Digital Alaska News

Majority Continues To Say U.S. Government Too Powerful https://digitalalaskanews.com/majority-continues-to-say-u-s-government-too-powerful/ Story Highlights 54% believe federal government is too powerful, similar to past years 53% say government doing too many things to solve nation’s problems Twice as many say there is too much rather than too little business regulation WASHINGTON, D.C. — A 54% majority of Americans say the federal government has too much power, while 39% say it has about the right amount of power and 6% say too little. These figures have generally been stable throughout the Donald Trump and Joe Biden presidential administrations. Since 2005, no less than 50% of Americans have said they believe the federal government is too powerful, with some of those readings reaching 60%. ###Embeddable### These results are based on Gallup’s annual Governance survey, conducted Sept. 1-16. Americans have typically believed the federal government has too much power, except in the first three years after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Between 2002 and 2004, about half of Americans said the government had the right amount of power, while close to 40% said it had too much. At no point in Gallup’s trend have more than 9% of U.S. adults said the government has too little power. The stability in the overall numbers masks large shifts by Republicans and Democrats tied to the party of the sitting president. Generally speaking, Republicans and Democrats are more inclined to say the government has too much power when the president is from the other party, and less inclined when a president from their own party is in the White House. But since 2009, Republicans have been consistently more likely than Democrats to say the government is too powerful, just by larger margins under a Democratic president than under a Republican president. ###Embeddable### Currently, 74% of Republicans, 32% of Democrats and 54% of independents believe the federal government has too much power. Slim Majority Believes Federal Government Is Too Active When asked how active the government should be in addressing the nation’s problems, 53% say it is doing too many things that should be left to individuals and businesses, while 43% believe the government should be doing more to solve problems. These attitudes are similar to a year ago and have largely held over the past two decades, although with some variation, depending on the party of the president at the time. Typically, as now, Americans have been more likely to see the government as too active when a Democratic president is in office than when a Republican is. ###Embeddable### Gallup first asked the question about government activity in 1992. The highest percentages saying the government is doing too much are 61% measured in July 2012 and 60% in December 1995. There have been only three instances since 1992 in which more Americans have called for the government to do more than to do less. These were in early 1993, after Bill Clinton took office following his victory over the incumbent George H.W. Bush in an election focused on economic issues; in October 2001, weeks after the 9/11 terrorist attacks; and in 2020 during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. Consistent with their party platforms, most Republicans (75%) currently say the government is doing too many things, and most Democrats (66%) believe the government should be doing more. Independents’ views mirror the national average. Since 2011, no less than 64% of Democrats have said the government should be doing more than it is, including a high of 83% in 2020. Over that same period, no less than 70% of Republicans have said the government is doing too many things it shouldn’t be. Americans Most Likely to Believe Business Regulated Too Much Twice as many Americans believe the government regulates business too much (46%) rather than too little (23%), and 29% say there is the right amount of regulation. For the past two years — the first two of Biden’s administration — the percentage of Americans saying there is too much regulation has exceeded the percentages measured in 2018-2020, the last three years of Trump’s administration. Similarly, more Americans thought there was too much business regulation under Barack Obama between 2009 and 2016 than under George W. Bush between 2001 and 2008. ###Embeddable### The high point in saying there is too much regulation in Gallup’s trend is 50% in 2011. A 1981 Los Angeles Times poll that asked the same question found 54% saying there was too much regulation. That poll was conducted early in Ronald Reagan’s presidency, after he won election on a platform of cutting government regulation. Bottom Line Americans’ views of federal government power haven’t changed over the past six years, which have spanned a number of issues or events that involved significant, if not unprecedented, government activity. During this period, the U.S. Justice Department investigated possible ties between the Trump campaign and Russia in the 2016 election, the U.S. House impeached Trump twice, and the FBI recently raided Trump’s home looking for government records, including classified material. The federal government has also spent trillions of dollars addressing the COVID-19 pandemic and authorized $1 trillion for infrastructure and billions more for climate change legislation. Consistent with the philosophies of the two major parties, Republicans are more likely than Democrats to believe the government is too powerful, is doing too many things that individuals and businesses should be doing, and that it is regulating business too much. However, those views are usually moderated by the party of the current president and whether his approach is in line with what Republicans or Democrats prefer. To stay up to date with the latest Gallup News insights and updates, follow us on Twitter. Learn more about how the Gallup Poll Social Series works. View complete question responses and trends (PDF download). Read More Here

California Jury Convicts Paul Flores Of 1996 Murder Of Kristin Smart https://digitalalaskanews.com/california-jury-convicts-paul-flores-of-1996-murder-of-kristin-smart/ Kristin Smart, a 19-year-old student at California Polytechnic University, was last seen with fellow freshman Paul Flores in the early hours of a Saturday in May 1996, walking to her dorm after leaving an off-campus party. On Tuesday, more than a quarter-century later, a California jury found Flores guilty in her murder. Flores’s father, Ruben Flores, who had been accused of helping his son conceal Smart’s remains, was found not guilty of being an accessory to the murder. Smart’s body has not been found. “Without Kristin, there’s no joy or happiness,” Stan Smart, her father, told reporters after the verdict. “This has been an agonizingly long journey, with more downs than ups,” he said, before thanking prosecutors for securing the guilty verdict for the younger Flores. But he said that with the senior Flores acquitted, the Smarts’ “quest for justice will continue.” Paul Flores, 45, faces 25 years to life in prison, prosecutors said. He is scheduled to be sentenced on Dec. 9 at the Monterey County Superior Court in California. His attorney, Robert Sanger, declined to comment, saying “the matter is still pending.” Ruben Flores, 81, told reporters Tuesday after the verdict that the evidence against him and his son had “too much made-up stuff,” and that the ruling was based on “feelings instead of facts.” He expressed sorrow for the Smarts, saying he believed they didn’t get answers about what had happened to their daughter. His attorney did not immediately reply to a request for comment Tuesday night. After Smart’s disappearance, Paul Flores was initially designated a person of interest by authorities. He had a black eye at the time that he told investigators he had gotten during a basketball game with friends, who later contradicted his statement, the Associated Press reported. He then changed his story, saying he had bumped his head while working on his car. Detectives interviewed a new witness in 2019, which led to search warrants for the homes of Flores and his family, officials said. In March 2021, investigators searched the home of Ruben Flores in Arroyo Grande, Calif., where authorities said they found “additional evidence related to the murder of Kristin Smart.” In April last year, authorities arrested the younger Flores and his father, calling the former a “prime suspect.” Prosecutors later told the jury that investigators had found a “clandestine grave” beneath the deck of the home of Ruben Flores, “believed to have previously held Kristin’s body.” Archaeologists working for police found a soil disturbance about the size of a casket and the presence of human blood, though the blood was too degraded to extract a DNA sample, the AP reported. Prosecutors have previously said that they believe Flores raped, or at least tried to rape, Smart before killing her. The San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Office and the district attorney’s office could not be reached on Tuesday night. In a statement after the verdict Tuesday, Sheriff Ian Parkison thanked Smart’s family for their “patience and support” during the long investigation. “I made a vow to them many years ago, that we would not let Kristin’s memory be forgotten. Nor would we let her killer go unpunished … But there is no true justice until Kristin is reunited with her family. This investigation will not be closed until we find Kristin.” Read More Here

UK Inflation Moves Back Up To 40-Year High As Brits Battle Cost-Of-Living Crisis https://digitalalaskanews.com/uk-inflation-moves-back-up-to-40-year-high-as-brits-battle-cost-of-living-crisis/ The Office for National Statistics announced inflation figures Wednesday as the U.K. undergoes a historic cost-of-living crisis and political turmoil. Westend61 / Getty Images LONDON — The consumer price index rose 10.1% in September, according to estimates published Wednesday by the Office for National Statistics, just exceeding a consensus forecast among economists polled by Reuters. Reuters estimated an increase of 10% for September. The figure for September matches the 40-year high British inflation reached in July. The rate rose in the year to September 2022 as the country’s cost-of-living crisis continues to hammer households and businesses ahead of a tough winter. Inflation unexpectedly dipped to 9.9% in August, down from 10.1% in July, on the back of a fuel price decline. Increasing food, transport and energy prices were the biggest contributing factors to inflation, the ONS said. Food was up 14.6% year-on-year, transport was up 10.9% compared to last year, while the price of furniture and household goods rose 10.8%. Sterling fell against the dollar following the news, trading at $1.1289, down from $1.1330. The inflation data will also impact the Bank of England’s approach for the near term, just as the Bank plans to sell off some of its government bonds, known as gilts, from Nov. 1. Britain’s Finance Minister Jeremy Hunt said in a statement that “help for the most vulnerable” will be a priority as the U.K. weathers high inflation rates, along with “delivering wider economic stability and driving long-term growth that will help everyone.” September’s inflation rate highlights the severity of the U.K.’s inflation crisis, and comes as the country weathers a period of economic volatility. On Monday the new British Finance Minister Jeremy Hunt reversed the majority of the tax cuts introduced by his predecessor, Kwasi Kwarteng, on Sept. 23, and Prime Minister Liz Truss apologized for “mistakes” that had caused severe market turbulence. Questions are now being raised over how long Truss will remain in office. Read More Here

S https://digitalalaskanews.com/s-9/ Choose your subscription Trial Try full digital access and see why over 1 million readers subscribe to the FT For 4 weeks receive unlimited Premium digital access to the FT’s trusted, award-winning business news Digital Be informed with the essential news and opinion MyFT – track the topics most important to you FT Weekend – full access to the weekend content Mobile & Tablet Apps – download to read on the go Gift Article – share up to 10 articles a month with family, friends and colleagues Print FT print edition delivered Monday – Saturday along with ePaper access Delivery to your home or office Monday to Saturday FT Weekend paper – a stimulating blend of news and lifestyle features ePaper access – the digital replica of the printed newspaper Team or Enterprise Premium FT.com access for multiple users, with integrations & admin tools Group Subscription Premium Digital access, plus: Convenient access for groups of users Integration with third party platforms and CRM systems Usage based pricing and volume discounts for multiple users Subscription management tools and usage reporting SAML-based single sign-on (SSO) Dedicated account and customer success teams Or, if you are already a subscriber Sign in Are you a student or a professor? Check if your university has an FT membership to read for free. Check my access Read More Here

Marco Rubio Says Voting Drop Boxes Are Dangerous Because People May Blow Them Up https://digitalalaskanews.com/marco-rubio-says-voting-drop-boxes-are-dangerous-because-people-may-blow-them-up/ Marco Rubio attends a campaign event with Cuban-American leaders in Miami, Florida (Getty Images) US senator Marco Rubio said he is worried about the dangers of using voting drop boxes for elections because they can be blown up and render the votes ineffective. The Republican lawmaker was speaking against his counterpart, representative Val Demings, in Florida’s senate debate. “That’s a method of voting that doesn’t advantage one group or another. There’s danger involved in drop boxes. People need to think about it. Ok, imagine someone decides, ‘Oh there’s a drop box I’m just going to put some explosive in it and blow it up and burn all of those ballots and now those votes don’t count at all’,” Mr Rubio said. He went on: “There are two things with elections that are very important. Number one, the counting has to be accurate. The votes have to be counted accurately but the other is, there has to be public confidence. The public has to believe that elections were fair and balanced.” Mr Rubio added that he has “always been in favour of” fair and balanced elections and accused Democrats of a “federal takeover”. “The elections, I do not want a federal takeover of our election system. I oppose it,” he said, summing up his argument. In response, the three-term Democratic congresswoman rubbished the claims by Mr Rubio. “That’s nonsense, that we want a federal takeover. We passed the Voting Rights Advancement Act in the House of Representatives because of the unbelievable voter suppression efforts that were going on by the senator and his party,” Ms Demings retorted. Social media users did not take kindly to the accusations of unfair elections practices on Democrats. “The only reason so many people don’t have confidence in our election process is because are were gullible enough to believe Trump’s Big Lie, not because there’s anything wrong with our electoral system. The solution is for Trump and his cultists to stop lying about the election,” said author Steve Metz. “Yeah imagine if there were a bunch of riled up, anti-democratic lunatics who decided to use violence to influence elections,” said journalist Jordan Zakarin. Both the lawmakers spoke about abortion rights, guns and immigration in the high-voltage senate debate, where Mr Rubio was questioned about his earlier remarks on opposing exceptions for rape and incest. In a dramatic back-and-forth on voting rights, he defended having to present an identification card, which many Democrats say makes it harder for students and people of colour to vote. But Ms Demings, a former police chief, cornered and accused him of being a serial liar, while Mr Rubio criticised her for backing Joe Biden’s economic agenda. Read More Here

Clip Resurfaces Of Eric Trump Saying Secret Service Gets Charged $50 For Trump Hotels https://digitalalaskanews.com/clip-resurfaces-of-eric-trump-saying-secret-service-gets-charged-50-for-trump-hotels/ ITN The Crown in hot water over ‘nonsense’ Charles scene Netflix has been forced to defend The Crown over a controversial scene in the new series. The fifth season apparently includes a conversation between former prime minister John Major and then-Prince Charles, who plots to oust the Queen. Storyful Snow Falls in Southeastern Kentucky as Cold Snap Hits Snow flurries descended on Gray, Kentucky, on Tuesday, October 18, as the National Weather Service (NWS) issued a hazardous weather outlook in the region.Footage posted to Twitter by user @TimJack13395226 shows light snow falling against a dark sky.The NWS warned of sub-freezing temperatures for portions of eastern Kentucky throughout the week. Credit: @TimJack13395226 via Storyful Reuters Analysis-World Cup could be nightmare before Christmas for Britain’s supermarkets The winter World Cup has added a new level of uncertainty to the Christmas trading outlook of Britain’s supermarkets: How do you persuade cash-strapped shoppers to buy yule logs and luxury biscuits at the same time as beer and pizza? Running between Nov. 20 and Dec. 18, the soccer tournament in Qatar falls directly in the key festive trading quarter where the fiercely competitive sector typically makes a large chunk of its annual profit. Similarly, World Cups, traditionally held in the northern hemisphere summer, typically provide a major boost to British supermarkets as households stock up on beers, wines and spirits, barbecue food and snacks and host large gatherings. Sky News Sri Lankan author Shehan Karunatilaka wins 2022 Booker Prize Sri Lankan writer Shehan Karunatilaka has won the Booker Prize for his second novel The Seven Moons Of Maali Almeida. Karunatilaka was presented with a trophy by Queen Consort Camilla on Monday at the literary award’s first in-person ceremony since 2019. The Seven Moons Of Maali Almeida is a novel set in 1990, during Sri Lanka’s civil war, when the main character Maali Almeida wakes up dead with no idea who has killed him. Read More Here

Florida Senate: Marco Rubio And Val Demings Take Aim At One Another On Immigration, Gun Control https://digitalalaskanews.com/florida-senate-marco-rubio-and-val-demings-take-aim-at-one-another-on-immigration-gun-control/ A debate between Florida’s two Senate candidates – incumbent GOP Sen. Marco Rubio and Democratic Rep. Val Demings – became heated as the pair took aim at one another on a number of issues, including rising prices, abortion, gun control and immigration. Notably absent from the Tuesday evening debate held at Palm Beach State College’s Lake Worth campus was the issue of crime, which Republicans have prioritized in the election amid rising crime rates across several major American cities. Asked about rising costs, from housing to gasoline, and how they will “help families now” after trillions of dollars were utilized by the government for pandemic relief in America, the two candidates took issue will policies their opponent had supported in the past. Rubio insisted that the government’s spending led to a rise in inflation, saying Democrats “were warned by Larry Summers, by other Democrat economists, you do this, you’re gonna fire up inflation” and insisted that one resolve to the issue would be the production of American oil. FLORIDA SENATE: RUBIO AND DEMINGS ARGUE OVER ABORTION LIMITATIONS, EXCEPTIONS IN HEATED DEBATE “We’ve got to produce American oil again,” Rubio said. “Why are we begging Saudi Arabia for oil? Why are we begging Venzuela and Iran for oil? We’re producing a million barrels a day less on oil than we used to do just a couple of years ago. Instead, we are depleting our reserves. Our oil reserves do not exist to win midterms. They exist to help this country in an emergency or in the midst of a storm. What we cannot do is some of these crazy policies that are coming from the left that Congresswoman Demings has supported.” READ ON THE FOX NEWS APP Responding to criticism from Rubio, Demings said, “Of course the senator who has never run anything at all but his mouth would know nothing about helping people and being there for people when they are in trouble. No one planned the pandemic, but our response to it is everything. Individuals were hurting, families were hurting, businesses were hurting. We passed the CARES Act.” “Your number one job as a United States Senator is to protect the safety, health, and wellbeing of the American people,” she added. “You’ve been at it for 24 years…” Rubio also accused the congresswoman, who currently represents Florida’s 10th Congressional District and previously served as chief of the Orlando Police Department from 2007 to 2011, of having “never passed a bill” during her tenure in Congress. “The congresswoman likes to talk about helping people. She’s never passed a bill. She’s never passed a single bill. She’s been in Congress for over half a decade, she’s never passed a bill. Not [Paycheck Protection Program], not anything. Not a single thing she’s passed has ever become law.” Demings denied Rubio’s claim and said, “That’s not true.” First lady Jill Biden attends a rally for Democratic Senate candidate Rep. Val Demings, D-Fla., and Florida Gubernatorial candidate Rep. Charlie Crist, D-Fla., on October 15, 2022 in Orlando, Florida. “I’m really disappointed in you, Marco Rubio, because I think there was a time when you did not lie in order to win. I don’t know what happened to you. You know that’s not true,” she said. Demings claimed she passed a measure during her first term in Congress to “help law enforcement officers with mental health programs.” The two also took issue with one another on the issue of abortion, with Demings claiming that her opponent supports no exemptions for the procedure, including rape and incest, and Rubio claiming that Demings supports “no restrictions, no limitations” on abortion. FLORIDA SENATE: DEMOCRAT VAL DEMINGS DOESN’T SAY WHETHER SHE WILL ACCEPT THE RESULTS OF ELECTION “The extremist on abortion in this campaign is Congresswoman Demings,” Rubio said. “She supports no restrictions, no limitations of any kind. She’s against the fourth-month ban, she voted against the five-month ban. She supports taxpayer funded abortion, on demand, for any reason, at any time, up until the moment of birth.” “Senator, how gullible do you really think Florida voters are,” Demings responded. “You have been clear that you support no exceptions, even including rape and incest. Now as a police detective who investigated cases of rape and incest, no, senator, I don’t think it’s okay for a ten-year-old girl to be raped and have to carry the seed of her rapist. No, I don’t think it’s okay for you to get to make decisions for women and girls as a senator. I think those decisions are made between the woman, her family, her doctor, and her faith.” Demings said she “supports a woman’s right to choose up until the time of viability.” In response, Rubio insisted that’s a “vague” term that many Democrats use in order to provide a clear answer on limitations. “Every law I’ve ever passed has exceptions,” Rubio said. “We’re never gonna get a vote on a law that doesn’t have exceptions cause that’s where the majority of the American people are and I respect and understand that.” Sen. Marco Rubio speaks to supporters at a campaign stop on the Keep Florida Free Tour at the Horsepower Ranch in Geneva. On the issue of gun violence in America, Demings insisted that Rubio has lacked on the issue and done little to advance bills that would prevent people from obtaining weapons to cause harm. “You’ve done nothing. Nothing to address gun violence and help to get dangerous weapons out of the hands of dangerous people,” Demings said. “Our primary responsibility is the safety of Floridians and senator, 24 years in elected office and you have not yet risen to that occasion and then when asked about it you say something that makes no sense.” DESANTIS AND RUBIO HOLD STRONG LEADS IN FLORIDA GUBERNATORIAL, SENATE RACES, UP BY DOUBLE DIGITS WITH LATINOS In response, Rubio said, “What makes no sense is that we’re gonna actually pass laws that only law-abiding people will follow and criminals will continue to violate.” “The truth of the matter is that at the end of the day, Americans have a Second Amendment right to protect themselves,” he added. “These killers that are out there, if there intent is killing as they are, they have found multiple ways to get ahold of weapons and cause mass destruction. … I have a bipartisan red flag law, sponsored with Sen. Jack Reed, but the problem is that the leftists in the Senate, and in the House, like Congresswoman Demings are against it because they want the California red flag law that allows your coworker who has a grudge against you to go to a judge and take away your guns. That, I’ll never support.” The two candidates were also asked about the immigration crisis and whether they support a recent policy change from the Biden administration to send Venezuelans who arrive at America’s border back to Venezuela and prevent them from applying for asylum in America again. “You mean Joe Biden just instituted Trump’s return to Mexico policy,” Rubio stated. “There’s not more to it, that’s exactly what he did. Congresswoman Demings said what’s happening at the border is nothing unusual. We have 5,000 people a day crossing the border. You know how many people have entered our country illegally since Joe Biden took over as president? 5 million.” “There’s no country in the world that can tolerate, or permit, or afford, 5,000 people a day arriving at your border saying the magic words and getting asylum. And she says that’s not a problem. She says there’s nothing unusual about it. This cannot continue. It has to be fixed.” Demings responded by referencing her career as a police officer and police chief, saying “We’re a nation of laws. I’ve enforced them for 27 years.” Florida Democratic Senate candidate Val Demings, left, and incumbent Florida GOP Senate candidate Marco Rubio, right. “Despite what the senator wants you to believe, he’s living in fantasy land,” she said. “We need to make sure the men and women at the border have the resources they need. I’m a fan of boots on the ground, but we need to hire more processors. … We’re a nation of laws. We have to enforce the law, but we also have to obey the law that says people who are in trouble can seek asylum in this country.” CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP “The senator likes to talk about open borders. It’s almost an insult to the men and women who are there securing the border,” she added. Rubio, in response, claimed that the “only one who’s insulted the people working the border are Joe Biden and Democrats who accuse them of whipping Haitian migrants and that turned out to be true.” According to poll of likely voters conducted by Spectrum News/Siena College in September, Rubio leads Demings 48% to 41%. Fox News’ Power Rankings rates the Florida Senate race as “lean Republican.” Rubio and Demings will go head-to-head in the Sunshine State’s November 8 midterm election. Read More Here

Democrats Will Find It Harder To Keep House https://digitalalaskanews.com/democrats-will-find-it-harder-to-keep-house/ WASHINGTON (AP) — Moments after she flipped a longtime Republican congressional seat in 2018, Iowa Democrat Cindy Axne declared that “Washington doesn’t have our back and we deserve a heck of a lot better.” Now seeking a third term in one of the most competitive House races, Axne is sounding a similar tone, telling voters she’s delivered for Iowans “while Washington politicians bicker.” But Axne and other Democrats from the class of 2018 are campaigning in a much different political environment this year. The anxiety over Donald Trump’s presidency that their party harnessed to flip more than 40 seats and regain the House majority has eased. In its place is frustration about the economy under President Joe Biden. And many districts that were once competitive have been redrawn by Republican-dominated state legislatures to become more friendly to the GOP. “It was a very different world,” pollster John Zogby said of 2018. “Inflation’s now where we haven’t seen in 40 years and it affects everybody. And this is the party in power. With campaigns, you don’t get to say, ‘But it could have been’ or ‘But look at what the other guy did.’” Many swing-district Democrats elected four years ago were buoyed by college-educated, suburban voters, women and young people shunning Trump. That means many defeats for second-term House Democrats could be read as opposition to Trump no longer motivating voters in the same way — even though the former president could seek the White House again in 2024. Trump continues to shape politics in a far more present sense, too. He’s dominated the national Republican Party despite spreading lies about 2020’s free and fair presidential election and now facing a House subpoena for helping incite the mob that attacked the U.S. Capitol last year. Tom Perez, who headed the Democratic National Committee from 2017 until 2021, noted that midterm cycles are historically tough for the president’s party and that — plus grim U.S. economic news — would normally raise the question “are Democrats going to get shellacked?” Instead, Perez thinks many of the toughest congressional races remain close because of the strength of Democrats elected four years ago. “All these folks from the Class of ’18, what they have in common is they’re really incredibly competent, accomplished and they’ve earned the trust of voters in their districts across the ideological spectrum,” said Perez, co-chair of the super PAC American Bridge 21st Century. “That, to me, is why we have a chance here, not withstanding the headwinds of the moment, is that incredible combination of candidate quality contrasted with the extreme views of the people who are running against them.” In all, 66 new Democrats won House races in 2018, flipping 41 Republican seats. Their party gave back many of those gains in 2020, with Republicans taking 14 new seats. Those GOP victories included defeating a dozen Democrats elected to the House for the first time the previous cycle. The Democratic House losses were overshadowed by Biden beating Trump. But this time, the ranks of the 2018 Democratic House class further dwindling may draw more attention — especially if it helps the GOP gain the net five seats it needs to reclaim the chamber’s majority. In addition to Axne, Democrats who may be vulnerable include Reps. Elissa Slotkin of Michigan, Tom Malinowski of New Jersey and Elaine Luria of Virginia. Another Virginia Democrat, Rep. Abigail Spanberger, as well as Reps. Jared Golden of Maine, Angie Craig of Minnesota and Sharice Davids of Kansas all also may face tough reelections. “The question is, is it going to have similarities to ’18 or not in the sense of democracy being on the ballot and a reaction to Trump,” former California Democratic Rep. Harley Rouda, who was elected in 2018 but narrowly lost his reelection bid, said of next month’s election. “Based on polling and the primaries, it doesn’t seem like the voting public is holding Republicans responsible for the Big Lie.” Perez is more sanguine: “The midterm election is supposed to be a referendum on the president, but Donald Trump continues to inject himself” into the nation’s politics. House turnover is common among both parties. By early 2018, almost half of the 87 House Republicans newly elected when their party took control of the chamber during the 2010 tea party surge were gone. More lost that November. Still, the 2018 class was notable as the largest influx of first-year House Democrats in four-plus decades, and the chamber’s youngest and most diverse ever. Debbie Walsh, director of the Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers University, said 2018 was also the largest class of new women elected to the House since 1992, with 35 Democrats and one Republican. But 2020 also saw 28 new women elected to Congress, and some were Republicans who defeated Democrats who’d won for the first time the last cycle. “We had a couple of very strong years in a row, one for Democrats and one for Republicans,” Walsh said of women in the House. She said that means that even if the 2018 House Democratic class gets smaller this year, “I would not look at one election cycle and say the face of Congress is going back to old, white men.” Republicans, meanwhile, have 32 Hispanic nominees and 23 Black nominees running for the House this cycle — both party records. They say their chances of winning the chamber’s majority are built more on high inflation and crime rates rising in some places than Trump or last year’s insurrection. “We have a choice between commonsense and crazy,” Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel said in a statement. “And Americans will vote for Republicans up and down the ballot as a result.” The Democrats’ 2018 House class won’t dissolve completely. Some incumbents are seeking reelection in safely blue districts, including Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, Lucy McBath of Georgia and Colin Allred of Texas, who was the class’ co-president. Democratic Michigan Rep. Haley Stevens, the other co-president, beat fellow 2018 Democratic House class member Andy Levin when the two incumbents squared off in this year’s Democratic primary based on their state’s new map. One Democratic 2018 House class member ousted in 2020, former New York Rep. Max Rose, is now running to get back to Congress. Another member, New Jersey Rep. Jeff Van Drew, has since become a Republican. Former Virginia Rep. Denver Riggleman was a Republican elected in 2018 but lost his 2020 GOP primary. Riggleman is now appearing in a TV ad praising Spanberger. “She’s trying to change Congress and make it work,” Riggleman says in the ad. “She puts country first.” Today’s breaking news and more in your inbox Read More Here

Russian Analyst In Trump Dossier Case Acquitted Of Lying To FBI https://digitalalaskanews.com/russian-analyst-in-trump-dossier-case-acquitted-of-lying-to-fbi/ Russian analyst Igor Danchenko walks to the Albert V. Bryan U.S. Courthouse during a lunch break in his trial on Oct. 11, 2022, in Alexandria, Virginia. Drew Angerer/Getty Images/TNS (TNS) A Russian business analyst who was the primary source of a largely unverified 2016 dossier on then-presidential-candidate Donald Trump’s alleged ties to Russia was acquitted of charges he lied to the FBI. Igor Danchenko, 44, was found not guilty Tuesday by a federal jury of lying about the suspected identity of a Russian source he said called him anonymously to report a “well-developed conspiracy” between Trump’s campaign and the Kremlin. The tip was never borne out. News Updates Would you like to receive our weekly news? Signup today! Please enter a valid email address. Articles Images Videos Commented Videos Sorry, there are no recent results for popular videos. Commented Sorry, there are no recent results for popular commented articles. We’re always interested in hearing about news in our community. Let us know what’s going on! To view our latest e-Edition, click the image on the left. To view our latest Special Section, click the image on the left. Read More Here

Trump Against US Jews, 'calm Down And Appreciate Israel' – Icona News https://digitalalaskanews.com/trump-against-us-jews-calm-down-and-appreciate-israel-icona-news/ Ruetir| Latest News, World News, Breaking News, Games,Technology, Business, Lifestyle, Fashion, Sports, Food & Technology. Contact Us : [email protected] Read More Here

Walz, Jensen Face Off In Sole Televised Debate Of 2022 Gubernatorial Campaign https://digitalalaskanews.com/walz-jensen-face-off-in-sole-televised-debate-of-2022-gubernatorial-campaign-2/ Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and his Republican challenger Dr. Scott Jensen debated Tuesday night on television, but residents in the Twin Cities were only able to watch through online streams. The panel of four journalists asked questions on a bevy of issues, including abortion, the state’s response to riots after George Floyd’s murder and the Feeding Our Future fraud investigation. Walz and allied groups have used the abortion issue as their main area of attack on Jensen, claiming he will seek to ban abortion in Minnesota if he’s elected governor. In campaign videos and media interviews, Jensen said he would ban abortion, but he has walked back that rhetoric in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, leaving abortion laws in the hands of state legislatures. “Because in Minnesota abortion is a legally protected right it is not on the ballot in November,” Jensen said Tuesday night. “What is on the ballot in November is without question skyrocketing inflation, crime out of control and our kids are not getting the education that they need. As governor, I won’t ban abortion, I can’t.” Republican candidate for governor Dr. Scott Jensen, left, and DFL Gov. Tim Walz, right, debate on Tuesday, Oct. 18, 2022, at KTTC-TV in Rochester. (Courtesy of KTTC-TV) In his response to Jensen’s answer, Walz criticized Jensen for changing his stance mid-campaign. “Scott was very clear in May. He mocked me and said, ‘No kidding, Sherlock, I’m running for governor to get things done. We’re going to ban abortion, that’s not news,” Walz said. “That changed after Roe versus Wade. I think what most of us know again you heard this through many different places, this is not about trusting women. This not about clear convictions. It’s about changing your positions as the winds blow.” The moderators also asked the candidates about the state’s response to riots that erupted in the Twin Cities following George Floyd’s murder. Walz and Jensen were asked what they would do differently if something similar happened again, but they mostly talked what happened in 2020. “Nothing like this had been seen before — the level of violence after the murder of George Floyd,” Walz said. “I think, again, there will be stories written and this will be written about for quite some time. I’m proud of Minnesota’s response. I’m proud of Minnesota’s first responders who were out there from firefighters to police to National Guard to citizens that were out there.” Jensen took the question as an opportunity to put Walz’s support of first responders in doubt. “You heard it here: Governor Walz just told you, ‘I am proud of Minnesota’s response,’ referring to the riots of May and June of 2020. Wow,” Jensen said. “This isn’t a one-off situation. There’s a reason the Minnesota Police and Peace Officers Association has endorsed me unanimously.” The candidates also addressed the $250 million Feeding Our Future fraud investigation. Jensen claimed Walz could have stopped the scheme much sooner. “Governor Walz and his team could have stopped this anywhere along the line,” Jensen said. “But when it was getting warm in the kitchen for Governor Walz because basically, it appears there’s a cover-up. Two questions are huge on all of our minds. What did Governor Walz know and when did he know it?” For his part, Walz said state and federal agencies alike needed to do better to enforce the rules for how public funds are disbursed. “During COVID the federal government relaxed some of their rules and they sent out as they should have aid to states in terms of uprecedented numbers,” the governor said. “Now, making sure those safeguards are in place? Absolute priortiy. Once the Minnesota Department of Education found this, they alerted the FBI. Now it’s an ongoing investigation. I guess we’ll get more clarity once they start to come to that.” When given a chance to respond, Jensen doubled down, laying the blame squarely on the Walz administration. “You just heard a smokescreen. This is not about the federal government, this is about the state of Minnesota, and the Office of the Legislative Auditor should have been notified,” Jensen said. The two also tangled over the budget bill that stalled in the Legislature in May. Walz said Jensen urged Republican senators to block the bill that would have delivered tax cuts and rebates, but Jensen said it also would have increased state spending by billions of dollars. Lack of debates under scrutiny The one-hour debate between the 2022 candidates for Minnesota governor was hosted in Rochester and was only broadcast on Greater Minnesota TV stations. It was the second of three scheduled debates between Walz and Jensen but the only one to be televised. Walz rejected offers to debate on at least three Twin Cities television stations, including KSTP-TV. “Tim Walz is ahead, but he’s not a prohibitive favorite,” says Carleton College political analyst Steven Schier. “He’s probably ahead in the single digits, probably the high single digits but that is not safe territory three weeks out.” Schier says although minimizing the number of debates is clearly strategy of the Walz campaign, it doesn’t mean it will work. Although he says Jensen needs the debates more than Walz. “The two of them need to meet face-to-face in order for Jensen to try and close that gap because the further away Walz is from Jensen personally in this race the better it is for Walz.” The only other time Walz and Jensen debated was eleven weeks ago at Farmfest near Redwood Falls on August 3. That was only seen by a few hundred people who attended the debate and people who saw highlights on television or online. This will be the first time in at least 40 years the candidates for Minnesota governor will not debate in prime time on Twin Cities television. The only other debate currently scheduled is at noon, Friday, Oct. 28 on Minnesota Public Radio. KSTP-TV will host a “Debate Night in Minnesota” that will air statewide in prime time on Sunday, Oct. 23. Walz declined to participate, so Jensen will face questions from a panel of reporters by himself. The major party candidates for attorney general and secretary of state have all agreed to participate. We’ll have highlights of Tuesday’s debate on “Nightcast” on 5 Eyewitness News at 10. For Related Stories: 2022 Elections  Gubernatorial Race  Scott Jensen  Tim Walz  Tom Hauser Read More Here

Russia’s New Ukraine Commander Signals Civilian Removals From ‘tense’ Kherson https://digitalalaskanews.com/russias-new-ukraine-commander-signals-civilian-removals-from-tense-kherson/ The new commander of Moscow’s army in Ukraine has announced that civilians were being “resettled” from the Russian-occupied southern city of Kherson, describing the military situation as “tense”. “The enemy continually attempts to attack the positions of Russian troops,” Sergei Surovikin said in his first televised interview since being appointed earlier this month, adding that the situation was particularly difficult around the occupied southern city of Kherson. Surovikin’s statements on Tuesday came amid repeated military setbacks for Russian forces prompting Moscow’s dependence on Iran, which is sending missiles and drones. On Tuesday, the New York Times reported that military advisers from Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps were on Ukrainian soil, at a Russian military base in occupied Crimea. The Iranians were reported to have been deployed to help Russian troops deal with problems with the Tehran-supplied fleet of Shahed-136 drones, rebranded as Geran-2 by the attackers. Russian forces have been trying to hold off a fierce Ukrainian counter-assault in Kherson, a region in the south of Ukraine that Moscow claimed to have annexed last month after staging a sham referendum. Surovikin admitted that the situation in Kherson was “not easy”. “Further actions and plans regarding the city of Kherson will depend on the developing military-tactical situation, which is not easy. We will act consciously, in a timely manner, without ruling out difficult decisions,” he added. The comments appeared to mark a rare acknowledgment of the difficulties facing Russian forces. But it was not immediately clear whether Surovikin, the ruthless general now in charge of the war, was hinting at a looming Russian withdrawal from Kherson or a fresh round of airstrikes. Kherson, which lies near the mouth of the Dnipro on the west bank, was one of the first cities to fall to Russia after the invasion on 24 February and is a crucial strategic and symbolic target for Ukraine’s government. Gruelling fighting has been reported in the region since the start of Ukraine’s counter-offensive at the end of the summer, with both sides suffering steep casualties. The Ukrainian army has sought to pinch off Russian supply lines to Kherson by destroying the two main road bridges across the Dnipro. Kyiv has recently introduced a news blackout in the south of the country, leading to speculations that it was preparing a new major offensive on Kherson. “When the Ukrainians have a news blackout it means something is going on. They have always done this before when there is a big offensive push on,” Michael Clarke, a former director general of the Royal United Services Institute, told Sky News. “I am guessing in the next 48-72 hours they might tell us what is happening,” he added. Shortly after Surovikin’s statements, the Russian-installed head of Kherson, Vladimir Saldo, said in a video address that people in four towns in the Kherson region were being moved, in anticipation of a “large-scale offensive”. Kirill Stremousov, the Russian-installed deputy administrator of the Kherson region, echoed the message on Telegram late on Tuesday. “The battle for Kherson will begin in the very near future. The civilian population is advised, if possible, to leave the area of the upcoming fierce hostilities,” he said. Since Surovikin’s appointment on 8 October, Moscow has unleashed a barrage of cruise missiles and “kamikaze” drones targeting Ukrainian critical infrastructure as well as the civilian population. Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said that Moscow’s use of Iranian-made drones was a symbol of the Kremlin’s “military and political bankruptcy”. “The very fact of Russia’s appeal to Iran for such assistance is the Kremlin’s recognition of its military and political bankruptcy,” Zelenskiy said in his daily address on Tuesday. “For decades, they spent billions of dollars on their own military industrial complex. And in the end, they bowed down to Tehran in order to secure quite simple drones and missiles.” But, Zelenskiy added, “strategically, it will not help them anyway. It only further proves to the world that Russia is on the path of defeat and is trying to draw someone else into its accomplices in terror.” The bombing is often inaccurate and civilians have been killed in residential buildings in Kyiv and other big cities. But enough have got through to cause problems for a power grid already short of generation after the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant was shut down. Nearly a third of Ukraine’s power stations have been destroyed by Russian attacks since Monday last week – prompting Nato’s secretary general to announce that new counter-drone defences would be delivered within days. Kyrylo Tymoshenko, the deputy head of the presidential office, said energy infrastructure and power supply were targeted overnight in an eastern district of Kyiv, where two people were killed, and in the cities of Dnipro and Zhytomyr. “The situation is critical now across the country because our regions are dependent on one another … it’s necessary for the whole country to prepare for electricity, water and heating outages,” Tymoshenko told Ukrainian television. Jens Stoltenberg, Nato’s secretary general, said member countries would “step up” and deliver more air defences to help stabilise the situation. “Nato will in the coming days deliver counter-drone systems to counter the specific threat of drones, including those from Iran,” he said. Although there are signs that Moscow is running short on guided missiles, it has acquired up to 2,400 Iranian drones, according to Ukraine, and is using them as cheaper substitutes to hit the energy targets and strike fear into civilians. Iran denies supplying the drones to Russia, while the Kremlin spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, said he did not have any information about their origin. “Russian equipment with Russian names is being used,” Peskov said. Ukraine, experts and western governments believe the Gerans are rebranded Shahed drones, identifiable by their distinctive delta wing shape and from an examination of fragments recovered from the ground. A western official, speaking on condition of anonymity in a briefing on Tuesday, said they believed Russia was “pursuing a deliberate strategy of attempting to destroy Ukraine’s electricity network”. Reuters reported that Iran had promised to provide Russia with surface-to-surface missiles, in addition to more drones, citing two senior Iranian officials and two Iranian diplomats. The UK defence secretary, Ben Wallace, and the foreign secretary, James Cleverly, flew to Washington on Tuesday to discuss how to respond to Iran’s intervention, as officials briefed that a new air defence package for Ukraine was being prepared. Last week Germany delivered the first of four Iris-T air defence systems it had promised to supply Ukraine, but the US has been wary of strengthening Ukraine’s air force and defences for fear it would be seen as an escalation. Kevin McCarthy, the Republican leader in the US House of Representatives, warned on Tuesday that Congress would not “write a blank cheque to Ukraine” if his party wins next month’s midterm elections. Hours later, however, another senior Republican, Michael McCaul, said that he thought that the Ukrainians should “get what they need” – including longer-range missiles than those the Biden administration has so far been prepared to supply. Analysts say the mixed messages reflect an internal debate between traditional national security conservatives and the Trumpist wing of the party, where pro-Russian sentiment is much stronger. Read More Here

Rubio, Demings Tussle In Senate Campaign’s Only Debate But No Knockouts https://digitalalaskanews.com/rubio-demings-tussle-in-senate-campaigns-only-debate-but-no-knockouts/ WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – Sen. Marco Rubio and Rep. Val Demings tangled late Tuesday night in a feisty, one-and-only debate on hurricane relief for Florida, future limits on abortion, gun rights and illegal immigration. There were no knockout punches thrown. Rubio, facing his closest re-election campaign in more than a decade and behind in fundraising, sought to portray Demings as a pawn of radical Democrats in Washington, ineffective over her five-year tenure in Congress, extremist on abortion rights and naive about gun control. He said she had voted in favor of the “socialists’ budget,” a veiled jab trying to label Demings as a socialist and Marxist. Demings, a former Orlando police chief trailing Rubio by nearly 5 points in polls, said Rubio had failed to serve the interest of Florida residents after 11 years in the Senate, opposed any exceptions on abortion and flip-flopped on allowing teens to buy assault rifles. She repeatedly  accused Rubio of saying falsehoods about her, squaring her shoulders to face him across the stage. At one point, Demings chastised: “I’m really disappointed in you, Marco Rubio, because I think there was a time when you did not lie in order to win. I don’t know what happened to you.” With Election Day looming in only 21 days, a dominant performance by Demings – or a stunning implosion by Rubio – could have tightened the race and shifted projections that Rubio’s seat appears reasonably safe for Republicans on Nov. 8. Neither happened Tuesday night, perhaps forcing Democrats nationally to look toward other states to maintain effective control of the Senate.  Mail ballots have already been distributed to anyone who asked for one in Florida, and early in-person voting starts Monday. Donors have poured roughly $66 million into Demings’ campaign – roughly $20 million more than Rubio’s campaign has raised. The race is ranked the second-most expensive Senate race nationally only behind one in Arizona. Demings landed some of her biggest jabs noting that Rubio had once said – after the horrific mass shooting by a teenager at a high school in Parkland, Florida, in 2018 – he would support legislation to prevent an 18-year-old from buying an assault rifle. Rubio said Tuesday night such laws wouldn’t work, even though Florida passed its own state law after the shootings banning anyone under 21 from buying an assault rifle. “Denying the right to buy it is not going to keep them from using it,” Rubio said. He said he advocates for red-flag laws that would allow police to seize guns from dangerous people. Demings shot back: “Families of victims of gun violence heard that and they’re asking themselves, what the hell did you just say?” “This is about taking dangerous guns out of the hands of dangerous people,” Demings said, stabbing her finger for emphasis and her voice rising. “The overwhelming majority of people in our nation want us to do just that. How long will you watch people being gunned down in first grade, fourth grade, high school, college, church, synagogue, grocery store, movie theater, a mall and a night club and do nothing?” Rubio jabbed at Demings’ track record in Congress. He noted that she voted 100% with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. He also said she never passed a bill that became law except for renaming two Post Office buildings. “There is not a single federal law on the books that she sponsored and got passed,” Rubio said. Demings said she passed a measure helping law enforcement officers obtain mental health resources. She suggested Rubio was denigrating the two men – an Orlando city councilor who overcame segregation and a police officer killed on duty – for whom the postal buildings are now named as unimportant.  “I didn’t say it doesn’t matter,” Rubio said. “I just said that’s all she’s done.” Demings accused Rubio – who described himself as “100% pro-life” – of supporting bans on abortions with no exceptions for victims of rape or incest. Rubio did not dispute that directly but said no such legislative proposals would ever be viable. He said a federal bill he is co-sponsoring with Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., that would ban abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy includes those exceptions. Rubio said Demings supports abortions up to the moment of birth. Demings called that a lie. She has previously said she supports the right to an abortion up to viabilty – when a fetus can survive outside the womb, at about 24 weeks – but she did not definite any specific time frame Tuesday night. Demings is a cosponsor for the Ensuring Access to Abortion Act, an effort by Democrats to codify Roe v. Wade into law. “Senator, how gullible do you think Florida voters are?” Demings asked. She fired at him: “He can make his mouth say anything today. I support abortion up to the moment of viability.” On immigration, Rubio said Demings voted against President Donald Trump’s border wall plan and opposed Florida’s plan to send National Guard troops to the Texas border. Rubio said illegal border crossings were out of control, a popular political message among Republicans, and said he blamed Venezeulan President Nicolás Maduro for so many Venezeulans trying to reach the U.S. “This cannot continue,” Rubio said. “No country in the world can tolerate that.” Border patrol agents have documented over 2.1 million encounters at the U.S.-Mexico Southwest border during the 2022 fiscal year. Immigration agents’ encounters with Venezuelans have more than tripled since the 2021 fiscal year, now reaching nearly 154,000. To mitigate the crisis, the Biden administration announced Wednesday a migration enforcement process for people from Venezuela attempting to cross the border, effective immediately.  “Joe Biden has instituted Trump’s return to Mexico policy,” Rubio said to applause. Demings said she supports more border agents and better technology to capture immigrants crossing the border illegally, and noted that U.S. law allows immigrants to request asylum in the United States. “Enforce the law, but also obey the law,” she said. On hurricane help, Demings said climate change was driving some of the devastating effects of hurricanes in Florida. “We have got to get serious about climate change,” she said but did not elaborate.  Rubio said Florida needs faster reimbursements from the federal government to pay for hurricane damage. He sidestepped a question from the debate moderator, WBPF anchorman Todd McDermott – asking what specific federal action can protect Florida from sea-level rise and what he called “these monster storms” – and McDermott did not press him for an answer. Rubio said Florida communities hit by Hurricane Ian immediately need emergency relief. He did not mention missing the vote for natural disaster relief following the Category 4 hurricane. He was in Florida with the president and first lady surveying the storm’s damage and meeting with first responders during the vote. Florida has traditionally been considered a battleground state but has been trending red in recent elections, as Republicans now outnumber registered Democrats. Progressives here hope to appeal to voters after the Supreme Court’s reversal of Roe v. Wade and years of culture wars stoked by a Republican-led Legislature and Gov. Ron DeSantis. ___ This story was produced by Fresh Take Florida, a news service of the University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications. The reporters can be reached at ebarrera@freshtakeflorida.com, carissa.allen@freshtakeflorida.com and troy.myers@freshtakeflorida.com. You can donate to support our students here. Read More Here

The Making Of A U.S. Senate Candidate: Kelly Tshibaka https://digitalalaskanews.com/the-making-of-a-u-s-senate-candidate-kelly-tshibaka/ U.S. Senate candidate Kelly Tshibaka, left, walks door to door in an East Anchorage neighborhood with campaign assistant Victoria Gotthardt on September 30, 2022. (Marc Lester / ADN) Second of three stories on candidates for U.S. Senate in Alaska in the Nov. 8 general election. With six weeks left in her campaign to unseat a U.S. senator, Kelly Tshibaka turned to what may be the most granular and time-consuming way to win over voters. “I can walk doors like a beast,” she said between houses in an East Anchorage neighborhood. Wearing running shoes and a drawstring backpack stuffed with campaign fliers, Tshibaka approached houses she identified as occupied by either inconsistent or moderate voters. On other days, she said she had encountered “a fair amount” of hostility, but over the course of a couple late-morning hours, several said they were eager to see her replace Sen. Lisa Murkowski, who has held the job since 2002. Tshibaka said knocking on doors is the single most important thing she can do before Election Day. It’s a way for her to combat the millions of dollars spent in support of her incumbent opponent. She’s been at it a long time. Tshibaka announced her U.S. Senate run in March 2021, offering herself as a right-wing alternative to Murkowski, who is widely seen as a moderate willing to buck the Republican party line. Former President Donald Trump promised to campaign against Murkowski years before she was up for reelection, and made good on the promise in July. “Murkowski’s opponent, Kelly Tshibaka, is a true America First patriot who will never stab Alaska voters in the back,” Trump told an audience of thousands in Anchorage. Now, Tshibaka is hoping antagonism for Murkowski from both the right and left will give her the victory in a three-way Senate race that also includes Democratic retired educator Pat Chesbro, whose left-leaning message is all but drowned out by the Republican match-up. [Earlier: The making of a U.S. Senate candidate: Pat Chesbro] Under Alaska’s new ranked choice voting system, voters can indicate their top choice and then a second, third and fourth choice, if they have one. While the Republican party has told its voters to “rank the red,” Tshibaka has told her supporters that Murkowski is “purple.” “Kelly Tshibaka one,” Tshibaka said at one house when asked by a supporter about ranked-choice ballots. “You can fill out anything you want or don’t want after that. It’s up to you.” U.S. Senate candidate Kelly Tshibaka, left, walks door to door in an East Anchorage neighborhood with campaign assistant Victoria Gotthardt on September 30, 2022. (Marc Lester / ADN) ‘Something totally different’ Some have publicly speculated that when Tshibaka returned in 2019, it was with designs to launch a campaign for statewide office. She adamantly denies that. Tshibaka — an attorney, longtime government bureaucrat and evangelical pastor — says she decided to run after a single Murkowski vote. Tshibaka, 42, was born in Anchorage and raised in Anchorage and Wasilla. She left at age 15 to attend college and returned in 2019 to take a job in Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s administration. Ahead of her confirmation hearing for commissioner of the Department of Administration, Tshibaka met with state Sen. Shelley Hughes. Hughes said she soon envisioned Tshibaka in a different role. “Just listening and watching her, it dawned on me,” Hughes said recently. “For several years on a weekly basis I had people asking me to run against Lisa Murkowski.” Tshibaka said the conversation with Hughes caught her off-guard. “I remember it vividly because I was like, ‘What? I’m just trying to get through confirmation and you’re talking about something totally different,’” she said. Tshibaka speaks at a rally at Eagle River Lions Club on August 10, 2022. (Marc Lester / ADN) Campaign materials and fundraising envelopes for Kelly Tshibaka are displayed at an event at Knik Bar in Knik on August 11, 2022. (Marc Lester / ADN) When Hughes and Tshibaka spoke — before Murkowski voted to impeach Trump in 2021 — the senator had already done enough to anger the more conservative state party members, including voting against repealing the Affordable Care Act and not supporting Trump’s U.S. Supreme Court justice pick, Brett Kavanuagh. [Compare candidates for U.S. Senate in Alaska on the issues] Murkowski had long earned the ire of conservative Republicans for her willingness to cross party lines on issues like abortion access and gun control. In 2010, Murkowski lost in the Republican primary to Tea Party conservative Joe Miller. It took an unprecedented write-in campaign for Murkowski to retain the seat. Hughes insisted that Tshibaka’s experience — including a 16-year career working for the federal government in nonpartisan roles — made her “a fine match to go up against Murkowski.” Tshibaka said she told Hughes that she wasn’t interested, but it was not the first time she had considered occupying the halls of Congress. In a 2011 post on her personal blog — where she shared daily experiences about motherhood, faith, and her federal government jobs — she recounted a trip to Capitol Hill. “As I watched the staffers buzz between buildings and glimpsed cracked windows with hard-working policy makers tucked behind their computers, I couldn’t help but think of how much influence these people have simply by virtue of where they are,” she wrote. “Just think of how far a little Truth would go when spoken by these people!” [Resources for voters in Alaska’s 2022 general election, including candidate Q&As, key dates and voter information.] In February 2021, Murkowski cast a vote that Tshibaka describes as “a punch in the gut” — to confirm Biden’s nominee for the Department of Interior Secretary, Deb Haaland. Haaland’s views on curbing oil and gas development in favor of environmental conservation angered Alaskans who see natural resource development as key to Alaska’s economy. Haaland had the support of Alaska’s entire congressional delegation at the time, including Rep. Don Young and Sen. Dan Sullivan, as well as deep support in Alaska’s Indigenous communities. Kelly Tshibaka joins Donald Trump on stage during a rally at the Alaska Airlines Center on July 9, 2022. (Bill Roth / ADN) By then, Trump had already promised he’d campaign against Murkowski, and his eagerness to see Murkowski voted out of office only intensified with time. Murkowski is the only GOP senator facing reelection this year who voted to convict Trump following the January 2021 insurrection. Tshibaka formally announced her run a month after Murkowski voted to advance Haaland’s nomination. To run her campaign, Tshibaka enlisted the help of Trump’s former campaign communication director, Tim Murtaugh, whose text messages later became evidence in a Jan. 6 insurrection investigation. Tshibaka’s support for Trump has been unequivocal — she held a fundraiser at his Florida estate, defended him in the wake of an FBI raid on his home, and has baselessly cast doubt on the result of the 2020 presidential election. Her campaign platform is what you’d expect from a Republican running with Trump’s blessing: she wants to curtail abortion access, opposes teaching critical race theory in schools, and favors reducing government regulations and decreasing the federal government’s control and spending in Alaska and elsewhere. The platform listed on her website does not include any references to Alaska Natives, fisheries or the military. The only reference to oil is a mention of her mother’s job working for an oil company. At town hall meetings with voters, she spends more time talking about Murkowski’s voting record than the policies she would propose. “The federal government currently has ownership of the vast majority of our state,” she says in her platform. “I will fight to get our land back, for rights to our resources, for our hunters, and to protect our subsistence lifestyle.” Kelly Tshibaka answers questions at a town hall-style event at Knik Bar in Knik on August 11, 2022. (Marc Lester / ADN) ‘Questionable hours’ After graduating from Harvard Law School at age 22, Tshibaka recounted that she applied for jobs at 25 law firms and received no offers. Eventually, she landed a position as a special assistant in the U.S. Department of Justice Office of the Inspector General, and later as an adviser to the inspector general in the office of the Director of National Intelligence — roles she describes as internal watchdog positions, where she was tasked with finding government waste and abuse. At campaign events, Tshibaka calls herself a “bureaucracy whisperer.” In one instance, the roles were reversed, and she became the subject of an internal investigation that found she had recorded nearly 600 “questionable” working hours between 2008 and 2011, equating to $36,000 in pay. That investigation, first reported by Alaska blogger Dermot Cole, has become the epicenter of a multi-million dollar attack ad campaign by a political action committee affiliated with Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell. In direct mail, video and radio ads, the Senate Leadership Fund quotes the report and accuses Tshibaka of “ripping off” taxpayers. [Independent groups spend millions on ads attacking Tshibaka as Senate race heats up] The campaign has forced Tshibaka to respond to the allegations, which included that she claimed pay for hours she spent exercising. This month, Tshibaka showed a reporter a document she says exonerates her. The letter, signed by the chief management officer of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, states that “the matter related to allegations of time and attendance abuse” is considered “closed.” When asked for a copy of the full investigation report, Tshibaka said she never received one. Tshibaka has said th...

Analyst Acquitted At Trial Over Discredited Trump Dossier https://digitalalaskanews.com/analyst-acquitted-at-trial-over-discredited-trump-dossier/ FILE – Igor Danchenko, a think tank analyst accused of lying to the FBI about his role in the creation of a discredited dossier about former President Donald Trump, leaves Albert V. Bryan United States Courthouse in Alexandria, Va., on Nov. 4, 2021. A jury on Tuesday, Oct. 18, 2022, acquitted Danchenko on all counts. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta, File) ALEXANDRIA, Va. — A jury on Tuesday acquitted a think tank analyst accused of lying to the FBI about his role in the creation of a discredited dossier about former President Donald Trump. The case against Igor Danchenko was the third and possibly final case brought by Special Counsel John Durham as part of his probe into how the FBI conducted its own investigation into allegations of collusion between the 2016 Trump campaign and the Kremlin. The first two cases ended in an acquittal and a guilty plea with a sentence of probation. Danchenko betrayed no emotion as the verdict was read. His wife wiped away tears after the clerk read the final “not guilty” to the four counts he faced. Danchenko didn’t comment after the hearing, but his lawyer, Stuart Sears, spoke briefly to reporters, saying, “We’ve known all along that Mr. Danchenko is innocent. We’re happy now that the American public knows that as well.” The jury reached its verdict after roughly nine hours of deliberations over two days. One juror, Joel Greene of Vienna, Virginia, said there were no real disputes among the jury and that jurors just wanted to be thorough in reviewing the four counts. The acquittal marked a significant setback for Durham. Despite hopes by Trump supporters that the prosecutor would uncover a sweeping conspiracy within the FBI and other agencies to derail his candidacy, the three-year investigation failed to produce evidence that met those expectations. The sole conviction — an FBI lawyer admitted altering an email related to the surveillance of a former Trump aide — was for conduct uncovered not by Durham but by the Justice Department’s inspector general, and the two cases that Durham took to trials ended in full acquittals. Durham declined comment after the hearing, but he said in a statement issued through the Justice Department: “While we are disappointed in the outcome, we respect the jury’s decision and thank them for their service. I also want to recognize and thank the investigators and the prosecution team for their dedicated efforts in seeking truth and justice in this case.” He issued an identical statement after the first trial ended in acquittal. The Danchenko case was the first of the three to delve deeply into the origins of the “Steele dossier,” a compendium of allegations that Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign was colluding with the Kremlin. Most famously, it alleged that the Russians could have blackmail material on Trump for his supposed interactions with prostitutes in a Moscow hotel. Trump derided the dossier as fake news and a political witch hunt when it became public in 2017. Danchenko, by his own admission, was responsible for 80% of the raw intelligence in the dossier and half of the accompanying analysis, though trial testimony indicated that Danchenko was shocked and dismayed about how Steele presented the material and portrayed it as factual when Danchenko considered it more to be rumor and speculation. Prosecutors said that if Danchenko had been more honest about his sources, the FBI might not have treated the dossier so credulously. As it turned out, the FBI used material from the dossier to support applications for warrantless surveillance of a Trump campaign official, Carter Page, even though the FBI never was able to corroborate a single allegation in the dossier. Prosecutors said Danchenko lied about the identity of his own sources for the material he gave to Steele. The specific charges against Danchenko allege that he essentially fabricated one of his sources when the FBI interviewed him to determine how he derived the material he provided for the dossier. Danchenko told the FBI that some of the material came when he received an anonymous call from a man he believed to be Sergei Millian, a former president of the Russian-American Chamber of Commerce. Prosecutors said Danchenko’s story made no sense. They said that phone records show no evidence of a call, and that Danchenko had no reason to believe Millian, a Trump supporter he’d never met, was suddenly going to be willing to provide disparaging information about Trump to a stranger. Danchenko’s lawyers, as a starting point, maintain that Danchenko never said he talked with Millian. He only guessed that Millian might have been the caller when the FBI asked him to speculate. And they said he shouldn’t be convicted of a crime for making a guess at the FBI’s invitation. That said, Danchenko’s lawyers say, he had good reason to believe the caller may well have been Millian. The call came just a few days after Danchenko had reached out to Millian over email after a mutual acquaintance brokered a connection over email. And Danchenko’s lawyers say it’s irrelevant that his phone records don’t show a call because Danchenko told the FBI from the start that the call might have taken place over a secure mobile app for which he had no records. The jury began deliberations Monday afternoon after hearing closing arguments on four counts. On Friday, U.S. District Judge Anthony Trenga threw out a fifth count, saying prosecutors had failed to prove it as a matter of law. Trenga nearly threw out all of the charges before the trial began, citing the legal strength of Danchenko’s defense, but allowed the case to proceed in what he described as “an extremely close call.” —— Associated Press writer Eric Tucker in Washington contributed to this report. Read More Here

Walz, Jensen Face Off In Sole Televised Debate Of 2022 Gubernatorial Campaign https://digitalalaskanews.com/walz-jensen-face-off-in-sole-televised-debate-of-2022-gubernatorial-campaign/ Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and his Republican challenger Dr. Scott Jensen debated Tuesday night on television, but residents in the Twin Cities were only able to watch through online streams. The panel of four journalists asked questions on a bevy of issues, including abortion, the state’s response to riots after George Floyd’s murder and the Feeding Our Future fraud investigation. Walz and allied groups have used the abortion issue as their main area of attack on Jensen, claiming he will seek to ban abortion in Minnesota if he’s elected governor. In campaign videos and media interviews, Jensen said he would ban abortion, but he has walked back that rhetoric in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, leaving abortion laws in the hands of state legislatures. “Because in Minnesota abortion is a legally protected right it is not on the ballot in November,” Jensen said Tuesday night. “What is on the ballot in November is without question skyrocketing inflation, crime out of control and our kids are not getting the education that they need. As governor, I won’t ban abortion, I can’t.” Republican candidate for governor Dr. Scott Jensen, left, and DFL Gov. Tim Walz, right, debate on Tuesday, Oct. 18, 2022, at KTTC-TV in Rochester. (Courtesy of KTTC-TV) In his response to Jensen’s answer, Walz criticized Jensen for changing his stance mid-campaign. “Scott was very clear in May. He mocked me and said, ‘No kidding, Sherlock, I’m running for governor to get things done. We’re going to ban abortion, that’s not news,” Walz said. “That changed after Roe versus Wade. I think what most of us know again you heard this through many different places, this is not about trusting women. This not about clear convictions. It’s about changing your positions as the winds blow.” The moderators also asked the candidates about the state’s response to riots that erupted in the Twin Cities following George Floyd’s murder. Walz and Jensen were asked what they would do differently if something similar happened again, but they mostly talked what happened in 2020. “Nothing like this had been seen before — the level of violence after the murder of George Floyd,” Walz said. “I think, again, there will be stories written and this will be written about for quite some time. I’m proud of Minnesota’s response. I’m proud of Minnesota’s first responders who were out there from firefighters to police to National Guard to citizens that were out there.” Jensen took the question as an opportunity to put Walz’s support of first responders in doubt. “You heard it here: Governor Walz just told you, ‘I am proud of Minnesota’s response,’ referring to the riots of May and June of 2020. Wow,” Jensen said. “This isn’t a one-off situation. There’s a reason the Minnesota Police and Peace Officers Association has endorsed me unanimously.” The candidates also addressed the $250 million Feeding Our Future fraud investigation. Jensen claimed Walz could have stopped the scheme much sooner. “Governor Walz and his team could have stopped this anywhere along the line,” Jensen said. “But when it was getting warm in the kitchen for Governor Walz because basically, it appears there’s a cover-up. Two questions are huge on all of our minds. What did Governor Walz know and when did he know it?” For his part, Walz said state and federal agencies alike needed to do better to enforce the rules for how public funds are disbursed. “During COVID the federal government relaxed some of their rules and they sent out as they should have aid to states in terms of uprecedented numbers,” the governor said. “Now, making sure those safeguards are in place? Absolute priortiy. Once the Minnesota Department of Education found this, they alerted the FBI. Now it’s an ongoing investigation. I guess we’ll get more clarity once they start to come to that.” When given a chance to respond, Jensen doubled down, laying the blame squarely on the Walz administration. “You just heard a smokescreen. This is not about the federal government, this is about the state of Minnesota, and the Office of the Legislative Auditor should have been notified,” Jensen said. The two also tangled over the budget bill that stalled in the Legislature in May. Walz said Jensen urged Republican senators to block the bill that would have delivered tax cuts and rebates, but Jensen said it also would have increased state spending by billions of dollars. Lack of debates under scrutiny The one-hour debate between the 2022 candidates for Minnesota governor was hosted in Rochester and was only broadcast on Greater Minnesota TV stations. It was the second of three scheduled debates between Walz and Jensen but the only one to be televised. Walz rejected offers to debate on at least three Twin Cities television stations, including KSTP-TV. “Tim Walz is ahead, but he’s not a prohibitive favorite,” says Carleton College political analyst Steven Schier. “He’s probably ahead in the single digits, probably the high single digits but that is not safe territory three weeks out.” Schier says although minimizing the number of debates is clearly strategy of the Walz campaign, it doesn’t mean it will work. Although he says Jensen needs the debates more than Walz. “The two of them need to meet face-to-face in order for Jensen to try and close that gap because the further away Walz is from Jensen personally in this race the better it is for Walz.” The only other time Walz and Jensen debated was eleven weeks ago at Farmfest near Redwood Falls on August 3. That was only seen by a few hundred people who attended the debate and people who saw highlights on television or online. This will be the first time in at least 40 years the candidates for Minnesota governor will not debate in prime time on Twin Cities television. The only other debate currently scheduled is at noon, Friday, Oct. 28 on Minnesota Public Radio. KSTP-TV will host a “Debate Night in Minnesota” that will air statewide in prime time on Sunday, Oct. 23. Walz declined to participate, so Jensen will face questions from a panel of reporters by himself. The major party candidates for attorney general and secretary of state have all agreed to participate. We’ll have highlights of Tuesday’s debate on “Nightcast” on 5 Eyewitness News at 10. For Related Stories: 2022 Elections  Gubernatorial Race  Scott Jensen  Tim Walz  Tom Hauser Read More Here

Adequate Arming Of State Security Outfits https://digitalalaskanews.com/adequate-arming-of-state-security-outfits/ Ordinarily, there should have been no rift between the Presidency and some governors over who should bear what arms in securing the polity. That duty is essentially that of the Nigeria Police Force that, unfortunately, has failed to deliver over the years, not because of lack of will, but more because they have simply been overwhelmed by the increasing enormity and complexity of safeguarding life and property in the country. It is worth emphasising that it was this failure that prompted governors in the South West, South East, Benue and some others in the North to set up their own security network to protect their people; and, having done that out of undeniable necessity, it simply makes sense that they arm and equip the outfits appropriately to meet their security challenges, particularly to confront bandits, terrorists and kidnappers who are armed with sophisticated weapons. The dispute that has arisen over the Federal Government’s refusal to allow the states’ security outfits to bear sophisticated arms, particularly AK-47 and AK-49 rifles, to match those of the enemies of their people tells of the unhealthy shenanigans that have clouded the most sensitive matter of keeping Nigerians secured. Amid the routine loss of lives and livelihood nationwide, this is most regrettable and a failure of leadership by the Federal Government to accord rights of self-defence to sub-nationals. A sincere leadership would rather push for concerted efforts at policing and work out a uniform guideline for all, against the common enemy. Under no circumstance should state security operators with lesser-grade arms be asked to confront bandits and terrorists with more sophisticated weapons. Pandering to the earlier whim of President Muhammadu Buhari, the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), Gen. Lucky Irabor pointedly declared about four days back that no state governor in the country has the authority to acquire high-caliber weapons for use by quasi-security outfits in their jurisdiction. Fielding question on firearms, Irabor declared that the deployment of high calibre weapons such as the AK-47 rifles among others lies strictly within the purview of the Federal Government security agencies alone. He was reacting to requests for permission to use AK-47 by both Governor Rotimi Akeredolu of Ondo State and Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue State. The Buhari-led administration has rarely disguised its dislike for state policing which is the norm in true federal systems globally. Contrary to earlier promises and recommendations of the ruling party, Buhari had on national television said state police is not his answer to insecurity. Most curiously, the president has not shown a workable alternative to the failed Nigerian Police or tangible solutions to halt bizarre killings by criminal gangs in the last seven years. While Akeredolu publicly decried Federal Government’s refusal to grant Amotekun in Ondo State the right to bear AK-47 rifles, Ortom, a few days ago stated that he had requested an AK-47 rifles’ licence but had not received a response from the Federal Government after three months. The governor consequently gave the administration a one-month deadline to approve his request to obtain an AK-47 licence or he would seek counsel from his people on the best course of action. He spoke during the passing out procession of the second batch of the State Volunteer Community Guards at IBB Square in Makurdi, the state capital. Referring to viral videos of the training and inauguration of 600 men of the Katsina State vigilante group during which AK-47 assault rifles were used, Akeredolu, himself a commander of Amotekun, protested that the Presidency was discriminatory by refusing repeated requests by governments in the Southwest to procure arms for Amotekun. “Denying Amotekun the urgently needed right to legitimately bear arms is a repudiation of the basis of true federalism,” Akeredolu said. “That Katsina was able to arm its state security force with the display of AK-47 means we are pursuing a ‘one country, two systems’ solution to the national question. Denying Amotekun the right to bear arms exposes the Southwest to life-threatening marauders and organised crime,” he said.   And reacting to the indictment, Presidential spokesman, Garba Shehu said neither Katsina nor any other state had been officially permitted to procure sophisticated weapons. “Under this administration,” he emphasised, “the President has repeatedly made it clear that nobody is allowed to illegally carry AK-47 or any other automatic weapons and that they must surrender them.” However, “Governor Bello Masari, had invited the Civil Defence Training College, Katsina, to train the vigilantes for a five-day period in the handling and operations of pump-action rifles.” If indeed the Katsina Vigilantes were being trained with AK-47 rifles, it would amount to double standard by the Federal Government, which is condemnable because what is sauce for the goose should be sauce for the gander. Importantly, there is no dismissing the fact that the criminal gangs that the backward political elite had for too long harboured as mere disgruntled bandits in need of amnesty had metamorphosed into a Frankenstein monster that is freely feasting on the lives of residents in Katsina, Kaduna, Zamfara, Yobe and in fact, nationwide. Lest we forget, terrorists ransacked the St. Francis Catholic Church, Owo, Ondo State, during a Sunday mass in June, slaughtering over 40 worshippers in broad daylight. In Ekiti, Ondo, Oyo and all other states in the Southwest, terrorists and kidnappers have rendered the highways, forests and farmlands most unsafe. Governors of these states, including Akeredolu, have repeatedly said that it is self-defeating for vigilantes to keep engaging sophisticated terrorists with dane guns and other antediluvian weaponry. Although Amotekun is credited with huge successes in combating criminals along with the police and other security forces, the successes came at a huge cost and only left to imagine what they could achieve with the right ammunition.      It is bad enough that the Federal Government is unashamedly against true federalism that decentralises powers and responsibilities to other tiers of government for efficiency. It is worse than it has typically gone parochial in its consent to modalities of state policing within the same federal entity. Regrettably, both lend credence to insinuations that the Buhari administration does not genuinely seek an end to insurgency and terrorism nationwide.    Otherwise, the Federal Government should itself be championing state policing that accords more powers, and responsibilities and demands accountability from each of the 36 state governors. That approach is in tandem with the principles of true Federalism that resonate globally. For instance, there are 17,985 police forces in the United States alone. The United Kingdom devolved policing to have 46 sundry police forces. Switzerland is no exception as every 26 cantons has a police agency itself, the same for each municipality, while the Federal Government provides specialised services and border protection. Why is Nigeria different and President Buhari’s tenure oddly insensitive to the security of lives and properties of the citizenry?     The reservation that some state governors are untrustworthy of more powers, including that of security, is all too familiar. Indeed, there is no perfect model devoid of its limitations. However, this boils down to the same grave error that the current administration is guilty of – the lack of true federalism. But where there is one, with a Commander-in-Chief that is willing, the Federal Government should assume its appropriate role of checks and balancing of powers conceded to state executives, and ensure that state police do not become a tool to fight political opponents. Power is always a potential loose cannon, without an effective control mechanism.     Next is streamlining all security agencies in the country and collectively agreeing on the categories of arms they can bear, based on the categories of duties assigned vis-à-vis the realities. It is the only way to avoid the current confusion. The onus is on the Federal Government to determine where and how weapons are sourced for the entire country and sundry agencies. The contrary will be dangerous for the entire country. Clearly, state policing is an evidence-based solution whose time has come and no amount of shenanigans should turn back the hands of the time. If it is sincere in fighting crime countrywide, the Federal Government should now be strategising on how to make regional security outfits to transmute to state police, with adequate arms to stem criminality of any sort. Read More Here

Kakao Co-CEO Resigns After Mass Outage Locked 53 Million Users Out https://digitalalaskanews.com/kakao-co-ceo-resigns-after-mass-outage-locked-53-million-users-out/ Whon Namkoong, co-chief executive officer of Kakao Corp., speaks during a news conference in in Pangyo, South Korea, on Wednesday, Oct. 19, 2022. Namkoong resigned after a widespread outage took out Koreas most popular messaging and social media service. Photographer: SeongJoon Cho/Bloomberg via Getty Images Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty Images A top executive at Kakao Corp., the operator of South Korea’s top mobile messenger KakaoTalk, will step down. His resignation comes after a fire at a data center led to a mass outage over the weekend and disrupted services for its messenger’s 53 million users worldwide. Co-CEO Namkoong Whon apologized following the outage and said he would resign. “I feel the heavy burden of responsibility over this incident and will step down from my position as CEO and lead the emergency disaster task force overseeing the aftermath of the incident,” Namkoong said at a press conference at the company’s office in the outskirts of Seoul on Wednesday. “We will do our best to restore our users’ faith in Kakao and make sure incidents like these never happen again,” he said, according to a CNBC translation. Namkoong was appointed CEO in March, according to the company’s website. Kakao reported 47.5 million monthly active users in Korea during the second quarter. That’s more than 90% of South Korea’s population of 51.74 million people, as of Nov. 1, 2021. Hong Eun-taek, who led the company alongside Namkoong as co-CEO, will remain the sole head of the company, according to a company filing. “We sincerely apologize to all those that have suffered from the disruptions during the outage,” Hong said as he bowed alongside Namkoong. Shares of the company traded 4% higher in Korea’s morning session ahead of the press conference. This is breaking news. Please check back for updates. Read More Here

Russia War Commander Admits Kherson Situation ‘very Difficult’ https://digitalalaskanews.com/russia-war-commander-admits-kherson-situation-very-difficult/ Russian forces have been driven back by an ongoing Ukrainian offensive and are at risk of being trapped against the Dnieper river. Published On 19 Oct 202219 Oct 2022 The new commander of Russian forces in Ukraine has said the situation in the Kherson region has become “very difficult” as Ukrainian forces push ahead with an offensive to take back southern and eastern areas of the country, and that Moscow was preparing to evacuate civilians weeks after annexing the area. Sergei Surovikin, a Russian air force general appointed on October 10 to lead the invasion, said the situation in Kherson was “very difficult” for both civilians and Russian soldiers. “The Russian army will above all ensure the safe evacuation of the population” of Kherson, Surovikin told state television Rossiya 24. “The enemy is not abandoning its attempts to attack Russian troop positions,” he added. Russian forces in the region have been driven back by between 20 and 30 kilometres (13-20 miles) in the last few weeks and are at risk of being pinned against the western bank of the 2,200-kilometre-long (1,367-mile-long) Dnieper river that bisects Ukraine. Surovikin said Russian positions in the towns of Kupiansk and Lyman in eastern Ukraine and the area of northern Kherson between Mykolaiv and Kryvyi Rih were under continuous attack. “The situation in the area of the ‘Special Military Operation’ can be described as tense,” Surovikin told Rossiya 24 using Moscow’s official terminology for the February 24 invasion. [Al Jazeera] Kherson is one of four partially-occupied Ukrainian provinces Russia claims to have annexed and arguably the most strategically important. It controls both the only land route to the Crimean peninsula Russia seized in 2014 and the mouth of the Dnieper. After staging referendums in September that Ukraine and its allies said were illegal and coercive, Putin proclaimed the annexations of the eastern border provinces of Donetsk and Luhansk — together forming the industrial region known as the Donbas — as well as Kherson and Zaporizhia in the south. ‘No place for civilians’ Vladimir Saldo, the Kremlin-installed head of the Kherson region, said the authorities had decided to evacuate some civilians because of the risk of attack by the Ukrainian military. “The Ukrainian side is building up forces for a large-scale offensive,” Saldo said in a video statement. The Russian military was preparing to repel the offensive, he said, and “where the military operates, there is no place for civilians. Let the Russian army fulfil its task”. Ukraine and Russia have denied targeting civilians, although Kyiv has accused Moscow’s forces of war crimes. Surovikin appeared to concede that there was a danger of Ukrainian forces advancing towards the city of Kherson, which Russia captured largely unopposed in the early days of the invasion. Surovikin has been nicknamed “General Armageddon” in Russian media after serving in Syria and Chechnya, where his forces pounded cities to rubble in a brutal but effective scorched earth policy against its foes. His appointment was rapidly followed by the biggest wave of missile strikes against Ukraine since the start of the war. Those raids have continued this week with Ukrainian officials saying they are being conducted with Iranian-made Shahed-136 “kamikaze drones“, which fly to their target and detonate. A Russian military truck drives past an unexploded munition in the Russia-controlled village of Chornobaivka [File: Alexander Ermochenko/Reuters] Iran denies supplying the drones and on Tuesday the Kremlin also denied using them. “Russian tech is being used,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, referring other questions to the defence ministry. However, two senior Iranian officials and two Iranian diplomats told the Reuters news agency that Tehran had promised to provide Russia with more drones as well as surface-to-surface missiles. Russia has destroyed almost a third of Ukraine’s power stations in the past week, according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Speaking in his nightly video address he urged Ukrainians to cut back on electricity consumption in the evenings. Read More Here

Vance, Ryan Clash In Final Fiery Debate https://digitalalaskanews.com/vance-ryan-clash-in-final-fiery-debate/ Jesse Khalil, Reporter October 18, 2022 Democrat Tim Ryan and Republican J.D. Vance clashed over gun control, abortion, immigration, Donald Trump and Nancy Pelosi Monday night at the Stambaugh Auditorium in Youngstown during their second and final debate. Locked in on a tight race for the Senate, both candidates made their final case to voters as to why they deserve to fill the seat vacated by Ohio Senator Rob Portman. The winner of the election holds weight, as it could determine the balance of power in the Senate, which is split 50-50. Hosted by 21 News WFMJ, the debate was moderated by the station’s news anchors Derek Steyer, Lindsay McCoy and veteran Ohio Valley journalist Bertram de Souza. Inflation  The first topic addressed was inflation. Ryan said the solution to the issue lies within the Inflation Reduction Act and tax cuts on working families. Vance countered Ryan’s point, stating that the Inflation Reduction Act is only adding “fuel to the fire.” Vance then accused Ryan of “voting with Pelosi and Biden 100% of the time,” stating that his support of the Biden administration and “runaway spending” is what caused the U.S. to fall into the inflation crisis. Party Criticisms The second topic discussed came from a specific comment made by Ryan during the first debate, where Ryan called Vance Donald Trump’s “ass kisser.” Vance was asked to identify one issue he has with Donald Trump, to which he responded, “I disagree with President Trump on a number of things. He is a good friend of mine, and of course, I am proud to have his endorsement.” Vance went on to say Ryan is pushing for him to be an “ass kisser” to the Trump administration but is using it out of context. He said the former president simply told “a joke at a rally based on a false New York Times story,” and Ryan has decided to run with it and build his whole campaign on the comment. Ryan’s comment claiming to “love Nancy Pelosi” and needing to “kiss up to Chuck Schumer” were brought up by Vance in response to Ryan’s criticisms. Ryan noted Vance’s close relationship with the former president, driving home the point that the former Trump critic was “calling Trump America’s Hitler, then kissed his ass.” Ryan continued, saying that the Nancy Pelosi quote was taken out of context. “I don’t have to hate her. I don’t have to hate anybody … I took her on. She was the top Democrat in the entire country, and I stood toe to toe with her … and I spoke my peace,” Ryan said. Ohio Senate hopefuls Tim Ryan (left) and J.D. Vance (right) prepare on stage for their second live debate hosted at the Stambaugh Auditorium in Youngstown on Monday, Oct. 17, 2022. (Jesse Khalil) Abortion and Roe v. Wade  Ryan said the next step in his battle for the senate is to stop Senator Lindsey Graham’s proposal for a national abortion ban, citing women who could not get abortions after cases of rape due to Ohio’s heartbeat bill, leading these women to travel out of state for the procedure. “Vance and his extreme crew, they want to have a national abortion ban,” Ryan said. “They are not happy with people traveling to Illinois. They want people to get a passport and have to go to Canada.” Ryan continued, “If the Republicans control the House and the Senate, we won’t be able to codify Roe v. Wade.” Vance stood by his comment from the previous debate that he believes the 10-year-old girl who had to travel out of state for an abortion should have been allowed to have one in Ohio. He then went on to say he believes there should be better access to abortion alternatives. Vance then criticized Ryan for allegedly supporting no abortion limits, meaning that a woman could get an abortion at any point during pregnancy. “The Lindsay Graham bill protects babies who are four weeks and older … and it provides reasonable exceptions,” Vance said. “If you cannot support legislation like that, then you are making the United States the most barbaric pro-abortion regime anywhere in the entire world.” The War on Drugs  Vance was then asked about how he plans to address the opioid crisis in the Ohio Valley. Vance said he believes the solution lies within closing the border, stating that more drugs are flowing into Ohio because of illegal immigrants coming into the state. Vance also said Ohio must properly resource its mental health, addiction and recovery services. Ryan agreed that stronger border control could help decrease the amount of overdose deaths in Ohio. “We have to punish the Chinese, because they know it’s getting into our country,” Ryan said. “We have to punish the Mexican government, because we know it’s coming from there.” Ryan then criticized Vance’s alleged fake nonprofit created to help those struggling with addiction, claiming that the organization did not actually help any individuals recover. Vance rebutted, saying he put in $80,000 of his own money into the non-profit to aid in people’s recovery. He then attacked Ryan, stating that he does not actually support border control because of his voting history during his time in Congress. “You cannot honestly pretend to be a supporter of border security when you have voted for amnesty multiple times in the Congress,” Vance said. “You cannot pretend to be a defender of border security when you have voted against a boarder wall multiple times.” A Threat to Democracy: January 6, 2021 The threat to American democracy and the recent vote to subpoena President Trump in relation to the Jan. 6 riots at the Capitol building was the next topic of discussion. Both candidates were asked if the attack posed a threat to American democracy and if Trump should honor the subpoena. Ryan said Trump should respond to the request. “If he has nothing to hide, then he should come forward and come clean so we can figure out what’s going on,” Ryan said. Ryan then said that he believes the riot at the Capitol was, in fact, a threat to democracy and an attempt to stop the peaceful transition of power from President Trump to President Joe Biden. “There were 140 cops with the United States Capitol police that were beaten upside the head with lead pipes, pepper sprayed, jammed in the doors, beat up with flag poles, and one person died,” Ryan said. He then said that following the attack, Vance took to social media to create a post raising legal defense money for the insurrectionists. Vance said he is not looking to give Trump legal advice but describes the Jan. 6 Committee as a team of “political hit-jobs” and criticized Ryan for shaming the violence at the Capitol in 2021 but remaining silent during the June 2020 riots in support of George Floyd. Ryan then reiterated his belief that Jan. 6 needs to be investigated, because he said it was an attempt to overthrow the peaceful transition of power. “We have a very complicated democracy here, but we can walk and chew gum at the same time,” Ryan said. “If a group of people storm the Capitol while we are trying to file the paperwork for an election, and they are trying to prevent that from happening, they wanted to kill the vice president. That needs to be looked into.” Gun Control  The next debate topic was gun control and red flag laws. Vance said he is a supporter of the second amendment, and he said no convicted felon should be allowed to purchase a firearm. He said he blames the recent surge in gun violence on criticisms and riots against politics. Ryan agreed, saying he too supports the second amendment. However, he said he believes the gun show loophole needs to end and the country needs to stop the selling of “weapons of war.” He also criticized Vance for allegedly crediting Alex Jones as “one of the most credible news sources in the country,” even after Jones claimed that the Sandy Hook school shooting was a hoax. Vance denied the alleged comment and said that part of the solution to ending school shootings is arming teachers, increasing funding for school safety officers and making criminals are imprisoned. Vance then criticized Ryan for supporting the elimination of cash bail. “Ending cash bail is on the far left of his own party and is the very sort of thing that makes communities less safe,” Vance said. Ryan disagreed with Vance’s proposal to arm teachers, calling it “dangerous” and a “risky proposition.” He went on to say both him and Portman tried to pass reasonable gun safety legislation that Vance disagreed with. “We have to come together. You have to find points of agreement here … I want to go to the Senate and represent Republicans, Democrats and independents. I am going to promise to try and find some commonsense solutions here,” Ryan said. Tim Ryan supporters outside of Stambaugh Auditorium in Youngstown on Monday, Oct. 17, 2022. (Jesse Khalil) Police and Race  The next topic discussed was qualified immunity and holding police accountable. Vance said he believes enough measures are in place that hold bad police officers accountable. He also said that ending qualified immunity will only increase violent crime, because it will make police even more scared to do their jobs. Ryan said there needs to be a national discussion surrounding police officers who no longer enjoy their jobs or no longer want to join the police force. “I think we need to provide the kind of leadership to start the healing process,” Ryan said. “Of course, we need to get rid of bad cops, but we also need more good cops, and we need better paid cops.” Immigration  The final topic up for debate was immigration and the “great replacement theory” which suggests that white Americans will no longer be the majority if immigrants continue to come into the country. Vance said he believes Democratic leadership is “very clear” about wanting more and more immigration to ensure that Republicans will never be able to win another election. He said his view has nothing to do with wh...

Della Pia, Langworthy Meet In Televised Debate https://digitalalaskanews.com/della-pia-langworthy-meet-in-televised-debate/ ...SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 2 AM EDT FRIDAY... * WHAT...Southwest winds 15 to 25 knots and waves 6 to 9 feet. * WHERE...The nearshore waters of Lake Erie from Ripley to Buffalo. * WHEN...Until 2 AM EDT Friday. * IMPACTS...Winds and/or waves will cause hazardous conditions that could capsize or damage small craft. PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS... Inexperienced mariners, especially those operating smaller vessels, should avoid navigating in hazardous conditions. && In this image taken from a live debate on WIVB-TV Tuesday night, Democrat Max Della Pia (left) and Nicholas Langworthy square off on issues. BUFFALO — Candidates in the new 23rd Congressional District squared off for their only head-to-head meeting Tuesday night in a live televised debate on WIVB-TV. Both Democrat Max Della Pia and Republican Nicholas Langworthy agreed inflation was the greatest problem facing the country, but disagreed on its cause and how to resolve it. (Contact reporter Rick Miller at rmiller@oleantimesherald.com. Follow him on Twitter, @RMillerOTH) Read More Here

Fact Check: False Claim That Corey Lewandowski Shouted https://digitalalaskanews.com/fact-check-false-claim-that-corey-lewandowski-shouted/ The claim: Video shows Corey Lewandowski shouting ‘how dare you’ at Rep. Jerry Nadler Some social media users are sharing a video they claim shows Corey Lewandowski, a former campaign manager for Donald Trump, shouting at  Rep. Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y. “‘How Dare You!’ Corey Lewandowski HUMILIATES Jerrold Nadler for insulting Trump,” reads the caption of the video in an Oct. 10 Facebook post.  The video was viewed more than 342,000 times in a week.  But the claim is false. While one clip included in the video shows Nadler questioning Lewandowski, at no point do the two men shout at one another. USA TODAY reached out to the user who shared the claim for comment. Follow us on Facebook! Like our page to get updates throughout the day on our latest debunks Video shows committee hearings Lewandowski does not shout “how dare you” at Nadler at any point in the more than 13-minute video. Both Lewandowski and Nadler appear in only one of the two clips in the video.  The first clip featured in the video is from September 2019, when Lewandowski was questioned by Nadler during a House Judiciary Committee hearing as part of the House Democrats’ impeachment inquiry regarding Trump. While Lewandowski appeared to frustrate Nadler by demanding a physical copy of the report the Democratic lawmaker was referencing and refusing to answer various questions, at no point does he shout at Nadler. The second video shows Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., questioning Matthew Olsen, the assistant attorney general for national security, at a July House Judiciary Committee hearing on national security threats. Fact check: Video shows Ron DeSantis talking immigration, not calling for Biden impeachment Neither clip shows Lewandowski shouting or using the phrase “how dare you.”  Our rating: False Based on our research, we rate FALSE the claim that a video shows Lewandowski shouting “how dare you” at Nadler. The video featrures clips from two House Judiciary Committee hearings, neither of which show Lewandowski shouting at Nadler.  Our fact-check sources: PBS NewsHour via YouTube, Sept. 17, 2019, WATCH: Rep. Nadler’s full questioning of Corey Lewandowski | Lewandowski hearing House Judiciary Committee via C-SPAN, July 28, Justice Department Official Testifies on National Security Threats Thank you for supporting our journalism. You can subscribe to our print edition, ad-free app or electronic newspaper replica here. Our fact-check work is supported in part by a grant from Facebook. Read More Here

McFarland Mayoral Candidate Discusses Law Enforcement, The Future Of The Library, And Moving The City Forward https://digitalalaskanews.com/mcfarland-mayoral-candidate-discusses-law-enforcement-the-future-of-the-library-and-moving-the-city-forward/ Bloomberg Trump Special Master Has ‘No Patience’ for Records Spats (Bloomberg) — The special master reviewing documents seized from Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate warned the former president’s lawyers that their initial efforts to claim certain records were personal and not presidential might be lacking enough detail.Most Read from BloombergA Tense Pay Dispute Overshadows Nintendo’s Upcoming Bayonetta 3Blinken Says China Wants to Seize Taiwan on ‘Much Faster Timeline’Putin’s War Escalation Is Hastening Demographic Crash for RussiaForecast for US Recession Wi The Hill Trump attack leaves GOP wondering if he cares about Senate majority Former President Trump’s Monday assault against Joe O’Dea, the GOP’s Senate nominee in Colorado, is angering Republicans while leaving them wondering if he cares about the party winning back the majority in the upper chamber. O’Dea, a pro-abortion rights moderate whom Democrats spent $4 million against in the primary, was already in an uphill fight… The Hill Budd widens lead over Beasley in North Carolina Senate race: poll Rep. Ted Budd (R) has widened his lead to 6 points over Democratic candidate Cheri Beasley in the race for North Carolina’s Senate seat, according to a new East Carolina University (ECU) poll. Budd is leading Beasley 50 to 44 percent among likely voters. In early September, he was leading Beasley by just 3 points… NextShark Cosplayer, boyfriend accused of ‘tricking’ Asian women into sex under pretext of collab opportunities Multiple Asian women have reportedly come forward to accuse a Chinese American cosplayer and her boyfriend of luring them into sexual relations through supposed opportunities for collaborative work. Cosplayer and influencer Kat Wong, who describes herself as “just an Asian girl making silly content,” came under fire on Twitter last week after actor, director and host Gina Darling revealed that “multiple women” have reached out to her with such allegations. “Multiple women in the Asian community have reached out to me about @katkwo4tweets and her BF allegedly trying to trick them into having sexual relations with them under the guise of collaborating on cosplays, OF (OnlyFans) and modeling,” Darling tweeted. NASCAR.com Bubba Wallace suspended after Las Vegas incident; No. 18 team penalized NASCAR announced Tuesday that it suspended Bubba Wallace after his actions in Sunday‘s NASCAR Cup Series race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Wallace was suspended for one race after he crashed Kyle Larson at Lap 94 of the South Point 400 and proceeded to shove Larson, both violations of Sections 4.3.A and 4.4.C & E […] Read More Here

This Week’s Bestsellers At Southern California’s Independent Bookstores https://digitalalaskanews.com/this-weeks-bestsellers-at-southern-californias-independent-bookstores/ The SoCal Indie Bestseller List for the sales week ended Oct. 16 is based on reporting from the independent booksellers of Southern California, the California Independent Booksellers Alliance and IndieBound. For an independent bookstore near you, visit IndieBound.org. HARDCOVER FICTION 1. Our Missing Hearts: Celeste Ng 2. Lucy by the Sea: Elizabeth Strout 3. Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow: Gabrielle Zevin 4. Less Is Lost: Andrew Sean Greer 5. Lessons in Chemistry: Bonnie Garmus 6. Horse: Geraldine Brooks 7. Fairy Tale: Stephen King 8. Carrie Soto Is Back: Taylor Jenkins Reid 9. The Marriage Portrait: Maggie O’Farrell 10. Mad Honey: Jodi Picoult, Jennifer Finney Boylan HARDCOVER NONFICTION 1. Confidence Man: The Making of Donald Trump and the Breaking of America: Maggie Haberman 2. I’m Glad My Mom Died: Jennette McCurdy 3. Crying in H Mart: A Memoir: Michelle Zauner 4. When Women Lead: What They Achieve, Why They Succeed, and How We Can Learn from Them: Julia Boorstin 5. Adrift: America in 100 Charts: Scott Galloway 6. Down and Out in Paradise: The Life of Anthony Bourdain: Charles Leerhsen 7. How We Live Is How We Die: Pema Chödrön 8. Dinner in One: Exceptional & Easy One-Pan Meals: Melissa Clark 9. Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones: James Clear 10. Starry Messenger: Cosmic Perspectives on Civilization: Neil deGrasse Tyson MASS MARKET 1. The Shining: Stephen King 2. 1984: George Orwell 3. Animal Farm: George Orwell 4. The Ocean at the End of the Lane: Neil Gaiman 5. Zodiac: Robert Graysmith 6. Death by Bubble Tea: Jennifer J. Chow 7. Fire & Blood: George R. R. Martin 8. The Way of Kings: Brandon Sanderson 9. Dune Messiah: Frank Herbert 10. The Good Girl’s Guide to Rakes: Eva Leigh TRADE PAPERBACK FICTION 1. It Ends with Us: Colleen Hoover 2. Cloud Cuckoo Land: Anthony Doerr 3. The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo: Taylor Jenkins Reid 4. Project Hail Mary: Andy Weir 5. Still Life: Sarah Winman 6. Daisy Jones & The Six: Taylor Jenkins Reid 7. Verity: Colleen Hoover 8. The Thursday Murder Club: Richard Osman 9. Devil House: John Darnielle 10. A Court of Thorns and Roses: Sarah J. Maas Read More Here

Biden, Mexico's López Obrador Discuss Immigration, Summit https://digitalalaskanews.com/biden-mexicos-lopez-obrador-discuss-immigration-summit/ FILE – Mexican President Andres Lopez Obrador stands at the National Palace during a welcome ceremony for Germany’s President Frank-Walter Steinmeier in Mexico City,, Sept. 20, 2022. Lpez Obrador said Friday, Oct. 7 he has chosen the head of the countrys tax agency to fill the cabinet-level post of secretary of the economy. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte, File) (Marco Ugarte, Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved) WASHINGTON – Presidents Joe Biden and Andrés Manuel López Obrador spoke Tuesday as a growing number of migrants from crisis-gripped Venezuela arrive at the U.S.-Mexico border. The Biden administration announced last week that it would accept up to 24,000 Venezuelan migrants at U.S. airports. Mexico, meanwhile, has agreed to take back Venezuelans who come to the U.S. illegally over land. But at the same time, Biden is restricting Venezuelan travel into the U.S. with the help of a Trump-era rule known as Title 42, which suspends rights to seek asylum under U.S. and international law on grounds of preventing the spread of COVID-19. López Obrador said on Twitter following the call that Biden confirmed that he will travel to Mexico for a North America leaders summit, a face-to-face meeting that Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is also expected to attend. A date has yet to be set for the meeting. The three leaders met last year in Washington, reviving the tradition that had been put on hold during President Donald Trump’s administration. “We had a cordial conversation with President Joe Biden about immigration, security and cooperation on development,” López Obrador said in the social media posting. Mexico’s foreign minister, Marcelo Ebrard, added that it was “a very close and affectionate conversation.” Under the restrictions, the Biden administration is barring Venezuelans who walk or swim across the border. Any Venezuelan who illegally enters Mexico or Panama is also ineligible to come to the U.S. under the offer. The use of Tittle 42 by the Biden White House comes after the Democratic administration had rejected many of Trump’s policies aimed at keeping out migrants. The Biden administration had even brokered a deal to send the Venezuelans to Mexico, which already had agreed to accept migrants expelled under Title 42 if they are from Guatemala, Honduras or El Salvador. All the while, Justice Department lawyers continue to appeal a court decision that has kept Title 42 in place. They oppose Republican attorneys general from more than 20 states who have argued that Title 42 is “the only safety valve preventing this Administration’s already disastrous border control policies from descending into an unmitigated catastrophe.” In August, Venezuelans surpassed Guatemalans and Hondurans to become the second-largest nationality stopped at the U.S. border after Mexicans. An estimated 6.8 million Venezuelans have fled their country since the economy tanked in 2014, mostly to Latin America and Caribbean countries. But the U.S. economy’s relative strength since the COVID-19 pandemic has caused Venezuelan migrants to look north. Also, U.S. policies and strained relations with the Venezuelan government make it extremely difficult to send them home. ___ Stevenson reported from Mexico City. Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission. Read More Here

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Explainer: Why Venezuela's Refugee Exodus To The U.S. Has Been Accelerating https://digitalalaskanews.com/explainer-why-venezuelas-refugee-exodus-to-the-u-s-has-been-accelerating/ Maria Victoria, 8, cries because she wants to see her father who is in the United States, during a protest on the banks of the Rio Bravo river, after Venezuelan migrants were expelled from the U.S. with their families and sent back to Mexico under Title 42, in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico October 18, 2022. REUTERS/Jose Luis Gonzalez Oct 18 (Reuters) – U.S. and Mexican authorities recently announced a new policy that would expel Venezuelans entering the U.S. land border back to Mexico, but allow up to 24,000 people from the country to apply for humanitarian entry into the United States by air. As a result of the new policy, thousands of Venezuelans believed to be en route to the United States are now stranded between the two countries during a year when Venezuelans are arriving at the U.S. border in record numbers. WHY WERE THE NEW MEASURES PUT IN PLACE? The measures respond in part to political pressure on U.S. President Joe Biden to curb record numbers of illegal crossings at the Mexico-U.S. border. Venezuelans have been one of the largest groups of migrants involved in such crossings, in part because Washington granted temporary protection status last year to those who were on U.S. soil. Deporting Venezuelans is also more complicated than with migrants of other nationalities because the two countries broke diplomatic relations in 2019, making it difficult to organize deportation flights. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com More than 150,000 Venezuelans were apprehended at the U.S.-Mexico border between October 2021 and August 2022, compared with nearly 48,000 in fiscal-year 2021, according to U.S. government data. In September, over 33,000 Venezuelan individuals were encountered at the U.S.-Mexico border – more than the number of unique crossers from Mexico and more than immigrants from Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras combined, according to U.S. government data. WHAT HAPPENS NOW TO VENEZUELANS IN TRANSIT TO THE UNITED STATES? Those in transit may attempt to reach the United States despite the near certainty that they will be sent back to Mexico. Mexican authorities so far have given many of these individuals a deadline of no more than two weeks to leave the country. It is unclear where Venezuelans waiting in Mexico will stay, as Mexico’s migrant shelter system is often overwhelmed. Some may return to Venezuela, while others could settle down in different Latin American countries, where Venezuelan migrants have in some cases faced discrimination, limited job opportunities and restrictions on their migratory status. Half of the Venezuelan refugee and migrant population across Latin America and the Caribbean cannot afford three meals a day and lacks access to housing, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), forcing many to resort to sex work or begging. WHO CAN APPLY FOR THE NEW U.S. PROGRAM? Venezuelans who meet the U.S. requirements may apply for the recently announced U.S. program. Among the requirements is having a U.S.-based supporter and holding a valid passport. The cost of a passport in Venezuela is $200, nearly ten times the country’s minimum wage. Only 1% of 1,591 migrants who left Venezuela between June and August held a passport, according to the Observatory of Social Investigations, a rights group. WHAT TRIGGERED THE VENEZUELAN EXODUS? Under late President Hugo Chavez, who died in 2013, the country with the world’s largest oil reserves weathered corruption and inflation. Then in 2014, Venezuela’s economy buckled as global oil prices tumbled, and living conditions further deteriorated as stringent price controls created widespread shortages. Products began to disappear from store shelves while black markets thrived with goods ranging from cooking oil to corn flour. In 2018, inflation in Venezuela exceeded 1 million percent. Medicines for conditions from headaches to cancer were unavailable. WHY ARE VENEZUELANS STILL MIGRATING? Despite some improvements following a 2019 opening of the economy that included an informal dollarization, most Venezuelans still struggle to afford basic goods and services. Efforts by the government of Chavez’s successor, Nicolas Maduro, to ease economic restrictions have alleviated shortages and fueled consumption in high-income brackets, but left the vast majority of the population making wages that fall well short of the cost of living. The monthly minimum wage in the OPEC-member nation is around $15 while the price of a basket of goods covering the monthly needs of a family of five was around $370 at the end of September, according to the nongovernmental Venezuelan Finance Observatory. Even in the commerce and services sector of relatively wealthy Caracas, employees make an average of only around $130 a month. Meanwhile in the public sector, which employs some 2.2 million, the average monthly salary is about $20 to $30. Economists say at least 30% of the population has not benefited from the new economic measures. Remittances to Venezuelans from relatives in the United States or elsewhere help but are insufficient for most. Just one-fourth of Venezuelan families receive remittances, averaging only $70 a month, according to Caracas-based consultancy Anova. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Reporting by Vivian Sequera in Caracas and Sarah Kinosian in Mexico City Editing by Matthew Lewis Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles. Read More Here

Michael Cohen Thinks Donald Trump Is Making Too Much Money To Run For President In 2024 https://digitalalaskanews.com/michael-cohen-thinks-donald-trump-is-making-too-much-money-to-run-for-president-in-2024/ The grift is too good, Donald Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen told New York 1 in an interview while talking about his new book Revenge, which discusses Trump’s use of government resources to target his enemies. Speaking to the network, Cohen explained that the former president may talk a big game but he isn’t actually going to run for president in 2024. “If you read the fine print in that super PAC, he is permitted to use 90 percent [of donations] at his own discretion,” said Cohen. “In essence, it makes $0.90 of every dollar, a slush fund for him. That all goes away if, in fact, he runs then it has to go into the campaign. So, he would then be competing with his own campaign on top of that.” Trump managed to raise $100 million by the start of 2022 and he isn’t spending much of it on the Republican candidates that he endorses. While he isn’t bringing in the cash he used to, he’s still making enough to pay for his lifestyle. Trump raised $24 million in the third quarter, Bloomberg News reported over the weekend. It’s a 41 percent increase from the previous quarter but he also spent $22 million to raise it. Meanwhile, Trump’s cash is quickly flying out the windows as he faces off against more and more legal challenges. Still, Cohen doesn’t think that the ex-president will make good on his claim that he wants to run because it he loses it would destroy his psyche. “More importantly, Trump has a real problem with being called a loser,” said Cohen of the 2020 presidential loser. “There’s something inside of him possibly because he knows that he is cannot stomach being a two-time loser. He has an incredibly fragile ego. To become a two-time loser would just destroy him. So, I do not, and I’ve always stated the same, I do not believe he’s going to run.” Host Errol Louis noted that the only real way Trump can get out of his legal problems is if he is able to use the power of the presidency to defend himself. As Cohen explained, he can’t do it anymore and even his attempts at claiming executive privilege aren’t working out the way he had hoped. See the interview below or at this link. Why Trump won’t run in 2024 youtu.be Read More Here

Takeaways From The Igor Danchenko Acquittal And What It Means For John Durham – KION546 https://digitalalaskanews.com/takeaways-from-the-igor-danchenko-acquittal-and-what-it-means-for-john-durham-kion546/ By Marshall Cohen Special counsel John Durham’s latest trial ended Tuesday with not guilty verdicts on all charges against Igor Danchenko, the primary source for the Trump-Russia dossier. It’s yet another major setback for Durham, the Trump-era holdover who has spent the past three years looking for misconduct related to the Russia investigation. A lot was riding on the outcome, especially for Durham, who personally handled the bulk of the case, including closing arguments. The Danchenko case resurrected many of the most notorious dramas from the 2016 election, including the infamous “Steele dossier,” which claimed Donald Trump’s campaign was colluding with Russia. The dossier — which was indirectly commissioned by Hillary Clinton’s campaign and compiled by retired British spy Christopher Steele — has been largely discredited, and its flaws were on display at the trial. Here are five takeaways from the trial and what it means for the Durham probe going forward: Epic fail for Durham It’s challenging to imagine a worse outcome for Durham. The trial started going off the rails early for Durham and his team. District Judge Anthony Trenga just barely rejected Danchenko’s request to throw out the case, calling it a “close call,” but letting the trial proceed. Durham’s key witnesses ended up helping the defense, forcing Durham to attack the very people that he put on the witness stand. And before deliberations began, Trenga dismissed one of the five counts against Danchenko, ruling that Danchenko’s statement to the FBI about his contacts with a Democratic operative “was literally true” and therefore couldn’t be prosecuted as a false statement. Durham’s two marquee trials — against Danchenko and, separately, against a Hillary Clinton campaign lawyer — both ended with acquittals. In both cases, the defense argued that Durham was a prosecutor run amok, who cherry-picked facts, bullied witnesses and tried to concoct an anti-Trump conspiracy where none existed. Justice Department prosecutors fare well in the federal system, where acquittals are rare. Roughly 85% of federal defendants that receive a jury trial are found guilty, according to official data for fiscal year 2018. That means there was only about a 2% chance of Durham losing back-to-back trials. Trump’s white knight falls flat It cannot be understated just how aggressively Trump has pumped up and cheered on the Durham investigation. And Durham hasn’t even come close to meeting those sky-high expectations as of yet. Trump has repeatedly claimed that Durham would uncover a massive conspiracy between biased government officials and Democratic operatives who were plotting to undermine his political career by launching sham investigations, fabricating his connections to Russia and abusing federal law enforcement tools to harass and entrap his associates. Specifically, Trump has focused much of his ire on the dossier, which he has called a “pile of garbage,” and has falsely claimed was used to launch the Russia probe in 2016. In closing arguments on Monday, Durham pleaded with the jury to convict Danchenko, saying his alleged crimes meant that the “whole house of cards in the dossier crumbles.” Expansive inquiry, narrow cases Durham has spent a decent chunk of time investigating Trump’s nemeses and exploring Trump’s complaints about the Russia probe. He examined the FBI’s probe into the Clinton Foundation. He scrutinized the leak of classified information regarding Trump’s former adviser Michael Flynn. He looked into potential CIA misconduct regarding its analysis of Russian meddling in 2016. He probed a shadowy professor that right-wing conspiracists believe was part of a “deep state” government plot against Trump. But Durham is winding down his investigation and he hasn’t charged anyone on any of these fronts. Instead, Durham prosecuted three very narrow false-statement cases, and the only crime he ever proved was that one low-level FBI lawyer altered one email about a surveillance warrant. Durham has reacted to both losses in court the same way. Exactly the same way — his statement Tuesday and following the Michael Sussmann acquittal in May were identical: “While we are disappointed in the outcome, we respect the jury’s decision and thank them for their service. I also want to recognize and thank the investigators and the prosecution team for their dedicated efforts in seeking truth and justice in this case.” Waiting for the Durham report Durham’s failures in court doesn’t mean everyone gets a clean bill of health. All we know is that Durham looked into these topics and didn’t charge anyone. He’ll likely have a lot more to say in his final report. When former Attorney General Bill Barr formalized Durham’s role as a special counsel in 2020, he instructed Durham to prepare a report “in a form that will permit public dissemination.” The report, like much of Durham’s work, will likely be a Rorschach test of sorts. His critics will presumably read it with extraordinary skepticism, while his boosters will say it vindicates their theories. Attorney General Merrick Garland has previously pledged to publicly release “as much as possible” of the report. It’ll be up to Garland’s team to decide how much of the report will be redacted. That creates an interesting situation: President Joe Biden’s appointees at the Justice Department will get the final say over Durham’s report, which was commissioned by the Trump-era attorney general. It’s notable that Garland has allowed Durham to even go this far. Some legal experts, especially on the liberal side, urged Garland to shut down the Durham probe, though that would’ve surely triggered backlash from Trump and his supporters. Durham justifies his existence At Danchenko’s trial, both sides largely kept politics out — until the bitter end. Defense attorney Stuart Sears criticized Barr and claimed Durham was “focused on proving crimes at any cost, as opposed to investigating whether any occurred.” He blasted the Barr-run Justice Department for indirectly outing Danchenko as an FBI informant in 2020, saying that “a bunch of politicians believed that politics were more important than national security.” Durham then took the reins and got the last word with the jury. He mounted a full-throated defense of his investigation and used parts of his closing arguments to justify his existence “(Sears’) suggestion is — it’s Bill Barr. Bill Barr did this for political reasons,” Durham said. “But reflect on how this came about. The Mueller report had come out, and there’s no collusion that was established. It’s not an illogical question to ask, well, then how did this all get started?” The special counsel praised his team and pushed pack against the idea that they “did this for political reasons.” As he started meandering away from the case at hand, the judge stepped in. “You should finish up, Mr. Durham,” the judge said. The-CNN-Wire & © 2022 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved. Read More Here