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Experts Slam Florida Surgeon General’s Warning On Coronavirus Vaccines https://digitalalaskanews.com/experts-slam-florida-surgeon-generals-warning-on-coronavirus-vaccines/ The guidance from the Florida health department came in a terse release at 6:12 on Friday evening, ahead of a three-day weekend: Joseph Ladapo, the state’s top health official, warned young adult men to stop taking coronavirus vaccines by Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech, citing an “abnormally high risk” of heart-related deaths. But Ladapo’s recommendation — extrapolated from a short state analysis that has not been peer-reviewed, carries no authors and warns that its findings are “preliminary” and “should be interpreted with caution” — was swiftly condemned by medical and public health leaders, who said the Florida surgeon general’s announcement was politics masquerading as science and could lead Americans to forgo lifesaving interventions. More than a dozen experts interviewed by The Washington Post — including specialists in vaccines, patient safety and study design — listed concerns with Florida’s analysis, saying it relies on information gleaned from frequently inaccurate death certificates rather than medical records, skews the results by trying to exclude anyone with covid-19 or a covid-related death, and draws conclusions from a total of 20 cardiac-related deaths in men 18-to-39 that occurred within four weeks of vaccination. Experts noted the deaths might have been caused by other factors, including underlying illnesses or undetected covid. “We’re talking about a very small number of deaths. An extra death or two would potentially change these results,” said Robert Wachter, chair of the department of medicine at the University of California at San Francisco and co-author of a patient-safety textbook used in many medical schools. “I’m hesitant to even call it a paper; it isn’t published anywhere. The idea that [the analysis] … is being used to change policy — it does not have the scientific chops to do that.” “If you submitted that to a peer-reviewed journal, unless you were paying them to publish it, it would get rejected,” added Daniel Salmon, who leads the Institute of Vaccine Safety at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. He called Florida’s report “a dangerous thing to do.” Twitter briefly removed Ladapo’s post touting the study over the weekend, citing it as misinformation, before restoring it hours later; the tweet has since been shared more than 50,000 times, cheered by anti-vaccine advocates and amplified by conservative media highlighting Ladapo’s claim that his state will “not be silent on the truth.” The firestorm has put a spotlight on Ladapo, a Harvard-trained physician and researcher who had not specialized in infectious disease but rose to prominence after writing a number of op-eds in the Wall Street Journal questioning coronavirus vaccines, mask-wearing and other interventions. The columns caught the attention of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), who late last summer offered Ladapo the job of overseeing a roughly 15,000-person health department in the nation’s third-most-populous state. As surgeon general, Ladapo’s efforts to discourage parents from getting their children vaccinated, challenge mask mandates and oppose gender dysphoria treatments for children have been opposed by medical associations, such as the Florida chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics. Those stances have also won accolades from conservatives and helped the governor burnish his credentials as a populist conservative as he runs for reelection and positions himself for the 2024 GOP presidential contest. In an interview Monday, Ladapo defended the vaccine study as an overdue effort to investigate risks associated with the vaccines. He has argued that high levels of immunity to the virus raise fresh questions about the shots’ risks versus benefits. The Florida analysis sought to explore the relationship between the shots and cardiac-related deaths, as well as deaths from all causes, by examining the death certificates of Florida residents 18 and older who died within 25-weeks of vaccination between December 2020 and June 2022. “This should have been done by anyone who had the ability to do it, in terms of the data and the technical expertise,” Ladapo said. Ladapo declined to name who worked on the analysis — saying that was a “fake issue” — and suggested it did not need to be submitted to a journal or go through peer review. “The point of this analysis was to look at a question that was important to answer,” he said. In fact, the link between conditions known as myocarditis and pericarditis, which are types of heart inflammation, and the messenger RNA coronavirus vaccines has been and continues to be heavily researched across several continents. “We’ve all been asking these questions,” said Peter Marks, the top vaccine official at the Food and Drug Administration. “We already know that myocarditis and pericarditis are somewhat increased in younger males who get the vaccine, but we also know that it’s far outweighed by the benefits.” Salmon, who previously oversaw vaccine safety for the federal government’s National Vaccine Program Office, agreed that there are real, but rare, heart risks associated with the vaccines — an issue he knows well because he is leading a global study of it. But Salmon said he would still recommend the vaccines for adult men under 40, including for his two sons in that age group. “The vaccines are not perfect, but the benefits still outweigh the risks,” he said. Both the FDA and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have said the vaccines can cause heart inflammation in rare cases, but the symptoms are temporary, with cases generally resolved within hours or days. Large-scale observational studies on hundreds of millions of vaccine recipients have shown that while heart inflammation can be a rare side effect of the messenger RNA vaccines that disproportionately affect young men, the small number of deaths in that age group and protective effects of the vaccines at preventing severe covid, outweigh those risks. Ladapo told The Post that he hoped his mentors at Harvard, such as health economist David Cutler, would support the methods used in Florida’s study. But reached by phone Monday evening, Cutler criticized the vaccine study as deeply flawed, and said he worried it would discourage people who could benefit from the shots. Cutler said he was proud of Ladapo’s work as a student and supported his inquisitiveness, including his initial Wall Street Journal essays raising questions about the long-term risks of lockdowns, and more recently, his efforts to probe whether vaccines might cause harms. “We should never be afraid of asking questions, no matter how strong the received wisdom,” he said. But Cutler said Florida’s vaccine study had severe methodological problems. “If I was a reviewer at a journal, I would recommend rejecting it,” Cutler said, adding that Ladapo was wrong to base Florida’s vaccine policy on it. “Anytime you tell people to do something incorrect, you risk causing harm,” Cutler added, saying the Florida surgeon general has increasingly staked out positions on vaccines and other public health issues that aren’t backed by rigorous data. “Some of his statements have become more strident than the evidence warrants.” In May 2022, Florida Surgeon General Joseph A. Ladapo said on “Tucker Carlson Today” that physicians are “indoctrinated” about vaccines in medical school. (Video: “Tucker Carlson Today”/ Fox Nation) Ladapo’s positions have won him a growing following in conservative circles, however, particularly his claims that doctors are “indoctrinated” about vaccines in medical school and that “greed” is motivating them to recommend shots for many conditions. “I never thought I would listen to a surgeon general of any kind, and certainly not a state surgeon general, and then all of a sudden, out of nowhere, you appear,” Fox News host Tucker Carlson said in May, when hosting Ladapo for a nearly hour-long conversation on his daytime talk show. “I think a lot of people — I’m speaking, for myself for sure — believe you much more than health authorities that we hear in Washington.” “More than the surgeon general of the country, I hope so,” Ladapo responded, chuckling. “Only one of these two is telling the truth.” Born in Nigeria before moving to the United States as a young child, Ladapo became a star athlete who ran track at Wake Forest University, then went to Harvard for a joint medical degree and PhD. In 2008, Ladapo told a Harvard publication he felt lucky “to have been here and able to benefit and grow in this tremendously rich environment.” But he was already wrestling with some of the questions that now define his career. “One day, I think we will look back and be amazed at the crudeness of the methods we once used to make decisions about our patients’ lives,” Ladapo wrote in 2010 as a second-year medical resident. After leaving Harvard, he took jobs first at New York University and then, the University of California at Los Angeles, where he became a tenured professor and mostly focused on research, winning multiple federal grants while still seeing patients about one day a week. Ladapo took some traditionally liberal positions in those years, posting on Facebook that he had signed petitions in 2016 criticizing the media for using terms like “alt-right” and “nationalism” instead of “White supremacist.” He also urged Republicans not to repeal the Affordable Care Act in 2017 and decried the Trump administration’s efforts to separate migrant families at the border in 2018. “Access to basic care is something every human should have,” Ladapo wrote on Facebook in 2017, as doctors mobilized to fight ACA repeal. Five people who had collaborated closely with Ladapo on research said he had seemed on a similar path as many of his colleagues, if more willing to emb...

Biden Proposal Could Lead To Employee Status For Gig Workers https://digitalalaskanews.com/biden-proposal-could-lead-to-employee-status-for-gig-workers-2/ A proposed rule, long awaited by labor activists, would make it harder for companies to classify workers as independent contractors. Send any friend a story As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. Anyone can read what you share. Gig companies such as Lyft have long fought efforts to classify their drivers as employees.Credit…Jamie Kelter Davis for The New York Times Oct. 11, 2022Updated 4:03 p.m. ET The Labor Department on Tuesday unveiled a proposal that would make it more likely for millions of janitors, home-care and construction workers and gig drivers to be classified as employees rather than independent contractors. Companies are required to provide certain benefits and protections to employees but not to contractors, such as paying a minimum wage, overtime, a portion of a worker’s Social Security taxes and contributions to unemployment insurance. The proposed rule is essentially a test that the Labor Department will apply to determine whether workers are contractors or employees for companies. The test considers factors such as how much control workers have over how they do their jobs and how much opportunity they have to increase their earnings by doing things like offering new services. Workers who have little of either are often considered employees. The new version of the test lowers the bar for that employee classification from the current test, which the Trump administration’s Labor Department created. The proposal would apply only to laws that the department enforced, such as the federal minimum wage. States and other federal agencies, like the Internal Revenue Service, set their own criteria for employment status. But many employers and regulators in other jurisdictions are likely to consider the department’s interpretation when making decisions about worker classification, and many judges are likely to use it as a guide. As a result, the proposal is a potential blow to gig companies and other service providers that argue their workers are contractors, though it would not immediately affect the status of those workers. Uber and Lyft have said in federal filings that having to treat drivers as employees could force them to alter their business models, and some gig economy officials have estimated that their labor costs would rise 20 to 30 percent. The companies have repeatedly fought similar efforts by regulators and legislatures in states across the country. Share prices for both companies dropped more than 10 percent Tuesday. In a statement, Uber sounded optimistic that the proposal would not endanger the gig-economy model, at least if the administration heeded additional input. “Today’s proposed rule takes a measured approach, essentially returning us to the Obama era, during which our industry grew exponentially,” said CR Wooters, the company’s head of federal affairs. “In a time of deep economic uncertainty, it’s crucial that the Biden administration continues to hear from the more than 50 million people who have found an earning opportunity with companies like ours.” Lyft likewise noted that the proposal would restore the approach under President Barack Obama, when drivers were generally classified as contractors, and emphasized that it would not force the company to alter its business model. The company said the proposal was merely the beginning of a longer process. Companies, unions, workers and other members of the public will have a month and a half to formally comment on the proposal before the department incorporates feedback into a final rule. After that, the department will have considerable discretion over whether or not to enforce the rule at particular companies. “While independent contractors have an important role in our economy, we have seen in many cases that employers misclassify their employees as independent contractors,” Labor Secretary Martin J. Walsh said in a statement. “Misclassification deprives workers of their federal labor protections, including their right to be paid their full, legally earned wages.” David Weil, who oversaw the Obama Labor Department’s approach to classifying workers, cautioned that just because the department didn’t bring an enforcement action against Uber and Lyft didn’t mean it couldn’t have. He noted that the Obama rule had been adopted late in that administration. “I think it is true that there are lots of gray areas in the platform world, but with the caveats that you always have to go deep into the facts, Uber and Lyft do not strike me as that difficult,” Mr. Weil said in an interview, adding: “There is a lot about the relationship that looks like one of employees.” The proposal helps defuse growing pressure from activists supporting gig workers, who complained that the administration had been too slow to intervene to protect ride-hail drivers and other app-based workers. Lorena Gonzalez Fletcher, a former leader on workers’ issues in the California Assembly who is now head of the state’s labor federation, said in an interview that the action demonstrated the Biden administration’s strong pro-worker stance but that the effect of the new rule would come down to how aggressively the administration enforced it. “Companies just continue to break labor law,” Ms. Gonzalez Fletcher said. “They break it at the local level, the state level and federally, and there are no consequences. Everything is about enforcement.” The Biden Labor Department delayed and then scrapped the Trump rule on worker classification before a federal judge reinstated it. The new proposal would formally rescind and replace the Trump rule when made final in the coming months. Opponents could ask a federal judge to block the new rule temporarily or strike it down, but administration officials expressed confidence that it would withstand judicial scrutiny. They said they were merely returning to a standard that federal courts had repeatedly upheld over the decades. Image Uber and other gig companies say changes to how some of their workers are classified could force them to change their business models.Credit…Jim Wilson/The New York Times Under President Donald J. Trump, the department argued that two factors should predominate in determinations of whether a worker is an employee or a contractor, even if other factors are relevant: the degree of control a company has over the worker, and the extent to which a worker can increase his or her income by taking entrepreneurial initiative, like marketing his or her services. The Trump Labor Department suggested that gig workers like Uber drivers would probably be considered contractors under these criteria. Proponents argued that the Trump approach was necessary so enforcement didn’t snuff out new ways of doing business, such as the gig economy. But in an interview, Seema Nanda, the Biden Labor Department’s top lawyer, said the Trump rule “threatens to actually increase rather than decrease misclassification.” The proposal by the Biden Labor Department argues that several factors must be weighed when assessing whether a worker is a contractor or an employee, and that none of them are necessarily more important than the others. Among the additional factors are whether the work being performed is central to a company’s business, and what kind of investments workers make to do their jobs, such as buying equipment. Administration officials cautioned that determining whether or not gig workers like Uber drivers are employees would hinge on applying the test laid out in the proposal to individual cases and that they were not prejudging the outcome of any one of them. They also emphasized that the proposal did not target a particular industry. “We make a determination based on the specific facts in any case that we look at,” Ms. Nanda said. “Misclassification harms workers across a wide range of industries.” Gig companies like Uber and Lyft have sought for years to influence laws and regulations on worker classification. After the California Legislature passed a bill proposed by Ms. Gonzalez Fletcher that effectively classified gig drivers as employees in 2019, gig companies spent roughly $200 million helping to pass a ballot measure that would exempt their workers from employee status while granting them limited benefits. A state judge later ruled that the measure was unconstitutional. The decision is being appealed. Gig companies have tried and failed to enact similar measures in other liberal states, like New York and Massachusetts, but did help pass a contractor measure in Washington State. Uber and Lyft have often argued that drivers prefer the flexibility that independent contractor status affords them, such as the ability to work when, where and however long they choose to. They have cited polling data that appears to affirm this. Legal scholars point out that there is nothing inherent about employment status that would forbid companies to grant workers similar flexibility. Mr. Walsh, the labor secretary, has sometimes appeared open to the idea that gig workers could be classified as independent contractors. But when asked in an interview this summer whether he thought drivers would prefer to be independent contractors or employees if the trade-offs were made clear, he argued that “95 percent of people would say yes” to being classified as employees. Read More Here

SPAC Backing Trump Media Delays Merger Vote https://digitalalaskanews.com/spac-backing-trump-media-delays-merger-vote/ Dive Brief: Digital World Acquisition (DWAC), the blank-check company planning to merge with an online media venture created by former President Donald Trump, extended for a third time the deadline for allowing shareholders to vote on the deal. The new deadline is Nov. 3.  If Digital World does not gain investor approval by Dec. 8 for a 12-month extension of its merger effort, it may need to shut down and reimburse investors with the nearly $300 million it raised last year in an initial public offering (IPO). “We continue to strongly believe that a stockholder vote to approve a one-year extension is important and in the best interests of our stockholders,” Digital World CEO Patrick Orlando said in a statement. “I believe we have some — if not the most — passionate and enthusiastic stockholders of any public company.” Dive Insight: Digital World, a special purpose acquisition company, went public in Sept. 2021. Its shares rocketed from less than $10 to as high as $175 in intraday trading after it announced a merger with Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG) and the launch of a Trump-led social network in Oct. 2021. Company shares traded on Tuesday at around $15.90. Digital World is seeking formal approval for the merger from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) even as the agency investigates whether the company, before its IPO, engaged in illegal negotiations with Trump’s company on details of a merger. The Justice Department is pursuing a similar probe. Digital World said in May in an S-4 registration statement with the SEC that it had received an SEC subpoena seeking documents and information about meetings of the company’s board, “communications with and the evaluation of potential targets, including TMTG” and communications related to TMTG. The agency also required the company to hand over “agreements with and payments made to certain advisors.” TMTG rallied behind Digital World investors last month, criticizing the SEC for allegedly pursuing political aims and withholding approval of the merger. “The SEC has needlessly delayed its review of our proposed merger, causing real and unnecessary financial harm to DWAC investors,” TMTG said in a statement. “Despite its standard practice to provide comments within 30 days, the SEC has failed to give meaningful feedback on DWAC’s registration statement for a stunning 115 days and counting,” Trump’s media company said. “In the interests of simple fairness, the SEC needs to set aside any improper political considerations and bring its review to a swift conclusion.” In line with SEC rules, Digital World described in its 259-page registration statement several potential post-merger risks to investors. The details on risks span 57 pages. “President Trump is involved in numerous lawsuits and other matters that could damage his reputation, cause him to be distracted from the business or could force him to resign from TMTG’s board of directors,” according to Digital World. Among several instances of litigation, Digital World flagged the U.S. House investigation of Trump’s role in the rioting at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, by insurrectionists opposed to the results of the November 2020 presidential election. Digital World noted that the district attorney in Fulton County, Georgia is investigating Trump’s alleged interference in the presidential election. It also acknowledged that a U.S. House committee is probing whether Trump destroyed and removed classified documents and White House records. The company did not mention a similar investigation by the Justice Department. Digital World cautioned investors that “a number of companies that were associated with President Trump have filed for bankruptcy,” including the Trump Taj Mahal, Trump Plaza, Trump Castle and Plaza Hotel. Also, “a number of companies that had license agreements with President Trump have failed,” Digital World said, citing Trump Shuttle, Trump University, Trump Vodka, Trump Mortgage, Trump Steaks and GoTrump.com, a travel site. “There can be no assurances that TMTG will not also fail,” Digital World said in the statement, noting that after a merger Trump would control 57.8% of the voting power of the outstanding common stock. The merger has planned to back Truth Social, a social media channel created by the former president. Trump was banned from Facebook, Twitter and YouTube after the 2021 insurrection. The social media networks said Trump spread falsehoods about voting fraud during the 2020 presidential election. Read More Here

Biden Proposal Could Lead To Employee Status For Gig Workers https://digitalalaskanews.com/biden-proposal-could-lead-to-employee-status-for-gig-workers/ A proposed rule, long awaited by labor activists, would make it harder for companies to classify workers as independent contractors. Send any friend a story As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. Anyone can read what you share. Gig companies such as Lyft have long fought efforts to classify their drivers as employees.Credit…Jamie Kelter Davis for The New York Times Oct. 11, 2022Updated 4:03 p.m. ET The Labor Department on Tuesday unveiled a proposal that would make it more likely for millions of janitors, home-care and construction workers and gig drivers to be classified as employees rather than independent contractors. Companies are required to provide certain benefits and protections to employees but not to contractors, such as paying a minimum wage, overtime, a portion of a worker’s Social Security taxes and contributions to unemployment insurance. The proposed rule is essentially a test that the Labor Department will apply to determine whether workers are contractors or employees for companies. The test considers factors such as how much control workers have over how they do their jobs and how much opportunity they have to increase their earnings by doing things like offering new services. Workers who have little of either are often considered employees. The new version of the test lowers the bar for that employee classification from the current test, which the Trump administration’s Labor Department created. The proposal would apply only to laws that the department enforced, such as the federal minimum wage. States and other federal agencies, like the Internal Revenue Service, set their own criteria for employment status. But many employers and regulators in other jurisdictions are likely to consider the department’s interpretation when making decisions about worker classification, and many judges are likely to use it as a guide. As a result, the proposal is a potential blow to gig companies and other service providers that argue their workers are contractors, though it would not immediately affect the status of those workers. Uber and Lyft have said in federal filings that having to treat drivers as employees could force them to alter their business models, and some gig economy officials have estimated that their labor costs would rise 20 to 30 percent. The companies have repeatedly fought similar efforts by regulators and legislatures in states across the country. Share prices for both companies dropped more than 10 percent Tuesday. In a statement, Uber sounded optimistic that the proposal would not endanger the gig-economy model, at least if the administration heeded additional input. “Today’s proposed rule takes a measured approach, essentially returning us to the Obama era, during which our industry grew exponentially,” said CR Wooters, the company’s head of federal affairs. “In a time of deep economic uncertainty, it’s crucial that the Biden administration continues to hear from the more than 50 million people who have found an earning opportunity with companies like ours.” Lyft likewise noted that the proposal would restore the approach under President Barack Obama, when drivers were generally classified as contractors, and emphasized that it would not force the company to alter its business model. The company said the proposal was merely the beginning of a longer process. Companies, unions, workers and other members of the public will have a month and a half to formally comment on the proposal before the department incorporates feedback into a final rule. After that, the department will have considerable discretion over whether or not to enforce the rule at particular companies. “While independent contractors have an important role in our economy, we have seen in many cases that employers misclassify their employees as independent contractors,” Labor Secretary Martin J. Walsh said in a statement. “Misclassification deprives workers of their federal labor protections, including their right to be paid their full, legally earned wages.” David Weil, who oversaw the Obama Labor Department’s approach to classifying workers, cautioned that just because the department didn’t bring an enforcement action against Uber and Lyft didn’t mean it couldn’t have. He noted that the Obama rule had been adopted late in that administration. “I think it is true that there are lots of gray areas in the platform world, but with the caveats that you always have to go deep into the facts, Uber and Lyft do not strike me as that difficult,” Mr. Weil said in an interview, adding: “There is a lot about the relationship that looks like one of employees.” The proposal helps defuse growing pressure from activists supporting gig workers, who complained that the administration had been too slow to intervene to protect ride-hail drivers and other app-based workers. Lorena Gonzalez Fletcher, a former leader on workers’ issues in the California Assembly who is now head of the state’s labor federation, said in an interview that the action demonstrated the Biden administration’s strong pro-worker stance but that the effect of the new rule would come down to how aggressively the administration enforced it. “Companies just continue to break labor law,” Ms. Gonzalez Fletcher said. “They break it at the local level, the state level and federally, and there are no consequences. Everything is about enforcement.” The Biden Labor Department delayed and then scrapped the Trump rule on worker classification before a federal judge reinstated it. The new proposal would formally rescind and replace the Trump rule when made final in the coming months. Opponents could ask a federal judge to block the new rule temporarily or strike it down, but administration officials expressed confidence that it would withstand judicial scrutiny. They said they were merely returning to a standard that federal courts had repeatedly upheld over the decades. Image Uber and other gig companies say changes to how some of their workers are classified could force them to change their business models.Credit…Jim Wilson/The New York Times Under President Donald J. Trump, the department argued that two factors should predominate in determinations of whether a worker is an employee or a contractor, even if other factors are relevant: the degree of control a company has over the worker, and the extent to which a worker can increase his or her income by taking entrepreneurial initiative, like marketing his or her services. The Trump Labor Department suggested that gig workers like Uber drivers would probably be considered contractors under these criteria. Proponents argued that the Trump approach was necessary so enforcement didn’t snuff out new ways of doing business, such as the gig economy. But in an interview, Seema Nanda, the Biden Labor Department’s top lawyer, said the Trump rule “threatens to actually increase rather than decrease misclassification.” The proposal by the Biden Labor Department argues that several factors must be weighed when assessing whether a worker is a contractor or an employee, and that none of them are necessarily more important than the others. Among the additional factors are whether the work being performed is central to a company’s business, and what kind of investments workers make to do their jobs, such as buying equipment. Administration officials cautioned that determining whether or not gig workers like Uber drivers are employees would hinge on applying the test laid out in the proposal to individual cases and that they were not prejudging the outcome of any one of them. They also emphasized that the proposal did not target a particular industry. “We make a determination based on the specific facts in any case that we look at,” Ms. Nanda said. “Misclassification harms workers across a wide range of industries.” Gig companies like Uber and Lyft have sought for years to influence laws and regulations on worker classification. After the California Legislature passed a bill proposed by Ms. Gonzalez Fletcher that effectively classified gig drivers as employees in 2019, gig companies spent roughly $200 million helping to pass a ballot measure that would exempt their workers from employee status while granting them limited benefits. A state judge later ruled that the measure was unconstitutional. The decision is being appealed. Gig companies have tried and failed to enact similar measures in other liberal states, like New York and Massachusetts, but did help pass a contractor measure in Washington State. Uber and Lyft have often argued that drivers prefer the flexibility that independent contractor status affords them, such as the ability to work when, where and however long they choose to. They have cited polling data that appears to affirm this. Legal scholars point out that there is nothing inherent about employment status that would forbid companies to grant workers similar flexibility. Mr. Walsh, the labor secretary, has sometimes appeared open to the idea that gig workers could be classified as independent contractors. But when asked in an interview this summer whether he thought drivers would prefer to be independent contractors or employees if the trade-offs were made clear, he argued that “95 percent of people would say yes” to being classified as employees. Read More Here

UN, G7 Decry Russian Attack On Ukraine As Possible War Crime https://digitalalaskanews.com/un-g7-decry-russian-attack-on-ukraine-as-possible-war-crime/ KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russian forces showered Ukraine with more missiles and munition-carrying drones Tuesday after widespread strikes killed at least 19 people in an attack the U.N. human rights office described as “particularly shocking” and amounting to potential war crimes. Air raid warnings sounded throughout Ukraine for a second straight morning as officials advised residents to conserve energy and stock up on water. The strikes have knocked out power across the country and pierced the relative calm that had returned to Kyiv and many other cities far from the war’s front lines. “It brings anger, not fear,” Kyiv resident Volodymyr Vasylenko, 67, said as crews worked to restore traffic lights and clear debris from the capital’s streets. “We already got used to this. And we will keep fighting.” The leaders of the Group of Seven industrial powers condemned the bombardment and said they would “stand firmly with Ukraine for as long as it takes.” Their pledge defied Russian warnings that Western assistance would prolong the war and the pain of Ukraine’s people. Russia launched the widespread attacks in retaliation for a weekend explosion that damaged the Kerch Bridge between Russia and the Crimean Peninsula, which Moscow annexed in 2014. Russian President Vladimir Putin alleged that Ukrainian special services masterminded the blast. The Ukrainian government has applauded it but not claimed responsibility. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told the G-7 leaders during a virtual meeting that during the past two days Russia fired more than 100 missiles and dozens of drones at Ukraine, and that while Ukraine shot down many of them, it needs “more modern and effective” air defense systems. The Pentagon earlier announced plans to deliver the first two advanced NASAMs anti-aircraft systems to Ukraine in the coming weeks. The systems, which Kyiv has long wanted, will provide medium- to long-range defense against missile attacks. In a phone call with Zelenskyy on Tuesday, President Joe Biden “pledged to continue providing Ukraine with the support needed to defend itself, including advanced air defense systems,” the White House said. Zelenskyy also urged the G-7 leaders to respond “symmetrically” to the attacks on the Ukrainian energy sector by doing more to stop Russia from profiting off its exports of oil and gas. “Such steps can bring peace closer,” he said. “They will encourage the terrorist state to think about peace, about the unprofitability of war.” Ukrainian officials said the diffuse strikes on power plants and civilian areas made no “practical military sense.” However, Putin’s supporters had urged the Kremlin for weeks to take tougher action in Ukraine and criticized the Russian military for a series of embarrassing battlefield setbacks. Pro-Kremlin pundits lauded the attacks as an appropriate and long-awaited response to Kyiv’s successful counteroffensives. Many of them argued that Moscow should keep up the intensity to win a war now in its eighth month. The head of Britain’s cyber-intelligence agency, Jeremy Fleming, said Tuesday in a rare public speech that Russia is running out of military supplies and struggling to fill its ranks. “Russia’s forces are exhausted,” Fleming said. “The use of prisoners as reinforcements, and now the mobilization of tens of thousands of inexperienced conscripts, speaks of a desperate situation.” Like Monday’s strikes, the bombardment Tuesday struck both energy infrastructure and civilian areas. One person was killed when 12 missiles slammed into the southern city of Zaporizhzhia, setting off a large fire, the State Emergency Service said. A local official said the missiles hit a school, residential buildings and medical facilities. Energy facilities in the western Lviv and Vinnytsia regions also took hits. Officials said Ukrainian forces shot down an inbound Russian missile before it reached Kyiv, but the capital region experienced rolling power outages as a result of the previous day’s strikes. The governor of Mykolaiv, Vitaliy Kim, urged residents to remain in bomb shelters as “there are enough missiles still in the air.” The State Emergency Service said 19 people died and 105 people were wounded in Monday’s strikes. At least five of the victims were in Kyiv, Mayor Vitali Klitschko said. More than 300 cities and towns lost power. A spokesperson for the office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights said Tuesday that strikes on “civilian objects,” including infrastructure such as power plants, could qualify as a war crime. “Damage to key power stations and lines ahead of the upcoming winter raises further concerns for the protection of civilians and in particular the impact on vulnerable populations,” Ravina Shamdasani told reporters in Geneva. “Attacks targeting civilians and objects indispensable to the survival of civilians are prohibited under international humanitarian law.” War crimes investigations have long been underway in towns where mass graves were found, along with other evidence of atrocities, after they were liberated from Russian occupation. In Lyman, a city in the eastern Donetsk region, forensic workers pulled several bodies from a mass grave Tuesday, part of an arduous effort to piece together evidence of what happened under more than four months of Russian occupation. Regional Gov. Pavlo Kyrylenko said the bodies of 32 Ukrainian soldiers have been exhumed so far from one mass grave. The tempo of the war in the last month fanned concerns that Moscow might broaden the battlefield and resort to using nuclear weapons in Ukraine. As Ukraine’s counteroffensives in the east and south forced Russia’s troops to retreat from some areas, a cornered Kremlin ratcheted up Cold War-era rhetoric. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Tuesday that Moscow would only employ nuclear weapons if the Russian state faced imminent destruction. Speaking on state TV, he accused the West of encouraging false speculation about the Kremlin’s intentions. Russia’s nuclear doctrine envisions “exclusively retaliatory measures intended to prevent the destruction of the Russian Federation as a result of direct nuclear strikes or the use of other weapons that raise the threat for the very existence of the Russian state,” Lavrov said. In Brussels, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said the 30-nation military alliance would hold annual war exercises testing the state of readiness of its nuclear capabilities next week as scheduled. Asked whether it was the wrong time for such exercises, Stoltenberg replied: “It would send a very wrong signal now if we suddenly cancelled a routine, longtime-planned exercise because of the war in Ukraine.” Stoltenberg said Putin’s nuclear rhetoric was “irresponsible” but he believes “Russia knows that a nuclear war can never be won and must never be fought.” NATO as an organization does not possess any nuclear weapons. They remain under the control of three member countries — the United States, the U.K. and France. The G-7, leaders which held the emergency meeting in response to Monday’s attack, said the “indiscriminate attacks on innocent civilian populations constitute a war crime” and reaffirmed their “commitment to providing the support Ukraine needs to uphold its sovereignty and territorial integrity.” The pledge appeared to come in response to Kremlin warnings that Western military assistance, including training Ukrainian soldiers in NATO countries and feeding real-time satellite data to target Russian forces, increasingly made Ukraine’s allies parties to the conflict. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said continued U.S. weapons deliveries to Ukraine would prolong the fighting and inflict more damage on the country without changing Russia’s objectives. As Russian forces pounded three districts around the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant overnight, Ukraine’s state nuclear operator said Russian forces kidnapped the plant’s deputy human resources director. Russians previously detained the facility’s general director and released him following pressure from International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi. Grossi met with Putin on Tuesday in St. Petersburg and urged him to agree to a “safety and security protection zone” around the occupied plant to prevent shelling from causing a radiation disaster. The IAEA said Grossi would return to Kyiv for another meeting with Zelenskyy. ___ Yuras Karmanau in Tallinn, Estonia, Jamey Keaten in Geneva, Lorne Cook in Brussels and Geir Moulson in Berlin contributed to this report. ___ Follow the AP’s coverage of the war at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine Read More Here

Voters Will Relate To Gabbard's 8 Gripes With The Democrat Party https://digitalalaskanews.com/voters-will-relate-to-gabbards-8-gripes-with-the-democrat-party/ Former Hawaii Representative Tulsi Gabbard announced Tuesday that she is leaving the Democrat Party. “I believe in a government that is of, by, and for the people,” she said on Twitter. “Unfortunately, today’s Democratic Party does not. Instead, it stands for a government of, by, and for the powerful elite.” In a YouTube video from the “Tulsi Gabbard Show” elaborating on her decision, the former representative and American veteran cited eight grave battles the Democratic Party is waging against the American people as her reasons for leaving. These eight reasons are perfect for explaining to your common-sense, Democrat-voting friends and family why their party has left them behind. 1. War on Rule of Law Gabbard grilled Democrats for “demonizing” and defunding the police, particularly during the summer of 2020, while simultaneously “enacting laws that favor criminals’ rights over those of everyday Americans.” Indeed, radical, George Soros-backed district attorneys in blue cities across the country are refusing to prosecute criminals in the name of “equity.”  Not all Democrat attacks on law and order are that brazen, though. Gabbard rightfully highlighted how the Obama administration weaponized the IRS to target conservative nonprofits. Since then, equal justice under the law has broken down even further. In recent weeks, Biden’s DOJ raided the home of pro-life leader Mark Houck, arresting him in front of his wife and seven frightened children.  Shortly thereafter, the FBI raided the home of pro-life activist Chester Gallagher for his role in leading a pro-life demonstration. The agency also charged 10 of Gallagher’s fellow demonstrators. If convicted, seven of the 11 pro-lifers charged face 11 years in prison and fines of up to $250,000. “When the party in power does not believe in the rule of law, but they’re responsible for writing and enforcing laws, our democracy is doomed,” said Gabbard. 2. War on Free Speech  There’s no such thing as free speech in a Democrat-controlled America. As Gabbard explained, leftists no longer engage in debate, they simply silence “speech that they don’t like” by labeling it “misinformation” or “hate speech.” Much of their success in the censorship crusade can be attributed to their alliance with, as Gabbard puts it, the “corporate, for-profit media and Big Tech.”  Perhaps one of the most insidious examples of Democrat and Big Tech collusion was the suppression of the Hunter Biden laptop story, a censorship effort that interfered in the 2020 election by limiting what information about then-candidate Joe Biden reached voters’ ears. The systematic suppression of the story appears to have been a top-down, coordinated effort after Mark Zuckerberg revealed that the FBI instructed Facebook (and likely other platforms) to falsely brand the Hunter Biden laptop story as Russian disinformation to censor.  3. War on Faith “Today’s Democratic Party does not believe in our constitutionally protected right to freedom of religion,” said Gabbard, adding that Democrats “are hostile toward people of faith and spirituality and actively try to undermine our religious freedom.” Gabbard noted how her former party “chose to omit the words ‘under God’” from the Pledge of Allegiance during the 2020 Democratic National Convention.  Democrat senators suggested that the Catholic faith of then-District Court nominee Brian Buescher’s and then-Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett disqualified them from approval. Gabbard rightfully decried the senators’ remarks as a disgraceful violation of Article VI of the U.S. Constitution, which mandates that “no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States.”  4. War on the Second Amendment “The Democratic Party’s hatred of the Second Amendment and their increasing authoritarian instincts pose a serious threat to our freedoms,” stated Gabbard, quoting Beto O’Rourke who said during a presidential debate “H-ll yes, we are going to take your AR-15s, AK-47s.”  The FBI is also being used to eradicate Americans’ Second Amendment rights after it was revealed that agents have been secretly pressuring Americans into signing forms that relinquish their constitutional right to own, purchase, or even use firearms for years.  5. War on Civil Liberties  Speaking of infringements on Second Amendment rights, Gabbard also addressed Democrats’ shameless war on civil liberties in general. She highlighted Democrats’ support of Biden’s proposal to allow IRS agents to monitor Americans’ banking details and Democrats’ inaction when the FBI seized and withheld property from innocent American citizens. According to Gabbard, Democrats always “choose to side with the security state instead of siding with our liberty—our freedom.” The former representative recalled introducing legislation to repeal the Patriot Act, the post-9/11 bill that the feds have been using to spy on Americans since 2001, and to scale back the FISA Court, which was famously manipulated by the FBI so agents could obtain a secret warrant and illegally spy on the Trump campaign, as part of the now-debunked Russian collusion hoax. Democratic Party leaders refused to even allow Gabbard’s bill to go up for a vote.  6. War on Racial Harmony “Democrat leaders have reduced each of us as God’s children to the color of our skin, using identity politics to tear us apart,” said Gabbard, noting their promotion of racist Critical Race Theory (CRT) in schools and the brazenly prejudiced actions of Democratic leaders like Lori Lightfoot, who refused to be interviewed by white reporters.  Leftist racism thrives on college campuses particularly. Schools have racially segregated convocations, housing, and study spaces. Gabbard adds that this behavior is being informed and encouraged by the likes of “racial profiteers like Robin DiAngelo and the corrupt, self-identifying cultural Marxists who lead Black Lives Matter.” Democrats “have become the racist that they claim to hate,” Gabbard added. 7. War on Women Women no longer exist as a category in the eyes of the Democrat Party, as the radical transgender agenda distorts our cultural understanding of femininity, destroys female sports, and puts real women at serious risk.  Gabbard explains that Democrats are “rejecting the objective truth and reality that women exist and are not just a construct in someone’s mind,” adding that “they’re demanding that we replace words like ‘mother’ with ‘birthing person.’” She also drew attention to the disruption the left’s anti-woman agenda has had on women’s sports. “They’re taking away opportunities and futures from girls in sports by allowing transgender athletes, who until recently identified as men, and who clearly have a biological advantage of being a man, to compete against women,” said Gabbard. Another serious consequence of denying the biological component of being a female is that spaces once reserved for women, such as domestic abuse shelters and women’s homeless shelters, are being invaded by men. Female prisoners are often issued birth control and condoms because they are imprisoned with any male inmate who claims to be a woman.  8. War on Family Lastly, Gabbard discussed Democrats’ pernicious goal to “strip away the rights of parents to raise their kids.” Last year, Democrat and former governor of Virginia Terry McAuliffe said parents should have no role in their child’s education, a bizarre sentiment that’s even more concerning given that public schools have become re-education machines for the left. “Public school districts are implementing policies that sexualize kids as young as five or six years old,” continued Gabbard. “Taxpayer dollars are being used to bring in drag strippers and encourage gender transition surgery in minors, all kept secret from their parents.” Our transgender Assistant Secretary for Health Rachel Levine has gone on record to support what is falsely termed “gender-affirming care” for children, which Gabbard points out includes dangerous “puberty blockers, chemical castration, and irreversible surgeries that cause long-term harm to kids.” If parents do not comply, “the federal government threatens to bring in Child Protective Services” to “take your kids away,” said Gabbard. “Families are the foundation of civilization and our society, and today’s Democratic party’s policies are very quickly eroding that foundation to the detriment of us all.”  Gabbard ended her video by “calling on [her] fellow common-sense, independent-minded Democrats to join [her] in leaving the Democratic Party.” “If you can no longer stomach the direction that these so-called woke Democratic Party ideologues are taking this country, I invite you to join me,” said Gabbard. Let’s hope people do.  Evita Duffy is a staff writer to The Federalist and the co-founder of the Chicago Thinker. She loves the Midwest, lumberjack sports, writing, and her family. Follow her on Twitter at @evitaduffy_1 or contact her at evita@thefederalist.com. Read More Here

Trump Lawyer Christina Bobb, Who Vouched For Mar-A-Lago Documents’ Return To Feds, Quizzed By FBI https://digitalalaskanews.com/trump-lawyer-christina-bobb-who-vouched-for-mar-a-lago-documents-return-to-feds-quizzed-by-fbi/ A lawyer for former President Donald Trump who signed a letter asserting that all classified documents had been returned to the federal government was interviewed last week by the FBI, according to multiple reports.  Christina Bobb told federal investigators on Friday that two other lawyers were involved in crafting the June letter claiming that Trump had complied with a grand jury order to hand over the records and that she was asked to sign it as the designated custodian, NBC News reported Monday. The Trump team’s letter is of interest to federal investigators because prosecutors have said its assertions that all presidential materials had been returned is untrue — since an Aug. 8 FBI raid at the Florida resort turned up another trove of materials.  While 38 documents with classification markings were handed over with the letter on June 3, more than 100 additional classified records were seized from Mar-a-Lago in August when FBI agents returned with a search warrant.  The June letter claimed a “diligent search was conducted of the boxes” taken to Mar-a-Lago from the White House as Trump departed office in January 2021 and that “any and all responsive documents accompany this certification.”  Trump lawyer Christina Bobb was interviewed by the FBI last week. Facebook/Jared Petry Bobb signed a letter last week claiming that all classified documents had been returned to the federal government. Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images It contained the proviso that the statements were “based upon the information that has been provided to me.” Bobb reportedly told the feds that the letter was drafted by Evan Corcoran and given to her to sign in her capacity as the custodian.  She fingered another Trump legal adviser, Boris Epshteyn, as being involved in discussions about the letter, although she said he did not assist in drafting it.  Federal investigators have claimed the letter is untrue after more documents were seized from Mar-a-Lago in the August FBI raid. AP Photo/Steve Helber More than 100 classified documents were seized from Trump’s estate in August. Department of Justice via AP Trump has been contesting the seizure of the documents in various courts, seeking among other things to have a special master be named to pore through the records to determine what is shielded by executive or attorney-client privilege.  Trump’s legal team last week asked the Supreme Court to intercede in the dispute and block the DOJ from using classified documents in its ongoing investigation into whether the 45th president violated federal law related to custody of government records. With Post wires Read More Here

Trial Begins For Analyst Who Was Source For Trump Dossier https://digitalalaskanews.com/trial-begins-for-analyst-who-was-source-for-trump-dossier/ ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) — A Russian analyst who played a major role in the creation of a flawed dossier about former President Donald Trump fabricated one of his own sources and concealed the identity of another when interviewed by the FBI, prosecutors said Tuesday. The allegations were aired in opening statements in the jury trial of Igor Danchenko, who is indicted on five counts of making false statements to the FBI, in U.S. District Court in Alexandria. The FBI interviewed Danchenko on multiple occasions in 2017 as it tried to corroborate allegations in what became known as the “Steele dossier.” That dossier by British spy Christopher Steele — commissioned by Democrats during the 2016 presidential campaign — included allegations of contact between the Trump campaign and Russian government officials, as well as allegations that the Russians may have held compromising information over Trump in the form of videos showing him engaged in salacious sexual activity in a Moscow hotel. Specifically, prosecutors say, Danchenko lied when he said he obtained some information in an anonymous phone call from a man he believed to be Sergei Millian, a former head of the Russian-American Chamber of Commerce. Prosecutor Michael Keilty told jurors that Danchenko never spoke with Millian and that phone records show he never received an anonymous phone call at the time Danchenko claimed it occurred. Prosecutors also say Danchenko lied when he said he never “talked” with a man named Charles Dolan about the allegations contained in the dossier. But prosecutors say there is evidence that Dolan and Danchenko “spoke with Mr. Dolan over email” about very specific items that showed up in the dossier. The FBI needed to know that Dolan was an important source for Danchenko, Keilty said, because Dolan is a Democratic operative who has worked on the presidential campaign of every Democratic candidate since Jimmy Carter, and thus would have had motivation to fabricate or embellish allegations against Trump. “Those lies mattered,” Keilty said. But Danchenko’s attorney, Danny Onorato, told jurors that his client was completely truthful with the FBI. He pointed out that Danchenko never said he was certain that Millian was the source of the anonymous call but that he had good reason to believe it. The government’s case requires jurors to become “mind readers” to assess Danchenko’s subjective belief about the source of the phone call, Onorato said. And while phone records may not show a call, Onorato said, the government has no idea whether a call could have been placed with a mobile app rather than a traditional telephone provider. Indeed, Onorato said, it makes more sense that such a call would have occurred using an Internet app because so many of them conceal the source of the call, and the caller wanted to be anonymous. As for the allegations about his discussions with Dolan, Onorato said, Danchenko answered the question truthfully because the two did not “talk” — but rather had a written exchange. If the FBI wanted to know about email exchanges, it should have asked a different question, Onorato said. “The law doesn’t let you rewrite the dictionary,” Onorato said. Danchenko is the third person to be prosecuted by special counsel John Durham, who was appointed to investigate the origins of “Crossfire Hurricane” — the designation given to the FBI’s 2016 probe into former president Trump’s Russia connections. It is also the first of Durham’s cases that delves deeply into the origins of the dossier, which Trump derided as fake news and a political witch hunt. Read More Here

Anti-Pritzker Political Action Committee Receives $13.9 Million Contribution https://digitalalaskanews.com/anti-pritzker-political-action-committee-receives-13-9-million-contribution/ With early voting underway in Illinois and election day less than one month away, a Florida-based political action committee secured a multi-million dollar contribution last week to fuel its anti-Gov. JB Pritzker campaign. Now contributing more than $42 million in total, CEO and co-founder of shipping supply business Uline Richard Uihlein sent $13.9 million to the People Who Play By The Rules PAC on Wednesday. Created in March, the committee has led an advertising campaign to primarily attack Pritzker, a Democrat, on the SAFE-T Act and his response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Neither Pritzker or Republican challenger state Sen. Darren Bailey have filed quarterly campaign finance reports that are due Oct. 17. However, the governor recently contributed $20 million of his personal wealth to his campaign, according to a Sept. 23 filing on the Illinois State Board of Elections website. Related:Illinois governor candidates JB Pritzker & Darren Bailey clash in first gubernatorial debate What is the People Who Play By the Rules PAC? The PAC is run by Republican radio personality Dan Proft, a former Illinois governor candidate now residing in Florida. With its funding, its primary expenses are for ad spots on television stations and streaming services such as Hulu and Peacock TV. Among its most well-known ads is titled the “Lakeview Scream,” which shows doorbell video footage of a Lakeview woman being attacked — claiming Pritzker’s response to crime as governor has led to an increase of these instances and has been inadequate overall. The governor and victims’ rights organizations voiced their displeasure with the 16-second spot ad and it was removed from the airwaves by NBC5 Chicago. The PAC’s sole contributor is Uihlein, who also sent a $15 million contribution to the committee in July. His contributions to the PAC far outweigh the $10 million he has directly sent to Bailey’s campaign, with only $1 million of that coming after the June primary. Uihlein is Bailey’s largest contributor followed by Jean Bailey, the senator’s mother. As an independent expenditure committee, People Who Play By The Rules can raise and spend unlimited amounts of funding but cannot coordinate directly with any individual candidate. Has former President Donald Trump contributed to the PAC, Bailey? As Pritzker noted during last week’s governor debate at Illinois State University, Bailey secured the endorsement of former President Donald Trump prior to the primary. That endorsement came during a June rally in west central Illinois, where Bailey said Illinois would “roll out the red carpet” for Trump in 2024. Despite his backing, no contributions have come directly to Bailey’s campaign and People Who Play By The Rules from the former president either before or after the primary. Trump, however, is supporting a recently formed super PAC called MAGA Inc. that placed ad buys in Ohio and Pennsylvania in their respective U.S. Senate races according to Politico. Bailey and Donald Trump Jr. both spoke at a Williamson County dinner last weekend, where the former president’s son called on voters to back Bailey. Still, as reported by The Chicago Tribune, the candidate made no mention of Trump during his speech — following suit with his remarks during the Illinois GOP Day at the state fair this August. A recent poll conducted by Emerson College found Bailey trailing Pritzker by 15 points. That gap is similar to President Joe Biden’s margin of victory over Trump in Illinois in the 2020 election. Biden won Illinois by 17 points. Contact Patrick Keck: 312-549-9340, pkeck@gannett.com, twitter.com/@pkeckreporter Read More Here

Trump’s Truth Social Merger Sees Further Delays With Its Third Postponement In Recent Days – Grit Daily News https://digitalalaskanews.com/trumps-truth-social-merger-sees-further-delays-with-its-third-postponement-in-recent-days-grit-daily-news/ Published on October 11, 2022 Truth Social is a social media platform in the same alt-tech field as Parler and Gab that was created by Trump Media & Technology Group to provide an “uncensored” alternative to platforms like Twitter. The startup has shown a decent performance since its launch, managing to rank quite high on some lists and in the Apple App Store for social media apps. But despite that, Trump’s Truth Social has faced some financial and regulatory problems this year, including multiple delays with a potential merger. The most recent news about Trump’s Truth Social concerns the merger involving a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC). Just yesterday, a meeting was held to tally shareholder votes for extending the merger deadline by a year, but it came up short. The end result was Patrick Orlando, chief executive of Digital World Acquisition, extending the deadline for shareholder votes until November 3rd. It is not the first time Digital World has extended the deadline. In the past month, the deadline has been pushed back three times, which has put additional strain on the deal. After all, if the yearlong extension is not approved before December 8th, Digital World might have to liquidate and return around $300 million to investors. If the money is returned, Truth Social will likely find itself in a sticky situation since it needs funding to continue with its operations. Moreover, Digital World is already feeling the pain, with its shares dropping by over 7% yesterday. But the latest extension is not the start of the startup’s troubles. Prior to the meeting and third delay, private investors started showing hesitance, with the group looking to negotiate for larger profits in exchange for following through on their commitments of around $1 billion. There has also been news of Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and grand jury investigations, which have stalled the SEC’s approval of the merger. In fact, even if the deal is approved, the merger would still need to await SEC approval for things to move forward. The stall has already hurt Truth Social, with around $138 million in capital being pulled out after a year of waiting for the SEC to sign off on the public offering. But that is not all. Truth Social also faces a lawsuit from a scorned business partner and reports of financial problems that make the potential loss of funding more serious. Trump spoke out last month about potentially scrapping the deal to go public, instead using his own money to finance the startup. He did this through Truth Social, saying, “Who knows? In any event, I don’t need financing, ‘I’m really rich!’ Private company anyone???” But it is hard to build something massive off a single person, even if they are as vocal and gung-ho as Trump. That is precisely what some people pointed out as they criticized the startup. William Wilkerson, a senior vice president of operations at Trump Media who filed a whistleblower complaint in August with the SEC, said, “You don’t get to be a multibillion-dollar company with one message, a repeating echo chamber around one person, Donald Trump.” Meanwhile, Elon Musk also gave his opinion, saying, “It [Truth Social] is essentially a rightwing echo chamber. It might as well be called Trumpet.” Of course, social media statements and opinions do not mean much, especially when it comes to a business deal involving dozens of investors and a massive amount of money. Still, the negative news seems to be piling up, so it will be interesting to see where everything falls when the dust settles. Spencer Hulse is a news desk editor at Grit Daily News. He covers startups, affiliate, viral, and marketing news. Read more Read More Here

Inflation Relief Checks Live Online Updates By State: California, Florida… | Payments, Who Qualifies & Amounts https://digitalalaskanews.com/inflation-relief-checks-live-online-updates-by-state-california-florida-payments-who-qualifies-amounts-3/ inflation relief checks: latest updates SOCIAL SECURITY Social Security Increase: what is the expected COLA raise for 2023? The Social Security Administration is expected to announce the 2023 Cost-of-living adjustment tomorrow.  Earlier in September, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) increased slightly by 0.1 percent in August. Combined, the last two months of price increases show an 8.3 percent increase in average prices in August compared to August last year. That is why the COLA is so important. Around the beginning of winter, the Social Security Adminsitration announces the rate in which people receiving benefits payments will increase for the next year, mostly in line with inflation. The higher the inflation, the higher the rate at which benefits rise. California could pass a windfall tax on the profits of gas and oil companies With prices at the pump increasing across the Golden State, Gov. Gavin Newsom has called a special session of the legislature to introduce a bill that would tax the surplus profits of oil and gas companies, if they bring in more revenue than previous years.  With global crude oil prices dipping, the state continues to suffer from high gas prices and the Newsom is pointing the finger at corporate greed.  The idea of the windfall tax would be to levy higher taxes rates on surpluses, and distribute those gains back to drivers who have been dealing with higher prices for almost a year.  $850 inflation relief check for Maine residents A initiative introduced by Maine Governor Janey Mills will see $850 checks sent to an estimated 858,000 Mainers to help ease the pain caused by inflation. To be eligible Maine residents must file a 2021 state individual income tax return before 31 October 2022.  A statement on Gov. Mills’ website explains: “While the Governor cannot control the impact of COVID-19 on global markets, she can make sure that we deliver to Maine people the resources they need to deal with these higher costs.” Emergency energy and heating relief for New Hampshire residents State lawmakers in New Hampshire passed legislation in September to provide Granite State families with financial assistance to cover the rising heating and energy costs this fall and winter. Families who make 60-75% of the state median income will receive a one-time payment of $650, $450 dollars in heating assistance, and $200 in electrical assistance, in addition to funding passed earlier this year. Households that bring in less than 60% of the state’s median income are eligible for LIHEAP and EAP assistance and will receive an extra $405. Virginians, don’t forget to file tax return to receive inflation relief tax rebate The State of Virginia pass a one-time tax rebate of $250 for individual taxpayers and $500 for married couples that file jointly. In order to qualify residents will have to file tax return in by 1 November 2022 and have a tax liability. Georgia begins sending checks Gov. Brian Kemp, facing stanch competition for his seat, has decided to send inflation relief payments to many across his state.  The first batch of payments was sent in late September and are worth $350.  The payments are being sent to those on SNAP, social security, and other government benefit programs.  “Global inflation. Rising costs. It’s hard out there and we know it. So, we’re giving you $9.5 billion back. MILLIONS of Californians– 23 million to be exact – will benefit from up to $1,050, as soon as October!” US NEWS Inflation relief checks: What to do to get your relief check in October In an effort to aid residents, a number of US states are issuing inflation relief payments to ensure that households across the country are still able to cover the cost of essentials. Others are simply offering additional tax rebates to provide financial support more generally. The amount on offer varies between states from a couple of hundred dollars to more than $1,000 per taxpayer, a significant amount in tough economic circumstances. We take a look at the states offering direct payments, and what residents need to do to ensure that they don’t miss out on their entitlement… Latest News California Inflation Relief Check: do I qualify according to my filing status? The amount of money that will be distributed to households for the Middle-Class Tax Refund depends on income and tax filing status.  The state allocated around $9.5 billion for the refund and hopes that families will be able to use the payments to keep up with prices. The state leads the country in the cost of gas and after a brief period of relief from high prices from July to September, they are on the climb once again. The payments for the tax refund are worth anywhere between $200 and $1,050, and you can read our full coverage to determine your eligibility and payment amount.  Hello, and welcome to AS USA Welcome to the AS USA live blog on financial payments being sent by states to assist residents as inflation continues to rock the economy.  Last week, California sent out its first batch of payments for the Middle Class Tax Refund, which will send checks worth up to $1,050 to millions of households across the state. Direct deposit payments will be made first.  Additionally, this week, the Social Security Administration will announce the 2023 Cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) that will be made to payments in January.   Follow along for more news on the payments being sent in other states, as well as support that may come from the federal level. Read More Here

BREAKING: Indy Pass Adds TWELVE New Resorts https://digitalalaskanews.com/breaking-indy-pass-adds-twelve-new-resorts/ ^Arctic Valley Ski Area, AK The best deal in skiing just keeps on getting better. The Indy Pass has just announced that they’re adding 12 resorts in total to their ever-expanding list of fantastic independent ski areas across the globe. Just in case you need a refresher- Indy Pass holders get two days of skiing and riding at each partner resort spread across The United States, Canada, and Japan. It’s an unbeatable deal. ^Me, celebrating new Indy Pass resorts Here’s the breakdown of the new additions to the Indy Pass: Calabogie Peaks, ON, Alpine Loch Lomond Ski Area, ON, Arctic Valley, AK, and Mt. Crescent, IA are joining as full partners bringing Indy’s total to 101 alpine resorts. Bear Valley Adventure Center, CA, Crosscut Mountain Sports Center, MT, Jay Peak Cross Country Center, VT, and Nickel Plate Cross Country Ski Club, BC are joining as cross country resort partners bringing the total to 18 cross country resorts. Lastly, Sleeping Giant, WY, Snowstar Winter Park, IL, Dry Hill, NY, and Whitecap, WI are joining the Indy Pass as allied resorts. Indy Pass holders get 50% off weekday tickets and 25% weekend and holiday tickets at all 14 allied resorts. That’s a lot of info, but to summarize, the Indy Pass continues to add more value to their pass holders with these new additions, and I LOVE to see it. Click here for more info about The Indy Pass. Keep reading for the full press release on the 12 additions: Indy Pass Opens Eastern Canada with Calabogie Peaks + 11 More Resorts 133 resorts now offer two free days each or discounted lift tickets to Indy Pass holders PORTLAND, Ore. (October 11, 2022) – The Indy Pass announced today that Calabogie Peaks Resort in Ontario would become the first Eastern Canadian resort to join the coalition of independent mountains. In addition, three other full Alpine partners, four cross-country resorts, and four Allied resorts have been added. “The Indy Pass supports scores of independent resorts in the US and Western Canada, and we are excited to be the first in our region to share Ontario hospitality with their passholders, said Paul Murphy, owner of Calabogie Peaks Mountain Resort. “Calabogie Peaks is a great addition to the Indy family of resorts. We are excited to have a new partner in Eastern Ontario to complement our outstanding New England roster,” said Indy Pass founder Doug Fish. ” In addition to Calabogie Peaks, Alpine Loch Lomond Ski Area in Western Ontario joins the pass along with Arctic Valley, Alaska, and Mt. Crescent, Iowa as full Alpine partner resorts. Four New Cross-Country Resorts Four new cross-country resorts have also been added for a total of 18 across North America. Indy Pass is the only multi-mountain pass that provides access to both Alpine and Nordic resorts. New cross-country resorts include Bear Valley Adventure Center in California, Crosscut Mountain Sports Center in Montana, Jay Peak Cross Country Center in Vermont, and Nickle Plate Cross Country Ski Club in British Columbia. All four XC resorts will offer two each to all Indy Alpine and Cross Country Pass holders. Four New Allied Resorts The new Indy Allied Resort program has allowed Indy Pass to expand and offer partnerships to smaller resorts in all regions of North America. New Allied Resort partners include Sleeping Giant, Wyoming, Snowstar Winter Park, Illinois, Dry Hill, New York and Whitecap, Wisconsin. Allied resorts offer discounted lift tickets to Indy Pass holders at 50% off and 25% off holidays and peak weekends. “The Allied Resort program allows us to partner with any ski area in North America that wishes to participate,” said Fish. “It’s great that we can continue to expand in these regions where we already have achieved peak density.” Alpine Partner Resorts About Calabogie Peaks Calabogie Peaks, the tallest public ski resort in Ontario, is an all seasons resort located in the beautiful Ottawa Valley at the base of Dickson Mountain on the shores of Calabogie Lake. Come for the day, or stay and enjoy this all season resort in Ontario and the best of what winters offer with snowy adventures for everyone on the Mountain, Lake & Land. Mountain Stats Vertical: 780′ Top elevation: 1,285′ Base elevation: 505′ Skiable acres: 80 Runs: 25 Longest run: 6961′ Lifts: 3 ^Friends enjoying smooth terrain at Loch Lomond, ON About Loch Lomond Ski Area Nestled in the heart of the Nor’Wester Mountain Range on the North Shore of Lake Superior the ski area boasts some of Central Canada’s gnarliest ski terrain with an après ski scene to match. Mountain Stats Annual snowfall: 80″ Vertical drop: 750′ Skiable acres: 60 Lifts: 3 Terrain park: Yes ^Amazing views at Arctic Valley, AK About Arctic Valley, Alaska Arctic Valley is a low-key, community-oriented ski area just outside Anchorage. They have great open terrain with lots of intermediate and advanced runs. Mountain Stats Skiable acres: 500 Vertical rise: 1,400′ Base elevation: 2,500′ Highest elevation: 4,068′ Marked skin tracks: 7 Total runs: 18 About Mt. Crescent, Iowa For over 60 years, Mt Crescent has been a destination for winter fun in the Loess Hills of Western Iowa. With 100’s taught to ski and ride each year, Mt. Crescent is the perfect place to learn or practice your skills. Mountain Stats Skiable acres: 50 Vertical rise: 300′ Base elevation: 1,200′ Highest elevation: 1,500′ Total runs: 10 Longest Run: 2,400′ Cross Country Resorts About Bear Valley Adventure Company, California Our cross-country skiing guests enjoy an extensive trail system with 70+ kilometers of groomed paths over 3,000 acres. We have 38 carefully groomed trails for track and skate skiing, a trailside Meadow Cafe, and three warming huts throughout the trail system. Mountain Stats Base elevation: 7,000′ Groomed terrain: 70+ kilometers Total trails: 38 About Crosscut Mountain Sports Center, Montana Crosscut Mountain Sports Center is a nonprofit organization providing outdoor recreation, sports training, and environmental education for people of all backgrounds, ages, and abilities. Mountain Stats Base elevation: 6,000′ Groomed terrain: 45+ kilometers Total trails: 25 About Nickle Plate Cross Country Ski Club, British Columbia Nickel Plate Cross Country Ski Club was formed in 1989 by a group of Nordic ski enthusiasts who saw the potential for a world-class cross country ski facility in the mountains west of Penticton, BC. Nickel Plate Nordic Centre is located in the scenic Okanagan Valley, just 45 minutes from downtown Penticton. Mountain Stats Base elevation: 1,750′ Groomed terrain: 56+ kilometers Total trails: 27 About Jay Peak Cross Country Center, Vermont The Jay Peak Nordic trail network features 12 miles of groomed trails for classic and skate-skiing for novices and experts alike. Whether you’re out on the trails with your friends, solo, or with your four-legged pal, we are sure you will have a memorable time! Mountain Stats Total trails: 12 Allied Resorts About Sleeping Giant, Wyoming We are a small family-centered ski area nestled at the East gate of Yellowstone, NP. What we lack in the way of massive couloirs, we make up for in safe, affordable skiing, shorter lift lines, smaller crowds, and good vibes. We have two aerial lifts and one carpet with 198 acres of skiable terrain. We offer ski instruction, tubing, and night skiing. Mountain Stats Night skiing: Yes Vertical rise: 1100′ Lifts: 3 Total runs: 49 About Snowstar Winter Park, Illinois Located just above the Mississippi River, Snowstar Winter Park is a family-oriented resort just minutes outside the quad cities in Andalusia, Illinois. We offer four lifts, 15 trails, and a kick’n terrain park with features that change weekly and are sure to satisfy skiers and boarders of all abilities. Mountain Stats Terrain park: Yes Lifts: 4 Total runs: 15 About Dry Hill, New York Since 1960 Dry Hill Ski Area has been Watertown’s favorite Family Ski, Snowboard & Tubing Area. Enjoy night skiing, a brand new menu at the grill, and a family-friendly atmosphere. Mountain Stats Night skiing: Yes Lifts: 3 Total runs: 12 About Whitecap Mountains, Wisconsin Whitecap Mountains Resort offers year-round family recreation, lodging, and down-home hospitality in Northern Wisconsin. Spread over a vast 400 acres within the ancient Penokee Mountains, it’s the perfect location for a corporate retreat, mountaintop wedding, extended family reunion, or relaxing getaway. Mountain Stats Vertical Drop: 400 Lifts: 5 + Magic Carpet Total runs: 43 Featured Image Credit: Indy Pass Media Kit/Arctic Valley Read More Here

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Stock Market News Today: Dow Climbs Over 300 Points, 10-Year Treasury Yield Tests 4% https://digitalalaskanews.com/stock-market-news-today-dow-climbs-over-300-points-10-year-treasury-yield-tests-4/ About this page Last Updated: Oct 11, 2022 at 1:15 pm ET Follow The Wall Street Journal’s full markets coverage. Read More Here

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Trump-Russia Dossier Source On Trial For Alleged Lies To FBI (1) https://digitalalaskanews.com/trump-russia-dossier-source-on-trial-for-alleged-lies-to-fbi-1/ By Erik Larson A Russian analyst who unearthed dubious claims about former President and his alleged ties to Russia before the 2016 election goes on trial Tuesday on charges he lied to the FBI. Igor Danchenko was a key source for the so-called Steele dossier. He provided some of the most salacious and unverified details in the report, including claims of a sexual nature that Trump’s critics pounced on to suggest the Russian government might have material to blackmail him. Now evidence surrounding the dossier and the questionable nature of some of its sources might send Danchenko to prison and back … To read the full article log in. © 2022 The Bureau of National Affairs, Inc. All Rights Reserved Read More Here

Preparation And Application Of Nanostructured Carbon From Oil Fly Ash For Growth Promotion And Improvement Of Agricultural Crops With Different Doses – Scientific Reports https://digitalalaskanews.com/preparation-and-application-of-nanostructured-carbon-from-oil-fly-ash-for-growth-promotion-and-improvement-of-agricultural-crops-with-different-doses-scientific-reports/ Abstract Application of carbon nanomaterials (CNMs) in agricultural production has piqued the interest of researchers. However, despite the enormous importance of CNMs in plant development, little is known about the effects of carbon nanoparticle (CNP) doses on plant physiological responses. Therefore, the aim of the current study was to check the effects of nanostructured carbon derived from oil fly ash (COFA), which was derived for the first time from high-energy ball-milling followed by a sonication process, on Phaseolus vulgaris L. and Cicer arietinum L. plants. We evaluated the plant physiological and biochemical parameters of the COFA-treated seedlings. Two different doses (4 mg L−1 and 8 mg L−1) of COFA and a control were studied. The results indicated that the germination rate (%), shoot length, root length, pod length, leaf area, fresh weight and dry weight were increased with the addition of COFA. Likewise, COFA increased the contents of chlorophyll pigments (Chla, Chlb, carotenoids), proteins, and carbohydrates in both species compared to the control. Finally, these findings showed that a COFA treatment at 4 mg L−1 after ball milled-sonication in water (BMW4) constituted the best dose for growth and physiology. Our findings reveal that the novel strategy of COFA engineering led to a boost in the growth of Phaseolus vulgaris and Cicer arietinum. Our results have high potential for agricultural research and provide an impact on food security. Introduction Nanotechnology involves engineering and manipulation of materials on a nanometre scale (1 to 100 nm) to generate biomaterials, sensors, and advanced technologies1,2,3. Carbon-based nanomaterials (CNMs) exhibit unusual physicochemical features at this size, along with a normal surface shapes and a high surface areas. CNMs such as fullerene (C60) are widely used in electronics and biomedicine3, while carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are commonly used as drug delivery carriers and in computers4. Moreover, reduced graphene oxide is frequently employed in lithium-ion batteries as well as for pollutant remediation5. CNMs will unavoidably be discharged into the environment throughout their life cycles since these applications are expanding6. As a result, better comprehension of the environmental consequences of CNMs is critical. Carbon nanoparticles (CNPs) released into the terrestrial ecosystem by eutrophication, agronomic usage, or other mechanisms persist in the soil in high quantities due to the limited soil mobilities of CNPs7,8. Plants are the foundation of all ecosystems, and they play critical roles in distribution and transport of CNPs in the ecosystem through uptake and bioaccumulation along the food chain9. The absorption capacities of CNPs are substantial due to their large surface areas, and as a result, they can make significant contributions to pollution disposal and soil remediation. CNPS have favourable effects on plant growth and physiology by enhancing plant growth, photosynthetic pigment content, and protein content. To counteract the detrimental effects of CNPs, nonenzymatic and enzymatic antioxidants, as well as a range of other compounds, are effective in protecting plants against the damaging effects of free radicals10. The shaped particle sizes and the structures of carbon nanostructures impact their applicability11. For developed nanomaterials, high-energy ball milling has proven to be an effective method for manufacturing nanocrystalline powders12. Recently, many studies have reported successful realization of carbon nanostructures engineered from oil fly ash waste by high-energy ball-milling techniques, with sizes ranging from 100 to 20 nm for agglomerated clusters; these provide highly graphitic compositions, large specific surface areas, porosity, nontoxicity, strength, and scattering responses, all of which are promising results13,14,15,16. Moreover, Numan et al. successfully used a sonication method to reduce the sizes of oil fly ash particles to a few nanometres13. However, ball-milled oil ash seems to be finer in shape than sonicated nanoparticles. In our recent study, we used oil fly ash as a starting material for production of powdered carbon nanoparticles with sizes less than 100 nm by high-energy ball milling16. This novel route was aimed at removing solid oil fly ash waste and using it as a successful dopant for titanium oxide films. However, these new studies could provide possible agricultural applications. High-energy ball-milling followed by sonication is a novel strategy for enhancing morphological properties. Thus, the technology might offer unique possibilities for oil fly ash engineering, allowing for eco-friendly and sustainable manufacturing from industrial waste. Therefore, exploitation of oil fly ash and manufactured carbon nanostructures could provide agricultural applications that should be checked for the first time. Phaseolus vulgaris L. and Cicer arietinum L. are economically significant crops grown around the globe17,18. Due to their ability to respond to several environmental conditions, Phaseolus vulgaris L. and Cicer arietinum L. were chosen as the experimental crops with which to study the effects of carbon nanostructures in oil fly ash doses. We aimed to examine the relationships between crops and COFA samples prepared by high-energy ball-milling and ball-milled samples followed by a sonication process by using physiological and morphological characteristics. Various criteria have been chosen to determine the influence of accumulated COFA materials on morphological and physiological parameters such as chlorophyll pigments and plant growth. Thus, the present study is needed because (i) it proposes a new strategy for preparing synthetic carbon nanoparticles from oil fly ash and (ii) it aids in identifying the maximum permitted concentrations of prepared carbon nanoparticles in crops, which will enable development of novel biotechnological methods for crop development. Materials and methods Synthesis and characterization of COFA samples A water desalination station in Jeddah city, Saudi Arabia, provided the raw sample of oil fly ash material. The high-energy ball-milling method was applied to produce powdered carbon nanoparticles from oil fly ash in a dry medium, as reported previously13. The elemental composition of the raw material, as determined in our previous report15, consisted of 88.43% unburned carbon (C), 8.31% oxygen (O), 3.12% sulfur (S) and 0.14% vanadium (V), as shown in Fig. 1. In a further step, the milled powder was sonicated in liquid media. A total of 10 g of this fly ash was kept for 45 h in a 250 mL agate-based jar. The balls used were made of exceptionally pure agate, and they weighed approximately 11 g and measured 15 mm in diameter. The raw fly ash labelled as RFA was milled to the nanoscale at 400 rpm in an ambient atmosphere using a horizontal oscillatory mill (PM 400; Retsch, Hann, Germany) set to 25 Hz, which produced ball milled powder labelled as BM. The samples were washed, filtered and slowly dried at 50 °C. BM samples were sonicated in deionized water and labelled BMW, or nitric acid (HNO3) solution (2 mol L−1) and labelled BMN. Then, the BMW and BMN samples were slowly dried. Finally, the morphologies and elemental compositions of the engineered samples were revealed by using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) analyses with a JEOL-7600F SEM instrument (Japan). SEM images are shown in Fig. 2. The morphological features of the prepared samples were enhanced (from a to d). It is noticeable that the nanopowder showed an increase in the abundance of clustered micropore structures but offered a high surface area and nano-sized particles (less than 35 nm) influenced by the type of treatment used in this study. Moreover, these features could provide unique access to several applications in the future11,19. Figure 2e shows the EDS chemical compositions of the prepared samples, which confirmed the effects of the synthetic process on the carbon and oxygen ratios. Additionally, Fig. 3 presents the results of the zeta potential analysis of synthesised samples. The zeta potential values of RFA, BM, BMN and BMW samples were at 7.21, 14.9, − 8.53 and 4.97 mV, respectively, which indicate the large cluster sizes as a result of lack of electrostatic repulsion. Figure 1 (a) SEM images and (b) energy dispersive spectroscopy analyses of the waste solid from oil fly ash15. Figure 2 SEM images of (a) RFA, (b) BM, (c) BMN, (d) BMW and (e) EDS elemental analyses. Figure 3 Zeta-potential measurements of (a) RFA, (b) BM, (c) BMN, and (d) BMW. Growth conditions As plant materials, both Phaseolus vulgaris cv. Nebraska and Cicer arietinum cv. Bittle-98 were chosen for the present study, which was carried out at the Department of Biology, College of Science, Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University (26.3928° N, 50.1926° E). P. vulgaris and C. arietinum seeds were obtained from the Altuwaijri company in Saudi Arabia. The strawberry seeds were sterilized with 4% sodium hypochlorite. The experiment used a split plot arrangement with a completely randomized design. Compost, sand (44.2%), silt (35.3%), and clay (23.2%) were used to fill pots (40 cm in height and 25 cm in diameter). In each of these pots, seedlings of P. vulgaris and C. arietinum were sown. Growing seedlings were watered twice weekly prior to application of experimental treatments. All of the experiments in this investigation were carried out in accordance with applicable institutional, national, and international g...

Trump-Era Health-Care Worker Conscience Rule Cases Still On Hold https://digitalalaskanews.com/trump-era-health-care-worker-conscience-rule-cases-still-on-hold/ Litigation remains on hold over a Trump administration rule that would withhold funding from any health-care provider that punishes an employee for refusing to violate their religious beliefs. The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit has held four cases in abeyance for over a year, based on representations by the US Health & Human Services Department that a new rule is in the works. The court’s latest order continuing the hold follows a status report in which HHS said its new rule would moot the litigation. The government asked the court to hold the cases in abeyance for … To read the full article log in. © 2022 The Bureau of National Affairs, Inc. All Rights Reserved Read More Here

Ada Fisher, Influential Black Republican In NC, Dies At 74 https://digitalalaskanews.com/ada-fisher-influential-black-republican-in-nc-dies-at-74/ Oct. 11, 2022Updated: Oct. 11, 2022 10:33 a.m. Ada Fisher, Republican National Committeewoman from North Carolina, right, greets Lara Trump, not seen, after a news conference for the 2020 Republican National Convention in Charlotte, N.C., Monday, Oct. 1, 2018. Fisher, a retired physician who was one of North Carolina’s members on the Republican National Committee for over a decade, has died at age 73, a funeral home said Tuesday, Oct. 11, 2022.Chuck Burton/AP DURHAM, N.C. (AP) — Dr. Ada Fisher, a retired physician who was one of North Carolina’s members on the Republican National Committee for over a decade, has died at age 74, a funeral home said Tuesday. Fisher, who gained prominence as a Black Republican who pushed for more diversity within the GOP, died Friday in Salisbury, according to Fisher Memorial Funeral Parlor in Durham. Christopher C. Fisher, a parlor staff member and Ada Fisher’s nephew, didn’t immediately have information on a cause of death. Ada Fisher also was known for her no-nonsense conservative views and her early support for former President Donald Trump. Fisher made the 2016 announcement on the Republican National Convention floor that gave 29 delegate votes to Trump. A Durham native who earned advanced degrees from the University of Wisconsin and John Hopkins University, Fisher entered politics after a career as a practicing physician in both family practice and corporate settings. She settled in Salisbury. Fisher, who was once a board member for the Rowan-Salisbury schools district, ran unsuccessfully for the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate in 2002. She also ran for the U.S. House, losing to Rep. Mel Watt, D-N.C., in the 2004 and 2006 general elections. State GOP activists elected Fisher as an RNC committeewoman in 2008 and she remained in the position until 2020. “Dr. Ada Fisher was an incredible woman and an NCGOP institution who fought harder than anyone to support the party and advance conservative principles,” U.S. Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., wrote in a tweet Monday. Many of her views were expressed in opinion pieces within The Salisbury Post, which continued running up until last month. Funeral arrangements were incomplete Tuesday. ___ The story has been updated to correct Fisher’s age to 74. Read More Here

Where's Trump? Hungary PM Asks On Twitter https://digitalalaskanews.com/wheres-trump-hungary-pm-asks-on-twitter/ By AFP 11 October 2022   |   3:14 pm A day after launching his Twitter account Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, an ally of Donald Trump, admitted Tuesday he missed the former United States president on the social media website. This file photo taken on September 16, 2016 shows Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban arriving for the press conference after the European Union Summit of 27 Heads of State or Government in Bratislava, Slovakia. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said on September 22, 2016, that migrants who have entered the EU illegally should be deported to camps outside the bloc such as on an island or on the north African coast. / AFP PHOTO / VLADIMIR SIMICEK A day after launching his Twitter account Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, an ally of Donald Trump, admitted Tuesday he missed the former United States president on the social media website. “After my first day on Twitter, there’s one question on my mind. Where is my good friend, @realDonaldTrump?” Orban posted. Trump was booted off Twitter — and handed a two-year suspension from Facebook — following the January 6, 2021 attack on the US Capitol by the then president’s supporters. He had used the popular and powerful platforms as a megaphone for his often controversial and sometimes extremist opinions as well as encouraging conspiracy theories. The hardline anti-immigration Orban meanwhile has forged links with US right-wingers in recent years, earning praise from Trump who also endorsed the Hungarian before his re-election last April. In August Orban was guest of honour at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Texas — an annual gathering of conservative activists — where his tub-thumping speech was greeted with wild applause. Orban’s authoritarian populism pleases the CPAC crowd but goes down less well at NATO and in Europe, where his support for Russia’s President Vladimir Putin puts him at odds with leaders. An avid user of Facebook — by far the most popular social media platform in Hungary — Orban’s first post on Twitter on Monday read: “Let’s make some noise!”. Latest NOW A day after launching his Twitter account Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, an ally of Donald Trump, admitted Tuesday he missed the former United States president on the social media website. 17 mins ago Russia on Tuesday added US tech giant Meta, the parent company of Instagram and Facebook, to a list of “terrorist and extremist” organisations, according to a database of the Federal Service for Financial Monitoring (Rosfinmonitoring). 26 mins ago PawPaw contains high levels of Vitamins A, C and E and it may reduce the risk of heart attack, and prevent the oxidation of cholesterol that leads to heart diseases. INGREDIENT Pawpaw All-purpose flour ½ tbsp Baking soda ½ cup Buttermilk 2 large eggs 2 tsp Vanilla extract ¼ tbsp Salt 1 cup Pawpaw pulp… 32 mins ago Corn is still in season. If you are bored with roasted and boiled corn, here is an easy-peasy one to try. INGREDIENTS Fresh corn 1 chopped cucumber 1 cup halved tomatoes ½ cup Chopped fresh coriander 1 Avocado ½ cup chopped onion ¼ Olive oil ½ tbsp Garlic Powder 2 tbsp Lemon juice ½ tbsp.… 35 mins ago The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) on Tuesday donated 86 drones to the Nigerian Navy (NN) toward enhancing its operations. Read More Here

Tulsi Gabbard Announces She Is Leaving Democratic Party, Calling It An 'elitist Cabal Of Warmongers' https://digitalalaskanews.com/tulsi-gabbard-announces-she-is-leaving-democratic-party-calling-it-an-elitist-cabal-of-warmongers/ Former Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard announced she is leaving the Democratic Party, denouncing it as an “elitist cabal of warmongers,” while calling upon other “common sense independent minded Democrats” to exit with her. “I can no longer remain in today’s Democratic Party that is now under the complete control of an elitist cabal of warmongers driven by cowardly wokeness, who divide us by racializing every issue & stoke anti-white racism, actively work to undermine our God-given freedoms, are hostile to people of faith & spirituality, demonize the police & protect criminals at the expense of law-abiding Americans, believe in open borders, weaponize the national security state to go after political opponents, and above all, dragging us ever closer to nuclear war,” Gabbard said on Twitter. Gabbard represented Hawaii’s 2nd Congressional District from 2013 to 2021 as a Democrat, and in 2020 she mounted an unsuccessful bid for the party’s presidential nomination. In in a video posted to Twitter on Tuesday, she claimed that the party she’s exiting stands for the “powerful elite,” not the people. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard answers media questions following a campaign event on Feb. 9, 2020, in Portsmouth, N.H. Scott Eisen/Getty Images, FILE “If you can no longer stomach the direction that the so called woke Democratic Party ideologues are taking our country. I invite you to join me,” she said. Gabbard paired her announcement with the launch of a podcast series on YouTube called “The Tulsi Gabbard Show.” The first upload is a 28-minute episode titled “Why I’m leaving the Democratic Party,” where she details her entrance into the Democratic party as a young person, “inspired by Democrats who stood up against the war in Vietnam” and those who stood up for plantation workers in Hawaii. Chief among the reasons her 20-year stint as a member of the Democratic Party will be cut short, she said, is her fear that “President Biden and Democratic Party elites have pushed us to the precipice of nuclear war, risking starting World War III and destroying the world as we know it.” Gabbard said that her entrance into the 2020 presidential cycle was also because of imminent “nuclear holocaust.” “I ran for president in 2020 because I knew that this is where we were headed. All the signs were there. I raised this issue every single day during the campaign and on the national debate stage for those of you who may have come to a town hall or who were watching, I’m sure you noticed, but the politicians and the media completely ignored it,” she said. In her announcement and throughout the episode, Gabbard touted a number of traditionally conservative talking points, repeating right-wing rhetoric like “wokeness” and “elites,” and harkening back to phrasing top GOP leaders have regularly circulated. In this Feb. 8, 2020, file photo, Democratic presidential candidate Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, D-Hawaii, speaks during the McIntyre-Shaheen 100 Club Dinner in Manchester, N.H. Mary Altaffer/AP, FILE She accused Democrats for turning American democracy into “a banana republic”– a term widely imparted by Republican leaders, especially to characterize the FBI’s search of former President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence in August. “The raid of MAL is another escalation in the weaponization of federal agencies against the Regime’s political opponents, while people like Hunter Biden get treated with kid gloves. Now the Regime is getting another 87k IRS agents to wield against its adversaries? Banana Republic,” Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis wrote after the raid. Gabbard has long been a Fox News contributor– in August, she guest-hosted “Tucker Carlson Tonight,” following the FBI’s raid of Mar-a-Lago. “Now, whatever your views are on Donald Trump, there’s no denying that the unprecedented raid on his Palm Beach home earlier this week has set our country on a dangerous new course, and there’s no turning back,” she said on the show. Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, a Republican, applauded Gabbard on “Fox & Friends” following her announcement, calling her an “independent maverick,” and noting that her exodus from Democrats may be an indicator of further movement away from the party. “I think when she ran for president, she realized how really isolated she was from the great majority of the Democratic Party, which is now, frankly, a pretty weird party. We saw the same thing happen in a slightly different way in Philadelphia last week, where the former deputy mayor, a Democrat, endorsed Dr. Oz for the U.S. Senate and said that John Fetterman is just so crazy on crime and so pro-criminal, he couldn’t be for him. So I think you’re seeing this drift, and we’ve certainly seen among Latinos a huge drift towards the Republican Party as they’re driven away by the weirder policies of the Democratic Party,” he said. Gabbard did not announce her next steps, or if she’d consider jumping to the Republican Party. She’s long spoken out against the two-party system that dominates American politics, however, leaving some to speculate that she may find a political home as an independent or in a third party. “I will say, with our two party system, I think it is broken. And it’s largely broken because of the outsized amount of power that the two parties have, making it impossible for really there to be a viable independent or third party,” she said in January 2020 during her run for president. ABC News’ Beatrice Peterson contributed to this report. Read More Here

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Lucy Letby Trial: Mum Walked In On Nurse Killing Baby, Trial Told https://digitalalaskanews.com/lucy-letby-trial-mum-walked-in-on-nurse-killing-baby-trial-told/ Image source, SWNS Image caption, Lucy Letby, 32, of Hereford, denies 22 charges at Manchester Crown Court An alleged killer nurse was interrupted by the mother of one of her victims who paid her baby boy a visit at the neonatal unit, a court has heard. Lucy Letby is accused of murdering five baby boys and two girls, and attempting to murder 10 other babies at Countess of Chester Hospital in 2015 and 2016. Manchester Crown Court heard child E’s mother did not realise he was being attacked and was told by the nurse the blood from his mouth was due to a tube. Ms Letby, 32, denies 22 charges. The nurse, of Hereford, is accused of murdering child E and attempting to murder his twin, child F, the following day. The court heard how the twins had been born prematurely and Ms Letby was the designated nurse for both boys. One night, their mother, who was an inpatient on the postnatal ward, decided to visit her twin sons in the neonatal unit. The jury was told the mother interrupted Ms Letby, who was in the process of attacking child E, but she did not realise this. Child E’s mother found her son acutely distressed and bleeding from his mouth. Ms Letby attempted to reassure the mother that the blood was due to the tube irritating his throat, the nurse said to the mother: “Trust me I’m a nurse.” “We suggest she was fobbed off by Lucy Letby,” prosecutor Nick Johnson KC said. The court heard the nurse urged the mother of child E to go back to the postnatal ward, which she did, but was so concerned that she phoned her husband. Ms Letby later made a record on the nursing notes which was not true – about the time that the twins’ mum came to visit her sons. Image source, Julia Quenzler/BBC Image caption, Lucy Letby told the mother of a distressed baby “trust me I’m a nurse” Mr Johnson said: “We say that the nursing notes made by Lucy Letby are false, misleading and designed to cover her tracks. “They fail to mention that child E was bleeding at 21:00 BST and they mention a meeting between his mum and a doctor that neither of them remember.” The court heard child E was bleeding so heavily that one of the doctors said he had never encountered such a large bleed in a small baby. Subsequent expert evidence established this would have represented a combined loss of more than 25% of child E’s blood volume. The jury heard after child E’s death his parents did not wish to have a post-mortem examination, the doctor on-call did not deem one necessary and the coroner’s office agreed. “As subsequent reviews have established that was a big mistake,” Mr Johnson said. ‘Not an accident’ The prosecution also told the court Ms Letby added insulin to child F’s feed. This caused child F’s blood sugar to start to drop calamitously while Ms Letby was present and continued after she had gone. Mr Johnson said: “Somebody poisoned him. No other baby on the neonatal unit was being prescribed insulin. Therefore it couldn’t have been negligence.” The jury was told it could not have been an accident. “You know who was in the room, and you know from the records who hung the [feed] bag,” Mr Johnson added. The court heard child F’s nutrients bag was replaced and he survived, but the medical team on the unit were concerned and ordered checks. It was also claimed Ms Letby took a “very unusual interest” in the parents of the twins, searching for them repeatedly on Facebook, including on Christmas Day in 2015. Image source, Julia Quenzler/BBC Image caption, Nick Johnson KC, prosecuting, previously said Lucy Letby was the “one common denominator” linking the deaths The court heard the nurse allegedly attempted to murder one baby, who had been born at 23 weeks, three times. Child G was born at a different hospital weighing 1lb 2oz (510g) and had later been transferred to the Chester hospital. She had been there three weeks and was “perfectly well” but then vomited powerfully and showed signs of infection, the jury heard. She was subsequently transferred away from the Countess of Chester Hospital back to the hospital where she was born, and made a “remarkable recovery”. The jury was told once child G recovered, she was then transferred back to Chester, where Ms Letby allegedly gave her milk via a tube and in little over an hour she had projectile vomited twice and was not breathing. There had been “no significant issues” with child G “until Lucy Letby got involved”, the court heard. “Putting it simply the milk in her vomit did not come from nowhere. That doesn’t happen by accident,” Mr Johnson said. An MRI scan taken between events one and two revealed neurological changes and a MRI scan some months later in August 2016 confirmed child G had sustained irreversible brain damage. Image source, PA Media Image caption, Lucy Letby worked on the neonatal ward at the Countess of Chester Hospital The court also heard about child C and D’s alleged murders. Ms Letby allegedly injected air into the stomach of the tiny, premature child C through a nose tube, causing his breathing and heart to stop. The trial heard Ms Letby agreed she had been the only person in the room when child C collapsed and she was supposed to be looking after another, more poorly baby, in another room. ‘Pattern emerging’ The court heard it was six days after she allegedly killed child A by injecting air into his bloodstream, and she later similarly attacked his twin sister, child B, causing her to collapse. “You can now see there was a pattern emerging,” Mr Johnson said. “Lucy Letby was the only person working on the night shift when child C died who had also been working on either of the shifts when child A died and his twin sister child B collapsed.” Mr Johnson told the court Ms Letby’s method of attacking the babies in the neonatal unit was “beginning to develop”. “She had injected air into the bloodstream of the first twins, child A and B, and varied this approach by injecting air into child C’s stomach via the nasogastric tube,” he said. The court heard on the day child C died, Ms Letby searched for the infant’s parents on Facebook. ‘Constant presence’ Mr Johnson also alleged Ms Letby murdered child D with an intentional injection of air. The baby girl had an infection but was responding well to treatment until she deteriorated and collapsed three times. The child’s monitor alarm sounded on the third collapse and she could not be revived, the court heard. At the time, three children had died and one had had a life-threatening episode in the neonatal unit and “only Lucy Letby was the constant presence”, the court was told. Ms Letby sent “many messages” to friends in the wake of child D’s death and the preceding deaths and collapses in which she suggested they could all clearly be explained as natural causes. The defendant later told police she could not explain why she had searched on Facebook for child D’s parents in the aftermath of her death. The jury has been told the trial may last up to six months. Why not follow BBC North West on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram? You can also send story ideas to northwest.newsonline@bbc.co.uk Related Internet Links The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Read More Here

Pastor On Leave After Reportedly Giving Out ‘i (Heart) Hot Youth Pastors’ Stickers https://digitalalaskanews.com/pastor-on-leave-after-reportedly-giving-out-i-heart-hot-youth-pastors-stickers-2/ A 35-year-old youth pastor at a South Carolina church has been placed on administrative leave after reportedly giving out stickers to students that read “i (heart) hot youth pastors.” The stickers caught attention online after they appeared in a social media post from someone who claimed their 14-year-old sister had received the sticker from the pastor. Fairview Baptist Church, a Southern Baptist congregation in Greer, S.C., announced Sunday that Cory Wall had been placed on administrative leave and will not be involved in student leadership while it conducts an investigation. “Our student pastor, Cory Wall, acknowledges that he made a poor decision and a mistake by making a sticker available that was offensive to some,” reads a post by the church’s personnel team and deacon officers on its website and Facebook page. The post did not describe the stickers Wall had made available. Fairview could not immediately be reached for comment. On Monday morning, Wall no longer appeared alongside church staff on Fairview’s website, where he was listed as its student pastor as recently as Friday. “We take this matter very seriously and want to be proactive as we move forward. Our main goal is to always make our campus a safe place for anyone who attends,” the church’s statement reads. The original social media post, which blurred the name of the church involved, claimed a youth pastor had given “i (heart) hot youth pastors” stickers to students during Midweek, the weekly gathering for students in sixth grade through high school at Fairview, according to the church website. Another social media post claimed to show an email exchange between Wall and someone expressing concerns about stickers being distributed at Midweek. “We’re updating our church-wide database, and I encouraged kids to come see me to get a sticker and update their information,” reads the email reportedly from Wall. “The sticker was meant to poke fun of the ‘I Love Hot Mom’ culture. In hindsight, the joke was of very poor taste and a mistake on my part. I do apologize for their distribution.” A number of sexual abuse cases involving youth pastors have made headlines in recent years, and the stickers touched a collective nerve as churches and denominations around the world, including the Southern Baptist Convention, reckon with their handling of abuse cases in the wake of the #MeToo and #ChurchToo movements. Leaders of the SBC’s Executive Committee released a list earlier this year detailing about 700 cases, dating back to the 1960s, of sexual abuse by pastors, Sunday school teachers, camp counselors, music ministers, bus drivers and missionaries, with about 400 tied to Southern Baptist churches from Alaska to Alabama. In 2018, Jules Woodson, a prominent advocate for sexual abuse survivors, helped spark reform in the SBC by publicly sharing her story of abuse by her former youth pastor. Read More Here

Most In New Poll Expect More Hostile Relations With Russia, North Korea https://digitalalaskanews.com/most-in-new-poll-expect-more-hostile-relations-with-russia-north-korea/ A TV screen shows a file image of a North Korean missile launch during a news program at the Seoul Railway Station in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, Sept. 28, 2022. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon) Most Americans expect increased hostile relations with adversaries like Russia and North Korea in the future, according to a new poll.  The poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research and the Pearson Institute for the Study and Resolution of Global Conflicts found that 60 percent of adults expect relations with the country’s adversaries to get worse, a sharp rise from the 26 percent who said the same four years ago.  Despite thinking there could be a rise in hostilities with adversaries, only 21 percent of those surveyed believe the country’s relationship with its allies will decline in the future, dropping from 46 percent four years ago.  Pollsters found that views of the country’s domestic policies influence views of the country’s international standing.  Sheila Kohanteb, the executive director of the Global Forum for the Pearson Institute, told AP that the results “clearly” show that “hyperpartisanship” is affecting how each party sees the United States’s position internationally.  She said the key factor in determining how someone would respond to the poll is “political bloc staying with political bloc.”  Pollsters reported that three-quarters of Democrats expecting the country’s global standing to worsen four years ago, in the middle of the Trump administration, while about the same amount now expect stability or improved standing in the future. About 6 in 10 Republicans expected improved standing four years ago, while the same proportion now believe the country’s standing will decline.  The overall percentage of Americans who expect the country’s international standing to worsen did decrease, from 48 percent in 2018 to 39 percent today.  The results come as Russia and North Korea have taken major steps to show aggression toward close U.S. allies.  Russia has been engaged in a major war in Ukraine as it attempts to take over the country based on false pretenses of liberating the Ukrainians and Russians in Ukraine. The country has struggled to oppose the momentum of Ukraine’s counteroffensive that it has launched, but Russia carried out missile strikes throughout Ukraine on Monday in a significant escalation of the war.  North Korea has also fired a series of missile tests near South Korea and Japan in an apparent show of force to the United States and its allies. Read More Here

Post Politics Now: Biden Seeks To Make His Party’s Case In Prime-Time TV Interview https://digitalalaskanews.com/post-politics-now-biden-seeks-to-make-his-partys-case-in-prime-time-tv-interview/ Today, with the midterm elections only four weeks off, President Biden will seek to make his party’s case in a sit-down interview airing in prime time on CNN. The conversation with the network’s Jake Tapper offers Biden an opportunity to discuss the economy, abortion rights and other issues at top of mind for voters. Biden gives such interviews infrequently. Earlier, Biden is scheduled to participate in a virtual meeting of the Group of Seven nations — Britain, Germany, France, Japan, Italy, Canada and the United States — to discuss Russia’s latest aggressions and to renew support for Ukraine. The meeting comes at a critical point as Russian President Vladimir Putin attempts to escalate the conflict in Ukraine. Your daily dashboard 8 a.m. Eastern: Biden and other G-7 leaders hold a virtual meeting to discuss support for Ukraine. 1:15 p.m. Eastern: White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre briefs reporters. Watch live here. 2:30 p.m. Eastern: Biden delivers virtual remarks at the Summit on Fire Prevention and Control. Watch live here. Got a question about politics? Submit it here. After 3 p.m. weekdays, return to this space and we’ll address what’s on the mind of readers. Analysis: Meet the House Republican who could lead a key environmental committee Return to menu If Republicans regain control of the House in November’s midterm elections, Rep. Bruce Westerman (R-Ark.) would become chair of the Natural Resources Committee, one of the most consequential panels for environmental policy. Writing in The Climate 202, The Post’s Maxine Joselow notes that in that role, Westerman would be tasked with helping to carve out a Republican agenda on climate and environmental issues, even as some GOP lawmakers continue to reject the scientific consensus on global warming. Per Maxine: The latest: Loan company accused of illegally trying to block student-debt relief Return to menu The American Federation of Teachers and the nonprofit Student Borrowers Protection Center on Tuesday sent a cease and desist letter to a student loan company at the center of one of several lawsuits to stop the Biden administration from canceling up to $20,000 in student loan debt. The pair allege that the Missouri Higher Education Loan Authority, a quasi-state entity commonly known as MOHELA, has violated California’s Student Borrower Bill of Rights. The state law prohibits student loan servicers from interfering with borrowers’ rights to loan forgiveness. The latest: Ads try to help Abrams with undecided Black male voters Return to menu In an effort to boost support for Democratic gubernatorial nominee Stacey Abrams, People for the American Way is launching a new plan focused on undecided Black male voters in Georgia. The group is beginning a radio ad on Tuesday that starts with an extraordinary admission. “Look, I know she’s not your favorite,” one man says to the other in the spot, referring to Abrams. “But Brian Kemp? You gotta watch what he does, not just what he says.” Kemp, Georgia’s Republican governor, is campaigning for a second term as polls show he has an edge in the race. And polls show that Abrams, who is African American, is underperforming with Black men. Take a look: Son’s accusations about Herschel Walker are focus of new ad Return to menu A national Democratic group announced a new television ad Tuesday that features recent criticism that Republican Georgia Senate candidate Herschel Walker’s son leveled last week against his father. Georgia Honor, a group funded by the Senate Majority PAC, which is affiliated with Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.), quotes a recent social media statement by Christian Walker, Herschel’s son, along with news coverage of the public family fallout. The ad was first reported by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. The latest: Republican Kinzinger endorses Democrats in key races Return to menu Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.), a fierce critic of former president Donald Trump, is out with a list of a dozen candidates endorsed by his leadership PAC, Country First. Half of them are Democrats. Kinzinger, who opted not to seek reelection this year himself, endorsed four Democratic secretary of state candidates: incumbents Steve Simon in Minnesota and Jocelyn Benson in Michigan; and Adrian Fontes in Arizona and Cisco Aguilar in Nevada, both of whom are seeking open seats. The winners of these races will play a big role in administering elections in their states. Analysis: Biden faces new tests on Ukraine Return to menu The war in Ukraine is at a critical inflection point as Russian President Vladimir Putin attempts to escalate the conflict despite a hampered military, with Ukraine’s allies skittish about high energy prices ahead of winter and the United Nations set to vote on a draft resolution condemning Russia. Writing in The Early 202, The Post’s Theodoric Meyer and Leigh Ann Caldwell say that President Biden will attend a virtual meeting of the Group of Seven — Britain, Germany, France, Japan, Italy, Canada and the United States — Tuesday to discuss Russia’s latest aggressions and to renew support for Ukraine. Per our colleagues: On our radar: Biden to sit for prime-time interview with CNN Return to menu President Biden plans to sit for a one-on-one interview with CNN’s Jake Tapper that is scheduled to air Tuesday night in prime time. Biden, who grants such interviews infrequently, is expected to make his party’s case ahead of the November midterms, which are now just four weeks off. CNN plans to air the interview at 9 p.m. Eastern time. Biden has previously taken part in CNN-hosted town halls but has not granted the network a one-on-one interview. His most recent such interview aired last month on CBS’s “60 Minutes.” Noted: ‘Nobody should have to go to jail for smoking weed,’ Harris says Return to menu Vice President Harris on Monday urged both governors and Congress to take action in the wake of President Biden’s announcement last week that he is offering mass pardons to people convicted of a federal crime for simply possessing marijuana. “Nobody should have to go to jail for smoking weed, right?” Harris said during an appearance on NBC’s “Late Night with Seth Meyers.” Harris, a former prosecutor, reiterated Biden’s plea to governors to take similar actions at the state level, where the vast majority of marijuana-related convictions take place. On our radar: Abortion rights advocates eye ballot measures for 2024 Return to menu Abortion rights advocates are exploring ballot measures to enshrine access to the procedure in state constitutions in 2024, including in a handful of Republican-led states with restrictions on the books. The Post’s Rachel Roubein reports that the effort represents an emerging strategy for abortion rights advocates and a growing belief that public opinion is on their side. After the Supreme Court overturned the decision granting a constitutional right to abortion, activists know that appealing directly to voters is one of the only ways to counteract bans in conservative states and reshape access in a post-Roe America. Per Rachel: Noted: How Trump’s legal expenses consumed GOP donor money Return to menu Donald Trump’s political operation has spent more money since he left office on lawyers representing him and a pair of nonprofits staffed by former Cabinet members than it has on Republican congressional campaigns, according to a review of financial filings. The Post’s Isaac Stanley-Becker and Josh Dawsey report that Trump’s leadership PAC, Save America, has blitzed supporters in recent days with fundraising solicitations that focus on next month’s high-stakes contest for control of Congress. “It is IMPERATIVE that we win BIG in November,” blared an email last week. The latest: Ohio Senate candidates play to center in debate Return to menu Both of Ohio’s Senate candidates played to the center Monday at their first debate, attempting to define themselves as the common-sense alternative to ideologically extreme opponents. Democratic Rep. Tim Ryan (R) praised the trade and military funding policies of former president Donald Trump, while saying President Biden should not run again and Vice President Harris was “absolutely wrong” when she said the southern border was secure. He cast Republican J.D. Vance as an “extremist” supplicant to Trump. Noted: New book details how McCarthy came to support Trump after Jan. 6 Return to menu A new book details a Republican-wide campaign to whitewash the details of what happened on Jan. 6, 2021, in the aftermath of the second impeachment of President Donald Trump, including the role played by House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.). The Post’s Marianna Sotomayor reports on the book, “Unchecked: The Untold Story Behind Congress’s Botched Impeachments of Donald Trump,” by Washington Post reporter Karoun Demirjian and Politico reporter Rachael Bade. A copy was obtained by The Post ahead of its release next week. The latest: Biden scrambles to avert cracks in pro-Ukraine coalition Return to menu President Biden is pushing hard to hold together what has become a central mission of his presidency: maintaining the global and domestic coalition supporting Ukraine against Russia’s aggression. The Post’s Yasmeen Abutaleb and John Hudson report that as the war heads into its first winter, probably a bitter and brutal one, some U.S. allies face economic head winds propelled by the war, while at home some Republicans voice skepticism about the billions in aid going to Ukraine. Per our colleagues: These efforts face a major test Wednesday when the United Nations votes on a draft resolution condemning Russia’s annexation of four parts of Ukraine. Biden and U.S. officials have been work...

NAACP Blasts Tuberville For ‘flat Out Racist’ Reparations Comments https://digitalalaskanews.com/naacp-blasts-tuberville-for-flat-out-racist-reparations-comments/ (The Hill) — NAACP president Derrick Johnson on Monday accused Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) of spreading dangerous rhetoric after the senator claimed Democrats want reparations for minorities because they are “pro-crime.” “Senator Tuberville’s comments are flat out racist, ignorant and utterly sickening,” Johnson said in a statement Monday. “His words promote a centuries-old lie about Black people that throughout history have resulted in the most dangerous policies and violent attacks on our community.” “We’ve seen this before from the far-right, and we’ve seen what they can do when they take power,” Johnson continued. “Next time the Senator wants to talk about crime, he should talk about Donald Trump’s hate-fueled rally on January 6, 2021, and the attacks that followed. Perhaps the real criminals are in his orbit.” Tuberville’s comments came at a rally hosted by former President Donald Trump in Minden, Nev., on Saturday. He accused Democrats of being intentionally soft on crime. “They want crime because they want to take over what you got,” Tuberville said. “They want to control what you have. They want reparations because they think the people that do the crime are owed that.” Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.) defended Tuberville Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” saying the comments were not meant to be racist and the rise in crime across the country cannot be ignored. With midterms less than a month away, Republicans have used the increase in crime to mobilize voters. They’ve accused Democrats and liberal district attorneys as being soft on prosecuting offenders. Johnson’s statement follows CNN political analyst Bakari Sellers’s comments on “State of the Union” on Sunday.  Sellers said Tuberville’s comments evoked “racist tropes” and a larger belief within the Republican party. “For him to give these racist tropes — I mean, it infuriates me,” Sellers said. “But this is a large swath of the Republican Party that they have to deal with that they have never done.” Read More Here

Ukraine Leader Asking G7 For Air Defence Weapons After Russian Strikes https://digitalalaskanews.com/ukraine-leader-asking-g7-for-air-defence-weapons-after-russian-strikes/ G7 leaders to discuss Ukraine later on Tuesday Expected to review Kyiv’s request for air defence systems May also warn Belarus against closer involvement Russia says it will respond to greater Western aid KYIV, Oct 11 (Reuters) – President Volodymyr Zelenskiy was asking the leaders of the G7 group of nations to urgently supply Ukraine with air defence weapons on Tuesday, after Russia rained down cruise missiles on cities across the country in a new escalation of the war. More missile strikes killed at least one person in the southeastern town of Zaporizhzhia and left part of the Western city of Lviv without power, local officials said. Air raid sirens earlier wailed across Ukraine for a second day. Other parts of the country remained blacked out after the cruise missile attacks on Monday which officials said killed 19 people in the biggest air raids since the start of the conflict. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Russian President Vladimir Putin, under domestic pressure to ramp up the seven-month-old war as his forces have lost ground since early September, said he ordered the strikes as revenge for an explosion that damaged Russia’s bridge to annexed Crimea. Kyiv and its allies condemned the attacks, which mainly hit civil infrastructure such as power stations but also landed in parks, tourist sites and busy rush hour streets. Russia has annexed new tracts of Ukraine, mobilised hundreds of thousands of Russians to fight and repeatedly threatened to use nuclear arms in recent weeks, spreading alarm in the West. A European diplomat said the NATO defence alliance was considering convening a virtual summit to consider its response. The White House said U.S. President Joe Biden and other G7 leaders met virtually to discuss what more they can do to support Ukraine and listened to Zelenskiy, who has called air defence systems his “number 1 priority”. Biden has already promised more air defences, a pledge that Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said would extend the conflict. “The mood of this summit is already obvious and predictable. The confrontation will continue,” Peskov told reporters. The broad avenues of the capital Kyiv were largely deserted after air raid sirens resounded at the start of the morning rush hour – the same time that Russian missiles struck on Monday. Residents took cover again deep in the underground Metro, where trains were still running. Viktoriya Moshkivski, 35, and her family were among hundreds of people waiting for the all-clear in the Zoloti Vorota station, near a park where a missile ripped a crater next to a playground on Monday. “(Putin) thinks that if he scares the population, he can ask for concessions, but he is not scaring us. He is pissing us off,” she said as her sons, Timur, 5, and Rinat, 3, sat by her side on a sleeping bag, the younger playing with a King Kong action figure. MORE STRIKES Russia said it continued to launch long-range air strikes on Ukraine’s energy and military infrastructure on Tuesday, although the attacks did not seem as intense as the day before. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said the main targets were energy facilities in a campaign to make life unbearable for civilians that had been planned well in advance. People shelter inside a subway station during a Russian missile attack in Kyiv, Ukraine October 11, 2022. REUTERS/Viacheslav Ratynskyi “They’ve hit many yesterday and they hit the same and new ones today,” he wrote on Twitter. Hundreds of settlements around Kyiv, Lviv and elsewhere were still without power on Tuesday, Deputy Interior Minister Yevheniy Yenin told a briefing. The governor of the southern town of Mykolayiv said Russia was firing enough to keep people in shelters. “What is this if not terror?” he said on national television. In Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine’s sixth-largest city, apartment blocks have been struck overnight at least three times in the past week, killing civilians while they slept. Moscow has denied intentionally targeting them. The city remained under Ukrainian control after Russia occupied most of the surrounding province, among four partially occupied regions that Moscow claims to have annexed this month. In an overnight video address from the scene of one of the attacks in Kyiv, Zelenskiy promised that Ukraine would keep fighting. “We will do everything to strengthen our armed forces. We will make the battlefield more painful for the enemy.” BELARUS FEARS G7 leaders are also expected to issue a warning to Belarus, Moscow’s closest ally, after Minsk said on Monday it was deploying soldiers with Russian forces near Ukraine in response to what it called a threat from Kyiv and its Western allies. Belarus, whose troops have not yet crossed into Ukraine, could face more sanctions if it gets more involved, French Foreign Affairs Minister Catherine Colonna told French radio. Russia had violated the rules of war with Monday’s attacks, she added. Moscow has accused the West of escalating the conflict by supporting Ukraine. “We warn and hope that they realise the danger of uncontrolled escalation in Washington and other Western capitals,” Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov was quoted as saying by RIA news agency on Tuesday. The director of Britain’s GCHQ spy agency, Jeremy Fleming, said it would expect to see signs if Russia was considering deploying nuclear arms but that its ground forces were running out of supplies. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Russia would not turn down a meeting between Putin and Biden at a forthcoming G20 meeting and would consider the proposal if it receives one. Putin on Tuesday met the president of the United Arab Emirates, a member of the group of oil producers known as OPEC+ that rebuffed the United States last week by announcing steep production cuts. State news agency WAM had said President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan would push for “military de-escalation”. The Kremlin said that on Thursday, Putin would meet Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, who is proposing to host peace talks. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Reporting by Reuters bureaux; Writing by Stephen Coates, Andrew Osborn, Peter Graff; Editing by Philippa Fletcher and Nick Macfie Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles. Read More Here

Amazon Prime Day Gaming Sales Live: Save With PS5, Xbox, And Nintendo Switch Deals https://digitalalaskanews.com/amazon-prime-day-gaming-sales-live-save-with-ps5-xbox-and-nintendo-switch-deals/ The world’s biggest retailer has jumped the gun with its Amazon Prime Day gaming sales. This unexpected avalanche of reductions gets you money off most major platforms ahead of Black Friday, and it spans everything from games to accessories. Want a new headset or the latest release? Now might be your chance. Because there are a lot of offers to wade through (and not all of them are good), we’ve been hunting down the very best Amazon Prime Day gaming sales here to save you time. If there’s a discount we think you should know about, you’ll find it below. This live blog will be updated regularly as well, so keep it bookmarked and drop by every now and then to see what’s going on. Just remember, you’ll need a Prime account to take advantage of these savings. If you don’t have one yet, pick up the 30 day free trial (opens in new tab) and avoid having to pay the normal $14.99 / £8.99 monthly rate.  Be sure to move quickly, too. These Amazon Prime Day gaming sales are only due to last from October 11 – 12, so the savings won’t be available for long. As such, we wouldn’t recommend holding out for any further reductions as the event wears on. This is likely to be the best you’ll get, at least until 2022’s Black Friday gaming deals roll around at the end of November. Today’s best Amazon Prime Day gaming sales in the US Amazon Prime Free Trial: get 30 days free for all the savings (opens in new tab) Controllers: first savings on Elite Series 2 Core and much more (opens in new tab) Gaming mice: Razer, Corsair, and Logitech starting from $18.99 (opens in new tab) Gaming keyboards: record low prices across our favorite models (opens in new tab) Headsets: save up to $60 on Logitech, Razer and more (opens in new tab) Laptops: gaming laptops now starting at $589 (opens in new tab) Nintendo Switch: $20 off big games and accessories from $9.99 (opens in new tab) PS5: save $20 on Horizon Forbidden West and more (opens in new tab) TVs: LG OLED TVs now under $700 (opens in new tab) Xbox Series S: bundles from $289 and first controller savings (opens in new tab) Xbox Series X: save on storage, games, controllers, and more (opens in new tab) Today’s best Amazon Prime Day gaming sales in the UK Controllers: up to £25 off Xbox, Switch, and PC gamepads (opens in new tab) Gaming mice: prices start at £12 with 33% off Game Pass (opens in new tab) Gaming keyboards: save up to £70 on Logitech, Razer and more (opens in new tab) Headsets: prices now start at just £15 (opens in new tab) Laptops: gaming laptops now starting at £559 with COD included (opens in new tab) Nintendo Switch: OLED bundles now under £300 (opens in new tab) PS5: games now down to as little as £12 (opens in new tab) TVs: 2022 4K TVs from £249 (opens in new tab) Xbox Series S: console down to just £199 (opens in new tab) Xbox Series X: in stock now plus big savings on games and accessories (opens in new tab) Refresh 2022-10-11T12:58:23.434Z Logitech G29 racing wheel (PS5 / PS4), now $199.99 (was $399.99) at Amazon (opens in new tab) (Image credit: Future) Don’t think we’ve forgotten about you Sony fans! You’ll also find the Logitech G29 steering wheel on sale in today’s Amazon Prime gaming sales – with a massive $200 discount. That means you’re picking up the well celebrated suite for just $199.99 (was $399.99) (opens in new tab). You’re getting that classic force feedback touch of luxury here, with three pedals to complete the setup as well. We have seen the G29 cheaper than this, but that was way back in 2019 again – this is the best price we’ve seen in years.  UK: £349.99 £169.99 at Amazon (opens in new tab) 2022-10-11T12:34:21.479Z Logitech G920 Driving Force Racing Wheel, now $199.99 (was $299.99) at Amazon (opens in new tab) (Image credit: Future) If you’re on the hunt for an Xbox steering wheel in today’s Prime Day gaming sales, you’ll be happy to see a massive $100 discount on the Logitech G920. You’ll find the wheel and pedals available for $199.99 right now (opens in new tab). That marks a position just $10 away from a record low we haven’t seen since 2019, making today’s sale price the best we’ve seen for two years. If that’s not enough reason to finally kit out your sim-racing setup we don’t know what is.  UK: £349.99 £169.99 at Amazon (opens in new tab) 2022-10-11T12:12:08.786Z Apple iPad 10.2-inch (2021), now $269 (was $329.99) at Amazon (opens in new tab) (Image credit: Future) Yes, it’s gaming-adjacent – but we had to tell you about this $269 sale price (opens in new tab) on the 10.2-inch iPad. That’s a brand new record low, and a particularly special one at that. We never saw the previous generation even hit $279 in its lifetime, and we only started to see prices lower than $299 in the last few weeks. If you’re looking to get streaming (games or Netflix), or you’re keen to see what Apple Arcade has in store this is a stunning offer.  2022-10-11T11:49:25.673Z Horizon Forbidden West (PS5), now $49.99 (was $69.99) at Amazon (opens in new tab) (Image credit: Sony) Horizon Forbidden West is one of the biggest games to launch on PS5 this year. That means any savings are going to be worth taking note of, let alone a record low price. We’ve only spotted this $49.99 rate (opens in new tab) on the launch edition once before, briefly back in September, so if you missed out then this is an excellent second chance. You’ll also find the PS4 version available for $39.99 as well (opens in new tab) – saving you $20. UK: £69.99 £48.26 at Amazon (opens in new tab) 2022-10-11T11:18:23.785Z ASUS TUF F15 gaming laptop, now $589.99 (was $649.99) at Amazon (opens in new tab) (Image credit: Future) For those wanting an affordable but still impressive rig, this F15 offer for $589.99 at Amazon instead of almost $650 shouldn’t be missed. Yes, it has an over-dramatic name that brings fighter jets to mind. But still. The TUF range is well known for being home to some of the best entry-level gaming laptops on the market, and this one should be able to handle most games on moderate settings thanks to an i5-10300H processor, a GTX 1650 graphics card, 8GB RAM, and a nippy 512GB PCIe SSD. That’s the model’s lowest price too, so you’re getting maximum bang for buck in today’s Amazon Prime gaming sales.  UK: Asus TUF F15 (RTX 3060) – £1,019.99 £898 at Amazon (opens in new tab) 2022-10-11T10:53:46.883Z Super Mario 3D World + Bowser’s Fury, now $39.99 (was $59.99) at Amazon (opens in new tab) (Image credit: Future) Super Mario 3D World has taken its time to stray too far from its $59.99 MSRP. Over the last few months, we’ve been lucky to find $10 off this port – particularly frustrating seeing as it came out last year. Still, this is an excellent title and Nintendo is renowned for keeping its Mario canon games well within their MSRPs. That makes today’s $39.99 sales price (opens in new tab) particularly competitive – with a $20 saving in Amazon’s latest Prime Day gaming deals.  UK: £49.99 £37.99 at Amazon (opens in new tab) 2022-10-11T10:34:24.842Z HyperX Cloud Alpha S headset, now $79.99 (was $129.99) at Amazon (Image credit: Future) If you’re looking to upgrade your PC gaming setup, this is a great choice for $79.99 at Amazon (opens in new tab). HyperX is known for being one of the best in the business with comfortable but effective headsets that have an upside of making you look like a plane pilot, and the Cloud Alpha offers impressive 7.1 surround sound as well. You’re also getting a mixer for chat and mic balance, which is always handy if you play a lot of multiplayer games where you talk with friends. But before we go any further, a quick aside for console players: while you can use the Cloud Alpha on PS4 via the 3.4mm jack, be advised that you won’t be able to take advantage of the headset’s 7.1 surround. That’s only available on PC. 2022-10-11T10:07:08.821Z Razer Huntsman V2 Analog, now $179.99 (was $249.99) at Amazon (Image credit: Future) We’ve used this keyboard ourselves for a long time now so can speak for its quality first-hand – it’s top of our best gaming keyboard rankings after all. That makes this saving, getting you the device for $179.99 at Amazon (opens in new tab), one of the better discounts we’ve seen from the Amazon Prime gaming sales so far. While it isn’t the V2 Analog’s lowest price (it once dipped to $139.99), we haven’t seen the keyboard fall to this level since June 2022. And seeing as it features keys capable of variable pressure to simulate analog sticks, that’s a pretty good offer overall. UK: £249.99 £170.21 at Amazon (opens in new tab) Xbox Elite Wireless Controller Series 2 Core, now $116.99 (was $129.99) (opens in new tab) (Image credit: Future) This is the first discount we’ve seen on the Xbox Elite Wireless Controller Series 2 Core. It might be a mouthful, but if you’re after the precision and luxury feel of the premium Elite Series 2, it’s worth getting your head around this ridiculous name. On Amazon’s page you’ll still find a $129.99 price, but be sure to tick the coupon box to save $12 and secure it for $116.99 (opens in new tab). It goes without saying this is a record low price – Microsoft’s latest gamepad only hit the shelves last month.  2022-10-11T09:33:56.129Z Razer Kraken Kitty headset in Quartz Pink, now $94.99 (was $149.99) at Amazon (Image credit: Future) We considered opening with a cat-related pun, but you know what? We’re better than that. It’s enough to say that this iconic headset has taken a massive tumble in price, bringing it back to an all-time low. You’ll be able to use it on your laptop or PC, and it’s packing THX Spatial Audio as well for superior sound. Oh, and don’t forget about the customizable RGB lighting on each ear. You can make it glow whatever color you li...

Tulsi Gabbard Leaving ‘elitist’ Democratic Party, Blasts ‘cowardly Wokeness’ https://digitalalaskanews.com/tulsi-gabbard-leaving-elitist-democratic-party-blasts-cowardly-wokeness/ Former Democratic presidential candidate Tulsi Gabbard announced she is leaving the party Tuesday — blasting the political organization as an “an elitist cabal” driven by “cowardly wokeness.” ​”​I can no longer remain in today’s Democratic Party that is now under the complete control of an elitist cabal of warmongers driven by cowardly wokeness, who divide us by racializing every issue ​and stoke anti-white racism, actively work to undermine our God-given freedoms​ that are enshrined in our Constitution,” the Hawaii congresswoman said in a searing video posted on Twitter. She condemned the progressive party for being “hostile to people of faith and spirituality” while demonizing the police and protecting criminals “at the expense of law​-abiding Americans.” She then accused party leaders of weaponizing national security “to go after their political opponents, and above all, who are dragging us ever closer to ​nuclear war.​”​​ Tulsi Gabbard accused Democrats of hurting “law​-abiding Americans.” Twitter/Tulsi Gabbard Gabbard, who sought the Democratic nomination in 2020 before dropping out and endorsing Joe Biden’s candidacy, said she believes in a government “that’s of the people, by the people and for the people.”​ “Unfortunately, today’s Democratic Party does not. Instead it stands for a government that is of, by, and for the powerful elite,” she said. Gabbard also addressed other disillusioned “common-sense” Democrats — calling on them to follow her lead. Tulsi Gabbard did not mention President Biden in her blistering video. REUTERS/Sam Wolfe/File Tulsi Gabbard ran for the Democratic nomination in the 2020 presidential primaries. AP Photo/Meg Kinnard “I’m calling on my fellow common-sense, independent-minded Democrats to join me in leaving the Democratic Party,” she continued. “If you can no longer stomach the direction that the so-called woke Democratic Party ideologues are taking our country, and I invite you to join me.” Read More Here