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Hong Kong's Hang Seng Pops 6% On Return To Trade; Asia Markets Rise After U.S. Stocks Rallied https://digitalalaskanews.com/hong-kongs-hang-seng-pops-6-on-return-to-trade-asia-markets-rise-after-u-s-stocks-rallied-2/ People cross a street in Causeway Bay, Hong Kong. Marc Fernandes | Nurphoto | Getty Images Shares in the Asia-Pacific traded higher on Wednesday after U.S. stocks rallied for a second day. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index surged to close 5.9% higher at 18,087.97 on its return after a holiday Tuesday. The Hang Seng Tech index soared 7.54% higher. The Nikkei 225 in Japan rose 0.48% to close at 27,120.53, while the Topix added 0.32% to 1,912.92. In South Korea, the Kospi was up 0.26% at 2,215.22 and the Kosdaq gave up early gains to close 1.64% lower at 685.34. Inflation in South Korea slowed slightly in September, according to official data released Wednesday. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 was up 1.74% at 6,815.70. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 2.55%. Mainland China markets remain closed for the Golden Week holiday, and India’s stock market is also shut for a holiday. On Wall Street overnight, stocks soared overnight in the U.S. for a second session. The Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 825.43 points, or 2.8%, to 30,316.32. The S&P 500 advanced nearly 3.1% to close at 3,790.93, and the Nasdaq Composite was 3.3% higher to end at 11,176.41. “There is no denying incoming U.S. economic data is having a hand in equity, bond and currency moves so far this week,” wrote Ray Attrill, head of FX strategy at National Australia Bank. The U.S. Job Openings and Labor Turnover report sprang a “big downside surprise” that couldn’t be ignored, he wrote. It’s the “first meaningful sign of some cracks” in the labor market, though it is still very tight, he added. — CNBC’s Tanaya Macheel and Alex Harring contributed to this report. Standard Chartered says the Thai baht could recover in the fourth quarter Thailand’s current account has been challenged by high energy prices and still-weak tourism, but the outlook is better, said Mayank Mishra, global macro strategist at Standard Chartered Bank. He said tourism numbers are “picking up healthily,” energy prices have come off from their peaks and shipping costs have fallen. “Net-net, the current account outflow for Thailand is looking a lot better to us. And that’s why we believe that in Q4, we will have an opportunity to play for Thai baht recovery.” The Thai baht last stood at 37.33 against the greenback. — Charmaine Jacob Hong Kong stock movers: HSBC, Ping An, tech stocks Central banks in Asia are being more modest than the Fed, says S&P Global Ratings The U.S. may be the “odd man out” as the Federal Reserve continues its aggressive rate hike path, said Louis Kuijs, chief Asia-Pacific economist at S&P Global Ratings. Central banks in Asia that are increasing interest rates are “being much more modest,” Kuijs said. It’s important that central banks are not all just following whatever the Fed does, Kuijs said on CNBC’s “Squawk Box Asia” on Wednesday. “We have weaker inflation [in Asia], that means lower interest rates and lower expectations. It does mean of course, pressure on the currencies. But in terms of what it means for the for the real economy and for growth, and it’s not too bad,” he added. — Charmaine Jacob Shares of TSMC jump after Morgan Stanley says it’s a ‘top pick’ TSMC’s shares in Taiwan jumped as much as 5.13% after Morgan Stanley named the world’s largest chip maker as the top pick in a note which predicted a semiconductor cycle recovery in the second half of 2023. The investment bank said TSMC is an industry leader with pricing power. The company’s U.S.-listed stock also rose about 5% overnight. — Abigail Ng CNBC Pro: Bank of America reveals its global picks for this quarter, giving one stock over 100% upside Interest rate rises, soaring energy prices and political turmoil in some parts of the world have battered stocks going into the final quarter of this year. To help investors navigate the volatility, Bank of America has revealed its top “short-term stock recommendations” for the next quarter, which they expect to “significantly outperform” their peers. CNBC Pro subscribers can read about five of their stock picks here. — Ganesh Rao BYD’s Hong Kong shares pop after September sales jump, deal with transport firm CNBC Pro: Market is heading toward the ‘best week of the year,’ pro says — and names 2 stocks to play it Market veteran Phil Blancato, whose firm has more than $4 billion in assets under management, said he expects next week to be a “turnaround week” for markets. Investors should take the chance to “jump into the market,” he said, as he named two stocks to take advantage of the rally ahead. Pro subscribers can read more here. — Zavier Ong New Zealand dollar gains after central bank hikes rates by 50 basis points The New Zealand dollar strengthened against the U.S. dollar after the Reserve Bank of New Zealand raised interest rates. The official cash rate now stands at 3.5%, after the central bank increased rates by half a point to “maintain price stability and contribute to maximum sustainable employment,” according to an official statement. The kiwi dollar gained as much as 0.86% against the greenback, and last traded about 0.5% higher at $0.5762. — Abigail Ng Core inflation in South Korea may peak in October, BofA Securities says South Korea’s core inflation, which excludes food and energy prices, could peak in October as demand slows due to higher prices and rising interest rates, said Kathleen Oh, Korea economist at BofA Securities. Core CPI came in at 4.1% in September compared to a year ago, up slightly from August’s 4%. “Even after it peaks, I think the slowdown of the inflation is going to be quite gradual, so that the overall level of prices will be elevated for at least next six or nine months ahead,” she told CNBC’s “Squawk Box Asia.” Headline inflation may have peaked in July since oil prices have fallen, she added. — Abigail Ng CNBC Pro: This isn’t the market bottom, Morgan Stanley says, naming 3 things that have to happen first There’s unlikely to be a sustainable market bottom unless three conditions are met, according to Morgan Stanley. “We … remind readers that the last few innings of every bear market are very challenging to trade as volatility becomes extreme,” they wrote. “None of the conditions we have been looking for to call an end to this bear market are in place.” Pro subscribers can read more here. — Weizhen Tan South Korea inflation eased slightly in September Consumer prices in South Korea rose less than expected in September from a year ago, official data showed. The CPI print came in at 5.6%, compared with 5.7% that economists polled by Reuters predicted. Prices rose 5.7% in August. September’s reading marks a second month of softening in inflation, and the slowest growth in four months. — Abigail Ng Dollar index falls back to 110 One factor helping equity markets on Tuesday could be a slightly weaker dollar, which is falling for the fifth-straight day. The DXY US Dollar Currency Index was down 1.5% in afternoon trading at 110.06. The index was trading as high as 114.78 last week, when there was concern about a failure of the UK government bond market. The British pound and the euro were each more than 1% against the dollar on Tuesday. The greenback was also down against the Japanese yen. —Jesse Pound, Gina Francolla Read More Here

Ukraine Takes Back Dozens Of Towns In 'annexed' Regions; Putin Is 'out Of Moves,' Ex-CIA Chief Says https://digitalalaskanews.com/ukraine-takes-back-dozens-of-towns-in-annexed-regions-putin-is-out-of-moves-ex-cia-chief-says/ Ukrainian forces have counted more gains on the battlefield, with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy hailing more “good news from the front lines” in his nightly address Tuesday. Rapid and significant gains have been counted in Ukraine’s counteroffensive in the south in particular, with advances in the Kherson region. Now, dozens of settlements have been liberated this week across four regions that Russia “annexed” last week, Zelenskyy said. Ukrainian soldiers sit atop a personnel armored carrier on a road near Lyman, in the Donetsk region, on Oct. 4, 2022. Anatolii Stepanov | Afp | Getty Images Moscow’s hold on “annexed” territories (Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, Luhansk and Donetsk) looks increasingly tenuous, with none of the regions fully occupied by Russian forces, and as Ukraine’s counteroffensives in the east and south maintain their momentum. The U.S. has committed even more firepower to Ukraine’s fight. The Biden administration announced another $625 million in military aid to Kyiv Tuesday. In a call with Zelenskyy, President Joe Biden said the U.S. would never recognize the illegal annexation attempts. Russian leaders likely concerned as Ukraine’s forces approach Luhansk borders, UK says Russian leaders are highly likely to be concerned that leading Ukrainian units are now approaching the borders of Luhansk region which Russia claimed to have formally annexed last week, the British Ministry of Defense said Wednesday. In its latest intelligence update on Twitter, the ministry said Ukraine continues to make progress in offensive operations along both the northeastern and southern fronts. “In the north-east, in Kharkiv Oblast [or province], Ukraine has now consolidated a substantial area of territory east of the Oskil River,” it said, with its formations advancing up to 12 miles beyond the river “into Russia’s defensive zone towards the supply node of the town of Svatove.” An aerial view of Svatove city, in the Luhansk region of eastern Ukraine. The British Ministry of Defense said Ukrainian formations can now approach the city to strike Russian supplies. Future Publishing | Future Publishing | Getty Images It is highly likely that Ukraine can now strike the key Svatove-Kremina road with most of its artillery systems, the ministry added, “further straining Russia’s ability to resupply its units in the east.” Ukraine’s progress meant it was approaching the borders of Luhansk, one of four regions Moscow “annexed” last week following sham referendums. President Vladimir Putin signed the annexations into law on Wednesday, undeterred by Ukraine’s vow to fight to reclaim all occupied territory. — Holly Ellyatt Putin signs law formally annexing four Ukrainian regions Russian President Vladimir Putin meets the Moscow-appointed heads of four Ukrainian regions, partially occupied by Russia, at the Grand Kremlin Palace on Sept. 30, 2022, in Moscow, Russia. Contributor | Getty Images News | Getty Images Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed laws formally annexing four Ukrainian regions that are partially controlled by Russian forces, Russian state-owned news agency RIA Novosti reported Wednesday. The move comes after sham referendums were held in the regions of Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, Luhansk and Donetsk. The results, widely seen as faked and illegitimate, showed a majority of people wanting to join the Russian Federation. Both Russia’s upper and lower houses of parliament (the Duma and Federation Council, or Senate) approved legislation ratifying the annexations earlier this week, leaving President Vladimir Putin to put his signature to the laws formally annexing the territories. Ukraine and the vast majority of the international community do not recognize the annexation, slamming it as illegal and farcical. Russian forces have varying levels of control over the regions, with Ukrainian forces making gains in the south (around Kherson) and east, and its forces advancing in Donetsk and towards Luhansk. The Kremlin also said it had yet to determine the borders of annexed territory in Kherson and Zaporizhzhia. — Holly Ellyatt Putin is ‘literally out of moves,’ ex-CIA chief says Russian President Vladimir Putin, whose forces look increasingly ill-equipped and outmaneuvered on the battlefield, is running out of options in the war in Ukraine, according to David Petraeus, a former CIA director and retired U.S. Army general. When asked what Putin’s next move could be in Ukraine, whose armed forces are making significant gains in counteroffensives in the south and east of the country, Petraeus told CNBC’s Hadley Gamble he believes Putin is “literally out of moves.” “He’s trying all these different desperate actions. But the fact is the reality that confronts Russia on the battlefield is that Ukraine has a vastly more capable and larger force than the country [Russia] that is more than three times their size. The reality on the battlefield now is desperate for Putin,” he added. “There’s literally nothing he can do. It is irreversible,” he said, noting that even sham referendums staged by Russia in four regions, with the fake votes leading to those regions being “annexed,” had not changed anything. “The Ukrainians are already taking back … The momentum on the battlefield, is very much against Russia, they’re scrambling just to establish new defensive positions.” The former CIA chief warned against getting carried away with Ukraine’s recent advances, warning that Russia is unpredictable. “Don’t misinterpret this, there’s still an enormous amount of damage and destruction that Russia can do, they can punish. And they will continue to punish Ukraine on a daily basis with missiles and rockets and bombs and so forth. But at the end of the day, they cannot reverse the situation on the battlefield, which is going to see Ukraine, taking back the territory that Russia has taken since 24 February, and perhaps taking back everything that Russia has taken from them since 2014,” he said. In 2014, Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine, an act that accompanied the creation of pro-Russian separatist blocs in eastern Ukraine (with the so-called “people’s republics” in Luhansk and Donetsk) and which led to February’s invasion. — Holly Ellyatt There are signs that Russia is falling apart, says Munich Security Conference chair Christoph Heusgen, chair of the Munich Security Conference, says, however, that it’s difficult to say how long the situation will play out. Lukashenko is a ‘cheap partner’ to Putin, says leader of Belarusian Democratic Movement Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Belarusian counterpart Aleksandr Lukashenko are in a “fake friendship” with both sides just using each other, according to Belarusian Democratic Movement leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya. “They use each other because … Lukashenko is a loyal partner … very cheap partner, I would say, who gives [Putin] territory to attack Ukraine,” she told CNBC’s Hadley Gamble on Tuesday. In February, Lukashenko hosted Russian troops and equipment, and permitted Russia to use Belarus as a staging post for its invasion of Ukraine. The opposition leader described the relationship of the two leaders as a symbiotic one. “Without Putin, Lukashenko won’t survive the events of 2020. So they need each other, and they use each other.” Lukashenko claimed victory in the 2020 Belarusian presidential election, which was contested by Tsikhanouskaya at that point in time. The victory of Ukraine against Russia is “crucial for Belarus,” the democratic leader emphasized, “because this victory will give us opportunity, one movement of opportunity to apprise and to get rid of the [Putin’s] regime.” “That’s why it’s so important for [everyone] to support Ukrainians as much as we can.” — Lee Ying Shan ‘Good news from the front lines’: Ukraine’s forces count significant gains in counteroffensives President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says Ukraine’s military has made swift and significant progress in its counteroffensives in the south and east of the country, recapturing dozens of settlements in regions Russia claims to have annexed. “We have good news from the front lines,” the president said in his nightly address Tuesday, “the Ukrainian army is making pretty fast and powerful movements in the south of our country as part of the current defense operation.” “Dozens of settlements have already been liberated from the Russian pseudo-referendum this week alone. This is in Kherson region, Kharkiv region, Luhansk region and Donetsk region together,” he said, referring to the regions where sham votes on joining Russia were held in late September. Ukrainian soldiers adjust their national flag atop a personnel armored carrier on a road near Lyman, in the Donetsk region, on Oct. 4, 2022. Anatolii Stepanov | Afp | Getty Images Naming a series of settlements that had been liberated in Kherson in southern Ukraine, Zelenskyy said that “this is far from a complete list. Our soldiers are not stopping. And it’s only a matter of time before we expel the occupier from all of our land.” Ukraine’s continuing advances into Russian-occupied territory has prompted concerns that President Vladimir Putin might resort to using nuclear weapons as his army suffers defeats on the battlefield. Those concerns rose Tuesday on reports online that Putin had sent a convoy of vehicles, belonging to the Russian unit in charge of the country’s nuclear arsenal, to Ukraine. But experts have said such reports should be viewed with caution. — Holly Ellyatt World Bank estimates Ukraine’s war-torn economy will sink 35% in 2022 Destruction after an apartment building hit by Russian attack in Kyiv, Ukraine on March 14, 2022. Alejandro Martinez | Anadolu Agency | Getty Images Deva...

What Will It Take For The GOP To Condemn Trump’s Death Threats? https://digitalalaskanews.com/what-will-it-take-for-the-gop-to-condemn-trumps-death-threats/ In 2016, when Donald Trump bragged that he could shoot someone on Fifth Avenue and he wouldn’t lose voters, few Republican leaders assumed he was talking about targeting them. Well, the MAGA chickens have finally come home to roost. They’re super-sized, waving Confederate flags, doing one-finger Q salutes, and armed with AR-15s. Fast forward to 2022, the twice-impeached vulgarian posted over the weekend what any reasonable person would read as death threats against Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. Not to be outdone, he also hurled ugly racist insults against McConnell’s wife, Elaine Chao, who had been Trump’s first Secretary of Transportation. McConnell, apparently, offended the perpetually aggrieved Trump by working with Democrats to keep the government funded and open. Trump accused McConnell—known as the Senate’s “Grim Reaper” for being an avowed obstructionist—of “approving all of these Trillions of Dollars worth of Democrat-sponsored Bills.” For this, and other perceived acts of insufficient loyalty, Trump wrote that McConnell “has a DEATH WISH,” and advised him to “immediately seek help and advice from his China-loving wife, Coco Chow.” On Twitter, I predicted that instead of condemning Trump, Republicans would instead line up and request insults for themselves and their spouses. On cue, Sen. Rick Scott on CNN defended Trump by saying, “He gives people nicknames. I’m sure he has a nickname for me.” Sens. Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio would surely seethe with jealousy and nurse their broken hearts if indeed this were true. Regardless, we have sadly become numbed to expect a “thank you, may I have another?” from masochistic Republicans who voluntarily allow themselves and their wives to be humiliated by Donald Trump as part of their Faustian bargain for “relevance” and political power. However, it would be a grave mistake for Americans to simply chalk this up as one of Trump’s latest examples of logorrhea, leading us to shrug our shoulders and move on to the next inevitable scandal. In the past month, Trump has openly embraced QAnon—which the FBI calls a domestic terror threat, and which has radicalized several individuals who have committed violence in the belief that liberals are part of a global, Satan-worshipping, child-trafficking ring. Even Trump’s racism, which is so commonplace now that it doesn’t even merit headlines, has coincided with violence. During the start of the pandemic, Trump deliberately misidentified Covid-19, a virus with no ethnicity or zip code, as “Kung Flu” and the “China Virus.” Since then, there’s been a spike in anti-Asian hate crimes in America. “ It bears reminding that the insurrectionists also intended to hang Vice President Mike Pence—arguably the most white, conservative, Christian man on Earth—just because he wouldn’t go along with the failed coup attempt. ” At the very least, Sen. Scott added, “I don’t condone violence, and I hope no one else condones violence.” Except, of course, he condones Trump’s violent rhetoric with his silent complicity. And Scott doesn’t seem to be paying much attention to his extremist Republican colleagues, such as Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene. The Georgia congresswoman spoke at a recent Trump rally and recklessly incited the crowd by falsely saying, “Democrats want Republicans dead. They’ve already started the killings.” Greene’s brazen lie coincided with a terrifying New York Times feature that reported a rise in violent political speech and threats against members of Congress—who have endured assaults, intimidation, and armed visitors. “I wouldn’t be surprised if a senator or House member were killed,” said Republican Sen. Susan Collins, who added, “what started with abusive phone calls is now translating into active threats of violence and real violence.” And yet seven years after the ascension of Trump, Collins can only muster an occasional “concern,” “shock,” and “disappointment” whenever Trump or the RNC (which refers to the Jan. 6 insurrection as “legitimate political discourse”) doubles down on divisive lies, hate, and antisemitic conspiracy theories. Unsurprisingly, the three members of Congress who have received the most threats, according to the Times report, are the three women most frequently targeted by Trump: Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar, and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who was actively hunted by MAGA members on Jan. 6. It is worth recalling that the insurrectionists also intended to hang Vice President Mike Pence—arguably the most white, conservative, Christian man on Earth—because he wouldn’t go along with the failed coup attempt. For his part, Trump agreed they should kill him. If they were willing to kill Pence, imagine what they’d do to McConnell and his wife? The GOP has nurtured, enabled, and unleashed a violent monster for political expediency, one that now terrorizes them into submission and compliance. As we approach the 100-year anniversary of the March on Rome, which consolidated Mussolini’s fascist power over Italy, we should recall that he couldn’t have done it without the help of his violent brownshirts. Using his militia as enforcers, Il Duce stomped his fascist boots for two decades on the necks of critics, dissidents, and fellow allies who weren’t sufficiently obedient. To not look at Jan. 6—when Trump unleashed his own MAGA brownshirts upon the nation’s capitol to usurp power—as a kind of reboot of the March on Rome is to engage in willful ignorance. At a 2020 presidential debate, Trump told the Proud Boys—themselves a neo-fascist street gang, with uniforms—to “stand back and stand by.” They took him literally and seriously, and their leaders are currently being prosecuted for seditious conspiracy against the United States. Pro-Trump protesters carry guns at a rally near the Capitol in Richmond, Virginia. Ryan M. Kelly/AFP via Getty When Trump places a target on his enemies, his base responds with violence. After the ex-president blasted the FBI for its perfectly legal search of Mar-a-Lago, threats against law enforcement skyrocketed, culminating with one unhinged idiot attacking an FBI office in Ohio. Journalists and reporters—some of Trump’s favorite targets—have reported an increase in bullying and intimidation for the past seven years coinciding with Trump and right-wing media referring to them as “fake news” and “enemy of the state.” At the Jan 6 hearings, former Georgia election workers Shaye Moss and her mother, Ruby Freeman, tearfully testified that Trump targeting them resulted in death threats and forced them to quit their jobs and become reclusive. So what will it take for Republicans to condemn Trump’s recent embrace of death threats and violent conspiracies? Nothing. Republicans have made themselves into cannon fodder. This is a toxic love story, a mutual death spiral with intertwined fates. However, Trump has multiple lives. GOP leaders and donors keep thinking they’ll ride Trump and dump him for Govs. Ron DeSantis or Greg Abbott, but for now and in the near future, Trump is the dominant partner who humiliates and berates with impunity. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi depart the Capitol Rotunda on Capitol Hill on Thursday. Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via Getty Republicans like Sen. McConnell are learning that as MAGA extremism continues to overtake the party, he is no longer the lion, but instead a male kaluta—a tiny marsupial who quickly dies after mating. That’s the price of mating with Trump. If I were Mitch, I’d enjoy my cigarette, watch my back, tell Elaine Chao, “We’re on our own,” and sleep with one eye open. Read More Here

GOP Prays Scandals Don’t Matter In Herschel Walker Race https://digitalalaskanews.com/gop-prays-scandals-dont-matter-in-herschel-walker-race/ A day after The Daily Beast revealed that Herschel Walker had gotten a girlfriend pregnant in 2009 and paid for her abortion—which sparked his son Christian to publicly slam his father—Republicans were still bracing for the full fallout of the bombshells on one of the country’s most pivotal Senate races. Operatives and observers spent Tuesday alternately dismissing the impact of the story, spinning it as a positive for Walker, or simply accepting the chaos that had engulfed the Georgia battleground and wondering whether it would define the final month of the contest. “I don’t think people motivated to vote in this race give two [poop emoji] about the candidates,” one Georgia Republican texted The Daily Beast. Others went so far as to defend the Georgia football legend, with one GOP campaign operative telling The Daily Beast that “it sounds like he did the honorable thing” by helping the woman obtain an abortion. (Walker has strenuously denied the story.) Another Georgian simply responded via text with a GIF of Elmo, the Sesame Street character, raising his arms while surrounded by flames. Without doubt, the fallout from Walker’s abortion revelations have deeply shaken his campaign. Top Republican officials and powerful outside groups have been forced to go on the record defending him and reiterating their support for his campaign to unseat incumbent Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-GA). But in a hyper-partisan era when seemingly no scandal has the power to bring down a popular politician—especially in Donald Trump’s Republican Party—Walker is testing the limits of how much a politician can get away with in the name of simply stopping the other party. Before Walker ran for Senate, news outlets reported on credible allegations of domestic violence women made against him. In a primary in which his lead rival made those allegations a key issue, Walker won with 68 percent of the vote. In the general election, The Daily Beast reported on the existence of several secret children he had never acknowledged. Then came the story that laid bare his apparent hypocrisy on abortion, a conservative article of faith, and his son’s raw and explosive allegations striking at the heart of the candidate’s character. Through it all, Republican leaders have stuck by Walker, the candidate they are hoping will deliver them the Senate majority by flipping Georgia. It seems the GOP faithful in Georgia have, too, despite—or perhaps in spite of—the latest seismic story. “Nobody is voting for a father or husband of the year here,” Marci McCarthy, chair of the DeKalb County GOP, told The Daily Beast. “The people I’m talking to don’t care.” In that sense, Walker may share something in common with his key benefactor, who also happens to be the politician who rewrote the playbook on political scandal: Trump. The ability of these men to brush off scandal, say Georgia Republicans, is partially rooted in celebrity; within the football-crazed state, Walker is a legend to generations of fans. Indeed, Walker’s abortion bombshell was quickly compared to Trump’s fateful “Access Hollywood” moment, the supposedly fatal blow to his 2016 campaign that did not end up being so fatal. “I’ve seen some spectacular collapses in the past—whether it was Chrstine O’Donnell in Delaware (“dabbling in witchcraft”) or the ‘legitimate rape’ guy, Todd Akin—but because of how Trump has so cheapened political discourse in this country, I’m not sure if the old rules still apply,” Jim Manley, a former top Senate aide to Ted Kennedy and Harry Reid, told The Daily Beast. “I think they still do, but national Republicans, for right now at least, are doubling down,” Manley continued. “Words don’t necessarily matter anymore.” Quietly, however, there’s a reluctance among some Republicans to bet that Walker will make it through the campaign without changing course. The cumulative weight of the candidate’s drama, some believe, has reached a point that he will need to address it more directly and clearly with voters than ever before. All the while, Walker is losing precious time to hammer Warnock on the issues—the economy, crime, immigration—that Republicans believe will win them control of Congress in 2022. “The window of opportunity for Walker to pivot back to his message is rapidly shrinking,” said Jason Shepherd, a longtime GOP activist in the state and a former chair of the Cobb County GOP. While Republican campaign players were quick to back Walker, the favor was not returned by Gov. Brian Kemp, who is on the ballot with the football star this fall as he hopes to earn a second term. Asked if Kemp would continue to back Walker, spokesperson Cody Hall simply said the governor is “laser focused on sharing his record of results and vision for his second term with hardworking Georgians” and ensuring GOP victories “up and down the ticket.” Whether or not the abortion bombshell convinces voters to switch who they’re supporting or just stay home, the story will almost certainly refocus the conversation for the last month of the race on abortion—an issue where Democrats believe they have the advantage. Notably, on Tuesday night, Stacey Abrams—the Democrat challenging Kemp—leveraged the governor’s proximity to Walker and the abortion scandal to spotlight his views. “The truth is that under Brian Kemp’s anti-choice agenda, the choice at hand on this issue would not even be possible,” Alex Floyd, an Abrams spokesman, told The Daily Beast. “Brian Kemp must answer for his own extreme record on abortion—including his support for members of his ticket who have apparently displayed shocking hypocrisy on the issue, carving out exceptions for themselves and no one else,” Floyd said. Still, the ultimate risk for Walker, operatives in both parties said, is that enough voters are turned off by the steady stream of troubling revelations about him that they either vote third party or don’t vote in the race at all. Given the narrow margins in a battleground like Georgia—Warnock won his runoff in 2021 by two percentage points—even minor swings could have a decisive impact on the outcome. With Republicans on the ropes in a must-win state, some Georgia insiders feel Democrats should go for the jugular on Walker and make this latest revelation a key issue. “If Democrats are smart, they’d be hitting at character all day,” said Baoky Vu, an anti-Trump former Republican official in Georgia. “That’s the issue Republicans used to talk about.” To this point, Democrats have not been squeamish about attacking Walker’s character. They have bankrolled ads—which are inescapable on the state— highlighting the domestic abuse allegations lodged against him. So far, the Democratic response to the latest revelations has been muted, as party figures seem to weigh how they might capitalize on yet another story that questions Walker’s integrity. When asked directly about The Daily Beast story after it broke Monday night, Warnock told reporters he wouldn’t opine on how it might impact the race. Instead, he used the opportunity to reiterate his support for abortion access. Walker supports banning abortion without any exceptions. Asked to weigh in on the Walker drama, the Warnock campaign did not return The Daily Beast’s request for comment. At an event on Tuesday, Warnock told CNN he hadn’t yet read the report. The Georgia Democratic Party declined to comment. Some Democrats believe there’s not much they can do, or need to do, at this stage to amplify personal concerns about Walker. “It’s not like Warnock can do anything more devastating than what Christian Walker is doing on Twitter,” one Democratic aide told The Daily Beast. Once the dust clears, don’t necessarily expect Warnock or his allies to blanket Georgia TV airwaves with ads highlighting Walker’s abortion contradiction or his family drama. “I don’t think Democrats who think this is a silver bullet understand Republican voters or understand how Senate races work,” said one Democratic operative with experience in Senate races, who referenced the party’s past struggles to run that playbook against Trump. “It can’t just be, ‘Herschel Walker is a bad guy because of this story.’” “It has to be a double track of, this is why Democrats need to come out and vote for Warnock,” the operative added. It looked like a prime opportunity for Republicans to cut their losses. Yet the same morning as Walker’s son, Christian, ratcheted up his condemnations of his father to his more than 450,000 followers combined on Twitter and TikTok, both former President Donald Trump and GOP brass lined up behind Walker. “We are full speed ahead in Georgia,” Steven Law, president of the McConnell-aligned Senate Leadership Fund, said of Walker, while Trump denounced the media “trying to destroy a man who has true greatness in his future, just as he had athletic greatness in his past.” With early voting starting on Oct. 11, the GOP’s wagon is thoroughly hitched to Walker’s prospects heading into Election Day. The stakes of flipping the 50-50 Senate leaves rationalization as the only option, Manley said. “The only thing they care about is getting the votes necessary to take over the Senate, and they have convinced themselves, for better or for worse, that supporting this guy is their only option.” Read More Here

America https://digitalalaskanews.com/america/ America’s national debt has now surpassed $31 trillion  WKRC TV Cincinnati Read More Here

Merced Kidnapping: Person Of Interest In Custody, 4 Family Members Still Not Found https://digitalalaskanews.com/merced-kidnapping-person-of-interest-in-custody-4-family-members-still-not-found/ MERCED, Calif. (KFSN) — “As we are talking right now, I have got teams searching, I have aircraft up looking for everything possible so we can find this family.” Time is ticking with a Merced family missing for more than 24 hours — Jasleen Kaur, Jasneep Singh, their eight-month-old daughter Aroohi, and the baby’s uncle Amandeep Singh. Merced County Sheriff Vern Warnke spoke for the first time about what surveillance video from the family’s trucking business reveals about the moment the family was taken against their will. “We have film footage of the area they were taken from, and it’s very evident they did not want to go,” he said. “There’s a gun involved and restraints and so on.” Sheriff Wernke says the armed suspect in the surveillance took the family two by two. RELATED: 4 family members kidnapped from Merced business, picture released of suspect Tuesday afternoon, authorities announced that a person of interest seen in the surveillance video, 48-year-old Jesus Manuel Salgado, had been taken into custody. The sheriff’s office said his own family contacted authorities reporting that Salgado had admitted to them he was involved with the kidnapping of the family. Before the sheriff’s office could get to Salgado, he attempted suicide. He’s now hospitalized in critical condition. “We are hoping he recovers because right now, he is our only lead to the family,” Warnke said. “We still have no leads on where the family is, what their condition is.” Sheriff Warnke says his investigators still don’t have a motive for the kidnapping, but he says this isn’t the first time that Salgado has held victims against their will. According to the Merced County District Attorney’s Office, there was a similar incident in December 2005. That landed Salgado in prison for charges of home invasion robbery with a gun, witness intimidation and attempted false imprisonment. The victims weren’t hurt. He was released in June 2015. “Having three adults is one thing, but we have an infant girl that there is a whole bunch of needs here,” Warnke said. “Anybody here that is a parent understands that. She’s got diapers. Special food that you have got to have.” The community of Merced is shaken at the thought of a family taken in broad daylight Merced Mayor Matthew Serratto assured the community that law enforcement will be relentless in its investigation. The Merced County Sheriff’s Office expects they will get a chance to take to Salgado sometime before Wednesday morning. A press conference is scheduled for 10 am Wednesday. Copyright © 2022 KFSN-TV. All Rights Reserved. Read More Here

Today In History https://digitalalaskanews.com/today-in-history/ Today in History Today is Wednesday, Oct. 5, the 278th day of 2022. There are 87 days left in the year. Todayís Highlight in History: On Oct. 5, 1953, Earl Warren was sworn in as the 14th chief justice of the United States, succeeding Fred M. Vinson. On this date: In 1892, the Dalton Gang, notorious for its train robberies, was practically wiped out while attempting to rob a pair of banks in Coffeyville, Kansas. In 1947, President Harry S. Truman delivered the first televised White House address as he spoke on the world food crisis. In 1958, racially-desegregated Clinton High School in Clinton, Tennessee, was mostly leveled by an early morning bombing. In 1983, Solidarity founder Lech Walesa was named winner of the Nobel Peace Prize. In 1989, a jury in Charlotte, North Carolina, convicted former P-T-L evangelist Jim Bakker of using his television show to defraud followers. (Although initially sentenced to 45 years in prison, Bakker was freed in December 1994 after serving 4 1/2 years.) In 1994, 48 people were found dead in an apparent murder-suicide carried out simultaneously in two Swiss villages by members of a secret religious doomsday cult known as the Order of the Solar Temple. ; five other bodies were found the same week in a building owned by the sect near Montreal, Canada. In 2001, tabloid photo editor Robert Stevens died from inhaled anthrax, the first of a series of anthrax cases in Florida, New York, New Jersey and Washington. In 2005, defying the White House, senators voted 90-9 to approve an amendment sponsored by Republican Sen. John McCain that would prohibit the use of ìcruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishmentî against anyone in U.S. government custody. (A reluctant President George W. Bush later signed off on the amendment.) In 2011, Steve Jobs, 56, the Apple founder and former chief executive whoíd invented and master-marketed ever sleeker gadgets that transformed everyday technology from the personal computer to the iPod and iPhone, died in Palo Alto, California. In 2015, the United States, Japan and 10 other nations in Asia and the Americas reached agreement on the landmark Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal. In 2018, a jury in Chicago convicted white police officer Jason Van Dyke of second-degree murder in the 2014 shooting of Black teenager Laquan McDonald. (Van Dyke was sentenced to 81 months in state prison.) In 2020, President Donald Trump staged a dramatic return to the White House after leaving the military hospital where he was receiving an unprecedented level of care for COVID-19; Trump immediately ignited a new controversy by declaring that despite his illness, the nation should not fear the virus. Ten years ago: A month before the presidential election, the Labor Department reported that unemployment fell in Sept. 2012 to its lowest level, 7.8 percent, since President Barack Obama took office; some Republicans questioned whether the numbers had been manipulated. Five years ago: Hollywood executive Harvey Weinstein announced that he was taking a leave of absence from his company after a New York Times article detailed decades of alleged sexual harassment against women including actor Ashley Judd. The National Rifle Association and the White House expressed support for controls on ìbump stockî devices like those that apparently aided the gunman behind the Las Vegas attack; the NRA later said it was opposed to an outright ban on the devices. California Gov. Jerry Brown signed legislation extending protections for immigrants living in the United States illegally; police in California would be barred from asking people about their immigration status or taking part in federal immigration enforcement activities. One year ago: A former Facebook employee, data scientist Frances Haugen, told a Senate panel that the company knew that its platform spread misinformation and content that harmed children, but that it refused to make changes that could hurt its profits. Work at all of the Kellogg Companyís U.S. cereal plants came to a halt as roughly 1,400 workers went on strike. (The strike would end in December after workers voted to ratify a new contract.) A Russian actor and a film director rocketed into space on a Russian Soyuz spacecraft to make the worldís first movie in orbit during a 12-day stay on the International Space Station. Todayís Birthdays: Actor Glynis Johns is 99. College Football Hall of Fame coach Barry Switzer is 85. R&B singer Arlene Smith (The Chantels) is 81. Singer-musician Steve Miller is 79. Sen. Benjamin L. Cardin, D-Md., is 79. Rock singer Brian Johnson (AC/DC) is 75. Blues musician Rick Estrin is 73. Actor Karen Allen is 71. Writer-producer-director Clive Barker is 70. Rock musician David Bryson (Counting Crows) is 68. Astrophysicist-author Neil deGrasse Tyson is 64. Memorial designer Maya Lin is 63. Actor Daniel Baldwin is 62. Rock singer-musician Dave Dederer is 58. Hockey Hall of Famer Mario Lemieux is 57. Actor Guy Pearce is 55. Actor Josie Bissett is 52. Singer-actor Heather Headley is 48. Pop-rock singer Colin Meloy (The Decemberists) is 48. Actor Parminder Nagra (pahr-MIHNí-da NAHí-grah) is 47. Actor Scott Weinger is 47. Actor Kate Winslet is 47. Rock musician James Valentine (Maroon 5) is 44. Rock musician Paul Thomas (Good Charlotte) is 42. Actor Jesse Eisenberg is 39. TV personality Nicky Hilton is 39. Actor Azure Parsons is 38. R&B singer Brooke Valentine is 37. Actor Kevin Bigley is 36. Actor Joshua Logan Moore is 28. Actor Jacob Tremblay is 16. Today’s breaking news and more in your inbox Read More Here

Ryan Zinke Earned My Vote https://digitalalaskanews.com/ryan-zinke-earned-my-vote/ With personal knowledge of candidates running for Congress from Western Montana, Ryan Zinke is hands down the best choice. Al Olszewski and Mary Todd, who ran against him in the Republican primary, have publicly endorsed Ryan Zinke! Liberal opposition throws mud at him. They fear the power his voice holds for natural resources, military affairs, and commonsense spending. When I chaired Legislature’s Administrative Committee for Montana Consumer Counsel, I came to know Monica Tranel. I met her in meetings and received feedback from legislators and Public Service Commissioners about her, some good, some not so good. The negative was mostly on her style and personality. Before I checked, she resigned as staff attorney for Montana Consumer Counsel. Today Tranel is hellbent on trashing the reputation of the man who dodged bullets and bombs to defend her right to free speech. She relishes nasty, sleazy, snakey words and exaggerated claims. That says more about her than him. She has a lot to learn about the public’s tolerance for ugly ads. If she gets to DC, she will wander in as a green rookie with a nasty vocabulary, a background in power rates and courtrooms, and nine months experience of saying she approves snakey commercials. She would vote ditto with Nancy Pelosi and Joe Biden every time. Ryan Zinke drained the DC swamp by moving land and water managers west, where they should be. His actions as Secretary of Interior had America energy independent. He managed huge tracts of public land for public use and benefit, including hiking, camping, hunting, fishing, mining, grazing, drilling and forestry. Zinke had the courage to challenge extreme and frivolous enviro positions. He gained funding for National Park maintenance. Ryan Zinke served honorably as a Commander of elite U.S. Navy Seals, 23 year veteran, Montana state senator, U.S. Congressman, and member of Donald Trump’s Cabinet. He shoots straight, talks square, and understands Western Montana. He will re-enter Congress as a third term, seasoned professional. When Zinke was promoted to Secretary of Interior, liberal DC insiders and Democrats targeted him with all sorts of allegations. Lots of mud throwing and wasted effort. Eighteen investigations but never found guilty of crime. He’s pretty clean. I served with Ryan Zinke in the 2011 Montana Legislature and worked with him in DC and Montana. — Sen. Mike Cuffe, R-Eureka Read More Here

Musk Promises ‘everything App’ As $44bn Do-Over Twitter Buyout Accepted – Follow Live https://digitalalaskanews.com/musk-promises-everything-app-as-44bn-do-over-twitter-buyout-accepted-follow-live/ ICYMI: Media watchdog brands Musk-owned Twitter a ‘supercharged engine of radicalization’ Angelo Carusone, president of Media Matters for America, has slammed the seemingly imminent takeover of Twitter by Elon Musk. “From the outset, Elon Musk’s desire to take over Twitter was about advancing his own red-pilled ideological agenda. He was explicit about his intentions, which is why right-wing extremists celebrated the news. “With reports that Musk is now on the cusp of acquiring Twitter, the platform will become a supercharged engine of radicalization if he follows through with even a fraction of what he has promised. “This isn’t alarmism, this is fact. Musk made it clear that he would roll back Twitters’ community standards and safety guidelines, reinstate Donald Trump along with scores of other accounts suspended for violence and abuse, and open the floodgates of disinformation. In effect, Musk will turn Twitter into a fever swamp of dangerous conspiracy theories, partisan chicanery, and operationalized harassment. “Twitter’s advertisers and media buyers already rejected this. Rightfully so. The sale of Twitter is the end of the company as we know it, and the beginning of a more toxic platform with incredible potential for real-world harm. “All these warnings could actually end up being understated depending on how Musk is financing this most recent offer. That’s the single most important question in determining if this will be really bad or even worse.” Graeme Massie5 October 2022 07:59 ICYMI: Shares in Trump SPAC fall after Musk Twitter news The share price of Digital World Acquisition Corp, the company set to take Trump Media and Technology Group public fell by more than 5 per cent after Elon Musk decided to go through with his Twitter purchase. The stock peaked in March at around $97, and closed on Tuesday at $17.10. Mr Trump’s company owns Truth Social, the social media platform he set up after being banned by Twitter and Facebook in the wake of the violent January 6 insurrection. Mr Musk has said that if and when he takes over Twitter he wants the one-term president’s ban lifted. Graeme Massie5 October 2022 07:01 ICYMI: hat did Elon Musk say about his plans for Twitter in original offer? “Free speech is the bedrock of a functioning democracy, and Twitter is the digital town square where matters vital to the future of humanity are debated,” Musk said in a statement in the press release announcing the $44 billion deal in April. “I also want to make Twitter better than ever by enhancing the product with new features, making the algorithms open source to increase trust, defeating the spam bots, and authenticating all humans. “Twitter has tremendous potential — I look forward to working with the company and the community of users to unlock it.” (Getty Images) Graeme Massie5 October 2022 06:06 ICYMI: Experts say Musk was set ‘to lose’ case against Twitter so he bought them “Musk was going to lose the case,” Erik Gordon, a business law professor at the University of Michigan, told Insider. “His lawyers knew that. Twitter’s lawyers knew that. His only hope was for Twitter to cave, and they didn’t.” (NTB/AFP via Getty Images) Graeme Massie5 October 2022 05:03 ICYMI: Twitter stock rose so fast after Musk buyout offer NYSE had to pause trading Twitter stock rose sharply on 4 October, after Elon Musk renewed his bid to buy the company (Google Finance) The news that Elon Musk is attempting to revive his bid to buy Twitter caused such a big jump in the social network’s stock price that the New York Stock Exchange had to temporarily pause trading twice, the Wall Street Journal reports. Such pauses, instituted after the 2010 “Flash Crash,” kick in when stocks on major indices change price by more than 5 per cent within five minutes. Twitter shares rose at least 13 per cent at various points on Tuesday, after Mr Musk announced he would return to his original $44bn offer to purchase the social media site. Graeme Massie5 October 2022 04:10 ICYMI: Why Twitter is suing Elon Musk Twitter sued Elon Musk in July, arguing the tech billionaire was legally bound to carry out his $44bn acquisition of the social network, after the Tesla CEO said he wanted to walk away from the deal. Twitter argued leaving the deal is “invalid and wrongful” under the terms of an April contract, according to a letter sent to Mr Musk’s lawyers. The company tore into Mr Musk in a legal complaint filed in Delaware Court, writing that the billionaire “apparently believes that he —unlike every other party subject to Delaware contract law — is free to change his mind, trash the company, disrupt its operations, destroy stockholder value, and walk away.” Here’s more information. Graeme Massie5 October 2022 02:45 Observers fret Elon Musk buyout could turn Twitter into ‘supercharged engine of radicalisation The news that Elon Musk has reprised his original $44bn offer to buy Twitter has sent shock waves through Silicon Valley, Wall Street and, of course, sparking plenty of discussion on the app itself. The most important audience for the move, Twitter Inc, met the announcement with little fanfare, merely confirming it had been received and describing how the “intention” of the social network is to go through with the deal. Josh Marcus has the story. Graeme Massie5 October 2022 01:50 Expert on fascism and propaganda slams Elon Musk’s Twitter purchase “Everything is just a means to an megalomanic end for this individual,” tweeted NYU professor Ruth Ben-Ghiat after Mr Musk had broken his silence about the proposed $44bn purchase of Twitter. Graeme Massie5 October 2022 00:52 Twitter users slam Elon Musk’s proposed takeover It did not take long for Twitter users to take to the platform and condemn Elon Musk’s proposed $44bn takeover of the company. “Neither Musk nor Twitter’s current management seem to care much about Twitter’s users or employees,” tweeted Judd Legum. And NFL reporter Mike Freeman of USA Today, also slammed it. “Take a good look around Twitter. Cause if you think the racists, trolls and trash bag humans are out in force now, wait until Musk runs it. It’s gonna be unrecognizable. Most of us are going to head to the escape pods,” he tweeted. Graeme Massie5 October 2022 00:25 Elon Musk breaks silence on Twitter purchase and offers vision of platform’s future Elon Musk has broken his silence on his proposed $44bn purchase of Twitter and offered a vision of the social media platform’s future under his ownership. The billionaire Tesla and SpaceX CEO took to Twitter on Tuesday to seemingly say that obtaining Twitter was the first step in creating a new “X” app, similar to China’s WeChat. Elon Musk breaks silence on Twitter purchase and offers vision of platform’s future Billionaire tweeted that buying company ‘is an accelerant to creating X, the everything app’ Graeme Massie5 October 2022 00:20 Read More Here

OPEC Members And Russia Set To Meet As Europe Faces Energy Crisis https://digitalalaskanews.com/opec-members-and-russia-set-to-meet-as-europe-faces-energy-crisis/ Image A Lukoil refinery in Italy last month. Italy has increased its imports of Russian crude despite the European Union’s efforts to cut ties to Russian energy.Credit…Gianni Cipriano for The New York Times OPEC and its allies, including Russia, are widely expected to approve a sizable cut in oil production in order to bolster prices when officials meet in Vienna on Wednesday. Among those likely to attend the meeting is Russia’s deputy prime minister, Alexander Novak, who has played a key role in fostering cooperation with the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries. The presence of Mr. Novak, who is subject to U.S. sanctions, could come as an embarrassment to European officials when their citizens face what could be a tough winter because of Russia’s war in Ukraine. Analysts say a very large cut on the order of two million barrels a day, or about 2 percent of world supplies, could be on the table. The gathering of the group, known as OPEC Plus, is the first to be held in person since the early days of the pandemic. That signals an intention to make a strong statement to energy markets about the group’s cohesion during the fighting in Ukraine and its willingness to act quickly to defend prices, analysts say. But the meeting also comes amid swirling political intentions and economic factors. In the push for higher oil prices, the Kremlin may be using OPEC’s de facto leader, Saudi Arabia, whose ministers want future cooperation from Moscow on energy matters, to make it more costly for the West to take measures against Russia. “To the extent that prices rise, it will make it that much more challenging for Europe to proceed with its sanctions on Russian oil in December,” said Bhushan Bahree, an executive director of S&P Global Commodity Insights. A substantial cut in production would be a blow to the Biden administration, which has lobbied the Saudis to increase output. Saudi officials have expressed concern that oil demand could weaken because of a flagging world economy. “They are looking for ways to surprise the market or deliver at least as much as the market is anticipating,” said Richard Bronze, the head of geopolitics at Energy Aspects, a research firm in London. Expectations of a big move by the producing countries have in recent days helped lift futures prices of Brent crude, the international benchmark, to about $92 a barrel from about $83. The group may also announce that it is extending the overall cooperation agreement among OPEC, Russia and other producing countries, which is set to expire in December. Image The M142 HIMARS, or High Mobility Artillery Rocket System, has been a key part of the U.S.’s military support for Ukraine. This is one such unit, deployed during military exercises in Latvia last month. Credit…Gints Ivuskans/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images WASHINGTON — The United States will send four more mobile rocket launchers to Ukraine, along with guided munitions for them to fire, as part of a $625 million military aid package announced Tuesday. The four rocket launchers, known as HIMARS, will be taken from Pentagon stockpiles, making them available right away. Last week, the Pentagon said it was giving Ukraine financing to build 18 more of the rocket launchers, a process that could take years. The new arms shipments were discussed by President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris in a phone call with President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine earlier in the day, the State Department said. The aid package is the 22nd the U.S. military has dedicated to Ukraine since August 2021. The Defense Department has already sent 16 M142 HIMARS — or High Mobility Artillery Rocket System — launchers to Ukraine, which officials in both countries have credited with destroying hundreds of Russian command posts, arms depots and other high-value targets. An unspecified number of guided rockets for them to fire, each of which carries a warhead containing 200-pound explosives to targets 50 miles away, will be included, according to an email sent to reporters on Tuesday afternoon. In a briefing at the Pentagon on Tuesday afternoon, Laura Cooper, the deputy assistant secretary of defense for Russia, Ukraine and Eurasia, told reporters that even more rocket launchers would be coming from other allies. Ukraine has asked the United States to provide long-range missiles, known as ATACMS, which can reach targets 190 miles away, for the purpose of striking Russian targets in Crimea, which Russia illegally invaded in 2014. Asked about those missiles, Secretary Cooper said that Ukrainian troops already can attack “the vast majority of targets, including Crimea” with the guided rockets that the U.S. is already providing. Traditional howitzers will be sent to Ukraine as well, including 16 more 155-millimeter howitzers and ammunition for them — 75,000 shells, plus 500 more precision-guided 155-millimeter shells and 1,000 155-millimeter shells that dispense anti-tank mines. The U.S. will also send 16 105-millimeter howitzers and 30,000 rounds of ammunition for 120-millimeter mortars. The U.S. has already sent 126 155-millimeter howitzers to Ukraine, along with 806,000 155-millimeter shells, 2,000 precision-guided shells and 1,000 anti-tank mine-dispensing shells; 20 105-millimeter howitzers and 200,000 rounds of 105-milllimeter ammunition; and 20 120-millimeter mortars with 80,000 rounds of 120-millimeter ammunition. All of these weapons, Ms. Cooper said, are ones Ukraine has already been given in the past and learned to use effectively in combat. Tuesday’s announcement also said that the United States would send 200 Mine-Resistant Ambush-Protected armored vehicles to Ukraine. The MRAPs are designed to survive explosive blasts from land mines and improvised bombs. Last Wednesday, the Pentagon announced that it would provide $1.1 billion worth of military aid to Ukraine, including the 18 HIMARS vehicles to be ordered from Lockheed Martin, though defense officials have said that shipment would take a few years to deliver. Image The Russian Embassy in Tokyo. Relations between Japan and Russia have been deteriorating.Credit…Carl Court/Getty Images Japan has ordered a Russian diplomat to leave the country in retaliation for Russia’s expulsion last week of a Japanese consul general, as relations between the two countries deteriorate. Calling Russia’s move “an indisputable and serious violation of international laws,” Japan’s foreign minister, Yoshimasa Hayashi, said Tuesday that a diplomat at the Russian consulate in Sapporo had been declared persona non grata and ordered to leave within six days “in an equivalent response.” Last week, Russia accused a Japanese diplomat in the far-eastern city of Vladivostok of what it called “illegal information-gathering activities.” The diplomat was detained, blindfolded and interrogated before he was ordered to leave the country within 48 hours, according to Japanese officials, who denied that the official broke any laws. The Japanese diplomat, whom local news reports have identified as Tatsunori Motoki, returned to Japan on Friday, according to the foreign minister. Russia’s state news agency, Tass, said the consul had attempted to pay for classified information relating to Russia’s relations with an unidentified country in the Asia Pacific, an accusation Japan has denied. Image A photo from Russian state media showed Tatsunori Motoki arriving at an airport outside Moscow on Sept. 28.Credit…Alexey Filippov/Sputnik, via Associated Press Japan was quick to join the United States and Europe in imposing sanctions against Russia in the immediate aftermath of Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine in February. The government has continued to harshly criticize the war while supplying Ukraine with military aid including drones, bulletproof vests and helmets. In April, Japan expelled eight diplomats and officials from the Russian Embassy and trade office in Tokyo in protest of the killing of Ukrainian civilians by Russian forces, calling the mass deaths a war crime. Last week, Mr. Hayashi denounced Russia’s declaration that it was annexing four regions of Ukraine and said Japan would not recognize the illegal seizure of territory. Japan has its own a long-simmering territorial dispute with Russia, over islands to the northeast of Hokkaido, seized by Soviet Union from Japan at the end of World War II. Hard-line nationalists in Russia have bristled at the prospect of returning the islands to Japan, something Tokyo has long sought. Image An apartment building was heavily damaged by Russian bombs in Bakhmut in September. Local residents said that at least two Ukrainian civilians, a mother and son, were killed.Credit…Tyler Hicks/The New York Times GENEVA — United Nations investigators in Ukraine say they are receiving accounts of Russian forces torturing civilian and military prisoners — sometimes to the point of death. At the same time, people are disappearing frequently in areas controlled by Russia and its proxies. Most of the documented cases of torture involved Ukrainian prisoners, Christian Salazar Volkmann, director of United Nations field operations, told the Human Rights Council in Geneva on Tuesday. In two cases, he said, members of the Ukrainian military were tortured to death. Drawing on more than a thousand interviews with victims and witnesses conducted by the United Nations monitoring mission in Ukraine, the U.N. investigation also documented the deaths of three Ukrainian men who were found dead in a cellar in the Kyiv region with their hands and legs tied, and with knife wounds and severed fingers. Ukrainian troops have also tortured and abused prisoners of war during their capture or transit to detention sites, but “on a lesser scale,” Mr. Volkmann said. U.N. investigators hav...

Stockton Serial Killings: Everything We Know And Don't Know So Far https://digitalalaskanews.com/stockton-serial-killings-everything-we-know-and-dont-know-so-far/ Five recent shooting deaths in Stockton — and one in Oakland last year — appear to be connected, prompting police to call the incidents a “series of killings.”Along with the five deaths in Stockton and one in Oakland, the shooting of a woman in Stockton last year who survived is also linked in connection with the serial killings.| MORE | 2 more shootings linked in Stockton serial killings; woman survived 2021 attackHere’s everything we know so far about the shootings:Who was killed? Six men were killed — five in Stockton this year and one in Oakland last year. The victims were identified by police as:35-year-old Paul Alexander Yaw43-year-old Salvador William Debudey Jr.21-year-old Jonathan Hernandez Rodriguez52-year-old Juan Cruz52-year-old Lorenzo Lopez The victim in Oakland was a 40-year-old Hispanic man. Affiliate KTVU reported that the coroner identified the man as Juan Miguel Vasquez Serrano.| MORE | What we’re learning about victims of the Stockton serial killingsWho was wounded? A 46-year-old Black woman is the only known survivor of the shootings. Stockton Police Chief Stanley McFadden said the woman biked to an encampment at Park and Union streets in Stockton where she was shot on April 16, 2021, at around 3:30 a.m. The woman was by a tent when she saw a man, dressed in all dark clothing, wearing a dark face mask and a dark jacket. She said the man was anywhere between 5 foot 10 inches to 6 foot 2 inches.The woman told police that no words were exchanged between them and that she tried defending herself by advancing toward him. She was hit multiple times by gunfire. Where did the shootings happen? Most of the deadly shootings happened in Stockton within a four-mile radius of one another. The shooting where the woman survived happened to the south of the five deadly shootings. Here’s a map with more information: When did the shootings happen? The five deadly Stockton shootings that happened this year ranged from July 8 to Sept. 27. The shooting in Stockton where the woman survived happened April 16, 2021. The Oakland deadly shooting happened April 10, 2021. McFadden noted an inconsistent span of time between each attack. The time spent between the first attack on April 10, 2021, and the next one was six days. The time spent between that second attack and the third was 448 days.From the third attack to the fourth attack, 34 days passed, McFadden said. From the fifth attack to the sixth attack, 22 days passed. And from the sixth attack to the last known attack on Sept. 27 was six days.Is anyone being targeted?It’s unclear if anyone is being targeted, but it’s notable that five victims out of the seven shootings were Hispanic men. Stockton police don’t believe that there is any indication that these are hate crimes.What do the shootings have in common? McFadden said in a press conference that the shootings tend to have a pattern: They happen when it’s dark, late at night, and when people are by themselves in badly lit areas. The victims also appear to have been caught by surprise, he said. Why do police think the shootings are connected?Stockton police have confirmed that ballistics tests have linked the shootings to one another, but police are not saying if all shootings are linked to the same gun.At some point, McFadden during a Tuesday briefing said he had “absolutely no answer as to why that pistol went dormant for over 400 days” in reference to the time spent between the second attack and the third one. They also have video footage of a person of interest from some of the incidents. Are there any suspects or arrests made? No arrests have been made and no suspects have been identified, but McFadden said they were looking into a person of interest and released video on Oct. 4. At this time, it’s unclear if the person of interest is a suspect or witness, he said.How many people are believed to be involved in the killings?Police are not sure how many suspects could be involved, and officials believe there may even be multiple people involved in the shootings. “To be honest, we just don’t know,” Stockton Police Officer Joseph Silva told the Associated Press. “This person or people who are out doing this, they are definitely very bold and brazen.”Is there a tip line set up for police? How to report information? A $125,000 cash reward has been offered to anyone who can bring information that leads to an arrest in any of the investigations, police said.A tip line was also opened for people to submit information at 209-937-8167. People can email tips to at policetips@stocktonca.gov. Video surveillance can be submitted to Stocktonpdca.evidence.com. STOCKTON, Calif. — Five recent shooting deaths in Stockton — and one in Oakland last year — appear to be connected, prompting police to call the incidents a “series of killings.” Along with the five deaths in Stockton and one in Oakland, the shooting of a woman in Stockton last year who survived is also linked in connection with the serial killings. | MORE | 2 more shootings linked in Stockton serial killings; woman survived 2021 attack Here’s everything we know so far about the shootings: Who was killed? Six men were killed — five in Stockton this year and one in Oakland last year. The victims were identified by police as: 35-year-old Paul Alexander Yaw 43-year-old Salvador William Debudey Jr. 21-year-old Jonathan Hernandez Rodriguez 52-year-old Juan Cruz 52-year-old Lorenzo Lopez The victim in Oakland was a 40-year-old Hispanic man. Affiliate KTVU reported that the coroner identified the man as Juan Miguel Vasquez Serrano. | MORE | What we’re learning about victims of the Stockton serial killings Who was wounded? A 46-year-old Black woman is the only known survivor of the shootings. Stockton Police Chief Stanley McFadden said the woman biked to an encampment at Park and Union streets in Stockton where she was shot on April 16, 2021, at around 3:30 a.m. The woman was by a tent when she saw a man, dressed in all dark clothing, wearing a dark face mask and a dark jacket. She said the man was anywhere between 5 foot 10 inches to 6 foot 2 inches. The woman told police that no words were exchanged between them and that she tried defending herself by advancing toward him. She was hit multiple times by gunfire. Where did the shootings happen? Most of the deadly shootings happened in Stockton within a four-mile radius of one another. The shooting where the woman survived happened to the south of the five deadly shootings. Here’s a map with more information: When did the shootings happen? The five deadly Stockton shootings that happened this year ranged from July 8 to Sept. 27. The shooting in Stockton where the woman survived happened April 16, 2021. The Oakland deadly shooting happened April 10, 2021. McFadden noted an inconsistent span of time between each attack. The time spent between the first attack on April 10, 2021, and the next one was six days. The time spent between that second attack and the third was 448 days. From the third attack to the fourth attack, 34 days passed, McFadden said. From the fifth attack to the sixth attack, 22 days passed. And from the sixth attack to the last known attack on Sept. 27 was six days. Is anyone being targeted? It’s unclear if anyone is being targeted, but it’s notable that five victims out of the seven shootings were Hispanic men. Stockton police don’t believe that there is any indication that these are hate crimes. What do the shootings have in common? McFadden said in a press conference that the shootings tend to have a pattern: They happen when it’s dark, late at night, and when people are by themselves in badly lit areas. The victims also appear to have been caught by surprise, he said. Why do police think the shootings are connected? Stockton police have confirmed that ballistics tests have linked the shootings to one another, but police are not saying if all shootings are linked to the same gun. At some point, McFadden during a Tuesday briefing said he had “absolutely no answer as to why that pistol went dormant for over 400 days” in reference to the time spent between the second attack and the third one. They also have video footage of a person of interest from some of the incidents. Are there any suspects or arrests made? No arrests have been made and no suspects have been identified, but McFadden said they were looking into a person of interest and released video on Oct. 4. Stockton Police Department At this time, it’s unclear if the person of interest is a suspect or witness, he said. How many people are believed to be involved in the killings? Police are not sure how many suspects could be involved, and officials believe there may even be multiple people involved in the shootings. “To be honest, we just don’t know,” Stockton Police Officer Joseph Silva told the Associated Press. “This person or people who are out doing this, they are definitely very bold and brazen.” Is there a tip line set up for police? How to report information? A $125,000 cash reward has been offered to anyone who can bring information that leads to an arrest in any of the investigations, police said. A tip line was also opened for people to submit information at 209-937-8167. People can email tips to at policetips@stocktonca.gov. Video surveillance can be submitted to Stocktonpdca.evidence.com. Read More Here

Hong Kong's Hang Seng Pops 6% On Return To Trade; Asia Markets Rise After U.S. Stocks Rallied https://digitalalaskanews.com/hong-kongs-hang-seng-pops-6-on-return-to-trade-asia-markets-rise-after-u-s-stocks-rallied/ People cross a street in Causeway Bay, Hong Kong. Marc Fernandes | Nurphoto | Getty Images Shares in the Asia-Pacific traded higher on Wednesday after U.S. stocks rallied for a second day. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index surged and was up around 6% in the final hour of trade on its return after a holiday Tuesday. The Hang Seng Tech index soared 7.4% higher. The Nikkei 225 in Japan rose 0.48% to close at 27,120.53, while the Topix added 0.32% to 1,912.92. In South Korea, the Kospi was up 0.26% at 2,215.22 and the Kosdaq gave up early gains to close 1.64% lower at 685.34. Inflation in South Korea slowed slightly in September, according to official data released Wednesday. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 was up 1.74% at 6,815.70. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 2.64%. Mainland China markets remain closed for the Golden Week holiday, and India’s stock market is also shut for a holiday. On Wall Street overnight, stocks soared overnight in the U.S. for a second session. The Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 825.43 points, or 2.8%, to 30,316.32. The S&P 500 advanced nearly 3.1% to close at 3,790.93, and the Nasdaq Composite was 3.3% higher to end at 11,176.41. “There is no denying incoming U.S. economic data is having a hand in equity, bond and currency moves so far this week,” wrote Ray Attrill, head of FX strategy at National Australia Bank. The U.S. Job Openings and Labor Turnover report sprang a “big downside surprise” that couldn’t be ignored, he wrote. It’s the “first meaningful sign of some cracks” in the labor market, though it is still very tight, he added. — CNBC’s Tanaya Macheel and Alex Harring contributed to this report. Shares of TSMC jump after Morgan Stanley says it’s a ‘top pick’ TSMC’s shares in Taiwan jumped as much as 5.13% after Morgan Stanley named the world’s largest chip maker as the top pick in a note which predicted a semiconductor cycle recovery in the second half of 2023. The investment bank said TSMC is an industry leader with pricing power. The company’s U.S.-listed stock also rose about 5% overnight. — Abigail Ng CNBC Pro: Bank of America reveals its global picks for this quarter, giving one stock over 100% upside Interest rate rises, soaring energy prices and political turmoil in some parts of the world have battered stocks going into the final quarter of this year. To help investors navigate the volatility, Bank of America has revealed its top “short-term stock recommendations” for the next quarter, which they expect to “significantly outperform” their peers. CNBC Pro subscribers can read about five of their stock picks here. — Ganesh Rao BYD’s Hong Kong shares pop after September sales jump, deal with transport firm CNBC Pro: Market is heading toward the ‘best week of the year,’ pro says — and names 2 stocks to play it Market veteran Phil Blancato, whose firm has more than $4 billion in assets under management, said he expects next week to be a “turnaround week” for markets. Investors should take the chance to “jump into the market,” he said, as he named two stocks to take advantage of the rally ahead. Pro subscribers can read more here. — Zavier Ong New Zealand dollar gains after central bank hikes rates by 50 basis points The New Zealand dollar strengthened against the U.S. dollar after the Reserve Bank of New Zealand raised interest rates. The official cash rate now stands at 3.5%, after the central bank increased rates by half a point to “maintain price stability and contribute to maximum sustainable employment,” according to an official statement. The kiwi dollar gained as much as 0.86% against the greenback, and last traded about 0.5% higher at $0.5762. — Abigail Ng Core inflation in South Korea may peak in October, BofA Securities says South Korea’s core inflation, which excludes food and energy prices, could peak in October as demand slows due to higher prices and rising interest rates, said Kathleen Oh, Korea economist at BofA Securities. Core CPI came in at 4.1% in September compared to a year ago, up slightly from August’s 4%. “Even after it peaks, I think the slowdown of the inflation is going to be quite gradual, so that the overall level of prices will be elevated for at least next six or nine months ahead,” she told CNBC’s “Squawk Box Asia.” Headline inflation may have peaked in July since oil prices have fallen, she added. — Abigail Ng CNBC Pro: This isn’t the market bottom, Morgan Stanley says, naming 3 things that have to happen first There’s unlikely to be a sustainable market bottom unless three conditions are met, according to Morgan Stanley. “We … remind readers that the last few innings of every bear market are very challenging to trade as volatility becomes extreme,” they wrote. “None of the conditions we have been looking for to call an end to this bear market are in place.” Pro subscribers can read more here. — Weizhen Tan South Korea inflation eased slightly in September Consumer prices in South Korea rose less than expected in September from a year ago, official data showed. The CPI print came in at 5.6%, compared with 5.7% that economists polled by Reuters predicted. Prices rose 5.7% in August. September’s reading marks a second month of softening in inflation, and the slowest growth in four months. — Abigail Ng Dollar index falls back to 110 One factor helping equity markets on Tuesday could be a slightly weaker dollar, which is falling for the fifth-straight day. The DXY US Dollar Currency Index was down 1.5% in afternoon trading at 110.06. The index was trading as high as 114.78 last week, when there was concern about a failure of the UK government bond market. The British pound and the euro were each more than 1% against the dollar on Tuesday. The greenback was also down against the Japanese yen. —Jesse Pound, Gina Francolla Read More Here

Can Biden Save Democracy One US Factory Job At A Time? – KION546 https://digitalalaskanews.com/can-biden-save-democracy-one-us-factory-job-at-a-time-kion546/ By JOSH BOAK Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden is working to create a manufacturing revival — even helping to put factory jobs in Republican territory under the belief it can restore faith in U.S. democracy. The latest development came Tuesday, when chipmaker Micron announced an investment of up to $100 billion over the next 20-plus years to build a plant in upstate New York that could create 9,000 factory jobs. It’s a commitment made in a GOP congressional district that Biden and the company credited to the recently enacted $280 billion CHIPS and Science Act. “Today is another win for America, and another massive new investment in America spurred by my economic plan,” Biden said in a statement. “Together, we are building an economy from the bottom up and the middle out, where we lower costs for our families and make it right here in America.” Biden has staked his presidency on what he has called “a historic manufacturing boom,” hoping to succeed where past presidents, governors and hordes of other politicians have struggled for a half-century. His goal is to keep opening new factories in states such as Ohio, Idaho, North Carolina and Georgia — where Democrats’ footholds are shaky at best. Administration officials say they want to spread the prosperity across the entire country, rather than let it cluster in centers of extreme wealth, in a bid to renew the middle class and a sense of pride in the country itself. The push comes at a precarious moment for the global economy. High inflation in the U.S. has hurt Biden’s popularity and prompted recession concerns. Much of Europe faces a possible downturn due to the jump in energy prices after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, while the International Monetary Fund just downgraded growth in China. The world economy is defined by uncertainty just as Biden has called for investments in clean energy and technology that could take years to pay off. The president is hopeful that whatever good manufacturing can do for the U.S. economy also turns out to yield political benefits for himself and other Democrats in 2022 and beyond. He told Democratic donors on Friday that the manufacturing and technology investments mean “we have an opportunity” to strengthen the U.S. if Democratic governors and lawmakers are elected this year. Going into the midterm elections, Biden is telling voters that a factory renaissance has already started because of him. The administration sees its infrastructure spending, computer chip investments and clean-energy incentives as helping domestic manufacturing in unprecedented ways. Recent academic studies suggest that decades of layoffs due to offshoring contributed to the rise of Republican Donald Trump, with his opposition to immigration and global trade. But many of the authors of the studies doubt that Biden can make these demographic trends disappear through the promise of jobs for skilled workers. Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna of California would like to see the president make a national tour of factory openings, so that his policies could stick better in voters’ minds. Khanna recently attended the groundbreaking of a $20 billion Intel plant in Ohio and laid out his belief that factory job losses helped cause today’s political schisms. The Silicon Valley congressman reasons that too many Americans have lost faith in a government that seemed indifferent to their own well-being, leading them to embrace hucksters and authoritarians who thrive by exploiting and widening divisions in society. “How do you get rid of people’s jobs and expect them to believe in democracy?” Khanna asks. Factory jobs have risen during Biden’s tenure to the most since 2008 at 12.85 million, yet the task of steadying the country’s middle class and its democratic institutions is far from complete. The industrial Midwest has yet to recover the factory jobs shed in the pandemic, let alone decades of layoffs in which the economic challenges evolved into political tensions. Labor Department data show that Ohio is still 10,000 factory jobs shy of its pre-pandemic level and 350,000 jobs below its total in 2000. The numbers are similarly bad in Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin — three states that were key to Biden’s 2020 victory and could help decide control of Congress in November’s elections. The White House says Biden eschews thinking about Americans solely as consumers interested only in the cheapest prices and thus promoting outsourcing. Instead, his speeches are woven with talk about people as workers and the identity that working gives them. What Biden can show with this year’s factory groundbreakings is progress, even if the total number of manufacturing jobs is unlikely to return to the 1979 peak of 19.55 million. Intel’s computer chip plant being built in New Albany, Ohio, would add 3,000 jobs. Hyundai would add 8,100 jobs with its electric vehicle plant in Georgia. Wolfspeed, with plans to produce silicon carbide wafers in North Carolina, would add 1,800 jobs. Jay Timmons, CEO of the National Association of Manufacturers, said the gains in factory jobs reflect five years of effort, starting with the 2017 tax cuts by Trump and including Biden’s investments in infrastructure and computer chips as well as efforts to return jobs to the U.S. after global supply chain disruptions caused by the pandemic. “There’s a commitment by government at all levels to do more here and a desire by manufacturers to do more here,” Timmons said. Massachusetts Institute of Technology economist Daron Acemoglu applauded the president’s plans for spreading factory work across the country. It’s too soon to tell if the administration is succeeding, he said, but Biden is challenging what was once conventional wisdom among economists that little could be done to expand factory work in the U.S. “I believe the president is right,” said Acemoglu, the co-author of the book “Why Nations Fail.” “’Good jobs,’ which pay decent wages, have job stability, offer career-addressing opportunities, and endow a sense of accomplishment and dignity, are important for the middle class and social cohesion.” New academic research released in September suggests that the offshoring of factory jobs led white men to feel like victims and gave way to the rise of grievance politics that helped fuel Trump’s ascendancy among Republican voters. That movement in turn spawned election denialism and political violence that Biden has repeatedly said is “a dagger to the throat of our democracy.” The research covering 3,500 U.S. citizens finds that factory job losses due to automation are less controversial among voters than the offshoring, which triggered a “self-victimization bias” for whites who were more likely to “view offshoring as leading to greater total harm to the American economy, and to the U.S. position in the world.” One of the study’s authors, Leonardo Baccini of McGill University, still expects factory job totals to shrink, though a decline primarily due to automation would be less harmful to Democratic candidates. He still anticipates factory job losses over the long term as advanced economies focus more on productive services to sustain growth. “From an economic standpoint, the decline of U.S. manufacturing is inevitable and it is actually a good thing,” Baccini said. “Any attempt to stop this structural transformation with protectionism and government subsidies is likely to backfire.” J. Lawrence Broz, a political scientist at the University of California San Diego, co-wrote a 2019 research paper that found populist support was strongest in communities that endured long-term economic and social decline, a contrast to the superstar cities where technology, finance and a highly educated workforce were magnets for wealth. “It is unlikely that recent efforts to re-shore manufacturing jobs will produce the intended effects, either economically or politically,” Broz said. “The new factories won’t employ large numbers of less-skilled workers, leaving white industrial workers just as angry as they are now.” That means the underlying test of Biden’s agenda might be whether enough workers can be educated to meet the needs of a manufacturing sector with higher standards than during the heights of its dominance in the 20th century. Read More Here

AP Top News At 1:04 A.m. EDT https://digitalalaskanews.com/ap-top-news-at-104-a-m-edt-2/ Seoul’s reprisal blows up after North Korean missile success SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — A malfunctioning South Korean ballistic missile blew up as it plowed into the ground Wednesday during a live-fire drill with the United States that was a reprisal for North Korea’s successful launch a day earlier of a weapon that flew over Japan and has the range to strike the U.S. territory of Guam. The explosion and subsequent fire panicked and confused residents of the coastal city of Gangneung, who were already uneasy over the increasingly provocative weapons tests by rival North Korea. Their concern that it could be a North Korean attack only grew as the military and government officials provided no explanation about the explosion for hours. Retreating Russians leave their comrades’ bodies behind LYMAN, Ukraine (AP) — Russian troops abandoned a key Ukrainian city so rapidly that they left the bodies of their comrades in the streets, offering more evidence Tuesday of Moscow’s latest military defeat as it struggles to hang on to four regions of Ukraine that it illegally annexed last week. Meanwhile, Russia’s upper house of parliament rubber-stamped the annexations following “referendums” that Ukraine and its Western allies have dismissed as fraudulent. Responding to the move, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy formally ruled out talks with Russia, declaring that negotiations with Russian President Vladimir Putin are impossible after his decision to take over the regions. Big Brazilian gold refiner delisted amid Amazon mining probe MIAMI (AP) — One of Brazil’s biggest gold refiners, which processes gold suspected of being mined illegally in the Amazon rainforest, has been stripped of an important industry seal of approval that global manufacturers from Apple to Tesla rely on to root out abuses in their supply chains. An investigation by The Associated Press in January revealed how Sao Paulo-based Marsam shared ownership links and processes gold on behalf of an intermediary accused by Brazilian prosecutors of buying tarnished gold from Indigenous territories and other protected areas. A former partner at Marsam, Dirceu Frederico Sobrinho, has been at the center of recent gold rush in the Amazon, purchasing through a separate company he controls more than 2 billion reais ($388 million) worth of gold last year from wildcat miners at 252 sites. Biden to focus on hurricane victims in Florida, not politics WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden will visit hurricane-ravaged Florida with a pledge that federal, state and local governments will work as one to help rebuild homes, businesses and lives — putting politics on mute for now to focus on those in need. Hurricane Ian has resulted in at least 84 people confirmed dead, including 75 in Florida, as hundreds of thousands of people wait for power to be restored. Biden planned to meet Wednesday with residents and small business owners in Fort Myers, Florida, and to thank government officials providing emergency aid and removing debris. With the midterm elections just a month away, the crisis had the potential to bring together political rivals in common cause at least for a time. EXPLAINER: Musk Twitter turnaround reflects legal challenges WASHINGTON (AP) — News that Elon Musk has agreed after all to proceed with his $44 billion deal to buy Twitter may have felt like a stunning surprise from the brash billionaire who loves to shock. It sent shares of the social media platform soaring and stoked alarm among some media watchdogs and civil rights groups worried about what kind of free speech would flourish on Twitter under Musk’s vision. But it wasn’t surprising to observers of the monthslong rollercoaster of the Twitter vs. Musk legal battle, as Twitter tried to compel the world’s richest man to consummate the buyout he had tried to back out of. GOP optimistic about Senate chances despite Walker turmoil NEW YORK (AP) — Leading Republicans are entering the final month of the midterm campaign increasingly optimistic that a Senate majority is within reach even as a dramatic family fight in Georgia clouds one of the party’s biggest pickup opportunities. And as some Democrats crow on social media about apparent Republican setbacks, party strategists privately concede that their own shortcomings may not be outweighed by the GOP’s mounting challenges. The evolving outlook is tied to a blunt reality: Democrats have virtually no margin for error as they confront the weight of history, widespread economic concerns and President Joe Biden’s weak standing. Trump asks Supreme Court to intervene in Mar-a-Lago dispute WASHINGTON (AP) — Lawyers for former President Donald Trump asked the U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday to step into the legal fight over the classified documents seized during an FBI search of his Florida estate, escalating a dispute over the powers of an independent arbiter appointed to inspect the records. The Trump team asked the justices to overturn a lower court ruling and allow the arbiter, called a special master, to review the roughly 100 documents with classification markings that were taken in the Aug. 8 search of Mar-a-Lago. A three-judge panel from the Atlanta-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit last month limited the special master’s review to the much larger tranche of non-classified documents. Can Biden save democracy one US factory job at a time? WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden is working to create a manufacturing revival — even helping to put factory jobs in Republican territory under the belief it can restore faith in U.S. democracy. The latest development came Tuesday, when chipmaker Micron announced an investment of up to $100 billion over the next 20-plus years to build a plant in upstate New York that could create 9,000 factory jobs. It’s a commitment made in a GOP congressional district that Biden and the company credited to the recently enacted $280 billion CHIPS and Science Act. “Today is another win for America, and another massive new investment in America spurred by my economic plan,” Biden said in a statement. Yankees star Judge hits 62nd homer to break Maris’ AL record ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Aaron Judge took a smooth, mighty swing, then broke into a big smile as he trotted around the bases. Heading home, his teammates backed away, letting him touch the plate alone. At last, the New York Yankees slugger had the American League home run record all to himself. Judge hit his 62nd home run of the season Tuesday night, breaking Roger Maris’ AL record and setting what some fans consider baseball’s “clean” standard. “It’s a big relief,” Judge said. “Everybody can finally sit down in their seats and watch the ballgame. It’s been a fun ride so far, getting a chance to do this. ‘Best Before’ labels scrutinized as food waste concerns grow As awareness grows around the world about the problem of food waste, one culprit in particular is drawing scrutiny: “best before” labels. Manufacturers have used the labels for decades to estimate peak freshness. Unlike “use by” labels, which are found on perishable foods like meat and dairy, “best before” labels have nothing to do with safety and may encourage consumers to throw away food that’s perfectly fine to eat. “They read these dates and then they assume that it’s bad, they can’t eat it and they toss it, when these dates don’t actually mean that they’re not edible or they’re not still nutritious or tasty,” said Patty Apple, a manager at Food Shift, an Alameda, California, nonprofit that collects and uses expired or imperfect foods. Read More Here

Vote For Economist – Schultz, Not Seditionist – Stauber https://digitalalaskanews.com/vote-for-economist-schultz-not-seditionist-stauber/ Ideas and opinions in this letter are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect the stance of this paper. The author of this letter has paid for its placement. Pete Stauber received an “F” in Democracy from the Republican Accountability Project because he signed the infamous Texas amicus brief touting Trump’s Big Lie about election fraud. The brief was meant to disenfranchise millions of American voters. His failing grade from the R.A.P. was also due to to his refusal to acknowledge Biden’s win until after the coup attempt failed, his vote against Trump’s impeachment for the insurrection, his vote against creating an independent commission to investigate Jan 6th, and his vote against holding Steve Bannon in contempt of Congress. The MN AFL-CIO rated Pete Stauber’s voting record in 2021 at 23%. Stauber voted AGAINST the Build Back Better bill, the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, the Voting Rights Advancement Act, the invest in America Act, the Paycheck Fairness Act, the Equal Rights Amendment, the For the People Act, the American Rescue Plan, the Equality Act, the Raise the Wage Act, and the Protecting the Right to Organize Act, which was written to make it easier to organize and join a union. Pete Stauber downplayed and politicized the pandemic, which killed over a million Americans, while at the same time supporting liability immunity for businesses forcing workers back into pre-vaccination workplaces. Pete Stauber’s support for law-enforcement does not appear to extend to federal law enforcement like the FBI as it investigates Donald Trump and his alleged crimes related to national security. Pete Stauber thinks women should not be free to control their own bodies. Pete Stauber went all-in with the the authoritarian Trump cult, joining his fellow, boot-licking Republicans in lockstep obedience to the Great (con) Man. And accordingly, Stauber joins his party in their obstruction and sabotage of any actions taken by Democrats that might make life better for Americans, again and again putting party before country in the pursuit of political power. The Trump cult is a dire threat to our democracy. In November, MN 8th district voters will choose between an economist – Jen Schultz, or a seditionist – Pete Stauber. Read More Here

Can Biden Save Democracy One US Factory Job At A Time? https://digitalalaskanews.com/can-biden-save-democracy-one-us-factory-job-at-a-time/ WASHINGTON – President Joe Biden is working to create a manufacturing revival — even helping to put factory jobs in Republican territory under the belief it can restore faith in U.S. democracy. The latest development came Tuesday, when chipmaker Micron announced an investment of up to $100 billion over the next 20-plus years to build a plant in upstate New York that could create 9,000 factory jobs. It’s a commitment made in a GOP congressional district that Biden and the company credited to the recently enacted $280 billion CHIPS and Science Act. “Today is another win for America, and another massive new investment in America spurred by my economic plan,” Biden said in a statement. “Together, we are building an economy from the bottom up and the middle out, where we lower costs for our families and make it right here in America.” Biden has staked his presidency on what he has called “a historic manufacturing boom,” hoping to succeed where past presidents, governors and hordes of other politicians have struggled for a half-century. His goal is to keep opening new factories in states such as Ohio, Idaho, North Carolina and Georgia — where Democrats’ footholds are shaky at best. Administration officials say they want to spread the prosperity across the entire country, rather than let it cluster in centers of extreme wealth, in a bid to renew the middle class and a sense of pride in the country itself. The push comes at a precarious moment for the global economy. High inflation in the U.S. has hurt Biden’s popularity and prompted recession concerns. Much of Europe faces a possible downturn due to the jump in energy prices after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, while the International Monetary Fund just downgraded growth in China. The world economy is defined by uncertainty just as Biden has called for investments in clean energy and technology that could take years to pay off. The president is hopeful that whatever good manufacturing can do for the U.S. economy also turns out to yield political benefits for himself and other Democrats in 2022 and beyond. He told Democratic donors on Friday that the manufacturing and technology investments mean “we have an opportunity” to strengthen the U.S. if Democratic governors and lawmakers are elected this year. Going into the midterm elections, Biden is telling voters that a factory renaissance has already started because of him. The administration sees its infrastructure spending, computer chip investments and clean-energy incentives as helping domestic manufacturing in unprecedented ways. Recent academic studies suggest that decades of layoffs due to offshoring contributed to the rise of Republican Donald Trump, with his opposition to immigration and global trade. But many of the authors of the studies doubt that Biden can make these demographic trends disappear through the promise of jobs for skilled workers. Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna of California would like to see the president make a national tour of factory openings, so that his policies could stick better in voters’ minds. Khanna recently attended the groundbreaking of a $20 billion Intel plant in Ohio and laid out his belief that factory job losses helped cause today’s political schisms. The Silicon Valley congressman reasons that too many Americans have lost faith in a government that seemed indifferent to their own well-being, leading them to embrace hucksters and authoritarians who thrive by exploiting and widening divisions in society. “How do you get rid of people’s jobs and expect them to believe in democracy?” Khanna asks. Factory jobs have risen during Biden’s tenure to the most since 2008 at 12.85 million, yet the task of steadying the country’s middle class and its democratic institutions is far from complete. The industrial Midwest has yet to recover the factory jobs shed in the pandemic, let alone decades of layoffs in which the economic challenges evolved into political tensions. Labor Department data show that Ohio is still 10,000 factory jobs shy of its pre-pandemic level and 350,000 jobs below its total in 2000. The numbers are similarly bad in Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin — three states that were key to Biden’s 2020 victory and could help decide control of Congress in November’s elections. The White House says Biden eschews thinking about Americans solely as consumers interested only in the cheapest prices and thus promoting outsourcing. Instead, his speeches are woven with talk about people as workers and the identity that working gives them. What Biden can show with this year’s factory groundbreakings is progress, even if the total number of manufacturing jobs is unlikely to return to the 1979 peak of 19.55 million. Intel’s computer chip plant being built in New Albany, Ohio, would add 3,000 jobs. Hyundai would add 8,100 jobs with its electric vehicle plant in Georgia. Wolfspeed, with plans to produce silicon carbide wafers in North Carolina, would add 1,800 jobs. Jay Timmons, CEO of the National Association of Manufacturers, said the gains in factory jobs reflect five years of effort, starting with the 2017 tax cuts by Trump and including Biden’s investments in infrastructure and computer chips as well as efforts to return jobs to the U.S. after global supply chain disruptions caused by the pandemic. “There’s a commitment by government at all levels to do more here and a desire by manufacturers to do more here,” Timmons said. Massachusetts Institute of Technology economist Daron Acemoglu applauded the president’s plans for spreading factory work across the country. It’s too soon to tell if the administration is succeeding, he said, but Biden is challenging what was once conventional wisdom among economists that little could be done to expand factory work in the U.S. “I believe the president is right,” said Acemoglu, the co-author of the book “Why Nations Fail.” “’Good jobs,’ which pay decent wages, have job stability, offer career-addressing opportunities, and endow a sense of accomplishment and dignity, are important for the middle class and social cohesion.” New academic research released in September suggests that the offshoring of factory jobs led white men to feel like victims and gave way to the rise of grievance politics that helped fuel Trump’s ascendancy among Republican voters. That movement in turn spawned election denialism and political violence that Biden has repeatedly said is “a dagger to the throat of our democracy.” The research covering 3,500 U.S. citizens finds that factory job losses due to automation are less controversial among voters than the offshoring, which triggered a “self-victimization bias” for whites who were more likely to “view offshoring as leading to greater total harm to the American economy, and to the U.S. position in the world.” One of the study’s authors, Leonardo Baccini of McGill University, still expects factory job totals to shrink, though a decline primarily due to automation would be less harmful to Democratic candidates. He still anticipates factory job losses over the long term as advanced economies focus more on productive services to sustain growth. “From an economic standpoint, the decline of U.S. manufacturing is inevitable and it is actually a good thing,” Baccini said. “Any attempt to stop this structural transformation with protectionism and government subsidies is likely to backfire.” J. Lawrence Broz, a political scientist at the University of California San Diego, co-wrote a 2019 research paper that found populist support was strongest in communities that endured long-term economic and social decline, a contrast to the superstar cities where technology, finance and a highly educated workforce were magnets for wealth. “It is unlikely that recent efforts to re-shore manufacturing jobs will produce the intended effects, either economically or politically,” Broz said. “The new factories won’t employ large numbers of less-skilled workers, leaving white industrial workers just as angry as they are now.” That means the underlying test of Biden’s agenda might be whether enough workers can be educated to meet the needs of a manufacturing sector with higher standards than during the heights of its dominance in the 20th century. Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission. Read More Here

T https://digitalalaskanews.com/t-12/ To the editor: It’s getting even crazier out there! Now the former president is professing that the senate minority leader has a death wish. This because McConnell is indicating his support for legislation that will codify what we all took for granted prior to the failed Trump-led coup. In the same paragraph he also leveled racist comments at Mitch’s wife, a former Trump cabinet member. Elaine served Trump faithfully until he decided to be the first president ever to not accept defeat and cling to power by orchestrating the Jan. 6 insurrection. Of course our own Trump minion Rep. Elise Stefanik must condone his actions on all fronts. Her silence is an indication of her support. It is just unfathomable to me that now Mitch and Elaine are RINOs. C’mon Elise, show the independence you profess to have and condemn this cr**, or would that be your death wish too? Chuck Damp Ray Brook Today’s breaking news and more in your inbox Read More Here

E https://digitalalaskanews.com/e-5/ ATLANTA — Former President Donald Trump and his allies have whipped up a relentless campaign of attacks against voting equipment since his loss in the 2020 election. After nearly two years, no evidence has emerged that voting machines were manipulated to steal the election or that there was any widespread fraud. Conspiracy theories spread online and in forums across the country nevertheless have undermined public confidence in voting machines and election results, while leading some counties to consider ditching the equipment in favor of hand-marked and hand-counted ballots. Elections have been held across the country this year during a busy primary season. While programming errors sometimes occur and equipment can malfunction, no major problems have been reported. Voting equipment is tested before and after to identify any problems, while audits done after the election confirm it worked correctly. The Associated Press explains how we got to this point, the efforts to increase security of the vote and the fallout from the false claims surrounding the 2020 presidential election. – Voting technology in use in the U.S. – The types of voting equipment used throughout the U.S. varies by location. For in-person voting, most people fill out ballots by hand, and those ballots are inserted into an electronic tabulator. In many cases, this happens at the polling location. Elsewhere, the ballots are collected in a secured box, with rules governing the chain of custody, and taken to an election office for electronic tabulation. In some places, a specialized computer is used by voters to mark their ballots electronically. Those ballots are printed, reviewed by the voter for accuracy and then inserted into a tabulator at their polling location. A lawsuit in Georgia is challenging the use of these “ballot-marking” machines because they use bar codes to record votes. Mailed ballots also are counted by tabulators at a local election office. A small number of jurisdictions, mostly small towns in New England, don’t use tabulators and count their ballots by hand. – How has this changed over the years? – After the “hanging chad” chaos of the 2000 election, Congress provided money for voting system upgrades. Many jurisdictions opted for electronic voting machines to replace their punch-card ballot systems. But those machines did not produce a paper record; instead, all votes were cast and recorded electronically. For years, election security experts raised concerns about these “direct-recording” machines and the potential for someone to tamper with them. A more secure method, they say, is a system that uses paper ballots and electronic tabulation with post-election reviews and tests to ensure the machines faithfully recorded voters’ choices. Over the last decade, state and local governments began replacing their paperless machines, a process that accelerated after the 2016 election and revelations that Russia had scanned U.S. voting systems looking for vulnerabilities. Today, paperless machines are used only in Louisiana and a small number of jurisdictions in Indiana, Mississippi, New Jersey, Tennessee and Texas, according to Verified Voting, a group that tracks voting technology in the U.S. – Claims made after the 2020 election – In the weeks after the 2020 election, Trump and his allies made numerous unsupported claims about voting machines, including that their software was created in foreign countries and designed to flip votes for desired candidates: “With the turn of a dial or the change of a chip, you can press a button for Trump and it goes to Biden,” Trump said in a Dec. 2 speech. These claims have largely centered on Dominion Voting Systems, one of a handful of companies that dominate the U.S. voting technology market. In response, Dominion has filed defamation lawsuits against conservative media companies and Trump lawyers Sidney Powell and Rudy Giuliani, saying “lies and misinformation have severely damaged our company and diminished the credibility of U.S. elections.” But rather than dissipate, conspiracies surrounding voting machines have only grown. Trump allies have been traveling the country to speak at conferences and with community groups, armed with algorithms and charts purporting to show machines have somehow been rigged. Election technology expert Kevin Skoglund said part of the challenge is that voting systems are complex. It’s understandable that some people would be persuaded that something nefarious happened when it did not. “If you are a person who is not technical, if someone is telling you the machines are cheating you, you might believe it because you don’t understand how the systems work,” Skoglund said. – Are voting systems secure? – Any device run by software — a cell phone, a laptop or voting system — is vulnerable to hacking. That’s why election experts have been pressing for the replacement of paperless voting machines. Experts say the U.S. has taken steps to improve election security in recent years. That includes designating U.S. voting systems in 2017 as “critical infrastructure” — on par with the nation’s banks, dams and nuclear power plants. Congress has sent nearly $900 million in election security funding to states, which has been used to replace outdated voting systems, hire cybersecurity staff and beef up cybersecurity defenses. “There is no such thing as an invulnerable system,” said Larry Norden, an election security expert at the Brennan Center for Justice. “That doesn’t mean we can’t do better. We should always be looking at how we can do better, but you can’t eliminate risk.” – False claims fuel doubt and security concerns – The false claims have not only undermined public confidence in elections. They also have led to security breaches at some local election offices in Colorado, Georgia and Michigan. Soon after the 2020 election, Trump allies seized on a programming error in a Michigan county and, through the courts, gained legal access to its voting system. But a copy of the county’s election management system was made available at an August 2021 event hosted by a Trump ally, MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell, according to attendees. Also released at that event was a copy of the system used in Mesa County, Colorado. Details have surfaced recently of another suspected breach — in Coffee County, Georgia in January 2021 as Trump allies sought ways to overturn the result of the presidential election. And Michigan authorities are investigating after voting equipment in a handful of counties was made accessible to unauthorized people. Those developments have prompted concerns that rogue election workers sympathetic to conspiracies might use their access to election equipment and the knowledge to launch an attack from within. A poll worker in Michigan was recently charged with inserting a personal thumb drive into an electronic pollbook during the state’s primary, while authorities in Colorado are investigating a case in which a voter is suspected of tampering with a voting machine earlier this year. Jen Easterly, director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency at the Department of Homeland Security, told reporters Monday that threats to the security of elections have never been more complex — citing misinformation, the insider threats and harassment of election workers. – The “most secure” election – After the 2020 presidential election, a coalition of federal cybersecurity and election officials along with state election officials and representatives from voting machine companies issued a statement calling it the “most secure in American history.” The group said there was “no evidence that any voting system deleted or lost votes, changed votes, or was in any way compromised.” This was due largely to paper records being available for an estimated 93% of all ballots cast and a system of post-election checks to test the accuracy of the electronic tabulators. In Georgia, the presidential vote was counted three times — once entirely by hand — and each tally affirmed President Joe Biden’s win in the state. “It doesn’t matter what happens in the machine,” said Norden, of the Brennan Center. “We have a piece of paper that tells us whether votes were recorded accurately.” Today’s breaking news and more in your inbox Read More Here

Quake Info: Light Mag. 4.5 Earthquake – 39 Mi West Of Anchor Point, Kenai Peninsula, Alaska, USA, On Tuesday, Oct 4, 2022 At 7:28 Pm (GMT -8) – 8 User Experience Reports https://digitalalaskanews.com/quake-info-light-mag-4-5-earthquake-39-mi-west-of-anchor-point-kenai-peninsula-alaska-usa-on-tuesday-oct-4-2022-at-728-pm-gmt-8-8-user-experience-reports/ Updated: Oct 5, 2022 04:11 GMT – I felt this quake Light magnitude 4.5 earthquake at 117 km depth 5 Oct 03:30 UTC: First to report: USGS after 2 minutes. 5 Oct 03:40: Magnitude recalculated from 4.3 to 4.5. Hypocenter depth recalculated from 118.2 to 116.7 km (from 73 to 73 mi). Epicenter location corrected by 1.5 km (1 mi) towards SW. Update Wed, 5 Oct 2022, 03:36 Moderate earthquake of magnitude 4.3 just reported 39 miles northwest of Anchor Point, Alaska, United States 4.3 quake 4 Oct 7:28 pm (GMT -8) An intermediate magnitude 4.3 earthquake was reported early evening near Anchor Point, Kenai Peninsula, Alaska, USA. According to the United States Geological Survey, the quake hit on Tuesday, October 4th, 2022, at 7:28 pm local time at an intermediate depth of 73 miles. The strength of the earthquake may have been tempered by its relative great depth below the surface, which makes it feel weaker in absolute terms. The exact magnitude, epicenter, and depth of the quake might be revised within the next few hours or minutes as seismologists review data and refine their calculations, or as other agencies issue their report. A second report was later issued by the citizen-seismograph network of RaspberryShake, which listed it as a magnitude 4.3 earthquake as well. A third agency, the European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC), reported the same quake at magnitude 4.3. Towns or cities near the epicenter where the quake might have been felt as very weak shaking include Anchor Point (pop. 1,900) located 39 miles from the epicenter, Diamond Ridge (pop. 1,200) 51 miles away, Homer (pop. 5,500) 52 miles away, Fritz Creek (pop. 1,900) 58 miles away, and Cohoe (pop. 1,400) 60 miles away. In Kalifornsky (pop. 7,900, 62 miles away), the quake was probably not felt. VolcanoDiscovery will automatically update magnitude and depth if these change and follow up if other significant news about the quake become available. If you’re in the area, please send us your experience through our reporting mechanism, either online or via our mobile app. This will help us provide more first-hand updates to anyone around the globe who wants to know more about this quake. If you were or still are in this area during the quake help others with your feedback and report it here. Download the Volcanoes & Earthquakes app and get one of the fastest seismic alerts online: Android | iOS I felt this quake I didn’t feel it Earthquake details Date & time Oct 5, 2022 03:28:16 UTC – Local time at epicenter Tuesday, Oct 4, 2022 at 7:28 pm (GMT -8) Status Confirmed Magnitude 4.5 Depth 116.7 km Epicenter latitude / longitude 59.9726°N / 152.8991°W (Kenai Peninsula, Alaska, United States) Antipode 59.973°S / 27.101°E Shaking intensity Weak shaking Felt 8 reports Primary data source USGS (United States Geological Survey) Nearest volcano Iliamna (13 km / 8 mi) Nearby towns and cities 63 km (39 mi) WNW of Anchor Point (pop: 1,930) | Show on map | Quakes nearby 84 km (52 mi) WNW of Homer (pop: 5,520) | Show on map | Quakes nearby 93 km (58 mi) WNW of Fritz Creek (pop: 1,930) | Show on map | Quakes nearby 99 km (61 mi) WSW of Cohoe (pop: 1,360) | Show on map | Quakes nearby 111 km (69 mi) SW of Kenai (pop: 7,660) | Show on map | Quakes nearby 214 km (133 mi) SW of Alaska City (pop: 298,700) | Show on map | Quakes nearby 236 km (146 mi) SW of Eagle River (pop: 24,800) | Show on map | Quakes nearby 236 km (146 mi) SW of Eagle River (Anchorage) (pop: 24,800) | Show on map | Quakes nearby Weather at epicenter at time of quake Light Rain 6°C (43 F), humidity: 90%, wind: 5 m/s (9 kts) from N Estimated seismic energy released 3.5 x 1011 joules (98.6 megawatt hours, equivalent to 84.8 tons of TNT) | about seismic energy If you felt this quake (or if you were near the epicenter), please share your experience and submit a short “I felt it” report! Other users would love to hear about it! If you did NOT feel the quake although you were in the area, please report it! Your contribution is valuable to earthquake science, seismic hazard analysis and mitigation efforts. You can use your device location or the map to indicate where you were during the earthquake. Thank you! Data for the same earthquake reported by different agencies Info: The more agencies report about the same quake and post similar data, the more confidence you can have in the data. It takes normally up to a few hours until earthquake parameters are calculated with near-optimum precision. Mag. Depth Location Source 4.5 117 km Southern Alaska USGS 4.6 117 km SOUTHERN ALASKA EMSC 4.5 117 km Southern Alaska RaspberryShake 4.5 10 km Southern Alaska IRIS 4.8 106 km Southern Alaska GFZ Seismograms Seismic station: Kodiak Island, Alaska, USA (KDAK/II network) | Distance from quake: 244 km / 152 mi | Show on map | Station Info Seismogram (vertical component) around time of quake. Thin dotted red line indicates time of quake. Seismic waves arrive some time later, depending on distance. Source: IRIS Buffer of Uniform Data (BUD) webtool Show more User reports for this quake (8) Contribute: Leave a comment if you find a particular report interesting or want to add to it. Flag as inappropriate. Mark as helpful or interesting. Send your own user report! Homer (94.2 km ESE of epicenter) [Map] / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 5-10 s : I was sitting still on a couch and felt the house shimmy lightly for a few seconds.   Homer alaska (83.2 km ESE of epicenter) [Map] / Very weak shaking (MMI II) Eagle River, Ak (235.4 km NE of epicenter) [Map] / Weak shaking (MMI III) / rattling, vibrating / 1-2 s : Brief shake   Diamond Ridge, Kenai Peninsula, Alaska (79.5 km ESE of epicenter) [Map] / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / single vertical bump / very short (reported through our app) South Anchorage / Weak shaking (MMI III) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 1-2 s GIRDWOOD / Light shaking (MMI IV) / 1-2 s (reported through our app) Kasilof / Very weak shaking (MMI II) (reported through our app) Anchorage / Weak shaking (MMI III) / rattling, vibrating / 10-15 s Earlier earthquakes in the same area Click here to search our database for earlier earthquakes in the same area since 1900! Read More Here

Bank Of England Bought No Bonds Today, After Buying Only £22 Million On Monday, Instead Of £5 Billion Per Day https://digitalalaskanews.com/bank-of-england-bought-no-bonds-today-after-buying-only-22-million-on-monday-instead-of-5-billion-per-day/ Carefully communicating this isn’t a Pivot to QE but a temporary “backstop” to calm a panic. And it calmed the panic with minimal purchases. By Wolf Richter for WOLF STREET. This was the infamous Pivot back to QE: The Bank of England announced on September 28 that it would buy up to £5 billion per day in long-dated UK government bonds (gilts) “in a temporary and targeted way.” It said specifically, “The purpose of these purchases is to restore orderly market conditions.” It said the program would expire on October 14. This came after long-dated gilt yields blew out last week, with the 10-year yield on September 28 getting close to 5%. Panic had broken out after highly leveraged UK pension funds with £1.5 trillion in assets had received margin calls on their gilt-based derivatives linked to their liability-driven investment (LDI) strategy (explained here). The pension funds had started to dump gilts along with other assets to meet those margin calls, thereby creating a death spiral for gilts. On September 28, the BOE stepped in and said it would buy up to £5 billion per day in the secondary market via auctions through October 14. It spelled out that this wasn’t a new round of QE, but a backstop for the gilt market that had become dysfunctional. It would also give pension funds time to sort out their issues. The announcement settled down the markets, and 10-year gilt yields plunged back below 4%, and yields plunged around the world as everyone breathed a sigh of relieve that the panic wasn’t spreading. And the meme was born that the BOE was the first central bank to “pivot” back to QE. But the BOE bought no bonds today, almost no bonds yesterday, and very little last week. The BOE bought very little over the first three days of the program (Sep 28, 29, and 30), averaging only £1.21 billion per day, instead of £5 billion per day, according the BOE’s daily disclosures of gilt purchases under this program. It bought almost nothing on Monday (Oct 3), just £22 million with an M; and it bought £0 – meaning exactly “zero” – today (Oct 4): Turns out, the program was highly effective in calming markets, settling down the panic, and unwinding the spike in long-term yields, without big purchases. The BOE is using reserve pricing at the auctions. On Monday, it had received £1.91 billion in offers to sell gilts, and rejected all but £22 million of them. Today it had received £2.23 billion in offers, and rejected all of them, with its reserve pricing. With these pricing limits, the BOE is further communicating that this is a temporary “backstop,” as it calls it, to calm the gilt market, and not the beginning of a new round of QE; and that it is serious about ending the program, as announced, on October 14. On October 3, the BOE  reiterated that “the purpose of these operations is to act as a backstop to restore orderly market conditions and reduce any risks from contagion to credit conditions for UK households and businesses.” It said that it is “studying patterns of demand and will continue to use reserve pricing in order to ensure the backstop objective of the tool is delivered.” And it said that “the Bank stands ready to adjust any of the other parameters of the auction in order to secure that objective.” In the same announcement, in a further sign that this is not a new round of QE, it said that it asked gilt dealers “to identify” whether offers are made on behalf of themselves or on behalf of their clients, starting on October 4. The BOE is caught between the unruly gilt market and 10% inflation that is wreaking havoc on the economy. The 10-year guilt yield has dropped about 100 basis point from the peak of the panic to 3.87% now, about where it had been on September 23: Enjoy reading WOLF STREET and want to support it? Using ad blockers – I totally get why – but want to support the site? You can donate. I appreciate it immensely. Click on the beer and iced-tea mug to find out how: Would you like to be notified via email when WOLF STREET publishes a new article? Sign up here. Read More Here

What We're Learning About Victims Of The Stockton Serial Killings https://digitalalaskanews.com/what-were-learning-about-victims-of-the-stockton-serial-killings/ THE INVESTIGATION INTO THE STOCKTON SERIAL KILLER HAS TAKEN A TWIST AND NOW INVOLVES TWO NEW CASES, ONE IN THE BAY AREA AND ONE WITH A SURVIVOR. MIKE: ERIN HAS THOSE DETAILS. ERIN: THEY FOUND THE FIRST KNOWN SURVIVOR WHO IS ALSO THE FIRST KNOWN WOMAN IN THIS SERIES OF SHOOTINGS. ALSO AFTER THE ANNOUNCEMENT LAST NIGHT THE PERSON SHOT AND KILLED IN OAKLAND AS A FIRST AS WELL BECAUSE IT IS THE FIRST PERSON NOT SHOT AND KILLED KNOWN IN STOCKTON. TAKE A LOOK AT THIS PICTURE. GRAINY AND FROM BEHIND, PEOPLE — PEOPLE HOPE THIS PICTURE CREATES LEADS. DRAIN A LIST OF FIVE OTHERS OF ALL MEN SHOT AND KILLED IN STOCKTON BETWEEN JULY AND SEPTEMBER 2027. PLEASE NOW BELIEVE A SERIAL KILLER OR KILLERS TARGETED THESE PEOPLE. POLICE HAVE SAID THE COMMON THREAD IS THE VICTIMS WERE SHOT WHILE ALONE AND AFTER DARK. THE MAJORITY OF THESE SHOOTINGS HAPPENING JUST A FEW SQUARE MILES IN STOCKS ABOVE THAT CHANGED WITH THE ANNOUNCEMENT LAST NIGHT. DR. POLICE HAVE RAISED THE REWARD FOR INFORMATION LEADING TO AN ARREST. REWARD NOW $95,000. THE STOCKTON POLICE HAVE SET UP A TIP LINE FOR ANYONE WITH INFORMATION ABOUT THE SHOOTINGS. THE NUMBER ON YOUR SCREEN RIGHT NOW. 209-937-8167. BE ALERT, HAVE YOUR HEAD ON A SWIVEL. REPORTER: POLICE HAVE SAID THE MAJORITY OF VICTIMS ARE HISPANIC BUT THEY DO NOT BELIEVE ANY OF THE VICTIMS ARE A RESULT OF ANY TYPE OF HATE CRIME. What we’re learning about victims of the Stockton serial killings “These incidents are occurring in the hours of darkness, these incidents are occurring where folks are alone by themselves, not in lit areas,” Stockton police chief Stanley McFadden said. The recent shooting deaths of at least five people in Stockton and of one person killed in Oakland last year are believed to be interconnected, according to Stockton police. In addition, the shooting of a woman in Stockton last year who survived is also linked in connection with the serial killings. As the Stockton Police Department searches for the person or people responsible for the serial killings, KCRA 3 is learning more about the lives lost. Leer en español. The family and the medical examiner’s office first identified the five recent victims.35-year-old Paul Alexander Yaw43-year-old Salvador William Debudey Jr.21-year-old Jonathan Hernandez Rodriguez52-year-old Juan Cruz52-year-old Lorenzo LopezTwo more shootings have since been linked to the recent slayings. They included an April 10, 2021, shooting at 4:18 a.m. when a 40-year-old Hispanic man was killed in Oakland, police said. Affiliate KTVU reported that the coroner identified the man as Juan Miguel Vasquez Serrano.And a 46-year-old woman survived her injuries after being shot on April 16, 2021, at 3:20 a.m. at Park and Union streets in Stockton. Video above: Stockton police chief reviews five cases that he said appear to be connected”These incidents are occurring in the hours of darkness, these incidents are occurring where folks are alone by themselves, not in lit areas,” Stockton police chief Stanley McFadden said on Friday, Sept. 30.While most of the victims are Hispanic, Stockton police don’t believe that there is any indication that these are hate crimes. At the moment, it’s unclear if a person of interest being sought by police is a suspect or a witness.Police confirmed that ballistics tests have linked the shootings. | Read More | Stockton police chief says ‘stop the killing’ as they investigate serial homicides; person of interest soughtPaul Alexander Yaw, 35Paul Alexander Yaw was killed on July 8, the family confirmed to KCRA 3. “This is my son Paul. He was a great man with a big heart,” his mother, Greta Bogrow, who lives in Texas, said in a statement. “He was my son, a father, a grandson, nephew, cousin and brother and was loved by many. He has left a huge hole in our hearts, and I hope they catch the person(s) responsible before this happens again.”Yaw was shot just after midnight — around 12:30 a.m. — at a park in the 5600 block of Kermit Lane, police said. He was taken to the hospital, where he died from his injuries. One neighbor told KCRA 3 that she heard the gunshots.Bogrow said her son was unhoused at the time of his death. Salvador William Debudey Jr., 43 Salvador William Debudey Jr. was killed on Aug. 11, the family confirmed to KCRA 3.Debudey was a Stockton native and father. He was shot around 9:49 p.m. in a parking lot on the 4900 block of West Lane, police said. Officers found him with a gunshot wound and started life-saving measures. He died at the scene of the shooting, which was about five minutes away from the first homicide. Debudey’s wife, Analydia Lopez, says that she found out about the possible connection between all homicides through social media and is upset that Stockton police haven’t reached out to give her family information.”It’s caused a lot of pain, a lot of pain to our family,” said Analydia Lopez, the wife of Salvador Debudey.She said she met Debudey roughly 28 years ago when they were students at Franklin High School. They reconnected later in life and were married for 12 years.”To be honest with you, a part of me died with him that day,” Lopez said. “It’s been hard. It’s been really, really hard.”In addition to his wife and daughter, Debudey is survived by his three younger brothers and his mother and father. The family is now left wondering who killed the 43-year-old.Learn more about Dubedy here.Lorenzo Lopez, 54Lorenzo Lopez was killed on Sept. 27, the family confirmed to KCRA 3.He was shot just before 2 a.m. on the 900 block of Porter Avenue, police said. When officers arrived, they found the man on the sidewalk with a gunshot wound. He was pronounced dead at the scene, police said. A shrine has since been set up at the scene by grieving family members. “My mother and father were just heartbroken from this,” said Jerry Lopez, brother of Lorenzo. “That’s their first baby boy. And I know they have so many memories of him.”Jerry Lopez is hopeful that the Stockton Police Department’s announcement that it’s offering reward money and looking for a person of interest in connection to his brother’s killing, and others believed to be part of that serial murder spree, will make a difference.“He was there for me. He was watching out for me. I wish I could’ve watched out for him,” Jerry Lopez said about his big brother. The original cash reward was $85,000, but Stockton police said they raised the reward to $95,000 after an anonymous donation.Learn more about Lopez here. Jonathan Hernandez Rodriguez, 21Hernandez Rodriguez was killed Aug. 30 at the 800 block of East Hammer Lane, according to police. He was found shot and killed inside his vehicle and was pronounced dead at the scene. His family told KCRA 3 that he was born in Stockton, and that his funeral took place on Sept. 11. Related CoverageStockton serial killings: Everything we know and don’t know so farSerial killers are ‘very complicated psychologically, to investigate,’ experts sayVideo of person of interest released, ballistics connect shootingsHow the Stockton community is coming together amid serial killing fears-KCRA 3’s Maricela De La Cruz and Lysée Mitri contributed to this report. The recent shooting deaths of at least five people in Stockton and of one person killed in Oakland last year are believed to be interconnected, according to Stockton police. In addition, the shooting of a woman in Stockton last year who survived is also linked in connection with the serial killings. As the Stockton Police Department searches for the person or people responsible for the serial killings, KCRA 3 is learning more about the lives lost. Leer en español. The family and the medical examiner’s office first identified the five recent victims. 35-year-old Paul Alexander Yaw 43-year-old Salvador William Debudey Jr. 21-year-old Jonathan Hernandez Rodriguez 52-year-old Juan Cruz 52-year-old Lorenzo Lopez Two more shootings have since been linked to the recent slayings. They included an April 10, 2021, shooting at 4:18 a.m. when a 40-year-old Hispanic man was killed in Oakland, police said. Affiliate KTVU reported that the coroner identified the man as Juan Miguel Vasquez Serrano. And a 46-year-old woman survived her injuries after being shot on April 16, 2021, at 3:20 a.m. at Park and Union streets in Stockton. Video above: Stockton police chief reviews five cases that he said appear to be connected “These incidents are occurring in the hours of darkness, these incidents are occurring where folks are alone by themselves, not in lit areas,” Stockton police chief Stanley McFadden said on Friday, Sept. 30. While most of the victims are Hispanic, Stockton police don’t believe that there is any indication that these are hate crimes. At the moment, it’s unclear if a person of interest being sought by police is a suspect or a witness. Police confirmed that ballistics tests have linked the shootings. | Read More | Stockton police chief says ‘stop the killing’ as they investigate serial homicides; person of interest sought Paul Alexander Yaw, 35 Greta Bogrow Paul Alexander Yaw was the first victim of Stockton serial killings. Paul Alexander Yaw was killed on July 8, the family confirmed to KCRA 3. “This is my son Paul. He was a great man with a big heart,” his mother, Greta Bogrow, who lives in Texas, said in a statement. “He was my son, a father, a grandson, nephew, cousin and brother and was loved by many. He has left a huge hole in our hearts, and I hope they catch the person(s) responsible before this happens again.” Yaw was shot just after midnight — around 12:30 a.m. — at a park in the 5600 block of Kermit Lane, police said. He was taken to the hospital, where he died from his injuries. One neighbor told KCRA 3 that she heard the gunshots. Bogrow said her son was unhoused at the time of his death. Salv...

Seoul's Reprisal Blows Up After North Korean Missile Success https://digitalalaskanews.com/seouls-reprisal-blows-up-after-north-korean-missile-success/ SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — A malfunctioning South Korean ballistic missile blew up as it plowed into the ground Wednesday during a live-fire drill with the United States that was a reprisal for North Korea’s successful launch a day earlier of a weapon that flew over Japan and has the range to strike the U.S. territory of Guam. The explosion and subsequent fire panicked and confused residents of the coastal city of Gangneung, who were already uneasy over the increasingly provocative weapons tests by rival North Korea. Their concern that it could be a North Korean attack only grew as the military and government officials provided no explanation about the explosion for hours. South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said no injuries have been reported from the explosion, which involved a short-range Hyumoo-2 missile that crashed inside an air force base in the outskirts of the city. It said the crash didn’t affect any civilian facilities. Kwon Seong-dong, a ruling party lawmaker representing Gangneung, wrote on Facebook that a “weapons system operated by our blood-like taxpayer money ended up threatening our own people” and called for the military to thoroughly investigate the missile failure. He also criticized the military for not issuing a notice about the failure while maintaining a media embargo on the joint drills. “It was an irresponsible response,” Kwon wrote. “They don’t even have an official press release yet.” South Korea’s military acknowledged the malfunction hours after internet users raised alarm about the blast and posted social media videos showing an orange ball of flames emerging from an area they described as near the air force base. It said it was investigating what caused the “abnormal flight” of the missile. Officials at Gangneung’s fire department and city hall said emergency workers were dispatched to the air force base and a nearby army base in response to calls about a possible explosion but were sent back by military officials. The U.S. and South Korean militaries are conducting the joint exercises to show their ability to deter a North Korean attack on the South. During Tuesday’s drills, they conducted bombing runs by F-15 strike jets using precision munitions and launched two missiles each that are part of the Army Tactical Missile System. Seoul’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said the U.S. aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan was scheduled to return to waters east of South Korea on Wednesday to demonstrate the allies’ “firm will” to counter North’s continued provocations and threats. The carrier was part of drills last week with South Korea and Japan. The homegrown Hyumoo-2 is key to South Korea’s preemptive and retaliatory strike strategies against the North. Some versions of the missile are similar to Russian-designed Iskander missiles, which are part of North Korea’s arsenal. North Korea’s successful launch of a nuclear-capable ballistic missile hours before the drills was the country’s most provocative weapons demonstration since 2017 and was its fifth round of weapons tests in 10 days. That missile has a range capable of striking Guam, which is home to one of the largest military facilities maintained by the U.S. in Asia. North Korea in 2017 also tested missiles capable of hitting the continental United States. North Korea has fired nearly 40 ballistic missiles over about 20 different launch events this year, exploiting Russia’s war on Ukraine and the resulting deep divide in the U.N. Security Council to accelerate its arms development without risking further sanctions. Its aim is to develop a fully fledged nuclear arsenal capable of threatening the U.S. mainland and its allies while gaining recognition as a nuclear state and wresting concessions from those countries. The United States, Britain, France, Albania, Norway and Ireland called for an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council over the latest North Korean launch. The open meeting was scheduled for 3 p.m. Wednesday. ___ See more AP Asia-Pacific coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/asia-pacific Read More Here

Trump To Hold Fundraiser For GOP Senate Nominee Leora Levy https://digitalalaskanews.com/trump-to-hold-fundraiser-for-gop-senate-nominee-leora-levy/ Republican Senate hopeful Leora Levy received some big support in her attempt to unseat Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal. The Levy campaign confirmed Tuesday former President Donald Trump is hosting a fundraiser on her behalf. The event will be held Oct. 18 at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate. A flyer for the event says attendees can have their picture taken with Trump for a $25,000 donation. As of last month, the Levy campaign had less than $300,000 in cash on hand, compared to Blumenthal who’s built a warchest of more than $8 million. Read More Here

E https://digitalalaskanews.com/e-4/ Skip to main content This content is only available to subscribers. Get unlimited digital access. $1 for 6 months. Your subscription supports: Investigative reporting that makes our community a better place to work, live and play Expert coverage of high school sports teams The best tips on places to eat and things to do Daily newsletter with top news to know Mobile apps including immersive storytelling This content is only available to subscribers. Get unlimited digital access. $1 for 6 months. Your subscription supports: Investigative reporting that makes our community a better place to work, live and play Expert coverage of high school sports teams The best tips on places to eat and things to do Daily newsletter with top news to know Mobile apps including immersive storytelling Read More Here

T https://digitalalaskanews.com/t-11/ Donald Trump has fired off another attack on the National Archives and Records Administration, which handles presidential records, after the FBI seized thousands of documents from the former president’s Mar-a-Lago estate that were allegedly government property. ‘There is no security at NARA. I want my documents back!’ Trump complained in a lengthy statement on Tuesday, accusing the federal agency of bungling the handling of government documents. The Justice Department says it seized roughly 11,000 documents, including about 100 with classification markings, during an August 8 search of Mar-a-Lago, part of a probe into potential violations of laws governing the handling of government records. Investigators say that many of those documents belong in the National Archives, but Trump lashed out at the agency in his statement, citing an embarrassing 2009 incident in which NARA lost a hard drive of records from the Clinton administration. Donald Trump slammed the National Archives and Records Administration, which handles presidential records, after the FBI seized thousands of documents from Mar-a-Lago Trump lashed out at the National Archives in a statement on Tuesday, citing a 2009 scandal in which the agency lost a hard drive with records from the Clinton administration Trump shared a CNN report that detailed how NARA lost the external hard drive containing confidential personal information, including the names, phone numbers and Social Security numbers of White House staff members and visitors.  ‘NARA lost a whole hard drive full of HIGHLY SENSITIVE information from the Clinton White House,’ wrote Trump. ‘What else have they “lost”? How can Americans trust a system like this?’  The hard drive in question was found to be missing from a processing room at NARA’s College Park, Maryland, facility in March 2009. The missing drive contained names and social security numbers for some 15,750 individuals, according to a statement from the agency.  NARA said at the time that the hard drive did not contain any original records, only backups. But it does not appear the missing drive was ever located. The National Archives press office did not immediately respond to an inquiry from DailyMail.com after business hours on Tuesday.  Meanwhile, Trump has asked the Supreme Court to intervene in the Mar-a-Lago case, after an Appeals Court ruling that put a stop to allowing a ‘special master’ to review classified documents seized from the president’s Florida club. The FBI raided Mar-a-Lago August 8, retrieving about 100 classified documents Trump wants to revert back to a process where a senior judge acting as a special master pores over material seized in the raid of his Florida club to adjudicate Trump’s claims over material the former president considers privileged.  That could allow Trump to use that review to bounce certain material marked as ‘classified’ or even ‘top secret’ and keep it out of the hands of government investigators as part of their probe related to the removal and retention of government national security documents. Trump’s lawyers asked Justice Clarence Thomas to issue an order that would undo the appeals court’s move on an emergency basis. Thomas, who has emerged to lead the court’s 6-3 conservative majority, oversees the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals as Circuit Justice, although he could send the matter to the full court. It is just the latest turn in a fight that has whipped its way through the courts and put Trump’s legal woes back in the spotlight in the run-up to the November elections. After Trump-appointed Judge Aileen Cannon named a ‘special master’ to review the material seized during the FBI search, the Justice Department went to the 11th Circuit seeking to overturn part of her ruling. They sought to put an end parts of the order requiring the special master to go through classified documents – with about 100 documents marked classified seized in an August 8 search – and where Trump was asserting privilege claims.  DOJ argued those documents were the property of the government, and that Trump shouldn’t be allowed claims of executive privilege against them, while also claiming to keep attorney-client documents out of the government’s hands.  The appeal comes as a special master has begun setting up a process to review material seized from Mar-a-Lago  The government prevailed, even as the special master kept his overriding role. District Judge Raymond Dearie, who was recommended by Trump’s team, remains in the role. A three-judge Appeals Court panel ruled in DOJ’s favor. Trump’s team argued that any interference in the review of material – which comes amid Trump’s own claim of privilege –  ‘erodes public confidence in our system of justice.’  Legal experts pointed out Tuesday that Trump’s team did not seek to toss another part of the appeals court’s ruling: that the DOJ could continue to use classified materials in its investigation.  Lawyers for Trump filed the 296-page filing seeking to overturn part of the appeals court’s latest order. They argue that it compromises ‘the integrity of the well-established policy against piecemeal appellate review and ignoring the District Court’s broad discretion without justification.’ Just as DOJ has argued that Trump’s ploy could interfere with a government investigation under the Espionage Act, Trump’s team argues it could harm the special master’s role.  Donald Trump’s lawyers are seeking to bring the Supreme Court into the case The former president has repeatedly attacked the raid, and has even suggested FBI agents may have planted material ‘This unwarranted stay should be vacated as it impairs substantially the ongoing, time-sensitive work of the Special Master,’ they wrote. ‘Moreover, any limit on the comprehensive and transparent review of materials seized in the extraordinary raid of a President’s home erodes public confidence in our system of justice.’ The 11th Circuit ‘lacked jurisdiction’ to review the Special Master Order,’ they wrote. In one footnote, Trump’s lawyers cite Justice Ketanji-Brown Jackson, who first sat on the high court Monday. ‘As Justice Jackson long ago recognized, the wheels of justice grind to an ignominious halt when a person—not just the political rival of the sitting administration— is targeted for “being attached to the wrong political views” or “being unpopular with the predominant or governing group,”‘ they write. Trump’s filing to the Supreme Court was signed by four of his lawyers: Lindsey Halligan, Chris Kise, Evan Corcoran, and James Trusty. Kise is reportedly working on a $3 million advance. Trump’s lawyers defended the original appointment of a special master by Judge Cannon, who was confirmed just weeks before Trump left office, in a move some legal experts doubted would happen. ‘The unprecedented circumstances presented by this case—an investigation of the Forty-Fifth President of the United States by the administration of his political rival and successor—compelled the District Court to acknowledge the significant need for enhanced vigilance and to order the appointment of a Special Master to ensure fairness, transparency, and maintenance of the public trust,’ they write. Read More Here

In Speedy Embrace Of Herschel Walker, Republicans Make Familiar Political Bargain https://digitalalaskanews.com/in-speedy-embrace-of-herschel-walker-republicans-make-familiar-political-bargain/ While the Georgia Senate candidate denied a report that he paid for an ex-girlfriend’s abortion, his Republican allies looked past the claims toward November. Send any friend a story As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. Anyone can read what you share. This article is part of our Midterms 2022 Daily Briefing National Republican leaders signaled on Tuesday that they planned to stand by Herschel Walker after a report that he had paid for a girlfriend’s abortion in 2009.Credit…Nicole Craine for The New York Times Oct. 4, 2022Updated 9:55 p.m. ET Herschel Walker walked into the First Baptist Church of Atlanta on Tuesday with his Senate campaign in turmoil. A day earlier, an ex-girlfriend said he had paid for her to have an abortion, despite his public opposition to the procedure. His son slammed him on social media as a liar. Mr. Walker had flatly denied the claim. And any question of whether the Republican Party, its grass-roots activists and evangelicals would break with him seemed quickly put to rest. The audience in the church did not wait to render a verdict: He was greeted with a standing ovation. From the closed-door confines of that church in Atlanta to the corridors of power in Washington, Republicans raced to close ranks behind Mr. Walker on Tuesday, fearing that any break with the former football star could cost the party a seat that is widely seen as central to the Republican Party’s chances to take control of the Senate in 2022. “Full speed ahead in Georgia,” declared Steven Law, the president of the Senate Leadership Fund. The group, the leading Senate Republican super PAC, is aligned with Senator Mitch McConnell and has booked more than $34 million in television ads in the state. “Republicans stand with him,” added Senator Rick Scott, the chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee. The quick consolidation behind Mr. Walker, less than 24 hours after The Daily Beast reported on the abortion claim on Monday, exposed a Republican Party that has become increasingly conditioned to discount questions about personal behavior in pursuit of political victories. While some Republicans said they didn’t believe the report, nearly all party leaders, elected officials and activists dismissed the abortion story as secondary to larger policy goals. “I have faith and confidence that Herschel will vote the right way,” said Debbie Dooley, a conservative activist in Atlanta who attended the church event specifically to support Mr. Walker, a former football star and first-time candidate. It’s a trade-off that has paid remarkable dividends in recent years. Social conservatives embraced Donald J. Trump despite his history as a brash former Democrat who once supported abortion rights. He rewarded the movement by appointing three conservatives to the Supreme Court, justices who delivered the long-sought decision to overturn federal abortion rights. At stake in 2022 could be no less than control of a United States Senate now divided 50-50 between the two parties. Senator Raphael Warnock of Georgia, the Democratic incumbent who won the seat in a runoff election in January 2021, is seeking a full six-year term and is widely seen as one of the most vulnerable Democrats in the nation. Abortion has emerged as a key issue in the race. Mr. Walker is a staunch opponent, without exceptions for rape, incest or the life of the mother. “There’s no exception in my mind,” Mr. Walker told reporters in May. The State of the 2022 Midterm Elections With the primaries over, both parties are shifting their focus to the general election on Nov. 8. Trouble for Nevada Democrats: The state has long been vital to the party’s hold on the West. Now, Democrats are facing potential losses up and down the ballot. Democrats’ House Chances: Democrats are not favored to win the House, but the notion of retaining the chamber is not as far-fetched as it once was, ​​writes Nate Cohn, The Times’s chief political analyst. Latino Voters: A recent Times/Siena poll found Democrats faring far worse than they have in the past with Hispanic voters. “The Daily” looks at what the poll reveals about this key voting bloc. Michigan Governor’s Race: Tudor Dixon, the G.O.P. nominee who has ground to make up in her contest against Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, is pursuing a hazardous strategy in the narrowly divided swing state: embracing former President Donald J. Trump. As abortion energizes Democratic voters this year, particularly in crucial suburban counties, the charges of hypocrisy on abortion, coming even from a son, could threaten Mr. Walker’s chances to make inroads with the independents and women who pushed Georgia into the Democratic column in the 2020 cycle. While local activists and national party figures attacked the news media and publicly rallied behind Mr. Walker on Tuesday, Republican strategists privately fretted about what might come next, with one answering a reporter’s question about the episode by sending an animated GIF of the Titanic sinking. The Walker Senate campaign has already been rocked by a series of revelations about his tumultuous personal history, including the existence of three children whom he had not mentioned publicly. The New York Times has not independently confirmed The Daily Beast’s reporting, which quoted an unidentified woman saying she and Mr. Walker had conceived a child in 2009 and decided to end the pregnancy. The woman produced a receipt from the abortion clinic and a deposit receipt with an image of a $700 check said to be from Mr. Walker, dated days later, that she said had covered the cost of the procedure, the outlet said. It also published a “get well” card that the woman said had been signed by Mr. Walker. Mr. Walker denied the account outright. “I never asked anyone to get an abortion, I never paid for an abortion,” he said on Fox News on Monday night. In a statement, he said he would sue The Daily Beast for defamation on Tuesday. His campaign and lawyer did not respond to questions about whether a lawsuit had been filed. Image Christian Walker, left, at a Los Angeles event in support of Donald J. Trump in 2020, has denounced his father, Herschel Walker, on social media.Credit…Chelsea Lauren/Shutterstock Adding to the drama was the response from Mr. Walker’s son Christian Walker. A TikTok star known for his unfiltered political posts, the younger Mr. Walker had largely been quiet about his father’s campaign. But in two videos posted on Tuesday he lashed out at his father as a liar who had committed “atrocities” against him and his mother. His mother, Cindy Grossman, has already been featured in weeks of bruising Democratic ads using old footage of her describing how Mr. Walker once held a gun to her head and threatened to pull the trigger. Mr. Walker has not denied that accusation and has said he once struggled with mental illness. How Times reporters cover politics. We rely on our journalists to be independent observers. So while Times staff members may vote, they are not allowed to endorse or campaign for candidates or political causes. This includes participating in marches or rallies in support of a movement or giving money to, or raising money for, any political candidate or election cause. Christian Walker said on Twitter on Monday that “every member” of the family had urged his father not to run for Senate and in a follow-up video on Tuesday, he said conservatives who continued to back his father’s campaign were hypocrites. “Family values, people?” Christian Walker said. “He has four kids, four different women, wasn’t in the house raising one of them. He was out having sex with other women.” Mr. Walker responded simply on Twitter on Monday: “I LOVE my son no matter what.” Mr. Walker’s allies drew comparisons to the “Access Hollywood” recording that threatened to derail Mr. Trump in the final weeks of the 2016 campaign — noting Mr. Trump won that race. Image Ralph Reed, a social conservative leader in Georgia, likened the Daily Beast report to the “Access Hollywood” recording that shook the 2016 presidential campaign.Credit…Nicole Craine for The New York Times “We’ve seen this movie before,” said Ralph Reed, the prominent social conservative leader based in Georgia, adding that he “100 percent” expected evangelical Christians would stick with Mr. Walker. He even argued that the latest report could lift Republican turnout by rallying social conservatives to defend Mr. Walker. As he greeted the audience in the church on Tuesday, Mr. Walker called himself a “sinner saved by grace,” and, before leaving, gathered the group around him to lay hands and pray, according to attendees. Reporters were not allowed in the event. Some Republicans lining up behind Mr. Walker questioned the latest allegations. Some didn’t seem to care either way. “If y’all find a perfect candidate that has never had challenges in their life, I want you to bring them to me and let me meet him or her,” said Dominic LaRiccia, a Republican state representative backing Mr. Walker. Marci McCarthy, the Republican chair of DeKalb County in the metro Atlanta area, said, “Ultimately Georgia’s voters will put their own lives and livelihoods first because, in either case, they are not voting for fathers and husbands of the year.” Notably, Gov. Brian Kemp of Georgia, a Republican who has been leading his race for re-election, has kept his distance from Mr. Walker. The two have yet to hold a campaign event together this year. Asked about the episode on Tuesday, a spokesman for Mr. Kemp, Cody Hall, did not mention Mr. Walker and said only that the governor was “laser focused” on fund-raising and voter turnout in the final weeks of the campaign. Mr. Walker has been found to have embellished or ...

US Navy's Latest And Most Advanced Aircraft Carrier Deploys For First Time | CNN Politics https://digitalalaskanews.com/us-navys-latest-and-most-advanced-aircraft-carrier-deploys-for-first-time-cnn-politics/ Petty Officer 2nd Class Anderson/US Navy CNN  —  The US Navy’s newest and most advanced aircraft carrier left on its first deployment Tuesday from Norfolk, Virginia, designed to put the ship through its paces and exercise with allies in North America and Europe. The USS Gerald Ford is the first new aircraft carrier designed in “over 40 years,” according to the US Navy. The carrier’s construction formally began in November 2009 and it was commissioned in 2017 by former President Donald Trump, according to a US Navy release. The ship is the first Ford-class aircraft carrier. The Navy has begun construction on the next two Ford-class carriers, the USS Kennedy and the USS Enterprise. The aircraft carrier has new, advanced technology including “nearly three times the amount of electrical power,” compared to the Nimitz-class carriers and uses the electromagnetic aircraft launch system, or EMALS, according to the Navy. The EMALS system uses electric power to launch aircraft off the vessel instead of the previous steam catapult system. The system puts less stress on the aircraft as they are launched from the carrier and will allow for less time between launches, a Navy official said. The carrier also has dual band radar, which is a more advanced radar system. It is the only forward-class carrier that will have this kind of radar, the official said. The USS Gerald Ford and the carrier strike group will operate with allies and partners in both the 2nd and 6th fleet areas of responsibility in the Atlantic Ocean and in the Mediterranean Sea, a US Navy official said. The deployment will be shorter than a standard six-month deployment, the official added. “This deployment is an opportunity to push the ball further down the field and demonstrate the advantage that Ford and Carrier Air Wing (CVW) 8 bring to the future of naval aviation, to the region and to our allies and partners,” Carrier Strike Group 12 Commander Rear Adm. Gregory Huffman said in a statement. The deployment will involve “approximately 9,000 personnel from nine nations, 20 ships and 60 aircraft,” a US Navy release said. The nations participating in the exercise include the US, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain and Sweden, the release added. While the USS Gerald Ford deployed Tuesday, the other ships in the carrier strike group will leave to join the Ford on Wednesday, a second Navy official said. This is common for these deployments. Read More Here

US Forecast https://digitalalaskanews.com/us-forecast-112/ City/Town, State;Yesterday’s High Temp (F);Yesterday’s Low Temp (F);Today’s High Temp (F);Today’s Low Temp (F);Weather Condition;Wind Direction;Wind Speed (MPH);Humidity (%);Chance of Precip. (%);UV Index Albany, NY;59;48;66;45;Decreasing clouds;NNW;6;61%;14%;4 Albuquerque, NM;67;55;64;53;A shower and t-storm;E;8;71%;95%;4 Anchorage, AK;51;43;54;46;Showers around;NNE;8;74%;86%;1 Asheville, NC;66;42;71;44;Sunny and pleasant;NW;8;50%;6%;5 Atlanta, GA;75;48;79;48;Sunshine and nice;NW;7;41%;7%;5 Atlantic City, NJ;60;57;62;55;A little rain, windy;NNW;20;92%;83%;1 Austin, TX;91;60;91;62;Plenty of sunshine;SE;5;45%;2%;6 Baltimore, MD;55;50;62;52;A shower in the a.m.;NW;8;77%;57%;1 Baton Rouge, LA;84;63;85;61;Mostly sunny, nice;SE;5;63%;8%;6 Billings, MT;74;48;77;47;Increasing clouds;SSW;9;46%;0%;4 Birmingham, AL;79;50;82;49;Sunny and nice;N;6;43%;7%;5 Bismarck, ND;72;49;76;36;Breezy in the p.m.;NNE;10;57%;5%;3 Boise, ID;83;52;83;52;Plenty of sunshine;ENE;7;30%;0%;4 Boston, MA;58;52;59;52;Rain and drizzle;N;17;85%;97%;1 Bridgeport, CT;55;53;60;52;A little rain;N;14;83%;97%;1 Buffalo, NY;67;43;68;52;Mostly sunny, nice;SSW;5;56%;12%;4 Burlington, VT;61;39;67;45;Sunshine;SSE;6;56%;10%;4 Caribou, ME;65;36;67;39;Partly sunny, nice;SSE;5;60%;12%;3 Casper, WY;66;37;69;39;Mostly sunny;SSE;7;46%;1%;4 Charleston, SC;72;53;75;55;Sunshine;WNW;8;48%;4%;5 Charleston, WV;66;43;70;44;Sunny and pleasant;SSE;4;58%;8%;5 Charlotte, NC;74;45;75;49;Sunny and pleasant;NNW;7;44%;9%;5 Cheyenne, WY;61;40;66;39;Mostly sunny;NW;7;43%;2%;5 Chicago, IL;71;51;75;57;Partly sunny;SSW;7;34%;46%;4 Cleveland, OH;64;50;69;55;Brilliant sunshine;SSE;6;58%;13%;4 Columbia, SC;75;48;79;50;Sunny and delightful;SW;6;43%;3%;5 Columbus, OH;66;41;74;48;Sunny and pleasant;SW;4;48%;6%;4 Concord, NH;63;46;65;42;Couple of showers;NNW;7;68%;91%;4 Dallas-Ft. Worth, TX;85;59;89;62;Mostly sunny, warm;SE;6;38%;0%;5 Denver, CO;68;48;68;46;Sunny and pleasant;SW;6;55%;6%;5 Des Moines, IA;78;55;75;54;A shower in places;WNW;8;48%;59%;4 Detroit, MI;72;47;74;52;Mostly sunny;SW;6;47%;14%;4 Dodge City, KS;73;52;77;50;Sunshine, pleasant;W;8;49%;6%;5 Duluth, MN;70;58;68;46;An afternoon shower;W;8;69%;92%;1 El Paso, TX;82;59;76;58;A t-shower in spots;NE;7;60%;69%;5 Fairbanks, AK;55;35;47;36;Partial sunshine;NNE;4;69%;42%;2 Fargo, ND;73;54;76;38;Mostly cloudy;N;7;63%;30%;3 Grand Junction, CO;72;48;75;48;Mostly sunny;ENE;7;41%;1%;5 Grand Rapids, MI;71;45;73;50;Partly sunny;SSW;7;48%;12%;4 Hartford, CT;56;53;61;51;Rain and drizzle;NNW;16;76%;97%;1 Helena, MT;73;45;74;48;Mostly sunny;WSW;5;52%;0%;4 Honolulu, HI;88;75;86;73;Partly sunny, nice;NE;9;57%;12%;8 Houston, TX;86;61;88;65;Mostly sunny;S;6;55%;3%;6 Indianapolis, IN;73;44;78;51;Partly sunny;SSW;5;44%;41%;4 Jackson, MS;83;57;84;55;Mostly sunny;S;5;52%;6%;5 Jacksonville, FL;74;53;83;57;Sunny and warmer;SSE;6;52%;5%;6 Juneau, AK;52;47;55;50;Periods of rain;SE;9;79%;99%;0 Kansas City, MO;83;60;82;57;Periods of sun;NW;8;41%;26%;4 Knoxville, TN;74;43;75;46;Sunny and pleasant;NE;5;48%;5%;5 Las Vegas, NV;92;68;94;68;Sunny and hot;NNW;6;22%;0%;5 Lexington, KY;71;43;73;47;Sunny and pleasant;WSW;6;50%;6%;5 Little Rock, AR;83;50;85;55;Sunny and warm;S;5;39%;2%;5 Long Beach, CA;81;65;81;65;Mostly sunny;S;7;69%;0%;5 Los Angeles, CA;82;64;85;64;Sunny;S;7;66%;1%;5 Louisville, KY;74;44;78;50;Partly sunny, nice;SE;4;45%;3%;5 Madison, WI;73;45;73;51;An afternoon shower;SSW;7;41%;47%;1 Memphis, TN;78;51;83;54;Plenty of sunshine;ESE;5;32%;2%;5 Miami, FL;84;74;84;75;A shower or two;NE;10;65%;87%;6 Milwaukee, WI;74;49;72;54;Partly sunny;SW;8;45%;17%;3 Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN;78;60;72;51;A shower in places;WNW;7;59%;83%;1 Mobile, AL;81;60;84;61;Mostly sunny;NW;6;60%;5%;6 Montgomery, AL;80;53;82;50;Sunny and pleasant;N;6;51%;7%;5 Mt. Washington, NH;50;39;50;40;Mostly sunny;NNE;9;34%;8%;4 Nashville, TN;77;43;79;46;Sunny and pleasant;ESE;4;43%;1%;5 New Orleans, LA;82;67;84;67;Partly sunny, humid;SW;7;61%;27%;6 New York, NY;55;54;61;54;Breezy with rain;NNW;14;87%;95%;1 Newark, NJ;53;53;59;52;Breezy with rain;NNW;16;89%;91%;1 Norfolk, VA;55;52;63;56;Warmer;NW;13;79%;33%;2 Oklahoma City, OK;86;58;87;60;Partly sunny;NNW;8;38%;0%;5 Olympia, WA;72;49;73;48;Fog, then sun;NE;6;71%;5%;3 Omaha, NE;82;55;76;53;Partly sunny, nice;NW;9;60%;29%;4 Orlando, FL;81;63;83;63;Mostly sunny;ENE;7;55%;5%;6 Philadelphia, PA;53;52;61;53;A little rain;NNW;15;87%;83%;1 Phoenix, AZ;93;72;94;73;Mostly sunny, warm;SSE;6;33%;14%;5 Pittsburgh, PA;62;45;70;48;Mostly sunny;WSW;5;49%;7%;4 Portland, ME;59;47;62;46;Partly sunny;NNW;9;73%;39%;3 Portland, OR;67;54;79;53;Fog, then sun;N;7;64%;5%;3 Providence, RI;57;52;57;52;Rain and drizzle;N;15;88%;98%;1 Raleigh, NC;69;47;72;52;Mostly sunny;ENE;7;60%;4%;5 Reno, NV;81;46;83;47;Sunny and very warm;WSW;5;29%;0%;5 Richmond, VA;55;49;65;52;Mostly cloudy;NNW;8;74%;28%;2 Roswell, NM;83;57;72;57;A shower and t-storm;NW;7;66%;99%;2 Sacramento, CA;87;57;90;57;Sunny and very warm;SSW;5;49%;1%;4 Salt Lake City, UT;77;52;78;52;Sunny and delightful;ESE;6;38%;0%;4 San Antonio, TX;87;60;90;63;Abundant sunshine;SE;6;48%;3%;6 San Diego, CA;71;67;76;68;Mostly sunny, humid;SW;7;81%;1%;5 San Francisco, CA;64;57;72;57;Low clouds, then sun;SW;9;67%;1%;4 Savannah, GA;75;51;80;54;Sunny and pleasant;NNE;7;51%;3%;6 Seattle-Tacoma, WA;64;55;73;56;Mostly cloudy;NNE;7;66%;5%;3 Sioux Falls, SD;64;55;74;46;A morning shower;W;8;64%;51%;3 Spokane, WA;81;47;80;46;Mostly sunny, warm;ENE;4;46%;1%;3 Springfield, IL;75;42;76;50;Partly sunny;SSE;7;42%;55%;4 St. Louis, MO;75;43;79;54;Partly sunny, warm;S;6;39%;1%;4 Tampa, FL;82;62;85;63;Plenty of sunshine;ENE;6;62%;8%;7 Toledo, OH;71;42;73;50;Mostly sunny;WSW;5;51%;14%;4 Tucson, AZ;77;63;86;66;A stray t-shower;E;6;47%;55%;6 Tulsa, OK;87;57;88;58;Partly sunny;NNW;7;43%;5%;5 Vero Beach, FL;84;68;82;68;Clouds and sun;NE;11;60%;29%;3 Washington, DC;55;50;62;52;A shower in the a.m.;WNW;8;76%;57%;2 Wichita, KS;85;57;84;54;Turning sunny;NNW;9;44%;3%;5 Wilmington, DE;53;51;60;52;A little rain;NNW;15;87%;83%;1 _____ Copyright 2022 AccuWeather Read More Here

Air Force One Log: Obama, Trump Outflew Biden In Midterms https://digitalalaskanews.com/air-force-one-log-obama-trump-outflew-biden-in-midterms/ Data: Brendan J. Doherty and Mark Knoller, Axios research; Chart: Erin Davis/Axios Visuals President Biden has trimmed his own wings, flying less for domestic political purposes — and hosting fewer out-of-town fundraisers — than his two most recent predecessors in corresponding midterm cycles, according to data analyzed by Axios. Why it matters: Air Force One can confer unrivaled advantages for sitting presidents looking to take center stage, drive local news coverage and raise money for their parties or targeted candidates all at once. Biden’s tour schedule has been hobbled by his own COVID-19 double-bout and underwater job ratings, which arguably made him as much a liability as an asset to Democratic candidates in some battleground races. By the numbers: In the first nine months of 2010, then-President Obama visited 78 cities, holding fundraisers in 16 of them, according to data compiled by Brendan Doherty, a U.S. Naval Academy professor and author of “The Rise of the President’s Permanent Campaign.” In the first three quarters of 2018, then-President Trump hit 57 cities and squeezed in some 27 fundraisers. Through Sept. 30 this year, Biden has traveled to 47 cities, where he’s held 11 fundraisers, according to data gathered by Mark Knoller, a former CBS radio correspondent. Zoom in: Many of Biden’s trips have been to friendly coastal cities, like Los Angeles, New York and Philadelphia. He’s also visited swing states including Michigan and Ohio, where he’s been eager to tout his manufacturing message. Biden’s stops in red states like Alabama, meanwhile, have been few and far between. Some vulnerable Democrats in tight races have hinted at the downsides to joint appearances. In Ohio, Rep. Tim Ryan, Democrats’ nominee for the open Senate seat, told Fox News: “I want to be the face of this campaign. I don’t want any distractions.” Vice President Kamala Harris’ midterm road trips have focused on turning out young voters and voters of color. What they’re saying: “The president has made historic investments in the different [Democratic fundraising] committees … to make sure we keep the Senate and House,” White House director of political strategy and outreach Emmy Ruiz told Axios, pointing also to Biden’s virtual efforts. “We are out there and the president is front and center and we’ll see in a few weeks, the pace is going to pick up.” Flashback: Obama and Trump both racked up the frequent flier miles in the last six weeks of the campaign season that followed their respective first years in office. During those spans, Trump rallied in 26 cities and Obama headlined rallies in 14 cities. Despite their efforts, each lost control of the House. What’s next: Biden plans to travel to New York and New Jersey on Thursday to tout his policies and raise money. Read More Here

Trump Asks Supreme Court To Intervene In Legal Battle Over Special Master – Mountain Top Media https://digitalalaskanews.com/trump-asks-supreme-court-to-intervene-in-legal-battle-over-special-master-mountain-top-media/ Trump asks Supreme Court to intervene in legal battle over special master mountain top media Article Updated: October 4, 2022 Leave a comment Lawyers for former President Donald Trump asked the Supreme Court Tuesday to intervene in a legal fight over a special master to review classified records seized during an FBI search at his Mar-a-Lago residence. Post navigation Previous post Markets notch second day of sharp increases Next post Secret recording played at Oath Keepers trial captures alleged plans ‘to fight’ Posted in: Global News More Articles By the same author Unity March Planned mountain top media Jan 18, 2019 PIKEVILLE, KY. — BIG SANDY COMMUNITY AND TECHNICAL COLLEGE WILL HOLD THE FOURTH ANNUAL UNITY MARCH… Real’s Marcelo takes knee, raises fist after goal mountain top media Jun 14, 2020 null Roberto Martinez on Belgium’s Euro 2020 progress and more mountain top media Jun 27, 2021 Martinez has been building Belgium towards this moment since taking the job in 2016. Rays 2B hits 2 HRs, says ‘no revenge’ vs. Yanks mountain top media Sep 3, 2020 The Rays’ Mike Brousseau homered twice in Wednesday’s 5-2 win over the Yankees, one night after Aroldis… Why Jets T George Fant Believes He Can Be Elite mountain top media May 12, 2020 A former college basketball player, new Jets T George Fant has often been the sixth man throughout his… Three groundbreaking skills we’ve never seen at the Olympics mountain top media Jul 20, 2021 In Tokyo, these athletes will make the toughest skills look easy. How the heck do they do it? Lookback at Shinzo Abe’s political career mountain top media Aug 28, 2020 Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has announced his resignation citing health concerns. CNN’s Will… Mars introduces purple M&Ms, ‘quirky’ new mascot mountain top media Sep 29, 2022 A new character is joining the lineup of M&M’s mascots to mark the addition of purple candies to the… The week in WWE TV: A unique turn to the IC tournament, and a new Mysterio steps up to Seth Rollins mountain top media Jun 2, 2020 The strange road to the Intercontinental championship match finally ends, another Mysterio has his eyes… Read More Here