for Fetterman” banner.
As the crowd of mostly women looked on, Fetterman unfurled a pink T-shirt emblazoned with his Democratic Senate campaign’s familiar industrial-style lettering.
“My name is John –” he shouted, craning his neck to read the front of the shirt – “Fetterwoman!” The crowd roared in appreciation.
With the fall campaign election season kicking into high gear, Fetterman and his Republican rival, Dr. Mehmet Oz, are making a beeline for Philadelphia’s heavily populated suburbs. The candidates in one of the nation’s premier Senate races are holding rallies, bringing in surrogates and launching hard-edged TV ads aimed at wooing influential swing voters, particularly women.
For decades, Philadelphia’s suburbs have been an important indicator of success for statewide candidates in the presidential battleground state, with the large number of swing voters there.
In the 2020 presidential election, the onetime Republican stronghold was decisive in President Joe Biden’s victory in Pennsylvania, with moderate GOP voters joining with Democrats to produce an insurmountable deficit for Donald Trump.
For Oz, a celebrity heart surgeon and the former host of the daytime TV show “The Dr. Oz Show,” turning around Trump’s suburban slump and gaining ground with moderates is critical: Polls show he is not just trailing Fetterman, but also other down-ballot Republican candidates, campaign strategists say.
Fetterman has made abortion rights a prominent theme in the suburbs to invigorate female voters after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June. Oz, meanwhile, avoids mention of Trump or abortion in the suburbs but paints Fetterman as soft on crime and unfit to serve because of a stroke he suffered in May.
A few days after rallying with Trump in northeastern Pennsylvania, Oz appeared with former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, a potential 2024 Republican presidential candidate, at a “Dose of Reality” town hall in Delaware County.
Besides airing a laundry list of grievances with national Democrats and Biden, Haley, Oz and other speakers at the Springfield banquet hall warned the crowd that Fetterman wanted to make their communities less safe.
“He’s out trying to release people who’ve been convicted by a jury and sentenced by a judge for murder,” Oz said.
Fetterman, as lieutenant governor and chair of the state Board of Pardons, has pushed for more commutations of life sentences for people convicted decades ago of murder or as accessories to murder.
They lampooned Fetterman’s typical choice of dress – shorts and a hoodie – and suggested that Fetterman is avoiding reporters and debates because he is lying about the severity of the stroke’s effects.
“If he can’t live up to 110% of the job, he should have the courage to step out and say, ‘I can’t do it,’” Haley said. “But let me tell you someone who can do it,” she said, calling Oz a “pro-family, pro-child, pro-parent, pro-education, pro-business freedom fighter.”
Fetterman’s campaign maintains that he is expected to make a full recovery – he still speaks haltingly and struggles to quickly respond to words he hears – and that Oz is desperately trying to find anything to help him make up ground in polls.
Meanwhile, as Oz tries to shift the focus of the campaign away from abortion rights, the issue shows no sign of waning from voter’s minds. On Tuesday, Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina proposed a federal 15-week abortion ban bill, which Democrats seized on as an example of the extreme policies that Republicans will pursue if they win control of Congress in November.
In a statement issued after Graham’s proposal, Oz – who has said he opposes abortion from conception, but with exceptions to protect the life of the mother and in cases of rape and incest –sidestepped a direct answer on what he thought of the bill.
“As a senator, he’d want to make sure that the federal government is not involved in interfering with the state’s decisions on the topic,” Oz’s campaign said in the statement.
Noting Oz avoided saying whether he would support Graham’s bill, Fetterman suggested that Oz’s position of leaving the issue up to the states would result in far stricter bans in some places.
Fetterman’s campaign says the abortion issue will be decisive in November – helping counter inflation and national political headwinds for Democrats – and featured it at Sunday’s “Women for Fetterman” event in the gymnasium of Montgomery County Community College.
“Women are the reason we can win,” Fetterman told the cheering crowd. “Let me say that again. Women are the reason we win. … Don’t piss women off!”
In interviews in suburban Philadelphia, voters who support abortion rights said they would vote for Fetterman.
For Sheila Dougherty, 50, a registered Democrat from Clifton Heights, Oz’s position on abortion is a nonstarter.
“I’ll always vote for the candidate who is for women’s rights, so I won’t be voting for a Republican,” Dougherty said.
Donna McMenamin, 66, a Republican from Folsom who supports abortion rights, said she was worried by one attack ad she saw on TV that claims Fetterman wants to release state prison inmates who are hardened criminals – which Fetterman’s campaign has called a lie. He has endorsed recommendations by prison reformers that the state can release more geriatric or rehabilitated prisoners without harming public safety.
Still, she said the most important factor in her vote was rejecting any candidate aligned with Trump, whom she detests. Instead, she will vote for Fetterman this year “because he’s not a Republican.”
For Oz supporters in the suburbs, his stance on crime and abortion – and whether they agree with it – is less important than other issues.
Steve Erfle, 51, a Republican from Blue Bell, said he will vote for Oz and other Republicans on the ballot – regardless of any other disagreements he has with them – because he wants smaller government and worries that “things have gone a little far left.”
“They’re not my best friends, I just want their policies,” he said.
Diane Wysocki, 50, leaving Oz’s event in Springfield with an Oz lawn sign under her arm, said she agrees with Oz’s stance on abortion. But more than that, she appreciated Trump’s endorsement of Oz and sees Oz as savvy and genuine.
Still, she worried about whether her fellow suburbanites will embrace Oz, noting that many of her neighbors are Democrats and that even some Republicans she knows think that Oz – a recent New Jersey transplant – is just running because he’s wealthy.
“If I put this out on my lawn,” Wysocki said, motioning to her Oz sign, “this is very scary to people.”
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SENATE POLLS: Extremist Candidates Trail Democrats In Arizona Georgia And Pennsylvania; Rubio & Lee Maintain Leads In Florida And Utah
SENATE POLLS: Extremist Candidates Trail Democrats In Arizona, Georgia And Pennsylvania; Rubio & Lee Maintain Leads In Florida And Utah https://digitalalaskanews.com/senate-polls-extremist-candidates-trail-democrats-in-arizona-georgia-and-pennsylvania-rubio-lee-maintain-leads-in-florida-and-utah/
Phoenix, Sept. 15, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Center Street PAC (www.centerstreetpac.com), a nonpartisan political action committee, released new polls for several U.S. Senate races, today. With just over six weeks until the 2022 midterm elections, voters in Pennsylvania, Arizona and Georgia say they will vote for Democratic candidates over Republican candidates who have taken extreme positions on a host of issues. However, in Florida and Utah, Republican senators still maintain their leads over their challengers.
Candidate Quality Plays Significant Role
With several Republican Senate candidates taking extremist “MAGA” positions, traditional red state/blue state expectations are invalid.
“People might see Mark Kelly’s wide lead and scoff because Arizona has traditionally been a Republican stronghold, but there’s nothing traditional about Blake Masters, so it’s not a typical race,” said Center Street Co-Founder Jacob Perry. “It’s not hard to imagine why the people who elected John McCain would vastly prefer a retired U.S. Navy captain-astronaut, over a guy who has literally been endorsed by neo Nazis.”
Center Street polling shows a losing trend for several Republican Senate and gubernatorial candidates who have openly taken extremist positions.
“Republicans who espouse the most troubling extremist positions are losing in voter preference and favorability. But in the same state, we’ll see leads among Republicans who aren’t moderate, but definitely less openly extreme,” said Center Street Co-Founder Matt O’Brien. “After several rounds of polling, it’s not a fluke. It’s a correlation.”
Senate Polls
Arizona
Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly widened his lead over Republican challenger Blake Masters, 55% to 35% among likely voters, with 9% undecided. Among registered voters, Kelly leads 53% to 32%, with 15% undecided.
Utah
Republican Sen. Mike Lee leads independent Evan McMullin 43% to 39% among likely voters, and 40% to 37% among Utah registered voters. Lee’s advantage has narrowed since Center Street’s July 13 poll, which showed Lee at 49% among likely voters, compared to McMullin’s 37%. Among registered voters, Lee now leads by only 3%, compared to a 10% margin in July. The number of undecided likely voters has also shifted since July, increasing from 14% to 18%.
“In each of the three polls we’ve conducted in the Utah Senate race, McMullin has made gains in awareness, favorability and preference, while Lee failed to improve in awareness or favorability,” said Center Street Chief Analytics Officer Dr. Kurt Jetta.
“Mike Lee’s only getting 63% of Republican voters right now. Most candidates, especially sitting senators, are receiving 85% or more of their party vote,” said O’Brien. “It shows how much of the electorate is still up for grabs in this race. Although to be fair, with so many undecideds in a heavily Republican state, like Utah, those voters could break for Lee.”
Florida
Republican Senator Marco Rubio leads Democratic Congresswoman Val Demings, 50% to 45% among likely voters, with 4% undecided. Among registered voters, Rubio leads 48% to 40%, with 12% undecided. Demings gained slight ground since Center Street’s August poll, when Rubio led 51% to 42% among likely voters, with 7% undecided.
Georgia
Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-GA) leads Republican Herschel Walker 49% to 45% among likely voters, with 7% undecided. However, that gap jumps among registered voters, with Warnock leading 50% to 37%, with 14% undecided.
Walker’s support trends similarly to other MAGA-associated Republicans in most areas, with a couple of exceptions. He’s holding Republican support better than some other candidates, and Georgia Republicans are more enthusiastic about voting than Democrats. However, Warnock will likely hold his seat.
“Herschel is trailing two to one among independents, and he’s very unpopular overall. If Sen. Warnock loses, it will be because he left a ton of support on the table,” says Perry.
Pennsylvania
Republican Dr. Mehmet Oz continues to trail Pennsylvania Lieutenant Governor John Fetterman. Fetterman leads 55% to 36% among likely voters, with 9% undecided. Among registered voters, Fetterman leads 51% to 33%, with 15% undecided.
Center Street has developed an unparalleled data set, led by Dr. Jetta. A 30-year innovator in consumer analytics and former CEO of TABS Analytics, Dr. Jetta applies his consumer analysis developments to political analysis, allowing Center Street to determine and choose a select number of winnable races.
Center Street is a nonpartisan super PAC designed to combat the destructive tribalism threatening democracy by supporting credible candidates, regardless of political party, against extremist challengers and incumbents. Founded by former Republican strategist Jacob Perry and private businessman Matt O’Brien, Center Street advocates for the election of candidates who demonstrate stable and effective governing policies.
Methodologies & Analytical Notes (crosstabs available on request)
Arizona
On Sept. 6-9, 2022, 1,172 adults 18+ were surveyed, including 972 registered voters and 563 likely voters. Results weighted to age/gender of U.S. Census and then by 2020 Presidential vote preference. MOE 3.5%. Source: Center Street PAC via Momentiv AI.
Arizona Analytical Notes: 1. All data is now weighted both by age/gender and 2020 voting preference. 2. All results will have 2020 stated voter preference aligned with actual (49% Biden/49%Trump) 3. Sample is augments for respondents aged 75 years and older, to reduce the weighting required for this hard-to-reach cohort.
Utah
On Sept. 1-8, 2022, 599 adults 18+ were surveyed, including 474 registered voters and 239 likely voters. Results are weighted to age/gender of U.S. Census and then by 2020 Presidential vote preference. MOE is 3.5%. Source: Center Street PAC via Momentiv AI.
Utah Analytical Notes: 1. All data is now weighted both by age/gender and 2020 voting preference. 2. All results will have 2020 stated voter preference aligned with actual preference (50% Biden/49%Trump) 3. MOE for each individual measure is 3.5%.
Florida
On Sept. 9-10, 2022, 1,188 adults 18+ were surveyed, including 999 registered voters and 608 likely voters. Results are weighted to age/gender of U.S. Census and then by 2020 Presidential vote preference. MOE is 3.5%. Source: Center Street PAC via Momentiv AI.
Florida Analytical Notes: 1. All data is now weighted both by age/gender and 2020 voting preference. All results will have 2020 stated voter preference aligned with actual preference (48% Biden/51%Trump) 2. Sample is augmented for respondents aged 75 years and older, to reduce weighting required for this hard-to-reach cohort. 3. Note there is a slight change in prior preference results due to weighting against all 2020 voters rather than just those registered. 4. Also, adjustments in rounding rules caused slight changes.
Georgia
On Sept. 9-12, 2022, 1,179 adults 18+ were surveyed, including 949 registered voters and 542 likely voters. Results are weighted to age/gender of U.S. Census and then by 2020 Presidential vote preference. MOE is 3.5%. Source: Center Street PAC via Momentiv AI.
Georgia Analytical Notes: 1. All data is now weighted both by Age/Gender and 2020 voting preference. 2. All results will have 2020 Stated Voter Preference aligned with Actual (49% Biden/49%Trump) 3. Sample is augmented for respondents aged 75 years and older, so that we can reduce the weighting required for this hard-to-reach cohort.
Pennsylvania
On Aug. 31-Sept. 1, 2022, 1,173 adults 18+ were surveyed, including 1,012 registered voters and 616 likely voters. Results are weighted to age/gender of U.S. Census and then by 2020 Presidential vote preference. MOE is 3.5%. Source: Center Street PAC via Momentiv AI.
Pennsylvania Analytical Notes: 1. All data is now weighted both by age/gender and 2020 voting preference. 2. All results will have 2020 stated voter preference aligned with actual preference (50% Biden/49%Trump)
About Center Street PAC
Center Street (www.centerstreetpac.com) is a nonpartisan political action committee designed to combat the destructive tribalism that threatens our democracy. Center Street is focused on beating the extremist incumbents and challengers who divide us by supporting rational political candidates who promote stable and effective governing policies. Center Street’s candidates are Democrats & Republicans who have shown political courage and a willingness to put the country above a party’s interests.
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Why A Former US Attorneys Allegations Against Trump Are Far Worse Than Initially Thought
Why A Former US Attorney’s Allegations Against Trump Are Far Worse Than Initially Thought https://digitalalaskanews.com/why-a-former-us-attorneys-allegations-against-trump-are-far-worse-than-initially-thought/
Donald Trump holds a press conference at Trump Turnberry. (Shutterstock.com)
MSNBC News’ Chris Hayes recently shed light on details that have emerged about former President Donald Trump’s alleged abuse of power while in office.
On Wednesday, September 14, Hayes discussed a newly released book titled, “Holding the Line: Inside the Nation’s Preeminent US Attorney’s Office and its Battle with the Trump Justice Department.” “Just when you thought it couldn`t be any worse than it looked,” Hayes said.
The book, written by former United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York Geoffrey Berman, includes a number of circumstances where the former president misused his level of authority for his own agenda.
During the broadcast, Hayes broke down incriminating details about the book and how Berman recounted what occurred during his time working for the Trump administration.
“Well, it was as bad as it looked. In fact, it was even worse,” Hayes said. “I’ve had a lot of occasions to say that in the Trump years of American life, but this new example of Donald Trump`s misconduct in office is about as clear as it gets. It comes directly from the former United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, arguably the most powerful and active district in the entire country.”
Hayes also explained how Berman noted that Trump and his Justice Department worked to use the Southern District for his own personal agenda and vendettas.
“For two and a half years, that man you see there, Geoffrey Berman, served in that role as the head of that district during the Trump administration. Berman has written a new book out today in which he details several instances when Donald Trump abused the power of the Department of Justice. As Berman told Rachel Maddow last night, Trump and his DOJ repeatedly tried to use the Southern District to protect his allies and punish his enemies.”
Berman also shared his reason for publishing his account.
“I wanted people to understand the full scope of the outrageous and improper political interference by Trump`s Justice Department in the cases of the Southern District of New York that demonstrates what Trump is capable of and what he`s likely to do,” Berman said. “And it also provides a frontline view of just how vulnerable our justice system is.”
He continued, “Trump turned the department into his own personal law firm. He put in people who would do his bidding. And they would, you know, target Trump’s political enemies and assist Trump’s friends. And it was a disgrace.”
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CNN New Morning Show Announced: Don Lemon Poppy Harlow Kaitlan Collins
CNN New Morning Show Announced: Don Lemon, Poppy Harlow, Kaitlan Collins https://digitalalaskanews.com/cnn-new-morning-show-announced-don-lemon-poppy-harlow-kaitlan-collins/
News Television
“So the extent they want something to talk about on Fox News, Durham’s investigation has provided fodder.”
Published
2 hours ago
on
September 15, 2022
After a report from The New York Times that special counsel John Durham’s investigation is wrapping up, co-author of the report Charlie Savage joined Morning Joe on MSNBC to discuss the story and conservative media’s reaction to it, namely Fox News.
Supporters of former President Donald Trump had hoped Durham’s report would uncover political corruption at the government’s highest levels. Thus far, Durham has indicted a Russian national accused of lying to the FBI and a Washington D.C. lawyer who lied to the FBI about communication between the Trump Organization and a Russian bank.
“The conspiracy — or the theme of this — has morphed over time,” Savage said during his Morning Joe appearance. “Its moved from ‘Durham is going to find a high-level, deep state, FBI/CIA White House conspiracy to get Trump,’ to ‘Maybe people who are associated with Hillary Clinton’s campaign were conspiring to make people think that Trump was colluding with Russia.’”
Savage continued that the investigation could serve as new “fodder” for conservative outlets who continue to support the former President.
“It’s not a deep state government conspiracy that discredits the FBI’s investigation in the first place,” Savage said. “So the extent they want something to talk about on Fox News, Durham’s investigation has provided fodder. But to the extent that they were hoping Jim Comey would go to jail, things like that, there’s just nothing there.”
News Television
A CNN spokesman told Mediaite they have been using the form for over a year and is “strictly voluntary”.
Published
3 hours ago
on
September 15, 2022
According to a report from Mediaite’s Caleb Howe, CNN has started sending potential guests a questionnaire form asking several interesting questions.
Howe posted screenshots of the form, noting there are questions about political ideology, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion, and more.
The idea behind the questions, Howe posits, is for guest bookers at the network identify guests who would fit a certain topic.
A CNN spokesman told Mediaite they have been using the form for over a year and is “strictly voluntary”.
CNN has come under fire from both sides of the political aisle recently for their planned move back towards a strictly news reporting outlet. Conservative commentors like Rich Zeoli and Jason Rantz have poked fun at the network, while liberal podcast Keith Olbermann has repeatedly taken shots at new CNN President and CEO Chris Licht by saying he thought Licht “ate paste” when the pair worked together at MSNBC.
News Television
Alyssa Farah Griffin stated that Lindsey Graham went completely rogue by wanting to introduce this bill that would ban abortion nationwide after 15 weeks.
Published
5 hours ago
on
September 15, 2022
On Tuesday, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) introduced a bill to ban abortion nationally after 15 weeks nationwide.
During Wednesday’s edition of “The View,” co-host and former aide to President Donald Trump, Alyssa Farah Griffin, stated that Graham went completely rogue by wanting to introduce this bill.
“It’s bad politics for Republicans,” Farah Griffin said. “So we for a long time, my party has argued that states should decide abortion rights. When Dobbs was knocked down, that was most of what the statements were that should have always been decided by the states.
“So Lindsey Graham just went completely rogue by saying this should be federally, we should have a federal restriction on abortion. Honestly, I think he thought it was going to get him goodwill with some parts of the base, but I disagree with the approach entirely.”
“It’s bad politics for Republicans.” @alyssafarah Griffin reacts to Sen. Lindsey Graham’s new legislation that would impose a nationwide ban on most abortions after 15 weeks. “The vast majority of this country believes in some access to abortion … let states make that decision.” pic.twitter.com/4u0xLuphmS
— The View (@TheView) September 14, 2022
The legislation contains exceptions for circumstances involving rape, incest, or risks to the life and physical health of the mother. It’s bill that has proved controversial ahead of the midterm elections.
“We will introduce legislation … to get America in a position at the federal level I think is fairly consistent with the rest of the world,” Graham said. “If we take back the House and Senate, I can assure you we’ll have a vote.”
Eduardo Razo is the Assistant Content Editor for BNM, which includes writing daily news stories on the news media industry. He can be found on Twitter @eddierazo_ or you can reach him by email at eddie1991razo@gmail.com.
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Republicans Plan Legal Assault On Climate Disclosure Rules For Public Companies
Republicans Plan Legal Assault On Climate Disclosure Rules For Public Companies https://digitalalaskanews.com/republicans-plan-legal-assault-on-climate-disclosure-rules-for-public-companies/
Republican officials and corporate lobby groups are teeing up a multi-pronged legal assault on the Biden administration’s effort to help investors hold public corporations accountable for their carbon emissions and other climate change risks.
The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) proposed new climate disclosure rules in March that would require public companies to report the climate-related impact and risks to their businesses.
The regulator has since received more than 14,500 comments. Submissions from 24 Republican state attorneys general and some of the country’s most powerful industry associations suggest that these groups are preparing a series of legal challenges after the regulation is finalized, which could happen as soon as next month.
“I would expect a litigation challenge to be brought immediately once the final rule is released,” Jill E Fisch, a business law professor at the University of Pennsylvania, told the Guardian. “They probably have their complaints already drafted, and they’re ready to file.”
Some opponents claim that requiring companies to publish climate-related information infringes on their right to free speech. Others (often the same ones) say that the rule exceeds the SEC’s legal authority.
Both critiques feature prominently in comments from the Republican attorneys general and the US Chamber of Commerce, which spent more than $35m lobbying the federal government in the first half of 2022, according to OpenSecrets. The Republican letter warns that if the new disclosure requirements are finalized, “capitalism will fall by the wayside”.
The SEC proposal does not establish environmental policy or require that companies take any climate-related actions other than making more information publicly available.
The free speech and legal authority objections have been met with profound skepticism from legal experts and former SEC officials.
In a letter to the commission, John Coates, a Harvard Law School professor and former SEC general counsel, said that instead of challenging the climate disclosure rule on its merits, “critics have resorted to mischaracterizing the proposal, and inventing their own, fictional rule”.
In another letter, a bipartisan group of former SEC officials, legal scholars, securities law experts and corporate lawyers noted that “the SEC has mandated environmental disclosure at least as far back as the Nixon administration.” Even though not all of the letter’s authors support the substance of the rule-making, they agreed without exception “that there is no legal basis to doubt the commission’s authority to mandate public-company disclosures related to climate”.
“The SEC is promulgating a disclosure rule that’s square within its wheelhouse,” said Fisch, of the University of Pennsylvania. “It’s exactly what Congress told it to do, and which it has done consistently since 1933.”
But the legal authority and free speech charges, however tenuous, are not the only grounds on which opponents of the climate disclosure rule have hinted at litigation.
In a recent analysis, the Guardian revealed how the Business Roundtable, a lobbying group for CEOs of America’s biggest companies, opposes a key provision of the SEC proposal that would require some large companies to measure and report emissions generated throughout their supply chains – known as Scope 3 emissions.
Chart showing the difference between Scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions.
In addition to challenging the substance of the rule, the Business Roundtable also rejects the SEC’s estimate of how much it would cost businesses to comply. (The organization said in an email that its comments “[are] focused on identifying challenges in the proposed rule in the hopes the SEC will address them”.)
The SEC projects that companies will face compliance costs of $490,000 to $640,000 in the first year of climate reporting, and less in subsequent years. (By comparison, a 2019 study predicted that climate change could cost firms about $1tn over the following five years.)
A detailed assessment from Shivaram Rajgopal, Columbia Business School professor of accounting and auditing, concluded that even without taking into account any benefits from the climate disclosure rule, the costs would prove negligible for most firms. “The loss in market capitalization, if any, from compliance costs is likely too tiny for any outsider to detect and to separate from daily volatility in the stock returns for unrelated reasons,” Rajgopal wrote.
Last quarter ExxonMobil earned nearly $18bn in profit, the largest quarterly earnings in the company’s history. Over the same period, General Motors generated more than $35bn in revenue, while Walmart reported revenues of nearly $153bn. The Economist recently reported that after-tax corporate profits as a share of the US economy have surged to their highest level since the 1940s.
ExxonMobil, GM and Walmart are members of the US Chamber of Commerce and the Business Roundtable. According to a report from the non-profit Center for Political Accountability, during the 2020 election cycle each company donated at least $125,000 to the Republican Attorneys General Association, which supports the political campaigns and legal agendas of GOP attorneys general across the country.
In their letter to the SEC, 24 of these attorneys general called the commission’s cost-benefit analysis “woefully unfinished” and warned that finalizing the climate disclosure rules “will undoubtedly draw legal challenges”.
The Business Roundtable, meanwhile, described the analysis as “fundamentally flawed” and said that its member companies “believe [the costs of the rule] will be orders of magnitude more than what the SEC estimates”. The chamber issued a similar condemnation, writing in its voluminous submission that the SEC’s “economic analysis … is incomplete and substantially underestimates compliance costs”.
Asked to comment, neither organization responded specifically to questions of whether it planned to pursue legal action against the SEC if the final rule is not changed significantly.
Trade associations might be expected to instinctively oppose new regulations, but in the past such statements have proven to be more than routine political rhetoric. On multiple occasions in response to prior rule-makings, the chamber and the Business Roundtable have successfully sued the SEC on cost-benefit grounds.
In 2011, following a suit filed by the two groups, the DC circuit struck down an SEC rule that would have made it easier for shareholders to consider new board members for public companies, deeming the rule “arbitrary and capricious”. The decision in Business Roundtable v SEC said that the commission “neglected its statutory obligation to assess the economic consequences of its rule”, citing, among other figures, a cost estimate submitted to the SEC by the chamber.
In their comments on the climate disclosure proposal, the Republican attorneys general and the chamber each cite Business Roundtable v SEC in claiming that the SEC’s cost-benefit analysis is flawed.
The Republican letter is co-led by Patrick Morrisey, the West Virginia attorney general who recently helmed a successful legal challenge to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
In West Virginia v EPA, the supreme court endorsed a relatively novel legal notion – the so-called “major questions doctrine” – to halt an EPA effort to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from power plants. As the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists explained, “Under this doctrine, when a regulation crosses a certain threshold of being ‘major’ – a line which remains poorly defined – the court rejects the regulation unless it has been clearly authorized by Congress.”
The major questions doctrine looks to be the basis of Morrisey’s campaign against the climate disclosure rule. In a July TV appearance, Morrisey said that the Biden administration “can’t get the congressional majorities behind their policies, so they’re trying to resort to the [regulations]. But as we saw with West Virginia v EPA, I don’t think the courts are going to let that happen.” (Morrisey’s office did not respond to emails requesting comment.)
“I don’t think there’s any natural reason to infer that the court’s decision [in West Virginia v EPA] would have any implications for the SEC,” said the University of Pennsylvania’s Jill Fisch. “At the same time, you can read the West Virginia case, and you can say: ‘This is part of the supreme court, and the federal courts generally, taking a different look at government agencies. This is cutting back on the fourth branch, on the power of the administrative state.’ And if that’s true, in theory, everything is up for grabs.”
“Historical legal precedent suggests that the SEC has a pretty strong case,” Tyler Gellasch, the president and CEO of the non-profit Healthy Markets Association, said. “But if you’re the Business Roundtable, you don’t necessarily need historical legal precedent on your side. You just need a court today. And that seems far more likely today than it would have been at any time in modern history.”
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Famed Ukranian Medic Tells U.S. Congress About The hell Of Russian Captivity; Putin Affirms Support For Chinas Xi
Famed Ukranian Medic Tells U.S. Congress About The ‘hell’ Of Russian Captivity; Putin Affirms Support For China’s Xi https://digitalalaskanews.com/famed-ukranian-medic-tells-u-s-congress-about-the-hell-of-russian-captivity-putin-affirms-support-for-chinas-xi/
U.S. sanctions leader of Russia’s campaign to deport Ukrainian children to Russia
Children stay at a temporary accommodation centre for evacuees, including residents of the Ukrainian city of Mariupol, in the building of a local sports school in Taganrog in the Rostov region, Russia March 17, 2022.
Sergey Pivovarov | Reuters
The Treasury Department issued first-time sanctions on the leader of one of Russia’s most notorious government agencies, the so-called Presidential Commission for Children’s Rights.
Maria Alexeyevna Lvova-Belova leads the agency identified by the United Nations as the primary organizer of mass deportations of Ukrainian orphans and children separated from their families to Russia.
At a recent U.N. meeting on the Russian deportation of Ukrainians, U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield reported that in the month of July alone, “more than 1,800 children were transferred from Russian-controlled areas of Ukraine to Russia.”
Many of the children were “separated from their families and taken from orphanages before being put up for adoption in Russia,” she said.
According to the Treasury Department’s sanctions report, Lvova-Belova has spearheaded the “forced adoption of Ukrainian children into Russian families, the so-called ‘patriotic education’ of Ukrainian children, legislative changes to expedite the provision of Russian Federation citizenship to Ukrainian children, and the deliberate removal of Ukrainian children by Russia’s forces.”
— Christina Wilkie
EU’s von der Leyen says Europe can do more to ease non-tariff barriers to Ukraine
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky (R) speaks with the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen after a press conference following their talks in Kyiv on September 15, 2022.
Sergei Supinsky | AFP | Getty Images
“So much has changed for the better here in Kyiv,” said European Union Commissioner Ursula von der Leyen during a joint press conference with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on the streets of Ukraine’s capital.
“We will never be able to match the sacrifice that the Ukrainians are making,” von der Leyen told reporters. “But what we can tell you is that you’ll have your European friends by your side as long as it takes.”
Von der Leyen praised the speed with which the EU and Ukraine have connected Ukraine’s electrical grid to the EU, a task that was projected to take at least two years before the war, but which was accomplished in two weeks.
“Ukraine is now delivering electricity to the EU, and this we want to improve and increase and thus create steadfast flows of income to Ukraine,” she said.
Making her third trip to Ukraine since the start of the war, von der Leyen emphasized the importance of smoothing out Ukraine’s economic integration into Europe.
She noted that 98% of tariffs on Ukrainian exports to the EU have now been lifted. But “there are many non-tariff barriers that we can take away.”
The European Parliament voted in June to accept Ukraine as a formal candidate for accession into the EU.
— Christina Wilkie
Ukrainian medic describes being tortured by Russian soldiers as a POW
Yuliia Paievska, known as Taira, poses for a photograph during an interview with The Associated Press in Kyiv, Ukraine, on Friday, July 8, 2022.
Evgeniy Maloletka | AP
Yuliia “Taira” Paievska, a Ukrainian volunteer medic, testified before the U.S. Helsinki Commission that she was tortured over three months in Russian captivity.
“When I was in captivity I was being tortured, and they tried to make me give a confession some kind about alleged crimes which I had never committed,” Paieyska said in a hearing at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C.
“They didn’t care to know the truth. They just wanted me to admit guilt of for something I had never committed,” she said.
Paievska also detailed the treatment of some of her fellow prisoners, and described situations that appeared to violate Geneva Conventions governing the treatment of prisoners and civilians in war.
“Prisoners in cells, screaming for weeks from the torture and lack of medical help,” she told the lawmakers.
“A fighter who was beaten for three hours and then thrown into the basement like a sack, and only a day later someone come to him,” she said.
“Pregnant prisoners were well known to their relatives and to the state,” Paievska said in an apparent reference to women raped while in captivity.
“A dead child in its mother’s arms. A seven year old boy with bullet wounds, dying in my lap,” she said.
Russia has denied committing atrocities during its months long invasion of Ukraine. But international investigators have documented hundreds of cases of apparent war crimes, from torture and rape to mass executions.
— Christina Wilkie
US Navy assault ship takes part in Baltic Sea training
U.S. Navy amphibious assault ship, USS Kearsarge arrives in Stockholm, ahead of maritime focused training Baltops 22, in Stockholm, Sweden, June 2, 2022.
TT News Agency | Reuters
U.S. Navy amphibious assault ship USS Kearsarge is taking part in international training in the Baltic Sea amid Russia’s war in Ukraine and tensions in the region.
The Kearsarge is the first ship of the Wasp class to take part in international training in the Baltic in at least two decades. Associated Press journalists visited the ship last week.
“It’s a first off for us in recent memory and it’s been very exciting,” said Capt. Tom Foster, the commanding officer of the Kearsarge.
With some other U.S. Navy ships, the Kearsarge has been training for several months with the militaries of Sweden and Finland, which formally applied to join NATO after Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24.
The training mission is to promote safety and security in the region.
“In the past several months, we have been operating in the Baltics and in the Mediterranean,” said Capt. Aaron Kelley, commander of the Kearsarge Amphibious Ready Group.
— Associated Press
Ukraine’s ‘hero medic’ testifies before the Senate Helsinki Commission
U.S. lawmakers are hearing testimony this morning from Yuliia “Taira” Paievska, a Ukrainian volunteer medic who gained a following early in the war for her dramatic videos of emergency medical workers on the battlefield.
Paievska saved the lives of 700 people during early days of the war, including children and Russian soldiers.
In March, Paievska was captured in Mariupol and held prisoner by Russia for three months. Following her release this summer, she participated in the international Invictus games for injured veterans, where she won three medals.
“In the first 20 days of this war I spent in Mariupol, which was hell. Then I spent three months in Russian captivity, which was hell, too” Paievska said in her opening remarks at a hearing at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C.
“When my tormentors advised me to commit suicide, I said no,” she said.
— Christina Wilkie
The ‘destruction is serious’ in Zelenskyy’s home city of Kryvyi Rih after repeated strikes
President Zelenskyy’s hometown of Kryvyi Rih in central Ukraine has come under repeated missile strikes over the last day.
Russian forces have launched a missile attack on Kryvyi Rih again today after launching eight cruise missiles targeting a dam near the city yesterday, causing the Inhulets River to rise and flooding to parts of the city.
Oleksandr Vilkul, head of the Kryvyi Rih military administration, said this on Telegram account Thursday morning that there had been another strike as he advised civilians to stay in shelters. Several hours later, he reported another cruise missile had hit an “industrial enterprise.”
“The destruction is serious,” he said, with details around the strike and its impact being clarified.
— Holly Ellyatt
Putin to Xi: Russia values China’s ‘balanced position’ on Ukraine
China’s President Xi Jinping (R), Russian President Vladimir Putin (L) and Mongolia’s President Ukhnaa Khurelsukh (unseen) hold a trilateral meeting on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) leaders’ summit in Samarkand on September 15, 2022.
Alexandr Demyanchuk | AFP | Getty Images
Russia’s President Vladimir Putin told Chinese leader Xi Jinping on Thursday that Moscow backs Beijing’s “One China” policy, opposes “provocations” by the United States in the Taiwan Strait, and values China’s “balanced position” on Ukraine, Reuters reported.
The two leaders were meeting on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit in Uzbekistan. It was their first face-to-face meeting since Russia launched its “special military operation” in Ukraine in February.
In televised opening remarks at the bilateral meeting, Putin told Xi: “We highly value the balanced position of our Chinese friends when it comes to the Ukraine crisis. We understand your questions and concern about this. During today’s meeting, we will of course explain our position.”
Russia has moved closer to China since sending its armed forces into Ukraine in February, a decision that triggered an unprecedented barrage of Western sanctions against Moscow.
Russian President Vladimir Putin (R) talks to Chinese President Xi Jinping (C) while visiting the Moscow’s Zoo in Moscow, Russia,, June,5, 2019. Chinese leader Xi Jinping is having a three-days state visit to Russia.
Mikhail Svetlov | Getty Images News | Getty Images
Putin also threw his weight behind Beijing’s key positions in the brief public statement, aligning the two countries in what analysts see as a fledgling anti-U.S., anti-Western alliance.
Putin referred to Beijing’s insistence that other countries do not recognise Taiwan, a self-ruled island that Bejing claims as part of China, as an independent country.
“We intend to fi...
Texas Sends Two Buses Of Migrants To Vice President's Residence In Washington
Texas Sends Two Buses Of Migrants To Vice President's Residence In Washington https://digitalalaskanews.com/texas-sends-two-buses-of-migrants-to-vice-presidents-residence-in-washington/
(CNN)Texas’ governor says his state intentionally sent two buses of migrants to Vice President Kamala Harris’ residence in the nation’s capital — resulting in a Thursday morning arrival that surprised volunteers who said they weren’t prepared to receive them at that site.
The drop-off temporarily left dozens of migrants — some of them carrying belongings in trash bags — standing on sidewalks and grass Thursday morning outside the gated US Naval Observatory in Washington while volunteers scrambled to make arrangements for them.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, one of at least three Republican governors who have been busing or flying migrants north this year to protest the Biden administration’s immigration policies, said Thursday in a tweet that his state sent the buses to Harris’ residence.
“VP Harris claims our border is ‘secure’ & denies the crisis,” Abbott tweeted. “We’re sending migrants to her backyard to call on the Biden Administration to do its job & secure the border.”
Since Abbott started sending buses of migrants to Washington in April, those buses usually have dropped them off around Union Station, and volunteers were prepared to receive two buses Thursday at the station, they said.
But Thursday’s buses stopped instead at the Naval Observatory, some four miles from the station.
SAMU First Response, one of the groups helping migrants in Washington, was not provided a heads up, according to the group’s managing director, Tatiana Laborde.
“(The migrants) were physically and mentally fatigued from the journey, and they were also very nervous and anxious about the dropoff,” volunteer Carla Bustillos told CNN.
Thursday’s passengers included families and young men. Around 70% to 80% of the migrants are from Venezuela, according to volunteers.
Some are trying to go to other places in the US, such as Chicago and New York, but on Thursday were waiting to be picked up and taken to receive help, volunteers said. The migrants who arrived Thursday eventually were moved to a local church as they figure out where to go next.
It wasn’t immediately clear whether Harris was at the residence when the migrants were dropped off. She had a morning event scheduled at the White House, roughly a 2.5-mile drive away.
DC mayor declared an emergency over arrivals this month
After Texas started busing migrants to the nation’s capital Arizona followed suit — and the two states have since sent thousands of migrants to Washington. Abbott has expanded Texas’ effort to include New York City and Chicago.
And Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis this week claimed credit for sending two planes carrying migrants to Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts.
Washington’s Mayor Muriel Bowser last week declared a public health emergency because of Texas’ and Arizona’s moves — in a bid to help officials mobilize resources faster. She announced a new government office that would provide basic needs to arriving migrants, including meals, transportation, urgent medical care, and transportation to connect people to resettlement services.
Browser last week also criticized Abbott and Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey for their actions, saying they were creating a “growing humanitarian crisis.”
US grapples with uptick in Venezuelan migrants
Migrants who are released from government custody are allowed to move about the United States as they go through their immigration proceedings. The US has been grappling with an uptick of Venezuelan migrants who have fled a deteriorating situation in that country in large numbers.
Frosty relations between the US and Venezuela keeps the US from deporting certain people. Many Venezuelan migrants are also seeking asylum upon arriving in the US.
Two medical situations involving Thursday’s passengers were reported: a diabetic who had not refrigerated his insulin in at least 40 hours, and a person with a rash believed to have come from crossing the Rio Grande, which separates Texas and Mexico, volunteers said.
CNN’s Rebekah Riess contributed to this report.
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Shakeel Ashraf MK Auto Repairs Was 'everybody's Mechanic' Indie Garage
Shakeel Ashraf, MK Auto Repairs, Was 'everybody's Mechanic' – Indie Garage https://digitalalaskanews.com/shakeel-ashraf-mk-auto-repairs-was-everybodys-mechanic-indie-garage/
Shakeel Ashraf, owner of MK Auto Repairs in Milton, Ont. was gunned down in his shop Monday, Sept. 12 in an unprovoked shooting spree. Here is proudly poses with a cricket trophy won last year.
The Indie Garage team is saddened by the senseless death of Shakeel Ashraf, owner of MK Auto Repairs in Milton, Ont.
Ashraf, a married father of three, was one of four people shot in a violent spree Monday, Sept. 12 that also took the life of Toronto police Const. Andrew Hong and left two other MK Auto Repair employees wounded. One of the wounded was listed in serious condition at the time, the other was in the intensive care unit with critical injuries. Names of the victims were not released by police.
The attack, which is being call “unprovoked” by police, ended with the death of shooter Sean Petrie in a Hamilton, Ont. cemetery.
Const. Hong was shot while he was having lunch at a Tim Horton’s in Mississauga, where he was participating in joint training exercise with officers from Peel Regional Police and York Regional Police.
Petrie then travelled to AK Auto Repair where he had been briefly employed last year. An employee interviewed has said that he was not aware of any conflict between Petrie and Ashraf.
Accounts say that Petrie arrived at the shop while Ashraf was out picking up lunch for employees and waited until he returned.
Community members have remembered Ashraf as “everybody’s mechanic” and remembered his active participation in the community and charitable causes.
A makeshift memorial outside of MK Auto Repair in MIlton, Ont. where owner Shakeel Ashraf was fatally shot; two other employees were also wounded in the shooting spree that began with the unprovoked shooting death of Toronto police Const. Andrew Hong.
Ashraf, 39, was of Pakistani origin and immigrated with his family 25 years ago, opening two MK Auto Repairs locations in Milton that employ more than 15 workers. He had recently bought a new autobody shop on Steeles Avenue and had printed out new business cards.
“He had a reputation of being hardworking, friendly and compassionate to his clients and fellow Miltonians,” friend Hammad Jawaid told the Hamilton Spectator. “He regularly participated in and sponsored local community events, contributed in causes and will be missed by many in the South Asian community. His loss has left local community in utter disbelief and shock and well wishers have been constantly visiting his family house to pay their respects.”
Omer Ahmed, who worked at Ashraf’s shop, told CBC news his former boss did a lot for the community and would help fix people’s cars, even if they couldn’t pay for the service.
“He would always be in, like, a happy mood all the time,” Ahmed said Tuesday. “He would always be smiling, always joyful, always caring.”
Ashraf had been the Ahmed family’s mechanic for a long time, and when he asked if he could work at the auto shop part-time while in college, Ashraf gave him a weekend job.
“It feels unreal, honestly … he didn’t deserve it.”
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Donald Trump Makes Passive-Aggressive Comment About Wife Melania's Looks
Donald Trump Makes Passive-Aggressive Comment About Wife Melania's Looks https://digitalalaskanews.com/donald-trump-makes-passive-aggressive-comment-about-wife-melanias-looks/
Tensions between former President Donald Trump and his wife Melania are often muted in public.
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Critics of the former POTUS (FPOTUS) often point out that Melania can be cold or dismissive of her husband’s attempts to hold her hand in public, but usually they present a mostly united front.
But this morning, an off-hand comment from Trump has even his supporters raising their eyebrows and wondering, “what exactly did he mean?”
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Beautiful – No, Not Her, the Ornaments!
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Melania has her own Truth Social account and often posts about her charity efforts, or perhaps it’s more accurate to say that her assistants post.
Yesterday, her Truth account shared what looked like a pretty typical Fox News story about how Melania is rolling out American Christmas ornaments and NFTs to help fund scholarships for foster children.
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And Trump himself, perhaps thinking to help, “re-truthed” the post, sharing it to his followers. But his comment upon sharing the post, which includes an image of wife Melania, is a little bizarre.
Trump shared the original and added, “Really beautiful (the ornaments, I mean!).”
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The fact that he clarified that he meant that the ornaments were beautiful, and not his wife – the image on the post itself – is frankly bizarre, even for Trump who often missteps on social media.
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If he did intend it as a slight against his wife, it’s not the only one the former President has dropped in the past 24 hours.
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Trump has explained that he will not choose former VP Mike Pence as a running mate if he should run again in 2024.
Trump says Pence has committed “political suicide” by not refusing to certify the 2020 election results in Congress.
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When speaking with the authors of an upcoming book called “The Divider: Trump in the White House, 2017-2021” Trump explained, “It would be totally inappropriate.”
It’s likely that Trump’s decision is a relief for Pence, who was targeted by the FPOTUS’s supporters in the January 6 riots, who were heard chanting “hang Mike Pence.” When told about his supporter’s violent ideations, the former President reportedly said he thought perhaps Pence deserved it.
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The pair have been ignoring each other’s existences for the most part since January 6, 2021, and Pence is currently gearing up to potentially challenge Trump for the 2024 nomination. It would mark an extraordinary break, having a former VP and President running against one another for the nomination.
Trump is still currently favored to win by a significant margin, but a lot rests on what happens between now and then with Trump and the Department of Justice. If he’s criminally indicted, the next front-runner for the 2024 Republican nomination is likely Florida Governor Ron DeSantis. But that won’t stop challengers like Mike Pence from trying their hand; and it could be anyone’s race.
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