Digital Alaska News

Maryland's Hogan: Biden 'Crossed The Line' With College Debt Bailout – NH Journal https://digitalalaskanews.com/marylands-hogan-biden-crossed-the-line-with-college-debt-bailout-nh-journal/ MD Gov. Larry Hogan speaks to the press at the New Hampshire Institute of Politics at St. Anselm College on April 23, 2019 Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan said President Joe Biden’s plan to spend up to $1 trillion on a college debt bailout is “completely over the line.” He called it a violation of the U.S. Constitution. “It’s a completely wrong policy that’s going to be disastrous. I also think he overstepped his authority and that Congress ought to limit him,” Hogan said. “Shifting the burden to the taxpayers for folks who got the advantage of going to college so they don’t have to pay it back — and the taxpayers who were working hard that maybe didn’t have that opportunity have to pay for it? It, it’s crazy. And to put that kind of money out there when we’re faced with inflationary problems and a potential recession, that’s just a bad idea.” Though he has repeatedly said he is focused on his final months in office and won’t make any decisions until next year, the Maryland Republican has made no secret of his interest in a 2024 presidential run. Hogan is scheduled to speak at a Politics and Eggs breakfast Thursday morning hosted by the New England Council and the New Hampshire Institute of Politics. It is an all-but-mandatory stop on New Hampshire’s First in the Nation primary trail. He has also written high-profile op-eds for national news outlets like The Wall Street Journal. And last week, Hogan reportedly gathered about 50 supporters at a hotel in Annapolis to discuss his potential path to the GOP presidential nomination. “According to people who attended Thursday’s meeting, Hogan operatives laid out what they see as the governor’s potential trajectory in 2024, and asserted that President Trump’s stranglehold on the GOP is diminishing, due to his legal entanglements, electoral failures, and waning influence overall,” a Maryland news site reported. In a podcast interview with NHJournal on Wednesday, Hogan touted his record as a Republican governor of “the bluest state in America.” He talked about getting a Democrat-controlled legislature to cut taxes as well as his handling of riots in Baltimore in response to the death of Freddie Gray while in police custody. Then, after just 89 days in office, came the diagnosis that he had stage-three non-Hodgkin lymphoma, a very aggressive cancer. Hogan has been cancer-free since 2016. Asked what he learned from the months of chemotherapy and the challenges that came with it Hogan said, “You have to be prepared for things that hit you out of the blue.” “We had great plans about the things we wanted to accomplish, and we were doing a good job of kind of following our plan,” Hogan said. “Then came the challenge of aggressive cancer. But I worked right through it. And I think the people of our state appreciated that we never quit.” If Hogan chooses to run, he could be part of a crowded field. One theory is that if former President Donald Trump chooses to run, many viable candidates will remain on the sidelines. Hogan has indicated his decision will not be determined by Trump’s actions. If Trump doesn’t run, a litany of candidates is likely to enter the GOP primary, including Hogan’s neighbor, Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin. One issue that helped Youngkin win in Virginia — and catapult onto the list of potential presidential contenders — is parental rights. Hogan said he believes the issue is a winner for Republicans, and stories like the Manchester N.H. school district denying parents basic information about their children’s behavior help make the GOP’s case. Asked about New Hampshire Democratic Party chair Ray Buckley’s recent statement that some parents will “beat their children to death” over issues of sex and gender if schools don’t keep it secret, Hogan replied, “That’s crazy, right?” “Many politicians in America are attacking the rights of parents and propping up the power of teacher’s unions,” Hogan said. “Education starts at home and parents have a right to know what is happening at school and what their children are being taught and what’s going on with their kids. “I think this is a big issue that the country, the parents across the country, are pushing back and getting more involved in their child’s education.” Read More Here

Joe Burrow's Parents Discuss His Leadership, Importance Of New Foundation https://digitalalaskanews.com/joe-burrows-parents-discuss-his-leadership-importance-of-new-foundation/ AdPut A Bottle On Your Car Tire When Parking Alone Always Place A Plastic Bottle On Your Car Tire When Traveling Alone, Here’s Why The Hill Harris, Secret Service director concerned over Monday motorcade accident Vice President Harris and the director of the Secret Service have reportedly expressed concerns over an accident on Monday involving the vehicle Harris was traveling in after the agency initially did not disclose details about the minor collision, according to The Washington Post. The motorcade was delayed in transporting Harris to the White House… AdAlways Put A Crayon In Your Wallet When Traveling I was all set for my trip, or so I thought. That’s when my friend told me to place a crayon in my wallet when traveling. The reason is quite clever. AdRenewable Propane: What Is It and How Is It Clean? Learn the basics of how this energy source is made, how it is used, and its potential to revolutionize clean energy. Bloomberg DOJ Wins Faster Schedule for Mar-a-Lago Special Master Appeal (Bloomberg) — A federal appeals court granted the US Justice Department’s request to expedite its challenge to the appointment of a so-called special master to review thousands of White House documents seized from Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate.Most Read from BloombergMusk Revives $44 Billion Twitter Bid, Aiming to Avoid TrialLoretta Lynn, Coal Miner’s Daughter And Country Queen, DiesTrump Says US Agency Packed Top-Secret Documents. These Emails Suggest Otherwise.Stocks Take Breather After Fu NASCAR.com NASCAR hits No. 4 Cup team with L2-level penalty for modification of single-source part NASCAR officials issued L2-level penalties Wednesday to the No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford team for unapproved modification of a single-source part. The infraction, which falls under the heading of Sections 14.1 (vehicle assembly) and 14.5 (body), resulted in a 100-point penalty for both driver Kevin Harvick and the No. 4 SHR team in their respective […] AdElectric Bikes For Sale (Sold Almost for Nothing) You deserve to drive a brand-new electric bicycle at a fair price. Search for E-Bikes here and see leading offers near you Ukrayinska Pravda Russian soldiers are surrendering en masse VALENTYNA ROMANENKO – TUESDAY, 4 OCTOBER 2022, 11:46 The Chief Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine says that more than 2,000 Russian soldiers have contacted them over the past few weeks asking for an opportunity to surrender. AdThis Is The Present Everybody Talks About Tired of looking at useless products online that don’t provide any real value? Well, we are helping you out on it. Oxygen ‘I’m The Idiot Husband That Stayed’: Keith Papini Was ‘In Shock’ After Discovering Wife’s 2016 Kidnapping Was A Hoax Keith Papini had been one of his wife’s biggest advocates, but when investigators revealed in 2020 that her kidnapping four years earlier had been an elaborate hoax, the dad of two told investigators he was “in shock.” “I’m the idiot husband that stayed around the whole time,” Keith said in August of 2020 as he sat down to talk with investigators after the stunning revelation, according to interrogation footage included in an episode of ABC’s “20/20,” which aired on Friday. Sherri Papini was sen Read More Here

New Book Claims Donald Trump Said: “The Gays, They Love Me” https://digitalalaskanews.com/new-book-claims-donald-trump-said-the-gays-they-love-me/ Donald Trump – Photo: Gage Skidmore. Former President Donald Trump reportedly told Vice President Mike Pence that gay people are big fans of his, according to a new book by Maggie Haberman, a reporter for The New York Times. In the book, Confidence Man: The Making of Donald Trump and the Breaking of America, Haberman details Trump’s behavior and actions throughout his presidency.  In one excerpt from the book, obtained by Newsweek, Haberman describes an exchange Trump had with conservative donor and philanthropist Paul Singer, who has a gay son. According to the excerpt, while Trump, Pence, and their aides prepared for a press conference, Trump chatted up Singer, asking him: “How conservative are you?” Singer replied that he was quite conservative on economic issues but more moderate on other issues, such as gay rights, noting that he had been involved in efforts to legalize same-sex marriage in individual states. According to The Washington Post, in 2012, Singer started American Unity PAC, a political action committee designed to support LGBTQ-friendly Republicans in state legislative elections. Trump followed up by asking Singer if he was gay, to which he replied he wasn’t, but his son was. Pence began to leave the room, at which point, Trump allegedly gestured toward the vice president and said, ‘you’re not like those guys, that kind of conservative?” He then added, “the gays, they love me,” noting that the line in his GOP convention speech that received the most applause was a vow to “protect our LGBTQ citizens from the violence and oppression of a hateful foreign ideology” — a reference to the Pulse nightclub shooting and the threat radical Islam poses to LGBTQ rights. Trump also asked Singer to join him for the press conference, but Singer declined, saying he was a low-profile person and was heading back to New York City. Haberman’s anecdote about Trump seems to mirror a story from a 2017 artice in The New Yorker, which claimed that the former president mocked Pence’s right-wing Christian beliefs, such as overturning the Supreme Court’s decision in Roe v. Wade and opposing gay rights. According to The New Yorker, a conservative legal scholar reportedly told Trump that that scrapping the 1973 Supreme Court ruling that legalized abortion would do nothing, as states would enact their own abortion laws, which prompted Trump to say to Pence: “You see? You’ve wasted all this time and energy on it, and it’s not going to end abortion anyway.” During the course of that conversation, which eventually turned to gay rights, Trump reportedly gestured to Pence and joked about his vice president’s views on gays, saying: “Don’t ask that guy — he wants to hang them all!” Then-White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders refuted those claims, saying that Jane Mayer’s article “relied on fiction rather than facts.” In another excerpt from Confidence Man released to the media prior to its Oct. 4 release, Haberman claimed that Trump had a mild obsession with knowing who in his circles was gay, and mocked gay men behind their back. Trump has criticized Confidence Man and Haberman, writing on Truth Social, “Maggot Hagerman [sic] of the Unfunded Liability plagued New York Times is my self appointed Biographer, even though she got the Russia, Russia, Russia Hoax & the Mueller Report conclusion completely wrong, & refused to write about the FACT that the Democrats spied on my campaign, Lied to Congress, & Cheated and Lied to the FISA Court.” Trump was referencing Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into alleged links between Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign and Russia, and the fact that two warrants obtained to surveil former Trump campaign aide Carter Page were later deemed to be invalid because the government made “material misstatements” in their effort to obtain them, reports Newsweek. “Maggot was also duped on Impeachment Hoax #1 & Impeachment Hoax #2, & said in 2016 that, ‘Trump will NOT run for President,’” Trump added in his Truth Social post. “She is a bad writer with very bad sources!” Read More Here

Blake Masters Is The Most Dangerous Candidate In America https://digitalalaskanews.com/blake-masters-is-the-most-dangerous-candidate-in-america/ Photo Illustration by Luis G. Rendon/The Daily Beast/Getty/YouTube The most dangerous politician in America is about to take the debate stage. No, not former President Donald Trump—but Blake Masters, the GOP nominee for Senate in Arizona. When he faces off against the incumbent Sen. Mark Kelly, Masters will likely be on his very best behavior. After running to the fringes of right-wing politics in his primary, he now needs to convince skeptical voters that he’s not actually as extreme as they think, and that all the crazy things they heard him say over the past year were just misrepresentations made up by Democrats and the media. But Masters is just as far outside the ideological mainstream as he let on during the primary. Trump’s MAGA Heirs Want a Kinder, Gentler Authoritarianism He thinks that America is in a period of extreme societal decline—a “dystopian hell world,” in his words—and “evil and incompetent” Democrats are mostly to blame. To rescue our country from the left, Masters believes that America needs a more combative Republican Party willing to weaponize state power to pursue a hard-right nationalistic agenda, enforce socially conservative values, and punish anybody who gets in the way. Of course, far-right nationalism itself isn’t all that unique within the post-Trump GOP. But Masters’ worldview is both more thoughtful and more extreme than those of his Republican counterparts. He hasn’t arrived at this perspective merely out of political expediency: he’s a true believer in hard-right nationalism and a harsh critic of small-L liberalism. Photo by Mario Tama/Getty ” data-src=”https://s.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/297cRwQxjaqUzRZyuQj3KA–/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTcwNTtoPTQ3MA–/https://s.yimg.com/uu/api/res/1.2/FwH3q6CV5YCaNGA6YyCvhw–~B/aD03ODA7dz0xMTcwO2FwcGlkPXl0YWNoeW9u/https://media.zenfs.com/en/thedailybeast.com/4a4f3956f26d2689d0026e9963c2c0e2″ Photo by Mario Tama/Getty In crafting his worldview, Masters has studied, befriended, and been mentored by a set of illiberal thinkers with discrete authoritarian streaks. The illustrious list includes Singapore’s late leader Lee Kuan Yew, tech billionaire Peter Thiel, domestic terrorist Ted Kaczynski (aka the Unabomber), and “neo-reactionary monarchist” Curtis Yarvin. If you read that and thought, “does ‘monarchist’ mean what I think it does?” The answer is yes, and Masters has been reading and recommending Yarvin’s writing for over a decade. Far from being a trivial philosophical interest, Yarvin and his work have had a tangible influence on Masters. In one instance, when asked at a conference how he would “drain the swamp,” Masters responded that “one of my friends has this acronym he calls RAGE. Retire All Government Employees.” That friend, naturally, is Curtis Yarvin. Likewise, Yarvin’s first-ever campaign contribution was a max-out donation to Masters during the heat of the Republican primary. To be sure, we shouldn’t treat Masters as guilty by association. But Masters’ illiberal ideology has, at the very least, been heavily influenced by his relationships with far-right extremists and authoritarians. By contrast, other right-wing Republicans like Trump or Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene wouldn’t be able to expound on the flaws of classical liberalism in the same way that Masters does, and their relationships with extremist thinkers are superficial and transactional rather than philosophical and personal. But ideological extremism alone doesn’t make someone the greatest threat in American politics. What makes Masters more dangerous than any of the other hard-right figures in the GOP is that his extremism is backed up by a uniquely aggressive temperament, an unrelenting hatred of the left, and an all-too-realistic path to the heights of power. Blake Masters Says He’s Avoided Chinese Investments. Untrue. When it comes to his disposition, Masters is angrier and darker than other politicians on the American right. Take Trump for example: despite his inflammatory rhetoric, he typically attempts to deliver it with a bit of irony or humor. Masters, by comparison, is grim and sinister, and has worked hard to cultivate a “Dark MAGA” aura around himself. Just skim the homepage of his campaign website to see for yourself. Or take a look at his ominous TV ads—particularly the one in which he’s holding a gun and says, “This is a short-barreled rifle. It wasn’t designed for hunting. This is designed to kill people.” It’s this embrace of violent imagery and macho masculinity that brings Masters closer to the F-word than other Republicans. Masters aims his aggression almost exclusively at Democrats, who he thinks are evil and bent on destroying the country. Brandon Bell/Getty ” data-src=”https://s.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/1IiaygexsVw.MHqZBxLR0g–/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTcwNTtoPTQ3MA–/https://s.yimg.com/uu/api/res/1.2/zQ0kE8uFYP1j1jWX1J0u6w–~B/aD03ODA7dz0xMTcwO2FwcGlkPXl0YWNoeW9u/https://media.zenfs.com/en/thedailybeast.com/c7b8539191082b864338a109fcd22e2b” Brandon Bell/Getty For instance, he’s tweeted that progressivism is “the most deadly virus we face” and that “it rots brains and nations”; his website states that the “Democrats are the party of lawlessness and anarchy”; and he’s called the left “the enemy of everything that is good.” Needless to say, others within the GOP have expressed anti-leftist messages before, but Masters’ level of fury and use of dehumanizing language represent a novel escalation of the culture wars. And if he genuinely believes what he says, then he likely also thinks that he has the license to do pretty much whatever it takes to stop the left from destroying America. What makes a potential Masters Senate victory downright scary is that he’ll have a clear path to even greater political power. Most important in this context is his backing from three key power brokers in right-wing politics. Take Trump’s ‘Warning’ of Violence for What It Is—a Threat First, there’s Donald Trump, the de-facto leader of the GOP who endorsed Masters in the primary and remains a dedicated supporter. Second, there’s Peter Thiel, the billionaire tech investor who has mentored Masters for more than a decade and dropped over $15 million to support his campaign so far. Third, there’s Tucker Carleson, the most influential voice in conservative media who calls Masters “the future of the Republican Party.” Together, the three Ts represent the political, financial, and media gears that turn the right-wing machine in America. With their support, Masters could quickly climb the rungs of GOP politics, and—if we’re being really pessimistic—it’s not hard to imagine him running for president a few years down the line. On the other hand, if we’re lucky, Masters’ political fortunes will be torpedoed next month. One downside of staking your political prospects on a hyper-machismo image is that defeat makes you look weak. Sure, he could throw a tantrum and declare a fraudulent election, but without unwavering loyalty of the sort that Trump commands, Masters will end up looking less like a martyr and more like a sore loser. A loss for Masters would likely deflate all the air out of his nationalistic balloon and send him to the dustbin of American politics. For the most dangerous politician in America, that’s the best outcome any of us could possibly hope for. Read more at The Daily Beast. Get the Daily Beast’s biggest scoops and scandals delivered right to your inbox. Sign up now. Stay informed and gain unlimited access to the Daily Beast’s unmatched reporting. Subscribe now. Read More Here

Quake Info: Light Mag. 4.8 Earthquake – 123 Mi North Of Alaska City, Anchorage, Alaska, USA, On Wednesday, Oct 5, 2022 At 2:16 Pm (GMT -8) – 7 User Experience Reports https://digitalalaskanews.com/quake-info-light-mag-4-8-earthquake-123-mi-north-of-alaska-city-anchorage-alaska-usa-on-wednesday-oct-5-2022-at-216-pm-gmt-8-7-user-experience-reports/ Updated: Oct 5, 2022 23:57 GMT – I felt this quake Light magnitude 4.8 earthquake at 99 km depth 5 Oct 22:19 UTC: First to report: EMSC after 3 minutes. 5 Oct 22:20: Now using data updates from USGS 5 Oct 22:27: Magnitude recalculated from 4.6 to 4.8. Hypocenter depth recalculated from 99.6 to 98.9 km (from 62 to 61 mi). Epicenter location corrected by 3.3 km (2 mi) towards W. Update Wed, 5 Oct 2022, 22:24 Moderate earthquake of magnitude 4.6 just reported 38 miles northwest of Chase, Alaska, United States 4.6 quake 5 Oct 2:16 pm (GMT -8) An intermediate magnitude 4.6 earthquake was reported early afternoon near Chase, Matanuska-Susitna, Alaska, USA. According to the United States Geological Survey, the quake hit on Wednesday, October 5th, 2022, at 2:16 pm local time at an intermediate depth of 62 miles. The exact magnitude, epicenter, and depth of the quake might be revised within the next few hours or minutes as seismologists review data and refine their calculations, or as other agencies issue their report. A second report was later issued by The Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology (IRIS), which listed it as a magnitude 4.6 earthquake as well. Other agencies reporting the same quake include the citizen-seismograph network of RaspberryShake at magnitude 4.6, and the European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC) at magnitude 4.6. Towns or cities near the epicenter where the quake might have been felt as very weak shaking include Chase (pop. 34) located 38 miles from the epicenter, and Susitna North (pop. 1,300) 59 miles away. VolcanoDiscovery will automatically update magnitude and depth if these change and follow up if other significant news about the quake become available. If you’re in the area, please send us your experience through our reporting mechanism, either online or via our mobile app. This will help us provide more first-hand updates to anyone around the globe who wants to know more about this quake. If you were or still are in this area during the quake help others with your feedback and report it here. Download the Volcanoes & Earthquakes app and get one of the fastest seismic alerts online: Android | iOS I felt this quake I didn’t feel it Earthquake details Date & time Oct 5, 2022 22:16:48 UTC – Local time at epicenter Wednesday, Oct 5, 2022 at 2:16 pm (GMT -8) Status Confirmed Magnitude 4.8 Depth 98.9 km Epicenter latitude / longitude 62.9779°N / 150.4415°W (Matanuska-Susitna, Alaska, United States) Antipode 62.978°S / 29.559°E Shaking intensity Light shaking Felt 7 reports Primary data source USGS (United States Geological Survey) Nearest volcano Buzzard Creek (157 km / 98 mi) Nearby towns and cities 61 km (38 mi) NNW of Chase (pop: 34) | Show on map | Quakes nearby 96 km (59 mi) NNW of Susitna North (pop: 1,260) | Show on map | Quakes nearby 169 km (105 mi) NNW of Knik-Fairview (pop: 14,900) | Show on map | Quakes nearby 190 km (118 mi) NNW of Eagle River (pop: 24,800) | Show on map | Quakes nearby 190 km (118 mi) NNW of Eagle River (Anchorage) (pop: 24,800) | Show on map | Quakes nearby 198 km (123 mi) N of Alaska City (pop: 298,700) | Show on map | Quakes nearby 246 km (153 mi) SW of Fairbanks (pop: 32,300) | Show on map | Quakes nearby 248 km (154 mi) SW of Badger (pop: 19,500) | Show on map | Quakes nearby Weather at epicenter at time of quake Scattered Clouds 4.7°C (40 F), humidity: 94%, wind: 1 m/s (3 kts) from NNW Estimated seismic energy released 1 x 1012 joules (278 megawatt hours, equivalent to 239 tons of TNT) | about seismic energy If you felt this quake (or if you were near the epicenter), please share your experience and submit a short “I felt it” report! Other users would love to hear about it! If you did NOT feel the quake although you were in the area, please report it! Your contribution is valuable to earthquake science, seismic hazard analysis and mitigation efforts. You can use your device location or the map to indicate where you were during the earthquake. Thank you! Data for the same earthquake reported by different agencies Info: The more agencies report about the same quake and post similar data, the more confidence you can have in the data. It takes normally up to a few hours until earthquake parameters are calculated with near-optimum precision. Mag. Depth Location Source 4.8 99 km 56 Km NNE of Petersville, Alaska USGS 4.8 80 km CENTRAL ALASKA EMSC 4.8 99 km Central Alaska RaspberryShake 4.8 10 km Central Alaska IRIS 5.0 100 km Central Alaska GFZ Seismograms Seismic station: College Outpost, Alaska, USA (COLA/IU network) | Distance from quake: 246 km / 153 mi | Show on map | Station Info Seismogram (vertical component) around time of quake. Thin dotted red line indicates time of quake. Seismic waves arrive some time later, depending on distance. Source: IRIS Buffer of Uniform Data (BUD) webtool Show more User reports for this quake (7) Contribute: Leave a comment if you find a particular report interesting or want to add to it. Flag as inappropriate. Mark as helpful or interesting. Send your own user report! Outside my cabin (68.7 km SSE of epicenter) [Map] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / 5-10 s : I heard a low rumble at first then it got louder and then I felt a jolt. My cabin made a cracking sound and windows rattled some (reported through our app)   172.5 km SSE of epicenter [Map] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / single lateral shake / very short (reported through our app) talkeetna, alaska (85.6 km SSE of epicenter) [Map] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating / 20-30 s : Sitting still, working at a computer.   gerdwood (234.6 km SSE of epicenter) [Map] / Very weak shaking (MMI II) Chugiak ak / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating / 5-10 s : Stuff on my shelves were rattling   Fishhook, Alaska / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating / 10-15 s : Mild shaking upstairs, scared the cats enough to go hide. Only played 20ish seconds.   GIRDWOOD / Light shaking (MMI IV) / complex rolling (tilting in multiple directions) / 5-10 s (reported through our app) Earlier earthquakes in the same area Click here to search our database for earlier earthquakes in the same area since 1900! Read More Here

In Hurricane’s Wake, Southwest Florida Residents Demand More Federal Help https://digitalalaskanews.com/in-hurricanes-wake-southwest-florida-residents-demand-more-federal-help/ Hurricane Ian inflicted its worst damage across several deeply Republican counties, where many voters express hostility toward President Biden and the federal government in general. Send any friend a story As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. Anyone can read what you share. Kenny Cripe went into his damaged mobile home in St. James, Fla., on Pine Island, to retrieve clean drinking water for his neighbors.Credit…Hilary Swift for The New York Times Oct. 5, 2022Updated 7:59 p.m. ET FORT MYERS BEACH, Fla. — Like many other conservative residents of storm-battered southwest Florida, Pamela Swartz has long been leery of government spending. But as she stood among the smashed boats, gutted homes and overwhelming loss left by Hurricane Ian, Ms. Swartz said that federal aid could not come soon enough. “This is their time to step in,” said Ms. Swartz, whose garage in Fort Myers Beach had been flooded by Ian’s devastating storm surge. She was already frustrated after trying to file a federal storm claim. “This is what we pay our taxes for.” Hurricane Ian inflicted its worst damage and heaviest casualties across several deeply Republican counties, where Trump flags decorate yards and trucks and many voters express hostility toward President Biden and the federal government in general. On Wednesday, as Mr. Biden toured damaged areas of the coast and met and shook hands with Gov. Ron DeSantis, a potential 2024 challenger who is usually one of his most strident critics, the two leaders shared bipartisan vows to build and recover. Both men have said they would put aside partisan differences in light of the disaster, which has killed at least 120 people in Florida, according to state and local officials. That is believed to be the most fatalities recorded in the state from a single hurricane since 1935. But the task of rebuilding obliterated towns and repairing destroyed roads and power grids will require huge infusions of federal money and long-term cooperation between a Democratic White House and a Republican governor who is more accustomed to battling over Covid policies, immigration and cultural norms. And in the polarized political climate five weeks before the midterm elections, the storm that smashed houses and swept away crucial roads has not changed many residents’ negative views of Washington. Image Ned Bruha checks a mobile home in St. James. A tree had fallen on the home, and its owner asked Mr. Bruha to see if the two cats living there were all right. Credit…Hilary Swift for The New York Times Image Damage to residences on Pine Island was widespread.Credit…Hilary Swift for The New York Times In interviews this week around the region, some residents praised the governor while criticizing the federal response. They appreciated seeing Mr. DeSantis giving storm updates and touring damaged areas, they said, and many were satisfied with the response of their local government officials, despite questions about the timing of Lee County’s evacuation order. “Our governor is the greatest,” said Jay Kimble, a maintenance worker on Fort Myers Beach who lost everything. “I know he’s going to do everything he can to get us back on our feet. I’m not a Biden fan at all.” The five hard-hit counties along the southwest Florida coast — Charlotte, Collier, Lee, Manatee and Sarasota — are, on average, older and whiter and have a smaller proportion of Latino residents than the rest of the state. Those counties voted for former President Trump by wide margins in 2020. Lee County, where Ian made landfall as a Category 4 hurricane, is the most populous in the region, with about 756,000 people, and has grown steadily as an affordable, low-tax retreat for Midwestern transplants and retirees in particular. This week, residents said they were having trouble navigating the process of applying for federal disaster relief and had not seen much evidence of federal boots on the ground. Image Israel Lopes and Iber Macario carrying tools to a damaged home in Bonita Springs, Fla. Credit…Callaghan O’Hare for The New York Times Image Fort Myers Beach on Saturday. The task of rebuilding obliterated towns and repairing destroyed roads and power grids will require huge infusions of federal money.Credit…Johnny Milano for The New York Times Some barrier-island residents who could not get any government officials to give them a ride to the islands to check on their homes said they had turned instead to the volunteer flotillas that have sprung up at piers. John Lynch, 59, whose bright yellow house on Matlacha, a spit of land between the mainland and Pine Island, was now creaking ominously atop the shifting sands, said it seemed that most supplies were being delivered and distributed by churches and neighbors, rather than by the government. “Day after day after day, nothing,” Mr. Lynch said about government aid. On Tuesday, Mr. Lynch ventured onto the mainland to stock up on food and candles, and to get dry shampoo and coffee creamer for a neighbor who would not leave her home. After a disaster of this magnitude, the Federal Emergency Management Agency is in charge of coordinating the response among federal agencies and working in tandem with state and local governments. It has faced repeated criticism over the last few decades for slow emergency response, most notably after Hurricane Katrina in 2005. “We understand the road to recovery can be as long as it is frustrating, but we are here to help, and we will continue to do everything in our power to help all Floridians recover from this disaster,” Jeremy M. Edwards, a FEMA spokesman, said in an email. Deanne Criswell, the FEMA administrator, said on Wednesday that nearly 4,000 federal officials were in Florida working on hurricane recovery. The agency approved $70 million this week for survivors of Ian, which analysts say has inflicted more than $40 billion in property damage claims alone. The agency also said it had set up food and water distribution sites, and was sending teams to shelters and people’s homes in 11 counties to help them start applying for disaster relief. “The needs are going to be massive,” said James Kendra, director of the Disaster Research Center at the University of Delaware. “In a case like this, nothing will ever happen fast enough for people who are affected.” Image Members of the Coast Guard delivered supplies in Matlacha, Fla., on Monday. Credit…Callaghan O’Hare for The New York Times Image Analysts have said the hurricane inflicted more than $40 billion in property damage claims alone. Credit…Jason Andrew for The New York Times At a joint appearance with Mr. Biden on Wednesday, Mr. DeSantis thanked the president and praised the coordination that had come from the White House “from the very beginning.” But along destroyed barrier islands severed from the mainland because of damage to roads and bridges, residents voiced frustration about pressure from officials to clear out during the cleanup process and about not enough assistance arriving from FEMA. “People don’t really have a lot of places to go,” said Jamie Surgent, 37, a business owner on hard-hit Pine Island, adding “I just want the help.” Locals on Pine Island recalled seeing the United Cajun Navy, a nonprofit group whose members respond to disasters, ex-military members and their own neighbors steering boats through muddied waterways and checking on the people who had stayed. As they picked up basic supplies, a constant refrain was, “Where’s FEMA?” Even without electricity and water, they refused to leave — and instead demanded that the government allow them to build a temporary bridge to restore access to the island, a wish that Mr. DeSantis said on Wednesday had been fulfilled. Still, residents on the island and in nearby communities in the region said they felt neglected. “FEMA, the government, they don’t give a crap about people down here like us,” said Chris Buxton, 49, who barely survived the storm in a low-lying neighborhood of North Fort Myers by huddling in the attic as the waters surged into his small white rental home. On Tuesday, there was still no electricity, Mr. Buxton’s van was dead, and his belongings lay in a soggy pile in the front yard. No government relief workers had been through the neighborhood, Mr. Buxton, a maintenance manager, said. Image On Pine Island, Doug Root delivered ice to a man whose wife needed to keep her insulin refrigerated. Credit…Callaghan O’Hare for The New York Times Image The road connecting Matlacha to the Florida mainland was left impassable by the storm.Credit…Jason Andrew for The New York Times Mr. DeSantis voted in 2013 against hurricane aid for the New York region when he was a freshman in Congress, but he sought to “put politics aside” as he requested emergency federal reimbursements immediately after Ian struck last Wednesday. “When people are fighting for their lives, when their whole livelihood is at stake, when they’ve lost everything — if you can’t put politics aside for that, then you’re just not going to be able to,” he told Tucker Carlson of Fox News last week. In recent days, though, Mr. DeSantis has assumed a more familiar combative posture. He scolded reporters for questioning why officials in hard-hit Lee County, where at least 58 people died in the storm, had delayed issuing evacuation orders until the day before Ian made landfall. At a briefing on Tuesday, he talked about post-hurricane looting in the context of immigration, noting that three people recently arrested on suspicion of looting were “illegal aliens” who “should not be here at all” to applause from the people arrayed around him. Fears of looting were widespread, and residents vowed to defend their property at any cost — a stance that Mr. DeSantis ...

A https://digitalalaskanews.com/a-33/ Access to this page has been denied because we believe you are using automation tools to browse the website. This may happen as a result of the following: Javascript is disabled or blocked by an extension (ad blockers for example) Your browser does not support cookies Please make sure that Javascript and cookies are enabled on your browser and that you are not blocking them from loading. Reference ID: #87bad4c6-450c-11ed-8864-797154744444 Read More Here

The Birdie Stays Grounded, Like Burrell, As He Makes His Week 6 Picks In A-K Valley Football | Trib HSSN https://digitalalaskanews.com/the-birdie-stays-grounded-like-burrell-as-he-makes-his-week-6-picks-in-a-k-valley-football-trib-hssn/ By: The Birdie Wednesday, October 5, 2022 | 7:19 PM Kristina Serafini | Tribune-Review Burrell’s Devin Beattie carries the ball for a touchdown during a game against Valley on Friday, Sept. 9, 2022, at Valley. Last week: 12-0 Season: 61-8 (88.4%) The Birdie has taken notice of the outstanding year the Burrell Bucs are having: a 5-1 record with a great shot at making the WPIAL playoffs. Here’s why he thinks that’s such great news: It shines a light on the fact that there are many ways to skin a cat on Friday nights. (Cats are The Birdie’s mortal enemy, but he’s speaking metaphorically here.) Coach Shawn Liotta looked at his roster this season and decided his team would be better off running the ball maniacally and playing stout defense than trying to stuff a round peg into a square hole and employing the pass-heavy approach preferred by many these days. And now, the Bucs have as many wins as they do completed passes. Think of all the benefits of Burrell’s approach. • Say the other team has a WPIAL sprint medalist at one corner and an all-section middle hitter from the volleyball team at the other. No problem for the Bucs. Let’s see how well those guys tackle. • Say it’s a rainy or snowy night. They won’t be asking an inexperienced quarterback to throw a slippy ball. (Are you surprised The Birdie uses the word “slippy” in everyday conversation?) • Say your center is having a bad day. In the spread, you could spend half the game chasing bad snaps around the backfield like Rocky chasing chickens. • Ever watch a mediocre spread team try to kill clock with a lead in the fourth quarter? It’s like watching The Birdie try to do college algebra. The Birdie realizes there aren’t many teams that will emulate Burrell’s approach. The passing game is the present and the future, and he isn’t going to stand on his porch and yell at kids for playing in his yard. But there is one lesson that everyone can take from this year’s Bucs, and it’s a lesson Mike Tomlin has expressed with a very quotable phrase: If you have red paint, you paint the barn red. And you should listen to The Birdie. He went undefeated last week. Now, on to his Week 6 picks. • East Allegheny (5-1) at Freeport (5-1): One big question in this de facto conference championship game: Can the Yellowjackets offense keep up? East Allegheny, 35-28 • Deer Lakes (3-3) at Valley (1-5): The Lancers can win games multiple ways. Two weeks ago, 9-0. Last week, 37-36. Deer Lakes, 21-19 • Highlands (6-0) at Woodland Hills (3-3): The Wolverines are dangerous, but the Golden Rams are riding high. Highlands, 27-12 • Imani Christian (2-4) at Apollo-Ridge (3-3): Vikings need to avoid giving up the big play. Apollo-Ridge 28-12 • Kiski Area (0-6) at Mars (4-2): Fightin’ Planets can’t be happy with the beating they took last week. Mars, 40-20 • Leechburg (4-2) at Jeannette (2-4): Jayhawks have made vast improvements this season but not this vast. Leechburg, 42-14 • Ligonier Valley (4-2) at Burrell (5-1): Rams like to run the ball, too. This game could be over in a hour and a half. Burrell, 21-20 • Penn Hills (3-3) at Fox Chapel (0-6): Penn Hills is slumping, but they’re still capable of big plays on offense. Penn Hills, 34-19 • Shady Side Academy (1-4) at Knoch (0-6): The Bulldogs can play some defense. Shady Side Academy, 13-6 • South Fayette (3-3) at Plum (3-3): Looks like the Lions got on track last week. South Fayette, 27-24 • Springdale (0-6) at Clairton (2-4): A 2-4 Clairton team is still a Clairton team. Clairton, 30-6 • Summit Academy (1-5) at Riverview (2-4): The Raiders come out fired up for their annual home night game. Riverview, 34-6 Tags: Apollo-Ridge, Burrell, Clairton, Deer Lakes, East Allegheny, Fox Chapel, Freeport, Highlands, Imani Christian, Jeannette, Kiski Area, Knoch, Leechburg, Ligonier Valley, Mars, Penn Hills, Plum, Riverview, Shady Side Academy, South Fayette, Springdale, Summit Academy, Valley, Woodland Hills Read More Here

Trump Says US Could Boost Domestic Energy Production Instead Of Begging Foreign Countries – UrduPoint https://digitalalaskanews.com/trump-says-us-could-boost-domestic-energy-production-instead-of-begging-foreign-countries-urdupoint/ Faizan Hashmi Published October 06, 2022 | 04:10 AM WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik – 06th October, 2022) The United States could boost its domestic production of oil and gas instead of begging other countries to increase their supplies amid a looming global energy crisis, former US President Donald Trump said during a speech to the Hispanic Leadership Conference “We’re begging Venezuela, we’re begging Saudi Arabia, we’re begging everybody for oil, and we have more than everybody right under our feet,” Trump said on Wednesday. “We need to rapidly expand domestic oil and gas production to restore energy independence immediately, just like we had two years ago. That will also help end the war with Russia going into Ukraine. “ Trump aid the United States should send fuel to Europe to help the continent this winter with a prospective energy crisis, sparked by sanctions on Russian exports. Earlier on Wednesday, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries Plus (OPEC+) agreed to reduce production by 2 million barrels per day beginning in November – a decision condemned as “shortsighted” by the Biden administration. The United States will release an additional 10 million barrels of oil from its Strategic Petroleum Reserve in November in response to the OPEC+ decision, the White House said. Read More Here

Trump Says Federal Agency Packed Top-Secret Documents. Email Exchanges Suggest Otherwise https://digitalalaskanews.com/trump-says-federal-agency-packed-top-secret-documents-email-exchanges-suggest-otherwise/ Former President Donald Trump publicly said that one reason that the FBI found boxes of classified documents improperly stored at his Florida estate was that federal workers had packed up the White House after his 2020 defeat. But documents obtained by Bloomberg News under a Freedom of Information Act request suggest a different story. More than 100 pages of emails and shipping lists between White House and transition staff and the U.S. General Services Administration describe the minutiae of moving the Trump White House from Washington, D.C., to Florida, down to how many rolls of Bubble Wrap and tape, all within a plan signed by then-chief of staff Mark Meadows. One thing is clear: The boxes were packed when the movers got there. While the records don’t specify what the boxes contained, they provide the most detailed account to date of how the GSA assisted the outgoing administration between January and September 2021. After the FBI’s unprecedented Aug. 8 search of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate, the former president and his allies, including Fox News’ Sean Hannity, Stephen Bannon’s Breitbart News and former Trump defense official Kash Patel, have claimed that Trump can’t be held legally responsible for the dozens of boxes of highly classified documents found around Mar-a-Lago because the GSA — essentially the federal government’s office and property manager — was in charge of filling boxes and shipping them. “They packed them,” Trump told Hannity on Sept. 21, the latest effort by him and his supporters to deflect blame after the search, which has since led to a legal fight that is now headed to the U.S. Supreme Court over what records the U.S. Justice Department can review as part of its inquiry into the alleged mishandling of the nation’s most sensitive secrets. “The GSA packed the boxes, moved them to the president’s home like they did for Obama and Clinton and Bush, and President Trump invited the DOJ in and said, whatever you guys need,” Patel said on a radio talk show in August. Patel was Trump’s point person to his presidential records at the National Archives. On Jan. 11, 2021, five days after Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol in an attempt to overturn President Joe Biden’s victory, Meadows signed an agreement that laid out the guidelines for setting up Mar-a-Lago as temporary office space for six months for Trump and former Vice President Mike Pence. It included $2 million to assist Trump with the transition and $520,000 for Pence. The money was to be used for office space, furniture, shipping costs and other expenses. Early emails show Trump’s aides would be working daily out of a kitchen at Mar-a-Lago and other rooms at the resort, needing at least 100 boxes at a time for tasks like “processing and appraising” gifts before sending them to the National Archives. The GSA also secured office space in Arlington, Virginia, for Trump’s staff. By April 14, 2021, a Trump aide sent the GSA what she described herself as a “weird” question: “Does GSA work with a contractor for interstate shipping? We have a portrait of President Trump and it needs to be shipped to FL, but in its crate it is 300lbs, 6 x 8 feet,” wrote Desiree Thompson Sayle, the correspondence director for the Office of Donald Trump. A week later, a GSA facilities manager, Kathy Geisler, told Thompson Sayle that because that was considered personal property, taxpayer dollars could not be used to ship it. A GSA spokesperson said its contract with Trump only involved shipping the boxes to Florida, not packing them. “The outgoing transition team was responsible for putting the boxes on pallets and shrink-wrapping each pallet,” the spokesperson said. A representative for Trump did not immediately return a message seeking comment. The logistics took place at the same time the National Archives and Records Administration was expressing deep concerns about the presidential documents that did not belong to Trump personally and were supposed to be stored with them. On May 6, 2021, according to different records obtained by Bloomberg News under a separate FOIA request, the National Archives’ top lawyer advised three attorneys for Trump that his administration failed to hand over correspondence between the former president and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, as well as a letter former President Barack Obama left for Trump during the transition. Those documents are missing. The planning for the move of boxes to Mar-a-Lago, which included 1,400 pounds of “document boxes,” began in late June, according to the GSA emails. Agency officials then helped close the Virginia office and arranged for the shipment of dozens of boxes to Mar-a-Lago. On July 7, 2021, Geisler emailed Thompson Sayle and William “Beau” Harrison, Trump’s former assistant for operations, to arrange a time to meet “to discuss shipping to Florida.” The next day, Thompson Sayle emailed Geisler to thank her for “taking the time to go over next steps for our big move.” She rattled off a list of supplies Trump’s outgoing transition needed to pack and ship items to Mar-a-Lago: Bubble Wrap, shrink wrap for wrapping pallets, 250 sheets of packing paper, 12 rolls of packing tape, 15 small boxes, 30 bankers boxes — the kind the FBI photographed containing papers marked “Top Secret/Sensitive Compartmented Information” — 30 medium boxes and 10 large boxes. She also asked Geisler if the Trump team could keep the autopen machine. On July 19, Geisler again reminded Trump’s staff that federal funds could only be used to ship official material, not personal items. “As a general rule, GSA cannot provide Transition funds to ship any items that are personal items of the Former President including gifts he has received,” Geisler wrote, attaching the regulations and guidance. “We will ask for a certification that no items being shipped are considered property of the former president.” Geisler reiterated that if any item is “considered property of the Federal Government then it should go to NARA or GSA.” Thompson emailed Cheryl Williams, the manager of Supply, Procurement & Mail Operations, that evening saying she had the first pallet ready — meaning the boxes were already packed — and it weighed in at 598 pounds. Over the next week, Geisler and other GSA officials exchanged a flurry of emails about the exorbitant costs and logistics of using UPS and other couriers, to ship about five pallets to Mar-a-Lago and to a facility at Life Storage. In one email exchange, Thompson Sayle included several pictures of boxes stacked on pallets wrapped in cellophane. The correspondence strongly suggests that GSA was only involved in facilitating the shipping of the items and may not have had a role in packing the boxes. It’s not clear how many of the documents in this shipment contained the classified documents that the FBI ultimately recovered. But federal rules require classified material to be transported in a particular manner using preapproved couriers. By December, a representative for Trump would reach out to the National Archives to say they located some presidential records. NARA retrieved 15 boxes of presidential records the following month. But protracted negotiations that ultimately failed led to the FBI search. JACK GILLUM Jason Leopold Read More Here

Trump Said He Almost Didn't Want To Refute Cassidy Hutchinson's Testimony That He Lunged At A Secret Service Agent On Jan. 6 Because It Made Him Look Tough https://digitalalaskanews.com/trump-said-he-almost-didnt-want-to-refute-cassidy-hutchinsons-testimony-that-he-lunged-at-a-secret-service-agent-on-jan-6-because-it-made-him-look-tough/ Trump mocked Cassidy Hutchinson’s January 6 testimony during a speech in Miami Wednesday.  He said the account that he lunged at a Secret Service agent made him look “physically tough.”  Hutchinson testified that she heard secondhand that Trump demanded to be taken to the Capitol. Loading Something is loading. MIAMI, Florida — Former President Donald Trump said Wednesday that he almost didn’t want to refute a secondhand account that he tried to lunge at a Secret Service agent on January 6, because it made him look “physically tough.”  Trump was referring to former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson’s testimony before the January 6 Committee, in which she relayed that she heard secondhand that the former president tried to grab the steering wheel of his SUV and lunged at one of his Secret Service agents on January 6, demanding they take him to the Capitol where his supporters were headed.  Trump didn’t mention Hutchinson by name but in a speech before the Hispanic Leadership Conference, organized by America First Works, he referred to “this one very sick individual” and recounted the details of her testimony.   “If you listen to this one very sick individual, in order to get the Secret Service to take me to the Capitol, I grabbed one around the neck,” he said to laughs in the audience in a ballroom at the InterContinental Miami. “I almost didn’t want to dispute it, because a lot of people said, ‘I never knew you were that physically tough.'”  “If I had grabbed him around the neck, I would have been in very serious trouble,” Trump added, calling the story “phony.”  Hutchinson became a star witness to the January 6 Committee investigating the attack on the Capitol that attempted to decertify the 2020 election. During her testimony, she relayed Trump’s efforts to go to the Capitol on January 6 after the rally at the Ellipse, though his aides and lawyers shot down the idea. Hutchinson said Tony Ornato, the White House deputy chief of staff, recounted the lunging incident to her immediately after it occurred.  She testified that Trump “said something to the effect of, ‘I’m the effing president, take me up to the Capitol now,’ to which Bobby responded, ‘Sir, we have to go back to the West Wing.'” Hutchinson was referring to Bobby Engel, head of Trump’s protective detail.  “The president reached up towards the front of the vehicle to grab at the steering wheel. Mr. Engel grabbed his arm, said, ‘Sir, you need to take your hand off the steering wheel, we’re going back to the West Wing, we’re not going to the Capitol.’ Mr. Trump then used his free hand to lunge towards Bobby Engel,” Hutchinson said, adding that when Ornato “recounted the story to me, he had motioned towards his clavicles.” The account was anonymously scrutinized by sources who spoke to NBC News, but Secret Service agents haven’t testified about that day under oath and before the committee — even though a Trump ally says they’ve offered to do so.  A former Secret Service agent was skeptical of the account in an interview with Insider, saying Trump would have had to squeeze through an “extremely tight” space to be able to grab the steering wheel of an SUV and lunge at a Secret Service agent. Trump’s “girth,” the former agent said, would have made the feat difficult.  Read More Here

Trump Asks Supreme Court To Intervene In Mar-A-Lago Dispute https://digitalalaskanews.com/trump-asks-supreme-court-to-intervene-in-mar-a-lago-dispute/ FILE – Former President Donald Trump listens to applause from the crowd as he steps up to the podium at a rally Friday, Sept. 23, 2022, in Wilmington, N.C. Lawyers for former President Donald Trump asked the U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday, Oct. 4, to step into the legal fight over the classified documents seized during an FBI search of his Florida estate. (AP Photo/Chris Seward, File) Chris Seward WASHINGTON (AP) — Lawyers for former President Donald Trump asked the U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday to step into the legal fight over the classified documents seized during an FBI search of his Florida estate, escalating a dispute over the powers of an independent arbiter appointed to inspect the records. The Trump team asked the justices to overturn a lower court ruling and allow the arbiter, called a special master, to review the roughly 100 documents with classification markings that were taken in the Aug. 8 search of Mar-a-Lago. A three-judge panel from the Atlanta-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit last month limited the special master’s review to the much larger tranche of non-classified documents. The judges, including two Trump appointees, sided with the Justice Department, which had argued there was no legal basis for the special master to conduct his own review of the classified records. But Trump’s lawyers said in their application to the Supreme Court that it was essential for the special master to have access to the classified records to “determine whether documents bearing classification markings are in fact classified, and regardless of classification, whether those records are personal records or Presidential records.” “Since President Trump had absolute authority over classification decisions during his Presidency, the current status of any disputed document cannot possibly be determined solely by reference to the markings on that document,” the application states. It says that without the special master review, “the unchallenged views of the current Justice Department would supersede the established authority of the Chief Executive.” An independent review, the Trump team says, ensures a “transparent process that provides much-needed oversight.” The FBI says it seized roughly 11,000 documents, including about 100 with classification markings, during its search. The Trump team asked a judge in Florida, Aileen Cannon, to appoint a special master to do an independent review of the records. Cannon subsequently assigned a veteran Brooklyn judge, Raymond Dearie, to review the records and segregate those that may be protected by claims of attorney-client privilege and executive privilege. She also barred the FBI from being able to use the classified documents as part of its criminal investigation. The Justice Department appealed, prompting the 11th Circuit to lift Cannon’s hold on investigators’ ability to scrutinize the classified records. The appeals court also ruled that the department did not have to provide Dearie with access to the classified records. Trump’s lawyers submitted the Supreme Court application to Justice Clarence Thomas, who oversees emergency matters from Florida and several other Southern states. Thomas can act on his own or, as is usually done, refer the emergency appeal to the rest of the court. Read More Here

More Women Are Running Against Each Other For Governor This Year Than Ever Before – KVIA https://digitalalaskanews.com/more-women-are-running-against-each-other-for-governor-this-year-than-ever-before-kvia/ By Maeve Reston and Kyung Lah, CNN As she vies to become Arizona’s next governor, Kari Lake has told supporters they can call her “Trump in a dress any day.” She has courted female voters by describing herself as a “Mama Bear” compelled to run by her anger about Covid-19 restrictions. And she warns drug cartels she would be a worthy adversary because they don’t “want to mess with a middle-aged mama who’s pissed off.” Her opponent, Democratic Secretary of State Katie Hobbs, has cast herself as a champion for women as she has made democracy and abortion rights her central focus in their race. She’s argued that her background as a social worker has given her a first-hand perspective on how “restricting women’s autonomy” and curtailing women’s access to reproductive health care — as both this summer’s Supreme Court decision and Arizona’s near-total ban on abortion have done — “hurts women’s physical and mental well-being.” The messages from Lake and Hobbs are diametrically different, yet uniquely female in what is already a record-breaking year for women seeking to become their state’s top executives. Their race in Arizona is one of five gubernatorial matchups this year where women are facing women — along with Alabama, Iowa, Michigan and Oregon. Up until now, there have only been four woman-versus-woman gubernatorial matchups in all of history, according to the Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers University. In total, 25 women this year have been nominated for governor by the two major parties, a historical record according to the Center for American Women and Politics. Sixteen of them are Democrats and nine are Republicans. They are running for a chief executive role that women have typically been more reluctant to seek than legislative offices like the House, Senate and statehouse. Within the five all-women matchups, there are potential history makers too. Though Republicans are likely to hold the governor’s offices in Alabama and Iowa, Democrat Yolanda Flowers, who is challenging Alabama GOP Gov. Kay Ivey, and Deidre DeJear, who is running against Iowa Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds, are among the women vying to be the nation’s first Black female governor (joining Democrat Stacey Abrams, who is in a highly competitive race against Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp). Women of color have long been underrepresented within the ranks of those running for governor. The numbers of female nominees for the US House and Senate this year are short of previous records. “I think we’re chipping away at some of the stereotypes about who can and should be in executive office,” said Kelly Dittmar, director of research and scholar at the Center for American Women and Politics, noting that the number of women who ran for president last cycle has also broadened voters’ expectations. “We’ve seen more and more women do that successfully and more women running for these positions with less of that traditional pushback about whether or not they can do the job.” Initially it was the 1992 cycle that was heralded as the “Year of the Woman” — when 11 women won major party nominations for the US Senate and 108 for the US House. But the upward trajectory of women in politics has accelerated dramatically just in the past few years. By the 2018 cycle, the number of female nominees for the US House had nearly doubled from the 1992 figures, resulting in more than 100 women serving in that chamber for the first time. That surge was fueled almost entirely by Democratic women, many of whom were angered by what they viewed as then-President Donald Trump’s sexist and misogynistic rhetoric, including his conduct toward Hillary Clinton, who became the Democratic Party’s first female presidential nominee in her contest against Trump in 2016. Conservative women made gains in the House in the 2020 cycle after a conscious effort by their party to recruit more of them, though a significant gulf has remained between the two parties’ female representation. Jennie Sweet-Cushman, an associate professor at Chatham University who studies women in politics, said that having greater numbers of women in legislative offices has created a “pipeline effect” that has led to the uptick in women seeking the governor’s office this year. “Women are much more methodical (than men) about making sure that they have the appropriate experience before they pursue higher office,” Sweet-Cushman said. “There was this shift in 2018 where women started thinking — ‘Well, if not me, then who?’” “So you see this new crop of women who have skipped that original path and are running for office without any political experience — drawing on their life skills and experiences as mothers, as community organizers, as business leaders in their communities without feeling like they had had to do all of the steps.” Stark ideological differences as women face women The central issues of the 2022 campaign have strongly engaged female candidates and voters alike. Voter registration among women surged in several states following the Supreme Court’s decision in June overturning the landmark Roe v. Wade decision that had guaranteed abortion rights. Many Democratic candidates, including Hobbs and Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, are using that issue as a central force to galvanize female voters who might otherwise skip a midterm election cycle. But anger over extended school closures during the Covid-19 pandemic as well as the charged debates over K-12 curriculum and the inclusion of transgender women in women’s sports has also engaged many conservative women, who showed up in droves at school board meetings during the height of the pandemic as Republicans re-framed their agenda around “parental rights.” The five women-versus-women gubernatorial races this year have created a unique lens to view those policy debates, showcasing the vast ideological diversity among the female candidates. In Michigan, Republican Tudor Dixon described her race against Whitmer as an “epic battle between a conservative businesswoman and mother and a far-left birthing parent and career politician,” a gibe at the use of gender-neutral language by some progressives. Dixon argued that she would be an advocate for moms who felt that Whitmer “turned her back on them” as children fell behind academically during the pandemic — a critique of Whitmer’s stance on Michigan school closures. She is increasingly turning to cultural appeals aimed at suburban voters, firing up the crowd at a recent appearance with Trump by saying she won’t allow “our kids be radicalized” or “sexualized.” Whitmer has ignored many of Dixon’s attacks while campaigning extensively on abortion rights. She has argued that her veto power and her lawsuit challenging a 1931 law that banned and criminalized abortion are the “only reason Michigan continues to be a pro-choice state.” (The law was deemed unconstitutional by a state court judge in September). On the campaign trail, Whitmer is backing a referendum that would protect abortion rights in the constitution and she has spoken about the issue as the mother of two daughters, stating that she is “infuriated by the thought that they have fewer rights than I had my whole life.” In Oregon, where three women are vying to replace term-limited Democratic Gov. Kate Brown, the GOP sees an unusual chance to clinch a governor’s office that they haven’t won since 1982. The formidable candidacy of former state Sen. Betsy Johnson, an independent who has kept pace and even exceeded her opponents in fundraising as of mid-September, has created a path for a Republican to win. Both Democrat Tina Kotek, a former House speaker, and Republican Christine Drazan, a former state House minority leader, are leaning into their lived experiences as women in their advertising appeals to voters, while Johnson calls herself a “daughter of Oregon.” Kotek, who could become one of the first out lesbian governors in the country in November, notes in her launch video that she’s been “called a few things over the years” as she highlights her toughness alongside varied credentials such as being a food bank and childrens’ advocate, a legislator and “policy geek.” “Then there were some other words for tough, that women get called,” Kotek says in the video — with a dramatic pause to indicate a word that she’s not uttering on camera. “And those were the days that I really knew we were getting things done.” Drazan, who has pounded Oregon’s Democratic leaders for what she viewed as unnecessarily lengthy school closures during the pandemic, has campaigned extensively on education. One of her ads highlights her “parental bill of rights” as an effort to give parents more control, to “keep schools open” and expand school choice, while raising education standards after a controversial bill passed in 2021 that suspended certain graduation requirements for high school students. “I’m running for governor,” Drazan says in the ad, “but more importantly, I’m a mom.” Fierce rhetoric emerges in women versus women contests The ease with which some of the female gubernatorial candidates are using motherhood to explain their views on controversial issues is noteworthy this year, as is the sense of freedom that some of them feel to fiercely engage their opponents after an era where Trump erased the old rule book for decorum. Prominent female candidates like Clinton have often reflected on the double standard used to judge women against their male peers. Their warmth or likability was often more closely scrutinized by voters. There were even debates about the extent to which they should acknowledge their children, which Clinton has noted was once viewed as a potential liability if they were deemed a distraction from official duties. The f...

GOP Optimistic About Senate Chances Despite Walker Turmoil https://digitalalaskanews.com/gop-optimistic-about-senate-chances-despite-walker-turmoil/ By STEVE PEOPLES, AP National Politics Writer Published: October 5, 2022, 2:12pm 2 Photos FILE – Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, of Ky., arrives to speak to reporters Sept. 7, 2022, ahead of a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington. As the midterm campaign speeds into its final full month, leading Republicans believe the Senate majority remains firmly within their reach. Democratic strategists privately concede that the GOP’s mounting challenges may not be enough to overcome their own shortcomings. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File) Photo Gallery NEW YORK (AP) — Leading Republicans are entering the final month of the midterm campaign increasingly optimistic that a Senate majority is within reach even as a dramatic family fight in Georgia clouds one of the party’s biggest pickup opportunities. And as some Democrats crow on social media about apparent Republican setbacks, party strategists privately concede that their own shortcomings may not be outweighed by the GOP’s mounting challenges. The evolving outlook is tied to a blunt reality: Democrats have virtually no margin for error as they confront the weight of history, widespread economic concerns and President Joe Biden’s weak standing. There is broad agreement among both parties that the Democrats’ summertime momentum across states like Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin has eroded just five weeks before Election Day. “There’s reason to be apprehensive, not reason to be gloomy,” veteran Democratic strategist James Carville said. “It looked like at the end of August we had a little momentum. I don’t know if we’ve regressed any, but we’re not progressing in many places.” That tepid outlook comes even as Republicans confront a series of self-imposed setbacks in the states that matter most in the 2022 midterms, which will decide the balance of power in Congress and statehouses across the nation. None has been more glaring than Herschel Walker’s struggles in Georgia, where the Republican Senate candidate’s own son accused him of lying about his personal challenges — including a report from The Daily Beast alleging that the anti-abortion Walker paid for a girlfriend’s abortion in 2009. Walker called the accusation a “flat-out lie” and said he would sue. Walker had not taken legal action as of late Tuesday, but he repeated his denials Wednesday morning during a Fox News interview, even as he talked generally of a difficult past as a husband and father. Shown an image of the “get well” card the Daily Beast reported that he sent to the girlfriend — which was signed with an “H,” not his full signature — Walker said, he doesn’t sign cards with just an initial. The Republican establishment, including the Sen. Mitch McConnell-aligned Senate Leadership Fund, and former President Donald Trump himself remained staunchly behind Walker on Tuesday in his bid to oust first-term Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock. A Walker campaign adviser said the candidate has raised at least $500,000 since he first responded publicly to The Daily Beast report. “If you’re in a fight, people will come to your aid,” said Steven Law, head of the Senate Leadership Fund and a close ally of McConnell, R-Ky. Law said the Georgia race had grown increasingly competitive despite the Democrats’ focus on Walker’s personal life. And looking beyond Georgia, Law said the political climate was predictably shifting against the party that controls the White House, as is typically the case in midterm elections. “It certainly seems that voters are returning to a more traditional midterm frame of mind,” Law said. Should Republicans gain even one Senate seat in November, they would take control of Congress’ upper chamber — and with it, the power to control judicial nominations and policy debates for the last two years of Biden’s term. Leaders in both parties believe Republicans are likely to take over the House. Even facing such odds, it’s far too soon to predict a Republican-controlled Congress. Democrats remain decidedly on offense and are spending heavily to try to flip Republican-held seats in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and North Carolina. Voter opposition to the Supreme Court’s decision this summer to strip women of their constitutional right to an abortion has energized the Democratic base and led to a surge in female voter registrations. Republicans are most focused on Democratic incumbents in Arizona, Georgia, New Hampshire and Nevada, although Republican officials believe that underwhelming Trump-backed nominees in Arizona and New Hampshire have dampened the party’s pickup opportunities. “The Republican candidates they’re running are too extreme,” said J.B. Poersch, who leads the pro-Democrat Senate Majority PAC. “I think this is still advantage Democrats.” Meanwhile, conditions in the top battleground states are rapidly evolving. In Pennsylvania, Republican Senate nominee Mehmet Oz faced difficult new questions this week raised by a Washington Post article about the medical products he endorsed as a daytime television star. Another news report by the news site Jezebel detailing how his research caused hundreds of dogs to be killed rippled across social media. Still, Democratic officials acknowledge the race tightened considerably as the calendar shifted to October. And while there is disagreement within the White House, some officials there are concerned about Democratic nominee John Fetterman’s stamina as he recovers from a May stroke. “Senate Republicans had a very bad start to October, but we know each of our races will be tight and we’re going to keep taking nothing for granted,” said Michigan Sen. Gary Peters, who leads the Senate Democrats’ campaign arm. The GOP Senate candidates’ latest challenges in Georgia and Pennsylvania dominated social media Monday and Tuesday, according to data compiled by GQR, a public opinion research firm that works with Democratic organizations. News stories about Walker’s abortion accuser and Oz’s animal research had the first- and second-highest reach of any news stories on Facebook and Twitter since they surfaced Monday, topping content related to the television show “Sons of Anarchy,” another report about Planned Parenthood mobile abortion clinics and news about Kanye West. GQR used the social listening tool NewsWhip, which tracks over 500,000 websites in more than 100 languages roughly in real time. In swing-state Nevada, the rhetoric from Democratic Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto has become increasingly urgent in recent days as she fends off a fierce challenge from former state Attorney General Adam Laxalt. Within the White House, there is real fear that she could lose her reelection bid, giving Republicans the only seat they may need to claim the Senate majority. “We have a big problem, friend,” Cortez Masto wrote in a fundraising appeal Tuesday. “Experts say that our race in Nevada could decide Senate control — and right now, polling shows me 1 point behind my Trump-endorsed opponent.” Democrats and their allies continue to hope that backlash against the Supreme Court’s abortion decision will help them overcome historical trends in which the party controlling the White House almost always loses seats in Congress. Democrats, who control Washington, are also facing deep voter pessimism about the direction of the country and Biden’s relatively weak approval ratings. The traditional rules of politics have often been broken in the Trump era. In past years, Republicans may have abandoned Walker. But on Tuesday, they linked arms behind him. Law, of the Senate Leadership Fund, said he takes Walker at his word that he did not pay for a former girlfriend’s abortion, despite apparent evidence of a “Get Well” card with Walker’s signature and a check receipt. The Columbian is becoming a rare example of a news organization with local, family ownership. Subscribe today to support local journalism and help us to build a stronger community. He said voters believe that “Walker may have made mistakes in his personal life that affected him and his family, but Warnock has made mistakes in public life in Washington that affected them and their families.” There were some signs of Republican concern on the ground in Georgia, however. Martha Zoller, a popular Republican radio host in north Georgia and one-time congressional candidate, told her audience Tuesday that the latest allegations require Walker to reset his campaign with a straightforward admission about his “personal demons” and what he’s done to overcome them. “He needs to fall on the sword. ‘I was a dog. … And I have asked forgiveness for it,’” she said, detailing the kind of message she believes Walker must give voters. “It would be so refreshing to have somebody just tell the truth.” Walker attempted his version of that strategy Wednesday on Fox News. “It’s like they’re trying to bring up my past to hurt me,” he said, before quoting Christian New Testament text. “I’m a sinner. We all sin before the glory of God.” Yet Walker insisted his past transgressions don’t include encouraging and paying for an abortion. “Everyone is anonymous, and everyone is leaking, and they want you to confess to something you have no clue about,” he said. Veteran Democratic strategist Josh Schwerin warned his party against writing off the Georgia Republican. “I wouldn’t say Walker is done. Over the last couple of cycles we’ve certainly seen Republican candidates survive things that are not supposed to be survivable,” Schwerin said. “There are a lot of close races, and the dynamics of this election are difficult to predict. Everybody is expecting multiple shifts in momentum between now and Election Day.” Read More Here

The 50 Most Powerful Women https://digitalalaskanews.com/the-50-most-powerful-women/ Maria Aspan, Erika Fry, Emma Hinchliffe, Beth Kowitt, Megan Leonhardt, Taylor Locke, Jessica Mathews, Paige McGlauflin, Alexa Mikhail, Anne Sraders, Phil Wahba, Vivienne Walt, and Claire Zillman. Read More Here

Putin Seizes Europe https://digitalalaskanews.com/putin-seizes-europe/ Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree Wednesday claiming ownership of the beleaguered Zaporizhzhia power plant, even as the director of Ukraine’s nuclear power company said he would assume operations of the plant, which is Europe’s largest nuclear facility. The announcement came hours after Putin signed laws annexing the Zaporizhzhia region. Earlier in the day, Energoatom chief Petro Kotin said he would be running the Russian-held plant from the capital, Kyiv. The plant has been the focus of deep global concern. Both sides blame each other for bombings that have damaged parts of the plant and threaten to trigger a catastrophe, international nuclear experts warn. “The need for a Nuclear Safety and Security Protection Zone (NSSPZ) around #Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant is now more urgent than ever,” tweeted Rafael Grossi, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency. The plant’s Ukrainian director was kidnapped Friday and released this week by Russian forces who occupy the facility. Ukrainian workers continue to operate the plant, which halted power generation last month. TURNING POINT?: As Russia admits defeat in Kharkiv, Ukraine regains land, confidence Other developments: ►A former Russian state TV journalist charged with spreading false information after staging an on-air protest against the war said in a Facebook post Wednesday that she has released herself from house arrest. Marina Ovsyannikova’s ex-husband says she fled with her young daughter. ►Russian troops used six Iranian drones to strike the town of Bila Tserkva in the Kyiv region, leaving one person wounded, Ukraine’s presidential office said. The strikes were the first on the town since March, when the Russians retreated from the area around the Ukrainian capital. UKRAINE DRIVES RUSSIANS FROM MORE VILLAGES:Elon Musk peace plan sparks outrage; Biden, Zelenskyy talk: Putin signs law annexing Ukraine land despite military setbacks Putin, ignoring international outrage and the struggles of his military, signed laws Wednesday ratifying the annexation of four Ukraine regions, including two that make up the crucial Donbas region he has targeted since the war began. “I want the Kyiv authorities and their real masters in the West to hear me, so that everyone remembers this – people living in Luhansk and Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia become our citizens forever,” Putin said. The paperwork is vague on the boundaries of the land Russia is claiming, but Russian media said Putin annexed about 43,000 square miles. Ukraine, almost the size of Texas, estimates about 15% of its territory was annexed. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters the land grab might not be done, saying “certain territories will be reclaimed, and we will keep consulting residents who would be eager to embrace Russia.” Some of the territory has already been retaken by Ukrainian forces in recent weeks, and most of the world does not recognize the annexations. “The worthless decisions of the terrorist country are not worth the paper they are signed on,” Andriy Yermak, head of the Ukraine President’s Office, said on Telegram. Reduced oil production by OPEC+ benefits Russia Wednesday’s decision by an alliance of oil-exporting countries to significantly reduce production could boost Russia’s war efforts, as the expected rise in oil prices helps replenish the country’s coffers and blunts the impact of efforts by the U.S. and its allies to cut into the Kremlin’s leading source of revenue. The move by OPEC+ will also make it easier for member Russia to withstand a European ban on most of Moscow’s oil due to start in December, though only to a certain extent because countries in the oil cartel already can’t meet their quotas. President Joe Biden called the decision “short-sighted’’ in light of the negative effects Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has had on the global economy, according to White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, who added: “It’s clear that OPEC+ is aligning with Russia with today’s announcement.” The European Union agreed Wednesday on new sanctions that are expected to include a price cap on Russian oil, meant to diminish the funding President Vladimir Putin has available for his war machine. But with tighter oil supplies on the market, major buyers like China and India could be less likely to join the effort, limiting its impact. Increasing signs of torture in liberated towns The continued liberation of towns in the east and south of the country is reason to celebrate for Ukrainian troops. What they find is not. Retreating Russian troops are not only leaving behind barren, destroyed communities, but also disturbing signs of abuse and torture. Serhiy Bolvinov, who heads the investigative department of the national police in the northeastern Kharkiv region, said authorities are investigating an alleged Russian torture chamber in the village of Pisky-Radkivski. He posted a photo of a box with what looked like teeth and dentures, presumably extracted from those held at the site. Andriy Kostin, Ukraine’s prosecutor general, told The Associated Press four bodies had been found in Kharkiv towns with signs of torture. Authorities were trying to confirm whether they were civilians. All four had their hands bound or linked by handcuffs. Kostin also said the bodies of 24 civilians, including 13 children and one pregnant woman, were found in six cars near Kupiansk, also in Kharkiv. Russian military struggles could topple Belarusian leader Belarus’ opposition leader says she believes that Russian military setbacks in Ukraine could shake Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko’s hold on power. Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya said Wednesday at a security conference in Warsaw that Russia appears to be “about to lose this war.” That could make it impossible for Putin to prop up Lukashenko, Putin’s closest global ally, she said. Tsikhanouskaya fled to Lithuania after Lukashenko claimed victory in August 2020 elections that were decried in the West as fraudulent. In annexed Luhansk, Ukrainian leader says de-occupation has begun Ukrainian troops have begun driving Russian troops out of the Luhansk region and are “raising the Ukrainian flag” in some settlements, regional Gov. governor Serhiy Haidai announced on social media. Russia had taken almost complete control of the crucial province and had seized half of neighboring Donetsk before the Ukrainian counteroffensive began a month ago. About one-third of Luhansk was controlled by Russian-backed militias before the war began. Militia leaders tried to form the Luhansk People’s Republic, but only Russia and a few other nations recognized the republic. EU approves 8th round of Russian sanctions The European Union, citing the annexations, agreed Wednesday to impose new sanctions on Russia, including an expected price cap on Russian oil. Details of the sanctions were expected to be released as soon as Thursday, but curbs on EU exports of aircraft components to Russia and limits on Russian steel imports are expected to be included in the package. EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced the eighth round of sanctions, saying Europe is “determined to continue making the Kremlin pay” for invading Ukraine. Contributing: The Associated Press Read More Here

O https://digitalalaskanews.com/o-3/ 5th of October, 2022.  President Muhammadu Buhari, Presidential Villa, Aso-Rock, Abuja.  Your Excellency, OPEN LETTER ON REFUSAL OF THE PRESIDENCY TO ALLOW AMOTEKUN CORPS BEAR AUTOMATIC WEAPONS IN THE FACE OF WORRISOME SPATE OF INSECURITY I watched the telecast of your Independence Day speech with rapt attention and I was indeed glad that you openly admitted that Nigeria was indeed passing through tough phase of insecurity challenges. You also assured that necessary efforts would be taken to address and curb insecurity challenges in the nation.  In view of your admittance of the worrisomely widespread insecurity in the country, we therefore can no longer continue to live in denial. There is also the need for the Presidency to timorously come to term with the realities of new trend and dimensions to insecurity in Nigeria.  A point to buttress the assertion of new dimension to insecurity in Nigeria manifested in the June 5, 2022 mass shooting and bomb attack on a Catholic church in Owo town of Ondo State. Not less than 40 innocent worshippers were killed in this attack, just as several others were injured and maimed in same gunmen attack. This kind of attack was without doubt unprecedented in the history of Ondo State.  In addition, there have also been increasing cases of bandits attacks and kidnapping for ransom in Ondo State and other parts of the South West Nigeria. In a bid to address this worrisome trend, the South west Governors put machineries in place to establish the Western Nigeria Security Network (WNSN) codenamed Operation Amotekun.  It is a public knowledge that Amotekun Corps was borne out of necessity to fill the big vacuum of identified security gaps. It should also be made known that the South West security outfit has thus far helped in a great deal to frustrate the criminal activities of bandits, Boko Haram fighters, kidnappers and even ritualists in the entire geographical space of the South West. However, there is the need to   emphasize that the Amotekun Corps which was no doubt a creation of the law is not out to usurp the duties of nation’s security agencies. Rather, the security outfit is only well positioned to complement efforts of our security agencies.  It is nonetheless ludicrously sympathetic that the patriotic operatives of the Amotekun Corps are only allowed to carry Dane guns and yet expected to go deep into the forests to confront insurgents, bandits and kidnappers that are well armed with automatic weapons. It is a public knowledge that some poorly armed operatives of Amotekun had paid the supreme price while facing highly armed criminals.  In view of the realities of increasing criminally in the country and in addition to the fact that security agencies have become obviously overwhelmed by the increasing spate of criminal activities; what is naturally expected of the Presidency is to give all necessary support to the Amotekun Corps so as to complement the already overstretched security agencies.  Your Excellency, I am truly itching to know whose interest will it serve if Amotekun Corps is not allowed to bear automatic weapons and insecurity remains on the increase as the federal government continue to watch helplessly. This has been our situation in the country for some years now and we cannot keep doing things the same way and expect a different result.  The best that the Ondo State Governor, Arakunrin Oluwarotimi Akeredolu could do to secure his people as the Chief Security Officer of the Sunshine State is to approach the Federal Government for approval of automatic weapons for Amotekun Corps. It is also on record that the Southern Governors Forum and their 19 Northern counterparts have earlier canvassed the need for the establishment of state police in the country. All these agitations honestly bear true witnesses to the that fact the Presidency needs to term with current realities in the country and genuinely seek assistance within and outside of the country to promptly arrest the festering insecurity in Nigeria.  Notwithstanding the denial by Garba Shehu that the Presidency has not given approval to the Katsina Vigilantes to bear automatic weapons, this effort could only amount to hidding behind a finger in my opinion. It is a public knowledge that the Katsina State Government invited the Provost of the Civil Defence Training College in Katsina to train their Vigilantes for a five-day period on how to handle and operate  Pump Action Rifles. It is only logical that there must have been solid plans in place to make automatic weapons available to the Katsina Vigilantes before the state government could deem it necessary to train the vigilantes on how to handle AK-47 and AK-49. Your Excellency, if indeed we are to truly believe that no state of the federation is superior to another, the privilege accorded the Katsina Vigilantes in your home state should also be extended to other states that are battling with challenges of insecurity. Ondo State as a case study, is only in the real sense helping the president to fulfill the constitutional duty of protecting lives and properties.  Your Excellency, I will humbly advise that the only way to ensure a safer nation in line with your determination is to instruct the National Security Adviser and the the Inspector General of Police to speedily consider the applications of states that are genuinely in need of approval for automatic weapons.  It may interest Your Excellency that majority of the youths that leave the country in droves on daily basis do so because of dire security concerns and the extremely bleak economy of the nation. Now that the legendarily incompetent CBN Governor has churned out a new Cash Reserve Ratio and also jacked up the interest rate, there is high possibility of further increase in criminal activities because of the naturally expected shrink in the economy.  Your Excellency, as things stands now in the country, the economy has become extremely shrunk on account of unprecedented mismanagement and bad monetary policies by the CBN. The only way to prevent criminals from taking over the nation in no distant future is to give approval to the applications of states in need of automatic weapons so as to effectively combat all anticipated security challenges.  Sincerely yours,  Oluyemi Fasipe (@Yemiefash) Ondo State Youth Representative,  Judicial Panel Of Inquiry On Police Brutality and related matters. Read More Here

US Forecast https://digitalalaskanews.com/us-forecast-114/ City/Town, State;Yesterday’s High Temp (F);Yesterday’s Low Temp (F);Today’s High Temp (F);Today’s Low Temp (F);Weather Condition;Wind Direction;Wind Speed (MPH);Humidity (%);Chance of Precip. (%);UV Index Albany, NY;63;45;73;53;Areas of morning fog;SSE;5;64%;28%;4 Albuquerque, NM;61;53;66;53;A shower and t-storm;E;9;66%;91%;1 Anchorage, AK;54;47;59;50;Rather cloudy;SSE;9;63%;37%;1 Asheville, NC;72;44;75;46;Sunny and beautiful;NW;6;54%;5%;5 Atlanta, GA;78;48;81;52;Plenty of sun;NW;6;44%;3%;5 Atlantic City, NJ;63;56;73;58;Mostly sunny, warmer;SW;8;68%;5%;4 Austin, TX;91;61;92;64;Mostly sunny, warm;ESE;5;42%;1%;6 Baltimore, MD;66;52;76;57;Mostly sunny, warmer;WSW;5;54%;5%;4 Baton Rouge, LA;86;61;86;58;Mostly sunny, nice;NNE;6;53%;9%;6 Billings, MT;76;48;60;42;Cooler;NE;10;60%;3%;3 Birmingham, AL;80;49;84;53;Plenty of sun;SSW;6;42%;4%;5 Bismarck, ND;80;36;48;23;Clouds limiting sun;ENE;11;52%;2%;3 Boise, ID;82;53;84;51;Sunshine;ENE;7;29%;0%;4 Boston, MA;58;55;71;57;Clearing and warmer;SSW;6;65%;13%;4 Bridgeport, CT;60;52;72;56;Mostly sunny, warmer;SSW;7;62%;10%;4 Buffalo, NY;68;51;70;47;Partly sunny;SW;10;58%;34%;3 Burlington, VT;69;45;72;55;Clouds and sun;SSE;7;65%;83%;4 Caribou, ME;68;42;71;49;Mostly sunny;SSW;5;68%;23%;3 Casper, WY;69;38;69;39;Sunshine and nice;NE;8;43%;4%;4 Charleston, SC;78;55;79;59;Plenty of sunshine;SSW;6;55%;3%;5 Charleston, WV;72;44;74;50;Areas of morning fog;S;5;62%;3%;4 Charlotte, NC;76;49;79;51;Sunny and nice;W;5;49%;6%;5 Cheyenne, WY;66;39;67;38;Mostly sunny, nice;E;8;40%;2%;5 Chicago, IL;77;57;71;46;Brief p.m. showers;N;11;58%;97%;2 Cleveland, OH;68;54;72;50;Partly sunny;W;9;53%;30%;3 Columbia, SC;77;50;82;53;Sunny and beautiful;SSW;5;50%;5%;5 Columbus, OH;77;47;74;48;Clouds and sun, nice;SW;7;51%;27%;4 Concord, NH;62;46;73;50;Pleasant and warmer;S;6;65%;20%;4 Dallas-Ft. Worth, TX;87;62;91;64;Partly sunny, warm;NE;6;37%;2%;5 Denver, CO;68;46;71;45;Sunny and nice;S;6;46%;26%;5 Des Moines, IA;70;55;69;40;Partly sunny, breezy;NNE;13;54%;8%;3 Detroit, MI;79;52;74;45;Inc. clouds;NNW;8;43%;82%;4 Dodge City, KS;76;50;77;45;Plenty of sunshine;E;8;50%;3%;5 Duluth, MN;74;45;49;34;A little a.m. rain;NNE;13;66%;62%;1 El Paso, TX;80;59;76;60;A shower and t-storm;E;9;62%;95%;2 Fairbanks, AK;48;37;56;44;An afternoon shower;SSE;6;64%;91%;1 Fargo, ND;76;37;48;28;Mostly sunny, breezy;NNE;15;59%;4%;3 Grand Junction, CO;74;48;76;48;Sunny and pleasant;ENE;7;39%;0%;5 Grand Rapids, MI;73;50;69;39;A shower in the p.m.;N;11;59%;66%;2 Hartford, CT;59;52;73;55;Warmer with sunshine;S;5;63%;15%;4 Helena, MT;75;46;67;46;Partly sunny;NW;7;54%;0%;4 Honolulu, HI;86;72;86;73;Partly sunny;NE;8;63%;30%;5 Houston, TX;88;64;89;66;Partly sunny;S;6;51%;8%;6 Indianapolis, IN;77;49;73;45;Partly sunny, nice;NNW;7;51%;13%;4 Jackson, MS;83;54;86;58;Sunny and pleasant;SSW;5;48%;7%;5 Jacksonville, FL;82;57;85;59;Sunny and pleasant;SE;5;52%;7%;6 Juneau, AK;55;49;60;44;A morning shower;NE;5;83%;61%;1 Kansas City, MO;82;57;83;47;Mostly sunny;NNE;8;49%;6%;4 Knoxville, TN;78;46;77;50;Sunny and nice;S;4;53%;5%;5 Las Vegas, NV;93;67;94;69;Sunny and hot;NNW;6;18%;0%;5 Lexington, KY;74;46;77;51;Mostly sunny, warm;SSW;7;50%;2%;5 Little Rock, AR;84;55;89;57;Mostly sunny, warm;N;7;43%;5%;5 Long Beach, CA;81;66;83;65;Clouds, then sun;SSW;6;68%;1%;5 Los Angeles, CA;82;64;85;62;Clearing;SSW;6;71%;1%;5 Louisville, KY;78;49;80;52;Warm with some sun;WSW;7;46%;2%;4 Madison, WI;76;51;66;37;A couple of showers;NNE;9;58%;84%;2 Memphis, TN;79;55;88;60;Warm with sunshine;N;7;39%;3%;5 Miami, FL;85;75;85;75;A shower or two;NE;11;62%;81%;4 Milwaukee, WI;75;53;66;42;A couple of showers;N;11;64%;98%;2 Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN;73;50;56;36;Breezy and cooler;NE;15;58%;33%;4 Mobile, AL;83;58;85;59;Sunny and pleasant;NW;6;57%;5%;6 Montgomery, AL;83;49;83;52;Plenty of sun;NNW;5;44%;2%;5 Mt. Washington, NH;57;41;51;40;Clouds and sun;SW;14;69%;81%;4 Nashville, TN;80;46;83;52;Mostly sunny;WNW;6;47%;3%;5 New Orleans, LA;83;67;85;66;Mostly sunny, nice;SSW;7;60%;8%;6 New York, NY;60;55;72;59;Warmer with sunshine;S;6;58%;5%;4 Newark, NJ;60;52;73;55;Mostly sunny, warmer;SSW;6;59%;7%;4 Norfolk, VA;63;53;74;57;Sunny and warmer;SSW;6;62%;7%;5 Oklahoma City, OK;86;60;85;59;Mostly sunny;NE;8;40%;27%;5 Olympia, WA;73;48;77;48;Fog, then some sun;NNE;6;69%;5%;3 Omaha, NE;75;54;73;40;Mostly sunny, breezy;NNE;14;54%;10%;4 Orlando, FL;83;64;86;64;Plenty of sunshine;E;6;52%;3%;6 Philadelphia, PA;61;53;74;56;Mostly sunny, warmer;SSW;6;56%;5%;4 Phoenix, AZ;94;73;94;74;Warm with sunshine;E;6;31%;14%;5 Pittsburgh, PA;73;48;72;51;Areas of morning fog;SSW;6;58%;16%;4 Portland, ME;58;51;69;53;Warmer with sunshine;SSW;6;72%;14%;4 Portland, OR;77;54;83;55;Fog, then some sun;NNW;6;55%;5%;3 Providence, RI;59;54;72;54;Clearing and warmer;SSW;6;65%;14%;4 Raleigh, NC;74;52;78;53;Sunny and nice;SW;6;62%;5%;5 Reno, NV;83;46;84;47;Sunny and very warm;W;5;28%;0%;5 Richmond, VA;65;50;78;53;Mostly sunny, warmer;SSW;6;56%;6%;5 Roswell, NM;72;57;73;56;A shower and t-storm;N;7;64%;95%;2 Sacramento, CA;90;58;92;58;Sunny and hot;SW;5;44%;1%;4 Salt Lake City, UT;78;52;79;53;Mostly sunny;ESE;6;36%;0%;4 San Antonio, TX;90;62;90;65;Mostly sunny, warm;SE;6;50%;3%;6 San Diego, CA;73;67;76;67;Low clouds, then sun;W;7;78%;1%;5 San Francisco, CA;71;56;70;56;Low clouds, then sun;WSW;9;74%;1%;4 Savannah, GA;80;53;82;56;Sunny and nice;S;5;60%;2%;5 Seattle-Tacoma, WA;72;55;76;56;Fog, then some sun;NNE;9;62%;5%;3 Sioux Falls, SD;72;45;60;31;Cooler;N;13;56%;10%;4 Spokane, WA;80;47;82;49;Mostly sunny;NE;6;45%;1%;3 Springfield, IL;76;49;79;44;Clouds and sun;N;8;53%;33%;4 St. Louis, MO;79;53;81;51;Partly sunny, warm;N;9;48%;10%;4 Tampa, FL;85;63;87;62;Brilliant sunshine;N;6;60%;5%;6 Toledo, OH;77;50;73;43;Sun and clouds;NNW;7;51%;81%;4 Tucson, AZ;87;65;86;67;Mostly sunny;ESE;7;42%;44%;6 Tulsa, OK;88;57;86;56;Warm with sunshine;N;6;47%;12%;5 Vero Beach, FL;83;66;84;66;Sunny;ENE;9;55%;6%;6 Washington, DC;65;51;76;56;Mostly sunny, warmer;SW;6;56%;5%;4 Wichita, KS;81;54;85;51;Abundant sunshine;NE;8;44%;1%;5 Wilmington, DE;61;52;75;54;Mostly sunny, warmer;SSW;6;59%;5%;4 _____ Copyright 2022 AccuWeather Read More Here

US Forecast https://digitalalaskanews.com/us-forecast-113/ City/Town, State;Yesterday’s High Temp (F);Yesterday’s Low Temp (F);Today’s High Temp (F);Today’s Low Temp (F);Weather Condition;Wind Direction;Wind Speed (MPH);Humidity (%);Chance of Precip. (%);UV Index Albany, NY;63;45;73;53;Areas of morning fog;SSE;5;64%;28%;4 Albuquerque, NM;61;53;66;53;A shower and t-storm;E;9;66%;91%;1 Anchorage, AK;54;47;59;50;Rather cloudy;SSE;9;63%;37%;1 Asheville, NC;72;44;75;46;Sunny and beautiful;NW;6;54%;5%;5 Atlanta, GA;78;48;81;52;Plenty of sun;NW;6;44%;3%;5 Atlantic City, NJ;63;56;73;58;Mostly sunny, warmer;SW;8;68%;5%;4 Austin, TX;91;61;92;64;Mostly sunny, warm;ESE;5;42%;1%;6 Baltimore, MD;66;52;76;57;Mostly sunny, warmer;WSW;5;54%;5%;4 Baton Rouge, LA;86;61;86;58;Mostly sunny, nice;NNE;6;53%;9%;6 Billings, MT;76;48;60;42;Cooler;NE;10;60%;3%;3 Birmingham, AL;80;49;84;53;Plenty of sun;SSW;6;42%;4%;5 Bismarck, ND;80;36;48;23;Clouds limiting sun;ENE;11;52%;2%;3 Boise, ID;82;53;84;51;Sunshine;ENE;7;29%;0%;4 Boston, MA;58;55;71;57;Clearing and warmer;SSW;6;65%;13%;4 Bridgeport, CT;60;52;72;56;Mostly sunny, warmer;SSW;7;62%;10%;4 Buffalo, NY;68;51;70;47;Partly sunny;SW;10;58%;34%;3 Burlington, VT;69;45;72;55;Clouds and sun;SSE;7;65%;83%;4 Caribou, ME;68;42;71;49;Mostly sunny;SSW;5;68%;23%;3 Casper, WY;69;38;69;39;Sunshine and nice;NE;8;43%;4%;4 Charleston, SC;78;55;79;59;Plenty of sunshine;SSW;6;55%;3%;5 Charleston, WV;72;44;74;50;Areas of morning fog;S;5;62%;3%;4 Charlotte, NC;76;49;79;51;Sunny and nice;W;5;49%;6%;5 Cheyenne, WY;66;39;67;38;Mostly sunny, nice;E;8;40%;2%;5 Chicago, IL;77;57;71;46;Brief p.m. showers;N;11;58%;97%;2 Cleveland, OH;68;54;72;50;Partly sunny;W;9;53%;30%;3 Columbia, SC;77;50;82;53;Sunny and beautiful;SSW;5;50%;5%;5 Columbus, OH;77;47;74;48;Clouds and sun, nice;SW;7;51%;27%;4 Concord, NH;62;46;73;50;Pleasant and warmer;S;6;65%;20%;4 Dallas-Ft. Worth, TX;87;62;91;64;Partly sunny, warm;NE;6;37%;2%;5 Denver, CO;68;46;71;45;Sunny and nice;S;6;46%;26%;5 Des Moines, IA;70;55;69;40;Partly sunny, breezy;NNE;13;54%;8%;3 Detroit, MI;79;52;74;45;Inc. clouds;NNW;8;43%;82%;4 Dodge City, KS;76;50;77;45;Plenty of sunshine;E;8;50%;3%;5 Duluth, MN;74;45;49;34;A little a.m. rain;NNE;13;66%;62%;1 El Paso, TX;80;59;76;60;A shower and t-storm;E;9;62%;95%;2 Fairbanks, AK;48;37;56;44;An afternoon shower;SSE;6;64%;91%;1 Fargo, ND;76;37;48;28;Mostly sunny, breezy;NNE;15;59%;4%;3 Grand Junction, CO;74;48;76;48;Sunny and pleasant;ENE;7;39%;0%;5 Grand Rapids, MI;73;50;69;39;A shower in the p.m.;N;11;59%;66%;2 Hartford, CT;59;52;73;55;Warmer with sunshine;S;5;63%;15%;4 Helena, MT;75;46;67;46;Partly sunny;NW;7;54%;0%;4 Honolulu, HI;86;72;86;73;Partly sunny;NE;8;63%;30%;5 Houston, TX;88;64;89;66;Partly sunny;S;6;51%;8%;6 Indianapolis, IN;77;49;73;45;Partly sunny, nice;NNW;7;51%;13%;4 Jackson, MS;83;54;86;58;Sunny and pleasant;SSW;5;48%;7%;5 Jacksonville, FL;82;57;85;59;Sunny and pleasant;SE;5;52%;7%;6 Juneau, AK;55;49;60;44;A morning shower;NE;5;83%;61%;1 Kansas City, MO;82;57;83;47;Mostly sunny;NNE;8;49%;6%;4 Knoxville, TN;78;46;77;50;Sunny and nice;S;4;53%;5%;5 Las Vegas, NV;93;67;94;69;Sunny and hot;NNW;6;18%;0%;5 Lexington, KY;74;46;77;51;Mostly sunny, warm;SSW;7;50%;2%;5 Little Rock, AR;84;55;89;57;Mostly sunny, warm;N;7;43%;5%;5 Long Beach, CA;81;66;83;65;Clouds, then sun;SSW;6;68%;1%;5 Los Angeles, CA;82;64;85;62;Clearing;SSW;6;71%;1%;5 Louisville, KY;78;49;80;52;Warm with some sun;WSW;7;46%;2%;4 Madison, WI;76;51;66;37;A couple of showers;NNE;9;58%;84%;2 Memphis, TN;79;55;88;60;Warm with sunshine;N;7;39%;3%;5 Miami, FL;85;75;85;75;A shower or two;NE;11;62%;81%;4 Milwaukee, WI;75;53;66;42;A couple of showers;N;11;64%;98%;2 Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN;73;50;56;36;Breezy and cooler;NE;15;58%;33%;4 Mobile, AL;83;58;85;59;Sunny and pleasant;NW;6;57%;5%;6 Montgomery, AL;83;49;83;52;Plenty of sun;NNW;5;44%;2%;5 Mt. Washington, NH;57;41;51;40;Clouds and sun;SW;14;69%;81%;4 Nashville, TN;80;46;83;52;Mostly sunny;WNW;6;47%;3%;5 New Orleans, LA;83;67;85;66;Mostly sunny, nice;SSW;7;60%;8%;6 New York, NY;60;55;72;59;Warmer with sunshine;S;6;58%;5%;4 Newark, NJ;60;52;73;55;Mostly sunny, warmer;SSW;6;59%;7%;4 Norfolk, VA;63;53;74;57;Sunny and warmer;SSW;6;62%;7%;5 Oklahoma City, OK;86;60;85;59;Mostly sunny;NE;8;40%;27%;5 Olympia, WA;73;48;77;48;Fog, then some sun;NNE;6;69%;5%;3 Omaha, NE;75;54;73;40;Mostly sunny, breezy;NNE;14;54%;10%;4 Orlando, FL;83;64;86;64;Plenty of sunshine;E;6;52%;3%;6 Philadelphia, PA;61;53;74;56;Mostly sunny, warmer;SSW;6;56%;5%;4 Phoenix, AZ;94;73;94;74;Warm with sunshine;E;6;31%;14%;5 Pittsburgh, PA;73;48;72;51;Areas of morning fog;SSW;6;58%;16%;4 Portland, ME;58;51;69;53;Warmer with sunshine;SSW;6;72%;14%;4 Portland, OR;77;54;83;55;Fog, then some sun;NNW;6;55%;5%;3 Providence, RI;59;54;72;54;Clearing and warmer;SSW;6;65%;14%;4 Raleigh, NC;74;52;78;53;Sunny and nice;SW;6;62%;5%;5 Reno, NV;83;46;84;47;Sunny and very warm;W;5;28%;0%;5 Richmond, VA;65;50;78;53;Mostly sunny, warmer;SSW;6;56%;6%;5 Roswell, NM;72;57;73;56;A shower and t-storm;N;7;64%;95%;2 Sacramento, CA;90;58;92;58;Sunny and hot;SW;5;44%;1%;4 Salt Lake City, UT;78;52;79;53;Mostly sunny;ESE;6;36%;0%;4 San Antonio, TX;90;62;90;65;Mostly sunny, warm;SE;6;50%;3%;6 San Diego, CA;73;67;76;67;Low clouds, then sun;W;7;78%;1%;5 San Francisco, CA;71;56;70;56;Low clouds, then sun;WSW;9;74%;1%;4 Savannah, GA;80;53;82;56;Sunny and nice;S;5;60%;2%;5 Seattle-Tacoma, WA;72;55;76;56;Fog, then some sun;NNE;9;62%;5%;3 Sioux Falls, SD;72;45;60;31;Cooler;N;13;56%;10%;4 Spokane, WA;80;47;82;49;Mostly sunny;NE;6;45%;1%;3 Springfield, IL;76;49;79;44;Clouds and sun;N;8;53%;33%;4 St. Louis, MO;79;53;81;51;Partly sunny, warm;N;9;48%;10%;4 Tampa, FL;85;63;87;62;Brilliant sunshine;N;6;60%;5%;6 Toledo, OH;77;50;73;43;Sun and clouds;NNW;7;51%;81%;4 Tucson, AZ;87;65;86;67;Mostly sunny;ESE;7;42%;44%;6 Tulsa, OK;88;57;86;56;Warm with sunshine;N;6;47%;12%;5 Vero Beach, FL;83;66;84;66;Sunny;ENE;9;55%;6%;6 Washington, DC;65;51;76;56;Mostly sunny, warmer;SW;6;56%;5%;4 Wichita, KS;81;54;85;51;Abundant sunshine;NE;8;44%;1%;5 Wilmington, DE;61;52;75;54;Mostly sunny, warmer;SSW;6;59%;5%;4 _____ Copyright 2022 AccuWeather Read More Here

U.S. Court Allows Justice Dept To Fast-Track Appeal In Trump Case https://digitalalaskanews.com/u-s-court-allows-justice-dept-to-fast-track-appeal-in-trump-case/ WASHINGTON, Oct 5 (Reuters) – A U.S. appeals court on Wednesday agreed to fast-track a legal challenge to a third-party review of most of the records seized by the FBI from former President Donald Trump’s home, after prosecutors complained the process is hampering their investigation. The decision by the Atlanta-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit represented a small victory for the Justice Department, which had sought an expedited appeal, and a blow to Trump, who had tried to slow-walk the litigation. At the heart of the dispute is a decision by U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon, a Trump appointee, who last month appointed Senior Judge Raymond Dearie as special master to review more than 11,000 records recovered from Mar-a-Lago to weed out any that could be privileged and should be shielded from investigators. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Trump is facing a criminal investigation by the Justice Department for retaining government records – some marked as highly classified, including “top secret” – at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida after leaving office, and for possible obstruction. The FBI seized the records in a court-approved search in August. Cannon’s order, however, effectively paused the investigation by ruling that prosecutors could not continue using the documents for their criminal probe until Dearie’s review was complete. In its filing, the Justice Department said this prohibition was hampering its probe into the mishandling of records and possible obstruction, and that it needs to be able to examine non-classified records that may have been stored in close proximity to classified ones. Those non-classified records, the department said, “may shed light” on how the documents were transferred to or stored at the Mar-a-Lago estate, and who might have accessed them. This marks the second time now that the 11th Circuit has ruled favorably for the Justice Department. Last month, the Justice Department appealed another portion of Cannon’s order which also blocked them from using approximately 100 seized records marked as classified for their criminal probe, and required prosecutors to make those classified materials available to Dearie for his review. A panel of three judges, two of whom were appointed by Trump, sided with the Justice Department’s request, finding that Cannon had erred by including those records in the special master review and precluding the Justice Department from accessing them for its probe. Trump on Tuesday asked the Supreme Court in an emergency request to overturn a portion of the 11th Circuit’s ruling, saying the 100 records marked as classified should be part of the special master’s review. In the Justice Department’s latest and broader appeal over the special master appointment before the 11th Circuit, a different three-judge panel will review the case. A date for oral arguments has not yet been set. A ruling in the government’s favor would have the potential to end the litigation over materials seized in the search as well as the outside review of those documents. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Reporting by Sarah N. Lynch; Additional reporting by Ismail Shakil and Doina Chiacu; Editing by Tim Ahmann and Rosalba O’Brien Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles. Read More Here

Perspective | The QAnon ‘anthem’ Is A Familiar Sales Tool — With Strings Attached https://digitalalaskanews.com/perspective-the-qanon-anthem-is-a-familiar-sales-tool-with-strings-attached/ Sad! It was reported Wednesday that the gauzy, schmaltzy, vaguely creepy orchestral music unofficially dubbed the QAnon “anthem” has been unceremoniously yanked from YouTube and Spotify for violating a harassment policy and alleged copyright infringement, respectively. Q the strings. Originally uploaded to the services in 2020 by the user name “Richard Feelgood,” the track “Wwg1wga” (QAnon shorthand for “Where we go one, we go all”) reached hit-single status among members of the fringe conspiracy group — an extremist ideology based on false claims — who lately have been observed jamming out to it (after a fashion) at former president Donald Trump’s rallies. The goal seems to be to inject an extra shot of gravitas into the doomy denouements of the former president’s recent speeches. The piece also appears in a video titled “A Nation in Decline,” uploaded in August to Trump’s Rumble account. Will Van De Crommert, the composer of “Mirrors” (its actual title), told NBC News he was “exploring legal options” after discovering that the track had been improperly used by Trump and other parties sans licensing or permissions. “Mirrors” can still be heard on SoundCloud. In an email to NBC, Van De Crommert acknowledged that the track was available for licensing but disavowed any connection to QAnon or its, how shall I put this, perspective on reality: “I however was not notified of any licenses for political rallies, nor did I authorize such use.” Washington Post reporters have described “Wwg1wga”/“Mirrors” as “an orchestral theme featuring swelling strings, gentle bell tones and brooding piano harmonies,” suffused with a “gloomy spooky mood.” A Post music critic, meanwhile, has been struggling with the material. Not for any lack of terms or ways to describe “Mirrors” — a morose, musical all-purpose flour, the kind of stock sentimental, algorithmically emotional pablum regularly employed to sell us trucks, insurance, petrochemicals, diapers, more trucks, pharmaceuticals, whole-grain bread and presidents. It’s not hard to figure out why this music so quickly enraptured a demographic of deep listeners fixated on dispatches from a shadowy puller of sub-government levers. It sounds utterly anonymous. So why does this stuff work? How does the most generic music imaginable inspire tens (if not hundreds) to throw their hands in the air and do whatever the hell that was? It could be that what pulls our strings are the strings themselves. Stringed instruments, with their capability for sweeping legato movement between pitches, are the instruments most akin to the human voice, and thus most relatable and sympathetic to our innermost vibrations. (That is, they can sound fretful precisely because they are fretless.) A cello can seem to sing or mourn in the hands of the right player, its body a great torso of spruce and maple. Even the barely audible rasp of the bow’s hair across a string can conjure the intimate shape of a last breath. And while digitally sampled strings and reverb-drenched production significantly dull these special acoustic effects, the associations we’ve long drawn between strings and all things sad, somber and serious are cauterized into our cultural consciousness. People don’t collectively point to Samuel Barber’s “Adagio for Strings” as the undisputed saddest music ever because we all got dumped by the same guy. Rather, there’s something about the sound itself. In a recent study, researchers from the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology tried to determine how the emotional characteristics of bowed string instruments changed with variations in pitch and dynamics. They found that such emotional characteristics as heroic, angry and sad were associated with lower pitches, while those such as heroic, angry and scary were stronger with loud notes. Right away, this seems like a rough recipe for the cloying mystery punch of “Mirrors,” with its falling violins, swelling cellos and streaky-windowed minor-key melodrama. Another study, from 2018, found that “stand-alone musical instrument timbre could be similar to speech in triggering meaningful emotional connotations” — that is, a violin will almost always sound like it’s in a worse proverbial mood than, say, a marimba. Accordingly, the teardrop piano accents and pillow-soaking strings of “Mirrors” wring every timbral trope bone dry. Music stretched beyond meaning finds utility in ubiquity: You could imagine “Mirrors,” for instance, scoring a commercial about a family who feels amazing about its choice of bank. You could imagine it playing as a slow-blinking cowboy looks out over his ranch from a high bluff and thinks satisfied thoughts about his extended powertrain warranty. “Mirrors” could be a song about the pain of abject loneliness or the rich aroma of arabica beans. Trying to describe “Mirrors” feels like describing a mirror in a hall of mirrors; it’s music that can reflect essentially whatever you stick in front of it. If you’ve spent any time on TikTok, you know that stock music has fast become part of the language we speak online — a lexicon that extends beyond words into GIFs, filters, effects, emoji, memes and music. A humdrum breakup video can now acquire new depths of postproduction pathos with 15 seconds of a Hans Zimmer score dragged and dropped onto it. Apology videos are routinely made more sincere and confessions more salacious by the addition of a soundtrack. Canned strings and sickly pianos score thousands of clips desperate to be taken more seriously. Stock music offers a quick and effective way to imbue any scrap of social media with a jolt of much-coveted main-character energy. Perhaps this is why it is so unsettling to observe this kind of manipulative stock music so insipidly deployed into public space at those rallies — a brazen and tacky attempt to pipe the pure artifice of the internet into what’s left of the real world. For a minute or so, the music turns reality into an ad for a cheaper alternative, and everyone within earshot is buying it. Who needs strings to feel sad about that? Read More Here

Elon Musk's Twitter Deal Could See Trump Back By Midterms | Editorialge https://digitalalaskanews.com/elon-musks-twitter-deal-could-see-trump-back-by-midterms-editorialge/ Donald Trump, the former president and the most influential tweeter in the world, may return to the site as a result of Elon Musk’s decision to forward his plan to acquire Twitter this week. Trump has previously stated that he won’t use Twitter again and will instead stick to his own social media network, Truth Social, but the former president might find it hard to resist the allure of tens of millions of Twitter followers. Musk agreed to take over the company earlier this year, but after the summer, he became tired of the notion and spent months trying to back out. To compel him to execute the transaction, Twitter sued him. Just two weeks before he and Twitter are scheduled to appear in court, his U-turn and determination to move forward with buying the company were revealed in a securities filing on Tuesday. Twitter said on Tuesday that it intended to complete the transaction, leaving open the prospect that Musk might take over the firm in a matter of weeks if the transaction is successful. The deal had already received approval from the company’s board and shareholders, but there are still some questions. Given Musk’s past dithering on the contract, Twitter will need to decide how to comport itself with him. The negotiation process may come down to how to guarantee that the world’s richest man will actually write a check this time. If the agreement is approved, Trump might soon be able to use his former favored social networking site again. Before he was permanently barred from the platform two days after the attack on the Capitol on January 6, Trump had almost 90 million followers and frequently used his tweets as president to set the agenda in Washington, DC. The decision was made “due to the possibility of future instigation of violence,” according to Twitter. A few weeks into his campaign to take over Twitter, in May, Musk made the following claim: “Banning Trump from Twitter didn’t remove Trump’s voice; it will just magnify it among the right, which is why it’s morally wrong and downright foolish.” Musk responded to his remarks by stating he agreed that there shouldn’t be any permanent bans. Jack Dorsey, who was CEO of Twitter when the firm banned Trump but has since left the company, agreed. Trump’s ban, according to him, “shouldn’t have been” a “commercial decision.” Donald Trump was about to start posting on his own social media channel, Truth Social, when Musk made his remarks. At the time, Trump told Fox News he would not use Twitter again, even if permitted. Trump told Fox News, “I’m not going on Twitter; I’m staying on Truth. I hope Elon buys Twitter because he’ll improve it and he’s a fantastic man, but I’m sticking with Truth, the speaker continued. The two publicly traded jabs over the summer, but their relationship seems to have worsened since. Musk tweeted in response to Trump calling him a “bullsh*t artist” at a rally in July: “I don’t hate the man, but it’s time for Trump to hang up his hat & sail into the sunset.” Trump is silent over Musk’s choice to resurrect the agreement this week. Just a few months before he might also be permitted to return to Meta’s Facebook and Instagram, Trump’s probable return to Twitter is timely. Trump might be making a comeback to its platforms as early as January 2023, just as the next presidential campaign is about to get underway, according to Meta, which unlike Twitter declared it has permanently banned him. 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Most People On Twitter Don’t Live In Political Echo Chambers — But Mostly Because They Don’t Care Enough To Bother Building One https://digitalalaskanews.com/most-people-on-twitter-dont-live-in-political-echo-chambers-but-mostly-because-they-dont-care-enough-to-bother-building-one/ Oct. 5, 2022, 3:56 p.m. “The elite discussion on the platform is important, but it is not necessarily observed directly by the masses.” You are weird. It’s okay — I’m weird too. But if you’re reading a Nieman Lab story, chances are very good that your news consumption habits look pretty different from the median American’s. You might juggle 15 different morning headlines newsletters in your inbox, but most people don’t. You might notice bylines and pay for multiple digital news subscriptions, but most people don’t. You might think of Twitter as a rolling political wire service where the news of the day is revealed and debated — but most people don’t. It’s always useful for journalists to remember our fundamentally unusual relationship with information — but perhaps nowhere more than Twitter, where our most infovoracious tendencies tend to flourish. That’s why this new article in the journal Science Advances is particularly telling. It’s by Magdalena Wojcieszak (UC Davis), Andreu Casas (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam), Xudong Yu (University of Amsterdam), Jonathan Nagler (NYU), and Joshua A. Tucker (NYU), and the title is “Most users do not follow political elites on Twitter; those who do show overwhelming preferences for ideological congruity” (all emphases mine): We offer comprehensive evidence of preferences for ideological congruity when people engage with politicians, pundits, and news organizations on social media. Using 4 years of data (2016–2019) from a random sample of 1.5 million Twitter users, we examine three behaviors studied separately to date: (i) following of in-group versus out-group elites, (ii) sharing in-group versus out-group information (retweeting), and (iii) commenting on the shared information (quote tweeting). We find that the majority of users (60%) do not follow any political elites. Those who do follow in-group elite accounts at much higher rates than out-group accounts (90 versus 10%), share information from in-group elites 13 times more frequently than from out-group elites, and often add negative comments to the shared out-group information. Conservatives are twice as likely as liberals to share in-group versus out-group content. These patterns are robust, emerge across issues and political elites, and exist regardless of users’ ideological extremity. In other words: Most people don’t follow a bunch of political “elites” on Twitter — a group that, for these authors’ purposes, also includes news organizations. But those who do typically follow many more people they agree with politically than people who they don’t. Conservatives follow many more conservatives; liberals follow many more liberals. When it comes to retweeting, people are even more likely to share their political allies than their enemies. And when people do retweet their enemies, they’re often dunking on how dumb/terrible/wrong/evil those other guys are. And conservatives do this more than liberals, overall. But remember: Most people follow zero of these politics-focused accounts and most of those who follow any follow only a few. You’re weird. Let’s focus on those non-followers first. This chart shows, of the 1,437,774 Twitter users they tracked, how many of the 2,600-plus “political elite” accounts they follow. The answer is: not many. So only about 1 in 4 followed even three of these politics-heavy accounts. Only 2.5% followed 50 — a number I’d wager a lot of American journalists could claim. To my mind, this data point is as much about interest in news broadly as interest in politics. Of those 2,600-plus “elites,” the vast majority are journalists, pundits, or news organizations. (You can see them all here.) They include just about every national news organization you can think of — The New York Times and Washington Post; ABC, NBC, and CBS Newses; CNN, Fox News, and MSNBC; Time, The New Yorker, The Atlantic, Slate, Axios, Vice, Forbes, The Daily Beast, ProPublica, Vanity Fair, Wired, Reuters, Politico, Bloomberg…plus all the big left- and right-leaning sites (The Nation, National Review, Breitbart, Mother Jones, The Daily Wire, etc.). If you’re not following at least one of those accounts, your Twitter use is likely bereft of news, not just political news. [Sidenote: I confess that when I first read this paper, I was a little thrown to see “political elites” defined as “politicians, pundits, or news media.” And indeed, of the 2,000+ “elite” accounts they evaluate, they are overwhelmingly journalists’ accounts — 489 politicians, 119 news organizations, and 2,106 journalists. Some of those are pundits or columnists who write with a clear ideological point of view, but many (most?) are just beat reporters and staff writers. (The authors refer to this entire group as both “journalists” and “pundits” throughout the paper, to which I give a thumbs-down.) They would seem to muddle the in-group/out-group definitions here; the signal that can be derived from retweeting Gina Kolata or Bob Schieffer is weaker than from retweeting Rich Lowery or Jamil Smith. The same is true for news organizations: Retweeting Daily Kos, Breitbart, or The Blaze means more, ideologically speaking, than retweeting C-SPAN, U.S. News, or Reuters.] So who do all these people follow, if it’s not politicians, pundits, and news outlets? Celebrities: In sum, given by how many follow celebrities, this analysis shows that the ordinary Twitter users in our sample do use the platform to engage with others beyond their family and friends; but only a small proportion decide to engage with politically-relevant accounts. On average, the full set of users that we study follow about 10.7 celebrities but only 3.35 of the journalists, 1.52 of the politicians, and 1.13 of the media accounts on our list. Okay, let’s turn to the more politics/news-engaged segment of Twitter users — those who do follow some of these “elites.” Wojcieszak et al. used an established methodology to estimate the ideological placement of every account they examined — both the elites and the normies — and divided them into liberals, moderates, and conservatives. (They mostly ignore the moderates.) The results turn out roughly as you’d expect. (Though not all of them! By their analysis, NPR is quite conservative — farther right, in fact, than The Blaze, The Federalist, and The Washington Examiner. PolitiFact is more conservative than The Daily Caller!) When it comes to following patterns, there’s virtually no difference between the left and right. Partisans on both sides follow their ideological allies roughly 8× as often as they follow their opponents. But when it comes to retweeting, the distinctions grow. Liberals retweet their own side roughly 10× as the other — but conservatives do it nearly 22× as often. Of course, anyone who’s spent time on Twitter knows a quote tweet is not always an homage to the quoted tweet’s brilliance. It’s often a convenient way to dunk on it — to point out whatever you see as its terrible wrongness. Both liberals and conservatives are more likely to quote tweet their opponents negatively than positively, by a roughly 2-to-1 ratio. Interestingly, while liberals and conservatives dunk-tweet at similar levels, that’s true for exactly one reason: Donald Trump. (This data is from 2016-2019, so @realDonaldTrump was still active throughout this period.) Liberals loooved dunk-tweeting on Trump — so much that those tweets made up 20% of all quote tweets in the study. Other than Trump, conservatives were substantially more likely to quote-tweet negatively about opposition journalists, politicians, and news outlets than liberals were. The paper offers three main takeaways: First, most Twitter users do not follow or engage with any political elites online. This demonstrates a dichotomy between elite use of Twitter — politicians, pundits, and media (and also academics) — and mass use of Twitter. The elite discussion on the platform is important, but it is not necessarily observed directly by the masses. Given that Twitter users are more politically engaged than the general population to begin with, this finding of very low political elite following is unexpected. In our case, 59.6% of a random sample of users (856,853 of 1,437,774) were insufficiently politically interested to follow the accounts of the president, key senators, or major news media organizations. This bleak finding adds to some other evidence that many Twitter users do not follow news media or members of Congress. It also aligns with the aforementioned work showing low absolute levels of news consumption online and on social media more specifically, which users use primarily for entertainment. Second, those who engage with political elites do so in an overwhelmingly one-sided way, displaying clear political biases in their behaviors. Users disproportionately follow and disseminate messages by like-minded politicians, pundits, and news media, rarely following and yet more rarely sharing cross-cutting elites. We counter the hope that these biases are confined to a small group of extreme users: Our patterns are robust (albeit naturally less pronounced) when examining all the users in our sample, including those ideologically moderate, and are not driven by a few extreme users. In addition, users not only are more likely to add a commentary to the out-group content they (rarely) share (i.e., quote tweets) but also add negative commentary to these shares. The negative sentiment of the commentary added to out-group retweets works to reinforce the ideological bubble. In summary, across the approximately 20 million shares of elite content that we analyzed, only 5% were of out-group elites without any negat...

Trump Asks Supreme Court To Intervene In Review Of Documents Seized In Mar-A-Lago Search https://digitalalaskanews.com/trump-asks-supreme-court-to-intervene-in-review-of-documents-seized-in-mar-a-lago-search/ By Trend Former US President Donald Trump is asking the Supreme Court to intervene and annul a ruling that allowed the Justice Department access to documents recovered from Mar-a-Lago that were marked as classified, Trend reports citing CBS News. The former president’s application is addressed to Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, whose purview includes the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals, which made the earlier ruling. The former president’s team filed the emergency request with the Supreme Court on Tuesday, arguing the special master, or independent arbiter, appointed by the district judge to screen documents for attorney-client or executive privilege should be allowed to review records marked as classified. Last month, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit agreed to put a hold on the lower court’s order to keep records with classified markings off limits to the Justice Department’s investigation, pending the review by the independent special master. The appeals court allowed the Justice Department to resume using those documents in its investigation and said that it did not have to turn them over to the special master. Trump’s attorneys argued in Tuesday’s filing that “this unwarranted stay should be vacated as it impairs substantially the ongoing, time-sensitive work of the Special Master.” Trump’s attorneys are seeking relief through the Supreme Court’s “shadow docket,” meaning it would not go through the Court’s regular process of briefing, oral arguments and opinions. The Court will issue a written order, which may or may not explain the reasoning behind the decision or reveal how the justices voted, though they may note their dissents. While Trump was in the White House, his administration made 41 requests for emergency relief through the shadow docket, more times than the Bush and Obama administrations, according to analysis by a law professor at the University of Texas. Trump last week said on Fox News that he had “declassified everything,” and presidents can do so just by “thinking about it.” On Tuesday, in a statement separate from the filing, Trump bashed the National Archives and Records Administration, the agency responsible for storing and handling records of past presidents. “How can Americans trust a system like this? There is no security at NARA. I want my documents back!” Trump wrote. Trump pursued a legal battle after the FBI executed a search warrant on his private residence at Mar-a-Lago on Aug. 8 and seized approximately 100 documents that were marked as classified. The former president filed a lawsuit against the Justice Department on Aug. 22, requesting a special master be appointed to review the seized records. On Sept. 5, a Trump-nominated federal judge in Florida approved Trump’s request to appoint a special master. Ten days later, Judge Aileen Cannon, appointed U.S. District Judge Raymond Dearie to serve as the independent arbiter or special master. Cannon rejected federal prosecutors’ request to allow investigators to regain access to the approximately 100 documents marked as classified. On Sept. 21, the three-judge panel on the 11th Circuit allowed the Justice Department to allow investigators to have access to the documents again. The Supreme Court began its new term Monday, after seating its newest associate justice, Ketanji Brown Jackson. — Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz Read More Here

Dow Rises 100 Points In Final Hour Of Trading As Wall Street Fights To Extend Its Rally https://digitalalaskanews.com/dow-rises-100-points-in-final-hour-of-trading-as-wall-street-fights-to-extend-its-rally/ CNBC Pro Talks: Katie Stockton on finding “pockets of strength” in a losing market As investors deliberate where stocks will go after this week’s two-day rally, Fairlead Strategies’ founder Katie Stockton told CNBC Pro how investors can position their portfolios for a volatile market. The chart analyst said she expects that markets will remain in a downtrend, pointing to poor technical indicators. She advised investors to remain underexposed to stocks. Still, there are some “pockets of strength” that investors can look to. Watch the full CNBC Pro Talks interview here. — Sarah Min Stocks driving the afternoon comeback Major averages jumped off the lows in afternoon trading Wednesday, led by energy names Exxon Mobil and Halliburton, which both rallied more than 4%. Semiconductors, the industry that came under pressure earlier, traded off their lows. Qualcomm rose 1.5%, driving the comeback in the sector. Meanwhile, Nike jumped 2% in afternoon trading, leading consumer stocks higher — Yun Li Dow turns positive as Wall Street tries to keep this week’s rally going The Dow Jones Industrial Average briefly turned positive Wednesday afternoon as Wall Street fought to get the index back in the green, following its two-day 1,500-point gain earlier this week. The blue chip index added 15 points, or 0.1%, after being down as much as 429.88 points earlier in the day, or more than 1%. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite were also well off their intraday lows, last down 0.2% and 0.4%, respectively. — Tanaya Macheel Art Cashin doesn’t trust the market’s two-day rally NYSE decliners lead advancers 3-1 As of 1:09 p.m. ET, 2,250 New York Stock Exchange-listed stocks traded lower, while just 738 advanced, as a sharp market rally cooled off. Put another way, roughly three stocks declined for every one advancer. — Fred Imbert Stocks making the biggest moves midday: Carnival, Enphase and more These companies are making headlines before the bell: Carnival — Cruise line stocks declined as a group. Shares of Carnival fell 7%, Royal Caribbean Group dropped 3.5%, and Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings declined 3.4%. The group got a boost a day earlier, after Norwegian said it would end all Covid-19 testing and vaccination requirements. Enphase Energy, Sunrun — Solar stocks declined Wednesday after their rally earlier this week. Shares of Enphase Energy declined 13%, and Sunrun tumbled 9.5%. Lamb Weston Holdings — Shares of the food products company climbed 4.7% after Lamb Weston reported large increases in net sales and net income for its fiscal first quarter. The Idaho-based company also maintained its full-year outlook despite seeing a volume decline in the quarter. Check out more midday movers here. — Tanaya Macheel Oil stocks rise after OPEC+ decision The decision by OPEC+ to cut production has boosted oil prices and energy stocks. The group of oil-producing nations announced on Wednesday that it would reduce daily production by 2 million barrels, ignoring pressure from the U.S. to keep pumping. As a result, energy is the only sector moving higher in the S&P 500 on Wednesday. Shares of Schlumberger are up more than 6%, while Exxon Mobil and Halliburton have gained 3.8% and 2.9%, respectively. Futures for U.S. benchmark West Texas intermediate crude were last at $88.25 per barrel, up 2% for the day. — Jesse Pound Lumen shares drop as Wells Fargo downgrades stock Lumen is down more than 10% after Wells Fargo downgraded the tech company’s rating to equal weight from overweight. Analyst Eric Luebchow said its mass market segment, referred to as RemainCo, was struggling and warned downsides could put dividends at risk. He cut earnings before debt, interest, taxes and amortization forecasts for RemainCo to $5.9 billion, about $600 million below Wall Street estimates. He cut the stock’s price target to $8, which is about 0.5% below where the stock closed Tuesday but more than 56% less than its previous target of $12.50. Lumen shares are down about 42.3% this year. The stock hit a 52-week low during day trading Wednesday. — Alex Harring Higher rates expose market fragilities, TS Lombard says The recent jump in yields and higher rates from central banks around the world are making fragile spots in the market more apparent, TS Lombard said. “After a decade of perma low rates and QE, stress is building up, exposing market fragilities that can feed into the real economy,” wrote the firm’s Skylar Montgomery Koning. “The risk of an accident is increasing, and it will likely be from a vulnerability we are unaware of (because we can protect only against the known risks).” In all, this has led to investors pulling money away from fixed income and equities in favor of cash, Koning said. U.S. stocks were under pressure once again Wednesday, with the Dow losing roughly 400 points. —Fred Imbert Solar stocks under pressure Clean energy stocks are some of the worst performers on Wednesday morning, as investors shed risk after the sharp rally to start the week. The iShares Global Clean Energy ETF (ICLN) and Invesco Solar ETF (TAN) are both down more than 5% for the day. The Clean Energy ETF is on track for its worst day since June 13. The ETFs are being weighed down by shares of Sunrun and Enphase Energy in particular, which are each down more than 9%. — Jesse Pound, Gina Francolla Services measure shows economy is holding up The services sector grew at a solid pace last month, as gains in employment and orders and a decline in prices pointing to a resilient U.S. economy. September’s ISM services index registered a 56.7% reading, indicating the level of companies reporting expansion for the month. Employment rose 2.8 points to 53% while the prices index fell 2.8 points to 68.7%, still a robust reading but continuing to move lower. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones had been looking for a reading of 56%, so the report was slightly better than expectations and just below the August reading of 56.9%. Services account for about 45% of U.S. gross domestic product. —Jeff Cox Stocks open lower, Dow drops 300 points U.S. stocks opened lower on Wednesday, following a big two-day gain for all of the major averages. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped about 300 points to start the day, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite dipped 1.1% and 1.3%, respectively. A rebound in in Treasury yields, with the 10-year rate up 10 basis points higher at 3.713% added pressure to stocks. — Tanaya Macheel Trade deficit fell more than expected in August The U.S. trade deficit fell slightly more than expected in August to its lowest level in more than a year, the Bureau of Economic Analysis reported Wednesday. The trade shortfall declined to $67.4 billion, a $3.1 billion drop from the previous month that was a bit better than the Dow Jones estimate of $67.7 billion. That marked the lowest level since May 2021. In March 2022, the deficit had hit a record $106.9 billion. A drop in the goods deficit of $3.4 billion helped account for most of the decline as the economy shifts back to higher demand for services. —Jeff Cox U.S. labor market showed strength in September, ADP jobs report shows Businesses added 208,000 jobs for the month of September, payroll services firm ADP reported Wednesday. That number is better than the 200,000 Dow Jones estimate and ahead of the upwardly revised 185,000 in August, according to ADP. Trade, transportation and utilities saw a jobs gain of 147,000, while professional and business services and education and health services also posted large increases. ADP’s report comes two days before the closely watched nonfarm payrolls report issued by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Federal Reserve officials are watching the jobs numbers closely as the central bank looks to stem high inflation. — Jeff Cox Stocks making the biggest moves premarket These companies are making headlines before the bell: Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs – Shares of the two banks slid 1.4% and 1.6%, respectively, after Atlantic Equities downgraded both stocks due to the potential of declining investment banking volume. General Motors – The auto maker’s shares dipped 1.8% after Morgan Stanley lowered its price target on the stock. Bionano Genomics – Shares jumped 11.3% after the company published a study on using optical genome mapping to investigate liver cancer. Check out more premarket movers here. — Alex Harring Two-day huge move in market offers hope for stronger gains ahead The back-to-back huge market moves Monday and Tuesday provide some hope that better days are ahead for the stock market. While single-day bursts often are signs of a bear market bounce, two-day rallies of more than 2% historically have signaled stronger gains in the future. There have been 31 such instances for the S&P 500 since 1953, and the index has averaged a 0.61% gain one week later following those moves, according to Bespoke Investment Group. While gains tend to muddle along shortly after, the 12-month return typically has been 14.6% and the S&P 500 has been higher 80% of the time. Having rallies off that size is highly unusual to start the month — Bespoke reports that there was only one other time, in August 1984, when a month began with consecutive gains of 2%. —Jeff Cox Ford shares move higher on Morgan Stanley upgrade Shares of Ford moved more than 1% higher in premarket trading after Morgan Stanley upgraded them on Wednesday . The auto maker’s stock has been under pressure recently, They lost 18.5% over the past month, after the company warned in late September of an extra $1 billion in supply chain costs for the third quarter. Now, Morgan Stanley says that provides an attractive entry point for investors. Read more about ...

Can President Biden Save Democracy One US Factory Job At A Time? https://digitalalaskanews.com/can-president-biden-save-democracy-one-us-factory-job-at-a-time/ Biden has staked his presidency on what he has called “a historic manufacturing boom,” hoping to succeed where past presidents, governors and hordes of other politicians have struggled for a half-century. President Joe Biden attends a March 9, 2022, event at the White House to support legislation that would encourage domestic manufacturing and strengthen supply chains for computer chips. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky, File) WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden is working to create a manufacturing revival — even helping to put factory jobs in Republican territory under the belief it can restore faith in U.S. democracy. The latest development came Tuesday, when chipmaker Micron announced an investment of up to $100 billion over the next 20-plus years to build a plant in upstate New York that could create 9,000 factory jobs. It’s a commitment made in a GOP congressional district that Biden and the company credited to the recently enacted $280 billion CHIPS and Science Act. “Today is another win for America, and another massive new investment in America spurred by my economic plan,” Biden said in a statement. “Together, we are building an economy from the bottom up and the middle out, where we lower costs for our families and make it right here in America.” Biden has staked his presidency on what he has called “a historic manufacturing boom,” hoping to succeed where past presidents, governors and hordes of other politicians have struggled for a half-century. His goal is to keep opening new factories in states such as Ohio, Idaho, North Carolina and Georgia — where Democrats’ footholds are shaky at best. Administration officials say they want to spread the prosperity across the entire country, rather than let it cluster in centers of extreme wealth, in a bid to renew the middle class and a sense of pride in the country itself. Courthouse News’ podcast Sidebar tackles the stories you need to know from the legal world. Join our hosts as they take you in and out of courtrooms in the U.S. and beyond. The push comes at a precarious moment for the global economy. High inflation in the U.S. has hurt Biden’s popularity and prompted recession concerns. Much of Europe faces a possible downturn due to the jump in energy prices after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, while the International Monetary Fund just downgraded growth in China. The world economy is defined by uncertainty just as Biden has called for investments in clean energy and technology that could take years to pay off. The president is hopeful that whatever good manufacturing can do for the U.S. economy also turns out to yield political benefits for himself and other Democrats in 2022 and beyond. He told Democratic donors on Friday that the manufacturing and technology investments mean “we have an opportunity” to strengthen the U.S. if Democratic governors and lawmakers are elected this year. Going into the midterm elections, Biden is telling voters that a factory renaissance has already started because of him. The administration sees its infrastructure spending, computer chip investments and clean-energy incentives as helping domestic manufacturing in unprecedented ways. Recent academic studies suggest that decades of layoffs due to offshoring contributed to the rise of Republican Donald Trump, with his opposition to immigration and global trade. But many of the authors of the studies doubt that Biden can make these demographic trends disappear through the promise of jobs for skilled workers. Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna of California would like to see the president make a national tour of factory openings, so that his policies could stick better in voters’ minds. Khanna recently attended the groundbreaking of a $20 billion Intel plant in Ohio and laid out his belief that factory job losses helped cause today’s political schisms. The Silicon Valley congressman reasons that too many Americans have lost faith in a government that seemed indifferent to their own well-being, leading them to embrace hucksters and authoritarians who thrive by exploiting and widening divisions in society. “How do you get rid of people’s jobs and expect them to believe in democracy?” Khanna asks. Factory jobs have risen during Biden’s tenure to the most since 2008 at 12.85 million, yet the task of steadying the country’s middle class and its democratic institutions is far from complete. The industrial Midwest has yet to recover the factory jobs shed in the pandemic, let alone decades of layoffs in which the economic challenges evolved into political tensions. Labor Department data show that Ohio is still 10,000 factory jobs shy of its pre-pandemic level and 350,000 jobs below its total in 2000. The numbers are similarly bad in Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin — three states that were key to Biden’s 2020 victory and could help decide control of Congress in November’s elections. The White House says Biden eschews thinking about Americans solely as consumers interested only in the cheapest prices and thus promoting outsourcing. Instead, his speeches are woven with talk about people as workers and the identity that working gives them. What Biden can show with this year’s factory groundbreakings is progress, even if the total number of manufacturing jobs is unlikely to return to the 1979 peak of 19.55 million. Intel’s computer chip plant being built in New Albany, Ohio, would add 3,000 jobs. Hyundai would add 8,100 jobs with its electric vehicle plant in Georgia. Wolfspeed, with plans to produce silicon carbide wafers in North Carolina, would add 1,800 jobs. Jay Timmons, CEO of the National Association of Manufacturers, said the gains in factory jobs reflect five years of effort, starting with the 2017 tax cuts by Trump and including Biden’s investments in infrastructure and computer chips as well as efforts to return jobs to the U.S. after global supply chain disruptions caused by the pandemic. “There’s a commitment by government at all levels to do more here and a desire by manufacturers to do more here,” Timmons said. Massachusetts Institute of Technology economist Daron Acemoglu applauded the president’s plans for spreading factory work across the country. It’s too soon to tell if the administration is succeeding, he said, but Biden is challenging what was once conventional wisdom among economists that little could be done to expand factory work in the U.S. “I believe the president is right,” said Acemoglu, the co-author of the book “Why Nations Fail.” “’Good jobs,’ which pay decent wages, have job stability, offer career-addressing opportunities, and endow a sense of accomplishment and dignity, are important for the middle class and social cohesion.” New academic research released in September suggests that the offshoring of factory jobs led white men to feel like victims and gave way to the rise of grievance politics that helped fuel Trump’s ascendancy among Republican voters. That movement in turn spawned election denialism and political violence that Biden has repeatedly said is “a dagger to the throat of our democracy.” The research covering 3,500 U.S. citizens finds that factory job losses due to automation are less controversial among voters than the offshoring, which triggered a “self-victimization bias” for whites who were more likely to “view offshoring as leading to greater total harm to the American economy, and to the U.S. position in the world.” One of the study’s authors, Leonardo Baccini of McGill University, still expects factory job totals to shrink, though a decline primarily due to automation would be less harmful to Democratic candidates. He still anticipates factory job losses over the long term as advanced economies focus more on productive services to sustain growth. “From an economic standpoint, the decline of U.S. manufacturing is inevitable and it is actually a good thing,” Baccini said. “Any attempt to stop this structural transformation with protectionism and government subsidies is likely to backfire.” J. Lawrence Broz, a political scientist at the University of California San Diego, co-wrote a 2019 research paper that found populist support was strongest in communities that endured long-term economic and social decline, a contrast to the superstar cities where technology, finance and a highly educated workforce were magnets for wealth. “It is unlikely that recent efforts to re-shore manufacturing jobs will produce the intended effects, either economically or politically,” Broz said. “The new factories won’t employ large numbers of less-skilled workers, leaving white industrial workers just as angry as they are now.” That means the underlying test of Biden’s agenda might be whether enough workers can be educated to meet the needs of a manufacturing sector with higher standards than during the heights of its dominance in the 20th century. __ By JOSH BOAK Associated Press Read the Top 8 Sign up for the Top 8, a roundup of the day’s top stories delivered directly to your inbox Monday through Friday. 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Trump ‘interested In Power, Dominance, Money And Himself’, Says Author Maggie Haberman https://digitalalaskanews.com/trump-interested-in-power-dominance-money-and-himself-says-author-maggie-haberman/ When Donald Trump was president some of his most extraordinary declarations came via the New York Times’ White House correspondent Maggie Haberman. Now she’s written a book about the man who’d often speak exclusively to her during his time in office and afterwards. He has called it a fake – but has also said Haberman was at times like his psychiatrist. And now of course Mr Trump – who is fending off federal investigations – is poised to run again. Read More Here

Maine GOP Gubernatorial Hopeful Struggles With Abortion Questions In Debate https://digitalalaskanews.com/maine-gop-gubernatorial-hopeful-struggles-with-abortion-questions-in-debate/ During his two terms as Maine governor, Republican Paul LePage attended antiabortion rallies, argued that “we should not have abortion” and said in 2018 that if the Supreme Court were to make a case for overturning Roe v. Wade, “let’s do it.” But on a gubernatorial debate stage Tuesday night, LePage was much more circumspect about his views on reproductive rights, struggling to respond directly when asked what he would do if the Maine legislature introduced additional restrictions to abortion in the state. Multiple times, he avoided answering questions directly, protesting that it was a hypothetical issue or that he did not understand the question. LePage’s awkward performance Tuesday highlights the position many antiabortion Republicans are in, four months after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, the 1973 decision that for nearly a half-century guaranteed the right to an abortion in the United States. The decision has galvanized Democratic voters — and put some GOP candidates on the defensive — in a midterm election cycle that would typically favor the party not in power. On Tuesday night, a moderator first asked whether Maine Gov. Janet Mills (D) would support removing the “viability” restriction in Maine’s current abortion law, which allows abortion until the point “when the life of the fetus may be continued indefinitely outside the womb by natural or artificial life support.” After that, an abortion may be performed only when it is necessary to preserve the life or health of the mother. Mills, who has served as Maine’s governor since 2019, said she had no plans to change the state law, which she said reflected Roe v. Wade. “I believe a woman’s right to choose is just that: It’s a woman’s right, not a politician’s and most certainly not Mr. LePage’s or anybody sitting in public office,” Mills said. “As long as I’m governor, the right to reproductive health care will never be considered dispensable. My veto pen will stand in the way of any effort to undermine, roll back or outright eliminate the right to safe and legal abortion in Maine.” “I have never wavered in that position, never equivocated, never flip-flopped,” she added pointedly. As the moderator began asking LePage the same question, he jumped in on his own. “I served eight years as the governor of Maine. Never once did I attempt, ever, to do — even talk about the abortion bill, because I believe in — the bill that’s in place right now is a good bill,” said LePage, who was governor of Maine from 2011 to 2019. “I believe in protecting the mother’s life for rape … and incest. I also believe in the viability.” Thirteen states will immediately outlaw abortion now that Roe v. Wade is overturned. These restrictions on reproductive rights resurface a key question. (Video: Hannah Jewell, Lindsey Sitz, Casey Silvestri/The Washington Post) The moderator pointed out that the question had actually been different. What would he do as governor if the state legislature were to bring a bill to him that added additional restrictions, such as reducing the viability period to 15 weeks or requiring parental consent before a minor could receive an abortion? “I support the current law as it is,” LePage said. “And if they brought those bills to you, you would not sign them?” the moderator asked. “That is correct,” LePage said. Mills interrupted: “Well, would you let it go into law without your signature?” she asked. “I don’t know …” Le Page started. “That’s the alternative,” Mills said. “You know that. You were governor. You know what the options are. Would you allow it to go into law without your signature?” A visibly flustered LePage dropped his pen on the ground and then leaned over to pick it up as he shot back at Mills: “Would you allow a baby to take a breath? Would you allow the baby to take a breath …” Mills paused and repeated her questions more slowly. “Would you let a restrictive law go into effect without your signature? Would you block a restriction on abortion?” “Would I block? Or would-?” LePage said. “This is what I would do. The law that’s in place right now, I have the same exact place you have. And I would honor the law as it is. You’re talking about a hypothetical.” “Oh, we’re not,” Mills replied, smiling and shaking her head. “If you’re saying, we’re gonna take the restriction away, making it illegal for the viability?” LePage continued. “No, I would not sign that. I would veto that. The viability is in law now.” After a brief pause, the moderator pointed out that LePage still had not answered the question. Would he veto additional restrictions that came to him? LePage asked for examples. The moderator provided them once again. “If you’re talking about would I veto a bill that would change the viability, I would go to the medical professionals to tell me,” LePage said, shrugging. “I don’t know what you mean by 15 weeks or 28 weeks. Because I don’t know. I mean, I’m not sure I understand the question.” There was another pause. “I understand the question,” Mills said flatly. “I would not let such law become effective. My veto can and will stand in the way of any restrictions on the right to abortion.” “When you say restriction — I’m, I’m trying to understand the question,” LePage said. A different moderator asked the question one last time. “So, Governor LePage, if the legislature came to you and said we want to change Maine’s law, and instead of viability which currently stands at 28 weeks, now Maine’s law is going to say no abortions after 15 weeks — would you veto that?” she asked. “Yes,” LePage said at last. Abortion has become a key issue in many races this November, with polls showing that the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade remains unpopular. While Republicans generally have praised the ruling overturning Roe, many have preferred not to focus on the issue ahead of the midterms. But avoiding the topic became more difficult for GOP candidates after Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) introduced a bill last month that would ban abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy nationwide. Several red states already have stricter bans in place. Abortion is now banned or mostly banned in 15 states, while laws in several others are in various legal limbos. In August, Indiana passed a near-total abortion ban, the first to do so after Roe was struck down. In August, Kansas voters soundly rejected a referendum that would have allowed state lawmakers to regulate abortion, the first time state voters had decided on such an amendment since Roe was overturned. Last month, South Carolina Republicans fell short in their bid for a near-total abortion ban in the state. Planned Parenthood recently announced that it plans to spend a record $50 million in an effort to elect abortion rights supporters across the country in November, banking on the belief that abortion will help turn out Democratic voters. Read More Here

Remembering The Life Of Marti Callaghan 1956 – 2022 https://digitalalaskanews.com/remembering-the-life-of-marti-callaghan-1956-2022/ Marti Jeanne Blunck Callaghan passed through this life peacefully on October 1st, 2022. Although her passing was unexpected, she was surrounded during her last days by those she loved most on this earth, her children and family. We believe she felt the peace of her Heavenly Father as she passed from this life to the next. Marti Jeanne was born in Lawton, Oklahoma November 19, 1956 to Theron Elmer and Wanda Lee Blunck. She was the second child of seven, she was raised and surrounded by 6 siblings: Tim, Anne, Pat, David, Danny, and Dottie. Their home was loving, and the value for family was instilled in them from a young age. Her father went on to work with the family business, Blunck Studios, which became an icon in the area for all things photography. This family business soon became Marti’s work home, and after many years there, she continued to work at CDF. It was there she faithfully worked as the Customer Service Representative alongside her father and brothers for many years before retiring in 2015. Marti is survived by her son Michael Monroe Callaghan, son Joseph Theron Callaghan, daughter-in-law Chloe Grace Callaghan, grandchildren Emma Grace, Ava Jeanne, Jesse Samuel and Hannah Claire, daughter Erin Anne Lee Wright, son-in-law Eddie Dewayne Wright, granddaughters Kayden Renae and Kallie Anne. She is also survived by her mother Wanda Lee Blunck of Norman, Oklahoma and her 6 siblings: Theron Timothy and wife Angela Blunck of Norman, OK; Anne Elizabeth and husband Conrad Ziegler of Norman, OK; David Lee and wife Kay Blunck of Norman, OK; Edward Patrick Blunck of Gulf Breeze FL; James Daniel Blunck of Norman, OK; Dottie Alice and Michael Francis of Elwood, IN. Her cherished nieces and nephews are as follows: Jasmine and Jonny Cook of Gulf Breeze, FL; Shandra and Zach Lacich of Keller, TX; Stephen and Meredith Ziegler of Norman, OK; Devin and Brittani Blunck of Boston, MA.; Christopher Blunck of Norman, OK; Rebecca and Kyle Graee of Orlando, FL; Andrew Blunck of Norman, OK; Sam Blunck of Fairbanks, AK; Robin Hillerby of Elwood, IN; Riley Hillerby of Norman, OK; Stephen Bratcher of Norman, OK; and Brandon Bratcher of Norman, OK. Marti is preceded in death by her father, Theron Blunck. At home, Marti placed a high value on being available to her family, reading, gardening, and she had an avid love for thrifting. Marti had a gift of making old things beautiful again, and anyone who entered her home always felt immediately loved and welcomed. She was a comfort to all that knew her, her home was often a safe haven for those needing a place of rest, whether it be her grandchildren who she frequently hung out with, family needing a place to gather, or periodically opening her home to those who needed a place to live. Although her presence in her family’s life will be greatly missed, they have peace knowing she is with her Heavenly Father, preparing a place for her loved ones and probably tilling soil in a well watered garden… Services will be held 10:00 a.m., Friday, October 7, at Antioch Church in Norman, OK., followed by burial at I.O.O. F. Cemetery. Arrangements handled by John Ireland and Sons Funeral Home, Moore. Ok. Read More Here

U.S. Believes Ukrainians Were Behind An Assassination In Russia https://digitalalaskanews.com/u-s-believes-ukrainians-were-behind-an-assassination-in-russia/ American officials said they were not aware of the plan ahead of time for the attack that killed Daria Dugina and that they had admonished Ukraine over it. Send any friend a story As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. Anyone can read what you share. Daria Dugina’s memorial service in Moscow in August. U.S. intelligence agencies believe that parts of the Ukrainian government authorized the attack that killed her.Credit…Kirill Kudryavtsev/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images Oct. 5, 2022Updated 1:59 p.m. ET WASHINGTON — United States intelligence agencies believe parts of the Ukrainian government authorized the car bomb attack near Moscow in August that killed Daria Dugina, the daughter of a prominent Russian nationalist, an element of a covert campaign that U.S. officials fear could widen the conflict. The United States took no part in the attack, either by providing intelligence or other assistance, officials said. American officials also said they were not aware of the operation ahead of time and would have opposed the killing had they been consulted. Afterward, American officials admonished Ukrainian officials over the assassination, they said. The closely held assessment of Ukrainian complicity, which has not been previously reported, was shared within the U.S. government last week. Ukraine denied involvement in the killing immediately after the attack, and senior officials repeated those denials when asked about the American intelligence assessment. While Russia has not retaliated in a specific way for the assassination, the United States is concerned that such attacks — while high in symbolic value — have little direct impact on the battlefield and could provoke Moscow to carry out its own strikes against senior Ukrainian officials. American officials have been frustrated with Ukraine’s lack of transparency about its military and covert plans, especially on Russian soil. Since the beginning of the war, Ukraine’s security services have demonstrated their ability to reach into Russia to conduct sabotage operations. The killing of Ms. Dugina, however, would be one of the boldest operations to date — showing Ukraine can get very close to prominent Russians. Image In a handout photo released by the Investigative Committee of Russia, investigators worked at the scene of the car blast that killed Ms. Dugina.Credit…Investigative Committee Of Russia, via Agence France-Presse/Getty Images Some American officials suspect Ms. Dugina’s father, Aleksandr Dugin, a Russian ultranationalist, was the actual target of the operation, and that the operatives who carried it out believed he would be in the vehicle with his daughter. Mr. Dugin, one of Russia’s most prominent voices urging Moscow to intensify its war on Ukraine, has been a leading proponent of an aggressive, imperialist Russia. The American officials who spoke about the intelligence did not disclose which elements of the Ukrainian government were believed to have authorized the mission, who carried out the attack, or whether President Volodymyr Zelensky had signed off on the mission. United States officials briefed on the Ukrainian action and the American response spoke on the condition of anonymity, in order to discuss secret information and matters of sensitive diplomacy. U.S. officials would not say who in the American government delivered the admonishments or whom in the Ukrainian government they were delivered to. It was not known what Ukraine’s response was. The State of the War Russia’s Retreat: After significant military gains in eastern cities like Lyman, Ukraine is pushing farther into Russian-held territory in the south, expanding its campaign in yet another direction as Moscow struggles to mount a response and hold the line. Annexation Push: After Moscow’s proxies conducted a series of sham referendums in the Ukrainian regions of Zaporizhzhia, Kherson, Luhansk and Donetsk, President Vladimir V. Putin declared the four territories to be part of Russia. Western leaders, including President Biden in the United States, denounced the annexation as illegal. Putin’s Nuclear Threats: For the first time since the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962, top Russian leaders are making explicit nuclear threats and officials in Washington are gaming out scenarios should Mr. Putin decide to use a tactical nuclear weapon. Fleeing the Draft: Tens of thousands of men have left Russia to avoid being drafted to fight in Ukraine. Kyrgyzstan, a former Soviet territory long seen in Russia as a source of cheap labor and backward ways, has provided a welcoming haven. While the Pentagon and spy agencies have shared sensitive battlefield intelligence with the Ukrainians, helping them zero in on Russian command posts, supply lines and other key targets, the Ukrainians have not always told American officials what they plan to do. The United States has pressed Ukraine to share more about its war plans, with mixed success. Earlier in the war, U.S. officials acknowledged that they often knew more about Russian war plans — thanks to their intense collection efforts — than they did about Kyiv’s intentions. Cooperation has since increased. During the summer, Ukraine shared its plans for its September military counteroffensive with the United States and Britain. U.S. officials also lack a complete picture of the competing power centers within the Ukrainian government, including the military, the security services and Mr. Zelensky’s office, a fact that may explain why some parts of the Ukrainian government may not have been aware of the plot. When asked about the U.S. intelligence assessment, Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to Ukraine’s president, reiterated the Ukrainian government’s denials of involvement in Ms. Dugina’s killing. “Again, I’ll underline that any murder during wartime in some country or another must carry with it some kind of practical significance,” Mr. Podolyak told The New York Times in an interview on Tuesday. “It should fulfill some specific purpose, tactical or strategic. Someone like Dugina is not a tactical or a strategic target for Ukraine. “We have other targets on the territory of Ukraine,” he said, “I mean collaborationists and representatives of the Russian command, who might have value for members of our special services working in this program, but certainly not Dugina.” Though details surrounding acts of sabotage in Russian-controlled territory have been shrouded in mystery, the Ukrainian government has quietly acknowledged killing Russian officials in Ukraine and sabotaging Russian arms factories and weapons depots. A senior Ukrainian military official who declined to be identified because of the sensitivity of the topic, said that Ukrainian forces, with the help of local fighters, had carried out assassinations and attacks on accused Ukrainian collaborators and Russian officials in occupied Ukrainian territories. These include the Kremlin-installed head of the Kherson region, who was poisoned in August and had to be evacuated to Moscow for emergency treatment. Countries traditionally do not discuss other nations’ covert actions, for fear of having their own operations revealed, but some American officials believe it is crucial to curb what they see as dangerous adventurism, particularly political assassinations. Still, American officials in recent days have taken pains to insist that relations between the two governments remain strong. U.S. concerns about Ukraine’s aggressive covert operations inside Russia have not prompted any known changes in the provision of intelligence, military and diplomatic support to Mr. Zelensky’s government or to Ukraine’s security services. In a phone call on Saturday, Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken told his Ukrainian counterpart, Dmytro Kuleba, that the Biden administration “will continue to support Ukraine’s efforts to regain control of its territory by strengthening its hand militarily and diplomatically,” according to Ned Price, the State Department’s spokesman. Officials from the State Department, National Security Council, Pentagon and C.I.A. declined to comment on the intelligence assessment. The war in Ukraine is at an especially dangerous moment. The United States has tried carefully to avoid unnecessary escalation with Moscow throughout the conflict — in part by telling Kyiv not to use American equipment or intelligence to conduct attacks inside of Russia. But now, the recent battlefield successes by Ukraine have prompted Russia to respond with a series of escalatory steps, like conducting a partial mobilization and moving to annex swaths of eastern Ukraine. Concern is growing in Washington that Russia may be considering further steps to intensify the war, including by renewing efforts to assassinate prominent Ukrainian leaders. Mr. Zelensky would be the top target of Russian assassination teams, as he was during the Russian assault on Kyiv earlier in the war. But now, American officials said Russia could target a wide variety of Ukrainian leaders, many of whom have less protection than Mr. Zelensky. The United States and Europe had imposed sanctions on Ms. Dugina. She shared her father’s worldview and was accused by the West of spreading Russian propaganda about Ukraine. Russia opened a murder investigation after Ms. Dugina’s assassination, calling the explosion that killed her a terrorist act. Ms. Dugina was killed instantly in the explosion, which occurred in the Odintsovo district, an affluent area in Moscow’s suburbs. After the bombing, speculation centered on whether Ukraine was responsible or if it was a false flag operation meant to pin blame on Ukrainians. The bombing took place after a series of Ukrainian strikes in Crimea, part of Ukraine that Russia seized in 2014. Those strikes had le...